prompt : I love how you put Cinna and Portia relationship! It seems that they have a great connection/ they are a couple... Could you do one with them, please? Haymitch making fun of Cinna because he is wooing her and Portia says something like "Well, at least he is open about it, not like you". Thanks :)

Of wooing

Haymitch refilled Effie's glass with wine and handed it to her as he passed on his way back to his chair, his newly poured glass of whiskey in his other hand. She thanked him quietly and relaxed further into the couch cushions, obviously exhausted. Her shoes had been discarded a while back and she was fighting to keep her eyes open.

"We're stuck here for another hour it seems." Portia said, as soon as she arrived in the living-room cart. She didn't waste any time in collapsing on the other end of the couch and taking off her heels too. Effie passed her glass without being prompted and Portia took a careful sip before handing it back.

Haymitch would have offered to pour her one but he was too tired and too lazy to go back to the liquor cart. The Victory Tour was proving to be every bit as exhausting as he had feared and that was without taking random breakdown into account. As a matter of fact, the train had broken down in the middle of nowhere on their way to Six and that was a minor catastrophe in itself because everything needed to go as smoothly as possible. For the first time in forever, Effie wasn't the only obsessing about schedule. They didn't need to give Snow anymore ammunitions.

"I need to go and adjust the timetable." Effie sighed but she didn't move. "It's a small mercy the children are still asleep."

And Haymitch didn't know how they could have slept through that. The brakes had screeched so loudly it had made him jump, half-sure they were going to crash. Although if he had been sleeping – or rather passed out – he might not have picked up on it.

"Where's Cinna?" he asked, rubbing his face to chase the sleepiness away. Last he had seen him, he was going to find out what had happened with Portia.

"I pushed him off the train." Portia joked. "He was being annoying."

Effie smiled indulgently while Haymitch rolled his eyes. "That man is so wrapped around your little finger, I would be afraid it's going to fall off from blood deprivation if I were you." he scoffed. "It's ridiculous."

"Cinna is a gentleman." Effie retorted. "What would you know of such things, I wonder?"

"Oh, I think Haymitch knows much more than he lets on…" Portia laughed.

The doors slid open just then and Cinna walked in, a small bunch of wild flowers in his hand. Oblivious to what was being discussed, he handed them to Portia with a smile.

"Wild and beautiful, they made me think of you." he stated, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

Haymitch fought hard not to roll his eyes again, he downed a third of his whiskey instead. Effie's wistful sigh wasn't lost on him.

"Something is blocking the way." Cinna explained, more seriously. "They need time to clear the rails."

Haymitch waved away his explanations with his glass and studied the stylist with attention. "How long have you and Portia been together?"

Cinna's eyebrows shot up and he exchanged a look with Portia who only shook her head in answer.

"Haymitch, really!" Effie huffed. "How ruder can you get?"

His smirk was spontaneous. "Plenty, sweetheart."

"Five years." Cinna answered, brows furrowed, as he sat on the other couch. "Why so curious all of a sudden?"

"Five years and you still feel compelled to… What, woo her?" Haymitch snorted, before turning to Portia. "He doesn't get any unless he brings you gifts, does he?"

"Haymitch!" Effie shrieked, leaning over the couch armrest to whack his arm. "Enough."

"I happen to like wooing her." Cinna replied with a shrug, obviously not taking offense.

"You Capitol men are strange, strange people." He took a sip of whiskey.

"Well, at least, Cinna is open about wooing me, not like you." Portia shot back with a vicious grin that promised pain and revenge for making fun of her precious boyfriend.

"What do you mean?" Effie asked with an icy voice. "Haymitch doesn't woo you. He doesn't even flirt with you."

He didn't flirt with many women those days, Haymitch thought with a pang of sadness. The lectures weren't worth the pleasure.

"I don't think Portia was talking about herself." Cinna commented, a twinkle of amusement dancing in his eyes. "Tell me, Effie, when was the last time Haymitch did something nice for you?"

Effie's blue eyes traveled from Portia to Haymitch one more time, just to be sure it seemed, before finally settling on Cinna. "I fail to see how it is relevant to the current topic."

"It isn't." Haymitch said. "I don't woo. Period."

"I can attest to that." Effie was amused he could tell. "I once saw him try to impress a woman by swallowing a whole bottle of wine in one go."

Haymitch grunted. Of all the stories to tell… "It was a dare, sweetheart."

"Yes, because everybody knows you are physically bound to take up every dare anyone throws at you." she retorted, not even fighting her teasing smile. "All the more so when they are as stupid as that one was."

"It was Chaff's idea." he insisted.

"Which should have told you everything you needed to know in the first place." She looked much too smug for her own good and he desperately wanted to wipe that grin off her face. Not in front of witnesses though… To be fair, Effie hadn't been very impressed by his attempts to down a whole bottle without taking a breath but Chaff and Finnick had a blast at the time.

"How do that story ends?" Portia piped in, interrupting the long staring that promised quality time later on.

"I throw up all over her priceless dress and she was so mad she tried to kill me with her purse." Haymitch sighed dramatically. He didn't add that her purse was damn heavy and that it had left more than one bruise the next morning. He also didn't tell them that she had still helped him to his bed because Effie wouldn't leave him in distress if she could help it. She looked out for him and he looked out for her. "See? I don't do wooing."

"Maybe you should." Cinna sighed, propping himself on the armrests to get up. "Every woman deserve to be courted and if you don't you risk losing them to someone who would treat them properly." He hold out his hand to Portia to help her up. "And on that note, I think it's time to go to bed. Goodnight."

Haymitch watched the doors slid shut on them and then relocated to the couch, next to Effie, with a tired sigh. She put her feet in his lap and sank down on the couch, proper behavior and appearances all but forgotten.

"I still say she refuses to have sex until he gives her something." he insisted. "She's a vixen that one."

Effie's eyes were closed, her head pillowed on the armrest, but she chuckled. "You like her."

"I like you better." he pointed out, drawing silly patterns on her bare ankle absent-mindedly. He was too exhausted to have something else in mind but comfort and a quiet moment though. Perhaps they were getting old because he could remember a time, a few years back, when such a thing would never have happened : all they ever did was fight and they couldn't keep their hands off one another. And then had come Katniss and Peeta and everything had changed. Everything seemed more frail now, like his whole life could shatter with a flick of a finger. He hadn't been aware there was something to lose until Katniss had pulled her stunt with the berries and he had found himself afraid not only for his life but for Effie's. He liked Effie. He loved her maybe even, he had never studied that thought too closely, it was too dangerous. They had become more affectionate in the past year, it was less about sex and more about them and it frightened Haymitch sometimes.

"Careful." she teased. "It might sound like you're wooing me."

He coiled his strong hand around her ankle, revering in the smooth skin under his calloused palm. "Should I?" Their eyes met and the instant shifted from playful to serious. Was she going to fall for someone else if he wasn't more attentive? Was he going to lose to someone who knew how to say sweet nothings and would bring her flowers or cover her with jewels?

"Don't be silly, if I wanted wooing, I would make you woo me." she joked softly, tapping his leg lightly with her foot.

The tension that had crept up on them disappeared as quickly as it had come and he smirked. "You think you can make me do everything you want, don't you, sweetheart?"

"I don't think, Haymitch." She took her feet off his lap and sat down to nuzzle her nose against his neck. "I know."

He let out a low laugh. "In your dreams, Princess."

She sneaked a arm around his waist and settled more comfortably against him before pressing a kiss just below his jaw. "Do you sound convincing to your own ears?" She rested her head on his shoulder and he kissed her forehead softly. "If I wasn't so tired I would make you beg just to prove you I could."

"Sleep before you faint of exhaustion." he commanded, unable to suppress his smirk. She could make him beg, she already had in the past. She could probably make him woo her too if she put her mind to it and that didn't bother him as much as it should. He liked the feeling of her body against him and there wasn't much he wouldn't do to keep it that way.