I ended up deleting the two chapters before this one because I didn't like how they flowed with the rest of the story. For some background, Peeta has (obviously) been in love with Katniss for years but she has no idea. He's been acting weird for awhile so she is generally nervous around him, and Jo is doing her best to make everything as awkward as possible for all parties involved.
This chapter and the next one are pretty different from the rest of the story, and honestly you can skip them and you'll still be able to follow the story. Just gives a little bit more setup for their situation.
Please enjoy the story and leave me a review!
Age 18
"You're gonna look super hot, he won't stand a chance."
"Who? What are you talking about?" Katniss asked, blushing a little.
"You know who, dumbass. Peeta, your main squeeze. Besides me, of course." She winked.
"Peeta? Why would I want to impress Peeta?"
"Denial must be a very nice place to live since you're so eager to stay there." Jo smirked. Katniss opened her mouth to protest but a look from Jo silenced her.
A few minutes later, the doorbell buzzed and Haymitch let Peeta in.
"Hi, Haymitch. Merry Christmas." Katniss heard him say. She counted to 5 before heading for the door to her room.
"Hey, boy. Katniss should be out soon." Right on cue, she came around the corner.
"Hi Peeta." She suddenly felt very overdressed in eyeliner and red lipstick, at least she still had jeans on and not some stupid poofy skirt. She looked at Peeta, who'd suddenly become tongue-tied. He held his hand out to her, and she surprised herself by taking it. He pulled her closer and hugged her.
"Merry Christmas Eve, Katniss." He whispered in her ear and she gasped a little, it had been months since he'd last used her real name instead of some ridiculous pet name. She'd missed hearing it in his voice.
"Merry Christmas Eve." She echoed.
"I uh... I brought the gingerbread dough to make houses, I hope you have enough frosting for both of us plus Jo." He told her, gesturing to a bag he'd left by the door. She nodded, laughing and thinking of last year, when Jo had eaten almost all the frosting straight out of the bag.
"Yeah, I think we do. If she eats a whole bag, she forfeits her candy rights." Katniss said. Peeta agreed and then entered the kitchen.
"Jo, I'm offended that you didn't come greet me, I was stuck with Haymitch till Kat came out." And there it was again, nicknames.
"Yeah, one, I don't care, two, I didn't wanna be there while you went all jaw drop on the bird when you see how hot she looks. And babe," She said to Katniss, "You do look smokin tonight if this moron didn't tell you." Peeta rolled his eyes but his cheeks colored slightly.
"This one of the gay nights?" Katniss asked dubiously.
"You know it, my bitch!" Jo smacked a kiss onto Katniss's cheek and pinched her ass while she left the room. Katniss sighed heavily and plopped onto a chair.
"What are we gonna do with her."
"Ignore her and hope she goes away?" Peeta suggested, sitting next to her.
"I don't hope she goes away, just that she'd find someone that likes her that way too. Then maybe she'd stop hitting on us." She laughed slightly. "No wait, it's Jo. She'd do it just to annoy us huh."
"Yeah, she needs someone who will put up with her shenanigans. Too bad Haymitch is old." He laughed. Katniss gagged.
"I'd hate to watch that romance play out." They both laughed and started working on their houses.
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During the Pictionary game, Peeta sat uncharacteristically close to Katniss. In a way, she didn't mind, as he had been exceedingly sweet to her all that night. But on the other hand, there was so much potential for something to go horribly horribly wrong, like if she turned her head and accidentally kissed him?
"I'm gonna draw the next one, right?" He asked her quietly, gently caressing her hands which rested in his. She nodded, turning her head and leaning away just a tiny bit to look into his eyes, which were oddly hazy tonight, looking nearly green.
"Yeah, and thanks to you, we'll win the game." She told him, and he grinned, squeezing her close to him and tucking her into his shoulder.
"Your hair smells good, did you get new shampoo?" He asked her, leaning down to inhale the scent.
"Yeah, you like it? It's supposed to smell like an ocean breeze but apparently our oceans aren't top quality because I've never smelled a beach that smelled like this." She joked, and he laughed enthusiastically.
"I'm thirsty, I'm gonna go get us some more eggnog, okay love?" He told her suddenly. She nodded. He brushed her hair off her face and rose off the love seat they'd ended up on.
As soon as he was out of earshot, Johanna and Haymitch burst out into laughter. Katniss scowled.
"What?"
"Him, he's so..." Haymitch struggled for words.
"Affectionate!" Jo finished. "Like he wants to inhale you and kiss you to death and put you on a chaise lounge and stare longingly at you for all eternity." She managed between her laughs. Katniss rolled her eyes.
"What did you do, Jo?"
"I-Isp- I spiked his eggnog!" She sputtered joyfully. "He's had like four mugs of it and he's sooooooooo tipsy!" She crowed while Katniss jumped up.
"You what?" She exclaimed. Haymitch grinned.
"Sweetheart, think about how moody he is nowadays and how cheerful he is now. Although it sickens me to watch him, I have to say it's an improvement and I know you agree." Katniss sat down, thinking.
Yes, she had to agree that this was much more like the Peeta she'd grown up with. She'd missed him.
Peeta came back into the room, grinning widely, and Katniss grinned back, deciding to enjoy her friend as long as he was like this.
Jo arched an eyebrow as Katniss seemed to encourage the affections of their off-kilter friend. Katniss pointedly ignored her.
"Hi guys!" Prim squealed as she came in the door, laden with gift bags.
"Hey, Primmy, what's good lil friend?" Jo held her arm out and Prim hugged her.
"I just got back from Rue's, look what she gave me!" Prim pulled out a long red scarf with huge white pom poms on the end.
"Eyy, just in time for the firework show."
"Yep! I'm gonna go make a list of what came from who, I'll be back soon!" Prim scooped up her bags again and darted into her room. Mrs. Everdeen smiled indulgently after her, then followed to her own room after greeting Haymitch and Peeta.
"Okay, let's finish this up, I'm bored." Jo complained, and Peeta rolled his eyes before groaning a little.
"What?"
"I'm sorta... getting a headache, sweet pea, that's all." He told her, drinking more of his eggnog. Katniss didn't stop him.
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"Do you like it?" Katniss asked, hopefully.
"Of course I do, it's delicious." He assured her.
"Hey Peeta, can you help me to hang this up over my window?" Prim interjected, coming into the room with a giant gold star in her hands.
"Yeah, sure Prim." He set down his mug and followed her out.
"He won't be able to hang anything, he's so tipsy." Jo snorted from her chair, holding her Vixen the reindeer mug.
"And whose fault is that." Katniss retorted.
"It's mine, all mine, I take full blame." Jo laughed into her hot chocolate. Haymitch cleared his throat.
"This is a one-time thing, Johanna, it's funny now, but don't mess him up, got it?" He ordered her, and Jo waved him off.
"Yeah, he wouldn't fall for it again anyway, don't worry."
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As she was clearing away the last of the dishes from the living room, Peeta surprised her by wrapping his arms around her from behind and pressing his cheek to hers.
"Oh! Hi, Peeta, I thought everyone had gone to watch the fireworks." She exclaimed.
"I stayed back, I know you don't like them." He told her. She smiled.
"No, I don't like them. Thank you for staying." Even from the inside, the explosions scared her and brought back memories she didn't want to relive. Peeta was a welcome distraction.
"But you can't let these pretty little hands do all this work alone tonight," he took the dishes from her hands placing them carefully in the sink. "Let's relax while they're gone." He suggested, leading her back through the doorway to the living room. He paused under the arch, looking up.
"Oh dear, looks like we're under the mistletoe..." he smiled, trailing off, then looking down intently at her lips. Katniss's heart started beating in her chest as she realized her best friend was about to kiss her.
"But," he sighed, "we wouldn't want to mess up that pretty lipstick, do we?" He leaned down to kiss her cheekbone instead, his warm breath burning her skin as his lips didn't leave her face right away. His hand came up to touch her hair and brush his fingers along her jawline. She was suddenly cursing the glittery red lipstick Jo had insisted upon, but then quickly wondered why she WANTED Peeta to kiss her in the first place. She shook the thought off.
She ducked under his arm to go to the couch. He sat beside her and helping her put away all the pencils and paper pads littering the game table.
Peeta mentally berated himself.
'Shit shit shit shit shit
I fucked up I really fucked up. I should never have kissed her. what was I thinking?'
When the first firework hit the sky at 12, midnight, Katniss shrieked and jumped into his arms, fighting off tears.
"Shh, shh Katniss, it's okay. It's okay, I'm here with you, I'll keep you safe." He whispered over and over in her ear while sobs wracked her body. After a few more sniffles, she sat up a little, wiping her eyes.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't expecting them to start so soon." She apologized. Peeta smiled and shook his head.
"I don't mind, Katniss." He hooked his arm behind her knees and one behind her shoulders to pick her up, bringing her into the bathroom.
Gently, he helped her wash off her ruined makeup and take her long hair out of its intricate braid. She still jumped at every explosion, but they didn't scare her nearly as bad as the first had.
When her face was clean and her hair down, she held her arms out to him and he smiled, carrying her to her room.
"Do you want to put on your pjs?" He asked softly. She nodded, asking him to turn around while she did so. When she finished, yawning and feeling her eyelids succumb to the drowsiness that encompassed her, she reached out to him again, begging him to stay with her.
"I can stay till you fall asleep, honey, but I don't think I'm allowed to stay the whole night." He said sorrowfully. "Besides, I think someone must've put something in my drink tonight, because everything is a bit fuzzy. I'm guessing I'll feel like shit tomorrow." He grimaced foggily. She agreed with him.
"Stay for a while then, please?" She asked, and he acquiesced, kicking off his shoes and slacks and sliding into the narrow bed beside her.
"Katniss, I..." he trailed off.
"Hm?" She murmured.
"Never mind." He told her, snuggling her close to him and holding her tight as each bang hit their ears.
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Mrs. Everdeen found them that way when she returned later that night with Prim. She took note of Katniss's intimate position, her back pressed against Peeta's front. Katniss was already asleep, but Peeta would have to go home, she didn't want something like this to become normal or acceptable. As gently as she could, she woke Peeta.
"Hm?" He groaned, his voice heavy with sleep and his system drugged.
"Peeta, I think you need to go home, your family will be worried about you." She told him. His eyes grew wide as he realized who was talking.
"Mrs. Everdeen!" He hiss-whispered. "I-I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to fall asleep, I just was helping Kat sleep with the fireworks and all-" he explained, carefully detangling himself from Katniss's limbs. The slight slur of his words coupled with his broad, imprecise movements clued Mrs. Everdeen in.
"Peeta... are you drunk?"
"I-I think I am, I swear I didn't mean to drink, I don't know what happened, I'm blaming Haymitch or Jo, one of them must've put something in my drink. I swear, I didn't touch her though, I swear." He couldn't look at her as he hurriedly tried to excuse himself, realizing he didn't have pants on and not really wanting to get out of the bed in his boxers.
"Alright, Peeta, I believe you. But I don't want this," she gestured to the bed, "to be a regular thing, alright?" He nodded and she left the room.
Peeta sighed, leaning his head, which had started to throb painfully, on his hands. Sliding carefully out of bed, he pulled on his pants and grabbed his shoes, painfully aware of the semi-hard-on he had from holding Katniss. He adjusted himself and tiptoed out of the room, tearing his gaze from the girl of his dreams and closing the door behind himself.
Tying his shoes in the living room, Peeta tried to remember what had happened that evening, much of his memory being clouded from the alcohol. He'd just spent one of the nicest Christmases he'd had in years and now he couldn't remember it. Mentally cursing Jo and/or Haymitch, he stumbled out the door and down the hall to his own apartment, tripping on his way in and falling asleep on the couch where he fell.