In Time

Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games.

"We could do it, you know," Gale says quietly.

I respond with an intelligent, "What?"

"Leave the district. Run off. Live in the woods," he says, clarifying, but only slightly.

"We could make it," I agree, not knowing what point he's trying to make.

He must sense my confusion because he adds, "If we didn't have so many kids." Not our kids, of course, but Prim and his two brothers and baby sister. Our mothers, too. How would they live, without us?

"I never want to have kids," I say firmly, voicing the words without thinking.

"I might, if I didn't live here," Gale replies, looking ahead. I fiddle with the sparse grass we're sitting in.

"You do live here," I say softly, "and if you ever had kids, they would end up like all of the other poor Seam kids." Poor, starving, at the mercy of the Capitol. Gale already knows this, all too well.

"Everything doesn't have to be so horrible," Gale says, tilting his head slightly so he's looking at me.

I scoff. "Of course it doesn't."

"It doesn't," he echoes, turning his head fully now so that his gray eyes are looking into my own. He hesitates for a moment, and then leans in towards me experimentally. My heart stops beating for a moment.

"Gale," I say, surprised with how small-sounding my voice comes and how fast my pulse has started to race. There has never been anything romantic between me and Gale. We've always been best friends, ever since we met when I was a scrawny (and according to Gale, annoying) twelve-year-old, and Gale was fourteen, with girls already chasing after him. This is wrong, this is weird, this is crazy.

Before I can get any words or objections out, Gale leans in and kisses me softly on the lips. Completely unprepared and bewildered, one of my hands goes halfway up to his chest and freezes there, while the other remains by my side. I'm dizzy and my stomach's somersaulting and as soon as the pressure on my lips comes it disappears.

"I had to do that, at least once," Gale says, his face still turned to me, a slight blush spread on his cheekbones.

"I-" I start, but then close my mouth. I want to slap Gale but at the same time my spinning mind is screaming at me to pull him closer, just one more time.

"Catnip?" Gale asks, his brow creasing slightly. "I'm sorry. I know I shouldn't have but the Reaping's today and I didn't know if I would get another-"

I cut him off and surprise myself by inching my face towards him and slipping my lips over his. His hands immediately wrap around my waist and my stomach starts fluttering madly as we press closer together, my hands on his chest at first and then tangling themselves into his hair. It's only when we're on the brink of falling unconscious do we pull away, breathing hard. Gale's eyes are wide and his cheeks are tinted pink from the sudden heat that seems to have made the air around us heavy. I imagine I look like a reflection of him.

Our combined breathing fills my ears for a few moments, and when my heartbeat is finally back to normal Gale pulls me closer to him, and I rest my face in the crook of neck, nervous energy running through me from the suddenly more intimate contact. We're supposed to be best friends and nothing else, but for once I think that something more may be all right. Now that I've gotten a taste of what else me and Gale can be together, I don't think I could settle for being only best friends again, no matter what I've told myself about love and marriage and boys.

"The Reaping's in only a few hours," I say into Gale's neck, and he gently pries me away from him, enough so that he can meet my eyes.

"Better make the most of it, then," he says darkly. On impulse, this time we both lean towards the other, our lips meeting somewhere in the middle. I clutch at Gale's shoulders desperately, his arms tight around my waist. I wonder how I could've ignored this for so long. How I didn't discover this long before. We move together, and a fire starts to burn somewhere in my core. Gale gently pushes me down until I'm lying flat in the not-so-comfortable grass, but I don't mind the slight scratchiness. We part for a few seconds, Gale towering over me, but immediately melt together again.

Gale shifts to the side and props himself up on one elbow, the early morning sun casting his shadow over me. I curl into him, wanting the false sense of security he provides. He gingerly lays himself down beside me, and I adjust myself so that his arms are wrapped around me. We stay like that for a long, long time, but reality seeps in with every passing second and in the end I say, "We'd start checking the snare line and hunting. Prim and your family'll worry if we don't get back on time."

"Better get a haul for tonight, shouldn't we?" Gale asks, dryly, reluctantly untangling his arms from around me. He stands up slowly, offering me a hand. Some of my anxiety must show in my eyes because he presses a quick kiss in between my eyebrows and says, "Don't worry, we'll make it."

(A/N)

My first fanfic on here! :D

Reviews are welcome ;) Hope you all enjoyed it :)