Finnick can't stop smiling.

It's ridiculous, but Katniss had been happy to see him and joked about their marriage and then she laughed and it's put him in such a good mood he almost wonders whether he isn't ill.

Even now, walking through the forest behind her after she suggested 'spending a little time alone,' he's not as worried about their upcoming conversation as he thought he would be. Whatever changed between them is obviously a good thing, and although he has a sneaking suspicion that Mags was right about what was going on, what little discomfort he'll have to endure because of their misunderstanding is nothing compared to the laugh she'd given him earlier.

"Gale might still be around," says Katniss as they walk, "but he'll be sticking closer to the fence than I intend to go, so we should be fine."

Finnick shrugs off the warning. "Walking through a forest where there's an armed teenager who wants to kill me? Don't worry. I'm good at that." Her eyes narrow, and he offers a weak smile. "Sorry. That was in bad taste, wasn't it?"

"A little bit," she says, even though she doesn't truly sound angry.

"At least I don't want to kill him." He studies her a little more closely and frowns at the way her lips have pressed into a thin line, something raw and angry just barely apparent in the set of her features. He's pretty sure it's not his Games joke that has her so upset. "I don't want to kill him, right? Because you look like you've swallowed something nasty, and your expression was much more pleasant before you brought up Gale."

Katniss's eyes drop to her feet. "I met with him this morning. It didn't go well."

Finnick wants to press her, but he's worried asking for more information would constitute prying. He eyes her for a second, trying to gauge whether her more relaxed behavior means he's earned the right to show concern, then decides that she wouldn't be opposed to telling him to mind his own business either way. A little hesitantly, he clears his throat and says, "What happened?"

To his relief, she doesn't seem the least bit irritated. Not with him, anyway.

"He's being unreasonable," says Katniss, her voice crisp.

Finnick doesn't have to be a genius to know what that means. "About me."

He's surprised when Katniss shakes her head. "He's judging you based on what he knows. He's..." She swallows, and says to her feet, "He's wrong, but the things he thinks make sense. I can't fault him for that." She just said he's wrong for judging me. She's implying the same thing about herself. Finnick's eyes widen slightly, but he can't comment on it before Katniss tacks on, "I just can't forgive how little he trusts me."

"How little he trusts you?" asks Finnick.

She huffs. "He thinks I've let you seduce me."

Him? Seduce Katniss? It's horrible of him, because he does feel bad that he's screwed up her relationship with Gale, but he can't help but laugh. "I don't think I could've seduced you if I tried. You've always done that thing with your eyes whenever I get too close. You know, the one where you gut me with your retinas."

Her shoulders tense. "About that-"

He shakes his head. It wouldn't be a good idea to talk about anything potentially sensitive before they're sure that they're safe. "When we get to where we're going. We're talking about Gale, remember?"

"Right." She regards him oddly, a small smile playing at her lips. "Gut you with my retinas?"

"Don't judge. You haven't been on the receiving end of one of your glares. I imagine Gale has. He should understand. I don't know a man on earth who could get closer to you than you want without running away, screaming."

"I'm not that bad..."

"Oh, it's not a bad thing either way," says Finnick. "Honestly, it's probably where Cinna got his inspiration for the 'Girl on Fire' thing. You glared at the cameras like that after you volunteered for your sister."

Her eyes widen. "You noticed? Even then?"

"Barely." He rubs his neck embarrassedly. Before Haymitch approached him with the whole 'buy Katniss' mission, he'd spent most of his time in something of a waking coma. He remembers vaguely that he was impressed by her spirit, knows that she caught his attention more than the other tributes, but beyond that he was so out of it that he can't recall more than the barest recollection of her Games. "I wasn't exactly functioning on a high level at that point."

Obviously there's nothing she can say to that. "Oh."

"Anyway," he goes on, before they can descend into awkward silence, "Gale is being a stupid dick. Anything you want to add to that?"

"Not really," she says.

"Should I talk to him?"

Finnick is surprised Katniss doesn't give herself whiplash, how quickly she looks at him. "You? Talk to him?"

"Sure. I could stop at his place when we're done in the forest." He grins his most innocent, boyish grin. "I'll charm the pants off him if you want. Well, not literally. I mean, I probably could literally, but that's not-" He sees her expression and goes on, "I could play 'likable' Finnick, is what I'm saying. I can't do anything about my reputation-" A wince from Katniss, further confirming that Mags was right, "-but I could go over there dressed like I am now, and act like a fisherman from District Four and... well, try to prove him wrong."

She stares. "You'd do that?"

How could she think otherwise? "Of course."

Katniss opens her mouth, eyes lighting up, but she something seems to occur to her and she closes it just as quickly. "No. He's been as dismissive of me as he's been awful towards you. Even if you could convince him you're sincere… I'm not ready to forgive him."

What? "Katniss, you do know he's not being cruel on purpose."

"I'm sure," she says sarcastically.

"Seriously. I'd guess he's just jealous, and with good reason."

Her confusion at that is surprisingly genuine. "Good reason?"

"Didn't you and him have a thing before I messed it up? Haymitch said you were planning to get married."

Katniss opens her mouth to say something, but shuts it just as quickly. She's silent for a long moment, and Finnick begins to wonder what he said wrong, but Katniss speaks again before he can ask. "...Haymitch thought that?"

"He says your whole district did."

She can't quite hide a wince at that. "It seems like everyone expected something to happen between Gale and me, including Gale, but no one ever clued me in. I didn't even know he saw me as anything more than a friend. Not until I told him about you, and he decided kissing me was an appropriate response."

Now it's Finnick's turn to be surprised. "You've never been together? Never even thought about it?"

"No. You didn't... get between us, not like that," says Katniss, and something in him relaxes, just a little. "I guess he probably is jealous, but not because you stole me from him." She takes a deep breath. "When did Haymitch tell you all this?"

"Not long after I bought you. Why?"

"Because it means Haymitch picked up on Gale's feelings before I even know him, and I hadn't noticed at all." She rubs her eyes with the heels of her hands. "Am I that blind?"

He has a feeling that she isn't just talking about Gale. Without thinking about it, Finnick reaches out and rests a hand on the small of her back. The gesture is intended to be comforting, but in his mind it only feels… odd. He considers pulling away, but Katniss doesn't say anything and she'd probably think it was weird if he suddenly became shy about such trivial physical contact.

"You're not blind, Katniss," he says, after a moment. "You just… you're very pessimistic. You see the worst in people, even yourself. From what I've gathered about you, you wouldn't have considered that Gale could love you because you don't think he has a reason to."

She glares. "Not helping."

"It should help. Being pessimistic isn't a bad thing. Not when you've got as much reason to be as you do. I'd think you were stupid if you were different." He moves his hand so he can nudge her with an elbow. "Or maybe I've just gotten used to it. You wouldn't be Katniss otherwise."

"How can you of all people say that?" she asks, voice strained.

"How much farther to wherever we're going?"

"Another quarter mile or so," says Katniss. "It's close."

"Then hold the question until we get there."

"Right..."

"So," says Finnick, searching for a subject change. "How's the Hob?"

"Same as always." Katniss rolls her eyes at the obvious non sequitur. She hesitates, but goes on, "I was thinking about taking you sometime this trip."

His brows shoot up. "Really."

"Darius wants to meet you."

"Really?" he repeats, in a different tone. Katniss has told him about the Peacekeeper she's on friendly terms with, but the concept is still odd to him. Even odder is that someone who frequents District Twelve's black market would want anything to do with him. Since his Games, it's seemed that the more likely people are to skirt Capitol rules, the more likely they are to dislike him, someone who appears to worship at Snow's feet. He wonders what Katniss possibly could have said to make anyone from District Twelve want anything to do with him.

"Don't sound so surprised. There are some people in District Twelve who trust my judgment enough to give you a chance." There's an unspoken, 'unlike Gale' tacked onto the end of that, but Finnick doesn't think she intends for him to notice.

"If you say so." He opens his mouth to say more, but the words die on his lips when the trees disappear and he finds himself at the edge of a large clearing. A lake stretches out in front of him for nearly as far as he can see, and near it is a derelict cabin that has to have existed for longer than the Capitol itself.

A building that's been standing for longer than the Capitol has existed… It would've been destroyed if anyone knew about it. There's no way it's bugged.

"This is perfect," he says, and moves closer to the lake. He kneels at the edge of the water and skims his fingers over the cool surface. It's too cold to swim in comfortably, but he still almost wants to jump in. He hasn't swam in a long time, not unless he counts the few times he's done laps at pools in the Capitol. He hasn't realized how much he's missed it until now. "It's… wow. How do you know about this place?"

"My father showed it to me," says Katniss. "It's where he taught me to swim. Gale and I sometimes came here to fish, but it's far enough from the fence that we couldn't make it more than a couple times each summer."

"You swim?" he asks in surprise.

"Well enough."

"Huh." He steps back from the water and seats himself on the grass. "I'll have to take you to the ocean when you come to District Four. I bet the water there is warmer than it ever is here, and the beaches are amazing. There are places where the sand is so pale it's almost white. It looks amazing at night, with the moonlight shining off it-" He clears his throat. "Sorry. I'm guessing that's not what you brought me here to talk about."

"Not exactly. That doesn't mean it doesn't sound beautiful."

"It is."

She looks at her hands.

Finnick takes a deep breath.

"So…" An awkward silence threatens, and he forces himself to plow forward. "Mags has brought to my attention that we might've had a bit of a misunderstanding."

Katniss squeezes her eyes shut. "It wasn't a bit of a misunderstanding, Finnick. I was awful to you."

He'd already suspected, but the confirmation that Mags was right still shakes him slightly. He isn't sure what to think, knowing that not only was Katniss's negative behavior the the result of their poor communication and nothing to actually do with him, but that her kindness during his last trip was in spite of every bad thing she had the right to think about him. She hadn't understood, hadn't known why he bought her, would have undoubtedly expected the worst, and she still eventually opened up to him in a million little ways. Sitting with him at night. Sharing cocoa. Going along with his question-answer games.

He has no idea why she's looking at him as though she's worried that he's going to explode, when all he can do is marvel at the confirmation that all the phone calls and conversations and odd moments they've had in the past months have taken place when she's had legitimate reason to hate him. He can't comprehend how she could have come to like him in spite of so much, when he has a million ways to justify everything he is to himself and still can't manage to shine a positive light on any of it.

"Maybe at first," says Finnick, and even he's surprised by the gentleness in his voice. Katniss's eyes fly open, fixing on his own with an almost intimidating sort of rapture. He clears his throat. "But considering what you thought of what I was doing, you were remarkably decent."

"But-"

"But I bought you." He can't quite keep the bitterness out of his voice. "Believe me when I say I know how that feels. Your first impression of me was absolutely horrible, and since I took for granted that my situation would be more obvious than it was, I didn't explain things like I should have."

"You're kidding," says Katniss. "You did everything you could've to make me see you. You've been perfect. I just… couldn't let myself believe any of it was real."

"Because you're a pessimist. Just like I said before."

"And I asked how you aren't more angry about that. You said you'd answer..."

"It's not complicated," says Finnick. He shrugs. "I simply can't blame you for thinking what you did. You didn't assume anything unreasonable."

"But I did." Katniss gives him a look that makes his stomach clench uncomfortably, one that makes him think she can see right through him. "I missed what was right in front of me, and I was terrible-"

"I didn't do anything to discourage it. I should've known there was something wrong when you kept acting like that. From the start, I knew you weren't that cruel."

"Finnick, about that..." She drops her gaze. "It shouldn't matter whether you thought I was cruel. Some of the things I said would've made no sense if I'd have known what was going on. Not unless you actually think-"

"Katniss," Finnick protests, guessing what she's getting at and really not wanting to talk about it.

"I'm serious," she says. "I called you awful things, accused you of awful things, and you... you didn't think anything of it." She pauses, and Finnick fists his hands in the grass to keep himself from running away. He isn't good with this sort of thing, doesn't like talking about himself. Not like this. "I was wrong. You do believe that, don't you?"

He shakes his head, unable to speak for a long moment. When he does manage to form words, they come out hollow and so pathetic-sounding he's half tempted to drown himself in the lake. "You can't know that."

A warm hand grabs at one of his, and Finnick freezes as Katniss links her fingers with his own. "I think it's pretty obvious." He's never heard her voice like this before, so soft, so warm. He understands suddenly how Gale and Peeta fell in love with her, how she's so completely earned her sister's devotion. Normally she's cool, tough. Now she's entirely different but equally as dangerous. Already his discomfort is fading, and she's only spoken a single sentence. There's something special about her when she's like this. Something infinitely more frightening than even her scariest glare.

Finnick tries to steady himself, but she continues speaking and he can't quite manage to do so. "This morning, Gale asked me why I like you so much. I tried to answer honestly." She turns his hand over her in hers. "I couldn't think of where to start."

He can't help himself. "You couldn't think of anything at all-"

"Self pity doesn't look good on you," she cuts in. Without giving him a chance to respond, she adds, "And I meant what I said." Her nose wrinkles. "Of course, I wound up telling him that you make good hot chocolate. Gale was really impressed."

He snorts. "I don't see why he wouldn't be. Sure, I seduced you, but between my body and my hot chocolate, you hardly have anything complain about."

"You really think that's all I could come up with," she marvels. He doesn't say anything. Katniss exhales sharply. "You're going to make me tell you all of it."

"All of what?"

"The things I thought of when Gale asked me that question," says Katniss. Finnick isn't able to hide his skepticism. She shakes her head, an odd mixture of worry and exasperation in her eyes. "Right then." Her gaze falls to their linked hands, and she turns his over in her own, studying the lines of his palm as she speaks. "You're good with Prim. You treat my mother like you would your own, and you were kind to me when I didn't deserve it. I've never met anyone with a sense of humor quite like yours. We hunt well together. You tell the best stories. I'm amazed by how much you loved Annie, by how much you still love Mags. You smiled like an idiot when you told me about seeing sea turtles with your father, and it's the first time I started thinking you might not be completely awful. Sometimes you act like you're still fourteen, like there's this little part of you that escaped the Games and everything that happened after, and it's one of my favorite things about you." A deep breath. "You're nothing like I thought you were. You aren't disgusting, you aren't stupid, you aren't pathetic."

He can't speak.

Katniss looks as remarkably uncomfortable as he feels.

"That's the last time I'm saying any of that," she says, not looking at him.

Why won't his mouth make words?

"Finnick...?"

"You-" He shakes his head. "You actually think that."

"No, I'm lying because I pity you," she says. Sarcasm drips from her voice. "You know how self-conscious I am about saying what I think."

He's startled that she guessed what he was thinking so easily, and that she dismisses his worries with just as little effort. Hell, he still can't get over everything she just said. When's the last time someone has complimented him on anything real? Probably Mags, but she doesn't count; she's turned into something of a mother to him, so she has to say nice things every once in a while. Haymitch? No, he's not nice to anyone, let alone him.

He hasn't really talked to anybody else. Not since Annie.

Annie. She's the last person who's taken the time to see him and who's liked what she saw.

The comparison tears at his heart, but the pain doesn't linger. It doesn't feel like Katniss is taking her place. It feels more like… like she's healing the hole Annie's death left behind. The realization makes him want to cry, although he's not sure whether it's in relief or sorrow.

"Thank you," he says finally, squeezing her hand.

"No," she says firmly. "Don't thank me. If anything… well, thank you. For saving me."

She's looking at him like he's something remarkable, and it's the most terrifying thing in the world. "It's nothing."

"You know better."

He does. But their conversation has already been emotional enough, and he doesn't want to add to that. So Finnick shrugs, and says, "We've covered everything, yes?"

"Um, not quite." A hesitation. "...It's been two months since the Games."

"So?" He furrows his brow, but it comes to him after a moment. "Oh, right. We're in a relationship now, aren't we?" She gives him a 'really?' look, and Finnick sighs. "Well, I guess we should get back and… share the news. How do you feel about making out in the middle of the town square?"

She swats his arm, but her cheeks are red. The familiarity helps him to relax a little, to regain his ability to breathe again after that little speech she gave. "No one believes I would do that." Her eyes narrow. "Except Gale, apparently."

She has a point. "Right. We'll go subtle then."

"You can do subtle?"

Finnick smirks. "I'm amazing at subtle. Trust me."

Katniss doesn't hesitate. "I do."

He can tell she's not just talking about their act, and he can't help but tug her closer and wrap and arm around her shoulders in a loose hug. "You're amazing, Katniss Everdeen."

Her blush deepens as she pulls away. "Don't expect a response to that. I've said enough nice things about you for one day."

"Right. Wouldn't want me to get a big head," he jokes, even though their conversation has established that if anything, a big head is the least of his problems.

Thankfully, Katniss plays along. "I think it's too late for that."

They stay there silently for a long moment, but Finnick recognizes that they should probably get back to town and establish their relationship. Besides, he wants to see Prim and Mrs. Everdeen again. While he wouldn't mind spending the afternoon alone with Katniss, there are other things to attend to.

Finnick gets to his feet, and holds out a hand to help her up as well. She smiles just a little as she takes it.

"Ready to have some fun?" he asks.

"Fun," she grumbles, but her eyes are bright and he knows she no longer blames him, that she's really okay with it. That she's okay with him.

...