"I wouldn't mind that," she assured him as she smiled up at him.
This... Being so comfortable with someone else, someone who she was certain hated her for a long time. This was nice. She wasn't even this close to Katniss, who she considered her best friend for the longest time. It was strange to let someone so close to her, but also comforting in a sense.
“Well, I guess you already have to deal with two Seam kids on a regular basis,” he said with a shrug. “What’s one more to add to your roster?”
Gale returned the smile, hardly surprised anymore at how easily the gesture comes nowadays. It was an improvement on the animosity from before, the constant barbs and the surprise (and intrigue) that washed over him whenever she responded in kind. They weren’t done with that, not quite, but those comments had taken on a completely different tone - one Gale found he enjoyed much more.
“So this is what you do all day, huh? Play piano all by yourself?”
And then his word choice made her freeze. Madge watched him smile, though her own was slowly turning sad. "I don't have to deal with you guys, you know. I enjoy your company."
She started playing a few notes with her free hand again. "This... I spend a lot of my time reading and stuff too."
“That’s not what I meant,” he said with a sigh. Were they really back to that? Gale deserved it, to be sure - he’d treated Madge terribly for far too long with only that as basis not to have earned it. It still stung that she’d mention it though, after they’d both started to put in the effort for more.
“What do you read?” Gale asked instead, watching her other hand move. It was safer, he supposed, safer and easier for both of them. After a while, he started to join her, moving his hand underneath hers to hit a random note here or there. “Tell me it’s something better than school books.”
Madge did feel bad for interpreting it the way she did, but it was hard to let go... To let go of the thought that maybe he still thought that she was treating it like a charity case.... But she let that drop and instead watched him join in on playing the piano.
When the note didn't quite match, she found herself giggling and nudging him. "I do read some of the school books... But I generally read things from back before Panem existed, classic plays and terrible romance novels..."
Every time she nudged him, Gale made a point to playfully nudge her back with his elbow as he continued to play along.
“From before Panem?” he echoed, impressed. “I didn’t know there were any. I would have thought the Capitol would have destroyed anything like that.” He flashed her a teasing smile. “Romance novels. Should I be surprised?”
"There's only a small collection left- hardly a day of reading really.... And they're hard to come by unless you know who to talk to."
And her father knew who to see about that.
But her cheeks went scarlet when he teased her about the romance novels. "They're horrible, but entertaining enough..." As though that was an excuse to be reading them in the first place.
It made sense. A part of Gale, a dark voice in the back of his mind, still seethed at the thought, but pushing it down came easier nowadays. He focused instead on the way talking about the books made her blush, gray eyes sparkling with mirth.
But when he pressed on, Madge found herself fumbling over a few keys, the sound jarring enough to make her flinch. Clearing her throat, she smiled as innocently as she could, the blush still apparent. "Well, they're rather ridiculous,... Just the scenarios and the... Ah. Intimate moments. That's not how life works. It's amusing."
And enough to fuel silly school girl fantasies sometimes.
Both of his eyebrows raised in amusement. “Your father brings you romance novels, huh?” His eyes sparkle. “Okay, so tell me. How ridiculous are they, exactly?”
"My father doesn't read them- and brushes them off as a silly girl's fancy," Madge murmured.
"They mostly follow the same formula- and always wind up with the rugged love interest making love with the attractive woman. She's either wild and spontaneous or quiet and demure... But always head over heels for him."
“But you find them… entertaining,” Gale repeated, an amused sparkle in his eyes. “I wouldn’t call you demure, but you definitely fall under quiet. So who are you head over heels for, Undersee?”
Madge's face was burning now, not by the insinuation that she enjoyed reading the novels. Nor was it because he was comparing her to any number of the women in the novels. It was more because of what she was about to admit... Quietly, and almost drowned out by the fact that she was suddenly picking at a few notes again. "You."
“How? If they always follow the same formula, you’d think it would get boring.”
Basic logic, if you asked Gale. He certainly couldn’t see himself wasting time by reading the same story over and over, with different names and faces to color the template. That wasn’t what he’d want in a story.
As quietly as Madge spoke, with her fingers on the keys again, he couldn’t quite hear what she had to say. So Gale leaned in, eyebrows raised inquisitively.
“Sorry, Undersee, didn’t catch that. What did you say?”
"I guess there's something comforting about it? That no matter how bad things look... you know it'll get better."
With a lot of sex and ridiculous romance. But, that was beside the point. Madge played a few more notes, not paying attention to how he leaned in until she turned to look at him and realized just how close they were now.
Oh.
"You."
It was no louder this time than it was before, and her cheeks were still burning... But she didn't back out of what she'd already said.
“I guess so,” he said, doubtful. Except it didn’t always get better, or things wouldn’t be so bad in District Twelve. But Gale tried not to think about that when he was with Madge, focusing instead on more positive things to keep his (and her) spirits up.
Then she just had to throw him a curveball.
“Me.” Gale laughed, trying to shake off the sudden knots wringing in the pit of his stomach. “Of course. Why wouldn’t you? I’m the most romantic person you know.”
He rolled his eyes, showing exactly what he thought about that.
It wasn't like she meant to throw him that curveball, and to be perfectly fair? He's the one that pressed.
Madge stopped when he laughed at her answer, staring at him for a moment longer. It was silly for her to mention it, even though she'd wanted to say something for a while now. "Right, it's silly..."
As her fingers moved along the keys, she glanced away and started another melody: lower and slower than before... Anything to keep from having to look at him, really.
Gale leaned forward, trying to catch her eyes, but of course she’d decided to avoid looking at him. He’d treated it like a joke. Hell, to him, it had to be a joke. Even if he’s gotten away from the general prejudice he’d once held against her, Madge was still… She was still a town girl, and he was still a boy from the Seam. It was hard to believe it couldn’t be a joke.
Gently, he placed his hand on hers, light enough to follow her fingers as she played. “Madge?”
It was easy to ignore him when her music was involved. Easy to pretend he hadn't said anything and to keep playing the melody. However, it wasn't so easy to ignore when his hand was on hers.
Oh.
She looked up at him, missing a few notes in the melody as she did, realizing how close they were now that he leaned toward her. "I was... am... yes. But it's silly, it's okay, really. Promise."
Gale stared at her, stunned and confused all at once. Here he’d thought the blatant flirting between them was just some game of theirs, just part of that odd friendship they’d fallen into after working out their differences - nothing serious. He’d never allowed himself to even consider that there might be more to it. The idea just seemed so… so farfetched, especially after he’d treated her before. After that, even if their social differences didn’t matter, Gale knew he didn’t deserve her friendship, let alone her attraction.
“What do you mean, it’s silly?”
He realized a moment later that he should probably say something else, but nothing else came to mind. He was still trying to wrap his head around this, and figure out what it really meant for them.
Maybe it started off that way, but Madge couldn't exactly pinpoint when it had started to change... At least for her. Apparently it hadn't changed for him. But when he asked her why it was silly, the color drained from her face.
"You don't..." Madge paused, trying to figure out what to even say. "I mean... It doesn't seem like you..."
Sighing, Madge looked away from him, no longer playing notes on the piano and instead looking at their hands, his still on top of hers. "You don't feel the same."
His voice came out sharper than intended when he replied, “You don’t know how I feel, Undersee.”
Because how could she, when he wasn’t sure of it himself? Gale knew he was popular among the girls in the District and had, in fact, taken advantage of it once or twice, but when he was with them, he never acted anything like he did with Madge. He didn’t even act like this with Katniss. It was new, different, and there were nights when he had started to wonder…
And promptly stomped those thoughts into the ground with the coal dust that covered the Seam, reminding himself that there was nothing for him down that road. Even now, Gale had trouble believing it.
He shook his head, trying to deny it. “Why would you like someone like me?”
Madge tensed when he next spoke, still refusing to look up at him. She hadn't meant to tell him- but it felt right to mention it at this point... and really, he had pressed. But this wasn't fair, it wasn't fair that she felt so ridiculous for telling him how she felt and she still had no clue what he felt. Maybe he didn't know yet, but it still bothered her. "Then tell me. Tell me how you feel so I'm not stuck guessing or assuming."
Maybe it sounded like she snapped at him, but she was tired of guessing how other people felt. Katniss, her father, the kids at school and now Gale too. She pulled her hand out from under his, keeping it in her lap as she looked back up at him.
"Why wouldn't I? You put your family first, you sacrifice everything for them... You're kind and caring, despite your tough exterior. You took a chance to be friends with me, despite past assumptions."
Not to mention his looks, though she'd hardly be shallow enough to extend her reasoning to that.
“Because I treated you like shit for years,” he mumbled, averting his eyes as what she said starts to sink in. What was he supposed to tell her? Gale wasn’t entirely sure what his own feelings were, especially with regards to Madge Undersee. She was always - Madge was always part of a group he could never hope to stand up to, and he’d never even tried. It still felt weird to come and visit her now, as friends instead of just… acquaintances who traded with strawberries.
And to be honest, he’d only allowed himself to get this far because of Katniss. Without her constant insistence that Madge wasn’t the proud town girl he’d assumed, Gale never would have bothered.
He would have missed out on her skills with the piano. He would have missed how her eyes light up when she’s excited, how relaxed she is when she’s playing, how patient she is with him…
Even now, he feels like he doesn’t know her as well as he could.
“I don’t know,” Gale said finally, scowling. Admitting that took effort. “I… I like you, Undersee, but…” He shook his head. “I’m not the kind of guy you should be wasting your time with. Not like that.”
In the mode of fight or flight, Madge was very much in flight mode. Wouldn't it be easier to run upstairs and hide in her room, or even her mother's room, and not have to worry about talking about any of this?
"Madge," she corrected him softly, but sternly, when he used her last name instead of her given.
Of course they didn't know each other as well as they could, partly because she felt like she sometimes walking on eggshells when it came to what to say around him. Maybe not as much as before, but still to a point. "And you shouldn't tell me who I should or should not spend my time with. If we have feelings for each other and enjoy each other's company, why shouldn't we give it a go?"
Well- that was more straightforward than she intended. "We wouldn't have been friends without giving that a try. What makes this any different?"
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This... Being so comfortable with someone else, someone who she was certain hated her for a long time. This was nice. She wasn't even this close to Katniss, who she considered her best friend for the longest time. It was strange to let someone so close to her, but also comforting in a sense.
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Gale returned the smile, hardly surprised anymore at how easily the gesture comes nowadays. It was an improvement on the animosity from before, the constant barbs and the surprise (and intrigue) that washed over him whenever she responded in kind. They weren’t done with that, not quite, but those comments had taken on a completely different tone - one Gale found he enjoyed much more.
“So this is what you do all day, huh? Play piano all by yourself?”
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She started playing a few notes with her free hand again. "This... I spend a lot of my time reading and stuff too."
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“What do you read?” Gale asked instead, watching her other hand move. It was safer, he supposed, safer and easier for both of them. After a while, he started to join her, moving his hand underneath hers to hit a random note here or there. “Tell me it’s something better than school books.”
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When the note didn't quite match, she found herself giggling and nudging him. "I do read some of the school books... But I generally read things from back before Panem existed, classic plays and terrible romance novels..."
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“From before Panem?” he echoed, impressed. “I didn’t know there were any. I would have thought the Capitol would have destroyed anything like that.” He flashed her a teasing smile. “Romance novels. Should I be surprised?”
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And her father knew who to see about that.
But her cheeks went scarlet when he teased her about the romance novels. "They're horrible, but entertaining enough..." As though that was an excuse to be reading them in the first place.
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It made sense. A part of Gale, a dark voice in the back of his mind, still seethed at the thought, but pushing it down came easier nowadays. He focused instead on the way talking about the books made her blush, gray eyes sparkling with mirth.
“Entertaining how, exactly?”
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But when he pressed on, Madge found herself fumbling over a few keys, the sound jarring enough to make her flinch. Clearing her throat, she smiled as innocently as she could, the blush still apparent. "Well, they're rather ridiculous,... Just the scenarios and the... Ah. Intimate moments. That's not how life works. It's amusing."
And enough to fuel silly school girl fantasies sometimes.
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"They mostly follow the same formula- and always wind up with the rugged love interest making love with the attractive woman. She's either wild and spontaneous or quiet and demure... But always head over heels for him."
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Madge's face was burning now, not by the insinuation that she enjoyed reading the novels. Nor was it because he was comparing her to any number of the women in the novels. It was more because of what she was about to admit... Quietly, and almost drowned out by the fact that she was suddenly picking at a few notes again. "You."
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Basic logic, if you asked Gale. He certainly couldn’t see himself wasting time by reading the same story over and over, with different names and faces to color the template. That wasn’t what he’d want in a story.
As quietly as Madge spoke, with her fingers on the keys again, he couldn’t quite hear what she had to say. So Gale leaned in, eyebrows raised inquisitively.
“Sorry, Undersee, didn’t catch that. What did you say?”
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With a lot of sex and ridiculous romance. But, that was beside the point. Madge played a few more notes, not paying attention to how he leaned in until she turned to look at him and realized just how close they were now.
Oh.
"You."
It was no louder this time than it was before, and her cheeks were still burning... But she didn't back out of what she'd already said.
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Then she just had to throw him a curveball.
“Me.” Gale laughed, trying to shake off the sudden knots wringing in the pit of his stomach. “Of course. Why wouldn’t you? I’m the most romantic person you know.”
He rolled his eyes, showing exactly what he thought about that.
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Madge stopped when he laughed at her answer, staring at him for a moment longer. It was silly for her to mention it, even though she'd wanted to say something for a while now. "Right, it's silly..."
As her fingers moved along the keys, she glanced away and started another melody: lower and slower than before... Anything to keep from having to look at him, really.
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Gale leaned forward, trying to catch her eyes, but of course she’d decided to avoid looking at him. He’d treated it like a joke. Hell, to him, it had to be a joke. Even if he’s gotten away from the general prejudice he’d once held against her, Madge was still… She was still a town girl, and he was still a boy from the Seam. It was hard to believe it couldn’t be a joke.
Gently, he placed his hand on hers, light enough to follow her fingers as she played. “Madge?”
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Oh.
She looked up at him, missing a few notes in the melody as she did, realizing how close they were now that he leaned toward her. "I was... am... yes. But it's silly, it's okay, really. Promise."
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“What do you mean, it’s silly?”
He realized a moment later that he should probably say something else, but nothing else came to mind. He was still trying to wrap his head around this, and figure out what it really meant for them.
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"You don't..." Madge paused, trying to figure out what to even say. "I mean... It doesn't seem like you..."
Sighing, Madge looked away from him, no longer playing notes on the piano and instead looking at their hands, his still on top of hers. "You don't feel the same."
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Because how could she, when he wasn’t sure of it himself? Gale knew he was popular among the girls in the District and had, in fact, taken advantage of it once or twice, but when he was with them, he never acted anything like he did with Madge. He didn’t even act like this with Katniss. It was new, different, and there were nights when he had started to wonder…
And promptly stomped those thoughts into the ground with the coal dust that covered the Seam, reminding himself that there was nothing for him down that road. Even now, Gale had trouble believing it.
He shook his head, trying to deny it. “Why would you like someone like me?”
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Maybe it sounded like she snapped at him, but she was tired of guessing how other people felt. Katniss, her father, the kids at school and now Gale too. She pulled her hand out from under his, keeping it in her lap as she looked back up at him.
"Why wouldn't I? You put your family first, you sacrifice everything for them... You're kind and caring, despite your tough exterior. You took a chance to be friends with me, despite past assumptions."
Not to mention his looks, though she'd hardly be shallow enough to extend her reasoning to that.
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And to be honest, he’d only allowed himself to get this far because of Katniss. Without her constant insistence that Madge wasn’t the proud town girl he’d assumed, Gale never would have bothered.
He would have missed out on her skills with the piano. He would have missed how her eyes light up when she’s excited, how relaxed she is when she’s playing, how patient she is with him…
Even now, he feels like he doesn’t know her as well as he could.
“I don’t know,” Gale said finally, scowling. Admitting that took effort. “I… I like you, Undersee, but…” He shook his head. “I’m not the kind of guy you should be wasting your time with. Not like that.”
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"Madge," she corrected him softly, but sternly, when he used her last name instead of her given.
Of course they didn't know each other as well as they could, partly because she felt like she sometimes walking on eggshells when it came to what to say around him. Maybe not as much as before, but still to a point. "And you shouldn't tell me who I should or should not spend my time with. If we have feelings for each other and enjoy each other's company, why shouldn't we give it a go?"
Well- that was more straightforward than she intended. "We wouldn't have been friends without giving that a try. What makes this any different?"
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