He leapt nimbly from garden bed to garden bed, ignoring the rain that fell upon his head. He didn't care if he got wet, just like he didn't care if the groundskeeper caught him fleecing some of his lovingly tended flowers. It would be worth it, for the bunch he was quickly gathering in his hands, the colours bright and inviting and appealing in the dreary light of the day.

At least, it would be worth it if Katniss didn't slam her door in his face.

He knew he'd been stupid. Knew the minute he'd reluctantly told her he wouldn't be offended if she wanted to see other guys, that she'd been offended. She'd told him so in no uncertain terms, had told him if what they had meant so little to him that he'd even suggest something like that, then he could very well get off her fucking porch and never come back. He'd been so gobsmacked he'd stumbled down the steps, wondering how he'd managed to say things so wrong, when he was normally so good at saying things right.

And by the time he went back to fix it, it was already too late. She was gone.

His first three months away at college had, therefore, possibly been the worst of his life.

She hadn't answered a single one of his calls, or texts, or the emails he'd sent her. At first, he'd tried to tell himself that she was busy with college herself, ingratiating herself into campus life, getting used to living in a dorm full of females. But when she still hadn't contacted him by the end of September, he knew he couldn't kid himself anymore.

He'd screwed it up. Royally. He knew he would do whatever it took to get his girl back. So when he'd finally finishing berating himself over his mistakes, Peeta had jumped in his car at 2am, driving through the night in the shitty second hand Jeep that both his brothers had driven to death before he'd inherited it. He hadn't even been sure the hunk of junk would make the 5 hour drive to Panem State - where Katniss had been accepted on scholarship - but just after 8am, he'd successfully pulled into the parking lot in front of her dorm. It was still quiet, still sleepy on a Sunday morning, after people had probably stayed up late playing beer pong and hooking up with strangers in bathrooms the night before.

Shit, he hoped Katniss hadn't done that.

The rain had likely played a part in keeping people inside, and he'd taken the opportunity to pilfer some of the flowers. He hadn't thought to bring her anything, hadn't done anything except shove his feet in a pair of Vans, grab the glasses he always needed to drive at night, and throw on a fleecy hoodie to ward against the cool November morning. He kind of hoped she'd appreciate his moment of impulsiveness before she punched, slapped or kicked him. All of which were likely.

Her fire was one of the things that had always drawn him to her, from the moment he'd first spied her pushing Cato Anderson in the dirt for pulling on one of her pigtails in the playground, to when he'd finally managed to press his lips to hers the night of Junior Prom, and she'd told him it was about damn time before pulling him in for another kiss, to the first time he'd slid inside her, her eyes the smokey grey after the banking of a fire as she dragged him over an edge he always wanted to fall over with her.

Damn, he missed her.

Madge had come through for him when he'd finally called her two days earlier. At first she'd staunchly refused to get involved, had sided with her long-time best friend, and refused to tell him anything about what dorm Katniss was in, what floor her room was on. But he'd convinced her in the end, had assured her that he was just trying to fix things. Make up for his mistakes.

She'd sent him a text with the details five minutes later, and told him to get his shit together.

He told her that was exactly what he was doing.

Wiping away droplets of rain that were dripping down his forehead, he headed over to the entrance of her dorm, tugged on the door handle. He'd expected it to be locked, was surprised when it turned smoothly in his hand.

His heart pounded out of control.

Clutching the flowers in one hand, and wiping the other on the thigh of his rain-dampened jeans, he made his way as quietly as he could up the first set of stairs, down the hall to room 120. He stopped in front of the door, licked his lips nervously. Then knocked.

No answer.

He knocked again, a shiver running through him. Now that he was out of the rain, a chill had started to set in, and he regretted the fact that he was just wearing the thin canvas shoes instead of the warmer boots Katniss had saved up to buy him for his birthday earlier in the year.

There still wasn't any answer, and he was terrified that his earlier thought had been right. Maybe she had done what he'd suggested - why the hell had even he said it? Dammit, he was such an idiot! - and moved on, had found somebody-

The door flew open, and Katniss stood in front of him, her braid a messy tail over her shoulder, dressed in a pair of short sleep pants and…

Was that his old District Twelve wrestling sweater?

"Peeta?" She murmured sleepily, rubbing her eyes and screwing up her nose. "Are you crazy? What the hell are you doing here?"

"I drove to see you," he said simply, then thrust the flowers towards her. "I needed to see you. I needed to say I'm sorry. I needed to explain. I needed-"

"Peeta, shut up and give me a second," she muttered. Katniss leant her head out of the door, checked to see if anyone was in the hall, before yanking on his wrist and dragging him inside. Her roommates bed was empty, and he opened his mouth to ask where they were, then paused when he saw Katniss' face. She was completely awake now, and her arms were folded across her chest, her mouth set in a firm line. Her eyes were blank, but still managed to be filled with anger at the same time. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be 5 hours away at CU, hooking up with all the ladies."

His mouth dropped open in shock. "What? No! God, Katniss, not at all! What are you talking about? Haven't you gotten any of my emails, or calls, or anything?"

"Oh I got them all, and ignored every single one," she snapped. "I just wasn't keen to play the phone sex partner, the long distance hook up."

He couldn't have expected her to say anything more unexpected. "Phone sex p-partner?" he stammered. "What the hell?"

"It was your idea to see other people!" She yelled, as though the words had been inside her for months, and had been begging to be released. They probably had been, he thought with dismay, then watched as she physically reined herself in, lowering her voice. "You made it perfectly clear before you left for Capitol that you wanted to see other people, Peeta. I had no interest in being a part of that."

He dropped the flowers on the desk beside the door, crossed to her. Her jaw jutted up stubbornly, and he kept a decent enough distance. He knew she was pissed, and had every right to be. "Katniss, no. That's not what I meant at all! I went to your house the day after…the day after I said that, to explain, but you'd already left for campus. I just…I just didn't want you to feel tied to me, your stupid high school boyfriend. You were coming to college, and I didn't want to…ruin the experience by being a ball and chain you didn't need."

He watched as she swallowed heavily, but before she could say anything, he barrelled on.

"I know I handled that all wrong, said the wrong thing to you. I know I should have told you what I was worrying about, rather than just saying what I did. I was such an idiot, a complete and utter idiot. And then I couldn't apologise to you. You wouldn't answer my calls or emails and I sent a letter to your house hoping that your mom would forward it on, but it just got returned to sender, and no one would give me your dorm details…"

Her eyes narrowed. "Where did you get them?" Peeta glanced away guiltily, and she sighed. "It was Madge, wasn't it?"

His silence spoke volumes.

"Look, I don't know what you hope to achieve by knocking on my door at 8 on a Sunday morning-"

"I want you back."

His words fell in the room like a lead weight, and silence reigned until she finally spoke.

"Peeta, you broke my heart." Her words were quiet, empty, and his heart clenched.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered. "I didn't mean to. I just…you have so much going for you, Katniss, so much you can achieve, and I didn't want to hold you back. I want you to do so much with your life, and-"

"I wanted to do that with you!" she cried, stubbornly rubbed at a single tear that tracked down her cheek with the sleeve of the sweater. He could see the realisation as it hit her, what she was wearing, and she choked, turning away from him. "You stood there and told me we could see other people, Peeta. What did you want me to say?"

"I…I don't know," he said dumbly. "I wanted you to say no. I wanted you to reassure me that I was what you wanted."

"I did want you, how did you not ever understand that?" She turned back to him, and this time her eyes flared with that fire he knew and loved so well. "Peeta, I know where this stems from, and fuck your mother. She's never going to approve of anything you do with your life, and that includes who you're with. She knows your weak points - hell, she made them - and every time she told you that I wasn't going to stick around, it got to you. I know that! But that was where your mother was wrong. I was always going to be with you, and I didn't give two shits about anything she said."

The word 'was' stood out to him, and he closed his eyes. He'd missed his chance. He'd screwed it up.

Then he opened them, planted his feet against the carpet, set his jaw. No. He wasn't going to let her go without fighting for her. He might have broken them up, but he was going to put them back together again.

He took a deep breath, fixed his eyes on her. He only hoped they conveyed exactly what he was thinking, feeling. "I can't say I'm sorry enough for what I did, for what I said, and how I made you feel," he started, reached his hand out to her. She hesitated, but allowed her fingertips to be clenched by his. "Just…you need to know that I never intended for that to happen. It's always been you, Katniss, and it always will be. I'd wait forever for you. I'm so sorry. I love you. And I'm-"

Katniss flung herself at him, pressed her lips to his. They were salty with the tears that slowly slid down her cheeks, with tears that she rarely ever let overflow. He opened his mouth eagerly, drank her in, deepening the kiss until he was all but drowning in it. His hands were in her hair, and hers were tucked under his arms, clutching at his shoulders, drawing him into her. He felt his body tremble with need, his hips bucking against hers, groaning at the feel of his length against the heat of her. Shit, it had been a long three months.

She hooked a leg around his calf, drawing him even closer, her kisses desperate and needy, and like the million other ones they'd shared in the middle of the day, or in the dead of night - in the back of his car, in her bedroom, behind the bleachers at school. His hand slid down her back, around the curve of her hip, then up her thigh until it slipped under the material of her shorts to cup at the soft warm flesh. Katniss groaned into his mouth, before leaning back slightly, drawing his lower lip between her teeth. Her pupils were dilated, her cheeks flushed - she'd never looked more beautiful to him. Her fingers reached up to tug on the curls at the nape of his neck, then licked her lower lip. "It's about damn time," she muttered, "And I love you too."

Then she dragged his mouth back to hers.

This was originally posted on my tumblr, under the name Too Late. It was inspired by Taylor Swift's "How You Get The Girl", which got stuck in my head over the weekend and wouldn't get out until I wrote this, haha.