Disclaimer: I do not own the Hunger Games series or its characters. All I own is my imagination.

A/N: Told you I'd be back with another Gale/Katniss piece! :) Although I have to admit that it could be my last one (until the movie comes out) since my obsession for the series has been subdued somewhat by my new-found obsession for True Blood. I've never tried my hand at a True Blood story before, so might branch out into that, expanding my horizon and all that. But I did manage to write up another Gale/Katniss one parter, in the midst of me re-painting and re-furnituring my bedroom. I rushed just a little, but I think it's still definitely worth posting. The inspiration for this piece is something I can't claim for myself, but came from a reviewer of Butterfly Wings, ellenka. She put this idea in my head and for that I thank her! I hope this story lives up to your expectations. :)

*Also note that this is my first attempt at writing sexually tinted scene, so be cautioned.

Undeniable

"She's a heart stopping at double take."

Katniss pushed open the door to the Hawthorne residence, left open to a creak just for her. With a smile playing up her features the way he liked to see them best, she entered the house. She snuck a quick glance around, double-checking to see if it was really just the two of them before closing the door behind her. On the few rare occasions where Gale's house was just his own, he chose to share it with her, only her. They purposely shut out the rest of the world and like children they played house in the small fort they built for themselves in Gale's bathroom. Katniss headed for it, a can of shaving cream clutched in her hand.

She found Gale already there, shirt off and posed in front of the only mirror in the house. His hunting knife lay ready beside him. He was waiting for her. This had become their own very domestic and intimate ritual. Both pretended that it was easy to look past that and act like this was similar to the time they spent together in the woods. However, when the clothes came off and she lowered herself down into the tub-every movement seeming more sensual due to all the water-it was extremely hard for him to keep his hands steady.

Katniss handed him the can of shaving cream, a luxury item she traded her best game for at the Hob. But he repaid the favor. Her gaze fell on the bathtub, another luxury item that even she didn't possess in her house in Victor's Village. It was filled almost to the rim with steaming water. She looked from the tub to Gale, their eyes locking in the mirror.

He cocked his head sideways and flashed her a smile before mouthing: "Spoiled."

Taking baths was something she had experienced for the first time during her short time at the Capitol, and she had actually loved. She confided this to Gale, shyly and as casually as possible because she didn't want him to think that she had grown accustomed to them in such a short time span. But he had detected the wistful tone in her voice and noticed her increased pull to the lake. So one day, after he had filled the bathtub in his bathroom with hot water-patiently boiling pots of water-he invited her over. The fruit of his labor was instantly visible in her almost infantile excitement.

Even now she could hardly wait to get in. He began applying shaving cream to his face, busying himself so she would feel more comfortable while undressing herself. Katniss stripped down to her underwear-purple on top and white on the bottom, he noted, making it seem like his eyes were only fleetingly touching upon her frame-and lowered herself into the water.

In the meantime, he began shaving himself, his eyes flicking over to her reflection more often than she realized. His moves were precise and he appeared not to be distracted by her presence-wet and in her underwear-at all. Not that she was completely innocent; she watched him as well, tracing the lines of his body with her eyes as if she wanted to draw them from memory later on. Only the lines she would draw would be clumsy and unsteady, nothing like the sharply defined ones she was silently in awe with.

Toned and tanned was what he had been since the day her world collided with his. Impressive and intimidating in the way he carried himself, maybe even a little proud, but there was so much more to him than that, something she realized as she got to know him better. Although she couldn't deny that the chiseled physique paired with that arrogant grin of his and those expressive eyes had been the main features in some of her dreams.

Their time spent together between the four walls of Gale's bathroom was the only time they spent together in which they got to view each other in a different setting. Different sides of their personalities got the chance to arise long enough to be noticed by one another.

"Do other people know you shave?" was the awkwardly phrased question that Katniss directed at him. It wasn't what she wanted to say, but it was all she could get out at that moment.

Gale snickered at the oddness of her question. "What kind of question is that? Of course they do, Catnip. If I didn't no one would be able to recognize me by now. I have to shave every day, you know," he informed her, his manner just the slightest bit condescending as he treated her like the naive youngling she could act like at times.

"You don't like yourself with facial hair?" she continued her questioning, referring to his daily routine.

He shrugged. "I've never really thought about it. Shaving is just something I started doing one day and have done ever since."

"Sounds like something I would get sick of."

He nodded. "Yeah. Fortunately you, as a member of the fairer sex, has it better."

Katniss made a face at his remark and he let out a chuckle, one that increased in volume when she childishly stuck out her tongue at him. His eyes remained fixed on her in the mirror as he waited for the amusement to fade before altering the mood between them. "How often do you shave, Catnip?"

The way he was looking at her, there was something intense about it. Thrillingly so. It was a normal enough question, but in this intimate setting it caused her entire body to tingle in the right way and for her face to flush. She broke their eye-contact, her lips slightly parted. "What makes you sure I even shave?" It was a thoughtless reply, an embarrassingly thoughtless one at that. Gale had been around girls more than she had due to his roguishly good looks and soulful eyes. He had spent time with them in ways that made her blush just thinking about it. He had seen girls naked before, something she assumed most of the time, but was confirmed for her when she asked questions like these. He purposely put her on the spot when he knew better.

She did the only thing she could do short of running, she held her breath and slid down into the tub. She disappeared underneath the water, knowing she couldn't stay down there forever. In fact, she barely managed to stay under water for half a minute. And her plan backfired. Instead of going on with his shaving, Gale made his way over to the bathtub and sat down on the edge just as Katniss came back up for air.

"Got that out of your system?"

She shook her head. "Not really, but I'm soaked and in my underwear... I can't exactly leave the house like this."

"Well, you could," he began his sentence, dipping the tips of the fingers of one hand into the water, "but that would draw a whole different kind of attention, now wouldn't it?" Gale smiled as Katniss narrowed her eyes at him. "To answer your question, I know you shave because you take baths with me in the room." He flicked his wet fingers at her, distracting her from the fact that his eyes had been roaming the water almost longingly.

"I regret doing so."

"No you don't; every girl wants to be looked at while drenched in water. It's something I've learned."

Katniss looked at him for a few silent seconds, a little taken aback by the confidence in his words, like something he had probably heard from someone else or had fabricated in his mind and had told himself over and over had become factual knowledge in his eyes. She shook her head and raised to get out of the tub, however, Gale remained seated and blocked her in the process. "What are you doing?"

She incredulously looked up at him. "I want to get out." She waved her hands around as if to emphasize the seriousness of her statement. "You just made this incredibly uncomfortable and me feel unbelievably self-conscious. I can't sit here knowing you look at me like every other girl."

"You're not every other girl," Gale said to Katniss. "I don't share my bathroom with every other girl." He got up and gave her the space she needed to get out of the bathtub. He grabbed a towel and handed it to her, telling her: "We're close, Catnip." He shrugged his shoulders. "Besides you are the one who asked me about shaving. It's only fair."

Katniss turned her back to her friend while drying. It had always been easier for her to talk about personal stuff with people when she wasn't facing them. "I shave once a week. My mom took me into the bathroom one day. She'd gone out and bought a razor just for me. She took me into the bathroom to explain the whole grooming ritual-"

"Grooming ritual," he repeating, amused by her choice of words.

"Yeah. That's what shaving is, isn't it?" She turned her head to glance at Gale over her shoulder. "Grooming so you look more attractive to others."

"Is that why you do it?"

Katniss shrugged. "Maybe. I don't know." Her eyes flicked downwards, her lashes shielding them from Gale. During my time at the Capitol they did it for me, shaved me all over." Her eyes returned back to his. "When I was running for my life in the Games, it felt like there was nothing between me and... nature. The wind had direct contact with my skin, and I liked the way it felt. And when my mom took the time to explain it to me, it was the first time she saw me as something besides the family's provider, more than my dad's replacement. I was just her daughter, so I shave to remind me of that moment. If people think I look better because of that..." She shook her head. "It's silly because when I have my clothes on, no one can tell anyway."

She had turned to face him completely by now, the towel having dropped to the floor, almost symbolic of the stone wall that had crumbled before him. "Does it make a difference to you, knowing I... groom?"

Gale cocked an eyebrow, a little surprised at her question, though he recovered quickly. He moved closer to her and nodded. "But not for the reason you think. I still... like you as much as before, but now that we're talking about it, I can't help but wonder exactly what areas of your body you shave..."

"Gale."

Katniss took a step back, but he took two forwards. "Hey, I'm only male, and human. I mean, you're pretty much on display right now... and I have the answer to my question, except..."

His hand touched her elbow before sliding down her arm and resting on her stomach. His fingers crept downwards as he touched her in a way he never had before. Now that he was touching her, it gave her a chance to do the same, something she had been thinking about a lot lately. Her hand landed on his face gingerly, feeling the smoothness where he had recently shaved and the slight stubble where he hadn't been as thorough. "I prefer you with a little bit of stubble," she shared with him.

"Why?"

"It suits you," she answered shyly, the tone of her voice softening even more as she went on. "And because I like the way it feels against my skin, or the way I imagine it would feel."

Her eyes fell from his while his continued to burn against her skin. Her breathing increased and she had the same effect o him. If she had on more clothes, he would have ripped them off by now. "How do you imagine it would feel?" Gale's voice was hoarse with emotion, a mix between lust and love for the girl standing in front of him with the mismatched underwear and uncombed locks.

"Like someone trying to get as close as they possibly can because they can't go on with their day until they have done so." She had instinctively moved even closer to Gale.

His thumb brushed her bottom lip and her lips parted. The contact sent a shiver down to his pelvic area, causing it to ache in a good way. He kept a hold of the side of her face and kissed her. While doing so, he applied pressure to her stomach with his other hand, forcing her backwards until her back hit the wall. Her back arched, seeking as much contact with his body as she could.

Their bodies molded together as their lips remained locked. Her hands gripped his hair as she pulled him in even more, wanting him to not be as gentle with her as he was being. The hand still on her stomach began creeping downwards, his fingers flicking against the edge of her underwear. She moaned and one of her hands dropped from his hair down to his arm. She stroked his skin with her fingers and finally placed her hand over his on her stomach, pushing his hand even further down and his fingers slipped underneath her underwear, nearing the folds of her arousal. Meanwhile his own became evident to her when she felt it graze against her. She moaned into his mouth and she heard her own heartbeat pound in her ears.

The pleasure she got out of their contact rushed over her in waves, leaving her extremely short on breath and her body almost aching for him. She was a little overwhelmed by the feeling, since it was like nothing she had experienced before, but at the same time she found herself just going with it and following his lead. Whatever felt good, she did. And right now his lips on hers and his tongue doing amazing things to hers was what she was focused on, although an enjoyable throbbing in her lower region was distracting her in a good way. Her skin was on fire and she squirmed against him, the friction more than enough to elicit a low moan from him and his fingers slipped even lower. Their lips parted and he devoured her neck while her hand landed on his chest, sliding over the tautness of his muscles. She enjoyed the way he inhaled sharply when she reached the waistband of his pants.

Gale's hands dropped down to her waist and quickly, like she weighed nothing at all, he lifted her. "Wrap your legs around me," he guided her. She did as she was told and he turned them around, leaning back against the wall briefly as she laid her lips on him once more. Without breaking contact, he started moving, stopping only when he had lowered her so she was sitting on the counter. The hunting knife fell into the sink while the can of shaving crème clattered onto the floor.

"Gale?" a female voice intruded on their private encounter.

Katniss instantly pulled back, her eyes big and worried as they looked into Gale's. He squeezed her knees reassuringly before heading for the open door. He stuck out his head to converse with his mom, calmly as if he hadn't just had his hand down Katniss' panties.

Once Gale was done, he closed the door and turned back around, finding Katniss standing near the tub, wiggling into her pants as she was still a little damp.

"Hey, everything's fine. She doesn't even know you're here."

She nodded. "Good."

"Would it be a bad thing if she did know you were in here with me?" He got closer once more, enjoying the sight of her jumping up and down a couple of times in order to get the pants up all the way. Her breasts bounced and shook with each move and he forced himself not to think about what they would look like released from the constraints of her bra.

"No, of course not, but I'd rather not be in my underwear when we break the news to her."Katniss lowered her hands to the waistband of her pants, gasping when she found Gale's hands already there.

"When we break the news?" he asked, doing up the button.

She nodded, the only movement she managed as he continued to do up the zipper for her as well. His fingers applying more pressure than necessary, causing her answer to come out in a long and shaky breath. " Yeah..."

And that was all they said on the matter.

"Oh, I got the answer to my question in case you were wondering."

Her eyes looked to his, confused.

He leaned in to whisper in her ear. "I now know exactly what parts of your body you shave."

She blushed, but boldly brought her own lips to his ear, making use of the newfound confidence that came after someone saw you in your underwear and almost marveled at what they saw. "And unlike you I didn't miss any spots." She batted her eyelashes at him before turning around to grab her discarded shirt.

He watched her dress, enjoying it almost as much as seeing her undress. It was good to know that he was the only one who knew what was underneath. He knew that Peeta had never gone past kissing her, a topic they had briefly touched upon after her homecoming and following her public break-up with Peeta.

She stepped into her boots and he held open the window.

She paused her actions briefly, her eyes on him. "You better mean what you said, that I'm not just like every other girl?"

He nodded. "I do. I'm not taking this lightly, Catnip."

She bit down into her lower lip. "And what if I want to take a slower approach...?"

Gale licked his bottom lip, eyes twinkling. "Fortunately for you I'm an extremely talented kisser."

Katniss smiled, placing a very demure kiss on his cheek before climbing out of the window. She slipped out of the Hawthorne house unnoticed.

Please review? I'd like to thank you for taking the time to read my story and hope you'll leave behind a review? I'm always trying to improve my writing, my style, my characterization etc. so any critique/comments you might have will be incredibly useful. :) I'm not promising another Gale/Katniss story this time, but you might see a True Blood story penned by me appearing sometime soon. Also, I do realize that Katniss isn't a fan of shaving in the books, but since this story takes place in my created universe, I changed that.