its a personal headcannon of mine that Peeta has always been shorter than Katniss. not by much, but probably noticeably.
Throughout the first and second games, due to a life of stress and food scarcity, he remained an inch or two below Katniss.
when he came to district 13 after being in the capitol, though they tortured him, whatever nutrients they gave him to keep him alive must have been filling and better than anything in the districts because when he and katniss met again after the capitol, he had grown so that they looked eachother dead in the eye everytime he went crazy and tried to kill her.
after prim died, during those months where they were separated, peeta must have gotten the growth spurt all teenage boys eventually get. remember, katniss and peeta aren’t even 18 by the end of the books, excluding the epilogue. when katniss and peeta finally embrace for the first time in months, for the first time in katniss’ new world where her baby sister is gone, gone, gone and nothing is right anymore, it’s different. katniss’ head falls under peeta’s, and it just breaks her heart because nothing is the same anymore, they have nothing left from their old life, not even this miniscule thing where she was taller and he was shorter.
