"If this is a game," she starts. "I don't mind playing."

It's been two weeks since she uttered those words. Two terrible, bitter, awful weeks. He had been foolish to think that she was getting better, that it was going to be alright. He had been very foolish… and very wrong. She had shut closed. She stopped talking, stopped eating, stopped living. She was just, there. He tried his hardest, honestly he really did. The only thing was, he needed someone too.

And then one morning she's alright again, she's okay. And she's sitting with him on the couch and it's all okay. Until he kisses her, grabbing her face in his hands, slowly leaning in, and brushing his soft lips against hers. And she shuts down again. And then suddenly, she doesn't want him around.

"Peeta," She had whispered one morning. She looked frightened and scared. Her hair hung limply around her face as she numbly stood in the doorway. He looks up at her concerned and makes his way over. His six foot frame seems to tower over her, but she doesn't let it bother her.

"I want to go home."

He looks at her confused. "But… this is home. Isn't it…?" He was hesitant and scared of what words would fill in the silence.

"No." That one word alone was enough to make his heart sink. "I've packed my things again. And whatever was between us… needs to end…" She trails off, and analyzes his look. It's a look she recognizes; heartbreak.

"For now at least!" She adds, hastily. He doesn't say anything, he doesn't know what to say. He just goes to the hall, picks up a bag of hers, and walks out the door.

She feels as though a brick or anvil has been thrust into her stomach. This is your fault,her subconscious reminds her. She can't help the short clipped breaths that escape her mouth. Suddenly the room is spinning, and she leans against the wall as support. Her head spins and her body is shaking.

And that's when Peeta walks through his front door.

"Katniss?" He asks, hesitantly. He walks briskly over to her, slowly grabbing her shoulders and bringing her to him. She rests her head on his shoulder as he whispers mindless words of comfort. She doesn't register that it is in fact his arms around her, his mouth kissing her forehead, his words soothing her. And when it does register she only hugs tighter.

"What am I going to do without you?"

"I'm not really sure… but here you are planning on leaving." She can tells he's just joking, but it still stings.

"I know. I'm dumb."

"You know what I want?" He murmurs quietly, playing with her hair. She looks up from hiding in his shoulder, to meet his eyes.

"What do you want?"

"I would like to fall in love again, and just start as good friends. No camera, no capitol, no anyone, but me and you." He smiles lightly at her. "Let's not play pretend."

OooO

"So basically, what you're saying is you want us to be friends with sleeping benefits." He says, smirking at her. They're on the couch, legs on the coffee table, tea in hand. He turns his head lazily to look at her. Only to be met by a glare, which causes him to grin.

"I'm just saying let's just be friends right now… that sleep in the same bed… and calm each other down from nightmares." She realizes now, it was a better idea in her head. He slowly shakes his head at her.

"I don't know Katniss, I really don't think you could handle it."

"Handle what exactly?" She can't help but be a little enraged. Shooting him another glare he grins.

"I don't think you can handle my charm and seductive being." He tilts his head so she can feel his mouth on her ear. "Because I am very sure you can't" He quickly stands up, shoots her a crooked grin, and lets out a yawn. Stretching his arms so a stripe of tanned, scarred skin is visible. He leaves her alone in the leaving room, confused as to what happened

"C'mon Katniss let's go to bed!" Peeta calls from the hallway. She stands and follows, praying to god he didn't see her shiver at his words.

OoOoOo

The next two weeks aren't any easier. They had started over, sure. Just being good friends. They settled into a routine, slowly carving themselves back from the empty slates they were. He noticed how it wasn't working.

She wasn't alright.

One morning he had woken up late, the afternoon sun blinding him. He groaned and sat up. He let out a yawn, stretching her arms up. Swinging his legs off the bed, he heard movement in the bathroom. The tribute in him stiffened. He fists clenched and he grabbed the knife he kept hidden in his nightstand. Katniss was the furthest thing from his mind.

He stood quietly, hesitantly stepping towards the bathroom. He leaned against the door and breathed in. Glancing down at the knife he had in his fists, it had a green… no silver… No! Green! Wasn't it? Suddenly it was all silver and shiny. Suddenly he was in the capitol and he needed to…

The door opened and shewalked out. "Peeta?"

KILL HER! THE MUTT SHE'S RIGHT THERE YOU COWARD! KILL HER! STAB HER!The harsh voice in his head screamed at him. He dropped the knife in frustration, not noticing it landing on his foot. The girl stepped towards him. Was he supposed to kill her? His calm side decided to weigh in.

It's just Katniss you idiot. Calm down, breathe, calm. KILL HER. No don't be rash.The two voices started to overlap and intertwine with each other. He fell to his knees, gripping his hair, screaming in frustration. He opened his eyes and noticed the knife on the ground covered in blood…

Had he actually killed her this time? He returned back to normal, panicking settling in. He whipped his head around the room, looking for her. He screamed in frustration again, picking up the knife quickly. He hurled it towards the wall. It sunk into the drywall, still dripping blood. He brought his knees to his chest and leaned against the wall. His eyes shut as he tried to fight himself off.

"I didn't know you could throw knives so well." A quiet voice murmured from the doorway. His eyes flashed open and his blue eyes met her gray.

"Katniss!" He stood quickly, taking long strides over to her. His scar covered arms grabbed her shoulders and brought her thin frame to his. Her head settled in the crook of his neck. His fingers stroked her hair as he desperately tried to catch his breath.

"I thought I had killed you." He whispered. She pulled back and looked at him concerned.

"What makes you say that?"

"Well after I sort of calmed… there was a knife on the ground." He stopped to catch his breath. "It was covered in blood and I thought…" His eyes glanced up at the knife embedded in the wall.

"It's not my blood… it's yours. You dropped it on your foot." She says, placing a gentle hand on his face making him look at her.

"I'm fine and you're fine, aside from your foot." She smiles weakly. He suddenly registers it. His blue eyes grow wide and his hand hesitantly reaches up to touch it.

"Your hair." He whispers "it's short." He runs his fingers through it and stares in amazement. It was soft and as dark as ever. It ended at about her shoulders and framed her face beautifully.

She fingers the short ends subconsciously. "Is it too short? I mean do you even like it?" biting her lip she braved a glance at him. He smiles softly, kissing her forehead.

"It's beautiful, I promise. Did you cut it yourself?" he asks, as she laces their fingers. She smiles feebly at him and nods.

"Yeah it was time for a change. Now, let's go fix your foot, wouldn't want to lose another leg would we?" She says, smiling at him. He laughs and limps to the bedroom, trying his best to avoid getting blood on the carpet. He sat on the counter and placed his foot in the sink. Turning on the tap he let the cool water rush over his bleeding foot.

Katniss sat on the other side of the sink, her feet dangling off, watching the blood mix with water.

"Why did you have a knife in the first place?" She asks him softly.

"Ever since the capitol. I've had to have something near me. In self-defense." He answers back softly, turning off the tap. She slides off the counter and gets gauze from the cabinet below the sink. He takes it from her and wraps it around his foot. He sighs and slides off the counter.

"Good as new!" He says brightly, looking at the newly bandaged foot. She can't help the smile that follows. She also can't help but to stand on her tiptoes and kiss him lightly. When she pulls away he runs his finger through her newly cut hair, admiring the wavy locks.

"You can't wear it in a braid now." He muses, "You know, you look beautiful with you hair down." She looks down at the floor bashfully and brushed back hair. Never one to take compliment she manages "thanks" and a small smile.

OOOOoooooOOOO

The day pasted by uneventful. The sun slowly inched across the sky… slowly bringing the day to an end. After a quiet dinner he laid down on the bed staring up at nothing. She joined him grabbing his hands and stared into oblivion, trying to follow his train of thought.

An hour passes without a word until he speaks, "It's funny." Peeta starts, "Remember the time I held your hand in mine? During the chariots?" She nods and looks at him confused.

"It was like solitude for me." He lets a bitter laugh escape his lips. "When in reality, the whole world was listening and watching."

She flinches at the words, desperately wanting to take her past self and slap some sense into her. She settles on squeezing his hand and whispering,

"Sorry." She knows it's pathetic but nowadays, she can't seem to form or find words.

"It's okay. We were just entertaining… doing our job. Why did it have to be like this? I don't think I'll ever know. I just want to fall in love all over again. As new Peeta… as much as I hate it. I'm not the same and neither are you."

She wouldn't respond, didn't know how. He brushed off her indifference so easily it almost hurt. "I… I. When she called your name, Effie I mean, I remember thinking, No please I can't kill him. I. I don't know what to say or do." He didn't say anything for a long time. She was convinced she had said the wrong thing.

"When Effie called your name," He started softly, causing her to look at him. "My face fell and my stomach hurt. When she called mine, my first thought was… I cannot kill the women I'm in love with. And hell Katniss, I can't think about anyone but you, but please… let's not play pretend."

"Let's just sleep." And so they slept.

He woke the next morning to find her side of the bed empty. He pulled on a pair of jeans before he searched every inch of the house. No sign of her. He quickly ran over to Haymitch's. He opened the door without knocking and searched for the alcoholic. He found the old victor sitting at the table seemingly waiting for him.

Peeta wasted no time "Where is she?" Haymith sighed and took a swig of something in a flask.

"She knew you'd come here first. SO she wanted me to tell you she got authorization to go to whatever district her mom's in…I don't know, and she's leaving today."

"She left me?"

"No, not yet. I think if you hurry," The man lifted his wrist and looked at a watch. "Yeah you've got time." The blonde didn't move, just stood there frozen.

Rolling his eyes Haymitch stood. "GO ON…"

"Right. Okay thank you."

He ran out the door. Not stopping. He heard the screen door slam behind him. No stopping. He ran through victor's village, through the ruins of the seam, the ruins of his old life. He ran and didn't stop running until he arrived at the train station.

He yanked open the glass door and walked over to the ticket booth. "Katniss Everdeen, what train did she get on?" He asks the girl at the window quickly. The teenager didn't even look up at him. Just flicked her long blonde hair back and continue to file her nails.

"Who wants to know?"

"Peeta Mellark." As soon as he had said those works her head shot up, her green eyes wide. Her mouth broke into a huge grin, hardly containing her excitement.

"PEETA MELLARK! WOW! IM A HUGE FAN I ALWAYS LIKED YOU THE BEST…" She rambled on about how she was his biggest fan, always rooting for him, knowing he'd win. He clenched his jaw in annoyance.

"Yeah okay great. Where'd she go?"

"You love her still!" She screamed shrilly. "She got on a train to district four I think. I mean there's only one train leaving today… still haven't boarded yet, but I…"

"Yeah okay great thanks!" He ran out to the group crowded around the train, only to find Katniss waiting on a bench. She was fiddling with the zippers on her red suitcase… which was technically his. Her short hair was flowing in the air and her eyes were analyzing every passenger.

"Katniss Everdeen!" He said loudly. Her gray eyes glanced over at him, terrified. She stood numbly, watching as Peeta Mellark made his way over to her, white t-shirt on and without shoes.

"Of all the things you could've done to hurt me this is pretty high up there. You leave me alone… with Haymitch! And you didn't even say goodbye! You made Haymitch do it for you! What kind of person does that? Honestly. I don't know what I did wrong and to tell you the truth I don't give a damn…"

"Peeta, you're causing a scene." She said, cutting him off. Her fists were clenched and her eyes were threatening to water and spill over. He took one step closer so they were barley a foot apart.

"A scene? A scene! Wow. Because you've never done that before!" His anger has bubbled over and she knew it. In the three years she had known him, she had never seen him like this. "You know what Katniss? I have given you my entire heart and I know that's totally hard for you to comprehend. I mean god forbid someone actually gives two shits about you! Someone can't even love you, without getting hurt and I speak from experience. "

I am sick and tired of always being a maybe, an afterthought, a person who you only talk to when you need to!" She notices his face shift from angry to Peeta again. His tone changes and the world seems to sift. The only two people are him and her.

"And it won't be long before we're all gone because of our honesty. So let's not play pretend." He moved towards her swiftly, grabbed her waist, and locked lips with her. The kiss was electrifying, dynamic, and… well… love. It didn't makes sense to her or him, but it just felt like love. It felt like the fire they had worn on the outside was on the inside this time. Burning and blazing until they could take no more. His hands cup her face, and hers around his neck. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of being right, but she knew he was.

She had been selfish and cruel. Wanting something that was always right in front of her.

And so when he pulls apart, his forehead nearly touching hers. His blue eyes ablaze with passion, she feels as if she knows him backwards and forwards. He kisses her softly again and whispers,

"Please get it through your head you know that you love me."

OKAY HELLO. HI. This chapter was inspire by Let's not play pretend. Which makes me unexplainably said. Some of the dialogue was from that song and I am not taking credit for it. Also I do not own the hunger games

Imagine Katniss' hair like Scarlett Johansson's in the avengers.

Spacers are a bitch. Okay bye guys. Please review. It gives me motivation.