Summary: "She began to stride off into the woods, deciding that the boy wasn't worth wasting her time on. She heard him jog to catch up with her." A younger Katniss and Gale meet for the first time. One-shot.
Prompt: "Come on, what's the worst that could happen?"
A Blooming Partnership
Katniss Everdeen climbed through the hole in the fence that separated District Twelve from the woods beyond. She cast one last glance back at the town as she brushed her hair from her eyes, making sure that no one had seen her. She vanished into the trees quickly after, making her way along a path that her father had shown her long ago, before the mining accident that had killed him less than a year ago.
Her mother had never recovered after that accident, and so Katniss was the one taking care of their family herself. Someone had to. But even with the tesserae, even if the baker's son had tossed bread to her in the rain, they were still going hungry. That's why she was out in the woods for the dozenth time in two weeks, getting what game she could.
What she didn't expect, however, was the boy sitting on the log where her bow was hidden, twirling it in his fingers. She recognized him as one of the bystanders on the mining site following the news of the accident. But she didn't care who he was, he was messing with the thing that helped her provide for Prim and her mother.
"Give that to me." She snapped the instant she saw the weapon in his hands.
The boy looked up, startled. Though he looked to be a young man, easily over six feet tall, he sounded no older than fourteen at most. "This is yours?"
"Yes." She hissed, stalking towards him. "Give it back."
"Take it." The boy tossed it to the leaf litter on the forest floor with a scoff. "I'm a trapper anyway."
Katniss snatched the bow up as soon as it hit the ground, pulling her quiver of arrows from the log as hooking it around her shoulder. She began to stride off into the woods, deciding that the boy wasn't worth wasting her time on.
"Where are you going?" She heard him jog to catch up with her. "You shouldn't be out here."
"And you should?" She asked, glaring at him over her shoulder. "I have people that need me, it's not my fault that tesserae isn't enough."
"You too, huh?" He slowed down to match her pace when he reached her, his previous attitude gone. "Maybe we could work together. I have some snares that I haven't checked yet. Maybe I can spare something. You know, it'd go faster. Come on, what's the worst that could happen?"
"You could scare off all the game in the woods." She retorted doubtfully.
"Look, I just want to help, okay?" The boy sighed. "I know how you feel, my father died in that explosion too. We're in the same boat. I can teach you how to trap, if you want. And maybe you could show me how to hunt."
Katniss considered it for a moment. If the boy was any good at snaring, then it'd be a mutually beneficial partnership and there'd be nothing to lose. Worse case scenario, she wouldn't get anything from it. She imagined it was the same for him, too, considering he'd not yet seen her shoot. What was the harm in trying, then?
"Fine." She finally agreed. "Meet me at the log at dawn tomorrow."
"Really?" He turned to her, eyes shining with hope.
"Yeah." She nodded. "But if you're late, I'm going out on my own."
"I'm never late." The boy promised. "I'm Gale, by the way. Gale Hawthorne."
"Katniss."
"Catnip?" He echoed, confused.
She didn't correct him because she was too busy holding back laughter.
The next day was going to be very interesting indeed.