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You're a cowboy like me
When she is young, she sees him standing there, in the ballrooms and at the fancy balconies, drinking and talking to the sponsors like it's all he ever wanted to do. He smile and charms them out of money that he puts on his tributes, laughing and enjoying the hand he was dealt.
Working her dream job, Effie does the same, and when one of their tributes finally make it to the final 3, she can't help but think that they make a very good team.
Perched in the dark
When he is working, she stays in the corner, observing his efforts from far away as she puts in some of her own. She thinks it better to hide, when he is like that, afraid to disturb him and distract him from his work. Instead she fills her plate with sponsors and connections of her own, stealing glances only when it's dark enough and he isn't looking.
Telling all the rich folks anything they wanna hear
In the early days, he was good at conforming. She sees that later, when the rose-tinted glasses come off and she starts to realize what the games are really about. He drinks just enough to tolerate the games that people play and puts on all the charm she always knew he had, from the first time she saw him. He is so lovely with the ladies, one could almost believe he cares for more than their money.
That he is in love.
Like it could be love
She tries not to be jealous, she has her own men and she knows he only wants them for the money they give the tributes anyway. But sometimes…it feels too real and she has to retreat, blend back into the shadows in the background because otherwise, she will think he really has fallen in love and she will fall for jealousy.
She never liked feeling jealous.
You're a bandit like me
Chaff tells them once that they are so alike. That they act and talk and think the same. He's drunk out of his mind, so no one pays him any attention, but the words stick with her. She is kinder, she thinks, but she knows he can be if he allows himself to feel it. He has a vision, like her, but again he doesn’t believe it.
She is like he used to be, before the booze and the disappointment wore him down. At first it's hard to understand how one can disconnect so completely, but over the years she started to understand. Still, she tries to not show it. To be the same Effie outwards as she had always been, even if she is being worn down on the inside too.
In the end, she thinks isn't just like Haymitch after all.
Eyes full of stars
Hustling for the good life
The shine dulls not only in their eyes, but in those of the tributes. The tributes from 12 shine brighter for a few years after Haymitch wins. They get a taste of success, and feel that maybe if he did it then so could they. Even outer districts have a chance, if they work hard enough. That's what their parents tell them, and even Effie and Haymitch believe it.
Their eyes are full of stars, and they work hard to not let them down.
But despite all they still fail, in the end. Slowly but surely they find that they can't do it and the shine dulls. Soon, she finds there are no stars in amy of their eyes anymore.
Never thought I'd meet you here
He looks confused the first time she shows up to one of Plutarch's meetings. Stare at her like she's out of her mind, has gotten lost or both. Before she can even open her mouth, or try to explain, he takes her by the arm and throws her out.
She yells at him, tell him he can't decide over her and she had an invitation so he can't just throw her out. He doesn’t care, yells right back that she is not getting tangled up in this and to go back where she came from.
Then, he shuts the door in her face and she bangs on it and keeps yelling to be let in until Plutarch comes and tells her to leave. She tells him she doesn't understand, that he told her she could help, but he just shakes his head and said he made a mistake.
She doesn't believe it, but she leaves, determined to perform her own revolution if they won't let her into theirs.
It could be love
By the time the 75th rolls around, she thinks they both know they are in love. Of course they don’t say it - there is no safe place in Panem to discuss such thoughts. Even the blindspot, on the train to the capitol, Effie doubts Haymitch would find it private enough.
So instead they bath in hidden grief and love as they plot out what lies before them. When he says he'll volunteer for Peeta, she understand in one way and refuses to accept it in another. The strain of two sides, two emotions, kill her, and she feels she is slowly losing it bit by bit until the very moment he takes the opportunity in the hallways and kisses her.
She kissed him back then, hands buried in his shirt and collar and refusing to let go as they kept going. When she finally lets go, she nearly says the words, but he is smarter and leaves before she can.
We could be the way forward
He doesn’t make her part of the revolution, but she aids his plans anyway. She watches his every move, eagle eyed and so aware of what he does to find her opportunities to help. To suggest helpful ways of structuring their schedules so his suspicious meetings with other victors won't show. Helping him stay sober so he is alert, able to assist those working for them inside the arena.
She helps in every way she can think of, and dreams that she and Haymitch are clearing the path for a rebellion to come. For the killing to end, and a better tomorrow to blossom.
Effie looks at herself in the mirror at night, and doesn’t know what a future like that would look like for her. She is too spoiled, too capitol. In the world they are building there are no place for people like here. Still, she knows one thing.
Whatever future Haymitch wants, is the one she wants too.
And I know I'll pay for it
When Katniss shoots the arrow she doesn't need Haymitch warnings to know she is in danger. And it is good, because his warning doesn't come to her before it is too late anyway, and her attempt at escape has already failed.
She tries to run, getting out of the city before they catch her, but instead the peacekeepers lay their hands on her and before she knows it she has vanished into a dark alley so no one will ever know where she went.
It scares her, what is sure to come, but she isn’t surprised. She knew it that first time Plutarch approached her - in the new order, she would never win, but she is willing to risk it.
She will pay for it, if it gives Haymitch peace.
Now you hang from my lips
He has never kissed as hard as he did when they met again in District 13. He's right there, holding her to him as they kiss like only people who never thought they would, ever again, do. And when they break apart, he looks at her with such awful sadness, she thinks he is going to break up with her. But instead, he takes her hand in his and holds them tight, trembling like a man that hasn't had a drink for weeks does.
“I love you”
Like the Gardens of Babylon
With your boots beneath my bed
Moving in with him at 12 when it is all over, is the sweetest price she could ever dream of. The way he welcomes her to his district and home feels like the accomplishment of everything she has ever wanted, and it puts her to peace.
At first, they sleep in separate beds, but slowly the lines start to blur. He stays with her on the one mattress more often than not and the other bedroom starts gathering dust.
One morning, she swings her legs over the side of the bed and bends down for her slippers, only to find his boots have joined her slippers on the floor. She picks her shoes, and smile, knowing that she has what she wants.
They are, now, joined as one.
Forever is the sweetest con
It's cruel, when it all comes crashing down. His health deteriorates and without admitting it to herself, she knows he is slipping away from her. She is slowly losing him and although she wasn’t prepared, something tells her he had planned it this way all along. Drinking too much, always arguing - He kept her angry so his eventual death wouldn’t hurt so bad. Only after the war he lost his edge and dared to let her in, and there the whole premises fell.
She was open to being hurt, now, by what still came. When he looks at her, she thinks he feels regret, and yet he doesn’t seem to wish he had done it differently.
Haymitch knew better than anyone that nothing lasts forever.
Now I'm waiting by the phone
Like I'm sitting in an airport bar
She sits by the window of the house, their house, in 12 and waits for the call from the hospital in the capitol. Her bags are packed, poised by the front door for her to grab when the moment arrives and she has to run out the door as fast as her feet will carry her.
The phone rings, and she knows if she answers it now nothing will ever feel the same. She doesn't know if she's ready, but she pours a glass of wine and lifts the receiver.
“Hello?”
You had some tricks up your sleeve
He always has to be the best one. Has to win at everything, even if the competition is to yell the loudest or make the other one cry the most.
Even if the competition is to love the other one the most, she has to think he wins. It may just be because he goes before her, but she feels as though she should hand him the victory anyway. He loved her, more than she could ever match.
To her, Haymitch would always be a victor.
Now I know
Already before she enters the hospital, she knows. It's not a surprise, with the time it's taken her to ride up to the capitol from district 12. But they made that choice, when he was first hospitalized and told he needed specialist care. Haymitch didn’t want her living by his bedside and she couldn't bear it, so they risked her missing his last few hours instead. They held on tight, giving each other a kiss and knowing it might just be their last. Knowing, they would likely not get to say goodbye.
I'm never gonna love again