Prompt : hi! i have a prompt if you're still taking them? so i was reading your fic where haymitch and finnick are in 13 and finnick says something about taking him effie for granted and i wondered if you could do one where haymitch and effie are just sat together or maybe she's asleep on him or something cute and he's thinking about how he takes her for granted/how awful he is to her/all that jazz ;)

Permanent Feature

It was funny how life worked, Haymitch mused. He had spent almost thirteen years trying to drive Effie Trinket to quit; from the second he had met her he had pledged to make her job as difficult as possible and he had often succeeded in making her personal life a living hell as well. He had gotten under her skin at any opportunity, he had never spared a cruel gibe, he had never passed on an occasion to mock her in public…

She always gave as good as she got, of course, that was one of the reasons why he enjoyed getting on her nerves so much, he enjoyed the banter, he enjoyed the fact she could keep up with him in a match of wits…

He had never told her that. He had never told her anything nice or thanked her for helping him or gone out of his way to show her he was appreciating the support she gave the kids…

He had never told her the sex hadn't been just sex on his part for a while either.

In his mind, Effie was a permanent feature. She was the only regular human contact he had every year. She was his best friend and his archenemy all rolled into one. He loathed and desired her in the same breath. They were toxic to each other and they would probably end up destroying each other but he wouldn't have wanted it any other way. She was a permanent feature.

Or she had been until the Quarter Quell's arena exploded and Plutarch told him his team had been too late in retrieving her.

Funny how life worked.

He had spent years trying to get rid of her and yet it had never occurred to him to leave her behind, it had never occurred to him he could go through this war without her to nag him into line, to force him to follow schedules and, more generally, to annoy the shit out of him.

And now there he was, sitting next to her hospital bed, having only ten minutes to spare for her between his visits to Katniss and Peeta, and he wondered at what point exactly he had stopped minding her irritating presence, at what point she had become a permanent feature.

Her wounds weren't extensive or so the doctors had said, there were a few infected cuts and her body was badly starved and dehydrated but they were more concerned with her mental state. She had woken up a few times, she had refused to believe she had been rescued. It would have been better if Haymitch had been there, of course, but his time was short and stretched between the kids, the other victors, Coin and Plutarch. He wanted to help but he couldn't make her his priority, not now.

Finnick had once told him that he was taking her for granted.

He hadn't realized just how true it was until he had spent months living in fear she would be executed on live television for everyone to see. If he had been that kind of man, he would have covered her with flowers, diamonds and promises, but he wasn't that kind of man – not anymore, at least – and all he could do was sit there for the ten minutes he had to spare and wish she would wake up so he could see her eyes. Deep in Thirteen's belly, he hadn't missed the blue of the sky so much as the blue of her eyes.

He was starved for her.

It felt like battling two addictions at once, his alcoholism sometimes taking second place to the yearning for her skin. Perhaps he had taken that for granted too, used her to scratch the occasional itch, abuse the friendship she had gifted him with…

She would live, Coin's threats notwithstanding, he vowed it. She would live but would she forgive?

He wasn't good with feelings, even less good at putting those feelings into words. How was he supposed to tell her he wanted her, he needed her?

Taking her for granted would never be a problem again.

He would prove it to her given the chance.

But would she give him the chance?