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“Are you sure about this?” Peeta says.
“I am,” Katniss responds, her voice sounding contradictory to her words. But she offsets the lack of confidence by grabbing his hand tightly and without hesitation. Actions, far more than words, get across how she feels and Peeta knows this by now.
It started with the most innocent conversation when she was trading with the baker, a kind word encouraging her on their last reaping nearly a year ago. On a day she was drowning in all the thoughts of Prim’s name potentially being pulled from the bowl, his small smile was enough to capture her attention. Eventually, and despite her innate fear of things like love, her heart was touched as well. A warm greeting turned into conversations, which grew into Katniss unable to deny the desire for his company and seeking him out.
The feelings snuck up on her, faster than she could put her walls firmly in place. As terrifying as it was to share something like this with someone- the same thing that her mother shared with her father, which ultimately destroyed her mother when her father was killed in an explosion while mining- she’d embraced it. How, she reasoned, was it any less dangerous than putting her name in the reaping bowl dozens of times, or watching Prim’s name be put in at all?
Often she’d find them meeting up in some place between the Seam and town. Or on a rare day when hunting wasn’t necessary, the two of them would find themselves going to the meadow. It wasn’t a lot of time she could make herself scarce to find him, but it was enough to almost tease her. The less she could justify spending time with him, the more upset she got that she couldn’t.
That didn’t mean she was comfortable sharing it though, which led them here. Walking back to her home in the Seam with Peeta, preparing for him to be introduced to her mother and sister.
Prim and their mother had been aware for a few weeks she had been meeting with someone, a boy in particular. Mrs. Everdeen had insisted that, while she wasn’t opposed to her dating now that she was 18, she wanted to meet this boy. Katniss had pushed this issue as much as she could, but it had come to a point where she knew she’d have to bring her secret home sooner or later. Inviting him to dinner seemed a sensible, neutral compromise.
A part of her felt wrong excluding Gale or the Hawthornes. They were as close as family and soon, Katniss supposed they would meet him too. But to start with, introducing him to Prim and her mother was enough to handle.
Nervousness was not a natural emotion for her, and she didn’t wear it well.
They approach the front of the Everdeen home, and Katniss can tell the two of them already used one of the pheasants she brought back in the last few weeks, and are roasting it judging by the smell coming from inside. Something that would go well with the bread Peeta has in one of his arms. A good sign, she thinks.
Peeta squeezes her hand and gives her a quick kiss. It gives her solace enough to let the corner of her lips lift from its scowl. The two of them had to like Peeta, Katniss inwardly tries to convince herself. There was very little not to like, and she had learned quite how charming he could be when he wanted. Had that not been so, the hunter doubts he’d have made the way into her heart the way he had.
They are eagerly greeted by her family. Prim says hello with a wide, bright smile and shakes his hand. Her mother is slightly more reserved, looking over Peeta like a plant to be studied for its useful or dangerous properties.
“Peeta. You're Brandon’s boy.”
“Yes! Nice to meet you, Mrs. Everdeen.”
Whatever her mother was waiting for, she received it and her face slowly became soft and warmer. “Clara. You can call me Clara. Come in, we have dinner almost ready!”
Their meal starts quietly, with the addition of Peeta but it quickly warms up thanks to Prim and Peeta himself. Both are kind and willing to speak, and they kill any silence or awkwardness with their easygoing and excitable words. Prim asks enough for the stocky boy at her side to feel comfortable speaking between mouthfuls of the pheasant or roasted roots her mother made or the bread the two of them brought. Her little sister seems thoroughly amiable with her boyfriend after a brief conversation, and Katniss begins to ease.
It’s replaced by bashfulness when Prim decides to turn her attention to how he ended up being brought here in the first place.
“So, how did the two of you meet?” Prim says with a playful tap of her leg and a sing-song lift to her voice at the end. Katniss feels her cheeks flush bright red at the forward question. Without a doubt, her sister meant the inquiry innocently, but it felt too private, too personal to share the moments that went into building her and Peeta's budding relationship. Even to her sister.
Peeta can feel that her words are taken from her and does her a favor by taking over. “When she stopped to trade at the bakery. One day I got brave enough to talk to her beyond bartering and we just kept talking till we decided to meet up after she was done.” He says.
Once again, he stuns her by crafting the perfect words. He isn’t lying, the way he portrays it is true while also not giving away the little things. Him holding her hands and making her heart flutter in the most comfortable way, or her comforting him after he left an argument with his mother- hurt and broken in more ways than one. Their kisses and the naps she’s stolen in the meadow with him, all of it kept for themselves.
“Aw, Katniss that’s so sweet!” Prim nearly swooned.
Locking eyes, Peeta seems to ask to lean in for something. Katniss allows it and he kisses her temple softly. A good choice in front of her mother and sister, with how chaste it was but also tender and reverent the way he always has been since their kissing began.
It gives her whatever bravery she needs to speak. “It’s Peeta whose sweet, that’s why I’ve hidden him. Put him in a place where he won't get hurt.”
The meal fills them after that, and they end up sitting by the fire on the floor, Peeta regaling them with stories about particularly awful customers from the bakery. Her mothers' eyes seem trained on Peeta so she easily melts into his side, where she likes, and leans her head on his shoulder. Her family surrounds her with Peeta here too, she almost is convinced it’s a dream, enough that sleep begins to tug at her.
It’s her mother, gently rubbing her leg that rouses her. “Go and get some sleep Katniss.”
“Yeah. I’ll be missed unless I get going anyhow.” Peeta speaks, moving his arms to stretch.
Stretching for a moment herself, her heart falls realizing he has to leave no matter her protests. “I’ll walk him to the end of the lane, actually.”
They slip on their shoes and begin the walk to the end of the road, taking their time and letting the wind brush against them. Katniss mourns his presence before he truly leaves but tries to soothe herself with how well the dinner went. With any luck, she could see more of Peeta now that her sister and mother were welcoming to him.
“Your sister is fascinated by the cakes in the window, I take it. She must have asked a hundred questions.” Peeta says, an easy grin on his face.
Katniss snickers. “She is. Maybe you should bring some of your sketches. That will blow her mind, I think.” Peeta laughs though a nod.
“Tonight was fun. Thank you, for inviting me.”
They stop and just hold one another and Katniss relishes the tiny moment before she knows he has to continue on without her. Peets makes her greedy in that way, wanting closeness and contact in a way she never thought she would, and in truth, wouldn’t want from anyone else. When he gently lets his lips touch her next, all of her skin erupts into goose bumps in the most pleasant of ways.
Peeta seems to feel her reaction and kisses her, and she doesn’t have enough willpower not to return it fully for a moment.
But she pulls away, regretfully aware that her mother is gonna expect her back soon and this could- and would- get out of hand if the both of them allowed for it. For his part, Peeta understands and presses his forehead to hers briefly before wishing her goodnight and walking down the street to where the lights from the Merchant section would lead him back. Katniss says good night back before making her way back to her own home.
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Later, when Prim is asleep, her mother wakes her and asks her to sit with her in front of the fire.
Half awake and unable to fight much Katniss listens and moves to the center of the room where the low fire still burns to keep the shack that is their home warm through the night.
“I’m glad you brought him, Katniss. I never did get a chance to share your father with my family. I hoped that if you girls ever found someone special, that you could feel comfortable enough to invite them here.”
A rush of relief Katniss didn’t know she was waiting for envelopes her. While she and her mother had not been close, not since she became lifeless in her grief after her father's death, there was love between them. It was strained, but there, and Katniss hadn’t fully recognized how much she wanted Peeta to be accepted by her. She was aware she craved a positive reaction from Prim, but until now she thought she could give or take her mother's approval.
In truth, Peeta was hers and she was his now. And she had wanted him to be welcome with her family who she loved as well.
Katniss nods and gives her mother a rare sideways hug to prove it.