Prompt from tumblr: Valentine's Day Gadge

Madge looked on glumly as Katniss fawned over her frosted heart-shaped cookies and pink cupcakes.

How had this happened? Out of the two, Madge had always been the hopeless romantic and Katniss had always been the cynical one who hated anything remotely romantic. Katniss didn't even cry while watching The Notebook for god's sake, whereas Madge had started sobbing since the very first second of the movie because she had read the book first.

"Are you sure you don't want one?" Katniss offered Madge a cookie for about the millionth time today. Madge knew that her friend wasn't trying to rub in the fact that she had a perfect Valentine or anything, but she couldn't quite hide the bitter glare she shot in her friend's direction.

"No, I'm fine," Madge answered, ignoring Katniss's curious gaze. Madge had a horrible sweet tooth and she usually made a bee line for anything sweet. "Peeta made them for you and only you."

Katniss blushed prettily and even Madge couldn't hold back a smile at her friend's uncharacteristic behavior. Said smile disappeared immediately however, when she heard Katniss's next words.

"So are you and Gale doing anything today?"

Madge almost choked on her own spit.

"Excuse me? Me and who?" Madge repeated, wondering if she had heard her friend wrong. Maybe Katniss had said Greg or George or something. Anything but Gale.

"Gale," Katniss said again, looking confused. "Aren't you two…. you know, together?"

"No," Madge answered. "Me and Gale? Are you serious? Where in the world did you get that idea?"

Katniss shrugged. "You two seem to be pretty friendly nowadays. Peeta and I saw you guys having dinner together the other day, so we kind of figured that you two finally got over your sexual tension and got together."

Madge stared at her friend in shock. The words 'sexual tension' did not sound right coming out of Katniss's mouth.

"No," Madge shook her head. "There is no sexual tension between us. And I was buying him dinner because I owed him for helping me move in. You were there when I told him I'd pay him back, remember?"

"Well yeah," Katniss shrugged again. "But I thought that you'd just get him a gift card or something."

Madge stayed silent as Katniss hesitated, as if unsure if she should say what she was going to say next. "And he asked me about you the other day," Katniss added while nibbling on another cookie.

"What?"

"He asked me what kind of flowers you liked and what movies you liked. Stuff like that. Being so close to Valentine's day, I kind of figured that he was planning something," Katniss said.

"What?!" Madge said again in a louder voice. Her eyes were wide in shock and her heart was thumping in excitement. She could hardly believe it. Sure she and Gale had started talking a lot more nowadays and they hung out now and then, but they had never strayed out of the safe zone of their new found friendship.

She cleared her throat when Katniss gave her a knowing look and tried to recompose herself, "I mean, he was probably just trying to make conversation."

Katniss snorted, not buying Madge's self admittedly lame excuse for a second. "Gale never asks about girls," Katniss commented. "He hinted that he was planning on coming over tonight. I'm supposed to keep you here until then. I think I was supposed to be subtler about it, though."

Madge giggled and glanced at the clock hanging on the wall of the dorm the two girls shared, jumping out of her seat when she noticed the time.

"Peeta's coming over at 2 right? It's already one thirty. I'll head out now so you two can have your privacy."

Katniss protested immediately as she always did whenever Madge insisted on leaving the two alone at her own inconvenience. Madge honestly didn't mind. She usually went to the library or a coffee shop to study.

Madge left the dorm with light-hearted steps, and her good mood was evident. She couldn't help herself as she came up with several scenarios of what could happen that night in her head, all of them involving a shirtless Gale and ample amounts of chocolate.

She knew that she wouldn't be able to concentrate on her studies even if she tried, so she decided to stop by the grocery store rather than follow her usual routine of going to the library. If Gale was coming over, she wanted to be prepared.

She headed towards the Wine aisle of the store, and was pleasantly surprised to find herself face to face with Gale Hawthorne himself.

"Hey Gale!" she chirped, unable to hide her obvious good mood, despite the fact that she had told herself that she would try to pretend like Katniss hadn't told her anything.

"Madge," he looked flustered as he offered her a tentative smile. "What are you doing here?"

"Just doing some grocery shopping," Madge answered. She glanced down at the bottle of wine in Gale's hands. "Getting ready for a hot date tonight?"

Gale chuckled and nodded. Madge felt her heart leap, until Gale said, "Yeah. I have plans with uh, Glimmer."

Madge felt her smile slowly slipping off of her face. She felt her face starting to burn as she realized Katniss had been wrong—Gale had no plans whatsoever of celebrating Valentine's day with Madge. Not when he had Glimmer, a girl who was famous for her supermodel-like body and flirtatious personality that got all the guys trailing after her. She was perfect for a boy as handsome as Gale. Ugh, their name even started with the same letter, Madge noted with a scowl.

"Do you have any plans?" Gale asked, when Madge stayed silent for a while.

"Yes of course," Madge found the lie slipping out easily. She was not about to look like the pathetic girl who spent Valentine's day by herself. She grabbed at any bottle of wine at random and dumped it unceremoniously into her cart. "Who doesn't? Anyways I guess I'll see you around, yeah?"

She left after that, missing the look of disappointment and surprise on Gale's face as he stared after her retreating back.

-oOo-

Madge was surprised to see that Katniss was still in the dorm room when she got home. "What are you doing here?" Madge asked, confused. "I thought you and Peeta were going out."

"We were," Katniss said. "Until I got a call from Gale asking—excuse me, demanding to know— why I forgot to mention the fact that you already have plans for tonight."

Madge's usually pale face flushed into a shade of bright red. "Oh. Why?"

Katniss gaped at her in disbelief, her mouth opening and closing due to her loss of words. "What do you mean, why?" she demanded to know. "I told you, he's interested in you! I thought I made it clear."

Madge shook her head. "Katniss, I just saw him. He told me he has plans with Glimmer. I told you that you had the wrong idea." It had been stupid of Madge to think that Gale would ever think of her as anything more than a friend. In fact, the fact that they were friends was already a stretch.

Gale and Madge had known each other since they were kids. Gale used to hate Madge and would insult her every rare moment they spent together. She in turn, tried her best to ignore him. It wasn't until recently, when Madge transferred into this college and moved into Katniss's dorm, that Gale started making an effort to be more civilized. Madge scolded herself for hoping for more, when him not insulting every thing about her was more than enough.

Katniss groaned and buried her face into her hands. "Why are you two making this so difficult?" she complained as Madge watched on with befuddlement. "He obviously said that because he doesn't know that you know. He probably picked her name as a cover up story."

Madge shook her head firmly. "I don't know what Gale told you, but you obviously got the wrong idea Katniss. No offense, but it wouldn't be so surprising that you got the wrong idea from a couple of questions. You're kind of clueless when it comes to that kind of thing."

Katniss huffed irritably and rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she muttered.

"So when's Peeta picking you up? Isn't he taking you out?"

"He's waiting for me outside actually, but I was thinking about cancelling if you're sure that you and Gale aren't doing anything," Katniss said while eyeing Madge.

Madge gasped and shook her head, protesting vehemently. "No! Don't you dare cancel your first Valentine day with Peeta for my sake, Katniss Everdeen!"

Katniss chuckled at Madge's response and peeked at her before asking in a small voice, "Are you sure? I wouldn't mind staying home with you."

"Positive," Madge answered. Madge knew that despite her words, Katniss was excited for her date with Peeta tonight. They had been planning it for a while, and Katniss would blush every time the topic was brought up. It was disgustingly cute.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay?" Katniss asked one last time before going outside.

"Go away," Madge answered with fake annoyance. "And if you come back before twelve I'm locking you out."

Katniss laughed at her friend's antics and reluctantly made her way to her boyfriend's car.

Madge sighed when Peeta's car drove away and disappeared out of the view of her window. Oh, what she would give to be whisked away by her own special someone…

-oOo-

It was seven o'clock when Madge heard a knock at her door.

She had spent her time going over her class notes, preparing for her test on Monday. She figured that if she wasn't celebrating valentine's day, she might as well do something productive.

"I told you Katniss, that if you were back any time before twelve I'd lock you out!" Madge called out as she walked towards the door, her voice only slightly teasing.

"Good thing I'm not Katniss then," a deep voice that most definitely did not belong to Katniss answered, and Madge froze mid-step.

"Gale?" Madge asked in disbelief as she slowly pulled the door open. "What are you doing here?"

He was dressed in a classy button-up and khaki pants, and his hair seemed neater than usual. He looked even more handsome than he usually did, and Madge hadn't known that it was possible for him to get any better looking.

Her eyes zeroed in onto the bouquet of flowers in his right hand and the bottle of wine in his left. His face was slightly red, and his eyes couldn't quite meet hers. Even so, he managed to come up with a witty answer.

"Meeting my hot date," he referred to her question from before, when they had ran into each other at the grocery store.

"But… Glimmer?"

Gale flushed into a deeper shade of red. "Don't laugh, but," he muttered out his explanation, obviously embarrassed. "I panicked. I wanted to surprise you and I didn't know what else to say."

Madge wasn't sure if she should be kissing him or punching him in the face.

"So are you going to invite me in?" Gale asked, regaining his usual snarky composure.

Madge flushed and stepped out of the doorway, silently allowing him to walk inside.

"I hope I'm not bothering you," Gale said, glancing towards her. "Katniss told me that you didn't have any plans, but you said you did. I can leave if you—"

"I panicked too," Madge interrupted him. It was her turn to look embarrassed now.

"Oh."

"Yeah."

Gale cleared his throat before all but shoving the flowers and wine bottle into her hands. "Here. Katniss told me that these were your favorites."

Madge glanced down and nodded to confirm that yes, the wine and red roses were indeed her favorites, as cliche as it was.

They stood there like that, staring at each other as both of their already red cheeks steadily grew redder and redder. Finally, Gale broke the silence by collapsing onto Madge's bed and running a hand through his hair.

"This wasn't supposed to be awkward," he groaned, his eyes trained onto the floor and avoiding her surprised gaze. "I wasn't—I wasn't supposed to screw up like that. I wasn't supposed to get all flustered when I ran into you at the market and I was supposed to be all smooth and shit when you opened the door. You were supposed to be swooning by now."

Madge couldn't help but giggle at his obvious distress. It was just so cute.

"And now you're laughing!" Gale exclaimed, throwing his hands up into the air. "This is exactly why I haven't done this for the past couple of years."

"What do you mean, the past couple of years?"

"Oh God," Gale groaned again. "No wonder you and Katniss are such good friends. Both of you are so fucking clueless."

Madge stared at him, wondering if she should be offended.

"I've had a thing for you since, well… since I was 15," Gale admitted. His eyes were on hers now, instead of the carpeted floor of the dorm room. "And you obviously didn't notice."

"How would I notice?!" Madge asked, bewildered. "All you've done is insult me for the first couple of years since we've known each other."

Gale pursed his lips and his eyes returned to the floor. "I may have had some trouble expressing my emotions."

Madge laughed. She couldn't help it—it was so ridiculous.

It was odd enough to think that Gale liked her now, when they just recently became friends. To think that he liked her when all they used to do was insult each other was an impossible feat.

"Right," she heard Gale speak up through her laughter. "Since the idea of me liking you is just so hilarious, I'll just leave now."

That stopped Madge's laughter.

"What? No, wait…," Madge reached out to grab Gale's arm as he tried to move past her. "I'm sorry. I didn't.. I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. It's just, all kind of unbelievable. And sudden."

"No. It's my fault," Gale said quietly. "I shouldn't have… I was a stupid kid." He peeked at her through his lashes that were unfairly long for a guy. "I wouldn't blame you if you had hated me when we were kids."

Madge shrugged. "I should have. You used to be really mean to me." Gale hung his head.

"But I always thought you kind of looked like Liam Hemsworth," Madge said with a shrug. "So the fact that you were cute kind of made up for your meanness I guess. And it helps that you're better at uh, 'expressing your emotions' now."

"Liam Hemsworth? You mean the actor?" Gale asked, amusement taking over his distress from before. "Isn't he a blonde though?"

"But if he dyed his hair, you guys would look exactly alike."

Gale chuckled and reached for her hand that was still resting on his arm. His hand wrapped around her smaller one, his eyes teasing but strangely warm as he said, "I disagree, but if that's what's preventing you from hating my teenage self, I'm all for it."

Their night did not end up with a shirtless Gale and melted chocolate as Madge had daydreamed about before, but it was nearly as perfect.

Madge wasn't too disappointed though—there was plenty of time for a shirtless Gale and melted chocolate to become a reality in the future.

AN: Happy Valentine's day everybody! And shoutout to the hot singles out there who don't need no man to eat a box of chocolate and watch cheesy romcoms:*