Gale sighed as he set another trap. Katniss is late, he thought to himself. She's probably off with bread boy…He frowned and stood up, looking over the trap he just set to make sure it was done right. It was, so he went on to set another one, trying to distract himself with the task and keep the images of his hunting partner/best friend/secret love tongue wrestling with Peeta Mellark out of his mind. He finished setting the next trap and started to stand again, but paused, as he heard someone coming in his direction, leaves crunching underfoot. He crouched back down, wary in case it was a Peacekeeper. It's definitely not Katniss, she wouldn't make that much noise. The crunching of leaves continued until he heard the person stop what couldn't have been ten yards away and mutter a soft "Damn it." That voice, Gale thought. It was voice he knew and did not particularly like. He stood up and went around the tree to see Peeta Mellark, not bothering to hide the surprise or the annoyance from his voice. "You, what are you doing here?" Peeta jumped, startled and turned around to face Gale, who couldn't suppress a smirk. "Oh. Erm, hi Gale. I was looking for Katniss." the blonde boy replied. looking a bit uncomfortable. "I see. Sorry, but I don't know where she is ether." said Gale. So, she wasn't with bread boy after all. That makes me feel a little better, but I still wish I knew where she was. Peeta frowned. "Wasn't she supposed to come hunting with you today?" Gale nodded with a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah she was supposed to meet me here about twenty minutes ago." "She wouldn't get lost out here, right?" Peeta asked, sounding doubtful but still worried. Gale shook his head. "Nope, she knows these woods better than anyone. I'm gonna wait another ten minutes before I go looking for her, do you want to make yourself useful and help me set a couple more traps?" he asked. Peeta nodded and opened his mouth to speak, but stopped, his eyes on something behind Gale. What the hell is he staring at? He turned to look and gasped at the sight of a grizzly bear cub. No way! I didn't even think those were still around here, I haven't seen one in years…"That's a bear, right?" Peeta asked, eyeing the small creature that was boldly making its way toward them. "Yeah" Gale answered not taking his surprised eyes off of it. "It's a grizzly cub." "It's really cute." Peeta murmured and walking toward the young animal, crouching in front of it and holding his hand out. The bear cub make a snuffling noise and sniffed Peeta's hand. Gale just gaped. "You sure that's a good idea?" Peeta shrugged. "It's just a little one, it can't really hurt me." when the young bear did not move away, Peeta actually put his hand on its back and began to stroke its fuzzy fur, and then was so bold as to scoop it up and put it on his lap. "It can't, but its mother can, and she's probably close by." Gale said, watching the cub nuzzle Peeta. As if on cue, a roar was heard and a raging mother grizzly came crashing through the trees, straight for Peeta. Both boys gasped and the blonde instantly dropped the cub, turning and running as fast as he could. The mother bear charged him, seething with maternal instinct and intending to tear the creature that 'threatened' her young limb from limb. Peeta stumbled and backed under a fallen log, narrowly avoiding the grizzly's claws she she swiped for him. Shit! He's not gonna last much longer, he's trapped! Gale looked out at Peeta, able to see the raw terror in his eyes even from a distance. I gotta do something, and fast! Gale grit his teeth, desperately trying to think of something he could do to save Peeta. Then, it hit him; The cub! He raced towards the young grizzly and kicked it as hard as he could, literally sending the small creature flying through the air. It did as he expected and let out a loud wail of pain and fear the moment it hit the ground, the mother paused in mid-swipe, her fury towards Peeta abandoned and her attention turned onto the source of her cub's distress. As quickly as he could, Gale scrambled up a tree, and she charged him with a roar. She swatted him right off of the branch, the tips of her claws catching his side. He landed squarely on his back, coughing as the breath was knocked out of him and unable to move when the grizzly mother swiped at him, her vicious claws ripping diagonally across his torso. Stars dotted Gale's vision as he heard the tearing of his own flesh and felt the searing pain. He went limp, completely limp and lax. I'm gonna die, was all he could think. Katniss, I love you. I hope you're happy with Peeta, because I'm gonna freaking die for him…Mom, I'm sorry. He shut his eyes, not wanting to see himself get mutilated by the bear. To his surprise though, she only bat around his body for a few moments, satisfied and uncaring now that he was limp and no longer a threat to her baby. She gave a satisfied grunt and lumbered off. "Gale? Gale!" he opened his eyes, seeing Peeta hovering over him his stricken face contorted in horror and worry. "P-Peeta, I'm gonna die, plea-" "No!" the blonde cut him off sharply, shaking his head. "Don't even start that, you're not gonna die. Hang on, I'm gonna get you out of here, okay?" Stupid bastard, I just saved your life, don't cut me off and don't lie to me…Gale thought, but stayed silent as he watched Peeta take off his jacket and press it to his profusely bleeding wounds. He was quite lightheaded and bemused to find that he felt no pain. "Still with me?" Peeta asked, looking at the older male anxiously and still pressing his jacket to the wounds, which seemed to be slowing the bleeding but still failed to stop it. Gale didn't answer, aware of the question, but unable to speak as shock caught up to him. And then there was another voice, the voice he'd longed to hear all day. Katniss's voice. "Peeta! Gale! Oh, Gale! What the fuck happened?" She shrieked, running up and getting down next to Peeta, bending over her wounded best friend. Oh good, I get to see her one last time. Gale thought to himself dully as he looked up at Katniss, able to recognize her easily despite his blurred and wavering vision. "I'll give you the details later, we gotta help him." Peeta replied and then to Gale's surprise, the blonde scooped him up, and held him tightly. The last thing he was aware of before the blackness overtook him, was being pressed to Peeta's chest and feeling the younger male's heartbeat.
~X~
"Ungh" Gale opened his eyes with a groan and took in his surroundings. To his surprise, he was not in any sort of Heaven, but in fact in a rather familiar room. The room of Katniss Everdeen, and he was not just in her room, but in her bed. He blushed slightly at that knowledge and started to sit up, but his throbbing torso complained and he laid back down. "Welcome back to the world of the living." Gale turned his head to the side to see a grinning Peeta, seated beside the bed in an old wicker chair. "You…I'm alive?" Gale blinked. Peeta nodded. "Yeah, you're alive. Scared the hell out of us, though. You want some water?" 'Us'? He thought, but nodded, actually quite thirsty. He sat up as slowly as possible, ignoring the antagonizing protests in his bandaged chest and abdomen and gratefully accepting the glass of water Peeta held out to him. Just sitting up was enough to make a wave of dizziness wash over him, and Peeta must have noticed this, because the next thing he knew, the blonde was gently easing him back down. "Where's Katniss?" Gale couldn't help asking. "Out with Prim, gathering healing herbs for you. Her mom used what they had on you, but apparently, they're gonna need more to fight off infection." Gale gave a slight nod. "Ah…So what are you doing here?" he looked at him questioningly. "Katniss's mom didn't think you should be left alone, so I stayed with you. Besides, I wanted to thank you for saving my life and all." Peeta answered. Gale shrugged and instantly regretted it, wincing. "I couldn't exactly just run off and leave you to die." Peeta blinked and smiled softly. "Actually, you could have." And why is he smiling about that? "I wouldn't be able to live with myself if I did that, and even if I could live with myself, Katniss would have killed me." He smirked a little. "Besides, you repaid the debt, you saved me." Peeta shook his head. "Nah, Katniss's mom did that." "But she wouldn't have been able to, if you didn't carry me back here…Where is anyway?" He asked. "She went to go tell your family what happened to you." My family! They need me, they probably haven't had anything to eat all day! Gale sat up abruptly gritting his teeth when the searing pain followed, clutching his sides and doubling over. "Hey, take it easy!" Peeta lightly rested a hand on his back and gave him a concerned look. "Rest, okay? You were nearly slashed in half." Gale shook his head and just looked to Peeta, brow furrowing. "Peeta, how long was I out?" The younger male drew his hand from Gale's back. "About five or six hours, but don't worry about your family. Katniss gave her mom some game to take to them before she left. They'll be fine, now lay back down before you reopen those wounds." Ever so gently, Peeta eased Gale back down on the mattress. Gale slowly let himself relax, grateful to be sinking into its surprising softness, and pleased that it smelled of Katniss. "Hey Gale?" Peeta asked, suddenly looking a little uncomfortable. The older male raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Yeah?" "I"m sorry. I shouldn't have been messing with the bear cub in the first place. It was a pretty stupid thing to do." he murmured, blushing slightly in shame. "That's okay." Gale said quietly. "And I'm sorry about your jacket, I'm assuming it's all blood stained and gross now?" he asked, smiling sheepishly. "Yeah, but that's okay." Peeta answered and chuckled. "You're stronger than I thought. You picked me up like I was nothing." the darker haired male said suddenly, looking at Peeta in mild wonder. The younger smiled slightly and gave a tiny shrug. "Well, I guess I built up some muscle tossing around sacks of flour over the years. And besides I wasn't really thinking about how heavy you were, I just knew we had to bring you back someway, so I just carried you." Gale gave a small nod of understanding and Peeta tilted his head, resting his elbows on his knees and propping his chin in his hands. "I'm surprised you even remember that, you know? You were pretty out of it by then." The older male blinked. "It's pretty much the last thing I remember…By the way, did Katniss ever say why she was late?" Peeta shrugged. "Kinda, she mentioned something about seeing Madge, but I didn't ask what for. Hey, do you want some more water or something? You look pale." The blonde added with concern. Why? Why does he care so much! "Damn it Peeta, stop that!" Gale groaned. "Stop what?" Peeta looked at him in confusion. "Stop being nice and stop caring. You love Katniss and I love Katniss, that makes us rivals. We're supposed to hate each other, but you make that really hard…" Peeta shook his head and looked back to him, and to Gale's surprise, he was grinning. "Now Gale, hatred is such a strong emotion. Don't you think it should be reserved for something more heinous? Like the Capital?" Gale paused for a moment and then smirked, holding out a hand. "Good man." Peeta nodded and shook his hand agreeably.