A/N: FinnickAnnie, written by Lils for the second day of Caesar's Palace Shipping Week.
Annie runs into Finnick after they finish school. It's nearly five thirty at night and she's given up on finding him when she bumps into him on the dusty track leading to the beach.
"Where are you going?" Because the path only leads to the shore, it's a silly question, and Finnick treats it as such.
"The beach, where do you think? You can come too if you like." The sun, no longer above them, dips towards the horizon. He looks up and starts off again, stopping at the end to look back at her. "Well, are you coming?"
The beach is cold, but the sand still retains warmth from the middle of the day. Annie wanders down the shoreline after Finnick, following the tide in and out and skipping backwards when the water touches her feet. Clutching a piece of driftwood so tightly he's in danger of getting splinters, every washed up pile of seaweed offers a defiant challenge to Finnick, and she soon leaves him behind. They've been doing this for as long as she can remember, for so long that it's almost become a game: he fights the monsters and she tries to build the castle before he remembers and catches up. She's never succeeded, though, and today is no exception.
"This one's good," he tells her, sitting back on his feet and staring at it with a critical eye. "Shame the sea has to get it."
"It won't," Annie says. "It can't; it's the best. It's ours."
"We made a bigger one last month."
"It wasn't finished last month, and we built it in the open." It had been winter, she remembers, and the wind had eroded it before the sea had the chance. "This one's here," and she pats the rock next to her.
"The waters comes in around that," he says logically. "Under, too."
"It's going to stay," she says stubbornly. "It's our castle."
Finnick sighs and gives in. "Okay, Annie." He pats down the sand at the bottom of the empty moat. The beach is almost deserted now. "We should probably head back now, it's late."
He gets up, throwing a handful of sand in her general direction and starting to run, sand flying up in his wake. Annie pelts after him; even on the unstable ground, she's faster, and soon they leave the sandcastle far behind. Finally, the sun sets and behind them, the sea washes right up the beach.