"Adrien, I think we're all impressed that you won the fastest Hunger Games since year nine. Tell us! What are you looking forward to most about going home?" Caesar asked as the laughter from the crown died down.
Adrien grinned as he looked out at the audience who seemed to be consuming everything he had to say like he was Snow himself. He glanced over at Finnick in the wings for a moment, remembering everything that was said on the way over.
The games aren't over.
"Annie," he said with a small smile. "It'll always be Annie."
The audience awed as they watched Adrien toy with the bracelet that he still hadn't removed.
"And can you tell us what you meant when you told Annie you rescuing Ara was for her?" Caesar asked. If possible, everyone in the audience leaned forward.
"Annie always believes the best in everything. She sees a rainy day and decides it was because the sun needed a day off. She sees a dead animal and is grateful for the food it's providing the soil. She sees a child and sees them as our responsibility to love and care for them. She firmly believes in the saying 'it takes a village to raise a baby,' and I knew she would have run out to protect Ara. Corinne and I talked about allying ourselves with Ara and Oak before the games started, but when you're sitting in that arena, it is so easy to turn away because you know it's one less person to kill. But I thought about Annie, and I thought about how much value she would have seen in every person in that arena, and I couldn't leave Ara to die when I knew I could have saved her. I just wish I could have saved her a second time."
Sniffles could be heard in the crowd as handkerchiefs were passed around.
"How long have you two been together?" Caesar asked, and Adrien grinned.
"Nearly two years," he said. The audience cooed.
"How did you two meet?" he asked, and Adrien turned slightly red as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh-ho-ho, is this an embarrassing story?" Caesar teased with his loud stage laugh.
"The story of how we met? No, but the one of how we got together is a little bit, and I have a feeling that's the one you'll want to hear," Adrien said, and the crowd cheered. He cleared his throat and sat up straighter. "But you have to understand that I was not always this fighting machine you see in front of you."
"You weren't?" Caesar asked in mock surprise.
"Annie and I started dating entirely because of Finnick." The crowd started cheering at the sound of his name. Finnick went slightly red when he heard his name, and Amara, who had been standing next to him, elbowed him in the ribs.
"Annie and I met in school. Everyone in the district knows one another, and we had a handful of classes together. Unfortunately, I was bullied in school. A lot. I walked up to her in the hall and asked if she wanted to go fishing with me, and this group of guys started making fun of me. Thankfully, they didn't beat me up like they normally would, but I ended up running off.
"Now, this was right after Finnick's games, and we had just recently become friends. He was teaching me how to defend myself in an attack, so I showed up to the gym a wreck. I got a little sloppy and he punched me in the face. Twice."
"Finnick punched you?" Caesar asked, his jaw dropped. The crowd was tittering with noise. They had no idea Adrien and Finnick were friends, and that just made Adrien so much more fascinating.
"I did end up talking, and it was what helped us really bond. I was completely convinced that I had no shot with her. This friendship is what prompted me to start going to the Victors' Village. One day, I walk into Finnick's house and he's talking to a rose."
"A rose?" Caesar asked. The crowd laughed, and Caesar turned to the wing to see Finnick covering his face with his hands. Amara was silently laughing next to him. "I think we're embarrassing him."
Adrien craned his neck over to the wing before he turned back to Caesar, a dangerous smirk on his face.
"So I walk in and he's talking to this rose and Mags, who is standing with me, just tells me she's glad we became friends because it would be sad if his only friend was a rose." Adrien looked over at Finnick, who was leaning against the wall, hiding from everyone. Amara was still laughing along with the crowd. "This has nothing to do with the story, I just like embarrassing Finnick."
"Like a good friend would." Caesar agreed.
"Anyway, so he's distraught because he's been trying to keep this rose alive for the last year or so."
"It was four months!" Finnick's voice rang out. The audience laughed harder, and Caesar raised a brow and turned to Finnick.
"Excuse me, you can have your turn later," Adrien said. Finnick threw his hands in the air. The crowd laughed harder, and Adrien looked up at the screen above them to see they had a camera on Finnick to record his reaction.
"Why did he have this flower for so long?" Caesar asked. Adrien grinned manically.
"Because it was from Amara," he said. Amara was laughing on the floor.
"I see, and they're together?" Caesar asked with a tone of a journalist who was about to get the scoop on the latest gossip between the Capitol's favorite celebrities.
"They're best friends," Adrien said. The crowd awed as the camera zoomed in on Amara, who was still on the floor, staring adoringly at Finnick, who was bright red and glaring down at her like she was the reason behind all this. Caesar looked giddy, but before he could ask any more questions, Adrien moved on. "So Finnick is desperate to save this flower. I bring him down to this flower shop and before we can go in, I see Annie standing at the counter."
"She was in the store?" Caesar asked, but Adrien just shook his head.
"Her family ran the store, and I was hoping we'd get lucky and she just wouldn't be in there. Finnick, however, sees all of this happening and is more worried about his flower than his friend. He basically tells me to suck it up and go in there so we could save his flower. Before we left, she agreed to go fishing with me and we've been together ever since."
"I suppose you have Finnick and Amara to thank for all of this," Caesar said with his boyish laugh. Adrien grinned and looked over at the two of them.
"I really do," he said. Caesar leaned forward.
"Did she save the flower?" he asked, and Adrien snorted.
"It was long dead," he said. "But Annie made it into a necklace for him."
"A necklace?" Caesar asked, intrigued.
"It was the smallest petal encased in a glass teardrop. I've never seen him take it off."
The camera zoomed in on Finnick, who reluctantly took the necklace out of his shirt so the audience could see it. The crowd awed, but it quickly turned into laughter when Amara, who was once again standing, gave him a fist bump.
Caesar had to clamp down on all his questions about their friendship, however, and turned back to Adrien.
"So tell us what your thought process was when you allied with Ara and Oak."
And the rest of the interview focused on Adrien's stories of his time in the arena.
**
"You did a good job in there," Finnick said as he, Mags, and Adrien walked back to the apartment. Adrien had been crowned, interviewed, and celebrated. Now, he could spend the next six months resting and recovering from the horrors of the game before he was thrown back in again.
"Even if you threw Finnick under the bus," Mags laughed. Finnick snorted and glared at his friend, who grinned innocently up at him.
"Even if you threw me under the bus," he sighed.
When they walked into the lobby, however, they immediately noticed that something was wrong. There were three peace keepers standing there, and they did not look friendly.
"Finnick," Iris said quietly as she stepped out to look at them. "I'm to take over your duties for the rest of the evening. I'll see to it that Adrien is packed and ready to go for tomorrow. President Snow wishes to speak with you."
His stomach dropped to his gut, and he nodded. He didn't dare look over at Adrien or Mags. Even a flicker of doubt would tell them both something was wrong, and this part of being a victor was not something Adrien should have to worry about so early on.
They were delayed by a few Capitol citizens that wanted his autograph, and by the time they made it to the President's mansion, Snow looked a little agitated.
"When I summon someone, I expect they come quickly," he said. Finnick sat in the chair across from him.
"I ran into some fans. Had to make it look like I wasn't a prisoner."
"But you're not a prisoner, Mr. Odair," Snow smirked. "Every decision you've made has been yours to make."
"It's not much of a decision when the alternative is death or pain for the people around me."
Snow shrugged. "But a decision nonetheless. And you've been making plenty of them, haven't you?"
Snow pulled up the monitor and a compilation of videos were playing. He watched the conversation with Ezra, though there wasn't any sound, the video of him with the other victors in Amara's apartment, and him almost kissing Amara in his room.
When the video went dark, Snow leaned back in his chair.
"What do you have to say for yourself?" he asked.
"Is there something to say?" Finnick asked with a raised brow.
"Mr. Xyer has been making some rebellious comments lately, and now I see you're up on the roof where the audio is so poor we can't hear a thing. Next thing we know, all the victors are with Amara White, and your moments away from kissing her."
"We've been scolding Ezra about his comments," Finnick said. "He's a foolish kid that doesn't know when to hold his tongue, but that's it. And I thought you wanted to create unity between us?"
"Not at the cost of rebellion," Snow pointed out.
"And I thought you wanted the Capitol to love me?" Finnick asked, hating his question even as it crossed his lips. Snow regarded him thoughtfully.
"I will not warn you away from Miss White," he said slowly. Finnick faltered. He hadn't been expecting that. "But I will remind you that if she catches wind of our agreement, there will be consequences. The rumors of your... flirtatious nature need to remain the same, and something tells me the relationship won't last long if they continue. So I guess you need to decide what matters more: your blooming relationship or her heart."
Snow leaned back into his chair, and Finnick knew he was being dismissed. He stood and walked toward the door, his heart pounding.
"And Mr. Odair?" Snow called out just before he could leave. Finnick turned. "Keep a tight leash on Mr. Xyer. I'm watching the victors. If I see even a flicker of rebellion, I will pick off your loved ones one at a time until you crawl to me begging for mercy."
**
The entire walk home, Finnick's thoughts were swirling on Amara. The Capitol now knew of their friendship, and that was all it could ever be between them. It didn't matter how badly he wanted to kiss her, and be with her, and love her. Nothing could ever happen. Not as long as Snow dictated their every move.
He hated how Snow was right. His public persona had to stay the same. If those rumors weren't squashed while he and Amara were in a relationship, she would feel utterly betrayed. He would lose his best friend. If the rumors did die, however, Snow would know he wasn't fulfilling his end of the bargain, and he could make good on any number of threats.
So, even though he planned to go back to his apartment and crash, his feet brought him to Amara's building. Penny smiled up at him when he walked in.
"You're cleared to go in anytime, Mr. Odair," she said with her usual friendly chirp.
Mack didn't stop him when he knocked on the door. He didn't even blink at the broken look on Finnick's face.
When the door swung open, a grin split across Amara's face.
"Finnick!" she said, and immediately yanked him in. They walked through the apartment as she told him about how Celeste told her she sounded pitchy in the coronation song and how wildly inappropriately she had behaved when she fell to the ground laughing during Adrien's interview.
"I'm pretty sure the only reason she hasn't told me I'm never allowed to speak to you again is because the public has fallen in love with our friendship since it was aired. It's all anyone is talking about."
Finnick painted a smile on his face, but she must have seen right through it because she took a step away from him, planted her hands on her hips and looked him up and down.
"What?" he asked. Her eyes narrowed.
"Something is wrong with you," she declared. She circled him, looking him up and down like Jade normally did when she was being fitted.
"What are you doing?" he asked.
"Scanning you for injuries," she said. Finnick scoffed.
"I'm not injured," he said.
"Must be a brain abnormality then," she decided. Finnick rolled his eyes. She looked at him carefully for another moment before her eyes softened, and she dropped her hands from her hips. "What's going on, Finn?"
It was a nickname she had never used before, and it made his heart skip a beat and then clench tightly in his chest. It was what his mom had always called him when she wanted him to open up.
"What happened yesterday..." he trailed off. He was going to cry. He couldn't cry in front of her. Not right now. Not about this. "It can't happen again."
She raised a brow. "Nothing happened yesterday," she pointed out. He groaned. Why was she making this harder than it had to be?
"You know what I'm talking about," he chastised. She slowly looked up at him through her eyelashes, a smirk resting on her face. Uh oh.
Carefully, she took a step closer until their legs were almost intertwined. Finnick fidgeted. He was so close that he could reach out and grab her. He could take her mouth in his and kiss her until she couldn't remember her own name.
He could.
He could.
He couldn't.
"Do you mean this?" she asked.
"Amara," he said in a low voice. Don't do it.
"I'm going to need you to be specific because it was a busy day. Adrien won the games. Is that what you're talking about?"
"Amara," he said, his voice still low.
"Or are you talking about me standing here, looking up at you, and how close you came to leaning down and kissing me."
"Amara," he growled.
"If I remember correctly, you got so close that your nose brushed against mine."
He could do it. He could grab her, and kiss her, and deal with the consequences later. He was so close to having everything he wanted.
But it wouldn't be. Not everything. Because he would break her heart. She wouldn't be safe from Snow if they were together. As long as she asked questions about where it was that he went when he was in town, she wouldn't be safe.
"I'm going to need you to be specific about what you want, Finnick," she said.
"You're my best friend," he whispered, his breath mixing with hers. "And that's all I can offer you."
Amara stepped back, a smirk on her lips.
"Okay," she said. It was so casual, like he had just asked about the whether, that it took him a second to adjust.
"That's it?" he asked.
"Like I said," she said as she walked around the counter and grabbed an apple, throwing it in the air. "Nothing happened between us."
"I will only break your heart," he said. "And I refuse to put you in that position when I can protect you from it."
"I guess I was right," she said. "No woman can tame you."
He smiled weakly. She took a bite of the apple.
"Friends?" he asked, holding out a hand. She snorted, putting the apple on the counter and pushing away his hand. She stepped closer to him, wrapping her arms tightly around him.
"You're my best friend, Finn, and nothing is going to change that."
Finnick held her tighter, wishing he could remain in this moment for as long as possible.
When she pulled away, however, it was like a switch flipped between them. He had to pretend like everything was normal.
"Hey, you never told me about those dates you went on," he said, the smirk she had been wearing now on his face.
Amara groaned.
"Don't even get me started."