2.

"So now, on top of the Careers, we're trying to find an Italian witch?" Madge asked, making a face.

Katniss perfectly understood the feeling. Hell, she shared it. She was pretty sure she had made that same face in the kitchen that morning when Effie had imparted the good – in the witch's terms – news. She didn't see what was good about any of this. Sure, they now had more information than they had the day before. It wouldn't help them any.

"Do we really want to find the Careers, though?" Peeta replied, making a face of his own.

The three of them were walking down the high school hallways, fighting off the lazy crowd of the lunch hour. Katniss had been catching Madge up to speed when the boy had joined them.

"I mean…" he continued after a beat. "I know that's what Haymitch says we're doing but it looks to me like he's hoping we won't find the Careers if it makes sense."

Haymitch and Effie both.

Katniss didn't like the looks the two Watchers shared every time they thought they had a lead or a sighting. If she had had her way, they would have been stalking the Cornucopia. If Enobaria had gone once, there were good chances she would go back… But Haymitch had turned it down every time she had suggested it, telling her it was more important to contain the army of newborn vampires.

Unlike Katniss and Peeta, Haymitch had greeted Effie's news with unabashed relief that morning. It was like his face had lost ten years all of a sudden and, for one mad second, she had thought he would actually hug Effie.

"Haymitch seems to think if we take out that witch, we'll solve the Reaping problem." Katniss pointed out unhappily. And she supposed he was hoping that the Careers would turn tails and go back to whatever they had been doing before waking up one morning with the idea of freeing their old master.

"That won't solve the vampires problem though." Madge argued.

And Madge was right. Which was why Katniss wasn't happy.

Because of that and because Haymitch had been crystal clear that if a human needed disposing of – dark which or not – he would be the one handling it. Not that she wanted to commit murder but… It seemed unfair to her that…

"There are too many problems." she grumbled, letting out a tired sigh. "You ask me, the biggest one right now is the army of vampires they're building…"

She had fallen asleep in class again during first period and she knew the teacher would report her to Haymitch. And while she knew Haymitch would not say anything to her, she also knew that faculty members would start asking questions if she kept up that way and that meant she and Prim might be taken away from his guardianship and…

"You know what we need?" Peeta's tone was suddenly much more cheerful. "We need a movie night." Katniss and Madge exchanged a look. He must have caught their dubiousness because next thing she knew he had tossed his arms around their shoulders and had pulled them closer to his sides, his voice turning coaxing. "Come on… It would be fun! Prim would like it. And, Madge, you could sleep over."

There was a moment of silence when he seemed to realize what he had just said and actually almost tripped. He immediately dropped the arm still wrapped around Madge's shoulders.

He didn't let go of Katniss though.

"I mean you could have a sleepover." he awkwardly rephrased. "The two of you. With Prim. Because there's no way Effie will let me sleep with girls. Not that I want to. Like that. That's not… And Haymitch will kill me if he finds me sleeping with Katniss again so…"

Madge let out a soft gasp and then did her best to hide her shock.

Katniss glared at Peeta who briefly closed his eyes. "That's not how I meant it. Nothing happened at all. It was all just…"

"You can be such a blabbering idiot sometimes." Katniss muttered.

His arm slowly dropped off her shoulders and, without thinking, she caught his wrist and adjusted it back on. She felt her cheeks flush but she didn't let herself think too much about it.

They hadn't talked at all about what had happened in that cave. She wasn't even sure Peeta remembered any of it. But ever since that night… Peeta touched her more. It was always casual and he wasn't overly pressing and she was getting used to it. She was learning to like it. She didn't mind it so much when he stood too close or watched her without a good excuse to do so or bumped his hand against hers when they walked side by side… She didn't mind it either when they sat too close on the couch or when he tentatively played with the end of her braid when he teased her… He hadn't tried to kiss her and she wasn't sure she wanted him to yet but… She liked the new proximity.

"A movie night and a sleepover don't sound too bad." Madge hesitated. "You've been chasing after vampires every night for weeks, Katniss… You deserve a break… Do you think Haymitch will be okay with it?"

Would Haymitch be okay with taking a night off from saving innocent people and killing monsters just so she could watch a stupid movie, eat her weight in pizza and ice cream and laugh most of the night with her friends? Somehow, she didn't think so.

"We could do it after patrol." Peeta suggested, his fingers drumming a distracted rhythm on her shoulder. "If we patrol early…"

"I'm not sure Haymitch and Effie will go for it." she remarked, shaking her head.

A slow scheming smile stretched Peeta's lips and, when he turned it to her, she couldn't help but think it was contagious.

"Maybe they could go on a date while we have our party." he said.

She frowned. "I'm not sure what they're doing, and I really don't want to know, but it doesn't look like dating to me."

"I think they're cute." Madge offered, rummaging inside her bag for a lost hair tie. She gathered her hair up in a hasty ponytail. "You know… In an awkward sort of way."

He snorted. "Try living with them. Haymitch sneaks out of our house one morning out of three and he's really not as stealthy as he thinks he is."

"She's not any stealthier when she sneaks out." Katniss pointed out. Every time, Effie had to step on that creaky floorboard right in front of the girls' bedroom. You would think the witch would know to avoid it by then but no. Every time. And Katniss woke up every time, tense and ready for a fight that was not coming.

They passed in front of Haymitch's classroom. The door was open, Haymitch was sitting at his desk and shot them a suspicious look when the three of them flashed him their best innocent smiles.

One thing had been made abundantly clear: neither Haymitch nor Effie liked having their private lives discussed.

And yet it was Peeta's, Prim's and hers main discussion topic. That was what they talked about when they didn't want to linger on the dangers lurking outside and they had nothing else to say. It had become their default conversation. Maybe if Effie and Haymitch didn't try to pretend they weren't involved or, at the very least, stop treating them like they were too stupid to understand they were sleeping together… Gossip. That was what they reduced Katniss to: spreading gossip.

"Anyway, we deserve a break." Peeta argued. "And we have to celebrate."

"Celebrate what?" Katniss scoffed, as they reached the decrepit lounge area. "The powerful dark witch we have to hunt, the three evil vampires we have to kill or the huge sacrificial ritual around the corner we have to stop?"

The lounge area wasn't as packed as Katniss had been expecting and they quickly located a free frayed couch.

"Celebrate that we're not dead yet and that you're going to kick the bad guys' asses soon." He tightened his side hug a little, excitement slipping in his voice. "And the fact that I made a pencil float this morning."

"You what?" Madge asked just as Katniss frowned. "You made what float now?"

"I made a pencil float." he repeated no less enthusiastically, miming it with his free hand while flopping down on the couch with a wide grin. His blue eyes were twinkling with pride. "Effie says it's the first step for anyone who's serious about using magic. It's supposed to teach me focus. The longer I can keep it up the better."

"And how long did you keep it floating?" Katniss asked. Madge had headed over to a group of people to snatch an empty chair so she sat down next to Peeta on the couch.

"Two seconds." he answered, beaming.

The girls looked at each other, fighting smiles.

"Did you toss it in air first?" Katniss mocked. "'Cause two seconds…"

"Hey! It's harder than it looks." he protested. "Alright, maybe it didn't really float. But it twitched and it kind of hopped, so… You know."

Peeta didn't pout as a rule but, right then, he looked really close to it. It should have annoyed her but instead it only made it harder for her to bite back her smile.

She wanted to laugh but it didn't seem really nice to do that. She had no idea how hard it was to make a pencil float but she remembered how weird it had been when she had started training with Haymitch sometimes. Using weapons came naturally to her Slayer's instinct but there was a difference between natural skills and trained techniques and she remembered how proud she had been the first time she had managed to disarm Haymitch with a sword – and how he had mocked her because, according to him, there really was nothing to it.

"I'm sure it's difficult and it's great you're making progress." Madge offered, reaching out to pat his knee in a comforting gesture.

Katniss knew the other girl didn't mean anything by it but she didn't really like that. She told herself it wasn't why she brought her legs up on the couch or why she accidentally ended up with her knees propped on his thigh.

She immediately froze.

She wasn't sure what was getting into her lately or why she would… She accidentally met Peeta's gaze and he seemed so pleased and happy with having her so close though… It was silly really. Stupid even. Nothing to look so over the moon about. But when he slowly reached out for her hand, she let him take it. Her heart was beating far too quickly.

Madge cleared her throat.

Katniss blushed up to the roots of her hair and she opened her mouth to apologize, ready to swear there must have been another demonic thing afoot to make her act so weird, when she caught sight of Gale at the other side of the lounge area and she felt herself grow cold. It was like a bucket of icy water had been poured all over her burning skin. And it wasn't a nice feeling.

Her former best friend's grey eyes studied her, then Peeta, and his expression was one of tired fury… No surprise on his features though.

A part of her, the childish part who had always looked up to him and somehow craved his approval, wanted to rush to Gale and explain that it wasn't what he was thinking. She crushed it in the bud. She didn't owe him any explanation. Not anymore. Not after what he had tried to pull.

"Do you mind if I go say hi?" Madge asked suddenly, sounding a little awkward.

Her friend kept her gaze averted but she must have still managed to see Katniss' shrug because she stood up and crossed the open space.

She couldn't quite determine if Madge looked relieved because she hadn't objected or because she and Peeta were being awkward to be around.

"I think she likes him." Peeta commented quietly – maybe even carefully. He gave her hand a squeeze. "Would it bother you?"

She wasn't really sure what the two of them were doing there but she was pretty sure there was only one acceptable answer to that question given that she was more or less curled up against his side and her hand was in his and she may or may not have kissed him while she thought he was dying.

And, besides, it was the answer she wanted to give. She just really wasn't good at expressing that sort of things.

All in all, she was almost grateful that the windows exploded right at that moment because it was the perfect distraction.

She could have done without the demons carrying katanas though…

Demon Interruptus! What are your thoughts?