Gale stood at the platform waiting for the train to come in. He knew she was on that train, her with the coal black hair and the smiling grey eyes. She whom he had come to trust and love, first as a sister, but as time passed, as more than that.
He pulled his jacket closer around him. He had made sure that he was the first at the station, before the press and the crowds of District Twelve. He had arrived even before Prim and her mother; he wanted to be the first person she saw when she got off the train.
As time passed, Gale began to reflect again on what he had watched during Katniss' times in the Games. How his breath had hitched when the knife was thrown at Katniss in the bloodbath by the Cornucopia, how his heart had almost stopped for the time that Katniss was hidden in the tree above the Careers, how much he had sobbed when little Rue died, and of course, the betrayal he felt when Katniss made the 'alliance' with the Bread Boy.
Gale was still holding onto the shred of hope inside him, telling him that she had to stay with Mellark to win, that she probably only kissed him to make the relationship more realistic. After all, the girl needed sponsors, and although he knew she was strong, he also knew that she had a heart, and wouldn't have been able to kill a boy she knew. He respected her for how clever she was, how cunning, and he tried to convince himself yet again that making a relationship with the Bread Boy was just so that she got out alive, and with no enemies in District Twelve. He knew Katniss, he trusted her, loved her, but he also knew that people changed and that she may no longer be his Catnip when she got off the train.
Gale was so deep in thought that he didn't notice the small station platform filling up behind him until little Prim came over to him. Holding his hand, and letting the silence say the words they both needed to hear; that they had missed her, and they just wanted her home.
It felt like a lifetime before someone shouted and pointed to a steaming dot in the distance, and even longer before the train thundered into the station. The platform fell silent, waiting for the doors to open, and Gale's heart picked up, hammering against his chest; he just wanted to see her again, he wanted to hold her against him, smell her hair, feel her murmuring against his chest and stroking his back as he kept her safe in his hug.
Gale couldn't believe the houses in Victor's Village. Obviously, he hadn't ever been in one before and so wasn't aware of how spacious they were, or the comforts they held within. Part of him was appalled; how could people in the Seam be living in the conditions they were when there were empty houses with enough beds for everyone, and equipment within them that could be sold for enough money to feed a family for months? Not that he was complaining of course. Katniss had come to his house in the Seam earlier and asked him to spend the night with her, as she didn't want to be alone this soon after the Games, so he was now sat in Katniss' double bed, with her head on his chest, stroking her hair. They sat in silence, not wanting to ruin the moment they had both longed for for so long.
They sat like that for an hour, Katniss matching her breathing to Gale's, and watching the rising and fall of his stomach, as Gale ran his fingers through her hair and watched her, admiring her perfection. After this time, Katniss pulled his shirt up, and starting drawing circles on his stomach, enjoying the feel of his muscles tensing as she tickled him. She tilted her head up into his neck, murmuring
"I missed you"
before placing kisses from his collarbone, up his neck, along his jawline and along to his ear, which she bit gently. She smiled at the way his breathing had picked up in pace, and the way his jaw had dropped slightly when she'd bitten him. She put her leg over him and straddled him, reaching behind his head and pulling forward to kiss him.
Tonight she wanted to take slow and gently, she wanted to show him she loved him, rather than give in to what she really wanted. He wanted her to have control for the first time in weeks, to make the decisions and carry them out.
Katniss pushed her tongue into Gale's mouth, and he responded straight away, gently pushing back, creating a war for dominance. He ran his hands up her back, pulling her shirt off quickly, only breaking their kiss for a second. She unbuttoned his shirt, and slid it back; revealing his bare chest, which she immediately began to run her hands over. He undid her bra and pulled it off, pulling her into him, both of them feeling each other's skin and warmth, moulding into one another.
She pushed her hips into his, she could feel him hard underneath her, and she wanted him to know that she wanted something, anything, he could give her. He rolled them over so she was on her back, undoing her trousers and pulling them down, planting a kiss over her pants. He took a moment to admire her, lying almost naked on the bed with her hair splayed out around her head, with the look of need on her face. He lay next to her, and gently started to kiss her neck, smiling when she moaned. He started to bite instead, only gently, but enough to make her groan his name.
He reached down and pulled her pants off, once again admiring her body. He cupped his hand around her, feeling her heat and how wet she was. She started to thrust into his hand, desperate for him to touch her. He smiled as he pushed two fingers all the way into her, watching her gasp as she felt him fill her up. She unzipped his trousers and pulled them off, smiling at the obvious wet patch on his boxers. She only pulled them down slightly before wrapping her hand around his dick and gently pulling back and forth, matching the pace he was fingering her.
Together they gradually sped up, knowing what the other wanted. Katniss pushed Gale's hip back until he was on his back, and then lowered her face to his crotch, taking his dick in her mouth. He reached behind her to carry on with his work. He was making her feel so good that she needed to replicate it; she started to suck on him, starting at the top and working downwards until she had the whole of him in her mouth, the tip at the back of her throat and him breathing heavily, moaning her name. She moved back to the top, swirling her tongue around him while he pushed up into her.
He came first, his breathing picking up until he released the saltiness into her mouth with a sharp moan. He started moving his fingers faster in her, pushing her onto her back to get as far into her as he could, curling his fingers to hit that sensitive spot that would make her moan so loudly.
He moved his head down, still fingering her while rolling his tongue around that little ball of nerves, sucking and biting until she came with a scream of his name.
He could see that she was tired, and that tonight wouldn't be the night for sex. So instead, he reached out to her, and pulled her into him. He didn't mind really. He'd missed her and was more than anything just enjoying having her back with him. They eventually fell asleep like that, naked limbs tangled together and completely in love.