Welcome to Day 21 of my Hayffie Christmas countdown! As always, feedback is much appreciated.

This is another relatively short chapter, but I'm finally feeling able to justify these short chapters because I haven't prewritten any of this and am writing a chapter each and every day. When I sequel this in the New Year (surprise!), it will be a weekly thing, therefore chapters will be a lot longer.

Aaaaanyway, enjoy!

December 17th

Haymitch woke up with a faceful of Effie's blonde curls. He was spooning her, the position they always somehow managed to get into when they slept in the same bed. And now, he was completely curled around her, his arms around her waist and his fingers laced with hers. He was glad she was still sleeping, because he truly didn't want to move just yet.

She always snuffled when she was waking up, so he knew he'd have to get up soon when she did just that an hour later. Plus, Effie waking up meant only one thing- decorating his apartment for Christmas. Maybe if he pretended he was still sleeping…

"Haymitch, I know you're awake," he could hear the scowl in her voice. "You're not getting out of decorating."

"Effie…" he whined. "I really don't…want all that shit up in my apartment."

"Do you want me here for Christmas?"

"Don't guilt me, Effie," he mumbled, huffing as she turned to him and gave him those puppy eyes which had a tendency to win him over. "Alright fine…"

"Thank you," she giggled, kissing his nose and getting up, which prompted Haymitch to wolf-whistle her as he stared at her naked form. "Oh hush. Go and get dressed."

Haymitch did just that before shuffling downstairs and starting up the coffee machine. Effie joined him thirty minutes later, looking as flawless as she always did.

"Okay, I believe it will be best for us to set all the decorations out on the living room floor," she explained as she accepted the cup of coffee. "Then we can see what we're working with and decide where to put everything."

"You're the boss," he shrugged, draining his cup and setting it in the sink. "Want me to go get started or do I need your supervision?"

Effie merely narrowed her eyes at him and nudged him towards the living room, following after him.

xXx

After almost two hours, Haymitch's living room floor was scattered with a plethora of decorations, some of which Haymitch was certain he hadn't approved before they went into the cart. Although it didn't surprise him, since the bill for their spree had came to almost $200.

"Okay," Effie grinned, clapping her hands together. "You can get started on assembling the tree. I can hand you the tree ornaments in the order they should go on."

"You're far too into this shit, Effie," he mumbled, but did as he was told. She'd ended up coercing him into purchasing a full-sized tree and, to be honest, by the time he'd assembled it and positioned it in the corner of the room, he kind of liked it. He'd always enjoyed nature as a child. However, his small smile turned into a scowl when Effie handed him the first box of baubles. "Effie, these are all pink!"

"Yes, well done," she rolled her eyes. "I tried to find as many colours as possible. Put these on first, then I shall attempt to restore your fragile masculinity with the blue ones next. Goodness, Haymitch, it's only a colour."

"Yeah, your favourite colour," he grumbled, but proceeded to start hanging the decorations.

By the time they'd finished decorating the living room, it didn't look as bad as Haymitch had anticipated. The day had been filled with bickering between the pair, but he knew it was Effie's stress levels getting to her. He'd decided she got stressed far too easily soon after he met her.

"Looks alright," he shrugged, before letting himself slump on the couch.

"It looks perfect!" She corrected him, moving to sit in his lap and cuddling into him. "We did a wonderful job, darling."

"All I did was put shit where you told me to, Effie."

"Language," she huffed, pecking his lips. "But it looks perfect, doesn't it?"

"Sure," he nodded. "But all these lights are gonna give me a damn headache. Couldn't we put 'em somewhere where we ain't gonna spend a ton of time? Like the hall or somethin'?"

"I think they make the place cosy," she responded, before suddenly leaping up. "Oh! That reminds me!"

He watched as she disappeared from the room, then as she reappeared holding a bag.

"What's that?" He mumbled, leaning forward and propping his elbows on his knees as she slowly slid a plant out of the bag.

"Mistletoe," she smiled. "Come on, you're tall enough to hang it from the ceiling."

"Huh?!"

"You…do know what mistletoe is, don't you?"

"Sure but…" he shook his head. "We kiss all the time. I thought mistletoe was just for office parties. You know, that game of tryin' to get your boss under it."

"Do you have experience with such games, hm?" Effie said with a raised eyebrow, to which Haymitch shrugged.

"Maybe. Still don't get why we need it in my apartment."

"It's…romantic," Effie smiled. "Come on, Haymitch, it's not going to hurt you."

Grumbling under his breath, he got up and located some tape, sticking it to the ceiling in the centre of the living room.

"Happy n-" he was cut off when she leaned up to kiss him. As soon as her lips were on his, he forgot about the mistletoe above them and soon, one kiss turned into two, and they stumbled down to the bedroom, completely forgetting about their frequent arguments from the past few hours.