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Once upon a time there was a group of teens. These teens all had one thing in common: there was something very, very wrong with their minds. Their corrupt minds brought forth into the world untold horrors. And to these horrors they gave a name.
In Canon We Trust.
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Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games, Peeta, or Foxface. Suzanne does. I do own the pairing though =D
Warning: I actually don't need one, unless your afraid of touchy-feely girls who insist that Peeta screw them.
Author's note: Allie here 3 You definitely missed me! Even though this is the first HGT ICWT. Oh, and hey, reviewers who reviewed the first chapter, it was a Fem!Gale. So he wasn't technically a boy. 'Kay, thanks :P
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Secret Meetings
"I have to stop doing this," Peeta whispered, his voice hoarse. "I can't keep coming. Katniss…the Careers…it's getting too difficult, Julia." His breath was hot on her cheek, and she flushed.
"But…I've helped, and we're…in…" She stopped speaking, trailing her words off into nowhere. She brushed her dark red hair back with one hand and then added, "Who cares about her? Them? We could try and get away."
"We could never do that," murmured Peeta. "It's the arena."
Nervously, out of habit, Peeta glanced around the damp cavern. The girl had crafted walls from twigs and leaves, and she'd even figured out where the cameras were and blocked them out for moments like this. Even though he knew that nobody knew what was happening, Peeta felt anxious when he was with the District Five tribute girl on these secret meetings. Even if they were in the middle of the night. Even if he had told no one. Even if not a soul had followed.
It was Peeta's own beating heart that brought him back to reality.
Julia sighed, "Don't worry, Peeta, the lenses are covered." He nodded uncomfortably.
"I know, I know they are, but…I'm supposed to be in love with Katniss." He waved his hands around helplessly. "It might help me win. Help District Twelve win, for once." Julia looked away at this. The slight light of the moon coming through cracks in her interwoven vines glared onto the sly features of her face. She always tried to hide her annoyance when he talked about wanting to win.
She would leave this arena victorious, and no one else.
Yet she felt a certain attachment to this boy. Maybe it was because she was stealing him from somebody else. Or possibly it was his ashy blond hair or blue eyes like a sea. Not that Julia had ever seen one before. Just puddles of rainwater in the gutter.
Peeta leaned in closer, and Julia told him, "You don't have to stop, you know." She bit her lip, hoping he wouldn't find the real meaning. He cleared his throat when he realised that he was leaning close against her in a slightly naughty way.
"I do, though," Peeta said. "How…how many times to I have to repeat myself here? I can't. It'll ruin everything. Maybe I'll see you sometime after this, and maybe we won't be trying to kill each other." Then he added the hardest thing that he'd ever said, "Try to die, Julia. Die so I won't have to kill you." He swallowed.
His secret lover did not move.
"I won't die," Julia said, her voice quavering slightly. "I can't. I'm too…smart…to die. I won't let it happen. So…so you'll have to die first."
A moment later, she was giggling softly. "What the hell are we doing?" she asked, sobering up. "Telling each other to die? After what happened?"
Peeta grimaced. "I did what I had to do," was his reasoning. He had run into Julia by pure accident, one night hunting on his own during his time with the Careers. He'd needed help with an accident, and she'd been there. Why she had helped, Peeta was not sure. He was glad she did though; otherwise, the pain from slipping and falling and being attacked by a few annoyed squirrels would have been too much.
"But I've broken up from the Careers now," Peeta said. "At least, in my mind. They just don't know it yet. And neither does anyone else."
"I do," said Julia. "I know a lot of things." She winked at him, and Peeta just recoiled a little bit. She was a little bit too…un-innocent for his tastes. He'd never tell her, but it was part of the reason he wanted to never come back to see her. She leaned over to him till she was scooting into his lap.
He sucked in a breath. "I've, er, got to go," Peeta said carefully. He slid his body out from beneath her. The leaves that served as a crude sort of carpeting crinkled softly under him as he moved.
"No, no, don't go, Peeta!" murmured Julia. He responded by beginning to pull himself away from her and out of her neatly fashioned cave-like structure. He wasn't afraid of her, even if others were. He'd noticed that sometimes, tributes would run if they got near her. The first day of the Games, he knew some feared her. Or maybe respected her.
He was different. For a while, he was in love with her. And she, as it seemed, still liked him a lot more than what was good for her. He had power over the girl from Five.
Julia lifted a knife she kept with her at all times. "If you go, I'd have to kill you," she said softly. The blade gleamed wickedly in the faint moonlight.
Rolling his eyes, but trying to keep his patience, Peeta responded, "You wouldn't do that."
"I just might."
"And what could keep you from doing it, then?" asked Peeta wearily as she raised the knife. His heart skipped a beat.
But those acting lessons from his brother all those years ago paid off. Julia didn't know that he was slightly frightened of the knife. Nor would she ever. He'd always known it was dangerous to be secretly going out with her. But he'd done it anyway. There was just something about her, he supposed. Something good or bad. He wasn't sure.
"You could screw me."
"Pass."
Ignoring further knife threats, Peeta crawled out the entrance of Julia's temporary home. She followed him out, leaving her knife inside.
"I'll miss you," she said, leaning towards him. She pressed up against him, wrapping her arms around his waist. He wanted her to let go. It was getting slightly uncomfortable.
"Same to you," Peeta whispered. She kissed him for all the cameras to see out there in the open and pulled away. "Bye."
"Hope I don't have to kill you, then," Julia called after him.
Shaking off the last of his feelings for her, Peeta headed back to the Career camp. He didn't look back. Peeta had never really liked sluts, anyway.
Luckily for him, Clove wasn't much of one. Maybe she wouldn't mind if he put his sleeping bag closer to hers tonight…
