A/N: dude... it has been over three years since i wrote this. i am posting this with no edits made at all. you are getting this story straight from little twelve year old me's sleep deprived head. this does not reflect my current quality of writing, this is more of a glimpse into the past. it can still be kind of enjoyed i think. also i just learned i can use copy-n-paste has this seriously been here the whole time and i just used file upload for a year because i was stupid
I let the boy weep into my shoulder. I wasn't about to deny a fourteen-year-old comfort, especially since there had been times I'd needed it and it had been denied to me.
He'd had a nightmare. It was one of the many side effects from "winning" the Hunger Games. And while being the youngest victor seemed a great honor, it also made him more fragile. He was prepared for survival, not emotional trauma.
It had only been a few days since he had won, and the horrors of what he'd done were starting to feel real to him. So I hugged him close to me and let him sob.
Eventually his cries died down, and he looked into my eyes with his sea green orbs that no longer portrayed the innocence that they did before the Games. "Does it get better?" he asked, voice soft.
I nodded. "Not by much, but better," I said reluctantly. "Surround yourself with the people you love and care about, and who feel the same way about you. And it will get a little better."
He stared into my eyes, and hugged me tight. "Then I'll need to surround myself with you, if I want it better," he whispered. "Because you're one of the only people who care about me."
I hugged the poor boy back. "And you're one of the only ones who care about me. No one cares about me at my age. Everyone cares about the younger victors—" I quickly stopped talking. I knew what they did to young, attractive victors. Finnick was still too young, but in a couple years they would be able to do whatever they wanted with him. He was still just a child! But I knew the Capitol didn't care. All the tributes were children too.
"Mags?" he whispered worriedly.
"It's nothing," I said. "Go back to sleep now. We have a big day tomorrow."
He nodded and headed back to his room, but not before hugging me one more time. I went back to bed too, hoping that one day, things would get better for Finnick Odair.