Disclaimer: The Hunger Games Trilogy is property of Suzanne Collins. This is a parody fanwork by fans for fans. No money was made off of the creation of this fanwork.

Contra Dance
by FanficAllergy & RoseFyre

oOo

Theme: 43: Lies
Words: 2300
Summary: Gale had no interest in his soulmate. Which was good, because Katniss Everdeen had no interest in him. Unfortunately, this is Panem and the Capitol will have its way. But there are other ways of resisting. You've just got to change partners and dance.

oOo

When President Snow came to power, he made a simple yet profound change to the way Panem operated. One little proclamation.

Any person with a soulmate can only marry their soulmate.

For many, this wasn't a burden, but a welcome change from previous administrations, which had persecuted those with soulmarks.

But for a few, those who railed against any yoke, it was just one more way the Capitol dominated them.

It should come as no surprise that Gale Hawthorne was one of the latter.

oOo

From the moment he was able to understand just what the dark green words saying "I'm sorry about your father" meant, he hated his soulmate. Not them personally - after all, he'd never met the person - but the very idea of them.

The words themselves didn't help. His pa would have to be dead or at least injured for him to meet his supposed soulmate. They weren't good words. Even Rory's "How dare you use that language around a lady!" were better. Gale's were horrible words with horrible implications. He hoped they wouldn't come true until he was old and gray.

So when he met Katniss Everdeen at the mass funeral for all of the men and women lost in the most recent mine explosion and she uttered those hated words, he couldn't resist snarling, "No offense, but I never want to see you again."

To her credit, Katniss didn't run away in tears. Instead she faced the angry teenager head-on and said, "I never want to see you again either! So have a nice life." She grabbed her shell-shocked sister's hand. "Come on, Prim. We've got better places to be."

oOo

For ten years, she kept her word. While they'd pass each other in the district or out in the woods, they went out of their way to avoid each other. Crossing streets. Turning around. Leaving shops.

It was heaven. Or at least as close as it got in the Seam.

Gale dated girl after girl. Seam. Merchant. It didn't matter. He even had one memorable encounter with the Mayor's daughter. She was a rebel, too. Her words "If you keep that up, I'll have to arrest you." were a testament to that. He liked his soulmate-free life.

He got used to it.

Until one day she appeared, like a ghost, at his favorite trapping spot, a hulking blond man with muscles on muscles standing next to her. "We're going to get married," she said, without even so much as a 'long time no see.'

Why was she telling him she was marrying someone else? What did that matter to him? "I suppose congratulations are in order for you and…"

"Peeta," the blond said, a friendly smile on his face. He held out his hand. "Peeta Mellark."

Gale raised an eyebrow at the hand. "Mellark."

The man's hand dropped and he took a half-step back like a disappointed puppy. Just what kind of man was his hellion of a soulmate marrying? A browbeaten one, to be sure.

"No, you idiot," Katniss snapped, "you and me."

Wait. What? Gale blinked at her. "And I'm going to agree to this why?"

"Because it's the only way that you won't end up on the street."

Wait. What? He repeated the thought aloud.

Katniss gave him a look filled with sympathy and exasperation. "Because when your mother dies, you'll be evicted. I know for a fact that your mother's got black lung. She's got, what, maybe a year to live? Two on the outside. If you don't marry me, you and your siblings will be out on the street."

Gale's stomach flipped and sank, like a stone in a pond. "What makes you so sure?"

"It happened to me," Peeta answered, his voice low. "My oldest brother married his soulmate, and Rye married another null. But me? I wasn't interested." His eyes drifted over to Katniss. "My heart belonged to someone else. When my parents died of the measles last month, I was told in no uncertain terms that, unless me and Delly got married, I'd have until the end of the week to vacate the premises."

"So 'vacate the premises.' It's not my problem." Gale shrugged, already making plans for when the inevitable occured. "We'll just go live with Aunt Erma."

"You can't," Katniss told him, her voice harsh. "The Capitol's got rules against taking in troublemakers like us. Adults can only live with their parents, grandparents, or spouses. If you have a soulmate, that means you have to marry them and only them. If you don't have a soulmate, you've got more options, but it still doesn't change that the Capitol only provides housing for married couples, widows, and widowers. So if we don't get married, we'll end up like Ripper, or that old drunk Haymitch, drifting around from gutter to gutter, begging for scraps."

"I'll leave." Gale motioned to the woods. "It wouldn't be too hard." He'd dreamed about it enough, when he'd slipped out under the fence to set traps.

"And take your whole family with you?" Katniss sounded skeptical.

"If I have to." He crossed his arms. "We are not getting married." The thought made his balls retreat for safety.

"I'm not saying we have to have sex," she exclaimed, clearly exasperated with him. "We don't even have to share a bed. Just pay lip service to the Capitol so we can get our house and get on with our lives." She glared at him. "It's not like I want to fuck you."

He didn't bother to repress the shudder that coursed through him at the thought of his and Katniss' bodies entwined. "Well, good. Because there's no way I'd fuck you. My dick would probably freeze off." Why did the universe think they were soulmates? They were nothing alike and had nothing in common. Gale glared at her. "What's in it for you?"

"Other than my mother won't live forever and I don't want to be on the street?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, other than that."

"Peeta's offered to give me a job in the bakery." She shrugged. "It's better than the mines."

Considering that he'd almost signed up for the mines himself until his mother begged him not to, he understood her reluctance. "Good for you. That doesn't explain anything."

The man, Peeta, spoke up. "If it weren't for Snow's law, I'd marry Katniss in a heartbeat. But I can't."

Katniss reached out and took Blondie's hand. "We can't."

"What about you?" Gale asked with an eye roll at their lovey-dovey antics. "Weren't you about to be evicted?"

Peeta shrugged. "Delly and I got married three weeks ago."

"That poor, poor woman."

Peeta chuckled. "She's handling it better than I am. She's really easygoing and says she thinks of me like family. A brother." He shook his head, smiling ruefully. "She's probably the nicest person you'll ever meet."

Gale crossed his arms. "You're assuming I'll meet her."

"Well, since Katniss is going to work in the bakery, we were going to ask for your Capitol-appointed house to be next door." A low stain of pink trickled up Peeta's neck.

He knew what that meant. "So you and Katniss can bump uglies and sneak around behind me and Delly's backs." Not that he wanted Katniss. But why should she get the one she wanted and leave him with nothing?

"Is it really sneaking if all parties are aware of it and condone it?" Peeta asked, his voice entirely too reasonable.

"You know what I mean! It isn't right. And it's not fair!"

"None of this is fair," Katniss said, "I know this isn't what you wanted. What either of us wanted. But it's the only solution we can see."

Gale looked at her, then at Peeta. "And if I want to sleep with someone else?"

"You're welcome to do so," Katniss replied quickly. "So long as you don't sleep with me, I don't care."

"And you promise when Mom dies, that we'll take my siblings in." Posy wasn't going on the street. Not ever. No matter what he had to do, he wasn't letting his baby sister live on the street.

"Until they become adults and the Capitol forces them out, yes."

"Fine." He would do it. He would marry his soulmate. "But don't expect me to like it."

oOo

To his great surprise, he liked it.

After he and Katniss signed the papers and received the keys to their new house, located directly behind the bakery, Gale met Delly.

To say he met her was an understatement. More like she blew into his life like a blonde ample-bosomed hurricane who never left.

He was still moving in his meager possessions when she appeared, broom and dustpan in hand. "Howdy, neighbor. I figure you could use some help. Peeta'll be by later with dinner, and I'm sure Katniss will be with him. But I figured you could use some company who's good at cleaning while you're getting settled in."

He didn't know quite what to say. "Uh, thanks?"

"Aw, you're welcome. I know this is a big change, but don't worry. The four of us will take care of each other."

He stared at her. "I think you misunderstand my relationship with Katniss."

She blinked at him.

"We hate each other."

She blinked again.

"We have nothing in common."

She blinked a third time.

"She's fucking your husband."

"Oh! Well I know that. Peeta's been in love with her for years! Why, the very first thing I said to him was "You should ask her out." We were six at the time. I've never considered Peeta mine. He was always hers."

"But didn't you want him?"

"Oh gracious no!" she waved away his concern with a flick of her broom. "Why would I want someone who so clearly doesn't want me? I deserve to have someone who loves me for me."

"So why'd you marry him?" This woman - Delly - made no sense. No one was this nice. This pragmatic. Everyone had an angle. Everyone.

She paused her sweeping and fixed him with a wry look. "Who else was I going to marry?"

He had to concede that point.

"Let me rephrase: why marry him?"

"Who else was I going to marry?" she repeated. "Even if I didn't have Peeta's words of, "Oh no, I hoped it was someone else." no one ever looked at me." The little smile she offered was sardonic, self-mocking. "You certainly didn't, Mr. King of the One-Night Stand."

He tried to stifle the wince. She wasn't wrong. She was the kind of girl he never gave a second glance to… or even a first. Her blonde hair didn't shine like the sun or remind him of fields of ripened wheat. It was pretty enough in the right light, but not extraordinary. She had blue eyes like most Merchants, but they weren't striking or startling. Her features were plain. Unremarkable. Forgettable. The most striking thing about her was her personality, and Gale was honest enough with himself that he hadn't cared two figs for that. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be." She motioned to herself. "I know I don't seem like much, but Peeta never thought that. Why, in another world, if Katniss didn't exist, I think he'd be happy with me." She shrugged. "But we're in this world, and Peeta's my best friend and my husband, but not my lover. And I'm really and truly okay with that. Why, I can't wait for him and Katniss to finally have their toasting. They've been waiting so long, you see."

He stared at her for a moment, shocked at her ease with what she'd said. "You know, Peeta was right about you."

"Oh?"

"You are quite possibly the nicest person ever to exist."

The corners of her mouth turned up, revealing dimples in her rose-tinged cheeks. "Why, Mr. Hawthorne, I do believe that is the sweetest thing anyone has ever said to me."

To his astonishment, his heart did a little flip-flop in his chest. Ain't that the funniest thing.

oOo

That little flip-flop was only the beginning.

Slowly but surely, Delly wormed her way into his heart, and into his bed.

He no longer resented Katniss's insistence that they get married, and with his resentment abated, he and his wife traversed the long path to friendship. She was an awesome hunting partner and together they could bring in nearly three times as much game as they could alone.

But Katniss was nothing compared to Delly. With her, Gale didn't have to put on a front. He didn't have to be the tough guy or the provider or the heartbreaker. He could tell her anything and she'd accept him. Love him. And because of that he loved her right back.

The first time they kissed, Gale knew his one-night stand days were over. Every kiss he'd had before that paled in comparison to hers, because hers were filled with love.

The first time Gale made love rather than fucked was with her, and he knew just what he'd been missing.

He still hated the Capitol. Divorce wasn't legal in Panem, and any children born in a marriage were considered the husband's.

Even if the whole town knew it wasn't true.

He and Peeta bonded over this shared tragedy. Katniss's children could never be considered Peeta's, just like Delly's children carried the last name of Mellark, not Hawthorne.

Everyone in Twelve knew what was going on. Everyone. But the Peacekeepers couldn't do anything about it. After all, the Mellarks and the Hawthornes were married to their soulmates, and Capitol hadn't legislated who could sleep in whose bed yet.

It was a little bit of rebellion, and the rebel in Gale rejoiced in it every time he gathered Delly into his arms.

oOo

AN:
Written: 6/30/18
Revised: 7/27/18

We randomized Gale and Katniss again… and well we ran with it. Except we didn't. Because we like Gale/Delly and Katniss/Peeta and this was a way we could play with things.

This universe has no Hunger Games. Which means no tesserae. But also means that nobody dies in the Games. Which changes how the Capitol subjects people.

...Of course, it doesn't change that they're subjected. The Capitol isn't that nice.

We also like Gale and Delly together and felt bad since the only universe we've paired them up we've also ended up killing one of them. Oops. Consider this payback.

We promise we'll write a happy Katniss/Gale at some point. We just keep getting these ideas and going with them. LOL

You can get more information about our original writing here:

Website: RoseLarkPublishing

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Thanks for reading!