It was hot. Irritating hot. One of the things I hated most in the entire world, even more than birds, was the heat. I hated that there was no escape from it; it trapped you. At least when it was cold out you could bundle up more, but cooling down was so much more difficult. We weren't near a water source, so we couldn't splash water on ourselves, and even the shade of the forest offered little to no relief. It wasn't long before everyone in our group was shirtless, aside from Clove who stuck her nose in the air and continued on with what amounted to dignity.

So, thanks to the heat, we were walking through the forest half naked, and know what that meant? Peeta was exposed to the world, AKA me. Now I'm not gay, not even close, but Peeta is very distracting when his shirt is missing in action. It's probably the fact that he's so well built; it's a bit intimidating. He caught me peeking at him once, and he raised an eyebrow as if to ask, "What are you looking at?" I just shrugged and turned my face forwards again.

"Where is everyone?" groaned Glimmer, dragging her feet and breaking branches with annoyingly loud snaps. "We've been walking for two hours and we haven't seen a thing. We should go back, this is pointless."

"Shut up," I snapped at her. I really wasn't in the mood for her whining when I was hot, sweaty, and confused, I mean, intimidated, by Peeta's physique.

"Everyone is probably hiding from this heat," Meg commented, wiping sweat from her brow with a huff. "I can't blame them. And as much as I hate saying so, I have to agree with Glimmer and say that this isn't going in any positive direction aside from weakening us all."

I hesitated for a moment, and the rest of the group stopped walking to look at me. "Well, how are we going to get any further in the games?" I asked in a cranky voice. The rest of them shrugged and shuffled uncomfortably. Peeta, I noticed, wasn't listening to me and was instead peering up into the branches with a frown on his face. That irked me, but I tried to ignore him.

"Let's go for another hour, and if we don't get lucky, we'll turn back." I continued on. There were a couple of groans and complaints, but nobody really spoke up, and I urged them to continue walking again. I fell to the back of the group to wait for Peeta, who was still contemplating the trees above.

"Cato…" he said, waving at me so I would step forwards. I glanced at the others retreating backs, but did what he asked of me. "Look up there, but don't do anything rash."

Confused, I followed his gaze. "I don't see anythi-" I started to speak but was cut off as I gasped when a small movement rustled the leaves.

"It's Rue," hissed Peeta into my ear. I shivered when I felt his breath on my throat, but kept my cool.

"Uh, yeah," I replied, trying not to seem distracted. "We should, er, kill her."

"What?" Peeta looked alarmed. "No, I said don't do anything rash. I want to speak to her. She would probably know where the real threats are. She's like a spy."

I groaned, but as usual, let him have his way. "Fine, but communication is up to you."

"Uh-huh," replied Peeta. He looked behind him to make sure our comrades had completely disappeared, before calling quietly into the branches, "Rue." There was no reply.

"Rue, it's Peeta," he said. "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to talk. I know you can see me anyway." There was still no response for over a minute. I shuffled around a bit, getting frustrated and just wanting to leave and forget about the brat hiding in the leaves, but Peeta put a hand on my chest to stop me, and who am I to resist a friend?

Finally, we heard a branch snap, and the head of dark hair and big wide brown eyes appeared. She contemplated us for a moment before crawling lithely down to a low branch where she settled and continued to watch us, silent. None of us spoke for a while.

"Hi, Rue," Peeta greeted eventually in the charming way that only he could really pull off. "How are you?"

She hesitated before answering. "I'm alright if you're not trying to kill me," she said in a suspicious voice. Her eyes seemed to be locked on me more than Peeta, so I guess she thought I was more of a threat. Which would make sense, considering my nature versus Peeta's.

"We're not going to hurt you at all," Peeta replied, and his voice rang with finality and truth. I don't think anyone on Earth has the power to go against that voice. It affects me to my core, I know that for certain.

"Okay," said the small girl. "What do you want, then?"

"Maybe some information," Peeta shoved his hands in his pockets and stared up at her. "Have you seen any other tributes around?"

Rue was slow to answer. "Yes…" she replied. "I've seen Katniss. I know where Thresh is. And your group is heading directly towards another one that I don't know the name of. I had to escape him though, he tried to throw a knife at me."

Peeta nodded. "Can you tell us where Thresh is?" he asked, probably knowing that I was most interested in eliminating him from the running. Rue shook her small head defiantly.

"I won't betray him like that, we're from the same district," she replied. Peeta seemed to have expected this answer, since he didn't protest in the slightest.

"Well, at least we know there's one that way," he pointed out to me with a shrug, nodding his head in the direction that our group had trudged off in. "Better than nothing."

"Wait," I said suspiciously narrowing my eyes at him and then turning to look up at the small girl who had gone tense the moment I spoke. "What about Katniss?"

"We're allies," she said harshly. "I won't betray her either."

"You're useless!" I growled at her, frustrated. She stuck a tongue out in return, and it took most of my self-restraint not to attempt to climb the tree and take her out. She felt quite safe, though, since she knew neither of us could reach her before she had the chance to escape by flinging herself from tree to tree like some sort of monkey.

"Shut up, Cato," Peeta muttered to me, hitting me lightly in the side with the back of his hand. "Thank you," he added on to Rue. "What can we give you in return?"

"What?" I hissed at him, grabbing his wrist and squeezing it so he'd pay attention to me. "We're not giving her anything!" But Peeta just rolled his eyes and looked back at her expectantly. I considered knocking him to the ground out of anger. I hated being ignored.

Rue took a moment to think of something. "How about you answer a question for me?" she suggested slowly. I looked at Peeta, and he just shrugged.

"Shoot."

"Well, I know you're both in the Careers," she began, picking at the bark on the tree as she spoke. "But the two of you seem… different. I noticed before."

"Before?" I found myself interrupting.

"I saw you two in the woods together a while back," she blushed like she had said something indecent. "That's kind of why I'm… asking."

Peeta looked confused. "But what are you asking?"

"Um… I think I'm asking if… you two are… close?" she hesitated as she spoke, and she picked her words carefully as though she were afraid that if she chose the wrong combination, she'd offend us. I looked at Peeta with a raised eyebrow, and he gave a small shrug to me in return.

"I'm not sure how to answer that, actually," Peeta replied slowly. I nodded in agreement.

"We're friends," I said it in a voice that was probably too harsh for the topic, but somehow it felt like if I wasn't adamant about that fact, then nobody would believe it. Either way, Rue's face became slightly confused.

"Oh," she replied with a frown, pulling absently on a strand of dark hair. "So you're… just friends, then?" Oh no. Not again. Not again. How many people were going to assume things before they finally got it through their thick skulls that Peeta is not attracted to me, and I am not attracted… er… Not… attracted… Definitely not… to Peeta… No. No, brain, no! Stop!

"Just friends," Peeta confirmed in a somewhat amused tone of voice, completely oblivious to my internal rambling. I crossed my arms and said nothing. If I did comment, it would probably wind up getting us in a much worse situation.

"I just thought you two were a little affectionate for just friends," she said with a sigh. "That's all I wanted to know."

"What a pointless question." I couldn't stop the words from spilling out of my mouth. "You could have asked anything, maybe something to help you survive the games, and you ask if Peeta and I are… y'know… that?" I shook my head in disapproval.

"Oh, but it is useful," said the little girl with a small smile. "You say you're not together, but… I see something there. I think, for example, if someone were to attack or aim to kill Peeta," she nodded at him, "you would not allow that to happen." She raised an eyebrow at me.

"We're allies!" I yelled.

"It's more than that," Rue grinned wider, but seemed to sense the end of the conversation, as well as my patience. "Good-bye." We stood in shocked silence at her abrupt departure and watched her leap from tree to tree through the forest until she was out of sight and range of hearing.

"Well then," Peeta said when she was long gone, turning to look at me curiously. "That was interesting."

"Sure was," I mumbled crankily. "Stupid brat. Trying to dictate shit she doesn't know anything about."

"Mmm," Peeta hummed in what was probably a placating tone. He slid down the trunk of a tree behind him to sprawl comfortably on the ground. When I didn't make any movement, he patted the ground next to him invitingly. "Come on," he said with a smile. "Let's just relax while they take care of that other tribute, huh?"

It was probably a terrible, terrible idea. We were both shirtless, the heat seemed to be driving my head mad and making me think absolutely ridiculous, impossible and inappropriate things, and we were both very much alone. I had learned from previous experience that when I was alone with Peeta, my life had an unfortunate tendency to change drastically. The last time, for example, he practically pinned me against a tree and demanded that we be friends. Not that I regretted it, per say, but it was still strange.

So you wouldn't be wrong in calling me an idiot when I accepted his offer and slid to the ground beside him, so close that our entire sides were touching. It was unbearably hot out, but for some reason, neither of us complained about the sticky closeness that we shared.

"I didn't really want to go kill him anyway," I mumbled out as what I hoped was a good excuse. "It's too hot out."

"It is that," Peeta agreed, though he seemed rather unaffected.

"Why aren't you bothered by the heat?" I asked, half confused, half jealous. "I mean, you haven't complained or anything. It's weird."

He pointed at himself and grinned. "Baker," he reminded me. "I work around ovens all the time. I'm used to it."

"Still," I sighed. "It's disgusting."

"Mmhm," he agreed for my benefit.

There was another silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable. We sat and listened to the sounds of the birds and the insects, and I wondered if I would fall asleep. Hopefully not, because that would probably mean my head would wind up falling on Peeta's shoulder or something.

I was just about to speak again and suggest that we move on to find the others when I felt something very disconcerting. There was a gentle touch at my wrist, light as a butterfly. Peeta was stroking the skin there. I decided to pretend not to notice and closed my eyes again, secretly hoping that he would keep doing it. It just felt so nice. Thankfully, he didn't stop. In fact, he expanded his aim and let his fingertips ghost down my inner forearm, trace my veins, draw little circles… A few seconds later, he picked up my palm and put it on his folded knee so he could trace the lines there and carefully unfurl my fingers. I kept my eyes closed.

I kept my eyes closed until I felt what was unmistakably rough fingers entwine with my own. I looked at our hands in shock. I knew, I knew, this was not a 'friend' activity. Maybe girls sometimes, but even then, young ones. Never two teenage boys with what was already a shaky and unstable friendship.

"What are you doing?" I asked Peeta, looking from him to our hands with wide eyes. He didn't seem to have an answer himself, so he just shrugged.

"Holding your hand, I guess," he replied with the decency to sound embarrassed. "Why?"

"Friends don't… hold hands…" I said slowly, staring intently at the way his fingers seemed to perfectly match up with the spaces between my own.

Peeta hesitated for a moment before he answered, but when he did, his eyes connected with mine. "In case you missed the memo," he murmured, "We're not exactly normal friends, are we?"

I couldn't find it in me to disagree.

A/N: Oh my gosh guys, I am SO sorry this is so very late! I have been incredibly busy the last couple months. You wouldn't even believe. I've had zero time for writing, and when I did, I just wanted to flop down and read something someone else wrote. If you're still around reading this, I love you and you're the best, thanks so much.

The attention this story has gotten has been ridiculous if I'm honest. I've had so many PM's about continuing, questions, everything. It's amazing. Actually, the one-shot I wrote for this pairing actually got translated into Chinese which is SO so cool.

Anyway, loves, I adore every single one of you reading this, never forget that!

If you review, I will send you your choice of an internet high-five, bro-fist, kiss or hug! (With only three easy payments of $19.95!)

-TFPW