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"Stop, stop! That's not how it goes, Peeta!" A too loud twenty-six year old Katniss Everdeen says, a loud laugh leaves her mouth and her eyes crinkle in pure happiness. Finnick only remembers the day where utter pain was written on her face and the smile was the last thing on both of their minds. Yet now that she's healing, she smiles a little bit more and laughs a little harder. (Partly because of her bad hearing, but none of them mind for a second.)
They're in the woods, not too far from their small home but far enough to avoid their problems for a while. It's so far that they couldn't be reached by anyone from the capitol without getting lost, so far that Katniss couldn't see the primroses growing in the distant and reach for them with glassy eyes.
Their own little paradise.
It's the middle of the afternoon and the sun barely bothered them. It's been years of them escaping to this tiny field. It started with Katniss storming out of their home after an argument and her curiosity lead them to the safest place in Earth. There's a blanket on the soft grass and snacks inside of the wooden basket. His green eyes find the honeybees that fly around their sugary drinks but he doesn't have the willpower to swat them away. He's completely captivated by the duo that were currently playing with Katniss' bow and arrow. There's fondness in his chest and the safety of being with his lovers.
After President Coin's assassination, Katniss slowly stirred away from her weapon of choice. She didn't mean to, but she felt like she had to. The young woman wanted to find a way to cope with her feelings without having to remember the lives that she took away with the strum of the string. She'd hunt, but sometimes she couldn't handle it. She'd quietly make her way to her room, boots unstrapped and slipping in the bed without a word shared. So seeing her in this healthy environment with her old weapon of choice, is a step in the right direction.
Katniss was comfortable enough for her lovers to crack jokes about her being the Mockingjay and how nobody was better than her with that bow. Beforehand, she couldn't even handle being the Mockingjay. She'd remember the death of her sister and how she protected everybody except those that needed her the most. It was hard to get through her. It was also hard to get through Peeta. Sometimes he'd wake up crying in the middle of the night and plead for Katniss' forgiveness. The Games had destroyed them. That was true. But they were going to piece themselves together and be happy. They weren't going to give anybody that pleasure.
Finnick had mentioned how he'd never seen Peeta even touch a bow and an arrow. The world simply associated it with Katniss and moved on. He had made the silly mistake of commenting on it and now his lover, Peeta Mellark, was trying to figure out his way around the beautiful bow and arrow.
At first he's clumsy, but then he catches how Peeta is simply messing with Katniss. The young woman doesn't catch on though. She's still as oblivious as she was when she was a teenager.
"Okay, then show me." Peeta says, giving their lady the control of the weapon and she clicks her tongue. Once the bow is in her possession, she's looking back at Finnick with a bright smile. It was strange, Finnick thought. So many versions of Katniss exist. The star crossed lover Katniss that would do anything for Peeta. The Katniss who volunteered for her sister and loved Rue. The Katniss who tried to save the hospital. The Katniss that betrayed the capitol and caused a revolution. But none of them were the real her. They were fragments, but they would never be the entire picture. Finnick had been in the capitol for years, playing a puppet under Snow's commands and he had never met somebody like her. She was a caretaker, she was humble, she genuinely wanted the best for everybody and somebody who's innocence was stolen by the games. She was still bad at talking about her feelings and absolute shit at making friends. But she laughs and tries to make them happy. Because she's happy too.
They're not hunting in the slightest, simply playing with the bows, but she aims and Finnick Odair can see why she was chosen for the role. Her back is to his, but she's holding the bow to the sky. Katniss is catching the pace of her breath and letting the arrow in the air. It doesn't hit anything in particular but the past victor can't help but stare in awe. He remembers how tense her shoulders used to be, how short her breaths and how she thought she'd be killed at the wrong words. She wasn't wrong and that only reminds him of when they were all scared of a drop of a pin. The fact that she's not so scared anymore, makes a smile spread on his face and he doesn't know why he feels his eyes turn glassy.
"Come on, Finnick. I've never seen you with a bow either." Peeta says, looking back at him with a soft smile and it's crazy how both of them compliment him so well. Katniss was the moon, quiet and timid at times, while Peeta was the sun. He was everything Katniss wasn't and he's pretty sure that he couldn't have one without the other.
He remembers when they got Peeta back. How the brainwashed Peeta almost killed her and how he slowly accepted Finnick's olive branch. The two of them would talk at times, when he wasn't under rage or wasn't under the capitol's mind games. Finnick remembers how Peeta would hold his hand, begging him to stay with him with tears in his eyes and hold him in his sleep. Finnick always did.
Finnick watched how Peeta slowly turned into a fractured version of himself that tries every morning. Just like him. Just like Katniss. Maybe that's why he borrowed Haymitch's home to be closer to the both of them. He simply felt like he couldn't be without one or the other. He bid Johanna and Annie goodbye, wishing them well and he surprised both of them with his presence.
No longer trading secrets for his company, he simply can't believe that they love him as much as he loves them. He sometimes wakes up in the middle of the night, Peeta on the crook of his neck -- Katniss' leg slung over his own and he's happy. He's absolutely content.
"I might be better than Katniss." He says teasingly, standing from the blue blanket and he's brushing his palms on his white pants. Finnick can hear Peeta complaining about stains but right now, that doesn't matter. Her hair is dancing in the wind and Peeta's small smile etches itself on his mind. His words earn a laugh from Peeta and an eye roll from the one holding the bow.
"I bet."
When did he start feeling like this was fate?
During one of the nights that Finnick couldn't sleep, he found himself trailing around the quiet thirteen. He could hear the sleeping soldiers and he even heard Katniss Prim's cat running around the place. He only smiled and leaned down, petting him.
That night Finnick met up with Effie, who was doing the same thing he was. Neither of them could sleep. Her hair was pulled into a bandana and the dull colors made her look grim. She looked absolutely miserable, but then again; so did everybody that stayed down there.
"You like her." Effie says without thinking about it twice. "You like Katniss."
There's nobody around them, so he cracks a joke.
"Doesn't everybody?"
Gale had a thing for her. Peeta had a thing for her. Johanna didn't hesitate to flirt with her when she had the chance. And now, him.
She hums and he's unsure if she was expecting that answer.
"You two are compatible."
Those are the last words she says before turning on her heel and leaving him absolutely speechless. He, nineteen, at the time, didn't understand any of that. How were they compatible?
He wrote down how they were both pawns for the capitol.
But now he realizes what Effie meant.
Finnick and Katniss clung to each other like crazy once they realized that the person that they loved most, were being held in the capitol. He'd often mind himself at Katniss' door and she'd find herself falling asleep with him in the same bed. Nobody batted an eye, talking about how they were probably used to sleeping together since they were allies in the games. But that wasn't the truth. He made her feel less alone and she made him feel like things weren't going to go sour.
He didn't know how, but he loved her.
And she didn't know how, but she did love him.
Once they picked up Annie and Peeta, he assumed that they would simply part ways. But that didn't happen. That wasn't what happened in the slightest.
Annie was slowly growing independent and although she needed help at times, she was slowly getting better. Always a lover, helping the wounded soldiers and holding hands with Johanna a little too tight. Finnick would watch by the sidelines, but he also watched how Katniss struggled with Peeta. He was there when she had been strangled and her neck was bruised.
Was he furious?
Yes.
Did he understand?
Yes.
That's why he only held her cheeks and kissed her forehead so faintly that she would've missed it. He was letting her know that it'd be okay at the end of the day. He'd do the same with Peeta too, who'd often scream and couldn't control any of his thoughts. He'd plant a soft kiss on his forehead and Peeta felt like he was slowly slipping back into what he was before. He was both gentle with Peeta and then Katniss.
Finnick was pretty sure that everybody expected the boring love triangle to unfold between them. But there wasn't time for a boring love triangle. Everything happened too fast. Them storming into the capitol to get Snow, everything failing and Katniss losing her sister right infront of her.
It was a dark time and they simply relied on each other.
They'd push beds together in the dark room and try to overcome everything that had happened. He'd lie in the middle of them and some nights Peeta clung a little too tight to him. Other nights it was Katniss, and sometimes it was him.
"Do you want me to stay?" Finnick asks, they're having dinner at Peeta's home and he's used to not being certain of things. He was used to being called into the capitol for whatever tricks Snow had on his sleeve, he was used to a surprise Hunger Games and having to once again, fight for his life. But this was something he wanted to know. This was something he didn't want disappear. He didn't want to pack everything up when he was starting to feel happy.
His words had an undertone and a double meaning. Finnick wanted to know where their feelings stood. He wanted to know if he should pack his bags and leave, because he was starting to feel so much. He was starting to feel butterflies with every brush and every single smile.
"I do." Peeta says with a soft smile and he's slicing one of the loafs. He's sharing the pieces between them and he's unsure. "I want you to stay with me." He says and those words are from the heart. He knows they are by the way that his eyes glow with happiness.
Finnick looks over at the girl, who didn't speak a word. She's looking at the loaf of bread and he knows that she's letting Peeta speak for her. But that won't cut it. He needs to hear it from the both of them.
"Do you want me to stay, Katniss?" He says and she looks over at him. She's chewing on her lower lip and she's nervous. She doesn't know how to voice her feelings still.
"I thought it was obvious."
It always was yet he needed that validation.
But the thing about Katniss and Peeta was that they were better in showing that they cared with actions and protection. Peeta would tease Katniss with her being bad with her feelings and not being able to vocalize them, but he was almost the same.
"Can't sleep?" Peeta questions.
It's the middle of the night and Finnick's sitting on the ground, the door is split open and he's watching the rain that falls. He can't see anything outside but maybe, just maybe, the sound will soothe his nerves. He's back to the haunting nightmares and self loathe crawls in his bones.
Finnick, who was always talkative, doesn't answer. He only scoots to the side, offering a side beside him and Peeta quietly accepts. He sits right beside him, their arms brushing together and it's a reminder that he's not alone. He's not alone anymore.
His eyes water.
"You'd think it'd get easier with time." Finnick starts, moments like these were rare. He tried to keep a healthy mentality. "That you'd forget about everything that happened in that arena... But you don't. It's like you only remember more and more. Then the whole revolution... Sometimes I expect for Snow to call me but then I realize that I'm finally free from everything." He says and he clears his throat. He doesn't want to cry. He really doesn't.
"It never gets easier." Peeta says and the other looks at him. There's glassy eyes from both parts. "I try to forget the games too, but there's too many things that remind me. I remember it when Katniss speaks a little too loud, I remember it when you wake up in the middle of the night and you're heaving. It doesn't get easier. We only learn how to live with it."
There's no more words exchanged between them. Finnick only rests his head on Peeta's shoulder and they both listen to the falling rain together. Peeta rests a kiss on his messy locks and that's the end of their conversation.
When did he started feeling safe?
"Is this how you do it?" Finnick asks the girl beside him. The trio are kneading bread and he feels his knuckles absolutely sore. He's never done anything like this before. It was one of those rainy days and Katniss thought it'd be fun to make some bread.
"I can't believe you can tie a knot, but not soften this dough." Katniss says teasingly and Peeta laughs at her comment.
"I can shove a trident in the mold." He grumbles under his breath and that makes both of his lovers laugh.
Finnick loved them.
Oh, so much.
He's never felt like this before with nobody. This feeling of safety, the feeling of being utterly loved, the feeling of belonging someplace and not having to pretend. Back home, he was often alone and that only let his mind wander. He thought he was absolutely undeserving of love. He thought that after killing others he wouldn't get his happy ending. Yet now that he's back on the blanket after losing to Katniss and Peeta holds two golden bands in his hands; he realizes that he's worthy of that and more.
"It's strange. I know." Peeta starts his ramble. Katniss is absolutely taken aback and Finnick waits for the other's words. He's absolutely surprised at the fact that Peeta holds golden bands in his hands. "I was talking with Effie about this. I don't think a wedding a needed, but something that unites us. Besides us living together, you know?"
He's nervous and he can barely look at either of them. Katniss still hasn't processed what's going on and Finnick doesn't want Peeta's insecurities to unfold. So he's the first one to answer.
"It's lovely."
Peeta looks up and Finnick swears that he can hear the breath leave his body.
"Really?" He asks shakily and he nods without a second thought.
Katniss finally snaps out of it and she speaks up. Catching both of their attention. "It reminds me of when we were allies... was that intentional?"
Peeta laughs nervously. "I thought you wouldn't remember."
This time she shakes her head. "Trust me, I remember. I can't forget how somebody had to remind me we were allies."
Finnick can't help the small laugh that leaves his mouth and Peeta feels the anxiety in his bones fade away slowly. If they were going to react negatively, they would've already. So this was a sign.
"Well. I saw these and I don't know. I thought they were nice. W e'll always be a team... We've been together for a while now, you know?" Peeta says and they're both nodding.
There's silence and Katniss, surprisingly is the one that breaks it.
"Do you put the rings on or do we do that ourselves?"
"Oh, I'll do it." Peeta says but his eyes are watering and both of them are wrapping their hands around them. He's crying and he's so genuine about his feelings. That makes Finnick want to cry too.
Katniss helps Peeta put his ring on because he's so emotional and they're all staring down at their hands. They're happy. Extremely happy. Peeta won't stop sniffling and Finnick can't stop beaming.
"Does this mean that Effie is going to plan our ceremony?" Katniss asks and that makes both of them laugh.
"Probably."