Prompt: I am in love with your stories, especially the HG ones. For 'Have a Drink, Sweetheart' could you please write a fluffy fic set during HG or CF where Haymitch, Effie, Peeta and Katniss are playing scrabble and Haymitch is frustrating Effie by making words up or playing rude ones? Also maybe at the end Haymitch redeeming himself by making a cute word at the end... like love or something :3

This one isn't betaed either so any mistake is on me. To answer question about updates : yes Invictus will be updated too this week =)

Of Compliments and Made Up Words

"Whooza isn't a word, Haymitch." Effie huffed with irritation.

"Sure, it's a word, Princess. It like yahoo." Haymitch argued.

At the other side of the table, Portia sighed loudly. "Katniss, keep your partner under control. You keep making up words, we can't play this way."

Effie was doubting the wisdom of even suggesting a board game to ease the boredom of nights on that Victory Tour. The Scrabble box was all she could find on the train and they had all agreed to play, desperate for something else to do until they reached Six. They had made teams because there were too many of them to play otherwise: Katniss with Haymitch, Cinna and Portia and Peeta had chosen Effie. And they were doing good, winning even – or they would be if Haymitch and Katniss didn't insist on making up gibberish words.

"But whooza is a word." Katniss argued with an innocent smile that convinced exactly no one.

Effie shot her the same please-stop-your-nonsense glare she usually gave Haymitch.

"Cheater." Peeta accused teasingly.

"I give up." Portia said, shaking her head. "We surrender."

"Do we?" Cinna asked, rising his eyebrows. He glanced at the letters he had been secretly arranging in front of his colleague.

"We do." Portia insisted, staring at him with insistence.

"We do." Cinna confirmed quickly.

They were gone after a quick goodnight. Effie mused Portia probably had funnier games planned than a game of scrabble in which two people were cheating.

"That man is whipped." Haymitch snorted when they were both gone.

"That man doesn't cheat at scrabble." Effie snapped with irritation.

"'Cause he's whipped and I'm wild, sweetheart." he deadpanned. "Tame me if you can."

She narrowed her eyes at him, lips pinched tight. He only smirked in answer.

"Time for bed." Peeta declared quickly. "Katniss?"

Effie wasn't certain Katniss had understood the implied statement but she only looked too happy to escaped a board game she hadn't been enthusiastic about to begin with.

"Looks, like it's you and me now." Haymitch challenged.

"I don't play with cheaters." she retorted stiffly.

She started gathering all the letters to put them back in the box. Of course, he couldn't be bothered to help, preferring to mess around with the little pieces of plastic, out of her sight, probably inventing new words. He stood up after a minute or two, grabbing the bottle he had placed down next to his chair and leaving with nothing else than a muttered night.

It wasn't until she grabbed the little plastic support with his letters that she saw what he had written. Beautiful.

It was more than probably an attempt at mollifying her but he should know she was stronger than that. Still… It was cute and she found she couldn't quite shake the smile off her lips.

Idiot, she thought with undeniable fondness.