Prompt idea (if you're taking them): The scene in the thg script in which Effie is telling Cinna and Portia of the time she was engaged to two guys and stopped talking when she saw Haymitch. The story behind that and/or Haymitch's reaction to it idk, something funny.

Their Loss, His Gain

Haymitch could hear her talking all the way from the elevator. She was always so loud... He heard half the story of her having being engaged twice before he reached the living-room and the fact that she abruptly shut up and plastered a fake innocent smile on her face when she saw him come in amused him to no end. The topic, to her audience's puzzlement, was quickly swept under the rug.

Haymitch didn't let anything show.

He preferred to bide his time.

"So..." he snorted against her neck later that night, as he worked on the lacing of her corset – always too tight, always impossible to unknot and he rarely bothered at all when he had a knife at the ready which he didn't right at the moment. "You got two people to ask you to marry them? How did you do it? Witchcraft?"

The knot finally gave in and he lost no time in tugging on the lacing, freeing her from that torture instrument.

"Is it so hard to imagine men would desire me to the point of marrying me?" she huffed. "You certainly do a lot of lusting after me yourself."

"Yeah, but I wouldn't marry you." he scoffed.

That might have been a tiny lie. In another time, in another place...

"Ruffian." she muttered under her breath.

"It's not like you're the marrying type either." he pointed out. "You called it off twice. Or do you have a secret husband on the side? Should I be worried I'm going to get murdered by your jealous husband, sweetheart?"

The corset dropped at her feet and he turned her around to work on the wig. She didn't always let him remove it but that night she folded her arms over her naked chest and simply pouted while he took out pin after pin. He wanted to touch her so badly – but he also really wanted a drink and that wasn't happening any time soon with the Quell and everything – exercise in restraint, he should call it.

"What would I do with a jealous secret husband?" she retorted. "You're already secret and very much jealous."

"I'm possessive, I'm not jealous." he lied. He was jealous. He hated it when she danced with sponsors, wriggled against them in a desperate attempt at swaying them into giving her money... He hated all of it. "Why did you call it off?" He was curious. It wasn't like her to pass on the opportunity of throwing a gigantic party – twice.

"Do you know of a single married escort?" she replied, lifting an eyebrow as if it was obvious. "They would have asked me to step down and replaced me. You wouldn't have liked that a lot, I think."

He frowned, his hands frozen on her golden nest of synthetic hair. "So what? You're saying you never got married because of me? 'Cause that stupid, sweetheart."

Stupid and a little frightening and it also made him want to roar with something akin to possessiveness.

"I never got married because... It didn't feel right." she argued.

He resumed removing her wig and tossed it on the dressing table, ignoring her glare.

"Why not right?" he insisted. "You said yes in the first place since you were engaged. Must have felt right then."

"Because..." she sighed, stressing the word so much he understood he was really aggravating her. "...they didn't want to marry me, they wanted to... to... possess me. I wouldn't have been any more than a trophy wife and I hated the idea of it."

Her eyes were firmly averted, her mouth pursed... He didn't think she was truly annoyed. She looked... upset.

"Effie..." he winced, feeling a little sorry he had even broached the subject at all.

"They didn't love me, just the idea of me." she concluded. "They loved the escort and the fame that went with it but me... I am not even sure they realized when I forced myself to smile. You always know when I do."

"'Cause I know you." he argued, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

"My point precisely." she said, before looking at him again, one of those fake smiles on her lips. Her voice was too cheerful to be trusted too. "Now. Are we going to talk all night or are you going to take me to bed? Because I am standing here naked, you are doing nothing and it's frankly beginning to be insulting..."

He chuckled and kissed her. But he wasn't so easily distracted.

"Their loss." he whispered against her skin.