Week 5

The longer, sunnier days did much to improve Peeta's mood as the week wore on. Well, that and he had definitely wandered over to the meat section and had picked up an eleven pound turkey, weighing it awkwardly in his hands until the woman next to him had looked at him funny. How had he gotten so used to carrying all of that extra weight around? It didn't seem possible that he hadn't noticed it. The turkey was still on his mind as he'd driven home after work, lining up his groceries on the counter in front of him.

After his turkey-centric conversation with Katniss the other day, he'd met with Annie again to discuss his diet. After some urging from Katniss, he'd shared with Annie what he'd divulged about struggling at home with snacking and making bad choices. Annie had simply given him a wistful smile, nodding with understanding. As someone who'd spent most of her life with extra weight she understood what he was going through, much to his relief. She'd recommended he take his diet up a notch and had sent him some links to peruse about meal planning and prep. He'd snuck out at lunch with is ipad in tow, picking a quiet park bench to look at what she'd sent and scribble down a grocery list.

Now, with everything spread out in front of him it looked like a lot of work. Not even his most complicated fruit tarte had this many ingredients! It took him almost an hour to get the four or five different meals he'd chosen separated and chopped up, and another hour to cook it. By the time he was finished packing it all up he was almost too exhausted to work on the snacks.

This will make or break me, he told himself. Snacking was his worst enemy. The urge to munch on garbage was the strongest when he was bored and a meal was still hours away.

Heaving a sigh, he set back to work, dividing his hummus and cutting up celery sticks and carrots. He bagged roasted almonds, cut up fruit, and organized it all into a few handy baskets inside his pantry. Mournfully, he eyed the place on the shelf where his beloved chips and fun-sized candy bars used to dwell. The shelves now looked empty as he realized most of the food he could eat didn't have a long shelf life and required refrigeration.

By the time he flopped down on his couch, he was exhausted – both from his workout and the meal prep. Healthy food was expensive, and getting all of that organized, bought, and prepared was a lot of work.

It dawned on him - if it were easy, everyone would do it.

Sitting up slightly, he felt like he'd been hit over the head with that realization. If it were easy to be thin and good looking, then everyone would do it. A surprised little laugh slipped out as he leaned back against the couch cushions, the room suddenly quiet. How was he just now realizing that?

It wasn't magic.

It wasn't wishful thinking.

It was work.

Kpkpkpkpkpkpkpkpkpkpkp

Katniss knew it was officially summer when Prim danced through the front door, waving her papers and grinning ear to ear.

"Finished?"

"Done! Well, for now. It'll be nice to have a bit of a breather for a few weeks. Should we celebrate?"

Katniss rolled her eyes and gave her little sister a grudging nod, knowing what she wanted. "Strawberry?"

Prim nodded, grinning like a fiend. They'd walked up to the corner gas station, Katniss ducking in to purchase two bottles of Arbor Mist Strawberry zinfandel. True, Prim was only nineteen, but it was the one normal thing Katniss felt like she could do for her little sister. It cost loads extra to live on campus, and Prim hadn't so much as complained when they'd picked the shabby old house within walking distance of the school. Prim didn't get to live in a dorm with her friends, she didn't get to join a fun sorority, and she rarely even went to parties because she was busy studying. Of course she knew it was wrong to buy her alcohol, but Prim's favorite wine could barely give her a buzz so Katniss found herself caving on special occasions and buying them each a bottle. Finishing school for the year seemed like a good excuse as any to bust out the cheap wine.

They now found themselves on the front porch with Effie, watching as the sun set behind the old oak trees lining their street. They were drinking the wine out of the bottle while Effie sipped her own boxed wine out of a plastic wine glass. She'd been hanging around the back trash cans, pretending to look for the 'toe ring' she'd lost earlier (she was really waiting for Haymitch). Taking pity on her, Prim and Katniss had invited their upstairs neighbor to drink with them and enjoy the evening.

Katniss waved a gnat away from her still damp toe-nails, wrinkling her nose. "Are you sure this isn't ugly?"

"The color? No, it's fine. Trust me, you needed a pedicure," Prim assured her. Katniss leaned over her bent knee from her perch on the top step. Prim was beside her, applying another coat of glitter topcoat to her own toes. Effie had hauled down a ziplock baggie full of her nail polishes for them to choose from, but Katniss was still doubting her choice of color.

"Coral is so in this season," Effie nodded from behind them, confirming it as if she was telling them the sky was above them. Katniss had to laugh at her sometimes.

Effie fanned herself and sighed, long and heavy. It was obvious she was frustrated that Haymitch wasn't home yet, but did she have to be so obvious about it? A truck backfiring up the street had Effie leaning so far out of her chair the plastic groaned in protest.

"But who cares if my toenails are painted? I sure as hell don't," Katniss muttered, taking another long pull from the bottle. The wine was a little too sweet for her taste, but the subtle carbonation was nice. Nice enough she'd drink it with her sister, that is. It hadn't taken much to make Prim happy – she didn't remember the last time she'd seen her sister so happy when they'd twisted off the caps earlier.

"You wear flip flops all summer, don't make me look at your nasty toes," Prim chided her. "You have those leather sandals with the heel, remember? You'll wear those this summer."

Katniss snorted. "Wear them where? I don't even go anywhere," she lamented.

"You could," Prim sniffed, wiping away a smudge of glitter polish.

"You go out with that Gale fellow," Effie shrugged. "He seems like the type that would appreciate painted toes!"

Katniss laughed. "Gale wouldn't notice painted toenails if a girl kicked him in the teeth, Effie. Besides, I couldn't care less what Gale thinks."

"Not in a million years then?" Effie winked, giving her a conspiring look.

Katniss made a barfing sound that wasn't entirely fake. She'd never, ever seen Gale that way. Of course he was good-looking, tall and fit, but their relationship had been more about survival and not an ounce of romance. They'd been friends since they were kids and this wasn't the first time someone had tried to assume they were more. But they just weren't. She'd never understood the grinning fools who'd laughed in her face and told her "guys and girls can never be just friends!"

Just the memory made her want to roll her eyes. There'd never even been so much as a spark of romance between them and she preferred to keep it that way. No, they were more like siblings and that suited Katniss just fine.

"Not even then. I know too much," she chuckled. The thought of doing anything even remotely romantic with Gale made her shudder. She'd heard about his first kiss, his first time, and many other things in-between and had never felt an ounce of jealousy where she wished she was the girl underneath him.

"Someone else in mind then?" Effie pried. Crickets chirped around them, as if waiting for her answer.

"What's with the twenty questions?" Katniss snapped, looking up with an annoyed frown. Waving a gnat away from her face, she gave Effie her best snarling glare.

"I hope your face won't stick like that, dear," Effie heaved and exasperated sigh, waving her free hand at Katniss while Prim looked amused. "I have no love-life of my own to speak of! I have to focus on the love-needs of others, girl, you know this! Don't act so surprised. Anywho, you're a young woman in the prime of her life! Would be a shame if there wasn't someone in it," Effie drawled conspicuously, her eyes sparkling.

"I hate to disappoint you, Effie."

Effie sighed, not even bothering to attempt to hide her exasperation. She knew she shouldn't be mean to Effie – she was single, lonely, and recently scarred by love. Of course the woman would want to hear something light hearted and gossipy, but why was she so focused on Katniss' love life? Since when was it the topic of conversation? There had been boys before, and dates, and flings, and…things she wasn't proud of. Staying home every night with Prim and doing math homework while cooking dinner for her sister didn't leave much time for romance and excitement. When she had gotten a free night here or there, she'd made up for it tenfold. Her mind thought back to when she'd been seventeen – Prim's little friends had invited her to a sleepover and Gale and his friends had taken Katniss out to party. Half a bottle of Wild Turkey and six hours later, she'd lost her virginity while locked in the bathroom at the local dive bar on the edge of town. He was a year older, one of Gale's friends. She still cringed at the memory.

Katniss heaved a sigh, shaking her head. The more she thought about it while staring out at the street, the more it itched at her. "Where did society get the idea that all women were boy crazy? Why do I have to like anyone? I mean, who says that in order to be content with my life I have to be pining away after some man? Why can't I just….be?"

The porch was silent for a moment after her little rant. She blinked, the trance broken. Behind her, Prim and Effie were so amused they were making hissing sounds before bursting into laughter. Katniss felt her stern façade start to break, and soon even she had to laugh at her own gruff stance on crushes.

She didn't have to like anyone to be happy. She didn't need a man in her life.

It should have bothered her then, when Peeta's shy, bright cheeked smile came to the front of her mind.

It didn't.

Peeta tried his best to keep his breathing normal and steady as he jogged, but was failing.

Miserably.

Wincing, Katniss reached across him, punching the buttons to slow his pace to a walk. The beeping noise signifying the slowing of the machine was like a sweet symphony to Peeta's ears. Relief burned through his muscles as he slowed to a walk, sucking in a deep breath of air through his nose and out his mouth. He hated running.

"I hate running," Katniss replied, echoing his silent thought.

His eyes flashed up to hers as he grabbed his towel, self-consciously mopping his brow. The smell of cleaning solution was strong that day, and it was burning his already flaming lungs.

"You do?"

She chuckled, shaking her head. Her chocolate brown hair was in two loose braids that day, but the normal wisps and strands had fallen out on the sides, framing her heart shaped face. Peeta gulped nervously, trying not to stare.

"Well…treadmills suck," she admitted, hiding her eyes with her hand. "Hashtag bad trainer," she muttered. "I don't mind running if it's like, outside or whatever. At least you go somewhere, it… has a purpose, you know?"

"I just hate it in general," he admitted. He'd managed to heal from his disastrous long walk the week before, but he wasn't feeling that level of cocky again just yet. Working out was getting easier and easier but was still far from fun or completely easy. He'd long ago accepted that he'd never be one of those people who 'go a runner's high' or craved a workout. He was really just trying to remember his epiphany from the other night – if it were easy, everyone would do it. It was a phrase he repeated to himself over and over as he'd been coaxed into jogging on the treadmill in front of Katniss. Nothing sucked more than having to run in front of the girl you had a crush on – everything bouncing and jiggling while dripping in sweat. He despised it, but he wouldn't tell her no.

"We could try running outside sometime if…if you want," she offered, somewhat shyly. He watched as she fiddled with the elastic cord holding her pen to her clipboard. Her eyes avoided his, and a slightly pinkish tone had taken to her cheeks. Peeta balked internally, trying to remain calm. Was she…asking him to do something outside of work?

"Is that uh…allowed? Erm, can you do that with clients?"

She laughed awkwardly, grinning as she avoided his gaze. "Not really. But if you ever wanted to…not that you're like, dying to run and get sweaty and not pay for it for a change," she motioned to the gym around them. Peeta laughed, trying to lighten the mood.

"I would love to be tortured for free for a change," he chuckled. "Sign me up."

Katniss finally looked at him, her cheeks still slightly pinked. It is warm in here, he realized. But that didn't exclude the fact that she still was inviting him to do something outside of work, where she wouldn't be getting paid to spend time with him. Or was he reading too much into that? Crap, he thought, way to overthink a simple gesture. He guessed he would need to wait and find out.

"We'll do that then," she agreed. "Okay, how about we do some squats?"

His dreamy mood was broken as she motioned for him to get off the treadmill and head over to the mats. His muscles did feel loosened and ready to work, even he had to admit that. As she ran him through the now-familiar series of repetitive exercises, he decided to take a chance and ask her questions to keep the ball rolling and distract himself from the painful pulls and burns in his muscles as he worked.

"So…how did you get into all this fitness stuff?"

Katniss looked surprised at his question, her grey eyes opening wider. "What, like this job?"

"Yeah," he chuckled. "Of all the jobs out there, what made you take it?"

"They were willing to hire me," she laughed under her breath. A louder, more relaxed laugh bubbled out of her – the throaty, gut laugh that he loved so much and made him grin. "That sounds horrible, doesn't it? Shit, uhm…Gale got the job here first and he uh, put in a good word for me I guess. Lord knows I wasn't doing anything all that great."

Peeta's stomach sunk slightly as he heard that name. Gale. Gale, the tall, muscular, hunky looking guy that had the girl he wanted. Gale, the guy who was everything Peeta envied in life. Just the thought of him put a bitter taste in his mouth. The muscles in his back and ass began to burn as he resumed another set of squats. Setting his jaw, he fought through it, sobered.

"Oh, that's…that's cool."

"Is it?" she gave a little snort. "I've always been active or whatever, so I guess this was a good job to take. Not like I want to hang out with Gale all day, but it was the first job I've had where I didn't have to work a bunch of other jobs, so there's that."

"Why don't you want to work with Gale?"

She rolled her eyes. "He's great and all, but he can get annoying. Sometimes when he talks I want to punch him, but I love him, but I still want to punch him…." She laughed again, shrugging.

That was strange. She didn't talk about him….as if he were the great romance Peeta had built up in his mind. Of course Katniss wasn't gushy like that; it was one of the things about her that he admired. But she almost sounded…annoyed with him? That didn't seem right. Peeta knew little about how these relationship things worked as he'd had so little experience in that department. It had been years since he'd even had a date, much less a girlfriend. Was it common to be so irritated when talking about a significant other? A glimmer of hope flicked in his chest, but a darker side of him eagerly trampled it out. Since she'd come into the bakery with Gale, the sick, masochistic part of his mind that liked to punish him had pictured them together a hundred times since then. Punishment had been in the form of Katniss kissing Gale, their joined hands, their perfect bodies, tangled in a sweaty heap in a bed…

Blinking, Peeta straightened up, his muscles burning. "Must be a lot of 'together' time," he replied quietly, unable to look at her.

"Yeah, but its fine. I'm not really complaining, this job is a hundred times better than everything else I've done. Better than stinking like tanning bed cleaner or serving frilly coffee drinks to thirteen year old girls at the mall or waiting tables at a truck stop at two in the morning…" she trailed off, raising her dark, expressive eyebrows. Peeta took a sip of his water and watched her fidget in the large mirrors in front of them. She was clearly uncomfortable talking about her long list of former careers, he realized.

A guilty look flashed across her face. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful. Those were…fine jobs at the time. I just…was unhappy and hated pretty much everything, so….they put food on the table or whatever. It's not like I'm in any position to be picky…" she trailed off.

Peeta leaned, stretching his back and butt muscles as he casually watched her face. They'd talked before about how Katniss was the guardian for her little sister, but she'd never gone into many details about the hows and whys of it all. Her eyes were always downcast when she spoke about it, and Peeta had the good sense not to bring it up. Of course he wanted to know anything about her she'd volunteer, but he wasn't about push his luck.

"But you've always been active? Outside of work?"

"Yeah, my dad used to take me hunting and fishing and all that when he was alive, and I was always outside. I didn't get to do sports in high school because of Prim and that, but I was always active. I'd get away on the weekends and whatnot and just…run around the woods. God, I sound so weird saying that, right? I just like nature, and…yeah."

Peeta found himself grinning at her awkwardness. It was endearing to listen to her ramble and talk about her life in the endearing way she did. Suddenly, he realized she'd mentioned her father was no longer alive. There were few scenarios where parents could be alive but a sibling would be guardian, but he'd never given that aspect of her life that much thought before. Curiosity struck him before he had any sense.

"Your dad…he died?"

Looking up, her expression sobered and he felt stupid.

"Oh, uh….yeah. Years ago. It was….this accident in the mine where he worked. My dad…and Gale's."

Peeta felt like a moron. Like an absolute moron for prying.

He straightened, his hand on her shoulder before he could think. "Katniss, I….I am so sorry for your loss. I shouldn't have….I was….I shouldn't have brought it up, I'm sorry-"

Her eyes flicked to his hand where he lightly touched her, and he instantly pulled away. "I…I didn't mean…."

"No," she cut him off, shaking her head. "It's…." she glanced around the gym – it was late afternoon, before the end of day rush, so there weren't many people around. The smell of cleaning solution suddenly felt like it was burning through his senses. Peeta stepped back as he felt his face flame.

"It's okay," her voice was soft, but not laced with hurt. "It's not…raw? I guess? Anymore. I can talk about it."

"You can?"

She nodded. "It was an accident. Big explosion, and our dads were of course down there. By the time they dug through, it….no one was alive. We both lost our dads and my mom didn't last long without him. I've had Prim ever since. But it's okay. That should explain my long list of jobs. My damn resume is ten pages by now," she snorted. Her little laugh broke through the tension. Peeta smiled awkwardly.

"I didn't mean to bring that up, honestly, Katniss. I…."

She shrugged, cracking another smile. "How should I make you pay for it?"

His smile was instantly gone. Katniss glanced around the gym, the mood instantly lifting. Grinning, she spied a machine with stairs on it.

"Come on. Let's wear you out, Bread boy."

Oh, it's a slow burn with these two, isn't it? Things will pick up soon for them but I really wanted to establish Peeta's life before things heat up.

Hope you enjoyed it!

Thanks for reading!