Annie had never bought into her mother's advice on a tidy home when she was growing up. Cleaning the kitchen was a necessary evil before one could have guests over, nothing more. Now, though, she understood how calming it could be to know that everything was in its place. After all, if one's home and mind were both in shambles, what did they have to show for themselves?

And once they had finished dessert and she had a chance to put the dishes away, it could be tidy once again. Good. When everything was where it was supposed to be, she didn't have to wonder if it had been her or another who had placed that there, if someone else was in the house with her, if they were hiding just around the corner, ready to do her in –

"You all right?" Finnick's voice stopped her thoughts. Handy to have him around for that purpose alone. "You seemed like you were slipping away for a minute there."

"I'm here now." She hoped her smile didn't look too fake.

"Glad to hear it." He struggled for a moment with the wine bottle before he managed to pop off the cork. Finnick poured her glass first, then his own. Annie was still trying to figure out what exactly these dinner, well, not exactly dates, but parties for two or something along those lines, were. If one of her friends claimed that she was seeing a man about her own age for dinner once a week and looked forward to it for days ahead of time, she certainly wouldn't accept the excuse that they were just friends. And yet, she found herself giving the exact same spiel to her girlfriends over and over again.

Because it was true – maybe. She wouldn't mind if those eye rolls turned out to be one hundred percent deserved. Yes, he was handsome, but who cared about that? His voice was calming, he had dimples that she'd never seen in the Capitol ads because they only showed with his genuine smiles, he never had a hard time making her laugh…

He was talking. She should probably be listening. But her eyes only wanted to watch his lips move and her mind only wanted to think about what it might be like to kiss them, and maybe that's what he's thinking about too, because he's asking if she wanted anything more. Yes, of course she did, but she thought she was doing such a good job of hiding it, but if he's willing, she's certainly happy to go along with it. Annie caught herself leaning up onto her tiptoes and aiming for his mouth, and was that what he was actually talking about? Oh dear, no, but she's already there, and it can't get any worse, and -

He jerked away at the last second, and her lips met the corner of his mouth for just an instant before she pulled away. Her eyes went wide as she scrambled away from him, trying to put some distance between the two of them before she could fuck up again. "Finnick, I'm so sorry," she said, looking down at her hands because she couldn't bear to look at him. Her cheeks and ears felt like they were on fire. He wasn't going to want to talk to her again. She couldn't blame him. Best to slither back to the Capitol, where the other creeps like her hid because nobody normal would want them.

"Annie?"

Why was he still talking to her? Didn't he see nothing good could ever come of it? Perhaps it had been only a kiss this time, but next time, she didn't want to think about what could happen. Then, she'd be just like them, and… "I'm sorry." Maybe, if she said it enough times, he really would forgive her.

"You don't need to be."

Finally, she looked up to find him watching her and smiling a huge grin. "You're sure?"

"Mm-hmm."

She could breathe again.

The relief was short-lived. "But," he added, and she wanted nothing more than to melt into the ground and disappear forever, "you missed." There was something joking to his voice, but she couldn't figure out what he could think funny. Being like them was anything but.

She couldn't quite puzzle out what he meant before he kissed her, this time full on the lips, and it was everything she'd been dreaming of these last few weeks. Finnick's arms wrapped around her waist, and it took her a moment before she realized this was okay, and she was allowed to touch his hair and move in closer. What on earth had she done to deserve this, because whatever it was, she wanted to keep doing it again and again so the gifts kept coming.

Eventually, their lips broke apart, but neither was ready for the embrace to truly end, so they stayed there, cuddled up against the other, until the last beams of sunlight disappeared to the west.