Seafoam and Starlight.

SCANNING…IDENTIFICATION COMPLETE. ENTER FINNICK TROY, CHILD OF GARTH AND DONNA TROY. CODENAME: TEMPEST.  A 24 YEAR OLD  FOURTH YEAR ENROLLED IN THE SUPERHUMAN TRACK. INTEL SHOWS THEY ARE RELAXED, BUT CAN ALSO BE PASSIVE. ABILITIES INCLUDE ATLANTEAN PHYSIOLOGY AND MAGIC. FACIAL RECOGNITION MISTAKES THEM FOR ALEX FITZALAN.

Missing home was a loaded question. Of course she missed home, but lately whenever she was there she felt guilty, her heart belonged somewhere else when it should have belonged there. And right now her heart was lightyears away in another dimension.The expectation was to graduate, marry and rule. There was no other pathway in life for her. “Mine are well, I have been chosen to peer sponsor Miri’am Khaldur, a challenge in life and in this school year I suppose.” she told him looking down at the water again. “I do.” she missed Jon more. “Will you be attending the next royal ceremony in a few weeks?” 

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       “Marin’ahm’s sister?” Finn asked to clarify despite only knowing on Mir’ahm. “Is that going well?” He knew that if anyone could rehabilitate Mir’ahm it was the future Queen of Atlantis. “Does she seem willing to change?” It had been years since he had seen Mira. “I wouldn’t miss it.” Not that he would be allowed to miss it even if he wanted to. “Will Jon be back in time to come?”

She rolled her eyes as he pulled rank on her.  “It is for that very reason accepting it would be inappropriate. You’re engaged to my best friend and my princess. Regardless of the fact neither of you bother to acknowledge the engagement outside of Atlantis.” she reminded him. “But I will keep it since you have resorted to pulling rank. Cheater.” she told him. The wind picked up and she pulled the jacket around her. She nodded when he said familiar. “I would much rather be back home.” she sighed. To be honest, she didn’t trust the school. At all. “I don’t think we’re safe here.” she admitted to him lowly. “It feels wrong. Like there is something off about this place. Not to mention the “tests”? It’s insane.”  

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      Finnick’s eyes fell as the subject of Dory and his betrothal to her came up. He spent a lot of his time trying not to think about his future. It wasn’t one that he had picked for himself. Instead it had been laid out for him since birth. “You know she will probably find a way to convince her family to let her be with Jon.” There was no indignation in his words. Finn wanted Dory to be happy no matter what and being King had never been important to him. It felt like an obligation. “Thank you.” He smiled at her, pleased with the outcome. “Do you think you might just be worried after what happened during the last test?” 

“for now! Maybe ill bulk up some more. then you’ll be back to wearing my clothes.” Marina laughed rolling her eyes. She looked over at him, noticing him go somewhere a moment. Most people probably wouldn’t have noticed, but not Marina. She paid attention to every detail. Especially those she cared for. However, she learned long ago that not matter how much she asked, Finnick would never tell her where he went when he zoned out like that. She pulled the jacket a little tighter. “I don’t think that would be very appropriate for me to keep it.” she said to him. Given that he was literally engaged to her best friend and the princess. “But thank you for the compliment…. how are you enjoying the school?”  

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      Finnick allowed himself the mental image of wearing a bulked up Marina’s jacket. “Why? It’s a gift. Wouldn’t it be more inappropriate to refuse a gift from your future king?” It wasn’t often, especially not with Marina, that the exercise his power but this was one of those rare times. Marina was just too stubborn for her own good sometimes, always duty bound. “You’re welcome. It’s-” he paused to think of the right word for how he wanted to describe the school. “-familiar.” He decided. There was a lot of history he wasn’t interested in revisiting there, more ghosts than he wanted to be haunted by. “What do you think of it?”

Peter smiled at him brightly. “I’ve been here since the beginning of the year,” he said, with a little laugh. “I’ve been getting extra training lately,” he said, offering a shrug and a faint smile. By lately, he meant since the disaster at homecoming. He was pretty sure he was one of the few people who still thought about that night, apart from people who had ended up in the infirmary one way or another. “Just hitting the gym.” It might sound like a humble brag, but he didn’t mean it that way. He was too earnest for that.

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       It was strange to Finnick that the two had not run into each other until just then seeing as they had both been on campus since the beginning of the year. Maybe it was for the best, giving his heart a break from the way it stammered around his chest like a rabbit caught in a snare any time Peter got just a little too close to him. “How has your extra training been going?”

It had killed her to walk away from Finnick. It felt more cruel to keep him waiting while her training grew more and more intense. She had loved him, but it had been the kind thing to do to let him go and she wished that she was a good enough person to not regret it. “I needed to get out of there” she shrugged weakly. He hadn’t been her go to person to vent to for years now, and besides, she wouldn’t blame him if he didn’t care to hear it. “Second…but I was a hermit last year so it makes sense that this is…Anyways, how are you doing?”

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       Finnick’s heart, despite the years that had past, was still broken. It had never healed properly, shattered pieces pushed together to recreate something that resembled the heart that once resided there. Now it beat weakly in his best like the wings of a butterfly gliding in the wind. He nodded with the slight of his head. Riley had never been the most outgoing person so the idea of her hiding away during her first year at the school was not a far fetched one. “I’m well.” He offered a polite smile, the diplomatic one he had practiced time and time again. “How are you?” 

“Just covering the boundaries. Last thing you would want is my sisters coming after you and you end up hurt, i’m just saying.” Rose was joking, kind of. all three had always had each other backs and so she figured she might as well warn him beforehand. “So how does this work? I go first or do you want to go first since it is your idea.”

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       Finnick shrugged at the threat of Rose’s sisters. It wasn’t the first of last time he would be threatened. “Are there any other boundaries you have that I should know about?” He wanted to be on the safe side. Making her uncomfortable wasn’t on his list of things he wanted to get done. “Ladies first.”

Peter felt his stomach do a little backflip as he caught sight of Finnick. It probably wasn’t surprising, considering what an open romantic he was, but Peter developed crushes easily – and yet he was sure his feelings for Finnick had been deeper than that. He just hadn’t ever really pursued it. It had felt like a hopeless cause, Don Quixote tilting at the windmill. Why would Finnick want to be with someone like him? But when Finnick pulled him into a hug, he didn’t resist. “Wow, hi,” he said, beaming and hugging Finnick back. “I’ve missed you, too. It’s been so long.” He leaned back a little to look at him, smiling again. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

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       “Way too long.” Unfortunately Finnick didn’t spend a lot of time in Gotham when he was on land which left him with a Peter sized hole in his heart. That had been filled now, however, with the hug provided by the blond. It was a relief to see him after so long. “How long have you been here? Why haven’t I seen you around?” He asked, pulling out of the embrace just long enough to look at Peter. 

Dory was pleasant, as she always was and she liked Finn, she did but she didn’t like him in that way, the way that she was forced to. He would make a good ruler and he understood their people but, he also wasn’t Jon. Dory’s feet hung from her position at the dock her toes grazing the cool water below them. “He is well, thank you for asking.” Dory smiled up at him, any mention of Jon could bring out a smile in her. “Are your studies going well?” she asked. The engagement made things uncomfortable, in hung in the air between them. 

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       Finnick smiled as Eldoris thanked him for asking about her boyfriend. It was the kind thing to do, a way to show her that he cared about her and her decision to be with someone she loved despite the position that they were both in. He thought she was brave, maybe the bravest person he had ever met just based on that alone. It was hard to go against your family, your kingdom even, but she had found the strength to find her own happiness. “They are, thank you. How are yours? Do you miss home?” 

we can be corny, fuck it.

She gave him a smile. “I don’t know, dont want you to end up regretting it if we go all in.” Rose teased. She could handle being all mushy than most. “Wait why are we doing this again?”

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       “Why would I regret that?” Finnick didn’t leave himself a lot of room for regrets in life, really only having one. That was neither here nor there though as it wasn’t really something he could change anymore. He just had to live with the consequences. “Because we can. Do we need another reason?” 

“Yeah, you don’t have to stay out here with me you know? If you want to get out of the cold.” Her wound, while it ached occasionally was mostly healed. She didn’t feel like she needed a chaperone 24/7 any more. She hadn’t needed on to begin with, but that was beside the point. She looked watching as Finnick shrugged it off his shoulders. “Are you sure?” she asked him. Then she pulled it over her frame. She wasn’t a small girl but she was smaller than Finnick, and it showed in the way the jacket hung off of her. It smelled of Lavander and sea salt. She smiled softly. “ I remember when I was taller than you and couldn’t fit in a pair of socks let alone a jacket of yours.” she chuckled softly to her self. 

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         The thought of going inside without Marina hadn’t crossed his mind until she brought it up and even then it seemed unreasonable. There was no reason to go inside and leave Marina out here all alone when he could provide her with some warmth and company. It was more for him than it was for her. With a nod he confirmed that he was sure. There was no where else in the world he would rather be in that moment. “And now you could fit in every piece of my clothing.” He replied with a soft chuckle. There was a hint of longing in his voice, something far off about it as his eyes glazed over, wandering somewhere else as he imagined it but just as quickly as his head took flight into the clouds it was back. “You can keep the jacket. It suits you better than it ever suited me.”

“Call it intuition” she shrugged softly, beginning to smile as she turned to look at him, her smile faltering as her heart sank to her stomach, Years had passed since the last time that Riley had seen Finnick, when she had broken both of their hearts in one fell swoop. She was great at destroying anything that was actually good for her, after all, Riley’s self-destruction knew no bounds and parting ways with him had hurt the most. He didn’t appear to hold any hard feelings against her about it, though and so she swallowed the sudden urge to apologize years later. “I didn’t realize that you would be coming here…” she uttered, eyes fixed on the doors of the elevator as she spoke. “Did you just get here?” 

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        Finnick tried not letting Riley get the better of him but it was fight he was quickly losing. The last time the pair had seen each other had been debatable one of the worst days of his life. It was definitely top 3, if not number 1. Tapping the tip of her fingers against his thigh, he sighed.  “I didn’t know you would be coming here either. I thought you might stay in Gotham.” He admitted. “No, actually, it’s my fourth year. Is it your first?”

“ everyone gets bored of studying eventually, it’s all a part of human nature. ” evelyn responded, closing the textbook in front of her as she got the hint. “ sure, we can find something else to do, take a little break from the studying, so long as we come back to it a little later. stopping for too long can be bad for the brain, and basically void any information you’ve actually picked up so far. ”

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         “Do I have to promise?” He asked, lilac eyes meeting her sky blue ones. Finnick could think of a hundred things he would rather do than study more later. Swimming being at the top of that list. “We could just forget about the books and enjoy each others company like old times.” There was a reminiscent tone to his words.

The elevator doors opened and Riley froze as she looked up, brown eyes meeting Finnick’s and knocking the breath out of her lungs just like before. The grip she had on her binders was so tight that her knuckles whitened and she momentarily debated texting Cat to get on the dorm elevator but she knew that was pathetic. She fought bad guys all the time, she didn’t need her little sister to come and save her from some guy. Only, Finnick had never been just some guy to Riley. Not even close. “What, um…which floor are you getting off on?” she asked, her voice deceptively steady considering how shaky she felt. Despite asking, she hit the button for the aquatic dorms anyways, keeping her hands occupied before she stepped into the corner. 

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      A soft chuckle fell from Finnick’s lips as lilac eyes met the familiar chocolate brown hue of his ex girlfriend. Taking a sip from his water bottle, he swallowed what was left of the laugh, leaving a smirk in its place. Of course Riley would be there too, why wouldn’t she? He tried not to let her get the better of him. Walking into the elevator, he tried to keep his free hand from gravitating towards hers. Before Finnick could even reply or tell her which floor he was getting off on, like she was reading his mind, she pressed the right button. “Looks like you already know.”

        “It’s kinda cold out here.” Finnick commented on the weather, the awkward small talk becoming more and more normal between the two since he came to the school. It was an effect of the lingering feelings he couldn’t manage to lose no matter how hard he tried. Luckily the only thing that could make it more awkward (Marina knowing) hadn’t happened and so he could bury it all under a practiced smile and lilac eyes. There wasn’t much difference between this and conversation with the Queen. “Here,” he shrugged his jacket off of his shoulders, holding it out to Marina. “Take this.” 

         Finnick wasn’t usually such a physical person, preferring to keep his hands to himself and vice versa. Part of him was sure it had to do with security, knowing that Marina would give him one of her looks if he just went around letting strangers touch him because it could lead to something more dangerous. Not with Peter though. The blond would never do anything to hurt him and that was something Finnick knew to be fact. When it came to Peter, he was pretty sure he would cry if he hurt a butterfly or an ant. He was soft as his core. It was one of the things he liked so much about him. Pulling him into an embrace, he held him there, taking in the feeling. “I missed you.” 

       Finnick closed his textbook with an exasperated sigh, tired of all the studying he had been doing for the past few hours. He was restless, bored of sitting in one place for too long. It wasn’t in his nature. Turning to Evelyn, who just so happened to be sitting at the same table in the library (fate he was sure), he readjusted his position in the chair. “Don’t you get bored of studying? Couldn’t we go find something else to do?”