prompt: peeta/katniss accidentally hurts Effie in a bout of delirium (idk maybe Effie is trying to comfort them) and haymitch flips out. And Effie is still all protective of the kids bc that is a very Effie thing to do.

Blood In The Living-Room

There was one thing Haymitch never wanted to find when he walked back home from the Hob with Katniss and it was blood in his living-room.

Blood was a trigger.

Blood was a trigger for all of them, and he its heavy smell long before he registered what was actually going on.

The girl tried to shoot past him but he grabbed her arm and held her back by reflex, his eyes staring straight at Effie's blue ones, breathing through his mouth as much to keep the smell at bay as because he was trying not to remember another blond woman covered in blood. Maysilee's ghost was lurking at the edges of his mind and it took all he had to keep it there.

Effie's lips were moving.

He figured it meant she wasn't dead despite the fact that half her face was covered in a thick dark red and there were stains on the carpet and on the boy's shirt.

"You know the rules." was the first thing that managed to pass through the lump in his throat. "You can't touch him when…"

"It was an accident." Effie growled. "Nothing but an accident. I am fine. I am fine, Peeta, do you hear me?"

There was something devastating to watching the two of them. They were sitting on the stained carpet, she was cradling the shaking boy so close to her he was almost in her lap and she was rocking both of them slowly as if she was comforting a small child and not an eighteen years old. The coffee table was out of the way and given the crimson trace on the corner, he concluded that it was where the injury had come from. She could have split her head open. She could have died.

"We need a doctor." he heard himself say. He was having a strange out-of-body experience. His mouth was talking, he was still holding Katniss, but his mind was out of there, watching as if he was a helpless spectator. The blood on her face… In their living-room…

"I am fine." Effie repeated. "Head injuries always bleed a lot, you know that."

"You could have a concussion." Katniss butted in, her eyes darting from their former escort to her boyfriend with worry.

"We know what to look for. I don't need a doctor who will want to lock me up in a hospital." she snapped, harsher than she would usually have addressed one of the kids.

Hospitals were still a huge no-no for her. She had been trapped in one for too long for no other good reason than the fact it was the safest way to keep her out of Coin's dangerous paws. She hated everything about hospitals from the smell to the sympathetic nurses who had so obviously pitied her in the past.

"What happened?" he asked.

"I am not sure." she admitted. "Something triggered an episode. I tried to… He pushed me. I don't think he meant to. I fell on the table and the blood made everything worse. He's calm enough now, I think. I… If you would help me get him to the couch…"

Haymitch was careful when he approached the boy but she seemed to be right and the worst of it seemed to be over. Peeta clearly wasn't back yet but the way he tried to cling to Effie had less to do with madness and more to do with a desperate need to feel someone he loved near. Katniss crept closer as soon as he had settled the boy on the couch, hovering at the corner of his eyes. When Peeta spotted her, he outstretched a hand and she immediately took it with obvious relief, coming to sit between the boy's hip and the edge of the couch. They started shooting back and forth real and not real questions and he left them to it, kneeling in front of Effie instead.

He reached for her face with trembling fingers, trying not to notice how the blood had trickled down her cheek and neck to the collar of her blouse. She grabbed his hand before he could actually touch.

"I am fine." she promised again. "It barely throbs."

He kissed her. Hard.

It was probably not advised given the possible head trauma but he couldn't help himself. He tasted the irony taste of blood on her lips and it shocked him out of this dizzying spell.

"We need to clean you up." he muttered, carefully helping her up. Her legs weren't steady and despite her claims to the contrary it was obvious she wasn't feeling alright. He toyed with the idea of getting her upstairs but eventually settled her in the kitchen and went to fetch the first aid kit from their bathroom. "You're nauseous." he commented when he came back to find her leaning heavily against the table, slumped in her chair, and a hand pressed against her mouth. "That's a sign of concussion. You really should get checked out."

"I am nauseous because I am covered in blood." she countered. "I might also possibly be in shock."

He let out a noise that was half a grunt and half a hum, not convinced at all and dragged a chair closer to set himself to work. The wound had stopped bleeding, which was good news, but it looked deep.

"Might need stitches." he commented, starting the tedious task of removing the blood from around the gash so he could see it more clearly.

"Let's hope not because you can't sew to save the day and I am not stitching myself up. It leaves Katniss and I do not trust her to do a job that won't leave a scar." she deadpanned.

"That's why I'll call a doctor." he replied, not even blinking at her irritated pout.

"I do not want a doctor." she hissed.

"Don't be a child." he snapped. "If you need a doctor, you'll get a doctor."

She remained silent after that, obviously sulking. He didn't care much, he was sulking himself. He cleaned the wound and ignored her flinching and hissing when the alcohol touched the gash and eventually put a large band-aid on it, warning her that if it started bleeding again they would call someone without possible debate. He checked her pupils but she didn't look concussed so he let that drop for now. He grabbed a wet cloth and started washing away the trails of blood on her cheek, lips and neck.

His hands were shaking badly and he was yearning to grab the liquor from the cupboard but he didn't want to let her out of his sight even for booze.

"I am fine." she whispered eventually, when he kept rubbing her skin despite the fact there was no more blood to wipe off. She gently clasped his hand in hers and they fell on her lap. He kept his eyes on their fingers, not quite soothed by the way she was rubbing her thumb on his knuckles. "Haymitch…"

"Could have been your corpse." he mumbled. "Could have come home and…"

His sentence trailed off into a shaky breath.

"It was an accident." she said quietly. "It wasn't Peeta's fault.

"I fucking know it wasn't the boy's fault, for fuck's sake !" he shouted, losing the meager control he had on his temper. "Doesn't change the fact you could be dead!"

She didn't bat an eyelash.

"I am not." she stated firmly. "There is no point dwelling on what ifs, Haymitch. You told me that."

"You still could be…" he scowled, his voice failing him again. He shook his head, bringing his free hand to cover theirs. "I can't, alright. You, the kids… I can't."

"Can't what?" she whispered.

"Lose you." he spat. "Can't."

The confession was hard to rip out of his chest but it needed saying, he figured, she needed to know and to never do anything stupid again because if she or one of the kids died… He wouldn't come back from it. Not this time. That would shatter him for good.

He shook his head again and didn't even react when she untangled her fingers from his or stood up but he automatically wrapped his arms around her waist when she sat on his lap, resting his forehead on her collarbone. She ran her fingers through his hair in much the same fashion she had been petting Peeta's earlier.

"You won't." she hummed. "I will be more careful. We all will. We will be alright."

"You don't know." he grumbled.

"Yes, I do." she rebuked him. "Because I believe in us."

He decided there were worst things to have faith in.