[The Hunger Games] The Waves Do It for You
Title: The Waves Do It For You
Fandom: The Hunger Games
Pairing: Finnick/Annie/Johanna
Rating: R
Wordcount: 673
Notes: Written for the fic prompt; kind of experimental.
Summary: Finnick Odair, Annie Cresta, and Johanna Mason form a complicated triangle.
"When did you first fall in love with her?" Johanna asks from across the bed. They never cuddle after sex. She knows the ones who buy him from Snow expect tenderness and intimacy as part of the package, so she never asks for it. "Before her Games, or after."
"Before," Finnick says. "She's still the same girl, you know. She sings at strange times and cries at the wrong ones, but it's still her. Annie. They only don't like her here in the Capitol because she didn't put on a show for the cameras."
"Good," Johanna says, and she means it. She wouldn't want to think that the girl on the screen she fell for was an act. Not that it matters, anyway; Annie Cresta will never be hers. But that's probably a good thing, since everyone who was hers is dead. "But you didn't answer my question. When did you fall in love with her?"
He's silent for a time. She lets him be. That's another part of their ritual in bed together. She sets the terms during sex: when his lovers, when Snow's customers would normally expect him to sweep them off their feet and ravish them like in a fantasy. She makes sure their times together are real and awkward and rough, nothing like the fantasy he's forced to pretend to when he's with the ones from the Capitol. Then, after, she lies at the other side of the bed and lets him do what he wants. Eventually, though, what he wants to do is speak. "I was sixteen, and I was taking one last walk on the beach before going to the Capitol. I didn't know then why Snow had called me there."
Johanna thinks that was stupid and that it would have been obvious to her what Snow wanted to do with Finnick, but he might stop talking about Annie if she blurted out something like that. She keeps her mouth shut.
So he continues. "All the other kids either left that strip of beach when I showed up, or they gathered in a group somewhere behind me and stared and scuffed at the sand. Except for one girl, who just kept walking along in the surf."
Beach, sand, surf--unfamiliar words to Johanna. Her world is the forest. At least Finnick's world intersects with hers here in the misery of the Capitol. Annie lives completely separate from her.
"She wasn't just walking," Finnick says. "She was turning around and doing something with the sand as she went. So I came up to her." Expecting her to be wowed by his beauty, no doubt, Johanna mentally adds. "She didn't stop, so I had to ask her what she was doing." He's quiet again before continuing, "And she said, 'I'm wiping out my footprints so the waves don't get to do it for me.' I stayed with her the rest of the afternoon and never wanted to go to the Capitol again. Not when she was back in District 4. Not when..."
"Not when you had to do this shit in the Capitol," Johanna says, gesturing carelessly around them. "Yeah, I know."
He looks at her, and she wishes she hadn't said that, because she doesn't know. Snow can't manipulate her the way he does Finnick anymore. Even when he could, she never had anyone like Annie.
She doesn't have her now, either. All she has is the ghostly image of a woman she's never met, but wants all the same. The closest she gets is Finnick.
"Fine," she says. "You know what the worst part of it is for me?"
"What?"
"That I'm not just jealous of you. I like you."
"So it goes," Finnick says. "I envy you your freedom. You envy me Annie. And we take comfort in each other."
"You make it sound prettier than I do," Johanna says.
"Well," he says, "I am Finnick Odair." His smile is as ghostly as Johanna's image of the woman they both love in their different, incomparable ways.
Fandom: The Hunger Games
Pairing: Finnick/Annie/Johanna
Rating: R
Wordcount: 673
Notes: Written for the fic prompt; kind of experimental.
Summary: Finnick Odair, Annie Cresta, and Johanna Mason form a complicated triangle.
"When did you first fall in love with her?" Johanna asks from across the bed. They never cuddle after sex. She knows the ones who buy him from Snow expect tenderness and intimacy as part of the package, so she never asks for it. "Before her Games, or after."
"Before," Finnick says. "She's still the same girl, you know. She sings at strange times and cries at the wrong ones, but it's still her. Annie. They only don't like her here in the Capitol because she didn't put on a show for the cameras."
"Good," Johanna says, and she means it. She wouldn't want to think that the girl on the screen she fell for was an act. Not that it matters, anyway; Annie Cresta will never be hers. But that's probably a good thing, since everyone who was hers is dead. "But you didn't answer my question. When did you fall in love with her?"
He's silent for a time. She lets him be. That's another part of their ritual in bed together. She sets the terms during sex: when his lovers, when Snow's customers would normally expect him to sweep them off their feet and ravish them like in a fantasy. She makes sure their times together are real and awkward and rough, nothing like the fantasy he's forced to pretend to when he's with the ones from the Capitol. Then, after, she lies at the other side of the bed and lets him do what he wants. Eventually, though, what he wants to do is speak. "I was sixteen, and I was taking one last walk on the beach before going to the Capitol. I didn't know then why Snow had called me there."
Johanna thinks that was stupid and that it would have been obvious to her what Snow wanted to do with Finnick, but he might stop talking about Annie if she blurted out something like that. She keeps her mouth shut.
So he continues. "All the other kids either left that strip of beach when I showed up, or they gathered in a group somewhere behind me and stared and scuffed at the sand. Except for one girl, who just kept walking along in the surf."
Beach, sand, surf--unfamiliar words to Johanna. Her world is the forest. At least Finnick's world intersects with hers here in the misery of the Capitol. Annie lives completely separate from her.
"She wasn't just walking," Finnick says. "She was turning around and doing something with the sand as she went. So I came up to her." Expecting her to be wowed by his beauty, no doubt, Johanna mentally adds. "She didn't stop, so I had to ask her what she was doing." He's quiet again before continuing, "And she said, 'I'm wiping out my footprints so the waves don't get to do it for me.' I stayed with her the rest of the afternoon and never wanted to go to the Capitol again. Not when she was back in District 4. Not when..."
"Not when you had to do this shit in the Capitol," Johanna says, gesturing carelessly around them. "Yeah, I know."
He looks at her, and she wishes she hadn't said that, because she doesn't know. Snow can't manipulate her the way he does Finnick anymore. Even when he could, she never had anyone like Annie.
She doesn't have her now, either. All she has is the ghostly image of a woman she's never met, but wants all the same. The closest she gets is Finnick.
"Fine," she says. "You know what the worst part of it is for me?"
"What?"
"That I'm not just jealous of you. I like you."
"So it goes," Finnick says. "I envy you your freedom. You envy me Annie. And we take comfort in each other."
"You make it sound prettier than I do," Johanna says.
"Well," he says, "I am Finnick Odair." His smile is as ghostly as Johanna's image of the woman they both love in their different, incomparable ways.