Prompt - Could you do one where Haymitch tries to say I love you to effie but it never comes out and then finally years later he manages to say it. Hreat chapter by the way :)

Backwards

The TV was a familiar background noise after a year of leaving with Effie and Haymitch had learned long ago to tune it out. He was lying on his back on the couch, his head propped on the armrest, listening to her rummaging in the kitchen and wishing she would hurry.

She finally reappeared with two steaming mugs : one with spiked tea and one with hot cocoa – he knew without having to ask – that she carefully set down on the floor next to the couch, in easy reach, before sprawling over his chest. She wriggled for a few seconds, nestling between him and the blanket she grabbed from the back of the couch. She settled right in time for the beginning of her movie and he closed his eyes, petting her hair absent-mindedly, happy to drift off.

The kids, on the not-so-rare occasions when they entered their house unannounced and caught them cuddling like that, had repeatedly declared that they were acting ridiculous – Katniss' words not Peeta's. Teenagers had been the word the girl had used, adding that they had been together for years and it wasn't normal to still be that cuddly. Peeta, on the other hand, had no problem telling Haymitch he thought it cute.

Haymitch resented them both.

He and Effie had certainly never been cuddly before the rebellion. Their relationship, he often mused, was going backwards : they had started with hatred and angry sex to move on to fondness, then the kids happened and in the middle of the danger they had realized just how deep they were caught up in that thing between them, she was captured and he was desperate, then when she was finally rescued she declared she never wanted to see him again only to appear on his porch one morning a year after the rebellion with a ton of boxes and luggage, they had lived together for months before she left the guestroom for his – their – bedroom and now, here they were, doing stupid things they had never had the chance to do before like curl up on the couch.

Most people started by cuddling on the couch and climbed their way up the hatred.

She propped herself on her elbow to reach for her cocoa and took several sips, careful not to spill any on herself, him or the couch. He watched as she drank, her eyes never leaving the screen, her dark blond hair neatly French braided fell over her shoulder, the blue silk blouse tensed with her every move…

"I love you."

It was so easy to let it out at that moment.

He had tried before, hundreds of time, but the words remained stubbornly stuck in his throat. Each time he thought those words, his mind usually flashed to his family or his girl and to what had happened to them because of his stupid feelings.

But not tonight. Perhaps because he hadn't been trying or fighting to say it. Perhaps because it came naturally, almost escaping his lips like an afterthought.

Her eyes darted to him in surprise and she choked on her mouthful of cocoa. She sat up, straddling his hips, big tears rolling down her cheeks from all the coughing. He grabbed the mug from her before she could spill it and put it down on the floor before sitting up too, cupping her face to erase the tears with his thumb.

"You're alright, sweetheart?" he frowned.

"Perfectly so." she managed to say after a new round of coughing.

"Okay." He laid back down and tugged her on top of him again, wrapping the blanket over them. She settled like before, with her head neatly tucked under his chin and started watching TV again.

"I love you too." she whispered after a few minutes.

Haymitch smirked and closed his eyes.

Truly happy for once.