Lovers In The Arena \\ Gale Hawthorne

Chapter 16: Back Home

Y/n's POV

I wake up and Gale is already awake, but his arms are still wrapped tightly around me. I open my eyes and see him looking down at me. I look up and smile.

"Morning" he whispers

"Morning" I whisper back. Neither of us wants to get up and be pulled from each other so we stay in bed and cuddle for a while. We hardly talk while we cuddle but when we do we talk about going home, how we're so close to district 12, and how exciting it's gonna be to see our friends and families again. About 40 minutes have passed and neither of us wants to let go yet. But then Effie comes in.

"Oh, aren't you two adorable? Breakfast is ready now if you want to come out" Effie says then leaves. Gale and I decide to go out. We eat breakfast, and when we're done, the train stops for fuel. So Gale and I decide to take a walk down the train track. 

We hop off the train and walk down the track while taking in all the scenery and holding hands. 

"Do you ever wonder if it will be weird living in a whole new part of the district, in a whole new house?" Gale asks me.

"Yeah, it will definitely be weird. But we'll adjust soon enough. We'll start a new life." I say

"Yeah, are you gonna continue making clothes and selling them?"

"Of course, it's what I love to do. Like you with hunting. Are you gonna continue hunting?"

"Definitely. I couldn't just stop. It's like my escape from everything, you know?"

"Yeah, I understand" We have to get back on the train a little bit later. Gale and I talk about whether Katniss and Peeta like us being together or not.

"I mean why wouldn't they want us to be together?" I say

"I don't know, but what if they're together? You said that Peeta likes Katniss, she actually may like him if they hung out" Gale says

"That would be great for Peeta, he's been simping over her for the past like...11 years" 

"11 years?! That's crazy"

"Yeah, he first told me when we were in like kindergarten, we were five and we were at our spot, and he told me in my ear, he freaked out when I told him that I was gonna tell her at school the next day. But I wouldn't, I don't think he knew that though" Gale laughed. 

"What if we come back and they're together? That would be funny"

"Yeah, but probably not, Peeta would never get the balls to tell her how he feels." We laughed and continued talking. 

"Okay guys, we will be arriving in district 12 in 2 minutes!" Effie says cheerfully. This is the first time that I've been excited about something Effie is excited about. My heart beats faster and faster as we near district 12. We go into a tunnel and come out to see everyone cheering for us at the train station. Gale and I smile at each other. When the train halts to a stop Effie leads us out and onto a stage area, everyone is clapping and cheering for us. I look out into the crowd and see my mother with Peeta and his family, I see Gale's family and Katniss with her mother and sister. Everyone looks so happy, Gale and I wave back a little bit, then we hold hands and put them up, and the crowd cheered more and more. 

After our big homecoming, we could go see our families. I made my way through the crowd and saw Peeta running toward me. We ran into each other's arms and hugged for a long time.

"I'm so happy you won! You did it!" he said teary-eyed. I found my mom and hugged her, we didn't let go for a while. I made my way to Peeta's family and they all hugged me, some of them were crying a little bit. I saw Gale reunite with his family, and Katniss and they were all so happy too.