The Sugar Cube Effect
It only took one look, one smile for Finnick Odair to realise that the girl he would be mentoring would be as sweet as his sugar cubes. Perhaps, too, he could love her as much as he loved them. Series of one-shots.
Chapter One-
The young male tribute of District Four saunters into the carriage and sits down in a soft chair, lounging back then placing his muscular arms behind his head. He puts his tanned legs up and then sighs contentedly as his fellow District partner giggles at him. He's relaxed even though he could be going to is death because he's confident that he could win now.
After a few minutes of silence when he nearly falls asleep, he watches closely as his mentor, Mags picks up a cube of something white then drops it into her drink.
The words slip out of his mouth as he asks, "What is that?" He hits his head after he said the words but he couldn't stop them coming. Now his District partner is probably going to think of him as stupid instead of strong and… sexy.
The old woman smiles and looks up at the boy. "What is what?"
"The thing you just put in your drink," explains Finnick, not able to hide his curiosity although he still really wants to know.
Mags laughs as she answers, "It's sugar, my dear."
Finnick raises his eyebrow. "Sugar?" he repeats.
"Yes, it sweetens drinks," answers Mags.
"I know, I've heard of it before," Finnick mutters as he nods his head. "I think I've seen some people in the District use it. But isn't it usually a powder or something?"
"It is," agrees Mags slowly, "this is a sugar cube though. It's sugar in the shape of a cube."
"Oh." Finnick tries not to laugh at his own foolishness. "Is it only used to sweeten drinks?"
"I suppose it can be used in cakes and other foods," replies Mags, thinking. "And, sometimes, people give them to horses as treats."
"But, what I mean is, can it be eaten like other sweets?" admits Finnick. "For humans and not only horses."
"Do you mean, is it a sweet like chocolate?" Mags smiles.
"I'm not completely sure what chocolate is but I have a pretty good idea so I'll say yes," says Finnick.
"Well then, it's not really meant to be eaten as a sweet," Mags pauses as she watches Finnick's face drop, "but I guess you probably could eat it."
He looks overly pleased for some reason but looks down at his lap as he mutters, "Can I try one?"
Mags smiles at one of her tributes that she will be mentoring and nods her head. "Of course you can."
The boy grins as he stands up and walks over to the table where his mentor is sitting. He picks up one of the blocks and examines it closely, moving it around so he can see the white crystals shining in the artificial light. He shrugs then pops the sugar cube into his mouth.
Mags looks at him as the sugar slowly dissolves on his tongue, making the grin on his face grow even wider.
"Oh my goodness!" exclaims Finnick unexpectedly after a few moments, causing his District partner to jump. "That was the most amazing thing I have ever eaten! Why do they not have them as actually food? That was so good…" He carries on mumbling to himself as he sits back down.
Mags smiles and turns her attention back to her tea, which was growing cold as she paid attention to Finnick instead of it. She begins to drink it, occasionally looking back to Finnick who is still lying across his seat, grinning to himself.
"They have sugar cubes in the Capitol, don't they?" asks Finnick, sitting up and looking suddenly worried that the place where he could die would be lacking them.
"Don't worry," Mags reassures him, "they'll definitely have sugar cubes in the Capitol."
"Good," mutters Finnick, relaxing back into his seat once again until he jumps up and walks over to the bowl of sugar cubes. He puts one in his mouth and then takes hold of another one, carrying it over to the girl in the carriage with him. He sits down next to her and takes the book out of her hand, closing it on the table and then offering the other sugar cube for her to take. "Come on, Tallulah, just try it."
She raises her eyebrows and stares at it worriedly. "I wouldn't want to take your sugar cubes from you," she begins.
Finnick laughs madly from the beginning of his overdose on sugar. "It's only one. I won't mind too much."
The girl rolls her eyes. "It's okay Finnick, keep it-"
She is cut off as Finnick puts the sugar cube into her mouth when it was open from talking. She shuts her mouth, too late though, and folds her arms in front of her chest.
Finnick leans forward and puts his head in his hands on his knees as he carefully watches the girl. He doesn't take his eyes off her as he waits for her to finish it and then compliment the thing he has quickly begun to worship.
"Well?" he sighs after a few minutes when he knows that she should have finished because he takes longer than anyone else would to finish it so that he gets to savour the sweet taste for the longest amount of time possible. "What did you think of it?"
Tallulah thinks for a couple of seconds of what to say without offending him and his new found love. "It's sweet," she decides eventually. "Very, very sweet."
Finnick laughs. "That's because sugar is sweet. But, in your opinion, is being sweet a good thing? Because you're sweet and you're quite cute but then I've also met girls who are sour and still cute." He laughs again at his own joke. "I actually want an answer about the sugar cube."
"Oh," Tallulah groans. It would've been easier to answer about people being sweet and sour. "Yes, I guess I like sweet things although the stuff I usually eat isn't usually that sweet."
Finnick tries to stop his face from saddening as he nods his head. "I know. The stuff at home was never normally that sweet but that's what makes it all the better I suppose." He stands up and walks back over to the bowl, grabbing a handful of sugar cubes as he goes.
He continues walking to the end of the carriage to go to his room until Tallulah calls him back, saying, "Try to control your feelings for your sugar cubes when you're in your room, Finnick."
Finnick laughs and winks at her. "I'll try to, sugar, don't you worry."