Chapter 25: October 7th Part IV

(Peeta)

Peeta watched as Katniss stumbled slightly during their walk home from the party. He could tell she was a tad drunker than she'd like to admit, but he wasn't going to point that out. She'd wanted to keep drinking and dancing and laughing and he wasn't about to stop her or tell her she couldn't. They had danced until the party was over and were both completely covered in highlighter and drenched in sweat and spilled beer, but he didn't remember the last time they'd had that much fun together.

In fact, he wasn't even completely sure they ever had that much fun together to begin with.

It was so good to see her smile again. His sappy heart felt light and happy as he watched her clumsy feet fumble to find their footing. Or maybe it was the beers. He'd lost count how many beers he'd consumed, but it was worth it.

"You alright?" he asked, snaking an arm around her waist. Katniss threw her head back and laughed, the throaty sound making him grin. He knew he was drunk, but it was a good drunk. A happy drunk. They'd danced until the party closed down at two, then hung around his frat house for almost an hour afterwards just hanging out in Daruius' room. All of his friends officially loved Katniss; they'd been shooting him thumbs up signs all night and slapping him high fives. He was happy they liked her but he was also relieved that she'd been able to let go and have some fun with him. Her life hadn't been all rainbows and sunshine and he wasn't sure if she ever got to have fun and not worry about Prim, school, her mother, work, etc. This the first time he'd ever really seen Katniss completely relaxed since she'd been at camp.

Now they were walking through the nearly empty quad, laughing and enjoying each other's company on the walk home. Her happy giggles bounced off the slowly changing leaves above them. The air was starting to turn colder – winter was on its way.

"I had so much fun," she laughed, turning to him. "And at a highlighter party! I never thought I'd be able to say I had fun at a frat party but I did holy shit," she rambled.

"You're gonna be hurting in the morning," he warned. "I told you not to take that last shot."

Katniss laughed and walked ahead of him, rolling up her highlighter covered t-shirt with another little giggle. "I don't care. I officially don't care," she slurred slightly. She snorted and looked over her shoulder at him as he walked to catch up.

"Fine miss 'I don't care'…." He said, grabbing her waist. She fell into step beside him and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Are you happy here?"

"Yes."

"I wish you could stay here. With me. I wish you didn't have to go home."

She sighed as they walked, her giggles subsiding. "I do too."

Peeta swayed slightly under the hot sprays of water. Since they were both covered in sweat and highlighter and spilled beer, they had parted ways to quickly shower once returning to his dorm. He ran the soap over his body, washing away the traces of the party and cleaning up for Katniss. He hoped they would get round two once he got back to his room.

He glanced down at his semi-hard member as he ran his soapy hand over himself. "Ready to go big guy?" he slurred to himself. Shaking his head with a laugh, he rinsed himself off and quickly toweled dry. Katniss had been a woman possessed at the party; dancing, laughing, grinding herself against him. He'd never seen her like that and it was the sexiest thing he'd seen her do yet. To see her let go like that and just blatantly show everyone how much she wanted him had been more than he could handle. He'd dragged her back into the laundry room and had almost taken her right there up against the dryer. However, he knew that was a little risky. If they'd been caught his frat brothers would have never let him hear the end of it. So, he'd settled for getting her off with his hand instead as a bit of a prelude. He pictured the way she'd gripped the edges of the old dryer and she'd even bitten his shoulder as she came.

He was eagerly looking forward the main event.

He hurried back to his room, swaying a bit as the hot water of his shower made his steps a bit wobbly. Opening the door, he found Katniss still in a towel with her wet hair hanging down her back. Kicking the door shut, he grinned and dropped his towel on the floor as she turned around.

"Oh God, Peeta!" she gasped when she saw him. He stood in the doorway naked with his towel at his feet as she covered her mouth and giggled. The alcohol was obviously still having an effect on her as well, so he didn't feel too bad.

"What? I was in the shower just…you know, thinkin' about ya," he giggled. The last shot of Goldschlager they'd done together had definitely pushed him over the edge. There was a fine line between 'tipsy' and 'shitfaced' and they had both definitely crossed it after adding a hot shower into the equation. Hot water always made him feel even drunker than he already was.

Katniss raised an eyebrow at him. "Oh? Is that so? And what were you thinking?"

He gave her a flirtatious wink before kicking the towel behind him and striding confidently over to her. Katniss laughed as he grabbed her hips and pushed her against Mark's desk. Katniss looked down at the surface and laughed.

"This isn't your desk now, is it Peeta?" she chided him playfully, eying him warily.

He shook his head. "No. Turnabout's fair play," he shrugged, lifting her up onto the flat surface. She leaned back as he nudged the towel away, letting it fall to the side to reveal Katniss in all of her naked glory. Her smooth, olive skin was still sun-kissed in some places, and he could still see the faint tan lines from her bathing suit from camp. He grinned wickedly and reached behind him to open his closet door. He found the strip of condoms he was looking for and hurriedly tore one packet off with his teeth. Katniss laughed her throaty laugh and hooked her legs around his waist as she balanced on the edge of the desk.

"Is this something from your naughty book?" she asked with another laugh.

He drunkenly shrugged. "Perhaps it is," he answered as he rolled the condom onto himself.

She chewed her lip and watched as he did it, scooting closer to the edge of the desk. Peeta grabbed her legs as she reached down and guided him inside of her. He closed his eyes and groaned as her warm, velvety walls encased him. He thrust his hips forward to meet hers and he could hardly think straight. Katniss' heels dug into his back as she leaned back further on the desk, her torso flat against the surface. Her head was tucked up against the back of the desk against the wall as he moved against her. She let out a little sigh of contentment each time his hips met hers.

"Oh God…oh God," he groaned, temporarily losing himself in he feeling. A slight dizziness washed over him, making him pause and open his eyes. He winced and paused, shaking his head.

"Are you okay?" she panted, opening her eyes. "We can stop."

"No!" he gasped, thrusting forward again. "Fuck no. I'm never stopping. Oh…"

He resumed his movements, closing his eyes to revel in the feeling. This was a position he'd seen in the book, but he also wanted to try something else. In his reading he'd discovered that it said to change angles of penetration to enhance the woman's sensitivity. Figuring now was as good of a time as ever, he lifted his left leg and shifted his hips a bit to rotate them just the right way. Katniss keened in surprise and bliss, her mouth falling open as her legs gripped his waist.

"Oh my God! Yes! Right there! Oh…" she gasped.

Peeta was balancing on one leg as he rested his knee on the desk beside her ass. Fuck did this new angle feel amazing! He felt like he'd never been deeper inside of her as their bodies moved together. He groaned loudly and closed his eyes again, ignoring the second wave of dizziness. Katniss began to tremble beneath him, her body coaxing another wave of enjoyment from his as her walls contracted. It just felt so good…

He thrust harder against her to push her over the edge, but instead he was suddenly even dizzier. His eyes flew open just as his ankle gave way and his body went careening towards the floor. He landed on his knee with a loud crack as a pile of notebooks and papers came raining down on top of him. Katniss flew up in surprise, cracking her head on the corner of the shelf over his desk.

"Ow!"

"Shit!"

Peeta looked up as he grasped his throbbing knee. Katniss was naked on the edge of Mark's now disheveled desk, holding her head and wincing. Pain shot through his knee all the way down to the ankle he'd twisted when he'd fallen.

"Fuck…are you okay?" he asked, rubbing his leg.

She winced again and rubbed her head. "I think so…what the hell happened?"

He snorted. "I fell…and now I hurt."

She slowly slid off the desk and wrapped her towel around herself again as she knelt down to look at his ankle. Peeta glanced down and saw that both his ankle and knee were turning a dark shade of purple.

"Did I just fall on my ass?" he slurred. Everything suddenly hurt. His knee was throbbing, his ankle had a slicing pain through it, and his man bits stung with blue balls. His pride was a bit damaged as well.

"I think you did," she said slowly, looking around. "Can you make it to the futon?"

He stood with her help, wincing and trying not to die of humiliation. Dejectedly, he eased the condom off his member and tossed it in the trash with a grumpy growl. "We didn't even finish."

Katniss barked out a laugh as he eased himself onto the futon and covered himself with the towel. "Easy there cowboy, you might have sprained your ankle during sex. I think we can stick with one injury tonight and maybe…try it again in the morning," she laughed.

"How's your head?" he asked. "Did you hit it?"

Katniss winced and touched the back of her scalp. "I'll have a goose egg there tomorrow I think. Shit," she laughed. "We're quite the pair."

"Yeah…I can't believe I fell. Crap. How embarrassing," he winced.

She sat down next to him and handed him the phone. "How about we rest and order some pizza? Would that help heal your wounded ego and distract you from sex?"

He frowned and accepted the phone, shrugging. "I guess."

Maybe the Kama Sutra book wasn't the best idea he'd ever had.

He parked his car several days later and stood up with a grimace. The ankle brace the doctor had given him made things easier, but he was still a little stiff. He heard a snicker that made him look up.

Katniss stood in front of her dorm, her bags in her hand and a smirk on her face.

"You gonna live?" she asked.

Peeta hobbled over and took her bag from her before leading her to his car. "I think I might. I'm still trying to come up with a story to tell my parents though. Any bright ideas?"

She shrugged. "Just anything but the fact that you were trying to do a Kama sutra move and fell on your ass?"

"Naturally. I doubt my mother would love that."

"Nervous to see them again?"

"My dad no," he said, loading her bag into his trunk. "My mother will just want to grill me about you."

He opened the door for Katniss and helped her climb in. He was picking her up at school on his way home to drop her home first. When he'd called her cell phone that morning (and she'd actually used it) she had explained she had to wait until that evening to take a bus home. Her mother was working late and wouldn't be able to come pick her up, so she would have had to wait until almost nine at night to catch it. Peeta had volunteered to come and get her that morning instead.

"Thank you for doing this by the way," she said, sliding into the seat. He flashed her a smile before running around to his side and firing up the engine.

"No problem. That's what boyfriends are for."

He pulled out of her school's large parking lot and navigated them towards the highway. Their drive wouldn't be long, but he wanted to enjoy every single moment with Katniss that he could.

"What will your mom ask you about me?"

Peeta chuckled. "Anything and everything she can. You know – typical mom stuff."

"You can make me out to be witty, beautiful, and independently wealthy," she laughed, tossing her braid over her shoulder. Peeta just laughed and shook his head.

"She'd find something."

Katniss narrowed her eyes at him as he drove. "Will she be really hard on me if I go to your house for Christmas?"

"No," he said honestly. "She'll drill you sure, but she's not mean."

"Right," she hummed. He turned onto the highway and stepped on the gas, hoping he could believe his own words.

He dropped Katniss off at her house with Prim around noon. Prim was already out of school for a teacher's institute, so she was beyond excited to see Katniss so early.

Peeta jammed his hands in his pockets as he stood in the entryway of the small Everdeen home. He wasn't ready to go home to his parents' house just yet.

"You're stalling," she laughed, narrowing her eyes at him as she took her bag.

"Fine. My dad is still at work and I don't want to spend the afternoon being grilled by my mother without his protection. I'm a wussy, alright?"

Prim snorted and eyed her sister. "You don't like your mom?"

"I like her fine. She's just nosy. She wants to know all about Katniss."

Prim gave her sister a funny little look and giggled. "Then I guess Katniss has to go to your Christmas party then right?"

"Prim!" Katniss hissed. "I told you not to repeat that! We haven't been invited yet."

"It's fine," Peeta insisted.

Prim eyed him as they made their way into the living room. "Peeta are you limping?"

"How about we all go get lunch?" he asked quickly. "My treat. Anywhere you want to go."

Katniss gave Peeta an exasperated look at Prim jumped up and down and raced to grab her coat. "I call Chipoltle!" she hollered loudly.

"Good one," Katniss muttered. Peeta snickered.

They were seated at the local Chipoltle twenty minutes later, digging into their food. Prim was happily exploring her way through Katniss' new cell phone as she munched on her chips and salsa, and Katniss was still busy trying to pretend she didn't mind the way Peeta had paid for lunch.

"She wasn't supposed to say anything about the Christmas party," Katniss admitted, shooting her sister a glare.

"Whatever, I just want to go," Prim argued back.

"I'll talk to my mom this weekend. I just want to make sure she'll play nice."

Katniss wrinkled her nose at her and shook her head. "Fine. Just ask your parents….I'd like to meet them. You've met my mom, so…"

"Really?" he asked, sitting up. He stuffed the rest of his burrito in his mouth and chewed thoughtfully. He'd love to parade Katniss around his family's Christmas party in a few months. He would show his stupid cousins that he could get a girl and maybe his brothers would shut up about him being a hopeless case when it came to women.

I can just picture Rye drooling over Katniss…he always liked brunettes. Hah. Sucker.

"You look way too smug about all this. What are you thinking?"

He wiped his hands on his napkin and gave her a bright smile. "My dad is all for it if you wanted to come stay with us for a few days and I'll talk to my mom this weekend. I think it's high time you made plans to meet the Mellarks, Everdeen."

Katniss gave him a skeptical smirk. "Seriously?"

He nodded. "Plus, you'd look awesome in something red."

Up Next: Peeta's time at home and some dirty texting. Oh you know I had to have them take advantage of that new cell phone...

Sorry for the delay on this. I was terribly sick this week (boo) and then my other story Arrows & Cupids has gotten away from me...lol. So bear with me. I'm going to have a LOT of time on my hands coming up here so expect more frequent updates in March.

Thank you for reading and please let me know what you thought of the lovely duo's drunken blunder...lol.