Gale was doing his best to let Peeta do things on his own, but it didn’t stop his heart from breaking every time he watched something like this happen. Bending down, Gale grabbed the cane and offered it to Peeta, along with his free hand. “I know you will, but it’s alright to accept help, y’know? We’re in this together… isn’t that what you said to me once?” he smiled.
Peeta took the cane, using it as leverage and although he’s shaky about it, he reaches out and takes the other’s hand. Why was he unsure about it? It felt as if he was giving up on his own promise to stand on his own feet. He didn’t want to rely on Gale forever, or at all, then he would feel like a burden on the man. “I...I did.” He admits, looking down as a defeated sigh falls from him.
“Great news. Cause I was dreamin’ about Posy tormenting me with her dolls and I was hopin’ that’s not what heaven was like.” Rory’s attempt at a joke, but it’s hard when he feels terrible. “Fine. Other than a bad headache.” Reaching up to rub his pounding head, feeling a bandaged. Caused by what he imagines is the last thing he remembers, which is a gigantic board coming down and hitting him in the head. “Where is everybody?”
“No,” was the immediate reply, too quickly said for it to be believable in spite of the steadiness her voice contained. A sigh followed, eyes closing briefly upon realisation. She’d aimed for a convincing answer so that he would leave her alone but knew that, now that she failed at doing so, he would stay to make sure she was alright and she didn’t want to cry more than she already had.
Send “Five Times ______ed” for a Drabble of 5 different times our characters… did that.
(based on the “five times kissed” & “five times fucked” etc. memes.) @ncdifferent
1: One kiss can mean a lot of things to someone like Peeta, he didn’t run around kissing random people just because he felt like it. Such an act carried a lot of weight behind it and meant something to the baker’s boy that not a lot of people would agree with him on. Then again, in a country plagued by war and the iron fist of the capitol, it’s not like you had a whole lot of spark or romance in your life. For some people, that was all they had. So when he and Gale finally kissed, out in the woods, away from people? It meant something to him. It had been so slow, so shy even that it felt almost dragged on. His hand settled upon Gale’s cheek, feeling the shaved cheek with a gentle touch just before their lips parted. He wants to smile, but he’s too shocked at his own actions, although he certainly enjoyed it. No words needed to be spoken, as the pair met again for a second kiss.
2: Seeing one another inside the fence seemed lacking now, they couldn’t kiss, touch or do anything without feeling as if they were being watched, the two didn’t truly know what it meant for each other yet either. Or at least Peeta didn’t, he’d never kissed another man and it was all he could think about. He enjoyed it, no doubt about it. He didn’t struggle with it as much as he figured he would, but the sound of his mother in the back of his head as well as the Peacekeepers, he’d heard them say… things, about these ‘types’. But they didn’t need to know, no one did. Peeta had been at the bakery when Gale approached, asking him over for the evening, not to stay the night, just to simply spend some time together inside the fence again. In which Peeta gladly complied, it starting out much like the first time, talking, wondering, but it felt like magnets the way their lips were drawn back together. Almost like tasting forbidden fruit, he couldn’t stop.
3: The meeting up didn’t stop, each day went by and it would mean its closer to the reaping every day and it felt like enough to push them together, with the worry that either of them would be reaped and sent off to die. Peeta hadn’t planned to stay the night, but he had been feeling a little worse for wear thanks to his mother, which lead to him seeking out Gale for comfort despite them not really talking about what they were. But he had been offered a place to stay, beside Gale. It only began with his arms around the man and a gentle kiss to his forehead that was the type of comfort he needed. But he raised his head, meeting the Hunter for a kiss that didn’t stop there. Careful, although nervous fingers began to wonder and Peeta took the first step of moving it further than what they had been. Hand dipping beneath the covers, moving to sensitive spots. It was going to be an interesting, although experimental, night for the pair of them.
4: It was the morning after, Peeta was very sure of what they had done and he didn’t regret any of it. Why? He had no reason to be, every touch, every kiss or brush of the finger felt like the right thing to him. He felt like he had figured out a big part of him, instead of being stuck in a cloud of confusion and harsh words from those nearest to him. When the morning sun peeked through the curtains, he raised his head to smile at Gale. Memories of the night flooding his mind, he leaned in to kiss the man awake after a long minute of admiring him laying there, sleeping and looking far more peaceful than he had ever seen him in his life. He was met with a returned kiss, in which he pulled away, a soft laugh falling from him. “You have terrible morning breath.” He whispers, his voice a gentle whisper. He didn’t forget he was in the Hawthorne house, a house much more populated than his own so he had certainly made sure to stay quiet.
5: It was the night before the reaping, Peeta had spent most of the day working at the bakery, itching for the moment he could slip away to see Gale, just for a moment. They had kept everything a secret from everyone for so long but tensions were high all around the District and he could feel it between them. Peeta could tell Gale was worried for his siblings, he knew Gale by now and he knew that he would put himself forward in place of any of his younger brothers, since he had put his name in there so many times already for their sakes. It’s the evening, Peeta didn’t have long, he couldn’t stay the night but he needed to see him. As soon as they meet, it’s a shared kiss, but it’s nowhere near the excitement of before. They’re both worried, about themselves, other people, each other. It was all swimming in their heads. “We’ll be alright.” Peeta whispers gently, his hand finding Gale’s. But he doesn’t reply, Peeta looks aside for a moment, a sigh leaving his breath. “I don’t want you to volunteer for me, if it ever happens. I don’t know if you would, but I want you to promise not to.” He can something in Gale’s eyes, he doesn’t know if he agrees but he can only hope. Their foreheads meet, he doesn’t want to think about it, but it’s a very real option that one of them could be reaped tomorrow. “I don’t regret any of this.” Peeta states and he could have sworn he saw a smile appear upon Gale’s lips, just for a moment. “And I never will.” Their lips are sealed once more, slow, gentle and meaningful. It could easily be their last. And it almost was.
