A/N: Sorry for lame names... I noticed Capitol people had old roman names so I tried to adopt, but this story was so focused on hormonal teenage romance - just wanted to write this and be done with it... wasn't able to come up with many great names. My sincere apologies naming Peeta's brothers Alpha and Beta. *dodging stones* At least I gave Katniss and Gale's fathers the names of great roman generals - Lucius and Scipio:)
Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games Trilogy. No copyright infringement or disrespect intended.
The music was absolutely deafening in the crowded party. Artificially enhanced perfumes and mix of strong alcohol smells were intoxicating. Katniss was looking for Gale or even Madge, to save herself from this miserable place.
After searching around a few rooms, she pushed a button to open another heavy door with hideous hologram light swirling on, and stepped in to an extra parlor. Right on the threshold, heavy muscular arms immediately hugged her tightly and harsh whisper came:
"Please don't look. Let me get you out of here."
Even though those arms were impossibly thick and strong, the embrace was gentle and his voice was pleading. Desperately.
"Please don't look at them now... we can come back here later if you want, but not just now..."
While struggling in that stranger's arms, she could feel some of the girls in that room were gaping at her while the most in the small crowds were totally focused on what's going on on the expensive carpeted floor. Even though the hugging boy's wide shoulders and his prominent height were blocking her view mostly - preventing her seeing whatever is going on in front of her, Katniss managed to get a glimpse of commotion going on the parlor floor.
It was Gale.
She could recognize him in anywhere in any clothing. There were Gale and two girls, unmistakeably almost naked, limps and hairs tangled up, loudly panting and moaning.
She stopped struggling. She let those anonymous arms to drag her out of the parlor, till they hit fresh air on one of luxuriously decorated veranda.
"Hey... are you OK?"
The muscles asked, slowly opening his arms to put some space between himself and Katniss, to look at her face.
For the first time, she actually looked at his face and finally registered who it was. Peeta Mellark.
The popular wrestling champion at their exclusive school - the boy with those strange blue eyes, often she found looking at her.
Instead of curtly saying she's OK and leave her alone now, she felt her knees were giving up. He caught her up before she broke down in his arms and started sobbing.
He let her cry for a while, then she broke herself free only to kick frantically chairs and lamp posts, punching randomly other luxurious decor items with her fist. He caught her up again from falling down with one of the chairs and held her tighter. She sobbed in those strong arms for a long time and passed out as the night fading into a dawn.
He was looking down at the drive way where a giant moving truck was getting stuffed. His mother was moving out of his family house, although just to 20 minutes drive away, it was a great relief. She finally decided owning an ultra modern penthouse at the city center suited her status better than living in the great mansion her husband owned. Her company just doubled annual return and everyone was having a blast.
"At least you won't have to see her old cripple's ass anymore."
Alpha smirked at the youngest brother.
"Yeah, being underage sucks. Just hold on little while by yourself, baby bro, we'll throw you a party of your life time next year."
Beta added happily.
Father and his brothers just signed documents settling ownership of this mansion to Peeta on his 18th birthday, in one year. They had moved out of this mansion long ago. It's been many years that his mother and Peeta were only residence of this huge mansion. His brothers preferred to settle their new life close to their businesses. Alpha was expecting his first child while holding a top management position at father's confectionery chain - the biggest one in Panem. Beta managed to grow out of his teenage drug & alcohol adventures and was actually doing well at the toy company that mother owned. It was hard to believe that one of the hottest business in Capitol was a mere shrinking electronic gadget company she inherited from her family till a few years ago. Failed to upgrade the production line in tune with new artificial intelligence technology, mother's company was just something she couldn't be bothered to get rid of. It had to give up all advanced gadget lines (as none of them were 'advanced' any longer) and barely sustaining itself with some simple toy products only. Regardless, mother was cold and harsh woman but occasionally made efforts to her husband and sons and keeping up appearance as a family... until one night, after one disastrous party she attended -
Peeta woke up in the middle of night by noise of breaking glasses and shouting. He knew it was his mother, but was not sure what to make of it until the noise got closer and closer, eventually his bedroom door flung open violently. His mother jumped in and grabbed his golden hair into her fist.
"Look! Look at his face! that baby trash of yours can only be female version of this one. She could be his twin 5 years ago!" she screamed.
"That girl is not mine! I swear I haven't even seen any of Everdeens last 2 years! Stop being ridiculous!" his father barked back, coming into the room and freed poor Peeta's head from his mother's grip.
"Ridiculous? Ha! That's what you made of me in front of all elites of Panem tonight! Everyone was whispering how that trash looked just like you! NOTHING ALIKE FUCKING LUCIUS EVERDEEN!"
His father pushed her out of the room and the door shut as violently as it opened. Peeta's chin was haning open and his scalp hurt badly. He didn't understand any of it, but he somehow remembered the name. Lucius Everdeen.
After a few more days and nights of unsettling, violent exchanges, his father moved out "to work harder" to an apartment near his office. His mother started going out late at night and came back after the boys went to school. She would sleep for days and was out for weeks. After Alpha got big enough to move out, she started bringing weird looking people with her. Beta and Peeta would see some of them passed out at odd places in their huge house, mostly naked and sometimes strangely bruised. Beta couldn't move in with his older brother fast enough. At two of her sons' refusal, Mother made some effort to be decent - she moved her bedroom to the mansion's guest suits, a smaller extra building across the garden. Even though she and her guests were not in the same building as Peeta's bedroom, he could often hear them yelling and screaming.
Then one faithful night, his mother won a third prize at some card game at some crazy party she went.
She came home with Beetee the victor on tow.
Beetee, a genious electrician from District 3, was not a willing companion in mothers' usual stuff - violent sexual games, even Peeta knew by then-
He suggested to invent her a new toy instead. She jumped in the chance to upgrade her crumbling business.
But even she didn't know what extent of the success that new product would bring then.
"Just some kind of a new toy, to keep that shit production line going for 2 or 3 more years." She admitted once.
But Beetee's new sex toys using Peeta's childhood toy designs ended up being the best selling gadgets in Panem for next 6 years.
Peeta was absolutely disgusted discovering mother used his childhood drawings for those sex toys.
"Beetee found them in some boxes on his way to wine cellar. He liked them, and I didn't see why not."
Once those "new toys in town" started getting popular among middle aged Capitols, Peeta's father intervened and forced mother to sign and pay Peeta for his copyright.
"You could get a proper atelier built, if you like. Or even a baking studio - for our maître pâtissier challenges, you know." Father winked.
But seeing Peeta was not still convinced to take the dirty money, father's face got significantly serious.
"I know you are a good soul, Peeta. You don't want to make money with these kinda stuff. You don't want to fight even though you're strong enough to win. But that's why this money is even more important to you. Believe you me son, in Capitol, money is the best defense you can get."
It still disgusted Peeta to no end, that his innocent childhood toy designs were one of the best-selling sex goods in mother's now extensive production portfolio.
Mother started bringing and hurting even more people using her new found fortune. She still couldn't afford Finnick Odair or Gloss, but she enjoyed the cheaper and older victors as much, especially Chaff and the other victor who lost one of his legs.
Peeta couldn't decide what's more disturbing - that she was hurting old disabled guys as entertainment in regular basis at their family home, or that such a person was his mother.
Only if he could forget - but he couldn't - he was just holding on to sanity, making use of the steady income for his private lessons, sometimes purchasing exquisite art materials and channeling his anger into his art and sports.
Gale left for his post at the Peacekeeping Force in District 2.
He pleaded her forgiveness for 2 full weeks that he had between his birthday and the start date of his new job.
She cut his hand again, made him swore on his mother and shed his "polluted" blood in good a cup full, then forgave him.
It was not like she didn't know he was sexually active (really active, humph) and girls were throwing themselves at him in any given chance. He was 18 and she couldn't care less if he was messing up with half of girls in a stupid party or if it was Thom who tricked Gale to drink that stupid spiked cocktail for fun. Katniss and Gale had their pledge. He swore to not let any drugs in their system until they accomplish the revenge for their fathers' death. He was her brother and they had to keep their discipline straight for the mission. No fooling themselves with stupid party drugs and aphrodisiac substances. That was the first step of turning into a slave of Snow's corrupt & destroy policy.
Katniss knew Gale was still fully committed to their oath and he was ashamed of this mishap. She let go of it this time. He'll make his career at Peacekeeping Force and climb the ranks. He needed to succeed to go all the way up to even get a chance for their great mission. It'd be a long battle. She'd do whatever it takes. She'd be patient and wait for her time to come.
But there were something else she couldn't let go from that night.
Since the incident, those strange blue eyes and feeling of strong arms won't leave her.
She would dream about the hug, his warmth and pleading voice - think about them all the time actually. Broad shoulders covering her sight, protecting her from unpleasant discovery, strong arms catching her up from falling...
She also remembered him from their childhood. They were thrown together a lot belonging in a same social group - the group of Capitol's mid-wealthy class kids. He was quieter but happier than his loud macho-worshiping brothers, all of them popular with good looks and being good at sports. She could not forget one rainy night, about 4 years ago, when she and her father stopped at one of Mellarks confectionery shops to bring Mom some treats, just before closing time. While father was getting Mom's favorite cakes and sweets wrapped and boxed, Katniss was out with her black umbrella with black dragon on, playing a dragon knight in the rain. She saw a boy with bright blond hair and blue eyes just like Prim, handing away bread rolls to some tired looking Avoxes under a giant apple tree behind the shop. It was forbidden for normal citizens to interact with Avoxes, Katniss hadn't even come across them so much, but she knew they were Avoxes and the boy was the youngest one of the Mellarks. Their eyes met briefly before her father came out with cake boxes. She'd think about the boy with the bread from now and then ever since. What was he doing? Why did he do that?
Katniss and the boy haven't talk to each other for all those years, not even small greetings nor simple nod. It was like they were avoiding each other.
But lately she could not get rid of him from her mind.
'This madness cannot go on. It's just stupid hormones' doing.'
After 3 weeks of sleep deprivation and frequent wet dreams, she made her mind.
'I should talk to him, get him out of my system and be done with it.'
She waited him at the end of athletics training field. She used to see him sometimes walking to the end of the field, to collect those heavy objects he threw at the training. He was the only one who'd do those stuff himself, as if implying the Avoxes belonged athletic center's maintenance were too weak to carry such weights.
He noticed her hiding behind the net post of discus area.
"Katniss"
She avoided his eyes, dodged her head into her hood and started walking along.
"How are you feeling?" he asked as if he's afraid someone was listening.
"OK. Why?" she didn't know what else to say.
-this is stupid. I should have thought about what to say before coming here.
"... You were upset... at Thoms' party."
-Huh. Tell me about it.
"You've seen me around plenty after that."
- OK. Now you're making it like he is stupid. Great.
"Yes.. but I couldn't be sure. I've meant to talk to you but... it's just difficult at school."
- yeah, were we even existed to each other?
"Why is that?"
"... You're quite intimidating to most of us, you know."
-huh. says the muscle who is the reigning champion of stupid wrestling squad.
"You didn't have problem dragging me out of that stupid parlor."
His face colored into crimson.
"I'm sorry Katniss... if I... if I made it worse that night. I just acted ... sorry, I wasn't thinking."
- wait, why is he apologizing?
She didn't understand what he's talking about, but she had to get her angst released.
After kicking some small rocks off the running tracks, she managed:
"He's my brother. We swore each other no drugs will be allowed to corrupt us. We even shared blood."
- ? ... was not about him having sex with other girls? just about the party drugs?
Suddenly he felt like an idiot - he tried so hard to protect her from getting heartbroken and totally went out of his way raging against Gale and those stupid girls for days.
Even more, those heart broken nights he had seeing Gale and Katniss together all the time, year after year...
- what were those all for? Could she really telling me the truth? Tall, handsome and outrageously popular Gale had been with her for all those years... only being brotherly?
"Like those vamp guys? Aren't those flow enhance stuff also drugs?" he managed to play it light.
For some years, vampire stuff was in trend among Capitol's teenagers. Many changed skin colors, hair and teeth to suit the "vamp look". Drug that increase blood flow temporarily was also popular, for those vamp crowd used to have parties cutting themselves and drinking each others blood. It was banned by government a year or so later, for underage kids at least. Some adults were still doing those rituals.
Katniss mock-threw up.
"Ewww! nothing like that! Ours was a long long time ago, long before those vamp stuff... and we managed to get only 2 or 3 drops, not 2 or 3 cups!"
Peeta laughed. His laugh made her stomach feel funny in strangely pleasant way.
"So, what's up? What brought our glorious archery queen to humble athletic field today?" his eyes were sparkling.
She snorted.
"It's not like I'm that good. It's just other kids are too lazy to train, or too stoned to aim."
"No, you practically broke all records, even the adult ones. That is really good."
She was silent for a moment.
"I heard rumors saying our glorious wrestling champion is a gay, or lost his sexual ability playing too much with toys at home."
Peeta tripped on his foot, turning into crimson.
"..wha...what?"
"You heard me."
Awkward silence.
"... and what you're saying is..?" he managed, clenching his jaw.
Then it was her turn to blush furiously.
"I was thinking... if... if those rumors are not true..."
Silence.
"Those rumors aren't true." he croaked.
"and if you don't have anyone to... to hang around..."
Longer silence.
"... I don't have anyone." barely he voiced.
"I was wondering... if you... if you don't mind to be my cover story? I... my cover story just left to work in District 2."
His mouth hung open at this suggestion.
"Are.. are you sure?"
"... Yes."
"... ... ... Alright. I guess... I would... I mean, I'd like to hang out with you."
A bit of more silence, but with a great sense of relief.
"OK, Deal."
Tired Ms Everdeen found her older daughter waiting for her at her suit.
Katniss looked somewhat uncomfortable.
"I'd like to get those shots you suggested last May, mom."
"Oh…OK…"
Ms Everdeen was not expecting that.
"… could... may I ask if you are getting it for someone specific?"
Katniss's face reddened quickly.
"Nobody, mom. It's not like I have a boyfriend or anything. Just a cover story for school crowd."
She sighed.
"..So… there is a person then?"
Damn mothers.
"Yeah. Whatever. The Mellark boy." She spat.
"M… Mellark boys? Arn't they a lot older than you?"
Moms' eyes widened in horror.
"No mom, not those older ones. The youngest one. He's in same class with me. He's not too bad. And even the older ones don't look like Brutus anymore."
"Oh yeah. OK..."
Remembering, mom sighed in relief.
"Of course. Sure I met the oldest in some function last week. He seemed have grown out of that macho stuff, actually."
"Yeah, whatever. Just get me that shot now."
A/N: ahhh this story supposed to be a quick one shot thing, but it got too long... I'll stop here for now... didn't even have chance to show some of the hideously lame names :p
Sorry for not updating "Coming Home", I'm trying to get Betas to help me, so it's holding up a bit until I get lovely people to proof read my embarrassing stories... please be patient, if you're following Coming Home. I found it's also a bit depressing writing a story with District 13 as background. Life with fixed schedules in underground bunkers sucks. This story was my quick attempt to get some fresh air of Capitol's luxurious and wild life! Hope you enjoyed it. I might continue this story if it's received well ... it suppose to have more rebel element in it (see the title) but I haven't reached that far yet. I may re-upload this one too, if I get mercy from my new Betas... please send me messages if you're interested to help me!