A/N: So I started writing this a few days ago, intending it to be a short one shot thing, but somehow I couldn't stop and it turned into a huge word document of over 6000 words. In the space of a few hours... Procrastinating from work at it's finest! I like how it turned out, but I also wanted to create the shortened version for anyone who gets bored of reading lengthy stories. So I managed to work it down, though I couldn't get it any shorter than this as hard as I tried.
The extended version is available on my page, simply titled "Real [Extended Version]" if anyone wants to go and read that :)
It wasn't love at first sight. It wasn't even love at second sight, or third. In fact, if anything, it would be described as loathing at first sight. Effie was the prim, proper and eccentrically made up Capitol butterfly. Haymitch was the drunken Victor and mentor of District 12.
She hated his attitude towards the tributes, and was disgusted at the way he would drink himself into a stupor at all hours of the day rather than help them. He hated everything she stood for; she chose the names of the unfortunate children who would be going into the arena and she didn't seem to care. It was all a game of fashion and status to her.
Most of the time they ignored each other, having at some point come to an unspoken mutual agreement on the matter. On the odd occasion they did speak, it almost always ended with raised voices and one or the other storming out of the room.
At least the Games were only for a few weeks. The rest of the year they could spend doing exactly as they pleased without a second thought of each other.
It wasn't until the 74th Hunger Games that things started to shift between them. The way Katniss had volunteered to take her sister's place as Tribute had moved Effie. Never had District 12 had a volunteer, and for that reason alone Effie knew that Katniss was not their ordinary Tribute. Perhaps this year they finally had a chance.
So she had sought out Haymitch, and gone on at him enough that he went to see Katniss and Peeta if only to see what Effie was making such a fuss about. Then he had seen their potential. Over the following weeks, they worked together to prepare the children for the arena in the hopes that one of them might make it out alive. Never had they believed in their wildest dreams that both Katniss and Peeta would be crowned victors, making history.
Of course, that came with consequences. There was only ever meant to be one victor, and in her refusal to kill Peeta or herself, Katniss had defied the Capitol. Effie knew that there would be a price to pay even before the new victors arrived back in the Capitol, though she painted on a smile and celebrated with everyone else.
It was during the Victory Tour that Haymitch became the first one to see behind the mask she now wore, and the two became close as they tried to protect their Victors, offering each other a comfort that came from knowing they were not alone.
Their relationship only grew as they moved into the Quarter Quell and found themselves once again watching Katniss and Peeta in arena for the 75th Hunger Games. Only Haymitch and Effie could understand how the other felt, and consequently they spent their time sitting side by side on the sofa in the penthouse, watching and waiting. Their only comfort came from knowing the other was there with them.
Haymitch had kept the truth about the rebellion from Effie, wanting to make sure she could honestly say she knew nothing after the Victors had been extracted from the arena. But when the time came to leave, he knew he couldn't go without her. He knew all too well that the best case scenario was that Effie would be imprisoned and tortured, but that there was a good chance she would be killed. It had also come to a point where he couldn't imagine not having her around, though he would be loath to admit that, so he had persuaded her to go with him, only divulging the details once they were on the Hovercraft and heading to the arena.
They had been separated for some time in District 13, what with Haymitch being isolated while he endured withdrawal symptoms from the absence of alcohol, and the subsequent therapy that was designed to help him cope.
Strangely, the biggest help of all was when he was released and saw Effie. Even just the sight of her, so different in the grey standard issue clothing of District 13 and the matching bandana she used to hide her hair, was enough to make him feel that little bit safer.
Reunited, it was almost as if they had never been parted. They provided comfort to one another, and spent most of their waking hours together. When the Capitol bombed District 13, Effie had been so frightened that Haymitch found himself holding her tightly, whispering to her as she shook. Eventually the bombing ceased, and after a while Haymitch glanced at Effie to see she had fallen asleep, his arms still wrapped around her. He smiled a little, marvelling at how right it felt.
Everything happened so quickly after that. The Victors being held prisoner in the Capitol were liberated after what could only be described as an extremely touch and go mission, and Peeta was found to have been hijacked so that he believed Katniss was a mutt he had to destroy.
They remained strong for Katniss, reassuring her that things would be ok, but when they were alone together they shared their fears, staying up talking or simply sitting in a comfortable silence until such a time that they usually ended up falling asleep in the same compartment, though they remained in separate beds. That is, until the horrible night when the Capitol declared Katniss, Peeta and the rest of their squad fighting in the Capitol had been killed. That night, they had shared one bed, falling asleep as they held each other. It was the only way either of them could find any sort of rest that night.
Soon after, it was discovered that Katniss and Peeta were alive after all, and within days the rebels had taken the Capitol and the war was over. Haymitch and Effie were flown to the President's mansion, and the world was rocked once again when Katniss shot the arrow meant for Snow into the chest of Alma Coin, who had been leader of the rebels in District 13.
Haymitch had no choice but to take Katniss back to District 12 after that. She would be pardoned, Commander Paylor assured them of that, but they had to wait until things had calmed down.
Effie bid farewell to Katniss, hugging her tightly, before turning to Haymitch. He leaned in, and she offered him her cheek which he planted a kiss on. He pulled away, and she smiled at him, and suddenly he leaned in again, his lips meeting her own. The kiss lasted barely a second, but it spoke louder than anything he could have said to her. As she watched Katniss and Haymitch walk to the hovercraft, Effie fought back the tears.
It was the evening after Paylor was sworn in as President. Effie was in attendance at what was the biggest celebration of the year. And yet, as those around her smiled and laughed as they danced, her own smile felt all too false. With the exception of a few changes resulting from the Districts gaining some independence from the Capitol in terms of keeping their own produce, the city Effie had grown up in was much the same as it had always been. But she wasn't.
She was no longer the Capitol butterfly she had always been. She no longer cared for these high society parties, nor for the latest fashions. She may be here in the Capitol, but her mind and her heart were elsewhere.
So she set her affairs in order, renting out her apartment to her old friend Stalia Valentine, and selling most of her dresses and wigs. It was surprising how much they were worth simply because they were now considered a historical item due to her having been a Hunger Games escort. Then she packed up what little she had left and boarded a train.
There was a moment as she waited on the porch for the door to open when she wondered if she had done the right thing. What if she had been reading too much into that kiss? What if she was making a huge mistake in coming here?
But the moment the door opened and Haymitch's shock turned to joy, she knew she was where she was supposed to be.
It wasn't love at first sight. It wasn't even love at second sight, or third. But it was real.