Prompt : ugjkfdhgfd this hayffie spoiler is REALLY making me want a five times kissed - "cute familiar married couple pecks on the lips"edition. if u wrote it i would literally love you forever

I just published something for Haymitch week but I do admit I miss hayffie :p So… here, have a prompt too! I'm not truly happy with it but… Hey, it's fluff, not my best genre.

Six Times Hayffie Kissed Like An Old Married Couple and One Time They Didn't

1

There were mornings – most mornings, really – when Effie felt like a zombie until she had her first cup of coffee. She shuffled from her room to the dining room, dressed and ready for the day but still suffering from a sleep hangover. The penthouse was quiet like it always was once their tributes were dead but she tried not to focus about that, it never helped anything.

Haymitch was already in the dining room, standing next to the cart with the drinks and food, filling a plate with muffins.

"Morning." he mumbled when she stepped inside.

Any other day she would have replied with a cheerful "Good morning!" but that day she made a beeline for the coffee, barely pausing long enough next to him to press a fleeting kiss on his lips as a greeting. They both froze at the same time. They didn't do that: exchanging kisses at random. They slept together, they had sex, they fucked… Lately they sometimes fell asleep in the same bed… But they didn't kiss each other outside of sex.

She expected him to bolt and rant but he smirked instead, lifting his eyebrows in a silent question.

"I need coffee." she declared defensively.

"Okay." he said.

"Nothing else." she insisted and he raised the hand that wasn't holding the plate in a placating gesture. "Do try to eat something healthy, would you?"

He rolled his eyes and snapped back something rude.

The bickering was welcome.

Familiar.

2

Sponsors were interested in Katniss and Peeta and Effie was over the moon.

She glimpsed Haymitch stepping in the elevator and she hurried, managing to slip past the closing doors, waving a sponsoring pledge in the air with a triumphant smile.

"Good job, sweetheart!" he smirked, snatching the paper from her hand and pressing a short distracted kiss on her lips. "You got a pen?"

She fished one in her purse and waited until he had signed the contract to snatch it back.

This year would be their year.

3

Reviewing speeches for the next day had quickly become the bane of Haymitch's existence. Victory Tour wasn't going well – not to say it was going to hell – and spending half his nights bent over papers, debating over using one word or another for hours wasn't his idea of a good night. Effie was excellent at speeches but the state the Districts were in, it all needed to be perfect.

"I think we are done." she sighed.

He slumped further down the couch, relieved to hear it. He checked his watch, not exactly surprised to realize it was already two in the morning.

"Bed?" he muttered, rubbing his face.

"I still have to review the schedule." she said. "I don't need you for that, you may go."

He hesitated a second because it didn't seem very fair to leave her to work on her own – not that it had ever bothered him before but things felt different now – and then relented. He would need to be sharp the next day and that required rest.

"Okay." he agreed. "'Night."

He leaned in without thinking twice about it, it felt natural. She turned her head long enough to receive the kiss and went back to her schedule.

It wasn't until he was halfway to his bedroom that he wondered at which point they had started pecking each other good morning and goodnight.

4

Victory Tour was done and as sad as she was to leave her victors, she was relieved and happy to be done with the whole thing. It didn't make the goodbyes easier. She fussed over Katniss in the Everdeens' living-room, reminding her to keep it touch so they could talk about the wedding and babbling about how fantastic it would be, all the while inwardly cringing at her victors being forced into something they didn't want.

Hands fell on her shoulders, gently tearing her away from the girl.

"Go before you miss your train." Haymitch said. "What are you going to do if you stay stuck here, sweetheart?"

She rolled her eyes but accepted the wisdom of his words. She was going to miss her train – or at least make it late – if she didn't get a move on.

"I'll walk you back to the station." Peeta offered.

"How nice of you!" she beamed and then checked her watch. "Dear me! I am rather late, am I not ?" Suddenly, the urge to get out of Twelve was crushing. Katniss was next to her so she wrapped her in a hug and then moved on to Prim who surrendered to her affectionate gesture with a smile and more willingness than her sister. She shook Mrs Everdeen's hand and then because he had flopped in an armchair and didn't seem ready to move, she leaned in and pressed a distracted kiss on Haymitch's lips, trying to estimate how long it would take her to get back to the station – a kiss he responded to as short as it was.

It wasn't until she straightened up that she realized what she had done.

Habits, she cursed, habits were hard to shake. They had taken to kissing each other each morning and each night most days and…

"Don't gawk like that." Haymitch scoffed at the others who were all staring more or less politely. "You know Capitols have their quirks."

"Oh, yes!" she added with fake enthusiasm. "That is how one says goodbye to close friends."

And that was how she found herself kissing everyone on the mouth to Haymitch's obvious hilarity.

She pretended she didn't hear Prim asking Katniss in a very low voice if she thought Effie would like to kiss the cat goodbye or Katniss' answer that the cat smelt better than Haymitch anyway.

5

There was no time between the failed propo filming and the briefing to have a proper conversation. Effie barely managed to drag him in a corner of the room while everyone else got settled and Coin talked with Plutarch about another unrelated problem.

"How are you?" she asked, her eyes roaming all over him. He had lost weight, his skin had an unhealthy yellow tinge to it and his eyes were bloodshot.

"Heart stopped once." he snorted. "Still kicking."

She instinctively reached out and bundled his shirt in her hand at that little piece of news Plutarch had carefully not shared with her.

"They wouldn't let me visit you." she whispered. "I asked, Plutarch said…"

"They didn't let anyone in." he shrugged. "It wasn't pretty anyway." It was his turn to inspect her with amusement. "So much for blending in, sweetheart."

She patted the headscarf on her head self-consciously but never took her eyes off him.

"I've missed you." she confessed. "I was worried sick."

A fond smirk appeared on his lips. He glanced over his shoulder at the rest of the room but no one was paying them any attention so he leaned in and pressed his lips against her. It was short but it was enough to make her feel more grounded.

"I'm here." he said. "I'm fine."

6

Haymitch came home to find her on the couch, perusing a decoration magazine – which probably meant he and Peeta were sentenced to repaint another room – her eyes distractedly glancing up at the TV now and then.

It had become a familiar sight lately: finding her in various rooms of the house doing random things.

It was a sight he relished every time.

He dropped on the couch and she immediately turned her head, reaching out for the mandatory greeting kiss because he had been gone for most of the day. As soon as their lips had parted, she curled up against his side and went back to turning pages, sometimes letting out a low hum when she found something she liked.

Haymitch was content to sit with his arms around her, satisfied in the knowledge that the kids were next door, safe and sound.

7

The toasting had been a private thing, something Haymitch had offered on the spur of the moment and that they had done late at night, alone. They had told the kids the next morning and, of course, it hadn't taken long for the news to be relayed through phone calls which was how Effie had ended up throwing a celebratory party.

The party itself wasn't so bad. She had respected his wishes and kept it small, their closest friends only – which really meant he had been subjected to hours of teasing on Johanna's and Beetee's part.

The problem was people weren't leaving, apparently happy to lounge around his house all day with flutes of champagnes and to stuff themselves with Peeta's baked goods and Haymitch really wanted them out. Because he really wanted to have sex with his wife – and he still somehow got a thrill at calling her that.

He found her in the kitchen, placing more food on silver trays he didn't even know they owned. The dress was a tease and should have been illegal. It was red and left her back bare. He moved behind her swiftly, pinning her against the counter, placed his hands on her hips and peppered her nape with kisses.

"Haymitch…" she chided him, unable to swallow back a giggle.

"Tell them to go away." he demanded, nipping at her shoulder blade.

"I can't! How rude!" she retorted with fond exasperation. He turned her around and captured her lips, insisting until she opened her mouth with a blissful sigh. The kiss was dirty and his hand roamed down her lower back until skin gave way to fabric and he could grope her. "Haymitch." she warned against his lips, pecking them softly. He didn't want innocent pecks though and he deepened it again.

"And they're at it again." Johanna half-sighed half-mocked behind him. "Seriously, how aren't you tired of each other yet? Should you even still do that, Haymitch? You're not young anymore, you're going to break a hip."

Effie tried to draw back, clearly horrified to have an audience but Haymitch wouldn't let her, simply flipping Johanna off without even looking. Maybe then they would all take a hint and leave his house…

"Come on…" Peeta answered Jo. "I think they're cute."

"They're not cute, they're disgusting." Seven's victor retorted. "They're always kissing!"

"We are not!" Effie protested with a huff, finally managing to push him away. She smoothed her dress and spared a disapproving look for him.

"You kind of are." Peeta offered, heading to the fridge for more champagne.

"All the time." Jo accused.

"How preposterous." Effie insisted. "We never kiss in public. We barely touch in public."

Haymitch tended to agree with her but given the look Johanna and Peeta were sharing, they clearly didn't.

"Effie, you kiss him every time you leave the house even if it's just to go to the market." Peeta pointed out with a small smile. "And, you…" He nodded at Haymitch. "You kiss her when you go to the backyard to feed the geese. You're always pecking each other's cheek or lips… It's very sweet."

"It's not sweet, it's embarrassing." Jo snickered. "It looks like they're either sixteen or eighty, I can never decide."

Effie searched his eyes with a small confused frown. "We do not do this, do we?"

Haymitch buried his hands in his pockets and shrugged. "Never noticed."

"That's why it's sweet." Peeta grinned.

"We are entirely too used to saying goodbye to each other, I suppose." Effie hummed, a little sadly.

He snorted and wrapped his arms around her waist, not even caring about witnesses – maybe a little PDA would chase them away, he thought. "Good news, sweetheart. We never have to say goodbye again."

This kiss was purposeful and in no way innocent. Even Peeta cringed.

"Do you have to?" Jo whined. "You've got your tongue so far down her throat, she's gonna choke! Sloppy technique, Haymitch."

Effie nudged him away long enough to smile cheerfully at Johanna. "I have no complains with his tongue. He is very gifted with it, if you must know."

Haymitch burst out laughing, one of those laughs that always took him by surprised because they were so rare and few in between. Jo's face was too precious though. She looked green and ready to throw up. Peeta did too.

"Days like this, I envy Katniss being deaf in one ear." he mumbled with a pained wince. "I really didn't need that visual."

At least, Haymitch mused, they all cleared the house very quickly after that.

And it was good because he was eager to prove Effie right.