Surprise! Early update!

I won't bore you all with a long A/N tonight, but I did want to let you know that I posted a new one-shot. It is a post-Mockingjay canon piece that I did for day 4 (Romance) of the Piece in Their Game Awards on tumblr. It's called A Change of Heart if you want to check it out. I should warn you, though, it was done for romance, but the smut got a little away from me so it definitely earns its M rating.

Thanks, as usual, for all of the reviews, favorites and follows I received this past week. I am so glad you all are continuing to enjoy this story!


When You Were Young, Chapter 9, "I Know There's Somethin' I Needed to Say"


I'm not proud of myself right now.

Well, I guess in one respect, I'm very proud of myself right now. I mean, I just gave Katniss Everdeen- the girl of my dreams- an orgasm.

What I'm not proud of is what I just did in her bathroom...

I really couldn't help it, though. I'm only human. And I had lain there for thirty minutes-holding her while she slept, listening to her soft breathing, smelling the sweetness of her hair and skin mixed with the tang of her arousal, remembering how sexy and beautiful she looked at the moment of her release, remembering how hot and slick and wet she felt… There is no way, under those conditions, that my body was going to accept that it wouldn't be receiving any relief today. I finally decided I had to take matters into my own hands… Pun intended.

When I get back to her room I am surprised to see that she is sitting up in bed, rubbing sleep from her eyes. "There you are," she says, her voice betraying just a little petulance.

I have to grin at the cute little pout that she can't quite hide. "Here I am. I just went to the restroom," I say sheepishly, unable to keep from blushing.

"I was worried you left," she murmurs quietly. "You were gone for a while."

At her last words my blush becomes so intense I'm pretty sure my face could light the night sky. I try to speak but end up just opening and closing my mouth wordlessly. If only she knew… For what I accomplished in there, I was actually ridiculously quick.

I stand by her bed uncomfortably, unsure of how to break the awkward moment until I see understanding dawn on her face. "Oh…" she says quietly, lifting her eyebrows. "Peeta!" she cries suddenly.

"Katniss, I'm so sorry, but-" I begin, but stop abruptly because she rises on her knees quickly, kneeling on the bed directly in front of where I am standing so that we are face to face.

She places her hands on both sides of my face gently and says, "You didn't have to do that. I mean… I would've…" she trails off but keeps her eyes on mine and we just stare at each other. It takes me a moment to process the fact that she's not put-off by what I've done, just irked that I didn't let her do it for me.

I don't know how to respond because, obviously I want to accept what she is offering, but I don't want her to feel obligated. When I don't say anything she goes on, her voice now riddled with an uncertainty I'm not used to hearing from her. "Unless, you don't want me like that-"

"What!?" Now it's my turn to cut her off. "You can't possibly think that, Katniss," I say insistently, wrapping my hands around her wrists, which are still up by my face. "I mean, I want you to do that stuff. I just didn't want you to think that I expect it. You'd probably be totally freaked out if you could see inside my head… all the stuff I want to do with you."

She glances down, a coy smile spreading across her face. "I want those things, too. Maybe not all of them right away, but… I want to make you feel the way you made me feel." When she glances back up at me and meets my eyes with hers- liquid silver and full of heat- I think my heart might stutter to a stop.

"Okay. I'm going to hold you to that next time," I murmur, my lips already touching hers to initiate a gentle kiss. After a moment I break the kiss before it has the opportunity to become too heated and I slip my arms around her back, which is still bare except for her bra since she has not re-donned the shirt that I removed earlier. She wraps her arms tightly around my shoulders so that they cradle my head and tucks her face beside mine so that her breath whispers across my ear and neck every time she exhales.

"Peeta?" she says after a minute, her voice muffled into my skin.

"Yeah?"

"I was just wondering, um… what we are now…"

"What we are? You mean, like, to each other?" I pull back so that I can see her face. She nods her head silently so I continue. "Well, I think you know what I want: the same thing I've wanted basically forever."

She doesn't quite meet my eyes as she mutters, "But you've never actually said it…"

"I've never actually said it because I've been terrified that I'll scare you away…"

Now she has an adorably playful grin on her face. "Well, you'll never know if you never ask…"

"Fine." I remove one hand from her back so that I can grip her chin and pull her elusive gaze to mine. If she is going to make me expose my vulnerability then I am damn well going to make her meet it head on with me. "Katniss, will you be my girlfriend?" I say firmly once our eyes are locked on each other.

She nods and tries to look away again but I won't let her, keeping my hand on her chin. "I'll never know if you never answer…" I say mocking her words from a moment ago.

"Yes! Fine, Jesus…" she says, playfully pushing me away and laughing. But I have no intention of letting her escape, so I wrap both of my arms around her again before she has the opportunity to retreat. I hug her tightly and our lips meet a second later in a hard kiss. Just as I think that maybe I should let things escalate so that I can take her up on her offer from earlier, she breaks the kiss abruptly.

"What is it?" I ask.

She doesn't respond right away, just holds still, listening. After another minute she says, "Damn. Prim's home."

I look at her like she's crazy for a second because I don't hear anything, but sure enough, maybe thirty seconds later I hear the door open and close downstairs- I should know better than doubt her hunter's senses. Prim's gentle voice carries up the stairs as she calls, "Katniss? Are you home?"

"Yeah, Prim, I'm here! I'll be right down."

"Is that Peeta's car outside?" Prim calls up again.

"Um, yeah! We were just working on some homework for class." She scowls at me when I laugh at this-Prim knows we don't have any classes together- and hops off the bed looking for her shirt. She grabs it and walks into her small closet. When she emerges a moment later she is wearing the same shirt but has replaced her jeans (and presumably her panties) with a pair of black yoga pants.

Katniss has to stop off in the bathroom so I precede her downstairs and start making small talk with Prim about the project she was working on over at Rory's house as she digs through the fridge looking for something to make for dinner. When Katniss enters the kitchen she gently nudges Prim out of the way, "It's okay, Prim. I can make dinner."

"No it's fine, Katniss. I can do it so that you and Peeta can finish your homework," Prim says with a knowing smile.

Katniss clears her throat uncomfortably and returns, "We're all done actually. We were just finishing when you got home."

"Really? That's interesting… How could you have been finishing your homework upstairs when your school bag, with all of your school stuff, is down here?" she says with feigned innocence, pointing to where Katniss' bag sits on the small kitchen table.

I laugh, Katniss blushes, and Prim just prances out of the room with a grin on her face. I can tell by the way Katniss has her brow furrowed and her lips pinched between her teeth as she turns back to the fridge that she doesn't like the idea of Prim knowing we were fooling around.

I sneak up to her and hug her from behind. "Hey," I murmur into her ear, "its okay."

She sighs and says, "No, it's not, Peeta. I want to set a good example. I don't want my baby sister to think that it's okay to hook up with some guy because she saw me doing it."

"'Some guy?' Am I 'some guy'? I mean yeah, if I'm 'some guy' than I guess this looks bad… But, if I recall correctly, I'm pretty sure that I'm your boyfriend now. In which case, I don't think anything we do would qualify as a 'hook up,' and I think Prim is mature enough to know the difference."

She turns around in my arms and leans up to hug me and place a gentle kiss on my lips. "I'm sorry. That's not what I meant… and you're right. There is nothing wrong with us wanting to be together and she'll know that. I'm just so used to protecting her, you know."

"I know. It's one of the things that makes you so awesome."

She snorts and shakes her head pushing me away gently. "You know, I'm not so sure about that whole boyfriend thing," she says, grinning. "I didn't realize you were so corny when I agreed to that."

I raise my eyebrows at her and call out toward the living room, "Hey, Prim. Do you want to hear about what Katniss and I learned from our homework assignment…"

"Peeta!" she screeches, lunging at me and pressing a hand over my laughing mouth.


"I gotta tell you, Finn, I had no idea you were so needy," I say as I climb into his car. He showed up at my house an hour ago and proceeded to badger me until I agreed to go with him to get food. The hours of homework I have yet to do tonight are apparently not a good enough reason for me not to go.

"Hey, don't get pissy with me; I'm doing you a favor. You've spent the entire time you've been dating Everdeen with your head up her ass. That's not healthy, man. You need some time with the guys."

"What? You're so full of shit. You don't exactly qualify as 'the guys.' Not to mention that Katniss and I have only hung out like twice all week and-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know, whatever," he cuts me off before I can remind him how he actually crashed one of the only two dates Katniss and I have had. "So! Speaking of where you've had your head- has it been anywhere other than up her ass?" He asks glancing away from the road to waggle his eyebrows at me. "Unless we're talking about your other head… in which case, up her ass is a totally acceptable option-"

"Fuck, Finnick! Shut up! That's my girlfriend you're talking about, not one of the trashy slags you hook up with."

"Jesus, don't get your panties in a twist. Guys are supposed to talk about this shit. Spill it, Mellark, have you gotten on it yet?"

"Why are you being such a dick?"

"I'm not!" he says, laughing. "But one of us needs to look out for 'Peeta's little baguette.'"

I roll my eyes at his lame joke. "I don't need you to look out for anything. Katniss and I are doing just fine in that department without your interference." In truth, we haven't actually had any opportunity in that department since the first night when I asked her out, but I'm not about to tell Finnick that.

"Fine, I'll let it go. You've basically answered my question anyway- you wouldn't be this fucking uptight if you were actually getting laid," he mutters as he pulls the car into the lot of Capitol Diner, a small establishment on the edge of town.

"What are we doing here?" I ask. Finnick isn't known for his affinity to little greasy-spoon diners. I can't imagine why he would ever willingly choose this place.

"We're eating here, what do you think?" he says, attempting to sound nonchalant as he gets out of the car. I eye him skeptically as he holds the door for me to step through. "What? This place is good," he mutters defensively.

Finnick leads the way to a booth at the far end of the diner and his sudden interest in this place becomes clear. Annie Cresta is standing at the table right next to the booth Finnick has chosen, taking the order of the elderly couple seated there.

"Goddammit, Finn! Have you seriously dragged me along so that you can stalk out Katniss' friend?" I hiss at him under my breath.

He's saved from having to answer because Annie turns from the table she was waiting on and spots us. Walking up she gives us a smile that doesn't quite meet her eyes, "Hey, guys!" her voice is falsely bright and she directs her next comment at Finnick. "You must really like the food here… third time this week…"

I widen my eyes at Finnick, trying to get his attention so that he can see how pissed I am about this. He doesn't even acknowledge me, as he flashes Annie the smile that has proven so successful with ladies in the past. "Best food in town… prettiest waitresses too," he says, offering her a subtle wink that, coming from anyone else would be eye roll inducing, but that girls swoon over coming from him. Annie, however, doesn't see it because she is very pointedly avoiding looking directly at him.

"Um, what can I get you guys to drink?" she asks looking uncomfortable.

"Coffee, please," I tell her.

But Finnick pretends to peruse the little cardboard stand on the table with the beverage options. "Hmm, I don't know." He mulls it over long enough that we are both staring at him expectantly before he looks up quickly so that Annie is basically tricked into meeting his eye. He gives her the full mega-watt version of his smile and says, "You're the expert here, Annie. What do you recommend?"

"Uh, well um, the sweet tea is pretty good," she mutters, blushing and looking down to hide her small smile.

"Did you make it?" he asks, using a smooth voice that would break a lesser woman. When she shakes her head in the negative he continues, "Well, that's too bad… but I guess I'll have it anyway."

I kick him under the table as soon as she leaves. "I can't believe you brought me here so you could hit on her!" I whisper furiously. "Have you just been coming in here to harass her all week?"

"I'm not harassing her!" he whispers back. "I just… I don't know… I just wanted to see her. And I don't want her to think I'm a creep by continuing to come in here by myself, so I brought you. You're like a Labrador retriever when it comes to girls- they all seem to instinctively trust you. Seeing me with you will make me seem better… Not to mention you're dating her only friend in this town."

"Look, man, Katniss has never told me exactly what Annie's deal is, but I get the impression that she has had to endure some really fucked up shit. Why can't you just let this one go and find some other girl to go after."

He sighs loudly. "I know I've been a dick in the past, but… I can't explain it man… something about Annie is… just different. I literally can't stop thinking about her. It's like, I don't know. When she looks at me it's like she sees me, you know?" Wow. A rare glimpse of the real Finnick. The Finnick that only I would recognize… and apparently maybe Annie.

I don't have a chance to answer as Annie comes back with our drinks. "So, um, Annie," I say as she sets our drinks down in front of us, "Finnick was thinking about having a few people over this weekend. Not a big party or anything, just like me and Katniss and you and a few other people just to, like, swim and play pool and stuff. Real low key, you know. What do you think?"

"Katniss is going?" she asks uncertainly.

I nod my head, hoping I have a chance to text Katniss before she does. I just came up with this idea on the spot. I don't even know for sure if Finnick's parents will be gone this weekend. "Yeah, Katniss will be there, for sure," I say, hoping it's not a lie.

"Um, okay then," she says in her shy little voice, "that sounds like fun."

As soon as she walks away again Finnick reaches across the table and shakes my shoulder vigorously. "Ah! See, this is why I need you. She would have never said yes to me! I owe you big time, man!"

"Yeah, you do. Are your parents even going to be gone this weekend?"

"Of course," he says, rolling his eyes and trying to sound blasé about it.

"Of course," I mutter in response.


Getting a little Fannie action going in here! I am going to try really hard to get a little drabble up on tumblr sometime this week from Annie's POV. My name over there is the same as here if you are interested in looking out for that.

Also, I have been somewhat uninspired in terms of artwork lately, so if anybody has any ideas for something they would like to see drawn, I am open to suggestions! Just drop me a line. :)