I know it isn't winter, but this idea was too perfect to wait on.
The air was crisp and cool and heavy with the scent of snow. It didn't usually snow very much in District 2, and if it did, it didn't stick around, but for some reason they had a solid coating of snow that was measured in at 4 inches and some snow drifts were almost 2 feet tall.
To say Gale and Johanna were comfortable in the winter weather was an understatement. Gale had grown up in District 12, where he spent winters split between a poorly insulted house and the woods. Johanna had essentially grown up in a forest as well, being from District 7. Her family was better off than Gale's had ever been and they were by no means wealthy by District 7 terms, but 7 wasn't a poor district.. Her house had always been warm, but she had spent many winter days in trees and causing general mischief with others around her age.
Other residents of District 2 were not fairing as well. They weren't used to such cold temperatures and so much snow, though the children did seem to be making the most of it.
They were walking back from some party that one of Gale's coworker's wives had thrown in honor of Christmas being a celebrated holiday once again. Johanna hadn't wanted to go at first, but considering Gale seemed very excited about the prospect of the party, she had decided to join him, however begrudgingly.
It was the first time she had ever gone with him to anything. It was also the first time a lot of people learned Gale was not living alone and was in some sort of relationship with someone. It was quite the shock to everyone at the party that Johanna Mason had entered the house and that Gale Hawthorne had taken up the invitation to bring a guest. However, after the initial few minutes of murmuring and people pretending to not know who she was, things settled down and Johanna had been approached by a very cheerful red-headed young lady who introduced herself as Hadley who had tempted Johanna over to meet a few people with the promise of cookies and hot chocolate. Johanna later learned that Hadley was the eldest daughter of whoever's party it was, she was barely eighteen. Johanna had felt a little self-conscious at first that she had to be brought to socialize by a teenager, but as she found herself enjoying the company of Hadley and the others, she wasn't so put off by the fact anymore.
It wasn't all that late as they walked back home. They heard the chatter of people ice skating on the rink that had been set up in the park far before they saw them, but it grew louder as they approached. Johanna stopped to admire the large pine tree that had been erected in the center of the park. The tree had been lined with multicolored lights and decorative ornaments. In an odd way it sort of reminded her of home. Christmas, and all holidays that had any sort of religious ties in any way, had been outlawed following the Dark Days and was only recently making a resurgence in Panem, but District 7 had always celebrated mid-winter by decorating pine trees with wooden figures and woven garlands. They had never been strung with lights, but it felt familiar all the same.
"Did you celebrate mid-winter in 12?" Johanna asked Gale.
"No. We celebrated when spring came. Because if you saw spring, it meant winter didn't kill you." Was the simple reply.
Johanna hummed in response.
"What are you thinking about?" Gale asked, looking at her. The glow of the multicolored lights made her face look reddish-orange and her eyes sparkled.
"I like it… this Christmas thing… it reminds me of home."
"Have you ever been back?"
She shook her head. Out of all her travels, she had never been able to bring herself to return to her home after the war. She had nothing there anyway.
"…we should go sometime." He replied gently. "If you want."
"We?" She asked, looking over to him with a raised eyebrow.
"Yeah… you went with me back home, it's only fair I return the favor."
She smirked a bit. "Who are you and what have you done with Gale?"
"Ha ha. Very funny," he teased, pulling her hat down over her eyes.
She shoved him with hand hand while she fixed her hat with the other. He only laughed.
"You know what else reminds me of home?" She asked.
"What?"
She bent over and scooped snow into her hand and packed it into a ball. "This!" She threw the snowball at him and he shouted in surprise, a splatter of snow on the front of his coat.
She laughed and ran away from him, only to get hit square in the back by a snowball.
"I'm better at long range!" He yelled to her as she glared back over her shoulder at him.
She retaliated by returning fire, with a well-aimed snowball to the stomach. She was better at close range, but her long range wasn't half-bad.
He laughed and soon they were in a full-out snowball fight, running around making snowballs and throwing teasing insults almost as fast as they were throwing snowballs. Their laughter rang through the crisp air.
It started to snow, and when Gale realized, he stopped building his little pile of snowballs and looked up at the sky. While he was distracted, Johanna came up behind him and dropped an armload of snow on his head.
"Hey you," he complained with a smile, managing to grab her before she ran too far away from him. He had grabbed her and in the process, had pinned her arms to her sides. He was bigger than her and once he had her, she wasn't going anywhere. She realized this quickly and stopped wriggling, but continued to laugh.
She managed to turn a bit and he released his hold on her. She turned to face him and she brushed snow out of his hair. Both of them were red-faced from laughter and the cold, but neither of them cared.
Gale chuckled as he pulled a chunk of a snowball from Johanna's hair. As cliché as it sounded, he couldn't remember a time where she looked more beautiful. Red-faced and snow-covered and smiling, Johanna was glowing. How he had ended up lucky enough to be the one goofing around with her in a park in the middle of winter, he had no idea. But he was happy.
He was shaken from his thoughts when Johanna pulled him towards her by the front of his coat and went to kiss him.
"Your nose is freezing," he managed to tell her before their lips met.
And for a little while, they were the only ones in the world.