Disclaimer: All stories are individuals of themselves and are unrelated to each other.
Madge sighed, sinking backwards onto her couch and pulling her blanket tighter over her shoulders. In the corner was the dinkiest Christmas tree in the world. It was fake, which was fine, but the limbs were all bent in the wrong directions and half of the lights wouldn't even turn on.
It didn't feel like Christmas was coming. Christmas used to be her favorite holiday, but this year it just felt… stale.
The door to the apartment opened and Madge stayed put, assuming it was probably just Katniss returning from work. But when a deep male voice called out, "Katniss?" Madge turned to look over her shoulder. She found Gale standing there looking slightly confused. "Katniss home?"
"No," Madge responded. "But sure, feel free to just walk into our apartment whenever you'd like." Gale grinned, striding more into the apartment. It was normal for him to just barge in, he and Katniss were close enough friends that it wasn't that big of a deal, but Madge still berated him for it anyway. "You two going out?"
"She asked me to wrap some presents for her," Gale said as he sunk onto the couch beside her. Madge looked over at him, following his gaze. "Undersee, what the hell is that?" he asked, pointing to the Christmas tree.
She sighed another time, fixing the blankets around her. "A Christmas tree."
"That is not a Christmas tree," Gale said. Madge sighed another time.
She was happy that she and Gale were friendly these days. It had been hard to hang around with him when he was all angsty and cruel, but that time had passed and he was much more lighthearted now. The fact that he was teasing her was proof of that.
But he was right, it wasn't a Christmas tree. "It was what Katniss had," Madge murmured. The tiny broken plastic tree was more like a sad story than anything else. "But we'll survive." Gale kept his face neutral but continued to stare at the Christmas tree. "Christmas used to be my favorite season," Madge said softly, mostly to herself.
But these days it just didn't feel… real. It didn't feel like Christmas. She wasn't dancing to her favorite tunes or drinking hot chocolate every night or even hanging up stockings. The dumpy tree certainly didn't help much either. She knew that none of this was really what made Christmas feel so listless though.
Her mom had passed the year before just a couple weeks before Christmas. It still sat heavy in her stomach. She thought she'd cried herself out that year but she knew the tears would rear their ugly head again this year too.
Suddenly Gale stood. "Come on," he said.
Madge shifted in her blanket cocoon. "What?"
He extended his hand to her. "We're getting you a real tree," he said. "Come on." Madge stared at his hand before snuggling back down into her blankets. With a short breath Gale grabbed the blanket, pulling it away from her. She gasped and struggled to hold the blanket in her hands. "Come on, Undersee," he nearly growled. "I'm not going to sit here and watch you pout at a tree. Now let's go."
She let the blanket go and frowned at him. "I'm not pouting. And what about Katniss's presents?"
"It takes me like, ten minutes to wrap presents. I'll text her." He extended his hand to Madge another time, and finally she accepted it. "She's not even home," he added, basically dragging her to the door. "And I've got my truck."
After pulling on her jacket and her hat and winding a scarf around her neck with a scowl, Madge followed Gale out of the apartment.
Katniss really had asked him to wrap presents. He was incredible at it - something about nimble hands and having to help his mother with the kids' presents for years - and Katniss was not good at wrapping presents. He'd been wrapping her presents for years. So that wasn't a lie.
But Gale knew she worked until late on Fridays and still ended up at her apartment a couple of hours early. That wasn't a mistake.
Gale liked seeing Madge. They had this push and pull sort of attitude about one another that Gale knew was more pull than anything else. At least, he'd been feeling that way. He found himself forgetting to look away from her, found himself hovering over her contact name to talk to her instead of Katniss. It was little things, but Gale wanted more.
And so, sure, he hadn't anticipated taking her Christmas tree shopping, but he didn't exactly regret that they ended up trudging around the cold Christmas tree farm either.
It was a crowded night and there were families everywhere. It was prime Christmas tree time, not right after Thanksgiving but not too close to Christmas either. Madge had her hands shoved in her pockets and looked miserable, but slightly less so than when she was sitting on her couch staring at that awful tree.
"I've never gone to a tree farm before," she suddenly says. Gale tips his head at her, waiting for her to elaborate. "I mean, at my house we had a fake tree. It was better than Katniss's. But still fake."
"Well we're already here," he said, "so we're getting a tree." Madge looked hesitant. "Real trees are better for a variety of reasons," Gale said as they started down one of the pathways. "The first being that your apartment will actually smell like pine."
"Could catch on fire."
"We're talking about the positives here, Undersee," he murmured.
"You get pine needles all over your floor," she added. He scoffed, knocking her elbow with his, and she managed a smile. "I appreciate this," Madge finally said as they paused to look at a tree. "Really, Gale." He turned to look at her, finding her lifting her hands to examine the branches. "I just, I don't know. I'm not feeling very Christmassy this year."
"Hence the tree."
Madge gnawed on her bottom lip before looking over at him. "It's more than the tree," she said.
Gale shrugged. "Gotta start somewhere." He pulled his eyes from her to look back at the tree. "This one has weak arms," he told her, "and I'm assuming you want to decorate yours. So this isn't the right one." He turned and started down another row, hoping that she followed. "You want strong branches," he told her.
Madge followed slowly. "Gale," she tried.
"But you also want the tree to be really full. Aesthetic reasons, you know."
"Gale," she tried again. He finally stopped, turning to face her. She threw her hands up. "I don't have any lights. Or ornaments. Or anything like that."
Gale stared her down. "Then we'll get some."
"Gale, it's really–" she strode over to him, grabbing his hands. "This is really sweet," Madge told him gently. "But it just…" she trailed off with a sigh. Getting a new tree wasn't going tofix things.
He swallowed thickly, and then cleared his throat, taking a tiny step closer. "I know Christmas is hard on you," he said softly. He remembered the texts from Katniss about Madge's mom, it had hit him harder than he'd expected. "And I know what it's like when you're missing someone that's supposed to be there. How big the room feels compared to how it used to be. How quiet." Her wet eyes were on the ground and he squeezed her hands. "But having an empty apartment…"
"I used to love Christmas," she sniffed.
"It'll take time," Gale said. "But you can love it again." Slowly she looked up toward him and Gale let go of one of her hands so he could reach forward, cradling her jaw gently. "Let's just start with a tree, yeah?"
She sniffed again. "Okay." He brushed his thumb over her cheek once before nodding in return, lowering his hands again. When he went to walk down another row of trees Madge held onto his hand this time, tangling their fingers together as he pulled her along.
He ignored the warmth in his chest at this simple gesture, because he didn't want tonight to be about him, or them, but about her.
After another half hour or so they finally settled on a tree. It wasn't perfect. It was a little crooked and a little too skinny and had a missing branch or two, but Madge got her hair tangled in the branches accidentally and Gale carefully unwinding her hair from the pine needles was the first time she'd really smiled all night. So she chose that tree.
Even though it was Gale's idea to get a tree Madge insisted that she pay for it, and he let her because while she wasn't paying attention he purchased some twinkling lights and a tree stand so they could prop the tree up in her living room.
That night Katniss got home in the middle of them winding the lights around the branches and looked between the two of them as though she'd missed something monumental, but she kept her mouth shut regarding it.
Instead she said, "A little bigger than the one I had in storage."
A week later, Madge was nestled on her couch staring at her new Christmas tree. Gale was right - it made the entire place smell like pine, which also smelled like Gale - and truth be told, Madge was a fan.
It didn't have any ornaments yet but the soft twinkling lights were enough for now. Just as she went to snuggle deeper under her blankets there was a crisp knock on the door.
Confused, Madge threw her blankets off of her shoulder, slipped her slippers back on, and started for the door. Without checking through the eye-hole Madge threw open the door, surprised to find Gale standing there.
"Forget your key?" she joked.
A smile filled his face. "Door was locked," he answered. "And I don't have a key."
"Hmm…" she trailed off and went to step out of the way. "Well come in. Katniss isn't home, but–"
"Actually," he shifted on his feet, "I'm here for you. I'm supposed to be heading home to see my sister. She's singing in a recital tonight, and–well," Gale paused before holding out a small red box to her. "Here."
Madge's eyebrows came together. "What is it?"
"Just open it," Gale said. "I wanted to give it to you before I left."
Still confused she peeled off the wrapping paper, tossing it on the floor carelessly as Gale stood tall and proud, watching her with dark eyes. Once the wrapping paper was gone all that was left was a clear ornament case. Inside the box, visible from the outside, was a silver round bulb with music notes painted around it. It wasn't the fanciest thing, but it was beautiful.
Madge looked up at him. "Gale," she started, but he shook his head.
"I just thought you should have an ornament," he said. "But I should be–"
Before he could get out another word Madge had set the ornament on the small key-table by the door and grabbed the ends of his scarf, pulling him down and toward her. Their lips met roughly and were a bit uncoordinated but after a moment of warm wet kissing Gale grinned, cupping her cheek and tilting her chin back to make it easier. Madge tried tugging him inside to kick the door shut behind them but he pulled away before she could.
"Posy's recital," he murmured, pinning his forehead to hers. "I've got to go."
Madge licked her lips and his eyes followed the motion and soon Gale grinned again. "Come back after?" she asked.
He dipped again, kissing her quickly before stepping away with a twinkle in his eye. Gale nodded and turned down the hall, pausing only momentarily when he saw Katniss standing there.
She'd seen the whole thing.
"Don't wanna know," she murmured, edging her way past Gale and past Madge into their apartment.
Gale's grin widened and he winked in Madge's direction before disappearing down the hall again. Gnawing on her bottom lip Madge slipped back inside. She grabbed the ornament she'd set down and walked past Katniss in the kitchen before entering the living room. She unwrapped the present and found the perfect branch, hanging the ornament where it was seen from her favorite spot on the couch.
That night, long after Katniss had gone to sleep, Gale returned. This time they shared a blanket, draped over both of their shoulders, and he nuzzled into her throat. The Christmas tree was the only thing lit up and the lights twinkled, making the room feel cozy.
"You should probably get more ornaments, Undersee," he murmured into her skin before pressing a sweet kiss to her neck.
"One's enough," Madge whispered back, turning her head to kiss him again.