Herein lies a collection of Gadge oneshots and ficlets. I've rated it M to be on the safe side, but it's mostly innocent stuff.

LIP.

Written for the Gadge week challenge on Tumblr. Prompt: Peeta.

Peeta's face lights up as he talks about his new girlfriend. His eyes sparkle, his lips curl into a smile as he speaks, he practically bounces in his seat.

Madge can't help but giggle as she takes it all in. She's never seen him like this, so happy and joyful. The change in her friend is remarkable. Peeta has always been cheerful and friendly, but Madge knows it was a facade to mask the pain of living with his emotionally, and occasionally physically abusive mother.

She has really only seen Peeta this genuinely happy on rare occasions. The day he got his scholarship for art school, comes to mind. When his niece was born. The night they had graduated from college and they had shared an entire $300 bottle of champagne she'd liberated from her father's stash.

His happiness is so contagious, so delightful, that Madge is barely listening to what he's saying, she's just enjoying seeing him like this.

They're ensconced in a booth in their favorite cafe. Peeta has barely touched his lunch because he's doing so much talking. Madge has eaten most of his fries. She reaches across the table and squeezes his hand. "I'm so happy for you, Peeta. I can't wait to meet her. She sounds wonderful."

"I can't wait for you to meet her, too. You're going to love her," Peeta agrees. He makes a face. "She can be a little… uh, brusque at first. But once you get to know her, she's… well, she's brusque. But she is wonderful. I think she'll really like you."

Madge laughs.

Despite her happiness for Peeta, Madge can't help but feel a little envious of him. It has been months since she's been on a date, and the last time she'd ever felt the need to gush so effusively about a crush, she'd been in high school. She wants a boyfriend. She wants somebody that made her light up like Peeta does when he talks about Katniss. "Does she have a brother?" she half-jokes.

Peeta smirks. "She doesn't have a brother, but she does have a very handsome friend, who I think you'd really like."

"How handsome?" Madge asks. She tries not to show how excited she is at the possibility of liking Katniss' friend, but she is. Her mind is racing ahead. She knows Peeta and she knows he'd never set her up with anyone unless he really believed it could work.

"Like, so handsome that I considered switching teams for a minute," Peeta jokes. "Katniss is taking me to her favorite bar on Saturday night, The Hob, I think it's called. Gale will be there, you should come too."

Madge is intrigued. "What's he like?"

Peeta shrugs. "He's a lot like Katniss actually. A little less taciturn, a lot taller. Will you come?"

"Why not," Madge agrees. If nothing else, she'd get to meet the girl who made Peeta smile from ear to ear.

They finish lunch, argue over who'll pay the bill and head outside. On the sidewalk, they turn to each other to say their goodbyes.

"So, I'll see you Saturday," Peeta says. "I'll contact you with the details."

"I can't wait to meet Katniss," Madge tells him. She grabs him and pulls him in for a hug. "It's so good to see you this happy, Peeta. You deserve it."

Peeta's smiling at her as he leans forward to kiss her cheek.

Then suddenly Madge is tugged backwards. She looks up just in time to see a very tall, ridiculously good looking man punch Peeta hard and fast in the face.

"Fucking sunovabitch," the man swears, glowering at Peeta who lies prostrate on the ground, clutching his nose. The dark haired man turns to Madge and she takes a step backwards. "You deserve better than this cheating scum."

Madge finds her voice. It's full of steel and anger. "Cheating? He's my cousin!"

The man freezes, his fury evaporates and his mouth falls open.

Madge glares at him and bends down to help Peeta to his feet. "Are you OK?" Once Peeta is standing unsteadily on his own feet, Madge searches through her purse for a tissue. "You're bleeding." She whips around to face the other man. "He's bleeding, you asshole. What the fuck did you hit him for?"

The man looked sheepish. "I'm really sorry, Peeta. I saw you and her and it looked like you were kissing and I just saw red."

"It's OK," Peeta says. He dabs the tissue to his nose delicately.

"You shouldn't just go around punching people," Madge said. She's outraged that Peeta is just going to forgive the jerk. All the years of feeling impotent as Peeta suffered at the hands of his bitch of his mother coming rushing back to her. That old familiar fury courses through her veins until it explodes from her and she whacks the guy as hard as she can with her purse.

He stumbles backwards, holding his face. His lip is bleeding and Madge immediately regrets her actions. But then she sees Peeta's nose, now gushing blood and she's glad she hit the prick. In fact, she very much wants to do it again.

Peeta jumps to restrain Madge from hitting him a second time. "Madge, it's OK. This is Gale, Katniss' best friend. He was just looking out for her."

"You're Gale?" Madge's eyebrows shoot up. That gives her pause. Peeta did not oversell Gale's good looks. Shame he's a psychotic thug.

Madge turns back to Peeta. "You were going to set me up with this violent lughead?"

"Hey," Gale holds out his blood covered hand. "You're the only one here not bleeding."

"I was defending my cousin, who you attacked for no reason."

Gale uses the edge of his sleeve to wipe the blood from his split lip. "I thought he was cheating on Katniss." He turns to Peeta whose nose is still pumping blood and winces. "Maybe, I should take you to the ER."

Peeta nods. "Yeah, that might be a good idea."

Madge glares at Gale. "No way, you're not taking him anywhere. I'll go with him."

Peeta waves her off. "You have to go back to work. It's fine, Gale will take me. Go, it's fine. I'll see you on Saturday."

Madge wants to argue, but Peeta is right, she does have to get back to work. So she says goodbye to him and watches as Gale directs him down the street to where he's parked.

As they leave, Gale turns back to her once more. He has the audacity to wink at her. "It's was nice to meet you."

He's gone before she can think of something to say in reply, but at least she has the satisfaction of seeing that his lip is still bleeding.

She goes to The Hob on Saturday to meet Katniss. Thankfully, Gale isn't there. Peeta is sporting two black eyes and a broken nose. He laughs as he tells the story to Katniss' friends. Madge is relieved to see that his laughter is genuine. There's no sign of the forced joviality he sported as a child when he recounted the 'funny' tales of how he had acquired his latest bruise.

When it comes to the part of the story where Madge whacked Gale in the face with her purse, Madge ducks her head. She wishes that he hadn't told her part. Now Katniss will think she's a crazy bitch. But Katniss throws her head back and laughs loudly and her friends thump Madge on the back and pass her purse around as if it's a sacred relic.

Apparently, giving her best friend a fat lip is the key to becoming Katniss' friend, because Madge sees no sign of the brusqueness Peeta had warned her about. Katniss' friends buy her drinks and treat her like something of a hero. Madge isn't exactly proud of hitting Gale, but she is enjoying the warm acceptance of Katniss and her friends. It's a nice change to being treated like an untouchable princess.

Gale shows up an hour later. Madge is horrified when she sees his face. It's not as bad Peeta's face, but it's the worst injury she's ever inflicted on anybody. She's torn between being angry at Gale, and being so ashamed she can barely look at him. On the few occasions that she meets his eyes, he grins and winks at her. Madge decides she's more infuriated than ashamed.

It's another hour before she actually talks to him, and even then it's only because he comes to stand beside her as she stand at the bar trying to get the bartender's attention.

"I'll have a beer, thanks," Gale says, waving his empty beer bottle at her.

"Buy your own."

"I think you owe me one," Gale says. His lip juts out and Madge winces involuntarily. It looks way worse close up.

"You broke Peeta's nose. I just scratched your lip."

"Scratched," Gale snorts. He grabs her arm and turns her to face him. "Look, I explained why I hit him and I've apologized to him. He's cool, why can't you be?"

Madge looks away. She's not going to explain to Gale why it affects her so much when she sees somebody hurting Peeta. Sweet, gentle Peeta.

Gale continues. "And, I think it's worth pointing out that I was looking out for you too."

That is true. When he thought Peeta was cheating with Madge, Gale had told her she deserved better than being cheated on. She doesn't agree with his actions, but it had come from a good place.

Sensing that she's relenting, Gale presses on. "I don't normally go around hitting people. But Katniss is my best friend, and I'm protective of her. Katniss really likes Peeta. It's the first time she's ever really let anybody in who wasn't her family or me, and the thought of him hurting her made me furious." He touched his lip. "I think you can understand that."

Madge felt all her anger dissipate. "I guess I can."

The bartender finally makes his way over to them, Gale orders for both of them. Madge protests, the least she can do is buy him a drink. But the bartender knows Gale so he ignores Madge's protests and takes the money from Gale.

Madge slumps in defeat when their drinks are delivered. She turns her pout on Gale. "You could have let me buy you a drink. How else can I make it up to you."

Gale's gaze drops to her lips. "You could kiss it better."

She can feel the blush spreading across her cheeks at his suggestion. Before she can over think it, Madge rises on her toes and presses her lips gently to his.

He's smiling when she pulls away. It's a different smile to the obnoxious smirk he was wearing earlier. Madge finds that she likes it, a lot. Her blush deepens and she returns his smile.

Gale clinks his beer bottle gently against her wine glass. "Here's to the beginning of a beautiful friendship."