Providers (M- Gale, Cold, Hunger Games) - Part 2 added!

[Dusty15]

I just finished "The Hunger Games" last week and I can't believe how few fics there are on here for it! Here's the start to a little story set after the first book and before the second. There are some big spoilers for book one, but nothing major for the others. Enjoy!

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“It’s just a little cold, Katnip,” he’d said when I pressed him about it.

He’d been lagging behind in their hunting expedition that day and his constant sniffling kept us from sneaking up on any prey. I didn’t force the subject any further; our relationship was on rocky terms thanks to my recent participation in the Hunger Games. Instead, I helped Gale set several snares and let my bow rest, knowing I’d have much more time to hunt alone when Gale returned to work at the mines the next day.

That next day, Hazelle Hawthorne knocks on my door in the Victor’s Village to ask after her son, who hadn’t come home the previous night and was reported absent at the mines that morning. My stomach sinks in horror as I imagine the various misfortunes that could have delayed Gale, but then I remember his sniffles and the dry cough, and I know where he’ll be.

We are both heads of our houses and had been since we were young. We provide the food and the stability in place of our fathers. I know that if Gale truly felt unwell, he’d stay out in the woods instead of risking the health of his beloved family. I know, because I’d do the very same.

Shouldering my bow and arrows, I sneak off to the woods, feet barely leaving a trace in the cold autumn ground. I slip under the fence and into the tree line, following the familiar path towards the cement house by the lake. It’s a long walk, but a peaceful one, and I shoot two rabbits for dinner along the way. When I finally crest the hill near the lake, a faint bit of smoke drifts from the house’s chimney and I know I’d found my friend.

I creep down towards the door, listening carefully and looking for tracks, wanting to be sure it is him inside before I enter.

Eh’tghshhhhh!

A masculine sneeze echoes, muffled by the stone walls.

“Gale,” I say, loud enough for him to hear. “I’m coming in.”

I push the door open to reveal the tall boy huddled in his winter coat by a small fire. A bit of worn linen was pressed to his chapped nose and fever shone from his cheeks.

“You mother came asking after you. You should be home in bed.”

“Can’t get the little ones sick,” he croaks miserably. A cough rumbles in his chest and he bends forward, lungs straining with each dry spasm.

“It’s the mine, isn’t it?” I say, dropping to my knees at his side and removing my hunting jacket to tuck around his shoulders.

“I don’t know,” he mutters. “I just feel rotten. If the stupid Capitol just allowed its citizens longer rest times, I’d be fine. I just wore myself out.”

His eyes are red and rheumy with cold and he’s shivering a little. For a moment, I’m back in the cave with Peeta during the Games, unsure if he’ll live another day as I try desperately to nurse him back to health. But this isn’t Peeta, this is Gale. And this isn’t the Games, this is District 12, where I have both boys nearby and uncertain feelings about both of them.

Gale starts to cough again, interrupting my thoughts as his slight frame shakes with each barking sound. His poor nose is scarlet and wet around the edges, and he sniffles back congestion with a disgusting slurp, turning to spit into the fire. The scrap of linen in his hand is damp from overuse and clearly only serving to further irritate his nose as he wipes it again in vain.

“Here,” I say digging a scrap of cotton from my satchel. It once was wrapped around a hunk of cheese I’d brought for a meal in the woods, but I’d long since eaten that. Gale takes the cloth and shakes off the crumbs before blowing his nose wetly.

“You can’t possibly stay the night here,” I tell him. “You sound awful. Come home with my and mother will give you some medicines.”

“There aren’t medicines that’ll cure a cold, Katnip,” he said. “Everyone knows that.”

“But there are things that’ll help.”

“I just need rest. Rest and-”

His words are cut off by an involuntary inhale as his body prepares to sneeze again. His dark brows crease together in a vaguely puzzled look before his head snaps forward into his waiting hands.

Ghh’tsghttt!

“Blessings,” I offer.

He sniffles thickly and nods in thanks.

“If you won’t go home, then let me stay,” I tell him, setting my pack and quiver down on the dirt floor. “I caught rabbit on the way. I’ll make a stew.”

He coughs congestedly in reply.

“And something for that,” I add.

I am not remotely close to a skilled herbalist, but I know some of my mother’s basic remedies. I leave Gale tucked under my coat by the fire and head back out in the woods in search of a certain leaf. It’s fairly common and I find it easily, picking several green buds still untouched by the turn of autumn. A fragrant mint smell leaks from the oily leaves as I pocket them and head back to the concrete house.

Gale has curled up on the floor, his head resting on my satchel. I offer him a small smile as I go to work, casting the leaves into a pot of water over the cabin’s fire. A deep, rich smell of menthol spreads through the air as steam rises from the mixture. Gale snuffles noisily as the steam goes to work clearing out his sinuses, and soon the leaves are reduced to a thick green crème.

“Roll over,” I instruct Gale, gently positioning him so his head sits in my lap. I carefully unbutton the top of his shirt and spread a thick stripe of the cream across his pale chest. His dark eyes follow my hands as his chest rises and falls in a wheezy rhythm.

“It’ll help with the congestion,” I say clinically, wiping the remaining bit of goo from my hands on my pants.

His head lolls to one side in my lap as his chest expands in a deep breath.

Heh’gh’tsghttt!

He sneezes wetly into my calf, a small groan escaping his lips.

“I’m sorry,” he says with a sniffle. “Just go home Katniss and let me rest here.”

“You must not know me if you think I’m going to do that,” I say. I think of Prim and Mother back home and how they will worry if I’m not back by nightfall. They will know where I am though, I’m sure of it.

“You can rest,” I say. “And I’ll stay. I’ll wake you up when the stew is ready.”

Gale shifts his head from my lap and curls back up, sniffling. I tuck my coat up around his chest and plump up the satchel pillow. A long, congested snore tells me he’s asleep.

Edited December 21, 2011 by Dusty15

[ThatSneezyGirl]

AAWWW this is so cute!! I've never read the Hunger Games before but everyone tells me it's really good. But like seriously, I LOVE this story!! Please post more soon

[VividBubbles!]

HUNGER GAMES! SICK GALE! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you!!!!!!!! FINALLY!

BYE!

P.S. Sorry for the spazz attack. I'm just so excited!

BYE! Again.

[Lexi]

OMG I saw this and immideately moaned. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm sick Gale

[Akahana]

Awww~ Please continue~<3

[Prongs]

I've not read the Hunger Games either but NOW....

It was on my waiting list of stuff to read somewhere in the middle...

Now it's on the top! Love it!!!!!

[DogLover]

Yay! A Gale fic! By Dusty15!!! You wrote a lot of my favorite fics...

Post more soon...pleeeaase?

[inactiveaccount]

...I love you so much right now, Dusty.

So much.

A freaking GALE SICK FIC? Omigosh!

Please tell me that wasn't a oneshot?

[PaperThings]

*flails* I am so, so, so happy that you wrote this. EEEEP. WHY is there not more sneezy!Gale (and Peeta/Finnick/Haymitch, etc) around is beyond me, but lucky for us you've written a PERFECT one. He's just so lovable here, I want to cuddle him. Thank you so, so much for writing this.

[Dusty15]

Yes, yes, there is more! Here's PART TWO. There will be a third part eventually. Enjoy!

--

The rabbit meat in the stew takes quite a while to soften and cook, so Gale gets to sleep for a bit, even if it seems like he’s getting no rest. He keeps sniffling in his sleep and coughing as congestion gets stuck in his throat. Finally, he wakes himself up with a volley of coughs just before I go to wake him for his meal. He sits up, sputtering, and clutches my scrap of cotton to his running nose.

“Hey,” I say gently, kneeling at his side. “Ready for some stew?”

He looks miserably sick and I can’t help but put a hand out to smooth back his hair. My heart pounds so hard I can hear it in my ears, but I try to ignore it. I’m with Peeta, I have to stay true to Peeta.

Eh’gshttt!

Gale sneezes wetly and blows his nose with a thick gurgle. He sighs and tugs the handkerchief off his red nose, rubbing a fist across his eyes with a yawn.

“Here,” I say, placing a bowl of hot soup in his hands. He takes a tentative sip and then begins to slowly eat the meal, sniffling all the while.

I eat my share in the silence too, watching him closely out of the corner of my eye. He’s shivering just a little, his long fingers trembling as he sips the broth. When he puts the bowl down and starts to cough, I’m worried ever more. The mines are not kind to lungs, especially young ones new to the coal dust. Gale’s chest shudders with each pained reflex and he gasps for air between barks. I lift my coat from the ground and wrap it around his shoulders, enveloping him in a hug. He tenses for a moment, unaccustomed to my touch, but then relaxes as the coughs die down.

“Please,” I say, circling a hand across his back as I’ve done so many times for Prim when she’s been upset or ill. “Come back to my house. My mother and I will get you well and back to work in no time. I promise, I won’t make you endanger your family.”

“If I don’t report for work and they find me at your house, I’ll be punished,” he says hoarsely. “My mother knows that if they come to our house and I’m not there, she’s to say I’m at the medic. They’ve got a ward for the miners; you know, injuries and black lung and all that. There’s too many men going in and out of there for them to bother checking unless you’re gone for a long while.”

“It’s a big house, and I’m the Champion Tribute, remember?” I say. “You can stay in my room and if anyone comes around, I’ll hide with you and my mother will tell them I’ve taken ill.”

Gale sighs, his breath ragged and wheezy. Outside, a gust of autumn wind whistles.

“Okay,” he concedes. “At nightfall, though. We wait to return until then.”

And so we wait. While Gale rests, I go back to the woods to collect more herbs and shoot a few small game so we’ve got meat for the week. I mentally remind myself to drop some off to Hazelle the next day so Gale’s family has meat too.

When I get back to the cottage, it’s nearly dark. Inside, Gale is sitting up, leaning in close to the dying fire. He doesn’t look any better and his nose is running down his lip. I reach out with the end of my scarf and wipe it away as he looks on in a haze of congestion.

Apparently the scarf irritates his beleaguered nose and he’s temporary snapped out of his daze as he pitches forward with a very congested-sounding sneeze.

Eghh’tsghhhhh!

His raised arm catches most of it and he wipes his nose there unabashedly.

“Blessings,” I offer, kneeling to smother the remains of the fire. “It’s dark. We should go.”

He nods, wiping his nose again with his sleeve and inhaling with a liquidy slurp.

Outside, it’s colder without the autumnal sun and Gale is bundled in his coat and my scarf which I’ve wrapped around his neck. He tucks it up over his sensitive nose and trudges onward at my side, his breath steaming in puffs around his face.

We walk together down the familiar path at a slower pace than usual, with Gale huffing and wheezing and sniffling all the way. I so desperately just want him home in bed that I nearly offer to give him a piggy-back ride before I remember he’s much taller than I am and likely a good deal heavier too.

We near the fence surrounding District 12 and I watch from the trees, making sure we’re safe to sneak back under. There’s no one there. With a wave of my arm, I signal Gale and we scurry over and down under the wire. Safe back inside the confines of the District walls, Gale bends over, coughing hoarsely. He’s exhausted from the hike and he unravels the scarf, revealing a very angry red and wet-looking nose.

Ehh’gthhh’tsghttt!

He sneezes harshly and sniffs, winding the scarf back over his nose and hurrying to my side.

“Let’s get you to bed,” I say cheerfully, putting on my best Hunger Games champion smile.

Gale’s too miserable to offer anything more than a nod in return.

[ThatSneezyGirl]

Love it!! So cute!! Sick Gale is amazing

[VividBubbles!]

MMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BYE!

Edited December 21, 2011 by Bubbles!

[Emily]

HAHAHAHEEHEEHOHO HUNGER GAMES IS LIKE MY DRUG NOW LOL Gale fan forever and always

[inactiveaccount]

Oh, poor Gale! I hope the mines haven't hurt him any.

On a happy note, AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! again! That was great. Sneezy!Gale is just the best. Can't wait for the next part!

[DogLover]

Yay! Love sneezy!Gale! He seems so miserable, though...now I feel sadistic and I feel bad about it...but only a little.

[Prongs]

I'm halfway through the first book now!!!! And now that I got some of the story...

I love Gale!!!!!!! And Gale sneezing even more so!!!!!

[PaperThings]

Still loving this. You have their relationship down really, really well I think, and I just love the way you write sick Gale. So lovely. I can't wait for the third part.

[swann_ee_song]

This is great! Fantastic writing, very true to the style of the books. Can't wait to read more of Gale's misery...

[Lady Blessington]

I have no idea what I just read but it was SUPER HOT.

[Bruyere]

I read the first book on Saturday and most of the second book on Sunday so this was a very welcome read

I love the idea of Katniss wanting to give Gale a piggyback to help him out!

[Bongo]

I'm on a random Hunger Games kick, and I just reread this. I love Gale in this, and Katniss taking care of him and wondering about where they stand is super cute.

[Nicolias312]

Please give me more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more more! before I ex

[Nicolias312]

sorry, before I explo- ...Too late... But please more?

[Dusty15]

Thanks for all the sweet new comments I basically intended to leave this as two parts. But if I ever get back and re-read the books, perhaps I'll tack on another part. In the mean time, I'm glad you all enjoyed this.

[Nicolias312]

Awww....Okay. Nice story! thank you for sharing......If you ever feel like continuing..... I'll be the first to read it!