Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.

Chapter eight: Playground Warfare~

Gale followed Katniss across the field to the playground, dodging the occasional frisbee or football. Although he wasn't angry anymore, he still couldn't stop thinking about Johanna. She was just so...so...

He didn't even know.

Words could not (and probably never would) describe the truly bizarre nature of that woman. Still, he felt the ever-growing need to verbalize his dislike for the young girl - he figured that if he could talk about her, to put his annoyance into words, that she would quit grating on his mind and he could just let it go and move throughout the rest of the day with fairly happy thoughts.

It seemed like a sound enough plan.

Picking up his pace a bit, Gale came up beside Katniss, shortening his stride to match hers.

"So uh, hey, I've been wondering; why does she call you Red?" He asked.

She turning her head to look at him quizzically. "Who, Johanna?"

"Yeah," he clarified, not looking at her as he focused on the ground.

"It's...it's kind of hard to explain," she said, face scrunching up in thought. "Let me put it like this: you know how some people give other people nicknames, even though it's pretty much the opposite of what they actually are?"

Gale thought for a moment. "You mean like calling someone who's tall 'Shorty'?"

"Yes, exactly." She said. "Well, that's why Johanna calls me Red. Because my hair's brown."

He processed her words for a few seconds, then burst into a laugh. "What, like an oxymoron?" He said, smiling.

Katniss gave him a weird look. "Yeah..."

He continued to chuckle beside her.

"...What's so funny?"

"Hahahaha...it's just...it's just that...oh, this is hard..."

He laughed some more, and eventually had to stop walking completely in order to quell his fit of sudden giggles.

Katniss stood beside him patiently, obviously curious as to what he found so humorous.

Gale tried again. "It's just that it's so 'you' to complicate things that are so not!" He finally managed to get out.

Her eyebrows knotted. "What do you mean?"

"Well, all you had to say was it was an oxymoron! And you go and explain it away in such 'complicated' detail! I'm sorry, but that's just hilarious," he laughed again, placing a hand on his belly.

Katniss looked at him, and his laughter wimpishly died. For the longest time he thought she might do something drastic, like punch him or stomp off (or worse; give him the silent treatment for two hours), but she didn't. Instead, she looked thoughtfully at the ground, as though pondering this newfound fact herself, and gave a light shrug, resuming her walk to the playground.

Well that was...anticlimactic.

Gale jogged up to her, truly puzzled. "What the hell was that?" He chuckled.

"What was what?" She asked, staring ahead.

"Th-that," he gestured back toward their previous spots. "You're not mad at me or anything?"

"Why would I be mad?"

Okay, now he was really confused. "Uh, because that's what you do when I say stuff like that?"

She shook her head. "No. I mean, like you said, it's the truth. Why should I be mad about the truth?"

Well, she had him there.

"Uh...I dunno..."

"Look, don't worry about it. I'm not gonna jump out at you when you least expect it, or anything," she joked, giving a short laugh.

Gale chuckled halfheartedly with her, if not a tad nervously. He honestly wouldn't put it past her to do just that, and he briefly pondered whether or not he should be on his guard for the remainder of the day. He didn't get the chance to decide, however, because just then, they reached the playground.

"KATNISS!" Prim called, waving from the rickety bridge.

Katniss smiled. "PRIM!"

Gale joined in, cupping his hands around his mouth to shout, "RORY!"

Rory's head peaked out from the monkey bars. Letting go of one of the monkey bars, he cupped his hand around his mouth, and shouted for the whole world to hear,

"FARTFACE!"

Gale's smile was wiped clean faster than a dinner plate.

Everyone silenced for a moment as they turned their heads in his direction, all curious to see who the insult was directed at. Then, almost immediately, the children and tweens of the playground (and even some of the adults) began to howl with laughter. They chuckled and snorted and jeered, and if he hadn't had any dignity, Gale probably would have blushed in embarrassment. He stood there, a bit shell-shocked that his little brother would openly embarrass him in public.

It was when he noticed Katniss chuckling silently next to him that he finally came to.

"Son of a-!" Without warning Gale shot forward, aiming to exact revenge on his baby brother.

Rory, expression now horror-struck, leapt from the monkey bars and ran in the opposite direction of his crazed sibling.

Prim trotted over to join her sister, both equally enjoying the young Hawthorne's antics.

"What are we gonna do with those two?" She asked to no one in particular, mocking concern.

Katniss shook her head. "I have no idea..."

A/N: Okay, now tell me you can't see that happening between two brothers in a public place? I mean really? :D lol.

No new characters in this chapter, but just you wait until the next one. Lunch will be...well...you'll see ;)

Happy Mother's Day, everyone! :)

'Til next time.