So, we are finally here at the last chapter! I hope you all enjoy it, and if you want to keep track of when I'll next be uploading a story, follow me on Tumblr at gigglixfanfiction. Thank you to everyone who's followed, favourited and/or supported this story, it's been a pleasure.

Number 4, Trident Lane, Net Road

Chapter 9

When Peeta's parents came back that Tuesday, Peeta didn't speak to me when he got home. Naturally, I was worried out of my mind, and I tried everything to get in contact with him, but his phone was switched off and he wasn't on Facebook. The next day, he wasn't in school, and I found myself chewing on pencils and not paying attention in lessons, as all I could think about is what could have possibly happened between him and his parents that wouldn't allow him to go to school the next day. Of course, my mind was full of endless possibilities, and so after school I was brave and decided to go to his house myself to check up on him.

I knocked four times, and then proceeded to wait for about five minutes. When nothing happened, I repeated my actions, and finally made the decision to just walk in. It was not a good decision.

The whole house was silent as I called a 'hello', and as I walked around, it seemed that nobody was home. Peeta had done an incredible job of the house, and it was absolutely spotless – but where on Earth was he? I decided to go upstairs in search for Peeta, quite confident that his parents weren't home, and I opened three doors before I found his bedroom; light orange and white striped wallpaper, with pale wooden furniture and light orange or white accents, including perfectly matched lampshades and bed covers, with a white carpet so immaculate I daren't touch it. Peeta had done an amazing job, and it reflected his calm personality so well. But, disappointingly, Peeta was not there. Shit.

"Peeta?" I called, wandering round the house and opening and closing every door I came to, glancing around the rooms for any sign of chaos. Something must have happened, otherwise he would be in school.

"Who the fuck are you?" a harsh, female voice said threateningly from behind me as I walked into the living room. I stood still, my heart beating far too fast and my brain working to figure out what to do. Slowly, I turned, and behind me stood a chunky woman, with eyes that could make a baby cry. So this is Peeta's dreaded mother, I thought, not so glad to meet her.

"Katniss Everdeen," I said, trying to sound as polite and well brought up as possible, "I was just looking for Peeta." The woman frowned and turned to look down the corridor, where she motioned for someone to come to her. Peeta came into view, and on his cheek bone, he had a dark purple bruise and a cut. My blood boiled with rage at his mother.

"Did you say she could come into our house?" she said to him, pointing rudely at me. I hated her already.

Peeta nodded his head. "Yes, mother, she's here to help me with Science revision," he lied. He didn't sound like himself at all when he was talking to her. His mother looked from me, to him, and finally turned back to me again. She didn't frighten me now that I was angry with her.

"You know, if someone doesn't answer the door, that's usually because they aren't in the house, and so that was very rude of you just to walk in as if you own the place. Peeta, she has to be gone by seven o' clock, she won't be eating with us. Do you understand?" Peeta nodded and she walked past me into the lounge as if I didn't exist.

When we were upstairs in Peeta's room, Peeta shifted back to his normal self. We did indeed do Science revision, in case his mother came to check on us, but she didn't breathe a word to either of us the whole time that I was there. Not even when I thanked her for having me before I left.

"You've done a brilliant job of the house," I said to Peeta as we were reading some of his Science books, my eyes on his bruise.

He looked up from his book, and smiled. "Thank you. I worked hard on it."

"Where did you get all the money for it?" I asked, feeling nosy but no longer caring.

"My parents are quite rich, and we had a lot left over from selling the house back where I used to live. A lot of the furniture is things we had moved here, too." I nodded. I wanted to talk about where he got his bruise, but I couldn't find the words to do so.

All too soon, seven o' clock came around, and I was out of the door. I'd caught a glimpse of Peeta's father, sitting in the kitchen with a cup of tea and staring vacantly out of the window, but I didn't say anything to him. I wish I had. Peeta and I said our goodbyes outside his front door, and he promised me he'd be in school the next day. He was, to my relief, and his bruise soon cleared up.

The next three weeks go by, and Peeta and I are still together. Most people know about us now, but he's still not my boyfriend. He might as well be, for we are completely public about our status and we treat each other like partners – but I'm okay with just being 'each other's'. 'Boyfriend' is just a label for what he is to me already. Gale has finally accepted us, and although he's not overly fond of Peeta, he does talk to him in a civilized way. Peeta treats Gale as a friend, which makes things a lot easier. I haven't seen Peeta's parents since that Tuesday. It's been almost a month, but my time spent with Peeta feels like a year.

It's a Friday, four weeks exactly since we first met. My sister is staying at a friend's house tonight, and my mother has to stay with a sick relative for three days. I'll be all on my own tonight, and I dislike that thought, so I invite Peeta round to come over to mine after school. With sparkles in his eyes, he agrees, and we decide to meet each other outside of the school gates to walk back to mine together.

Both Gale and Peeta are awkwardly waiting for me when I come out of school, and I make an effort to greet them both equally. Peeta and I don't hold hands whilst Gale is there, and we walk with me in the middle. There's quite a lot of small talk made, which Peeta has a knack for, and Gale unwillingly makes an effort to reply. I feel a little uneasy with Gale nowadays. He's become so unreadable, and spending less time with him hasn't helped. I feel guilty for losing him as a best friend, simply because I now have another one. I would have happily had both of them as best friends, but Gale has become closed off.

Soon enough, we're home, and Gale purposefully gives me a long hug goodbye in an attempt to let Peeta know that I still show affection for him, but Peeta doesn't seem fazed. I wave goodbye to Gale as he crosses the street, and then Peeta and I walk into my house together. The door closes and already the atmosphere between us causes flutters in my stomach.

"Would you like a drink?" I ask, feeling nervous for no apparent reason. He smiles in his own cute little way.

"Yes please," his velvet voice replies.

"Tea?"

"That would be perfect."

We go into the kitchen and I busy myself with making the tea, my hands shaking a little in the nervous atmosphere. It always makes me feel nervous and excited when I'm alone with Peeta for any amount of time, but the idea of a whole night together has my stomach back-flipping. I already know how Peeta likes his tea (a reasonable amount of milk and one sugar), and when I present him with it he gives me a genuine smile and thanks me. I sit down opposite him and we drink quietly, the sparks between us only just contained. He's still smiling when we've both drained our mugs.

"What's so amusing?" I question, as I begin smiling myself.

He shakes his head a little. "No, no, I'm not amused. I'm just happy." Emotion floods through me at his words, and combined with the atmosphere, I feel a longing for his touch. I know he feels it too, because his expression becomes wanting and contained. We haven't really touched each other since the night with the cupcakes, other than making out and hugging, but it's definitely not because neither of us want to go any further. I'm guessing it's because Peeta still thinks I'm vulnerable due to the Finnick situation, but it doesn't cross my mind anymore. The feelings I associate with Peeta are so different from the ones associated with Finnick that the two never cross paths.

"Do you want to go watch T.V.?" I say, sick of the table separating us. He agrees, and we walk into the lounge, turning the television on and sitting on the sofa close together. I turn on something that I have no interest for (some kind of talk show), and turn the volume down low. Peeta raises an eyebrow at me, but I don't give him chance to speak. My hands go to his face and I pull his lips against mine, my insides throbbing as he wraps his hands around my waist and pulls me onto his lap, where I can kiss him as deeply as I please, longing to hear his sighs of pleasure and his distorted breathing.

"That was quick," he chuckles between kisses, and I can't help laughing back. We continue kissing for a few minutes, before I begin moving my hands down his chest and torso and towards his cock. "Katniss," he says, placing one of his hands on mine to stop me, "I've told you, you don't have to do this."

"I know," I breathe, kissing him swiftly and getting off him so that I'm standing, "but I want to." I hold out my hand to him and he looks slightly confused, but eventually takes it. The television is switched off and I lead him upstairs to my room, where I shut the door behind us and begin kissing him again. At first, he seems hesitant, but eventually seems to realise that I really do want this. We don't stop kissing as we collapse onto the bed with me on top of him, my legs straddling his and my hands on either side of his shoulders. My kisses move from his lips to his neck, where I begin a trail of them down to his collarbone and then back up to just beneath his ear. I gently trace my tongue from here all the way behind his ear and then back, and am rewarded with a groan of pleasure from Peeta. As if unable to bear it any longer, he somehow manages to flip me over so that he's now on top and begins kissing me, his tongue pushing into my mouth to tease me.

"May I?" he asks, biting his lip as he tugs slightly at the bottom of my shirt.

"You may take off whatever you like," I reply confidently, unsure where my calm exterior has come from despite my insides being a complete anxious and wound up mess. He grins and removes my shirt quickly, followed by my bra. Even though Peeta has told me he has no experience in anything like this, he seems to know what he's doing. He moves down from my face and places his mouth on one of my nipples, gently licking, sucking and tugging as I moan and grasp his hair with bliss. He moves onto the other one, doing the same and causing me to gasp and sigh in gratification.

"What about these...?" he murmurs in my ear, pulling on my trousers. I nod, panting softly as he undoes my black school trousers and pulls them off, throwing them on the floor beside the bed. He takes off my socks as well, and they join my trousers, and I'm left completely at Peeta's mercy. I'm desperate to rid him of his clothes too, but his lips are slowly travelling down my body again, and I don't want to interrupt him. As his face nears my panties, I find myself closing my thighs self-consciously, but Peeta tenderly pushes them back outwards onto the bed. I watch him as he pulls off my panties so that I'm completely naked, and then kisses the very tops of my thighs. My sex is already soaking, and I want him to touch me so much, but he just keeps teasing me.

After the torture of his mouth on my thighs for a minute or so, he presses his tongue against my clit and my whole body convulses as I cry out. I'd forgotten how good it felt when he last touched me there, and I keep wanting more and more as he moves his tongue over my sex in a slow, delightful rhythm. Just when I begin to feel myself building, he pushes his tongue inside me, tasting my wetness, before gently moving his fingers in and starting a slow, taunting rhythm. I'm gasping and moaning as he moves in and out, the feeling so unfamiliar but heavenly.

"Peeta..." I say as he begins slowly building up speed, occasionally licking and sucking on my clitoris as he does. I feel myself building again, but I choose to make him stop. He looks confused and worried, as if he's done something wrong, but I get up onto my knees and kiss him, my hands unbuttoning his shirt and yanking it off, finally able to touch his chest and torso, his muscles chiselled and slightly damp with his sweat. Our bodies press against each other and it's a glorious feeling, my arms wrapped around his neck and his large, strong hands on my waist. Slowly, my hand finds his crotch, and I once again feel his hard, throbbing length. I push against it with my palm, and he repays me with a moan. I don't stop moving against him as I kiss his collar bone and his hands move down to my ass. His black trousers are soon off and joining the rest of our clothes on the floor, and I pull of his boxers, letting his large erection spring free. We're now both completely naked – and I love it.

I ask him to lie on the bed and he does so, and I make a path of kisses down his middle, not stopping when I reach his impressive length. His breathing is loud as I teasingly plant feather-light kisses along his shaft and scrotum, before playing with the tip with my tongue. His moans are truly out of this world, and I want more. I wrap my mouth around his length and then push him in deep, hearing his moans and not wanting to stop. Surprisingly, he tastes good, and I'm grateful – it means I can pleasure him all I want.

After a minute or two of my mouth on his cock, sucking, licking, teasing and making him groan loudly, I suddenly stop. He lifts his head up to look at me and I quickly leap off of the bed and into my desk drawer, where I find a new packet of condoms. Slightly embarrassed, I pull one out in its wrapper and show it to him, which makes his eyes widen. He props himself up on his elbows.

"When did you get those?" he asks, humour lacing his panting and raw voice.

I blush. "Monday... I just wanted to have them, just in case..." I say, trying to redeem myself as I sit on the edge of the bed.

"Are you sure you want to...?" he asks, giving me a reassuring smile. "We don't have to rush into this you know."

Not wanting to regret it, I think hard about what I'm doing for a moment, but I'm certain that this is what I want. "Yes, I'm very sure. I want to lose my virginity to you, Peeta, I'm sure of it... Do you want to?"

"Katniss, it would be an honour..." he breathes, and he pulls me into a kiss.

After we've kissed and touched for a while, Peeta puts the condom on and flips me so that I'm underneath him. We stare at each other for a while, our breathing heavy and our eyes completely lost in each other.

"I love you, Katniss," he whispers, and it's so sincere, so real, that I'm taken by surprise. My heart swells with joy and my throat tightens at his words.

"I love you too, Peeta," I whisper back, one hand in his perfect, dirty-blonde hair. I wrap my legs around his hips and we kiss, deeply and passionately. He doesn't stop kissing me as he enters me, and the kisses are only interrupted by sighs and loud moans. It's such a new, but harmonious feeling, and nothing has ever felt this good before. He speeds up after a while and we stop kissing because we're moaning and panting too hard, and I can feel myself building all too soon. He thrusts into me faster and faster and my body starts shaking, my eyes closed and my mouth open as I breathe heavier and heavier, no longer in control of my moans. Peeta's moans are so arousing, so attractive, that with every one I'm plummeted further into bliss, his face a picture of pleasure as we both reach our climax, saying each other's names loudly as a delicious and shaky feeling conquers our bodies and takes over us.

Peeta pulls out and collapses on the bed next to me, and we both lie there panting and shaking for a while. After some time, we both crawl under the covers and wrap ourselves in each other's arms, tired but incredibly happy.

"That was extraordinary," Peeta sighs as he pulls me into his arms.

"Yes, it was," I agree, snuggling into his warm body.

There's a pause. "Katniss?" he asks.

"Yeah?"

"Will you be my girlfriend?"

A huge smile grows on my face. "Try and stop me," I giggle, and he responds by holding me tightly in his arms.

Soon enough, I'm fast asleep, and I couldn't be happier.