Prompt: Just want to start off by saying you are crazy talented! Keep it going. Could you please write a fic about the victors are all talking about who is the most dangerous woman at capitol party and chaff says Effie and everyone is confused but he explains that she could ruin aymitch.. or whichever way you would like to take it. Thank you

The Snake Pit

Another year, another night, another party and yet it was always the same ballet of phony Capitols doing their show.

Haymitch watched it all without really seeing it from the small table they had secured in a corner of the huge room. He took a sip of whiskey from time to time but didn't match Chaff and Finnick's crazy pace when it came to downing shots. He fully intended to be drunk by the time Trinket was done making her rounds and put him out of his misery by ordering a car back to the Center but he didn't want to play the drinking game his friends were partaking in.

First because the liquor was good stuff and it was worth savoring and then because Finnick was well on his way to wasted already and there would be hell to pay when Mags or Four's escort inevitably came to collect the seventeen year-old.

"Over there." Chaff pointed at two particularly brightly dressed Capitol women and downed another shot before refilling the small glass.

"You keep on like that you're gonna roll under the table before they break out the nice food." Haymitch warned. It was all crab puffs and ridiculously small salty pastries for now – amuse-bouche, Trinket called them – but if they patiently waited another half-hour, there would be those little layered dishes that usually came in shot glasses – verrines, Trinket's voice unhelpfully reminded him in his head. He liked that stuff.

The drinking game they had going on was a bit stupid anyway. They took a shot every time they spotted a Capitol pretending to be happy to see another one. The gossip mill in the Games business was always busy and everyone knew who was feuding with whom.

"Oh!" Finnick exclaimed suddenly, pointing to their right with far too much excitement.

Haymitch tried to decide if he cared enough to try and make the boy pace himself a little – or at least make sure the kid ate something because drinking on an empty stomach was never a good idea when you weren't used to it – and then concluded that Mags or his escort should simply have watched him more closely and that he couldn't be expected to play babysitter when he was well on his way to being drunk himself.

"Good one." Chaff laughed, pushing the shot glass closer to Four's victor.

Haymitch rolled his eyes but watched Trinket greet Viola Summercket with some amusement. Twelve's and Eleven's escorts' feud was legendary and yet they kissed the air next to each other's cheeks like they were delighted to see each other… He was ready to bet he would be treated to a long rant about how Summercket's dress was old-fashioned or how the color of her wig made her complexion shallow on the drive back to the Center.

He might be willing to bear it if Trinket let him take her dress off.

She wouldn't get naked in the car, he already knew. At least not completely and not if she wasn't certain the drive would be long and the Avox driver unlikely to interrupt or hear them. But she might let him slip the top off and that was really what he was interested in anyway…

She was wearing pale pink silk that spread all around her torso like the petals of a flowers and he had been desperate to pluck it ever since he had seen her. It wasn't the worst dress she had ever worn and it did make her legs look good.

The legs, of course, would look better wrapped around his waist.

He let his eyes roam over their lengths hungrily, his mind already picturing how they would feel under his palms…

"Her name's Natalia Leskov." Finnick said suddenly and Haymitch blinked and came back to the conversation he had missed a good chunk of. Four's victor was watching a young woman with forest green hair, a predatory smile and an impressive entourage of devoted admirers.

"It's true what they say?" Chaff asked. "She's Snow's latest sweetheart?"

That was more information than Haymitch had ever cared to hear. With a wince, he washed out his mouth with whiskey and reported his attention to Trinket. Fuck, but she did look good despite the weird flower-like dress. His gaze retraced the line of her neck… She had a regal bearing and she made it look good.

Summercket had gone back to her corner of the room and her circle of friends but Trinket had a clique of her own and she was clearly their queen. She laughed, toasted people, smiled and it made it impossible for anyone not to notice her. She was holding court and Haymitch could understand the fascination.

Hell… She was fascinating.

And never more so than when she was naked and begging under him…

"Snakes don't love." Finnick replied, wrinkling his nose. "I can't say for sure what happens during their private dinners but I can tell you she's aiming for an escort position."

Haymitch's gaze darted back to Finnick, his attention caught. "What District?"

He told himself it wasn't anxiety in his voice but the disapproving look Chaff tossed him told him he had failed to sound detached. He swallowed some whiskey and pretended he hadn't noticed.

It wasn't that he cared about seeing Trinket go on to another District… It was just that she was particularly good at her job and it made his life considerably easier.

"Not yours. You can relax, Effie's safe." Finnick teased. "Everyone knows she's never going to get promoted. We even stopped putting in requests."

He made a face, faking annoyance. He more or less knew that Head Gamemaker Torello was too happy with the status quo to risk removing her from his team. Trinket had a gift for making him behave and she had turned the disaster that had been Twelve's PR to something a little more Games friendly. They hardly ever get any sponsors, they never got enough money to actually use it and their tributes never made it past day three but Haymitch tended to show up at events – on time more often than not – he dressed appropriately and his drunken stunts had significantly decreased – at least, they weren't dangerous or embarrassing anymore because having to face a furious Effie Trinket on a hangover was not an experience he liked to repeat. Trinket, in short, was doing too good a job at keeping him under control to get promoted. They didn't want him let loose again.

"Please, tell me Summercket's going." Chaff begged, taking another shot.

"No way she will be happy with Eleven." Finnick shook his head and then made a face as if he wasn't sure he wasn't going to throw up. "No offense." he mumbled and, when it became clear he wasn't going to be sick, he went on. "Leskov is a shark. She wants a Career District."

"Brutus won't let Valeria go without a fight." Haymitch remarked. A bit like he wouldn't have stood to have Trinket promoted without saying anything. Victors were peculiar about their escorts.

"Beetee likes Gloria." Chaff pointed out. "But she's getting old."

"She's green." he snorted, easily finding Three's escort in the crowd because of her dyed skin. "Green skin's been out of fashion for ten years or so I'm told."

Both victors stared at him like he had grown a second head but it was Finnick who recovered first and grinned that wolfish grin of his. "Are you actually listening to Effie when she talks?"

"She never shuts up." He shrugged. "Some stuff's bound to stick."

"Never ever?" Chaff mocked. "'Cause I have ideas to keep her mouth busy, you know…"

Haymitch's jaw clenched but he made an effort not to take the bait. Chaff had been on his case about his escort lately and it was starting to really irritate him. He didn't need Eleven's victor warnings about how foolish it would be to get attached or how Haymitch really ought to be careful or…

Effie was still holding her little court but, this time, when he looked over at her, she met his eyes. She was still deep in conversation, still laughing or flirting or whatever she was doing, and she didn't break character, not even for a second, but the way she tilted her head to the side, the way she briefly licked her lips…

He wanted to lick her neck.

And now, thanks to Chaff's unhelpful comment, he also wanted to fuck her mouth.

"Snow won't give her a Career District anyway." Finnick said in the awkward silence that followed Chaff's words. "I think she's going to take over Six next year. Livia's thirty-three, she's the logical choice."

Chaff groaned. "I like Livia. She's decent."

Livia had been Six's escort for a very long time and it was generally agreed she was nice – still ridiculously shallow like all Capitols but nice: she was always ready and happy to help anyone, even victors from other District teams. Six didn't have the easiest victors to handle either. Haymitch wasn't sure it would be such a gift.

"Leskov isn't be. And she's got Snow's ear." Finnick warned, resting his head on his hand as if it was too heavy for him to hold straight. "She's probably the most dangerous woman in the city right now."

Haymitch gave the woman with the green wig a second glance over and pursed his lips. "Won't last long. Too cocky."

The woman was clearly enjoying the little power she had and was making a show of it. She might become an escort the next year and she might have managed to sneak into Snow's good graces for now but tantrums weren't how you kept yourself relevant in the city. The Games weren't only going on in the arena and people who didn't know how to play didn't stay long in the spotlight.

The fact that Trinket hadn't even once mentioned her name told him more than all Finnick had said. Leskov wasn't even on his escort's radar, which told him that despite her current popularity Trinket didn't think she was a serious threat to her own fame – and most women were usually perceived to be a threat.

"Who would you say is the most dangerous woman if not Snow's mistress?" Finnick scoffed and almost dropped his head altogether.

This time, Haymitch didn't hesitate to pull the bottle away from the boy. Four's victor clearly had had enough.

"Don't know, don't care." he grumbled. "This place is a snake pit anyway. Doesn't need to know who's the most poisonous."

"Oh, come on…" Chaff rolled his eyes. "Just say it."

"Say what?" he snapped, not liking his friend's tone. He wasn't in the mood to be lectured. Not when his escort was giving him coquettish looks from the other side of the room.

"You think Trinket's the most dangerous woman in the Capitol 'cause you think that woman shits gold." Chaff accused, a touch too aggressively.

Haymitch finished his glass in one long gulp.

"She's dangerous." he replied.

"Yeah, like a kitten." Eleven's victor taunted. "With tiny claws."

Finnick was looking at both of them in turn, looking ill-at-ease and a bit green.

"Kittens are nice…" the kid added, his words slurred. "And Effie's nice. A pretty fluffy kitten…"

"More like a pretty pussy." Chaff chuckled, clearly happy with his joke. "Is the pussy fluffy, buddy? Must be, the way you're looking at her. Though… She's the kind to wax everything off, yeah? I bet she's…"

"You done?" Haymitch spat. He pushed his empty glass to the center of the table and hauled himself up. "That's getting old. Told you I ain't fucking her."

The lie sounded off.

Maybe because he had been telling it too much and for too long.

Nobody believed them when they denied. Some people pretended they did but Haymitch doubted they were fooling anyone and he would have put an end to the whole thing if he had thought for one second anyone believed it was more than just sex. Well… Chaff believed it was more than just sex but Chaff was also deadly wrong.

"She's the most dangerous woman in the Capitol." Eleven's victor called behind his back. "Cause she's gonna ruin you, Haymitch. Mark my words."

Haymitch shook his head and walked on, too uncertain of his balance and too drunk to start an argument with Chaff. He hated being at odds with his best friend and that had been happening more and more lately.

Chaff hated Trinket.

Haymitch hated Trinket.

Trinket hated both of them.

Somehow, it should have been simple but it wasn't.

Because Haymitch might have hated Trinket but he didn't hate having sex with her.

By the time he had crossed the room and reached his escort, she had released her court and she was waiting for him with a perfectly poised smile on her lips.

"I believe I managed to secure potential sponsors for next year." she declared.

One had to admire her stubbornness. He could tell her it would never make a difference until he was blue in the face, she would still keep on trying to get them sponsors.

"I want to fuck you." he answered.

She didn't bat an eyelash. "Language."

"I want you to suck me off first." he added as an afterthought.

Blue eyes studied him from head to toes and a disappointed pout tugged at the corner of her mouth. "You are drunk."

"A little." he admitted.

"Too much." she argued with a sigh. "Regrettable. All these looks you gave me made me horny." He took a step closer but she evaded him easily. "Try to sober up a little. I might be more inclined to indulge you then."

He groaned. "I want to go back to the penthouse."

"We have only been here an hour." she retorted. "It would be rude to leave now." She laughed at his disgruntled face but reached for the crooked tie around his neck. He let her fix it but vowed to get rid of it as soon as her back would be turned. "Cheer up, darling." she commanded in that shrill bubbly tone of hers. "If you stop drinking now, you might be lucid enough to enjoy me at the end of the night…"

He hated the fact he knew it would be enough to keep him off his drinks.

Maybe she was the most dangerous woman in the city after all.