Disclaimer: Nothing belongs to me except the mistakes as this is un-beta'd.

A Semblance of a Life

Chapter Four

A few days later…

Effie turned on the kitchen tap and filled her glass with water before taking a long, unladylike gulp. She'd been painting the living room in Haymitch's, or more accurately their, house for hours – it was a big room and needed a lot of work.

It had all started the day after Katniss and Peeta's wedding, the day after their toasting, when Haymitch had made the mistake of saying he wanted her to feel as if it were her home too so she could change anything that she wanted, within reason (meaning no pink). Boy what a mistake that was. Because it turns out what Effie wanted to change was everything. Hence she had gone crazy buying nearly every colour of paint under the sun and ordering a whole host of new furniture. It seemed now she had moved in and officially become his wife she had no problem spending the money he'd been trying to give her for months.

She looked out of the window that sat above the sink and saw Haymitch in the backyard going to work with a saw on a very awful, old, and broken sofa. Effie had wanted to have some kind of ceremonial burning of all the decrepit furniture that had been in the house since it was built over seventy five years ago. She'd said something about it signifying the start of their new lives or something similar that Haymitch had not been listening to. The point was you couldn't exactly toss a whole sofa onto a bonfire.

In all fairness the furniture she had ordered to replace it had not actually been too bad, meaning it had not been too Capitol. Effie had said she'd only ordered pieces that were in tone with the aesthetic of the house … or something. Haymitch hadn't been listening to that either. The point was he'd still have to cut up a load of furniture, on his own, with a hand saw.

He suddenly stopped his sawing and wiped the back of his arm over his forehead before peeling his sweat-soaked t-shirt over his head. The weather in Twelve had gone crazy. Only a few days ago it had been so cold it could have easily snowed and now it was almost a heatwave. Well that might be a slight exaggeration but it was certainly warm enough for Haymitch to overheat by working hard in the afternoon sun.

Effie couldn't help but admire the view as she drank the rest of her water. She smiled as properly realised that a lack of alcohol combined with eating proper food since he'd moved back to Twelve and all the running around after everyone after the war had done wondrous things for his physique. He was in good shape; the small gut he had developed before was now completely gone, his muscles were more toned and defined, and his arms were definitely bigger. He looked damn good.

In fact she wasn't sure she'd ever really appreciated just how good looking he was until that moment. Their relationship hadn't had the most conventional start. She'd spent years hating him whilst at the same time feeling oddly fond and protective of him. And then when they had finally got together after the war they'd both been so fragile that their intimacy had always been more about seeking and offering comfort then straightforward lust.

That had been a factor too of course but never really the focus. Until she'd agreed to move in with him that is; in the last week their focus had been little else and they were well and truly acting like newlyweds. They couldn't keep their hands off of each other.

She pouted another glass of water and took it out to him. Haymitch thanked her as he took the glass and downed it in one mouthful. She let her nails scrap along the skin of his bare chest while he drank.

"You okay?" He asked curiously when the glass' contents had been completely drained.

"Yeah."

She replied absentmindedly as her nails worked their way down to his abdomen, trailing the fine line of hair that ran there. She teased her bottom lip in her teeth as if contemplating something and a look that was entirely too cocky passed over Haymitch's face as he finally caught on to her current mood.

"See something you like princess?" He drawled.

"Maybe." Her eyes were still fixed on his exposed upper body as she spoke. "You're so different from Capitol men."

"Really, what gave me away?!" He teased, faking shock at his 'secret' being discovered. Effie however seemed to completely ignore him whilst she continued with her own train of thought.

"I'd never been with a Distract man before you."

"Again you're shocking me with this insight sweetheart."

Of course he wasn't surprised by that information. But he couldn't understand why he felt quite so thrilled about it.

"Are you saying you wished I was completely hairless and shiny like your Capitol men?"

Haymitch had always found it strange how both men and women in the Capitol removed practically all of the hair from their bodies. It made them shiny and plastic like a doll. On cold nights in the Twelve you were thankful for every single hair you had, you were desperate for any extra insulation. He doubted Effie would change her routine now she had moved. In hospital after they had found her it was one of the things she had been most upset about – how ungroomed she was. He had found it utterly ridiculous considering she'd just spend months being tortured and was facing a public trial and possible execution. But then he had always found her ridiculous, yet now he found that he loved that ridiculousness.

"No." She denied almost instantly. "I like your fuzz."

"Fuzz?!"

The light blonde hair that covered his body wasn't particularly thick or coarse. Fuzz was probably quite an accurate description.

"How else is my body different from a Capitol man's?"

If she wanted to turn this into some flirty little game about how much she enjoyed his body then he was all for it. He'd happily return the favour afterwards.

"Your strength. It doesn't come from a gym…" Her finger were dancing over his biceps now. "It comes from years of hard work… the muscle memory… it's earthier, more rugged…" Haymitch raised his eyebrows at her choice of words.

"Oh I get it now – you married me because I fulfil some rough, rugged, District man kink of yours?"

He put down the glass on a nearby table and stepped forward, wrapping both of his arms around her waist and pulling her close to him. He half expected her to complain about how sweaty he was but she didn't. Then again she was covered in paint herself so maybe she thought she had no room to talk. They both needed a shower… now there was a thought…

"Don't I fulfil some kink of yours?" Effie asked, a coquettish innocence playing in her voice.

"Like what?"

"I don't know… a screwed up Capitol doll that is more scars than skin?" She looked away as she said the words and he felt her tense slightly in his arms.

"That's how you see you that's not how I see you." He told her firmly.

"What do you see then?"

"I see impossibly creamy skin that looks much too precious to be allowed to be touched me. But then I am allowed." He brought one of his hands to the opening of his old shirt that she was wearing to paint in. His fingers covered the exposed skin between her collarbones. "I see my rough, dirty hands on that pure skin…" He leaned closer to whisper in her ear. "Now that's a kink sweetheart." He then proceeded to undo a couple of the buttons and ran his down between her breasts. "You know what else?.. You wearing my clothes – that seriously does it for me." He undid another button. "And me taking my clothes off of your body now that is almost too much for me to handle." He went for another button but she suddenly slapped his hands away.

"Haymitch we're in public!" Effie exclaimed, clearly outraged.

"We're in our garden, in a village where the only other two residents are away for the week." He countered.

"Someone might still come to visit and then…"

"Yes, with all the many, many friends that you and I have between us I see that as a very likely possibility."

Effie proceeded to give him a very pointed look. He leaned forward to kiss her briefly. She allowed the gesture but did not kiss him back or even close her eyes. It was rather off putting trying to kiss her when he could feel her giving him the stink eye whilst he was doing it.

"Come on sweetheart…" He drawled in a way she knew he believed was utterly charming. He did have some kind of point in that regard but she kept her ground regardless. "…I'll grunt so it can be like your caveman fantasy." Haymitch teased her.

"I do not have a caveman fantasy." She told him firmly.

"Rough, hairy District man is only one step up from caveman baby."

"When you behave like this that's certainly true." She replied in same stern tone of voice. Nevertheless as soon as she had finished speaking her face broke out into a reluctant smile. Effie rolled her eyes both at Haymitch's behaviour and her own inability to stay angry at him.

He kissed her again and this time she let him. Whilst the embrace grew increasingly in passion it was still not indecent. In fact he'd only just chanced, and gotten away with, a quick fondle beneath the shirt she was wearing when a very disgruntled voice interrupted them:

"You are aware that you are outside and that people can see you, right?!" Katniss called out, sounding absolutely horrified.

Haymitch and Effie jumped apart at once and Effie turned to face their intruders without thought. As soon as she did so she realised her mistake and grabbed the front of her gapping shirt with both hands. Katniss and Peeta, who stood a few paces away from them clutching their travel bags, both visibly startled as they recognised their former Escort.

"Effie?" Peeta asked in disbelief.

That confirmed Haymitch's suspicion that they weren't only shocked to find him fooling around with a woman in his front garden but they were equally, if not more surprised to find him fooling around with Effie. All the looks the pair had been giving each other at their wedding, all of the sideward glances towards himself and Effie strongly suggested they suspected something was going on. Looking at them then though that did not seem the case.

"I thought you were away on your honeymoon." Haymitch said which sounded stupid as clearly they were not still on their honeymoon but he couldn't think of a single other thing to say.

One of Effie's hands worked its way up from the shirt front to cover her face. She was evidently mortified by the whole situation and for once she wasn't even exaggerating. However the moment caused Katniss to notice a certain addition to Effie's hand… all those years of hunting had made her attention to detail superb. Katniss didn't miss a thing. Especially not a new, shiny, gold thing.

"Is that a wedding ring?!" Katniss demanded of the pair. Haymitch and Effie exchanged a worried glance but neither said a thing.

"Explain. Now." Peeta commanded. At last Haymitch replied:

"You better come inside."

The four of them made their way into the kitchen. If ever there was a conversation that required Haymitch to have a drink in his hand that was it and he was about to have it.