Hello! I love your Hayffie stories and decided to leave my own prompt. What if while in prison Effie was made a sleeper agent to kill Haymitch but he didn't know until after some time.I think that the Capitol would know that they would not win the war so they decided to torture Haymitch with someone he cares about. Almost like them getting the last laugh. Maybe add Peeta and Katniss as targets too? Perhaps even have a happy ending despite all the anguish? Thank you so much for all your writing❤️
Programming
Eyes kept following them but Haymitch ignored the soldiers who had colonized the Presidential Mansion after the surrender. He knew why they were staring, knew what they were thinking, but he didn't let go of Effie's hand either way. He wouldn't be shamed for publicly acknowledging what she was to him. Not now. Not anymore.
Besides, Effie had grabbed his hand a little after they had left the hospital wing behind, clearly overwhelmed with the outside world. And given that she had spent the last few months in a Capitol prison, he couldn't blame her. The last few weeks of recovery had been enough for her to readjust but he was pretty sure it would be a long road. He was just grateful she didn't seem too angry with him.
She flinched when a soldier unexpectedly switched his gun from one shoulder to the other.
"Not too far now." he told her, glaring at the guy who had startled her even if it wasn't really his fault.
"I am fine." she whispered, aiming for strong but sounding frail.
He was relieved when they arrived at his suite and he unlocked the door quickly, ushering her in and away from the rebels. He didn't trust them with her.
She took a few steps around the room, her blue eyes sweeping over the surrounding mess, and she licked her lips. "This is your room."
He picked up a jacket he had tossed on the floor the previous night and placed it on the back of an armchair, thinking that maybe he shouldn't have made it so clear that the cleaning staff was unwelcomed in his absence. He just didn't like the thought of strangers touching his stuff – and no doubt snooping because he and Coin weren't exactly best friends at the moment. She would have liked the place better if it had been tidied and clean though.
"You can have the bedroom. I'll take the couch." he offered.
The suites at the Mansion were huge. There was a small living-room complete with a TV set and a large selection of movies, a bedroom with a bed so big it could have easily fitted three people and a bathroom with a large shower and a bathtub that could have doubled as a pool.
Plutarch would have had gotten her a room of her own but Haymitch had refused, arguing that they could easily share. He didn't like the thought of her being out of his sight, where she could easily have an accident. She really wasn't the rebels' favorite person right now, what with all the escorts, Gamemakers, prep teams and stylists being tried and executed. Despite his deal with Coin, he didn't want to take any risk.
"I do not mind sleeping with you." she countered, turning around with a small hesitant smile.
Everything had been hesitant between them since her rescue.
She didn't seem to be able to make up her mind. Sometimes she held him so tight he could barely breathe and begged him to embrace her back in the same fashion. Sometimes she shouted at him to leave her room and never come back. He always came back, of course.
The fact that they hadn't really managed to get some alone time didn't help. There had always been a nurse coming and going, a huge glass window giving on the corridor to make them feel like fish in a tank, or Plutarch dropping by unexpectedly.
"Probably better." he snorted. "I don't think I'd really fit on the couch."
She glanced at the sofa and chuckled.
He held his breath when she stepped closer to him. She placed her hands on his shoulders and then slid them around his neck, raising on tip toes so she could tuck her head under his jaw… He hugged her back, closing his eyes in relief. He didn't think it would fade anytime soon: the relief of knowing she was alive.
"I miss you." she breathed out.
"I'm right here, sweetheart." he promised.
She drew back, framing his face with her hands, her gaze searching his with such an intensity that it made him frown.
"Are you?" she asked and she sounded so lost…
He leaned in a little, thought better of it and hesitated, leaving her time to break this before it started but she simply stood there and waited so… He brushed his lips against her in a chaste kiss. "Right here."
He didn't intend for the embrace to be more but there was nothing chaste to the way she captured his mouth. He followed her lead, groaning when she deepened the kiss and automatically stepping back when she nudged him against the wall. Her kissing became frantic and he got so lost in it, he barely noticed she had attacked his clothes until he felt the zipper of the grey jumpsuit give under her fingers.
"Slow down, Effie." he murmured.
"I do not want to slow down." she retorted, a hint of anger in her voice. "I want you."
"We don't have to…" he tried to mumble because the last thing he wanted was for her to feel pressured into having sex with him. She had just been cleared and released from the hospital, he wasn't sure she was even ready for this.
"Haymitch." she growled in that bossy tone that meant business and he stopped trying to protest to roll with whatever she had in mind.
He tried to be gentle with her but for his every stroke, she scratched. He licked and she bit. He tried to be sweet and she was all rough and violence.
And it turned him on.
Which, given her battered body and the new pinkish scars on her skin was probably sick of him.
When she pushed him on his back on the bed and straddled his thighs, he let her have her way with him, thinking it might have been the safest way to do this at this stage without injuring her further. Even if she was riding him like there would be no tomorrow.
His hands were on her breasts when hers slid up his chest to his throat. He didn't feel it at first, too enthralled by the sight of her head thrown back in bliss as she sought her pleasure… But then her fingers squeezed.
He immediately grabbed her wrists, trying to pull her hands away…
She squeezed harder, riding him faster, her moans increasing…
Haymitch pulled on her forearms but her fingers were digging hard in his flesh and he couldn't breathe anymore. He rolled them over before he could really start to feel dizzy, using the momentum to free himself from her grip.
"The fuck?" he spat at her, forcing her hands above her head on the pillow and keeping them there.
She blinked, her blue eyes confused for a moment before they filled up with tears. "I am sorry. I… I am sorry. I did not… I…"
She was so obviously distressed that he let her go to cup her cheek, kissing her slowly until she relaxed again, rocking his hips back and forth at a gentler pace than the one she had previously kept.
"Ain't into that." he mumbled against her lips. Being chocked or dominated like that… It really didn't float his boat. Not to say it woke up demons he'd rather keep asleep.
"I know." she whispered, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and burying her face in his neck. "I know. I am sorry, Haymitch. I… Maybe we should stop."
"Stop." he repeated, licking his lips and trying to tell his hips to do just that. It wasn't as easy as it seemed. He was a little too far gone to just… stop on command.
"I do not want to hurt you." she muttered against his neck. "I will hurt you again. I am sorry."
He closed his eyes and counted to five and then he rolled off her and to the side, clenching his jaw because… It had been months without her. Months. And now that he had almost had her again… He couldn't just turn it off. He was hard and throbbing and desperate for her…
"Are you angry with me?" he asked in a strangled voice. He needed to finish this one way or another but he wanted to clear that out first.
"No." she denied, curling up on her side. She was upset. It was plain to see how upset she was. And he blamed himself. He should have stopped things earlier before it had even begun. He had known it was too soon. "I do not know why I do half the things I do. I think I am going crazy."
"You're too hard on yourself." he told her frankly. "You're doing better than everyone expected." She shrugged and he sighed, running his fingers through her blond hair a few times. It was short now, they had to cut half of it after her rescue. It barely reached her chin and it was all wild curls. "Get some rest, yeah?"
She looked alarmed. "Don't leave me, please."
"I ain't…" he hesitated. "I ain't leaving you, sweetheart. Just need to take care of…" He waved at his throbbing erection and she blushed, looking a little guilty. She didn't offer to help him out though. He awkwardly got out of bed and to the bathroom. His hand was a poor substitute for her, even more so now that he had just had a vivid reminder how that felt…
He caught sight of his throat in the mirror when he was washing his hands afterwards and winced, poking at the tender flesh that would more likely be bruised black and blue come morning. He wasn't sure what had gone through her head. Choking wasn't something either of them liked.
She hadn't been paying attention, he told himself, and she was still recovering.
She had been through something traumatic and that triggered weird reactions. It was all it was probably.
She was curled up under the sheets when he came back to the bedroom, apparently asleep. She had also stolen his shirt, which made him relax. They would be alright. It had just been too soon for that sort of intimacy. Too much too fast. He should have known better than give in to her.
He put on sweatpants just in case she woke up and panicked at finding a naked man in bed with her and then climbed in, making sure to leave some space between them. After five minutes of his intense staring at the ceiling, she rolled over in her sleep and snuggled against his side, sighing in relief when she found his warmth. With her tucked against him, he drifted off.
He wasn't sure what time it was when the mumbling woke him up.
They had moved away from each other during the night and he was now on his stomach, facing away from her.
"I love him." she was whispering and he wasn't sure but he thought she was rocking on herself. "I love him. Wait until you're in bed… Wait until you're in bed… No! No, I love him. I won't hurt him. I love him." He frowned as he started to properly wake up, disturbed by her murmured ramblings. Was she having a nightmare? It sounded like she was having a discussion with someone else but they were alone in the room. "When you've made him vulnerable… When you've… No. No, no, no. I won't. I won't."
He switched the light on and turned to try and comfort her…
And immediately recoiled when he caught the glint of a blade in her fist. Not just any blade either but his own knife. He should have remembered to toss it away from the bed. She must have found it under the pillow and…
"Sweetheart…"
She didn't even flinch.
She was rocking back and forth, still muttering to herself…
"When you are in bed together… When you are in bed together…" she repeated as if it made any sense.
"Effie." he tried again, more firmly.
Her blue eyes darted to him and he was alarmed to see she was crying.
"Get away from me." she begged. There was no other word for it. She begged.
"You're having a nightmare, sweetheart." he said gently, trying not to think about what she could be remembering. Getting someone in bed to make him vulnerable in the hope of hurting him wasn't the kind of situation that sounded good. And if she had needed to do something like that… "It's alright. You're with me, yeah? You're safe. It's all over. You're…"
"Get. Away. From. Me. Haymitch." she snapped, detaching each word clearly.
The thing was… She sounded lucid enough. She looked lucid enough. He was too familiar with night terrors not to make the difference.
She was so tense, she was shaking.
"Okay." he gave in with a frown, slowly inching closer to the edge of the mattress and away from her. "Wanna tell me what's going on?" She shook her head, tangling her free hand in her hair and pulling so hard he was concerned she would hurt herself. "Don't do that." he chided, reaching out…
The knife slashed in the air and it was only instinct that prevented him from getting badly cut.
"I'm sorry!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening in horror, more tears rolling down her cheeks. "I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
He had a bad feeling and he couldn't help remembering all the times Peeta had attacked Katniss. All the times the boy had…
She had tried to strangle him earlier.
It hadn't been an odd kink she had wanted to try, it had been… Real. She had tried to strangle him.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked uncertainly, lifting both hands in a peaceful gesture. "I won't hurt you, Effie. I'd never hurt you. You know that, yeah?"
Not physically at least.
As for everything else… Well, he had done little else than hurting her for the last ten years.
"Please, get away from me." she insisted. "I don't want… I do not want to hurt you. Please, do not make me."
He decided humoring her was the safest option for now, for both of them, so he got out of bed but didn't wander far. "Drop the knife, sweetheart. It's gonna be alright, I promise. We'll find out what's going on with you. It's all gonna be alright."
"I have to kill you." she murmured only to immediately hit her head with the handle of the knife. "No. I won't. I won't."
"Alright. Good. I'm all on board the not killing me plan, Effie." he hurried in saying, taking a step closer, stopping himself from reaching out again at the last second. "Don't hurt yourself, Princess. Just toss the knife. Toss it away."
"I do not want to hurt you." she said again, sounding desperate.
"You won't." he replied confidently. "You didn't, right? You could have but you didn't so you won't. Toss the knife." The fingers wrapped around the handle of his knife were shaking. "Effie…"
"I'm trying!" she shouted in frustration. "I'm trying but I can't! I can't! I can't…" Her voice cracked and she started to sob. "I want to…"
He licked his lips, considering…
And then he just moved without any warning. She looked up in fright, lifting her arm as if to stab him but he had expected that and he blocked her attempt, twisting her wrist until she let go. He quickly kicked the knife off the bed and wrapped his arms around her tight. She struggled and screamed so loud it ended in a raw whimper. And then she slumped against his chest.
He didn't dare let go of her wrists though, only too keenly remembering the strangulation attempt. His neck was sore.
"I'm gonna take you back to the hospital wing, alright?" he asked after a few minutes. She didn't try to flee or attack him again. She just kept on crying. He dared try to let go of one of her arms and she didn't hit him so he coiled his hand around her nape and squeezed gently. "You didn't do anything, sweetheart. Whatever they did to you… They fucked up. You're fucking too strong for their mind tricks."
"When we are in bed together and you are vulnerable…" she whispered, sounding exhausted. "I am a danger to you now."
Trust Snow to hit where it hurt… He never allowed anyone to sleep in his bed. Effie had been the only exception to that rule in decades. That the Capitol would use the unlimited trust he had in her and turn it into a weapon…
He wasn't even surprised.
"They didn't find any traces of tracker-jacker venom…" he mused out loud.
It had become standard testing after Peeta, particularly for people who had been prisoners of the Capitol and who were close to key rebels. There had been no traces of that.
But, of course, it didn't mean the Capitol didn't have other ways of programming someone.
It didn't seem to have worked so well on her though. Maybe it was just a traditional conditioning, some brainwashing to be activated with a trigger, and they could break it. She hadn't attacked him when she had clearly been programmed to… It must have meant something.
"We're gonna fix whatever is wrong with you and we're gonna be okay." he promised. "You and me. You believe me?"
She took a long time to answer, her breath rolling against his naked shoulder a few times before she finally spoke. "I trust you."
It wasn't quite the same thing.
But they could work with that.