Haymitch/Enobaria, "Brightly Burning", (PG-13, no spoilers)
Filling two Haymitch/Enobaria prompts at once...
Chars: Haymitch/Enobaria
Title: Brightly Burning
Rating: PG-13ish
Warnings: Vague refs to forced prostitution
Spoilers: Eh, none really, takes place during the 63nd Games
She’d been six during the Second Quarter Quell, but as a tribute cadet already, the tape of that was something she saw constantly over the next years until her own Games. That and the tapes of the next two years, Brutus and Lyme, and the expectation of, You must do better than they did and please the Capitol audience. So she’d seen Haymitch Abernathy’s fighting over and over. The admiration they had of a wiry, short kid who could kill some of Two’s best, but at the same time, they were pragmatic. He’s a rarity, a good fighter from a typically lousy district. That gave him something of an element of surprise. And it was his speed and his skill that caught this group off guard, but his technique is untrained. You can see it. You can be ready for it. Catch someone like this in a knife fight up close with our training and he’ll be your kill, no question.
Brutus’ opinion was, “Sometimes he drinks too much, but can’t fucking blame him, getting stuck with embarrassingly bad tributes like that year after year. I’d probably drink too.” Given that, she could hardly disagree. Twelve’s tributes were always a disgrace.
So when she went up to him at the bar after a drink or two and tried to ask him about his Games, Haymitch snorted and said, “Oh, old history. Why don’t we talk about you, sweetheart? How are you liking the Capitol?”
“They’re very admiring.” Though she hadn’t really wanted the alteration to her teeth last year, she’d understood that there were expectations of a Two victor to honor the Capitol, and turning down gifts wasn’t appropriate either. Still, learning to eat all over again with the different way and pressure of biting things, how large and sharp the teeth were now, and to stop her bad habit of chewing her lower lip when she was thinking, had been hard.
“They are at that.”
Somehow she didn’t quite understand how they ended up back at the apartment but they did. Maybe it was the bravery of a few drinks, and trying to not laugh at his jokes, but she leaned over and kissed him, more like mashed her lips against his. “Easy now,” he said. “Those teeth of yours and all.” She tried to not blush with embarrassment-it wasn’t like she’d had much time for kissing in cadet training, not as devoted to training as it had been. No time for little romances. “Like this.” He showed her what he meant and she led where he followed on it. Well, he was almost thirty, very popular with the Capitol too, so he knew a few things about kissing. “That’s it,” he murmured, coaxing her to keep trying, and she realized with a sense of victory she could learn a few things from him besides trying to talk knife fighting. He didn’t even seem to notice the fangs, which was a relief.
She learned plenty, all right, by the time his head was buried between her thighs and oh, fuck, his tongue…she gasped and writhed against him, shuddering and feeling the agonized relief washing over her in intense pulses, so much more than she’d ever felt from her own fingers.
“You want me to…uh…” She glanced down at his lap. Reciprocate?
“Enough fun for tonight,” he said, shaking his head. “Though here’s some advice: don’t use teeth when you do.” He laughed, seeing her obvious embarrassment. “Don’t worry. That goes for any woman, sweetheart, not just you.”
Brutus came in just as Haymitch was headed for the door. “Haymitch,” he snapped, seeing her still half in disarray there on the couch.
“Don’t worry, Brutus,” Haymitch said sarcastically, extricating himself from Brutus’ grip and brushing at the crumpled lapels of his jacket, “she’s still a virgin.”
“No, I’m not.” Haymitch’s eyes went to her, a little startled. “I mean, I wasn’t even before tonight. You know how it is with cadets, Brutus.” Sex was no big deal in the cadets. Past a certain age, the training staff made condoms freely available and advised them if they were so inclined, to get laid a few times if they wanted, or not if they didn’t. On the whole the understanding was that their attention was to be towards their training, not their hormones. So whether a cadet had sex or not, it had better not be the foremost thing on their mind. She’d done it a few times but it hadn’t been something good enough to make her obsess over it. Though thinking about what Haymitch did for her, maybe she’d just fucked the wrong people.
“Career districts,” Haymitch muttered half to himself. “Well, fine,” a cocky smile on his face, “we’ll just say it was me letting Enobaria have a little bit of a good time before she meets the clumsy boys of the Capitol.”
Something passed between Brutus and Haymitch that she didn’t quite understand and Brutus gave a curt nod. “Fine.”
Five nights later when she was encouraged to please one of Snow’s cabinet members, trying to kiss him and remembering that lesson on it Haymitch so casually gave her, she thought she understood a little bit. This was part of a victor’s duties, accepting the affection and attention the Capitol showed to them in any way that it was shown. Her body had been tribute to the Capitol in the arena and this was just another aspect of that. She swore she’d represent Two well, even in this, and bring honor to her district. Once she was better accustomed to it and what all it meant, it might not feel so much like she was lying to herself to endure. But sometimes lies were necessary-how many had she told herself to get through cadet training? Lying in order to understand and accept a new reality that went counter to useless instincts was sometimes the only way to survive. But at least, disappointing as this current reality was, she had the memory of those few moments with Haymitch, of feeling hot enough to burn and be reduced to ash.
Chars: Haymitch/Enobaria
Title: Brightly Burning
Rating: PG-13ish
Warnings: Vague refs to forced prostitution
Spoilers: Eh, none really, takes place during the 63nd Games
She’d been six during the Second Quarter Quell, but as a tribute cadet already, the tape of that was something she saw constantly over the next years until her own Games. That and the tapes of the next two years, Brutus and Lyme, and the expectation of, You must do better than they did and please the Capitol audience. So she’d seen Haymitch Abernathy’s fighting over and over. The admiration they had of a wiry, short kid who could kill some of Two’s best, but at the same time, they were pragmatic. He’s a rarity, a good fighter from a typically lousy district. That gave him something of an element of surprise. And it was his speed and his skill that caught this group off guard, but his technique is untrained. You can see it. You can be ready for it. Catch someone like this in a knife fight up close with our training and he’ll be your kill, no question.
Brutus’ opinion was, “Sometimes he drinks too much, but can’t fucking blame him, getting stuck with embarrassingly bad tributes like that year after year. I’d probably drink too.” Given that, she could hardly disagree. Twelve’s tributes were always a disgrace.
So when she went up to him at the bar after a drink or two and tried to ask him about his Games, Haymitch snorted and said, “Oh, old history. Why don’t we talk about you, sweetheart? How are you liking the Capitol?”
“They’re very admiring.” Though she hadn’t really wanted the alteration to her teeth last year, she’d understood that there were expectations of a Two victor to honor the Capitol, and turning down gifts wasn’t appropriate either. Still, learning to eat all over again with the different way and pressure of biting things, how large and sharp the teeth were now, and to stop her bad habit of chewing her lower lip when she was thinking, had been hard.
“They are at that.”
Somehow she didn’t quite understand how they ended up back at the apartment but they did. Maybe it was the bravery of a few drinks, and trying to not laugh at his jokes, but she leaned over and kissed him, more like mashed her lips against his. “Easy now,” he said. “Those teeth of yours and all.” She tried to not blush with embarrassment-it wasn’t like she’d had much time for kissing in cadet training, not as devoted to training as it had been. No time for little romances. “Like this.” He showed her what he meant and she led where he followed on it. Well, he was almost thirty, very popular with the Capitol too, so he knew a few things about kissing. “That’s it,” he murmured, coaxing her to keep trying, and she realized with a sense of victory she could learn a few things from him besides trying to talk knife fighting. He didn’t even seem to notice the fangs, which was a relief.
She learned plenty, all right, by the time his head was buried between her thighs and oh, fuck, his tongue…she gasped and writhed against him, shuddering and feeling the agonized relief washing over her in intense pulses, so much more than she’d ever felt from her own fingers.
“You want me to…uh…” She glanced down at his lap. Reciprocate?
“Enough fun for tonight,” he said, shaking his head. “Though here’s some advice: don’t use teeth when you do.” He laughed, seeing her obvious embarrassment. “Don’t worry. That goes for any woman, sweetheart, not just you.”
Brutus came in just as Haymitch was headed for the door. “Haymitch,” he snapped, seeing her still half in disarray there on the couch.
“Don’t worry, Brutus,” Haymitch said sarcastically, extricating himself from Brutus’ grip and brushing at the crumpled lapels of his jacket, “she’s still a virgin.”
“No, I’m not.” Haymitch’s eyes went to her, a little startled. “I mean, I wasn’t even before tonight. You know how it is with cadets, Brutus.” Sex was no big deal in the cadets. Past a certain age, the training staff made condoms freely available and advised them if they were so inclined, to get laid a few times if they wanted, or not if they didn’t. On the whole the understanding was that their attention was to be towards their training, not their hormones. So whether a cadet had sex or not, it had better not be the foremost thing on their mind. She’d done it a few times but it hadn’t been something good enough to make her obsess over it. Though thinking about what Haymitch did for her, maybe she’d just fucked the wrong people.
“Career districts,” Haymitch muttered half to himself. “Well, fine,” a cocky smile on his face, “we’ll just say it was me letting Enobaria have a little bit of a good time before she meets the clumsy boys of the Capitol.”
Something passed between Brutus and Haymitch that she didn’t quite understand and Brutus gave a curt nod. “Fine.”
Five nights later when she was encouraged to please one of Snow’s cabinet members, trying to kiss him and remembering that lesson on it Haymitch so casually gave her, she thought she understood a little bit. This was part of a victor’s duties, accepting the affection and attention the Capitol showed to them in any way that it was shown. Her body had been tribute to the Capitol in the arena and this was just another aspect of that. She swore she’d represent Two well, even in this, and bring honor to her district. Once she was better accustomed to it and what all it meant, it might not feel so much like she was lying to herself to endure. But sometimes lies were necessary-how many had she told herself to get through cadet training? Lying in order to understand and accept a new reality that went counter to useless instincts was sometimes the only way to survive. But at least, disappointing as this current reality was, she had the memory of those few moments with Haymitch, of feeling hot enough to burn and be reduced to ash.