Disclaimer: I don't own any people or places in this story, because they are too awesome for me to invent!
Peeta and Gale didn't like each other. They never had. Sometimes Peeta thought it was because Gale somehow sensed how he felt for Katniss, but they never discussed it. In fact, Peeta and Gale barely spoke to each other at all. It wasn't that they purposely ignored each other, it was just that they were very different. And in a sense lived in very different worlds.
Yes, they were from District 12, but beyond the region. The place.
They had nothing.
They were different in many ways; how much money they had, and how much they had to give up of themselves for others.
Eventually when you give too much of yourself, there is a point when there is nothing left to give, there is nothing at all.
They knew that all too well.
Peeta could never really understand Gale's life, how he had to do "illegal" things such as hunting in the forest, which could get them beaten and in most cases, killed. However, District 12 wasn't as brutal as some of the other districts, which caused some of the people to be a bit more daring. Just like Gale and Katniss.
Peeta would never know how cautious Gale had to be, keep out of the way, try to keep his family going against all odds, he would never understand the way Gale survived. Not until much later, when his name is drawn from so many, not until he is put in an arena to survive, does he know what Gale must do every day of his life. Peeta however found that he hated this knowledge, because in the times where he must fight; in the time that he fights with Katniss. For Katniss; he realizes that Gale has been doing this all his life, forming a bond with her that not even he could compete with.
Peeta was pretty sure Katniss had no idea he existed, but there was that one time, when they were young and childish thoughts filled his head, he remembered the look she gave him, that grateful look he imagined every time he saw her at school and in the village, passing by. He never thought as her owing him, he thought of it as him protecting her, like he should. People should look out for each other, no matter what the Capitol tried to brainwash them into.
He wasn't stupid. He knew that she loved Gale; he knew that it was absurd to even hope that she would see him, but for a while it was nice to think that she would.
Gale knew what it was like to give everything you had to someone. Every day of his life he gave everything he had to his family.
And then, there was Katniss.
She wasn't supposed to mean something to him.
She really wasn't.
That wasn't the way he worked. At first it was just to have a hunting partner, he would get more game, and so would she. It made sense at the time.
Now Gale was hoping for more with his "hunting partner". He knew Katniss could take care of herself, she didn't necessarily need him. Sure, he was helpful to have around; extra food on the table was always a blessing. But Gale knew that, if needed, Katniss would do anything to save her family, as she proved when she hunted in the forest with him. And he found that he worried about her more than he worried about himself; that's what scared him. She was his only comfort, and mostly his only friend, in the condemned place in which they lived.
Gale sometimes imagined what would happen if he and Katniss were to escape, if they were to just leave. Leave the Capitol and all the districts, out to the unknown. Although the Capitol proclaimed that everything outside of Panem was deserted, barren. Gale thought otherwise. He wondered what was really out there, past District 12, and beyond.
He never told her that though.
He never told her a lot of things.
And when she went in that arena no matter how skilled she was, he couldn't help the thought that she wouldn't come back.
Peeta was protecting her though. Peeta had her back. Peeta was replacing him.
And when they kissed.
Gale knew what it was like to lose her.
Gale and Peeta never liked each other. They never had.
Because in a way they were taking each other's place.
In their eyes, the other was taking her.
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