A/N: I wrote this for the Holiday Prompts in Panem challenge over on Tumblr. This is just a small two parter fic that I've already finished, but I will be posting the 2nd part on tumblr first if you wanna come follow me and be able to read it there first! Thanks to my amazing beta/friend Court81981 for all her support and thanks to the amazing Jessa/misshoneywell/peetaspenis for putting on these amazing challenges that give us so many great fics to read. I'm on tumblr ~ thegirlonpeetamellark ;)

Katniss Everdeen had always done what she was told.

She had never broke curfew in high school.

She had never drank or gone out on dates.

She had not been allowed to, being the daughter of Reverend Everdeen.

And then by the time she was in her twenties—when she was no longer strictly forbidden to do certain things—the temptations did not present themselves to her anymore. Everyone knew that she was a good girl, so they didn't bother.

She had gone to the local state college and then she had moved home after graduation to save money.

Now she taught third grade at the same elementary school she had attended growing up, and when her father asked her to help put on the annual Christmas play at his church it seemed like a natural fit.

She was used to corralling 6-, 7-, and 8-year-olds to try and get them to focus and pay attention. She could direct that energy towards making them put on a play of the story of baby Jesus' birth. And she would get to lead them in singing all the Christmas songs she had loved as a child.

She started with the songs first, teaching the children to sing as a group and to memorize the words of the simple tunes. She was in the middle of Silent Night, seated at the front of the room they used for Sunday school. Her eyes were closed and the sound of the fifteen children joining her in the peaceful hymn made her smile.

She was glad she had agreed to do this. Originally she feared it would be too much work on top of her job, but it was only twice a week, and they were starting the Sunday after Thanksgiving, so they had plenty of time to get it right.

When the song finished, she opened her eyes and looked across the room; her breath caught at the sight of a pair of blue eyes gazing at her intently. A man with blonde hair was standing at the back of the room, his hand stuffed in his pockets as he continued watching her carefully.

She was flustered for a moment, but assumed the man must be the father of one of the children, here to pick them up early, and tried to put him out of her mind. She could feel his gaze on her the entire time though, and it was easier said than done.

When their time together was over, she helped put on children's coats and talked to parents—assuring them that yes, their kid would have a prominent role in the play. When mostly everyone had cleared out, she was tapped on the shoulder and greeted by a familiar face.

"Madge?"

The blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl smiled brightly at her with a nod. "Hi, Katniss." Madge had been in her cousin Gale's grade in high school. She had been a senior when Katniss was a freshman, and while they had had a few encounters with one another over the years they were never exactly more than casual acquaintances.

Madge hugged her like they were old friends and explained that she was the church director and would be helping with the Christmas play and anything else Katniss might need.

"Oh, great." Katniss smiled, glad to have some source of support.

The man from earlier appeared over Madge's shoulder and Katniss' eyes wandered toward him, her belly clenching tightly in response to the way he kept looking at her with an unwavering stare.

"Oh, Katniss, this is my boyfriend, Peeta," Madge explained, turning back to the man as he stepped forward.

Katniss released a breath and shook his hand, feeling an odd sense of relief and disappointment. For a moment there she had felt her chest tighten and her heartbeat quicken from the way Peeta was looking at her. And it was such a foreign feeling that it unnerved her a bit.

But knowing now that this was Madge's boyfriend she was glad that she didn't have to worry anymore. He was a man in a committed relationship. Katniss was so used to being on her own by this point that she'd rather avoid the scary, strange feelings that came from liking someone. She was such a novice she never knew what to do, and she always felt like guys' could read it on her face that she was the innocent preacher's daughter who had never done more than sloppily kiss one boy in high school.

"Nice to meet you Katniss," Peeta said in a warm tone, with a gentle smile.

"You too," she replied, smiling back at him brightly.

"You have a gorgeous singing voice."

Katniss nearly startled from the compliment Peeta paid her one day as he snuck up behind her in the Sunday school room.

"Oh, um, well…thank you," she stammered out.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Peeta laughed, scratching the back of his neck. "Madge suggested I come help out here today since she has a lot of paperwork to finish before she can leave."

"Oh…um…okay, you can help," Katniss agreed dumbly, nodding her head. That quiver of something fluttered in her belly for a moment—that reminder that she had felt something for Peeta when they had first met—but she quickly pushed it back down with the reminder that he was Madge's boyfriend.

"I was actually going to start working on the sets today." She gestured to the paints, markers, cardboards, and other craft supplies she had pulled out. "I think setting the scene will help the kids start to imagine the story better," she explained and then flushed when she thought that it was a silly thing to say.

"That's a great plan," Peeta agreed readily. "I dabble in painting myself actually, so I think I could be of some assistance."

"Great," Katniss replied too eagerly, nodding her head in agreement. She gave Peeta the tools he needed and then moved away from him to get ready for the kids to show up for the day's practice session.

"You don't have to talk to me if you don't want to, you know," Peeta said to her a few days later as he was helping her clean up after the kids had left.

He had suddenly started showing up at every practice session, always claiming that he had nothing better to do until Madge was done with her office work, since he was her ride home.

At first his presence confused and unnerved Katniss a bit, unsure why he wanted to spend his time helping out at a kids' Christmas play. But the more times he visited the more she saw that he was great with the kids, and he really was artistically inclined—helping with everything from the sets to the costumes.

She had started to relax around him, no longer feeling that discomfort from the fact she had thought of him as extremely handsome when they first met. He was Madge's boyfriend and that was that.

At this point her quiet, reserved nature around him was more as a result of just who she was and had always been than it was about any nerves or anxiety she felt about Peeta himself.

"No, sorry, it's not that," she assured him. "I guess I'm just not the world's most social person," she said with shrug.

"I kind of figured that," Peeta replied, with a smile that made her feel like it wasn't a bad thing that she was quiet. "Good thing for you though—I'm obnoxiously outgoing and talkative so I can more than make up for it."

She laughed and something eased in her chest, a total sense of relaxation at his presence wrapping around her like a blanket. Peeta made her feel more at ease with just a few words than she felt around some people she had known for years.

After that, questions and conversation flowed between the two of them with such effortlessness that she never once stopped to question it. It just felt so natural and right.

She learned that he was 31 and owned a bakery. He painted in his spare time and had gone to the same college she had. He had two older brothers who lived out of state. He liked to go on long runs. He even admitted that sometimes he felt like he had let his younger years pass him by without taking full advantage of his youth.

She told him that she was 24 and she always knew she wanted to be a teacher. She told him that she loved to read and go on hikes in the woods. She told him that she had always felt a bit like a fish out of water because her father was a reverend and she didn't do the normal things other teenagers did growing up.

"It's overrated," Peeta assured her one day as they got ready for the children to show up for a practice session. "Drinking beer and making out with some random person isn't the ultimate joy in life." He laughed wistfully. "It doesn't make you cooler or better than someone who didn't do those things."

She smiled at him appreciatively; she was surprised he seemed to understand her so easily.

"I can tell you're an old soul; still waters run deep…all of that," he added, holding her gaze for a long moment. She felt herself blush and she struggled not to look away. "It's a good thing, trust me. Experience doesn't always equal wisdom."

She nodded and swallowed past the sudden lump in her throat, touched and emotional that Peeta had told her something that eased the fear and worries she had been too scared to voice all her life.

She was mad at herself for letting it happen.

But suddenly she was obsessed. She was jealous. And she was going insane.

Every time she saw Peeta and Madge walk out to his car after Madge was done with work, she felt that evil green monster awaken inside her and she was helpless to stop it.

She liked Peeta a lot. She more than liked him.

And it didn't help that he was so friendly and nice and attentive towards her.

She resolved one day to try and put some distance between them, to try and stop spending so much time talking and laughing with him, because it just made it that much harder for her heart to accept that he wasn't hers and he could never be hers.

Hell, she thought, even if he wasn't with Madge, the likelihood that he would ever be interested in her in that way, or that she would ever have to nerve to do something about it was slim to none.

"Are you okay?" Peeta asked after the kids had gone home and he started to ask her questions that she either blatantly ignored or answered with as few words as possible.

"I'm fine," she huffed, turning away from him.

"Okay…." Peeta trailed off, but he kept looking at her, waiting for her to meet his eye.

"What?" she exclaimed in frustration when he kept staring at her.

"Katniss, come on. Something is bothering you. I thought we were friends, you know you can tell me—"

"That's right, we're friends!" Katniss cut him off angrily. "We're just friends, Peeta, okay? You're with Madge…"

She cringed, stopping herself before she went any further. She turned away, her face hot with embarrassment from slipping up like that and making what was bothering her so blatantly obvious.

The silence lingered for a while and the longer Peeta went without saying anything, the more certain she was that he was trying to think of a way to gently let her down, to explain to her that he was flattered but that he didn't think of her like that, and besides, he had a girlfriend.

"Katniss, can I text you sometime?"

She whipped her head around towards him in surprise. "What?"

"It would involve giving me your number," he explained casually, pulling his cell out of his pocket. "Is that okay?"

She was so dumbfounded by the complete turn in conversation she nodded dumbly and gave him her number as he programmed it into his phone.

Then he left without another word.

He texted her that same night.

Peeta: I like you a lot, Katniss

Her heart soared in her chest, until her brain harshly reminded her that he still had a girlfriend and nothing had changed.

Katniss: …what about Madge?

Her stomach twisted with a sick mix of nerves and dread as she waited, not sure how she wanted him to respond.

It seemed to take him forever, but finally he sent her a reply that only confused her more.

Peeta: Do you trust me?

She didn't have to debate the answer to his question. She knew she trusted him. She felt closer to him than anyone else in her life before. She was just hesitant if she wanted to answer him directly, instead of demanding why he was even asking her in the first place.

Katniss: Yes

Peeta: Then trust that it's not what you think…I'm not the kind of guy that would do that. And I do really like you…

His answer only confused her further and she wasn't sure what to think anymore.

She told him she liked him too and that she was headed to bed.

The next practice session he showed up at, she was nervous.

She didn't want to push him away anymore. She missed him when they weren't talking and laughing between helping the kids practice their play.

So she decided to trust his cryptic text and not think too much about it.

After the kids had cleared out, he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the supply closet in the back of the room. Her breath hitched when she realized how alone they were and how far away they were from prying eyes. It was just the two of them in a dark, enclosed space, and suddenly her entire body was tingling with acute awareness of him.

"Peeta, what are you doing?" she asked as he let go of her hand. She was breathing hard, her heart beating fast as she realized he was standing close, barely a few inches separating their bodies. She noticed other things too, like how he was the perfect height taller than her and how broad his shoulders were. His arms were strong and toned and his waist was narrow. He smelled like cinnamon and dill and the strong line of his jaw made her weak with desire for him.

Desire.

It was such a foreign concept to her that she had no idea what to do with it. She had thought boys were cute before, but they were usually on the pages of a magazine or appreciated from a distance because their popularity did not allow them to notice the quiet, shy reverend's daughter who didn't party and socialize like most people her age.

He took a step closer to her and she backed up against the wall, trapped by coloring supplies.

His gaze darted from her eyes to her lips and back again. He lifted a hand to cup her face and trailed the pad of his thumb over her bottom lip.

"You're so beautiful, Katniss." He was breathing hard and she felt like she was right there with him, practically panting as everything inside her tightened and throbbed in such a strange new way. "And you have no idea….the effect you can have…" He laughed and shook his head. "You're so pure aren't you…I bet you've never even come before. God, the things I want to do to you…"

She was pretty sure she was mewling or whining or making some helpless sound at this point, because she had never felt this way in her entire life. She was burning up. She was dying for him to touch her and show her exactly what things he wanted to do to her.

As soon as the thought came she flushed a little with shame, that same innocent reverend's daughter she had been all her life still as much a part of her as ever. He leaned in and kissed her cheek, trailing his lips back to that sensitive spot behind her ear. "Don't feel bad for wanting to be touched, Katniss. It's not a bad thing. It's a very, very good thing," he said, as if he was able to read her mind. She gasped and clutched his shoulders in support when he bit down gently on her ear lobe.

"P-Peeta…" she said weakly, some coherent part of her mind reminding herself they shouldn't be doing this because he had a girlfriend.

He pulled back and grabbed her hand, pulling it up to his mouth. He placed a kiss on the back of her palm and smiled at her.

"Trust me, Katniss."

And with that he turned and walked away.

"Stop it."

She could tell Peeta was trying to hide his smile at her stern tone of voice.

"Stop what?" he asked innocently with a smirk.

"Stop looking at me like that," she huffed. She refused to let what had happened the other day in the closet happen again. She needed to stop letting him linger once the kids were all gone. She felt sick every time she saw Madge in the church office.

"And how am I looking at you?"

She opened her mouth to respond and then closed it again. She was about to say that he was looking at her like he wanted to touch her, but if she had, she would have said it all breathlessly and laced with desire because the truth was she wanted him to touch her—even though she shouldn't.

He got out of his seat to move closer to her and she tensed up, going completely still as he leaned against the edge of the table right next to where she was sitting. So now she was eye-level with his crotch, which was not helping matters. Not that she would ever know what to do about….that. She mentally cringed. God, she was such a bumbling novice she couldn't imagine why Peeta was interested in her at all.

"Katniss, I'm going to tell you something, but it's really important you don't tell anyone, okay?"

Her curiosity piqued at that, wondering where this was going, with his sudden change in tone.

"Umm…okay," she agreed.

"I couldn't tell you this earlier obviously, because it's not my secret to tell," he explained. "But Madge is just my friend. There's nothing romantic going on between us at all."

Her face pinched together in confusion, but she looked at him doubtfully. "Really? I don't understand. If that's true, then why…"

"Madge is not really into guys," Peeta added, and it took Katniss a moment before it dawned on her.

Her eyes went wide and her mouth hung open in shock. She guessed she really was a reverend's daughter because the idea of Madge, the church's director, being gay shocked her more than it probably should. "Wow, I didn't think…that's…but why…"

Peeta laughed, sliding into the chair beside her. "Madge is a friend, so I was just helping her out going along with the whole boyfriend thing. I think she was a little nervous about people finding out with her job. She doesn't necessarily think it would get her fired, but she didn't want to risk it."

Katniss was basically speechless for a good five minutes as she processed all this, and Peeta took the opportunity to keep talking.

"I told her how I feel about you, and she realized that would involve letting you in on her secret, since I didn't want you thinking I was cheating. Luckily she gave me her blessing, with the request that I ask you to be as discreet about this as possible. Especially with your dad…"

"Oh god, of course," Katniss assured him hastily. "I would never…I don't…." she trailed off helplessly, still at a loss for words as she tried to absorb everything she had been told.

"So now you know," Peeta laughed at her stunned expression, moving closer to her in his seat. "And now you have no excuse," he added, placing a hand on her thigh. "Because I want you and you want me…" he trailed his hand up her leg, letting his fingers trail along her inner thigh until she snapped her legs shut. The place between her legs was so wet, throbbing desperately and it made her feel off-kilter. This was so strangely new and overwhelming that she wasn't sure how to handle it.

He smiled at her and removed his hand. "I'm going to kiss you, Katniss. Not now, but eventually, I'm going to kiss you. And I'm going to touch you. I'm going to feel how wet you get, because I'm pretty sure you're soaking right now, aren't you? You've waited your whole life and no one has ever gotten to hear the noises you make when you're about to come. And I fully intend to be the one to find out."

With a kiss to her cheek, he stood and left.