Peeta and Katniss are doing their homework in the kitchen while Mrs. Everdeen is preparing tea for her and her husband. It's 10:30 on a Friday night, but the ever-studious Katniss Everdeen needs to get her homework done and the ever-whipped Peeta Mellark will do anything to spend time with her.

Even taking a Friday night to pretend to do his homework while watching her instead.

He's known her for so long, he's perfected the art of fake-studying and real-staring without her noticing. After all, they've been friends since grade school and dating for a couple months now (secretly, of course. With her conservative parents and his crazy mother they're holding off telling people for a bit… or forever, since he doesn't want to get shot anytime soon), which has given him plenty of time to learn how to stare discretely. Although, now he doesn't have to worry about getting caught since he knows she does it, too.

She looks up from her textbook suddenly, her eyes darting up to his, and smirks.

"A picture would last longer, you know." She whispers.

"Oh, I have plenty of those. I prefer the real thing, though." He winks.

She bumps her shoulder with his and blushes softly. He moves his hand to her thigh under the table, and she looks up to see if her mother noticed.

"Peeta-"

"Take a risk, Everdeen."

She rolls her eyes and gets back to her homework. Peeta picks up his pen to continue his doodle, silently thanking God for making him a lefty so he can keep his hand on Katniss's leg.

"Do you kids need anything?" Mrs. Everdeen asks.

Katniss shakes her head.

"No. I think we're good, mom."

"Thanks, Mrs. E." Peeta says, smiling widely.

"Okay. Mr. Everdeen and I are headed to bed. Feel free to stay the night, Peeta. You're always welcome." She says, smiling back.

"Thanks. Will do."

Oh, Mrs. Everdeen. If only she knew…

It truly is a good think Katniss can do no wrong in the eyes of her parents. The sleepovers are definitely a perk to the whole secret-dating thing.

She walks out of the kitchen and Peeta turns to Katniss.

"A sleepover, huh? What do you think?" He raises his eyebrows comically, and she laughs.

"You're crazy."

He loves her smile.

"Crazy for you." He winks.

"That was so cheesy, I think I puked a bit." She says, feigning disgust.

"Oh, you love it." He says, pushing his forehead to hers.

"Oh, I do." She tilts her head up and kisses him. "What would you have planned for this sleepover?" She asks, biting her lip and wrapping her arms around his neck.

"It's a surprise. Want a sneak peak?" He says.

She nods eagerly and pulls him down for a kiss. Peeta pulls her onto his lap and groans as she runs her hands through his curls, squeezing her hips. She straddles his lap and sighs into his mouth, licking his lips. He moves down to kiss her neck with an open mouth and she gasps.

She always loved his way with words, but never knew he had so many other talents with his tongue.

He sucks and nips while she tugs at his hair and grinds onto his lap. She loves it and he knows it, but she grabs his cheeks and pulls him off her anyway.

"You'll leave a mark." She explains breathlessly and pulls him back up toward her mouth.

She kisses him dizzy and he falls even harder. He's falling for her everything, he has been for years. It isn't until he finally got to live out his fantasies of being with her that he finally got to fall for the parts of her he didn't were there. They're falling for each other, and she's falling off the chair.

The kitchen door opens suddenly and she hops off of him, landing ass-first on the floor. Peeta stands up to help her, but she refuses and jumps away from him as though he has the plague.

They stand a few feet apart, her arms crossed and his hand scratching his head as they both look at the ground.

"Studying, I see." Mr. Everdeen says, holding two empty mugs.

They stay silent, thinking of ways out of this situation.

"Tell me, Peeta. What homework were you doing? Were you attempting to learn the anatomy of my daughter's mouth using your own?"

He slams the mugs on the counter and moves in front of Peeta.

"Mr. Everdeen, I'm-"

"Sorry? Sure. Sorry I came in! You were attempting to defile my little girl until I walked in! Doesn't seem sorry to me!"

"Daddy, I-"

Mr. Everdeen turns to her.

"Leave this alone. This is a necessary conversation between a man and the boy attempting to seduce his daughter."

He turns back to Peeta, who's eyes are as wide as saucers. Mr. Everdeen steps closer and closer until the tips of their noses are almost touching. Peeta stands as tall as possible, but the man is so damn intimidating that he might piss himself.

"It's about damn time you made a move, son."

Mr. Everdeen pulls Peeta into an embrace and bursts into laughter. Peeta can't return it, since he's still frozen in shock as to what just happened.

"W-what?"

"By, God! We couldn't take the tension anymore. We were getting so sick of watching you two make googly eyes at each other and not do anything about it!"

Katniss's face is bright red and Peeta's still frozen.

"We?" She asks, dumbfounded.

"Yes, your mother, Primmy and I! Oh, we've been waiting so damn long for this." He laughs, moving to put the mugs in the sink.

Peeta finally regains control of his body and produces words.

"So- you're not… mad?"

Mr. Everdeen chuckles. "Why would I be mad that my daughter is with a nice, responsible young man who genuinely cares about her?" He asks. "Peeta, I trust you with her more than I trust anyone else. I know you and I know you're going to treat her well. Besides, have you met any of her other boyfriends? Burnout druggies with tattoos and leather jackets who drink too much." He scoffs. "Reminds me of myself in high school. Let me tell you, you should never date someone that similar to your father. Always a bad idea."

Mr. Everdeen moves back over to Peeta.

"You have my approval, but if you get her pregnant without a ring on her finger, I will castrate you myself. If you break her heart, I have a gun that I bought just to deal with the boys who hurt my girls." He pats Peeta on the shoulder, kisses Katniss on the cheek and moves to the door.

"Oh, and the door to your door stays open when he's here, he isn't allowed in your room after dark, and he sleeps on the couch when he spends the night. I may be happy for you, but I'm still a hardass. Night!" He leaves the kitchen, walks up the stairs, and they hear the door to the master bedroom close.

They slowly turn to look at each other, in awe and dumbfounded at what just happened. They stare at each other in silence, mouths open in awe.

"Did your dad just threaten to castrate me?"

She breaks into a smile, steps closer to him and runs her hands over her face.

"If you get me pregnant without a ring on my finger, I'll help him castrate you, Mellark." She pats his cheek and goes to put her books away.

He watches her and follows close behind, wrapping his arms around her so her back is tightly pressed against her chest.

"Wanna watch a movie down here and call it a night?" He asks, kissing her hair.

"Sure." She leans her head back on his chest and sighs.

They stand quietly for a second, close together and reveling in the relief that's washing over them.

Just for a second, though.

"Your dad doesn't really own a gun or anything, right?"

She laughs against him.

"Multiple. You plan on breaking my heart?"

He smiles.

"I'm asking for the poor soul that falls for Prim. I'll never break your heart, Everdeen."

He bends down and kisses her shoulder.

"You have my word."