Prompt : could you please write one set after mockingjay with Greasy Sae teasing Haymitch about Effie but then turning serious and telling him that he should be happy, and then Effie comes in at the end and Haymitch decides that Greasy Sae is right and takes Effie home etc? Thank you so much!

Twelve's Matchmaker

Haymitch thanked Graesy Sae's granddaughter for the two takeaway portions of stew and told her to keep the change, noticing the brand new albeit small restaurant was very busy again. He was happy for the owner who was fulfilling a dream, he was less happy to see the old woman marching toward him like a hawk would swoop upon its unaware prey.

He tried to escape but he didn't reach the door in time and he found himself cornered by Graesy Sae herself.

"Takeaway again?" she asked, eyeing the plastic bag with a frown. The takeaway had been her granddaughter's idea – an idea, Haymitch thanked her for every two days – and it was no secret Graesy Sae wasn't fond of it. "You need to bring your girl here, boy. It won't do to keep her at home every night."

He didn't even try to correct her about the "boy" part. He suspected that he would always be a boy to Graesy Sae. "I don't have a girl."

All he got for his troubles was a mocking snort and a toothless smile. "What about this one, then? Doesn't she live with you?" She pointed at the window. Haymitch watched the pink blob battling through the snow, piled high on the street, with amusement. He had warned Effie to put proper boots on but she had insisted the pink ones matched with her coat.

"Not mine." he insisted.

"Not what I heard." Greasy Sae furrowed her eyebrows. "It's not right to hide her like a dirty secret, boy."

"I'm not hiding anything." he argued defensively.

If anyone was hiding it was Effie. She was living in his house – imposing would be a better term for it – but that was it. She had brought back Peeta only to declare she would stay a few days, tug an awful lot of luggage up Haymitch's stairs and make camp in his guestroom. Two days after that, the house was spotless because she cleaned instead of sleeping at night, mostly cowering in her room by day and very much refusing to engage the outside world. It had taken weeks to coax her out of the house and that had been mostly Peeta's doing. Haymitch was happy to let her be. He made sure she ate, occasionally hugged her when she asked for it and generally fought her on every possible argument simply for old times' sake. She looked healthier and happier than when she had first arrived. She even ventured out on her own now.

"You will never keep that girl if you don't put a little effort into it." Graesy Sae sighed, shaking her head. "You need to romance her. Bring her flowers, take her out for dinner…"

Haymitch rolled his eyes. "Are we speaking the same language? She is not my girl."

He wasn't totally surprised by the hard whack on his arm. "Mind your tongue, boy." The old woman frowned. "Why isn't she? She's been living in your house for months… Are you blind, stupid or absolutely incapable of getting a woman? 'Cause I remember you being quite the charmer once upon a time."

A time long gone.

"She's not interested." he sighed, inching closer to the door. She followed him, not intending to let go of the metaphorical bone she was chewing. He glanced at Effie through the window, she had managed to practically reach the restaurant but she was still struggling.

"Bullshit." the old woman laughed, making a lot of heads turn their way. It made Haymitch cringe. He didn't want to be rude with Graesy Sae, she was one of the few people left from his childhood, but he also wanted nothing else than to flee that damned restaurant. "She's looking at you like a love-sick puppy."

"Why do people always say that?" he mumbled. Chaff, Finnick, Johanna… Everybody always ended saying that…

"'Cause they're not blind." she chuckled. "You're looking at her the exact same way, boy."

"I do not look like a love-sick puppy." he spat, annoyed.

She shook her head. "Do something to get that girl and bring her here for a proper date. I will make it nice… Add a few candles on the table, maybe you will even get a flower if I can find one." Her face softened. "The past is gone. Put your ghosts to rest, it's time for you to settle and be happy again."

"So you want me to settle with my former escort, is that it?" he scowled, not bothering to comment on the "happy" part.

Graesy Sae shrugged. "I'm too old to hold grudges, Haymitch. Besides, if she was just your escort, you wouldn't have taken her in. I think you're being stupid. You always were a bit thick about this kind of things. Didn't I have to push you to your last girl too? Always flirting with everything, you were, but never with the right one." Her laughter boomed again in the restaurant. "Be a good boy and go help your girl's ass out of the snow now."

A glance was enough to understand what she was talking about. Effie had slipped and was sitting on the ground, looking quite dejected. He walked to her, standing in front of her with a smirk.

"Are we regretting not listening to the guy who lived here his whole life, sweetheart?" he snorted.

She looked up and angrily blew away a strand of blond hair that was falling on her face. It did some strange things to his stomach for some reason – he entirely blamed Graesy Sae and her weird ideas. "My pink shoes are still prettier."

She outstretched her hand with a pout so he had no choice but to help her up. They had trouble regaining their balance and they swayed in the middle of the street for several seconds in an odd sort of dance before she finally regained her footing, brushed the snow off her coat and picked up her bag.

"Isn't that a bit big for stockings?" he asked, nodding at the shopping bag she was carrying. That was the reason why she had gone into town with him : get more woolen stockings because her outfits were anything but appropriate for the weather.

"I bought clothes too." she replied.

"Color me shocked." he mocked her.

"I shopped in Twelve for clothes, you should be." she smiled good-heartedly, pinning his arm under hers either to keep her balance or because it was a habit. Haymitch thought he was starting to understand why people assumed they were a couple… "If you're done, could we go home now?"

"Sure, sweetheart." he shrugged. He had planned on pushing to the new Hobb to see if they had some liquor but he could manage with what he had left at home and she was very obviously cold. They walked in silence for a few minutes. Effie was very focused on where she was stepping so she wouldn't fall again and Haymitch was busy analyzing his chat with Graesy Sae. Try as he might, he couldn't make sense of it or his own feeling on the matter so, in the end, he chose the easiest road. "Maybe we could eat out sometimes. Just us I mean." The kids had a tendency to stuck to them like glue.

It was a good thing she was holding to his arm because she slipped right at that moment and would have toppled over if he hadn't held her tight. She looked at him with something akin to alarm or dread and he knew instinctively it wasn't about the almost-fall or the shoes.

"Or not." he snorted. "Forget it."

That answered that, he mused. Graesy Sae was wrong just as he knew she would.

"Yes." Effie rushed out. "I mean no. I mean…" She stood there, opening and closing her mouth, a light blush on her cheeks and she looked beautiful.

"Do you even know what you mean?" he chuckled.

A flicker of irritation flashed on her face and, for a second, she was the Effie he remembered : fierce and stubborn. "Yes, I would like to go out with you."

"'Not quite how I put it." he mumbled awkwardly.

"Oh." She flushed crimson. "Of course not." She faked a laugh that wasn't convincing. "My apologies, I misunderstood."

Then she started walking again without waiting for him. It was easy to catch up, she was still struggling with every step.

"So you want to go out with me…" he taunted, unable to stop himself.

It didn't amuse her. "Please, refrain from making fun of me. You are acting like a child making fun of someone else's crush, do try to remember we're both adults here."

"Crush." he repeated, lifting his eyebrows in surprise. "You have a crush?"

"Insufferable man." she muttered under her breath and quickened her pace. He grabbed her arm and spun her around. She crashed against his chest in a desperate attempt to remain upright. "What are you doing?"

He didn't answer that, he dropped the bag with the portions of stew – it would be quite alright in the snow for the time being – and then cupped her face. She jerked her head back before he could even try anything.

"Don't play with me, Haymitch." she begged, a desperate plea in her eyes. He saw fear of getting hurt in there but she shouldn't have been scared because he would never let anything hurt her ever again, that was a promise he had made himself after she was rescued.

"You would enjoy me playing with you, sweetheart." he teased. His thumb ran on her lips, his other hand combed her hair away from her face. The curls were wide in that weather, there was no taming them. He loved it. "Maybe I would let you play with me too."

"Haymitch." she warned but she didn't try to draw back again when he leaned in. "I'm scared."

Not of him, he understood that implicitly. She was scared of being rejected, of being alone again, of what would come out of that Pandora's box they had kept so carefully locked for years…

He brushed his lips against hers tentatively and he realized at once she was right to be scared. He was too.

The kiss was a free fall.

Time stopped, the world froze and every stupid cliché he had ever heard about kissing someone you truly loved passed in his head only to be swept away by the onslaught of passion.

Sensations and feelings poured over them all at once. He heard the splotch of her bag in the snow when she dropped it and then nothing. There was nothing but the feel of her hand coiled around his neck, of her fingers tangled in his hair, of her body pressed against his, of her lips working on his…

When they finally stopped kissing, out of breath, they leaned against each other. For once, Haymitch was out of words.

It was Effie who cleared her throat first and stepped away to gather their bags. That was when he realized they were in the middle of a – thankfully deserted – street.

"Home?" she suggested with a bright smile.

"Home." he replied, offering her his arm once more.

She grabbed it with obvious pleasure, huddling against him more than she did before. He didn't complain though. Huddling was good. Huddling would have been better if he could have kissed her again but he would take what he could until they arrived to the victor village.

Then…

There would be a lot of huddling indeed.