"Do you think this is the right consistency?" Annie lifted a spoonful of the cake batter and watched as it dribbled back into the mixing bowl. She frowned, trying to think of the times she had watched as the baker made his batter, but she couldn't picture the mixture.

Finnick leaned over to examine their attempt at baking as well. "I really have no idea," he admitted. "Maybe we should just bake it and see if it works? I mean, we still have time to try again if this doesn't work out."

"Sounds like a plan." Annie looked down the list of ingredients one last time, checking that they hadn't missed anything. As far as she could tell, they hadn't. She and Finnick had been religious about following recipes after a few well-done shrimp had turned their kitchen into a smoky mess the year before. She poured the batter into the pan, and Finnick put the pan into the hot oven while Annie set the timer.

"Thirty nine minutes is a long time to wait," Finnick complained.

Annie rolled her eyes. "You don't have to just sit here and watch the timer, you know. You could get up and do something useful, like taking your dirty laundry out of the bathroom."

"You're no fun. Why do I like you again?"

"You love me. I'm not so sure about the liking bit." Annie smiled at him. "But really, get your clothes out of the bathroom. It's starting to stink in there." Finnick lumbered off to do as she asked, but not without a few pouting faces. Annie started to clean up the mess they had made while mixing. Soon, Finnick came and helped her.

Just as they finished the last of the dishes, the timer went off. Finnick grabbed their pair of blue oven mitts and took out the cake. Annie was excited to see that it was the golden-brown color the recipe had described. "Let's get it out of the pan," she suggested.

"Shouldn't we let it sit for a while first?" asked Finnick. Annie glanced over the instructions again, but she found nothing about letting the cake cool.

"No, I think this should be fine," she said. Together, they eased the cake out of the pan and watched it droop into a puddle on their serving plate. "Well, we all the ingredients we need for another attempt."

Finnick nodded and went to fetch the eggs and milk out of the fridge.

Another failed attempt later, Annie was ready to admit defeat. "Want to just get a cake at the bakery?" she asked. "I'm sure Mags will understand."

"Yeah, that sounds good. Think she'll believe us if we say we made it ourselves?"

Annie snorted. "Don't lie to Mags, Finnick especially not on her birthday. And no, I don't think she'd fall for that one. She might be too polite to actually say anything, but she'd definitely know that you were lying."

"I don't know, I'm a pretty good liar," said Finnick, a mischievous grin on his face.

"No, you aren't."

"Am to."

Annie allowed the conversation to end there. She knew Finnick's ears flushed whenever he told a lie, but he didn't need to know that.

A/N: Thanks for reading! I hope you've enjoyed these little oneshots so far! Thanks to turtledoves, Odestalovebaby, and indelibilities for their kind reviews. As always, reviews are much appreciated. Catch you later,

~finnicko-loves-anniec