Fate, or Something Like It

This is a major AU taking place in the current time. Katniss is in her 3rd year of college when she meets Peeta and goes on a journey to find true love. Everlark

DISCLAIMER: I do not own The Hunger Games, no copyright infringement is intended.

Chapter 14: Love

A/N: The title says it all...'M' rated...

Peeta's POV:

Ever since the night when Katniss stayed overnight, I had been thinking of a way to tell her that I was in love with her. It had slipped out of my mouth when she had just fallen asleep, but if she had heard me, she never mentioned it.

Katniss was the most beautiful girl in the world to me, inside and out. I would have to thank Professor Abernathy one day for getting us together. Katniss ended up getting a B on the midterm, and she was well on her way to passing the class.

I thought maybe a phone call to Finnick was in order again so I called him up.

"Hey man, how's it going?"

"Hey Finnick, remember how I told you that I was dating Katniss?"

"Of course, how's that turning out?"

I smiled to myself. "Great. She's just perfect, which brings me to why I called you..."

I heard him chuckle lightly. "Trying to seal the deal?"

I blushed, thankful that my old friend couldn't see me. "Well, I wanted some advice on telling her that I'm in love with her, then maybe I'll make love to her if she wants."

Finnick laughed louder. "You are something else, so old fashioned. I'll help you out though."

I sighed. "Thanks."

Finnick and I talked for a good hour on the right way to 'woo' a woman as he put it. Some of his advice was great, some of it was hopefully meant to be a joke. Either way, after all of the time that Katniss and I had officially been together, I was finally ready to proclaim my love for her.

She was coming over that night and my heart raced in my chest at the thought of telling her how I felt. I was hoping that she would reciprocate my feelings and maybe let me make love to her. I wanted her so much, but I wouldn't force anything on her like Cato had tried to do.

I decided that if there was any chance that Katniss and I were going to go all the way that night, that I needed to go get some condoms. I rushed to the drugstore just off of campus and hurried to the 'family planning' or lack thereof, section.

Shit, there were way too many choices! I should have just grabbed a random box and left, but I was concerned that I would accidentally pick out something highly inappropriate like glow-in-the-dark condoms.

So instead, I stood there like an idiot for a good five minutes when I heard someone calling my name.

"Peeta?"

I turned around, and to my utter horror, Glimmer was standing behind me with a confused look on her face.

I felt my face flush and I began to sweat. I didn't know what to say to her.

"Uh...hi."

Glimmer's gaze flickered from my red face to the condoms behind me. "Are you buying condoms?" She laughed. "Seriously? I never thought you'd have the balls to actually fuck someone! You never even tried with me."

"Shh! Do you have to be so loud all of the time?"

She smirked. "Who is it? Is it that Katniss whore?"

"She isn't a whore!"

Glimmer laughed at me. "No, probably not. I can't believe you though. We were dating for almost six months and we never fucked, and now you've been dating Katniss for what? One month? And you're gonna fuck her?"

I was tired of her vulgarity. "I never slept with you 'cause I wasn't in love with you. I'm in love with Katniss."

"Who the hell cares about love? A good fuck is a good fuck. And you should know that since I never got any from you, I had to get it elsewhere."

I wasn't too surprised that Glimmer had cheated on me, but it still hurt. "I think you are the whore, not Katniss."

She flipped her hair at me and stalked off. "Whatever Peeta, I bet you'll be a minute man anyway!"

I was angry, but not enough to cause a scene in the middle of the drugstore. Instead, I finally picked out a box of condoms and paid for it before leaving the store.

When I got back, I anxiously prepared myself for Katniss' arrival. First, I put the condoms away in the drawer in my nightstand. Next, I baked some chocolate chip brownies. Finally, I showered and shaved, making sure to spritz on some of the cologne that she liked so much.

I was just taking the brownies out of the oven when Katniss finally arrived.

I let her in and she wrapped me up in her embrace. "I've missed you."

I chuckled. "You just saw me like two days ago."

"Too long...mmm...do I smell brownies?"

We were relaxing on the couch, eating the brownies when I decided to go for it. My palms began to sweat and my heart began to beat faster and faster.

"Katniss?" I ran my hand through my hair in nervousness.

She must have seen how anxious I looked. "What's wrong Peeta?"

I tried to laugh it off, to calm my nerves. "Nothing, everything is perfect. I just...I, umm..."

She frowned. "You what?"

Time to get it all out there. The moment of truth. "I'm...I'm in love with you."

Katniss blinked at me several times as I nervously waited for her answer. Finally, she smiled. "I'm in love with you too."

Part of me wanted to ask her to repeat that, just to make sure that I had heard her correctly. However, my heart already knew that she had said that she was in love with me too. I launched myself at her, crashing my lips onto hers in a heated kiss.

Katniss' POV:

I had heard Peeta say that he loved me that night, and now he had finally told me for real. I was in love with him as well. I couldn't imagine a more perfect guy for me than him.

As he kissed me, I felt all of his love and passion pouring out. I pulled him closer and deepened the kiss, gently sucking on his lower lip.

He broke away, panting, his eyes filled with desire. "Katniss, you've made me so happy."

I smiled, my heart almost bursting with joy. "You've shown me what love really is."

Peeta kissed my forehead and then got up to put away the rest of the brownies. I followed him into the kitchen, not wanting to be away from him for a second.

In that moment, I wanted nothing more than to feel his arms around me. I wanted him, all of him.

Wordlessly, I took his hand and led him down the hall towards his bedroom.

"Katniss? Wha...?"

I placed my finger on his lips. "Shh..."

He let me take him to his bedroom and watched in awe as I slowly peeled off my shirt in front of him.

I walked over to him and kissed him hard.

Peeta moaned and wrapped his arms around me tightly, causing his body to become flush with my own.

I could feel him hard and pressed up against me and it only fueled my passion even further. I trailed my hands from around his neck down to the hem of his shirt and began to lift it off of him.

He broke the kiss and took his shirt the rest of the way off. I let my hands roam over his chest and abs, noticing the small shiver that my touch had caused him.

Peeta pulled me in for another passion filled kiss, his hot, wet mouth moving over mine and making me whimper in desire for him. His hands ran around to my back and unclasped my bra, breaking our lip lock only to slide it off of me.

He backed away a bit and took in the sight of my bare breasts, before carefully caressing them with his hands.

I moaned softly, enjoying the sparks of pleasuring igniting inside of me.

He massaged my breasts for a little while before becoming more bold and drifting his hands down to my pants. "Can I?"

I nodded, he was such a gentleman, even when I knew how much he wanted me. "Yes."

He slowly unbuttoned my jeans and slid them down my legs, leaving me in only my panties. Seeing as how he was still mostly dressed, I quickly remedied that by pulling down his jeans as well.

I pulled Peeta close to me, molding our bodies together as we kissed. I could have stayed there and kissed him for the rest of the night. However, there were more pressing matters at hand, basically, my intense need to feel him inside of me.

"Peeta?"

"Yeah?" He looked at me with such longing and desire that I had never seen in anyone before.

"Make love to me."

His beautiful blue eyes sparkled at my words. "I would love to. Are you one hundred percent sure?"

I nodded. "There is nothing I want more right now."

Peeta grinned at me and picked me up into his arms and carried me over to his bed. He gently laid me down on it and settled himself on top of me.

We kissed again, letting our passion for one another flow freely between us. Peeta's lips moved slowly from mine and down to my neck, sucking and biting lightly at my skin. Pleasure began to spread throughout my body, burning and intensifying as his lips traveled lower to my chest.

He gently sucked on my nipple, causing me to arch towards him. "Peeta...please!"

He chuckled. "Please what?"

"Please," I panted again. "I need you."

The corner of his lips lifted into a smile and he continued moving his lips downward. He was torturing me, but it was the most amazing brand of torture there was.

A moment later, I felt him drag my panties down and the next thing I knew, I felt his tongue lapping at my sensitive flesh. I threaded my fingers into his hair, needing something to stop me from bucking my hips involuntarily.

Peeta continued for a few minutes, driving me absolutely crazy. He would bring me to the brink again and again, but never quite letting me get to my release. Finally, he pushed two fingers inside of me and curled them against me while his tongue continued to pleasure me as well.

The sweet ache of pleasure that had been building and building finally broke, sending me over the edge. "Oh God, Peeta!"

Peeta held me while I came down from my release. Once my heart had slowed down a bit, I knew that it was time.

I ran my hand down to his boxers and slowly pulled them off. He was more than ready and so was I.

Peeta looked into my eyes. "Are you ready?"

I nodded. "Yes."

He leaned over and grabbed a condom from his nightstand. He slipped it on and positioned himself between me.

I knew that it was going to hurt, but I was hopeful that the pleasure of making love with him would overcome any pain.

A moment later, he started to ease himself into me. When he got to my barrier, he looked at me. "Tell me if you need me to stop."

"Okay," I said and I felt him push through all the way into me.

I stopped myself from crying out in pain. It hurt, it hurt a lot. However, after a few steady thrusts, the pain began to fade away, replaced by pure pleasure.

"Katniss, you feel so amazing."

I smiled at Peeta, bringing him down for a kiss.

We continued enjoying each other's bodies for a while when Peeta began to thrust a bit faster. "I...I can't hold this much longer."

"It's okay, let go."

He rocked into me a few more times and I felt my self being brought to the edge once again. In one more moment, I climaxed, moaning Peeta's name.

He quickly followed me, saying my name over and over like a mantra.

Afterward, we laid together on his bed with me snuggled up in his arms.

"Thank you for giving me that Katniss, I love you so much."

"I love you too Peeta."

Together we drifted off to sleep, and I knew, I would love him forever.

A/N: Story is almost complete. I hope you enjoyed the chapter. I have another AU story in the works and I hope all of my readers here will transfer over to that story once this one is finished. Please review and tell me what you thought about the chapter.