I had a kick out of modern aus this year, what can I say? XD Hope you enjoy!

Prompt : 3. You made me a Christmas playlist but it's just Mariah Carey's "All I want for Christmas is you". I can't tell if you're hitting on me or if it's a joke

All I Want For Christmas

Christmas at her parents' house was never hectic but it was never quiet either. There were always people around because Elindra Trinket had to throw the best parties, even for Christmas that should by all means be a family gathering, and throwing the best party meant Effie had to help out – or, rather, be the slave her mother dearly wished she could have found under the tree instead of the Cartier new diamond watch her father had purchased for her.

She didn't manage to escape the throng of people until well past noon to find some calm in her old bedroom – now converted into a general bland guest room. She found her phone, checked her messages, she quickly shot a text back to Portia but dismissed the rest and finally opened her last calls tabs.

Haymitch's name wasn't hard to find since he was the one she called most often.

She tapped on his name and sat on the bed while waiting for the call to connect. There was no guarantees he would pick up. He was bad at answering his phone on a normal day so at Christmas, when he would be overwhelmed by the activity at Finnick's and Annie's…

She felt the lump in her throat and swallowed it back down. If she closed her eyes, she could picture it perfectly. How nice Christmas at their place would be… How much she would rather be there rather than here…

She hadn't known all those people very long but the moment she had met them all through Peeta, she had felt connected to them like the missing link of a chain. It might only have been months since she had more or less taken Peeta in but she felt like she had known all of them for years. They were a tight unit and they had welcomed her with open arms because of what she was doing for the boy and…

"Yeah?" Haymitch answered, sounding bored and a bit fed up.

She didn't let his gruff attitude get to her.

Aside from Johanna – and in a lesser measure Chaff – he had been the toughest of the lot to get to know. And yet because they were around the same age and the children were dating, they had been forced into each other's presence more often than not over the last few months. The fact that they were more or less in the same situation: raising teenagers that weren't legally or biologically theirs but still felt more like family than their own flesh and blood, had cemented a strange sort of friendship between the two of them. A friendship that expressed itself in more or less aggressive banter that badly disguised the flirting. At least, she was pretty certain it was flirting. He was a hard man to read and for all his leering and innuendos, he had never tried to properly ask her out. Or kiss her.

"Merry Christmas, Haymitch!" she cheerfully replied.

She got a long suffering groan in response.

He wasn't as much a fan of Christmas as she was and if it hadn't been for hers and Prim's efforts, his house would have remained sadly undecorated. Even Katniss had gotten into it eventually though. He was blaming her for all of it or so he claimed.

He couldn't be that angry at her. The previous day, when she had dropped off Peeta at his house before her late flight, he had instructed her to text her when she landed. And when she had texted him, right before passing out in bed, he had answered with a thumb up.

She would have brought Peeta with her ideally but she knew the boy would have much more fun with their friends. And she couldn't get out of Christmas with her parents. She had tried. Her mother had put her through such a guilt trip over it…

"How is Peeta?" she asked when it was clear he wouldn't wish her a merry Christmas back. She figured the children had dragged him to Finnick's kicking and screaming – or maybe Prim had simply asked with a pretty please; it was a good thing the girl was so nice and well-behaved because she certainly could make him do whatever she pleased.

"Haven't killed him yet." he grumbled. "Even if there's mistletoe all over my house suddenly for mysterious reasons no one wants to explain to me…" Which probably meant the children were making out and making him uncomfortable in the process. "Boy seems alright to me."

"I will call him later." she promised even if he hadn't asked. And if she had already called Peeta first thing that morning. "How are you doing? Having fun?"

He let out a long sigh that implied she should know better than asking. "There's eggnog."

She couldn't help but snort. "Have you found my present yet?"

She had left them with Annie so everyone would have something from her under the tree. She would have gone all out but there was apparently a rule in the group of friends that presents had to be handmade or under ten dollars. She supposed it made them more precious than if they had simply been purchased – and also, truth be told, the others were on more of a budget than she was.

"Yeah." His voice softened a bit. "Thanks." She had knitted him a scarf in soft navy blue wool. "You liked the playlist?"

Her stomach did that weird somersault thing that it tended to do when he touched her. It had certainly done it in the plane when she had launched the playlist he had linked her to as an early Christmas present the previous day. He had said it was a Christmas playlist to get through the long flight but…

"About that…" she hesitated, not wanting to say the wrong thing. "Was it… a joke?"

She and Haymitch didn't have the same sense of humor. He found things hilarious that left her completely nonplussed.

It would have been just like him to put the same song twenty times just to annoy her.

Or he was trying to tell her something, a little voice at the back of her mind hopefully whispered.

"What?"

She could hear the frown in his voice and she closed her eyes, feeling stupid for mentioning it. But it would be even stranger not to mention it, wouldn't it? Either it was a joke and she would make it weird by not calling him out on it or it was purposeful and then…

Time to go all out, she supposed.

"I suppose it was a little funny." She made her voice light. "Do not worry I did not read anything into the choice of song."

"What song?" he insisted.

"Or did you want me to read something into the choice of song?" she continued, making sure her voice was just teasing enough that she could claim she was joking if need be.

"What are you talking about?" he asked, sounding puzzled. "You didn't like it? Thought you would like a Christmas-y playlist… I put all the classics in there…"

It was her turn to frown. She looked down at her free hand, inspecting her manicure. "It was All I want for Christmas is you. Twenty times in a row."

"What? No, it wasn't." he scoffed. "I mean, yeah, I put it on there but it wasn't… There were others…" He stuttered to a stop. "You think I…"

"Well, what did you want me to think?" she cut him off. "Either you were having a laugh at my expense or you were hitting on me… It did not occur to me that you were technologically challenged." Her voice rose in irritation and she curbed it back into something calm, pleasant. It wasn't Haymitch's fault if her imagination had run wild. "My apologies."

"I ain't technologically challenged." he snapped, then paused for a moment and snorted. "Fine. Maybe I am but I had Prim check it over and everything." He paused again. "Shit. Wait a sec."

"Why? What is going on?" she asked, worried someone had gotten hurt or…

"Just need to check something with a little missy." he mumbled. There were some shuffling sounds and distant muffled voices so she figured he had covered the phone. It was almost five minutes before he spoke again. She had time to touch up her make-up in the meantime. "Still here?"

"Yes." she sighed, a bit annoyed – and vexed to have read too much into something that was clearly an accident. "What was wrong?"

"Nothing." he scoffed. "Just Prim trying to play matchmaker. She changed the playlist behind my back. It was supposed to be stupid silly Christmas songs. To cheer you up, you know."

Because she hadn't really hidden that going home to her parents wasn't her idea of fun…

"Why did she change it?" she asked. "It does not sound like her to make practical jokes…"

He hesitated. He must have also been moving around because the sounds of voices in the background slowly decreased until she heard the telling noise of a door being shut. Somehow, it pleased her that he had sought a quiet room to talk to her. It made her feel important. Which was ridiculous on a lot of levels but…

"She's been on my case about you." he admitted.

She froze. "What do you mean?"

She had thought Prim liked her. They had spent some good times together. She had taken the girls shopping once or twice because Haymitch couldn't be bothered… They had had fun… More often than not it was Prim who asked her to stay for dinner – and if she stayed long after the girls went to bed, well, she hadn't thought it was bothering the teenagers…

"She wants me to…" he stopped and scoffed and she could just picture him rubbing the back of his neck. "She thinks I should ask you out."

"Oh, so she wasn't pulling a joke on me because she hates me!" she exclaimed with relief.

There was a long, long silence. "Won't even ask how you got to that conclusion but, yeah, no… She doesn't hate you, no. She wants me to take my head out of my ass and take you on a date."

"I see." she hummed. "And?"

"And I don't do dates. You know that." he pointed out.

She did know that. They had established that in the first few minutes of their acquaintance when she had suggested they grabbed a cup of coffee sometimes.

"So, to be clear, you do not object to her matchmaking, you simply object to the dating?" she retorted, poised.

He snorted. "Ain't thrilled she went behind my back and tanked my Christmas gift, if that's what you're asking…"

"I mean you do not object to potentially sleeping with me?" she clarified. She blamed the white wine she had been sipping all morning. White wine went straight to her head, particularly on an empty stomach – no way she was touching the food with her mother around, she would just get a remark on how much weight she had gained lately.

Again, there was a very long silence.

Finally, he found his voice again. "Pretty much thought the dating was the only way to get there."

"Perhaps you thought wrong." she remarked. "Perhaps I do not need fancy dates and restaurants. Perhaps I would be happy to simply… be."

"Yeah?" He sounded hopeful and, maybe, even a tiny bit happy. "You would?"

Would she? She usually insisted on dating when she was serious about someone but… There was something about Haymitch. Something she couldn't quite explain. She had felt it from the very beginning.

"You do know that what we have been doing could be considered dating in a way…" They did things together: they came over for dinner with or without the children, they had gone to a movie one time or two… It was all very friendly – except for the flirting and the occasional not too innocent touching – but… "We could keep doing all that and have sex. I would be fine with that."

"Maybe I'm gonna get Prim that fancy phone she wants but won't ask me for." he decided, as if he was talking to himself.

She chuckled but forced herself to temper her enthusiasm. "I… I would like us to be exclusive though. I mean… I suppose if you want to still see other people..."

"You're a handful and we ain't even doing anything yet." he scoffed. "And I've got two teenage girls, remember? When do you want me to find time to juggle you and other women?"

Her grin was so big it almost hurt. "Well… Alright, then."

"I'll pick you up from the airport." he offered.

He was so eager that it made her laugh again.

"My car is already there." she reminded him. "I will come pick Peeta up. Straight away."

"Good. You can stay for dinner. We'll kick the kids out." he decided.

"Haymitch!" she chided, still laughing.

"What? They can go see a movie or something." he dismissed.

She was all nervous flutters now but it was the best sort of nervous flutters.

Her mother could tell immediately that something was different when she came back downstairs but she wouldn't say a word. She didn't want Elindra spoiling it.

She wanted to bottle that feeling and keep it forever.

I hope you enjoyed this! Let me know your thoughts!