Shades of Gold and Blue | Finnick Odair

Eighteen

I'm trailing my finger along the water in the fountain, the one that sits in the middle of Four's Victor's Village. The slow, constant sound of the water flowing is finally sending my mind to sleep after a night of restlessness.

It's pitch-black out here, save for the bright moonlight that shines down, and the sea air is cool as it dances across my skin. I expect Dimitri knows that I'm out here, despite having used the window as my means of exit. He's been keeping a very close eye on me since I escaped a few days ago. He hasn't come out here to sit with me though and I'm glad. As much as I love him, it's nice to pretend I'm not watched like a hawk sometimes.

A crunch of stones from behind me makes me spin my head to the iron arch that stands at the entrance to the Victor's Village. Very soon, a figure slowly comes into shape in the distance – first a head, which doesn't give me much of a clue to the person's identity in the current lighting, but then followed by the rest of the person's body.

The first thing I notice is the frustrated way the silhouette runs his hands through his hair. It's definitely a man, I can tell that much. And as he nears, I realise that there's only one man that it could be.

He hasn't seen me and he moves closer towards the houses on the left side of the village, "Finnick?"

His figure freezes and I see him look around for the source my voice, I stand to make it easier for him and he walks towards me. He stops in front of me and I see his face for the first time, plagued with a clear lack of sleep. It's as I get this first look at him up close that I can see the trail of small bruises marking his neck and when I look back his face, he's glaring at me.

"Get told to keep a look out for me, did you?"

I look at him blankly, thrown off by the hardness of his voice, "No?"

He snorts but I can tell it's not an amused noise, "Right, because you're normally out here at four in the morning."

"I couldn't sleep."

"I wouldn't be able to sleep if I were you either."

My gaze turns icy, my lack of sleep not helping as I take in his words, "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what I said."

We stare at each other for a few seconds, both of us glaring now. In truth, I don't even understand why we're arguing. I hadn't been instructed to watch for him, I just hadn't thought it would be polite to let him walk right past after having not seen him for three days. I don't have a clue why he thinks I would have been told to watch for him or by who. 

I could simply go to bed and wait for him to wake up in a better mood. But there's something about the marks on his neck that make me want to argue with him. He's left Annie alone for three whole days just so that he can go and sleep with half the Capitol and he's angry with me? Sure, it's not necessarily his job to mind her, but he can't pick and choose when he wants the role.

I don't recognise my voice when I speak, it's cold and mean and I hate it but I can't stop, "One would think that it's you that wouldn't be able to sleep with themselves."

His lips turn in a sneer as he takes a step closer to me, our breath fanning each other, "Oh really?"

"Really. Going off and doing whatever you want with whoever you want." I pin my gaze to the marks on his neck and when I look back at him, I know my feelings are quite clear on my face, "Quite frankly it's disgusting." I think about the way Annie had sounded so sad when she had told me he carried the world on his shoulders, and here he was having spent his days away doing quite the opposite of carrying the world on his shoulders. "You don't deserve Annie."