Science vs. Romance (hunger games, nc-17, 3/3)
Written for the "Other Worlds" AU challenge on Tumblr's Prompts in Panem.
Science vs. Romance, 3/3
katniss/peeta. nc-17, au: thg meets true blood. Katniss Everdeen is twenty-two years old, slinging burgers and beer at Hawthorne's Bar and Grill the day the vampires come out of the coffin.
No one in Bon Temps could've predicted that Katniss Everdeen would be the first girl in town to start sleeping with a vampire, least of all Katniss herself. But night after night she finds herself back at the apartment over the bakery, splayed across the kitchen table, bent over the back of the sofa, gripping the headboard so hard her fingers cramp.
She knows what people think of her - fang banger, whore, she's fucking him for the V - but the sex is so mind-blowing she doesn't even care.
And, slowly but surely, it becomes less about the sex - though it's still incredible - and more about Peeta himself.
Sometimes, instead of thinking about the way his tongue feels on her clit or how his cock feels buried deep inside of her, she thinks about the way his eyelids flutter shut just before he comes. The silly grin that only spreads across his face when he sees her enter a room. The sweet words he whispers against her neck when he thinks she's asleep. The kisses he ghosts across her lips before he slips out of bed in the early morning, fleeing the sunlight that looms just below the horizon.
She even tells him her secret, one night as she's falling asleep. He hugs her and thanks her for trusting him, and she's never felt as safe in someone's arms.
Prim's the first to notice, of course. "I'm going to Peeta's," Katniss tells her one night as she's heading out the door, and Prim's giggles stop her. "What?"
"I'm going to Peeta's," Prim repeats, her voice fluttering on his name. "I never thought I'd hear you talk like that."
Katniss folds her arms across her chest. "Like what?"
"Like…I don't know…like you're so desperately in love that the mere sound of his name makes you swoon." Prim lays the back of her hand against her forehead and sighs for emphasis.
Katniss snorts. "I'm not in love," she insists. "I'm just…having fun."
"You keep telling yourself that," Prim shrugs, turning back to her textbook.
"I will. Because it's the truth."
Prim waves her off. "Yeah, okay. You go have fun!"
That night, Katniss does something she's never done before as Peeta heals away the bite marks on her neck. Without thinking, she grabs his hand in both of her own, moving it towards her mouth. He jerks away quickly, and she blushes. "Don't do that," he warns.
"I just thought...you taste me all the time. I wanted to taste you."
His eyes soften and he leans in to kiss her, touching his tongue to hers in reassurance. "It's okay. It's just, if you have my blood, we'll be bonded."
Katniss frowns. "What does that mean?"
"It means you'll find me sexually irresistible…you'll dream about me," he says, tracing his finger down her cheek. She tilts her head and smiles.
"How is that any different from right now?"
"It also means I'll be able to sense you, and your feelings, no matter where you are, for the rest of your life." She shivers a little under his gaze. "It's different. Trust me."
Katniss settles against the pillows, dropping her head to rest on his shoulder. "Peeta…" She swallows. "We're just…we're having a good time. Right?"
He pulls away slightly to look at her. "I have a good time with you," he agrees, speaking slowly. His eyes, normally so bright and open, are unreadable.
It's not what she meant, but she's not sure if she really wants to have that conversation right now, anyway - or ever. She smiles a little, entwining her fingers through his and resting their hands on his chest. "Good."
A few weeks later, Peeta announces that Effie Trinket is coming to town. The woman who made him a vampire. His maker.
Katniss can't understand why Peeta is so anxious about her visit. "She's just, like, a mentor or something, right?" They're eating dinner together at Katniss' house, Katniss slurping down a bowl of rabbit stew, Peeta sipping slowly at a B positive TruBlood, which Katniss now keeps stocked in the pantry.
"…Sortof," Peeta says, refusing to meet her eyes. "It's…really hard to explain."
"Well, I'm listening," she says edgily, picking at her stew.
He sighs. "I just, I don't think you'll understand. And I don't want to upset you over nothing."
She taps her spoon impatiently against the edge of her bowl. "What would I be upset about?"
Peeta picks awkwardly at the label on his TruBlood, just like he had four months ago when he'd first told her about the night he was turned. "Remember how I told you about the blood bond?" Katniss nods. "Well, vampires are bonded to their makers, and it's kind of like that. Times a thousand."
Her spoon goes still. "You've had sex with her."
He nods. "Yeah."
"And that's where you learned…everything."
"Yeah."
Her insides twist uncomfortably, confusing her. She shouldn't care that Peeta used to have hot, dirty, up-against-the-wall sex with another woman - it's not like she and Peeta are serious or anything. "Well, I can't wait to meet the woman who taught you that," she mutters, standing up and taking her bowl to the sink. "I should thank her."
Katniss can't imagine how Effie Trinket stayed hidden before the Great Revelation, because she's the vampiest-looking vampire Katniss has ever seen.
Her hair is bright pink and piled atop her head in a mass of curls, lips painted pink to match. Her pale white breasts spill out of a black lace corset cinched around an impossibly tiny waist - much easier to wear when you don't have to breathe, Katniss thinks enviously. Their visitor totters towards Peeta on five-inch heels and greets him with a long kiss on the mouth.
There's a man with her, looking completely out of place, and Katniss stares at him as she tries to ignore the reunion going on beside her. He stares back silently. He's paunchy and grizzled, somewhere in his forties, totally unlike any of the clean-cut, attractive vampires she's seen on tv. She wonders who his maker was.
"Peeta! Is this your human?" Effie trills, turning away from him to run her long, hunter green fingernails down Katniss' cheek. "She's as gorgeous as you said. And she smellsdivine."
"She's not my human, Effie," Peeta corrects her. "But yes, this is Katniss. Katniss, this is Effie and Haymitch."
"Well, no matter whose she is, she's just delicious." Effie leans in and smells her again, and Katniss edges away uncomfortably. "Mmm. Lovely."
The man, Haymitch, fixes Katniss with an odd look. "You do smell unusually good for a human who spends all day slinging grease." He frowns. "You got fae blood in you, sweetheart?"
"What? No. I don't even know what that is." Katniss snaps, taken aback. She turns to Peeta, confused, but suddenly Haymitch has a hold of her arm. He drags his nose across her wrist, and it's all she can do not to scream. She knows not to run - Haymitch could tear her arm off like the wings off a fly - so she clenches her free hand around Peeta's, willing the moment to end.
Haymitch smiles as he finally releases her, and she backs away quickly, rubbing over the skin that he'd touched. "Yeah, she's part fae alright," he says. "I used to be addicted to the stuff, I'd smell it a mile away. Not much in 'er, though. I'd guess it was a grandparent, great grandparent."
"Peeta, what are they talking about?" Katniss demands, the slightest tremor in her voice. He ignores her, deep in thought.
"That can't be right," he finally says. "I've had her blood. And I didn't get drunk or anything...I mean, I felt great...I just thought...I thought it was just the great sex."
Katniss gasps and punches him in the arm, and Haymitch laughs loudly. "Aw, look. The human's embarrassed. That's cute."
"We all react to fae blood differently, dear," Effie explains sweetly. "Some of us can't handle it." She looks pointedly at Haymitch. "Some of us just get a nice high."
"PEETA." He jumps at Katniss' voice right in his ear. "What. The fuck. Is going on."
Peeta sighs heavily. "Look, this might be a conversation we want to have in private."
"Really? Why? They already know you drink my blood when we're…being intimate." Katniss winces at the shrill note in her voice, but carries on. "What could possibly be a more private conversation than that?"
"Just...trust me. We should probably go back to your house and talk about it. Alone." He looks meaningfully at Effie and Haymitch, who shrug.
"Absolutely not. Prim is home."
Peeta flinches. "Well, um. This is kind of relevant to Prim, too. So that might not be a bad thing."
Katniss stares at him, a sinking feeling in her chest. She's done the thing she never does - the worst possible thing - and trusted him. Now it's coming back to bite her in the ass. She should have known better.
"Fine," she says quietly, tossing him her car keys. "You drive."
Prim is outside, locking the front door as Katniss and Peeta pull into the driveway. "Hey guys," she calls out. "I'm just heading over to Shreveport for the night to hang out with Jenny and those guys. Rachel's picking me up in a few."
Peeta clears his throat as they reach the steps leading up to the porch. "Actually, we've got something we need to talk to you about, if that's alright."
Prim looks between them for a few moments, and then squeals. "Oh my god. Are you two getting married?"
"What!? No," Katniss yelps. Peeta throws her a hurt look, but she just rolls her eyes. "It's not even legal. Get inside, Prim. This is serious."
Prim sighs, turning back to unlock the door. "I'm gonna be late. It better be."
It's pretty serious. Peeta explains: Vampires aren't the only supernatural creatures in Bon Temps.
There are also werewolves, and shapeshifters who can turn into any animal, and faeries. Vampires don't get along with werewolves. They're indifferent to shifters. And they love faeries. Or, more specifically, their blood.
"You two...well, I'm not sure how to put this." Peeta clasps his hands together. "Someone in your family lineage mated with a faerie. According to Haymitch it was probably a grandparent, or maybe a great grandparent. So that makes you two, I don't know, something like one-sixteenth faerie. Now that I think of it, it's probably the reason why Katniss can hear human thoughts."
"That's so cool," Prim breathes out at the same time that Katniss growls, "This is ridiculous."
"So what does it mean?" Prim inquires, ignoring her sister's dark look.
"Well..." Peeta swallows. "It means you taste really, really good to vampires. And you smell good, too. And if a vampire drinks your blood, they might get a little...tipsy. And they might not know when to stop." He shifts his gaze to Katniss, and his voice softens. "Katniss...I didn't know. I swear."
Katniss doesn't answer. It's too much. The fact that werewolves are a thing now, that shapeshifters are a thing, that she herself is basically a faerie, that Prim's jumble of thoughts are crowding into her head - it's too much. She bolts off of the couch and runs to her bedroom, taking the stairs two at a time.
There's no telltale thud of footsteps coming up the stairs, but twenty minutes later, the bedroom door opens and shuts with a soft click. Katniss is curled up on her bed, face buried in her pillows. She feels the mattress dip gently under Peeta's weight.
"I think you're overreacting," Peeta says, laying a gentle hand on her ankle.
"I'm not overreacting," she mutters into the pillow. "Youtry finding out you're a nice, juicy faerie steak."
"Try finding out you're a vampire," he retorts. Fair enough, Katniss thinks begrudgingly. They sit in silence together, and Katniss realizes, not for the first time, how nice it is to sit with someone in true silence, with no stray thoughts to batter away from her mind.
"You only like me because of my faerie blood," she finally grumbles, refusing to look at him.
"You know that's not true." A pause. "Katniss." She doesn't answer. "Well, why do you even care, anyway?" he asks, his voice suddenly hard. "I thought we were just having fun."
Katniss feels tears start to prick at her eyes, and she wipes them away with her sleeve before he can see. "We were," she whispers.
"And now?" His fingers flex around her ankle. "Is that what we're doing now?"
Katniss shifts her arm just slightly so she can peer up at him. "No," she admits quietly.
Peeta watches her in silence as she props herself upright, reaching out to take his hand. She pulls his hand closer and trails her finger down his palm, onto his wrist where his pulse would be. She moves his forearm closer to his face. "Bite it."
His nostrils flare as he looks back and forth from his wrist to her face. "Bite it?" he repeats. She nods solemnly. He pulls his wrist to his mouth and extends his fangs, sinking them into his pale flesh, his eyes never leaving hers.
Slowly, so slowly, Katniss pulls his wrist back to her mouth, hands shaking. She lowers her lips to his skin and darts her tongue out, lapping at the blood like a cat. Peeta shudders, squeezing his eyes shut, his hand clenched in a fist.
When she's done she lifts her head and licks her lips. Her nose wrinkles slightly. "Ew," she blurts out, and Peeta bursts into laughter.
The laughter bubbles up in Katniss, too, and she squeals as Peeta wraps his arms around her, pulling her down onto the bed beside him. "Katniss," he murmurs, peppering her face with kisses. "I love you."
She kisses him on the mouth in response, smiling so hard that their teeth bump together, making her laugh harder. She can't quite say it back, not yet, but her actions have always spoken louder than her words.
Peeta rolls onto his back, pulling her over him, stroking her long, dark hair. "I really didn't know about the faerie thing," he says. "I figured, I've been in love with this girl for twenty years, of course I feel fucking amazing after we've had sex."
"Twenty years? No way."
"Since I first saw you. First day of kindergarten." He nods emphatically. "You sang the Valley Song in music class, and I was a goner."
"You're making that up," she teases, but a warm glow settles in her stomach. She did sing the Valley Song on the first day of school, twenty years ago. And Peeta remembered.
"I had a crush on you all through school, and you were totally oblivious," he continues, slipping his hand beneath her shirt, running his fingers up and down her back. "Impressively oblivious, for someone who can read minds." He shakes his head. "It's okay. I've got you now."
Katniss snuggles against him, pressing her cheek over the place where his heart rests, still and silent but no less full with love than her own. "You do. Always," she says, and smiles as she feels him press a kiss to the crown of her head.
"Always."
Science vs. Romance, 3/3
katniss/peeta. nc-17, au: thg meets true blood. Katniss Everdeen is twenty-two years old, slinging burgers and beer at Hawthorne's Bar and Grill the day the vampires come out of the coffin.
No one in Bon Temps could've predicted that Katniss Everdeen would be the first girl in town to start sleeping with a vampire, least of all Katniss herself. But night after night she finds herself back at the apartment over the bakery, splayed across the kitchen table, bent over the back of the sofa, gripping the headboard so hard her fingers cramp.
She knows what people think of her - fang banger, whore, she's fucking him for the V - but the sex is so mind-blowing she doesn't even care.
And, slowly but surely, it becomes less about the sex - though it's still incredible - and more about Peeta himself.
Sometimes, instead of thinking about the way his tongue feels on her clit or how his cock feels buried deep inside of her, she thinks about the way his eyelids flutter shut just before he comes. The silly grin that only spreads across his face when he sees her enter a room. The sweet words he whispers against her neck when he thinks she's asleep. The kisses he ghosts across her lips before he slips out of bed in the early morning, fleeing the sunlight that looms just below the horizon.
She even tells him her secret, one night as she's falling asleep. He hugs her and thanks her for trusting him, and she's never felt as safe in someone's arms.
Prim's the first to notice, of course. "I'm going to Peeta's," Katniss tells her one night as she's heading out the door, and Prim's giggles stop her. "What?"
"I'm going to Peeta's," Prim repeats, her voice fluttering on his name. "I never thought I'd hear you talk like that."
Katniss folds her arms across her chest. "Like what?"
"Like…I don't know…like you're so desperately in love that the mere sound of his name makes you swoon." Prim lays the back of her hand against her forehead and sighs for emphasis.
Katniss snorts. "I'm not in love," she insists. "I'm just…having fun."
"You keep telling yourself that," Prim shrugs, turning back to her textbook.
"I will. Because it's the truth."
Prim waves her off. "Yeah, okay. You go have fun!"
That night, Katniss does something she's never done before as Peeta heals away the bite marks on her neck. Without thinking, she grabs his hand in both of her own, moving it towards her mouth. He jerks away quickly, and she blushes. "Don't do that," he warns.
"I just thought...you taste me all the time. I wanted to taste you."
His eyes soften and he leans in to kiss her, touching his tongue to hers in reassurance. "It's okay. It's just, if you have my blood, we'll be bonded."
Katniss frowns. "What does that mean?"
"It means you'll find me sexually irresistible…you'll dream about me," he says, tracing his finger down her cheek. She tilts her head and smiles.
"How is that any different from right now?"
"It also means I'll be able to sense you, and your feelings, no matter where you are, for the rest of your life." She shivers a little under his gaze. "It's different. Trust me."
Katniss settles against the pillows, dropping her head to rest on his shoulder. "Peeta…" She swallows. "We're just…we're having a good time. Right?"
He pulls away slightly to look at her. "I have a good time with you," he agrees, speaking slowly. His eyes, normally so bright and open, are unreadable.
It's not what she meant, but she's not sure if she really wants to have that conversation right now, anyway - or ever. She smiles a little, entwining her fingers through his and resting their hands on his chest. "Good."
A few weeks later, Peeta announces that Effie Trinket is coming to town. The woman who made him a vampire. His maker.
Katniss can't understand why Peeta is so anxious about her visit. "She's just, like, a mentor or something, right?" They're eating dinner together at Katniss' house, Katniss slurping down a bowl of rabbit stew, Peeta sipping slowly at a B positive TruBlood, which Katniss now keeps stocked in the pantry.
"…Sortof," Peeta says, refusing to meet her eyes. "It's…really hard to explain."
"Well, I'm listening," she says edgily, picking at her stew.
He sighs. "I just, I don't think you'll understand. And I don't want to upset you over nothing."
She taps her spoon impatiently against the edge of her bowl. "What would I be upset about?"
Peeta picks awkwardly at the label on his TruBlood, just like he had four months ago when he'd first told her about the night he was turned. "Remember how I told you about the blood bond?" Katniss nods. "Well, vampires are bonded to their makers, and it's kind of like that. Times a thousand."
Her spoon goes still. "You've had sex with her."
He nods. "Yeah."
"And that's where you learned…everything."
"Yeah."
Her insides twist uncomfortably, confusing her. She shouldn't care that Peeta used to have hot, dirty, up-against-the-wall sex with another woman - it's not like she and Peeta are serious or anything. "Well, I can't wait to meet the woman who taught you that," she mutters, standing up and taking her bowl to the sink. "I should thank her."
Katniss can't imagine how Effie Trinket stayed hidden before the Great Revelation, because she's the vampiest-looking vampire Katniss has ever seen.
Her hair is bright pink and piled atop her head in a mass of curls, lips painted pink to match. Her pale white breasts spill out of a black lace corset cinched around an impossibly tiny waist - much easier to wear when you don't have to breathe, Katniss thinks enviously. Their visitor totters towards Peeta on five-inch heels and greets him with a long kiss on the mouth.
There's a man with her, looking completely out of place, and Katniss stares at him as she tries to ignore the reunion going on beside her. He stares back silently. He's paunchy and grizzled, somewhere in his forties, totally unlike any of the clean-cut, attractive vampires she's seen on tv. She wonders who his maker was.
"Peeta! Is this your human?" Effie trills, turning away from him to run her long, hunter green fingernails down Katniss' cheek. "She's as gorgeous as you said. And she smellsdivine."
"She's not my human, Effie," Peeta corrects her. "But yes, this is Katniss. Katniss, this is Effie and Haymitch."
"Well, no matter whose she is, she's just delicious." Effie leans in and smells her again, and Katniss edges away uncomfortably. "Mmm. Lovely."
The man, Haymitch, fixes Katniss with an odd look. "You do smell unusually good for a human who spends all day slinging grease." He frowns. "You got fae blood in you, sweetheart?"
"What? No. I don't even know what that is." Katniss snaps, taken aback. She turns to Peeta, confused, but suddenly Haymitch has a hold of her arm. He drags his nose across her wrist, and it's all she can do not to scream. She knows not to run - Haymitch could tear her arm off like the wings off a fly - so she clenches her free hand around Peeta's, willing the moment to end.
Haymitch smiles as he finally releases her, and she backs away quickly, rubbing over the skin that he'd touched. "Yeah, she's part fae alright," he says. "I used to be addicted to the stuff, I'd smell it a mile away. Not much in 'er, though. I'd guess it was a grandparent, great grandparent."
"Peeta, what are they talking about?" Katniss demands, the slightest tremor in her voice. He ignores her, deep in thought.
"That can't be right," he finally says. "I've had her blood. And I didn't get drunk or anything...I mean, I felt great...I just thought...I thought it was just the great sex."
Katniss gasps and punches him in the arm, and Haymitch laughs loudly. "Aw, look. The human's embarrassed. That's cute."
"We all react to fae blood differently, dear," Effie explains sweetly. "Some of us can't handle it." She looks pointedly at Haymitch. "Some of us just get a nice high."
"PEETA." He jumps at Katniss' voice right in his ear. "What. The fuck. Is going on."
Peeta sighs heavily. "Look, this might be a conversation we want to have in private."
"Really? Why? They already know you drink my blood when we're…being intimate." Katniss winces at the shrill note in her voice, but carries on. "What could possibly be a more private conversation than that?"
"Just...trust me. We should probably go back to your house and talk about it. Alone." He looks meaningfully at Effie and Haymitch, who shrug.
"Absolutely not. Prim is home."
Peeta flinches. "Well, um. This is kind of relevant to Prim, too. So that might not be a bad thing."
Katniss stares at him, a sinking feeling in her chest. She's done the thing she never does - the worst possible thing - and trusted him. Now it's coming back to bite her in the ass. She should have known better.
"Fine," she says quietly, tossing him her car keys. "You drive."
Prim is outside, locking the front door as Katniss and Peeta pull into the driveway. "Hey guys," she calls out. "I'm just heading over to Shreveport for the night to hang out with Jenny and those guys. Rachel's picking me up in a few."
Peeta clears his throat as they reach the steps leading up to the porch. "Actually, we've got something we need to talk to you about, if that's alright."
Prim looks between them for a few moments, and then squeals. "Oh my god. Are you two getting married?"
"What!? No," Katniss yelps. Peeta throws her a hurt look, but she just rolls her eyes. "It's not even legal. Get inside, Prim. This is serious."
Prim sighs, turning back to unlock the door. "I'm gonna be late. It better be."
It's pretty serious. Peeta explains: Vampires aren't the only supernatural creatures in Bon Temps.
There are also werewolves, and shapeshifters who can turn into any animal, and faeries. Vampires don't get along with werewolves. They're indifferent to shifters. And they love faeries. Or, more specifically, their blood.
"You two...well, I'm not sure how to put this." Peeta clasps his hands together. "Someone in your family lineage mated with a faerie. According to Haymitch it was probably a grandparent, or maybe a great grandparent. So that makes you two, I don't know, something like one-sixteenth faerie. Now that I think of it, it's probably the reason why Katniss can hear human thoughts."
"That's so cool," Prim breathes out at the same time that Katniss growls, "This is ridiculous."
"So what does it mean?" Prim inquires, ignoring her sister's dark look.
"Well..." Peeta swallows. "It means you taste really, really good to vampires. And you smell good, too. And if a vampire drinks your blood, they might get a little...tipsy. And they might not know when to stop." He shifts his gaze to Katniss, and his voice softens. "Katniss...I didn't know. I swear."
Katniss doesn't answer. It's too much. The fact that werewolves are a thing now, that shapeshifters are a thing, that she herself is basically a faerie, that Prim's jumble of thoughts are crowding into her head - it's too much. She bolts off of the couch and runs to her bedroom, taking the stairs two at a time.
There's no telltale thud of footsteps coming up the stairs, but twenty minutes later, the bedroom door opens and shuts with a soft click. Katniss is curled up on her bed, face buried in her pillows. She feels the mattress dip gently under Peeta's weight.
"I think you're overreacting," Peeta says, laying a gentle hand on her ankle.
"I'm not overreacting," she mutters into the pillow. "Youtry finding out you're a nice, juicy faerie steak."
"Try finding out you're a vampire," he retorts. Fair enough, Katniss thinks begrudgingly. They sit in silence together, and Katniss realizes, not for the first time, how nice it is to sit with someone in true silence, with no stray thoughts to batter away from her mind.
"You only like me because of my faerie blood," she finally grumbles, refusing to look at him.
"You know that's not true." A pause. "Katniss." She doesn't answer. "Well, why do you even care, anyway?" he asks, his voice suddenly hard. "I thought we were just having fun."
Katniss feels tears start to prick at her eyes, and she wipes them away with her sleeve before he can see. "We were," she whispers.
"And now?" His fingers flex around her ankle. "Is that what we're doing now?"
Katniss shifts her arm just slightly so she can peer up at him. "No," she admits quietly.
Peeta watches her in silence as she props herself upright, reaching out to take his hand. She pulls his hand closer and trails her finger down his palm, onto his wrist where his pulse would be. She moves his forearm closer to his face. "Bite it."
His nostrils flare as he looks back and forth from his wrist to her face. "Bite it?" he repeats. She nods solemnly. He pulls his wrist to his mouth and extends his fangs, sinking them into his pale flesh, his eyes never leaving hers.
Slowly, so slowly, Katniss pulls his wrist back to her mouth, hands shaking. She lowers her lips to his skin and darts her tongue out, lapping at the blood like a cat. Peeta shudders, squeezing his eyes shut, his hand clenched in a fist.
When she's done she lifts her head and licks her lips. Her nose wrinkles slightly. "Ew," she blurts out, and Peeta bursts into laughter.
The laughter bubbles up in Katniss, too, and she squeals as Peeta wraps his arms around her, pulling her down onto the bed beside him. "Katniss," he murmurs, peppering her face with kisses. "I love you."
She kisses him on the mouth in response, smiling so hard that their teeth bump together, making her laugh harder. She can't quite say it back, not yet, but her actions have always spoken louder than her words.
Peeta rolls onto his back, pulling her over him, stroking her long, dark hair. "I really didn't know about the faerie thing," he says. "I figured, I've been in love with this girl for twenty years, of course I feel fucking amazing after we've had sex."
"Twenty years? No way."
"Since I first saw you. First day of kindergarten." He nods emphatically. "You sang the Valley Song in music class, and I was a goner."
"You're making that up," she teases, but a warm glow settles in her stomach. She did sing the Valley Song on the first day of school, twenty years ago. And Peeta remembered.
"I had a crush on you all through school, and you were totally oblivious," he continues, slipping his hand beneath her shirt, running his fingers up and down her back. "Impressively oblivious, for someone who can read minds." He shakes his head. "It's okay. I've got you now."
Katniss snuggles against him, pressing her cheek over the place where his heart rests, still and silent but no less full with love than her own. "You do. Always," she says, and smiles as she feels him press a kiss to the crown of her head.
"Always."