Gale tucks a hand beneath his head, sated. He would treasure this memory, keep it as fresh as possible in his mind to be revisited. He'd commit to memory, the way Undersee looked when she wasn't thinking and the sounds Undersee made when she was in ecstasy, ecstasy he had given her. He'd been pleasantly surprised at just how well she'd been able to return the favour. He'd always assumed she was a virgin and that his fantasies were just that but she had more than kept up with whatever version of herself he'd thought about. She was coy at first sure but exceeded anything he'd have ever expected or had before once she let her guard down.

"Who was the guy?" he wonders aloud

"Hm?"

"The guy, the one you ... learnt with?"

"Learnt with?"

"You don't fuck like that after just a couple times, not even after loads of times with loads of different people. To be the way you were you had to have spent a lot of time with one guy ... learning"

"Is that a fact?"

"A general rule" he counters, turning on to his side to face her and propping himself up on his elbow "so who is he?"

"What makes you think it was a he?" she quirks an eyebrow and he chokes "kidding"

"You're not going to tell me?"

"Does it matter?"

"I guess not" but it did, it mattered quite a lot "I should go"

"Would you like to shower first?"

"Shower?"

"Sure, clean up a little, maybe comb my finger tracks out of your hair?"

"Okay" he nods, unsure, he's never actually had a shower, unless you count a really heavy downpour he got caught in beyond the fence that is. He's handed a towel, a towel softer than anything else he's ever felt and an actual shop bought bar of soap

"The en-suite is just right through there" en-suite - outhouse, there was no difference

"Thanks".

He's naked and staring blankly at the hand dials before him. He's always been a clean freak but he feels dirty against the pristine white tiles, he'd even checked the petal white towel for a smudged hand print before hanging it beside the shower.

"Here" a slender hand reaches past him and turns the largest handle downwards. Seconds later he's doused in warm water and cool skin presses against his back "it's nice having someone else here" she sighs. He's surprised at the vulnerability of the confession

"Big house" he agrees

"Too touchy feely? Sorry" she laughs but it's empty and pulls her hands from his chest where they'd been resting. He has an awful sinking feeling in his gut when she pulls away and immediately reaches for her hands, trapping them and placing them back where they were. He gets an equally awful feeling when he realises this is probably something she did with the mystery guy they'd spoken about and he was just filling the gap

"Just not used to talking after" he half turns his head to face her but can't bring himself to actually make eye contact

"I'm not under the impression we're going to fall in love and get married Gale" she balks "if we're old enough to sleep together, we ought to be mature enough to have a conversation, no matter what the topic. Are you seriously telling me you'd leave those girls at the slagheap with their knickers around their ankles without so much as a goodnight?"

"No!" he argues, spinning around "I always walk them home, always. The Seam isn't safe at night"

"It appears not" she scoffs

"I suppose your fella plaited your hair and recited poetry after he was done, did he?"

"No" she lifts her chin defiantly "but he did always make sure I was done"

"Don't give me that Undersee, we both know you got what you wanted"

"I'm just saying, if you think you're responsible enough to sleep around you should be mature enough to at least treat them well, call them by their first name" he doesn't answer, truth be told he can't think of a good one, so he steps out of the shower and returns to her bedroom where he collects his clothes from the floor "wait" she calls after him and he turns to see her pulling on a fluffy cream robe "this was supposed to be a good thing" she says crestfallen "a step towards civility at least"

"So you thought fucking me would make me be nicer to you?"

"No!" now she's angry, insulted "I would never use sex as a tool, or lower myself to that way of thinking. I just thought all that bitterness stemmed from frustration. Wanting and not having, I thought finally having might have tipped the scale a little" he thought so too, in fact a part of him felt so relieved he could fly, like a giant frustrated weight had been lifted off him "I hoped" she continues "that we could have been friends, if not for Katniss then for ourselves. I'm fed up of every Sunday being about how long I'll stay angry at you"

"Friends Undersee- Madge?" he corrects himself "you and me, we couldn't be friends"

"Why not?"

"You're a townie"

"That doesn't affect my relationship with Katniss"

"You're in school still, I'm in the mines"

"Katniss is still in school"

"I see Katniss every Sunday" he knows what's coming before she says it

"You see me every Sunday" she grins

"We have nothing - but Katniss - in common"

"You don't know that" she argues

"We've slept together. And before you say another word, no, I haven't fucked Katniss"

"I give up" she sighs and it makes him smile

"No you don't" she isn't a quitter, he knows that much

"If I can't be friends with you and I can't continue to bicker with you on the back porch every weekend, can I at least keep seeing you? In the intimate sense?"

"You want to do this again?"

"Don't you?" if he let his hormones make all his decisions he'd do it all again right now but he had a grip on himself now. He thought about it, she had a point, something had to give and apparently that had been both of them. And the giving had been ... great

"No strings sex?"

"Sure. Well I have some strings, I won't go to the slagheap with you and I'd prefer if you didn't take anyone else there but apart from that"

"And we'd meet here? Every Sunday?"

"It can be more often if you'd like? There's rarely anyone here"

"And you wouldn't be ..."

"Be?" she raises an eyebrow at his hesitance

"Having a similar deal with anyone else?"

"No, keep up your end and there should be no need for me to go elsewhere" she smirks and Gale rolls his eyes "for health reasons I would prefer we were exclusive"

"I don't have anything Undersee" he cuts her off. He'd always been careful. If he couldn't afford prophylactics at the hob, he stayed home, where there wasn't even a temptation. Some would call it an extreme measure, say he should have better control over his urges, but it had worked for him this far

"Wouldn't you like to keep it that way?"

"Fine. So we're doing this?"

"I believe we are" she smiled, holding out her hand for him to shake "it'll be our dirty little secret".