Disclaimer: I do not own The Hunger Games.

Chapter ten: You Touch it, You Take it~

"What was that?" Katniss asked, clearly irritated.

Gale feigned ignorance. "What?"

"That," she said, gesturing towards where Peeta had stood. "Could you be any more rude?"

"Rude? C'mon, I was just shaking his hand! Since when is that rude?"

"Gale, you can't pretend. I was right there watching."

Crap, she was onto him.

"Look, I'm sorry, but he was just so-"

She widened her eyes at him, clearly in warning that other ears were present. He shut his mouth, opting to lean into her ear.

"So wimpy! You know I can't stand guys like that." He whispered.

"Peeta's not 'wimpy'." She whispered back.

He gave her a flabbergasted look. "You're kidding, right?"

When she made no move to correct her previous sentence he added, "Come on, the guy's a total wuss!"

"No, he's not." She said again, turning away from him to move up the line.

Gale followed suit, putting his face level with her ear again. "Oh, please. I bet he follows you around like a lost puppy."

He waited for her rebuttal, but when there came none, he knew he was right. He pulled away from her, sighing.

Suddenly, a thought hit him.

Smiling, he said, "I bet you five bucks that if you threw a stick, and you asked him to, he'd go running to get it."

Katniss remained with her back to him, but he could tell he'd struck a nerve. He tried to imagine her sour expression as she made a reprimanding 'tsk' sound.

"Look, Peeta is really nice. So let's just drop it, okay?"

They moved up the line again.

"Whatever you say," Gale chuckled, crossing his arms and looking toward the ceiling, picturing a puppy-dog Peeta racing enthusiastically after a stick.

They reached the front of the line, and Gale knew right then that he wouldn't have to go hungry for long. The tables were packed with all kinds of food, from takeout to homemade, and he had to control himself so he wouldn't cut in line and just hog it all. They came up to the first table and Katniss handed him a paper plate, though she was still obviously miffed about earlier.

Gale flipped the plate in his hands, boredly moving along the line with everyone else. Grabbing himself a napkin and some plastic utensils, he looked to those around him for pointers on how exactly to conduct himself. Apparently it was a free-for-all - or buffet, if you wanted to sound sophisticated - where everyone pretty much just grabbed whatever they wanted.

Gale shuffled behind Katniss, coming up to his first choice of fuel: burgers and hotdogs. He looked at them just long enough to recognize what they were, and unceremoniously dumped one of each onto his plate. Then came his next choice: fried chicken.

He automatically reached out a hand to grab a juicy looking wing, but stopped when he saw a fly buzz off of it. Gale went to choose another piece, but his hand was violently slapped away by the person at the other side of the table.

Shocked, Gale looked up, his eyes meeting a very stern-looking Prim. He immediately recoiled his hand from the chicken, genuinely scared of the little girl before him. She raised a menacing finger at him.

"You touch it, you take it." She said, deadly serious.

Eyes wide, Gale reached back for the chicken wing, and, keeping his eyes on her the entire time, slowly placed it back on his plate. Satisfied, Prim turned her attention back to whatever food she had been contemplating on choosing, and just like that, she was back to her sweet, innocent self. Gale stood there for a few more seconds, and when Prim had moved to the other table, he immediately put the chicken back in the pile, switching it out for another one.

"Hey!"

He didn't bother turning to look at the person complaining behind him, instead choosing to ignore them and focus on finding another, safer, dish to try.

A/N: Woah, Prim got srsly srs there, didn't she? 0.0 But why not? Food is no laughing matter! (A)/

The fly thing actually happened to me, with the exception of me getting caught XD

It's just so gross when you see any type of bug on your food, and although I do feel kind of guilty for letting someone else put that tainted hot dog or burger into their mouths, I don't feel bad about not eating it myself, because let's face it, it's my mouth...wow, that sounded terrible. Erh, never mind! D:

Anyway, hopefully lunch will only last for another chapter or so, and then the real hilarity can ensue ;)