Based on a prompt from kolms, the girl on fire ficathon on livejournal
Prompt: prim/gale. she's nothing but a little katniss to him.
Prompt by: beethemonster
She watches as he opens the door to their house. His dark hair is matted to his forehead by sweat. In his arms he carries what will be their dinner for the next week. She greets him with a kiss. He smiles at her and ruffles the hair of their son. His hair is light like her own, not dark as she knows he wishes it was.
She never goes hunting with him, wouldn't even if she had the slightest idea how. She tried, once. The look in his eyes as he watched her attempt to handle Katniss' bow was full of unmasked grief. From then on she always takes care to squelch any tendencies she shared with her sister.
She rarely laughs anymore. The mixture of reminiscence and hopefulness she sees in his eyes is enough to force the laughter back.
Sometimes, when they are making love, she knows it's not her face he sees. She waits until it's over before she makes her escape, with claims of forgotten dishes. He never notices her crying herself dry in the bathroom just down the hall.
One time he is out hunting and she notices his lunch, forgotten on the counter. She packs herself an identical lunch and makes her way to the woods. She's been walking for a long time with no sign of him. She's just about to give up when she has an idea. She walks to his and Katniss' tree.
He's sitting beside it, his knees hiked up to his chest, his head in his hands, and openly sobbing. The pain he is clearly feeling almost takes her breath away. She drops both lunches and runs all the way back to their home. He acts perfectly normal once he gets home. She takes his cue and never mentions what she saw.
When he says, 'I love you, Prim,' she knows the name he wishes he were saying.
She'll always be a little Katniss to him.