Prompt: Effie makes Haymitch blush *wink*

Checkmate

Haymitch was eating breakfast when the tell-tale clicking of heels alerted him to her presence. He lifted his eyes from the list of sponsors she had passed him earlier, as soon as he had slipped out of his room still half-asleep, taking in her ridiculous green dress that clung to every curve of her body. He wondered briefly how someone who was so bend on propriety could wear so many improper clothes and then discarded the thought. Fashion, she would say like it was her only god and the only answer to every question in life.

He was expecting a comment about how it was rude to bring papers at the breakfast table even when you were so late you were the only one there or maybe an inquiry about Katniss and Peeta who had already left for training – not that she would know that because she had disappeared for the best part of the morning – but she surprised him by slamming a small square box on the table next to him. He frowned, equally because he didn't know what it was and because she was standing much too close for comfort. She always did that lately : invading his space.

"What's that?" he asked, dropping his half-eaten toast in his half-eaten eggs to inspect the box.

She huffed with disapprobation and snatched the box away before he could touch it. "Wipe your hands first. Really, Haymitch, you are worse than a child."

He rolled his eyes and made a show of wiping his not-so-dirty fingers on his napkin before holding out his hand, palm up. She carefully gave him the box back. It was soft to the touch, velvety even, and it finally dawned on him that it was a jewelry case. Now, why was she giving him jewelry… He opened it to find an ugly thick golden bangle carved with flames.

"You don't seriously expect me to wear that, do you?" he snorted.

"This is your token." She pinched her mouth in obvious displeasure at his reaction.

"This is a monstrosity." he corrected her, taking the bangle out of the box to study it more closely.

She scowled but remained silent as she stole it from his grip and fastened it around his wrist. "A thank you would suffice and would be greatly appreciated."

It was heavy, absolutely impractical and it would cling with his every move. Haymitch already hated it. "It looks like a bloody manacle."

She narrowed her eyes at him but her mouth twitched in amusement. "Don't be ridiculous, Haymitch, it lacks another bangle or at least a chain to actually be a manacle. Why, had I known you were into that kind of things, I would have asked the jeweler to craft it in the form of handcuffs…"

"It's your biggest dream, isn't it?" he chuckled. "I bet it's all you think about : handcuffing me to the roof and leaving me there to die."

Her lips stretched into that challenging grin he would never admit he liked so much but when she put a hand on the back of his chair and leaned in to whisper in his ear, his breath caught slightly in his throat. Her perfume was heavy and intoxicating.

"Oh, I certainly would not leave you to die if I had you handcuffed somewhere." she whispered. He wondered if she was pressing her breasts against his shoulder on purpose or not.

"No?" Swallowing, for some reason, was difficult. "And what would you do, sweetheart?"

If possible, she leaned even closer, so close her mouth was brushing against his ear, she placed a hand on his thigh for balance and he was glad, all of a sudden, for the napkin he had dropped back on his lap. He didn't quite know what she was playing at but she was so obviously winning it made him feel frustrated.

"I would ravish you, of course." she stated in a bored sort of voice. "I would make you scream in pleasure until you entirely forget every other woman who ever touched you and then I would probably stop to make you beg. Believe me, you would beg, I'm quite talented. You always say I have a sharp tongue, you have no idea how right you are…" His breathing quickened and he could feel his cheeks reddening at the pretty picture she was conjuring in his mind. "After that, I would have my own fun and then I would leave you there to die." She laughed softly and then pulled back, letting her fingers trail on his thigh. "Are you quite alright?" she asked innocently. "You look flustered."

He looked her up and down slowly, openly ogling her, trying to make her feel uncomfortable, trying to regain the upper hand but that was a lost cause. If anything she seemed to enjoy it.

"I can't decide if you're kinky or a tease." he confessed, taking a sip of his insipid orange juice just to have something to do with his hands. He didn't trust himself not to jump on her and push her against the wall.

She grinned cheekily. "Just think of what I said every time you look at your token. I bet you won't hate it that much, then."

She sauntered off before he could come up with a retort. His eyes fell back down to the bangle effectively encircling his wrist like a manacle and he flushed once again when his lusty imagination took over.

No shame in admitting it : she had won that round.