#can’t wait for their rivalry to get even worse at flight school

[sugarcoated-lame]

This was such a cute chapter!!! 🥹💜

‘Could you do this without Bradley? — Probably. It’s just that you’re starting to question whether you want to anymore.’ Baby Seresin wanting Bradley around to raise the baby together aaaah 🥹

And I’m LOVING the character development from Bradley, finally showing some maturity! The fact that he has really thought everything through, like having her dad get her job switched to Pensacola.. who are you and what have you done with toxic king jr???

‘If Jake didn’t feel sick before, staring at the two of you is certainly getting him there.’ Poor jake has had enough of their shit 😂

‘He finds himself equal parts angry and confused with you. Jake understands that you’re scared of doing this alone, but he’ll never understand how you can give Bradley so many chances. He has hurt you time and time again, and Jake can’t stand the thought of him not being there to protect you.’ I really love jake in this series so much, he’s been such a supportive brother from the get-go and I love how dedicated he is to protecting his sister 🥹

And I’m so, so happy that they’re all going to Pensacola together because Jake is so worried about his sister moving across the country with “that idiot” lmaoo, this was such wonderful, fluffy chapter and I can’t wait for the next part!!! 💜❤️💜❤️

My Future in You | 1.9 | Bradley Bradshaw x Reader

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Synopsis: Bradley’s twenty-two years old and not where he’s supposed to be. He’s supposed to be out of the academy by now. Instead, he’s retaking his senior year of college and praying to god that he gets into flight school. Mav’s gone, his mom’s gone. He’s mad at the world. Then, a hook up at a Halloween party changes his future even more than he could have imagined.

Warnings: accidental pregnancy, references to abortion in a few chapters, angst, will be fluff eventually, will be smut so 18+, enemies to lovers kinda thing, kind of a filler )):

…

Back and forth, back again. White socks padding along the floor, his eyes following you like he’s in the crowd at a tennis match. Bradley watches in silence. He’s sitting back against the wall behind his bed, since he doesn’t have a headboard, arms folded over his chest.

Asking about the future has clearly triggered some kind of meltdown, and at this point, he knows better than to intervene. Instead, he grabs the baseball on his bedside table and tosses it upwards, catching it again.

Each time it lands in his palm, you turn. Pacing from one side of his room to the other, ranting about the logistics of his question. It’s been around fifteen minutes now, Bradley’s sitting in his boxers and a t-shirt, paying less and less attention.

You’ve moved on to the second phase of your rant now. Phase one was about you and him — barely knowing each other, not even liking one another. That kind of thing. He had tried disagreeing, but you’re better at rationalizing than he is.

This is more about the financial side of things.

“I have money.” Bradley shrugs his shoulders calmly, the ball bounces off of the ceiling and ricochets — he leans off of the bed and catches it. Without looking back at you, he continues to toss it up and catch it again. You stare at him.

The boy sitting on the cheap mattress, tossing up a baseball he had taken from this year’s freshman orientation. The father of your child.

You scoff incredulously. Beige walls, plain navy sheets and football banners on the walls. Like this is the kind of home you’d like to raise your child in. “Real money. Babies aren’t cheap, and I’ll be working — do you know how much daycare costs?”

“I have real money.”

You inhale sharply. Everything’s hitting you all at once. You had been putting off this conversation for a reason and now you’re freaking out. You’ve got less than twenty weeks to get your shit together. Stopping by the door, you prop your weight up against it and breathe out hard.

“Real real money, Bradley — I barely even have a credit score, there’s no way we’re getting approved for an apartment.”

“My credit score is good and I’ve got money from the house.” He shrugs again, spinning the ball around in his hand and tossing it up. Too hard, once again. It bounces from the ceiling and ricochets. You catch the ball.

He looks up at you, finding you staring at him now. He raises his eyebrows.

“House?”

“Yeah, my parents’ house.” Bradley replies, settling down and tucking his arm behind his head now that you’re squeezing his only source of entertainment so hard that he’s somewhat concerned you might crush it. He was certain he had mentioned this to you before. “I inherited it after my Mom died.”

The house, the two life insurance policies. There had to be some kind of upside to losing both of his parents before he had turned twenty. You stand by his door, dumbfounded.

“I’m sorry… so, you own a house?” You squeak out.

He shrugs his shoulders again, glancing down at the baseball in your hands and sighing. “Yeah, it’s by the base in Norfolk. My dad was stationed there for a bit in the eighties. I was going to sell it, but my cousin’s staying there. He pays me rent.”

You take a small step towards him. He runs his fingers through his curls, tilting his head, smiling softly. Those stupid, big brown eyes stare into yours. He lifts his hand and reaches out for you.

“I’ve got this,” He nods, curling his fingers for you to come closer. You swallow softly as you step towards him. He sits up and swings his legs over the edge of the bed, parting his thighs. You step between his legs. Bradley rests his hands on your hips.

He leans forwards, pressing his lips gently to your stomach over your sweater. “We’ve got this. You’ve been saying it since the beginning.”

You soften slightly, pushing your fingers through his auburn curls. He looks up at you, lips quirked up into a smile. Suddenly, his brows furrow.

“Wait, so — when I offered you money in December… what did you think I meant?” He frowns slightly, stroking his hands along your sides. Thinking back to it, you shrug.

“A couple hundred, I don’t know. You were being a dick.”

He chuckles and pulls you forwards so that you’re perched on his knee. His perpetually warm skin pressing flush against yours. He wraps his arms around you and nods his head. “I’m sorry.”

Bradley has successfully bypassed your first two protests to moving in together, leaving you to sit and think about your options now. Graduation is two months away, the baby’ll be here a few months after that.

You look at Bradley, trailing your fingers through his curls tenderly as you think about your future with him.

Sitting, rolling, crawling. Experiencing all of that with your son, taking him to the park and to the pool — all while Bradley’s a couple of hundred miles away, on his own.

Could you do this without Bradley? — Probably. It’s just that you’re starting to question whether you want to anymore. This morning, you had a boyfriend — not Bradley. Now you’re sitting here discussing moving in with him.

“But my job is going to be here.” You say quietly, frowning at him.

He nods his head. “I thought about that. There are offices near Pensacola, it’ll just be a case of calling them up and asking to switch. Which, your dad’ll be able to organise for you.”

“Did you forget that he kind of disowned me?”

Bradley shakes his head, “No, I remembered, but he spoke about how proud he was of you for getting that grad scheme at a couple of events, it’s on google. People would probably ask questions if you suddenly dropped out of it, right? — It’ll be easier for you to work if we’re together, so it’s in his best interests to make a phone call.”

Once again, he renders you silent. This is not the same idiot you’ve been putting up with for the past few months. He skims his hand along your thigh and shrugs his shoulders.

“So, yes?”

Your lips quirk softly at the edges, that thundering beat in your chest finally slowing. He grins, leaning forwards and pressing his lips to yours. He knows that his parents would be proud of him, using his money for this.

It beats blowing it on alcohol and new cars. He’s happy with his bronco and cheap beer. He knows he’d be even happier getting to see his son grow every day.

“Where’s all this coming from?” You murmur softly, pulling back and trailing your fingertips back down his arm.

Jake makes it home a little after 9am the next morning, his head pounding as he tries to close the door as quietly as possible. He stumbles forwards into the kitchen, needing water urgently before he blacks out. Eyes closed, he turns on the sink and sticks his head under the stream of water, mouth wide open.

A soft giggle to his left draws his attention. He lifts his head and squints. You’re sitting on Bradley’s lap at the table, both of you looking over the top of a laptop at Jake. He stares at the two of you, blank-faced.

“Morning, sunshine.” Bradley teases playfully. You laugh softly and nudge your elbow into his ribs. He kisses your jaw tenderly, wrapping his arms around your middle.

If Jake didn’t feel sick before, staring at the two of you is certainly getting him there.

“What are you two so chirpy about?” He mumbles tiredly.

You open your mouth to answer. You’ve been awake half of the night, figuring out how to delicately break this to Jake. He’s not going to take it well, and you know you need to approach this with some sensitivity.

“We’re moving in together.” Bradley answers, smiling.

You close your mouth quickly as Jake’s gaze turns towards you. The look on your face tells him that it’s true, and that’s as much as he cares to hear. He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath.

There’s something about knowing that there’s nothing he can do to intervene that really just makes his hangover that little bit worse. Knowing that his little sister is planning to move to the other side of the country, with a baby and that idiot — and there’s nothing he can do about it.

He turns away from you both, shaking his head as he leaves the kitchen without a word. Bradley scoffs, shaking his head and turning his attention back to the apartment listings.

It’s three days before Jake speaks to either of you again. The only thing that gets him to cave is hearing you crying in Bradley’s room. He’s halfway up the stairs, stopping in his tracks. The walls here are paper thin, he can hear the bass in Bradley’s voice as he murmurs to you, trying to get you to calm down.

He finds himself equal parts angry and confused with you. Jake understands that you’re scared of doing this alone, but he’ll never understand how you can give Bradley so many chances. He has hurt you time and time again, and Jake can’t stand the thought of him not being there to protect you.

You flinch as the door to Bradley’s room swings open. Jake second-guesses it as the door’s halfway opening, relieved to find that you’re both fully dressed once it’s fully open. He folds his arms over his chest. Bradley sits up, unwrapping his arms from around you.

You whimper softly, trying to stop the stream of tears as you push yourself to the edge of the bed.

“Pensacola.” It’s all that Jake manages to say. Bradley’s brows furrow in confusion, he nods slowly at your brother. Jake exhales. “Fine. I’ll come too.”

“Excuse me?” Bradley scoffs. It’s not exactly what he had in mind — you, him, your son… and Jake.

“Flight school, can’t be that hard if they’ll let you in.” Jake replies. You sit up and wipe at your cheeks, sniffling softly. Bradley turns his head towards you, then back towards Jake. You push yourself up and throw yourself at his chest, wrapping your arms around your big brother. Bradley’s lips quirk amusedly.

It might not have been what he had planned, but then again — none of this is. Leaving his future in the hands of Seresin’s hasn’t worked out badly for him before, and he knows that you’ll like having Jake nearby. But Jake’s got another thing coming if he thinks he’ll be a better pilot.

…

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[aiyh]

AUs are a problem I have

I found all the original posts in this series from my deactivated blog and collected them here.

you work the register at a store I frequent and I get super self-conscious that you’re judging my purchases AU

our kids got paired up to do a school project and I meant to just drop mine off at your house but we ended up talking for three hours AU

battle of the bands AU

made small talk while waiting for different flights and assumed we’d never see each other again AU

our grandparents are in the same nursing home and they hate each other AU

arrested at the same protest AU

classic literature professor vs. modern literature professor AU

I injured myself doing something stupid at a holiday party and you’re the doctor at the emergency clinic AU

volunteered to wait tables at your fancy charity fundraising dinner AU

how do you keep getting my name that wrong on my coffee cup AU

adjacent stands at the farmer’s market AU

risked my job by talking you out of buying a crappy product at the store where I work AU

only two people who bought tickets to see this movie AU

don’t really care if I win that giant stuffed animal but keep playing the carnival game you’re running just to see you AU

our dogs are in love with each other and it’s making things awkward at the dog park AU

who’s this asshole who keeps beating my high score on Pac-Man AU

it’s a total coincidence that I happen to water my plants at the same time you jog past my house AU

our manager is making us push this crappy item that no one needs but you thought my sales pitch was funny so you bought it AU

interviewed you for the newspaper AU

I desperately need you to fix my laptop but please don’t judge me for my browser history AU

chef/ restaurant critic AU

my kid’s hamster died while she was at school and I don’t know how to tell her about death so long story short does your pet store have a hamster that looks just like the one in this photo AU

rival local news stations AU

news anchor/ meteorologist AU

I planned a program at the library where I work and you’re the only person who showed up AU

you are definitely drunk-texting the wrong number but I’m bored so I’m gonna keep this going for a while AU

I hate flying but your snarky announcements are a good distraction and you have a nice voice and I might be calling you Captain Cutie in my head AU

I made a dumb science joke in class and you’re the only one who laughed AU

auditioning for the same part AU

accidentally got drunk at a wine tasting AU

you’re the only other person I’ve ever met who can quote this movie AU

everyone else in our dorm has gone out but I have the flu, and I just heard you coughing pathetically from the next room, wanna share my stash of cough drops and marathon Netflix with me? AU

showed up to a Halloween party in matching costumes AU

will you pretend to be my date to my family’s holiday party so they’ll stop harassing me about being single, there’s food in it for you AU

Christmas lights rivalry AU

I found a bunch of your stuff when I moved into this apartment and I have no idea who you are but I think we might be soulmates AU

I teach in this classroom in the mornings and you teach in the evenings and we communicate entirely through notes left on the board AU

how the hell does your cat keep getting into my house AU

I volunteered for a sex study and you’re the lead researcher and thank god it’s acceptable for me to be turned on in this situation because damn AU

You’re the prosecutor and I’m the defense attorney on the most ridiculous case either of us have ever heard of and I don’t know about you but I’m not sure how much longer I can be serious about this thing AU

Got into an absurdly heated argument in the comments on a mutual friend’s Facebook post AU

Rival street performers AU

You keep bringing your car into my shop with a series of increasingly unlikely problems and my professional opinion is it’d be cheaper for you to just ask me to dinner already AU

Our families are having funeral visitations at the same time and we’re both hanging around outside because we can’t deal AU

I spent a whole subway ride checking you out but didn’t have the nerve to talk to you and thought I’d never see you again but you just showed up on Humans of New York AU

Cheering for opposing teams at a sports bar AU

My kid shoplifted from your store and I marched her back here to apologize to you AU

Why didn’t you tell me this cabin was haunted before I rented it from you AU

Character performers who only see each other at ren faires AU

My band plays at this restaurant every Friday and you always show up and make obscure requests and I know you’re trying to stump me but you’ve severely underestimated how much of a music geek I am AU

I’m the caterer and you’re the florist on a huge expensive wedding and we bond over what an awful person the mother of the bride is AU

We’re chaperoning kids at the same skating rink party and the last couple’s skate was pathetic so what do you say we show these little punks how it’s done AU

We’re both trying to get an apartment in this city at the same time as a million other people and I’m tired of competing for the same ones as you so I think it’s time we joined forces AU

Adjacent shops Christmas decorations war of escalation AU

We work at competing gossip magazines and keep trying to outdo each other’s ridiculous stories AU

Our moms belong to the same garden club and are fiercely competitive about their gardens and keep sending us to pick up supplies for them and would have matching heart attacks if they found out we’re hooking up every trip AU

My kid is in your class and you called me in for a parent-teacher conference and I don’t know what she did but she didn’t learn it from me and wait what do you mean you think she should skip a grade AU

We’re neighbors and I’m telling you this as a friend but if you give out pencils for Halloween again this year I’m going to look the other way when the kids roll your yard AU

I accidentally caught the neighbors’ yard(s) on fire while burning leaves and I didn’t think it could get worse but the volunteer fireman reprimanding me is gorgeous and clearly thinks I’m an idiot AU

I bought this talisman from your occult shop and I know you warned me but I didn’t think this stuff was real but it IS and now I need you to make it go away AU

You just sold a bunch of old books to my secondhand store for cheap and one of them’s worth a fortune and my partner will kill me if he finds out but I think you should have the money AU

I didn’t mean to get you arrested, I thought I was helping AU

I’m planning a heist and I need your very specific skillset to pull it off but when I tracked you down you’d become an alcoholic and spend your days cheating at video poker AU

Your pizza keeps getting delivered to my house by mistake and I need to talk to you about your choice of toppings AU

Prison chaplain/ wrongfully convicted death row inmate AU

You bring my grandmother a basket of homemade candy every Christmas and she keeps dropping hints about how great you are so we should probably go out at least once—you know, just to make grandma happy AU

I was down on my luck and had lost the will to live when I heard you playing the fiddle and long story short I think you saved my life AU

The PTA bake sale is coming up and you’ve outsold me two years in a row so I’m pulling out all the stops AU

I just quit my job and put all my belongings in a U-Haul and started driving, you’re the hitchhiker I picked up on a whim who I’m starting to think is a dangerous fugitive AU

Graffiti artist/ mural painter AU

You’re the only major film critic who hated my movie and I need to talk to you about it because I agree with you AU

[everlarkbirthdaydrabbles]

Hey! My birthday is March 25 (the big 3-0). I love smutty!everlark (preferably rated E) and Peeta in a uniform. That would be an awesome present, but I'd be happy with anything=) I think you're doing such a great job with this blog. It's a wonderful idea!

Grattis på födelsedagen!! Wishing you a wonderful birthday @maxwellandlovelace. To help you celebrate in style, the always incredible @katnissdoesnotfollowback has written this wonderful slice of Everlark, just for you!

All’s Fair

WARNINGS: RATED M for mild language, immature pranks, and smut. Everlark college/military cadets AU. ;-)

*************************

“You sure you know how to pick one of these things?”

“Yep,” I whisper as I continue to work quietly. Not as fast as I’d like since my hands are shaking.

“Damn, Everdeen, where’d you learn to pick a lock?”

“Senior prank in high school,” Gale explains to them quietly. “I hotwired the principal’s car and she picked the lock on the hockey rink so we could park it on the ice.”

“Nice,” Mitchell says.

“You scare me, Everdeen,” someone else mutters. A third snorts in response and Gale reminds them to keep their eyes open.

We’ve only got an hour to complete our mission. I just can’t believe the senior cadets picked THIS for our squad. Technically, our assignments are selected by lottery a week in advance, but I’m still not convinced that they don’t KNOW and rigged the drawing. Gale’s reminders that targeting the Air Force cadets on campus is a pretty standard assignment did little to dispel my worries when I’ve basically had to lie to someone I care about for a week. And I’ve never been a great liar.

With a satisfying, click, the lock springs free, and I hold the door open, motioning for my squad mates to get inside quickly with their bags of JB Weld and cans of silly string. We’ve already blinded the cameras on the outside, and they move quickly through the darkened hall to blind the interior ones while I lock the door behind us. Just in case.

Gale finds the right room and motions for us to follow.

“You gotta be fucking kidding me. I thought they were shitting us,” Mitchell mutters and Gale nods as we all stare at the gleaming wood table.

“Nothing says Chair Force like a fucking pool table in your ROTC detachment,” Holmes says.

As one, we tilt our heads back and look up at the plaster ceiling.

“Think it’ll hold?” I ask.

“Only one way to find out,” Gale says and drops his bag on the floor. We’ve just got one side of the pool table lifted to flip it over when the jingle and then the scrape of a key in a lock renders all of us wide-eyed and immobile.

“Shit!” Thresh says and douses the flashlight as we all scramble to hide our gear and ourselves in dark corners of the room.

“It’s three in the morning. What the fuck is one of them doing in here?”

“I thought Zoomies needed their beauty rest.”

I hush them all as the door we came through earlier opens and the lights in the hallway flicker on. Heavy footsteps tread down the hallway, and we all remain motionless. Breathlessly hoping to avoid detection.

A cadet in creased, dark blue pants and a crisp, light blue shirt walks by the open doorway, his head bent and eyes focused on the phone in his hand. Black bookbag slung over his left shoulder and a blue flight cap hung neatly in his belt. His black shoes shining and flaring in the hall lights. I have to hold back a groan. The odds are clearly against me tonight.

Why did it have to be him?

We remain silent and still as he unlocks a door further down the hall. His keys jingle as he drops them on a desk and then his bag thuds onto the floor. A zipper and then books on a desk. It’s otherwise so quiet that we can even hear his chair squeak as he sits down. When the air conditioner kicks on, Gale motions for us to move on him, and we gather around him.

“What the fuck do we do now?” Mitchell hisses.

“Wait him out,” Jackson suggests.

“We gotta report back to Boggs by o-four-hundred. There’s no telling how long he’ll be here,” Thresh argues.

Holmes produces a handful of zip cuffs from his pocket and grins. “We could use these.”

“We can’t tie him up,” I whisper indignantly. “Why did you even bring those?”

“Why not?” Gale asks.

“Yeah. Prank plus prisoner. We’d get a shit ton of bonus points for that.”

“Give me those,” I mutter and snatch them out of Holmes’ hand, stuffing them in one of the cargo pockets of my pants. The cadet down the hall coughs and we all freeze for a moment, not talking again until we hear the steady drumming of fingers on a keyboard. I release a slow breath and glare at my squad mates before explaining my thrown together just this second plan.

“If we jump him and tie him up, it could get out of hand. I know him from one of my classes last year. I’ll go distract him and cuff him if I need to while you guys finish the mission and get out of here. I think he’s in a room with a window, if I’ve got the layout of this place right. So toss a pebble or something at the window when you’re done – DON’T break it,” I say to Holmes when he opens his mouth. “And I’ll meet back up with you outside, okay?”

“How’re ya gonna distract him, Everdeen?” Mitchell says and wiggles his eyebrows at me. Gale punches him in the arm. “Ow. Dude.”

“Leave that to me,” I whisper. “Just let me get the door shut before you all get back to work. And try to be quiet.”

With a deep breath, I make my way out to the hallway and slink down it’s length towards the open door. I can’t believe that I have to do this. Fuck it all. Pausing outside the lit room where the intruder continues pounding on the keyboard, I glance at the cardstock label in a slip cover announcing that this is the Cadet Wing Vice Commander office. Yep. It’s definitely him and not a figment of my overwrought imagination.

I glance back at my team. Mitchell is grinning and Holmes gives me a thumbs up. Thresh and Jackson look unimpressed. Gale is scowling. Well, so much for secrets, I think and step inside the small room that’s set up as a kind of office, shutting and locking the door behind me.

Peeta glances up at the noise and I stare back at him for a moment, my tongue tied and my pulse pounding. Confusion clears the way for happiness on his face and that only makes me feel worse.

“Hey,” he says softly. “I thought you had some sort of drill.”

“Finished early and saw you come in here.” I’m only lying slightly, but he nods, eyes skimming over my form, clad in camo pants and a black shirt, while I steal a glance at the window and hide my relief that it’s got blinds – which are closed – but no curtains. My squad will easily be able to find the right one but not be able to actually see us.

“Covert op?” he asks and I nod, focusing back on him. “Well, I’m glad you stopped by.”

He stands and my insides turn to melted butter. I remind myself that I am training to be a soldier. An officer in the Army, and I can’t keep letting a pair of sweet pink lips and deep blue eyes distract me. Especially not since I’m supposed to be distracting him right now.

“What’re you doing up so early?” I ask dumbly, gripping the door handle as he crosses the small space towards me. My nerves tightening with every passing second.

“Couldn’t sleep after you left,” he murmurs. “Thought I might as well get up and get a head start on that psyc paper I have due next week. If I finish it early, I can spend the weekend with you.”

“And the uniform…?” I trail off and finger the buttons on his shirt. He moves my hand aside so I don’t ruin his perfect alignment.

“Have to wear it today anyways and didn’t feel like dragging it around campus.”

“Makes sense,” I say as warmth curls low in my belly. He’s handsome in anything, but for some reason, I love the way he looks in his blues. Still, I need to keep Peeta busy. Our mission could potentially cause a lot of noise. I’ve no sooner thought it, than it happens. Quiet enough that I could pass it off as something else, but Peeta’s eyes lift off my face, confusion wrinkling his brow.

I do the only thing I can think of in the moment. I throw my arms around him and kiss him, his sound of surprise muffled beneath my lips.

Willing him to forget the noise and respond to me, I caress the back of his neck, moaning slightly when his hands finally press into my spine, holding me close to him. I watch his lashes, distractingly long and blonde, as his eyes slide shut and he breathes deeply through his nose. I hold his head to mine and try to fight back the hunger growing deep inside me.

Focused. I need to stay focused.

But kissing Peeta isn’t exactly helping my concentration. Not when he slides one hand up my back to tangle in my braided hair and keep me in place. Not when his tongue traces over my lips and I know I have to let him in or risk his suspicion. Guilt fills me right along with the need as he deepens the kiss. I can’t help feeling that I’m using him, but it’s his fault for walking in here in the middle of our task.

“Katniss,” he murmurs as I try to maneuver us away from the door. I’m wondering if I can just kiss him for an hour, but then he ruins the chances of that. He shifts his mouth to kiss my neck and my knees shake as I shiver and fall into him for support. “Since you’re done, do you think we could go back to bed for a few hours?”

I can feel the upwards tilt of his lips as he smiles against my skin. Heat, already blooming in my chest, suffuses to the tips of my body, curls low in my center. I whine a little as his teeth scrape over my collar bone. I need to keep it together and keep him in this room until they’re done. And the last thing I need is for the others to figure me out. I’ll never live it down if my squad finds out I’ve secretly been dating a Zoomie for the past year. And I’m sure Peeta would face similar ridicule for dating a Ground Pounder. Stupid fucking rivalries. They make no sense and I’ve never hated them more than in this moment.

“Maybe in a minute,” I say, my voice all breathy. “There’s something I’ve wanted to do for awhile.”

When I reach for the gleaming silver buckle on his belt, though, he stops me. “Wait. I’m not sure I’ll be able to put this thing back on right without a mirror. But I think I know what you’ve got in mind. Let me.”

I’ve never been very good at saying ‘no’ to that smile, so I flop into the desk chair when he pushes me down and grip the armrests while he kisses me. I bite my lip and try not to gasp when he tugs my shirt free, sliding his warm palm over my belly to cup my breast over my sports bra, his thumb catching on my nipple and only making me writhe more beneath his touch.

He pulls at my pants and I lift my hips, caressing his cheeks as he slides them down around my thighs. Then he kneels and drapes my legs over his shoulders, trapping himself between my legs and I try not to whine loudly because my squad is still out there, but holy mother of pearl do I love having Peeta’s mouth on me like this. And he knows it.

“There’s no one here, Katniss,” he murmurs, nuzzling my thigh before kissing it and gazing up at me. “You don’t have to be quiet.”

“Audio on the security cameras?” I ask weakly and he shrugs.

“No idea. They’re all out in the halls anyways. Scream my name all you want. I’ll take the punishment for it,” he says with a grin before lowering his mouth to me.

“Oh,” I moan and then cut it off, biting my fist as Peeta licks me from one end to the next. It feels so good, so impossibly good. I clamp my legs around his ears and he mumbles something that’s lost in my folds. His hands grip my thighs and tug in an attempt to loosen them. But there’s another loud noise down the hall, so I keep them in place and buck my hips against his mouth. I am torn in two between losing myself in the feelings Peeta creates and paying attention to what’s happening down the hall, remaining alert like I should.

“You’re making me work for it tonight,” he says when my legs loosen slightly and he lifts his head just enough to grin at me before he dives back in. His tongue caresses deeper this time before he slides it back out and closes his lips around my clit to suck on it, and oh god, he knows I can’t take it when he flicks his tongue on me like that.

“Peeta,” I gasp, my legs trembling and heat skipping up and down my spine as my fingers claw through his short hair, scraping scalp and unable to get a good grip on him.

I give up on playing lookout for my team and arch painfully in the chair, my back cramping as my legs and hands keep him prisoner against me and sweet relief flows through me. I choke back the moan desperate to fly free of my throat and somehow remain silent as Peeta keeps going, coaxing me through a drawn out release and then back down through shuddering aftershocks.

He turns his head just enough to kiss my thigh again as I slump in the chair and absently pet his hair. With a chuckle, he frees himself of my legs and helps me stand, tugging my pants back up my waist before he gathers me in his arms and kisses me again. Slow and deep, full of promise.

When he lifts his head to smile down at me, though, something pings against the window. My signal that they’re done.

“What the–”

As Peeta turns away from me towards the sound, I grab the chair and shove it into the backs of his knees, knocking him off his feet. He falls heavily back into it and I yank the zip cuffs from my pocket. Peeta stares up at me in astonishment as I bind his wrists together.

“Really?” he asks incredulously. I tug his ankles together and he doesn’t fight me as I bind those too. When I look guiltily back up at him, he’s not angry. He’s laughing.

“I’m sorry, Peeta. You didn’t leave me a choice. You should’ve just stayed in bed,” I snap. He shrugs and wriggles his fingers at me.

“Worth it,” he murmurs and warmth flows through me that he’s being so understanding. “So now what? You finish me off? Plaster a picture of me trussed up like a hog all over both our detachments?”

“No, nothing like that,” I say and lean over to kiss him one last time. Small consolation for the fact that even without photographic evidence, his entire cadet corps will probably figure out that he got nabbed and tied up by the Army cadets. But I need him to know that his humiliation was never my objective.

I tuck my shirt back in my pants and run my hands over my hair. “I’ll see you later?”

“See you later,” he says way too cheerfully for someone who just got beat. I stare at him a moment but his calm face reveals nothing. So I slip warily back down the hallway, pausing to check my squad’s handiwork and chuckling at the pool table attached to the ceiling. They’ve propped it up with a couple two-by-fours, I’m guessing to make sure the epoxy has time to cure. It oughta be interesting seeing them get THAT down. I just hope Gale remembered to take the pictures for proof.

I slink back out the door and around the corner, pausing near the bushes to chirp like a cricket, our signal in case of separation. A soft FWUMP greets me and then I cry out as something smacks into my chest, causing a burst of pain. When I glance down, I stare at the fluorescent orange paint splattered on my shirt.

My ears ring with resounding cheers from the bushes. A flashlight glows on five figures, kneeling in a circle beneath the trees, their hands on their heads, all of them with paint splatters on their shirts, nearly identical to mine. I find Gale, looking pissed as hell, duct tape over his mouth. A ring of cadets in dark pants and black shirts, Air Force wings screen printed in blue on their backs, guards them, lifting paint ball guns in the air as they whoop in glee.

Crossing my arms, I glare at the nearest one as he emerges from the shadows. A tall, athletic, copper haired pretty boy who I’d really love to smack the saunter out of right now.

“Odair,” I drawl his name and he bows to me.

“Everdeen. Surrender?”

“I don’t think so,” I say with a shake of my head. “Your pool table’s hanging from your ceiling. Oh and you might wanna go check on your vice. He got a little tied up in there.”

“Shall we call it a draw then?” Finnick offers and I nod. It’s probably the best I can hope for, to at least save some face with my corps. We shake on it and Finnick motions towards my squad. A few cadets start to remove the tape. “Mason, go untie Mellark, would you?”

Then he turns back to me with a gleam in his eye. “I hope you weren’t too rough on our live bait. Although it was mostly his idea.”

He grins at me as I bristle at his words, which suggest that Peeta knew the whole time what was going on and even had a hand in planning this little ambush. Which means I wasn’t the only one lying and playing the game. Guilt flees and anger takes it place. And I am so glad that I still have several of Holmes’ zip cuffs in my pockets, because I plan on using them to teach the live bait a lesson later on today.