You Asked For This - Finnick Odair

The Truth?

"But 'just friends' don't look at each other like that."
— Unknown

...

"Not fair!" The green-eyed woman yelled as she laughed, her laughter bubbling up and over so much that no one would be convinced of her anger.

"My genius is often perceived as unfair," the sea-eyed man bragged, the biggest smile on his face.
Cora repaid him with a splash to the face.

The Victors had been walking the shoreline near the Victors' Village in District 4 that night. It was a particularly beautiful night too. The stars were out and bright. The moon shone down on them, bathing them in silver light.

Cora had waded out into the water. Finnick had followed her. At some point, the bronze man had splashed the woman and a water fight ensued.

During the fight, Finnick had dove under the water, Cora not being able to see where he was. When she was looking in the opposite direction, he sprung up and managed to create a small wave with his arms, soaking her completely.

"That wasn't genius," she shot back, approaching him. "That was trickery!"

"Genius, trickery... It's the same thing," he smirked, approaching her.

He was looking down at her and she was looking up at him. She had this glare on her face. The kind that meant she wasn't actually angry. She was breathtaking with the moon shining down on her features.

Finnick kept his smirk on as his breath hitched a little at how close they had become. He tried to will his heart to stop beating so quickly, just in case she could hear it. That's how close they were.

Her glare faltered, as did his smirk, when they both glanced at the other's lips and then back to their eyes.

Reluctantly, Finnick broke the silence. "It's getting late," he managed to say. "We should probably head back."

She sighed and nodded. "Yeah, we should."
And they each took a step back and walked to Mags' mansion.

As they cuddled that night, Cora tucked into Finnick's chest, both found it hard to sleep. For similar, but different, reasons.

Finnick was beating himself up. How could he have been so stupid? He wasn't sure if his stupidity was because he didn't kiss her or because he almost did. He knew that she was special to him, that he felt something for her— he'd known that since Xena's eighteenth birthday party.

And, in the past two years, he had become increasingly aware of the distance between him and Cora at any given point in time. Always wishing they were closer when they were farther apart. Always aware of exactly how close they were when they were closer together.

But it was all relatively new to him. The closest thing he'd ever had to romance was the "girlfriends" he had back when he was in school and his appointments in the Capitol. One of which was voluntary. Neither of which were real.

Lying there, the woman who occupied his thoughts, night and day, in his arms, he finally realized something. Something that scared him to his very core.

He was in love with Coral Newport.

Cora, however, was not coming to some long-awaited answer to an obscure question. She laid there, very awake, for another reason. Though it was a similar subject.

Roughly two years ago at Xena's birthday party, Coral Newport had briefly glanced at Finnick Odair's lips and then back to his eyes. It had been odd and she had been at a loss for words in the moment, but she had managed to avoid thinking about it until right now. To keep it in a locked box in the back of her mind, the key hidden somewhere she would never find.

And yet Finnick managed to find that key. And the memory came flooding back, just as vivid as it had been the night it happened. And Cora, no longer having more important things to worry about, finally had to process it.

Why did she look at his lips that night? Was it, in fact, because he was wearing a mask and there really weren't many other features to look at? Because that's a weak excuse. The kind made by someone desperate to hide the truth.

For a moment there, back in the ocean, it really seemed like they could've kissed. What would she have done if they did? What did that mean for them?
Coral Newport had consistently maintained that she and Finnick Odair were simply good friends. Nothing more. But what if there was? What if there could be?

Obviously, they could never be more than just friends. Snow made sure of that. But Cora asked herself a dangerous question. If Snow were out of the equation, of course. How did she really feel about Finnick Odair?

She didn't know. But she would find out.

No matter how much the truth would hurt when she found it.