Somehow I knew this question was coming, haha.

Personally, I’d pick Gale, but I don’t think it’s truly an “either-or” situation. My roommates and I have disagreed over this several times, and before anyone else freaks out my reasoning is this:

Had Prim’s name not been reaped, had Katniss’ life continued uninterrupted by the Games, had she never been forced to face the world outside of the Seam, it would have been Gale. It was always supposed to be Gale. Had things gone how they should, the two of them would have inevitably been together. To me, Gale represents that person in your life who, had things gone differently or even had things stayed the same, you could have been with indefinitely. Gale knew the ugliness of Katniss and loved her just the same, while I believe Peeta fell in love with the idea of her and then came to actually love her anyway. 

However, if life had simply gone on uninterrupted for Katniss, who can say that would have ended well? There’s a reason that certain people don’t stay in our lives and all we have left of them is the sense of unfinished business. Because Katniss went into the arena, I believe she grew out of Gale, in a sense, while he did not outgrow her. However, she and Peeta grew together in the same ways, and Peeta had to come to terms with who she was presently, while Gale had to wrestle with the changed Katniss and the girl he had known before. 

Basically, I’m saying that Gale was jipped of the life he could have had, despite it being rather bleak. Maybe I’ve put way too much thought into this.