Chapter Seven

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Heads up - Sorry if there are typos, I just had to update this since I might not get to update for a while. If you catch a typo let me know in the reviews or something and I'll edit the chapter.

Thanks for choosing this fanfic to read :)

Katniss -

Pursing my lips, I watch as Peeta struggles with all his might to get through the fence gap. It wasn't that he was fat, it was just because the gap wasn't big enough for someone as broad as Peeta, I guess.

Right now I was kind of worried. Peeta had been struggling for so long that I was afraid that the electricity would turn on and electrify Peeta.

Finally, Peeta manages to get on the other side of the fence and he stands up beside me. He looks at me eagerly.

"Where are we going to now?" He asks me, his blue eyes shining in excitement. Before I can answer, however, he continues, in the same eager tone. "I'm pretty sure this has been the best day of my life." He gives me a look which is full of admiration. So much admiration that it makes me feel uneasy.

"I am going to just show you the meadow." I tell him as I turn to lead the way. I hear Peeta's footsteps speed up to reach me and then they go back to normal when he is at my side.

I am still quite surprised that he is here. I never thought that I would ever forgive him, let alone 'hang out' with him. Somehow, he'd managed to convince me to forgive him. His eyes, they were so... sincere and sorry. And his tone was broken and pleading. I just... I just couldn't say no.

And so here we were.

"Thanks." Peeta breaks the silence. He shoots me an extremely grateful look.

I shrug grimly. "Its no big deal." I murmur warily.

Peeta immediately protests. "Yes, it is! You have no idea how much I wanted to go out here. I mean, I have before, but I really like it here. Its so..." He struggles for the right word, I can see it, which makes me a little amused. He finally settles on a word, "Peaceful."

He looks at me as if he expects me to say something. I do agree with his statement. "It is peaceful. But its also dangerous." I add carefully. Peeta furrows his brow uncertainly.

"What animals are in these woods? The dangerous ones I mean." He shoots me a quick look.

I bite my lip. I have never actually been in serious danger in the forest before. But my father did tell me of animals that lived deep in the forest who could rip you to shreds quicker than you could scream. However, I do not want to talk about my father to Peeta.

"There are some bad animals here, but they usually come out at night." I say. "Most of the really dangerous ones are deeper in the woods, I haven't been there."

"Oh." Is all that Peeta says.

The two of us walk in silence when he speaks once more.

"The first day that I saw you, my father pointed you out to me. He talked about how he wanted to marry your mother but she wanted to marry your father." He looks at me and I feel uncomfortable under his stare.

"Oh?" I glance sideways at him, my eyebrow raised. Peeta looks about as uncomfortable as I do, but he continues.

"He said that when your father sang, all the birds would stop chirping just to listen to him." As he finishes, I remember my memories of my father with a pang. I remember him taking me out to the woods and singing while we walked.

"Its true." A small smile plays on my lips and when Peeta sees it, he smiles.

"You know, the first time I heard you sing, I swear I thought I was in heaven." I freeze for a second, but keep my cool, sneaking a glance at him. I see that he has turned red, but once again, he continues. I kind of admire him for that. Being able to speak his mind so easily.

"Seriously, it was amazing. Where did you learn that song? Its beautiful. I still remember it." He gives me an admiring glance. "Did you make it yourself?"

I feel a cold feeling washing over me. "My father taught me it." I said, probably more sharper than I intended. I see Peeta flinch at my tone.

"Oh." He says, his voice barely more than a whisper. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought him up." Peeta's expression becomes miserable.

Peeta -

Gosh, I really am making no progress huh? I groan inwardly. So much for me becoming friends with Katniss. I can tell she isn't really enjoying this as much as I had hoped she would.

I don't really know what to say now, since I am afraid that I'll mess something up.

I look at her and a smile tugs at my lips as I do so. She looks so perfect right now, the forest in the background, her hair in a braid, and her grey eyes seeming to have a sparkle as they look around the forest. I really am lucky to be here, with her, Katniss Everdeen.

I think of a decent conversation starter. I hope to be her friend someday, so maybe we should get to know each other.

"Whats your favorite color?" I blurt out unexpectedly. I didn't want to ask that question, gosh, that was a first grade question. Then I shake that thought out of my head, I want to know every little thing about Katniss. From her favorite color to her deepest secret if she would let me.

Katniss seems caught off guard at the question and she gives me a strange look.

"Uh, I never really thought about it." She mumbles uncertainly. "I don't think I have one really." She mutters under her breath.

"My favorite color is orange. The shade of orange that is the sunset." I glance over at her and she looks at me at the same time.

"The sunset is beautiful." She says simply.

I nod, "It is, I love watching it." I smile at the thought, then I look over at Katniss, "I'm sure the view of the sunset is beautiful in the forest, huh?"

She nods in agreement. "Yes, it is. The first time I ever really watched the sunset here was with my father, in the meadow." I see a ghost of a smile of her face.

I crack my knuckles a little nervously, "Uh, are we going to watch the sunset in the meadow?"

Katniss's expression tightens. "Well, I was going to just show you the meadow and stuff but..." She bites her lip. "Its like an hour until the sunset," She glances at the sky, "So... sure, if you want."

I can't help but feel the bursts of happiness when she agrees. Watching the sunset in a beautiful meadow with her, the perfect woman, would be completely and utterly amazing.

We soon reach the meadow and the sky is beginning to darken. Looking around, I remember the place where I had placed my canvas, and how much effort I put into the painting. A smile tugs at my lips and I let it out. Katniss sees my grin and she gives me a half smile.

She sits down and I sit down beside her.

"You know, I never thought that you would forgive me," I tell her truthfully. Katniss's expression darkens a little and I quickly continue, "Seriously. Thats why I was so happy when you forgave me and when you actually talked about spending time together."

Katniss looks uncomfortable about this topic so I just shut up. The two of us have probably sat in silence for about five minutes until Katniss speaks up.

"My father showed me this meadow on my fifth birthday." Katniss looks around the meadow, her eyes a mixture of sadness and happiness. "It was the best present I have ever gotten." She shares.

Our eyes meet and I offer a small smile. "My best present was my first canvas and painting supplies. Nothing as beautiful as this." I gesture at the meadow around us. Katniss gives me a little smile in return.

"I always loved this meadow. I go here for sanctuary, I guess. A sort of escape from all the districts and the games." Katniss bites her lip. I can tell that this is a lot for her to say, she probably doesn't share this much with strangers.

"I can understand why. You don't have to say all this stuff to me, if you don't want to." I say gently, catching her gaze. I do my best to give her a reassuring smile. Katniss squirms a little uncomfortably.

I decide to share some stories of mine. I tell her about the bakery and all my mistakes baking bread. She even laughs at some of them, especially when I tell her the one about my eldest brother, Myles, and me working on a cake for an engaged couple. In the end, Myles had tripped over his own shoelace and crashed into me, which sent me slamming into the cake.

The couple were furious at this and Myles and I were grounded for a month.

Katniss tells me about Prim's pets, Buttercup the hideous cat, and Lady the goat. She tells me about her first archery lesson with her father, and how she failed miserably. Then, she talks about how she met Gale. I admit, I feel a pang of jealousy listening to that.

She doesn't reveal too much though, just telling me a few things about each topic. I don't mind though, I just like that she trusts me enough talking to me about this.

When a comfortable silence falls between the two of us, I look up at the sky. The sunset is beginning. The two of us fall onto our backs, and watch the sunset.

Gale -

I am watching Prim and all my siblings talking and playing at my house. As much as I like being with all these kids, I wish I was someplace else. Preferably with Katniss.

Katniss.

I sigh softly. When I asked Prim where she was today, she had told me that Katniss was going to go to the meadow with Peeta.

I feel jealousy stirring in me just thinking about it once more. I feel a scowl come over my face and I immediately reset my expression, keeping a poker face.

What does Katniss see in Mellark? He's just a town person, he doesn't know how to relate to us Seam people. I mean, sure, tons of people say he's nice, but he's not the type of person I thought Katniss would be friends with.

I can tell that Peeta wants to be more though, I doubt Katniss knows. I close my eyes, drowning out the sounds of the kids talking.

I think of some reasons why Katniss is spending time with Peeta. I guess because he's nice, too nice in my opinion. Maybe because he's friendly or popular. I dismiss the thought of Katniss hanging around Peeta just because he's 'popular'. Katniss wouldn't care about popularity.

After a while, I just decided to forget it. It didn't really matter, did it? They could be friends, I was just wary about Baker boy, after all, town people and Seam people aren't supposed to be friends. They are too different. I didn't want Katniss to get hurt.

I opened my eyes and watched Prim and Rory laughing along with Vick and Posy. I couldn't help but let a smile fall onto my face at the sight of them. Secretly, I thought that Prim and Rory would be a good couple, but if they did get married, that would make Katniss and I basically siblings. That thought didn't settle well with me for some reason.

I mean, Katniss was kind of like my sister, but I wanted more. I admitted it to myself a while ago. I liked Katniss, more than a friend. Hell I liked her even more than I ever liked anyone. Dare I say it, I think I was falling for her. Hard.

It made sense to me, I had grudgingly admitted, the immense jealousy I felt seeing her with another guy. The large bursts of happiness I get from just looking at her, talking to her. The butterflies I feel in my stomach whenever she gives me that smile. Or when she laughs.

Gosh, I sound like a total girl now.

I shake those thoughts out my head and I try to focus on something else.

However, even thinking about the goat Lady brought me back to Katniss. Thinking about school made me think of Katniss, how I didn't have any classes with her but we spent the lunch period together, sharing stuff.

Groaning in defeat, I realized that no matter how hard I tried distracting myself, my train of thought always came back to her. Katniss Everdeen.

Suddenly, I felt as if I had been hit with a thousand arrows and a thousand bullets. I suddenly had a revelation, a startling one. I was no longer falling for her. I already had. Hard.

I am in love with Katniss Everdeen.

Katniss -

I was actually enjoying this outing. I never thought that I would enjoy it, but Peeta had somehow made it so... great.

Was that the word?

I looked over at the boy beside me, his eyes were gazing up at the sky, his eyes on the sunset. I wonder if he was planning to paint this. The sunset. It certainly was much more beautiful than any other sunset District 12 has witnessed, in my opinion.

Peeta suddenly turned to face me and I realized that I was staring. Immediately, I turned my head away, facing upwards towards the sunset once more. I fought the oncoming warmth that threatened to enter my cheeks. I managed to stop the warmth and I kept my cool.

"So... uh..." Peeta stammers weakly, I turn to look at him and I can't help but feel slightly amused. Around District 12, Peeta was known for his way with words. It was kind of funny that right now he was stammering when so many had praised him.

"Yes?" I raise an eyebrow in confusion. "What is it?"

Peeta bites his lip and I see him take a deep and long breath. "Uh... Do you want to do this again?" He asks me.

I look at him in confusion. "Like, look at the sunset?" I ask tentatively. I mean, I am enjoying this, but I would like to do something else other than this.

He cracks a smile.

"What?" I raise an eyebrow.

"You didn't disagree." He tells me, relief loud in his voice. I sigh.

"Well, I did enjoy today. So I guess we should do something together again." Thats not the only reason, I enjoy Peeta's company. He's quite funny, and his presence is much more lighthearted than Gale's normal serious one. Not that I don't like Gale's company.

He gives me a massive grin and I smile slightly in return.

"So, what should we do?" He asks me, turning on his side to face me. "I like being out here, rather than in the district. Do you?"

I nod simply.

Peeta smiles warmly. "Any ideas?"

I think of options. There are really beautiful sights here in the forest, such as the lake. However, the lake is another place of sanctuary for me. Except I was never going to share it with anyone. I would probably show Prim this lake when she was older.

My father had shown me this way before the meadow. He taught me how to swim and how to catch fish. It was probably the best days of my life.

I felt like the lake was just my father and mine's special place.

"Uh, why don't I teach you how to shoot a bow?" I offer, out of any other ideas. Peeta gives me an eager grin.

"Sure, that would be so awesome!"

I simply smile in response.

Author's Note: So, I hope that this was enough Peeta and Katniss (Peetnis) for you guys! Argh, my school is starting soon and I am not looking forward to it. I wish my winter break was longer, I really love sleeping in and hanging out with my friends in the snow. I love snow, but when I feel like I am going to freeze to death I hate it... So yeah, kind of a random fact.

Anyways, I hope to get the next chapter out soon! Hopefully, it won't be too long before chapter eight is here.

I hope that Peeta and Katniss's relationship isn't going too fast for you guys, if you think it is let me know and I'll do my best to slow it down...

Let me know if there are things I should improve upon, like working more on characters so they don't seem OOC. Also, is there enough character development? I am kind of worried that there isn't.

Review Responses:

Ldyglfr62:Wow, its kind of like you can see the future! Haha, lol... Thanks for reviewing! I don't want to spoil too much, I think...

Haffy raza:I hope I updated quick enough and that this chapter was good!

PeetaLover1116:Katniss did forgive him, so yeah... Thats good! I hope this chapter was good enough for you, and thanks for reviewing!

MaidenAlice: I don't really enjoy cliffhangers but I do like writing them, haha. I hope that this chapter was fun to read and enjoyable, thanks for reviewing!

JoelHGlover00:Thanks, I am glad you don't think the characters are out of character, that is something I struggle with. I hope this chapter came soon enough for you!

Thanks for reading!