A/N: Hi guys, so I hope this chapter doesn't come out all messy, but I'm uploading it from my phone because I love you all so much! :) Review! Xx (Starts Peeta's POV.)

"But it's a nicer place to hide." I pause at the door before we head out, opening the door for him. "Hey, uh...Cato?" ~

I stop short of the open door and look at him. "Mhm?" ~

"Uhm..." I look down to hide my blush. "Where am I supposed to stay in your house?" Quietly, I hope it's his room. ~

"Most likely the basement," I tell him, stepping out into the drizzling rain. Obviously I'm going to let him stay in my bed. I keep my door locked all the time anyway. It's not like my dad can just walk in on us and take him away from me. ~

"Okay." I say, pulling up my hood and following him out into the rain, trying to mask my disappointment. I just wanted to lay in bed and sleep one sound night with him. ~

"Sucks, because I've been down there a few times. It's not as nice as the rest of my house. It's kinda damp down there and, it has this weird smell..." ~

"It's okay...sometimes, to punish me, my mom would make me sleep outside. Heat, snow, rain...all that. And in Twelve, the ground is just rock. So...I'll live. I've had worse." It's true. ~

"I kinda hate your mom and I haven't even met her." Who would do that to their own child? "And the basement is freezing. The warm air doesn't circulate down there because the house was built with enough rooms for a lot of people to live in. No one's supposed to live on the wet, hard, lumpy floor of the basement. There are these really nice beds in the bedrooms, though. Shame you can't use those." ~

"It's like I said. I was out most of the night during a blizzard, when I was really little, so... It'll be okay. Don't worry about me. Just you protecting me is beyond enough." ~

"No, I mean...you won't use any of the guest room beds." ~

"It's okay. It's dangerous, anyway, right? Just...promise you'll come down and visit sometime." I'd miss him too much. I grab his hand as it begins raining harder. ~

"I'm not going to visit the basement," I smirk. He's not quite catching on yet. ~

"But I'll get lonely." I try not to complain. ~

"You'll be staying in my bed." ~

"Wai...like, thirty seconds ago I was in the basement. I mean...not that I'd prefer the basement, just..." Compose yourself, Mellark. "I'd like that." ~

"I wouldn't leave you in the basement!" I laugh. "If I did, I'd sleep down there with you! I just want to sleep with you, damn it!" ~

"Me too!" Realizing what I've said, I blush quickly and stammer out, "I mean...in bed with you..Sleep...with you...in the same bed..." Not that I don't want the other thing too, just... Ugh, I'm usually so smooth, but around him... ~

"We can sleep together too, one day, if that's what you mean." I turn my head to hide my slightly red face. Alright, Peeta. You wanna fuck me? Go ahead, just blurt it out when I'm not prepared to hear that. That's okay. ~

"I...I'd like that, too." Oh god, this isn't a conversation I was prepared to have right now. ~

"Yeah, I know...you just said that." ~

"I mean...the first time, I meant...staying with you...in bed, and...the second time, I...I meant...the other thing." Sleeping together. Sex. Screwing. Making love. Fucking. All of the above. ~

I laugh at how obvious he is. "I know what you meant to say the first time. But I know you meant 'the other thing.' For your information, it's called sex." ~

"I know that!" My face gets really red when he even says it. "It's not funny." I whine. "I'm just...nervous around you. And even bringing that up?" I still can't even say it. ~

"Don't worry. I'm sure you'll be a decent fuck." More like a perfect one. ~

"Cato!" I whisper, face getting red as a cherry. ~

"I hope that when we do do it, you'll say my name a lot louder and more enthusiastic than that." This is funny. ~

"I..." Am speechless. And suddenly getting hard but that, he can't know. He'd never let me live it down. ~

"Oh," I moan quietly, making fun of him, "oh, Cato, faster." This is cruel, but...that's my humor. He'll need to get used to it. "Like that." ~

"Cato..." He doesn't even know what he's doing. I'm a hormonal teenage boy. I can't be blamed for any of this. ~

"Oh, I didn't know you were so big," I add. He doesn't even know how fun this is for me. ~

I don't even know what to say, and Ink focused on concealing my vaguely obvious growing erection...damn him. And bless the rain impairing sight. ~

"I bet you're pretty big, too. Don't worry." Speechless. I've left him speechless. This is wonderful. ~

Okay, it's taking all my self control right now to not beg him to do it now as a birthday present. I might explode. ~

I look down at my feet as we walk, and out of the corner of my eye, I see a suspicious lump in his pants. Normally, since it's all rainy, I wouldn't have noticed, but my god, someone's a little horny there. "I really love..." Something to cool him down. "Spoons." Okay, so that's the first thing that came to mind. Sue me. ~

I give him a confused look, trying to distract myself, but now all that radiates in my mind is him spooning me. Damn you, Cato. ~

"Because on one side, it shows you rightside up, but then on the other side, you're upside down." He's awfully quiet there...maybe it didn't work too well. Hmm. ~

"Just..." Once again, at a loss. "Damn you." I say aloud, deciding it's not worth hiding it really. ~

"What...? I'm just explaining why..." Well fuck you too. "Are you like, a fork kinda person?" ~

"No, damn you for making me like this." I finally allow my blushing face to turn to him, nodding down to my pants. "You see what you do?" ~

So he acknowledges it. "I was trying to cool you down...sorry, kid." ~

"Not your fault, I'm just...new to all this." ~

"Well, you've been gay longer than I have. So I'm kinda new too." ~

"I've always been gay," I laugh. "So that's fair." ~

"Well, I'm glad you are." I hold his hand up and kiss it. ~

"I got shit for it before...but I'm happy about it now." So happy. ~

"Wait, so people knew? I thought you'd only just come out during the Games." Plus, he said he was in love with a girl during the interviews. That's pretty confusing for a lot of people. ~

"Wasn't really my choice. People kinda...assumed, and hated me for it." I look away. "No one in Twelve was fooled, I can tell you that." ~

"Oh." That's not a nice reason to hate people. "People around here probably wouldn't hate you for liking dick. Well, most people wouldn't." ~

"People back home did." I sigh. "My dad and my brothers were the only actual people at my wake when I got out of there, you know. All the kids were...were happy. And my mom didn't even go." ~

"Like I said...I hate your mom. And...if they were so happy, they shouldn't have even bothered showing up." They shouldn't have even been happy in the first place. ~

"The school took them. They always take the class when someone still in school gets Reaped." ~

"Oh..." How can you just celebrate someone's death? "So um...how did you get out of there anyway?" ~

"A lot of sneaking and dying my hair. People in the poorer part of the District have darker hair like this, so I wore shitty clothes and dyed it and snuck around and people paid no mind to another poor kid from the Seam." ~

"Good job," I laugh to lighten the mood. "But how did you...you know, get out? I mean, a dead person climbing out of their coffin would kinda freak people out." ~

"Didn't I tell you? It was right before the wake, and my dad had a closed casket, because that's just traditional of victims of the Games, no matter how much or how little blood there was." I'd only been to one before my own, but my dad ran me through the normals of it so I wouldn't get freaked out. "They want you to remember them as they were, not as what the Games turned them into. So I got out and closed it behind me, and snuck out the back." Somewhere deep down, I have to think my father knows I'm out here or gone or something. Because when everyone leaves, the parents always get a last moment before everything gets locked up. If he looked in there...he knows. Maybe I'll see him again, one day. ~

"So, you must have freaked out a little when you first woke up," I laugh. "Did you think you were like, already under? Did you scream?" ~

"You don't even know the magnitude of breakdown I had." Freaked out is an understatement. "I thought, at first that I was dead. Then I thought I was under, all six feet. I cried and screamed until I was able to compose myself long enough to think to try and lift the lid." ~

And so comes my long overdue laughing fit. "Oh my god, I'd pay to see that whole episode...how long did that even take?" ~

"Not funny! I was horrified! I was definitely in there for an hour or so!" ~

"Oh that was so stupid..." I try my best to quiet down my laughter. "An hour of just screaming and crying?" ~

"Yes! Just imagining...thinking you were dead, then, suddenly...waking up, and realizing you could have had another chance...but you woke up too late." ~

"And then you just...lifted the lid." I'm only laughing because he got out of there and he's safe. Of course, if he actually couldn't get out, I'd be sad, but...he's here. Therefore, it's funny. ~

"Then, all I saw was just one, orange lily. My favorite. Definitely from my dad...thought I have no clue how he actually obtained one." ~

"And you didn't say goodbye?" I don't mean that in a nasty way, but...it's just sad to know that he's here and his dad has no idea. ~

"I tried, but...he wasn't home, so I figured that was an omen that I shouldn't tell anyone. Besides, if he knew...I'd probably want to stay. And it isn't safe there...and I wanted to see you." ~

"I was one of your first thoughts?" ~

"The first." I stare at my feet as we step in puddles. ~

"You're my first thought every morning too." ~

I squeeze his hand. "I was worried you hadn't won. Not that I didn't think you could...but I said I'd protect you until the end." And I didn't. ~

"But you did." Even though he wasn't there anymore, he still did. ~

"I died." ~

"But your jacket didn't." I tug on my sleeve a little. "I really needed it, and some of the nights were cold without you, so it kept me warm. I figured it was like you were keeping watch on me like you promised." ~

"That's a nice way of thinking about it." I smile. ~

"That's how I like to think about it, yeah." I turn to the side and kiss his cheek. I love doing this. ~

Suddenly, there's a crack of lightning and thunder. I let out a small yelp. "Let's hurry!" ~

"Aww, afraid of thunderstorms?" I laugh, hurrying down the street as he asked. ~

"Yes, a little!" I dash after him as we approach Victors' Village. ~

"I bet I can beat you there!" I run even faster. ~

"I'm not racing," I whine. "I'm gonna fall if I try to run in the rain!" ~

"Wimp!" I drag him closer to me. "I'm not carrying you!" ~

I wrap my arm around his waist as we come up to the house. "I'm going to look terrible meeting your mother." ~

"Nah, you look hot, it'll be fine," I smile. ~

"Says the one who's dating me. Are you gonna try and introduce me as the guy from before, or what? What's the plan?" I step up the stairs, still in path of the rain. ~

"What are you more comfortable with?" ~

"May be safer to keep the alias if possible, but if she realizes...just don't pretend or fight it." ~

"You don't know me that well, do you?" I tend to do the exact opposite of what people tell me. Not necessarily on purpose all the time. It just happens like that. ~

"Just try...you first, okay?" ~

"But I don't wanna leave you alone out here..." I'm afraid to go in, turn around, and not see him there on the doormat. "Promise you'll still be right here when I come back for you." ~

"I'll sit here," I sit on the mat. "I promise." ~

"Uh...huh." Warily, I turn away from him and silently open the door. We don't keep it locked unless it's nighttime or no one's home, and my father doesn't get home until later, so that must mean my mom's somewhere in the house. And sure enough, as I close the door behind me, I see her all the way in the kitchen, cleaning off the table. "I'm home," I say in a deadpan voice. As usual.

At the sound of my voice, she looks up and makes eye contact with me. "You ran out before," she says, rushing out of the kitchen with a dry hand towel to dry the rain off me. "You usually aren't gone that long. I was worried."

I accept the towel with a grimace as she dries off my hair and takes my wet jacket off. "I'm okay, though...and I'm eighteen. And a half," I add. "I just had some business to take care of."

Finally, she relents. "Please don't run off like that again. I know you haven't exactly had the best past couple..." She sighs. "I'm supposed to worry, okay? I don't care if you're five, or eighteen, or thirty."

"I know." I walk over into the next room and sit on the edge of the couch. "But no, nothing was wrong...nothing's wrong. I'm okay."

"You're okay?"

"Hm...yeah," I nod. "Today was just a good day. A great day, really. Brilliant. Extraordinary." More words that I usually don't say. "Just, nothing can bring me down...it's just a mood. Don't ask."

"I won't, then." She gives me a slightly questioning look anyway, but shakes her head and sits across from me. I suppose she's used to my odd behavior. Not that I act that way on purpose. But soon enough, she'll get to experience having the old me around the house. Oh joy. "Listen, I would hold back, if you're in such a good mood, but...you're bound to see it sooner or later, on the TV."

"Well, you know how often I watch," I laugh, before realizing that this must be something important. "Wait, what?"

"It isn't something really...I can't think of a better word, so I'll say upsetting. I'm sure it'll affect you, emotionally...because of the subject of the matter, but it isn't something completely horrible-"

"Um..." This is worrying me a bit. "Well, what is it?"

She takes a deep breath before continuing. "Okay." She glances at the television screen. "I recorded it, in case you need to see it later...but basically, it's about...Peeta Mellark, that boy from the Games."

My face immediately goes pale. Oh my god. They know he's here. "Um...I, uh...I'm familiar with him?" Mental facepalm. Obviously I'm familiar.

"The Capitol isn't sure exactly what killed him, so they sent specialists to District Twelve to do an autopsy."

Is that it? "...And?"

"That's just it. They're digging up his corpse to do an autopsy." She gives me a weak smile. "I'm sorry."

"So...nothing bad happened?" That scared the shit out of me.

"No, I just thought you should know that, since you..."

"I know. I-" Fuck. "They're digging up the body? When did this happen?"

Her expression grows concerned. "I only saw the news on it maybe ten minutes ago. It could be happening now, or tomorrow...I can't exactly be sure."

But there's no body in that casket. "Okay, okay...that's all I wanted to know. You know, to keep up on the news and stuff," I laugh nervously. "Yeah. That's it."

"I'm so sorry," she replies, noticing my anxiety. "Do you need a hug? Come here."

To humor her for the moment, I walk over to her and accept her hug. Even though I'm not really one for touching. Unless it's with Peeta. Peeta! "No, no, I'm glad you told me. I'm totally fine with this. It's not that bad, trust me. I'm fine. But uh, I have something to tell you too."

She loosens her grip on me and pulls back a bit. "Oh no, what is it?"

"It's not bad! It's just um, I wasn't alone today. I was with a friend."

"You have a friend?" she asks. "You've barely left the house since the summertime."

"Yeah, no-yeah-he's outside." I step back, looking over my shoulder at the door. Please let him still be out there.

"In the thunderstorm? Cato!" she yells accusingly, causing me to jump a little. "Let the poor boy in from the rain!"

"Sorry, sorry! I was just-nevermind." Whether she admits it or not, she knows I can handle myself alone. But she doesn't trust me to handle others. "I'll go," I give in, walking over to the door. I twist the knob and open the door just a crack, whispering, "Peeta? You still out there?" ~

As soon as he poofed his head through the door, I look up and smile. "Yeah?" ~

Oh thank god. "You can come in." I open the door a little wider. ~

A/N: You ready for this? What do you think of Cato's mom? Also, fun time. We wrote three endings for this story. So until we get to the point where it splits into endings, we're opening vote for endings... But we won't tell you what happens in each! ;) So if you review, think about which ending you want...A, B or C! And let me know! Okay. So, yes! Review! :) And may the odds be ever in your favor. ;D