Prompt : I just love your stories! Could you perhaps do a fic where Effie has to wash a car or something and Haymitch and the prep team and Cinna and Portia etc are just staring at her. Then Haymitch mocks her for ages afterward saying she's a tease and yeah... (Maybe like 75th games?) thanks!

More Than That

The buzzing sound of the television was a background noise as Portia and Effie reviewed their clothing options for the interview with Caesar, the next day, not really minding Cinna and Haymitch who were whispering in a corner of the room, so low she didn't know how they could hear anything given how loud they had turned the TV, but obviously having a tense conversation. Haymitch's frown kept deepening and Cinna's face grew more and more resolved. Katniss and Peeta had already gone to bed.

Portia was just suggesting that she should wear her green dress when Effie noticed that the men had been strangely silent for some time, no more banging glasses on the table, no more anxious chatter… She glanced at them to find them gaping at the giant screen on the wall. She didn't understood at once what was so fascinating, from what she could hear it was a documentary on some charity work that had been done in favor of people from the south of the Capitol who had been left homeless after a huge storm a few years back. A lot of people had contributed at the time, she could remember…

She had a bad feeling all of a sudden and when she looked around Portia to actually see the screen, she let out a shriek. "Turn that off!"

She ran to the coffee table as much as her heels allowed her to and wildly looked around for the remote but it was nowhere in sight. Her next targets were the two men standing next to the couch, staring with wide round eyes at the television which was displaying a carwash organized to collect money for the victims. Now, there would be nothing wrong with that if her younger self hadn't been lasciviously polishing an expensive black car, absolutely drenched, and clad in nothing but a short pink dress that stuck to her skin like a second skin, she didn't even have a wig on and her damp blond hair were stuck to her face. Modeling had been hard in the beginning. It wasn't as bad as the other girls, most of whom had been wearing white and had done everything they could to catch the cameraman's attention, but it wasn't very glorious either. Nothing she was proud of, anyway, charity or not. She finally spied the remote in Cinna's hand.

She launched herself at it but Cinna – and was that done on purpose or was it instinctive? she couldn't say – threw the remote at Haymitch. Portia was a blessing, of course, as soon as she recovered from her initial surprise, she was there with Effie, smacking Cinna's head with a disapproving look and ordering Haymitch to turn off the television.

Haymitch, obviously, was having none of it. His eyes didn't even stray from the screen as he raised the remote above his head, far from Effie's reach. She jumped, she clang on his arm, she even tried to push him but he didn't relent and he probably would have continued to make her suffer if Portia hadn't unplugged the television, effectively turning it off.

"You both should be ashamed of yourself." the stylist declared, arms folded.

Cinna graciously bowed his head in regret but Haymitch only laughed. "I'm not the one who's sprawled on cars half naked… Why should I be ashamed?" Effie didn't whack his arm, she didn't smacked it, she simply and violently slapped it. The sound of it echoed in the silence but it only made him laugh harder. "Well, you shouldn't be ashamed either, sweetheart! I'm half sorry I don't own a car…"

"Enough." she yelped, feeling mortified. "I was young and…"

"You don't need to explain yourself, Effie." Portia cut in, kindly. "They should know better and act like proper gentlemen."

Portia stared at Cinna until he winced. "My apologies, Effie. I don't know what came over me."

"I do." Haymitch chuckled, openly staring at her.

Effie's cheeks flared a brilliant red. "You are a pig."

"And you are a tease." he retorted "So that should make us good friends."

"I am not a tease." she protested, before remembering where she was. "Manners, Haymitch! You don't say that kind of things to a lady in public."

Cinna and Portia were clearly uncomfortable now.

"Does that mean I can tell you in private?" Haymitch snorted.

"I think it's time for us to go." Portia said before she could explain exactly how badly that conversation would go for him. "It's late and there will be a lot of work to do tomorrow."

Effie walked them to the elevator, trying hard to pretend nothing embarrassing had happened – fortunately, thanks to years of dealing with Haymitch's behavior, she was more than used to that kind of exercise. She planned on going back to her room directly and avoiding Haymitch until it would be strictly necessary for them to talk but when the elevator doors closed and she turned around, he was there, leaning against the wall and looking at her.

"So, you're blonde."

It wasn't what she had expected him to lead with. "Leave me alone, Haymitch."

"Oh, come on…" he sighed, but he seemed contrite enough. Again, not what she had expected. "Are you really angry?"

The corridor wasn't a place to have that kind of conversation, Avoxes could pass by, and she knew he wouldn't let the matter drop so she headed back to the living-room, she was not surprised to hear the sound of his footsteps following her. "No. I'm humiliated. Which, I suppose, was your aim so congratulations, you won."

"There's nothing to be humiliated about." he rolled his eyes, slumping down on the couch. "Well, I'm not sure there's much to be proud of either, but…"

"You should have turned the television off when you first recognized me." she snapped, going over to the liquor cart – newly devoid of liquor to Haymitch's constant despair – and poured herself a glass of apple juice. "That's only proper."

"Yeah, see…" he snickered. "Proper isn't really my thing. You, washing cars and looking all sexy, on the other hand…"

"Haymitch!" she screeched. "You can't say things like that."

"Why? I've said worse." he frowned, studying her. "Why does that make you uncomfortable?"

Did it? It was true he had said worse things along the years. It was actually kind of flattering in a way but… "It's not the problem." she said, placing the glass down on the cart. She wasn't thirsty anymore. "This is… objectifying and humiliating. I regret doing that. I don't want my friend looking at me and thinking about that. This is… This is a fantasy, I'm a real person."

"I suppose it would be really improper to mention I fantasized about you long before I saw you sprawled on the hood of a car?" he smirked, but his voice was light enough that she knew he was joking or, at least, partly joking.

"Highly." She picked up the glass again. Her mouth felt parched all of a sudden. "Also, impractical. We have the Quell to worry about."

"Well, Cinna and Portia are polite enough to act as if nothing happened." Haymitch shrugged. "So, I don't see a problem."

"You are a problem." she complained. "The way you're looking at me right now is a problem."

He seemed to be enjoying her obvious mortification a little too much. "How am I looking at you?"

He was looking at her as if he wanted nothing else than drag her into his bedroom and keep her there indefinitely which, for some reason, was starting to have its effect on her because she wasn't as opposed to that very idea as she should be. "You know very well what I'm talking about."

He didn't falter under her accusing glare, he just waved her objection away. "I always look at you like that, sweetheart. You look at me the same way. We're usually happy not discussing it so why are we talking about that right now?"

Her glass clang when she put it down more violently than strictly necessary. "Because right now you're thinking about me washing cars and doing things and that's not who I am." She turned her back on him and walked to the bay window. The streets below were busy as ever, hundreds of cars lights going one way or another, people walking about… Even at night the Capitol never slept. "You want my body but I am more than that." She had become self-conscious after she had started modeling. Her beauty was her mean of living and that had become upsetting after a while to be reduced to her mere physical appearance. That was in part what had motivated her to quit being a model, of course, she had understood a tad too late that being an escort was exactly the same thing. They didn't chose unattractive escorts. They wanted beautiful, bubbly, happy escorts and so her appearance was still her prime concern. She had to be beautiful, she had to please, she had to seduce. She wanted to be more than that, she was more than that.

"Where does that come from?" he grumbled. She heard the couch squeak when he got up to join her by the window. She didn't look at him even when he propped himself against the glass to watch her. "Effie, if all I wanted from you was sex, I would have slept with you years ago and not bothered to get to know you or become your friend." She felt tears burning her eyes and she folded her arms protectively, feeling strangely vulnerable.

"What make you so sure I would have slept with you back then?" she scoffed, but it was weak because they both knew that if one of them had made the first move the other would have followed. There had been a spark from the very beginning.

"Honestly, I don't see what it matters that I've seen that video." Haymitch sighed, clearly annoyed with her. "I wanted you yesterday, I want you today and I will want you tomorrow. My imagination had a little push today, so what?" He placed a hand under her chin to make her look at him, his eyes were softer than his voice. "Granted that doesn't hurt, but I don't want you because you're gorgeous, I want you because you're clever, kind and sensitive. I want you because you give as good as you get and never let me boss you around. I want you because you care about the kids when nobody does." His hand trailed a little on her cheek and then he stepped back. "Don't tell anyone I've said something so soppy, they wouldn't believe you anyway."

She couldn't help but laugh quietly at that last part. "How can you be so infuriating and then say beautiful things like that?"

"Part of my charm, princess." he winked. "Now, are we good?"

"You're still infuriating." she sighed. "But I accept your apology."

He rolled his eyes. "This wasn't an apology."

"I take what I can get with you." She joked.