Prompt: Finnick tells Annie about his worst night in the Capitol.

Trigger Warning: Descriptions of rape, self-hatred.

"Annie?" Finnick's voice shook, but he needed to tell her this. If they wanted to have any chance of making their fledgling relationship work, he had to confess this to her. "Can we talk?"

She set down the dish she had been drying and looked up at him. "Of course," she said. "What's on your mind?"

Finnick could feel his heart rate increasing and his breath becoming shallower. Annie noticed the change in her friend and gently guided him over to their living room sofa. "Finnick, it's fine if you don't want to talk. The last thing I want is for you to make yourself sick."

He forced his breathing to slow down, waiting for a moment to make sure he felt better before speaking. "No, I need to tell you this. President Snow sells me." Annie's hand, which had been rubbing his back comfortingly, suddenly stopped. Finnick looked down at his lap, not wanting to see the disgust and horror she must feel towards him. He had been afraid that he would lose Annie when this secret came to light, but he had accepted the possibility. There was no reason for a wonderful, smart woman like Annie to waste her life on a man as unclean as him.

Finnick blinked back his tears. He didn't want Annie to leave him, but at least now she could be with someone who deserved her. Annie cupped his face in her hands, forcing him to look into her eyes. He was surprised to find a mixture of anger and love in her features, not the disgust he had feared. "Finnick, this isn't your fault. You have to know that." He broke eye contact with her. The truth was, he had chosen this life. He had suffered through weeks in the Arena and killed eight other children to earn this life. Had he not been so selfish, at least he could be dead. Things would be better that way.

"No, this is Snow's fault, not yours." Annie spoke more forcefully this time. "If he were here right now, I would find the heaviest stone I could lift and smash it into his skull until he was unrecognizable as punishment for ever hurting you. You're a good man, Finnick. Nobody deserves this, especially not you." She wrapped him up in a tight hug.

Finnick was amazed. Annie was not leaving him, and even better, she wanted to take on the president to defend him. He returned her embrace. "I hate them," he whispered.

"Who?"

"The clients. I hate all of them." Finnick tried to stop himself, but now that he had broken his years of silence about his abuse, he could not hold anything back. "Some are worse than others, of course. The ones who just want sex, they aren't so bad. The ones I really hate though, are the ones who want to talk about the Games, the ones who want to hurt me while they remind me how I've hurt others.

"There's this one man, I think he's the worst. He gives me this drug, I don't remember the name of it, but it elevates everything you feel. If you're happy, this little green pill will make you absolutely ecstatic. But if you are already scared, it makes everything around you, no matter how harmless, completely terrifying. He gives me these pills, then he puts on the highlights reel from my Games and has me watch it while he hurts me, cuts me with his knives or pours acid onto my skin, whatever matches the scene that's playing. He only fucks me when we reach the part where I kill that last tribute, but by that point I don't even care because I just want it to be over. By the end, I don't always know what's real and what I just imagined."

At some point, Annie had moved Finnick so that he was lying on the couch with his head in Annie's lap. He tugged his legs up against his chest. "I don't want to go back, Annie. I need for you to be safe, but I never want to go back there again."

She stroked his hair but stayed silent. Finnick nuzzled her thigh. What he did in the Capitol still hurt, but it felt good to confess what happened to someone else. They stayed there in that position for long hours, Annie running her fingers through his bronze hair and Finnick holding her other hand to his lips.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I want to give Odestalovebaby a special shout out for reviewing. Reviews are much appreciated, as they are the best way to learn about flaws in my writing and things I can do better. Until next time,

~finnicko-loves-anniec