Authors note:

Alright so I haven't tried my hand at writing fan fiction in four years, but once I had the idea pop into my head I couldn't help but do my best to try.

I do not own The Hunger Games or any of the Characters. All rights go to the BRILLIANT author Suzanne Collins.

This story does not yet have Beta, so please tell me if you find any sort of errors so I can fix it and give you the best reading experience I can!

"Hey you know what? I didn't need help carrying in all these boxes." Katniss groaned sarcastically. Lugging it what felt like the hundredth box into the apartment, while Johanna sat lounging out on the floor. "It's just what I've always dreamed of doing." She told her dropping the box down on top of Johanna's stomach, which earned her a satisfying yelp.

"Okay, okay I get it." She replied. "I thought you and Mr Muscles had it covered for a bit, my arms just got sore." Getting to her feet she tossed Katniss an annoyed glance. 'Mr Muscles' was the name she often used for Gale. As Johanna liked to say her nicknames were all just apart of her charm. But something about being called 'Brainless' all the time wasn't that charming.

Once Johanna was on her feet and out the door, Katniss moved the box into her room setting it down on the floor along with the other boxes. Most of the boxes were Johanna's, she seemed to have more clothes and junk to pack away than anyone else she knew. What she kept in those boxes left her baffled, she had been to Johanna's old place but she never really saw much of anything. Wanting to take a peek inside one of them, she hesitantly stepped forwards. Stopping once she heard the sound of Gales voice.

"Hey Catnip, this is the last of them." There was discomfort in his voice, and she heard him set down a particularly heavy box.

"Thanks Gale." She returned, stepping out of the room with a small smile on her lips, a bead of sweat dripping down her brow. "It would have taken all day if you hadn't been here to help...Johanna has never been one for heavy lifting."

"Really? I couldn't tell." Gales voice was laced with sarcasm. Which only gained a smile from Katniss, before a silence fell. "So...do you think you're ready for this kind of life? You know the big city?"

For most of her life Katniss had grown up in a small town, which barely had five thousand people to it. It was made up of mostly farmland and trees. Most people hated it there, it was dull and boring. People passed the time by either getting drunk or high. She on the other hand spend most of her time in the woods around her house. It was there she first met Gale when she was only twelve, and he was thirteen. Their friendship was an easy one, neither one coming from well off families, nor had interest in the drugs and parties around the town. It seemed so much easier sitting back in the woods, teaching each other simple things like, making traps and shooting arrows. Gale never went to college but took an apprenticeship to become a constructor. When she went off to college it was only in a school about an hour away, and she made the drive every morning not wanting to leave Prim behind while she was still young.

When Prim went off to university was when Katniss decided to go to the city, she wasn't needed to look after her anymore. Which meant she could finally get a good job and put her financial degree to work. She could still remember telling Gale and that look of sadness in his eyes knowing his oldest friend was leaving, but he never tried to stop her. He was insistent on helping her move in, and she was more than thankful for it.

"I hope so." She whispered. "Anything is better than that town. I always felt like I was suffocating there." She gave a dry laugh. "My only hope if I stayed there was to work part time serving fries for the rest of my life."

"You could have always joined me." Gale had been working on creating his own company, but Katniss was never one for building. "I would have let you be a...well I'm not sure what you would have done but I'm sure you would have been great at it." The smile on his lips was soft, with something sad to it.

"Me with power tools? No thank you." Katniss let out a deep sigh. "You know I'm going to count on you coming to visit, a lot. You have no excuse it's only a two hour drive." She poked his side. "And I can pull out a cot for you."

"Oh you don't need to worry about that. I'm not going to let you slip away from me so easy." He played, before his eyes glanced around. "The apartment is really nice. I'm really happy for you Catnip." There was something so genuine to his words and he opened up his arms.

"I'm going to miss you Gale." She mumbled, stepping into his arms for the hug. "I'll call you, and we'll video chat. Oh and you're going to tell me all about how things with you and Madge are going back home." She teased, trying to lighten the mood.

He pulled back and nodded. "I promise. But I should be leaving, I have to get home in time to sleep." He stepped away towards the door, and gave her one last smile over his shoulder. "Good luck Catnip."

With that he closed the door, leaving her standing alone in the middle of her new apartment. It wasn't a big place, the kitchen and the living room were connected, with a single hallway that lead to two separate rooms and a bathroom. It was cheap and it worked. As of now it seemed empty, there was no couch or TV yet. Just a lot of unused space that made the place seem so foreign.

Not too soon after the door closed it was opened again, but by a grinning Johanna.

"Hey Brainless, meet Gloss our neighbour." She called out and in stepped in a tall man, who looked like he spent more time at the gym than in his own home. She noticed his eyes automatically training to her chest in her tank top, and crossed her arms.

Gloss what kind of name is that? She just raised her eyebrows and gave a small wave as a greeting, before she went back to one of the boxes on the floor.

"He's a personal trainer." Johanna informed , her hands feeling his arms. "I think we're going to be great neighbours." Which was Johanna's way of saying she would be spending some personal time getting to know him in his bed.

"Gloss it was nice to meet you, but we're a little busy right now." Katniss informed, leading him towards the door, not in the mood to deal him. "I'm sure we'll be great friends, but I'm going to have to ask you to leave right now." Her voice was to nice, the voice she used when she really wanted to be rude. "Thanks for stoppin by." With that she closed the door in his face.

"Oh come on, what was that all about? Did you see him? Did you feel him?" Johanna, seemed like she was still undressing him in her head.

"I did see him, staring at my chest. What kind of name is 'Gloss' anyways?" Katniss questioned with an annoyed tone to her voice. "I don't like him, so whatever you two plan on doing do it at his place."

"What kind of name is Katniss?" She countered. "You know you suck at making friends right? He could have been a great guy." Johanna informed her, but there was an amused tone to her voice.

"Well making friends isn't one of my strong points." Turning to her she whipped out her cell phone. "I'm ordering a pizza. What do you want?" She added, ending the conversation and Johanna seemed to catch on.

"Just get me a meat lovers." She grumbled before walking off down the hall towards where her room was.

She made the order quick and tossed her phone onto the kitchen counter. She could hear traffic down below despite the apartment being on the eighth floor. It was was different than what she was used to, made her realize this was real.

Slowly she made her way towards one of the windows and opened the curtain, expecting to see a view that looked down upon the street. But instead found herself staring at the brick wall of another apartment building. But what was even worse was that there was a window directly across the small gap, and she could see straight into the apartment. It was much nicer than her own, it looked bigger and lavishly furnished. She could make out what looked like a large flat screen TV, and a gorgeous kitchen. But from the state of the lights being off it seemed like no one was home. Her eyes traced the fire escape outside the window, and the one across the alley, and she was positive she could probably just step from hers onto the next one. It unnerved her, realizing how easy it would be for these people to just break in.

"Hey Brainless, I was calling for you." Johanna's voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "What do you think about painting the living room a different colour? This green is going to kill me."

"I don't think we're allowed to do that." She informed. "But look at this."

Johanna moved behind her and glanced out the window, her eyebrows raising at the sight.

"That's so...cool." She stated with a grin, which took Katniss of guard. "We can totally spy on them!"

"And they can totally spy on us in return." She mimicked her tone. "Who do you think lives there? They obviously have some money."

"Some old lady trying to feel young again?" Shaking her head she closed the curtains, and tossed a glance over her shoulder to her friend who was glaring at her. "What?"

"What if they're some weird creep? You know the type that likes to watch us walk around while getting himself off?" Katniss suggested. "Or if they hop onto our fire escape and break in?"

For a moment it seemed like Johanna was considering this possibility before the room filled with her laughter, and she just shook her head.

"Has anyone ever told you, you have trust issues?" She questioned, still laughing.

"Well it's not like it couldn't happen!"

"Yeah, yeah Brainless. You have that bow of yours hidden in your room, you can just shoot them if they come in. Which by the way, keep that thing in your room it gives me the creeps." Johanna gave her one last playful nudge before heading off into the direction of her room. "Tell me when the pizza is here." She called out behind her.

With that Katniss went to work on unpacking boxes, there wasn't really much to do. She just hung up some of the clothes in her closet and placed a couple family pictures on the desk. It wasn't much but it made the place a little more livable. Soon she made her way out of her room and back to that same window, deciding the apartment was too dark even with the lights on to keep it closed. Throwing open the curtain, she felt a small wave of panic go through her. The apartment across the alley wasn't empty anymore. The lights were now on and there was a young blonde man with his back to her.

She couldn't help but admire him for a moment, he was only in a thin white shirt and she could tell he must have been in good shape. Not like gloss who seemed seemed way too big to be healthy. No this blonde man was the right kind of fit. He turned and took notice to her, at first seeming a little shocked himself to see someone standing there. But a smile came to his lips, the kind of smile that could make you melt. His blue eyes looking at her and he gave a small wave.

Not knowing what came over her, she quickly drew the curtains back, her eyes wide. Out of all the people she expected that could live there, she didn't expect him. Something about him seemed, friendly. It put her at ease and the same time frightened her. She would have been more comfortable walking around the place knowing there was some old cat lady across the way. Not a good looking guy, who might see to much of her if she let her guard down.

Her mind was racing so much she almost missed the knock on the door from the pizza delivery guy. Not being able to focus on the food the whole night. That blonde boy with blue eyes stuck in her mind.

Peeta couldn't believe it, he'd been living in this apartment for the last two years and not once had anyone lived in the neighbouring apartment. He was first taken back from the figure standing there, and once he got a good look at here he was taken back for a whole new reason. She was beautiful, her brown hair falling over the shoulder in a braid, how her clothes were modest. Not like most girls these days who who seemed to want to show everything off. He wished he was closer, so he could have made out the colour of her eyes. But all too soon she had pulled the curtain closed once again. Even after that he stood there for a bit, hoping she'd open it once more and he'd get another chance to see here. But it seemed he had scared her off. With a sigh he walked away from the window and towards the kitchen.

"Why so glum chum?" Finnick questioned walking out of the washroom with just a towel wrapped around his waist, which was something both the men had grown accustomed too. "I haven't heard you sigh like that since you watched Titanic." He teased.

"Nothing, just a little confused." Peeta admitted pulling out some dough he had frozen from the night before when they had made pizza. "We have a new neighbour."

"What? They finally sold that apartment?" Finnick questioned automatically going over to the window to try to catch a view of the new residents.

"I guess so."

"Huh. Did you see who bought it? Any playboy bunnies? Or models?" Finnick had a hopeful grin to him. Something about it made Peeta feel defensive of the girl he had seen, and he didn't even know her name.

"No, just a young girl. Mid twenties maybe." He shrugged. "She was pretty but not in that way it was more...natural you know? Not in that fake model way." He could still see her in his mind.

"Sounds like you're smitten. What would Delly say if she found out you were admiring our new neighbour?" Finnick played with a wink.

Delly was Peeta's girlfriend for the last year, she was a small blonde girl who was just a bit too attached. Peeta had tried breaking up with her on a few occasions but could never seem to go through with it, no matter how much he wanted to. She'd give him this sad look, and he hated the idea of hurting someone, even for his own happiness. He's just waiting till the day she gets sick of him, at this rate it seems almost impossible.

"Maybe she'll break up with me." He muttered under his breath, earning an understanding smile from Finnick.

"Finish cooking, I'm starving." Finnick threw in changing the subject, watching as Peeta's eyes flickered back over to the window.

Thank you for reading the first chapter!