This is the last chapter for this story! I can't believe it, it's currently the longest story on my profile (and still under 30K :P), and I had such a good time writing it. Last chapter ended on a sad note, but this one will be good. I hope you've enjoyed the story, thank you so much for staying with me til the end!

Enjoy the last chapter of BRONTIDE!

Katniss woke up cold and feeling empty. She rolled over, realizing she was missing the big warm body that had kept her company for the last week. Sighing, she got up and changed her clothes from her comfortable sleepwear into comfortable lounge wear.

The rest of the gang would be coming back to the dorm today, and while she missed them, she kind of wished they would stay where they were. Her days of playing house with Peeta were over.

"Good morning Peeta," she said softly when she saw him cooking breakfast. He turned to smile at her.

"Hey. Sleep well?"

Katniss shrugged.

"Well enough." She didn't have to explain for him to know she missed him in bed with her. "Did you?"

"I mean... same. Well enough." He agreed.

The kitchen was quiet for a bit until a knock sounded at the door.

"They're back already?" Katniss mumbled under her breath and she went to answer it. When she opened the door, Annie grinned.

"Katniss! I missed you!" She hugged Katniss as Finn smiled at them.

"I missed you too, Annie. It's good to have you guys back." She said, only partially lying. Finn wrapped his arms around the two of them as well, saying something about not missing out on any hugs.

"Good to see you too, Finn." She laughed.

They split up a second later, Annie heading to the bathroom and Finn to the kitchen. Katniss closed the door behind them and moved their suitcases towards their room and out of the way.

Peeta didn't seem to be avoiding her, but he wasn't seeking her out like he normally did. She hoped she'd have a chance to talk to him later that day. It didn't feel awkward, but it didn't feel right either.

A couple hours after Annie and Finn got back, Johanna let herself in, neck pillow still on, sleep mask covering her forehead, and a new rip in her leggings.

"Hey Jo!" Annie went up to her to help her with her bags. Jo looked cranky, so nobody else approached her while she unpacked her stuff in her room.

"She seems like she had a good time..." Peeta mumbled under his breath, making Katniss snort. Jo got in the shower and the Finn told Katniss and Peeta about their break while Annie made a giant pot of hot chocolate for all of them.

"So what did you guys do while we were gone?" Annie grinned as she settled back in with her steamy mug.

"We really didn't do a whole lot, went laser tagging-" Peeta began. Katniss cut him off.

"Which I won." She smiled.

"Which Katniss won." He smiled back. "We had a lot of alcohol while we hug out here, drove out to the country a couple times, watched some TV, built a fort, had a water fight... It was pretty fun." He concluded.

"Yeah, we missed you guys though. It was weirdly quiet without you." Katniss said. "I'm glad you're back."

"We are too. You can only do so much of a holiday without missing the people you live with." Annie said quietly. Conversation drifted off, and they sat drinking their hot chocolate in silence. Johanna joined them a few minutes later, chugging her hot chocolate all at once. Peeta snorted.

"You're gonna burn your esophagus, Jo."

"Watch me." She retorted. "Please also take notice of the hot tan I got in Mexico. I had a great time. Thanks for asking." She smirked.

"I'm glad you had fun, Jo. I don't really want to know any more about what - or who - you did while you were there though." Katniss said. The others agreed. Johanna shrugged and got up to go to the kitchen, where they heard her voice from a minute later.

"Aight who the fuck ate the last piece of cake, I swear, we ALL agreed to share it-"

"Jo that cake was from a month ago, I ate it long before break." Finn yelled back. He whispered to the others, "I actually didn't, it got moldy so I tossed it. Don't tell her though." He grimaced, glancing in the direction of the kitchen. They all agreed, nobody needed to die over a moldy piece of cake.

XxxxX

Katniss spent the rest of the morning overthinking how to tell Peeta how she felt, and was vacillating between telling him immediately and not telling him at all. She kept telling herself, 'It's just Peeta, it's just Peeta...' but still couldn't stop freaking out about it.

"Hey Katniss, will you go to the grocery store with me?" Peeta asked cheerfully. Katniss jumped up.

"Yeah! Sure, totally, hang on..." She nearly ran to her room to get her shoes while everyone else looked at each other, confused. Obviously, everyone knew Peeta was in love with Katniss, and obviously, everyone knew that Katniss really did like Peeta, but nobody quite put it all together that that's what she was nervous about.

"Okay, let's go."

As soon as they got off campus, Katniss knew they weren't going to the grocery store.

"Peeta, the store is that way," she said, gesturing in the opposite direction.

"Yeah, I know." He said with a smile, confusing Katniss even more.

"So where are you taking me?"

"You'll see."

A few minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot of the diner where they'd shared a milkshake the other day. Katniss looked at Peeta, confused.

"Can I buy you a milkshake?" He offered, getting out of his car. Before Katniss had processed what was going on, he was opening her door for her as well.

"What's going on?"

"You'll see." He walked her inside and they sat at a table next to the window.

"Peeta... I have something to tell you." Katniss started nervously.

"I know. You're in love with me." He finished for her. She looked up. The way he said it this time was different, like he was finishing her sentence, not like before when he was trying to get her to understand. It was a simple fact the way he said it this time.

"You knew?" She whispered. Peeta rolled his eyes.

"I told you I knew on Friday."

"I... yeah I guess you did. How did you know?"

"You're an open book, it's easy to tell what you're thinking and feeling when you know what to look for." He took a sip of his water. "My question is, why did you wait til now to tell me?"

Katniss looked down at her hands, frowning. What should she say?

"Well... on Friday, I just wanted time to think about it I guess, figure it out for myself and stuff. I don't know, it's dumb..." She trailed off.

"Yeah, it is dumb." Peeta said seriously. She looked up. Peeta was grinning like a little kid.

"Hey!" She scrunched up her face and smacked his arm. "Yeah you're right. I was just being stupid I guess, I didn't want to lose the bet, I didn't want you to be right about me yet again, I wasn't sure what that meant for us, I wanted it to be more special than just a dumb bet... I don't know. I chickened out." She finally admitted.

"Why were you afraid to tell me?" Peeta asked, the smile dropping from his face.

"The easy answer is that you were being such an ass about the whole thing, you're right about me all the time and I wanted to be right for once. But that's not really why. I was scared because I know I don't deserve you."

Peeta didn't say anything. Katniss looked up.

"I don't want you to feel that way. That's a really stupid and difficult way to go through life always asking if you deserve things that make you happy. It doesn't matter if you deserve it or not, it makes you happy and it makes me happy." He pointed out.

"You deserve someone better than me though, you deserve a beautiful, smart, funny girl to make beautiful kids with."

"I don't want someone beautiful, smart and funny who'll make beautiful kids, I want you." He said, smiling. Katniss scowled at him and Peeta laughed. "Stop being so serious, Katniss. I'm not asking you to have my children right now. I just want you. You make me happy, and from what I saw last week, I think I'd make you pretty happy too."

Katniss thought about this as the waitress came up to take their order.

Peeta made her happy, and she made him happy. He's right (again) why shouldn't they be together?

"We'll split an orange sorbet milkshake, please." Peeta ordered for them and she looked at him. The waitress took their menus and left, and Peeta looked back at her, catching her staring at him. "What?"

"I want us to be happy."

"Is that your Katniss-cryptic way of telling me you love me and you wanna be my girlfriend?" He smiled. Katniss nodded, laughing a little. "I love you and I wanna be your girlfriend, too." Peeta joked, making Katniss laugh for real.

"You wanna be my girlfriend? Buckle up, bitch, it's gonna be wild."

"Yeah, I'm okay with that. How much wilder could it possibly get?" Peeta joked. Katniss grinned.

"Well we haven't had sex yet. That'll be an adventure of it's own."

"I mean... fair point. But it'll be an awesome adventure." They smiled and stopped talking for a bit, before Peeta said, "Yeah I really can't wait to make love to you." Katniss laughed.

"Me neither. Wish we had the dorm to ourselves tonight again... sorry for screwing that up for us."

"It's okay, I don't care if they know we're having sex if you don't. They're going to know either way."

"You're right, I mean I'm surprised Finn hasn't asked you yet."

"Oh he did, I just didn't give him an answer. Left it ambiguous enough that it wasn't clear if I was irritated that he thought we would or shocked that we didn't."

Katniss laughed.

"Only you could pull that off. Just wait til Jo brings it up at dinner or during a movie, too. By the way, you never told me what she said that freaked you out so bad."

Peeta looked confused.

"What she? Oh- yeah I probably won't ever tell you that." He grimaced. "Traumatic."

"Will you ever tell me?"

"Probably not. I don't need to relive that day." Peeta laughed. Katniss smiled, how could she not realize how much she loves that sound?

"I love you, Peeta. I was being such an idiot."

"Yes you kind of were... but don't worry, I still love you too." Peeta paid for their milkshake and they drove back to their dorm. Before they opened the door, Peeta asked, "Do you want to sleep with me tonight?" Katniss was quiet.

"I uh... Haven't shaved in awhile... wait are you talking about sleeping or sex?"

"Whichever you want. I've waited this long, I can last another night. Do you want to sleep in my bed with me?"

"Yes please. I missed that last night."

"So did I." Peeta looked thoughtful as he unlocked the front door. "I'm looking forward to being in a relationship with you."

"HAH! I KNEW IT!" Jo screamed, yanking the door open from the inside and startling both Katniss and Peeta. "YOU TWO TOTALLY GOT TOGETHER WHILE WE WERE GONE." Finnick groaned from somewhere in the apartment, walking up to Jo with a $20 bill. Peeta waited a few seconds, while Jo was putting the money into her wallet to speak.

"Actually... we didn't." Peeta started. Johanna looked ready to call bull. Peeta held up his hand. "We got together about a half hour ago. We had a bet of our own while you were gone that I could get her to admit it before Saturday night. She waited til today to tell me, so I lost that bet, but I wasn't dumb enough to put money on the bet, so whatever. But we didn't get together until you guys were all back."

Johanna screamed and looked at Fin with a look of disgust.

"Jo bet me $20 that you'd get together before we got back, I bet her $40 that you wouldn't, and I bet Annie $10 that you'd get together before break is completely over." Fin grinned. Annie groaned as well, coming out of their room. Fin collected his $50 from their friends and gave Johanna the middle finger before going to put the money away. Peeta shook his head.

"Thanks a lot, Fin." Katniss snorted, taking Peeta's hand to drag him to the couch.

"WAIT WAIT WAIT," Johanna yelled, "HAVE YOU HAD SEX YET?" Katniss looked offended.

"Why?"

"Because I bet this dick that I met in Mexico that my two roommates would have sex while we were all gone, so if you have, I technically won $15. I doubt I'll ever see him again so I'll never get it, but I still want to know."

"No, Johanna, we haven't had sex." Peeta said through his laughter. "You lost that one too." Everyone but Jo was laughing, and she got up silently, walking into her room and closing the door behind herself. A couple seconds later, they all heard her scream in frustration, making everyone laugh even more.

"What would we do without Jo."

XxxxX

"Peeta?"

"What is it, love?" Peeta asked, sleepily. Katniss moved closer into his arms.

"I love you."

She felt his little laugh.

"I love you too, Katniss. Now go to sleep, we have class in the morning."

"Okay. Goodnight. Love you." She said again.

"I love you too."

That's the end! Thank you so much for reading til the last chapter, please leave me a review on this one, and go check out the other stories on my profile as well! I've just posted updates for a bunch of them, and I'll be updating more soon!