There were several things I loved about soccer season. Surprisingly, the actual game was not one of those things. Ironically, the one thing I loved about soccer season, my girlfriend absolutely abhorred. Being a star on the soccer team secured an all access pass to every single party that could possibly be thrown for the rest of the semester. Along with that invitation to party, was a plus one that I could use whenever I wanted, and now that Katniss and I were together, she would definitely be that plus one. It was almost like soccer season brought me a party pack every single time: a guaranteed invite and plus one, all the free alcohol I could possibly ever want, and a promised escape from everything going wrong. What was going wrong at the time had little to do with Katniss. Don't get me wrong. She was definitely involved, but the situation wasn't her fault; it was my parent's, more specifically my mother. Katniss had decided that it had come time for her to meet my parent's and I was definitely thrilled that she was taking our relationship more seriously.

I didn't mind her meeting my father. He was a great man. With the exception of a few allowances, I always wanted to strive to be like him. The problem was his wife. My mother. The Wicked Witch of the West. The Devil's Mistress. Whatever nickname you preferred really. The only thing anyone could agree on was that she was the woman who gave birth to me. No one claimed she was nice or loving or kind. None of my brothers stuck around because of her. I had just gotten Katniss back. Surely I couldn't be meant to lose her again so quickly? As Katniss droned on and on about the benefits of meeting my folks, I devised a plan that would give us both what we wanted. Thresh, one of the guys on the team was throwing a party and I had been trying to convince Katniss to go for the better part of a week. I suddenly looked up and grinned at her, interrupting her mid-sentence.

"I tell you what babe. I know this is important to you, and I always want you to have what you want. But lately, I think our relationship has benefited from compromise. That being said, we can go to meet my folks, if you go to Thresh's toga party with me. No party, no parents."

With that, I zipped up my jacket and picked up my gym bag to go to practice. I knew Katniss well enough to know that if I stuck around, I would either be guilted into changing the conditions of what I wanted, or severely pissed off because she picked an argument. Either way, I knew I couldn't stay. I kissed her goodbye as quickly as I could and locked up. I smiled as I jogged to my truck. Even though I was running late, I was happy to know that Katniss was safe and happy tucked away in my room. She had no classes to attend and didn't have to work until the next week, so I was extremely excited that we had now reached the stage where I could come back to my room and find her there; tangled in my sheets or sitting at my desk. It made me feel as if we were vaguely domestic. It only validated in my mind that she was the one I would marry one day. And while I hated to admit it, Katniss was right. Maybe it was time for her to meet the reason I was always so hard on myself.

Later that day...

"Katniss?"

As I unlocked the door to my room I noticed that Katniss was distinctly missing. Her stuff was still there, so it wasn't like I was worried she'd left me. I just found it odd that she wasn't here. Taking my cell out of my pocket I quickly dialed her number, only to hear her phone ring on the desk next to me. Something here was odd. She was rarely ever without her phone. And if she was without it, I still knew where she was. I decided that in this situation, the best thing to do was wait. Her stuff was still here and at some point I knew that I had to stop expecting her to leave me. I sat down on my bed and turned my television on. Before I could really process what was happening, the door to my room was being unlocked and when I got up to smile and greet Katniss, the sight I saw behind her quickly made me rearrange my feet. Inches behind her were my mother and father and I had no idea why they were even there.

My mother spoke first.

"Hello Peeta. It's nice to see you. It's also nice to see the reason you've been avoiding my calls. You must be so busy with your little... concubine."

"Judith that's enough. We just got here, and so help me if you have this visit cut short before I've gotten a chance to properly greet my son..."

I smiled wryly at my father and then enveloped Katniss in my arms. I could tell that sometime during the day she had shed a few tears, and I'm sure it was when she initially met my mother. I held her as lovingly as I could. Not only did she ground me and keep me calm, I knew she needed reassurance. Something my mother said had bothered her, and I wanted her to feel as loved as possible.

"Hello mother. Hey dad. Not that I'm not glad to see you, but what are you doing here? And mother, I haven't been avoiding your phone calls. I've been avoiding your constant mission in life to tell me all of the things I always do incorrectly. I apologize for depriving you of the opportunity to continue to flatten my self esteem."

I saw a small twinkle in Katniss' eye. She must have thought that what I said was funny. The strange thing is that I was completely serious. My mother was a vile parent. I was the failure of her laboring. Being the youngest, I was automatically labeled the runt of the family, and even though I was easily the most loving of my brothers, my mother viewed that as a weakness. To her, I was always too soft, too passive and too disappointing.

"Peeta let's not argue with your mother, regardless of how easy it may be. We came down here to see your soccer game this weekend."

"But dad. It's Thursday. The game isn't until Saturday morning, and if you look around, there isn't enough space for everyone."

"Well, maybe if you kicked your whore out.."

"That's it. This weekend, I refuse to do this with you. You know the only reason you claim to dislike Katniss is because she isn't Delly and thank goodness she isn't. You're my mother, so I won't disrespect you, but if you take another cheap shot at Katniss I promise you that you'll regret it."

"Alright everyone let's settle down. Here's what we'll do. Judith. Apologize to Katniss for disrespecting her and apologize to Peeta for insulting someone who is obviously important to him. Peeta, you apologize to your mother for being openly hostile toward her. Katniss, you should probably grab a soda or a glass of water or something and step into the hallway for a moment. I need to have a moment with Judith and Peeta and I don't think it would be appropriate for you to witness."

This was one of the qualities I liked about my father. In moments of complete chaos, he had the ability to be extremely decisive. I kissed the top of Katniss' head and winked at her to let her know that everything would be fine. Then, I walked her to the door.

"Just a few minutes and I'm all yours again babe."
I watched as she nodded her head in understanding and sat down on the floor across from the door. Sighing heavily, I quickly but quietly closed the door and turned around to face my parents.

"Well Peeta. Just when I think you can't get any worse, you begin to shack up with that slut. Is she pregnant?"

I could only stand there and stare with my mouth open. The audacity of her to disguise her displeasure of my life choices as concern never ceased to amaze me.

"Mother, if she's a slut, who by the way isn't pregnant, what were you when you left home pregnant at 15 and unmarried?"

"Peeta, you need to watch your mouth. Judith, I'm not going to stand here and play referee for you all weekend. Apologize and cut the crap. I'm not sure about you, but I came here to see and spend time with my son, which won't happen if you're constantly berating him for being a supposed failure and crushing that girl, who quite obviously means a lot to him. Fix your fucking attitude or go home. I won't have you spoil this. It isn't as if he comes home to visit often."

I almost felt bad. My Dad had obviously missed me and I was definitely taking my disdain for my mother out on him. Then she spoke and I knew that no matter what, I didn't regret not visiting.

"Oh please Mark. I'm glad he hasn't been home. Bran and Rye have been and they're the winners. I don't mind only seeing them. At least I don't have to waste much time being embarrassed of them."

I could honestly confirm that my mother, in her infinite wisdom had said much worse to me in the past.

"Dad, I'm sorry you came all the way out here. It's a shame because Katniss was seriously looking forward to meeting you. But you're gonna have to go. If there was a way for you to stay, and for mom to take her inflated ass back home, I'd honestly welcome you with open arms, however, I know you won't leave her, even though I honestly think you should. Mother, I feel sorry for you. Nothing I ever do will be good enough. I spent years trying to impress you, and no matter how much I accomplished, you always demanded more. I should've realized a long time ago that nothing I could ever do or say would measure up, but when it comes to the treatment of Katniss, I refuse to compromise or accept anything less than what she deserves. I love that woman. She has been more to me these past months than you have been to me in a lifetime and I'll be damned before I let you disrespect her or our relationship again. I'm sure I'll speak to them before you do, but tell Bran and Rye that I said hello, and call before you come back here."

With that, I opened the door and waited for them to exit. I watched as my mother scoffed and left in a huff, and as I expected, my father just clapped me on the back and gave me a wry smile. I watched them disappear down the hallway and pulled Katniss up and into my arms.

"Peeta, I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to-"

"Katniss, don't. It wasn't your fault, but now you know why I didn't want them to meet you. You aren't the problem. You never were." Once she was safely inside, I yanked off my hoodie and crawled into bed, briefly pausing to tug my shoes off. Soon, I felt Katniss crawl in beside me, sitting up and craddling my head in her lap. The sheer frustration of the situation bothered my to no end and I while I knew my mother would never change, I could only hope that one day I didn't feel like the world would stop spinning after an encounter with her. I no longer needed her approval. I had Katniss and that was enough for me.

"Hey Peeta, I know this is probably the last thing on your mind, but I'll go to Thresh's toga party with you."

I smiled briefly at her attempt to make me feel better, and closed my eyes to sleep the pain away.

KPOV

There was almost nothing in this world that I hated more than parties. The floors were sticky, there were drunk, sweaty guys all trying to either dance with me or touch me in some extremely inappropriate way, and I sort of despise popular music. But after the past couple of days that Peeta'd had, I felt as if I owed him something. He never asked anything of me and I know I always asked the world of him. So on a Saturday night, that I would really rather spend reading or having sex with Peeta, I donned a pair of leggings and a crop top I'd borrowed from Annie, and got dressed to go to Thresh's. I said I'd go. There was no way in hell that I was dressing to the theme. Earlier, when I'd asked Peeta what I should wear, he'd simply kissed my forehead and told me that the only thing I should be striving for was a relaxed look. I'd argued that what I normally wore was relaxing, and he'd responded by saying that it shouldn't be relaxing to me, but it should be something that made others feel as if I was ready to socialize. Looking in the mirror I sighed. I took my hair out of it's signature braid and let it fall in loose waves around my face and shoulders. I applied very little makeup. I remember Peeta saying that he liked my natural look, and I had no idea how to put on most of that crap anyway. I turned left and right in the mirror to try and get a look at myself and I wasn't happy. Granted, yes, I was comfortable because I normally dressed in all black, and I was here as well, but I was in a fucking crop top! Who in the hell was comfortable showing this much skin on a regular basis? Just as I was considering trading in my top for a bulky sweater, and my flats for my black hiking boots, Peeta came into my room.

"Babe, I know I happen to be of the opinion that you look awesome all the time, but right now, you're a fucking knockout. All I could do was blush in response. He always had a habit of complimenting the things I couldn't stand.

"Do you really think so? Annie and Rue said it would look nice but I'm not sure. I'm pretty sure they only wanted me dressed this way so that they could hook up with Finnick and Thresh, which I don't mind because they all deserve happiness too, I just think my belly button should be covered and stuff and-"

Before I could finish speaking, Peeta's lips were on mine and he was speaking again.

"Katniss, I don't think you understand how breathtakingly beautiful you are. And for the record, to borrow your turn of phrase, even if Annie and Rue do hook up with Finnick and Thresh, I can promise you that no matter how drunk you or I get, we're definitely hooking up. I'm getting hard just thinking about the things I want to do to and with you."

I smiled up at him pushed his shoulder gently. Nobody knew how to ground me like he did.

"One more thing, babe. Tonight, since you refuse to wear a toga, you have to match with me instead."

Before I could groan in protest, he pulled two all black snapback hats from nowhere and sat one backwards on my head.

"Shut your mouth and wear it because it isn't even as bad as you thought it would be."
I took a second to look at myself in the mirror, and even though I hated to admit it, he was right. Despite the crop top, flats, and light makeup, the snapback gave my outfit that boyish quality I was looking for in this outfit. The snapback made things familiar again.

"Well, things won't get any better looking without alcohol, so I guess we should go."

"You're right Katniss. How in the hell can you improve upon perfection anyway?"

With a wink and a smile at me, Peeta opened the door so that we could walk to the party. I just prayed that I was able to keep from falling tonight.

2 hours later...

Peeta had told me that the party started at 9, and initially I had no idea why we didn't leave his room until 11. He'd politely yet smugly informed me that he was a soccer god, and I was his woman. We needed to be fashionably late as to not appear eager. I just rolled my eyes and followed him inside. Thinking back on that conversation was currently distracting me. Now that the party was in full swing, the beer flowed freely and the drunken shenanigans had begun. I was only on my second cup of beer, but red solos littered the floor around Peeta's feet. According to him, even though there were a million people here, the party was totally lame and things wouldn't officially get started until well after midnight. I was currently sitting in his lap, reliving old conversations we'd had while watching Finnick and Annie get to know each other. Even though I didn't initially trust that Finnick wanted something more than a hook up with Annie, it was clear in the way he looked at her. Every thing that came out of her mouth was fascinating to him and I could tell that Thresh and Rue were getting along pretty well too.

I just about never got drunk in public settings like this, but Peeta assured me that I was free to let loose and get as drunk as possible. Now that I was on my third red solo, I decided to throw caution to the winds. I wiggled suggestively on Peeta's lap and thanked my lucky stars that my snapback was turned backwards. I kissed Peeta, first on the neck lightly, then again a bit more intensely on the lips. He immediately stopped the conversation he was having with some random member of the soccer team, and kissed my ear before whispering into it.

"You're obviously feeling the Corona. What can I do for you gorgeous?"

"I promise I'll keep your seat warm if you bring me back a shot of something dark."

He kissed my cheek and deftly moved me into the chair while he left to go to the kitchen. Surprisingly, I found myself nodding my head along to the popular music playing on the too-loud speakers. Just when I had resigned myself to going to find Peeta, he showed up, two shot glasses in hand, one with dark liquor and the other with light.

"The Jack is yours, the Smirnoff is mine."

We clinked glasses and drank our shots as quickly as possible. As soon as our shot glasses were down, I grabbed Peeta's hand so that we could dance together, swaying to some song that probably shouldn't have been played at this party.

I wish I could paint our love

These moments and vibrant hues

Wordplay, turns in to gun play

And gun play turns into pillow talk

And pillow talk turns into sweet dreams

Sweet dreams turns into fucking in the morning

Peeta and I were having an excellent time. I knew that whenever we got back to his room, I'd want him to do all kinds of nasty, unspeakable things to me, but something was wrong. Before the song ended, I turned around to find that Peeta wasn't behind me. Gale was.

Ok everyone. After ages of things being wrong in my personal life and technological life, things have calmed and I am the proud owner of a new laptop. While I couldn't deliver you more frequent chapters, I did deliver you something longer. I am indeed looking for a new beta, so if you're up for it, just let me know. I've decided that new chapters will be posted weekly, Sunday's by 11:59. Thank you so much for your patience, and I'd love it if you R&R. Reviews are like Mac & Cheese. They're my favorite!