Peeta Mellark looked up from the textbook on his desk where he sat doing his homework, pausing long enough to shoot an annoyed glare in his best friend's direction. Katniss Everdeen lay sideways on Peeta's bed, her head propped up at an odd angle against the wall, her messy, dark braid falling over her left shoulder to rest in the valley between her breasts. She played with the end of her braid with one hand, the other holding her phone above her face, texting, while her feet tapped incessantly on the floor. On her flat stomach, her own calculus book lay face down, her notebook discarded near the headboard. Katniss felt Peeta's gaze on her and turned away from her cell phone to lock pure grey eyes with his blue ones.

"Sorry," she mumbled, her feet immediately going still on the hardwood floor. "I dropped my pencil."

"So pick it up," Peeta suggested and watched as Katniss huffed, rolling her eyes as she tossed her textbook and phone down on his bed and got up to retrieve her pencil, all traces of apology wiped from her expression as she waved the instrument in Peeta's general direction and flopped back down on his mattress.

Satisfied, Peeta turned his attention back to his own textbook. He managed to solve two more mildly difficult problems before he heard a repetitive thumping behind him. Clenching his jaw, he glanced over his shoulder to see Katniss lying on her stomach, her pencil tapping over and over on the textbook that was open where his pillow usually lay. His breath caught in his chest when he saw that she had his pillow wedged between her breasts and his mattress for cushioning as she attempted to concentrate on her homework.

Jesus Christ, her tits were on his pillow. Peeta felt his face grow warm as he stared at the surface upon which he rested his head at night. His face had been where her tits were currently. His face would touch that same surface in just a few hours' time. His cock twitched in his jeans at the thought. He couldn't stop his mind running away from him, imagining Katniss's tits in his face; he had to bite down hard on the inside of his cheek to keep from moaning at the mere thought.

This was his best friend, for Panem's sake! He really couldn't act on these bizarre lustful thoughts he had been enduring increasingly for the past few months! Her tits weren't even that great anyway, he told himself. They were kind of small. He could probably cover them completely with his hands. God, that actually sounded hot. Unlike when Glimmer had let him take her shirt off and touch her chest last summer. Her tits were huge and in his face. They didn't even fit in his hands and he didn't know what to do with them at the time except touch. Katniss, though, her boobs seemed kind of perfect now. He could imagine all kinds of things to do with them because they just seemed so... great. Plus, he had read somewhere that all breasts, regardless of size, had the same number of nerve endings so hers were probably way more sensitive than Glimmer's, or even Delly's, for that matter, not that he had ever touched his oldest friend's tits or even wanted to, but he had definitely noticed them. He was a guy and they were tits; how could he not notice them?

But he couldn't help but admit to himself that he really did want to touch Katniss's boobs. And lick them, and suck on them, and oh God he really needed to stop this train of thought because he was well past a semi and developing a full-blown boner now.

He shifted in his chair and then stilled as Katniss began to hum to herself. He hoped that if he was quiet enough she would forget where she was and actually start singing. She had always hated singing in front of anyone but her little sister, but Peeta loved the sound of her voice. He choked as he thought the word, love, and his eyes widened.

Did he love Katniss? No, she was just lying in his bed with her perfect tits on his pillow and, being the horny teenage boy he was, he couldn't stop thinking about her. He was attracted to her, sure, that was something he had never even really tried to deny to himself, but that was it... wasn't it?

Peeta didn't even realize he was staring at Katniss as he tried to make sense of all that was going through his mind until Katniss looked up and he found their gazes locked all of a sudden.

He squashed the apology that sprang to his lips, realizing that Katniss wasn't a mind reader. She didn't know what was going through his mind and he was determined that she wouldn't figure it out. Still, he was confused when she apologized to him. He looked at her, questioning, and her eyebrows drew together.

"Am I bothering you again?"

Peeta didn't know what she meant. The only thing that was bothering him at the moment was the boner he needed to figure out how to get rid of. While she was indeed the cause of that, he didn't think that was what she was referring to when she asked if she was bothering him. He realized that she had dropped her pencil again and remembered her tapping and humming. He shook his head.

"Then why are you staring at me?" Katniss asked. Peeta was at a loss for how to explain himself. "You're looking at me like I grew a third head and I don't even have a second one, so it's extra weird."

"Sorry," Peeta said, his voice coming out gruffer than he intended it to because he was so turned on. He cleared his throat and shrugged. "Just bored."

"So you decided to stare at me?" Katniss said skeptically. "Creeper."

Peeta flashed her a quick grin and spoke without thinking. "You're way more interesting to look at than derivatives."

He panicked the second the words left his mouth, wishing for nothing more than the ability to take back what he had just said. That seemed kind of flirty to him. He was sure Katniss would bolt as soon as she realized. He watched her closely for her reaction.

For a moment, she just stared at him, then the corners of her mouth turned up in one of her rare, full smiles, the one that made the corners of her eyes crinkle. She rolled her eyes and snorted, but the smile remained.

"You really are bored," she said. "Finally. I am so over calculus right now."

She turned her attention back to her homework just long enough to slide her notebook inside her textbook and close the cover. She pushed her textbook steadily to the side of the bed until it fell to the floor with a loud thud, then rolled over onto her back, pulling the pillow up under her head again as she scooted closer to the wall before turning to look at Peeta expectantly.

He had to work to keep his expression neutral when he realized that Katniss wanted him to join her on his bed. When he didn't move from his desk, Katniss patted the spot next to her.

Peeta gulped harshly and turned his head to face his homework, picking up his pencil quickly.

"Just let me finish this problem I'm on," he said, hoping his voice didn't sound as nervous as he felt. Katniss sighed, but agreed and Peeta made random marks in his notebook as he worked to rid himself of his boner.

He thought of his dad in the living room downstairs, but that did nothing to help him. The idea of fooling around with Katniss while his family was nearby was actually kind of hot. He recalled his older brothers, Ryan and Brandon, giving him all kinds of unwanted and unnecessary pointers on how to please a girl before his first date with Clove, more than two years ago, but that just made him wonder what it would be like to try some of their suggestions out on Katniss. He shook his head and thought of the bakery and the heat from the ovens that always made him miserable and sweaty, but then he imagined Katniss in the back with him, naked and sweaty and lying across one of the cool steel tables as he kissed and licked and nipped her sweat-slicked skin. He gulped and bit his lip, his gaze dropping to his lap, where his boner was even more evident than before, a definite outline of his cock clearly visible through his jeans.

As a last resort, he turned his thoughts to his birth mother, the cruel woman who had beaten him for no reason for years before his father discovered her wielding a wooden rolling pin and beating him with it one afternoon when Peeta was ten, thinking her husband was down at the bakery. That was the first his father had learned of his wife beating his youngest son and he had wasted no time in kicking the woman out of his house and drawing up the legal documents that would end their fifteen year marriage and ensure the safety of his three precious boys.

"So bored," Katniss said in a singsong voice, pulling Peeta back to the present. He glanced at her over his shoulder and nodded his head to let her know he was coming, then turned his gaze back to his lap. He sure hated to think about his mother, but remembering her never failed to get an unwanted erection under control. This time was no different. He sighed and lay down his pencil before closing his textbook and standing up.

In an attempt to be nonchalant and disguise the fact that he had just been thinking of the abuse he had received as a child in order to hide the evidence of the fact that he had been previously thinking of Katniss in a way he was pretty sure she wouldn't approve of, he dived onto his bed, purposely jostling her. Katniss' protests were drowned out by the sound of his bed frame groaning under his sudden weight and the headboard slamming into the wall. Once the ruckus died down, everything was silent for a moment before Katniss turned to scowl at him.

"Great, now your family is going to think we're fooling around."

Peeta's eyes widened and he felt his cheeks redden as his blood started to rush south again. He dragged his feet up the bed towards his ass, his knees pointing towards the ceiling in an attempt to hide himself if he couldn't get this under control again.

"Sorry," he muttered.

Katniss laughed. He turned his head to look at her and couldn't keep his gaze from falling to her chest which was more exposed than usual as her shirt had been pulled down when she was lying on her stomach, he guessed. He could just see the edge of her white bra sticking out past the low neckline and he noticed for the first time the way her chest jiggled when she laughed. Truthfully, he probably would have noticed ages ago had he been in a position to before, but this was the first time he had ever been THIS close to Katniss.

"I was kidding," she forced out through her laughter. "Unless you're a two-pump chump, that noise ended way too quickly for anyone to think anything of it."

Peeta's face grew warm again and he scoffed. "No way! I'm the stamina king!"

Katniss scoffed and turned on her side to look at him, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "Okay, Mr. Super Stamina Man. I know the truth about you."

"Oh? And what's that?" Peeta asked, mimicking her position. Katniss smirked at him and patted him on the cheek roughly. "Ow!"

"The truth is," Katniss said, ignoring his pained protest as she leaned closer to him, lowering her voice to a whisper, "you're a virgin."

Peeta leaned back and glared at her. "So what? You are too!"

"I know! Nothing wrong with still being a virgin... unless Johanna's talking," Katniss said and Peeta agreed. If their school had a virginity club, Johanna Mason would have single-handedly started a Virginity-is-for-Losers club. "I was just saying... Everyone knows that pretty much all guys are two-pump chumps their first couple times."

"I won't be."

"Aww, think you'll make it all the way to three?"

"Shut up, Everdeen."

"Make me, Mellark."

Peeta's eyes widened as he realized that Katniss was suddenly very, very close to him. Inches away, really. He could see each individual eyelash and every tiny freckle dotting her somewhat crooked nose. He wondered if she had moved towards him on purpose because he knew for a fact that he hadn't budged, not even on accident as he was practically on the edge of the bed. In fact, he could feel the edge of his bedside table pressing against his back between his shoulder blades.

Katniss raised her eyebrows. Peeta blinked. When he opened his eyes, she was rolling over onto her back, squished up against his wall again. He had room to move. His heart sank. He didn't want room to move. He wanted Katniss' face in his, her chest almost flush against him.

He scooted towards the middle of the bed and rolled onto his back as well. His arm brushed against hers. Katniss' fingers twitched against his and Peeta rolled his neck to look at her. She was staring at the ceiling again, but her pinky hooked around his. Peeta's heart hammered against his chest as he closed his hand into a fist, effectively trapping her pinky. She glanced over at him, sinking her teeth lightly into her bottom lip, and Peeta wondered if he should kiss her, if she wanted him to kiss her.

Katniss' gaze flickered to his lips and Peeta smiled. He should definitely kiss her. He was leaning in, or at least thinking about leaning in -he wasn't sure if his body had actually started to move towards her yet- when his bedroom door opened. Peeta released Katniss' finger and angled his torso away from hers immediately to look at his father standing in the doorway. He felt the bed shift as Katniss did the same.

"I've got to run to the bakery for a couple hours. Monte's wife went into labor, and he can't manage the bakery from the hospital," Peeta's father said, his gaze sweeping over, but not lingering on, the two teenagers lying on the bed.

"Need help?" Peeta asked, already sitting up. He didn't know why he was eager to get out of this situation, but he kind of hoped his dad did want him to accompany him to the bakery.

"No, I think I can handle it," his dad joked. "I did start the business all on my own. I remember how everything works. Will you be okay here? Your brothers are out."

"I'm seventeen, Dad. I think I can handle being home alone for a few hours," Peeta said, mimicking his father's statement.

"Not alone," his dad said, looking at Katniss. Peeta glanced over his shoulder to see that Katniss had sat up as well and was now sitting cross-legged in the center of the bed watching the exchange between father and son with what looked like amusement but could also have been discomfort. He looked back at his father, who had returned his gaze to Peeta and was watching him with one eyebrow raised.

"Well, no," Peeta mumbled, willing his face not to flush as his father stared at him. "We'll be fine."

"Okay, well," Mr. Mellark said, "call me if you need anything."

"Same goes for you, Dad."

"I'll be home in a couple hours. Nice to see you again, Katniss," Mr. Mellark said, pausing to shoot a serious warning look at his son before he began to edge out the door.

"Bye, Mr. Mellark," Katniss said as he disappeared from view.

Peeta listened as his father's footsteps retreated down the stairs. He waited until he heard keys jingling and the front door opening before he looked at Katniss again.

"So, um." He cleared his throat and stood up, turning to face her more fully. "What do you want to do now?"

"What was wrong with what we were doing before?"

You mean getting ready to make out, he wanted to say, but wasn't at all sure if that was what they had been gearing up for so he stayed silent and tried to think of something better to say.

Before Peeta had the chance to figure it out, Katniss sighed and scooted to the edge of the mattress before hopping to her feet. She stood in front of him and met his gaze. "Let's just go watch TV?" she suggested.

Peeta felt like he was disappointing her even as he agreed with her suggestion, nodding uncertainly.

"Living room?" Katniss asked unnecessarily, already brushing past him to leave the room. She paused at the door and turned around to look at him where he stood still in the center of his bedroom, enjoying watching her go far too much. "Coming?"

Peeta cleared his throat and nodded vigorously, hoping to hide the fact that he had been checking her out. "Yeah. Yeah. I'm coming."

Thanks so much for reading! The second chapter should be up soon- within the week!
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