Warning: Non-serious, extremely fluffy, and sometimes OOC. AU, so lets pretend THE HUNGER GAMES NEVER HAPPENED. This'll probably be no more then five or six chapters…not too sure about where I'm going with this. Chapters'll be very short, though.
On the other hand, I drew a picture of Rory in the late hours of the night (sleep deprivation causes me to draw pretty pictures), if you need a visual reference of the sarcastic little idiot in my brain.
tinypic*com/r/166yosw/7 REPLACE STAR WITH A DOT
He's about twelve or so. I ain't no Picasso, so no hatin',
Anyways, enjoy!
Chapter 1: Go Buy the Girl a Dang Bracelet
"Rory, I need your help."
Wow. Really? After all the grief Gale has been giving me this past week (the over-eating, the laziness, backtalk, etcetera etcetera), he has the nerve to ask for my help. Yes, life is going rather swimmingly in the Hawthorne house.
But his face is deadly serious. Maybe even a little panic is hiding in his eyes. Oh, I am going to milk this for all it's worth.
"And I needed you to stop getting on my case. But did that happen? No." I swivel around on my chair, going back to sticks I had been arranging into neat little tepees (Welcome to District Twelve. This is our version of fun!). Behind me, I can here Gale blowing out a deep, frustrated sigh.
"Come on, Rory. I'm sorry. But I really need your help." There is definitely something like pleading in his voice.
I sigh along with him, but mine is more of an exasperated type. "Fine, just this once. What is it?" I'll admit - I am kinda just curious about what has him scrambling so bad.
Gale's eyes are huge. "It's Katniss' birthday tomorrow."
"So?" I say. Big deal.
He gulps. "I forgot it until this morning." He sounds like he is admitting to murder.
I swivel back toward him, away from my tepee things. "And?" I prompt.
"I didn't get her a gift."
And with that, I turn back around. Gale can handle that on his own just fine.
"Wait, no! No!," he yells, physically turning my back around. The stick piles clatter to the floor. "You don't understand how serious this is!"
I raise my eyebrows, waiting.
He swallows again, his look one of pure terror. "When she turned thirteen…I sorta forgot her birthday."
I say nothing. So what? Gale forgets my birthday every other year. I feel like I had to drag this thing out of him, but I resisted the temptation to make a snide remark. "So…"
"Nothing," Gale whispered, way too overdramatic. I swear, I could see everything going dark except for one spotlight on his panicked face.
I snort. "Nothing? Then what are you afraid of?"
He shakes his head. "No. Literally, nothing. She didn't say one word to me for a week."
I wrinkle my nose. "Katniss doesn't seem to be one of those types." I know those kind of girls. The stupid, giggly ones who could afford makeup and all have attractive boyfriends.
Gale laughs, a little nervously. "I had told her that I was getting her an amazing present the month before, then totally forgot. I just…don't want a repeat." He shuddered, eyes focused on something far away.
I still didn't get it. Why couldn't he just go out and get the girl a dang bracelet or something? "And I come in where?"
Gale nods, as if just remembering that this is the whole point of this conversation. "I need you to go out and look through all the shops for me. See if you find anything that Katniss would like."
Oh, jeez. He must think I'm an idiot if he's trying to get me to do the work for him by disguising it. "And why can't you do this yourself?"
He rolls his eyes, as if the answer is obvious. "She'll see me. And then she'll know." His eyes widen to twice their normal size just thinking about it.
"Sorry, no way." I turn back around, nonchalantly arranging my sticks again. "I am not going gift shopping for your girlfriend without a price." Hint, hint, Gale.
He blows out another sigh. He understands. "I'll wash the dishes for a week."
"A month."
He sticks out his hand reluctantly. "Fine. Deal?"
I spit on my own, then shake his. "Deal," I say, as he wipes his hand on his shirt.
Now, what exactly do sixteen year old girls like?