AN: This was written for the Prompting Everthorne challenge on Tumblr. It probably could have used some more editing, but I wanted it submitted in time. It hasn't been published on the site yet, but so much time has passed that I just decided to go ahead and share it. The prompt was Valentine's Day in District 12.
Valentine's Day was the most idiotic holiday Katniss could imagine, especially in District 12. It was an extravagant celebration of everything people couldn't really afford to have. She would have expected Gale to understand her position on the subject, but when she told him, he just chuckled.
"I didn't know love was so expensive."
He went to loosen an animal from one of his snares, still smiling like her opinion was just silly.
"It is if you have to buy stuff for each other, and get all dressed up, and then go to some stupid dance."
"Also didn't know dancing was so expensive," he smirks at her. "I guess that's where my money goes, squandered away at Seam dances each month."
Katniss rolls her eyes.
"It's not the dancing or the love. It's the way people do them on Valentine's Day," she says. "It' not enough to just show up at the Seam and dance. Instead, you have to ask a date with some big, expensive gesture."
"I never do anything expensive for the girls I ask."
Gale plops a squirrel in his game bag and studies the snare to see how best to reset it.
"Well…" Katniss trails off. She feels strange telling Gale he's so attractive he doesn't have to do anything expensive. Girls are more than happy to accept the cranberries he gives them in lieu of a pricey trinket.
"Most people do something expensive," she says, deciding that's a safe enough answer. "And a lot of the girls try and get new clothes, or at least buy some ribbon for their hair. So, it's not just dancing and falling in love. No one needs a holiday for that anyway, people do it all the time."
"You don't." Gale looks up from his snare and meets her eyes.
Katniss looks away and shrugs, struggling for the words to explain that falling in love is a luxury she can't afford, and not just in a monetary sense.
"Love is…distracting. And it leads to trouble."
Gale rolls his eyes and starts walking towards the next snare.
"A little distraction never killed anyone."
Katniss isn't so sure about that, but she says nothing and follows him downstream towards the next snare. He glances back over his shoulder at her.
"I'm still alive, aren't I?"
"You don't fall in love," Katniss tells him. "You just have sex. It's not the same."
Gale stops and turns to gape at her.
"I…that…"
He rubs the back of his neck and winces at her.
"Don't sugar coat it or anything, Catnip."
"Am I wrong?"
For a moment he looks intently at her, then he shakes his head and sighs.
"Sort of," he says at last.
"So you actually fell in love with those girls?"
"No…with someone else."
She's never seen Gale look so uncertain before. He bites on his lower lip and opens his mouth like he's going to continue, but can't seem to find the words. It occurs to Katniss that he may not want to share this part of his life with her, and she feels horribly guilty. She shouldn't have even brought up Valentine's Day and she definitely shouldn't have said anything about Gale's sex life.
"Forget it. All this stuff is stupid anyway."
She brushes past him and goes to look at his snare. A few seconds pass before she hears him move to join her. She can tell he's watching her carefully, so she does her best to look focused on the snare ahead.
"Nothing in this one," she says.
"I think it's time to move it; it's been empty the last few weeks."
Gale moves past her to begin carefully taking apart the snare. When he's done, she points out some animal tracks further down stream and they head over to study them. Gale squints intently and follows tracks to the edge of the water, deciding the best place to set the snare.
Katniss watches him work and tries not to keep thinking about Gale falling in love with someone. For some reason it bothers her more than the thought of him taking girls to the slagheap. To see him get so nervous talking about a girl makes Katniss think he must be really invested in this girl, whoever she is. That he really cares about her, probably more than he even cares about Katniss.
The urge to ask who she is is overwhelming, but Katniss manages to resist it as they finish checking the snare line and return back to the fence and into the district. Of course that doesn't mean Katniss stops thinking about it. She tries to recall all the girls she knows at school, the ones her age, the ones Gale's age, and even ones a few years older. Maybe Gale does like an older woman. She thinks she remembers a rumor that he took a girl two years older than him to the slag heap.
Ultimately, she spends the whole walk home thinking about it and still has no real answer, just a series of educated guesses. She supposes she'll find out when he asks the girl to the Valentine's Day dance.
But the days go by, it gets steadily closer to Valentine's Day, and Gale still hasn't asked anyone to the dance. At this point, Katniss isn't the only one thinking about it. The gossip mill at school is buzzing with speculation about who he's going to ask and why he hasn't asked anyone yet. A few girls even comes up to Katniss and ask her if Gale's taking her to the Valentine's Day dance. She doesn't appreciate the question, not just because it's none of their business, but also because it gets her to wondering what it would be like if she and Gale went to the dance together. What would it feel like to dance with him? Would he kiss her? That thought makes her cheeks burn and forces Katniss to come to the unwelcome conclusion that she sort of, maybe, wants Gale to kiss her.
The whole thing is just a disaster and Katniss can't bear it anymore. Gale needs to just ask this girl and get it over with so she can move on with her life.
"You need to hurry up and ask someone to the Valentine's Day dance," she tells him as they trudge back to the fence after hunting.
Gale gapes at her and she feels the need to explain.
"Girls keep coming up to me and asking me about it."
"Sorry," he says. "I just don't know if I'm going to ask anyone."
That surprises Katniss and she frowns at him.
"Why don't you ask that girl you're in love with?"
Gale looks startled for a moment, and then looks away, nervous again. Katniss is starting to hate this girl. Nothing else has ever made Gale act this strange around her.
"I'm not sure she'd want to go with me," Gale says at last.
"Of course she will. Everyone does."
"She's different. I'm not sure if she even wants to go to the dance."
Katniss frowns. Maybe she'll end up liking this girl in spite of herself.
"Well…then, why don't you ask her?"
Gale opens his mouth to object.
"No, I don't mean the normal way where she basically has to say yes or turn you down in front of the whole school." Katniss would hardly blame the girl if she didn't want that. "I mean talk to her on her own, tell her you know she may not want to go to the dance, but you really like her and would like to take her, or at least do something with her."
Gale studies her carefully and then nods.
"I'll give that some thought."
"Well not too much thought. You need to hurry up and handle this."
Gale chuckles.
"I'll see what I can do. But I can't rush this one. It's too important."
That makes Katniss's stomach twist uncomfortably. She knows she shouldn't hate this girl just because Gale thinks she's important. She does sound like she might have a shred of common sense. But if things keep going like this, this girl is going to take Katniss's place as the most important girl in Gale's life besides his mother and Posy. And Katniss knows it's not fair of her to guard that place so jealously, after all, Gale was bound to find a wife at some point, but she's just not ready to give her position up. And she's not sure she ever will be.
The next morning, Gale is not at their spot when Katniss arrives to hunt. She tries not to feel too bothered by this, but he usually arrives a bit before her. She sits on their rock to wait, growing progressively more impatient as the minutes tick by. Finally she sees Gale brush past a tree and make his way towards her.
"You're late," she tells him. He swallows and she notices something seems wrong with him today. She can't quite explain it, but he seems nervous again.
"I…I want to talk to you about something."
Now Katniss is nervous, terrified in fact. Gale has never done something like this before and it makes her wonder if something has happened.
"It's nothing bad," he says, quickly seeing her face. "At least I hope not. I really, really hope not."
He swallows.
"So, so the thing is. I-uhm-I know you…" he takes an exasperated breath, gives his head a shake, and then swallows once more. "I know you may not want to go to the Valentine's Day dance, but I-I really like you. And I would like to take you or-or at least do something with you. Take you on some kind of date or…I mean, if you want. If not-
"Wait," Katniss's brain has finally caught up with the reality of the situation. "You mean-you mean it's me? The girl you like is me?"
Gale swallows again and nods.
"I spent all this time worrying that you were going to fall in love with someone else and replace me and-
She doesn't get another word out because Gale has cupped her face in his hands and brought his lips down to her own. The feeling of his lips gently pressing on her own vanishes all thought from her mind. When he pulls away he keeps her face close to his, smiling down at her.
"You were worried?"
She tries to think of a clever reply, but her lips are still tingling and she feels light and happy.
"Shush."
Gale chuckles and pulls her into another kiss. This one is deeper. Her mouth opens and his tongue teases hers. One of his hands drops to her waist pressing her body closer to his.
When they pull away, Katniss feels herself breathing more quickly and notices her hands pressing into Gale's chest. He drops his mouth close to her ear and whispers,
"So are you going to come to the dance with me?"
Katniss smiles, feeling the brush creep up her cheeks.
"Or we can always just come back out here."
Katniss thinks she might like that idea even better.