"Gale..." came the raspy voice from the corner, "Hey Gale,"
I toss over the bunch of smelly furs and look over at the lump of rags where Peeta should be. I see two pale arms sticking out from under a hump of fur, cuffed to the thin staircase. The sight of those bright blue eyes wake me up completely.
"Yeah man," I start awkwardly, "What is it?"
"Uh, hey, sorry to wake you up," he forces himself to a sitting position, "Can you hand me some water?"
I realize that maybe the last time someone gave him water was back underground, just before those mutts chased us out. I rush over to where our supplies where piled up and force my canteen free from under someones heavy bag.
Peeta's head shakes in alarm, "Gale that's someone else's water, I can just drink from that- "
"It's fine, this is my canteen," I say. Peeta is just too self-sacrificing. He would've let himself die of thrist if I didn't move around to fix my fur cot. Even then he apologized for disturbing me.
"Uhm... Sorry but the key is tied to Katniss," I say awkwardly, pointing at the girl who would shoot anything that got near her sleeping self.
"Ah... Then it's fine, I'll just wait until she wakes up," he says.
"You've got to be kidding," I say, kneeling right next to him and popping the canteen open.
"Nah Gale, c'mon it's fine, really," he starts, but thirst takes over just as I press the tip to his lips. He gulps down harshly, I've seen animals do that when they're being hunted and take quick drinks before running off.
"You're nervous?" I ask, almost joking.
Peeta gags a bit on the water and a thin strip runs down the side of his lip and onto the uncovered part of his chest, between the two open flaps of his shirt.
"I'm just kidding man," I whisper back and then chuckle a bit.
"Thanks," he says, shifting his eyes down.
"What is it?" I ask. Peeta is forcing his hands into the cuffs, just as he did when he felt the mutts coming, "A relaps? Can I help?"
"It's just that... Well back at the torture chambers, when they were hijacking my mind, they turned Katniss into a monster for me, but that wasn't all they did," he closes his eyes and his jaw muscles tense, "They did all sorts of things to me Gale,"
"And one of those horrible nightmares is about me," I say, making sure it didn't sound like a question.
Peeta nods back, his eyes flutter open and I see his pupils have become a tiny pinpoint and then grow out, completely eliminating the blue and leaving dark spheres.
"Forgive me Peeta, but this seemed to work for Katniss before," I say as I clutch his shirt and the back of his head, pulling him in for a kiss.
His lips are very soft and warm, the paranoia of kissing another guy left as soon as our lips made contact. I feel his lips harden and press up against mine. It only lasts five, maybe ten seconds, just us sitting there, with our lips pressed together.
He is the first to pull away.
"Sorry man," I say, noticing his eyes are back to normal, "but it did help,"
"Yeah, thanks," he whispers quietly.
"Ok man, sleep now, and just call me if you need anything, I'm a light sleeper anyway," I say as I stand up to walk away over to my cot.
I hear another 'thank you' whispered over as I reach my cot. I lay down on the furry mess. A certain sense of vertigo fills me as I realize what I just did. I just kissed Peeta Mellark.
Later on that night I would wake up once more, to give Peeta some more water and talk about who Katniss would choose. I knew who she would choose.
I drifted back into sleep, in peace with myself, knowing that the kiss scene was left behind and asured that no matter what, Katniss would make a great choice.