Prompt: I love your wiring so much! If you haven't already done it could we have a fluffy train station reunion :)

I'm placing this in movie!verse.

The Tricky Notion Of Distance

Twelve's platform was a platform in name only. Like everything, it had been destroyed during the bombings and while the tracks had been changed and checked, the station itself was little more than a shack at the moment.

Still, Haymitch wasn't the only one waiting in the cool morning air of early spring. A few people had formed a group a little away from him and were talking loudly about the rebuilding progress while sharing a cigarette. A couple of men were walking around if only to keep their blood pumping, sometimes exchanging guilty but sympathetic glances at their obvious impatience and nervousness.

He figured the group was there for supplies and the pacing men were there for people.

Refugees were slowly trickling back in the District, joining the rebuilding efforts, but more often than not, women and children only followed a few weeks after the men, to make sure they would have a safe and comfortable place to stay. A few people had settled in the Village, others more stubborn and desperate to cling to the past had colonized what was left of the Seam. There was nothing to do for the town right then, no building had been left standing and the priority was still to clear the roads and make sure every of their dead were laid to rest in the mass grave in the meadow. It was gruesome work and Haymitch avoided going out of the Village if he could help it. He couldn't bear the sight of all the charred bones crushed in the streets or lined up in the deep trenches. It wasn't as bad as it had been when he had first come back, but it was still bad enough that going out of the Village required a bravery he didn't feel he could muster without liquor.

And finding liquor was impossible.

He had tried.

He had clung to sobriety by the fingertips after the City Circle bombings… All those dead children… Prim… Finnick… Without his escort, he would have drown at the bottom of a bottle again. But Effie was nothing short of determined and she had made sure he wouldn't be able to find any booze in the Mansion – how she had done that, he wasn't sure, with Plutarch's complicity perhaps.

The night before he had left for Twelve with Katniss, he had promised her he would try to stay clean and he had intended to keep that promise. But being there alone… He tried to take care of the kid. As well as he could. But Katniss had withdrawn deep within her mind and there was no talking her out of it. She barely moved to go to the bathroom, she ate only if he forced her, she didn't drink enough and she didn't wash. Every night on the phone he laid it out for Effie and every night on the phone Effie clucked her tongue and insisted it would get better.

But it wasn't.

And facing the destroyed District and all its skeletons – something he still thought he was partly responsible for – was too much. So, yeah, he had looked for booze. And the only thing he had found was a single bottle of moonshine that wouldn't have lasted him a day and that would have made the aftermath of drinking it far worse than just yearning for it. He had poured it down the drain to remove temptation with shaking hands and without any particular pride.

Truth be told, he had been more than relieved when Plutarch had called last night to tell him Peeta had been released and was on his way. Haymitch hadn't even asked if he was coming alone or not. The absence of phone call later on was big enough of a clue.

He had told Effie Trinket not to be a stranger and he had no doubt at all she would take him up on that.

He had kissed her outside, after all. In plain sight. After years of hiding and reducing what they shared to a mere sordid affair. He had kissed her in front of everyone – well, Katniss and the guards who had been patrolling but the intention had been there all the same – and she couldn't have mistaken his meaning because…

He simply didn't do that.

Openly admitting being involved with someone… Something that would have been impossible before, too dangerous, too… It was still terrifying. But now… Now there was peace and… The target had been removed from his back and, by extension, the back of anyone he chose to…

There was a loud noise in the distance, the train letting the District know it was approaching, and then the engine appeared, so small in the horizon…

Impatience and nervousness coiled in his belly as he stepped back like everyone else to keep at a safe distance from the tracks. The hissing of the brakes hadn't even faded that already everyone was moving, the group of people toward the stock cars at the far end of the train and the others towards the carriages.

Haymitch wasn't sure where…

"Well! What an awful trip!" a voice with a strong Capitol accent huffed just before he glimpsed a pink boot stepping on the small metallic step. He was in front of her in seconds, hand outstretched to help her down before she fell and broke something – a trip to the makeshift clinic wasn't what he had in mind for a reunion. The displeased scowl on her face disappeared when she spotted him and her features morphed into something more joyful. "Haymitch!"

She grabbed his hand and hopped down and then moved toward him only to abort the gesture at the last second, apparently not sure if she was allowed to hug him or not. It wouldn't have been clever before but now… Now, he couldn't give a damn.

He took the decision for her, cupping her cheek and kissing her hard, wrapping his other arm around her waist. She gasped a little in surprise but quickly recovered and responded in kind. She was grinning against his lips when she broke the kiss and she hastily stepped back, clearing her throat and patting her blond hair self-consciously. Her blue eyes were madly twinkling though.

"That's new." Peeta laughed, luggage piled at his feet. A brown bag that must have belonged to the boy, two pink suitcases and a glittery vanity case.

"Not really but… Yeah." Haymitch mumbled awkwardly, feeling his cheeks reddening a little. He had been a bit too caught up in the moment maybe. People were staring and that was making him uncomfortable. "I'm glad to see you, kid." he offered, hugging the boy.

"I'm glad to see you too." Peeta replied, clapping him once on the back and stepping back only to chuckle. "I'm also really happy you can help me with the bags. There are two more in the car."

Effie pursed her lips, more amused than disapproving. "It's the pink ones, if you would be so kind."

"Already putting me to work." he grumbled but obediently went to fetch her bags, a bit concerned when he realized they weren't bags but two more suitcases. And heavy, with that. They must have been full to the brim. He carried them back down with a frown. "You're fucking moving in or what? You've never traveled light but that's taking the cake even for you."

Effie and Peeta exchanged a quick glance and she cleared her throat. "I will stay with Peeta for a little while."

"With Peeta?" he repeated, confused.

People were moving away from the tracks once more as the train got ready to leave and he ushered them on the dusty path that would take them back to the Village, carrying most of the luggage. Peeta had the rest and Effie was holding on to her glittery vanity case.

"The city is not exactly a nice place to be right now." she explained. "It is in ruins, far too expensive, and finding work has been a bit of a challenge for me."

His frown deepened. "You didn't say."

"I have been working as Plutarch's assistant but being the assistant of the Secretary of Communication has never been in my career plan." she dismissed. "I wasn't enjoying it and people do not always respond very well to my presence." That, he could understand. It didn't matter that she had been with the rebels during the whole war, people had still demanded her head once the fighting was over. She had been a war refugee and Coin had never granted her the same immunity as Plutarch… There had been some tension. And people were stupid. "Anyway." she sighed. "The children need me and I thought… Why not try for something new here? Peeta has plans to reopen the bakery, don't you, dear? He might need some help and…"

"So, you're staying for good." he cut her off, a bit short of breath because of the bags, noting the boy was wisely keeping out of the conversation. "That's what you're saying, yeah?"

"You did say not to be a stranger." She laughed her fake laugh. She was nervous, he figured, because they hadn't discussed it beforehand. "If all goes according to plan, then, yes, I think it could be permanent."

There was a moment of horrified silence as they passed near the ruins of the town and they glimpsed the things that gave Haymitch nightmares. He wasn't sure if they had cleared out what was left of the bakery yet and he made a mental note to check with Tom at the earliest opportunity. He didn't want the kid to accidentally stumble on the corpses of his family.

"And you're staying with the boy?" he insisted, once they were away from the worst of it and back on the dusty track that led up to the Village.

"Where else do you want me to stay?" she huffed. "I do not see any hotel in the area." He shot her a look, lifting his eyebrows, and she averted her gaze. "I am not sure that would be very wise."

"I'm okay with it." he offered with a shrug and found, to his surprise, he meant it. "Can't be worse than sharing that compartment in Thirteen. The house's big enough."

They hadn't officially shared a compartment, of course, but by the end of the war, all his stuff had been at hers and Plutarch had always been surprised when he had found him in the room they were supposed to be sharing. He had spent every free night he had in her bed.

"Are you certain?" she asked warily as they reached the metal gates.

"What's the worst that can happen?" He scoffed. "If it doesn't work, you can move out and go to the boy's."

"So, where do I carry the really heavy luggage?" Peeta joked.

"My house." he said firmly.

It was a quick job from there. Peeta didn't linger long, claiming he wanted to settle back in his house – and probably impatient to rush to see Katniss at the earliest opportunity. The moment the boy was gone, Haymitch pinned Effie to the closest wall, mouth hard and demanding against hers.

She chuckled. "Do you want me to move in with you just so you can do this every time you feel like it?"

"One of the perks." he snorted, letting his lips trail down her jaw and to her neck. He nuzzled the spot where her throat met her shoulder, basking in the smell of her. She was a little sweaty from the long train trip and it made his mouth water. "Missed you." The admission was made easier by the fact he wasn't looking at her. "Too fucking much."

She tightened her arms around him, resting her forehead on his shoulder with a small sigh of contentment. "I missed you too. I did not want a long-distance relationship. Not anymore."

"Good." he approved. "'Cause I think there's gonna be very little distance. Make that none at all…"

She laughed when he lifted her up and forced her legs around his waist, obliterating the very notion of space between them.

They had been apart too long.