A/N: Alright, who wants a fluffy little chapter? For those of you who do, enjoy! If you don't, just wait patiently for the next one (which is almost ready and will be posted soon, btw). That's when things are headed down the sad road, as it has to since i wanted to follow the original story. I couldn't resist this scene though, something that popped into my mind on a long, dragging lecture the other week.

Thanks a million to all of you who left comments, and please feel free to do it too, the rest of you! I got this tip that maybe i shouldn't interrupt the flow of the text by writing the stuff from the actual book in bold letters, which is a very good point. Maybe i should change the first few chapters? Anyway, there's none of that in this chapter.

OK, time to shut up now. Hope you like this! ;)

This summer is the hottest anyone can remember. The heat waves just keep coming and coming, turning our district into a smouldering pit of ashes, making the air dirty and hard to breathe in. Violent thunders shake our houses almost daily, threatens to shatter the frail shacks of the Seam, and when it rains, the water comes pouring down without warning, its relief only temporary. The going in District 12 turns slow, laziness compelling as the heat distorts our bodies and minds.

In the midst of all this, I'm also caught up in a whole other kind of heat. Come Sunday the next week, I'm able to sneak out under the fence again. It's the first really hot day, and I enjoy the morning breeze, feeling hopeful about what the day might bring.

Naïve, I've been thinking all week that maybe Gale and I were both just out of sorts last Sunday. Today we will surely be able to shove this kissing nonsense back in its safe little box, and continue on our old path. On the other hand, a certain memory has been popping up constantly in my mind, despite my best efforts to block it. And I'm terribly excited to see him, even though I convince myself it's just the calm of the woods that I miss.

When I get to our place, I see straight away Gale has no intentions of going along with my back-to-normal-scheme. On the contrary, I step into the clearing only to find him sitting in our usual nook, leaning back, enjoying the sunshine on his bare skin. His shirt, I notice nervously, is discarded over a tree branch. I stop short, feeling a little crazy creeping back into my eyes. I've seen him shirtless lots of times before, but I guess I haven't really been looking then. With my newfound filter of dazedness, I can't stop staring. The sun tints his skin a golden tone, and highlights every single toned muscle rippling across his upper body. His face is relaxed, at ease, and his eyes are closed.

"Are you gonna come sit down for breakfast, or what?" he says suddenly, cracking one eye open and squinting against the sun. I flinch in surprise, realising I'm caught staring.

Sceptically, I take a few steps and sink down on the ground beside him. At least this way, I am forced to avert my eyes, focusing instead on the greenery stretching out before us.

"No Capitol-duty today?" he jabs me. He looks amused, as if something is really funny about this situation. He probably planned it ahead, anticipating my reaction. Damn him.

"Nope," I clip, tossing him an apple and biting into one of my own to prevent further talking. We eat in silence, which I enjoy immensely after all the bustling activity that's been my life since I came home from the Games.

However, I have to constantly fight the flustered tension that's come over me again. My eyes dart sideways of their own will, sneaking glances at Gale, and his scent is strong around me when we're this close. My palms are sweating, and it's not because of the warmth. In short, I feel powerless, and I don't like it. But then I catch him in a lingering gaze at my tanned legs, poking out through the shorts I'm wearing. It dawns on me, that two can play this game.

"You wanna head towards the stream today?" I ask him casually, once we're done. After all, it is a day for swimming.

"Sure," he agrees, directing his one-eyed squint at me. "Might catch some fish."

We'll see about that, I think, as we quickly pack up and set off.

The stream is a favourite place of ours in the woods. Especially this one part of it, where it broadens out after cascading down the side of a hill, surrounded by a little grass clearing. That's where we step out a couple of hours later, carrying the small amount of game we've been able to hunt down. In this heat, most forest animals prefer to lay low, and we're lucky we came across anything at all.

By now, the sun is beating down relentlessly on us, making the trek much harder than usual. When we reach the stream, I'm so relieved I forget about any other intentions than to cool off my overheated body. That's a stroke of luck though, because otherwise I would have exploded in nerves when we race for the water and both our pair of shorts gets discarded in the flurry. I dive in head first, instantly revived as the cool water swallows me up. I keep my body under the surface of the shallow pool for a moment, before pushing to come up for air. Standing on my tiptoes, my head just reaches over the surface. I lean backwards, letting the current sweep me down a few paces, until my feet can find a steadier hold and I stand up. I wipe the water from my eyes, and see Gale is still over where we dived in, standing in the cascade of water coming down the rocks. He hasn't spotted me, so I swim upstream, diving under again to avoid the worst of the current. When my lungs protest and I resurface, I'm right below him, splashing a great shower of water up to hit him in the face. It's childish, but I don't care right now, I just laugh at his spluttering.

Then he freezes, eyes zooming in on me and water-filled nose all forgotten about. The look of sudden alert on his face would be funny, if those grey eyes locked on me weren't so intense. My mind immediately picks up again on the new atmosphere between us, and I look down to see the state I'm currently in.

I only thought it appropriate to leave my shirt on before, but now it turns out the light summer fabric it's made of was never meant to go swimming in. Having turned completely translucent, it no longer can be qualified as clothing. That leaves me in little else than my black underwear set, and this realisation flushes my cheeks.

Oh well, I try to reason with myself, wasn't that more or less the plan? I never meant to take it quite this far, though. And I had underestimated the effect of Gale, half naked in just his boxers, and glistering wet. We stare at each other, probably looking a lot like the trapped animals we track down do, just before I shoot them. Clearing his throat loudly, Gale raises an arm to scratch his neck, averting his eyes a little. The light, friendly mood from moments ago is now replaced by a heavy, electric current in the air. I have to remind myself to breathe.

Without a word, I turn to wade back to solid ground, sitting down in a sunny spot on the soft green grass. I busy myself with loosening up my braid, and comb through the wet hair with my fingers. In another moment, the radiating warm sensation beside me tells me that Gale has sat down too. I feel his hand lightly brushing mine, making my whole body tingle, and look down wonderingly, only to see him extending a handful of strawberries. I flash him a small smile, daring to meet his eyes again. They still has that baffled, soft tinge, but are now also just a tad guilty. Good, at least we're on the same page.

Not daring to break the moment, we lie down on our backs with beating hearts and bask in the sunlight, letting it dry us off. I take long breaths, trying to fight my suddenly very graphic imagination the best I can. I think I may doze off for a little while, and when I wake, I'm too warm all over again, and my head is dizzy. I raise myself up on one elbow, and find Gale is resting too. His eyes are closed and his face is completely relaxed. A new kind of warmth spreads through my body when I look at him, fuelled by my not-quite-awake-brain and lingering images from a restless dream. Without permission, my hand reaches out to brush a strand of hair from his eye. He looks so unprotected asleep.

His eyes open slowly at the touch, meeting mine with a depth in them that makes my heart first stop, and then beat harder than ever. He props himself up on his elbows until his face is very close to mine, raking his eyes over my loose, half-dried hair, down the too many undone buttons of my still see-through shirt and then up again. I recognise the hunger in them now, since it matches my own. I myself feel an unrelenting urge to stroke my hand down his toned chest, to see if the skin there would feel as soft against mine as it looks.

I notice his eyes again, the way his pupils are dilated and the lids heavy. It makes my lips part slightly, and his burning gaze flickers down, then up again.

"Kiss me, Catnip," he breathes.

Those words make my lower stomach contract and my every thought disappear. I can feel his warm breath on my lips, and oh, I really want to. A shaky sigh escapes me.

"If I did, I wouldn't be able to stop," I press out through the haze in by brain, my voice all throaty.

"Why would you have to?" he says then, and the longing is evident in his voice.

I close my eyes for a second, and allow myself to think about that, about how things could be, if only I would never have to stop kissing Gale. The future stretches out like a band of pearls before us, everything coming together. It would be effortless, natural even, to let ourselves fall in love with each other. I already crave his touch more than anything else. It would be something even the old Katniss would agree on. And also, it's completely impossible. The last thought clouds all other; doubt reappearing over my head and effectively clearing the fog in my brain.

"You know why," I whisper, and avert my eyes from his to get away from the crushing disappointment there. My body protests wildly, but I force myself to steer away from what would otherwise certainly have happened.

I lie down again, although close to him, resting my head on his chest and letting my hand stroke just once over his stomach as I hold him tight to me. He lets me, and his arm go around me in return, one hand brushing through the curls in my hair lightly. I feel his lips against the top of my head once.

We lie like that for a good while, just breathing each other in while we wait for the delirious want to cool off. My heart is heavy with emotions that I refuse to put a name on, but which I can't get enough of when I feel them radiate towards me from him as well. When we finally accept it's time to start heading back home, the loss of contact is devastating, as if I'm only whole when I can feel his skin on mine. So I don't protest when he takes my hand and holds it firmly all through the woods, back to the fence that marks the start of harsh reality.