Pmpt :Haymitch notices peeta doing romantic things for katniss all the time and that makes him think tht effie might get tired of him not being romantic so he goes to peeta for help.

In Our Way

"Ah, kid…" Haymitch snorted, leaning against his backyard fence. "You're making me look bad."

Peeta paused on his way to his own house, amusement all over his face, and came closer so they could talk without shouting. "Why?"

He nodded to the bunch of wild flowers the younger man was carrying. "You're spoiling your girl. It's getting me in trouble with mine."

Peeta brought something home for Katniss almost every day. When it wasn't flowers, it was cupcakes or paintings or something… nice.

Mostly – and he would have denied it if pressed – Haymitch found the whole thing cute. Peeta liked courting Katniss even though they had been together a couple of years by then and Katniss enjoyed being spoiled. They were still young. In his opinion, it was all fine.

The problem was that Effie had been increasingly hinting that it wouldn't kill him to take a leaf from the boy's page from time to time.

Every time Peeta brought flowers back for the girl, Effie would look at him and pout. When Peeta had actually bought her a necklace shaped like an arrow for no apparent reason that they were aware of, Effie had gushed over the present for hours and had then refused to talk to him all night – he hadn't even tried to initiate sex that day.

"Maybe you should try to do something nice for her." Peeta pointed out, chuckling a little.

He shrugged. "I do plenty of nice things for her. Just this morning I made her breakfast so she didn't have to choose between burning down the house or starving."

The boy stifled his laughter out of loyalty for Effie and Haymitch couldn't help a smirk because it was only a slight exaggeration. It had long been established that she shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a stove.

It wasn't that he took her for granted, not at all, never again after the war… It was just… He didn't like all that shit. He was too old to give her candies and ribbons and flowers and what not. He knew she would love him to be more like one of her Capitol suitors but… It just wasn't him. Not anymore.

But it didn't mean he didn't do things for her. Cooking to make sure she got fed was one of many. He often brought her a mug of her favorite tea late at night when she couldn't sleep and he always rubbed her shoulder when it hurt and he also sometimes brushed her hair for her and…

"You know… I've got a bunch of those pastries Effie likes so much." Peeta offered. "You know… If you want to…"

"If I bring her chocolate cakes, she's gonna ask me why I'm trying to make her fat." Haymitch deadpanned. "And when I tell she's not fat and could gain a few pounds on, she's gonna rip me a new one for saying she's too skinny. Thanks but no thanks."

Peeta took that in stride and winced in sympathy. "Fair enough." He held out his flowers. "How about some of those?"

He snorted, his eyes twinkling in amusement. "I show up with flowers she's gonna ask me who I cheated with. She's impossible to please, that's the thing."

Peeta shook his head. "The two of you are the weirdest couple I know."

Haymitch shrugged. "We work in our way."

"Strange way, you have though." the boy remarked.

Strange ways, maybe, but he wouldn't have tried something more common with anyone else for all the gold in the world.