This isn't a prompt but something I dreamed about last night. Spoilerish comment about the movie about to follow : I was very disappointed by one missing scene in particular in MJ and that's the one where Haymitch hugs Katniss right after the bombing, when she realizes Snow is hurting Peeta to hurt her. To me, the hug we got in the movie during the rescue scene doesn't count because it's not about Peeta, or Haymitch being the only other one to love Peeta, but about Peeta AND Gale being in danger and more generally about the upsetting skype convo with Snow (another thing I didn't like). So to be short : I wanted that scene and I realized that in movie!canon, Haymitch isn't the only one there who loves Peeta as much as Katniss and Effie being the first one to follow her back in the District… Here goes :

They Love Peeta Too

Effie hurried after Katniss, stepping as quickly as she could over the rubbles. She hated the loss of fresh air, and even if the smell of the thousand roses had been more disgusting than liberating it was still fresh air. She hated being cooked up inside, breathing recycled air, trapped between four bare concrete walls deep below ground. She was fairly certain she would never be able to bear enclosed spaces again once everything would be over.

The half collapsed tunnels that led back down to Thirteen weren't lit and she had to turn her flashlight on to see where she was going. Behind her, she could still hear voices outside arguing about shooting a propos with Finnick instead. She paid that no mind, she went on. Finnick, as dearly as she loved the boy, wasn't her priority.

She didn't have to wander too far to find her priority. Katniss was right there, huddled against a rock, rocking back and forth, and muttering to herself – or maybe humming, Effie wasn't sure. She didn't even spare a thought for her outfit before dropping on her knees next to her, making a cloud of dust dancing around them and threatening to choke them to death. It didn't seem to disturb the girl so Effie didn't pause before gathering her against her chest.

Katniss tensed for a second, like an animal ready to bolt, and Effie wondered if she was making a mistake, if, perhaps, the comforting shouldn't have been left to someone else because as close as they had become recently, they still weren't understanding each other very well. Suddenly, though, Katniss relaxed, melting into her arms with a sob and clinging to her neck like a small child. The girl buried her face in her neck, Effie could feel the hot tears dampening the collar of her shirt, rolling on her skin… In another life she would have felt disgusted. She only clung to her harder, biting her bottom lip to swallow back her own sobs.

It killed her to see Katniss like that.

It killed her to know what they were doing to Peeta.

It killed her.

She heard Haymitch's heavy footsteps from afar. She wasn't a hunter by any means but Haymitch's stomping was unmistakable. She waited for the girl to move away but she didn't, so they remained there, the dust still dancing around them, like two broken dolls.

Haymitch was alone and he didn't say a word when the beam of his flashlight settled on them. He simply sat next to them and wrapped his arms around them both without commenting, propping his chin on Katniss' head and pressing his cheek against Effie's forehead.

Katniss relaxed even more and sobbed harder.

Somewhere in the back of her head, Effie understood that the girl would probably have rejected anyone else but them. They were, after all, the only ones in that District who loved the boy as much.

She closed her eyes and shifted until she could have her own face pressed against Haymitch's neck where the tears wouldn't show or be heard. His smell was off and that threw her for a few seconds. Haymitch always smelt of liquor, cheap soap and faint sweat. She had found it revolting in the beginning that he managed to smell that way even in the Capitol where so many products were available, but after a while she had come to like the scent. Haymitch, for all his flaws, had been an ally over the years and, at times, a friend. Thirteen had succeeded where the Capitol hadn't : they had obliterated his scent. Now, he smelt like the soap they were all using, the standard clothes softener and a very faint trace of cold sweat. It wasn't as comforting as she would have liked. It wasn't familiar.

The way his hand coiled around her neck and squeezed gently was, on the other hand, and she finally let go of a tension she hadn't been aware of. She let him bear her weight as well as the girl's, she let him be their rock. She was usually the one keeping them all together but not today. Not today. It was his turn. She was tired.

She wondered dimly if that was what it felt like to have a real team and then scratched the word in her head.

They weren't a team.

They were a family.