"The end of the affair
The weight of the world
The kindness gone to bed
It's free of your laughter
Alive after all
Did he hear, did he hear
The fumbled words he said"

-Ben Howard (End of the Affair)

The night seemed to go by smoothly. My sleep was not plagued with nightmares tonight thanks to Peeta's large body next to me. "Someone slept like a baby last night." Peeta let out with a little chuckle. Due to our time in the hunger games, we had both been acquainted with light sleeping. The most subtle movement or noise would draw us both from our sleep. Most nights it was my harsh nightmares that would wake us both up. Peeta often stated that he didn't mind being woken. He didn't sleep that much anyway and often my screaming would draw him out of his own paralyzing nightmares. I never really knew when Peeta was having a nightmare. Unlike me, he did not thrash and scream, he was more quiet, often paralyzed from moving, somewhere before asleep and awake. Although my nightmares were a curse, I appreciated the fact that they often may have helped Peeta.

Raising my head from where it rested on his chest I shot him a shy smile. Pushing off his chest, I looked at the clock that hung on the far wall. Effie has not come to wake us so it must not be breakfast time yet, but one glance at the clock told me it was 8:30. As if on cue, a sharp knock hit the door followed by the high pitched voice of Effie telling us to rise and shine, followed by the clicking of her heels as she continued down the hall.

When we were all seated for breakfast, the mood was slightly gloomy. Haymitch stumbled in late as always, a scowl on his face followed by an equally upset Effie. Ocenne and Bo walked in a second before them, their faces bowed in shame, well that's one way to start a morning. As everyone got into their seats, Haymitch mumbled something about romance and shot a look at Bo. Peeta and I exchanged unsure looks. I quickly shoved a crescent in my mouth so as to not make a remark or ask another question.

Grabbing his coffee, Haymitch cleared his throat, "So tonight we will be in the Capital. You two know what that means?" His question was directed at me and Peeta. We both gave a quick nod in unison. Haymitch turned back to Bo and Ocenne, "In the meantime, you too can't do anything dumb. It's hard enough keeping two of you alive I don't need a third one." Once again, Peeta and I exchanged a look. Was Haymitch implying what we thought he was? Oh God, I hope not. If he was, that wasn't going to work, he wouldn't let two victors walk out again, especially if they were both from district twelve. We'd be lucky if we were even able to keep one of them alive

"Haymitch is right." My voice broke the silence that had settled over us, "We have to be smart with our actions and what we are doing. We can't afford for our minds to wonder." We all settled into a tense silence.

As we continued eating, Peeta leaned closer to me, his lips closer to my ear, "Did you know about this." I shook my head and gave a slight shrug. Much like Peeta, I was kept in the dark on any possible romantic relationships.

Leaning back towards him I whispered, "People always keep me in the dark when it comes to romance." This drew a chuckle from Peeta. Straightening back in my seat, I reached for one of the presents, but before my hand was able to land on one, the sound of a crowd vibrated through the walls. Our heads shot to our right. The window that earlier showed the environment was now crowded by people. A similar sight to last year. Last year, before we had even stepped off the train, Peeta and I were already celebrities. This year was the same. The only difference was that last year we had been tributes and this year we were victors.

Not standing from his seat, Peeta shot a charming smile over his shoulder. Several people swooned, fanning their already bright faces. "Look at that, the Capitals favorite victors are here. And what that means for your tributes, is that they are also Capital favorites." Haymitch spoke over the roaring crowd. "Now, all of your go to your rooms and get yourselves ready, we have an audience to meet."

The roaring of the crowd was deafening. Sweaty hands reaching out to touch us, voices screaming for our attention. Smiles plastered on faces that were not as happy as they seemed. My hand clung to Peeta's. His face set in a stony smile. Now and then, he would catch the eyes of Capital girls and he would wink, squeezing my hand a little tighter each time he did so. I was glad Peeta was with me, the men of the Capital were looking at me like I was meat, but wrapping my arm around the bicep of the hand I was holding helped to keep the hungry men off. Our victors walked behind us Effie between them. They were smiling, big toothy smiles, like those of a young child who had tasted cake for the first time. The smiles didn't reach their eyes. Their stares were blank, only holding meaning when they glanced at each other or one of us. Haymitch walked in front of us. For once in his life he was sober, he was also the winner of the 50th games, this meant that this year he would be one of the bigger stars. He was moving people out of the way, not sparing even a glance at half of the Capital citizens who were fighting for his attention.

He lead us to the front of the tribute center. This one was entirely brand new. The windows clean and the building towering over our heads. We, however, did not stop to bask in its beauty, we had somewhere else to be. Pushing through the door, someone roughly grabbed me by the shoulder and brought me close to them. The sudden rush of movement also pushed Peeta off balance, causing him to wobble a little on his bad leg before steadying himself and following our still connected arms to the person who had brought me to them. Several cameras clicked in our faces before several mics were shoved under our noses. Haymitch, having noticed we were missing once he had gotten everyone inside and had come to search for us, shoved the mics out of our faces. With a stern look, he told the reporters we had somewhere to be before grabbing my free arm and bringing me and Peeta back to the entrance of the tribute center. "Can't you two stay out of trouble for just one day."

"It's a talent we have," Peeta chuckled, "Getting into trouble. You should try it sometime I bet you'd enjoy it." Haymitch made a grumbling noise at this comment before walking to the elevator so we could head to the top. Our tributes had already gone up, having not wanted to also get dragged away if they waited. That was a good idea, they didn't want to end up like me and Peeta.