Hello, people! This is an attempt at a slightly humorous Finnick/Annie one-shot. This piece is un-beta-ed, as my beta is out of town right now. There is an author's note at the bottom for my readers from the PJO fandom.
Constructive criticism is appreciated, but please don't flame.
Um...yeah, that's it. I'll let you read now.
Go on. Read the story.
Finnick Odair was proudly thirteen-and-a-half and five-foot-nine. He had sexy bronze hair and a smirk that made girls fawn over him. He was, of course, the most popular boy in school. But those weren't his favorite feature of himself.
He had abs.
Which explained why he was lying, alone, on the beach on one of his vacation days from school and Training, wearing nothing but a piece of cloth tied around his waist.
And his underwear. Duh.
Finnick prepared himself for an onslaught of giggling girls, sure to appear in forty-five minutes or so, who would stare openly at his beautiful tan muscles. He lay back on the sand, head resting on interlaced fingers, and closed his eyes, absorbing the feeling of doing nothing but listening to the sound of the ocean against the legendary Whale Rock.
Whale Rock was a popular place for teenagers to show off their "bravery". It was a gigantic rock, situated about twenty feet into the ocean. It jutted out thirty feet into the sky, with slippery moss on the end that stuck out into the sea. Someone (few remembered who) had carved a five-inch-long outline of a whale on the right side of the rock, hence its name. The rock was relatively easy to climb, once the kids swam out to it. Then some of the braver teenagers (coughFinnickcough) would jump off the end facing the ocean, twisting and flipping during the thirty-foot drop.
Finnick reminisced the last time he had jumped off the rock. That time, he had managed to do a front flip. He sighed contentedly, thinking that maybe he would try another one that day.
Suddenly, he heard a splash from where Whale Rock was. It was followed by a whoop of exhilaration. Finnick's eyes snapped open. He pushed himself up at once, squinting and shielding his eyes from the glaring sunlight. Who was this mysterious person who had just jumped off Whale Rock?
There was a small figure that had just emerged from the waves and was scrambling back to the top of the boulder. Finnick stood up, still shielding his eyes, and started towards the rock. By then, he could see the person had something dark swinging off the back of their head. As he hurried closer to the shoreline, he saw that it was a braid.
No way. This was a girl? No female had ever jumped off Whale Rock before.
Finnick waded into the water. Once the cool water had reached his hips, he dove in and swam quickly to the rock, the drenched cloth at his waist barely hindering his motions. He clambered on, climbing swiftly and scraping his knee against the rough surface.
The person was indeed a girl. She was at the top, hands on her hips and waiting for him to come up. The sun shone behind her, making her features dark, so Finnick couldn't see who it was.
As he swung onto the top, he smirked cockily at the girl before seeing who she was.
Annie Cresta.
The smirk slipped off his face as he blinked in confusion. "Annie?" he said. "Did you just jump off this?"
Annie's head tilted to the side. "Well, uh, yeah, Finnick. Obviously it was me, there's no one else around, so, um…" Annie trailed off, a crease at her brow.
"But no girl's ever jumped off before! And – and you're eleven! How did you do it?" Finnick exclaimed.
"Same way as you do, Finnick. Stand on the edge, jump off," Annie said. Suddenly, mirth flashed across her face. The eleven-year-old promptly stepped to the edge. "Like this." She leapt off, performed a front layout, and splashed into the water.
Finnick stared at the white foam, bubbling up from where the girl had disappeared. Did she really just do a front layout into the water? Even he hadn't dared to try that. His finger found the hem of the wet, heavy cloth tied over his underwear as it dripped cold water onto his foot, though he didn't notice.
Annie emerged from the waves, grinning. "See, like that," she called up, treading water. "Girls can jump off Whale Rock too, Finnie."
"Oh, sure. Like I've ever seen another girl jump off," Finnick said sarcastically. Rapidly his facial expression changed: he glowered down at Annie, a scowl at his brow. "Oh, and do not call me Finnie. Or I'll – "
"Or you'll what, Finnie?" Annie smirked impishly. Finnick thought it looked unnatural on her face. "Besides, I bet you can't do a layout."
"Oh, yes, I can," the thirteen-year-old responded without thinking, then mentally backhanded himself. Of course he couldn't do one. He couldn't even do one off one of the high bars surrounding the foam pit at the Training Center.
He had successfully done a back tuck, though…
"Yeah? Can you? Do it," Annie challenged.
"Oh, I can do something better. A back tuck. Bet you can't," Finnick called back down.
"You're right. I can't," replied Annie. "Care to show me how?"
"Alright then. Prepare to be wowed. Then you'll see how boys are braver than girls." Finnick stepped backwards to the slippery edge of the rock, heart hammering. What if he launched up instead of backwards? He'd crack his head open on the rock. What it he hit the water head first? He'd crack his head open on the water. What had he gotten himself into?
Wait. It wasn't like he'd never jumped off Whale Rock before.
Not backwards you haven't, idiot.
Shaking his head a little, he knelt slightly into a sitting position, hands at his sides.
Three.
Two.
One.
Finnick jumped, powerful legs launching him backwards over the edge of the boulder. Suddenly, he was falling, head-first, his heart racing at the drop. Quickly, he tucked his legs up to his chest, his thighs pressing against the sodden cloth, and had just enough time for his head to guide him back right-side-up before his feet hit the water excruciatingly, sending up bursts of water.
He plummeted quickly, his agonizingly stinging feet almost scraping the rocky bottom before pushing back to the surface with powerful strokes through the clear water. He surfaced with a breath, grinning at the direction in which he last saw Annie, and caught a glimpse of her pointed feet as she dived down to the bottom of the sea. He treaded water carefully, a confused scowl upon his face, all too aware of his throbbing, raw feet, slapped mercilessly against the water in his drop into the ocean. Craning his neck, he looked around for signs of where Annie was underwater until –
Splash!
Finnick jumped as Annie popped up, grinning, directly in front of him. He smirked, opening his mouth, when Annie lifted a soaking, dripping thing right out of the sea. With a pang in his chest, he realized that it was his cloth that was supposed to serve as a layer around his underwear. And the victorious and mischievous look on Annie's face just confirmed his suspicions that, yes, in her dive to retrieve his cloth, Annie had seen his underwear.
Horrified, he stared at Annie, a horrible red flushing his face. His hand went to his hips, where indeed he found that he was missing his cloth. Annie dropped the thing in front of him, making a slight splash in the water, as she still smirked. Then she said, "That was pretty entertaining, Finnie. Oh, yeah, nice tuck there." And with an uncharacteristic wink, Annie Cresta dived into the water and disappeared from Finnick's sight, leaving him to gaze, blinking, after her.
Okay, okay. I know this is horrible. Criticize all you want, as long as it's not a flame.
To my PJO readers who took the time to read this:
First, I random stop updating MoA. Then five months later, I post a note saying that I would not be continuing that story. Then, I change my penname. Finally, I post an awful new fanfic from a different fandom. I'm a terrible person. *slams head into wall over and over in a Dobby-like way*
I don't even know why you're bothering to read this note right now. But if you are, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU! Please review/PM me so I know who you awesome, loyal people are.
To everyone:
Thanks for reading this! Please review. Oh, yeah. Also, if you guess my age right, I'll try to write a short story with an idea from you for your choice of either Harry Potter, Hunger Games, or PJO (well, if you actually like reading my terrible stories).
This note is beginning to rival the length of the one-shot, so before I go crazy, BYE.