Author's Note:- Well hello hello! I came up with this story idea a while back, while discussing plots with a good friend, and I'm really excited about it. It's going to be several chapters long, but I have NOT forgotten my other stories! They will be updated, but I have writers block on those right now.

I'd like to say a huge thank you to my good friend, who discussed this story with me and read it through to make sure it was okay! You're the best! 3

I hope you enjoy it. I have to say, out of all of my stories, this is the one that I have enjoyed writing the most, so far!

Disclaimer: The majority of the characters that feature in this story are not mine. They belong to Suzanne Collins. HOWEVER, there will be characters who appear that I have created myself.

"A grand adventure is about to begin."

- Winnie the Pooh.

-x-

There had come a point in Portia's life where she had decided that enough was enough. The first nineteen years of her life had not been easy, by any means; born to cold, abusive and unloving parents, Portia had witnessed things that no young child should have seen; her mother's alcoholism, her father's adultery and mean temper, and of course, her older brothers growing up to behave in exactly the same way.

She must have been about six, when she made a silent vow to herself that she would never turn out like them. She spent every day of her life trying to prove herself. She even tried, desperately, to gain some sort of approval from her parents, because as a child, there was a tiny part of her that loved them unconditionally. However, all of her attempts failed, and shortly after her nineteenth birthday, she made the decision to pack her bags and leave her miserable childhood home.

It was the best decision that she had ever made.

She used the money that she had saved from various weekend jobs to rent a small apartment with her close friend Cinna, whom she had known since she was seven years old. She enrolled at the Capitol University for the Arts, and graduated with honours.

Now, ten years after she left home, she was exactly where she wanted to be. She and Cinna had just been given jobs as the new stylists for District Twelve, and she had never been happier. If one looked at her now, they would never have guessed that she had been a victim of child abuse.

And she wanted things to stay that way.

-x-x-

Cinna took her hand and helped her out of the car. She smiled a little as she looked up at the Capitol Town Hall, where the party in their honour was being held. Naturally, Portia's best friend and Escort for District Twelve, Effie Trinket, insisted on throwing a party to celebrate the new stylists that would be joining her team.

Portia didn't really mind. At least at large parties, it was easier to avoid those whom she really didn't like.

"Sounds like there are a lot of people here already." Cinna stated, referring to the sounds of music and loud chatter coming from within the building. " Portia nodded, letting go of his hand. They were an item, but only a select few people knew about it; even in the Capitol, there were rules about who people could and could not work with, and those who were romantically involved were prohibited from working together.

Which was why, at their interviews, they had pretended they were just friends, which was easy enough.

"Effie won't be too happy with us for being late to our own party." Portia sniggered; she loved Effie, but her schedules and need for perfect timing was enough to drive anybody crazy.

"Well the place is so crammed with people, hopefully she won't notice." Cinna responded, making his way to up the stairs to the entrance, "Do we even know half of the people she's invited, anyway?" Portia simply shook her head in reply.

"Probably not, but Effie knows a lot of people. Would have been a waste of money to hire the town hall and have hardly anybody show up, right?" She sighed. "Anyway, if anyone asks, we're fashionably late." She laughed a little at her own joke.

"Very funny, darling." Cinna chuckled, before placing a soft kiss to her ear. Thankfully, with everybody inside, no one was around to see them. "Let's go in."

It took the couple almost half an hour to find Effie, who was now standing at the drinks table, sipping some champagne from a glass and talking to Seneca Crane.

"You can go talk to Effie if you want to." Cinna called to her over the deafening music, and even with him shouting in her ear, Portia still struggled to hear what he said. "I don't want to talk to him." By 'him', he obviously meant Seneca, and for that, Portia couldn't blame him.

She didn't like Seneca much either.

She didn't know whether it was because he was a gamemaker, or merely the fact that he was egotistical, all she knew was that there was something about him that made it impossible to like him. Effie seemed to like him, though, so as she walked over to talk to her best friend and the gamemaker, she made a promise to herself that she would try and remain civil, for Effie's sake.

The last thing she wanted was to cause a scene.

"Portia, darling!" Effie exclaimed, fortunately, not commenting on her lateness. "I've been looking for you everywhere! I just got distracted by Seneca, here. You remember Seneca, don't you?"

How could I forget? We did most of our schooling with him, she thought bitterly to herself, but she smiled politely and nodded.

"Seneca. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm quite well." Seneca answered, with a somewhat conceited smile on his face. He picked up a glass from the drinks table and handed it to her. She didn't even have to look at the liquid in the glass to know that it had vodka in it; the smell was overpowering.

Vodka wasn't usually her first choice of alcoholic beverage.

Still, maybe with a few drinks in her, she would be able to talk and laugh with Seneca without faking it.

"Good. I'm glad." Was all she could say. Auspiciously, Effie broke the silence before things could become too awkward.

"Oh, I'm so excited to have you and Cinna on our team, Portia! I'm sure between the three of us…and Haymitch…" She added after a pause, "We'll be able to make this year unforgettable!"

"And then maybe all three of you will be promoted to a decent District, just in time for the Quarter Quell! Hopefully you won't have to put up with the drunk for too long, Portia." Seneca interjected. "I feel sorry for you, of course, but all beginners start with District Twelve."

"I asked for District Twelve." Portia retorted, coldly, "We both did, Cinna and I." She didn't want to sound as hostile as she just had, but Seneca was getting on her nerves already, and she had spent less than three minutes with the man.

Even Seneca looked taken aback by her announcement; it looked like he was trying to fathom why she and Cinna would have chosen such a lowly district.

"Well…I hope being around someone like Haymitch doesn't bring back painful memories for you, Portia, darling." She knew what he was getting at, of course; he knew bits and pieces of her past, having attended the same school, and he had heard rumours and gossip about her when they reached high school.

"I'm sure I'll be fine, Seneca." She drained her glass and turned on her heel and walked away. She didn't even have to look back to know that Effie was following her.

"Haymitch isn't that bad, Portia. He's not wrong about the alcoholism bit, of course. I don't know what goes through his head sometimes, but he's nothing to be scared of."

"I'm not scared." Portia said, flippantly, as she allowed an avox to refill her glass. "I wouldn't have applied for the job if I had issues with Haymitch's drinking habits. We'll just have to work together, that's all."

For a few seconds, Effie didn't look convinced, but she swiftly changed the subject, knowing that was what Portia wanted.

"Do you have any designs for the Tribute Parade?"

"Yeah." Portia smirked at her friend. "Cinna's sworn me to secrecy though, so you'll have to wait until then to find out what we have planned, just like everyone else." Her smirk deepened at the dissatisfied look on Effie's face.

Cinna had thought of the main idea weeks ago, before the pair of them had been offered the job, and she, Portia, had added finishing touches. They were both very proud of the finished design, and they didn't want to spoil the surprise by telling anyone.

Even Effie was kept in the dark, when Portia usually told her everything.

"Well, it must be good if you're not willing to share it with your best friend." Effie smiled weakly, as Portia took another large sip of her drink. The taste of vodka wasn't so bad if she swallowed quickly, rather than savouring it in her mouth. "I would go easy on those, sweetie. They're very strong. I'd hate for you to get sick."

"Don't worry, Effie. I'm a grown up. I can handle my drink."

-x-x-

The rest of the evening passed mainly without a hitch, except for the fact that an avox kept refilling Portia's glass, which now resulted in her being unable to walk straight, as she was either too slow or too gracious to decline.

She had been dreading having to make some sort of speech…but no one seemed to notice that she and Cinna had arrived…she doubted they could remember that the party was for them anyway.

She hadn't seen Cinna all night, which led her to believe that he was hiding somewhere.

Even in the midst of her haziness, Portia had an idea where Cinna might be, and, being as inconspicuous as she could, she headed to the elevator and punched the button that was labelled 'Second Floor'. This was where all of the offices were.

It was dark up there, because the working day was over and the employees that normally worked on this floor had left for the night. The music from the ground floor made the ground beneath her vibrate, but at least now she could hear herself think.

Suddenly feeling wobbly, she grabbed the nearest wall for support, and made her way to the only light source in the corridor, coming from one of the offices.

As expected, when she finally reached her destination, she saw Cinna; he was sitting at the desk that occupied the room, with a glass of champagne beside him, and he was doodling on a piece of scrap paper.

"Couldn't stand the noise, huh?" Portia slurred her words slightly as she stumbled over to the desk, and took a seat in Cinna's lap. She wrapped her arms around his neck. "I don't blame you. Music keeps getting crappier by the day. I don't even know what half of that stuff is." She frowned, seeing the look on Cinna's face. He looked frustrated, but he hadn't pushed her away, which was something.

"You're drunk." He said, plainly. "How much have you had to drink?" That was a question to which Portia had no answer. She had lost count after her glass had been refilled for the fourth time.

"Um…not sure. A lot?" She laughed, hoping that Cinna would do the same. He didn't laugh. Instead, he smirked a tiny bit to himself and pulled her closer, resting her head on his chest. "How long have you been up here?"

"Since we arrived." Cinna shrugged. "Everyone was too out of it to know we were there, and it's too much of a struggle, trying to communicate with drunken people in a room full of noise. So, I came up here to draw. I knew you'd find me eventually."

"Did you draw anything good?" Portia squinted as she tried to make out the shapes on the paper, but it was useless. She was too far gone.

"Not really, just some animals." Cinna released a sigh, running a hand through Portia's hair. "It doesn't look like we'll be going home until you've sobered up. They won't let you in a taxi, with the state you're in."

"Oh honestly, I'm not that bad, Cinna." She pouted. "If I was, I would have thrown up by now."

"There's still time. How about you sleep a little before we-" He cut himself off, looking surprised. "Portia, what are you doing?"

She smiled up at him – she had her hand down his trousers and was massaging his manhood with one hand. "Playing." She giggled.

"Portia…" Cinna groaned, half-heartedly, not even bothering to reject her advances. "Please. I'm not in the mood." Even in her drunken stupor, she could tell that he was lying – his manhood told her that, by the way it was growing and hardening in her hand.

"Don't lie to me." She whispered, bringing her face closer to his, and kissing his lips, passionately. He only hesitated for a second before he was kissing her back, and using one hand to unzip the back of her dress.

Before she knew it, she had removed her hand from his pants and was now fumbling with the buttons on his shirt.

"Me and you, just us two." Cinna whispered in her ear.

When they awoke, both naked and seeking warmth from each other's arms, everything was just a blur.

Author's Note:- You will not believe how much I struggled with this chapter, but three re-writes later, I am finally happy with it!

I would love some reviews, of course, as they are really what keeps me going.

I'll see you in Chapter Two! x