Love at Sea (Finnick Odair)

Chapter 26

It had taken ages to fall asleep.

There was a table in between Taiya and Finnick, set up by Taiya to keep them separate. She had told him that, despite there being no separate rooms, it didn't mean he was escaping the sleeping on the couch punishment. She just had to adjust the set-up. He hadn't protested. He'd willingly taken the punishment, which slightly irritated Taiya. It just didn't have the same impact when he was happy to oblige.

She was sleeping on the ground opposite Peeta when his loud voice broke through her sleeping mind.

"And now, ally? Yeah, I'll add that to the list of words I use to try to figure you out!" Peeta snapped.

"Peeta," Taiya groaned, rolling over onto her stomach to bury her head against her arms. "Hush child."

"I'm sorry," Peeta meekly apologised. He hadn't intended to wake anyone up.

Finnick had sat up though, wanting to know what argument Peeta and Katniss were engaging in. He empathised with both parties, but even he felt like Katniss had taken it too far. She'd cast Peeta aside, he would never have done that to her. Before everyone had gone to bed, Finnick had dug into his pocket and pulled out one of Taiya's old ropes, one that he always kept on him and had given it to the boy to tie knots in.

"I just can't tell what's real and what's made up anymore."

"Then ask," Finnick suggested. "It's what Annie does." Finnick tactfully left out the part about how Taiya had taken to this technique as well to help her filter through the voices in her head. She didn't like talking about that with anyone but him.

"Ask who?" he asked sadly. Taiya was just about the only one who was nice to him, but being half-asleep, she wasn't exactly in the mood for a chat.

"Us," Jackson answered. "We're your unit now."

"Go team, go," Taiya mumbled against her arms.

"You're my guards," Peeta retorted.

"That too," Jackson admitted. "But you saved a lot of lives in Thirteen. It's not the kind of thing we forget."

"Go Peeta, go," Taiya rolled onto her back with a sigh. There was no getting back to sleep if people were going to chatter around her.

"Your favourite colour is green?" Peeta asks after a minute. "Is that real?"

"Yeah, that's real," Katniss' voice cracked. Taiya had to open her eyes to look at her. It was like she finally understood. Now that she knew everyone here empathised with Peeta, she understood how affected he was by the Capitol torture.

"That's so cool, swamp potato," Taiya sat up and leaned against the table. "My favourite colour is green too! Like a sea green."

"Thanks," she heard Finnick from behind her, she didn't even need to look at him to know he was smirking. His eyes were sea green.

"Shut it, Odair," she warned gently. He was still in the naughty corner. "What kind of green is your favourite?"

"Like the forest," she answered before looking back at Peeta. "Yours is orange."

"Orange?" he seemed unconvinced.

"Not bright orange. But soft. Like the sunset. At least, that's what you told me once."

"Oh," Peeta closed his eyes, trying to picture the image in his head. "Thank you."

"You're a painter. You're a baker. You like to sleep with the windows open. You never take sugar in your tea. And you always double-knot your shoelaces," Katniss' words tumbled out. "You were right," she directed at Jackson as she stood up. "I can't do this," she quickly took off. She didn't want anyone to see her cry.