Prompt : Haymitch and Effie are caught making out by Cinna and Portia and Effie tries to buy their silence ..XD

Domestic

"Stop that." Effie tried to sound stern but she couldn't help her giggling when Haymitch kissed her neck, his stubble tickling her skin. "Haymitch, I'm serious, we can't…"

"Oh, we can." he mumbled against her lips, pushing her deeper into the couch cushions. "We shouldn't, but we can."

It was late enough that the lights of the living-room car were off because no one bothered turning them on. This conversation wasn't supposed to end like that, she thought, they had started shouting after an embarrassing argument with Katniss and Peeta about how it wasn't proper for them to sleep in the same room. Effie had been the voice of reason there but Cinna and Portia had been reluctant to say anything and Haymitch, of course, had backed up the children like he always did. Katniss had been the first to leave, angry and flustered, quickly followed by Peeta and the stylists had flown once Haymitch and Effie had really started screaming at each other. How they had ended up sprawled on the couch, Effie wasn't absolutely sure but, then, she hardly ever was. It seemed every time they argued it more or less always resulted in the same way: with Haymitch's hands roaming on her body. She wasn't complaining about that.

"Let's get back to the bedroom." she breathed out when his hand ran on her thigh. Her skirt was riding dangerously high, his shirt was untucked and mostly unbuttoned, his hair was all tousled from her fingers brushing through it as they kissed… "Let's just…" She never finished her sentence because he was nibbling at her earlobe and she couldn't focus when he was doing that. "Haymitch…"

"Yes, princess?" There was a smile in his voice. Teasing and smug. She hated the fact that he had the upper hand so she hooked a hand around the back of his neck and pulled him in for a kiss that made him moan.

She didn't notice the lights at once. She thought it must have been a few seconds between the surprised gasp and Haymitch's curse, and then he let go of her and she was left staring at Cinna and Portia's amused but embarrassed faces.

"Sorry." Cinna smiled. "We didn't know anyone was still in here."

"I… We were…" Effie stammered, searching her mind for a convincing explanations. "We…" She looked at Haymitch for help but he only lifted his eyebrows and leaned in to snatch his glass from the coffee table where he had forgotten it earlier. He was obviously enjoying her embarrassment. That man would be the death of her.

"I think we have a good idea of what you were doing, Effie." Portia joked, not unkindly. "However, it would probably be… safer, shall we say, to take that up to one of your rooms? If Katniss or Peeta were to stumble upon you two…"

"Especially after all that talking about propriety…" Cinna added, to her upmost embarrassment.

Effie could feel her cheek getting more and more flushed by the second. "This is totally different."

"Yeah, we're actually getting some action." Haymitch snorted. "Poor Peeta, on the other hand…"

He grunted when she dug her sharp nails in his knee, but, really, he had asked for it. "What Haymitch is trying to say is that we're adults who are responsible and not boisterous teenagers who are acting on their hormones, isn't it?"

Cinna didn't seem particularly convinced by that explanation but neither did Haymitch. Haymitch however seemed to quickly understand that it was in his interest to agree with her if he wanted to be allowed in her room later. "Yeah."

"See?" Effie beamed.

Portia looked ready to burst out laughing but she hid her grin behind her hand. Cinna, on the other hand, only shrugged with a teasing smile. "Why, you should have explained it to Katniss and Peeta that way, earlier. I'm sure they would have been a lot more understanding."

"You can't tell them." Effie warned, alarmed. "They mustn't know. No one must know."

"Nice to feel loved." Haymitch mumbled but it was more for show than anything else. He had a calculating glint in his eyes. He didn't want people to know more than she did. They each had their reasons for that, but the main one was that relationships between mentors and escorts weren't encouraged if not openly forbidden.

"Because, perhaps, you would have troubles explaining to Katniss why she isn't allowed to do something you can do?" Cinna mused.

"You wouldn't tell her." Effie said, but she felt a little unsure. She sometimes had trouble understanding Cinna. He was always so mysterious and brooding and the next thoughtful and kind…

"Wouldn't I?" Cinna lifted an eyebrow. "Doesn't seem very fair to me."

"What do you want?" She studied him quickly. It often worked that way in the Capitol. Paying someone off was the quicker way to get rid of him. But Cinna had enough money of his own, Portia had everything she wanted and she couldn't think of a single thing to offer them. "Everything I can give, I will."

"Everything?" The twinkle in Cinna's eyes was more obvious now.

"Not everything." Haymitch cut in, suddenly tugging on her skirt which was still higher than it should be. She flushed even more at what he was implying but smoothed her ruffled clothing. "I would stop right there if I were you."

Cinna rolled his eyes. "Don't worry on that account, I'm not interested."

"Better not." Portia piped in, there was threat in her voice. "Or you will be in trouble."

"I want two hours off when we reached the Capitol." Cinna sighed. "You said it wouldn't fit in the schedule but I need them."

"Deal." Haymitch agreed. "Now go away."

"Manners, Haymitch." She scowled, getting up. "And I am the one going away." She stopped in front of Portia and Cinna. "You both will have your two hours but if I hear the smallest rumor about Haymitch and me, I will have my revenge."

She thought she heard Cinna say she could be scary once the door had closed behind her. She wasted no time in going to her room and taking out her schedules for the following days. Finding two hours to give the stylist was a conundrum and by the time she heard her bedroom door squeaking open, she was sitting cross-legged on her bed, surrounded by dozens of papers.

"Now is not the time, Haymitch, I am busy." she said without even looking up. He didn't reply but she heard him toe his shoes off and then, in the corner of her eyes, she glimpsed his shirt falling to the floor. "I'm serious." But, of course, it didn't stop him from coming to sit behind her, nor did it discourage him from rubbing her shoulders. "I have to rearrange the schedule, thanks to you." She would have negotiated other terms of agreements had it been left to her.

"Do it tomorrow." he said, taking off the pins that kept her wig in place. It didn't take long before her hair was loose on her shoulder and he started kissing her neck again as if nothing at all had happened. She tilted her head against her best judgment to give him better access but she kept her eyes on her papers.

"I can't." she hissed. "Stop doing that."

"Of course, you can." he grunted, nibbling her neck which prompted her to lean back against his chest.

She pulled his hand of her stomach and gave him her notepad forcefully. "Look."

He sighed but he humored her and studied the schedule for the next day. District Six. Everything was planned down to the very minute. She'd have no free time to devote to rescheduling the Capitol trip because the stylists wanted two hours for themselves.

"You forgot something." Haymitch said, pointing to her – perfect – schedule.

"I did not." she huffed in outrage, but she still snatched the notepad from him to glance it over. She couldn't see the slightest mistake.

"Sure, you did, sweetheart." She could feel his fingers patiently undoing the knots of her girdle dress which she didn't mind because those corsets were a bore and it would be nice to breathe more easily. "I don't see any slot with hot steamy sex on it."

"That's because I won't need one." she claimed in the sing-song voice that annoyed him so much.

"Wanna bet?" The dress finally came loose and he made it slid from her shoulders.

"I won't have time to reschedule everything later, Haymitch." It was a lost cause, though. His bare chest against her bare back was far too distracting. "I have to do this now."

"Cinna was teasing you, you know." He said, nudging the papers down the bed with his foot. "He won't tell."

"Even so." She raised her arms to let him get rid of her dress. "A deal is a deal. I gave him my word."

He sighed and kissed the back of her neck softly. "How long?"

She studied the papers scattered around them, estimated the time it had taken her to establish a schedule in the first place and winced. "Long."

"Alright." He sounded a bit disappointed and strongly frustrated. She felt bad when he got up. It had been months since the last Games and she had missed him but… "Here. You will get cold." He handed her his shirt before exiting her bedroom less cautiously than she would have liked. Cinna and Portia did have a point, after all. It wouldn't do for the children to realize their mentor and their escort were doing exactly what they had forbidden them to do. Well… Or rather, not doing, in that case. She slipped the shirt on, smiling at the familiar smell of faint liquor and just Haymitch, and went back to her papers. It hadn't been ten minutes before the door opened and closed again.

"No alcohol in bed." she reminded him, when she saw the bottle in his hand. She had one rule.

"That goes for when we have sex. We're not having sex." he argued. "So I'm drinking." She eyed the half-full bottle and tried to remember how much he drank that night. He looked clear-headed enough but you never knew with him. "Or I can go back to my room."

It was a challenge she was happy to lose. She waved that idiotic suggestion away and scoot on the side so he would have enough space to lie down next to her. He did, regularly swallowing a mouthful of wine but more generally watching her work.

"This feels domestic." she mused at some point, she almost had an alternative schedule figured out but it was late and she was tired so she doubted they would have time for 'hot steamy sex' that night.

"Yeah." Haymitch snorted, bringing the bottle to his lips once more. "When did that happen again? We're getting old, sweetheart."

She smiled at him. "There could be worse things, you know."

"Than being domestic?" He threw an arm on his eyes to block out the light. "Like what? Swallowing a bucket of nails?"

"Than getting old together." She rolled her eyes. You could always count on Haymitch to ruin a romantic mood. She stared at her papers, careful not to even glance at him. There was no telling how he would react to that kind of declaration. She shouldn't have said anything, of course. Their relationship, by mutual tacit agreement, was never defined or analyzed. They just were for a few weeks a year. It was all they could ever be. Wanting more would be stupid. At the end of the day, she would always be from the Capitol and he would always belong in Twelve. That would never change.

So she was surprised because, when he spoke next, his voice was wistful and, maybe, even a little hopeful. "You never know, sweetheart. It may happen."