One-Shot: Quell Alternate Kiss

Katniss Everdeen watched as Peeta Mellark worked in the sweltering sun. Working in this heat was hard enough. Doing so in an arena built for fights to the death was even worse.

Still, she could not help but admire how his muscles rippled as he helped Finnick lift a log, righting it against a tree so Beetee could take measurements. With the effort, Katniss observed a bead of sweat trickle down to his nose. In the same instance, she felt blood rush down to her core.

Dammit.

She turned heel and marched into the jungle trees, quickly finding that spring pond where she, Peeta and Finnick had fought off the monkeys. A good bath would cool her down, literally – and sexually.

She stripped down until she was buck naked (she no longer cared about anyone in the Capitol or Panem seeing her like this) and slipped into the water. It felt like a Jacuzzi, which really didn't help her objective to stop thinking about Peeta. As soon as she sank back into the water and rested against a rock, she felt down to her clit and began to stroke it furiously, imagining that it was Peeta doing this to her, willing his surely beautiful member to thrust into her harder, faster, deeper…. Katniss moaned at the image of him making love to her and rubbed faster, the motion causing little ripples to flow out in all directions around her.

"Mmmm… Peeta…" she moaned sexily.

"Yeah, Katniss, what -? Oh my god, I'm so sorry!"

Katniss's eyes shot open and she stopped in mid-rub. Peeta Mellark was standing there with a mortified look on his face. He was surely blushing as red as she must have been.

"I'm sorry, I thought that you were…. didn't know you wanted to be alone….I was just gathering some….. I'm gonna go now."

"Wait!" Katniss cried, trying not to sound so desperate. "Peeta…. I don't want to be alone."

Peeta stared at her, and she knew he knew what she meant.

"Come to me," she whispered.

Peeta walked into the lake, not even bothering to take off his arena jumpsuit. As soon as he was within reach, Katniss pounced on him, kissing every inch of him that she could reach. She could tell Peeta was surprised at her forwardness, but he rolled with it and kissed her back, just like the master actor he always was.

Except for him, it was real. Then again…. maybe it was real for her, too.

"I'm sorry," Katniss gasped between kisses. "I don't know what came over me…. it's the heat."

Peeta chuckled. "No need to apologize, honey. It's your hormones. From the baby."

Katniss hummed in pleasure as she kissed his lips. Peeta, you're a genius. Way to play the crowd, she thought. Something strange was building up inside of her – the need to release those urges she had been having and fuck Peeta right in this pond. Except she had no idea what to do, which could blow their cover with the audience. And Peeta was beginning to get very free in where he was touching her…..

"Katniss! Peeta! You'd better not be making out somewhere!" Johanna's voice called. The Star-Crossed Lovers broke apart. Somewhere, the Capitol audience was probably laughing.

"We can try to make it look like we weren't," Peeta offered.

"Not a chance," Katniss smirked. "They'll know."

That evening on the beach, Katniss and Peeta had been busy arguing about who should save the other from being killed in the Quell.

"But, I do," Katniss pleaded with Peeta. "I need you."

Peeta stared at her, then sighed before giving a small smile.

"All right. Let's go get me crowned the victor of this thing."

With joy, Katniss threw her arms around him. Pulling back to stare into each other's eyes, Peeta closed the gap between them.

Katniss relaxed into the kiss, shifting her legs so that she was now straddling Peeta's lap. Both closed their eyes in contentment and soon lost themselves in each other.

As Peeta and Katniss kissed… Brutus, who had been ordered by his district partner to trail the Rebel Alliance, observed them from the edge of the jungle. The other three tributes were nowhere to be seen…. The lovers were easy kills. President Snow would be pleased….

"AHHH!" With a rebel yell, Brutus burst onto the beach. Katniss and Peeta sprang apart at the sound.

"Brutus!" Katniss yelled as a warning to the others. Peeta shoved her off his lap and just managed to stand up before Brutus bulldozed him into the shallow tide of the saltwater lake. The two men violently wrestled while Katniss watched in horror.

"Brutus, no!"

Brutus brought down a blade toward Peeta but the boy twisted away so it only met water. Seizing his broadsword, Peeta blocked a second strike and used the momentum to flip the middle-aged victor over and off him. Twisting into a flat position on his stomach, Peeta saw Brutus get to his feet first and pull out his knife. Brutus lunged, but Peeta caught his arms to block.

Meanwhile, Katniss's cry had alerted the others. Finnick, Johanna and Beetee now raced down the beach where they had been preparing the wire several yards away.

"Peeta, turn him loose! Katniss'll get him! Peeta, watch out!" they were calling.

The two men were now rolling around on the ground until Brutus had Peeta pinned and raised his knife.

"Leave him alone!" Katniss cried, bravely rushing in and trying to pull Brutus off Peeta. The District 2 victor pushed her aside and she fell back into the shallow depths, dazed. Unseen by the others, Finnick readied his trident.

Brutus was now pushing down on Peeta, the knife inching towards his face. Only Peeta's arms and sheer strength were now keeping the weapon at bay.

"Grrr…..hrrrr…hrrrrr….." Peeta groaned and grunted with the effort. The knife inched closer to his neck.

"Brutus, stop!" Katniss begged, rejoining the struggle.

Finnick aimed – then remembered the trick Katniss had taught him during archery lessons at the Training Center. "Both eyes open….."

THUNK! Brutus momentarily looked stunned, barely able to regard the trident now in his chest as he fell backward, off of Peeta. As he went, his hand blindly reached out and tore the locket off of Katniss's neck, the one Peeta had given her moments earlier. There was a mighty SPLASH! as Brutus's body hit the water, just ahead of the cannon firing. He was dead.

Katniss retrieved the locket from Brutus's cooling fist and turned back to her lover. But Peeta was unresponsive as he lay comatose in the water.

"PEETA!"

Thank goodness he had been in shallow water or he would have drowned. And he still might have, if Finnick had not carried him out of the water so quickly.

The quintet was now huddled on the beach as Finnick went around to reviving Peeta with CPR for the second time in as many days. Katniss flitted about them both, caressing Peeta with touches and kisses and crying hysterically for him to wake up.

"Please, Peeta…. Peeta….."

At last, there came a breath. The young man opened his eyes. Katniss let out a choked sob in relief. Johanna could only laugh.

"So, Peeta…. you decided to join the living – again! Man, you just won't die!"

Katniss was too busy calming herself down to acknowledge this. Instead, she up and punched Peeta in the arm.

"That's for scaring me!"

Peeta looked appalled. "Scaring you? I saved your life! What are you -?"

He was cut off as Katniss kissed him on the mouth so long and hard that he couldn't breathe. She pulled away almost tenderly.

"That's for everything else," she said softly, blushing.