may i prompt? : haymitch rsurprises effie by wearing a nice suit and briging her flowers for no reason at all

Hunting Flowers

Haymitch had grown used to someone sneaking in his bedroom at odd hours and thus he didn't over-react when someone shook his shoulder before retreating at a safe distance. He groaned though. And buried his face in the soft hair under his cheek before realizing that if there was soft hair spread over his pillow, there was no way the person usually sneaking in his bedroom could be the one trying to get him awake.

He opened his eyes and rolled away from Effie toward the potential threat only to be confronted with Katniss' lifted eyebrows. The girl was staring and… Yeah, maybe she hadn't been entirely aware of where Effie was spending most of her nights, her stuff was still in the guest room and that was where she usually started the evenings before nightmares chased her to his bed, but… That was no reason to stare like that.

They were wearing pajamas, after all. It could have been worse.

"What's wrong?" he mumbled, his voice rough from sleep. Next to him, Effie let out a small irritated whine and curled up further under the blankets. She was a light sleeper but the night terrors had been bad and she was exhausted. He didn't think she would wake up unless they started talking much louder. He felt around the nightstand for the alarm clock because no sun was trickling past the curtains and the girl was strangely silent. Five o'clock. Fucking too early. "The boy had an episode?"

That was the next logical question.

It wasn't like she was in a habit of showing up in his bedroom in the middle of the night for no good reason.

Katniss seemed to snap out of whatever spell she was under. She stopped staring at Effie with that weird mix of realization and shock and shook her head. "Do you want to come hunt with me?"

He studied her for a moment, the words not making much sense, and then rubbed his face with another groan. "It's five fucking a.m."

She shrugged. "Best time for hunting."

There was something on her face, something she wasn't telling him. And now that he was more awake, he could see she was indeed dressed for the outdoors. She had her leather jacket on and her bow over her shoulder.

In all the time he had known her, she had never ever asked him to go hunting with her. Probably because he had never ever expressed any interest.

He sighed, sat up and glanced at Effie who was still dead to the world, a small wet patch on the pillow next to her mouth. That made him smile despite himself. She would deny drooling in her sleep to her dying breath. He thought it was strangely cute.

He slipped out of bed and waved her toward the bedroom door with a muttered request for some coffee. The girl seemed strangely relieved to see he was wearing pants despite his bare chest and he would have rolled his eyes if it hadn't been too early for him to care what she thought. Probably she had showed up at his door in the morning enough times to know he liked sleeping naked better – but it was her own fault, if she barged in without knocking, she wouldn't see what she didn't want to see – unfortunately with Effie sneaking into his bed at random times, it wasn't an option for now. They were taking it slow and he wasn't about to force his nudity on someone who still suffered from flashbacks and panic attacks.

Grabbing clothes suitable to go out this early in the morning – spring or not, it was chilly at this time of day – without waking Effie up was difficult but he managed. When he finally entered the kitchen where the smell of coffee greeted him, he had found thick pants and a flannel shirt. He barely hesitated a second before spiking the mug the girl handed him with some moonshine.

He drank his coffee while putting on his boots. The house had an eerie quality of silence to it, like it always had at night. A little frightening if you listened to it too closely. He glanced back at the kitchen's threshold, a little reluctant to leave Effie alone while it was still dark. She didn't deal well with darkness or loneliness. But Effie was sleeping, the sky was already lightening and Katniss wouldn't have fetched him unless it was important.

They didn't speak until they had left the Village behind and were halfway to the woods. Haymitch burrowed in his jacket. It wasn't that cold, not really, but it was chilly enough to make him miss the warmth of his bed and of Effie's body curled up against him.

"So?" he asked when it became clear Katniss wouldn't. "Why did you drag me out of bed so damn early?"

"Sorry." she answered with obvious resentment. "I didn't know you wouldn't be alone otherwise I wouldn't have come."

The resentment took him aback.

"You can come any time you want and you know that." he scowled. "What's your problem, girl? You wanted me to come hunt with you, I came. Don't see what who sleeps in my bed has to do with you."

She mulled that over and the tension left her shoulders a little. Maybe it was because they had finally reached the woods and she had drawn her bow. There was comfort to having a weapon in hands, he could understand. It might have been a little more than a year since the war but he still carried his knife everywhere.

"Why didn't you tell us about you and Effie?" It was a little too accusative for his taste. As if it had been a huge secret he had kept from them on purpose.

Well…

They hadn't exactly been advertising what they were, to be fair. And, to be even fairer, he wasn't even sure what they were lately. She had showed up on his doorstep a few months earlier for a visit that was verging on turning into something more permanent – not that they had really discussed it – and more problems than he knew how to deal with. The time she had spent in the city had done little to help her deal with the aftermath of her stay in prison. She got upset easily, scared even more quickly and she didn't seem to know what to do with herself.

They kissed, they cuddled, sometimes they made out… She always stopped it before it went too far and he didn't want to push.

"There ain't much to tell." he countered. "And I'm pretty sure Peeta's aware, for that matter." That made her frown and she tossed him a look that had him shrugging. "Look… Effie and me… It's complicated. Always been. I'm guessing that ain't what you wanted to talk to me about."

She sulked and kicked a bush out of her way to access what turned out to be an empty snare. The sky was turning pink now and it was light enough that they could see perfectly well around them. Haymitch plucked up a bunch of purple flowers from a nearby patch to keep his hands busy.

"How long has it been going on?" she insisted.

He rolled his eyes. "Give or take a decade."

That wasn't the answer she had been expecting, he could tell. She froze, her hand still hovering over the empty snare and looked at him with wide eyes. "Seriously?"

"Seriously." he sighed and then tossed the flowers aside to pick some more, leaving more of a stem so they would last longer. "Enough about this. You…"

"So… You were already together when… You were together when we were in Thirteen?" the girl cut him off.

And wasn't that a question worth a million bucks. "Not exactly. Like I said. Complicated."

And he had no intention of going over it with Katniss of all people.

The girl watched him for a moment and then started walking again. He followed after her, toying with the flowers he was still holding.

"She's not well." Katniss said. "She's been pretending ever since she arrived but… She's not well. Don't take advantage."

He scoffed. "Listen here…"

"It's not that I think you would." she interrupted. "It's just… She's Effie. And you hate her."

"Now you're being stupid." he snapped.

Katniss shot him a glare but it soon turned into concern. "She doesn't look good, Haymitch, and you never hinted you even liked her. I wasn't expecting to find her in your bed."

"Well, first, maybe you should learn to knock." he retorted. "And, second, let me worry about Effie, alright? We've known each other a long time. Might sound weird to you but we know how to take care of each other. Now. Are you ever gonna tell me what's wrong?"

Leaves rustled somewhere in the distance and, before he could understand what was going on, Katniss had let an arrow fly. A bird of some kind fell out of the sky and they headed in that direction without discussing it.

"Peeta asked if I wanted to get married." she finally confessed.

His eyebrows shot up. "The boy proposed?"

He should have known it was boy troubles. With her, it was always boy troubles.

And he was a little hurt Peeta hadn't talked to him about it first. Not that the kid needed to but… That was the kind of decisions you talked about with your old mentor, wasn't it?

"No!" she protested a little too quickly. "I don't think so. He asked for… Later."

"Ah." he said, relaxing a little. It was too soon for the kids to commit to anything long term, he thought. Sure, they had been together a while and he was pretty sure they would stay together but… They were young and they had been through a lot. And if the mere mention of getting married someday threw Katniss into that kind of panic, it tended to show they weren't ready. "What did you say?"

"That I needed to think about it." she replied.

So that was what they were doing.

"Okay." He shrugged. "Wanna talk about it?"

"Not really." she answered.

"So you just dragged me out of bed for the pleasure of my company?" he snorted.

"You need exercise anyway." she shot back.

He rolled his eyes but he was smirking. They didn't talk much after that but he figured being together was enough. By the time they ended up on the way back home, Haymitch was holding a bunch of flowers of various colors that he had picked up while Katniss checked the snares.

"Thanks." she said as she left him not too far from his house to go back to hers.

"Anytime." he grumbled. "But maybe not so early next time."

It couldn't be much later than seven and he never got up that early to begin with. He was still grumbling when he pushed the back door and entered his kitchen. The words froze on his lips when he spotted Effie sitting at the table. She had been turning a butter knife between her fingers, an untouched glass of orange juice the only thing she had taken out for breakfast.

Not that he was surprised by that. If he didn't feed her she tended to go without. Food was a delicate question nowadays.

"You're up early." he commented, bending down to untie his boots before she could accuse him of dragging dirt everywhere inside the house.

"Where were you?" she breathed out in a shaky voice. "I woke up and you were nowhere to be found…"

He let out a deep sigh and toed off his boots. "Katniss wanted me to go hunt with her."

Disbelief and curiosity battled on her face but she relaxed a little.

"Were they very difficult to catch?" she mocked, nodding at the bunch of wild flowers in his hands. His lips twitched but he handed the flowers to her anyway. She smiled back, smelled them and stood up to fetch a vase he didn't even know he owned. "What is the occasion?"

"No reason." He shrugged. "I was bored and they were there."

"What went through her head to bring you hunting at dawn?" she chuckled. "And you should have warned me yesterday. I was starting to get worried."

"Wasn't planned. She showed up this morning. You slept through it." he told her, pouring himself another cup of coffee and putting some bread in the toaster.

"Oh." She winced. "What did you tell her?"

"That she should learn to knock." he snorted. He stood behind her when she put the flowers on the table, placing his hands on her shoulders. "It's alright, sweetheart…"

"Thank you. They are beautiful." she hummed, placing her hands on top of his.

"Less than you." he offered even if it was cheap. Or maybe because it was cheap.

It made her laugh and that was all he wanted.