Hello my lovelies! Here's a little Saturday treat for you guys. The title says it all, so read on and I hope you enjoy! :)

Disclaimer: I still don't own The Hunger Games.


Mrs. Mellark was never one to give compliments to anyone, let alone Katniss. So when The Everdeens and The Mellarks met up in the town square late one August night for the annual Harvest Dance, the short, albeit passive aggressive compliment Peeta's mother gave to Katniss pleasantly surprised everyone.

"Your girl looks nice," Mrs. Mellark had gruffly said, her arms crossed over her chest. "Better than that hunting getup she usually wears."

A 15-year-old Katniss and Peeta had exchanged wide-eyed looks as they observed the tense pleasantries between their mothers. Mrs. Mellark had always held a resentment towards Katniss' mother, knowing how her husband still pined for her from time to time. But, Katniss observed with a small smirk, you couldn't blame Peeta's father for pining over her mother. Mrs. Mellark wasn't the most welcoming woman in town.

But indeed, Peeta could definitely admit, Katniss looked wonderful. She wore an old purple dress of her mother's, slightly worn with age, as were her dainty beige flats on her feet. The cap sleeves and the white buttons down the front of the dress, along with the delicate white trim, all complimented Katniss' slight figure with ease. Katniss, while always perfect to him, was much too slight in Peeta's opinion – not in a superficial way, of course, because Katniss was every bit as beautiful as she always had been. But from years of getting justenough food to eat, Katniss was always very slim. With help from him and his father, along with her amazing hunting skills, The Everdeens never went without for too long, though.

Tonight wasn't a night to think of those things, though. The Harvest Dance was the one rare celebration the people of District 12 were allowed. After a full year of collecting supplies, little by little, the town would convert the town square into a dance, with a food and drink table and a live band of talented musicians from the District. Despite their lack of lavish items and bountiful food supplies, the people of District 12 knew how to dance and have a good time.

Little by little, Peeta had worked with Prim to get Mrs. Everdeen out of her own little world. Katniss became much too frustrated to help most of the time, so Peeta and Prim took it upon themselves to coax Mrs. Everdeen out of her shell. Tonight, as Katniss and Peeta watched her mother mingle with the friends she hadn't seen in weeks, Katniss was overwhelmed with gratitude. In every way possible, Peeta had saved her and her family countless times, and had always been there to support her.

So as they danced song after song, always together and always laughing and smiling, Katniss kept a firm grip on Peeta's hand, only letting go to clap or for Peeta to twirl her when the dance called for it. Once, when Delly came over to ask Peeta if he would like to dance with her, Katniss had squeezed his hand tight and placed her free hand on his chest.

"Sorry, Delly. Peeta's my date for the night."

The girl had blushed and apologized, sending a knowing smile Peeta's way. Before Katniss had time to question it, another song had started and they were off on the dance floor again, sweating and laughing as they moved their feet to the music.

"So, I'm your date for the night, huh?" Peeta had asked her, taking a long sip from a cup of lemonade. Katniss watched him with a bright smile on her face, his cheeks flushed from the dancing and his eyes bright. A slight breeze ruffled his hair, and she bit her lip with apprehension, the smile still on her face.

"Didn't I tell you?" Katniss asked, feigning forgetfulness as she tapped a finger on her chin.

Peeta laughed and reached his left arm out to pull her into his side, tucking her shoulder comfortably under his arm as she rested her head over his heart. It was beating furiously, she noted, nudging her head further into the soft cotton of his button down shirt.

They watched their friends and neighbours dance and eat and laugh and joke, every once in a while laughing themselves as they overheard someone telling a joke from their place on the back of a horse-drawn cart just off the side of the town square, where someone would have to walk around a few more parked horse-drawn carts to see them. Haymitch Abernathy, the only living victor of The Hunger Games that District 12 had to offer, was sitting in a chair by the drink table, tapping his foot to the music as he took a swig from the flask in his hand. It was the only time Katniss and Peeta had really seen Haymitch at the Harvest Dance, or maybe they were just too young to notice. Peeta thought he was a nice enough man, but Katniss insisted that she had seen him drunk at the Hob more times than she could count, and the colourful language he used wasn't typically the kind you would hear from a neighbourly fellow.

"Katniss?"

"Yeah?" she distractedly answers, her eyes heavy and tired from the long night of dancing in the late-Summer warmth.

"You really do look beautiful tonight."

She cranes her head up to look at him in the slight glow from the lights in the town square and the moon, their legs hanging off the side of the cart. The light dances on his smooth, still flushed skin, and glows against his wide smile. She notices, not for the first time, just how long his eyelashes are, and she reaches out to brush his hair away from his eyes a little bit to get a better look at them. She rests her hand on his cheek, and they both laugh quietly.

"You really are very handsome, you know that?" she says, and it comes out from behind a smile but they both know she's being completely honest. His smile deepens, and he reaches out to tuck a few pieces of her hair behind her ear. Her mother has pulled Katniss' hair back into a low up do, delicate pieces of hair coming from her bun and framing her face. A few strands of hair stick to her forehead with sweat, and Peeta brushes those away from her face, too, so he can get a clear look at her now, with such a sweet expression on her face.

They've known each other long enough to know that however different this might be from how they usually are around one another, it's not wrong. The way her breath shakes as she slowly exhales, and the smell of her breath – lemons and summer fruit – fans over his face and neck, making goosebumps rise on his skin isn't wrong. The way his skin is so warm, but feels so cool when he rests his hand on her neck and his thumb grazes just underneath her ear isn't wrong. The way they smile at each other like they're sharing secrets isn't wrong.

Peeta waits with baited breath, allowing her to make the next move. They're so close now, his left arm wrapped around her shoulders and her left arm wrapped around his waist. To anyone who would look at them in this moment, they would look like two lovers in an embrace. He knew, though, that he would wait for Katniss, just like he always has.

Peeta's skin tingles in anticipation as her free hand brushes his hair away from his eyes softly and comes to rest once again on his cheek. Katniss feels dizzy; partly from how confusing her feelings are, and partly from the proximity of him making her breath catch in her throat.

Finally, slowly, they both lean in and tentatively kiss. It's simple and sweet, and all Katniss can think about is how he tastes like cinnamon and raspberries and mint, spicy and sweet and cool all at the same time. When they pull away, it surprises both of them that the first one to lean back in is Katniss, crashing her lips into Peeta's with the tightness she feels in the pit of her stomach giving her confidence. Their inexperience is lost on the both of them, the give and take of their kiss coming naturally to them as he pulls her bottom lip in between both of his own and brings it gently into his mouth.

Her tongue grazes the space just between his lips, and he happily grants her entrance with a soft moan that comes out as more of a breath. His fingers find themselves entangled deep into her hair, loosening her up do. He feels bad for a minute, reminding himself how much time was most likely spent on the hairdo that he just mussed up, when one of her hands grasps onto his shirt tightly and the other weaves itself into the hair at the nape of his neck. When she pulls on it slightly, Peeta grants her a small groan and she smiles against his lips.

Katniss had never felt this kind of feeling before. There might have been hints of it every once in a while, when Peeta would peel off his shirt in the hot summer weather in her backyard on lazy afternoons, or the mornings when she would go over to his house in town to wake him up for school and he would be tangled in his sheets, only a pair of boxers covering him. The blush would rise on her face, only to be stamped down quickly when she would refuse such foolish thoughts; most especially about her best friend. This time, though, she couldn't deny the feeling, and she let it rise and fill her stomach with something tingly and exciting.

Peeta, however, was fully relishing in the feel of Katniss' lips and her hands in fists on the fabric of his shirt. This girl, his best friend, the only girl he had ever been in love with and was entirely, 100% sure was the only girl he ever would be in love with. He pretended not to notice her long glances at his bare chest in the mornings before school, and he respected her want not to act on any of the emotions he saw, though brief, play across her face. Peeta had waited until she decided she wanted to act on them, and finally she was. His heart soared with every second they spent wrapped in each others arms, not wanting it to end but knowing the burning in his lungs couldn't wait any longer.

They pull apart with large gasps of air, still clinging to each other. Their damp foreheads press together and they take a minute to catch their breath, breathing each other in with the warm summer night's air. Until then, they had blocked the sound of the music and the people chatting out, and it came back to them like a wall of sound. They breathlessly laughed, trying to keep quiet but knowing the jubilation they had couldn't be quieted down.

After Katniss tried to rearrange Peeta's shirt, straightening out collars and re-doing buttons, and Peeta smoothed down Katniss' now unruly hair, they made their way back out to the party hand in hand, unable to wipe the smiles off of their faces.

And when Mrs. Everdeen and Mr. Mellark spotted their children making their way through the crowd of joyous, dancing people they couldn't wipe the knowing smiles off of their faces either.