Author's note: I saw a post on Tumblr about figure drawing and got inspired to write this. Comments are always welcome. And encouraged.

Happy reading!

Figure Drawing

Everlark One Shot

Annie poked Peeta's arm as she caught up to him in the hall of the fine arts building. "You never told me how it went with that girl."

"What girl?" He said evasively, though he knew full well who she was talking about.

"The girl you went home with after the party. The brunette." She paused outside their classroom. "You didn't come back to your room until late."

He shrugged.

She poked him again. "Spill, Peeta."

"There's nothing to spill. We were both drunk. And I didn't exactly go home with her. We barely made it out to the car." Peeta snorted and poked Annie back. "I never got her name and I haven't seen her before or since."

"Probably lives off campus." Annie led him inside the classroom where other students were setting up their easels. "So…?"

"So what?" Peeta opened up his box of charcoal sticks.

"How was it?" She prodded. "On a scale from one to I-can't-walk-straight."

He laughed. "It was like a seven."

"Seven? That's all?"

"I was drunk, so stuff wasn't moving—" He was cut off by their professor coming into the room.

Portia smiled around at the students. "Welcome to your first day of figure drawing. Our model will be in here in a moment. Please remember that this is a person up here. You are learning to draw her figure. Learning shading. Learning the flow of natural lines. If any of you are here to gawk at a naked woman, then I suggest you pack up and leave right now before she even enters the room."

There was a pause as the handful of students looked around the room.

"All right then." He walked to the other end of the room and opened a door.

A petite brunette woman stepped in wearing a robe. She walked into the middle of the room where a stool stood.

"This is Katniss." Portia said.

"Shit." Peeta said softly.

"What?" Annie asked.

The woman's eyes froze on Peeta and a blush colored her cheeks. She looked away and removed the robe, draping it over the stool before she took a seat. The professor helped her find a comfortable position to sit in. She'd be there for an hour and a half.

Peeta decided to focus on his work. He spent a majority of the class perfecting the shape of her crossed legs. The shading was off and he couldn't figure out how to fix it. He was working on the fifth set of legs when the professor called everyone's attention.

"That's it for tonight. Please pack all your things and we will pick it back up next week."

Katniss put her robe back on and went out to the room she'd come through an hour and a half before.

"I have to talk to her, don't I?" Peeta asked Annie as the room started to empty.

"You don't have to, but it would be a good gesture." Annie pulled her bag over her shoulder. "You fucked her in your car and didn't even know her name until tonight."

Portia started moving chairs to one end of the room.

"I'll see you later." Peeta put his things down and helped Portia until Katniss stepped out of the other room.

Portia walked over. "Thank you so much. I hope you were comfortable."

"It was a little cold." Katniss admitted.

"I'll make sure to have a space heater here from now on. I thought I had the heat up enough." Portia said. "I'll make a note."

"Thank you." Katniss looked toward Peeta. "Hi."

Peeta swallowed. "Hi. Can I walk you out?"

Katniss nodded. "Okay."

They bid Portia farewell. The walk outside was silent, a million words falling flat on Peeta's tongue before he said them.

"This is me." Katniss said, pointing at a car that looked like it was held together with duct tape. "Did you draw anything worth sharing?" She leaned against the hood.

He shook his head. "I couldn't get the shading to look right."

"Well, you have all semester to perfect it." She smiled. "But I saw your work in the student showcase. You're pretty good."

"You knew who I was before?"

She nodded. "And I knew you'd be at that party. It's why I went."

Peeta leaned against the car beside her. "And you took on being a life drawing model because…?"

"I needed the money." Katniss chewed her lip. "I didn't know you'd be in the class. If I did, I wouldn't have taken it on."

He contemplated a moment and then opened up his sketchbook to show her the page with his failed shading. "I was overthinking."

"At least your first attempt was at my legs." She grinned. "I'll make sure to lean over the stool next time."

He snorted and nodded. "I would be interested to see if I could get that done any better."

She pushed off of the car. "I should probably go and check on my sister." She took her keys out of her pocket and started jingling them. "Want to come hang out for a bit?"

He smiled. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." She twitched her head toward the car. "Hop in. I only live a few blocks away."

"Can we stop by my dorm to get my computer?" Peeta asked as he slipped into her passenger seat.

"No problem." Katniss grinned. "And you can practice that shading later if you want." She winked as she slipped the key into the ignition.