Chapter 1: Dance
They're digging through old boxes of Mag's belongings one day while she sits in the other room sipping her tea. Annie has been begging her for weeks now if she could go through the boxes the Mags often talked about during her story time with Annie. Now that she's finally consented to opening up old memories from the past, Annie picks through the boxes Finnick has found in the attic with great care.
It's a particularly heavy box that has Finnick struggling to bring down the ladder leading to the attic. It's larger than the rest and clearly not just filled with old pictures or documents.
He sets it down next to the coffee table in the living room and unfolds the lids of the box carefully, trying not to disperse too much dust into the air. Mags chooses this time to come into the room to check on their progress and sighs as she sees the old record player sitting peacefully inside its box.
"You can still find those in antique shops and on the black market, you know," Mags speaks quietly as she sits on the couch.
"Do you think this one still works?" Finnick asks curiously and maybe a little hopeful.
Mags smiles and nods her head. "I see no reason as to why it shouldn't. There should be a box of records in the attic close to where you found that box if you want to go look." Finnick gives a big goofy smile as he looks over at Annie and gives her a peck on the cheek before jumping up and running back up the stairs. Annie sits there giggling as she watches him take the stairs two at a time.
It's about five minutes later that Finnick walks back down the stairs with a smaller box and sets it down gently next to the now assembled record player. The two of them go through the old records, some clearly older than others.
"God, Mags, where did you find all of these?" Finnick asks, just mildly awestruck.
"They made them for a brief time before the dark days, but these were a majority of what my grandmother owned when she died. She loved music," Mags reminisces.
"Why don't we try one out then, Finnick?" Annie chirps, plucking a record from the top of the stack and setting it on the player. Mags smiles at Annie's giddy attitude and puts the needle on the record, setting the room aloud with the sounds of the past.
Annie stands up and sticks out her hand as an offer to Finnick and he takes it with a stupid smile on his face. And before he knows it, they're dancing around the room to old folk music with banjos and guitars and Annie and Finnick are laughing and it's the first time in a long time that they've let go like this. Even Mags is laughing and clapping along to the contagious beat.
Finnick is amazed that such a simple machine like the record player could be the source to such happiness in a world so corrupt and dark.
They listen to the player for hours, the three alternating with who they're dancing with and Finnick ends up carrying Annie back to their house because of the sheer exhaustion of the day they've had. As he tucks her into their bed, her eyelids flutter open and lock with Finnick's, a small smile plays on her lips as she pulls his face to hers, placing a gentle kiss on his lips.
Author's Notes: So this is my first attempt at Annie and Finnick. I wanted to try a 30 day writing challenge and couldn't find any I really wanted to do. Then I stumbled across a 100 prompt thing, and now we're here! Hope you enjoyed and hope to hear your feedback!