lover/fighter - Finnick Odair

Chapter 35 - I love him, I love him not

When Finnick comes home, he finds Mags and Annie in the living room, a large plate of pastries on the coffee table in front of them, obviously from the Capitol. In theory, neither of them would ever have to leave the house, at least not to stock up on food, because the Capitol provides them with an abundance of it. He knows that many victors are doing just that.

"Where have you been?" Mags asks him from the sofa, as he is usually the one who has to wait for them.

"At the station," he replies and drops into one of the leather armchairs, the surface cold against his skin despite the warm temperatures.

Mags seems surprised and tilts her head slightly to the side. "To do what?"

"To send a package to the Capitol."

"Oh really?" she wonders with a grin.

Finnick rolls his eyes and reaches for a cookie on the plate. "She forgot something, that's all," he murmurs, the slightest bit annoyed. As much as he appreciates Mag's attentiveness towards him, since he let Rhea into his life, it seems to be her new hobby to tease him about it all the time.

"You didn't think that through very well," Annie interjects. "That would have been the perfect excuse to get her to come back soon," she explains matter-of-factly.

Finnick laughs and replies incredulously, "So you think I should let her travel halfway across Panem again just because of something that trivial?"

"Oh, I think you should marry her, but I guess that would be a good start after all." Without the slightest hesitation, she simply blurts out her thoughts, a smug smile on her face.

Finnick raises his eyebrows and looks at her in astonishment. "Whoa, slow down. You've only known each other for four weeks. If you like her so much already, why don't you marry her?" he counters. He is used to Annie's habit of occasionally expressing her opinion very freely, but a request of this kind is something new even for him.

"I'm afraid I don't like her in that way," Annie replies naturally, as if his objection is completely beside the point.

Finnick laughs and leans forward. "Oh, and what makes you think that I would like her in that way? And anyway, are you telling me that you would sell me off that easily just so you can have your new friend around?" he asks with a smile, but at least tries to sound reproachful. Of course, he can never really be angry with her, after all, he is secretly happy that Annie has found someone she gets on well with, because that is not a given with just anyone. She just seems to be going a bit overboard with all of this.

"She's nice, I like her better than the other ones," Annie replies innocently, playing with the hem of her dress. One can tell that the subject is bothering her more than she wants to show, but she's not very good at hiding it.

Finnick chews his lower lip tensely and glances at Mags for help, but she can only shrug her shoulders. It's obvious who she means by "the other ones", even if she knows pretty much nothing else about any of this. Finnick never talks about his clients in front of her, or anything else that might upset her.

He barely says a word to her about anything that happens at the Capitol, but even though Annie often lives in her own little world, she's not stupid and is aware of much more than many people think. She rarely uses the television, but that's more than enough and people are talking a lot.

Finnick knows this too, and one could say that keeping the truth about his many affairs and flings at the Capitol away from Annie is one of the hardest things he has to deal with. Always pretending to her that nothing is wrong, that he's just enjoying life as a celebrity in the Capitol and doing whatever he feels like with whomever he feels like, is much more exhausting than playing it up to the Capitolites. Because Annie simply knows him better. He realizes that she can probably tell that something is wrong, but she has enough to deal with herself.