A/N: The song for this chapter is The Boxer by Mumford and Sons.

Okay, I'm so sorry guys. I know that it's been a ridiculous amount of time since I have updated this story—almost a month. Life threw me for a loop and sent me scrambling, but I think everything is under control now. Again, I apologize for the delay.

Also, I want to thank my new beta sunfish dunes for doctoring this chapter. 'Fabulous' is all I can say to her.

Happy reading!

Chapter 4: The Boxer

Peeta's POV

With each passing hour the sky gets darker and the bar gets louder, but Prim's words have set my mind to work.

I'm going to show her me. I want to show her what I'm like. I want to show her who I am. I want her to like me.

Who am I?

I'm a baker. She knows this; I can cross that off the list. I paint—that's something she doesn't know. Off the top of my head I can't think of anything else about me that has substance. Damn, I'm boring.

I'll show her my paintings.

"What are you doing tomorrow afternoon?" I quickly ask Katniss, who has been staring at Prim ever since a gentleman asked her to a dance on the makeshift dance floor on the other side of the bar.

Katniss doesn't turn her head away from Prim's direction. "Hmm?"

"I asked what you were doing tomorrow."

"Yeah, all right."

"You're not paying attention, are you?" I'm a little amused by this.

"That sounds fine." Her eyes are glued to Prim—as though if Katniss takes her eyes off of her, Prim will disappear.

"Katniss," I call softly, "she'll be fine. I know that guy; he's as harmless as a fly. He may be as annoying as a fly, but he won't touch her in any way that's inappropriate."

Katniss' attention is transferred to me, and she asks with a hard look, "You're sure?"

"Positive."

She gives a little nod, "Okay. Now, what were you saying before?"

"What are you doing tomorrow?"

Her answer comes with a shake of her head, "Nothing."

"Will you meet me at the bakery around 5:45-ish? Maybe a few minutes later than that?"

"Yeah, I can be there. Do I need to wear anything special?"

"Nope. Whatever you're comfortable in."

She smirks. "Fantastic—sounds like my kind of date."

Her words make me pause. Date? I didn't think this was a date. I posed it as an afternoon hanging out with each other and getting to know each other, not a date. Not that I would mind if it were a date. As a matter of fact, I definitely don't mind.

Prim walks back and throws an arm over her sister's shoulder, effectively ending our conversation. In fact, the closer Prim gets, the more closed-off Katniss' expressions are. I'm assuming she doesn't want to talk about things in front of her sister, but I find that odd because Prim obviously knows something about me—our conversation earlier when Katniss was in the bathroom is clear and cut evidence of that.

"Kat, can I have another drink?" Prim asks close to Katniss' ear.

"No."

"Please?"

"Nope."

"Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

"Not going to happen, Prim. I said one; you've already exhausted your limit."

"But, Katniss, I'm your sister."

"And what the hell does that have anything to do with it?"

By this point, I can't smother my chuckles anymore. I quietly laugh and try to conceal it behind my hand. Katniss doesn't seem like the type that will take too kindly to being laughed at. She shoots me a glare, and I try to quit laughing by taking a sip of my drink but I can't keep the smile off my face.

"It has everything to do with it," Prim continues.

"How so?"

"Because it means that I keep secrets from you… and I might have a reason to celebrate tonight, okay?"

"Oh, do you? Pray tell, little duck, what is your 'secret'?"

Prim hesitates before she leans in closer with a smile that is so big that it could break her face in two. "Rory asked me out."

This is not what Katniss was expecting; I can tell by the absolute shock on her face that she doesn't make any attempt to hide.

Katniss stammers, "What?! Really?"

"Yes!" Prim squeals.

I don't know who Rory is, but Prim seems very excited about him.

The shock fades off Katniss' face a little as she beams at her little sister. "That's fantastic, Prim! I'm so happy for you; I never thought he would work up the nerve. He can barely get two words out when you're around—whether it's because he's nervous or because you never stop talking, I haven't exactly figured out."

Prim's eyes narrow at Katniss' words. "You don't need to be an ass."

"I still wonder about it. Because you were both always so red-faced but had totally opposite reactions. He couldn't get one word out, and you couldn't stop rambling. The fact that you stopped talking long enough for him to ask you out is impressive." Katniss starts chuckling at the frown on Prim's face and calls out for another beer which she hands to Prim. "Congrats, little sister."

"Thanks," Prim grumbles as she sits next to Katniss.

"Come on, little duck," Katniss pokes Prim in the side, "You know I was just kidding. I'm really excited for you. I know how much you like him."

"I know you do. Sorry for being a baby."

"Don't apologize. I love you, no matter who you are—especially your sensitive side."

Prim smiles at her sister. "And I love you, too. But your drunken side is a little irritating. You don't know when to shut up when you're drunk."

"Come on! I'm not even that drunk yet."

"Well, what do you want me to say? That your drunken side, your buzzed side, and your sober side are all a little irritating?"

Katniss pauses. "Uh, no. We can keep it at drunk."

Johanna's voice rings out, "Hey, Kitty?"

"What, Joey?"

"Can I crash at your place tonight? I don't want to go home; Clove is back from her business trip, and I don't want to deal with her while I'm drunk—it never blows over well. I wish she didn't come back, and I still had the place to myself."

Katniss sighs, "Joey, if you don't like her and never have, why did you agree to room with her?"

"Impulsive decision. The wrong impulsive decision."

"At least you recognize that you were wrong. Yeah, I guess you can stay over tonight. The couch has your name written all over it."

"What no room for me in your bed with you and Primmy?"

Finnick jumps into the conversation before Katniss retorts, "Why do you call her Joey, Katniss?" His words are slurred, and his skin is flushed. I'm going to have to make sure he doesn't drink anymore.

Johanna glares at Katniss, who bursts into laughter—so hard that Katniss lays her head down on the edge of the bar while her body shakes with the force of her chuckles, and she clutches her stomach.

Finally, Katniss regains enough composure to speak. "Well, I met Jo in kindergarten, and she was a few grades ahead of me. It was during recess when I met her. She was picking the bark off the tree I was sitting in, and I told her to quit. She didn't know where my voice came from, and she looked pretty scared—"

"I was not scared!" Johanna interrupts. "I was surprised."

"Don't lie; you almost pissed on yourself! Anyway, Jo had a boy haircut back then—"

"Like she does right now?" I interject with a smirk.

Johanna bristles. "Okay, fuck you. This is a pixie cut, not a boy cut. It's fashionable."

"Very similar to her hair now," Katniss continues "and she didn't have any feminine features yet, so I assumed she was a boy. I heard some kid yell at her and I thought they called her Joey, which made sense at the time because of the whole boy thing."

"So the next day, I saw her in the hall and asked if she planned on hurting any more trees soon. She looked freaked, and I just walked away. She probably thought I was God reincarnated into a little girl or something. Eventually, we just started tagging along with each other, and I found out that she is, in fact, a girl. I'm pretty sure she proved it by pulling her pants down and flashing her vag. But I still called her Joey, and we've been friends since."

"Except that one time I called you bitch and you didn't talk to me for a week," Johanna adds. "I finally had to tell that I was just mad when I said it and that didn't mean it. It was hard for both of us."

"When was that?" I ask.

"The summer of '07, I think."

Prim excuses herself to the bathroom, and Finn leaves to find a suitable girl for the night. Jo leaves to get another drink and talk to a guy sitting at the other end of the bar. He looks about ten years older than she is.

"She's a reverse cougar," Katniss whispers into my ear.

"What?" I can't focus on her words—the feeling of her breath on me is distracting.

"She goes for older guys instead of younger ones. I don't know why; she just says that it's a performance thing."

I raise my eyebrows as Katniss leans back from my side. When she's back in her seat, she shrugs and gives a half-smile to my raised brows.

"Oddly enough, I doubt that's the thing I'd find weirdest about her," I mutter as I cast a glance over at Johanna and observing her flirting techniques.

"No, if you knew her like I did, you'd run for the hills."

"Why did you stay?"

With an intense look, she stares right into my eyes. "I like things that aren't necessarily the norm. I like challenges. I like things that I—and everyone else—don't think I can have. I like proving people wrong."

"I like you."

The words slip out of my mouth. I guess my brain thought it was a game—she lists things she likes, and I make an ass out of myself by listing something I like.

"I like you, too."

I can't believe she said that out loud—that we said it out loud. I don't know how to respond. Maybe I need to stop drinking if I can't control the words coming out of my mouth.

Katniss sloshes her drink around a little. "I think this is going to be my last drink," she says quickly.

"I was just thinking the same thing."

Katniss slowly sips her drink and looks away. This is awkward. I want to relieve the tension that our admissions brought.

"I never asked you what your line of work is." I'm grasping at straws her, but here goes nothing.

Katniss chuckles, "Actually, I'm a forester."

"That explains the save-the-tree attitude in your story."

"I guess it does," Katniss laughs.

"What made you go into that field?"

Out of nowhere, Katniss becomes uncomfortable and looks away, shifting in her seat while she wrings her hands. "Uh, well, when I was a kid, the save-the-tree, um, attitude was kind of instilled in me. By my father. He had a lot of influence in my life—more than he ever got to see."

After a minute, her words kick in, and I realize that she's telling me that her father is deceased. "Hey, I'm sure he was a great man." I reach out and take her hands in both my hands. "Seeing how he had influence in your life, he had to have been an extraordinary man because you are a wonderful woman to be around."

When Katniss finally looks up at me, her silver eyes are shining with unshed tears. "Thank you, Peeta. That means a lot to me that you would say that."

"Any person who has spent over five seconds with you could say that." I pause. "You're a woman who deserves to be told that every day for the rest of her life. You deserve to be cherished."

"It's not just what you said. It's the look in your eyes." At my raised brow she continues, "You meant what you said and… there was no pity. You don't pity me. You don't look at me like a broken toy that needs to be fixed."

"That's because you're not a broken toy." I pull her chin up so her eyes will meet mine. "You're not. You're a strong woman who has had to deal with the loss of her father, the most influential man in her life. So no, I won't look at you with pity—you've grown from him; I'll look at you in awe. In awe of your strength and valor and righteousness—in reverence."

A single tear slips from Katniss' eye as she gives me a slow, sad smile. I wipe it away with the pad of my thumb.

"Hey, no tears—not unless they're happy tears." I lift up the last of my drink, "To Mr. Everdeen, a marvelous man who I never had the honor of meeting."

Katniss clinks her drink against mine. "Cheers."

As we down the remains of our last drinks, we don't break eye contact. Her silver eyes stare directly, intensely into my blue ones without blinking.

When we set down our glasses, the stare down doesn't stop. Neither of us will be the first to break the silence.

Hands that land on both of our shoulders are what break the trance.

Johanna laughs loudly. She's drunk.

"Hey there, Kitty Kat. I'm ready to head out. I got what I came here for," Johanna slurs in Katniss' general direction with glazed-over eyes. Her skirt is bunched slightly at her waist, and her shirt is off-kilter. If her hair could possibly be less tame than it was before, it is.

"Uh," Katniss shakes her head slightly, "yeah. Yeah, we can go. Where's Prim?"

"Little Primmy? Somewhere over there." Jo vaguely gestures toward the other end of the bar behind Katniss.

"Actually, drunk-ass, I'm over here." Prim appears at my shoulder—the opposite direction that Jo pointed in. Her smile looks especially smug as she looks at the three of us. When her eyes rest on me, I swear she gives me a slight wink. "We heading out?"

"Yeah, Joey wants to." Katniss turns to me with a slight smile. "It was good seeing you here, Peeta." She hops down from her stool and leans in close to my ear. With one hand resting on my face, she whispers in my ear, "Thank you; I'll never forget that." My eyes flutter closed at the feeling. "See you tomorrow." And with that, she's gone.

"Bye, Peeta!" Jo says as she's led away by Katniss.

Prim stays behind to give me a hug goodbye. She too whispers in my ear, but it's not sensual like Katniss'.

"You're going to be good for her. You'll both see it. With time," she says in my ear. "You two have fun tomorrow!" Prim exclaims as she trots after her sister.

I'm left alone, sitting at the bar thinking about two sisters who couldn't be more different, except for the one thing they share—their way with criptic words.