The prompt for this one was "afraid to commit" so I tried not to go the usual route ;)
It will be 15 chapters and I have to warn you this is nothing but pure silliness, don't expect a convoluted plot ;) Mostly, it's a modern AU featuring hayffie with young children haha.
Let me know your thoughts!
The Runaway Bride
Chapter 1: The Princess
Wedding jitters were a thing.
Wedding jitters were a thing and they would fade as soon as she would reach the end of the aisle and joined her fiancé. Her very old fiancé. But also very wealthy. And approved by her parents.
Well… More like forced on her by her parents but still.
She had gone into this with eyes wide open and she had chosen to go through with it and now, there she was, walking toward the officiant in the huge – very expensive – hotel's wedding hall in front of the finest elite society had to boost.
Effie Trinket wanted to vanish on the spot.
And that had never ever happened to her. She usually soaked up the attention, sought the spotlight, lived for…
Her fiancé's bald head came into view and she swallowed hard. Wedding jitters, it was all it was. Wedding jitters but she was only a few steps away now and…
Afterwards, she couldn't explain what had gone through her head.
At that moment, everything in her rebelled at the thought of becoming just another transaction for her father to handle, to see her whole life reduced to becoming the trophy wife her mother wanted her to be…
She wasn't even aware she had turned around and started running until she twisted her ankle as she exited the double doors under the staff's incredulous – and slightly excited to see something like that – stares. She kept on running, pain and stilettos be damned, and emerged into the afternoon sunlight.
The crisp autumn air smelled like freedom – and gas fumes but that was irrelevant.
She had always wanted a summer wedding. An outside wedding. What was she even doing there?
She glanced back in time to see her mother exit the wedding hall in long furious strides, a mask of perfect indifference on her face. But there was murder in her eyes.
She needed to flee and she needed to flee fast or she would be married before the end of the afternoon. Her mother had a gift for guilting her into doing things she didn't want to do.
She took the steps two by two, electric throb of pain dashing up her ankle with every new step, and soon jogged down the street, searching for…
There was a car in front of the bank across the street. Two little girls had their faces pressed against the window of the backseat and were staring at her – one with blond braided hair, around six, was obviously very excited, the other with dark hair in the same hairdo was frowning – and on the front seat, behind the wheel, sat a man who was watching her with his eyebrows lifted high.
She accidentally met the man's eyes.
It lasted a second.
Enough for her to make a split decision and rush straight toward them, ignoring the honking and the shouts from the cars as she ran across the road without even checking traffic first. If possible, the man's eyebrows lifted higher when she reached for the passenger door's handle – and fortunately it wasn't locked – and climbed inside the car in a puffing cloud of organza and tulle. Her voluminous dress took almost all the space and she had to bat at it – and she was fairly certain the stranger batted at it too – to be able to see again.
"Lady, do you mind!" the man shouted.
"A princess!" the youngest girl was screaming, bouncing on her seat. "Look, Katniss! A real princess!"
It was madness in the car, the children were shouting, the man was protesting her intrusion… Finally, finally, she managed to get the dress to settle down enough that she could turn toward the man, joined her hands in front of her chest in a slightly theatric pleading fashion and met his eyes.
"I twisted my ankle and I need a gateway. Please." she begged.
The stranger looked angry, perhaps having felt threatened at the unconventional carjacking. His grey gaze darted to the backseat and back to her. "Look…"
"I apologize for imposing like this. I do. It is rude and absolutely crazy and I understand but please." she insisted, not bothering to blink away the tears in her eyes.
Anger faded quickly into awkwardness on the man's face. He was handsome enough in a rough way. Grey eyes, too long dirty blond hair, stained jeans and a navy blue woolen sweater…
Behind them, there was a gasp as the blond girl pointed at something outside the window. "Look! There's a witch!"
Effie glanced in the direction the little finger was pointing at and wasn't surprised by what she saw.
"It's my mother." she said.
And Elindra was about to cross the street to get her, she looked thunderous. Behind her, on the four stars hotel's doorstep, her father and her fiancé were waiting – they were the same age and it suddenly hit her hard in the chest that none of this was right; it had never feltright to be honest but right then she realized just how wrong it was. If Elindra caught up it was over. Effie knew that if she was dragged back to the hotel, she would let herself be convinced to go through with the ceremony because when she thought about what she had just done… The scandal she had just created…
Wedding jitters. They could blame everything on wedding jitters. Make fun of her silliness and do damage control that way.
Her breath caught as she watched her mother getting closer and closer…
"Uncle Haymitch, do something!" the blond girl demanded. "We can't let the witch get the princess!"
"I'll protect you!" the dark-haired girl declared, more amused than serious, pushing the other child out of the way so she could pretend to shoot arrows with a realistic plastic bow that was almost as tall as she was.
It was all very cute and Effie would have properly thanked them if a lump hadn't been growing in her throat. Elindra was halfway across the street now.
She could either try running away again but given how her ankle was throbbing she doubted she would get far or she could face the music like a grown up woman.
"Uncle Haymitch!" the girls were both shouting now.
The man's grey eyes were going from Effie to the children to the woman who wasn't bothering to hide the murderous intentions on her face now that none of the guests could see them.
"Fuck." he sighed and then reached for the keys that were still in the ignition. "Seatbelts on." The girls hurried to obey and Effie, dazed, looked at him without understanding. "You too, Princess."
She quickly fastened the seatbelt as well as she could with the voluminous dress in the way. The man eased out of his parking spot just as her mother's hand brushed the car door. She was close enough that Effie could see the glint of pure fury in her eyes.
There would be hell to pay.
Whatever she was going to do next, she would have to do it without her parents' support. There would be no more money. There would be no more…
She buried her face in her hands and forced herself to take slow deep breaths.
What had she done?
What had she done?
"It's alright. The witch is gone."
She forced herself to drop her hands and look behind her at the tiny blond girl who was stretching her arm to the limit to pat her shoulder while remaining strapped to her seat.
"Thank you." Effie answered, flashing her a wavering smile. She did make an effort to blink away the tears then, to not frighten the helpful girls, but a few slipped past her guard and rolled down her cheeks. She looked at the man who was staring at the road when he was not glancing at the rearview mirror. "Thank you."
He shrugged. "Not every day we get to rescue a princess. Don't sweat it." He twisted a little in his seat until he could get his phone out of his pocket and then he tossed it at the dark-haired girl on the backseat. "Sweetheart, call Uncle Chaff and tell him we're gone, yeah?" He made a face and explained for her benefit. "Was waiting for my friend. I can loop back around to the bank but I ain't sure it's worth risking you. The kid ain't wrong, that woman looked pretty witchy."
"She will kill me." She let out a deep breath. "If she catches me, she will kill me."
The man started smirking in amusement but it faded when he realized she wasn't joking. "Okay. No looping back to the bank then." He glanced at the rearview mirror. "Doing okay, Katniss?"
The black-haired girl was scowling at his phone but eventually managed to punch the right combination of keys. Effie decided she was around ten. While she gave their uncle Chaff the "princess rescue" version, Effie smiled at the blond girl who was staring at her with open adoration.
"Are you a real princess?" the little girl asked as if she had just been waiting for the right moment to get that question out of the way.
"I am afraid not." she lamented.
"But you have a princess dress." the girl insisted and then shrugged. "It's okay. We'll keep you anyway."
The man coughed. "We're not keeping her, Prim. She ain't a stray."
"But the witch wanted to hurt her!" the girl – Prim – countered. "We can't leave her alone. You've got to protect her, Uncle Haymitch!"
The child was getting worked up over her so called fate so Effie twisted on her seat so she could outstretch a hand for a very serious handshake. "My name is Effie."
Prim shook her hand, apparently delighted to be treated like a grown up. A glance at the other girl told her she would not be so she didn't even try.
"Blond one's Prim. Scowling one is Katniss." the man offered. "I'm Haymitch."
"Okay. Bye." Katniss concluded what had sounded like a complicated conversation on the phone. "Uncle Chaff says he's gonna catch a cab and he wants you to call and explain 'cause he didn't get anything but he says if you found a girl go for it 'cause it's been a while since you've dipped it." She made a face. "What does that mean?"
The girl didn't look like she really wanted to know.
"Nothing." Haymitch quickly dismissed.
Effie blushed and shifted back to face the road, suddenly keenly aware she didn't know the man at all. She had aimed for that car because of the children. The children had made her feel safer about entrusting her life to a stranger.
Who was she kidding?
She would have jumped in his car regardless of the children because she had just been that desperate.
"So, Princess…" the man started.
"Effie." she corrected quietly.
"Yeah, with that monstrosity of a dress, you're gonna be princess to me." He snorted. "Didn't even know they were still making them like that…"
"You look like a cake." Katniss helpfully pointed out from the backseat.
"You look like a Disney princess!" Prim argued, frowning at her sister. "So pretty!"
The girl actually clapped her hands in delight.
"It's the glitter." Haymitch smirked. "She's in a glittery phase."
"This is not glitter but sequins." Effie huffed, smoothing the delicate fabric of the voluminous dress. And then made a face. "It is very eighties, isn't it? My mother chose it. I wanted something more modern but I was forbidden lace and colors. She said I would look like a…" She caught herself at the last moment, glancing at the backseat. "Tart."
Haymitch frowned at her as the car stopped for a red light. "She forbade you from picking your own wedding dress?"
She suddenly felt exhausted and she slumped against the car seat, no matter how unladylike it was. "It is complicated."
"What about your fiancé?" he insisted.
"She chose him too." she admitted, bypassing the myriad of things he wasn't openly asking. She closed her eyes and clenched her jaw. She wanted to reach for her ankle, try to estimate how swollen it was but the dress was in the way and if she tried to move, she knew it would spilled over his side of the car and disturb his driving.
"Shitty situation." he acknowledged.
"Language." she automatically scolded, making the girls giggle behind her.
He lifted a displeased eyebrow at her but the light turned green and he focused back on the road. "Where can I drop you off?"
"The ER?" she half-joked, wincing.
"The ankle, right?" He frowned. "You said you twisted it." She wordlessly nodded and his frown deepened. "Is it really that bad? You wanna go to the hospital?" She shook her head no, worrying her fingers in her lap. "Alright, where to, then?" he insisted. She could hear the hint of growing frustration in his voice. "You wanna call a friend? You can use my phone."
Katniss handed the phone over and she took it but left it on her lap, unable to think of anyone she wanted to go to right then. She had friends. Friends who had been deemed acceptable by her mother. Friends who were the daughters of her own friends. Friends who would shun her if her mother decided she was persona non grata…
She could call Lyssa, she supposed, but her sister would be no help at all. Her sister had always been her mother's favorite and she hadn't run away from her wedding.
Haymitch gave her exactly one minute before glancing at her again. "No friends?"
It hurt to admit it.
It hurt to realize she, who had prided herself on being the queen of the bees since kindergarten, didn't have a single true friend to boost.
The lump was back in her throat with a vengeance.
"Where do you live?" he tried again.
She licked her lips. "My parents'."
He did a double take but didn't look too surprised. "How old are you?"
It wasn't a gibe or at least she didn't think it was.
"Rude thing to ask a lady." she pointed out and then sighed. "Twenty-nine." She gritted her teeth and answered the unavoidable question before he could ask it. "There were three other engagements before this. I broke them all off. This was… I couldn't refuse anymore. Oh my god, what did I do…"
She buried her face in her hands again, panic settling in for good.
Her mother had warned her not to screw it up.
She had a reputation now. She was an old maid. Her current fiancé was a catch and she wouldn't get better, not anymore. She was spoiled goods now. Too old to play the debutante, not pretty enough to be the femme fatale, too stupid for her mind to be attractive… She was stupid. So stupid. She was…
"Hey." Haymitch said quietly, placing a hand on her leg. He didn't leave it there. It was brief and he didn't even try to cope a feel. Good man, Effie decided, or too repulsed by her stupidity. "Deep breaths, Princess. You're gonna figure it out. We've got time. I can drive around for a while."
"I… I have nowhere to go." she realized. But it wasn't the stranger and his nieces' responsibility or even their problem. They have already been kind enough to help so much and… She couldn't burden them further. She forced her spine to straighten, jutted her chin up. Chin up, eyes bright, smile on. That had always been her motto. "You can drop me anywhere you would like. Perhaps at a Starbucks or…"
Perhaps she really should go to the hospital. It might delay a little the inevitable walk of shame back to her parents.
"Can we take her home?" Prim asked, having followed more of the conversation than Effie had believed she would.
"No, no." she protested, mustering a fragile smile for the child's sake. "You are a very kind girl, darling, but…"
"We should take her home." Katniss decided, cutting her off. "Prim likes princesses. And I bet she can do hair. Can you do hair?"
The little girl held out her thick black braids. Now that Effie was looking closer at them, she could see they were uneven in places, too loose in others… She concluded Haymitch had done it and he was awkward at it.
Effie blinked. "Well, yes, but…"
"Do you know princess stories?" Prim added.
"Yes." she answered. "But…"
"Can you sing?" Katniss cut her off again, sounding interested.
"What's this?" Haymitch scoffed. "A job interview? Kids, we can't just decide to keep people."
"We kept Buttercup." Prim pointed out.
"Buttercup's a cat." the man argued. "She ain't a cat."
"Lady ain't a cat either." Katniss countered.
"Somehow…" Haymitch chuckled, glancing at Effie as she tried to follow the conversation, bewildered. "I don't think your new friend's gonna like you comparing her to a goat."
"We kept the geese." Prim insisted, her lips pursing into a small petulant pout.
Effie could tell the little girl wasn't used to pouting at all or to being petulant or to throwing tantrums just at the puzzled way her sister and her uncle were now looking at her.
It also raised the question of where exactly they lived to be able to have that many farm animals.
"They're animals, sweetheart." Haymitch explained quietly. "Effie here is a person. You can't decide to adopt a person."
"Why not?" Katniss sneered. "You adopted us."
Haymitch, as it turned out, had no good retort to that.
He opened his mouth once, twice and then rolled his eyes. "Son of a bitch."
"Language." Effie snapped again and then quickly pursed her lips tight because really, who was she to tell him how to talk in front of children given how much she had already imposed? She cleared her throat and turned to look at the girls. "You uncle is right. It does not work that way."
"Why?" Prim frowned. "You don't like us?"
"Of course, I like you." she replied without thinking. "But…"
"Buttercup is crazy but Lady and the geese ain't so bad." Katniss cut her off again. "You'd like it at home. And there's no witch. Well… There's Peeta's mom but…"
"You should really stop interrupting adults, darling." she chided, making sure to soften her tone. "It is rude."
"We do have a guest room." Haymitch muttered, rubbing the back of his neck. "If you need it."
She looked at him in surprise, opened her mouth to protest and then closed it again because… What were her other options?
"I could be a psychopath for all you know." she remarked.
He made a face but his tone was mocking. "You look more like a damsel in distress to me. A damsel in a very ugly dress."
"And they say chivalry is dead." she deadpanned.
He shot her an amused look. "Can't keep driving in circles, sweetheart. So what it's gonna be?"
"Please, please, please…" Prim pleaded from the backseat, looking so earnest with her big blue eyes that Effie had troubles focusing.
"Don't mind her, she likes collecting strays." Haymitch mumbled, low enough that it wouldn't carry to the kids. "If you ain't comfortable, I can drop you at a hotel. Can lend you a few bucks too. Don't imagine you have pockets in that thing."
She studied him for a while, completely flabbergasted that a stranger would be that kind to her. She lived in a world where friends backstabbed friends and gossip was aimed at wounding people.
"I wouldn't want to impose." she hesitated. "And you already did so much for me…"
Clearly embarrassed, he shrugged. "It's fine."
It wasn't but…
She took a deep breath. "I would not mind… I mean, if the offer is genuine and if you are sure it would not be an imposition…"
There was a victorious ruckus from the backseat that, despite everything, made her laugh. She noticed Haymitch's eyes lingered on her because of that laugh and she ducked her head, a coy smile on her lips because… Well, she enjoyed the attention.
"It ain't forever." he warned the girls firmly.
"You said that for Buttercup." Katniss reminded him.
"And Lady." Prim chuckled.
"And the geese." the other girl added.
He rolled his eyes but smirked at Effie. "I did say that. Be careful or you might end up staying forever. They're convincing little shits."
The girls giggled at that but Effie pursed her lips, narrowed her eyes and tilted her head at him. "You should truly mind your language in front of the children."
"Never mind princesses, now she thinks she's Mary Poppins…" he commented, making the girls giggle even more.
I almost ended it here originally but then it grew... It grew so much it became 15 chapters XD I hope you enjoyed this first chapter! Let me know your thoughts! You know I live for feedback!