A/N: My first Hunger Games fic.

I've finally coordinated my thoughts on this.

BELONG

Spring was coming. The District gradually grew fresh and green from what had been a rotten and ash-black graveyard.

The bakeshop was rebuilt; it looked better than the one Peeta had grown up in and had known; too bad his parents and brothers weren't there to see it. He was the one running the shop now.

The familiar aroma of freshly baked bread would waft around the store and it welcomed customers and made them smile that they can finally be affordable.

There were no more Peacekeepers, no more Capitol and no more Hunger Games.

Things just need time to adjust to. Things were almost back to normal. Almost.

As Peeta placed some freshly baked loaves for display, he saw the familiar young woman with braided black hair and tired grey eyes.

The Girl on Fire. Katniss Everdeen.

She had just obviously returned from a hunt as indicated by a wild turkey.

A wild turkey….it sparked a memory in Peeta: a certain someone whipped almost to death and Katniss launches herself forward to protect him thus receiving a blow at the side of her face. A foggy memory crept into Peeta…not in his brain, but in his heart.

That memory was closely tied to what was like an intense unhappiness. A heartbreak.

"Real or not real?" Peeta whispers to himself.

Was the heartbreak real? Did he really feel intensely unhappy that Katniss preferred Gale over him?

It was true that Katniss had just used him for the entertainment of the Capitol and he then discovered that it was a mere ploy to get the both of them out alive.

He was tremendously disappointed and withdrew from her.

And it brought severe consequences.

Just as the meadows of District Twelve gradually regained its healthy color, Peeta was also finding his way back to sanity, but he knew the tracker jacker venoms were still in him. Traces of dejection and confusion were still festering within. Reversing the effects of the venom was a protracted process as the doctors had said…a lifetime of treatment.

Peeta had feared that Katniss had killed his entire family and his friends. He was told that the Capitol had implanted those false memories in his head so that they could break the Mockinjay.

But now…the revolution was over. Does that also include Peeta's feelings for Katniss?

Peeta took a deep breath and held on tight on the convalesced feelings he had for her; it was the only thing that felt so genuine as of late.

He took a basket and filled it with the best pastries he had ever made. The primroses had bloomed as Peeta walked up the path to the front door of Katniss' house. He gently knocked…two, three, four…seven times…There was no answer.

Peeta simply wanted Katniss' company, but he knew what she was getting tired of.

I bet you're tired of living, thought Peeta; he imagined her lying down supine in her mattress, wishing him away…wishing him to leave her alone. I bet you're tired of all those horrid memories. So am I, Katniss.

So Katniss didn't want any company tonight. But as he sat down on the front steps, the front door swung open. Katniss stood at the threshold, looking down on Peeta, her long black hair damp from a warm shower.

"You don't want my company?" said Peeta gently, smiling. "Real or not real?"

"Not real," answered Katniss; she stepped aside to let him in. "Come in. Sorry I answered late; I was in the bathroom."

They were still playing that game. Peeta smiled; he stood up, picked up the basket of freshly baked pastries and strode inside.

Though he wasn't really sure of what he was going to do, but he was already here. Might as well do what he always does when he's here.

To comfort Katniss. They were together. That would suffice their need.

The arenas were gone; there would be no more Games. There would be no more teenagers whose names are written in pieces of papers placed in bowls and picked to be carted off to the Capitol where they would be taught to kill. It was all over.

But the terrors Katniss had gone through were far from over; she would wake up thrashing away from those nightmares. That's why she would hold onto his hand and ask him if he could just stay for the night, so that she doesn't need to be all alone again.

Katniss sat on the couch and watched Peeta draw in the book. They had not exchanged a word, but even if Katniss would just want to sit in her chair, unspeaking and distant, that was alright for Peeta. At least they were close.

The clock ticked that it was past quarter to ten. Peeta looked up from the book; Katniss automatically and desperately clutched his wrist.

"It's going to be alright," Peeta said. "Everything's over."

"But they happened." Katniss whispered. "I know you have them too."

Peeta shook his head. He looked into Katniss' eyes and tucked a tendril of her black tresses.

"Nightmares can't hurt you. I'll always be here to remind you that." He stated. Then, in a spontaneous attempt to comfort Katniss, he added, "I always make your nightmares go away. Real or not real?"

"Real." Katniss said, closing her eyes.

Peeta puts the book down on the coffee table, sat down on the couch beside Katniss and wraps his arms around her. Katniss reciprocates and rests her head on his shoulder.

"They'll always stay…the nightmares," Katniss said. "They'll never be gone, Peeta."

"That's true, but we have one another." Peeta answered. "That's better than being alone, isn't it?"

"Yeah," said Katniss, nodding as she leaned forward to put her forehead on Peeta's chest. "But they'll never be gone."

"I know that because I have them too." said Peeta gently.

"I'm scared, really I am." Katniss confessed. "I'm not going to lie and pretend. I am so sick of lying."

Peeta closed his eyes and remembered the time they had headed back to District 12 after the seventy fourth Hunger Games. He had always told the world how much he loved her. But despite his certainty that Katniss might have fallen in love with him in return, Peeta still had this feeling that it was all a ruse for the Capitol. He wished that it was just a feeling brought about by the Games.

Yet when Katniss had told him about an imminent danger of their little stunt, he had felt utterly hurt.

It was not real. It was all a lie just to keep the both of them alive. The Capitol always wanted a good show and their little act as the star-crossed lovers from the most neglected district had given the audience a show that was very hard to come across.

"Katniss, there's something I need to know…something that you weren't lying about." said Peeta slowly as he opened his eyes.

Peeta held her at his hands and locked his blue eyes into Katniss' grey ones. Her eyes looked tortured, shattered and seemingly frightened.

"You love me. Real or not real?"

Her eyes suddenly softened; they looked vulnerable, but not in a despondent way. They were suddenly alive, tender and calm.

"Real." She answered.

The world seemed to stop as that one word reached Peeta's ears. For a very long time, he had hanged on every word Katniss was saying, hoping that he would catch the words that confirmed that she felt the same way about him too.

He wrapped his arms around her once again and put his mouth against hers.

The venom could never be fully purged from Peeta and it still gave him that difficulty to discern what was real or not and what he really wanted to settle down.

But the feel of Katniss' lips on his made everything clear.

This was where he wanted to be.

END

A/N: My first ever Hunger Games fic. I hope it's good enough. I'm actually quite sleepy when I wrote this.

I hope I can make another multi-chap one in the middle of June.

Thank you so much for reading and reviewing. :)