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bluerosette23 · 4 years

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Maribat MASTERLIST ~ Pg4

Fourth Part of the masterlist. (Updated: Feb 1 2020)

< Page4 > [Daminette December Masterlist]

by @persephonebutkore [Masterlist] Daminette Soulmate AU Revenge Is Sweet ~ AO3 Fate Goes Both Ways ~ AO3 Background Info ~ CH1 ~ CH2 ~ CH3 ~ CH4 ~ CH5(Pt1 ~ Pt2) ~ CH6 ~ CH7 ~ CH8 ~ CH9 ~ CH10 ~ CH11 ~ CH12 ~ CH13 ~ CH14 ~ CH15 ~ CH16 ~ CH17 The Sword and The Sweets CH1 ~ CH2 ~ CH3 ~ CH4 ~ CH5 ~ CH6

by @peskygirl13 Bruce “I’m Never Going To Have A Normal Family” Wayne

by @pl-panda Damienette Arranged Marriage Pt1 ~ Pt2 ~ Pt3 ~ Pt4 ~ Pt5 ~ Pt6 ~ Pt7 ~ Pt8 ~ Pt9 ~ Pt10 ~ Pt11 ~ Pt12 ~ Pt13 ~ Pt14 ~ Pt15 ~ Pt16 ~ Pt17 ~ Pt18 ~ Pt19 ~ Pt20 ~ Pt21 ~ Pt22 ~ Pt23 ~ Pt24 ~ Pt25 ~ Pt26

by @ranger-gothamite (Paladin_Willa) A New Hero ~ AO3 CH1 ~ CH2 Daminette ~ AO3 Pt1 ~ Pt2 ~ Pt3 ~ Pt4 ~ Pt5 ~ Pt6 ~ Pt7 ~ Pt8 ~ Pt9 ~ Pt10 ~ Pt11 ~ Pt12 ~ Pt13 ~ Pt14 ~ Pt15

by @realrandomposts Amnesiac!Damian Happy Birthday Damian Kisses Fic Misunderstandings Tamaranean!Mari What If?: Mari Arrives in the Fictional DC World Chances Masterlist ~ Pt1.1 ~ Pt1.2 ~ Pt1.3 Penpal Therapy ~ AO3 Materlist ~ Pt1 ~ Pt2 ~ Pt3 ~ Pt4 ~ Pt5 ~ Pt6 ~ Pt7 ~ Pt8 ~ Pt9 ~ Pt10 ~ Pt11 ~ Pt12 ~ Pt13 ~ Pt14 ~ Pt15 The Assassin’s Lady ~ AO3 Masterlist ~ Pt1 ~ Pt2 ~ Pt3 ~ Pt4 ~ Pt5 ~ Pt6 ~ Pt7 ~ Pt8 ~ Pt9 ~ Pt10 ~ Pt11 ~ Pt12 ~ Pt1 ~ Pt14 ~ Pt15 ~ Pt16 ~ Pt17 ~ Pt18 ~ Pt19 ~ Pt20 EXTRAS: Felix Agreste As Chat Noir? No, Thank You ~ AO3 Happy Birthday Babs! ~ AO3 Pregnancy Scare ~ AO3 Holy Trinity AU There Was One Bed (Pt1 ~ Pt2 ~ Pt3) They Were Roomates (Pt1 ~ Pt2 ~ Pt3) Childhood Friends (Pt1 ~ Pt2) Totally Correct Maribat Chats Prompts/HC (1)

by Redwolf999 Where is Marinette? ~ AO3

by @rhub4rb Home Is Where The Heart Is [MariJon] ~ AO3 CH1 ~ CH2 ~ CH3 ~ CH4 ~ CH5 ~ CH6 ~ CH7 ~ CH8 ~ CH9 ~ CH10 ~ CH11 ~ CH12 ~ CH13 Of Birds and Bugs ~ AO3 Prologue ~ CH1 ~ CH2 ~ CH3 ~ CH4 ~ CH5 ~ CH6 ~ CH7 Project:Null Initial Post ~ Continuation Post ~ Meeting YJ ~ The Miraculous ~ The Team Finds Outby @rubixchick Miraculous Souls The Kents

by @sage-sam Ignorance by Paramore Songfic Lucky Me CH1 ~ CH2 ~ CH3 ~ CH4 ~ CH5 ~ CH6

by @shewhoridesonrainbows Words Upon Your Skin ~ AO3 CH1 ~ CH2 ~ CH3 ~ CH4 ~

by @scribble-blog A Bird In The Hand (Is Worth The Bee In Your Bonnet) [ChloDami] Akumatized Ladybug AU Pt1 ~ Pt2 ~ Pt3 ~ Pt4 Black Cats And Robinettes Pt1 ~ Pt2 ~ Pt3 Soulmate AU Pt1 ~ Pt2 ~ Pt2.5 ~ Pt3 ~ Pt4 ~ Pt5 ~ Pt6 ~ Pt7 ~ Pt8 ~ Pt9 ~ P10 ~ Pt11 ~ Pt12 ~ Pt13 ~ Pt14 ~ Pt15 ~ Pt16 ~ Pt17 ~ Pt18 ~ Pt19 ~ Pt20 Giveaway Drabbles 1 ~ 2(Pt1 ~ Pt2 ~ Pt3) ~ 3

by @shmowlwrites How to be a Heartbreaker Like That The Tattoos of Fate NaNoWriMo D2 ~ D3 ~ D4 ~ D5

by @shyestofhearts Little One-shots/Blurbs I Write ~ AO3 Dead Hearts Songfic ~ Angelic Rest ~ Fade Away ~ Alone ~ Breaking Point (Timari) Getting An Angel ~ AO3 Info ~ Rules ~ CH1 ~ CH2 ~ CH3 ~ CH4

by @slytherinsheashire 7th Year DADA ~ AO3 From Nightmares to Daydreams ~ AO3 Look Who I’ve Run Into, Crowed Coincidence ~ AO3 Snowfall ~ AO3 When the End Meets the Beginning 1 - The Final Call ~ AO3 2 - The End and New Beginnings ~ AO3

by @snowhirl Confident ~ Field Trip ~ Mom?Dad?Chaos ~ NETi Childhood Friends AU Characters ~ CH1 ~ CH2 Ladybug’s Uniform College Francoise Dupont’s Talent Show CH1 ~ CH2 ~ CH3 ~ CH4 ~ CH4.1 ~ CH5 ~ CH5.1 Instagram AU Pt1 ~ Pt2 Pack AU Pt1 ~ Pt2 ~ Pt3 ~ Pt4 ~ Pt5 The Soulmate AU Pt1 ~ Pt2

by @someone-ev All Part Of The Job [Jasonette] ~ Green [Timari] ~ I Think I Love Robin ~ Idea:Part One ~ Marinette’s Power ~ Marinette’s Date With Damian in the Snow All My Bonds Pt1 ~ Pt2 ~ Pt3 ~ Pt4 ~ Pt5 ~ Pt6 ~ Pt7 ~ Pt8 ~ Pt9 ~ Pt10 ~ Pt11 Playing House CH1 ~ CH2 ~ The New Lady of Gotham Idea ~ CH1 ~ CH2 ~ CH3 ~ CH4 ~ CH5 ~ CH6 ~ CH7 ~ CH8 ~ CH9 ~ CH10 ~ CH11

by @soulmate-game [Masterpost] My Soulmate Stabs People ~ Dickinette Crack Brucinette Series Pt1 ~ Pt2 Taken In By The Kents Pt1 ~ Pt2 The Heroes’ Game ~ AO3 THG Spin-Off Oneshots Reverse Uno Card ~ crack ~ If they were older ~ If they were younger

by @sparkle9510 Baby Robins and Tiny Ladybugs CH1 ~ CH2

by @spiritofchaoticdreams Life Swap Daminette AU Songfic LS: Discovering Hawkmoth LS: Meeting Lila (1 ~ 2 ~ 3)

by @stareyedmoonchild Alfred’s Fanfiction Maribat Meets Scooby Doo When Marinette Met Goliath Late Night Ideas ( I ~ II ~ III ) Midday Thoughts ( I ~ II ) Who Are You Calling “Robinette” Preview ~ Pt1

by @starry-bi-sky Behind The Mask: Gotham Ed, Gotham Fashion:Disaster Buzzfeed Unsolved AU Good Omens AU Marinette Joins The Circus AU

by @starshine583 Travels of Passion Masterlist ~ Pt1 ~ Pt2 ~ Pt3 ~ Pt4 ~ Pt5 ~ Pt6 ~ Pt7 ~ Pt8 ~ Pt9 ~ Pt10 ~ Pt11 ~ Pt12 ~ Pt13 ~ Pt14 ~ Pt15 ~ Pt16 ~ Pt17 ~ Pt18 ~ Pt19 ~ Pt20 ~ Pt21

by @t-nikki10 Angels and Demons Pt1 ~ Pt2 ~ Pt3

by @thanks-captain-obvious How Damian Realized How He Loved Marinette Pt1 ~ Pt2

by @the-navistar-carol Daminette Songfic Invisible Thread by Matt Gould Stronger from Finding Neverland Summer of ‘69 by Bryan Adams Garmari Fics King of [My] Hearts ~ Intervention ~ Rainy Days

by @the17thtearoom (LucyyJ26) Miraculous, Darker Origins:Daminette AU ~ AO3 Masterlist ~ Pt1 ~ Pt2 ~ Pt3 ~ Pt4 ~ Pt5 ~ Pt6 ~ Pt7 ~ Pt8 ~ Pt9 ~ Pt10 ~ Pt11 ~ Pt12 ~ Pt13 ~ Pt14 ~ Pt15 ~ Pt16 ~ Pt17 ~ Pt18 ~ Pt19 ~ Pt20 ~ Pt21 ~ Pt22 ~ Pt23 ~ Pt24 ~ Pt25 ~ Pt26 ~ Pt27 ~ Pt28 ~ Pt29 ~ Pt30 A Vision Softly Creeping Panic(On the Street of London) ~ AO3

< Page4 > [Daminette December Masterlist]

#ml x dc #ml dc #maribat #masterlist:maribat #daminette #maridami #damianette #jasonette #marijon #dickinette #timari #timinette #brucinette #marinette x damian #marinette x jason #damian x marinette #robinette #tim x marinette

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ellanainthetardis · 5 years

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GIven the no link thing, the links to ff and ao3 are on my blog if you prefer reading there. Please let me know your thoughts!

Chapter 12 : Reminders

“Stop thinking about it. It is not happening.” Effie warned.

Haymitch didn’t even turn his head toward her, he kept staring at the highest point of the Big Top, a smirk on his lips. “You’re sure?”

The others had left the tent a while ago, done with their rehearsing and more interested in exchanging gossips and relaxing before people started wandering in to visit the animals before the show. Haymitch estimated they had a little over an hour before the work crew started putting everything in place for the night show and that was plenty of time for…

“Very much so.” she replied in a firm definitive tone he had learned to identify as the non-negotiable one.

Effie had been training Rue that day and after they were done, she had let herself drop on the safety net and had remained lying there until Haymitch had exchanged his wet clothes for dry ones and had joined her. He had been doing the fish tank escape act for a couple of weeks now and, so far, it was going alright, but he still needed to work on his stamina. Holding his breath longer, that sort of things.

They had been lying on that safety net for a while now and it slowly swayed with their every move. Somehow, Effie had taken hold of his arm, his sleeves rolled up to his elbow, and she was running her nails up and down the length of his forearm, the way she sometimes did on his back when they were naked and tangled up on one of their beds. It was soothing. But not enough that Haymitch’s mind wasn’t straying into the gutter. The slow swaying intrigued him and he was wondering if it was actually doable to have sex on this thing without falling off. He was wondering if it would feel like floating or if the hard rope would cut and burn their skin.

“Why?” he sulked anyway.

She could have chosen a number of reasons, starting with “anyone could come in” and finishing with “a lot of people use the safety net, Haymitch, it is not right” but of course she surprised him.

Because she always did.

And because in the two months since she had first sneaked into his bed – and since that next morning when she had been forced to sneak out of his trailer in one of his shirts since her dress was torn, a fact she hadn’t let him forget for weeks – they had done worse than hasty hook-ups in semi-public places.

“It will be too expensive to replace if we break it.” she said. Practical. Always practical, his girl.

He groaned but had to admit defeat. “Fine.”

“Besides…” she hummed, her fingers coiling around his forearm. “Do you truly want a repeat of last time?”

Last time, they had an explosive fight in the Big Tent after a show and they had completely forgotten where they were. The argument, as often lately, had turned into a kissing mess and then into more. He had lifted her up like he often did and had tried to pin her to a wall that wasn’t there. The fabric of the tent had almost torn when they had fallen into it and that would have been awkward to explain the next morning. The worst thing was that it hadn’t even slowed them down. They had just ended up doing it on the hay of the ring instead.

The smirk came back on his lips and he rolled on his side to look at her, making the whole net move. Effie’s body bounced a few times and she laughed like a child when he took advantage of that to sneak his arms around her and pull her closer.

When the net finally stabilized, she was half under him, his arm under her nape as a cushion of sort, hers locked around his waist and his free hand gently brushing her hair off her face. He leaned in and bumped their noses together once before kissing her with the ease that came from a lot of practice.

Most times, when he stopped to reflect, Haymitch felt his behavior was stupid and ridiculous. Fortunately, life in a circus was a demanding one and he didn’t often have time to stop and reflect.

He felt like a kid around her. Not much better than Finnick and the attentiveness he showed Annie in any circumstance. Not much better than the puppy eyes Peeta was making at Katniss. Effie made him feel young and whole and, while he was careful not to be too obvious in front of the others because it wasn’t really his thing, he couldn’t stop himself from standing that little bit too close, brushing against her, touching her… Kissing her. Making her laugh with his eagerness. Making her sigh. Making her moan. Making her whisper incoherent sentences in his neck.

He was too far gone for her and it scared him sometimes. The only saving grace was that she appeared to be just as crazy when it came to him.

The kisses were growing a little heated and she cooled it down, escaping his mouth to peck his jaw in a sweet gesture that wasn’t a prelude to anything else. He knew her foreplay moves, that wasn’t it. He sighed but didn’t try to change her mind, nuzzling her neck with his nose and simply enjoying the too rare moment of calm.

It was difficult to find time together sometimes. She was busy running the circus and he was busy running her show. Pleasure and business didn’t always mix so well.

It was rare that they didn’t end up in the same bed at night though. They hadn’t really talked about it. Often, he joined her for her daily cigarette like old times but ended up following her inside when she was done. Sometimes she showed up at his trailer before he could go search for her. They hadn’t talked about making it a more official arrangement. He thought they both liked having their respective space. Haymitch was messy and she was too neat, their stuff crammed together in one trailer would have been a source of argument.

As it was, she already kept a clean stock of underwear in his bathroom – he wasn’t sure if she knew he had noticed because she certainly hadn’t asked him first – and a few of his shirts were in her trailer – she had kidnapped them to sleep in but it was handy when he needed one in the morning so he hadn’t called her out on that either.

“What are you thinking about?” she hummed when he delicately nipped at the tender spot beneath her ear. Not to start anything. Just to tease. To touch. To taste.

“I’m thinking…” His voice trailed off, a little too raw maybe. “I’m thinking I’m happy.”

There was a touch of awe to his tone, as if he hadn’t been sure of it himself. And he hadn’t, he realized. It had been so long since the last time he had been able to say that, to mean that…

“Yes?” She grinned, her blue eyes sparkling in delight.

“Yeah.” he shrugged and then leaned in to kiss her.

It was a long tender kiss, the sort they didn't often share because they were all about passion. Her nails scraped the stubble that covered his cheeks. He waited for the exasperated comment he had come to expect once every couple of weeks about how he really should shave but it never came.

“I love you.” she whispered instead. A touch uncertain. A touch nervous. A touch vulnerable.

She rarely allowed herself to be any of those things. Effie Trinket was confident to the point of arrogance. And, for a second, the shift in behavior startled him enough that he didn’t register the actual words.

And then he did.

I love you.

They weren’t so unexpected, those words. They had been two months in coming. He knew that. She had more or less already implied them when she had clearly stated she did not sleep with anyone she wasn’t romantically involved with.

I love you.

They weren’t surprising.

I love you.

But the last time he had heard them, the last time he had said them back…

He didn’t realize he had frozen until her face fell and then closed off before going back to her more characteristic mask of cheerfulness. He tried to say something, he did, but the words were stuck in his throat and wouldn’t come out.

Not when she started babbling about needing to get a start on her make-up as if it was in any way relevant to their previous conversation.

Not when she slipped out of his arms and off the safety net.

Not when he tried to get off that very net with far less grace and far more difficulties.

All in all, he was almost relieved when Jo barged in with her usual abrupt manners.

At least, he was relieved until he spotted what was wedged between two of her fingers.

“Hey, Trinket!” the young woman called out. “Finnick’s looking for you so if you're done…”

“The fuck do you think you're doing?” Haymitch spat. He was on her before the girl could blink, fingers wrapped tight around her wrist, keeping her hand high in the air, bodily forcing her back…

“The fuck! Let me go!” Johanna snarled.

He barely registered the nasty kicks to his legs or the girl’s struggling to free herself. His grip was unyielding and he wasn’t happy until he had her out of the Big Top. He didn’t hear Effie shouting his name, barely noticed the crowd that had come running at Johanna screaming bloody murder.

All he saw, all he could see, was the red glow of the cigarette between Jo’s fingers.

He plucked it out of her hand and crushed it against the side of the ticket booth, staring at the hay surrounding them for the longest time while the young woman yelled her irritation. It took him several minutes to accept no ember would catch, that they were safe.

“What the fuck did you think you were doing?” he roared, covering Jo’s angry speech and Effie’s attempts at bringing back calm. Everyone was staring by now. He saw Chaff making his way through the troupe from the corner of his eye. “You’re trying to burn us all?”

Johanna didn’t back down. “The fuck do you think you’re doing grabbing me like that, old man? Try that again and…”

“I catch you with a cigarette near the tents again, you’re fired.” he spat.

He was overreacting. Maybe. Or not. He wasn’t sure anymore.

I love you.

Would he have been that harsh if those words hadn’t still been echoing in his ears?

People who loved him tended to die.

“So what? You think ’cause you're fucking the boss now you're in charge?” Jo sneered. “You’ve got no right to…”

“Smoking is only allowed near the trailers.” Effie cut in coldly. “You know the rules, Johanna.”

“Figures, you’re taking his side.” the girl cackled bitterly. “You were far more interesting when you weren't his bitch.”

Haymitch took a threatening step before he even thought about it and it was probably a good thing Chaff’s good arm grabbed him around the chest. His best friend’s grip was firm and he could feel his every breath against his nape – the unusual heaviness with which the man’s chest was rising.

He wasn't the only one who was distrustful of cigarettes coming anywhere near the Big Top.

“You're a stupid little girl.” Haymitch gritted through his teeth. “You could have killed us all.”

“I was being careful.” Jo dismissed.

“No.” Effie snapped and her voice lashed out like a whip over the whispering crowd. “You weren’t. Nobody is allowed to smoke near the tents or the paddocks. Keep it to the trailers.” Her gaze scooped over the troupe and she tilted her chin a little higher. “This is the last incident of the kind I tolerate. Next time, it will be the door to anyone caught in this area with a cigarette. This being said…” She turned toward him, her mouth set in a hard line. “Nothing excuses brutality. It is also the last time I tolerate this sort of aggressive display.”

Haymitch scoffed. “You're kidding me? She brings a fucking cigarette on the ring and you're…”

“Chaff, if you would be so kind, escort Haymitch to his trailer so he can calm down.” she cut him off. “I will be ringleader tonight. We won’t be needing our magician either.”

He half choked on that. “What?”

His only consolation was that he heard Johanna being banned from the show for the day too as Chaff forcibly dragged him away. He was fuming by the time he managed to shrug his friend off.

“Can you fucking believe that?” He scowled, storming to his trailer. He slammed the door open but Chaff closed it slowly behind himself, denying him the pleasure of hearing it bang again. “She’s got no clue. No fucking clue.” He snatched a bottle from the table and tore the cap off before taking a long mouthful. “That stupid kid almost burns her circus down and she punishes me? Hell, what business does she have punishing me at all? Ain’t her bitch!” He took another gulp, the whiskey burning all the way down his throat. “She's only pissed ‘cause I…”

I love you.

His voice faltered. He brought the bottle to his mouth, a little more slowly, and took a smaller sip.

“You're done?” Chaff asked, his tone patient but not really amused. He had sat down at the foot of Haymitch’s unmade bed and had been watching him all throughout that tirade. “You were too rough with the kid.”

He snarled at his friend. “She had a fucking cigarette on the…”

“I know.” Chaff interrupted. “Ain’t saying that was right either. But you didn’t see yourself, the way you grabbed her… Too rough. She ain't a Viet-Cong.”

“You think I don't know?” he sneered.

Had he, though? When he got that angry…

“I think you saw the cigarette and you forgot everything else.” Chaff shrugged. “Ain’t saying I would have reacted any better. But you were rough and Trinket can’t allow that or it sets precedents.”

And that was a perfectly valid point of course but…

“I ain’t watching this circus burn down.” he growled. “I ain’t watching any more good people die.”

Chaff sighed, stood up and clapped his shoulder before muttering he needed to go and make sure everything was ready for the show.

Haymitch flopped down on his bed and nursed his bottle for a while, refusing to admit he was sulking but very much doing that. He wasn’t sure how he didn’t end up drunk given his poor mood but he managed to indulge only just enough to feel the buzz.

By the time he ventured out of the trailer, he could hear the music in the distance. The show had started. A few men from the work crew had lit a campfire in the trailer area and Haymitch wandered past them, nodding to those who greeted him but refusing their offer to sit down with them. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for until he found it. Or her, he supposed.

Johanna was sitting next to the campfire the kids liked to use at night, her legs hugged close to her chest, the glow of another cigarette dancing next to her face.

“Come to try and beat me up some more?” she challenged when she spotted him.

He rolled his eyes. “You’re the one who hit me. Didn’t even raise my hand.”

That was true enough. He could feel the bruises forming on his shins and stomach where she had kicked and punched him but his only preoccupation had been to get her out of the Big Top, away from the hay. He had gripped her wrist tight but that was the only thing he had done to her.

“Still doesn’t make it right.” she sneered.

Haymitch sat down anyway. For a very long moment they didn’t talk at all. They just listened to the faint echo of music. He figured it must have been Prim’s turn by now.

Eventually, he fished his flask from his pocket, took a swing and handed it to Jo. “Shouldn’t have grabbed you.”

She hesitated for a second before snatching the flask and drinking some of the moonshine.

“Shouldn’t have been smoking over there.” she admitted after a long time. She took a few swallows before peering at him curiously. “Is that how it happened, then? Your other circus? A cigarette? ’Cause you don’t freak out nearly as much when Katniss does her Girl on Fire act and it’s more risky than a cigarette, let me tell you.”

But there were people with buckets of water ready to act at the smallest sign of troubles when Katniss performed – his idea – and they were all there. Cigarettes were more insidious. By the time you realized what was going on half your life was gone up in smoke.

“Yeah.” he answered simply. He dug the tip of his boot into the dry earth, ill-at-ease. “Didn’t mean to make you freak out with my freak out.”

“Didn’t freak out.” she lied.

“Sure, you didn’t.” he humored her, watching the flames’ shadow dancing on her face. It made him uncomfortable quickly, reminded him of another time, another fire… “We make a fine pair, you and I.”

Johanna snorted, apparently not as insulted as he had thought she would be. “There isn’t a soul in this circus who isn’t fucked up.”

“True enough.” he sighed. “True enough…”

When his flask was empty and her cigarette was gone, she retreated to her trailer and Haymitch slowly returned to his.

He didn’t get ready for the night and he didn’t bother turning on the lights though. He listened to the vague echoes in the distance that told him that the show had ended and that the work crew had started dismantling…

He was sitting across his bed, his back to the wall, his legs half dangling over the edge…

Effie knocked but only once and then she pushed the door open without waiting for an answer. She must have believed he would be either drunk or asleep because she looked surprised when she found him sitting there.

She hadn’t changed out of her outfit yet. She was wearing the old ringleader bodice with its red velvety fabric and the golden embroideries, the golden fluff on her shoulders making the whole thing over the top. Not as much as the top hat and the whip though.

“I do not want to fight, that can wait until morning when you are sober and I do not have this raging headache.” she warned. “I just came to check if you were alright.”

He smirked despite himself because there she was, defiant and stubborn, bossy, irritated and irritating, and he wouldn’t have changed her for the world.

“Nothing to fight about, sweetheart.” he replied.

“Oh, there is plenty to fight about.” she denied, stepping inside instead of hovering on the threshold and closing the door behind her. She turned on the light and he blinked a little at the harsh electrical halo. “You will have to apologize to Johanna, for instance.”

“Already talked to the girl.” he dismissed. “We’re good.”

She narrowed her eyes at him, her hands on her hips as she studied him, looking for a lie perhaps.

“This cannot happen again.” she stated firmly.

“I know.” he offered.

“What I mean is: do not put me in that position again.” she clarified.

“You’ve never complained about the positions I’ve put you in.” he joked but at her glare, he lifted both hands in front of him. “Fine. Fine. No kidding about this, got it. Look, out there you’re the boss, you’ve got final say. I’ve got no problem with that.” He shook his head. “Shouldn’t have threatened to fire her, that was your call to make.”

“Yes, it was.” she retorted but her face softened. “You snapped back there, Haymitch.”

“I know.” he repeated because it was all he could say about it. He couldn’t promise it wouldn’t happen again.

With a soft sigh of her own, she slowly came to sit next to him, close enough that their sides were pressed together. “Was it because of what I said before that?”

Some fluff was coming loose from her shoulders and she absent-mindedly plucked it out, toying with the thick golden threads to keep her hands busy.

He didn’t want to talk about what she had said before that.

I love you.

He licked his lips. “Maybe. I don’t know.”

“You do not have to…” she started but he cut her off.

“It was a cigarette. That night.” he explained, staring at the low ceiling of the trailer before closing his eyes, knowing that the images would come no matter if his eyelids were open or closed.

And they came.

The flames licking a path all the way up the Big Top, spreading through the layers of hay and fabrics too fast to be stopped, engulfing the animals paddock, devouring the ones that hadn’t yet been cut loose… That was where his attention had turned first because all he could think about was the money they didn’t have to spare and that they would need to repair… And then the first cries and he had realized that on the other side of the tents, the fire had reached the trailers and the unsuspecting people who had been sleeping in them.

“There weren’t enough men in the work crew already.” he recalled. “We hired locals. Chaff hated the idea ’cause… You know how people can be.” Not everyone was happy with a black man giving orders. Haymitch had always told his friend to send those ones to hell but sometimes need must and he knew Chaff hadn’t always obeyed that instruction, had taken one for the team. “It was one of the hired men. One cigarette. That was all it took, Princess. One cigarette, one spark, and my whole life gone in a blaze.”

He opened his eyes to find her watching him. She was distractedly braiding the golden threads in her hands without even looking at them.

“It wasn’t even that long ago, yeah?” he snorted. Less than a decade. He had been young. Too young to lose everything. “Sometimes I feel like it was yesterday. Sometimes I feel like it was a hundred years ago.”

“I am sorry.” she said and the words rang hollow like they always did because… People could be sorry but that didn’t help him.

“You’ve got no clue what it’s like… Losing everything in one night. You’ve got a family and then an hour later you’ve got nothing but ash. You’re alone.” He scowled and then shook his head. “I’m not entirely sorry I scared the girl, you know. Maybe it will make the others think twice before they bring cigarettes over there.”

“Still. Manners.” Effie sighed and when he frowned at her, she waved her hand in the air. “I see your point, Haymitch, I do but… I abhor violence.”

He opened his mouth to argue but she leaned in and pressed a kiss on his lips before he could say something they would probably have both regretted. It wasn’t much more than a long peck but it helped him settle for good, smoothed what was left of anger and fear.

When she drew back, she pressed her forehead against his and he felt her fake eyelashes flutter against his face.

“Effie…” he breathed out. He wasn’t sure what he was going to say. Tackle the I love you problem or let sleeping dogs lie…

“You are not alone anymore, you know?” she whispered. “I know it scares you sometimes. I understand. But you are not alone.”

She slipped something around his wrist and he looked down to watch her knot the braided threads of golden cords.

“Friendship bracelet?” he mocked. “What are we? Thirteen year-old girls?”

She pursed her lips and spared him an annoyed look that turned him on far more than anything else she could have said or done.

“A token of my affection.” she replied pointedly. “So you never forget about me.”

“As if I could.” he snorted, lifting his hand to inspect the makeshift bracelet. “Looks like a manacle. Fitting, yeah? You’re obsessed with tying me up…”

“You are the one asking for it.” she deadpanned with a sweet smile.

“For the show, sweetheart, for the show…” he smirked.

Not that any locks or bounds could hold him long. And if she had been good at slipping out of handcuffs before, now that he had taught her a few more tricks, it was hard to keep her tied up too.

She rolled her eyes but her lips stretched into a smile and she rested her head on his shoulder, retracing the braided threads with her fingertip. “About earlier…”

She wasn’t going to let it go, then.

“Ain’t that I don’t feel it.” he said quietly, with a small wince. “’Cause… You know I… Effie…”

“It is alright.” she promised quickly. “You do not have to…”

“No.” he sighed. “I want you to get it. It ain’t that I don’t… It’s just those words… They’ve got memories attached. Not bad ones but...”

“I understand.” she offered when his voice trailed off. “We can… invent new ways of saying it, then.”

“Or we can just not talk about feelings.” he snorted, bumping his nose against her blond curls before dropping a kiss on the top of her head. “I ain’t complaining about this stupid golden bracelet, ain’t I? Should tell you everything.”

It must have because when she kissed him next, it wasn’t chaste and it was certainly not sweet.

#hayffie #effie trinket #haymitch abernathy #The Greatest Show #thg circus au

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ellanainthetardis · 6 years

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Enjoy !

[ff] or {[ao3]

Chapter 10 : Bookkeeping

“Stop trying to distract me.”

Effie’s giggles didn’t encourage him to obey. Haymitch brushed her blond hair to the side to get access to her nape and kept on dropping kisses all over her neck. She valiantly tried to remain focused on her leather bound books, her pen hovering in the air as she mentally tried to do the math…

They were sitting on her bed, with him behind her, and there were papers and books spread around. She was trying to do the bookkeeping because it was the end of the month and he was very much trying to do something else.

“You’re so easily distracted, maybe you want to be.” he retorted against her skin, his lips stretching into a smirk.

His hand strayed from her hip to the little bow on her belt. He had tried to pull on it twice already but she had stopped him each time. He was pretty sure getting rid of the bow wouldn’t loosen her blue dress anyway. There was a row of buttons that was running between her breasts to her waist but he hadn’t dared try that yet.

“Do you want everyone to get paid tomorrow?” she hummed, scribbling down a number down a column before tapping another with the tip of her pen.

“I think I’m being pretty clear on what I want…” he snorted, brushing his lips against her nape again.

“We have an agreement.” she grinned. “Am I still grounded?”

He groaned but refused to be deterred and toyed with that little bow a little more frankly. The fucking bow was a tease anyway. It begged to be undone.

He felt like a fifteen year-old boy again. In the last two weeks, they had kissed and grown flustered with need only to stop before it could get serious. Again and again. It had been his doing at first because he hadn’t wanted to take it further while her shoulder still bothered her but then she had started getting better and she had begun to sulk about not being allowed back in the air…

“Talk to Finnick.” he grumbled. “He’s your partner. I’ve got no say.”

A few men from the crew had made the trip to the supplier and came back with replacement for everything Chaff had deemed too busted to use – hence the needed adjustments to the accounts. That also meant the frayed ropes had been replaced and it was safe for the aerial artists again.

Finnick had been very reluctant to let Effie come back too soon though. He didn’t want her to hurt herself further and had forbidden her to get back on the tightrope or the trapezes. When Effie had pitched a fit, the young man had said she should take it up with Haymitch who, per their agreement, was after all in charge of the show.

Haymitch had found himself between a rock and a hard place because he knew Effie had a tendency to downplay serious injuries but he also didn’t want to tell the circus’ owner that she should remain on the ground.

Hell, no…

That was a lie.

He wouldn’t have had any problems telling her she was banned from going up there if she had still been just the circus owner. But she had tricks and pouts and she had vowed he wouldn’t have her until she was back on a trapeze and, so far, she was staying true to that promise.

She had started stretching and doing warm-ups again but Finnick still didn’t want her to go back in the air.

“Don’t you have a say?” she challenged with a knowing tone.

“It’s your circus, sweetheart.” he said innocently, nuzzling the side of her neck. She tilted her head to the side and he took that as the only invitation he needed. He nibbled on the delicate flesh and pulled on that damned bow… The belt fell away but the dress remained in place, just like he had thought.

Could she feel his frustration? Probably. It amused her, he guessed.

“Shouldn’t you be rehearsing?” she asked.

It was that time of the afternoon when most of them gathered under the Big Top to go over their acts or try something new. He was still trying to perfect the fish tank act. He was escaping from a locked box for now during the shows but he didn’t find it as impressive.

“My assistant’s missing.” he reminded her, letting his hand fall on her thigh. He slowly rubbed her leg a few times before hitching the fabric up…

“I am sure you could find a suitable replacement.” she replied. “Johanna is not doing such a bad job during the shows, is she?”

“Jo’s not as hot as you.” he mumbled against her shoulder.

Her dress was bunched around her waist now and her legs were on display… He had seen them bared often enough during the performances but he had never really touched before. He brushed his fingertips against the length of her thigh, marveling at the goosebumps the caress left in its wake…

“I certainly hope not.” she huffed, dropping her head back on his shoulder. “Still… You should be practicing and I should be taking care of the books.”

“Oh, I’m practicing…” he chuckled in her ear. “Wanna see a magic trick?”

He rubbed his hands together in front of her face and then placed one back on her inner thigh, much higher than before. That got a soft gasp out of her and she barely noticed when he passed his other hand over her front.

She did notice all the buttons of her dress popping open though…

“How…” she exclaimed.

“Magic.” he smirked smugly, already reaching inside her dress to cup a breast. He couldn’t get a good view of her bra but the fabric felt lacy under his palm and he swallowed back a groan, his hips jerking forward a little. His thumb rubbed her already hard nipple and his other hand searched its way beneath her dress. “You want to stop, now’s a good time to say it…”

He was starting to grow desperate.

His hand was a poor substitute and he really, really needed…

“Haymitch…” she breathed out.

She leaned harder against him, her legs opening even more… He had barely touched her over her panties, his other hand instinctively clutching her breast, when she reached behind her for his neck and pulled him down in a kiss. The angle was a little awkward for kissing but it was perfect for the rest and he didn’t wait before slipping his fingers under the lace of her underwear, his hips jerking again when he realized she was already wet. She must have been more distracted than she had let on.

He stroked her slowly, spurred on by the noises she was making but slowed down by the lack of room her panties allowed. He wasn’t sure when he had tugged down her bra but her breasts were spilling over its cups now, small but round and firm. Perfect. So perfect he wanted to taste and lick and maybe bite a little… But first…

Her hands were gripping his thighs hard enough to bruise, her head was tossed back on his shoulder and her eyes were closed. Her breathing was speeding up and her hips were rolling every time he touched her clit. When he slipped a finger inside, she mewled.

“More. Please, Haymitch, I need more.” she demanded, squeezing his thighs even harder.

He added another finger and watched, in awe, as her soft whimpers turned into full blown moans. He had never been with a woman that vocal but he wasn’t surprised she couldn’t shut up even in bed. He decided he liked it though. It was easier to figure out what was working for her and what wasn’t.

He kept her on the edge on purpose, rather enjoying watching her wriggle and beg him for more… He was hard and throbbing and being trapped in his pants was starting to get painful so he stopped toying with her breasts to undo his belt and pop his jeans open.

He was going to finish her with his fingers first though, finish her, take her, have her climax again… He wanted…

“Effie!” The knocks on the door barely preceded Glimmer’s voice and the handle rattled…

Haymitch snatched both hands away, pretty sure he hadn’t locked the door behind him because he hadn’t exactly been planning on this when he had stalked Effie all the way back to her trailer earlier. He had honestly just wanted to talk about the circus.

“Don’t come in!” Effie screamed in panic, bolting away from the bed.

The door froze half open and Haymitch quickly turned his back to it to cover himself. Not as easy as it seemed with a raging erection and jeans that were becoming a bit too tight thanks to Sae’s cooking. Effie was quicker, it seemed, because she was suddenly in front of the door, blocking the girl’s view of the inside of the trailer.

“What is it, dear?” she asked in the same cheerful caring voice she always used with the kids. She had her favorites, of course – Peeta, Prim, Finnick, Annie and Rue being amongst those – but she always made a point of treating them all the same way.

“Cinna’s here!” Glimmer told her with obvious joy.

A joy Effie echoed with a happy exclamation and, before Haymitch could understand what was going on, they had both jogged away.

He blinked, left alone with an ajar door, and jeans that were extremely uncomfortable. Well, the jeans were fine. The hard-on on the other hand…

Too curious – and a bit irritated – to remain there and wait for his problem to pass, he wandered out of the trailer and followed the noises to the edge of their camp. He reached the crowd in time to see Effie fling herself in a black man’s arms without a care for the propriety she always lectured him on.

Haymitch’s jaw clenched. The stranger was wearing jeans, a soft blue shirt and a suit jacket in an odd mismatch of clothes that somehow looked stylish rather ridiculous. He was also hugging Effie far too intimately for his taste. The man’s face was pressed against the neck he had spent hours kissing and…

Effie tore herself from his arms to embrace the black woman standing next to the man. Haymitch hadn’t noticed her but once he did, he wasn’t sure how he could have missed her. She was beautiful. And crying. So was Effie though. But they seemed to be tears of joy. They didn’t appear to be able to stop clinging to each other.

“Cinna!”

The cry came from somewhere behind him and Haymitch turned just in time to see Katniss run all the way from the animals paddock, followed at a slower pace by Prim and Annie. The girl jumped on the man, laughing in a childish display he had rarely witnessed from her. The so-called Cinna actually swung her around in the air, laughing himself, before placing her down on the ground.

“How’s my girl on fire?” the man asked, placing a hand on the top of her head. “You’ve grown bigger again.”

“I’m not a child anymore.” she scoffed, batting away the hand but the usual scowl didn’t appear on her face. She was actually smiling.

There was more hugging. Prim and Annie had reached them and they seemed just as happy to see the man as the others were. They hugged the woman Effie had finally released too.

“Are you back for good?” Rue asked, her dark eyes full of hope.

Cinna shook his head, a shadow passing on his face. “I’m going back in a couple of days.”

The way he said that… Haymitch didn’t need to ask where he was going back to. He could see it now. The tension in the man’s shoulders, the way his eyes kept darting around, the nervous clenching of his fist at his side and the discreet struggle to keep the smile on his face…

He wasn’t the only one who had noticed. A few members of the work crew had gathered to see what the commotion was about and were now turning away, knowing looks on their faces. Haunted looks for some. Sometimes, it was easy to forget about the war. The circus was a closed world. They lived in their own bubble.

“But we couldn’t not come and see you!” the woman added with the same kind of cheer Effie sometimes used. The one that was fake but aimed at reassuring frightened children. “It’s been so long!”

“Do not remind me!” Effie laughed. And while the laughter wasn’t fake, it had a worried edge to it. “You could always stay, you know. You are always welcome…”

“The shop is doing well.” the stranger refused with a smile. “And someone needs to keep the fort while Cinna is gone.” She pressed Effie’s arm. “I have new costumes in the car though. And dresses for you if you are interested.”

“I am always interested.” Effie grinned.

Cinna was dragged away to the Big Top by excited teenagers who all wanted to show him something or other and the rest of the crowd started to scatter, leaving only the two women and Haymitch who was leaning against the side of a trailer, hands in his pockets.

“I am so happy to see you!” Effie beamed, her voice softer, more genuine.

“Me too. You have no idea.” the woman sighed.

And then they were hugging again and Haymitch suddenly felt like an intruder. He pushed himself away, intending to go see if Chaff needed help with something – or maybe ask if he knew who they were since he always seemed to know everything that was going on in the circus, as a foreman should – but the sudden movement caught Effie’s attention and she waved him closer.

Too curious to pass, he joined them. Too fast for the woman to completely blink away the tears in her eyes.

“Hi.” he said, feeling a bit awkward. He didn’t do well with emotional women.

“Portia, this is Haymitch.” Effie grinned.

“Oh, the infamous Haymitch.” Portia said, her eyebrows lifting up as her eyes roamed over him, assessing him. “Effie writes about you all the time.”

“Hush.” Effie chided her without any heat, her eyes sparkling with a happiness so pure he couldn’t help but smile a little at her, his earlier annoyance at being interrupted slowly fading. “Portia is my best friend.”

He didn’t even ask how someone with a background like hers – someone with a mother like hers – could have a black woman for a best friend in that day and age. It was Effie and Effie, surprisingly, didn’t have a prejudiced bone in her body. Or if she did, she was hiding it very well.

On a more practical level, Haymitch suddenly felt very conscious of his rumpled shirt and his still too-tight jeans. Meeting the best friend seemed just as huge as meeting the family – more even because he was pretty sure he wasn’t actually going to ever meet the elusive Trinkets. The pressure was on and…

“I know we had the books to review but you do not mind if I play hooky, do you?” Effie asked with a sweet smile that might have been an attempt at placating him or a way to trick him into caving to her wishes.

He rolled his eyes. “I’m gonna finish the books so you can go gossip with your friend but don’t complain if there are mistakes.”

“You are the absolute best.” she purred, trailing a hand down his arm before dragging her best friend away.

“Don’t you forget it!” he shouted after her.

She didn’t even look back.

#hayffie #effie trinket #haymitch abernathy #thg circus au

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ellanainthetardis · 5 years

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You can also find it on AO3! Let me know your thoughts!

#hayffie #effie trinket #haymitch abernathy #The Greatest Show #thg circus au

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ellanainthetardis · 6 years

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Come to “The Greatest Show”!

The Capitol Circus opens its gates next Friday! Don’t miss out on my new hayffie au!

#hayffie #effie trinket #haymitch abernathy #The Greatest Show #thg circus au

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ellanainthetardis · 6 years

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The temperature increases today! Let me know your thoughts!

[ff] or [ao3]

Chapter 5 : Escapism

Two weeks later Haymitch had proved his point that a circus ran far more easily when there was a foreman and a crew to handle the manual labor, but it still hadn’t been enough to win the troupe to his side. The show was slowly getting better but the others were changing things at a snail pace. The only one truly willing was Trinket – in the spirit of encouraging the others to do the same, he figured – but aside for insisting she used a safety net until Chaff had had an opportunity to replace the busted ropes, there wasn’t a lot he could say about her and Finnick’s act. It was good, it didn’t need changing.

He was starting to settle in though and the others were starting to include him, which was good.

Now if only the weather would cooperate… It wasn’t that fun living on the road when winter was this harsh.

The knocking on his door distracted him from those considerations and he stopped glaring at the portable heater in the corner of the trailer to call out for his visitor to come in.

Trinket stepped inside with obvious relief, shivering despite the fur coat that she shed almost as soon as she had closed the door behind her. She was wearing a blue dress that day with a matching scarf holding her puffy curls away from her face. She always looked classy even when it wasn’t show time, no matter that the rest of them preferred to run around in comfortable clothes.

“Rue said you needed me?” she asked.

Her eyes roamed around by reflex even though she had been in his trailer once or twice by that point so she knew what she would find: a mess that had her wrinkling her nose in distaste. Clothes were tossed around, the props that hadn’t been crammed in one of the storage trucks were stuck in a pile and the bed was unmade. Her gaze lingered on the couple of liquor bottles but she didn’t comment. It was for the best because… He had been trying to ease off the stuff a little and he was grumpy about it.

“Yeah.” he confirmed, glad that the kid was fast at running errands. He was still contemplating the assortment of chains and handcuffs spread on the bed. “I need you to tie me up.”

He couldn’t keep on pulling rabbits out of his hat. He needed to go back to daring acts or he would get bored before long and being bored meant more drinking. He had always been good at escapology and had the vague idea of making a whole spectacular act out of it. Assuming he could convince Trinket to spare the money for a human sized fish tank and that she would be willing to trap him into one…

“Do I get to gag you too?” she joked, getting to work without protest.

He was so shocked by that comment that he barely realized she had put the handcuffs on before his arms were secured at the small of his back.

It wasn’t that he hadn’t expected the flirting. Flirting was all they were doing when they weren’t fighting – and sometimes even the arguments themselves felt like an odd sort of seduction act. But that was taking it a little further than simply commenting on the shape of each other’s body or hinting at stuff… This was… Really not what he had thought she would say.

A girl like her… A girl who came from where he suspected she came from – money, privilege – you didn’t expect that girl to know about that kind of things. You barely expected her to know about sex at all because it wasn’t proper and shit. Sex, to people from her background, was still something linked with marriage and…

Maybe she hadn’t said it like that. Maybe it was his mind, a little too feverish when she was concerned, that was taking leaps. Still…

He let out a low whistle. “And there I thought you were a proper lady…”

He was careful to sound teasing, a little vague just in case she really didn’t know what she was implying. She still might have taken it as an insult but she laughed it off instead.

“Your mistake, then.” she hummed, wrapping the chain around him without much efficiency. She secured the padlock and considered her work with amusement. “I find tied up men are much more likely to comply with my demands.”

He turned around to face her with lifted eyebrows. “Don’t need to tie me up, sweetheart… I’d be more than happy to let you play around…”

Her lips twitched. Her blue eyes were sparkling with amusement but watching him carefully, considering maybe.

“Somehow, I have the feeling you are more fond of giving orders rather than taking them.” she replied.

He took a few steps toward her, backing her against the wall of the trailer. She went willingly enough though. She was still looking amused when he pinned her between him and the hard surface.

“Is that a bad thing?” he challenged.

“Not necessarily.” she replied in the same tone. “Although you are the one currently tied up so…”

“Am I?” he smirked.

Did she see it coming? A flick of his elbow was all it took for the chains to fall. He didn’t give her time to react. He had the handcuffs around her wrists in a flash and her arms stretched over her head in shorter time than that. She gasped in surprise but not in fear and he leaned a little closer, his smirk deepening when he felt her heart racing up against his chest. He placed his free hand on her waist, running his thumb up and down the thick fabric of her dress… Could she feel it? He wasn’t sure.

“You play with fire, you’re gonna get burned, Princess.” he said.

“Is that so?” she hummed, arching her back a little, pushing her breasts toward him. His fingers were clenching around the chain holding her wrists together.

“Don’t be reckless…” he warned because somehow… It wasn’t how he had expected this to happen. He wanted it. There was no doubt. And she wanted it too, that too he knew for certain. There were signs and the tension between them for the last two weeks had been thick enough to slice with a knife. But she was…

Classy.

And her propositioning him in his trailer wasn’t how he had seen that going. He had thought she would make him work for it, make him chase her a little longer before surrendering… He hadn’t thought she was the kind of girl who gave in that easily. Not that he wasn’t happy for it or that he judged her but… He hadn’t expected that.

She kept on surprising him, that girl.

“I dance on a tightrope for a living.” she reminded him. “Don’t you think I am a little reckless?”

“Point taken.” he snorted, letting his hand wander up her waist to her breast, hesitantly stroking the swell of it over her dress. Her breath caught and she licked her lips. He pressed his hips hard against hers, leaving no room for doubt as to what he wanted. She pressed back.

He almost fell into her.

He brushed his mouth against hers, grasping her breast a little more firmly… It was on the small side but it fitted so well in his palm… She gasped again and he smirked because he could tell she would be vocal and… That turned him on.

“Guess we need to get it out of our system anyway, yeah?” he mumbled distractedly, searching her mouth.

She drew back a little. “Out of our system?”

“Once should do the trick…” he shrugged, dropping a kiss on her jaw. “Then maybe we’re gonna be able to talk without jumping at each other’s throat…”

“Once?” she repeated and her tone was icy enough that he frowned and stopped retracing the line of her jaw with his lips to look at her. She was frowning and that wasn’t good. “You do not want this… You do not want me…”

“Sweetheart, I very much want you…” he scoffed, jutting his hips forward to prove his point.

She didn’t gasp or press back this time though and he took his hand off her breast to place it back on her waist, not really enjoying how unresponsive she had become.

“But only once.” she huffed.

“Ah.” He winced, finally getting what the problem was. He stepped back, giving her back her space. “I ain’t interested in a relationship. Sex is… Sex is alright but…”

“Of course, sex is alright.” she deadpanned with enough sarcasm to chill the whole room, letting her bound hands fall in front of her. “My apologies, I clearly misread the situation and you clearly mistook me for what I am not.”

“Hey, you’re the one who waltzed in all knowledgeable about gagging and shit…” he retorted and then winced again. “Look, I’m sorry… For what it’s worth, I never thought you were…”

“A slut?” she finished when he let his sentence trail off. “No, you simply thought I was the kind of woman who slept around for fun apparently. And why? Because I am an unmarried woman running a circus by myself? I thought you were different.” She pursed her lips. “I think it is far better for the good of the troupe if we forget this even happened. Let’s remain friends.”

Haymitch had a bad taste in his mouth. He felt guilty and for no good reason of his own. He hadn’t promised her anything. He hadn’t courted her or some shit… He hadn’t even really initiated this. She…

“Let me get those off you…” he awkwardly mumbled, nodding to the handcuffs still encircling her wrists.

“No need.” she snapped and, in clicking sounds that seemed almost deafening, the handcuffs slipped off her wrists and onto the floor. He must have gaped a little because when he looked back up at her, she looked both smug and irritated all at once. “You are not the only one who is gifted at escaping, Haymitch.” The fact that she could have gotten out of the shackles at any moment somehow made him feel even worse. “I trust you not to blab about this around the others.”

“Course not.” he scowled. “Ain’t that kind of asshole…”

She snatched her coat and slipped it on with jerky angry moves. He watched her toss her hair over the collar with an impatient flick of her arm. He tried to catch her eyes but she wouldn’t look at him. He thought they were shiny and, more than anything, that made him want to reach out, to salvage this.

He didn’t dare try to touch her again.

“Effie…” he whispered and she froze for a second. It was the first time he had used her name, he realized.

“Let’s stay friends.” she insisted. And then she was gone.

The door swung shut quietly behind her and he would have preferred for her to have slammed it.

#hayffie #effie trinket #haymitch abernathy #thg circus au #The Greatest Show

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ellanainthetardis · 6 years

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Progress is made... Or is it?

[ff] or [ao3)

Chapter 7 : An Understanding

The thing was… You couldn’t not like Greasy Sae.

It barely took two days for Sae to win Trinket over. He got up one morning, wandered to the kitchen trailer for his morning dose of coffee and found the two of them laughing together.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, half-expecting Trinket to run away like she had more or less being doing for days – weeks, really.

“You trying to climb on an elephant and landing in its droppings.” Effie deadpanned.

He choked on his cup of coffee and glared at Sae. “The fuck you’ve been telling her?”

“Relax, Haymitch…” Trinket grinned. “I find those childhood stories… endearing.”

That was the problem with someone who had known your mother before you were even born… They were never short of embarrassing stories and most of his new friends seemed eager to hear them.

Katniss, unexpectedly, took to the cook like a fish to water, her wariness around strangers apparently not applying to this particular case. Prim and Rue, on their ends, made sure Dorit, Sae’s granddaughter, felt welcome and soon had her helping out with the goats and the other animals. It didn’t take them long at all to find their place in the group.

Sae, of course, immediately adopted the crowd of kids in a blink and the old woman was soon a favorite, pampered and fussed upon by each of them. Even the workmen loved her and she kept them all in line, old crew and vets alike, with a firm hand and a scowl when necessary. It made Chaff’s work that much easier and Haymitch often teased him she should have been the foreman.

Those days, Haymitch often mused as he watched the settling or the dismantling process, they were looking more like a real circus and less like ten people struggling to put a tent up.

It would have been great if the troupe cohesion had been there too but he forced himself to be patient about that and not so resentful that some of them had still not completely accepted him when they were so ready to welcome Sae or even Chaff.

Katniss, at least, had finally consented to let him teach her a few tricks.

That was what his mind was on that afternoon under the Big Top, as a few of them had claimed the space in the ring to rehearse. And, granted, since he was already waist deep in water, trapped in a huge fish tank that he had found in the odds and ends of a storage truck, he should maybe have been a little more focused on himself.

The water was cold and the chains were slippery. Later on, he would have weights on his feet that would make him sink and keep him at the bottom but for now he needed to build up his endurance because he wasn’t confident at all he could hold his breath long enough to get out of those chains. In the past, he might have, now…

“Add more water.” he ordered the kid who was standing on the ladder next to the tank. On the ground, Rue dutifully handed Prim the last bucket and, soon, he had water up to his neck. “Okay, you’re ready?”

His eyes swept around the ring one last time, aware that Marvel and Glimmer who were working a few feet away were watching him. So were Peeta and Gale, and Finnick was somewhere up there, playing with his trapezes and probably keeping an eye on him too. The safety net, at least, had been pulled out for training today.

“Ready!” Rue called out, his old timer in her hand.

“Here goes nothing.” he muttered. “Go.”

And he dived underwater, reminding himself not to panic, to focus, and not to lose air with ridiculous unhelpful movements.

Those were the three rules to that sort of act: never panic, focus on your objective, don’t waste oxygen.

There were three locks to open. He was in the middle of taking care of the second one when Effie Trinket sauntered inside with an easy smile and a global greeting he couldn’t hear, shed her coat and stood there in nothing else than a neon-pink leotard.

Even through the grainy glass of the tank and the blurry water he could tell that the leotard might as well be a second skin. Then she sat down on the hay and spread her legs on either side of her body as if it was completely natural to break out into a split wearing only a leotard without warning innocent bystanders.

He might have gasped a little.

Which wasn’t a good thing when your head was underwater.

He immediately kicked his bound feet when the water went down the wrong pipe and his head shot out. His hands were already free so he grabbed the edge of the tank and pulled himself up, coughing and spitting out cold water, ignoring Rue’s and Prim’s anxious questions about his health.

Everyone under the Top was staring at him with concern but it was Effie’s gaze he sought. Had she done that on purpose? Walking around wearing next to nothing and taking poses just to…

To what?, a little voice at the back of his mind mocked, Make you drown? Get over yourself, man.

Effie, as it turned out, looked just as worried as everyone else but relaxed when he stopped coughing.

“Easy, there, Haymitch.” she called out. “We would not want to lose our ringleader.”

“Maybe warn a guy next time you wanna walk into a room half naked…” he shot back before thinking twice about it.

Her eyebrows shot up and she glanced around, too aware perhaps that they had an audience.

“And there I thought you were enjoying the view.” she deadpanned anyway, clearly unwilling to let him have the last word.

“A bit too much.” he snorted, not quite joking.

The way she flattened her body on the ground next when her legs were still spread on either side of her was simply provocative, he decided. It was lucky the water was so cold because his mind was very much fixated on how flexible she was.

“Behave.” she warned from her new position.

He bristled at the off-handed rebuke but with so many people watching, he couldn’t really reply to that like he wanted to. After all, he hadn’t started it.

The odd tension was broken by the creaking of the safety net when Finnick dropped on top of it from the tent’s heights. He didn’t look entirely happy and he hopped off to strut to Effie – he strutted everywhere, that boy was a peacock – and engaged her in conversation while she stretched. They were clearly discussing possible new figures so Haymitch grumpily went back to his own training.

He tried to focus on the locks and not on the various stretching positions Effie submitted her body to.

Once he was satisfied he could hold his breath long enough to get rid of three locks, he disappeared behind the bleachers to change into a dry shirt and pants and came back to help the girls put his material away.

Someone had turned on a radio by that point and cheerful upbeat music was filling the Big Top. A few of the others had drifted in and he wasn’t really sure who started it. He thought it might have been Prim dragging Katniss for a laugh but soon the girls were twisting and shaking, Thresh grabbed Rue and they were dancing too, then it was Marvel and Glimmer… When the first notes of something even upper-beat followed, Finnick jumped off his trapeze to bounce off the safety net and take hold of Annie who had been shyly clapping next to Johanna… Jo tugged Gale on without leaving him much choice in the matter…

When Haymitch felt a hand close around his, Peeta had cut in and stolen Katniss away from Prim and the girl had turned to Rue and Thresh.

He hadn’t seen Effie get down her perch up there but he shook his head even as she took hold of his other hand and started twisting and trying to force him to do the same.

“I don’t dance.” he told her.

For a second, she looked like she had been slapped and she tried to snatch her hands away but he found himself entwining their fingers to keep her there. It was the first time she had willingly approached him – friendly approached him – since what had – not – happened between them in his trailer and he was loathed to lose the contact.

“Never been good at it.” he clarified before she could misinterpret that by him not wanting to dance with her.

“Patently untrue.” she huffed, giving up on trying to get free. “I saw you lead the whole troupe in musical numbers.”

He rolled his eyes. “That’s different.”

“It really is not.” she dismissed with a cheerful laugh. “Follow my lead.”

“Don’t I always?” he mocked but let himself be convinced to emulate her movements.

The success of the endeavor was mitigated. He looked like a constipated chicken and she laughed so hard tears pooled in her eyes. He might have been vexed if she hadn’t been such a pretty sight, her cheeks flushed from the dancing, her eyes bright from the laughter and her body clad in that pink monstrosity of a leotard.

Naturally, because Haymitch’s luck was either fantastic or terrible depending on one’s perspective, the radio then sprouted out a slow dance. The girls, Tresh, Gale and Jo all opted to sit that one out but Peeta and Katniss and Annie and Finnick all gave it a go. Haymitch didn’t miss the jealous glance Gale gave the teenagers before storming out of the Big Top. He might have followed and tried to smooth ruffled feathers – maybe offer the boy a drink – if Effie’s arms hadn’t tentatively locked around his neck.

He placed his at the small of her back. The fabric seemed thin under his palms and she must have been freezing. It was with that thought in mind that he tugged her closer, so he could warm her up… At least that was what he told himself.

He pressed his cheek against the side of her head. Her blond curls were held back with a scarf again and his stubble caught a little on the silky fabric… He closed his eyes, let himself enjoy the moment… She tightened her hold a little, let out a soft sigh…

“We’re done fighting, sweetheart?” he whispered, low enough that the music would cover it and none of the kids would hear.

“Were we fighting?” she replied, a touch too detached to be genuine.

His hand ran up and down the bumpy line of her spine once but he didn’t go past the small of her back, mindful of the various kids sitting around, probably watching them. He might have otherwise.

“I’ve been an ass and you’ve been a bitch.” he shrugged.

“Language.” she chided automatically but her voice was hesitant. “Your behavior is… One moment you look at me like you are interested and the next…”

“I’m interested.” he sighed. “I’m very much interested. Thing is I’m not… I’ve been in that place before. Running a circus, living with my girl… Didn’t end well.”

“A bad break-up…” she started arguing, drawing back a little.

“She died.” he cut her off, maybe too harshly.

He saw the understanding dawning on her face. “The fire… Oh, Haymitch…”

“My family too. You probably know the story.” He scowled because he didn’t want her pity. “I ain’t… I don’t wanna get attached, Princess. Haven’t gotten attached to anyone in years and that works out for me. Sex is sex, I can deal with that. But feelings…” He spat the word out and then shook his head. “Ain’t you. ‘Cause you…” He licked his lips and averted his eyes, staring at Peeta and Katniss. The boy was blushing and Katniss was either oblivious or very gifted at playing coy – the first one, he would have bet. Young love. He remembered that. He remembered it so well. Love was dangerous though. Love crept up on you when you weren’t looking. Love knocked on your door wearing a red dress and if you weren’t careful it would swallow you whole. “Relationships ain’t my thing anymore. So, yeah… I like you and I’m… You’re fucking attractive and you know that… But…”

“But you do not wish to pursue anything serious.” she finished for him. She rested her head on his shoulder after a second. “I do not… I need to set an example for the girls. I cannot enter any promiscuous arrangement just because… And it would not be like me anyway. I… I had intimate relationships before but never any that weren’t… meaningful.”

“Got that.” he murmured. “That’s okay. We can… We can be friends, yeah? For real this time.”

“Friends who really want to sleep with each other?” she mocked but it was a little bitter.

“Friends who won’t break each other’s hearts ‘cause one of them is an old drunk who’s too broken to love you back like you deserve.” he countered carefully. “Wouldn’t even know how to anymore.”

The last part was, maybe, a little wistful.

“You are not old. You cannot be more than thirty.” she argued as if it was the most important thing there.

He didn’t answer and they kept on swaying. If she noticed he tightened his embrace, she didn’t let on but, then again, she was pressing closer herself.

“Hey! You’re gonna stay like this all day or you’re coming to dinner?” Jo called out and Haymitch realized belatedly that the music had stopped and most of the kids had left the tent.

They immediately let go of each other. Effie was a bit red in the face and she cleared her throat, muttering something about getting changed into something warmer before fleeing the tent. Haymitch, after a moment, grabbed the leather jacket he had abandoned on the bleachers and followed Jo out, ignoring the suspicious glances the kid was giving him.

He waited for the young woman to corner him all evening which was why he was so taken off-guard when, at the end of the show, when they were putting everything away, it was Finnick who stopped right in front of him with a serious expression on his face.

“Don’t toy with her.” the young man warned him. “I like you but she’s the closest I’ve ever got to a mother and I swear if you hurt her I will smash your face.”

His eyebrows shot up and his lips twitched despite himself. “You think you can take me in a fight, boy?”

Maybe he could. The kid was younger. But Haymitch had gained back the muscles he had lost drinking since he had come back to circus life and he had always been strong in a brawl.

“I won’t be alone.” Finnick shrugged and then walked away to where Jo was leaning against a pillar.

Duty accomplished.

#hayffie #effie trinket #haymitch abernathy #The Greatest Show #thg circus au

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ellanainthetardis · 6 years

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Okay... Spoiler alert, there is S M U T in this chapter, as a consequence and given the context right now, I’m not sure I want to risk posting that here today.

I also cannot post link or it won’t show up in search mode. (yes it’s a pain, I will be back to posting normally next week but I want to avoid the censure). SO to get this chapter please head to fanfiction.net or ao3 (links are on my blog).

I’m so sorry for this weird update but I want to play it safe while they are hunting witches!

Chapter 11 : Troubles

The show was going well and with Effie’s act missing and Johanna replacing her as his assistant, that was a small mercy.

Haymitch watched Katniss’ performance from the shadow behind the ring, ready to jump back in there when she would wrap it up to announce Glimmer and Marvel.

“She got so much better…” someone commented to his left. He turned his head to find the mysterious Cinna making his way to him with an engaging smile and an outstretched hand. “We didn’t meet earlier. I’m Cinna.”

READ MORE on FF or on AO3 (head there please!!)

#hayffie #effie trinket #haymitch abernathy #thg circus au #The Greatest Show

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ellanainthetardis · 6 years

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And now I give you the greatest show on Earth! Let me know your thoughts!

[ff] or {ao3]

Chapter 2 : Capitol Circus

The second night in a town was usually the busiest but the area around the Big Top was sadly lacking a crowd. There were a few people wandering around waiting for the show to start, some of them Haymitch knew from town, others he had never seen before. The people from the circus themselves were easy to spot. They were running around in a hurry, some already wearing make-up or costumes…

Haymitch strolled through the animals display and decided that they were short staffed.

He wasn’t sure what he even was doing there. He had told himself again and again that he wouldn’t come and yet there he was, wearing a black leather jacket that had seen better days and his only pair of clean pants that didn’t have holes anywhere. He hadn’t bothered trying to comb his hair or shave the stubble that ate half his face but he figured for once he wasn’t sticking out like a sore thumb like he had everywhere else ever since he had left the circus.

The pull had been too strong.

He had walked all the way, swearing to himself he would turn back and go home with every new step, but the moment he had spotted the huge striped red tent, he had been lost. The Big Top called to him like a beacon and he had purchased a ticket from the young man at the booth without even realizing it.

Here, everything was a reminder.

The music in the air, drums and fanfare tunes that were intrinsically linked to the couple of hours preceding a show… The smell of popcorn, hay and animals… The sounds of people calling out to each other, of various animals making their opinions known, of vendors haranguing the visitors for souvenirs… Children laughing… Here, a grandfather holding a little girl’s hand and pointing at a zebra with his walking stick… There, a boy escaping his mother to run to a woman leading horses out of their paddock… The fairy lights being switched on when the night fell properly…

It was so similar to the last time he had been in a circus, to that last night…

“Hurry up, Bitchy Mitchy…” Mabel had laughed when she had left the main tent, leaving him to check on the dismantling process. “You know I don’t like going to bed alone…”

The last words he had heard from her.

Afterwards, when it had only been ashes and smoke and shocked-shell people holding each other tight and crying… He could still hear her voice ringing in his ears… Hurry up, Bitchy Mitchy… And his gruff annoyed answer… Don’t call me that… The same annoyed answer he always gave to that nickname, the only reason she used it in the first place…

He walked between makeshift paddocks and iron cages, barely registering the animals inside. The menagerie never was his department. He had always felt a bit sorry to see them trapped like that. Hayden had loved them though. His brother had always been begging to be allowed to help with them. Elephants. That had been Hayden’s favorite animal. Elephants.

There were no elephants at the Capitol Circus but everything else was more or less like he remembered it. There were goats, for some reason, and there was a woman inviting kids to come and pet them which was either a clever idea or a recipe for disaster.

Haymitch was still pondering the wisdom of a petting zoo when he found himself face to face with an honest to god lion. Right there, in the middle of an alley of cages, free to roam around, there was a lion who had clearly seen better days. A part of his right ear was gone, patches of hair were missing from his mane and he had a wild spark in his eyes that had Haymitch standing very, very still.

“Don’t worry. Buttercup is tame.”

He blinked and dared looking away from the wild animal long enough to spot the little girl he hadn’t noticed next to the huge predator. She was holding a leash, he realized, a leash that was linked to a leather collar around the lion’s neck. The collar had blue gemstones on it that matched the girl’s costume. Her blond hair was parted into two French braids and her blue eyes were sparkling with amusement but no mockery.

“Sweetheart… I’m pretty sure that’s not a puppy you’ve got here.” he said, glancing around in hope that he would find the animal trainer rushing to them. The place was deserted though.

“I rescued him from another circus when he was a baby.” the girl explained, unconcerned. She was petting the lion’s side, apparently not realizing that if the animal leaped away, she wouldn’t be strong enough to hold him back. “They weren’t nice to him but he’s my best friend. We have an act together. Are you coming in to watch the show?”

And, of all things, the mangled lion started purring.

Haymitch opened and closed his mouth twice and then found himself nodding. “Yeah.”

The little girl – she couldn’t be more than twelve, he figured – flashed him a bright smile. “You should go take your seat then. It’s going to start soon. That’s what the bell means.” The bell… He must have missed it, too lost in his memories. And he must also have looked too hesitant because the girl slipped her hand into his as if it was the most natural thing in the world. “Come on, I’ll show you.”

She led him toward the Big Top’s entrance and he followed, just like the lion on her other side.

“You know it ain’t safe to talk to strange men lurking in the dark, yeah?” he asked, for the sake of it, because she looked like a nice kid and he wasn’t sure how the posh woman was running her circus.

“Buttercup would eat you if you tried to attack me and my sister can hit the bullseye at a distance of sixty-five yards.” she answered calmly.

He supposed that made sense.

“Your sister throws knives?” he asked, interested despite himself.

“She’s an archer.” the girl grinned. “The best ever! Wait until you see her eat fire…”

He didn’t really see what one had to do with the other but he shrugged and accepted that at face value.

“Here you are!” she said brightly when they reached the entrance. “I have to hurry or I will miss the opening! Enjoy the show!”

He watched her saunter away to what he presumed to be the back entrance, the lion stalking after her like an overgrown dog. He was pretty sure she didn’t need the leash at all.

Well… That was something.

He gave his ticket to the same young man who had sold it to him and quickly climbed at the top of the bleachers. Most of the audience had gathered on the first few rows but that was for amateurs. The best view was at the top, plus it allowed him to hide in the shadows and that was how he preferred it.

The least one could say was that the show wasn’t sold out. Half of the seats were still free but he figured, given the war, it wasn’t that surprising.

The lights dimmed a minute or so after he had taken his seat and he leaned forward a little, all the better not to miss a thing. His heart was beating fast in his chest, like it used to every time he was about to jump on stage…

Then a spotlight pierced the darkness and… He leaned back, a smirk on his lips. Well… Nobody could say that woman didn’t rock red. That was certainly a new look for ringleaders and one the men in the crowd were sold on if the appreciative murmurs were to go by. The red bodice hugged her body and left very little to the imagination, the golden fluff on her shoulders and the matching embroideries on the red fabric were a nice touch, but his eyes fixated on her endless legs… The thigh-high black boots, the top hat on her blond curls and the black bowtie around her neck that was purely decorative… He hardly registered any of it.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!” Effie Trinket’s voice boomed in the tent as she tossed her arms in the air. “Welcome, welcome, to Capitol Circus!”

The whip in her hand, he decided, was overkill.

A flick of it and the show was on the road. He clapped with everyone else when she asked them to greet the artists but pursed his lips when he realized how few of them there were. No wonder she was looking to hire.

The first number was a dexterity performance probably the sister of the lion girl. The girl launched arrows after arrows, never missing her target. The first one was a practice target, the next one was a flying plate, the third one was an apple placed on another girl’s head. That one tore a few gasps and admiring applause from the crowd but it was too little too late. It felt like a built-up and not a climax.

Of course, then she started playing with fire and while a part of him instinctively recoiled at the sight of flames – he knew exactly how long it would have taken fire to swallow the tent and the surrounding trailers, how fast it could claim lives and how savagely it could devour everything – he had to admit it was daring and interesting. She wasn’t just a classic fire-eater, she conjured it. She spit it out, she waved her hands and it burst forth around her…

He understood the black dress better now.

It took him all of two minutes to spot the hidden mechanisms but it was a nice trick and he wondered if she had been mentored by another magician or if she had developed that herself. With some proper training…

“Katniss Everdeen, The Girl On Fire!” the ringleader presented with a graceful sweep of her arm when the girl ran off under the crowd’s applause.

Someone needed to teach that kid how to smile, he decided.

The next number was a clown one. The young man whom he had bought his ticket from. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t awesome either. Then again, he was alone and a clown number was hard to pull without a sidekick.

It was followed by a horse show with a young woman doing figures on their back, directing the four horses and the two zebras the circus owned as if she could speak directly into their minds. It wasn’t too daring, she was obviously playing it safe, but the girl was pretty and she shyly waved at the crowd as Effie announced her off.

There was a boring strength number from a kid who piled up weights as if it still interested people to watch people flex and lift things up… If, at least, he had been lifting interesting stuff but no…

Gale Hawthorne didn’t convince him and if the lukewarm applause was to be believed, he didn’t convince the crowd either. That being said, he was far more amusing when he was tied to a spinning wheel and Johanna Mason tossed axes at him.

Why she needed to wear two thin pieces of spandex while she was doing that was anyone’s guess but it worked. She was better at throwing axes than Haymitch used to be at throwing knives.

Then came Prim and her lion. Buttercup obediently jumped through loops and opened his mouth so she could place her little head between his pointy teeth. It was classic and not too original but she was so young it worked anyway and the crowd was wild for her.

“Primrose Everdeen!” Effie Trinket cheerfully shouted, making the applause double.

There were more numbers. A girl and a boy called Glimmer and Marvel had a sword swallower act going. A little black girl around the same age as the lion girl performed an aerial silk number that made him check several times that the safety net was in place. Rue The Bird, Effie cheerfully called at the end. Well, Rue was exceptionally good at what she did. Then came a boy called Thresh who did some acrobatics figures with a trampoline…

And when he was done another young man announced Effie Trinket which wasn’t the norm. The ringleader called the number, no matter if they were performing next or not. But he understood why she wasn’t the one manning the mic when he spotted her at the top of the tent. She had lost the black boots.

The next thing he realized was that they had rolled off the safety net.

His mouth ran dry.

Rationally, he knew nobody would have taken that decision lightly, even to add a wow factor to the show. If she was going up there without a back-up plan, it was because she could, and yet…

She was a posh girl from a posh family, so what did she know? You didn’t just wake up one day and buy a circus… You were born into it or life tossed you that way but you didn’t just…

She was walking the tightrope, strutting on that thin line as if she was strolling down the street. She danced, unconcerned by the void underneath…

And then she did a cartwheel and his heart might have stopped beating in his chest. The rope was far from being steady, he could see it from down there, the swaying was light but at that height it was enough to be fatal. It took her a second to find her balance back and more than one person in the audience gasped and then cheered when she took a bow, apparently unbothered that she had almost plummeted to her death.

Another cartwheel and she fell…

Haymitch’s heart did stop in his chest, certain he was about to witness a gruesome accident.

And then he gaped when he realized it was deliberate. She was hanging from that rope by a foot, her curly hair was swinging under her head… Once the shock was off, the audience cheered and clapped.

He brought the flask he had been steadily drinking from since the start of the show to his lips and then put it away. She had done the impossible and put him off liquor.

She righted herself on the rope – he wasn’t sure how because that had never really been his area of expertise but he had watched Mags fly in the air often enough to know there were a thousand tricks – and then she did a somersault and …

The only thought in Haymitch’s head was that she was determined to break her neck. There was no safety net and no way she would grab that rope back…

But she never intended to…

Someone caught her in mid-air. The young man who had announced her.

The cheering was loud and enthusiastic. Trapeze acts were always popular but Haymitch had to admit this one was particularly good. He could see Mags’ touch in it. The guy made it look simple and Trinket made it look like she had always been meant to fly. They exchanged trapezes, did figures, caught each other at the last possible moment…

By the time they made it back on the ground, Haymitch was clapping with everyone else.

“Finnick Odair!” Trinket called out, a little out of breath, once Rue had run back to her with the mic.

The young man took an exaggerated deep bow and sent kisses to the audience who bought into that like a charm. Music rang out and all the performers trickled back in, singing what probably was the circus’ anthem. It wasn’t in synch and, just like the opening number, it left a lot to be desired.

Still, the audience seemed to like it. They were all happy and smiling when they wandered out of the tent, guided by the clown who had sold tickets before the show. Haymitch followed them down the bleachers until he was back on even ground, hesitated, and then wandered on the ring…

Oh, the memories…

The heat of the spotlights was still the same, still enough to make him sweat in his jacket. He rubbed his mouth, the stubble irritating his palm.

Haymitch Abernathy, The Victor Illusionist!

Ladies and Gentlemen, clap for your ringleader!

“Sir, this way please…” the clown called out to him.

He crashed back to the present with a start. He was the last one in the tent. He glanced at the flap from which all the performers had come from and he felt torn.

He should leave.

He knew that.

He didn’t belong there.

It wasn’t the Quell Circus. His mother wouldn’t be backstage collecting costumes that needed repairs and his brother wouldn’t be checking all the animals had water, food and clean hay and Mabel wouldn’t be waiting for him, an easy joke on her lips… And the others… The others were either dead or scattered around the globe in different circuses if they hadn’t been tossed in the green hell that was Nam already…

He didn’t belong there.

But he didn’t belong to the stream of spectators either.

The hay stuck to his soles when he took a few hesitant steps toward the flap that hid the artists’ entrance.

“Sir…” the clown frowned behind him.

“I’ve got an appointment with your ringleader.” he lied without even a glance for the kid. They shouldn’t let the clown do the placing and crowd ushering anyway. Clowns weren’t supposed to talk, it broke the magic.

Backstage, it was the usual chaos he remembered well. People were walking around the small space, laughing or shouting out to each other, reliving the show and its mishaps… A draft of cold air was sweeping in from the open entrance at the back of the tent… He spotted Trinket easily enough.

She was talking to the archer-slash-fire-eater.

He sidestepped the little aerial silk artist and ignored her curious gaze, ignored the way the acrobat with the trampoline immediately gathered her close when he spotted a stranger in their midst… Brother and sister, maybe.

Haymitch marched on straight to the ringleader in her red and gold bodice but smirked at the kid she was talking with.

“Nice dress.” he told her, his eyes narrowing on the cleverly hidden mechanisms on her sleeves. Then he glanced at Trinket and lifted his eyebrows, letting his gaze travel down the short expanse of red fabric. “Not yours.”

She pursed her lips but they twitched in what he thought to be amusement anyway. Her eyes were narrowed and she planted her hands on her hips. “Are you always drunk, Mr Abernathy?”

He hadn’t been sure she had picked up on that the previous day. He shrugged, his smirk deepening. “Afraid so.”

They stared at each other for a while. She averted her eyes first, glancing at the girl who was frowning and then looking back at him. “I am glad to see you. I was not confident you would come.”

“What can I say… I’m a masochist.” he retorted.

She pursed her lips harder and he decided irritating her could quickly become a favorite hobby of his. She was too easy to rile up.

“Dare I ask what you thought of the show?” Her voice curbed into forced civility. She was the kind of person who was always polite, he supposed.

“You need an opening number that doesn’t want to make people go to sleep. The closing number sucks and everything you’re offering’s been done a hundred times.” he said frankly. “You’re common and that’s not gonna cut it in this day and age. Ten, twenty years ago, that would have been okay but now people want sensational and you’re not selling it.”

Trinket took it on the chin like a pro. Her face was set in a mask of polite interest, she didn’t even blink.

The girl though. She choked.

“Who the hell do you think you are?” the kid snapped, loud enough that all the artists who had still been hanging around turned toward them.

“Just a simple guy who knows a thing or two about circus life.” he snorted. “By the way, you might want not to tug so hard on that string when you do your final fireball thing… Bit obvious, sweetheart.” The kid could sneer, he would give her that. “And you’ve got as much charm as a slug. Might want to work on that too.”

“Please, do try not to antagonize everyone on your first night.” Trinket winced.

“First night?” the girl repeated with clear alarm. “What do you mean first night?”

A few of the others had gathered and Haymitch rolled his eyes. “She doesn’t mean anything ‘cause I haven’t said yes yet.”

“You are here, isn’t that answer enough?” Trinket challenged. Her face suddenly lit up and she darted a hand toward her trapeze partner who had just entered the tent to see what the commotion was about. “Finnick! Come here! Mr Abernathy, this is Finnick Odair. Mags’ grandson.”

Haymitch frowned, a little shocked. He had known Mags all his life and he had never known she had had children…

“Adopted.” the young man said, as if reading his mind. He outstretched a hand that Haymitch shook. “It’s good to meet you, though. I’ve heard a lot about you…”

“Abernathy?” another kid repeated. The blond girl who swallowed swords.

“Like the magician?” the black little girl who did aerial silk piped up, excitement in her eyes. “You’re famous!”

Was he still? He had been once upon a time. Posters with his name plastered around towns were guaranteed to bring people to the circus the next night. But that had been almost a decade ago now. Before he went to Vietnam, when he had still been young. Sixteen at most. Afterwards… Afterwards he had come back to a circus that was quickly falling apart and he had stepped up because someone needed to. He had been too busy running it to spend time on his acts. The daring innovative magician who always wanted to do more, go bigger, had started relying on what he knew how to do. Mabel had started getting bored to play his assistant even… She had been developing her cards tricks into an act of her own… And then, of course, the fire…

“You’re joining?” Finnick asked, hopeful but not surprised. Unlike the others.

Mags had sent Trinket to him, after all, so it wasn’t that surprising that the young man would be aware that the woman had sought him out.

“What do we need a magician for?” the fire girl grumbled, a scowl on her face. “He hated the show and we’re doing just fine.”

“You need a magician ‘cause a magician’s job is to distract the audience and dazzle them into seeing things that aren’t there. Like talent.” he said quietly, reaching behind the little girl’s ear and producing a coin seemingly out of thin air. It was a cheap trick. One that he had mastered when he was five. One that he hadn’t pulled in years. The aerial silk girl grinned at him and snatched the coin. He looked back at the scowling girl and shrugged. “That’s also the job of a ringleader, turns out.”

“Effie’s our ringleader.” the girl snapped back.

“Not out of choice.” Trinket cut in calmly. “And we do lack an artistic vision since Mags passed, Katniss.” It was plain to see the girl didn’t like it and Trinket sighed. “Please, can you go check Annie and Prim have the animals covered?” Then, she turned to her partner. “Finnick, will you…”

“I’ve got it, Effie.” the young man smiled. “I’m gonna help Gale and Peeta dismantle and then I’m gonna make sure everything is loaded and ready to go.”

“Thank you.” she beamed. “Mr Abernathy, if you would…”

She gestured at the tent’s entrance and he stepped outside, almost shocked by how freezing it was. He had been so caught up in the circus, he hadn’t realized how low the temperature had dropped. Circus life tended to do that to him. Got his blood flowing.

Unless, of course, it was the ringleader and her tight red bodice…

#hayffie #effie trinket #haymitch abernathy #The Greatest Show #thg circus au

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