"Hey," Taiya whispered as she tried to shake Finnick awake. "You need to get up."
"No," Finnick groaned, pulling the pillow over his head.
Taiya huffed and dropped her head back to the pillow. She'd stayed the last night in Finnick's room, he was beginning his first time mentoring today and he was scared. "You have to get up eventually or they're going to come for you."
"Let them come," he replied, his voice muffled by the pillow.
"Come on," Taiya sat up, "I want to go for a swim. You should come. It'll relax you, there are no beaches in the Capitol to swim at and it'll be a month before you're back, you may as well enjoy it."
Finnick pulled the pillow off his face and looked at her. "I don't want to leave you alone," he muttered, brushing a loose bit of hair back behind her ear.
"I won't be alone. I'll have Mags staying here again. I'll be fine. I'm worried about you," she smiled. "You'll be stuck with Tyler the whole time. How will you survive?" she mocked with a giggle.
"Cheeky," he laughed and reached out for her, pulling her in close for a kiss.
"Morning breath," she scrunched up her face when they pulled apart.
"Oh really?" he asked, breathing in her face as she laughed.
"Up. Let's go," she smiled, tapping his chest and pulling out of his grasp so she could stand up. "It'll take you a lot longer than me to make yourself look pretty," she joked as she darted out of the room.
"Oi," he laughed as he chased after her.
*********************
"Yo Finnick," Tyler called out as he let himself into their house.
"We're in the kitchen," Taiya yelled out as she put the finishing touches on Finnick's hair. "Ok, you look good," she approved as she admired her handiwork.
"Nice hair," Tyler complimented as he came into the kitchen.
"Thanks," Finnick smiled.
"I meant her," he winked at Taiya, making Finnick glare. "Ease up man," he laughed as he slapped Finnick's shoulder. "We've got to go, reaping's in an hour, we need to go to the mentor's meeting with Moxie."
"I'm not leaving until Mags gets here," Finnick shook his head violently, gesturing his head towards Taiya who was fixing her hair.
"She'll be ok for 2 minutes," Tyler reassured quietly.
"That's not a chance I'm willing to take," he hissed.
"What are you guys whispering about?" Taiya asked, turning to look at them.
"Nothing," Finnick answered quickly.
"Mags isn't coming over," Tyler said.
"What?" Finnick yelled, standing up aggressively.
"Oh my god," Taiya gasped. "Relax!"
"Calm down," Tyler rolled his eyes, "Buck's coming."
"Buck's walking me to the reaping?" Taiya asked confused as Finnick instantly relaxed and sat back down in his seat. "Buck Dawntide?" she snorted. "I've never spoken to him, not even at my parents funeral. I'd rather not, I can just walk to the reaping myself, I don't need an escort," she argued.
"You're going with Buck," Tyler ordered, pointing his finger at her with a smirk on his face.
"This is so unfair," she growled, glaring at the two as the doorbell went.
"Ah, there we go," Tyler said tapping Finnick's shoulders, urging him to stand, "babysitters here."
"Shut up," Taiya laughed as they walked into the hallway.
"Hey," Finnick said grabbing Taiya's hand and pulling her to face him, leaving Tyler to get the door. "I don't think I'm going to get a chance to say goodbye so I just want to say in advance that I'll miss you and I... I'll really miss you."
"Ok," Taiya smiled. "I'll miss you too," she said as she leaned up and kissed him.
"Oi, separate, not on my watch," Tyler called out, making the two of them pull away from each other. "I need a goodbye too," Tyler smiled, walking up to her and pulling her in for a hug. "Just do what Buck, Todd and Mags tell you to do," he said quickly before letting her go and walking straight out of the house, pulling Finnick along with him.
Taiya raced to the door as she watched them walk out of the front gate, "see you later," she called out with a wave, watching as Tyler tugged Finnick along. As soon as they were out of sight she turned back to look at Buck who was standing awkwardly in the doorway, his hands shoved in his pockets.
"I'm Taiya," she stuttered.
"I know," he replied gruffly.
"Ok," she sighed.
"We leave in 10, it'll take you a while to get through security. You should probably go get changed."
Taiya looked down at her outfit with a frown, "this is my reaping dress."
"Oh," he realised as his eyes went wide. "Sorry. It's very uh... very pretty."
"Thanks, I'm going to go change it now," she muttered as she walked up the stairs.
"You don't have to, it looks nice," he called after her, but she ignored him.
*********************
"Alright, dropped off at the entrance to security half an hour in advance, just as requested," Buck said as they reached the Justice Hall. "You going to be all good?" he asked.
"Yeah thanks," Taiya nodded.
Buck rubbed the back of his neck, "I have to go see the other victors."
"Ok, thanks for walking me here, that's my friend over there so I'll be fine," she smiled awkwardly as she spotted Theo walking towards them.
"See you around," Buck said quickly walking away.
"Was that Buck Dawntide?" Theo asked her in amazement as she nodded. "Wow, the man barely ever leaves his house. I can't believe he was with you, he's like a legend."
"He's weird," she noted.
"How so?"
"He didn't like my reaping dress and he's just very awkward, he clearly doesn't have a lot of people interaction," Taiya analysed.
"Yeah well, his games were brutal. I don't know how well I'd handle social interactions after his games," he shrugged.
"I think Finnick and Tyler have left all the other three mentors in charge of me while they're in the Capitol," she frowned.
Theo laughed, "wow that sucks. Well, let's go through and get this reaping this over and done with and then afterwards we can ditch the security detail you've got going on and head down to the beach."
"Sounds like a plan," Taiya agreed before splitting up to make their way through the security screening.
*********************
Taiya stood in amongst the 16-year-old girls as the new mayor walked on stage to open the reaping ceremony. "Relax," Kenna whispered to her as she noticed her tense up in anger.
"That's not his job, that's my dad's," Taiya hissed.
"I know, but sweetie your dad can't do that anymore, they can't just leave the role open," Kenna tried to reason to the stubborn girl.
"I know. I just don't like it."
The mayor walked up to the microphone and began reading his speech about the history of Panem while Taiya glared at him. "We honour our past victors Mags Flanagan, Buck Dawntide, Todd Keenmark, Tyler Silvergaze and Finnick Odair," he read out as the victors walked onto the stage and took their seats. Taiya diverted her eyes from the mayor to Finnick's, who immediately caught her eye and gave her an admonishing look, knowing that she had been glaring at the mayor. "It's now my honour to introduce District 4's escort, Moxie Rosehorn," he cheered as Moxie flounced her way onto the stage. Taiya broke eye contact with Finnick to look at Kenna beside her and both girls giggled mockingly at the ditsy escort.
"Happy Hunger Games," Moxie sang. "And may the odds be ever in your favour," she recited as Kenna and Taiya both mouthed her speech together with a chuckle. "What an honour it is to be here with you again. As always, ladies first," she chirped as she removed her glove and strutted over to the girl's bowl of names. Taiya's heart stopped, every year was as nerve-wracking as the last, it was never a feeling you could get used to. Moxie smiled at the crowd as she plucked out a name before making her way back over to the microphone. Moxie slowly unfolded the name before her eyes widened slightly and she read out, "Taiya Ambersnow."