Fragile

Chapter One: Meeting Her

Peeta sat on the couch of the apartment, nursing a beer as he watched the t.v. He was flipping through the channels. His roommate, Gale, walked right in front of his view and blocked the t.v. "Dude, what the crap--"

"I told you to get ready like, an hour ago. You know my little sister is coming." Peeta rolled his eyes. "Technically, she's your half-sister--"

"Shut up and get ready." This was the last thing Peeta wanted to do. He hadn't been looking forward to this weekend at all since Gale's little sister was coming to visit. She was only seventeen, so there wasn't anything fun the three of them could do together since she wasn't legal yet. She would be eighteen next May Gale had told him not too long ago. Gale also said that his sister was shy and didn't talk to many people because she's a little insecure. Great. An insecure loner, Peeta had thought.

He huffed. "I am ready--"

"Are you really going to wear a faded Led-Zeppelin t-shirt?" Gale asked him, crossing his arms. "Uh, yeah, why not? They're classic--" a soft knock on the door interrupted him and Gale went to the door. He scowled back at Peeta before opening the door. "Catnip!" Gale exclaimed, picking up a small girl. An insecure loner named Catnip...no wonder she has issues, Peeta thought. He put her down before pulling her in by the hand. She had a small knapsack on her back and a flower crown rested on her head. Gale had grabbed the rest of her luggage from outside. "Who needs all that luggage for just a freakin' weekend?" Peeta asked Gale quietly. "We'll talk about that later, but for now, Catnip, this is my roommate, Peeta Mellark. Peeta, this is my little sister, Katniss," he introduced. Peeta extended his hand to shake her hand, and she took it hesitantly. She was small. Really small compared to Peeta. She couldn't be more than 5'2 and Peeta was 5'7 himself. Gale was towering over the both of them at 6'0. Her oversized jumper didn't help. It just made her seem smaller than she already was.

"Led-Zeppelin?" She asked him quietly. "Yeah, you into them?" He asked back. She nodded and Peeta smiled slightly. "Cool, me too." Gale clapped them both on the back. "I see you two are getting along well, that's great. I need to go run an errand right quick," he said, putting his phone back in his pocket. Whenever Gale said "he needed to run an errand", it was only a booty-call from Madge, Peeta knew. After being roommates for almost three years, Peeta knew him surprisingly well. "I can come with you, right?" Katniss asked him cluelessly. Gale chuckled nervously. "No, Catnip, I'm only required," he replied. "Yeah, and his penis," Peeta muttered under his breath. Gale heard him and glared at him, but luckily, Katniss didn't. "O-Oh," she said.

Although they couldn't see it, Katniss was sort of afraid of Peeta. He was bigger than her and his hand practically engulfed hers when they shook hands. Ever since she was fourteen, she didn't trust men. Gale was the only exception. She didn't want to be left with Peeta alone because there was just something about him that didn't settle well with her at the moment. She didn't know what though.

"I'll see you guys later," Gale said, kissing Katniss' forehead before leaving. Peeta closed the door behind him and motioned to the couch. "Have a seat if you want." She sat down cautiously and Peeta sat down next to her. The couch they had was a small love seat. Gale had a t.v. in his room, so Peeta was the only to really sit down on it. Katniss tried to keep a distance by sitting on the edge of the cushion and as close to the armrest as she could. He gave her a look. "What's wrong with you?" Katniss got up and went to the bathroom without even asking where it was.

Was it the way I said it? Peeta asked himself. Maybe I should've worded it differently. She probably thinks I wanted to say something's wrong with her...which I mean, there is technically if she's insecure. Katniss went to the bathroom to get away from him. She didn't know him and couldn't trust him. He could be just like him, she thought.

After an hour, Peeta softly knocked on the bathroom door. "Katniss, I'm sorry for what I said." What did he say? Katniss asked herself as she looked up from being on her phone. She was at two hundred and fifty on Crossy Road and her personal best was two hundred and fifty-two. "It's fine," she said, still not really knowing what he was talking about. "Can you come out now?" Can I? She asked herself. Maybe... She got up and turned off her phone. She put it in her knapsack and carefully opened the door. Peeta stood there with a small smile on his face. "Now can you come out so I can take a piss?" Katniss had only nodded and stepped out the bathroom. Peeta stepped in and closed the door behind himself. She went and sat down on the love seat. Where is Gale? She thought.

Peeta returned shortly and sat down next to her. He noticed how she was hugging herself and how she had a small, scared look on her face. She looked so...fragile. It was the only word that used the words that summed her up in a definition. Not strong or sturdy; delicate and vulnerable. He found her, well, simply beautiful. But she was seventeen. He was twenty-one. She wouldn't be eighteen for almost another year and Peeta would be twenty-two by the time that came around. Absentmindedly, he sighed. "Why are you so insecure?" He caught himself once it was out of his mouth. "Gale told you," she said quietly, looking down at her feet. "Well, yeah, he did," Peeta replied, scratching the back of his neck. "But I mean, I don't know why? What is there for you to be ashamed of?" She looked at him, her dove gray eyes meeting his ocean blue ones. "Peeta, you know nothing about me and if I told you what I'm ashamed of...you'd probably judge me."

"Katniss, I can't judge anyone. I've been in some rough predicaments before," he admitted. "Like?"

"Well, all throughout my childhood, I was verbally and physically abused by my mom," he said quietly. He then went to show her the scar he had on his chest from a where his mother purposefully burned him with a hot iron. "Peeta," she said softly, reaching to gently touch it. He pushed her hand away and pulled his shirt back down. "And in high school, I got caught up with this gang called The Careers. I did it to protect my girlfriend at the time...but she still got killed," he said, that twinge of hurt in his heart still.

Katniss gave him a sympathetic look before proceeding in opening up to him also. "Well...when I was eleven, my father had died. My mom's ex-husband, Gale's father, came back to help her out some with Gale, my younger sister, and I. When I was thirteen, she got a boyfriend. H-He was pretty nice and we liked him, but when I-I was fourteen, h-he came home drunk. My mother was at work, Gale was at football practice, and my little sister was at a slumber party with her friends. H-He...h-he touched me," she said, tears rolling down her cheeks. Peeta put his hand on her back and rubbed it softly. "So that's why I'm so insecure," she sniffed. "I wear oversized clothing so a guy can't look at my body."

He pulled her into a hug without thought and she cried into his chest. One of her sleeves had rose up, giving Peeta the view of scars on her wrist. "Katniss?" He asked her softly, gently grabbing her wrist to inspect it. She only nods. "I started inflicting self-pain," she sniffed. He wiped away her tears. All he wanted to do now was hold her and even kiss away the pain, but again, she was seventeen and he was twenty-one. It was as if he was looking at a traffic light that was red and green at the same time. He had decided to run the red light and hope he wouldn't get caught.

He's different than him, Katniss thought as she cried with her face pressed to his chest. She felt worthless every time she told that story and she felt like she could never be loved. She thought that she would only be loved because of her body now, but Peeta saw something more in her, and she knew it. So when he pulled away and pressed his lips to hers, she wasn't surprised. What surprised her though was when Gale opened the front door and saw them kissing.