A/N - Written for the prompt: Help Me, Roommates

"You said we needed spaghetti, right?" Katniss asked Peeta.

"Incoming!"

Johanna cackled in the next aisle over and launched the box of Captain Crunch over the shelving unit. Used to her antics, Peeta caught it handily and popped it into the cart, his blue eyes twinkling in Katniss's direction.

"Yeah. I'm going to make us a big feed of spaghetti during exams next week."

Katniss returned to the spaghetti, attempting to calculate best value for money. He reached past her, grabbed his preferred brand, and started pushing the cart down the aisle.

"Peeta-"

"Katniss, if I'm making dinner for everyone, then I'm going to make it with ingredients I prefer."

She scowled. "There's no need to pay through the nose for-"

"Katniss," he sighed, stopping to toss tomato paste into the car. "It's pasta, not a car. Let it go."

Johanna ran toward them, her arms full of ramen. She dumped it in their buggy. "On sale, Brainless." She winked at them before running off, shouting for Finnick at the top of her lungs. He bellowed back from several aisles over. They heard a roar from Johanna and an 'oof' from Finnick.

"Sounds like she found him," grinned Peeta.

Katniss shook her head. She was still trying to get used to this new way of living. The adjustment to dorm life last year had been difficult for her after years of shouldering most of the responsibility at home while her mother alternated between working too much and neglecting everything in life. It wasn't easy to be carefree when you didn't know what that meant. And partying until you puked just meant, well, puke. But college had also meant getting to know Peeta Mellark and learning that her days weren't quite as bright when she didn't see his shy smile from his room on the other side of the corridor. She'd learned that she was a rock star at first person shooter games, taking out every guy who challenged her in late night marathons in the common room while Peeta cheered her on. And finally having a female friend she could trust with her secrets (some of which she didn't even know herself) seemed like a unexpected gift.

So, when Peeta's roommate, Finnick, proposed the four of them split the rent on an apartment off campus, it had seemed like a great idea to Katniss. She had survived the dorm, but paying rent and buying groceries? That was something she understood, or she thought she did, until their first trip to the grocery store back in September.

Apparently, her roommates preferred to shop for groceries at midnight. Well, Johanna insisted one night when they found themselves without snacks. It sounded like a fine idea to Finnick. Peeta shrugged good-naturedly and they stuffed Katniss into Peeta's Cherokee. Now it was a thing.

Peeta and Katniss turned the corner to find Johanna on Finnick's back in the cookie aisle. "I want Twinkies," she insisted, pointing over his brawny shoulder. "And Little Debbie's brownies."

Peeta froze beside her. His father was a baker and he considered the little snack cakes to be an insult to the human taste bud, and the bane of his entire existence. His nose wrinkled at their very mention. The idea that they would sit on the shelf in a place where he laid his head at night? Unthinkable. Katniss bit her tongue and waited for the lecture. He didn't disappoint.

"Jo, I told you. That over-processed, pre-packaged crap is not coming into the apartment. I won't have it."

Jo slid off Finnick's back, who grinned at Katniss. His green eyes danced with mischief while he stood with his hands on his trim hips to watch Jo advance on Peeta, her brown eyes narrowed to razor thin slits. Peeta crossed his arms and frowned at the little dynamo. "It's my turn to buy the groceries, Bread Boy, and I want my Ho-Hos."

"I'll make you any cream-filled thing you want. Bake you brownies anytime you ask. But those aren't coming home. I won't have it."

"Anytime I want?" Her brow crooked upwards. "What about 3 a.m. after the Hob closes?"

"Anytime."

Jo punched him on the arm. "You're a food snob, Mellark," she sneered, "and you're gonna be sorry when I haul your ass out of Brainless's bed to bake me brownies."

Heat raced up Katniss's neck and she gaped at Johanna, but not before glancing over at Peeta and noticing that the tips of his ears were tinged with pink. Johanna hooted in glee, then galloped over to their roommate and jumped on his back again. She slapped him on the rear, shouting "Giddy-up, Handsome!" The two of them shot down the aisle toward the back of the store. Finnick gave an audacious wink as he passed by.

When the crazies were out of sight, Katniss turned to Peeta. "Did you?"

"No." He shook his head. "I didn't say anything, Katniss. You didn't want me to. Did you?"

"No," she denied. Then her eyes widened in consternation. "Do you think they heard you sneaking back to your room?"

Saying nothing, Peeta jerked the buggy around and headed for the produce. Katniss scurried after him, taking two steps for everyone one of his purposeful strides, but it wasn't enough. She finally caught up with him by the tomatoes, where he was carefully palming and smelling them to find the ripest fruit for his sauce. She placed a bell pepper next to the three tomatoes he'd already selected.

"I just don't understand why it needs to be a secret," he muttered, staring at the mountain of produce in front of him.

It was Katniss's turn to freeze. Had she hurt him by insisting on keeping this new development in their relationship private? "Peeta," she said softly, as she touched his arm. He stopped and turned to look at her, the anguish evident on his face. "I just didn't want to deal with those two idiots," she said, jerking her head to the back of the store. Finnick and Johanna's shouts on the other side of the store wafted toward them. The misery on Peeta's face remained. She marked that as progress and bit her lip, her hand drifting from his elbow so that her fingertips could whisper against his cheek. "I was afraid they'd make it awkward and.., and then I'd do something stupid and wreck everything before I had a chance to figure it all out."

Peeta rolled his eyes. "It's a little late for that, Sweetheart." He lifted her fingers from his cheek and entwined them in his own. "You know how I feel about you, Katniss."

She did know. She shivered, reliving the rush of joy that comes over her when he whispers those words in her ear while his body worships hers in the dark. But she still couldn't say it, at least not yet. She could give him something, though.

"It's real for me too, Peeta," she confessed in a rush. The words came out so quickly, Katniss was fairly certain he wouldn't be able to make them out.

She needn't have worried. The sudden joy on his face was bright enough to wash away the shadows from the dimmest cave.

"That's enough for now," he reassured her, drawing her close. She rose on her tiptoes and joined her lips to his, wrapping her arms around his neck when he sighed happily. Her fingers wound into his curls and Peeta grasped her hips tightly. A little thrill zipped under her skin.

Somewhere behind her, someone cleared their voice. They jerked apart to meet the gaze of the scowling night manager. His dark eyes flashed annoyance from beneath his straggly grey mop of hair.

"If you lovebirds are quite finished, you need to deal with those morons you're travelling with," he growled. "They're in the seafood section."

Nodding mutely, they pushed their cart to the back of the store. Sure enough, they found Finnick and Johanna in the seafood section. Technically, Johanna was the seafood section. She'd climbed into the empty bed of ice and was making snow angels while Finnick leaned against a cooler laughing hysterically.

Katniss snarled in frustration. "Help me," she ordered Peeta, and they pulled their roommate out of the case. Johanna grinned at her as ice chips fell from her spiky brown hair and clattered to the floor.

"This is the last time you two do shots before we go to the grocery store," Katniss scolded.

Johanna burst into fits of laughter. "You should have seen your faces," she snickered. "I can't believe you actually thought we didn't know." Johanna arched her body in mock ecstasy. "Oh! Peeta! Peeta!"

Johanna twitched her fingers at Finnick and he approached her with a predatory gleam in his eyes. He groaned low in his chest. "Katniss," he rumbled, pulled Jo against him dramatically. "Kat-" Suddenly, Finnick's perfect nose wrinkled in dismay and he pushed Johanna away. "Fuck, Jo. You smell like a rotten fish truck."

Peeta sighed and turned the cart toward the checkouts and Katniss followed him. "You're paying to clean my car, Jo," he called as they walked away.

"Peeta!" Jo moaned. "Yes! Peeta. Like that!"

"Oh Katniss," groaned Finnick.

Katniss scowled at Peeta. "Nope. Not a bit awkward," she bit out.

Peeta chuckled and reached for her. She slipped her arm around his waist. He pressed a kiss to her forehead. A chorus of "awws" broke out behind them.

"They're just happy for us, Katniss. Ignore it and it will stop."

Katniss sighed. It felt so good to have Peeta's arm around her that it was impossible to care about anything else. "Stay with me tonight?"

"Always," he replied.