When I return from the woods the next day something is not quite right, but it takes me a moment to realise what it is. Peeta is in the kitchen baking. That is normal. He is wearing an apron. That is not entirely out of the ordinary. He wears it if he is making something particularly messy or is wearing something nice he doesn't want to get flour on. It takes me a moment to work out what is different. What I notice first is the difference between his legs. His artificial leg is a slightly different colour from his real leg and lacks the dark blonde hairs that make his other look so manly. I don't normally notice this because he has pants on. Then in hits me. He doesn't have any pants on.

Peeta looks up. 'How was hunting?' he asks as he usually does but there is a slight smile playing around the corner of his mouth. 'Good' I reply, trying to act as if everything is normal but I can feel the sides of my mouth being tugged up too.

'Good' he echoes and looks back down at his work. He is carefully frosting tiny little cupcakes. I watch him work, admiring his skill. It's when he turns around to get a frosting bag of a different colour that I realise it's not just his pants that are missing. He is totally naked under that apron. As he fills the bag, his back to me, I can't help but stare at his arse. It is muscular and taut and smooth. Not a single scar mars it.

I realise that this is all for my benefit, or perhaps to tease me. He's making me pay for my previous comment about his comfort with his masculinity. He catches my eye as he turns round to make sure I've seen. I raise my eyebrows slightly to show him that I have but I won't cave first and comment. He continues, icing each tiny little cake one by one. I try to hold it in for as long as I can but the harder I try not to laugh the worse it gets. In the end I snort, which makes Peeta jump and mess up a cake.

I laugh harder than I have ever laughed before, ever. Peeta turns round to put his icing bag down, giving me another flash of his arse, then gathers me up in his arms and we laugh together. 'Why the apron?' I ask when I can talk again. 'Why not naked?' His smile drops a little. 'I've been burned enough times' he says, then smiles a little more again. 'Some places are just too delicate to take the risk with.' I raise my eyebrows, teasingly. 'What places?' I ask as innocently as I can. 'These places' he says taking my hand and pulling it down. I can feel how hard he is under the apron.

The best thing about him only wearing an apron is that it provides very easy access. I drop to my knees and lift it up. I cup is balls in my left hand, hold his shaft in my right and take him into my mouth. I hear him gasp and feel his body tremble as I slowly slide my mouth down his length as far as I can. I go slow, getting used to the motion and trying to not hurt him. I can tell he likes it from his moans of pleasure and the way he cries out my name. He is getting close when there is a noise outside. I pause and Peeta grabs my hair. 'Stop' he says, 'Someone's coming.' I reluctantly release him and hear him sigh at the loss, but the door handle is turning. Peeta, his erection obvious even through the apron that has now swung back down over him, looks around for something to hide himself, shakes his head and ducks outside into his garden, just as Haymitch appears through the door.

I am about to shout at him angrily for barging in on us but he looks awful so I hold my tongue. His skin looks grey, his eyes have dark bags under them and he is visibly shaking. I beckon him in and settle him on the sofa. 'Out of liquor, huh?' I ask. He nods. 'How sad it is' he says slowly 'that I am so pathetically obvious. I used to have a bit of mystery about me and now look at me.' I have no idea what to say to that. 'I'll go find Peeta' is my response. Haymitch snorts a little a how pathetically predictable I am too. It takes me a second to think but I run upstairs to get Peeta some clothes. He's a neat boy and what he was wearing before stripping off ready for my arrival is piled neatly on the bed still. I grab the pile of clothes, rush downstairs past Haymitch who isn't so far gone not to look puzzled, and out into the garden. Peeta is sitting on the back step. 'Haymitch?' he asks. I nod and hand him his clothes. 'He's out of alcohol' I say. Peeta sighs but gets up to get dressed. I notice he is no longer aroused. He sees me looking and shrugs, blushing slightly. 'Well, you stopped at a crucial moment. I had to finish off myself.' I just lean over and kiss him in reply.

Peeta is great with Haymitch. He instructs me to make tea while he gets a blanket to put round his shoulders and a bucket for him to throw up in if necessary. We drink tea and Peeta just talks to him, not really expecting and answer, just talking about normal, everyday things. Haymitch vomits the tea pretty much straight back up so I make some more. He keeps the second cup down and begins to look a little brighter. When his colour is almost back he asks Peeta why he was naked in the garden.

Peeta colours a little but answers calmly 'because you interrupted us.' Haymoych jerks his head in my direction. 'She had her clothes on though.' I blush furiously. 'Yes, she did' was all Peeta said, he was smiling though. Haymitch laughed. 'You dirty little thing' he says to me smiling. 'I'm going into town' I say and go to stomp off, embarrassed. Peeta grabs the plate of cupcakes first. 'Can you take these with you' he asks and tells me which house to drop them off at. I nod and leave without kissing him goodbye, knowing that Haymitch is watching.

I don't know if I mind the thought of Peeta telling Haymitch about us or not. I wonder if perhaps I'm jealous that I don't have anyone to talk to, not that I would have anyway. I've have always been fiercely private. I would never have talked about sex with Prim. Madge perhaps? Johanna is the only person I can think of still alive who wouldn't feel uncomfortable discussing intimate things so openly, but she would probably scare me with her lack of inhibitions.

I take to the cakes to the address Peeta gave me and find a family from 11 living there. The father answers the door and grins when he sees what I've got. He welcomes me in and his wife offers me tea, which I accept. He tells me the cakes are for his son's birthday. The children are all at the little makeshift school but they'll be thrilled to find cakes when they get home. I know nothing about these people so I ask them about their home, why they chose to come to 12. They said they lived on the edge of 11 anyway, and after the war wanted to start afresh. The woman, is quite open about me and Peeta being part of the reason for them heading this way. My saving Rue and his speech obviously affected the whole district massively, and those on the edges of the district weren't as punished for their unrest as those in the town. Her husband could see she was making me uncomfortable though and sushed her. He couldn't help adding though that he felt like a celebrity, having cakes for his boy's birthday baked by THE Peeta Mellark.

I love Peeta a little bit more for helping these people, and mentally thank him for sending me on this errand. After we've finished tea I go over to Greasy Sae's. She's pleased to see me and we have a good chat. She apologises for barging in the other day and I find that I can talk to her about my new relationship with Peeta. Not all the details, but some of the feelings. I tell her about our private little toasting and I swear I see a tear in her eye. I ask her if she minds coming out now and again to check on Haymitch and when she realises that he's out of drink she promises to bring some broth out for his dinner.

When I return home Peeta and Haymitch are gone, I assume Peeta has taken him home. I get out our book and start writing an entry for Madge.