Chapter Text
The next morning Johanna woke, feeling rather anxious about the whole idea. So naturally, she went to Finnick’s room down the hall. Knocking on the door softly, she creaked it open and walked into the darkened room. He stirred ever so slightly. “Fin?” They whispered. A groan came from inside the sheets. “Nana?” Johanna rolled their eyes, she only ever let him use that nickname, anyone else would be dead before they hit the ground. “ya, its me.” Finnick ungracefully sat up, breathing in the stale air of the bedroom. “What’s up?” Johanna made their way to the edge of the bed slowly, trying to let her eyes adjust to the darkness of the room. She sat down “I’m actually nervous for this, I mean what if everything goes wrong? What happens if information slips before were ready?” A hand gently found its way to Johanna’s leg, gently squeezing it for comfort. “Its going to be okay, this morning, we are going to tell our kids what’s up and were gonna go from there, you’re not in this alone, you’ve got me.” Johanna rested their hand on top of where Finnick’s was placed, gliding her hands across his knuckles. “Thankyou.” Finnick hummed and moved closer to Johanna, wrapping his arms around them, and holding them gently. “Jo, think of it. If we manage to pull this off convincingly, Snow would leave us alone and we control the narrative. Not only that but we double our chances of our kids having good sponsors and a chance at winning the games this year. This time, we get to win. Not the capitol, not the game makers, not Snow, us. You and me, like it’s always been.” Johanna brought their hands up to wrap around Finnicks arms that were holding them. “Thankyou.” Silence sat comfortable with them for what could have been minutes or hours. It was always like this for the two of them. Being able to just exist in each other’s space, no words needed to be exchanged. Just being comfortable with existence.
After some time passed, the two of them got up and got dressed. Coincidentally, Johanna had some clothes left from the last time they were in Finnicks room, so they just threw those on. The clothes smelled like Finnick: of ocean water and a hint of pine. It smelled like home. Finnick went over and opened the curtains, turning around to face Johanna. “Johanna, why are you smelling your shirt?” Finnick laughed. “You smell good. If you ever tell anyone I said that, I have full permission to stab you with your own trident, I swear to god.” Finnick walked over to Johanna “well, if were already married, it wont matter, it makes for a good topic of conversation if needed.” Johanna rolled their eyes “ill save it for a rainy day.” Finnick walked to his closet and ruffled through some shirts that were hanging up “petrichor.” Johanna spun on her heel “bless you?” Finnick laughed. “No, its what you smell like. Petrichor.” Johanna nodded slowly “should I be offended?” Finnick stopped going through his clothes and turned to face her. “It’s the smell of rain, more specifically, it’s the smell of wet earth when rain falls on it. Its warm and encompassing. It wraps around you and calms you down.” Johanna straightened out the shirt she was putting on “you sure have a way with words, no wonder everyone in the capitol loves you.” Neither of them commented on that.
They both finished getting ready, and headed together to their kids’ rooms. When they got there, they knocked and waited for a response, getting one, they headed inside, closing the door behind the two of them. “What’s this about?” Johanna leaned up against the door, letting Finnick lead the conversation. “We just wanted to let you know that we have decided to get engaged.” Finnick let the silence hang in the air. “Why are you telling us this?” One of the tributes inquired. “Our plan here is to get engaged so it gets you two more sponsors. However, we need to go over whats about to happen because im certain neither of you are ready for it.” Finnick motioned for the two of them to sit on the floor. He grabbed a blanket off of one of their beds and laid it across the two sitting in front of him. He looked back at Johanna, to which she stood now next to Finnick. “There are two ways this could go, and you two are going to help us figure out which one would work better. I know you haven’t been around the capitol long but the input would still be greatly appreciated.” Johanna began to speak. “So, plan one is Finnick proposes to me at the Presidents Ball in a few days, making a public spectacle of it. The downside is that immediately, the both of you would be swarmed with questions, to which you may not have the answers to. The second option is that he proposes in private, and we wait to see who catches on to my ring and its correlation, letting the talk grow over time. If there’s one thing I can count on, its that rumors go around quick, and the more talk there is, the more the sponsors are willing to give. They always like a good scandal or even better, a blossoming romance.” One of the tributes raised his hand. “So, is this proposal real? Do you both really love each other?” Finnick and Johanna shared a glance before Finnick took hold of the conversation. “To you two and everyone else, yes. For all you know, it is real and there’s no ulterior motive. For us however, its complicated. We want to get you both sponsors, and we also have plans of our own that we intend to carry out that has no effect on you whatsoever. In a way, yes, we love each other. We are best friends and have been through way too much together. My actual partner however is held up in the capitol under President Snow’s orders. Her name is Annie and she is okay with this idea.” Finnick’s tone softened at the last part. Johanna chimed in “so, which plan do you think would work?” The two tributes took a few minutes to think. The quiet girl spoke up “I say propose in private. I would very much like to not be bombarded with a million and one questions all in one day. This way, we can get our story straight.” Johanna and Finnick nodded and joined the two on the floor, all sitting in a circle together. “Okay, so, some questions we know will be thrown your way when people find out: how long have they been together, when is the wedding, is Johanna pregnant, when did the engagement happen, the list goes on but lets work with this now. So, you both will have interviews to do and I can almost guarantee that you’ll be asked at length about this. Your answers are as follows: they have been together for longer than I know, being able to be trained by a couple has had its perks, they know how to work on chemistry in the area and how to rely on your district partner for support and tactics, due to the games, the wedding hasn’t been decided but if you would like to help plan, by all means please do, no, Johanna is not pregnant, I’m sure the stress of the games and mentoring the tributes has taken too much of her time to think about children. Maybe one day her and Finnick will be able to have the time but sadly, it can’t happen now. The engagement took place only a few days ago, Finnick wanted it to be in private, somewhere special to him and Johanna.” They continued to give helpful information for a few more minutes.
“Any questions?” Johanna asked to the two. “No, I think we’ll be able to handle it!” The young girl said excitedly. Johanna continued. “We both believe in you two, you’ll do great. When in doubt, just think of the sappiest shit you can and that’ll be the answer, the capitols residents love a good sappy love story, its ridiculous.” Finnick laughed at the comment. “So now all that’s left is for me to actually propose to Johanna, and the rest will write itself.” The two got up to leave the tributes room, closing the door behind them.
“Well, that went well I think.” Finnick commented as they began to walk back to Finnick’s room. “Yeah, I’m sure there’s going to be something that goes wrong. But at least we will give them all a show.”