Disclaimer: I love Suzanne Collins. She created these marvellous, Gorgeous Characters, and I feel privileged to be messing with them. I don't own them, never will and make no profit. Still love them though.
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Katniss
I was dumbstruck as I stood in the open doorway. Peeta only had his jeans on, his left hand hooked in his pocket, his right hand giving an awkward wave hello.
"Um…" I looked at him, unable to form a simple greeting, "Hi." He grinned, turning slightly pink and adjusting his stance slightly.
"You gonna invite us in?" Kiran's voice startled me, and I jolted slightly - I'd completely forgotten he was standing there. He stepped over the threshold before Peeta could say anything and I was stunned as he laughed, "Love what you've done with the place-"
"Cheeky git!" Peeta swung his arms around his brother's shoulders and practically vaulted onto his back - was this a normal greeting for them, or was he genuinely about to attack Kiran? "Ladies come in first!" I was still standing in the doorway, taking in the scene as Peeta glanced over his shoulder at me and smiled apologetically, before tugging lightly at his brother's hair.
Within a second, Kiran had pulled Peeta over his shoulder and thrown him onto his back on the rug, and was leaning over him, holding him in a body-lock.
"That'll be why you're showing off your muscles, will it?" Peeta's cheeks flushed red, but I wasn't sure if it was because of the effort it took to push Kiran off him, or whether it was embarrassment. I stared at the brothers for a minute, trying to work out how they could be related.
Peeta rose to his feet and ran a hand through his hair, and Kiran remained lying on the floor, shifting to put his hands behind his head and relaxing as he laid back and stared up at the ceiling.
"Katniss, come in, this is your house too-" he said, and his face broke into a huge grin, which frightened me slightly, but I came in anyway. Setting the key card onto the table and taking off my shoes, I knew my face was bright pink and my eyebrows had hit my hairline as soon as the gates had opened back down the road.
I was stunned, and I was scared, and I was a little bit terrified of what was going to happen. What if he hated me? What if he never wanted to speak to me again after everything we've been through? What-
I was broken from my thoughts by the sound of a buzzer, breaking through the happy atmosphere. I jumped out of my skin as Peeta turned quickly, sprinting into the kitchen, and I accidentally hit a large glass bowl with my elbow and sent it spiralling to the floor.
I swallowed, jumping back as everything fell on the floor, the keys, cards and notes already sitting in the bowl tumbling to the floor as the glass shattered into about a thousand pieces and I let out an involuntary yelp.
There was silence through the hallway as Kiran slowly got to his feet and stared at the mess on the floor.
"Katniss, you alright?" Peeta appeared in the doorway, holding potatoes on a metal tray with a tea-towel, and looking concerned, "I- oh." He took one look at the glass on the floor and stopped dead. "Wait there."
His voice was dead, with a sort of I-expected-better-than-this quality to it, and that annoyed the hell out of me. He reappeared a minute or so later, with a broom and a small dustpan. He looked at Kiran and thrust the implements into his hands without a word, then turned back and looked at me, offering me a small smile before returning to the kitchen.
I stared at the floor, feeling almost guilty as Kiran started sweeping up with a tiny smile on his face. When I could navigate my way to the kitchen, I stepped towards it and stopped in the doorway. Peeta had put everything onto three plates, and it looked delicious, but I was more concerned about the chef than I was about the food. He was sitting with his head in his hands at the table, his fingers locked in his hair and his icy-blue eyes boring holes into the table, so intense was his gaze.
"Peeta?" I spluttered his name and he looked up at me, terrified that he'd been caught.
"Uh… the food's- I was just going to call you - I should go and-" He was rushing his words and starting a million sentences without finishing them. His hands flew through his hair and he blushed a bright, embarrassed pink.
"Are you alright?" I heard myself asking, and he smiled, though his lips were pressed together tightly, "Just… uh-"
"I'm fine." He said firmly, his lips barely moving. "I-I'll just go and get a shirt on, and… um-" he stopped speaking as I laid my hand on his shoulder and he smiled slightly. I could feel the heat from his bare skin as his shoulders lifted lightly in a slight shrug.
"I've just got all of the glass, bro." Kiran said, and the moment was gone. Peeta stepped smartly past me and I felt the blush creep up the skin of my cheeks, I stared after him as he disappeared up the stairs and I flushed as Kiran caught me watching his brother through the glass on the door.
"He alright?" His lips curved into a slight smile, "Sorry I burst in, I seem to have stepped in on you two having a-um… private moment."
"Nothing private about it." I dismissed it, trying to keep my voice even and unworried, but Kiran was grinning widely, as though he knew something I didn't. "C'mon, we'd better start eating, or-"
I stopped, losing my words as I saw Peeta standing at the top of the stairs through the frosted glass on the door. I took a step forward and watched him step down the stairs carefully. He had pulled on a blue t-shirt, freshly washed, by the looks of it, that had the symbol of an extremely old comic-book character on it. I smiled involuntarily as I looked up and caught his eye, he smiled back and half-stepped, half limped towards the kitchen.
He looked vulnerable, as though he hadn't slept in three weeks, but at the same time, the muscle he had worked on were well defined under the shirt and something inside me stirred and I felt like I wanted to be closer to him. It was the feeling I'd had earlier when I'd reached out to my hallucination under the Oak Tree behind the Bakery. A desperation for warmth and closeness.
"You're staying for dinner, Kiran." Peeta said it as more of a statement than a question. His hand shook as he reached out for the doorframe to hold him steady and I stared, totally surprised that he was so… nervous? Frightened? Vulnerable?
I'd never seen him like this - and we'd been touring the districts for the best part of three months.
"Yeah." He nodded and took a seat at the table without speaking, though he shot a worried look at his brother and I caught Peeta shaking his head, mouthing later, and smiling lightly as he looked over at me. "Smells really good."
"Thanks." He nodded and smiled as he pulled out a chair. I expected him to sit down in it but he gestured for me to take it.
"You sure?" I said without thinking, the filter between my brain and my mouth obviously having been switched off. "I mean-"
"Yes, Katniss. Sit down; your food's getting cold." Kiran was short with me and I stared at him, completely confused and quite offended. I looked at Peeta; he was staring into his roast potatoes and trying not to smile.
I sighed and started to eat, thoroughly stunned by the fact that Peeta had cooked this quality food, and quite amazed by the fact that even though he had laid out a knife, fork and spoon for each of us, used to the practise because of our time in the posher districts, it was only Kiran who had picked them up and started to use them. I frowned slightly, but as I picked up the last potato on my plate, I looked over at Peeta and caught him grinning down at his plate. I had the sudden urge to start grinning too.
Peeta
As soon as she stood in the kitchen and asked me if I was alright I knew I was going to have an episode. My leg had started to feel weak as soon as I'd heard the glass shatter and I'd sprinted to see if she was alright. I had knocked my knee on the table and I was sure that I could make myself walk properly, but… my leg was going to give way soon, and I knew it.
I sat down at the table, staring at the wood and willing the pain in my leg to either fade or at least dull down from the roar that was making my leg hurt to the pins-and-needles pain that I was finally getting used to.
When Katniss started talking, I just blindly answered, feeling the roaring pain amplifying and knowing the longer I stood in one position, trying to keep my body from keeling over sideways, the longer I would need to lie in bed tomorrow morning, trying to calm the inflammation down and relax my muscles.
Capitol technology really wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
I stepped past her - she looked horribly upset by my treatment of her, but she also seemed to understand - I think she thought that Kiran's presence was irritating me, and it was making me act rude, but it honestly wasn't her. The pain in my leg was there most of the time… well, I say most, I mean pretty much a continuous barrage of screaming agony that was contained in my upper thigh.
I stumbled up the stairs, feeling Katniss's eyes on me all the time, trying to put on a brave face so she wouldn't see me fall and hurt myself again, so she wouldn't feel obliged to help me walk around, so she wouldn't treat me like a fucking invalid.
I walked through the house, straight to the master bedroom again, and dug in the wardrobe for a shirt, trying to find something that would be suitable and not completely overdoing it for dinner. Finally reaching the shelf with all the T-shirts laid out on it, I picked up a blue one which had the famous historical logo on it.
Superman was a comic-book hero, it was old and it was silly, but I felt right then that it was appropriate. Admittedly, I had only survived the Hunger Games, but surviving, living through it made me feel amazing, even though I had to credit it mostly to Katniss.
Right now, I felt I had to play at being Superman. Kiran knew that I had been having problems with my leg, all of my letters home had consisted of at least a page of complaint about muscle spasms, pins and needles, among other things, but it was only because I couldn't go to anyone else, because he was like my best friend along with my brother, and I had to be strong for everyone else.
He complained for a bit, but then, when I'd introduced him to Ella on the visit we'd taken to District Eight, he'd said he'd listen to everything I said, 'no matter how whiny'. To be honest, I think she'd made quite an impression on him.
I found some deodorant in the bathroom, used it, feeling the spray tingle as it cooled on my skin. It was an old brand, but it had been going for nearly five hundred years and I liked the smell of it, so I shoved it back into the cupboard and tugged the t-shirt on, pulling a face as I felt my leg twinge. I smiled in the mirror as I pulled the door closed, and stepped down the hallway, taking my time and holding my breath, taking in as much air as I could and trying to mentally numb the pain. Putting on my Superman Costume, I thought wryly and started making my way down the stairs.
I limped furiously down the stairs, catching Katniss's eye as she saw my movement from the corner of her eye. She smiled at me and I let myself smile back, watching the blush creep up her face unnoticed with more than a little pleasure. She really was beautiful.
I tried not to limp as I hit the ground floor and strode as purposefully as I could toward the kitchen, though, as I made it the last two feet, I felt my leg start shaking violently as I reached for the doorframe to hold me up, and I looked down at my hands. For a second, I watched them as I felt them shaking violently and I knew my body was bloody betraying me.
I stepped smartly past Katniss as she watched me, concern etched on her face, and I swallowed as I stumbled onto the chair I'd planned on letting her sit on. I tugged it out, on the pretext of being chivalrous and letting her sit down, and she looked at me, confused.
"You sure? I mean-"
"Yes, Katniss. Sit down; your food's getting cold." Kiran cut her off. He'd been watching me since I'd come down the stairs and I was pretty sure my face had gone pink, so I was quite thankful for the distraction.
I ate furiously, trying to find a way to make my stomach ache so I could forget about the throbbing in my leg. It was furious and annoying, and I managed to make it stop by burning my fingers on the roast potatoes as I shoved them unceremoniously into my mouth.
I let myself look up at Katniss as I ate, burning the roof of my mouth with another piece of potato as I did so, and swearing furiously under my breath. She was staring at Kiran, her mouth agape, and I was a little confused, then I saw her glance at the cutlery in his hands and I realised - he was using them and we weren't. I supposed Ella had had more influence there too.
I grinned widely at the back of her head as she watched him eat, a look of disgust at his Capitol-isation slowly creeping onto her face, and I noted her turning with only a second to spare.
I knew I was totally insane about her, Kiran knew I was totally insane, but she didn't. I don't think she'd like to find out about it either, and I had a feeling she'd quickly grasp the concept if I sat there grinning at her like a lunatic.
I ducked my head and smiled down at my plate. This was going to be good.
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A/N: I'll update, if you review? How's that for a compromise?
Love ya already!
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A/N:2 - to my anonymous reviewers:
Nairobi: I tried to get this as long as possible at short notice, and I hope you enjoyed seeing a moment from both of their POV's && I'm SO sorry it's taken so long, many a thing has been going on, and I've had very little time to get around to updating… real life's a pain in the arse sometimes… hope you're enjoying! Please let me know what you thought! xx
Jazzy: I'll update ASAP! And I hope I haven't let you down!! Haha hope you're enjoying! Let me know!! xx
Jamika: OMGOSH I'm so sorry!! I'd never abandon a story I love so much!! As I've said, real life has gotten in the way a bit, but hey, I'm back now, so it's all good lolol!!! And you do the same as me - I check for emails in the morning and my family look at me as though I'm obsessed… which, of course, I'm… *not* lolol I'll update soon, and hope you enjoyed this one - let me know however you wanna express the love!! xx
Egypt: I get what you mean about the song!! Lolol, the whole opposites thing, and I'm glad you're loving it!! I'll update ASAP - sorry about taking so long, but I've been vvvv busy and all that sorta thing!! Hope you enjoyed this one!? Let me know!!! (and I'm glad you like that I reply in my chapters - I'd never wanna leave anyone out!!) xx
Angie: Well, I hope this gives you more insight into what Kiran meant by things she might not like, it reckoned it would be quite like Peeta to rely on someone to hear him out but not to broadcast his pain to everyone… and I wonder how she'd react to it!? It's not only that he's adopted, as you well know now… Hope you enjoyed - Please let me know!!! xx
Aalaiya: Thanks for the love, hope you enjoyed the chapter - let me know!! xx
