A/N: Features lyrics to 'Thug Mi Gaol' by Gràinne Holland

PEETA POV

When we got to District Twelve, we had to keep up the facade that we were the star-crossed lovers, but Katniss and I knew that it wasn't real. I was happy to hear that she did have feelings for me after all, but she just didn't know what those feelings were. It gave me a chance to finally do all of the things I had dreamt of doing for years to impress her, gain her attention and be romantic. We hardly had any time alone together in the days following our return to Twelve, which made it hard for me to try and be romantic with her.

There was one night, however, when I did have that opportunity, and it was the night of the dinner at Mayor Undersee's home. Katniss and I would arrive on our own accord, having been prepped beforehand, and I was looking forward to taking the opportunity to pick her up and take her there as if it were a date. I had collected some dandelion flowers beforehand, along with some other wildflowers, and fashioned them into a bouquet that I would give to her when I met her outside of her home, which was across from mine in Victors' Village. I had had my hair trimmed a little shorter earlier in the day by my prep team and I was dressed in a grey suit with a forest green tie. In my hands was the bouquet I had made for Katniss and I nervously checked my watch, wondering if I'd come out too early. I was startled when I heard the door open and Katniss stepped out, wearing a forest green ball gown with sleeves that draped off the shoulders and a cream-coloured shawl wrapped around her shoulders. Her hair was up in an elegantly braided updo and on her neck was an elegant bronze necklace with emerald gems embedded inside. I couldn't help my jaw when it fell open upon my first glimpse of her, and she blushed and smiled at me.

"Are you going to stare at me all day or are you going to say something, Peeta Mellark?" she asked me, her lilting Hebridean accent pulling me from my trance.

"You..." I began, struggling for words. "You look... so beautiful..." I gave her a smile, which she returned, and held out my hand to lead her down the stairs, which she took. She lifted the hem of her dress so she wouldn't trip, revealing the bronze heels on her feet, as she descended the stairs and stopped right in front of me.

"You don't look so bad yourself," she told me, now meeting my blue eyes with her stormy grey ones. "Did you... Is your hair shorter?"

"Yeah, uh... my prep team thought I needed a haircut," I said, and then I remembered the bouquet. "Uh... this is for you." I pulled it out from behind my back and handed it to her, and she smiled when she took it.

"Thank you, Peeta," she said, admiring the arrangement of the flowers.

"You're welcome," I said, and then a moment of silence passed between us. "Can... can I... Can I kiss your cheek?" I asked suddenly, blushing the moment the words came out of my mouth, and she, too, flushed the same cherry red colour as she nodded. I then bent down just a little and softly pressed a kiss to her cheek, feeling that heat under her skin.

"We should... We should probably get going... Effie won't like us being late again," she told me, looking anywhere but directly at my eyes, and I couldn't help but chuckle. After Katniss had held the train to talk to me about how she felt about me, Effie had gone insane about the schedule and kept pressing the conductor to drive the train faster, and she certainly didn't fail to chew us out for throwing us off schedule. I held out my arm to Katniss, who took it, and we walked together to Mayor Undersee's house.

The dinner itself was pleasant, I suppose. As pleasant as it could be when you're rewarded for either killing or surviving twenty-two other kids. Afterwards, we milled about, socialising with Capitol officials and the mayor, chatting away with Mayor Undersee's daughter, Madge, who turned out to be a mutual friend between Katniss and I - she'd given Katniss the mockingjay pin that she wore in the arena. We danced, both with people we didn't want to dance with and with each other, and eventually were separated for a while. I looked for her, but couldn't find her anywhere, so I snuck upstairs in hopes of finding her seeking a moment of peace when I saw her standing on the balcony of the second floor. "Hey," I said as I approached her, and she turned to look at me and smiled somewhat sadly.

"Hi," she said as I took my place beside her.

"What're you doing out here?" I asked her, standing about a foot away from her.

"Thinking," she replied, looking back out at the night sky.

"About?"

"Lots of things. My family, my future... what's to come..." She glanced at me out of the corner of her eye. "...you..."

"Me, huh?" I gave her a smile. "You wanna talk about what's on your mind?"

"Not particularly... at least, not right now. I've done enough talking for a lifetime, my throat's starting to go hoarse." She cleared her throat a little.

"We don't have to talk. We can just stand here. I'm perfectly content just being with you."

"Peeta," she said, just to say my name. She gave me a gentle smile and then took a step to her right, towards me, and wrapped her arms around my torso in a rare sign of affection. I glanced around to see if there were any cameras, but there weren't any. At least, no visible cameras. I knew that she'd said she did have feelings for me, but a part of me still needed to know if her actions were for the cameras or for me. I wrapped my arms around her and held her against my chest, and she closed her eyes and pressed her ear against my heart. A moment of silence passed as we held each other under the night sky when she started softly whispering the words of a song in a language I couldn't understand.

Thug mi gaol, thug mi gaol,

Thug mi gaol don fhear bhàn,

Agus gealladh dhutsa, luaidh

O cha dual dhomh bhith slàn

Chaidh am bàta troimh na caoil

Leis na daoine Di-màirt

'S mise phàigh am faradh daor

Bha mo ghaol air a clàr...

"What's that mean?" I asked her, wondering why she chose to sing that particular song. I had no idea what it meant at all.

"I'll tell you another day... but I had an urge to sing it. My mother used to sing it, when she would perform at the cèilidhs ," she replied quietly.

"What's a kee-lee?" I asked, trying to pronounce the evidently non-English word.

"It's like a party... kind of like the Harvest Fest or the Yule Fest, only it's a party just because. We used to have them every Saturday night back home in Hebridia, and my mother would perform at them," she whispered back to me. "Sometimes, they have them in the Hob... not very often, though, and I've never been. They're all very hush-hush."

"Your mother was a singer?"

"It was a Clan Èibhinndùn thing, singing. My Uncle Archie sang, too... Him, you'll remember. He was supposed to be my father, but he was actually my uncle. My mother's brother." I gently pressed my lips to her hair and rubbed her upper back with the palm of my hand, sensing that this conversation was starting to make her sad. "We should go back downstairs, before we're missed."

"Yeah..."

"I don't want to, though."

"Me neither." She pulled back from our embrace to look at me and I gave her a gentle smile. She stood up on her toes to press a kiss to my cheek, and then stood back on her feet and brought my hands to her lips.

"Let's just get through this week... and then we'll be left alone," she said, and I agreed, and we went back downstairs to rejoin the party, our private moment invading my mind and helping to make our act that much more convincing. I think at one point, it almost stopped becoming one.

Eventually, the cameras did leave and things began to quiet down in Victors' Village, and Katniss decided she wanted to go back to work as a midwife, which she had done before the Games. This was her 'talent', as it was the only legal thing that she was good at - mine was painting. For someone who considered herself squeamish, she really enjoyed serving as a district midwife and was definitely the best out of all of them. I want to say there were four in total - three from the Seam and one from town. The other three were older than Katniss and for a while, Katniss was just serving as an apprentice until it was proven that she really knew what she was doing. I had to make a point to ask her how she learned how to do all of that stuff so quickly.

The job required a lot of long nights, so there were days where I saw her cycle off on her bicycle - the standard form of transportation for all district midwives, Seam and town - and didn't see her cycle back until the next day. On one particular day, I watched her preparing her bicycle to leave when I came out with a paper bag, crossing the courtyard to her. She was dressed in the District Twelve midwifery uniform - a standard mustard yellow cotton dress paired with a dark grey wool cape and cap fastened in her hair, which was up in a neat chignon style. When she saw me approach, she smiled at me. "What's that?" she asked, seeing the paper bag in my hands.

"Just a treat in case you get hungry," I told her, handing it to her. "I created them a couple of days ago and something told me you'd like them." She opened the bag and peered inside, seeming to enjoy the aroma that emanated from it, and then took out a little bun and took a bite out of it.

" Ò dhìol , these are amazing! What are these?" she asked me, her eyes wide with surprise as she devoured the little bun.

"They're cheese buns, don't eat all of them or you'll have nothing later!" I said, teasing her, and she blushed a little as she closed the paper bag and stuffed it into her medical bag.

"Thank you," she told me.

"Do you think you'll be home for dinner tonight?" I asked, and she shrugged.

"Hard to tell. I'm off to a new mother who's having her first. It could be quick, it could be tomorrow. I won't know for sure, everyone's different," she replied.

"Oh... Well... if you happen to be... Why don't you, uh... Come over... for dinner?" I asked nervously, my hand on the back of my neck and my eyes averted. She gave me a smile that was tinted pink.

"I'd like that," she said. "Anyway, best be off. Maybe I'll, er... see you later, Peeta."

"Yeah, I'll see you. Good luck and tell the mother that, too!" I called after her as she hopped on her bicycle and cycled off. She did not come for dinner, and judging by the lack of her bicycle in the front of her home, I figured it was because she was still at the birth; I let out a sigh and simply went to bed. I woke up with the sun, as I always do, and went downstairs to start on some bread, which I would take to Haymitch, to Katniss's family - her aunt and cousin, I guess - and to the families in the Seam. I never let them see me leave bread on their doorsteps, but I was sure they suspected. After the sun rose and it was light out, I began to pack my basket to deliver my bread and when I stepped outside, I saw a sight that almost made me laugh.

There, lying on the rather large and ornate fountain near the entrance to Victors' Village, fast asleep and oblivious to the world, was my beautiful Katniss. She must have sat down on the fountain for a moment and dozed off. I approached the fountain trying to see if she was awake and simply lying down, but that was not the case - I heard her let out a quiet snore and I suppressed a chuckle, not wanting to wake her. I set down my basket of bread on a nearby bench and knelt down beside Katniss's sleeping form, which was dangling precariously over the water of the fountain. "Katniss," I whispered, trying not to startle her; she didn't budge. I raised a hand to give her a gentle shake, but that still didn't wake her up. "Katniss," I said, this time a little louder, and she started to stir slightly.

" Faighinn a-mach às an sin..." she muttered in her sleep, but I couldn't understand her.

"What? Katniss, wake up," I said again, now a little concerned by the concerned expression that had developed on her sleeping face.

"Chan eil... chan eil, chan eil e sàbhailte ..."

"Katniss!" I shouted, and she opened her eyes and let out a cry, rolling into her back and right over the edge of the ledge of the fountain and into water, letting out let another squeal as she tried to fight some unseen force. "Katniss! Katniss, it's okay! It's just a dream!" I said to her as she slowly stopped thrashing around in the water, and she stopped and looked up at me, fear in her eyes. "It's okay..."

"Where the hell..." she said in English, and she glanced around, as if to confirm her surroundings, before looking at me. "I'm in a fountain."

"You are in a fountain," I told her. "Are you okay?"

"A little wet, but I suppose I'll live," she said.

"Well, I guess I'm the one that woke you which means I'm responsible for making you wet," I said. I didn't realise what exactly I had said until it was too late and my eyes widened as she splashed me with the water from the fountain that she still sat in, but she was fighting a smile, so I laughed and played it off like a joke. "Hey!"

"Peeta Mellark, your sly tongue is going to get you in trouble someday," she told me, and I couldn't help but chuckle as she stood and took my offered hand to help her step out of the fountain.

"This tongue can just as easily get me out of trouble as it can get me into trouble. You'd know that, wouldn't you," I told her, and her cheeks flushed a furious shade of pink and she looked away from me. She was likely recalling the night before the Games, when we did just about everything we could possibly think of just for the sake of pleasuring the other. One of those things I had done was go down on her, sucking on that sensitive little nub between her legs that made her scream out my name and nearly rip my hair out.

"Peeta!" she hissed, playfully smacking me. In order to distract herself from her embarrassment, she pulled her soaking wet cap off of her head, which freed her hair and allowed it to fall down her shoulders, wringing out the cap.

"You know, even when you're soaking wet from falling into a fountain, you're still beautiful," I told her, making her blush a different shade of pink. "How was the birth?"

"Long, but that was expected. It was a little girl," Katniss replied.

"Good for the mother, little girls are brilliant," I replied. "I've always wanted a little girl of my own to spoil, teach how to bake and have to scare the boys off when she's older." Katniss stilled, clearly somewhat distressed by what I'd said. "Is... is something wrong?"

"Peeta..." she sighed, and then she sat down on the fountain, gesturing for me to join her. She was silent for a moment while she contemplated what she wanted to say, and I had a feeling I wasn't going to like it. "Peeta, I... I'm not going to have children... not ever... I don't want to raise any children in this world, not so long as I can expect their names to be in those bowls. And with the both of us being victors... well, you know how the Capitol loves drama. Any child of ours is guaranteed to be reaped."

"Then we'll train them to survive. We both survived," I replied, surprised that she could say such a thing. She was young, though - she could change her mind, couldn't she?

"We're not training anyone to survive because I'm not having children. I'm not going to change my mind and that's the end of that discussion for me. I should have told you this earlier, I'm sorry... if I knew that children were going to be important for you, then I..."

"Don't finish that thought," I told her, cutting her off. "Katniss, I want children so much, but I don't want them more than you. If you don't want children, then I accept that and won't push you."

"Peeta..." I scooted closer to her and wrapped an arm around her still soaked shoulders.

"You can't change my mind. When I fell for you, I fell for everything, and therefore agreed to love even the things I don't exactly agree with. If you don't want children... I'm perfectly content being a much beloved uncle." She glanced up at me and I smiled at her, but she wasn't smiling back this time.

"What if you change your mind?"

"What if you change yours?"

"I won't, so long as the Games are happening."

"What if there were no Games?"

"Peeta, shh! What if something hears you?" I let out a sigh.

"We'll talk about it another time... I have to go and deliver this bread, but I'll be back probably within an hour or two. Are you busy later? You still owe me that dinner."

"I was actually thinking of going into the woods... but I think I would like that dinner." This time, she smiled, and we both stood from the fountain and faced each other.

"All right, I'll see you at dinner then," I told her, and I leaned down to lightly kiss her cheek, which turned pink, and we went our separate ways.

KATNISS POV

He was everything, wasn't he? Handsome, charming, funny, the sweetest, kindest boy - no, after what he's been through, a man - I have ever had the pleasure to know and so, so much more. He was strong, firm, sturdy, the sunshine on a cloudy day. He was the exhilaration I felt in a hunt - or the exhilaration of steering a sailboat through the Paible Harbour, my home in Hebridia - and he was the joy of the first signs of spring after a long and cold winter. Peeta Mellark was everything I never thought I would want and yet, it was becoming harder and harder to resist his charm. He so badly wanted me to like him, and how could I not? There was nothing unlikable - not a single thing. Every kiss he gave my cheeks or my forehead or my hands made my core tingle with heat and I silently begged him to kiss my lips, but he was holding out for me. I don't blame him for wanting me to make the first move, considering I was the one who was faking our relationship in the Games, but I couldn't do that. He couldn't possibly expect that from me! I'm not affectionate nor do I even really know how to kiss... at least, not romantically. Sure, I could kiss him to save his life and I kissed him the night before we went into the arena...

I couldn't forget that night. That beautiful, wonderful night. I knew the second I kissed Peeta, I was equally a goner, same as him, and as much as I didn't want to get attached, I was still convinced I was going to die and something inside me was desperate to know what it felt like to be loved. Well, he sure showed me how.

I couldn't think of this anymore - I had to get into the woods. It was Sunday and Gale was likely waiting for me. I wasn't supposed to doze off on the fountain, but I did anyway, waking up to a dreadful nightmare and falling into the fountain. I quickly changed out of my uniform and into my hunting clothes, braided my hair and rushed out to the woods. I was excited - I hadn't really had a chance to speak to or even see Gale since before the Games. He went into the mines almost instantly and only had Sundays off, so today will be the first time in what feels like two months that I'll actually be able to speak to him.

It had been that long, hadn't it? The Reaping took place on the fourth of July, 2159, a Wednesday, and a week later, on the eleventh of July, the Games started (Peeta and I, evidently, had gone to bed together on the tenth of July). They took eighteen days for twenty-two tributes to die, which put us at the twenty-ninth of July, a Sunday, for the day Peeta and I both won. Four days after that, on the second of August, we were finally reunited onstage for our post-Games interview, and on Sunday, the fifth of August - now a full month after the Reaping - we were finally on the train home to District Twelve. We arrived in District Twelve on Tuesday, the seventh of August and had about thirteen days of interviews, moving into our new home, parties for Capitol officials at the mayor's house and more. Once the last of the cameras finally left on Monday, the thirteenth of August, and on the fourteenth, I was back on my bicycle serving as a district midwife. I did that up until today, Sunday the nineteenth of August, now well over a month and a half since the Reaping, which means that yes, it had been nearly two months since I last really got the chance to speak to Gale.

I made my way through the fence, stopping first to make sure that it wasn't electrified, before safely climbing through. I made my way to mine and Gale's meeting spot, but he was nowhere to be found. I decided to hang around for just a moment, pausing to snack on the last of Peeta's absolutely delicious cheese buns that he'd handed to me the day before, when I heard rustling behind me, and I turned to see Gale's tall, dark - and relatively handsome - form emerge from the bushes. I gave him a smile, then moved to stand, only to be stopped by the words that came out of his mouth. "Well, if it isn't baker boy's girl. Finally made time in your busy schedule to see me, huh?"

I was stunned for just a moment, shocked to hear those words come out of his mouth. Baker boy's girl? Busy schedule? Now that the interviewers were finally gone, my 'busy schedule' was the same it had always been, except I wasn't in school anymore. "What's the matter? You've spent so much time in your new little world of luxury, you've forgotten who I am?" His venomous words dragged me out of my stunned state, and I glared at him with fury in my eyes.

"What the fuck are you on about?" I spat at him, standing up to face him.

"You know what. New house - I hear it has five bedrooms. Five. Don't have to go to school, endless riches sent directly from the Capitol. And not to mention your new tool," Gale spat back.

"I didn't ask for any of that. If you don't remember, I didn't have a choice in the house, it was given to me and I was forced to live there," I told him. "And what the hell is my 'new tool'? What the hell even is a tool?"

"The baker's kid," replied Gale bitterly.

"Oh, blimey, what are you on about now?"

"'I don't want to fall in love or get married', 'I don't want to have any relationships', 'I don't want to rely on anyone'. Four years , Katniss, I waited for you to change your mind about all of that and notice me and the way I looked at you, but apparently, all it took was four minutes for baker boy to ogle you in order for you to do that. It's the blonde hair, isn't it? Those damn merchant looks. You think you'll get something being with him?"

" Peeta's as much a victor as I am. We have the same riches that neither of us asked for and we quite literally have the same house on opposite sides of the street," I said back as I tried to digest the rest of Gale's spiteful words. I could at least respond to his jabs at Peeta and his status, but I couldn't respond to the ones about his apparent feelings for me. I never once thought he felt that way about me - I certainly never felt that way about him! Gale reminded me so much of my twin brother, Dòmh, whom I lost on that fateful day when I first arrived in Panem. Had he had the chance to grow up, he might have looked just like Gale, except a little paler. I'd had so many brothers before that I was so close to, and to finally have that again was blissful for me. That was how I saw Gale - as a brother. But he didn't see me as a sister, he saw me as a potential lover. I softened the venom in my voice, now speaking calmly, as I would to a labouring mother. "Have I ever given you the impression that I ever felt that way about you, Gale?"

"No, you didn't, but I thought it was obvious. Everyone thought it was obvious. That you and I would end up together. Why wouldn't we? We'd work well together. But it's because I'm not a merchant, isn't it?"

" Air sgàth Dhè , drop the fucking merchant line, Gale! That is completely irrelevant in this conversation!" I snapped at him. "If it was obvious to everyone, then it wasn't obvious to me! I saw you as a brother and treated you as such. You have no idea what I went through before I came here to Panem. I had brothers, you know, and I lost every single one of them. You reminded me of them and I clung to that."

"Does he know that?"

"Know what? That I had brothers?" He nodded. "Yes."

"Why the hell did he know that before I did?"

"Because he saved my life, so many times... and I trusted him. I do trust him."

"But you don't trust me?"

"I never said that. I had no reason to go into depth about my life before I came to Panem to you. It was completely irrelevant to what we did together."

"So why does he know?"

"Because in the moment, I needed Peeta to trust me."

"And why was that?"

"Gale, why are you asking me all of these questions?"

"Because you don't say for four fucking years that you don't want to fall in love or be in a relationship and then turn around and start fucking someone you've known for weeks."

"I'm not fucking him, Gale, for God's sake! We aren't even together!"

"So all that during the Games... it was fake?" I let out a sigh. I didn't think I'd be having this bloody conversation again.

"Not all of it. Some of it, yes, because it meant getting him food or medicine to survive, but a lot of it came from genuine feelings that I've only recently discovered I have for Peeta. Gale, you've no idea of our history. I've known him for years." Gale was silent as he glared at me, waiting for me to continue. "When I first came to Panem, I didn't speak any English. Not a word. I was teased and tormented senselessly and I had no idea what was even being said to me because I couldn't understand them, and they knew that. Everyone was so cruel... but not him. Peeta was the only one who showed me any kindness. The first day I met him, I was sitting alone underneath a tree because I was ridiculed so much for trying to claim a table and he sat down beside me. I had no idea what he said to me, but I knew he was being kind, and he offered me a few slices of his orange. And there were other times where he proved his kindness, things that I won't tell you simply because you don't need to know, but I never thought I could fall for him."

"So you love him."

"I don't know. I'm only just now discovering that I might have the ability to love someone other than Prim."

"Is she even related to you? She was already here before you even got here."

"She's the daughter of my mother's brother. My cousin. Agnessa is my aunt." He was silent again, and he let out a sigh.

"I wish you'd have given us a chance before you decided I was nothing more to you than a replacement for your brothers."

"You weren't a replacement for my brothers."

"But you still won't give me a chance."

"I don't know what you want me to say, Gale... I don't love you, not that way. I never have. I don't want to hurt you, but it's the truth. I can't lie to you. I've never been able to lie to you." He was silent in response, now refusing to meet my eyes. He took a few steps towards me and I didn't move, which was why I didn't expect him to grab me around my arms and force his lips on mine. Groaning and growling, I struggled to get out of his arms and when I finally freed my left arm, I pushed myself away from him and slapped him across the face. He staggered backwards, then looked back up at me with an incredulous look on his face, as if I had slapped him for no reason, and he narrowed his eyes at me.

"I had to do that at least once... Just think about me, Katniss," he told me, and then he stalked off, rubbing his face where I'd slapped him. I was furious. How dare he assume these things of me? He didn't know my feelings, and how the hell did he expect me to know his? Especially when I thought we were only friends? He never gave me the impression that he had feelings for me, not once! I can't read minds! Oh, I was furious. On my hunt, I managed to catch seven squirrels and four rabbits through my anger and stalked off towards Victors' Village with my ull game bag in hand.

"Katniss!" I heard my name being called, and at first, I recognised it as a male voice and thought it belonged to Gale, so I stalked on, but then I heard the familiar loud and uneven steps approaching me and I felt his hand on my shoulder. "Katniss, hey!" I stopped and looked at him, and the moment I met those perfect sky blue eyes, all of the anger in me immediately dissolved and I felt my scowl form into a smile.

"Hey," I said back to Peeta, trying hard not to lose myself at the sight of his mussed honey golden blonde curls. "Finished delivering your bread?"

"I got a little caught up talking to people, but yeah," he told me. "Are you okay? You looked upset."

"Tell you later, I've only just stopped being angry and I'd like to at least calm down a little before I'm angry again," I replied.

"Is this a conversation we can have over dinner?"

"Not unless you want dinner on your walls." He chuckled as we continued walking towards the Village together, my hand unconsciously slipping into his. I didn't even notice it until we stopped in front of his house and he gave my hand a squeeze.

"Why don't you come inside for a bit?"

"I need to gut and skin my kills for today," I told him.

"Can't you do that here?" he asked me, the desire to spend time with me swimming in his eyes. It was a gaze I couldn't resist, and I let out a sigh.

"Very well, if you don't mind the blood," I said, and he smiled.

"It means you're in my house so I won't mind," he replied. God, he could be so cute... Wait, what on Earth was I thinking? I wasn't some swooning schoolgirl who falls head over heels in love with 'cute boys', but something about Peeta made my frozen heart melt into a puddle. He must have seen the blood rushing to my cheeks because he bent down to kiss one of them, then squeezed my hand again and led me into the house. He assigned me a counter to work from and I started skinning the squirrels while Peeta baked at another counter. "So... about earlier..."

"You're not going to want to hear about that," I told him.

"If it bothers you, I want to hear about it. I care about any problems you have, Katniss," he told me. He was cute and he wanted to listen to my problems, too? This boy was quickly becoming my biggest weakness. I let out a sigh.

"Someone isn't very happy about us," I said after a moment.

"Gale?"

"Who else?"

"Well, what'd he say?"

"Apparently, and I had no idea about this... but he has feelings for me." Peeta snorted and I sent an angry glare his way, which only made him laugh harder.

"Katniss, you didn't know that? Everyone knew about his feelings for you! He was so obvious! I actually thought... well, I thought you guys were together, since you were always with him."

"Why does everyone always think they know me? No! I never had feelings for him that way! I saw him as a brother and nothing more. I was pretty sure I made that very clear to him that I was not interested in anything romantic with him."

"Never? Not once?"

"No." I quickly skinned the third squirrel and tossed the cuts into the trash at my feet.

"...well... What about me? Just... just out of curiosity... If you knew him for years and you never gave him any indication that you had feelings for him... am I, uh... different?" I glanced up at him, the boyish look on his face instantly softening me. I gave him a gentle smile.

"Yes, you're different... I've always known that we've got a different kind of connection than I had with Gale," I told him, and then I couldn't meet his eyes any longer, so I looked down at the game in front of me. I heard his footsteps approach me and I suddenly felt his arms wrap around me, and I lifted my head as he held me from the side and pressed his lips to my temple. I couldn't stop myself from relaxing into his arms, but I didn't wrap my blood-covered hands around him, not wanting to mess up his shirt.

"Katniss," he whispered, his voice practically begging me to look at him, but I just couldn't. I had a strong feeling that he wanted to kiss me, and I wasn't sure I was ready for the feeling of kissing him when it isn't for food or medicine to save his life.

"Smells like something's burning," I said suddenly, even though I didn't smell anything. Yeah, it's my face , I responded in my head.

"Really? I don't think I turned the oven on yet," said Peeta, now distracted. He went over to the oven to check it, but the oven was, of course, off. "Nope, I don't know what you're smelling but it's not the oven." Maybe it's that feeling I've got between my legs...

"Maybe it's Haymitch, he is right next to you," I told him, and Peeta glanced out the window, shrugging.

"Maybe..." He resumed baking, abandoning his attempt to kiss me, and seemed just a little bit bothered after that. He was quiet for a bit after that, until he got the bread in the oven. "So... Squirrel stew for dinner?" I looked up at him to see him smiling at me, and I couldn't help the smile that formed on my face.

"Yeah, that sounds nice," I replied to him. I was glad he didn't press me further about Gale - I certainly didn't want to tell him that Gale had kissed me. Perhaps all he needed was reassurance that I didn't have any feelings for Gale. Well, he could certainly trust me there. Wait, he could trust me? As if we were in an established relationship already? At the time, I didn't know why I was still fighting the relationship with Peeta. He was so kind to me, he took care of me and he wanted me so badly, and yet, I was still reluctant. I didn't know that, subconsciously, I had decided to stop resisting the relationship.

A/N: Will Peeta be successful in getting Katniss to fall in love with him, or do you think he already is?

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