Inauspicious Stars

Annie firmly held to the belief that the internet was a disease. She would grant to the inventors that it certainly was a helpful bacterium sometimes, like the millions of foreign bacterium that lived in the gut of the average human. However there was also the staphylococcus of the internet like Webmd, and also the Yersinia pestis, or more commonly known as the black plague.

And by the black plague, Annie was referring to social media. Tumblr in its glorious diseased state hacked up before her eyes pages dedicated with gifs of her boyfriend getting out of the pool and pulling his cap off. As twitter which had just about dropped dead when Finnick's Gatorade advertisement went out, only to be revived to link and exclaimed, "Here goes there a man whom I would like to have bodily relationships with!" Even Buzzfeed wasn't safe for her scrolling pleasure, as just as soon as his interview with Huffington post describing his general work out schedule and life went viral Buzzfeed came up with a "Eleven Reasons Why Finnick Odair Gives Us Life" with the number one being that his abs were apparently sculpted by God himself.

Now to Annie that was really all fine and dandy. She knew what everyone thought of her boyfriend, really. And Annie also thought he was extremely attractive, glad to have bodily relations with him, and was pretty sure that if there was a God he had spent extra attention on Finnick's most dreamy features. However there was something extremely irksome about someone she loved having their body plastered on the internet and analyzed and scrutinized. If Annie could she would have deleted it all, but Annie had no such power. All she could do was be thankful that Finnick seemingly had a good grip on reality and didn't let it go to his head. Because he wished to finish his collegiate swimming career, he hadn't taken the sponsorships that companies had literally been throwing his way and would wait on those until after graduation. Most of his information was already private so there was no issues on that front, and he was just making the rounds and doing his work outs as best as he could every day. But still considering that surfing the internet had been all she had done for the entirety of her sleepless night she had had plenty of time to stew on her hatred towards the internet and its mindless millions.

8:23.

"Mm." He said, his mouth pressing against her ear. She crinkled her nose, smelling chlorine but finding a simple moment of peace in the chaos.

"Finnick. You're too warm." She moaned as he tried to wrap his arms around her and pull her close, but she pulled away and stayed firmly on her side of the bed. He didn't push her however, and instead continued to sit on the bed and rub her back.

"You're freezing. You can turn up the heat in here." He said amused and she just pulled the covers up over her head. He began to chuckle. "So…"

"So what?"

"So what were you looking at so intensely?" Finnick asked and she stayed on her side but grabbed her phone off the bedside table with shaking hands, and began to read in a weak attempt at a fake valley girl accent,

"Oh. Em. Gee. Finnick Odair is soooo fecking dreamy, heart emoji heart emoji. There is not one part of him that I don't luv! I just want to have your children and thank you! Kissing emoji. The next one says: When bae gets out of a swimming pool dripping wet and totally luscious with a gif of you and Tyra Banks."

Finnick looked at the picture of the girls on tumblr over her shoulder and made a gagging noise,

"That's gross and illegal. These girls are like fifteen."

"I suppose you should just go procreate with her. It's seemingly what she wants." Annie said as she let her phone drop from her fingertips and gently thump on the floor, "In my opinion though, teenagers are like wine, hopefully they get better as they mature."

"I thought you were supposed to be the pessimistic one." Finnick pointed out and Annie just sighed.

"I've had to learn to look on the funny side of things these past few weeks." Annie admitted before closing her eyes because her head was killing her, "Otherwise I'd go even crazier. I hate the things they say about you, granted I know they probably mean well and are probably nice and well-adjusted in real life, it's just that they talk about you like you're some kind of…of…I don't even know. They don't treat you like a human."

"How adult of you to say." Finnick pointed out before giving her temple a kiss. "Well, that is one of the reasons I am currently enamored with you. Now tell me, there has to be a certain reason why you are still in bed right now. I'd like to know why so I may be prepared at a moment's notice to run to the store and retrieve ice cream."

"No ice cream is necessary." Annie said softly as she curled up, "It's just…I wanted to sleep is all."

Annie at that very moment should have been have been well on her way through her routine though it was Sunday. She should have gotten up at 5:21, stripped her bed of the sheets, tapped her bedside table four times with her index and middle finger as each sheet and blanket and pillow case came off, before folding them and placing them in her hamper. And then she should have taken off her pajamas, starting with her shorts, then her tee shirt, followed by her underwear, each folded separately and then placed in her laundry hamper. The she would have picked up her laundry hamper, from its place at the end of the bed, turning it counter clockwise then turning it back and placing it back down. After that she would have chosen what to wear for the day, taking into consideration that that day was a grey day, before taking whatever clothes she didn't decide to wear and put them into the laundry hamper. After that Annie would go to the bathroom and comb her hair thoroughly, taking time to undo every knot, before spraying it in place to reduce flyaway hair. She would wipe down the counter to remove of her stray hair, because stray hair made her feel ill. Then she would take her electric toothbrush, squeezing out a pea sized dollop of tooth paste neatly upon her brush before pulling out her phone and starting her timer. She had to brush for at least one minute and thirty seconds, before flossing each tooth twice and rinsing with Listerine for forty-five seconds. Then Annie would wipe her toothbrush on her specific toothbrush towel, and clean the toothpaste from the tip of the tube, making sure that no toothpaste would congeal there before screwing on the cape and placing it back in its spot before washing her hands thoroughly, scrubbing with exfoliating cream, rinsing, and squirting exactly two pumps of antibacterial soap into her palms, making sure to lather for a count of ten before rubbing over all the surface of her hand, making sure to get under her nails, before rinsing off. Then she would have gone on to eat breakfast, trying to push herself by eating without disinfecting her silverware, and then started her list of other things to do for the day.

But it was 8:23 which added up to thirteen which was odd and prime and described how she felt because she was not only mathematically uneven but also odd and an integer because somehow she was whole despite the fact she constantly felt she would fracture into incomprehensible fractions and with her unfortunate brain chemistry and personal habits that in the general scheme of things were assigned to her in a genetic lottery that she had lost because of bad luck.

The previous night she had been nearly driven off the edge of her fragile sanity by a wasp that reminded her that she couldn't remember if she had clearly washed the left side of her body as well as the right and that she was hording illness that would spread to everyone around her and make them rot and she had tried to resist it all night by trying to calm herself down but eventually she had felt as if she had been drowning in sheets that had turned into a cesspit and she had to get up and go take another shower and restart her routine but she had been so tired that she had kept messing up and she had been awake doing that until four in the morning and just hadn't gone back to sleep. Insomnia was one of the frequent complementary diagnoses she had to deal with on a daily basis which was more of a symptom of her anxiety then a separate disease. But at that moment Annie just felt crushed by the clusterfuck that was her illness and that was her everything and she just didn't have the strength to get out of bed despite her overactive instincts screaming at her and it all hurt because... because-

"Annie, what is it?" Finnick asked sounding increasingly concerned.

"It's nothing. Sorry. I was just…the rabbit is all. I just didn't get a lot of sleep last night." She half-lied as she tried to smile for him. While in her head the wasps kept stinging and stinging that I'm so tired and I can't sleep, Finnick. I feel like such a nut case, and I just want to smile for you but I'm such an anxious wreck. And Finnick would leave her if she did, she saw playing out in her head again and again. "Can we…maybe go do something today?"

"Sure. Whatever you want." He said as she sat up and tried not to look at the bags by the door that reminded her that he was going to be gone-

Quiet! She screamed in her head. He'll come back! He will!

"Dinner and a movie?" She asked quietly as he reached out to pull her into an achingly warm hug, tucking her safely in his arms.

"Sounds like fun." Finnick told her, kissing her hair and wrapping his arms around her while he rested against the headboard.

"Stop holding me like a teddy bear." She whined, "You are really too warm. I'll get all sweaty."

"I'll miss the way your hair smells." He murmured, breathing in deeply. "Just like your shampoo. And how soft it is."

Annie wanted to tell him to stop it. To stop holding her so lovingly, and saying words that just made her love him more and more. There had to be a limit to how ridiculous this situation would get. After all the more important he was in scheduling her life, the harder it would be when he was gone for Olympic Training in Colorado Springs. Annie barely could handle eating a different cereal every morning, having her boyfriend gone and messing up not only her schedule but also having her worry for him taking up her time would just be awful.

"What do you…want to go see?" Annie asked, her voice sounding embarrassingly off his Finnick's lips pressed to her cheek, his breath tickling her ear.

"Hm? See what?" He nearly purred, Annie turned her face to answer him only to be met his face being nearly unbearably close. His eyes were lidded and-

8:37.

"Your eyes." She blurted out, before feeling herself go bright red.

"My eyes?" He asked with a frown, "What about them?"

"They're…they're blue today." She continued the thought she had been desperately hold onto while everything scattered in her head. "I-I mean movie. No-what movie do you want to go see?"

"Do you like them when they are blue?" Finnick asked her with a teasing smile as he leaned down and pressed sweet kisses against her lips.

"I always love the color of your eyes." Annie told him between kisses, feeling her stomach begin to flutter, "But normally they only get blue when you cry."

"I guess you're just so sexy you're bringing me close to tears." He joked and Annie resisted the urge to roll her eyes at him.

"Or maybe it's because you are wearing a blue shirt." Annie told him, and he just began to laugh and bring her into a firmer hug.

"God, I'm going to miss you." He said as he held her and Annie was the one actually close to tears. But she held on, she held back because she wanted to smile for Finnick. No matter what, she wanted to smile for him.

"Don't say that."

So Annie got up and got dressed in a blue sweater and leggings because that day was a blue day and after taking some ibuprofen and draining a cup of coffee she was functioning at a remarkably high level. Since Annie barely ever paid attention to what went on in the entertainment world, after all she was too busy with her work and her multiple other issues, she also had no idea what was out in terms of movies. Finnick was a pop culture addict, so he quickly discerned the best choice on his Iphone with the help of Siri and then they went and decided to watch it. So he chose a movie that was playing at 5:45 and booked a reservation at 7:30 which were both good times because 5:45 added up to fourteen and was divisible by two and four and 7:30 added up to ten which was divisible by two and five and maybe that would give her the chance to relax and maybe have a good night with Finnick. So she made sure they left early and got there early because she absolutely hated being late and Finnick knew that as well. So they got there at 5:25 and bought tickets and Finnick got a large popcorn and a water while Annie just had a bottle of water she had brought from home and then they settled into their seats as the movie started. It was a good movie, Annie could tell, but she also couldn't help but think how many other people had touched the arm rests and so she kept her hands on her lap and her jacket on for protection and sat there stiffly. Finnick obviously noticed her rising anxiety because he reached over to grab her hand, which was nice but then she could barely concentrate on the movie because of how his finger traced circles into her skin and how she wouldn't be able to feel that for months-

No. She wouldn't let herself think of it. She couldn't let herself think of it!

7:01.

The movie ended really before Annie had realized and comprehended that it had started at all. They put on their coats and they just left the theater when suddenly a very familiar voice called out to them,

"Finnick! Annie!"

Peeta and Katniss were walking down the street together, hands held and looking like a generally cute couple. Annie was guilty for interrupting their obvious date until Finnick smiled widely as Peeta sped up to meet Finnick and give him a bro hug. Annie decided then that if this would make Finnick happy then she was glad for their presence.

"Hey Peeta, Katniss." Finnick said slapping Peeta a high five as the bro hug ended while Katniss caught up slowly to where Peeta, Finnick, and Annie where standing.

"Hi Annie." Katniss greeted a little awkwardly, and Finnick and Peeta got into an easy conversation about sports and how Peeta was doing at his job.

"Hey, were you guys going to see a movie?" Annie asked Katniss who just sighed.

"Peeta was going on about this romcom he wanted to see…and I'm not opposed to something like that once in a while. Even if they are embarrassing and unrealistic." Katniss said as she tugged at her braid. "What about you and Finn?"

"We just finished watching a movie, and we're about to go to dinner." Annie explained, "Too bad you didn't text me, we could've turned this into a double date."

"Right…" Katniss said, her cheeks turning red as she casted her eyes to the ground. "Well, I wouldn't have wanted to impose with what you guys were doing. Especially because Finnick is leaving tomorrow."

"Yeah." Annie said, her throat feeling like it was closing around the word and she had to force it out.

"Aw, Kitty, aren't you going to miss me?" Finnick asked with a large faux-seductive smile as he put his arm around Katniss. She just glared at him in her normal expression of mixed embarrassment and incredulousness at Finnick's forwardness and flirtatious nature.

"Do not call me that. You make me sound like a cheap stripper." Katniss said hastily, ironically tensing as if her hair was standing on end. She picked his fingers off her shoulder with exaggerated disgust and then stomping over to Peeta's side and grabbing onto his coat. "For God's sake, Annie I don't know how you put up with him."

"I lock him in the house sometimes." She offered with an apologetic smile, "Sorry he gets so unruly."

"Don't talk about me like I'm not here!" Finnick whined, "You'll hurt my feelings."

"It's your ego that needs to be taken down a few pegs." Katniss said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"That is also true." Peeta agreed as he shared a smile with Katniss and Annie while Finnick pouted and crossed his arms over his chest.

"Fine!" He said dramatically, "If you don't want me to skype you then I won't."

"We'll skype you, we'll skype you. Damn, you are a needy thirteen year old girl in an oversized body, you know that? Just…don't work too hard at the training center." Katniss said before amending that statement with, "You'll make Annie worry unnecessarily."

"Also, do let me know how you're doing and don't just forget to text me sometimes, alright?" Peeta said, "And when you get the chance text me your address so I can send cookies and stuff."

Finnick immediately grabbed both of them and pulled them into a hug, causing Katniss to squawk in surprise and Peeta to laugh and pat his back.

"Aw man, I'm really going to miss you guys! You two are awesome friends!"

"You're crushing me!" Katniss wheezed and then Finnick let go. Peeta gave Finnick one more affectionate hug, while Katniss gave him a soft punch in the arm and a smile before they walked into the theater and left Annie and Finnick outside.

"It's nice that they're going out now." Finnick said, as he took Annie's hand.

"I know. Katniss can be a bit prickly sometimes and a little awkward, but she means well. Peeta really balances her out perfectly. And I can tell she really likes him." Annie told Finnick who just smiled mischievously.

"Peeta has it bad for her. Seriously. Even mention her name and he goes all weak at the knees. He plans their dates about three weeks in advance and always gets so stressed out that he stress-bakes. Before Valentine's Day last year he made five different flavors of pies and cream puffs when he was trying to figure out what to do. Which was like hella awesome for me but still it was a lot, even for Peeta standards."

"Peeta used to call me to ask me to approve what they were doing." Annie said before laughing, "He has a lot more confidence now though, which is good. Peeta's such a sweet guy and a really good friend."

"Since when were you and Peeta such good friends?" Finnick asked sounding oddly concerned and she blinked.

"We've always been good friends. Since you introduced us." Annie explained, "We would always eat lunch around the same time and I helped him with his homework sometimes."

"Really." Finnick said somewhat flatly before Annie leaned against his arm and interwove their fingers.

"Don't be jealous."

"I just…it's not that." He brushed her off before giving a sigh. "Fine, it is like that. I'll miss hanging out with you and doing stuff like going to lunch and to know everyone else will be able to hang out with you like normal unlike me just kinda puts me down a little."

"Yeah." Annie said awkwardly before changing the subject, "Let's get dinner. I'm hungry."

They walked to the restaurant two blocks away from the movie theater hand in hand and arrived at 7:20 because Annie hated being late and 7:20 was still a good number even though it added up to nine which was fine because nine was divisible by three. Finnick brought them to his favorite sushi bar, the one whose food Finnick had been slowly introducing to her over the year so they could both eat sushi when Finnick was in the mood. Annie's therapist had told her that becoming accustomed to new foods was an especially good exercise in broadening her boundaries so Annie had been taking the task of new food very seriously (though she doubted she could ever get to the level of eating raw fish like Finnick did, but her therapist told her that was a perfectly normal inhibition that even normal people had). So Finnick ordered a sashimi boat while Annie got a California roll and miso soup, which she was okay with because the chopsticks were disposable and she had eaten from the restaurant before and had never gotten sick, and they spoke about everything other then what was going to happen the next morning. And whenever Finnick tried to bring it up, Annie always tried to change the topic. Eventually he dropped the topic as dessert came around however Annie did know it was only a matter of time. Eventually they finished dinner and began to walk out of the restaurant and down the street in silence, and as if Finnick couldn't take it anymore he demanded,

"Why are you avoiding me?"

"What?" Annie asked him confused.

"Ever since this morning, you've been so distant! I get it…you…your mad at me for going away. Just, talk to me about this! I can't leave with us like this!"

"I'm not mad!" She cried, "I'm not!

"Then what is it, Annie?" Finnick demanded reaching out to grab her hand, "Tell me!"

"Don't-" She said yanking back her hand because she didn't want him to touch her at that moment, however the force of her jerk and the crack in the sidewalk caused her to trip back and fall over the curb. She yelped before suddenly she was down and pain spiked up her leg before a dull ache like a heartbeat settled into her foot as she pulled off her flat to get a look at the damage because if it was bad then her mother and father would have to take her to the hospital which was cost them money and she would be so guilty for doing something so stupid-!

"Annie, are you okay?" He asked immediately and she was trying not to cry desperately because was just screwing everything up. All of it!

"My ankle hurts." She said sharply rubbing her now bruising foot. She inspected the swelling, and checked and though she was imagining it turning black and falling off again and again as icy panic settled into her veins, it really did look fine. First things first she had to adjust her plans for the evening because she now had to decide if she would first ice for fifteen minutes exactly and then onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three, she would go home and then she would make the bed, with her sheets and covers, put away her clothes, put on her robe and grab her towel, she would wash her hair right to left and her body from down to up because that was right and dried from down to up and brush her teeth and floss and use Listerine and then she would wash her hands and get dressed in her pjs or if she would go home and then she would make the bed, with her sheets and covers, put away her clothes, put on her robe and grab her towel, she would wash her hair right to left and her body from down to up because that was right and dried from down to up and brush her teeth and floss and use Listerine and then she would wash her hands and get dressed in her pjs and ice for exactly fifteen minutes afterwards and then take a break for fifteen minutes and ice again for fifteen minutes and she was so caught up in her own thoughts that she barely registered the fact that Finnick was getting down on the pavement beside her.

"Come on." He said bending down and offering his hand yet again. "Let's get you back to the car."

"I can walk!" Annie snapped at him angrily as she tried to get up, finding she could put weight on her very tender ankle as she began to limp away until she had put some distance between them, so she could compose herself and lean against a bench for support. "It doesn't matter if you are here or not, I can take care of myself! I just…I have to go home and ice my ankle."

For a moment Finnick just stood there frozen, before walking in front of her, getting down on one knee and offering his back. He kept facing forward, but she could see the determination in the way he squared his shoulders.

"Stop being stubborn." He simply chastised her.

Knowing attempting to resist would be fighting a losing battle Annie immediately got on his back, and he began to carry her. For a few moments she didn't speak before finally she rested against his jacket. It was the clean scent of the laundry detergent and his shaving cream, the softness of his hair that she tried to soak in. Those little things that would be robbed from her. It didn't matter that her ankle was killing her and part of her brain was on fire because what if she had broken something or torn something and how was she meant to stand and she couldn't do lab work with her ankle like that and she couldn't miss her lab and onetwothreefourfivesixseveneightnine eight is good, seven is bad because it is odd and prime, but nine is okay because it is divisible by three but he was there, with her, and thinking that by tomorrow she would be alone it just made her throat constrict and her tears well up. Finnick obviously sensing her internal despair began to speak once again,

"I've always been making you worry so much and relied on you for help and support, so I wish you'd let me worry about you once in a while. I might be a bit flaky sometimes and forgetful, but I'm going to stay by your side even if I'm not here…you know, physically or whatever. I'm going to try hard, and I know you are going to try hard, and we'll both work at this together like we have since you first let me in. So just…let me in again."

She was so stupid. Annie hadn't meant for any of this to happen. And if lying about her feelings were going to make Finnick hurt more, then what was even the point? Suddenly as if that realization triggered her, Annie couldn't do it anymore, ugly sobs wrenched themselves from her throat as she pressed her face against his back and fisted her hands in shirt.

"I'm so bitter! I'm so bitter!" Annie sobbed, "I just…I wanted to send you off with a smile so you wouldn't worry but I…I'm going to miss you so much! I know you have to leave! This is everything you've ever wanted and it's so important for you! But I…I don't want you to go! Goddamnit Finn, I don't want you to leave! I'm just so bitter and fucked up and selfish and my ankle is killing me and I haven't slept in like three days because I've been so fucking anxious and I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry."

"I'll come home, Annie." Finnick promised her as she continued to cry until his jacket was wet with her tears, "I'll always come home to you. That's a promise that I'm always going to keep."

"Don't make stupid promises." Annie wheezed between her hiccups.

"It's definitely not a stupid promise." Finnick told her with a chuckle, before he said, "You see the sky and the stars, Annie? It's the same sky and stars in Colorado. I know this is like the cheesiest thing on the planet, but we will still be under the same sky. And we live in the 21st century, so we have skype too, and if you are still lonely after that I'll even write you love letters or something. We'll make it work like we always have, so just keep working hard. And I'll keep working hard. And then before you realize we will be together again."

"I'm sorry I'm so needy."

"You are definitely not alone in this. I've been crying too. Mostly in the car after swim practice." He said with a shy laugh of his own, "This morning you caught me red handed. I was surprised you noticed."

"Your eyes were so blue." She told him with a sniff. "They do only get like that if you've been crying."

"I get choked up sometimes, when I think about how much I'll miss you. But this is something I have to do."

"I know. I love you."

"Love you too."

So for that moment, Annie didn't need anything fancy. She would just be happy with keeping him by her side, no matter how brief the time they spent together was.

"You have all of your swim suits, right? And your laptop?" Annie asked as Finnick stood before the baggage check. He had just finished getting his luggage checked and Mags was waiting in the car after giving him her own, heartfelt goodbye. However Annie was sure there was something she was missing, something she hadn't said or done and it was driving her crazy but she was helpless. Annie couldn't fix or change anything at that moment and she had to let Finnick go because his flight was at 10:30 and it was 9:31 and he had to get through airport security.

"Yeah. I have everything, Annie." Finnick told her and she just bit her lip hard.

"And…and if those hyperbaric chambers and it hurts your head, don't use them! You're already at an altitude so your red blood count will already go up and if they tell you to anyways I'll-I'll beat them up!" Annie told him causing Finnick to smile widely at her.

"I know, Annie." Finnick said as he placed down his carry on for a moment to reach out and hug her. "I'll be careful, I promise."

"I'll miss you." Annie told him, clinging onto him as he leaned down to give her a sweet kiss.

"I'll miss you too, Annie. I've got to go."

"I know." Annie said, letting him go before saying, "Love you. Work hard, alright?"

"Love you too. I'll call when I get there, alright?"

"Okay."

"Bye, Annie." He said before leaving her to go into security.

When he turned around to wave, this time Annie had a smile on her face and he had tears in his eyes.

Happy Valentine's Day weekend! I hope you all ate some delicious chocolate, I know I did.

I'm so sorry about this late update, which I take responsibility for by saying it was life circumstances and stuff. Two more chapters remaining in Little Stars, which I'm sad about because I love this universe. But all good things do come to an end, unfortunately. Those chapters include the Olympics as well as a sort of epilogue. Also an explanation of course for the mystery.

I hope you all enjoyed reading and if you would like feel free to leave a review or an alert or fav to let me know you care! In any case, have a good rest of your weekend and a good President's day for anyone in the USA! ~OMGitsgreen