Prompt: I was thinking if you're still taking prompts? If you still are, I was discussing this prompt with a friend and we think it's quite interesting. So Effie sits with Haymitch's clique (Chaff and Finnick) and they play strip poker and Effie is sort of bad at it (for whatever reason) and you can go on from there. Maybe throw in a possessive Haymitch or something? Thanks!

I don't see why Effie would be bad at poker, she's obviously very good at lying… She does it for a living, she even teaches Katniss how to smile when aggravated… So I switched things a little.

The Winner Takes It All

Haymitch didn't quite know how they had gotten there.

He remembered being on his merry way to being wasted, he remembered the boring wait for the new victor to get out of the hospital and be paraded around so they could all go back to their respective District, he remembered the waiting getting to an unbearable point when even Effie had started to drink more than she usually would… He remembered the night wandering more into the early morning territory and all of them were buzzed, he remembered Chaff suggesting a game of strip poker to get a rise out of his escort, he remembered Effie agreeing to everyone's surprised…

He didn't quite understand how they had gotten from there to Effie cackling like a mad woman over her high pile of collected items. So far, she had lost only one shoe and an earring while Chaff was down to his pants, Finnick was holding with difficulties to his underwear and Haymitch had only his shirt and boxers left.

Needless to say, Effie was having a blast.

That woman could bluff like nobody else.

Haymitch should have known better than to engage her at poker. All the more so when he found himself locked in a duel with her, refusing to give up and at the same time knowing from the spark of delight in her eyes that her cards would trample his.

He wasn't wrong.

He stared at her cards, unable to understand how she could win so much in so little time.

"You're cheating!" Chaff slurred, pointing a wavering finger at her as if he couldn't quite decide where she was precisely. With the amount he had drunk, he probably was seeing two escorts. Poor chap, Haymitch couldn't help thinking, one Effie was enough. Although he had a good idea of what he could do with two of them…

"Want to choose what I'm supposed to take off?" he challenged, his mind in the gutter for best or for worse.

Her laughter was high and unrestrained as always when she was drunk.

"I'd rather not see horrors." Finnick complained, half-slumped on his chair, eyes closed.

"You'd have to open your eyes for that." Effie pointed out.

"I can't…" Finnick sighed dramatically. "I want to sleep…" He rubbed his face and tried to stand up, wobbling a little. "I will regret this in the morning." he grumbled before turning glassy eyes to Effie. "I'm crashing on the couch."

"Go ahead." she waved him off.

Chaff watched him stumble out of the dining room with a slow blink. "Couch sounds good. I'm crashing on the couch too."

He didn't get further than the carpet but he seemed happy with his fate so Haymitch and Effie left him be.

Effie fished her shoe from Chaff's bounty and her earring from Haymitch's and moved as if to get back to her bedroom but found her path blocked.

"Don't you want your prize?" Haymitch joked. "Fair win, sweetheart."

It was a bad idea because he was barely able to stand, never mind doing anything else. Effie was a lot less wasted than he was. She patted his chest patronizingly.

"Don't make offers you can't fulfill." she grinned, pecking his cheek, just at the corner of his lips. "Goodnight, Haymitch."

He watched her saunter away a little uncertain on her feet.

He supposed that was what people meant when they said the winner takes it all.