Prompt: effie and haymitch being cute and start feeding eachother infront of the kids and maybe get embarrassed cuz they forgot the kids were there

The Descent

Effie was acting like a crazy person and there was only so long Haymitch could bear it.

He watched her – they were all watching her with different levels of concern and irritation, really – as she flicked through the various files and notepads spread in a semi circle on her end of the table. She had sent back her starter and the plate with the main dish and she had actually chided the train attendant who had tried to place the slice of cake in the small space between her notepad and her wine glass.

The poor guy getting a dressing down just because she was losing her mind was the last straw as far as Haymitch was concerned.

That and the fact that, because she always sat on his left, his dinner had been invaded by wayward papers. He had been trying to stay calm for most of the meal because he was well aware someone's sanity would snap before the end of this Tour from Hell and his money was on his or hers. Lately, mostly on hers.

Cinna was trying to catch his eyes from the other side of the table when he wasn't exchanging looks with Portia but he also ignored that. Katniss didn't look like she cared much but Peeta seemed a little concerned.

"Ain't it rude to bring work at the dinner table?" he finally snapped, covering the pitiful attempts at small talk with which the others were trying to hide the dancing elephant in the room.

Effie looked up from her papers with a slightly dazzled look, her fake eyelashes batting up and down in confusion, her fingers gripping her golden pen so tightly there was no way her hand wasn't cramping. "Of course it is but what choice do I have?"

"Eat something for starters." he deadpanned, shaking his head at hers.

His own dessert remained untouched in front of him but she hadn't swallowed a single bite throughout dinner. She had sent everything back distractedly and the waste alone was enough to annoy him. The fact that she wasn't feeding herself properly was also irritating to him but he was trying to deny that side of the story because he wasn't supposed to care. Caring led down very tricky roads and it was the last thing they needed right now.

She looked around at the rest of the team and visibly flushed under her heavy make-up when she realized they were all staring. "My apologies. I did not mean to disturb your meal."

"You did not disturb anything, Effie." Portia immediately countered with a disapproving look for Haymitch. "But you haven't eaten anything all night."

"Oh… It does not matter." she dismissed with a bright smile and a little fake laugh. "I have a few pounds to lose anyway."

"Like hell you do." Haymitch grumbled. "You lose another pound, you're gonna be a toothpick. Come on. Put that away, I'm gonna ask them to bring back your duck. Pretty sure they can reheat it."

"That is very nice of you but I do not have time." she refused. "It is imperative I finish this."

"Can't we help?" Peeta asked. "This way you could have some dinner without wasting time…"

By we, Haymitch figured the boy meant him because as far as speeches and attitude went, the mentor was the one calling the final shots. With a sigh, he tried to slide one of the notepads closer to him but found his hand batted away. She glared at him, pursed lips and narrowed eyes.

"You will disturb my system." she accused.

He rolled his eyes. "What's so important anyway? We've already gone over the speeches for Six and Five isn't until four days. You've worked out the kids' outfits with Cinna, you've worked out our outfits… What's left to do?"

They had become very good at being prepared before they left the train to face a new District. Nothing was left to chance.

"Plenty, as it turned out." she retorted. "But I am actually working on the Victory Ball at the Presidential Mansion."

They all looked confused so Haymitch was glad it wasn't just him.

"Ain't the Gamemakers in charge of that?" he frowned.

"They are." she confirmed. "But there are our sponsors to consider. We have to decide who will get the privilege of a dance and for who a simple five minutes chat will suffice. We cannot afford to offend anyone, Haymitch. It needs to be perfect and for it to be perfect I need to sort it out beforehand."

It was actually not a bad plan and the words he had been about to sneer died on his lips.

"The Victory Ball is weeks away, sweetheart." he reminded her, less hostile.

"Perhaps… But is it a conundrum to choose who to single out with a dance!" she exclaimed, nervously toying with her bangles. "Usually, I would say it should be a matter of how generous their contribution were… However there are certain… details to take into consideration."

Like the fact that it felt too much like pimping and it wasn't the message they wanted to send.

"Imagine if the color of my dress clashed with one of the sponsor's outfit." Katniss mocked, a little nastily.

It wasn't at all what Effie had been thinking, he was sure, but she didn't miss a beat and beamed up as if it was absolutely what she had had in mind. "Exactly! We cannot have that."

"We can't have you starving either, Princess." Haymitch countered, before it could escalate – because he could see clearly that Katniss was in one of those moods when she would simply take everything the wrong way.

"I do not have time, Haymitch." she sighed in exasperation.

He cut a piece of his chocolate cake, making sure to get some of the whipped cream with it, and brought the spoon close to her face, letting it hover in front of her green painted lips. "It's your favorite…"

She was eyeing the cake with temptation but she winced a little. "I truly shouldn't. I have not been diligent with my daily exercising and…"

She shut up with a huff when he took advantage of her mouth being open to force the cake in. He scraped another piece of cake and whipped cream while she swallowed that one, glaring at him the whole way, and lifted his spoon to her lips again.

"Eat it or I'm gonna make you eat it." he warned with a careless shrug.

With a defeated slouch of her shoulders, she surrendered and obediently let him feed her the cake while she went over her notes again. It was only when his dessert was gone and he scooped the last of the whipped cream with his finger that he realized the room was deadly silent.

He sucked his finger clean, tossing a curious look around.

Effie was oblivious, focused on her work. Katniss was gaping, Peeta's eyes were wide, Portia's eyebrows were shot high and there was an amused twinkle in her eyes and Cinna was clearly biting back a smile.

It occurred to him, suddenly, that maybe normal coworkers didn't feed each other dessert like that. And, in retrospect, he could have handed her the plate after the first spoonful and let her eat by herself.

He took his finger out of his mouth and downed what was left of his wine as if everything was perfectly normal. Katniss was the first to recover. She shook her head, muttered something under her breath about how they were going mad and left the table. She was soon followed by Peeta and Cinna. Portia lingered a little more, catching his eyes and wiggling her eyebrows meaningfully.

He rolled his eyes so hard it hurt.

He liked the stylist. He did. And he knew she and Effie had grown close in the last year but really… He liked her cheek better when it wasn't directed at him.

"So…" he drawled out once they were alone in the room. "How can I help?"

"Look at the list of our sponsors and put a star next to the ones you really do not want too close to the children. I already made a pre-selection." she instructed without looking up. "It won't do to ignore them, though. We did accept the money. If they do not get a dance with the children…"

"We're gonna have to pick up the slack." he finished.

"Hopefully just on the dance floor." she sighed. "But yes." He grabbed the list and the spare pen she handed him and made some room by pushing the dirty plate and cutlery away. It was a few minutes before she spoke again. "That cake was good."

"Don't know." he snorted. "Didn't get any, did I?"

He saw her lips twitch in the corner of his eye.

"Perhaps, next time, we should keep the feeding aspect of our relationship to our bedrooms. Or, at least, to a time when we are alone." she suggested far too flatly for her to be anything but amused. "I thought Peeta's eyes were going to budge out of his skull."

"If you noticed why didn't you say?" he grumbled, scribbling a star next to one of the names. No way that one was going anywhere near Effie either, so… He would have to take care of him himself. He would switch the dance with cigars and booze and hope it would be enough.

"I was curious to see how long it would take you to notice. I was surprised you went for it in the first place. You must be losing your touch." She grinned, giving up on the detached act.

"Seemed natural." he muttered defensively. "Forgot."

She chuckled and it was so far from her fake laugh that he relaxed despite himself. It sounded happy and carefree and it was too rare for him to remain annoyed.

"I do like it when you feed me." she purred.

"You and your kinks." he snorted. They worked in silence for a few more minutes and then he cleared his throat. "You know… Wasn't a really balanced meal you had. You should have some fruits."

"Like strawberries with whipped cream for instance?" she suggested innocently.

"For instance." he repeated, a touch sarcastic because innocent really didn't suit her.

"Would you feed them to me or would I get to eat them all over your body?" she asked, finally looking up from her notepads to meet his eyes.

"Thought you had too much work…" he taunted. "You've got no time to eat but you've got time for that."

Her order of priorities would always leave him confounded.

"I can work afterwards." she dismissed, a hint of hunger in her gaze.

"Afterwards, you're gonna sleep." he denied.

"There is too much to do." she lamented, shaking her head.

"And it won't help if you work yourself to death." he retorted. "You're gonna have some food and then you're gonna sleep or you're gonna go to bed alone and I'm gonna make your day very difficult tomorrow. Your choice, Princess."

She didn't ask how he was going to do that. He was very skilled in turning her days to hell by being uncooperative, late or just too boorish in public. He could get drunk enough to be an embarrassment, he could be vulgar on live TV, he could be rude…

"Are you blackmailing me into having sex with you, Haymitch?" she laughed, absolutely not offended in the slightest it seemed.

"I'm blackmailing you into taking care of yourself." he scowled. "The sex is optional."

Her blue eyes were sparkling with amusement and she ended up tossing a coquettish look from under her heavy fake eyelashes. "I do have a sudden craving for strawberries and cream. Preferably served on someone's stomach."

Food play really wasn't his thing. Playing with food seemed wrong no matter how many times they did it and while there were definitely some perks in covering her chest in whipped cream or teasing her with the strawberries, he didn't like it too much when she did it to him and he ended up sticky for all the wrong reasons. But she did enjoy it a lot and he wasn't clueless enough not to know her sex preferences ranged wild and that they usually kept to what he liked so he could make concessions sometimes. And if it made her eat something else than chocolate tonight…

"You better pack that up, then." He nodded to the spread sheets of paper and stood up. "I'm gonna make a quick trip to the kitchen car."

"Do not let Portia see you." she hummed. "She is unto us."

"You don't say." he scoffed.

He took two steps toward the door, hesitated, doubled back and leaned down. She stretched her neck to receive the kiss as if it was a common occurrence for him to peck her lips in and out of rooms.

They were slipping down a very dangerous slope.

But he didn't have the heart to try and stop their descent.