Everlark One-Shots

Do You Trust Me?

*Peeta's POV:*

We sit on opposite ends of the table. Raindrops make light taps on the window. We were in the middle of eating lamb stew, but it appears it's turned into a staring contest. Finally, Katniss breaks the silence. "What were you staring at for so long, Mellark?" I laugh. "Who else, Everdeen? I have nobody else to look at." She laughs. "No, not WHO you were staring at, but WHAT were you staring at?" Her smirk breaks out into a grin. I cover my face with a hand as I hear her laugh once again. "Come on, Katniss. Your eyes, obviously." She scoffs. "Sure... Are my eyes down here?" She refers to her chest. My other hand flies up to my face, and she grins.

We haven't had a moment like this since... We haven't had a moment like this at all. I don't know what's getting us so flirty. No, we didn't drink any of Haymitch's alcohol that he apparently had stashed away so I couldn't pour it down the sink. It's not like our meds are getting us loopy. What could it be?

Katniss stands up to clean her bowl in the sink. "I'm full." She says, patting her stomach. "Thanks for the stew." I smile. "You're welcome." I reply.

I look down at my bowl and scoop up one last piece of cooked lamb, popping it in my mouth with a potato chunk. I stand up and walk over to the sink. Katniss has a sponge in her hand and is scrubbing at the dishes while I put a bit of dish soap in my bowl. She accidentally drops the sponge in the sink among the suds, and I reach to grab it when I feel her hand on mine.

Her touch is energizing. I feel a chill running up my spine. I mean, it's not like we haven't touched each other since the end of the war. We sleep in the same bed nowadays to help cope with the nightmares, and on those nights I sometimes run my fingers through her hair and the like. But this time, her touch is chilling.

We look up at each other simultaneously and smile shyly. She slides her hand off mine and I pick up the sponge and hand it to her. She looks down at my bowl. "I can clean your bowl too, Peeta." She takes the bowl from me and puts it on the counter. I walk around her and grab a clean dish towel and start drying the bowl that she's already washed.

After we clean up, we decide to head up to bed. After our evening routines are done, I climb into bed and she follows, resting her head on my chest. Somewhere among the silence, she finds sleep, her soft, gentle snores filling the room. Eventually I fall asleep, knowing she's safe with me.

*Dream*

I'm in the Capitol. I spot Katniss on the other side of the room, chained up, on her knees. President Snow has returned, an evil grin on his face. "Mr. Mellark. I thought we had agreed not to lie to each other." I call out her name. "Katniss! Katniss!" I try to run for her, but sudden chains appear and lock me in my place. "No!" I yell. "Let me go! I have to get to her." President Snow ignores my calls. "Now Ms. Everdeen. It's either the pill, or Peeta dies." He says, holding up her ripped Mockingjay suit sleeve. Suddenly, it's as if the chains have no effect on her, and she jumps up. The chains shatter into a million pieces and she charges towards Snow, knocking him down to the ground. Her eyes flash with anger, and she looks up like a wild animal, her teeth showing like they're poised to kill. Suddenly, she picks up incredible speeds and charges towards me. When I notice she's running for me, I tell her, "No, please Katniss. Don't do this! I love you! Please, stay with me. Stay with me!" My pleading has no effect on her as I'm knocked to the ground.

*End of dream*

"No! Stay with me!" I hear myself yell. "Peeta! Peeta, it's not real. I'm here." I hear her voice and my eyes dart open seconds later. I'm breathing hard. "Peeta, listen to me. It was just a nightmare, it's not real." My eyes come into focus as I finally make out Katniss's face. Her voice is serious and her expression is sympathetic and real. Her fingers move the stray hair out of my eyes, and that's when I realize how much I'm sweating. I feel her thumb making small arcs on my palm, her other fingers holding my hand in place. "You're here...With me." I whisper. She gives me a sympathetic smile. "Of course I am."

We lay there together, staring into each other's eyes, smiling. "You're sweating..." She whispers. "Must've been pretty intense." I just nod. "I heard you say that you loved me before I woke you up." She tells me. I feel the embarrassment rush to my cheeks. God, did I really say that out loud? "Sorry." I whisper. She laughs. "Peeta Mellark, there is absolutely nothing you have to be sorry about." I look at her curiously, a smile appearing on my lips. "Why's that, Katniss Everdeen?" She smiles, and her smile fades as she pushes back my hair.

Then, only a sheer second passes by when I feel her lips on mine.

My body is instantly flooded with warmth. The small traces of venom in my blood that will always remain make me hesitate, but I'm finally able to fight it. I kiss her back, and she lets out a small sigh. When we pull away, both of our expressions slowly grow into a grin. My lips crash into hers again.

This time, when we break for air, she sighs. "It's getting hot in District 12 all of a sudden, Peeta. It's like we're having some sort of heat wave or something." I laugh. "I think I'll need to take off my shirt if you don't mind." She says slyly. "I don't mind at all." I tell her truthfully with a smirk. "Hell, I might even copy you, Katniss." She giggles.

She slides the lower portion of her body upwards, so that she's now sitting on top of me, her front facing me. She grabs the bottom of her shirt with both hands and lifts it up over her head. My mouth drops open. "You're so gorgeous." I whisper. It is then when I realize what I've said and I cover my mouth with a hand. She giggles again. "Now, what were you saying about copying me with the whole shirt thing?" She says sneakily. I grin. "Ahh... Right. But uh, you're kind of on top of me now, so it's not too easy." She laughs. "I'll do it, then." Her fingers curl the fabric of my shirt and she lifts it up over my head. She's just about to kiss me again when I ask her, trying not to stare too much at her umm... upper half.

"Do you trust me, Katniss?"

Her jaw drops open. "Peeta, do you think if I didn't trust you I would have willingly just taken my shirt off in front of you?" She laughs again. I make a face. True. "Peeta, of course I trust you. But do you trust me?"

I don't want to deny her this time. So I whisper, "Yes."

Her lips crash into mine again, this time full force, as if I've been hit with a tidal wave. My hand finds her back. We kiss over and over again, the occasional sigh in between kisses. She flops down on the bed as the kisses intensify. We stop for air and her grin starts to fade. "What is it, Katniss?" I ask her, out of breath. "Your chest..." She whispers. Her fingers go up and trace one of the scars I got from the Capitol. Chills run up and down my spine as I remember those dark times. "Don't worry about those." I tell her. "That's in the past. I'm okay now anyways. For tonight, I want to freeze this moment, right here right now, and live in it forever. What do you say?" She looks into my eyes and her grin appears again. One of her hands grabs the back of my neck and she pulls me back down into another kiss. My lips go down to her neck, peppering it with light kisses, almost like an apology for harming her when I got home from the Capitol. My intentions were never to harm her at all. My OWN intentions anyway, the ones I could control. I hear her whisper, "Peeta..." and I know she feels the same thing I'm feeling. The same thing that fueled our fire on the beach before our lives were truly torn apart.

I don't know how long this goes on for. The kissing, the sweating, the whispering each others names. I want to say it was around midnight when we stop, because the clock softly chimed from downstairs as we lay there catching our breath.

Our breathing heavy, our foreheads shiny with sweat, I glance over at Katniss. She locks eyes with me and gives a tired smile. I whisper, "You love me Katniss, Real or Not Real?"

Her arm reaches up and moves the stray blonde hair out of my face, and her hand rests on the side of my face as she whispers,

"Real."