Stay with me? [Finnick Odair]

109

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Chapter one hundred and nine
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I walk up to the door of Katniss' room slowly. I haven't seen her in the few days that I've taken to just settle into the President's mansion. It's strange being back here. Even though I never really saw the mansion while I was being held in the Capitol, just being here has brought back some pretty awful memories for me. Finnick and Mae have been making sure I'm okay, but sometimes I can't stand seeing the interior of this plush mansion. I think I would've preferred living in Thirteen for the rest of my life, but I don't bring it up to Coin — since I know my opinion doesn't matter to her.

I just have to get used to the feeling of dread whenever I walk through the halls of this place. The only thing keeping me from falling apart is the dream of finally being free of Snow, being able to find a decent place to leave near the ocean and living out the rest of my days happily with Finnick, Mae and Cosmo by my side. Like we had always planned.

It turns out that Cosmo was the only one who survived Snow's torture out of my prep team and Asher. They were executed pretty much as soon as the Quarter Quell ended. I didn't think I would be so upset to hear the news of their death, but they were a significant part of my life. Despite being extremely annoying a lot of the time, they were still there for me. I almost considered them my friends, so it was pretty upsetting to hear that Snow had them killed.

Anyway, snapping myself out of my thoughts, I lifted a hand up and knocked softly on the wooden door to Katniss' room. There were a few seconds of silence before the door swung open. A tired-looking Katniss revealed herself to me and I offered her a small smile. She must have been hit by the fire ball bombs as well. Her skin is fully healed, but I can still see the hints of scarring where the medicine didn't help. I know better than to talk about it with her, though.

"Hey, Katniss," I say, my voice sympathetic as I take in just how much she's changed in the little time I haven't seen her. Her eyes are sunken, like she hasn't been getting a lot of sleep, her body is noticeably thinner and there's a strange tint to her skin. She looks sickly — almost like a corpse — but I smile at her nonetheless as she gives me a slight nod of her head. "Can I come in?" I ask. She shrugs and steps aside so I can enter her room.

Her room is very similar to mine. Large, painted white with two king-sized beds, a huge grey carpet that takes up most of the wooden floor, there's a large window beside one of the beds and a couple sets of drawers, a closet, a bathroom attached to the right wall and there's a TV placed on the wall in front of the two beds. One of the beds is very messy, clearly hasn't been made in days, and the other bed is very tidy. It's quite obvious which bed Katniss sleeps in.

"How have you been since...?" I trail off, turning to look at Katniss as she takes a seat on her bed. She pulls her knees to her chest and shrugs her shoulders, not even trying to speak to me. My brows furrow at her response.

"She can't speak," a voice comes up behind me. Turning on my heel, I see Haymitch coming out from the bathroom. "Her vocal chords are only slightly damaged, so she should speak just fine, but she can't. The doctors believe she's become a mental Avox."

"Oh," I sigh, nodding my head. I move over to Katniss' bed and sit down beside her. Her eyes stay glued to the floor, staring at nothing in particular. "I'm sorry to hear about your sister," I mumble, making her eyes latch onto mine. I heard about her sister from her mom while she was helping me recover, it was awful. I can't imagine what Katniss is going through right now. I see Katniss' eyes fill with tears, making a pang of guilt pierce my chest, and I move my hand into hers. "I just wanted to check up on you. Make sure you know that Finnick and I are here for you. If you ever need anything, even if it's just someone to keep you company, you can always come to us."

Her grip tightens around my hand at this. I have no idea what's going through her mind at this moment, but just seeing the small smile she gives me lets me know that she's grateful for what I've said. It all true, what I said. We haven't always made it clear to her, but she's been a great friend to me and Finnick for a long time now. Even if she doesn't think so. So, for everything that she's done for us, we will always make sure that we're there whenever she might need us.

"I should go," I say, pulling myself to my feet with a sigh. "I promised Finnick I'd help him tidy up the mess Mae and Cosmo made in our room while making drawings to put on the walls," I explain, laughing and shaking my head, and I see Katniss laugh in response. There's no noise, but the smile she has on her face and the way her shoulders shake ever so slightly tells me that she's laughing. She nods her head, as if telling me it's okay to leave. I stay in my place, smiling down at her. "I mean it, though. It doesn't matter if you just need someone to keep you company, our door is always open."

Katniss smiles, mouthing a 'thank you' to me. I take this as my cue to leave. Saying goodbye to her and Haymitch, I leave the room and head back through the long hallways to get back to my room.

Once I open the door, I smile at the sight of Finnick chasing Mae around the room — trying to get his paintbrushes away from her. Ever since I woke up, I've realised that Finnick has been occupying his mind with learning to paint. He saw me painting a couple times over the years, especially during the time leading up to my games, and so he decided to ask me to teach him how to paint. Luckily, it's enough to keep the dark thoughts in my mind at bay — so I agreed.

He's not the best, but he's trying. It's just nice to spend time with him again. It almost feels like we're back to the life we had before any games or any wars.

"Children! Children! Can we please not make the room a bigger mess than it already is!" I call out, stopping Mae in her tracks and snatching the paintbrushes from her. She pouts at me before collapsing back on her bed. I roll my eyes, fighting back a wide smile as I hand the paintbrushes back to Finnick.

"Thank you, dear," he says with a weird accent, placing the paintbrushes back in their little cup on his easel. Then, he turns to me and pulls me closer to him. I giggle as he buries his face into the crook of my neck.

"Finnick! Stop! That tickles!" I exclaim, trying to wriggle out of his grasp, but he only holds me tighter. Finally, he pulls back and smiles down at me.

"I missed you."

"I've been gone ten minutes," I reply, rolling my eyes at him. He shrugs.

"I know, but I still missed you," he says, leaning down and planting a kiss on my lips. I can't help but smile against him, combing my fingers through his hair and tugging at them softly. We pull apart and laugh at Mae as she covers her eyes, groaning loudly at the sight of me and Finnick kissing.

"Gross! Get a room!"

"We have a room, Mae," Finnick replies, gesturing around the room that we're standing in, an amused smile taking over his lips. Mae waves a hand at us while trying to keep her eyes covered.

"Get a different room!"