For Celeste who wished for drunk Gadge fluff for her birthday. Happy Birthday and I hope all your birthday wishes come true.
It starts when she meets her father for lunch at his favorite restaurant. He insists on splurging on a particularly expensive bottle of wine because it's from the year she was born and that was a good year, "for daughters, and for wine."
The wine is good, but two glasses was too many and she's tipsy for the rest of the afternoon. When work is finished, her colleagues drag her to a cocktail bar around the corner from the office and refuse to let her leave until she's had a Pina Colada. (The second Pina Colada was entirely her own choice.)
She meets her friends for dinner at her favorite restaurant. She tries to be sensible and only drink water with her meal, but fuck it; it's her birthday, so she has a couple of glasses of wine with her salmon. And another to wash down the delicious triple-chocolate cake that Katniss has brought from her boyfriend Peeta's bakery.
After the restaurant they adjourn to the bar downstairs and someone (Johanna) orders a round of tequila shots.
It's fair to say that at this point in the evening, Madge is hammered.
"There was no candle," she suddenly pouts. "There was no candle on the cake so I never got to make my birthday wish."
"We can't have that," Johanna declares before pushing her way through the crowd towards the bar. She comes back moments later with a candle and a lighter.
Katniss produces the remains of the chocolate cake from the box she's carrying it in and Johanna sticks the candle in the cake and lights it. Madge happily blows the candle out and beams proudly at her friends.
"Did you make your wish?" Delly asks.
Madge's eyes widen in alarm. She clasps her hands to her mouth. "No, I forgot."
Johanna laughs and lights the candle again. Madge closes her eyes tightly and wishes. Then she blows on the candles again. She's giggling so much it takes her four attempts.
Satisfied that she has completed her task, Madge throws back her tequila shot and beckons for another.
"What did you wish for?" Delly inquires.
Normally, Madge would never, ever divulge her most secret wish to anybody, even her closest friends. But she's just had her third tequila shot, so...
"I wished the same wish that I wish every time I wished since I was twelve years old," Madge says, very seriously, staring directly into the eyes of one of the Dellys standing in front of her. (And the real Delly's left ear.)
"And what was that?"
"I wish…" Madge pauses and giggles again. "Wisssshhhh," she enjoys the effervescent feel of the word in her mouth. "I wished for a birthday kiss from Gale Hawthorne."
Madge is too drunk and too busy consuming the slice of birthday cake to notice the devious glint in Johanna's eyes. She barely even notices as her friends haul her out of the seat and hustle her into a taxi.
In fact, she hasn't even realized they've left the bar until she suddenly finds herself standing on the sidewalk under Gale Hawthorne's apartment. Even in her very drunk stupor, she knows it's Gale's apartment building.
"What are we doin' here?" She asks, still giggling.
"We're going to get you that birthday kiss," Johanna announces. Then she cups her hands around her mouth and yells. "GAAAAAAAAAAAAALE. GALE HAWTHORNE. GET YOUR ASS DOWN HERE."
Katniss and Delly follow suit, though they're laughing pretty hard so their shouts are mostly ineffective. (Nobody is sober enough to suggest using the buzzer to get Gale's attention.)
The windows of Gale's apartment remain dark, but eventually one of his neighbors sticks his head through a window to tell them to 'shut the fuck up'.
"We're not leaving until Gale Hawthorne gets his ass down here and lays one on the birthday girl," Johanna informs the neighbor Madge grins and waves up at him.
The neighbor huffs and disappears for a few minutes before coming back to the window to inform them that Gale isn't home yet.
"Maybe he's still at work," Katniss guesses.
So Madge is bundled into another taxi, and minutes later they're all standing in the lobby of City Hall where a humorless security guard refuses them entry, though after a brief argument with Jo he does agree to call Gale's office for them. But there's no answer and the guard herds them back outside.
"Now what?" Johanna asks.
It's Delly who comes up with a suggestion this time. "I know. Thom said he was going to watch a game with Gale tonight. I'll call him and see where they are."
One phone call later, they're climbing into another taxi bound for the sports bar where Thom and Gale are watching a basketball game.
The bar is packed, but Katniss cuts a meandering path through the crowd and the others follow behind her unsteadily, until eventually she finds Gale and Thom.
Delly leaps into her Thom's arms and sloppily kisses her boyfriend. Gale eyes them all curiously and grins. "What are you ladies doing here?"
"Madge would like a birthday kiss from you," Katniss informs him matter-of-factly.
Johanna gives Madge a push and she falls onto Gale who manages to catch her before she topples over him. Madge settles onto his lap with a giggle and wraps her arm around his neck.
Gale stares in astonishment at the normally reserved and demure blonde sitting on his knee. "Are you drunk?"
"Yes," she answers. "Now kiss me."
"I don't think that's a good idea," Gale says. He winces at the smell of alcohol on her breath.
But Johanna's having none of it. She begins to chant. "Kiss her. Kiss her." Katniss and Delly quickly join in. Thom lends his support, stomping his feet and banging on the table in time to the chants. Johanna encourages others around them and before long most of the bar is roaring for Gale to kiss Madge.
Madge, sitting calmly on Gale's knee, just smiles at him. He shoots at glare at the ringleaders before quickly pressing his lips to Madge's. She barely has time to register that he's kissing her, before he pulls away again.
The cheers quickly turn to boos and a new chant, led by Johanna, starts. "With tongue. With tongue."
Gale tries to protest. He doesn't like kissing drunk girls, but he doesn't really get the chance, because Madge decides to take matters into her own hands. She slides closer to him, so that she's flush against his chest (and other body parts) and brings her mouth to his. It's her tongue that invades his mouth first and all Gale's protests die away. His arms come around her waist as he holds her close and Madge runs her fingers through his hair as she's dreamed of doing for years now.
They're both oblivious to the cheers and whistles all around them as they sink deeper into this kiss. Their lips and tongues meld together and Madge presses ever closer to Gale. One of his hands is holding her face now and it's electric.
When she moans, it brings him back to his senses, and he breaks the kiss. His eyes remains locked on hers and their foreheads touch.
"Happy birthday, Madge," he whispers.
Madge smiles hazily at him. "Gale, I think I'm going to throw up."
(The next morning, Gale shows up at her apartment with a bacon sandwich and strong coffee. He stays with her until her hangover no longer makes her want to die and then he kisses her again. A lot.)