Thank you all for your sweet feedback. Here goes more pointlessness and more fanservice, aka part two.
Little Closer
II.
Reality pours back with gasping breaths, still pleasantly blurred at the edges.
For a moment, all I can see is Gale's old, familiar smile - it might look just a little better on just-kissed lips – then I pull back to see how far up the sun already is, and to remember how much work we still have to do.
"We really should go." Now, before I do something as stupid as to climb into his lap and squeeze him between my thighs and never let him go.
Gale drops his hands from my face reluctantly, his fingers ghosting along my neck, leaving tingling trails. "Okay. Where to?"
"Fishing. C'mon, I know a good place I haven't showed you yet." After that, I'll have only one secret place left – an actual lake with an old concrete cabin near – but that's too far away for today.
He raises his eyebrows and shrugs slightly. "Okay. Lead the way, Catnip."
I stand to gather our stuff and go, and don't question why he needs a minute to follow.
I start for a small pond, fed by a clear stream that spreads into a marshy area thick with arrowhead plants. Also known as duck tubers... or katniss.
Gale laughs heartily when I explain along the way, and keeps telling me how edible I look until I smack him.
"See, but that's what my father once told me," I admit between laughs. "As long as you can find yourself, you will never starve."
"Makes sense. Well, I won't be that lucky these days," he chuckles.
When we do pass a hawthorn bush, though, Gale plucks the end of a small, shadowed branch with a white cluster of late flowers, and tucks it into my hair above my ear. A thorn pricks my skin lightly, enough to sting but not to draw blood.
"But at least I suit you," Gale tells me.
I roll my eyes, but when he slides the backs of his fingers down my cheek and tilts my face up to kiss me, I'm happy to respond. I'd put my jacket back on when we got into the shadow of the trees, but Gale slips one hand under, its warmth spreading from the small of my back and coiling deep in my stomach. My lips move with his and my free hand idly caresses his chest, before settling right over his heart and pushing him away.
The preoccupation with each other is definitely slowing us down, and I silently scold myself for minding that much less than I should.
/
Luckily, we get a few good shots along the way, making up for the lost time, and our bags are already half full by the time we arrive at our destination. After setting up a net in hopes of catching some fish in the meantime, we wade into the sunlit shallows to gather the roots, laughing and occasionally splashing at each other. By the time we are done, most of our clothes are strewn along the grassy bank to keep out of harm's way or to dry. The underwear I'd left on is pretty soaked too, clinging to my chest and hips.
When I say we should go, Gale dives deeper instead, wading waist-deep into the clearest section where the current is strongest, and plunges under the cold water. I watch him emerge, comically shaking water out of his hair, and my eyes inadvertently follow the glistening drops sliding down his torso. I'd better not keep looking for too long.
"You coming?" I call to him.
But when he gives me negative shake of his head, I can't resist a sudden idea. I pluck an arrow-headed leaf and sneak closer. Gale watches me with a grin and retreats a bit, but doesn't try hard enough to get out of my reach.
"Hey, where's the spirit of the games?" I exclaim in another attempt at Capitol accent, and pretend to stab him.
Gale clutches my pretend weapon to his chest and makes a funny would-be dying noise, doubling over. We begin to laugh again, but the sound dies suddenly when he slides his hand down to my wrist. The leaf slips from my hand, and the sluggish current steers it from between our bodies and carries it away, a broken green arrow. I watch it go, turning away from Gale's gaze that's suddenly became too serious.
He holds my hand over his heart. "You don't have to stab your way in, Katniss. You are already in there."
"I... I know…" My voice barely makes it past my lips. It's a disconcerting thought, but hearing it makes me feel less trapped than I'd expect. Somehow, it sounds good. And safe. Why fear, when the tiny bit of freedom I can steal feels better with him around? So much better I'd want to trap him in my own heart too, just in case.
I can't do that for real, of course, but my body seems to have a few ideas of its own as to what I could do.
We are close, very dangerously so now that I fully realize how bare our bodies are. The last parts of our immediate world we haven't dared to explore yet, so clearly defined in the sunlight and so enticingly alive. Gale's skin seems to radiate heat even through the slick film of cold water, and all my instincts want to share it and add my own to the pyre. I bring my other hand up to his chest too, carefully splaying my palm over the smooth skin and hard muscle. His heart skips a beat, before starting so much faster as I move up along the pulsing vein on his neck to curl my fingers in his hair. Gale sure doesn't need me to pull him down, but he lets me do it, giving me the initiative.
We kiss like we aren't going to stop there, our bodies welding together as if it was the most natural thing in the world. After all, we are used to functioning in unison, and it seems to be working just fine now. Too fine, in fact, well enough to make me forget who we are and where we are supposed to return. And how complicated things can get.
Possibly... Probably... It's hard to think straight right now, entangled in Gale's taste and scent and warmth. Seeking a way out sure seems more of a hassle than staying right in there and never looking back… and never looking forwards either. Then things would be easy, something deep inside us would know exactly what to do.
I think I'm trying to fight my own instincts more than him when I squirm in his embrace, but Gale reacts anyway, pulling away just enough to let cold breeze onto my heated skin. I shiver.
"You okay?" The words come in a hoarse gasp and he looks a little dazed, obviously fighting an impulse to drop his lips right back to mine.
"Fine," I mutter, truthfully. There's nothing strange when I open my eyes, just us, just something I'd been trying to block out, and suddenly can't quite remember why.
"Need to stop?" The three words seem to have cost him a great deal of effort. And restraint. Something we are both too used to, so much I can't help but wonder how it would feel to strip it away and toss it aside like another layer of ragged clothes. Just this once.
Perhaps I should pull back, but I lean forward instead, my forehead lightly bumping into his chest. My hands are resting on his lower ribs, hesitating between pushing away from him, and travelling along the lean tracks of his muscles, to the edge of his shorts hidden under the water. The downward course seems much more appealing.
"Not really. I just…" I shake my head against him. "We shouldn't… we are…"
"We are friends, Catnip," he reminds me. "I won't ask you for anything you don't want to give. Or make you do anything you'd regret." His hands slide down my arms to my elbows, gently but firmly holding me in place as he steps back. He kisses me once more, a light peck on the forehead, and lets go.
I don't even know what I want more, whether to give or to take… all I know is I will regret doing both, and might regret not doing both even more, if this chance turned out to have been our last.
"And if I do? … Want, I mean." My whole body seems to burn, even half submerged in the water. I can't quite tell what it is I want, all I know is that it requires being a lot closer. Closer than would be rational or wise, closer than we ever should get.
"Me?"
"Yeah. If you…"
"There's nothing I'd want more right now, trust me." His voice is a bit strained and deeper than usual, and I can tell he's fighting to keep his gaze focused on my face. He spreads his arms away from his body in come-and-get-me gesture, inviting but leaving the choice to me.
One last moment of hesitation later, I dive in between them, wrapping all my limbs around him like a living snare. The embrace is full of desperation and hunger, combined into a need I can't quite name. Some sort of anger too, and I'm more than willing to take it out on Gale, my nails all over shoulders and back. The deep groan reverberating straight from his lungs to mine assures me he doesn't mind at all. He pulls me flush against him, large hands splaying all over my back, cradling me close and caressing my skin. Slowly moving downwards and inwards, whipping up my desire with deliberate strokes and drowning me in sensations I've never even dreamed of.
Some awkward wriggling out of wet underwear later, there's just one last thing separating us. A little blood dissolves between us when Gale stabs through the thin veil of my own flesh, slowly pushing all the way in. I whimper and bite his shoulder in retaliation, clawing at his back. It hurts because it's the first time, and because it could be the last, and because I can't quite fathom how would we go on if it wasn't. And something in my heart hurts even when the actual pain subsides, when the rawness and fullness of the connection feels as natural as if our bodies were always meant to become one...
...and I don't want this time to be the last.
We are quick and most careful; our hips moving with the rippling water, exchanging pleasure but nothing more. Everything else flows away with the stream as I snake my arms around Gale's neck, and he leans his forehead against mine, eyes hazy with fulfillment but devoid of promises.
There's nothing more to promise and nothing more to ask, not today.
After, I let Gale carry me ashore and curl in his lap, leaning against his chest. Warm, breathless and fleetingly content. Gale holds me as tightly as I hold him, the hammering of his heart drowning out whispered words I don't dare to hear.
It's okay, I tell myself.
Whatever happens, we'll have this, a sweet moment of knowing how it feels to be as close as possible. Of knowing what we can become together.
Just in case.
Because what hunters would we be, if we failed to catch each other?