notes1: I haven't touched this project in forever, whoops. so hello again.
notes2: old chapters have been deleted/I'm rewriting the whole thing because the old stuff was kinda cringeworthy. also a new summary because why not?
notes3: the focus is team sabertooth (including Yukino now) because why not? they're literally a whole bunch of nerds who are also hella dumb. typical.
notes4: so hey welcome to a high school/modern setting au. enjoy the ride.
+standard disclaimer
there's a medicine for that
(AU. "All I'm saying is that Sting shouldn't be allowed to have ideas anymore." — multi-chapter Team Sabertooth nonsense)
o n e
Rufus
Rufus wakes up to the sound of machine guns firing, Orga trying to sing the Pokémon theme song, and Sting shouting profanities. Needless to say it is the most terrifying thing he's ever experienced.
Well—it's not actually the most terrifying thing he's ever experienced, but the massive headache he has might as well literally be splitting his head open, so. There's that.
He stretches some before freezing. Wide-eyed, he surveys the room: Orga singing, Sting on the PS3, Rogue passed out on the floor, Minerva half-naked, and Yukino curled into Sting's side. This is normal and he really wishes he'd get used to it, but Rufus, for all he's worth, stops, stares, and promptly lets out a strangled yelp.
Orga, who is very clearly fried and not entirely with the world looks over, shrugs, and goes back to his singing while Sting throws an empty beer can in his general direction.
"Can you be anymore juvenile?" he hisses as he dodges by rolling to his side. He cannot believe the morning he's having and he's been up five minutes.
"Fuck off, man," Sting shoots back, and goddamn if Rufus doesn't want to deck him. He screws his face up and tries—desperately—to remember how he got here. Here being Sting's basement on a Saturday morning with a hangover from hell.
To his right is Minerva, who is really just a mess of unbrushed hair, an oversized t-shirt, and a pair of black underwear on the floor at this point. He vaguely remembers the reasoning behind her appearance, but whatever happened the other night has left his memory completely blank—which, by the way, totally sucks because he can't blackmail anyone now, goddammit.
To his left is Rogue, passed out on the floor in an uncouth manner, a thin line of drool flowing from the corner of his mouth. He mumbles things about remembering to buy Frosch more cat food, picking up the groceries, and reminding Sting to study for the upcoming chemistry test. It's only when he starts babbling about Gajeel Redfox that Rufus begins to wonder why he even associates with such imbeciles before he really, really realizes that Orga is singing.
It's not even his normal level of shit awful singing—it's half-drunk babble that sounds like a bunch of goddamn dying whales. Rufus, with all of his calm, cool, and collect cannot help but think, fuck this. He's known Orga since kindergarten and he still can't help but to want to blow something up when his own best friend decides to pretend he's a rock star. It also kind of sucks that Orga's also the only one that puts up with his own bullshit, but right now Rufus doesn't really give a damn because his goddamn eyes hurt and he is now fully aware he lives in a perpetual state of goddammit Sting.
The blond teenager is either being murdered or playing FIFA14, which is basically the same thing because it only means that Sting's level of annoyance goes from "tolerable" to "you have from the count of zero to shut the fuck up." He almost feels bad for Yukino, whose head is snuggled into the junction between Sting's neck and shoulder before realizing she doesn't even have a reason to still be fast asleep because she didn't even drink. (Also, she totally had a choice about who fall asleep on. No pity for her.)
In analyzing his surroundings and quite possibly dying a little inside, it takes approximately point five seconds for him to realize he is sitting (sleeping?!) on a pile of vomit covered clothing. And, considering the fact the basement he's in is Sting's, it's unnaturally clean—probably because Minerva would've flipped shit if she had to spend the majority of her time in a basement messier than Natsu Dragneel's locker—but holy shit this is disgusting.
He does the only natural thing, really. He screams.
His body hurts too much to move. Orga is singing. He's been sleeping in vomit. Sting has thrown the PS3's controller at the television. Oh, and he can't remember anything. His screaming is justified. Come at him.
Rogue stirs at the sound of the controller hitting the wall. Rufus can feel his headache worsening as he heard the distinct stream of "how the fuck did Torres score?" from Sting, and Orga's singing becomes increasingly worse (if that's even possible). It seems to wake Minerva up, too, because there was loud groan.
"Sting, Orga! Shut the fuck up!"
It goes unnoticed, which is pretty usual because they're all too exhausted to actually pay attention. Yukino blinks the sleep out of her eyes and Rufus remembers how much he hates the fact that she can sleep like the dead. Sting shifts on the couch as she sits up straight and knowing the blond, Rufus can pretty much guess that the pout on Sting's face would put everyone else to shame. His arm tries to stealthily snake around her waist before she swats him away. What a pair of nerds.
A phone rings and Rufus wants to curl into the fetal position, but apparently Rogue feels like that too because he hastily taps his finger on the screen to ignore the call and grumbles.
"Asdfghjkl."
Rufus can sense Minerva getting more and more pissed off at each passing nanosecond. She rolls herself to the closest wall and pushes herself up, a loud yawn following. It's enough to get the rest of the idiots in the basement to shut up and stare. Rufus is certain that at least one of them looks ready to shit themselves, but if he has to open his eyes he'll probably start crying.
"So," she says darkly, "I have a headache from hell and I am formally requesting you all shut the fuck up."
Sting shoots her a sheepish grin and Yukino sighs the kind of sigh that makes Rufus wonder how the hell she puts up with them. Orga, for all that he is worth, allows whatever note he's trying to hit die. Upstairs, Sting's dad is walking around, his heavy steps echoing in the basement. Lector's soft meow comes as he hops onto the couch to curl up on Sting's lap. Someone scores a goal on FIFA14.
Minerva stands up and dusts herself off.
"And where the hell are the goddamn pain killers?"
notes1: I don't multi-chapter often so yahoo! this mostly stayed the same from the original chapter tho so, uh, yeah.
notes2: drop me a line?