Not a prompt but I just wanted to write Haymitch meeting Finnick


Meeting Finnick Odair

(31 years old)

They made quite a sight - the three of them walking down the hallway of the hospital corridor. Several pairs of eyes were trained at them and once or twice, someone started, rising from their seat to get to Haymitch for an autograph or a photo. Haymitch and Chaff sped up to avoid such hold up. On any other days, Effie would have insisted that that would be good for Twelve's image but as it were, they were in a rush.

"Mags," Chaff greeted when they walked into the room. He touched her back gently, talking in a low voice to the older woman. "We're here. Go get some rest – we'll watch over him."

Mags shook her head quietly.

"Get some sleep, Mags. You haven't slept in days," Haymitch told her. "If the kid wakes up, I'll send Effie to get you. She's my escort and my runner, don't you know? Just promoted her – five years' wait, but there it is," he teased, winking at Effie.

Effie pressed her lips together, swallowing the retort. Instead, she nodded in assurance if only to put Mags at ease so she would feel better about taking the much needed break.

"He's going to need a friend," Mags said, stroking the youngest Victor's hair softly. "The Capitol will put so much pressure on him. He's the youngest of them all… It's unprecedented. You boys be there for him, yes? And you'll keep my boys in line?" she asked Effie

Chaff and Haymitch snorted.

"We're just gonna sit here, Mags. What kind of trouble do you think we'll get into?" Chaff asked.

"You'd be surprised," Effie retorted as she walked Mags to the door.

She waited until the elevator door had shut and taken Mags away from the Games' Hospital Centre before she returned to the room.

"I gave her my sleeping pills," Effie informed them. "I doubt she could sleep with all that's…. Well, in any case, I hope the pills could help."

"Effie Trinket…. turning Mags into a junkie. Not bad," Chaff's joked.

Haymitch leaned forward, elbows resting on his knees as he watched the boy. Finnick Odair was only fourteen. Still too young and it showed. He seemed so small lying in that hospital bed covered with multiple white blankets, oblivious to the absolute frenzy outside on the streets of the Capitol. Getting from the Training Centre to the hospital was a nightmare in itself. Every street in the Capitol was alive and celebrating Finnick's victory, and the crowd swell in size as they approached the hospital where Finnick was held.

"They don't get tired, do they?" Effie mused from her place by the window, looking down as if she knew Haymitch had been thinking about the crowd, too. From the hospital room, ten floors above, they could hear the chants of 'Finnick Odair! Finnick Odair!'. "When he wakes up, they will pounce on him."

"We'll stall," Haymitch told her. "Mags will know what to do."

"Did she do it for you, too? Effie asked quietly before she shook her head, "stalling will only get you a day or two at most. Eventually -"

"Yeah, eventually," Haymitch interrupted her as he was prone to do before she got too long winded. "But it is still time. If they –"

"Shut up," Chaff snapped, serious for once. He gestured at Finnick who was shaking his head left and right, eyes squeezed shut and muttering indiscernible things. "Can you hear me? Finnick? What's the matter, buddy?"

"He's having a nightmare," Effie announced as if she had seen the same thing countless times and Haymitch wondered how she knew.

Effie crossed the space from the window to stand at the other side of the bed. She rested her hand on Finnick's forehead and then brushed his hair back. "It's okay," she whispered calmly. "You're okay. You're okay."

Finnick relaxed under her touch. Haymitch and Chaff exchanged a look.

Slowly, Finnick's fingers which were curled into a tight fist unfurled and then he blinked a couple of times. His sea-green eyes were glassy and unfocused but eventually, they drifted to the object closest to him.

"You're an angel," Finnick rasped, staring at Effie as if she was the most precious thing he had ever seen.

Effie laughed lightly. "No one's ever called me that but no, I'm Effie - the escort for District Twelve… Effie Trinket."

Finnick stared blankly. "Not an angel? I'm not dead?"

"Alright, sweetheart," Haymitch pulled her back by her elbow away from the bed. "Go get Mags."

"She's sleeping," Effie objected. "Let her rest for a few more hours. I will get her after."

With that settled, the three of them remained in the room. The doctors were expecting Finnick to be drifting in and out of sleep but somehow, the boy remained awake. Haymitch thought he knew why that was so. To sleep was to go back to the nightmares, back to the arena.

"You know who we are?" Haymitch asked suddenly, finding Finnick's silence unnerving.

Finnick tore his gaze away from the wall he had been staring at for the past ten minutes. "Yes – Victors," he nodded. "You must be the welcoming committee. Am I in the big boys' club now?"

"Look at that, when he speaks, he jokes," Chaff jostled Haymitch. "Think I like him already. Welcome to the club, kid – members only. The only requirement this club has is that you've got to have already killed somebody, otherwise, no admission. Membership fees vary from one Victor to the other."

"Chaff!" Effie shrieked, appalled at his idea of humour. "That is inappropriate. He's only just woken up."

"That's the truth, sunshine," he shrugged.

"What is going on?" Finnick asked tiredly. "Out there, I mean. I can hear…"

"Your 'fans'" Haymitch threw the word out with so much scorn that next to him, Effie shifted uncomfortably. He knew she had been a fan of some Victors before she joined the Games only to realise that behind the cameras, the Victors were not as she knew them.

"He's going to be a bit of a problem, isn't he?" Chaff directed the question to Haymitch when he saw Finnick looking away and not paying them any attention.

Haymitch chanced another glance at Finnick. "Yeah," he nodded. "Yeah, he is. A few more years, give or take. Mags got contact maybe she can pull a few strings and - "

"Has anyone ever told you two uncivilised adults that talking about someone in the third person when the said person is present in the same room is not only rude but also the height of bad manners?" Effie hissed.

"I wouldn't know. Apparently, you've told me numerous fucking times that I don't have any manners in me," Haymitch told her off.

"You'll have to excuse them, Finnick - may I call you Finnick? I've been trying to teach them a thing or two about proper behaviour, Haymitch especially, but it's always in one ear and out the other."

"Are you two together?" Finnick gestured at Effie and Haymitch, popping the question out of the blue. "Is that allowed?"

Effie's response to that question was to sputter, staring at Finnick in disbelief. Haymitch was amused at both the question and his escort's reaction. Chaff had burst out laughing and was still laughing. He was doubled over, head pressed between his knees and shoulders shaking violently.

"Good one, Finnick, good one," Chaff managed to get the words out. "The sexual tension is definitely there but I ain't sure if he slept with her yet. So you wanna bet or what?"

"Again with the third person," Effie huffed, "and I am right here."

"The arena must have messed you up really badly," Haymitch commented.

"No, it hasn't," Finnick denied. "At least I – I don't think so. Sorry. The question was probably rude. I've seen you both on television and you're always together – "

"He needs constant supervision," Effie explained.

"- and you're both here in my room but I don't see Chaff's escort so I was…. Never mind – sorry. It was just wondering because it took my mind off the Games thinking about something else," Finnick said and turned away, becoming quiet once more. "Mags got me a trident. I've never seen that happen in any Games," he said again a while later. "She saved my life."

"She's got a habit of doing that – saving people's life, I mean," Haymitch answered, staring at the floor.

"All those people outside the hospital… Are they waiting for me?"

"Most likely," Haymitch nodded. "Waiting for the moment you can leave so they can get a glimpse of you."

"I don't want to have to … I can't pretend," he whispered, desperate. "I can't face them yet. I can't pretend."

Haymitch heard Mags' advice to him fifteen years ago in Finnick's words. You don't have to beit, you just have to pretend to be it.

Unlike him, Finnick's image to the Capitol had always been that handsome, charming young man. Finnick Odair played the angle of the darling of the Capitol; an image that he would have to live with for the rest of his life now that he had won the Games, and especially considering the manner in which he won his Games. He sent people fainting and weak in their knees, or so Haymitch heard.

But truth be told, Haymitch could not picture this same young man in this hospital bed pretending to smile and bask at his fan's adoration. He was struggling with what just happened, a little bit broken and a little bit unhinged to do any pretending. It was too much effort to ask from someone who was still recovering.

Effie touched his hand in a comforting gesture. "I'm sure other arrangements can be made. A hovercraft, perhaps?" she looked at Haymitch uncertainly.

"Don't think about it until the Victor's interviews," Haymitch told him. "For now, you ignore them. They can't get to you as long as you're here."

"You got a family?"

Haymitch turned slightly to stare at Chaff and then he shook his head. "Is that your line, Chaff? Asking every Victor if they got a family?"

"Just making sure," he shrugged. "You know…"

"I – No, an orphan," Finnick answered. "Why?"

"It's good."

Finnick's brows furrowed together. "How's that good?"

"You'll know soon enough."

"I told you to be his friends, not scare him," Mags walked in, chastising Chaff. She looked fresher, more alert.

"Ain't scaring him or anything like that," Chaff denied. "We best leave you two to talk."

The three of them rose from their seats, intending to leave when Finnick spoke up. "Will I see you again tomorrow? Will you visit?"

Finnick was looking at them with such hope that Haymitch found himself giving Finnick an affirmative nod.

"Yeah, tomorrow," he confirmed. "You play chess? I've got a chessboard."

Finnick broke into a grin.


Finnick just won his Games so he's not so much like the Finnick we know. Please do leave a review!