His long black hair is tangled and messy and it sticks to his face and neck with sweat and blood. His shirt is gone and he's wearing only trousers now. The bandaging tape wraps right around his torso. There's an intense look in his eyes but it isn't pain- I've nursed him through many an injury and I know his 'in pain' face. This is almost worse.
Somehow my feet are stuck to the floor. My legs have become heavy and I can do nothing but stare him down.
"I'm last in line, if you'll have me Miss Annie" he finally says with a contrived, self-conscious smile. He moves toward me, slow and deliberate. I can smell a hint of moonshine on his breathe.
"I'm so sorry laz" I tell him "I never meant for this to happen"
He places a hand on the curve of my waist and holds it there just watching his hand. Then, his other hand find its way to my face and he holds it there too. He's looking into my eyes but saying nothing. I pull into him and whisper "I think you've been abusing the morphling" and pull back out. I wanted to make him smile, to break the tension a little bit, but he doesn't move. Its like he's here and somewhere else at the same time
"I was supposed to volunteer" he tells me. His voice is just hovering above a whisper "but they wouldn't let me. Not after they'd already took the whip to me." There's shame coloring his voice. I think he may be in shock. "I'm so sorry Annie"
I place my hands on either side of his face, using my thumbs to iron out his brow. His one hand falls from my face but the other stays firmly planted at my waist. He's just standing like a statue, gazing at me with his glossy, wide eyed stare. "Laz there's nothing to be sorry for. None of this is your fault so don't feel guilty. You did what I asked, and more. I'm indebted to you"
"you can depend on me?" it's a question. I can't believe after everything today he's worried about something so arbitrary.
"of course I can"
"you said you needed to know " he says, by way of explanation "on the trail, earlier"
"I always knew" I answer "always"
Slowly, his hands snake their way around my body and he guides me into him. I curl my arms between us and rest my head on his chest because I don't want to disturb the tender flesh of his back, but he pulls my arms back out and wrap them around him. "I don't feel a thing Miss Annie. I almost wish I did. Tomorrow only the nightmare will be clear, and this will all seem like a dream." He's quiet for a minute before he muses that "Today was supposed to go so differently." He's looking at me but I don't know if its me he's talking to or not. "how was today supposed to go?" I ask. There's a shift in his features, a new intensity in his eyes that puts me off guard, and I suddenly find myself worried about how much blood he's lost.
One of his hands finds the back of my neck, and suddenly his lips are pressed against mine. I don't know what I'm thinking- I don't think I am thinking, I just let him. I'd never been kissed before. I'd never wanted to be kissed before. But now, standing on the edge where I can see my own mortality, it's all I want- to disappear in this moment, in this snare of warmth and comfort. Of safety.
The kisses come on stronger, and his hands begin to wander and I don't know what's in my head, but I am matching his kisses with all the strength I can muster, as if his lips and his warmth can shield me from the world. And they do. For a moment, I forget.
We're moving backward together, toward the couch. My head is spinning and my heart is racing. Both of us are making sounds I'd never dreampt I'd hear from us. And I don't know why, this, being with him seems as natural as breathing. We stumble backward together and land half on the couch, half off.
My wits return to me.
"Laz you should sit " I say breathlessly. He fixes himself onto the couch and pulls me down onto his lap to cradle me into his chest. We've sat like this a million times over the years. Laughing and joking, telling stories. When I was younger and his mom lived with us, he'd stay sometimes and he, my brother and I would have to share the two cots in the second room. Sometimes we'd spend entire nights like this, with my head in the hollow of his chest. I never thought anything of it, until right now, but this is always where I felt happiest, most secure.
"do you remember the nights when the tide was heavy and you couldn't sleep? The song I'd sing you?"
"I do" I say. He starts to hum the tune and I listen, before I know it I hear the words coming out of my mouth, just low enough that just us two can hear it:
"So sweet my love came waltzing by
Askin' folks to see
the boy that sailed the ship out
from the dock into the sea
.
So sad, my girl she held my hand
And asked me to describe
The color of the ocean
Where the deepest sea beds lie
.
Her papa told her freedom
Came only in the deep
When you're taken to the ocean
To slumber your last sleep"
.
And then laz continued:
.
"I promised if she'd keep me
if she would be true
I'd take her to the ocean
When the time for sleep was due
.
I'm the boy that sailed the ship
That took her home to sea
She's the girl I kissed good night
When they took her from me
.
I'm the boy who lost the girl
The boy who'll burn it all
I'm the boy who'll lead the ships
Into the capitol
.
I'm the boy who burns the flags
Who's going home to join her
I'm the boy who'll be sleeping soon
With his love underwater."
.
Laz finishes the lullaby, and wipes a tear that had escaped from my cheek.
"Those sailors taught you that song" I say
He smiles dreamily "I used to change the words, in case you got caught singing it"
A peacekeeper opens the door to tell us we have sixty seconds. Laz manipulates my body and in a second I'm below him and he presses himself into me. His lips brush my neck, and then my cheek and rest in a tender kiss that lingers. He looks into my eyes
"You have to come back to me, Annie. If you don't, I won't rest until I've burned the Capitol to ashes."
Yeah, I know that this is supposed to be about Finnick and Annie, but finnick himself says that his love for Annie snuck up on him. I'm presuming though she may know of him, or know him by aquaintence, they haven't had a chance to fall in love. So give the story a chance, im going somewhere with this.
… You've got to admit though… Laz is a bit of a dream, isn't he? I'm having trouble not falling for him myself.