Firelight

As if sensing the dark roads Gale's thoughts are leading him down, Peeta stands up, pulling Gale with him with his right hand, which is tightly locked with Gale's. "It's getting late. I think it's time to sleep now."

Peeta leads Gale upstairs, and Gale follows him, his feet grateful to be treading a path that he has been following for months. He is surprised that this new development with Peeta hasn't thrown him off balance already, forcing him to stop and think about how his life is going down a path he never imagined.

When they reach Peeta's bedroom, Gale starts to move towards the couch he has been sleeping on for the last six months. It's like putting a hand up when the glare from the sun hits you in the eyes – automatic. His hand still locked in Peeta's stops him, and he looks down as if surprised to see that they are still touching. Peeta's hand just feels like a natural extension of his arm, instead of an intrusion into his personal space as Gale usually views most touches.

"You don't need to sleep there tonight," Peeta whispers, curling hair falling into his eyes and making him look more modest than he can claim to be, for someone who almost tackled Gale off the couch mere minutes ago. "Or any other night."

He begins to undress, although there isn't much left since Gale ripped off his shirt in what would probably be described as an 'uncontrollable fit of lust', if anyone were there to see it. Gale smiles, and looks up to see Peeta strip off his underclothes and slip quickly between the sheets of the turned down bed. He slowly begins to remove his own clothes. The worn belt, light trousers, underclothes. He tries to make light of the situation as he climbs into the bed, aware of his own nervousness but not keen to let Peeta know.

"At least I get to sleep under the covers tonight. I was beginning to think you'd never share."

Peeta gives a small giggle, but Gale can hear it hitch at the end. He reaches out and touches Peeta's upper arm, and can feel a light trembling running through his body. Peeta is scared. He has faced countless attempts on his life, torture at the hands of a despotic regime, and yet he is nervous to be in bed with Gale. Someday, Gale will drag this memory out every time he needs to boost his ego. But now, all he can think of is calming Peeta.

"It's all right, it's just me." He whispers, shifting his arm underneath Peeta so that he is supported. This time he is the one to initiate the kiss, gently at first then with more passion as Peeta stops trembling and begins to relax against Gale's broad chest. After a few more kisses, Gale can feel that Peeta is beginning to get sleepy. He kisses each of his eyelids and murmurs "Sleep. I'll still be here in the morning." He is just about to drift off himself, when he hears Peeta whisper, just louder than a breath of wind,

"I know. You're always here."

Peeta does not wake in the night.

The next time Gale is aware of his surroundings it is when Verbena comes in and opens the curtains, same as every morning. She smiles down at the two of them; Peeta's head pillowed against Gale's arm, which he seems to have lost all feeling in, then makes her way out of the room to prepare breakfast. Everything for her is the same as it always is. Except it isn't for Gale.

He looks down at Peeta, who is beginning to turn in his sleep, roused by the light streaming in from the window. Peeta is smiling slightly, all the lines of worry erased from his forehead. Then he stirs, and his brows crease in distress. Gale rubs his side, the small of his back, up to the pale shoulders topped in small freckles. Peeta's face softens again, and he leans back against Gale.

"I thought you'd left." Peeta mutters into the pillow, clearly a little embarrassed at his display of insecurity.

"Never," says Gale, and takes the opportunity to hold Peeta tighter, to feel the full length of his body pressed against his own. Here are the bones of his spine, so familiar to Gale from the nights spent quelling the nightmares, but so different now that he is touching them for a different reason.

Or is it a different reason? Gale looks down at Peeta, sleeping soundly in the early morning light. Gale remembers all the times that he has pushed Peeta's hair back, or casually looped an arm around his waist while they are out walking. She never touched him unless she had to. Gale touches Peeta all the time. He justified it as helping Peeta heal, but Gale can't think now why smoothing Peeta's burnished gold locks back would ever be something someone else had told him to do. Maybe he hasn't stayed because she wanted him to. Maybe the reason is a lot simpler than that.

Gale remembers Verbena's smiles whenever she comes to open the curtains and he is lying there next to Peeta. The winks and nods as he holds Peeta's hand through the markets when they go out to buy supplies. They definitely think he stayed for a different reason. Peeta thought he stayed for a different reason. All these people think they know why Gale stayed, and he starts to think that maybe he's the one who didn't. His mother and siblings told him they were glad that Peeta made him happy. Gale wonders at this now, as he looks down at Peeta resting softly against his side, how his family had seen what it has taken him so long to.

She wasn't the reason that he stayed.

Gale stayed because he is happy.