Title: Volunteering

Pairing: Gale/Katniss

Prompt: "grant my last request, and just let me hold you / don't shrug your shoulders, lay down beside me / sure I can accept that we're going nowhere / but one last time let's go there, lay down beside me"

Type: Hunger Games AU

Word Count: 655

Standing on the stage, before all of District 12 – all of Panem, really – I force myself to stay calm. Don't start shaking. Don't start crying. Keep it together. I watch Effie as she goes over to the boys' bowl. She extracts the first slip that her fingers find. I look away from her as she moves to the microphone. I scan the boys' pen, wondering which of these unlucky boys would be trying to kill me in just a few weeks. "Peeta Mellark."

Oh no. Not him. The odds have been far from in my favor today. He has two older brothers, but only one of them could be reaped. He doesn't volunteer. He begins the long walk to the platform, eyes downcast. It must have hurt to watch a sibling volunteer and then have his not do the same for him, although I doubt he'd ever think his brother would. But I'm an exception. I'm different. I'm unheard of.

"I volunteer," calls a boy from the front of the group, nodding to Peeta as he climbs the stage. He comes to stand next to me, takes my hand to shake it, but I'm frozen and he has to do all the work. This will be worse than killing the boy with the bread.

We're on the train now, and the first thing I do is find my suite and collapse on the bed, crying. There's a knock at my door after a while, and Gale asks, "May I come in?" I keep my face buried in my pillow, hiding my tears from my best friend. "I'll take your silence to mean yes." He comes in and squats down beside my bed.

"Why did you volunteer?" I mutter into the pillow.

"What was that, Catnip?" he asks good-naturedly. "I think your pillow's the only one who understood you."

I look up, ignoring my tears. "Why did you volunteer for him?"

"I can't protect you sitting my ass at home, now can I?" he answers. "We're a team. There's nothing we can't hunt together."

"These are people, children. This isn't hunting; it's murder."

"I'm going to bring you home, Katniss. You should appreciate it," he adds with a laugh.

"Your family needs you," I respond.

"So does yours."

"But yours needs you more. There are more of them. And Prim has her goat and mom her medicine and everyone loves my sister. They'd make it without me. Your family can't get by without the food you bring home."

"And next year I'll be in the mine instead of hunting all day. I won't be bringing home any food. Besides, if you win they'll be fed for a year, and then you won't need to hunt for your family anymore and can take care of mine."

After a pause, I ask again, quietly, "Why did you do that?"

"Because I love you, and I'm going to keep you safe. We can do this together."

"Which only means that I'll be the one who has to kill you," I murmur.

"I'll kill myself when we're all that's left," Gale explains. "That way the Capitol never really won, but you can go home."

"What if I can save you? Your reasoning for saving me works for you too."

"Only one tribute can win, and all of Panem will be watching you after you volunteered for Prim. Everyone will know why I volunteered within the first couple of minutes, and they won't be as sympathetic."

He pauses, expecting me to keep arguing. Instead, all I say is: "Did you say you love me?"

"Yes," he answers simply, brushing a tear from my cheek. He leans in to kiss me, and as his lips meet mine I realize I've wanted this for a long time too. When we stop for breath, I slide over in bed and let him crawl in next to me, wrapping me in his strong arms.