Prompt: Haymitch gets jealous (74th games where Effie is with Seneca?) thank you if you write this up!:)

Too Late

Effie wasn't hard to find in the sponsors lounge. Unlike the past years where she usually was desperately trying to get someone's attention, she was now in the middle of a cluster of sponsors who all wanted to bet for the girl on fire. Haymitch wondered if she liked it better that way : being courted instead of being the one doing the courting. It got worse once people saw him, though, because they all wanted to talk to him, to congratulate him for having a worthy tribute at last, to offer Twelve their money… He wasn't used to that kind of attention. Sponsors, he knew, were to be approached like a difficult mistress, yield too soon and she would get bored with you, wait too long and she would be gone. Katniss was safe enough for now, striking deals with the girl from Eleven. Peeta, that was another matter entirely, but no one had offered to pitch in for the boy yet.

It took him several minutes to extract both Effie and him from the crowd and drag her to an isolated corner of the room.

"I need you to find me a way to Crane." he said, as soon as he was sure they wouldn't be overheard.

Effie was too used to his quirks to let anything show on her face but he caught the flash of fear in her eyes. Odd. What could she be afraid of?

"If this is a joke…" she sighed, but he waved the rest of her sentence away.

"Katniss isn't likeable enough." he whispered. "The tables are going to turn on her. We need to push the love story forward a notch. I need to speak to Crane."

She glanced around them to make sure nobody was paying attention to them. They weren't the only mentors and escorts discussing in that fashion in the room but that year was special. That year, they might win and everyone knew it.

"We need to find sponsors for Peeta." she disagreed. "He needs medicine, and…"

"Peeta won't make it out." It sounded harsh and cold but that was the truth and she must know it as she did because she avoided his eyes. "It's Katniss we need to focus on. If we can help the boy along the way, good, but if I have to bet on one of them…"

"You like her, I know. I've noticed." She let out another sigh. "But you won't be able to see any Gamemaker. Neither mentors nor escorts are allowed to…"

"I didn't come to you to hear you recite the guidebook, sweetheart." he growled. "Can you find out where Crane is or not? Leave the rest up to me."

She seemed to waver and then checked another time that no one was spying on them before leaning in a little. Her voice was so low he had to really focus to hear her. "There is a staircase behind the Gamemakers room. He will be there at eight, tonight, but you can't tell anyone."

He frowned, taken aback. He had expected a lot more ferreting and sneaking around before finally finding out how to approach the man. "How do you know that?" Why was she aware of Seneca Crane's whereabouts before he had even asked her about it?

She looked distinctly uncomfortable. "We are seeing each other. You don't tell this to anyone, Haymitch."

"You're sleeping with the Head Gamemaker." Saying he was stunned was a complete understatement. She had never said she was dating anyone, least of all…

"Haymitch!" she whispered furiously before whacking his arm. Her cheeks were flushed. "That's hardly proper."

"You're sleeping with Crane." he answered, in the same tone. "Are you mad?"

She seemed ready to throttle him. "Since when do my private business concern you?"

"Since…" Always. "Never mind that. Why are you sleeping with that man? Because if you're doing that in hope he's going to favor Twelve…"

She whacked his arm again, a lot more violently. "I don't like the things you are implying." she warned him. "Seneca is a good man and everything I do isn't related to my job."

"Well, you do him and he's clearly related to your job." he scowled.

She glared daggers at him. "You're walking on thin ice, here, Haymitch."

"Yes?" he said, not bothering to keep his voice low anymore. "And what are you going to do about it, sweetheart? Complain to your boyfriend?"

Some people shot them curious glance and Effie winced. "Are you trying to get me fired? I could lose my job over this."

"Then why are you sleeping with him?" He couldn't understand how she had ended up with someone like that. Crane was arrogant, vain and, in Haymitch's perfectly valid opinion, ugly. Seriously had she seen his beard? "Are you trying to get fired?" Not that he could blame her for that… If he could get fired, he would take his chance.

"What I do and with whom is none of your concern, Haymitch." she hissed.

"It is very much my concern!" he roared, forgetting for a second that they were trying to be discreet.

Every eyes in the room turned to them and Effie looked as if she had just eaten a sour lemon. "I am not doing this with you." She turned around and marched out of the sponsors lounge which only served to anger him more. He couldn't pinpoint exactly why he was angry but he was. He stomped after her, not even slowing down when Chaff tried to stop him with a "trouble in paradise?", he caught up with her at the elevator. He flung himself in the cabin just as the doors were sliding shut.

"How long has this been going on?"

She purposely kept her back to him. "I don't see why you care so much."

"Yeah, well, I don't know either!" he shouted.

She turned to face him, then. She folded her arms and stared at him with a stern face. "And don't you think perhaps that is precisely the problem?"

"What?" What could she mean?

"You're like a child who wants a toy only because someone else is playing with it." she snapped. "And I am tired of being treated like that."

"I don't want you." He sounded petulant and every bit the child she was accusing him to be.

"Then, I don't know why we're having this discussion." The elevator chimed and she pressed the button that would take him to the Gamemakers level, stepping out before he could say anything else. There was only one thing swirling in his head : too late, and it made him want to punch the wall.