A/N - A pretty short chapter where there's no real plot progress, just some nice fluff and fun, I intended more for this chapter but was just really happy with that last little bit. I think the next couple of chapters are going to start to get more serious again. I'm also playing around with the idea of making a prequel based on Katniss and Marvel, I'm not sure it's making sense anymore as to why she just doesn't leave him for Peeta, or if I'll just put some stuff in the chapters themselves like flashbacks. I'm really happy with my progress on this so far, not too bad for a first fanfic I hope. I got a couple of different ideas for how this is going to go, so I don't even know what's going to happen at this point. Exciting! :)

Chapter 7

Katniss stroked Peeta's hair lovingly until she felt his breathing even out and knew that he was asleep. She didn't know what had happened to make him climb in through the window and into her room again, but whatever it was had obviously had him very upset. She planned to let him sleep for like an hour or so, but it was late and she fell asleep as well.

She awoke somewhat early in morning to a knock at her bedroom door and heard her mom call out her name. She was cold and noticed that her window had been opened slightly at some point in the night, and she glanced at Peeta who was still asleep beside her. Panicked that her mom would come into her room she hurriedly jumped from her bed and raced to the door, opened it as little as she could so she could fit through and close it behind her.

"Good morning mom." Katniss said pleasantly.

"Good morning Katniss, Marvel is here." Her mom said. She looked over her mother's shoulder and saw Marvel standing behind her.

"Wow, ok thanks mom." Katniss said, trying to walk away from her bedroom and lead everyone back to the den. She looked at Marvel as her mom headed up the stairs; he had a very badly bruised cheek. "Oh, hell, what happened?" Katniss asked as she tried to straighten her hair and look half decently presentable and not like she just rolled out of bed.

"Mellark and I got into a fight last night." Marvel stated simply. Katniss went to hug him and he winced as she tightened the hug around his waist. "Careful, he got a couple of good rib shots in. I'm kind of sore there."

She kissed his lips lightly. "What happened?" She asked.

"Just…I don't know. He's definitely into you." Marvel tried to explain. "It just got out of hand."

Katniss shook her head at him. "Was that really necessary? You didn't see me and Glimmer fighting like animals. What did he say exactly?"

"He just made it so obvious that he's into you, and when I told him to back off he just made a couple of smart ass comments that I didn't like…just…one thing led to another."

"You should apologize to him. I'm sure whatever he said wasn't worth all this." She waved to his cheek and sore body. "He's your friend." At the realization of what had happened Katniss internally felt guilty, knowing that really, Marvel had every right to do what he did, and knowing Peeta, he probably had said something to practically ask for it.

"I'm not apologizing to him. He needed to know that he'd better not try anything with you." Marvel said somewhat angrily.

"You got jealous, and he got you all wound up over nothing. I just told you last night nothing was going on, and your solution was to go out and fight with your best friend?" Katniss tried to reason with him, she put her hand on her hip and looked at him with an expression that said he should have known better. "You know him, he was probably just kidding around with you and you took it too seriously."

Marvel looked at her from her feet to her face. "Whose shirt are you wearing?"

Katniss looked down at her clothing. She was wearing incredibly short black shorts that were just visible under Peeta's green t-shirt. Katniss knew she had to think fast. "Isn't it yours?" She asked lamely.

"No it is not mine, it's his." Marvel said through clenched teeth.

"I picked it up near my towel at Madge's beach party. I just assumed it was yours." Katniss recovered.

"Well it's not, take it off." Marvel said angrily. "That's Peeta's shirt." He took his phone from his pocket and scrolled through a few pictures. When he found the one he was looking for he gave Katniss his phone. She looked at the photo; it was a group shot of the guys at the beach house. Sure enough, Peeta was wearing the exact shirt that Katniss was wearing now, but she could not believe her luck at who else was in the picture. "See? I told you, that's his shirt. What are you really doing with it?" He asked again suspiciously.

"Marvel, I told you how I got it. Now, I want to know why Glimmer is in this picture. You didn't tell me she was at the beach house." Katniss replied with an icy tone. She watched as the colour seemed to drain from his face. "Are you hiding something from me? I haven't seen any pictures from the beach house trip; I didn't even think you had any." She tossed his phone back to him, daring him to reply. He seemed at a loss for words. "It looks like I'm the one who has a reason to be angry here."

"Ok, maybe I jumped to conclusions." Marvel seemed to suddenly back track.

"Yes, I think you did. Look, I just woke up, I'm barely awake. Can you please, maybe give me some time here to collect my thoughts, take a shower maybe? Go home, I'll call you later." Katniss reasoned.

Marvel nodded in agreement. He started to leave, but before he did he turned to Katniss, "Nothing happened, just so you know, between Glimmer and me at the beach house."

"And nothing happened between me and Peeta." Katniss assured, realizing that they were both lying to each other.

Katniss saw Marvel out and but this time she didn't wave to him as he left as she usually would. As she went through the kitchen she piled a plate with food, he mother had cooked a big breakfast of eggs and pancakes. Katniss asked her mom what her plans were for the day. Her mom told her that she and Haymitch had an appointment to look at venues for the wedding, and that they would be leaving shortly. Katniss told them to have fun and said that she was going back to bed, Prim hadn't even woken up yet, and most likely wouldn't until noon or later.

Katniss took her food to her bedroom. Peeta was checking his phone when she entered. When he came into her room the night before it was too dark to see his face clearly, but as she looked at him now she saw that he had a small cut on his lip and another cut above his eyebrow.

"So, who won?" She asked sarcastically. She put the plate of food down on the bedside table and gingerly took his face into her hands and kissed both of his cuts.

"I think I did." Peeta said smiling. "I'm the one who got to spend the night with you, and I didn't see you kissing his battle scars." Peeta gave her a smile. "Nice save by the way." He commented as he tugged on her t-shirt.

"You are dangerous Peeta Mellark." Katniss said as she shook her head. "I guess we are going to have to lay low for a while." Peeta shook his head in agreement, but pulled her onto his lap so she was straddling him and gave her a deep kiss, it hurt his lip so bad, but it was completely worth the pain. "What did you say to him?" She asked.

He shrugged, "I said a lot of stuff, but mainly I think what really pissed him off was he could tell how much I meant some of it." He took bit of her hair in his hand and began to play with it. "The guys noticed I haven't had a new girl since the summer, Marvel asked something like what I was waiting for and I said something like someone like you." He admitted.

"Are you kidding? Peeta that's practically a confession, it's no wonder he got so angry." She sat beside Peeta on the bed and handed him the second fork that she had snuck out of the kitchen with her. They shared a few bites off the food before she asked thoughtfully, "You really haven't had a new girl since you've been with me?"

Peeta looked deep into those clear grey eyes he loved so much. "You've been everything I need. Why would I need to look for someone else?" He replied, trying to hide the depth of his love for her, he was afraid that she would see through it and get scared off like she did all those years ago. Katniss was like a wild animal, she needed space to feel safe. "You take up most of my time, besides, I promised to be at your disposal whenever you call. I think another girl would notice if I kept taking off on her for hours on end." He added half jokingly.

"Maybe you should find someone else." She said lightly.

"Do you really think there will be enough room in the 'Mellark Make Out' closet for three of us?" He teased.

She punched him lightly in the chest. "No, don't bring someone to our closet. Just someone for show, you know, so we can avoid suspicion."

"Why can't we just be together?" He asked as seriously as he dared.

She was quiet for a moment before brightening. "That's a really good idea, let's take the day to be together. Like, let's do some real couple stuff."

That was not what Peeta meant, but he wasn't about to turn it down either. "Ok, sounds good. What do you want to do?" He asked.

"Everything, I can be mad at Marvel for the day, the guys won't expect you and Marvel to do anything together today. It's perfect, we'll have fun." Katniss said eagerly.

They arranged a time that Peeta would come to pick her up. They finished the food that Katniss brought downstairs for the both of them and waited for her mom and Haymitch to leave. When Peeta left she spent a bit of time with Prim, telling her everything that happened. Then she and Prim went downstairs so Katniss could get ready for her day. At Prim's insistence Katniss wore something that she would never usually wear. It was a very floral dress that her mom had insisted would be prefect for a fall day. It was very pretty, the floral pattern was blue and brown, but it really didn't fit Katniss' rebellious style that she strongly adopted this year so she hadn't worn it to school yet. She completed the look with a loose brown cardigan and brown belt and a pair of ankle high boots that she didn't wear often. She wore her hair loose and wavy because Peeta had mentioned that he liked it when it was down because she didn't do it very often. She was pleased with Peeta's reaction of obvious approval when he picked her up later that afternoon.

They did everything that they could think of. Peeta thought it would be fun to try to teach Katniss to learn to drive his car. So they went to a nearly deserted parking lot where Peeta gave her a chance to try, it was a manual car so it was very difficult for her to concentrate on pushing the clutch in and time that with switching the car into gear. She stalled the car so many times, and every time it happened the car would jerk to a stop, causing their bodies to jerk violently but at the same time leaving them breathless from laughing at her inability to do it. Somehow that turned into a very lengthy make out session.

They went to dinner in District 10 at an old fashioned style diner that was known for having the best burgers around and afterward they went to a movie on the Capital. It was a wasted because despite the theatre being packed like a typical Saturday night, they really couldn't keep their hands off of each other. They were so wrapped up in each other that they didn't see Marvel and Cato.

"Hey, isn't that Peeta with a new chick?" Cato pointed his friend out from across the theatre.

Peeta really was the last person that he wanted to see that night. Despite feeling bad for straight up accusing Katniss of feeling something for Peeta, he was totally convinced that Peeta was into her. At this point all he had really done was make Katniss and Peeta both angry with him. When he called Katniss earlier she had said that she was really angry with him now and wasn't ready to speak to him and that she would call him the next day. Marvel hadn't really figured out what to do about Peeta yet, sure, he was into his girl, but really everyone knew that Peeta Mellark would chase anything in a skirt. He felt so bad, and he was moping around the house, he finally decided he needed to get out of there. He called Cato and asked him to do something with him, so they decided going to see movie was as good a thing to do as any. They picked some movie that they both knew neither one of their girlfriends would see with them in a million years.

Marvel casually looked to where Cato pointed, and he felt his stomach bottom out for a split second. He was sure that the girl that Peeta had his hands all over was Katniss. He took a few startled steps toward the couple then stopped. Whoever the girl was resembled Katniss, but that definitely wasn't her, the dress she wore was nothing like Katniss' style. He'd never seen her wear those shoes before, but whoever the girl was had awesome legs, just like Katniss. Her hair was dark like Katniss', the resemblance was there, but it wasn't her.

"Wow, he wasn't kidding when he said he wanted a girl just like Katniss. That girl looks a lot like her." Cato commented. The two were looking at Peeta when he pulled away from the girl and noticed them both looking at them as he glanced over the girl's shoulder. Peeta cockily smiled and waved at the two as he led her inside the auditorium that their movie was playing in. She didn't turn so that they could see her face, but there was something about her that was so familiar. "Looks like you two got in to it over nothing man, he's got a girl, and maybe he was just trying to tell us she did look a lot like Katniss." Cato tried to reason.

"Yeah, maybe." Marvel said unconvinced. There was something about the girl, her walk, her laugh, it had to be Katniss. They stood in the middle of the theatre lobby for a moment more, Marvel was almost convinced that he should go in just make sure that it wasn't, but afraid that it was. He stood there trying to make a decision.

"You want to go in there don't you?" Cato asked.

Marvel looked to his friend; he didn't know what to do. The thought of 'what if it is her?' running through his mind. Marvel really did not want that girl to be Katniss, he would be devastated. "No, I'm just thinking…I don't know. That's not her right?"

"Definitely not, dude. Katniss wouldn't go out with Mellark. She's a serious girl; she wouldn't want a player like him. No way." Cato assured. "But, if it's just going to drive you crazy all night do it, man. Go in there; just put your mind at ease."

Marvel made up his mind to do it, and had just taken a few steps toward the auditorium where Peeta and the girl had gone when Peeta himself came walking out. He held his hand out to give Cato a fist bump. "What's up guys?"

Peeta and Marvel looked at each other and seemed to size each other up, both not really knowing where they stand with each other after their fight the previous night.

"Hot chick you have there, I guess we were wrong about you not able to pull the chicks in like you used to." Marvel commented.

"Yeah, she's pretty awesome. She's a real girl on fire; smoking hot and I can't keep her off me half the time." Peeta said in a joking manner but with a bit of seriousness in his voice.

"What's her name?" Marvel asked.

"I don't think I should tell you that." Peeta said darkly.

"Why not?" Marvel asked taking a step toward Peeta in a manner meant to intimidate.

"Well I thought we were going after each other's girls now, right?" Peeta said rising to the challenge that Marvel seemed to be setting up. "Maybe I want her for myself tonight."

Cato laughed in a manner that was over the top and intended to cut the tension that was obviously growing between the two friends. Peeta and Marvel glanced at Cato and both stood down, Peeta said he was getting popcorn for him and his date, and the three parted ways.

Peeta returned to his seat with Katniss. She asked what took so long, and he answered that the lines were really long. After the movie Peeta was weary of running into Marvel and Cato, but thankfully it seemed the two movies had different end times and he got Katniss to the car without her ever knowing how close they had just come to being caught.