Prompt: i still love 3 your Hayffie-fics and i know i'm not being fair as you probably already got a ton of prompts but here's another one: Haymitch and Effie meeting his escort from when he won his games. i would be delighted if you could find time and inspiration for that. - 13Fische

The Former Escort

The bickering ended, like it almost always did, with Caesar's booming laughter and Effie pouting at him. Haymitch relaxed a little against the uncomfortable sofa he and his escort were sharing, sweating far too much under those hot spotlights, impatient for the host to bring that painful interview session to a close by bringing up his next topic whatever or whoever it was.

He hated interviews.

Effie's knee discreetly nudged his and he figured she wanted him to stop slouching even though their time was practically over. She was sitting prim and proper with her back straight, her head high and her ankles crossed. He made a face at her and the pout deepened, not so much for show anymore – he saw it at the narrowing of her eyes.

"Now, if the two of you are quite finished making eyes at each other…" Caesar teased, triggering a vague of laughter in his audience. Effie immediately protested but she was shushed over by the host's louder voice. "I have a treat for you, Haymitch. A surprise, shall we say."

Caesar turned to the audience and winked.

Haymitch tensed.

He didn't like surprises as a rule and he hated the Capitol version of them even more.

He risked a glance at Effie but she looked puzzled. Because he knew her well, he could tell she was also a little bit wary.

"Yeah?" he asked, forcing a chuckle. "Is it one of those bottles of brandy you served at your last party? Cause that was good."

Caesar laughed again. "I am afraid not but, never fear, I will have one of those delivered to you later. No, no… It is much better. Someone who was dying to say hello. Someone you have not seen in a long time if I am not mistaken. You two were very close at some point. You could say she was like a second mother to you, even. Do you have any idea who it could be?"

Haymitch frowned.

"Mags?" It was a shot in the dark but she was the only one who would have fitted all the cases. Except he had seen Mags the previous year and, while she hadn't traveled to mentor this year, it hadn't been that long since…

"Ah, no, not our beloved Mags…" Caesar shook his head. "It is someone you met for the first time during the Second Quarter Quell… Well? Does it ring a bell?"

"Oh dear." Effie breathed out, too low for her mic to pick up, clearly having connected some dots he wasn't aware existed.

He searched her face, looking for a clue…

Caesar must have picked up on it because he zeroed in on her like a hawk on a mouse. "You have an idea, Effie, I can see it…"

Effie's fake bright smile was on full display. "Would it be Karola Kingley by any chance?"

Haymitch groaned. Literally, he groaned. In the mic. And there was no hiding it either even when he tried to disguise it as a cough.

This time, the nudge came from Effie's elbow and, while it must have looked perfectly accidental, it was actually very painful because it hit his ribs just right.

The warning was clear but he still glared at her.

"Well done, Effie!" Caesar praised, sweeping his arm out in a theatric gesture. "Karola Kingley, ladies and gentlemen!"

His old escort, his first escort, the one who had picked up his name and sentenced him to the life he was currently living strolled on stage. He bundled his hands into fists, half expecting a flashback to his Reaping, but she looked so different than what she used to that he managed to remain composed. The last twenty years hadn't been kind on her and plastic surgery had clearly been involved at some point. She had feathers protuberating directly from her temples, her skin had been dyed a pale blue and there was a huge greenish tattoo covering her forehead and half of her cheek.

She waved and smiled and curtsied like a child and he found the whole act pathetic.

He had hated Karola from the start. She had been dismissive, mean even and, in the absence of a victor, she should have been mentoring them a lot more than she had bothered to do. When he had won, she had suddenly dotted on him only so she could wedge her way onto every picture and later tell pathetic tales to the press about how she had been the only one there for him when he had woken up at the hospital or after he had learned the death of his family… In his absence and because he had been too young and too naïve to know what to do about it, she had constructed a whole story designed to make herself look like a benevolent angel.

She had been promoted a year after the Quell and it was a small mercy he hadn't been forced to work with her long. It was bad enough he had had to see her at Games events for the following five years before she became old news and found a wealthy husband. Marriage had given her a gracious way out of the escort job, everyone had known the Gamemakers wanted her to step down anyway.

"Now…" Effie whispered, covering her mic under the pretense of fixing the collar of her dress. "Be civil."

He scowled.

He wasn't sure how much Effie knew about his past with that woman but…

"I must protest!" were Karola's first words as she took the seat Caesar pointed her to. "You say I was Haymitch's second mother… I was much too young. And he was so cute…" She flashed him a too white smile that Haymitch answered with a deeper scowl. "Besides, I don't think I betray any secret when I say Haymitch dear had a crush on me at the time, do I, honey? It is water under the bridge now, of course…"

She added a polite patronizing laugh that made him clench his jaw.

Caesar looked at him, assessed his mood and quickly turned to Effie. "Have you ever met Karola, Effie? Do you look up to her as Twelve's former escort and the second one to boost a victory for that District?"

"Oh, I think us escorts always look up to our predecessors with great respect." Effie nodded with a grin that was a little too sharp. "With age comes wisdom, after all."

The gibe made Haymitch relax because Karola glared at her from the opposite seat.

"Haymitch did make quite a fuss when I was promoted…" the former escort recollected fondly even though nobody had asked her anything.

"Yeah…" Haymitch cut in. "I took out the champagne and threw a party."

And it had been quite the party. Chaff had literally rolled under the table.

"To celebrate me." Karola's smile was hard. "You did say you would never get another escort like me."

"And thank fuck I was right." he deadpanned.

Although Viola Summercket might have come close if not worse…

"Because I was the best." the woman purred.

Effie shifted, which didn't escape Caesar's notice.

"Do I detect a tiny hint of jealousy, Effie?" the host teased.

"Shouldn't be." Haymitch scoffed before she could handle it a lot more gracefully than he would. "There's a reason everyone wants to steal Trinket from me." He slouched harder, stretching his arm along the back of the sofa. She was sitting so straight his forearm was barely brushing the fabric of her dress. "Always said she was a pain in my ass. Never said she wasn't the best at her job."

"Currently, she probably is." Karola granted magnanimously.

"Do you still support Twelve, Miss Kingley?" Effie asked politely before Haymitch could tell the woman where to shove her arrogance.

"Of course!" Karola exclaimed. "I will always have a fondness for that District."

"Great." Haymitch smirked, catching up to his escort's plan. "So, we're waiting for your sponsoring, then, yeah?

Karola flashed him an irritated look but she had no choice but graciously pledge to do so on national TV, which meant she would have to follow suit or Effie would publicly – and tastefully – destroy her reputation later on.

It wouldn't save their kids but it might come in handy all the same.

The reason for her appearance became clear when Caesar oriented the conversation on the brand new make-up line she was apparently launching. She was just there for free advertisement and that advertisement came by milking her non-existent relationship with him.

It was twenty more minutes before he and Effie could escape the studio.

"In case I don't tell you enough, I'm grateful you're my escort." he grumbled. "Sometimes, I forget how fucking stupid these women are."

Effie was too polite to remark he never told her he was grateful.

She tossed him an amused look, looped her arms around his and leaned a little against his side.

Haymitch breathed a sigh of relief.