Prompt: Haymitch & Effie spend the whole night together at Finnick and Annie's wedding in D13. :)

The Most Beautiful Thing

From his table, Haymitch eyed Katniss as she wandered around waiting for the wedding to end so she could finally see Peeta. Dancing had resumed while they had their little chat, but it was a different kind of dancing now, not Twelve's joyful and boisterous sort but slower, more intimate. There were only couples on the dance floor now, swaying gently with the soft music.

Finnick and Annie were in the middle of the crowd, having eyes for no one else but the other as usual. Annie did look stunning in Katniss' green dress but it was her smile that truly made her look beautiful. She was smiling at Finnick like he was the only man in the world and the boy was looking at her just the same way. Plutarch would be happy with the footage, he couldn't help but think with cynicism, this wedding would sell like gold.

A plate with a piece of cake was placed next to his and then the chair next to him was drawn back. He turned his head in time to see Effie sit elegantly in her stolen gown. Most people were wearing their everyday wear but not Effie Trinket, of course. She had gone with Katniss, Annie and the prep team to Twelve to choose a wedding dress for Annie and had come back with something for herself. It was a nice change from the grey, Haymitch decided, studying the blue dress that hugged her from chest to waist and then flew to her knees. It was simple, nothing compared to what she used to wear in the Capitol, but it was just as eye-catching as Annie's evening gown.

"You outdid yourself, there, sweetheart." he told her, nodding to the laughing crowd around them. "It's a smash."

She and Plutarch had worked themselves to exhaustion over this wedding but it had been worth it if only to see Finnick so genuinely happy. She had missed most of the wedding though, she had been busy helping Plutarch to get the footage he needed. Her eyes stopped on the happy couple on the dance floor and a soft smile graced her lips.

"I could have done better in the Capitol." she confessed. "Although it is quite the hit, isn't it? What do you know… Perhaps I should consider becoming a wedding planner when everything's over."

"Yeah." he snorted. "You would love bossing everyone around twenty-four/seven."

She didn't answer but her eyes sparkled in amusement, he was quite taken with the sight for a second. She was the first one to look away, taking a small mouthful of her cake. They obviously didn't get their pieces from the same side of the cake because his was chocolate when hers was strawberries and unidentified red berries. He shrugged and started to eat his cake only to stop when her staring became too pointed.

"What now?" he sighed, sure some sort of lecture would follow.

She wrinkled her nose. "Couldn't you use a fork? Really, Haymitch…"

He looked at his chocolate smudged fingers and then at the little silvery fork in her hand and rolled his eyes. "Half the pleasure of eating cake is to use your fingers, Princess."

She shook her head. "You are a lost cause."

"You can't shoot down something you haven't even tried." He grabbed a piece of chocolate between his fingers and waved it in front of her face. She drew back with a frown.

"Put chocolate on my dress and I will stab you with my fork." she warned him, gripping his wrist to prevent any stain on her precious gown. He smirked, keeping the cake just where it was. She glanced around but nobody was paying any attention to them. "You are ridiculous."

"And yet you still want the cake, don't you?" he taunted, lifting an eyebrow. "Chocolate, sweetheart. Since when do you say no to chocolate?"

She rolled her eyes but closed her mouth around the piece of cake, gripping his wrist tight, obviously not trusting him not to try and press it on her face. She closed her eyes in pleasure and, suddenly, his mouth was dry. He tried to free his hand to get his glass of apple cider but she held it in place with a wicked grin. She sucked his thumb clean of any trace of chocolate and he found it really hard to breathe.

"You are a bit flustered." she pointed out with that smile that called for mischief, finally letting his hand go. "This cake is heavenly. You should try mine." She placed a small piece on her fork and lifted it to his face. He closed his mouth around the fork without even thinking about it, wondering how stupid they looked, feeding each other cakes like teenagers. "So?"

"Good." he commented. "You know what would be even better?" He stole her fork and took a piece of chocolate before stabbing some strawberries from her cake and ate the whole thing. "Perfect."

She tried it, declared he had the best idea for once and they took turns sharing the fork, watching the wedding in full bloom around them. Finnick and Annie had yet to leave the dance floor.

"You should partner with Peeta." he joked, out of the blue, when their cakes were almost gone. "He could bake for your weddings. Katniss could hunt the main course or maybe you could get her to sing. Prim's not bad at that either."

"What about you?" she asked. Her hand lingered on his when she reached for the fork. "What would you do?"

His first impulse was to laugh it off, to argue that he couldn't wait to get as far away from her as he could, but, for some reason, the words died in his throat. They weren't true anymore, perhaps they had never been true. You don't fight as hard as he had fought for her for someone you couldn't stand and he had fought. He had fought to get her to Thirteen against her better judgment, he had fought to protect her from Coin, he had fought to give her as much freedom as possible… Fact was, he didn't want to get as far away from her as he could when the rebellion was over. Fact was, he didn't want to get as far away from her as he could right now.

Something had shifted. Something, somehow, had shifted.

He studied her face. She was wearing just enough make-up that it could be mistaken as natural if you didn't look twice – another preventive step against Coin's remarks, probably – her blond hair was pulled up in a complicated loose bun that left some of her curls fall freely on her shoulders and she was beautiful. She was simply beautiful.

"Choose the wine, what else?" he shrugged, forcing his eyes away from her.

"You still see us working as a team even after everything's over, then." She sounded pleased about that.

She was staring but he kept looking at his plate as if it was the most captivating thing in the whole world. She reached for his hand again but there was no pretense of snatching a fork this time. Her fingers brushed his knuckles until he turned his hand and she slid her palm against his. Their fingers naturally intertwined and Haymitch had trouble swallowing again.

This wasn't like them. Fighting, bantering, flirting… Yes, he was used to that, but this sort of tenderness was odd. Perhaps it was the wedding's influence, the mood was rather romantic… He glanced at her but she didn't seemed to share his growing panic at the warm feelings developing in his chest, close to his heart. She looked calm, collected, she was smiling as if she knew something he didn't. Perhaps she did.

She squeezed his hand. "Do you dance?" He glanced up, her blue eyes were twinkling with joy and something else he couldn't quite define.

"Occasionally." he smirked, guessing where she was going with that.

"Will tonight be one of those occasions?" It was innocent enough.

"Are you asking me to dance, sweetheart?" he teased. People were still slow dancing, he could handle that.

"Actually, I'm waiting for you to take a hint and ask me." She took a sip of his cider with her free hand and he wondered why it was so satisfying to see her drink in his glass when he knew for a fact she never drank in anybody's glass but her own.

"Well, maybe I…" he started, only to be interrupted by a shadow casted on their table. She must have realized at the same time he did they weren't alone anymore because they both snatched their hands back guiltily like they had literally been caught red handed.

Plutarch didn't look fooled for one second but he was graceful enough to keep his comments to himself. "I come to offer my congratulations on a successful evening and my sincere thanks, Effie."

"Oh, there is no need." Effie protested. "You did as much as I did and, really, seeing them so happy is enough of a reward." She looked at Finnick and Annie and her smile softened.

"Nevertheless." Plutarch insisted. "I couldn't have done it without you. Now… Why is a lovely lady like yourself sitting in a dark corner instead of enjoying herself?" He glanced at Haymitch with eyes full of reproach. "You should be dancing." Haymitch didn't offer anything despite Effie's expecting gaze and Plutarch's pointed one. Obviously fed up with his friend antic, Plutarch bowed like it was proper in the Capitol. "May I have this dance? That is… If you're not otherwise engaged."

Once again, they looked at him and, once again, Haymitch pretended not to understand.

"No, not at all." Effie replied, a bit disappointed. "I would be delighted." She took the hand Plutarch offered and they were gone.

He watched as Plutarch spun her around to elicit a laugh out of her, then placed a hand on the small of her back and held her fingers in the other. There was enough space between them that the dance was innocent enough but Haymitch still felt something ugly stir in the pit of his stomach, it was a slow burn that reeked of jealousy.

Someone flopped on the chair Effie had just vacated. Haymitch didn't need to look to know it was Johanna.

"You're going to let him steal your girl?" she asked without any warm-up.

"Did they give you morphling again?" he snorted. "You're not making any sense, sweetheart."

She bristled at the nickname like she always did but she didn't threaten to emasculate him for once. "Look… I've been talking to Katniss a lot and… You're a lot like her, you know."

"Yeah, I'm aware." he snorted. Effie was nodding and smiling politely to whatever Plutarch was saying but she kept stealing glances at Haymitch over his shoulder.

"Then don't make the same mistake." Johanna huffed. "Seriously, what is it with you? You like her? Go get her before it's too late. I've seen you pine after her for years. We're kind of in a now or never situation, in case you haven't noticed."

"Someone's been talking to Chaff." He rolled his eyes, ignoring the throb of pain at the thought of his friend. Chaff would have loved to see Finnick and Annie getting married… "Since when are you playing matchmaker anyway?"

"You make me sick." Johanna sighed. "You want her, go fuck her. You love her, go tell her. But do something before I kick your ass for being stupid."

He drummed on the table absentmindedly. "It's not like that. She is…" Capitol? She was very much with the rebels now. Too innocent? She was far from being innocent, she had blood on her hands exactly like the rest of them. Too good for him? Perhaps that was it. But Haymitch was selfish and too good for him or not, he still wanted her. "Annoying." he finished lamely.

Their eyes met over Plutarch's shoulder and it was like the distance between them was meaningless. The strength of her blue eyes was enough to steal his breath away. He couldn't tell when it had changed, he wouldn't be able to pinpoint the moment, but he knew it had. Not because now he wanted long-term instead of a quick tumble he had never allowed himself in the first place but because, now, there was nothing standing between them but his own stupidity. And if even Johanna could see it, then it was bad.

And just like that, without even a word of explanation for his friend, he was out of his chair and across the dance floor. He didn't even have to tap on Plutarch's shoulder, she had frozen in place and Plutarch only glanced at him before rolling his eyes and handing him her hand.

"Took you long enough." Plutarch whispered before disappearing into the crowd. Not that Haymitch noticed. He was too busy staring at Effie. The blue dress shimmered softly under the candle lights that had been placed at different spots in the room; for a more intimate mood, he supposed.

They stood there, hand in hand, in the middle of the dance floor but they didn't move and people were starting to give them strange looks. Effie dropped her gaze nervously. "Are you going to ask me, now?"

He tugged on her hand until she stumbled closer to him and wrapped an arm around her waist, trapping their hands against their chests. "I never ask, sweetheart."

She bit an amused grin off her lips and placed her other arm around his neck. "Well, then… Make it a dance to remember."

"Aren't them all?" It wasn't their first dance by any mean, they had been to enough official receptions and parties together where they were expected to dance at least once. It had never been quite like that however. He let go of her hand to wrap his other arm around her waist, she rested her hand on his shoulder and they swayed for a while, staring at each other. She was smiling and Haymitch was sure he was smiling too but he wouldn't dwell on the reasons for that.

The song changed to something else and then changed again but they kept dancing.

"I feel silly." She laughed at some point.

"Lucid, at last." he teased but she rolled her eyes and rested her cheek against his shoulder. He propped his chin on her head and closed his eyes, happy to just… relax for once. Reality and war would come back soon enough.

"Do you think time could stop?" Her whisper made him open his eyes again. "Right at this very moment? I could live happy in this very second forever… No worry, no fear… Nothing but you."

He tightened his hold on her, bowing his head so he could murmur in her ear. He didn't want anyone to hear, this moment belonged to them and to them only. "I want to kiss you."

Her fingers clenched on his shoulder. "Didn't you just say you never ask for permission?"

"I'm not asking, I'm making a statement, sweetheart." He dropped a quick kiss on her shoulder, right where the hem of the dress gave way to skin.

"You should state less and act more, then." She smiled and in that smile he saw a promise of better days. He smirked and stepped back, putting an end to their dance.

"How about some fresh air?" he offered.

"Real fresh air?" Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. She wasn't allowed out much and she hated being buried underground, her trip to Twelve for Katniss' old dresses had been such a relief she had talked his ear off about it each time they had crossed paths.

"Real fresh air." he confirmed.

Nobody noticed when they slipped away or, if they did, nobody minded enough to try and stop them. He took her to the hovercrafts landing soil because he knew it would be empty at that hour, he waved away the guard who wanted to prevent her from stepping outside. There were good sides to being in Coin's inner circle.

She took several steps outside, breathing in the nightly air with a grin on her face. She threw her head back to look at the sky, thousands of stars were twinkling over their heads.

"You can't really see the stars from the Capitol." she said quietly "It's beautiful."

"Yeah, it is." But he wasn't looking at the stars, he was looking at her and how cliché was that? But the light wind made her dress flap around her, some strands of her hair came loose… She was still looking up when he brushed his fingers against her cheek. She didn't look surprised, she only stared back at him with sparkling blue eyes.

"Are we making more statements?" she teased. She stepped closer, so close in fact that there was next to no space left between them. "Or are we done playing by the rules?" Her mouth brushed against his in question.

His only answer was to kiss her like he had wanted to for years. The scene called for softness and tenderness but there was nothing sweet or adorable about that kiss. It was a hard kiss that begged for a thousand more. Sweet wasn't really their way anyway, they had always been more like two unstable chemical elements, put them together and they would explode. He wouldn't have it any other way either, he mused as the kisses slowly lighted another sort of fire in him.

He loved her for who she was : stubborn, difficult and demanding to the point of being annoying but also soft-hearted, smart and very much caring. And wasn't that the most beautiful thing in the end? Haymitch, who had been heartbroken for so long, loved her.