While you were sleeping. By Effrinae Trinx.
xxx
It was pushing into the early hours of the morning, Haymitch and Effie had been waiting patiently, to see their victors, since sunset.
The waiting room was now completely vacant, apart from the two of them and nothing, but the hum of the air conditioner, could be heard.
It was just frustrating now, both Haymitch and Effie were dying to see Katniss and Peeta. But, there was protocol and procedures to follow, before the pair could be released back to their Mentor and Escort, and since there were now two victors, it was probably the main reason why it was taking so long.
Haymitch suddenly felt a warm pressure at his shoulder, he had almost fallen asleep himself, but as he felt the petite blonde, dozing off beside him, he gave her a light nudge to wake the both of them up.
"No sleeping on the job, princess. And do I look like a pillow?"
Effie tutted and rolled her eyes.
"My apologies, grumpy." She let out a long sigh and craned her neck, it had become a little stiff from the wait. She stretched it to one side and gave it a gentle rub.
"Shouldn't be too long…" Haymitch mused, playing, absentmindedly, with a loose thread on his jacket sleeve.
"You said that two hours ago, Haymitch" Effie whined, batting at his hands. She couldn't have him pulling at that thread. What if the whole darn thing unraveled! Haymitch tutted, reading her thoughts.
He looked at her with a furrowed brow.
"Well, excuse me for being so god damned wrong all the time." He moaned, shifting uncomfortably in his seat "maybe you should get some sleep, you're snappy when you're tired…grumpy"
There was a tense silence between them, for a moment. After a minute or so, and not wanting to argue today, Effie sighed in surrender.
"Sorry…" She breathed, stretching her arms and legs out in front of her, it felt good to do so but she was drained. "I am a little tired. Maybe just five minutes"
With a huff, she let her shoulders slump forward and began to pull her pins out from her yellow wig. Haymitch suddenly became very intrigued by her actions and tilted his head to watch as she placed each pin down, one by one, in a neat little pile on her lap and then lift her wig free from her head. Soft, braided, honey blonde hair sat upon the spot in which the wig had left. Effie pulled out another pin and Haymitch watched, enthralled, as her braid unraveled down one side of her neck in soft waves, all the way down past her shoulder.
"What are you doing?"
Effie sighed and rubbed her neck again.
"I want to rest for a while, I don't want my hair getting ruined" she patted the short, yellow bound of curls in her lap before setting it on the seat beside her.
"What do you even wear that for?" He quizzed. Like he'd never asked her before and she'd never told him a thousand times
"Same reason you wear those god awful boots I suppose!" She mocked, nodding towards his feet
"What…for comfort?"
"There you go" She closed her eyes, wanting to end their discussion, but he continued.
"Obviously not! If it was so damn comfortable, you wouldn't need to take it off to rest" He argued. Effie opened her eyes again and focused on him, irritably.
"I told you, I'm taking it off because I don't want to ruin it, not because its uncomfortable!"
"Ruin it? That thing is like a solid rock! How much hair spay do you use?" He leaned over her and tapped at it but she pulled it away from him, with a sour look on her face.
"I'm sleeping now" Effie stated, pushing him back from hovering over her. She was done with talking now, but Haymitch was enjoying himself. After another bout of silence, he spoke up again
"Thought you'd be bold under that thing….you wear it often enough!" Haymitch mused, raising another eye roll from his escort.
"It's fashion, darling."
"Why can't you just 'fashion' your own hair?" He asked, tugging on a twisted lock and surprising himself by noting how silky it felt to touch. He liked the feel of it between his fingers and continued to entwine them through her waves. Effie watched him, with a raised eye brow.
"My own hair? Ugh, so very district…" She eventually batted his hand away. "Plus it's so long and unruly, it'd take me twice the time to get ready in a morning"
"Oh golly!" Haymitch teased, in his best Capitol accent "we couldn't possibly have you taking any longer than you already do!"
She punched his arm playfully and he retorted with a chuckle.
"Now, hush up" she commanded "I'm closing my eyes and I want you to be quiet"
Silence fell upon them, again.
Haymitch huffed at the sudden loss of interaction between them. She kicked off her heels and rested her feet on the chair opposite. Then, leaning back a little, she wiggled her petite hips until she had slid down in her chair, far enough for her head to rest on the back of it.
"Wake me when they're here" she sighed softly, sleep already faltering her quippy accent.
"Yeah, yeah" Haymitch replied and mimicked her pose, lifting his dirty boots up onto the chair across and getting a little more comfortable.
Xxx
He hadn't realised he'd nodded off too, until he woke up. Looking at the clock, he realised he'd been asleep for more than 30 minutes now, and yet, there was still no sign of the kids. He let out a grumpy sigh and that's when he felt the silky hair, tickling at his jaw.
He tilted his head and saw Effie's small frame, curled up against the side of his. Somehow, she had managed to move her feet from her spot on the chair across, onto his. One foot hooked, lazily, over his dirty boots, the other, crossed at her ankle.
His eyes followed up the length of her legs, slender and long and resting gently with his. He followed them up to the hem of her skirt, which had hitched further up her thighs, ever so slightly, making her legs look endless. Her arms, he then noticed, were linked with one of his, her little hands, gripped delicately at the cuff of his jacket and her head rested, just above his shoulder, in the crook of his neck.
As comforting as it was, to have a woman draped over him, it was still slightly wrong. Having the woman be his irritable escort, made the whole situation feel rather awkward.
He thought, to wake her would be cruel and probably embarrassing for her, so he tried his best to slide over to the next seat.
No such luck.
Shifting her weight away from him slightly, just made her cling on to him stronger. He gave up after a minute or so of pushing and pulling and decided to just watch her sleep instead.
Some of her face powder had rubbed off slightly, onto the shoulder of his jacket. It didn't bother him much but he knew it would bother her. She hated him looking scruffy whilst on Capitol duty. To save a lecture later, he brought a hand up to his shoulder and tried to dust it off. The movement made Effie shift slightly, her nose brushed the skin of his neck causing a sort of chill. A good chill. Weird, he thought.
She let out a small sigh and her breath tickled at the skin that was exposed behind his open collar. She smelled floral and he wondered, for a second, if she tasted floral too. Her lips looked plumb and juicy and he found him self edging even closer, to get a better look.
She was actually strangely beautiful, he thought, as he watched her sleeping at his side. A tendril of honey, blonde hair had fallen across her eyes and without thinking he caught it in his fingertips and brushed it away, accidentally tickling her cheek.
She stirred at his touch and her eyes fluttered open suddenly, catching Haymitchs deep grey eyes in her own. His face was inches from hers and It made her gasp, but he pulled away before she could.
"What…what are you-" she eyed him suspiciously shaking the cloud of sleep from her head. That's when she noticed her positioning.
"Oh! Haymitch I- I'm so sorry, I-" in a fluster, she untangled her foot from his boot and her arms from his arm and sat bolt upright, straightening out her hair and clothes. Haymitch couldn't help but smile at the little blush that had crept upon her cheeks, it was him who had been caught out but, properness and etiquette were Effie's undoing and she was mortified.
"Nice sleep?" He teased, not wanting the air between them to become tense. She smiled a little before lowering her head and regaining herself.
"Nice view?" She quipped back, catching him at his own game. But his response caught them both of guard,
"Beautiful"
They looked at one another, thoughtfully. Questions burned on the tip of Effies tongue as thoughts and feelings burned up inside of Haymitchs gut.
Effie took a breath to speak but just as her lips parted, to form the words, the doors of the waiting room slid open and in poured their two victors looking flush and over whelmed.
Peeta ran into Effie's arms first and Kat into Haymitchs.
"Congratulations, sweetheart. You did it. You won!"
"And we're so very very proud of you both!" Effie squealed, pulling an unwilling Katniss into a messy embrace. Haymitch and Peeta shook hands and exchanged pleasantries.
"Right you two! Let's get home! Tomorrow's a big big day!" Effie chimed, twirling her hands in the air and forgetting the state in which she was undressed. "We must be up and alert in 5 hours! They'll be meetings and interviews, Cinna will want to start on the victory tour outfits, I need to start on your speeches, Haymitch has all the sponsors thank and…and to…to…." In all the excitement, Effie hadn't seen the unenthusiastic and exasperated looks aimed toward her. The children were tired, as was she and Haymitch. "Tell you what, no meetings tomorrow. Take the day off. There's plenty of time for all of that before we leave for 12 in a few days. Get some rest"
The children smiled, thankfully, and hurried on ahead, out of the waiting room.
"Nice work sweetheart." Haymitch smiled. His arm came about her shoulders and he pulled her In to him gently. "You're getting better at this"
"This?" Effie questioned, unsure whether he meant her actions with the kids or her willingness to let him touch her.
"Yeah….you know…being less of a bitch" He grinned, tossing her her yellow mess of curls and tucking her shoes under his arm, to carry.
"HAYMITCH ABERNATHY!" She scolded, pushing him away with force. He couldn't contain his laughter as she marched ahead with the children, wig in hand and a burning in her cheeks.
Definitely, he thought.
Definitely strange, yet oh so beautiful.