once upon a time • finnick odair

xi. the clock

It was about mid-morning when Devon woke up.

Katniss and Finnick were both awake and the two woven bowls filled with fresh water and a third filled with shellfish proved that Finnick had been busy in the morning. He had even made a mat out of some sort of grass, and it was intricately woven together. 

"... Need help?" Devon mumbled, his voice dark and hoarse due to the early morning.

"We're already done," said Finnick, not looking in his direction.

Devon rubbed his eyes to clear out the blur in his vision and saw that he and Katniss were putting some kind of ointment on themselves that made it look like they were decomposing. It was easy to notice that it was all on the boils they got from the fog, and although Devon logically knew that it was to help with the scabs, he didn't want to put it on.

"Did you sleep?" Devon managed to croak out. His voice was gone, and Devon crinkled up his face, knowing that this voice would last a while.

"Yeah," said Finnick, his eyes still on the food. "A few. Katniss switched with me during the night."

Katniss nodded. "I did."

An awkward silence fell as Devon was at a loss as to what he should talk about next.

"Should we eat?" asked Finnick.

The two agreed, and once they were prepared to eat, a sponsor gift came that held bread from District Four.

Finnick turned the bread over his hands, examining it a bit too possessively. Everyone knew that it was his, with the green tint from seaweed that bread from District 4 always had. Devon knew that examining it was a little more than recognizing it to be his. It was a memory, a reminder of where he was from, and also ... who they had lost.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Devon briefly closed his eyes, and he could still see Lucian with his maniac grin and blood all over his body. The wild, crazed look he gave ... The threats he heard...

"Shut the fuck up, Odair, unless you want your head getting cut off."

"I stole it. How else would I have gotten it?"

"Don't move."

But all Finnick said was, "This will go well with the shellfish."

As Finnick cleaned the meat from the shellfish, Katniss stood up and plopped herself right beside Devon, offering him a tube of ointment.

"Put this on. It'll help," said Katniss.

"Will it make me look like you?" asked Devon, and Katniss knew right away what he meant.

"Maybe. It'll help, though. I'm going to put it on you one way or another. All the chance you're getting right now is if you want to put it on yourself or I put it on you."

Devon shook his head. "Who taught you to be that stubborn?"

"You. Don't you remember how you told me to survive with Peeta at all costs?" asked Katniss.

Devon knew that she was referring to what he told her on the train during the Victory Tour, but it wouldn't be a good thing for Snow to know. He decided to change what she was referring to.

"Last year, in the Games?" Devon said, hoping that Katniss wouldn't be that stupid to blow this.

Katniss looked briefly confused before realizing what he was trying to do. "Yes."

"And you're trying to save me, Catnip?"

"The only thing that changed is that Peeta changed to you. Now, stop changing the topic, and are you going to put on the ointment or not?" demanded Katniss.