Prompt : Haymitch gets alittle embarrassed when Katniss and Peeta find out that he does cute little things with effie like a kiss on the nose or cuddle allot or effie sitting on his lap

The Serial Cuddler

Haymitch was stuffed.

"That was the best you ever cooked." Effie declared.

Both Katniss and Peeta enthusiastically agreed but he waved the compliments away with a scoff.

"It was a good turkey." he grumbled, almost defensively. "Credit goes to Katniss."

They all shared knowing looks he pretended not to see, embarrassed by the attention. They were all settled in Panem's new way of life now and he was starting to relax, to enjoy peaceful times… They had developed a routine, the four of them, like a true family. For instance, given that Effie was helpless behind a stove and that he liked it better when she didn't accidentally set stuff on fire, he had taken up cooking around the time she had arrived. He had stuck to the basics at first but lately… He had been trying out new things. Nothing overly complicated, he didn't see the point in doing fancy cooking, but he was enjoying the experiments.

"Well, it was delicious." Effie insisted with a beaming smile, standing up to gather the dishes. Peeta immediately leaped to his feet to help and both Haymitch and Katniss rolled their eyes at him with fondness. With a sigh – and because they were making them feel bad – they both stood up too and started clearing out the table, despite Effie's protest that she was the hostess and that it was her job to do so. They had the same argument every two nights, when they were having dinner at their house instead of the kids' – and it never ended differently.

They were all a well-oiled machine by now so it didn't take that long to have the dishes soaking or the table cleared and wiped clean. He sank back on his chair, musing he was tired enough that he might actually go to sleep at a decent hour that night. The kids said their goodnights, Effie urged them to be careful on the way back to their house because it was freezing and the path was slippery – like she did mostly every day, as if they were toddlers instead of young adults – and Haymitch gestured at them to flee behind her back before she could get all mother-hen on them like she sometimes tended to do.

The second the back door closed behind Peeta, he leaned in to grab her wrist and tugged until she surrendered and sat on his lap. She was pouting to hide the amusement so obvious in her blue eyes.

"We are really too old for such antics, Haymitch." she teased, wrapping her arms around his neck.

He lifted his eyebrows, his features schooled into innocence. "I just want to hear more about how you like my stuffing of turkeys, sweetheart…"

She shook her head, unable to hold back her chuckles. "If that's an innuendo of some sort, you truly need to work on your moves."

He brushed his lips against hers. "I'm too full for any funny business tonight."

"A shame." she grinned.

"Right?" he snorted.

He kissed her properly and, just when he was about to deepen it, he heard the back door creaking open. It took his brain a few seconds to process it. Effie was quicker but, unfortunately, his instinct told him to protect her from the threat so, instead of letting her get up like she obviously wanted to do, he tightened his hold and kept her trapped where she was sitting.

Katniss and Peeta were all wide eyes.

By the time Haymitch's brain accepted there was no direct threat and let her go, he was very red in the face – like everyone else in the room. It was embarrassing.

"I forgot my scarf." Katniss mumbled, hurrying to grab the scarf she had tossed on the dresser earlier.

"Sorry." Peeta winced. "We didn't mean to interrupt."

"Nonsense." Effie countered in a cheerful tone, after clearing her throat. "We were just…"

"I don't think they want to know." Haymitch grumbled.

"We don't." Peeta swiftly supplied. "We really, really don't."

"Do not make it sound like it was anything depraved." Effie chided him. "We were just cuddling. Couples cuddle. It is natural."

"I don't cuddle!" Haymitch spat, his cheeks burning even more now.

"Okay, we're going." Katniss cut in, shoving Peeta toward the door.

This time, he stood up to lock it behind them.

"What did you tell them that for?" he growled.

Effie rolled her eyes. She turned toward the sink – to hide her amusement, he figured – and started on the dishes. "Do not be ridiculous. They know we cuddle. They have caught us before."

"We do not cuddle." he insisted. "We are not cuddlers. We're fuckers. Sex is our thing, not cuddling."

"That used to be true but it is not anymore, is it?" she challenged. "And all the better for it. It means we have a real relationship now, not just…" Her voice trailed off and she cleared her throat once more. He almost asked her if she wanted some cough syrup but he didn't because he was sure that she would make a huge deal of his taunting. One fight at a time. She glanced at him over her shoulder as she rinsed the plates and put them to dry. "It is not a bad thing, Haymitch."

She had a point.

They had been all about sex before the war. Angry sex, hate sex, tension relieving sex, desperate sex, comfort sex… It had been the keystone of their affair.

But then…

Then the war had happened and he had lost her to the Capitol. They had both come out of the rebellion slightly different people. What they had shared before… It hadn't been a relationship. And it had taken Thirteen and the months spent agonizing over what would happen to her for him to understand he wanted a relationship, not just a no strings attached thing.

There was no point disputing that.

"When did they catch us?" he frowned. He would have remembered the kids walking in on them. Sure, there had been near misses a few times, mostly because neither Katniss nor Peeta seemed to be able to knock, but to his knowledge…

"Oh, quite a few times, actually." she hummed. "When we were napping on the couch, mostly. You were deep asleep every time though."

He made a face, not sure what to make of that. When he was drunk, he was a deep sleeper. Hell, most times he drank to be able to sleep – although he had been doing better lately, both at sleeping the night and at keeping his drinking under control. But otherwise, he had thought himself a light sleeper. He blamed Effie for this. She made him feel safe. He liked sleeping next to her. His nightmares weren't as bad.

"No more napping on the couch." he grumbled.

It wasn't like they planned the naps though. They tended to happen. And he kind of loved those lazy afternoons they sometimes shared when they started up reading or watching TV and ended up curled up tight together.

He refused to consider himself a cuddler.

But he did love cuddling with her.

She dried her hands on the dish towel, her lips twitching.

"No?" she challenged, walking closer to him, a spring in her steps. He scowled but that wasn't enough to deter her from tossing her arms around his neck. "How about cuddling in the kitchen?"

It was a reflex to embrace her back and he muttered and mumbled that it was the last time when he buried his nose in her hair.

He didn't fool either of them.

He could never say no to cuddling with her.