If you're still taking prompts: Anything with Effie and Peeta bring besties?

Younger is Better

"Thank you for coming with me." Peeta said for the third time since they had entered the tailor shop.

Effie smiled at his reflection in the big mirror mounted on the wall and soothed the back of his dark navy suit.

"It's no trouble at all, dear." She studied the line of the suit attentively and nodded to herself. "I truly think this is the one. You look just dashing, Katniss will be dazed, I'm sure."

"Katniss wouldn't care if I went to the Justice Building with my apron." Peeta chuckled with a shrug. "She would have liked it better if we had eloped in the dead of night."

"Quite romantic, I suppose." Effie agreed with an amused smile. "But that certainly won't happen on my watch. She will have a beautiful wedding even if she doesn't want it."

It was already too small a wedding for Effie's tastes but Katniss didn't want to make a fuss and Katniss was the bride so her wishes came first. But when the children had announced their intention to get married, Effie had insisted upon a proper wedding with a proper dress and a proper cake at the very least. Apart choosing her dress, Katniss had been quite happy to let her take charge and make all the decisions. The girl often joked that she didn't know who was going to get married anymore which inevitably made Haymitch cringe and pretend he had gone deaf.

"She's trying, you know." Peeta said, a bit defensively. "She just hates being under the spotlight."

"Yes, I know." Effie sighed. "But it's supposed to be the best day of her life and she shouldn't be robbed of it."

The press was a concern. There was always a journalist or a photographer to follow one of the heroes of the rebellion and the news of Katniss and Peeta's real engagement had stayed on the front of the magazines for weeks. Some things never changed. However, if Effie had anything to say about it, the press would stay far, far away from this wedding. She and Plutarch had an agreement. Since the children refused any form of documentary on their wedding day, he would keep the journalists away with the cooperation of District Twelve new Peacekeepers to the best of his abilities and, in exchange, she had agreed to do the series of interviews he had been begging for, for several months now. He wanted to do a documentary about Snow's presidency and the Hunger Games for historical purposes and who better to testify than the only living escort left? Haymitch wouldn't like it, he had been against Plutarch's invitation from the start because he thought it would be too hard for her. She was afraid he was right and she wasn't in any hurry to tell him about the arrangement.

"The whole bridesmaids thing didn't make it any easier." Peeta winced, pulling on the sleeves a little. "She thinks about Prim a lot."

"Has she heard from her mother?" she asked. "I didn't dare broach the subject directly with her."

There were only a few selected guests : some people from Twelve like Graesy Sae and her grandaughter, of course, Annie and little Finnick, Johanna, some people from the rebellion and Effie and Haymitch. Gale Hawthorne had declined the invitation.

"She won't come to Twelve." Peeta replied, his voice laced with irritation. "Katniss didn't look surprised."

"Are you?" Because Effie wasn't. She couldn't say she knew Katniss' mother, she had only met the woman a handful of times, but the way she had abandoned her daughter after the war didn't sit well with Effie. Everyone had been broken after the rebellion. Everyone. And yet, some had still stepped up to clean others' mess.

"Not really." he shrugged. "I mean… I get she lost a daughter but… Sometimes I wished she would remember she has another one left. It's only one day, after all… She could come."

"Yes, I have to admit, I have trouble understanding how you can remove yourself so completely from one's child's life the way she did." The wistful note in her voice made Peeta frown and she quickly forced a smile on her lips. "Not that I would know anything about motherhood, mind you."

"You still could." The boy's tone was hesitating.

She couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't as bitter as she would have expected. "You're sweet but I don't think so, no." Not that they had discussed the point but she already knew Haymitch didn't want children. The fact that he had managed to ask her to stay in Twelve with him and tried to keep his drinking to a minimum were small miracles in themselves. Pushing her desire for children on him would be unfair, not to mention a huge mistake. Besides, no night passed without one of them still waking up in the throw of a nightmare. There was no place for a baby in their lives.

"Well…" he said with a hesitant shrug. "You will always have Katniss and me."

"And that is more than enough." Her smile, this time, was sincere.

His blue eyes softened and then his smile became playful. "When do you think Haymitch will ask you to marry him?"

"Never. Or at least it is very unlikely." she offered with practiced detachment. "And quite scandalous too." It certainly made people talk.

"Oh." Peeta said, obviously surprised. Probably because she was always insisting on proper behavior. "And… Do you want to get married?"

"Why, Peeta…" she grinned. "Are you proposing?"

They both laughed at their own stupidity and the poor tailor seemed quite taken aback when he finally came from the reserve with another suit.

"Had fun shopping?" Haymitch mumbled, as she sneaked around the bedroom in the dark. Abandoning all attempts at being discreet, Effie simply climbed in the bed. He immediately wrapped a possessive arm around her waist. "It's late."

"Yes, I know." she sighed. "Peeta invited me to dinner in town."

He pressed a kiss against the back of her neck. "Something to celebrate?"

"Not really…" She drew silly patterns on his arm absent-mindedly. "Well, he did propose to me."

"He did what?" he grumbled, suddenly a lot more awake. He propped himself on his elbow to look at her. "You're stealing Katniss' fiancé, sweetheart? A bit young for you, isn't he?"

She cupped his cheek, brushing her thumb against his smirk. She couldn't help her own amused grin. "Younger is better or so they say. A lot more stamina, surely, in any case."

He shook his head. "I will give you stamina…" He pounced on her and she laughed, unable to stop herself.