Chapter Text
Having Madge Undersee as a roommate wasn’t as bad as Gale thought it was going to be.
After Katniss and Peeta moved in together Madge didn’t have enough to pay her rent all on her own and Gale conveniently had an open room. Thom wasn’t too excited about having a girl in the apartment but stopped whining when he realized he wouldn’t have to pay as much rent now that it wouldn’t be split between two and instead three people. And Madge really wasn’t all that bad.
Mostly she kept to herself. Madge helped out with laundry and dishes and every once in a while would record something on TV in the living room, but the truth is that Gale rarely saw her. She was working crazy nursing hours and Gale supposed that he was too, overseeing construction on a new gym downtown, so they barely had time to see each other.
She was a nice presence, though. Soothing in a way, knowing she was there. It wasn’t as though Thom and Gale were messy people, but she had her own little touches that brightened up the apartment.
For example, they started having flavored coffee creamer with the seasons. Madge herself was a big fan Snickerdoodle flavor but she sampled mostly all of them for the boys to try as well. And the apartment started smelling… good. Not that it smelled bad before, but with Madge came a few candles that really changed the atmosphere.
Some nights she would be out in the dining room pouring over her cases, her golden hair tied up in a messy bun as her eyes frantically scanned over her files. Other nights she’d be curled up in the living room with a book. Sometimes she’d even offer to cook for them and the three of them would sit down together like a family of sorts.
So yeah, having Madge Undersee as a roommate didn’t suck completely.
One Friday night Gale got back from working late to find her at the dinner table with letters scattered across the wooden surface. She looked up when he entered and smiled sweetly.
“Long day?” she asked, and Gale grunted in response.
“What are you doing?” he countered, gesturing to the letters. “Are you playing Scrabble? By yourself?”
Madge laughed, shrugging her shoulders and looking at the table again. “I found it under my bed,” she said. “Not sure who it belonged to, but I haven’t played since I was a kid.” Gale kicked off his shoes by the door and hung his coat on the rack, crossing the room to get a better look at the game. “Figured I’d pull it out.”
The smile slipped from her face as she sighed, scooping all of the letters into her hands to put away.
“What are you doing?” Gale asked. He sat down at the other side of the table. “I’m great at Scrabble. Let’s play.”
Madge arched an eyebrow. “Yeah?”
“I’ve got nothing else to do,” he said with a smile. “Let’s play,” he said again.
Thom was at his girlfriend’s house that night, Gale found out as they played, meaning he probably would be gone all weekend. CHAOTIC, Gale spelled out with a smile, earning double points for landing on a certain tile.
“Again?” Madge huffed, jotting down his score.
“You keep setting me up, Undersee,” Gale said, laughing. “If you put me near a double word, I’m going to use it.”
She shuffled around her letters for a bit before lighting up. Coming off of one of Gale’s old words she spelled out SEVERAL, having the V land on a triple letter score. Smiling like Gale had earlier she tallied up her score as well.
They’d been playing for hours. Eight o’clock had turned into ten o’clock, glasses of water had turned into glasses of wine. It was going on midnight and Madge was starting to yawn, but she was determined to beat him.
True to his word Gale was an excellent Scrabble player. They’d taken turns winning one game after the other, and were currently tied. She rubbed at her eyes and stared across the playing board sleepily.
Gale laid out his next word. WARP, earning him way too many points for being such a small word.
“Damn,” Madge murmured under her breath. She rubbed her eyes again.
Gale watched her as she fiddled with her own tiles, trying to come up with some sort of word. But her eyes kept drifting shut, and Gale couldn’t help but laugh a little. “How about we resume play in the morning?” Gale offered. “You’re falling asleep,” he said as she forced her eyes open widely. “I don’t want to win due to you passing out.”
“You’re not winning at all,” Madge said sleepily. But eventually she agreed that pausing the game would be the best way to determine the real winner.
It was a struggle getting Madge to stand considering she wanted to curl up at the table and fall asleep, but Gale moved to help her to her room. He didn’t spend a lot of time in Madge’s room, or any actually, and the door was hardly ever cracked. So when he walked her to her door and she allowed him entry, he was surprised at how… messy, it was.
Okay, not really that messy. But she put on an air of cleanliness absolutely always. She would scold Thom for leaving dirty dishes in the sink and would have a fit when Gale left the wet clothes in the washer for too long.
“Jeez, Undersee,” Gale said as she climbed into bed. “Ever heard of cleaning?”
“It’s been a long week,” she muttered. Gale laughed again and started for the door, preparing to say goodnight, when she stopped him. “C’mere,” she said said softly. Gale hesitated, but eventually crossed the room to her. She sat up on her bed and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tightly. “Thanks for tonight,” she whispered.
The angle was awkward but Gale hugged her back regardless. “It was fun,” he admitted. She didn’t pull away. “Madge?”
“Sorry,” she murmured. As Madge moved backwards to her bed she grabbed his shirt, pulling him with her. “Lay with me.” Again Gale hesitated, yet still found himself sliding into bed beside her. She looked at him through tired blue eyes and smiled, causing his stomach to feel warm. “Goodnight,” she whispered.
Gale reached up, brushing her messy hair from her face. “Goodnight,” he whispered back.
Gale knew, in all reality, that he should’ve just waited until Madge fell asleep. Then he could have left her room without it being weird. But she fell asleep almost instantly and he found himself mesmerized in the way her chest rose and fell gently, and then he fell asleep soon after.
But now he was awake.
It was nearly ten in the morning and Madge was still sleeping. He hoped she didn’t have to go into work and had forgotten to set an alarm.
And now it was too late for him to leave, because somehow in the middle of the night their legs had gotten tangled together under the sheets. His hand was still in her hair, fingers lightly twisted through her golden curls. And Madge was resting against his chest, her hand up and her fist curled against his shirt as she slept.
Suddenly she stirred. Her eyelashes fluttered as she blinked herself awake. The thick blankets had been thrown to floor so any chance of hiding how tangled together they’d become was out the window.
And somehow, Gale didn’t mind. He watched as she woke herself up and smiled. Sunlight was streaming through the windows and Madge was warm and for a brief moment he realized that he never, ever wanted to leave this bed.
“Morning,” she rasped, slightly pulling away from him. Gale was entranced by her sleepy voice and couldn’t bring himself to respond. “No offense,” Madge said, blinking a few times before laying back down by his side. “But what the hell are you doing in my bed?”
Finally Gale chuckled. “You asked me to stay,” he said. “I must’ve fallen asleep.”
“Mm…” she trailed off, letting her eyes fall shut. “Okay.”
Gale wasn’t sure what she meant by that. “Okay,” he echoed. Still she didn’t move. Their legs were still tangled, his hand was still in her hair. He was pretty sure she was falling back asleep. With a deep sigh he unraveled his fingers from her hair and scooted out of bed. “Coffee?” he asked, and she nodded immediately. “We still have to see who won that Scrabble game,” he reminded her as he raced from her bedroom.
With his feet on the ground he realized what a bad idea it was, staying with Madge overnight. Not that he regretted it, because holy hell he didn’t, but it just wasn’t a good idea.
“Be out in a minute,” Madge said with a yawn.
She curled into the warm spot that he left and fought off a smile.