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The Monday after midterms classes are cancelled, so to give the teachers extra time to grade and the students time to catch up on sleep. As a reward, Charles offers the use of his house in Westchester for the long weekend, as the guest bedrooms have far comfier mattresses than the dorms.
Celebrations start Saturday night, as Charles assures them that he has a very full liquor cabinet, and he trusts them to drink responsibly. Angel and Alex elect Darwin to mix drinks for them. He laughs on his way back to the kitchen, and comes back smiling a few minutes later. He starts passing out drinks – a non-alcoholic drink for Hank, water for Erik, and extremely strong drinks for everyone else.
It's all rather enjoyable, until Charles gets a call at eleven at night. His face goes pale and his lips go tight, and he reassures whoever is on the other end that he will be there as soon as he can.
"Everything alright?" Darwin asks.
Charles gives him a tight smile. "Everything will be just alright," he evades. "There is just a student there who needs some help, and so..." Charles wobbles as he stands, and Erik is immediately at his side, hand cupped around Charles's elbow. "Erik," Charles says, sounding pleased. "Would you be so kind as to..."
"Of course," Erik murmurs.
Everyone follows the two of them as they make their way to the front hall.
Erik stops, then looks between Raven, Angel, Alex, Hank, Darwin and Sean. He turns back to Darwin. "Try and keep them from burning the mansion down."
Alex makes a noise of indignation as Erik spends an extra long second staring at him, before Erik whisks Charles down to the car.
The resulting somber mood only lasts through the next round of drinks. Things lighten up then, more and more through subsequent drinks.
It's two o'clock in the morning when Sean suggests they play hide and seek.
"Yes," Raven says, emphatically. "This is the best house for hide and seek, and Charles and I never got to really enjoy playing it as a kid."
"Can you even stand?" Alex asks. "I don't want to get blamed if you knock any shit over."
Raven rises carefully to her feet. "And I'll have you know that as long as you get rid of the broken vase or whatever, neither Charles or I are probably going to notice." She looks around the group before yelling, "Not it!"
Despite protests, Sean ends up as it, though he starts counting as quickly as he can.
Raven sets down her drink, grabs Angel's wrist, and starts running.
Angel makes a noise of surprise and stumbles after Raven. Raven hears the faint buzz of her wings unfurling, and looks back to see Angel is half-flying and half-running behind her.
For some reason, it makes Raven giggle, as she tugs Angel up the stairs in the south wing, and starts counting the doors of the old guest bedrooms.
"Where are we going?" Angel mock-whispers.
"Best place in the house," Raven replies, before pulling her into the fifth bedroom on the right. She shuts the door behind them, and keeps tugging Angel across the room, then into a closet.
"Where are we?" Angel repeats, as Raven closes the door.
"We," Raven announces, as she finally lets go of Angel's wrist, now that Angel is steady on her feet, "are in the closet that houses all the extra pillows. And we are going to make a pillow fort."
"Why?"
Raven turns to look at Angel – or at least, as best as she can in the dimness of the closet. "Because," she says, simply.
Angel laughs, before clamping her hand over her mouth. "Works for me," she replies, quietly.
"Good. Because I am going to need you to get the pillows from the top shelves. It's been a while since I've climbed these shelves, and it would probably be in our best interest if I weren't to attempt it now. Darwin makes drinks really, really strong."
"Why else do you think I suggested he make the drinks?" Angel asks, laughing. "Speaking of, hold this."
And then Raven has a drink being shoved into her hands. She hears Angel take a deep breath, followed by the faint sound of Angel unfurling her wings again. "What pillows do you want?"
"The soft ones. There's not enough space or light in here to make a proper fort, we'll probably just make a nest. Which is just as awesome."
"Watch out below," Angel says.
Raven has just enough time to shield the open cup before a few pillows fall onto her head.
It's been years since Raven built a pillow fort, or pillow nest. She doesn't know if it's the nostalgia of some of her happier childhood memories with Charles, or the thrum of alcohol in her system, or just the warmth of Angel next to her, but this feels like one of the best moments of her life.
There's a slight chirp of her phone, and Raven turns it to silent, before checking her messages.
"alex is it :D :D :D" comes a text from Sean, immediately followed by a "sean is a dick" which is then immediately followed by Darwin's, "No powers, guys."
"That is a dick move," Raven agrees. Feeling like the pillows have been properly nested, she lies down, and sighs contentedly. "And c'mon, they're never going to find us here."
Angel shifts around. The closet is taller than it is wide or deep, and there's really no way to lie down without curling around Raven. Not that Raven minds in the slightest. A shiver runs down Raven's smile as Angel molds herself against Raven. "So is this what you and Charles did as kids? Make pillow forts and fall asleep in them? Sounds nice."
"That part was," Raven says. "Some of it... not so much. And I have not had enough to drink to talk about it."
Angel pushes up then, and pulls her glass from where she had safely wedged it between two pillows. "Help me finish mine off. I don't have cooties," she says.
Raven shuffles around so she can sit up while still being mostly lounging down. She takes a few sips, before handing it back. "I vote we don't have Darwin make the drinks next time. How the hell can he make them so strong?"
"He told me once he doesn't really get drunk, his powers metabolize the alcohol too fast. If he wants to feel even the slightest buzz, he needs to make them a bit on the harder side."
"A bit?" Raven asks, dubiously. The room is spinning, and she's lying down in the dark.
Angel huffs a laugh, before she follows Raven back down to the floor.
A few minutes later, they each get a text message. "where the hell are you"
Raven rolls her eyes. "Fine us," she types back, not bothering to correct the typo.
Only Raven gets a "srsly how many rooms are there in here"
Angel is reading over Raven's shoulder. "How many rooms are there?" she asks, curious.
"Charles and I counted once, I think. But we argued about what counted as a room, if closets counted, if laundry closets counted, if bedroom closets counted... I don't remember what we agreed on, or what number we got to, but a solid four dozen, minimum."
Angel snorts a laugh. "They're not going to find us, are they?"
Raven giggles. "Nope," she says. She squirms so she turns around, her nose brushing against Angel's. "Just you and me for the rest of the night." Raven may have vaguely planned it like that. From the time they first met, Raven had been attracted to Angel's wings, to Angel's ability to fly, to being in Angel's presence, to just Angel.
With them all being such a tight-knit group, it's been difficult to spend time with just Angel,
Angel leans in, her mouth brushing against Raven's for a moment. "That sounds like an excellent plan."
"I'm glad," Raven agrees. Her head is swimming, but she thinks it's more from the alcohol than Angel at this point.
"I think we should try this again when we're not drunk," Angel says, quietly. "On a more regular basis."
"We should," Raven says. She curls up further into Angel, her mouth brushing against her cheek.
Angel mirrors the kiss, and wraps her arm around Raven, pulling her in closer.
They're not in a comfortable position, and Raven knows she's going to be sore tomorrow, but for now, Angel is warm against her, and Raven smiles as she drifts off to sleep.