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Peeta sat quietly tying and untying his rope while the rest of his unit talked.
He wanted to be included. He really did. The silly childish part of his brain wanted so desperately to be a part of the conversation. Laughing, joking, be liked. Like how it was in district twelve.
Most of those people are dead now.
He wrapped the rope tightly around his knuckles, using the slight burn of it to steady himself. His mind was such a fuzz these days that it was all he could do to stabilize himself.
He jumped slightly when someone moved in the corner of his eye.
"Relax, Peeta. It's just me."
Finnick. He did relax slightly. Finnick was steady, something he badly needed while he was so unsteady.
"How are you?" Finnick asked, sitting down beside him.
He shrugged. It took him a minute to gather words into a coherent sentence, as it often did right now. "I'm fine. Not really but… yeah." He rubbed the rope between his fingers, staring intensely at the ground.
"Yeah I figured." Finnick nudged him. "Liking the rope it seems?"
Peeta nodded. "It… helps."
"Not so different in that aspect, huh?" Finnick slung casual arm around his shoulder.
In this simple gesture, Peeta felt more accepted and cared for than he had since… well… he couldn't remember. Nor did he want to think to deep into that right now.
So he allowed himself to lean into the touch. Finnick made him feel human in a better way than anyone being gentle with him. Finnick didn't walk on eggshells around him. He just… was. That alone was more than he could ask for.
Some of the tension in his body eased out.
"Not so different…" He echoed.
Not so different.
Maybe things were gonna be okay.