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Holding onto anger and grudges was one of the reasons on why Katniss and Gale were such good friends. Both of them held the same experiences, same hobby, same train of thought. But if she began to spit out her vile words wasn’t going to do anyone some good. In just the few weeks of his return did they already argue plenty of times to last them a lifetime. Trying to focus on the main point, Katniss began to think which would be the best for Gale. He was a family oriented man who needed to have the chance in walking to his families house without having a problem of distance. “There’s always some houses that are about three streets down. It’ll take you about fifteen minutes to get to your moms from there.” Katniss had to know since she was sometimes in charge in taking Lily over to Hazelle’s place. “But those are closer to the Hob. There’s a few next to the woods but it’s a lot further from home.” The houses weren’t the best but if it was going to be him alone then it didn’t really matter on the size wise. “It’s small houses just for one. So, I suggest you get yourself a pet for when winter comes.” She shrugged once and laid back on the couch.
Gale listened carefully to Katniss’ suggestions, but none of them seemed appealing. He felt a little guilty for being so selfish and picky, but he was intending to live here for the rest of his life, so he wanted to live somewhere worthwhile. Tilting his head up to the ceiling, he gave a short sigh. Looking back at Katniss, he said, “Thanks for the tips Catnip, but none of them… seem right? Is that something appropriate to describe this with?” He bit his lip, shaking his head a little. “God, sorry I’m being so fucking stupid about this, I just want to make it perfect. You know?” But his frustrated expression got a little lighter when Katniss mentioned getting a pet. “What is up with you guys and getting dogs? Personally, dogs scare the living daylight out of me, so I’ll pass on a pet. Just me, myself, and I is all I need,” he said proudly, beating his chest and laughing.
Peeta couldn’t help but laugh at the seriousness in Posy’s voice. For someone so young she certainly didn’t act like it at times. However, the thought of leaving his two month old alone with Lily made him slightly nervous. He believed that Posy was responsible and careful, but no matter what nine years old was still only nine years old. And Peeta just wasn’t sure if that was old enough to watch the baby alone. “You know, she’s been sort of fussy today, so could you maybe play with her in here?” Peeta asked, figuring a little white lie would be okay in order to spare the girl’s feelings. “You can hold her though, just be very careful. Which I know you will because you are in fact nine years old.” He handed the baby over gently to Posy and gestured to the stroller. “If you need some baby toys we have some in the diaper bag.” Peeta told her, sitting back against the couch and letting out a breath as she headed to the corner of the room. “So, Gale, how’s it going with you?”
Gale watched, amused as Peeta tried reasoning with Posy about handling Lily. Of course, like Peeta, wouldn’t trust a child with his own flesh and blood, even if she was nine years old. He watched a still excited Posy take Lily as careful as she could to the floor only a couple feet away from where him and Peeta were sitting. Gale raised his head when Peeta asked his question directed to him. Clearing his throat, he replied, “Oh you know, the usual. Still helping with the family and Katniss is helping me pick a house,” He stretched his legs farther out, clearly showing he was exhausted. “And I’m visiting Johanna time to time, but I haven’t heard anything from the Odairs,” Looking back over to Peeta, he said with a ghost of a smile, “And you? How’s life back at home?”
“It’s genetics, dear”.
Oh genetics, it was useless to start an argument about it. While people like Gale had the luck to being tall and, well, hot, Jo considered herself to be less fortunate of only being the second thing. She only wished for a couple more inches, but natural ones of course. In the Quarter Quell her prep team had suggested implanting some weird thing that, with honesty, she never really understood, but it was suppose to make her taller. Johanna remembered that at the time she imagined those weird looking doctors unscrewing her feet and attaching new ones which had incorporated heels. Just imagining it all over again made her shiver. She quickly shook that thought out of her head and focused on the task at hand.
“Here’s an idea”.
Johanna tilted her head a little confused on why Gale was moving the boxes away, though she shouldn’t be even remotely surprised. The last time that that had happened the ending hadn’t been much different, although this time it felt like a wave of electricity went through her body. She smirked against his lips, wrapping one of her arms around his neck and with her free hand pushed his shirt so he could stand closer. “There you go. Was it so hard to use your brain?”, she teased, kissing him deeply.
“There you go. Was it so hard to use your brain?”
Gale suddenly shifted a little with Johanna’s subtle movements with her hand. He couldn’t help but grin; she was probably thinking the same as him. Moving his free hand to the small of her back, he sat her up on his lap and kissed her once again. He had never felt this much connection in his life. Especially back in Two where he, now guiltily, hired some women from the brothel to spend a night with him in his misery. They always felt like paper people; so insubstancial and unrealistic. But here, with Johanna, he actually felt a person with him. Leaning closer into her, he parted his lips from hers for a moment and whispered, “Are you sure you don’t want to finish that packing now?” Gale grinned, giving her a quick peck on the lips all the same.
Gale stood back and rubbed his leg as Katniss pried the carnivorous dog off of his leg. Bending over slightly, he rubbed his calf and muttered a couple of cuss words along with a ramble about having to get stitches after this. After “Chester” had made his slow walk of shame back…
Gale had noticed that with every motion Katniss made, something was on her mind. She did everything a little more stiff and her eyes wandered. Gale could almost read her like an open book since they were best friends. But he knew better than to ask her straight up. He would let some time pass before asking her anything. Hearing Katniss’ question, he let out a long breath. That was really a good question because even he didn’t know. If he lived too close to them, he would have the urges to still tend and care for them even though he was still not living there. But if he lived too far, he would always feel guilty for not knowing what was happening with them. It was a lose-lose situation either way. “Somewhere in the middle would be ideal I guess. I still want to get to their house easily, but not too easy where I would be tempted to visit them constantly. God damn families,” he said a little exasperatedly.
Gale groaned as he heard his little sister calling from down stairs. He knew she was too anxious to be kept alone. Begrudgingly, he descended the stairs to be greeted by a flying girl. Staggering a little, he chuckled at his sister’s wild behavior that had led to her now wrapping her arms around his neck and hanging there. Gale hadn’t quite moved out of his family’s house yet, but he was going to soon and eventually had to break it to his favorited sibling. But now was definitely not the time. After a little bit of squirming, Gale peeled Posy off his neck and placed her carefully on the ground. “Can you please just take a deep breath, they’ll be here soon enough,” He watched as the little girl squealed and ran into the kitchen, knocking over a couple pans in the process which clattered to the floor. Gale just rolled his eyes; he’d pick that up later. Katniss was originally supposed to come over, but he guessed that she had tricked him into setting up some sort of bonding session with him and Peeta. Gale wasn’t the hugest fan of this idea, but it was worth a shot. Besides, Posy wanted to so desperately see her Uncle Peeta and Cousin Lily. And with that, a short knock came to the door which sent a screaming Posy straight out of the kitchen. Catching her, Gale picked her up and looked her square in the eye. “You can’t be this loud Posy or else you’ll scare the baby forever. Behave,” Sighing, he set down the antsy girl and opened the door. “Hey man,”
His wife was a brilliant, evil woman. She was going to take Lily over to play with Posy and chat with Gale, but of course she’d ‘forgotten’ about her plans with Prim until the very last minute. So Peeta could go instead, because they couldn’t possibly hurt poor little Posy’s feelings, now could they? Not after getting her hopes up for so long about her dear cousin who she loved so much. It was a dirty, rotten trick that Peeta had bought in to without a second thought. Damn her. She was probably going hunting or off to shoot the breeze with Johanna. It wasn’t that Peeta hated Gale, he truly didn’t. He just thought the man was a bit of a baby when he didn’t get his way, and that was annoying. But it was clear that Katniss really wanted the two men to get along and bond, and Peeta was as whipped as they came, so there he stood on the Hawthorne’s front porch with Lily’s stroller. Peeta smiled slightly when Gale and Posy appeared. This meant a lot to Katniss so he was going to do it for her. “Hey Gale, hi there Posy. I brought you your favorite play mate!” He followed the two into the house and lifted Lily out of the stroller, getting her situated in his arms. “Are we… in the living room?” He asked, unsure of where they were going to be at. The last time he’d come over to talk to Gale he’d sat down on the couch and it seemed to piss the man off, so he figured asking was the best bet this time around.
After Peeta had gotten Lily out of her stroller and into the house, Gale nodded a little curtly at the suggestion of going into the living room. Leading the way, he walked into their living room with Posy trailing right as his heels. As soon as he stopped, Posy ran up to Peeta and said in a very serious tone, “May I please see Posy? I know you might say that I’m to young to hold her without supervision, but I am in fact nine years old,” She said this all staring Peeta straight into his eyes. Gale laughed, pulling up a wooden chair and sitting in it, back to his torso. Gale looked up at Peeta in the same tone just as Posy. “She is in fact nine,” he approved, nodding to Posy. Chuckling again, he said,” God Posy you’d be such a good lawyer,”
“I’ll take that since you obviously have no use for it”.
Johanna giggled as Gale took the bottle from her. “Who told you I didn’t?”, she asked with a smirk, returning his wink. “The Capitol is known to make interesting changes in Victors. Look at Enobaria, she has freaking shark teeth! Can’t help but wonder how she…”, Jo trailed off, not wanting to think of the subject anymore. “Never mind…you don’t have to have that intoxicating mental image as well “. Discussing that brat’s sex life was not in today’s list of chores. She had had enough of that girl for a lifetime.
“That would be nice, but the problem is, how are we supposed to finish the other half when the other person has it? It’ll make the suspense unbearable”.
Just his laugh made Jo smile widely and shake her head at his answer. “Figures you normally don’t read those kinds of things…if you don’t have the ending it leaves you more room to imagine”. She twitched her face at his playful touch and lightly nudged him in his arm. “You have to use that grey mass inside your head sometimes”.
“Are we going to be doing this all day? Because I’m gonna be truthful, going through your fanmail isn’t the most exhilarating thing I imagine”.
Johanna rolled her eyes. “How can you be so lazy and still have that body?”. But Gale was right though. That was surely not the most interesting thing to do while both of them had time to be together. Jo bit her bottom lip, hoping that something would magically pop into her head. “If you have an idea please feel free to say it, I’m not the one that knows things to do on this District”, she said with sarcasm, hoping that he wouldn’t take her tone serious.
“Figures you normally don’t read those kinds of things…if you don’t have the ending it leaves you more room to imagine. You have to use that grey mass inside your head sometimes,”
Gale forced a smirk, chuckling. He thought it would be funny if Johanna was actually the one reading these novels all the time. It was no secret that before they had met each other, both were equally lonely. But he decided not to say that aloud, knowing it might press a few buttons. “Damn, using my brain? I hate thinking,”
“How can you be so lazy and still have that body?”
Gale gave a hearty laugh; sometimes he thought this himself sometimes. He continually made other people fetch him things not a few feet away and do no nonsense jobs that he didn’t care to tend to. Gale knew that eventually he had to fix this bad habit, but he was hoping not very soon. “It’s genetics, dear,”
“If you have an idea please feel free to say it, I’m not the one that knows things to do on this District,”
Feeling his stomach turn upside down, he prayed that he wouldn’t be slapped right then and there. Pushing the box to the side, he grinned and got on all fours and moving himself right over Johanna. “Here’s an idea,” and with that, he pressed his lips to hers.
I love you Loki! <3
You know what Loki needs? A friend.
Finnick that sounds borderline creepy
Gale groaned as he heard his little sister calling from down stairs. He knew she was too anxious to be kept alone. Begrudgingly, he descended the stairs to be greeted by a flying girl. Staggering a little, he chuckled at his sister’s wild behavior that had led to her now wrapping her arms around his neck and hanging there. Gale hadn’t quite moved out of his family’s house yet, but he was going to soon and eventually had to break it to his favorited sibling. But now was definitely not the time. After a little bit of squirming, Gale peeled Posy off his neck and placed her carefully on the ground. “Can you please just take a deep breath, they’ll be here soon enough,” He watched as the little girl squealed and ran into the kitchen, knocking over a couple pans in the process which clattered to the floor. Gale just rolled his eyes; he’d pick that up later. Katniss was originally supposed to come over, but he guessed that she had tricked him into setting up some sort of bonding session with him and Peeta. Gale wasn’t the hugest fan of this idea, but it was worth a shot. Besides, Posy wanted to so desperately see her Uncle Peeta and Cousin Lily. And with that, a short knock came to the door which sent a screaming Posy straight out of the kitchen. Catching her, Gale picked her up and looked her square in the eye. “You can’t be this loud Posy or else you’ll scare the baby forever. Behave,” Sighing, he set down the antsy girl and opened the door. “Hey man,”
“To be quite honest, I’m not a huge fan of dogs. They’re like children, but more needy and less literate”.
Johanna sat on the floor and patted it so the dog could come lay down next to her and give Gale a break. “Oh, that’s so cute. You like to be the only needy illiterate child in the room”, she said with a smirk, opening the first box. As his owner had ordered, Loki came straight to her and laid on the ground, his head resting on one of her legs. And, as always, the odds were against her. The box she opened was full of bottles and smaller boxes, medicines to be more specific. Some of the names she knew, but the rest of them could be Morse code for all she knew. As she started to take all of them out to see if there was more to it, she froze looking at one. “What the fuck Capitol? This one would be interesting to use if I was a guy”.
“Do I seriously have to go through this. I mean there could be medical records or erotica novellas in here. All I know is that there’s a lot of paper”.
Jo looked at him, carefully pondering her words. “If there are medical records you can just shove them in the garbage pile. The other thing we can split between us if you want. Consider it a thank you for helping me gift”, she said jokingly, crawling toward him to peek inside his box.
“What the fuck Capitol? This one would be interesting to use if I was a guy,”
Gale peeked over at what Johanna was whining about. Chuckling, he saw the “enlarging” prescription she had in her hands. The Capitol was known for sending obscure artifacts and presents to the people they adored, but maybe this was going a little too far. Were they expecting Johanna to grow something if they gave her the pills? Leaning over, Gale snatched the bottle out of her hand. “I’ll take that since you obviously have no use for it,” Gale stuffed the bottle into his coat pocket, winking at Johanna. He knew he wasn’t going to probably ever use them, but teasing Johanna was all too fun.
“If there are medical records you can just shove them in the garbage pile. The other thing we can split between us if you want. Consider it a thank you for helping me gift,”
Gale gave a loud laugh at the thought of them splitting an erotica novel between the both of them. “That would be nice, but the problem is, how are we supposed to finish the other half when the other person has it? It’ll make the suspense unbearable,” he smirked, flicking her nose as she got close to him. Smiling, he leaned back on his elbows and sighed. “Are we going to be doing this all day? Because I’m gonna be truthful, going through your fanmail isn’t the most exhilarating thing I imagine,”
Now with the final settlement of going back to normal schedule, Katniss was found sitting down on the couch by herself. Peeta was off in the bakery, getting in a few hours while Lily was just put down for her afternoon nap. The toddler was only two months old and she was finally adjusting on making her naps a tad longer than before. Now Katniss was left with nothing to do, the house was pretty cleaned if she said so herself. And since Peeta wasn’t home, she was allowed to put the dog outside. Her hopes was that it would probably take off that way but it maintained in it’s spot until Katniss gave in and took him inside. Katniss just stood up to walk into the kitchen when she heard a scream coming from the outside of her house. She frowned and walked over, opening the door to find the creature biting down on Gale’s leg. “Chester! Off!” According to Peeta, this was the most loving dog and already it was chewing down on someone’s leg. Which she would later complain to Peeta but now it was just a proven fact that the Mellarks would never be robbed. Once she tugged at the dogs collar, Chester whimpered and soon walked shamelessly inside of the house. Katniss took a deep breath and looked at Gale. “Surprise to see you here. Come in, I’m sure Chester isn’t looking for another round.”
Gale stood back and rubbed his leg as Katniss pried the carnivorous dog off of his leg. Bending over slightly, he rubbed his calf and muttered a couple of cuss words along with a ramble about having to get stitches after this. After “Chester” had made his slow walk of shame back into the house, Gale recomposed his stance. Following Katniss into the house, he said under his breath, “I knew I should’ve brought a taser just in case something like this happened,” He trailed behind Katniss until they reached the living room. He sat himself in the closest armchair by him and faced her, clasping his hands together. “I feel like it’s been awhile Catnip. Besides, knowing that I’m staying in Twelve now, I thought I could use some help. And I know you know this ratty old District better than anyone. Help a friend out?” Gale looked imploringly at her, knowing that he could not do this alone and she was the best bet for finding somewhere suitable to live and a sustainable job. He knew he was too incompetent to take on this task all alone.
