A/N: Inspired by the weekly prompt "I want you to know...I'm glad we met" on AD.
Working for the Capitol wasn't all fun and games. Sure, the Capitol provided a home, food, safety. But it was the Capitol's fault he had been orphaned.
He was talented, they said. He was artistic. Sure, he could see that. But he didn't want to draw fancy, useless designs. He wanted to make beautifully practical things. He wanted to create art of value, not destructive instruments.
Cinna sighed. Life was always tough - never what you wanted when you needed it. He started to give up his dream of fire and smoke. A dream that the world was all right because the Games were no more. He started to lose faith in his grand design of The Mockingjay.
Until she arrived.
It was chance that he met Effie Trinket. She was a beautiful blonde. A complete airhead. At least, that's the part she played. And she played it damn well - so well, she was promoted to watching over the chosen Tributes from District 12.
Effie was marvelous. How she put up with everything, Cinna would never know. She was efficient and always had a small smile. She wore the most outrageous fashions the Capitol craved. She gave everything she did a hundred and ten percent, and each time the Capitol approved her actions.
Cinna's projects were very different from what Effie had worked on before. Cinna was a visionary. Effie had the talent and smile to smooth troubled waters.
Somehow, the two made a diabolical duo that subtly undermined the Capitol's schemes. No one would ever suspect simpering Effie of trying to revolt. Never!
Cinna was just an artist - he had the touch of genius and no matter what quirks he had characteristically, he didn't matter. It was his masterpieces the Capitol wanted. Cinna himself was just a man. No more.
Oh, how they deceived the Capitol. The most unlikely pair.
The seventy-fifth Hunger Games approached. This was it. The Games to end all games. Forever.
Cinna had carefully prepared his masterpiece. Whoever was chosen, it wouldn't be hard to engineer it.
Effie was the master of putting herself in the right place at the right time. And she pulled it off spectacularly.
On the train, Effie coached Peeta. She left Katniss alone. The less contact, the better. No one would ever suspect the set up as long as they remained distant.
At the Capitol, Effie and Cinna met, as per usual, while the chosen Tributes received their week of training.
"Is it ready?" Effie asked.
Cinna grinned. "Of course."
"Is she ready?"
Cinna's smile faltered. "She has to be," he responded. "I have faith in the Mockingjay." He laughed at his own joke.
Effie wasn't so sure, but she believed in Cinna. She had to believe in him. Because without Cinna, the Mockingjay was just another drawing. Just a symbol. A sign of fire and smoke - a dream that would never come to fruition.
Without Cinna, they would have nothing. She would be nothing.
"I want you to know..." She looked into Cinna's eyes. Dark brown eyes that melted like pools of chocolate. Eyes that held emotions she could never give words to.
"I'm glad we met," Cinna breathed, finishing her sentence. He stared levelly at her, as if memorizing her face one last time.
She knew in that moment. Her eyes formed tears that never came. He wouldn't allow it.
And no one would have ever guessed she mourned the loss of a dear friend. A man she had come to love.