26.
Katniss startled when she heard the door being opened but breathed out a sigh of relief when she saw it was only Peeta. Her partner slowly – and quietly – closed the door, lifting an eyebrow at her, and she pulled off her earphones, sorry not to hear the end of Viva La Vida because she had been looking forward to some time alone all day. She refused to explain why she was sitting cross-legged on the pool table in the game room no one hardly ever used. There was a pool table, a game of darts on the wall – and Katniss had kicked Peeta's and Haymitch's asses more than once at that – a few bean bags in the corner next to a bookshelf on which board games were piled… Unlike other rooms in the house, it was obvious this one hadn't been redecorated or touched in a while – since Effie's childhood probably – since there were more interesting things to do elsewhere.
"Tell me they're not about to come barging in?" she growled.
Learning to share Aspen with their new roommates was a nightmare. Annie was alright, Annie was kind and polite and nice to talk to and spend some quiet time with. She reminded her of Prim a little. Annie, she could have gotten along with very easily on a day to day basis. Finnick and Johanna now…
"They're playing Call of Duty." Peeta told her, shaking his head in reassurance. He flopped on one of the bean bag in the corner, placing his notepad and pencils on his lap.
"In our living-room." she grumbled. There were three living-rooms in that house. Why had Finnick had to set up his game console in the one they had claimed for their own? Finnick, Johanna and Annie had been there for a week and a half and it had been equally as long since she and Peeta had had a movie night. And she missed the quiet evenings spent in front of an old movie.
"Still not on board with them being here, right?" Peeta teased.
She shrugged. "They take a lot of space."
"They do." he agreed. "This house is huge and it actually feels small."
"The snowstorm isn't helping." she sighed, climbing off the pool table to wander to the window.
The wind was still blowing hard, lifting handfuls of snow that came crashing on the glass panel. She was cold despite her heavy woolen sweater and Effie having increased the heating. She hoped it would die down by the next morning. Their morning jog wasn't a problem given the treadmills but they had almost gotten blown away coming back from the rink earlier and she was certain their trainers wouldn't let them wander in a snow storm to reach the building at the back of the house. They couldn't afford to lose more days of training, not with Johanna and Finnick taking away the attention of their coaches half the time.
More generally, she thought she would have felt better if she had been able to step out on the balcony or even to tour the ground. She liked an evening stroll after dinner. She liked the surrounding wilderness, it soothed her. Sometimes she called Prim while she walked around the estate… She liked those quiet moment in the wild.
"I don't know." Peeta chuckled, focused on his drawing. "At least it's too cold for Finnick to run around in his underwear."
"Don't remind me." she scowled, rolling her eyes. Finnick had a bad habit of acting like he was alone in the house. He wandered in his underwear or with only a towel around his hips, he stripped down after ten minutes in the gym and spent the whole session bare-chested, he made jokes and innuendoes all the time… Katniss used to blush and stutter faced with his – admittedly nice – body but now she didn't even bat an eyelash. She had grown used to it and that was all kinds of wrong. Even Effie telling him to behave didn't help, he would simply grin and ask if she liked what she saw, prompting Haymitch to snap something that would send him back to work. "Doesn't stop Johanna though."
The growl in her voice was a little too obvious and Peeta looked up, a flash of alarm on his face. "You're not still angry about that, are you?"
"I'm not angry." she lied, crossing her arms over her chest and keeping her eyes firmly on the grounds outside. "Why would I be angry? Not my problem."
"Look, she said she wanted to go in the Jacuzzi and she stripped down right in front of Haymitch and me…" he winced. "Just like that. We didn't have time to do anything."
The memory still made her bristle in displeasure. She and Effie had walked in right at that moment: Johanna standing there naked, a hand on her hip and a smirk on her face, and Haymitch and Peeta gawking at her like the idiots they were. Katniss hadn't known Effie could scream so loud.
"You still looked." she accused.
"Well, it was right in front of me…" he cringed.
"I don't care what you do with Johanna." she snarled. "You can go and have naked Jacuzzi sessions with her. What do I care?" She tossed him a glare. "But you're the one who started the America sweethearts bullshit. What happens if the medias learn about this? It will ruin our image." Truth be told, she didn't really care about their image. That was Effie's department. She simply didn't like Jo stripping down in front of her partner. "This whole thing is stupid anyway. Haymitch and Effie aren't focused on us anymore and what was this stupid thing about us switching partners this afternoon?"
Peeta put his drawing stuff on the floor and hauled himself out of the bean bag. "Katniss…"
"You seemed cozy skating with Jo." she sneered. "Maybe we should switch, then. Finnick is taller anyway."
She had hated every minute of that exercise and she still didn't get what the point of it was. They had made Jo skate with Peeta and they had made her skate with Finnick and everything had seemed wrong but the worst had been watching another girl putting her hands on her partner. She hadn't liked that. At all.
"It was about showing us how special our bond with our partner is…" Peeta ventured, creeping closer to her. "I didn't enjoy it, no…"
"You were laughing with her." she snapped and she didn't know where the sudden fury in her voice was coming from. "She stripped in front of you and…"
"Katniss, I'm not interested in Johanna." he cut her off. He was standing right next to her and she was surprised because she hadn't really registered he was moving. "She does those things only to annoy you, you know."
"You looked." she repeated in a hiss.
"You're jealous." he retorted and he sounded delighted.
"No, I'm not." she huffed.
"Yes, you are." he grinned. "You're jealous. You're jealous because…"
She fisted his shirt in her hand and tugged. He tripped forward and their mouth clashed together, their teeth knocked and it scraped her bottom lip but she didn't let that stop her. She had no technique and no interest in impressing. She didn't even know what she was doing or why she was doing it really.
There was a hunger in her belly and her lips and tongue were frantic. She pushed him against the window, all but moaning in his mouth when his hands slipped under her clothes to rest against the skin of her back.
"Katniss…" he whispered almost reverently between two kisses.
Never mind the cold, now she was warm, almost too warm. She slipped her woolen sweater off, not pausing to think how he would interpret it, almost urged on by the answering hunger she could read in his eyes when they swept over the thinner long sleeves green shirt she wore underneath. Then they were kissing again except it didn't feel like kissing, it felt like devouring each other.
A few more minutes of that and she was tugging at his clothes, annoyed with the barrage of fabrics between her and his skin. She wanted him close, she needed him close.
They were half undressed when the lights went off with a bang.
It stopped them for a second but only for a second, then they were kissing again, pulling at their remaining clothes until she was left in her jeans and her sports bra and she hesitated. He must have felt it because he pressed a last kiss on her shoulder, bringing his hands from her ass to the small of her back. "We can stop."
"No." she answered surprising even herself with how firm she sounded. "It's just… I've never…"
"Me neither." he said, pressing another kiss on her neck. "We should… My room?"
"Yes." she breathed out. "Yes…"
°O°
Effie stormed back in their bedroom like a hurricane but Haymitch didn't even startle, too used to her whirling in and out of rooms. He was sprawled on his back across the bed, his head almost dangling from the edge of the mattress. He saw her upside down.
"The power is out." she announced.
"No kidding." he snorted. "Won't lie, the bang and the lights going out were kind of a big clue."
She glared at him in the firelight. Good thing he had had the presence of mind to build a fire before the snowstorm won over the power – it wasn't his first storm in Aspen and it wasn't the first time they remained a whole night without power either.
"We should check on the children." she sighed. "I am not sure they will realize the power going out means there is no heating system. They will need to build fires in their room… Do they even know how to do that?"
"Let them figure it out." he scoffed. "You're hovering over them like a mother hen."
She rolled her eyes but must have seen the wisdom of his words because she closed the door and kicked off her heels, massaging the sole of her foot and then the other. Then she unpinned her hair, placing down the pins on the dressing table tucked in a corner of the room, before unzipping her dress. It slowly slid down her body and pooled on the floor and he rolled on his stomach to have a better view.
"Do you like what you see?" she hummed, stepping out of the fabric looped around her feet. She tousled her hair with one hand, the other pushing the strap of her bra down her shoulder… He licked his lips and she chuckled, reaching behind her to unclasp her lacy bra. "They say when you reach a certain age firelight is the best lighting for a woman."
"Sets a mood." he chuckled, catching the bra she tossed at him.
She hooked her thumbs on the waistband of the matching panties, a sassy grin on her lips, and pushed it down entirely too slowly. It was around her knees when the sharp knocking on the door echoed in the room.
Haymitch rolled his eyes and flopped on his back again, absolutely not surprised. It had been liked that ever since they had come back to Aspen. They couldn't be alone for five minutes.
With a muttered curse, Effie hooked the panties back up and grabbed the silk dressing gown she had tossed over the armchair in front of the fire that morning.
"Hey!" Finnick's voice boomed when she opened the door. "So the power is out…"
"Observant." Haymitch scoffed under his breath, too low to be heard.
"And I'm sorry but I have no clue how to start a fire." the boy continued – no reason to light fires on the West coast, Haymitch figured. "Jo could do it but she locked herself in her room. I checked on Peeta too but he said he and Katniss were good. His door was locked so… I guess they want to be alone if you catch my drift."
"I really do not want to catch your drift, it is giving me nightmares." Effie retorted, glancing back at Haymitch. "You did make sure Peeta…"
"Gave him condoms, gave him a nice little speech about respect and told him if he did anything to destroy their partnership and our chances at the Championships I would kill him myself." he cut her off. "Most awkward conversation of my life."
"Well… Good, I suppose." she sighed. "You wouldn't want to get up and go help Finnick with his fire by any chance?"
"Nope." he answered, tossing an arm over his eyes and making the p pop.
She huffed in annoyance but followed Finnick out all the same. She was coddling those kids too much, all of them, but no matter what he said she caved. She pushed them further than they thought they could go in training but outside of the rink… She was trying to compensate so hard for Mags' absence…
He closed his eyes, letting the familiar roar of the wind outside and the low popping of logs in the fireplace lull him to sleep. It was some time before she came back but when she did the smell of food immediately pulled him out of his slumber.
She had bread and cheese with her. She sat on the rug next to the fireplace, huddling close to it for warmth. He figured the rest of the house with its long corridors must have been freezing. With a sigh, he dragged himself off the bed and to the walk-in closet, fishing woolen socks from a drawer as well as her soft flannel shorts and a long-sleeve shirt from another. He dropped everything next to her before sitting down close to the fireplace.
She hummed a thank you and quickly got dressed in her pajamas, leaving sexy behind for warm.
He amused himself by holding the bread over the flames until it toasted before spreading the cheese on it. She stole it before he had a chance to take a bite and he complained so much, she rolled her eyes and offered him half of it. There were worse ways to end the day than toasting bread in the fireplace.
When there was no bread and no cheese left, she leaned her head against his shoulder, muffling a yawn behind her hand. They stared at the fire for a while.
"What are you thinking about?" she whispered sleepily.
"Contemplating." he said.
"Contemplating what?" she insisted with a low hum, snuggling against his side in search of warmth. She would fall asleep, he already knew, and he would have to carry her to their bed.
"How I went from being a lonely alcoholic to having five overgrown kids fighting for my attention." he scoffed. "Can they be any fucking louder? Or take more space?"
"It isn't so terrible." she laughed softly.
"Sure, on the bright side, I've got you." he snorted "But we never have time for us anymore, Effie. I don't even remember the last time we had sex."
The whine in his voice might have been a little too much.
"I'm too tired." she mumbled, nuzzling his neck. "Tomorrow."
That would be a miracle, he thought. Double the kids meant double the training, they were working crazy hours and they were exhausted. And one of the kids would always find a way to come and harass them with pointless questions.
"It's like I went from being single to having a family of five." he sighed. "No transition."
"I know…" she answered sleepily and he could hear the grin in her voice. "Don't you love it? I do. I love them all even if they infuriate me. And even if Johanna makes a point of trying to get me jealous."
"She's got nothing on you." he muttered, not keen on a repeat of the angry fit Effie had pitched the other day when Jo had stripped down to nothing in front of him and the boy.
"You are a liar but you lie very well." she chuckled, nipping at the skin under his jaw. "Take me to bed."
"You're not asleep yet." he grumbled "You can walk."
"No, Haymitch…" she purred. "Take me to bed."
He lifted his eyebrows. "Not tired anymore?"
"Not when you compliment me…" she grinned.
He didn't need her to tell him twice. He didn't bother going all the way to the bed either. The rug in front of the fire did the trick just fine.
By the time he was done with her and he had dragged the duvet from the bed to the fireplace to cover them both she was sleepy. She burrowed against his side, using his shoulder as cushion for her head.
"Seriously, though…" he mumbled, running his fingers through her hair distractedly, slowly drifting off. "They take a lot of room. They're crowding us. We weren't like that with Mags, right?"
"Absolutely not." Effie confirmed. "We were well-behaved." She stayed silent for a moment and then she brushed her thumb against his side. "I miss her."
"I know." he sighed. "I miss her too."
°O°
"Because you are wrong and I am right!" she exploded, letting the door of the rink slam shut behind her. She was relieved to glimpse Mags on the ice, they had been looking all over the house for her. It was like she didn't want to be found. Their trainer stopped skating to turn to them, placing her hands on her hips. "Mags, tell him he is wrong! He is being pig-headed."
"I'm being pig-headed?" Haymitch scoffed behind her, almost pushing her out of the way to get closer to their coach. "Tell her she's the stubborn one here!"
"I don't know why you are arguing and I do not particularly want to." Mags snapped. "Training is done for today, why don't you go do… something else. Elsewhere."
"But we want your opinion." he argued.
Effie swatted his arm. "Educated people do not start their sentences with but."
"I'm not educated, you like to tell me a hundred times a day." he scowled. "Now shut up and listen to Mags when she says you're an idiot."
"Mags would never say I am an idiot." she retorted, outraged by the very idea. "You are the only one rude enough in this house to call people names."
"Yeah, me and your dragon of a mother!" he snarled.
"My mother would never call anyone by nasty names." she hissed defensively.
"No, she just implies them, right?" he spat.
"Mags…" she pleaded for support, turning to their trainer who had left the ice at some point and was now busy unlacing her skates. "Tell him…"
"I will tell him nothing, girl." Mags cut her off. "It is eight p.m. and I listened to you arguing all day. Settle this and do it far from me, you are giving me a headache."
Effie watched, wide eyes, as Mags put on her boots and stormed out – fled their presence almost.
"Now, you did it, sweetheart." he scoffed. "She's angry. Wanna bet she's going to take it out on us at training tomorrow?"
"I did nothing. It is you who is being extremely difficult today." she growled, turning around to face him and finding herself very much in his space. Anger and annoyance prompted her to take another step forward, jutting her chin in the air. "Why are you being like this? What are you trying to prove?"
His mouth crashed on hers before she could even register he was moving. It didn't matter, in the next moment she had her arms around his neck and she was kissing back almost violently. They hadn't done that enough times for her to be used to it yet and she squeaked when he lifted her up and pinned her to the wall. That made him chuckle and it infuriated her.
She punished him by biting down on his bottom lip.
She could learn to enjoy settling arguments this way, she thought.
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