AN: A little later than planned, but I got there in the end. This is quite a bit longer than the previous parts so hopefully that makes up for the delay?]

Johanna had always found that there was something comforting about the darkness. She had never been scared of it, like so many other people were when they were younger. She liked how it gave you somewhere to hide. Somewhere to be weak without having anybody see. For all her outer harshness, on the inside, Johanna was just as delicate as anyone else was.

She sighed, realising that she'd lost focus on the film yet again. So far, her attempt to lose herself in a movie wasn't going very well. There hadn't been anything particularly interesting showing and in the lobby Johanna had suggested that they just go home again. Finnick, however, had been reluctant to let his efforts of driving them to the cinema through rush-hour traffic go to waste, and he'd insisted that they just see this random comedy.

Now, as she sat there in the dimness of the theatre, Johanna had yet to laugh once. She couldn't focus on the film and all its unrealistic conversations and ridiculous situations. Her mind kept straying to other things – namely, the conversations she'd had with Katniss, and her own current situation. She hadn't expected anything good to come from her attraction towards the younger girl, but neither had she expected things to get this bad.

When the credits finally started to roll, Johanna was relieved that she could leave. She was eager to get out into the bright light of the lobby. Then she could stop imagining Katniss in all the shadows.

"That film was kind of terrible," Finnick said as soon as they started making their way down from the seats.

"Kind of?" repeated Johanna.

"Very," Finnick said instead, holding open the door for Johanna. "Very terrible. I want a full refund from you for forcing me to see it."

"If I remember correctly," Johanna mused, "earlier I voted that we go home."

They were back in the main lobby of the cinema now; it was pretty busy seeing as it was a Friday evening. Johanna smiled at the thought of being able to lie in tomorrow morning.

Finnick still hadn't given up his protests. "Can I get a refund for the gas I wasted in getting here, at least?"

Johanna laughed. "If you can be bothered to calculate it, then sure!"

"Hey," Finnick chuckled, "I'm pretty good with numbers when I – hey, is that Peeta?"

Johanna bit back the retort on her tongue and turned to look. She had no idea who Peeta was, but when she found who Finnick was gesturing towards, she faintly recognised him to be a boy from school. The girl standing next to him, however, was much more familiar.

"Katniss," Johanna breathed, unable to believe that this was actually happening. Why was she here? And why the hell was she standing so close to him?

Finnick was too distracted to notice that anything was wrong. "Let's go say hi," he decided aloud. He didn't wait for Johanna to agree before strolling off towards the duo. She set her jaw and steered herself to follow him.

"Oh, hey!" Peeta said as they approached. "Finnick! What're you doing here?"

"Putting off homework," Finnick replied with a grin. The two boys quickly launched into a conversation about who knew what – Johanna tuned out as soon as Katniss' eyes met hers.

"Why're you here?" Johanna asked her quietly. Her gaze flickered towards Peeta.

Katniss bit her lip. "Peeta asked me out."

Immediately, Johanna's stomach lurched. "Oh." She forced herself to stand a little straighter. "He invited you to the cinema? How imaginative." The tone of her voice was callous and malicious.

"Well," Katniss said, "At least he had the guts to ask me at all."

The blow hit closer to home than Johanna cared to admit.

She turned to look at Finnick, who was still animatedly discussing something sport-related with Peeta. She gave him a gentle nudge to remind him that she was still here, and that she wanted to go home.

"Oh, ha, sorry - I haven't introduced you," Finnick said. Johanna resisted the urge to roll her eyes at how he had misunderstood her intentions. "Peeta, this is Johanna."

The blond boy smiled at her, albeit a little tightly. "Nice to meet you, Johanna. Uh, this is Katniss." He put one of his arms around Katniss. Johanna decided not to smile back.

"Me and Katniss know each other, actually," she said hotly.

"Oh, really?" said Peeta, eyebrows raised. "That's cool."

"You never told me you managed to make a new friend, Johanna," Finnick joked. He seemed to be aware that the atmosphere was a lot tenser than it should be.

"That would be because we're not really friends," Katniss said, undoing his effort to lighten the mood. "I don't really know how you put up with her."

Finnick laughed even though Katniss hadn't said it humorously. "Oh, well, it takes practice, that's for sure."

"This is all very fun," Johanna growled, "But you two have a film to watch, and I have a bed to go sleep on."

Peeta, who looked a bit overwhelmed, nodded politely. "Yeah, we wouldn't want to miss the start!" he chuckled. "Nice seeing you, Finnick."

"Yeah," Finnick said, nodding his head. "Have fun, you two!"

The two pairs went their separate ways, and as soon as Johanna and Finnick had left the building, he turned and asked Johanna what that had all been about.

"What?" Johanna asked.

"You and Katniss! What was going on there?"

"Nothing," Johanna replied forcefully. "We just walked into each other in the corridor once and we have some unresolved bitterness, that's all."

Finnick looked at her. "You don't honestly expect me to believe that, do you?"

"Finnick, I'm not in the mood for this right now."

"This is the thing, isn't it? The thing that's been bothering you. It's something to do with her."

Johanna rolled her eyes. "Congratulations, you can to put two and two together. Maybe you can calculate the gas I owe you after all."

Finnick, however, was lost in thought, trying to put together the rest of the pieces. Johanna resented the fact that the only way she could get home was in Finnick's car because it was much too far to walk from here. She also resented the fact that she hadn't worn a coat this morning.

"Finnick," she objected, "Can you at least contemplate the meaning of life after you unlock your car? It's freezing out here."

Finnick stubbornly shook his head. "Only if you tell me what's going on."

"Oh my god, Finnick, seriously, I-"

"I want you to be happy, Johanna," he interrupted. "The past couple of weeks, you have been acting anything but happy, and I want to be able to help. What's going on between you and Katniss?"

Johanna couldn't believe his nerve. "There's nothing going on, all right? Nothing at all!"

Finnick stared at her, but then he blinked like he'd finally realised something. "That's the problem, isn't it?"

Johanna frowned. "What is?"

Finnick met her gaze. "There's nothing going on. But you want there to be."

The car journey home was a tense one.

Finnick had sensed that he'd already overstepped the line so he stayed quiet, and Johanna wasn't exactly keen to start a conversation either. It was only once they were pulled up outside Johanna's house that any words were exchanged.

"I know it's none of my business," Finnick began quietly, "but I don't think you should push Katniss away. Give her a chance."

Johanna couldn't stop herself from laughing. "She was the one throwing insults at me at the cinema," she pointed out.

"Yeah," Finnick said, "But I'm about eighty-three per cent sure that that's because you haven't been treating her all that nicely."

"Maybe," Johanna muttered, knowing that that was indeed the case. "But what does it matter? She's off with blond-haired lover boy now." Her voice cracked a little, and she figuratively kicked herself for letting it.

Finnick leaned back into his seat. "They're only on a date - probably a one-off thing. I have them all the time." He said the last sentence with a tone of playful arrogance that made Johanna smile. She seized the chance to change the subject.

"And you don't feel even a little bit guilty? Letting all those girls down?"

Finnick shrugged. "As if any of them are interested in me," he sighed. "They just want my good looks – which are quite extraordinary – and the license to boast. One date's more than enough." He shook his head with fake sadness.

"Oh, poor unlucky you," Johanna drawled.

"Exactly. But enough about me," Finnick said. "You know I'm not going to let this go until you at least try to win Katniss back."

"There's no point," Johanna replied sharply.

"Of course there is," Finnick responded. "If you don't try, you're going to be grumpy for the rest of the year, and I don't want to have to put up with that."

"And would you look at that? The conversation circles right back around to you."

Finnick smirked. "I'm just that enthralling. But come on, Johanna. What have you got to lose? What's the worst that could happen?"

Johanna looked down at her feet. "I… she…" She found that she couldn't put the fears circling round her mind into a coherent sentence. Maybe they didn't make sense, maybe they weren't very rational – but they still made her feel sick.

"Just don't give up on her so quickly, all right?" Finnick said. "There's definitely something there. Or you wouldn't have been so wound up about it the past few weeks."

Johanna sighed. "Fine. Am I allowed to get out of the car now?"

Finnick smiled and said, "Honestly, I'm surprised you haven't stormed out already."

She took that as her cue to get out and slam the door emphatically behind her.

The following night, Johanna was sitting in the dark again, thinking. Trying to make sense of her thoughts. Trying to figure out a plan of action.

Seeing Katniss with Peeta… She'd never felt jealousy that strongly before. Even though she'd thought the two of them looked awkward together, it had hurt. It had confirmed her fears. So easily, Katniss had replaced her with someone else. So easily, she'd been cast aside.

And yes, perhaps it was her fault – for treating Katniss the way she had. She'd had her reasons, though. She tried to tell herself that she didn't regret the way she'd acted, that it would have been worse otherwise.

It was then that she heard her phone vibrating from the bottom of her bag. She sighed – the only person who would call her was Finnick, and he was probably going to keep trying to talk her into doing something she didn't want to do. So she remained motionless, sitting on her bed, waiting for the buzzing noise to stop.

Eventually, it did. But a minute or so later, it started again.

Johanna exhaled with exasperation. Figuring that she wouldn't be left alone until she answered, she leaned over and retrieved her bag, digging around until her fingers found the vibrating phone.

"What is it now?" she snapped into it without bothering to look at who was calling.

"Uh, Johanna?" The voice that answered was certainly not Finnick's.

The bottom of Johanna's stomach disappeared.

"What the hell?" she cried. "How did you get my number?"

"From Finnick," Katniss' voice replied.

"And how the hell did you get his number?" Johanna asked.

"It didn't take long to find a girl who had it."

Johanna swallowed, uncertain what to make of this. "I – why?"

"Because we need to talk, Johanna."

"Couldn't wait until Monday?"

"Well, I considered leaving it until then, but then I figured that you're probably planning to avoid me again."

Johanna hummed. "Yeah, I was. So…"

"Me and Peeta aren't serious," Katniss declared abruptly. "I just didn't have the heart to turn him down."

Despite what Katniss was saying, merely hearing her mention Peeta made Johanna's fist clench a little. She forced herself to remain sounding casual and uninterested. "Um, good for you?"

She heard Katniss sigh. "Are you really going to keep pretending like there's not something going on here?"

"I-"

"I've had enough of you and your evasiveness, all right?" Katniss said irritably. "What is holding you back?"

"I'm scared, okay?" The words plunged them into silence, save for the gentle crackling of the line.

"You're… what?"

"I'm scared." She repeated the phrase in a hiss, filled with blame and bitterness. Maybe if she told Katniss the truth she'd finally leave her alone.

"Scared of what?" Katniss asked eventually.

"Of this, brainless. Of what it could lead to." Johanna exhaled and leaned back against her headboard. "It's why I was always so competitive," she continued.

"I don't under-"

"I was trying to prove that I was better than you."

Katniss hesitated. "Don't you think you've proven that already?" she questioned.

"To you, maybe," muttered Johanna. "Not to myself."

"What do you…?"

"I don't deserve you," Johanna said quietly. "I kept trying to convince myself that it was okay for me to want you but I couldn't…because…I…It put you in a position to hurt me."

Johanna swore she could feel her phone grow heavier from the weight of her words. She'd never felt quite so vulnerable. The confessions that had been so reluctant to show themselves around Finnick seemed to be fighting to come out now. It was like she wanted Katniss to know the struggle she was going through thanks to her.

"Johanna, how would I hurt you?" Katniss asked softly.

"You'd leave," Johanna replied resentfully. "You'd realise you could find someone better, that you deserved better, and you'd leave me. For Peeta or whatever. I don't know. But it would happen – so why even bother letting you in at all?"

This was what had been troubling Johanna all along. It was why she'd been so reluctant to let Katniss in, and to admit her feelings. Every step closer that she let the younger girl take, the more clearly she would see that Johanna's harshness was just a protective outer shell. The more exposed her weaknesses would be.

Katniss didn't give up. "Johanna, I already told you, me and Peeta-"

"But what if you realised that, actually, what you and him have is better? What if – what if you gave me hope, and then you changed your mind?" Johanna liked being alone because then there was nobody to let her down, nobody to desert her. She only really trusted Finnick – and even that was partially because she knew that he would be the one more hurt if their friendship came to an end.

"Johanna," Katniss insisted. "Don't you think that if I'd had my doubts about you, I would have long given up? Why would I have come to find you outside the dining hall that day? Why would I be calling you now?"

"Because you're an idiot, brainless."

"No, Johanna. I'm not letting this go to waste because you're too blind to see how much I like you." She clearly punctuated her next words. "I wouldn't leave you."

"Prove it," Johanna snapped defiantly.

"…I can't."

"There you go," Johanna said, triumphant.

"But Johanna," Katniss insisted gently, "I'm asking for you to believe it."

AN: I'm probably going to finish it there, so I hope you've enjoyed it! Thanks for all the follows, favourites and nice reviews, they really make me smile. I'll definitely be writing more Joniss in the future – maybe something with more fluff. Thanks for reading :D