an unkindness of ravens

treize

— treize ; thirteen —

HENRI SUSPECTED HE GOT a grand total of two hours of sleep, if he put together the minutes he had managed to doze off through the night, and he was perfectly willing to blame the Ravens for that.

He was woken bright and early at 6AM by Soren's alarm, just like he was every morning, and groaned as he curled up on the tiled floor. Somehow, he felt even worse than he had in the night. He felt about three seconds from throwing up even though he couldn't possibly puke again and his head was pounding. If this was a hangover, he was perfectly happy to never drink again and leave it at that. Being drunk hadn't even been that fun. If you liked a lack of inhibitions and loss of control, sure. It was just a series of stumbling and confusion and trying not to do something stupid.

He groaned again when the bathroom light flicked on and buried his face in the towel. "I'm going to die," he said piteously. "It's not a joke anymore."

Soren sounded entirely unsympathetic to his plight. "Can you die in the shower? You can't go to practice like that."

"Thanks a lot."

Something bounced off his chest and he blearily blinked out from beneath the towel to see Soren had thrown down the bottle of painkillers to him. Soren wasn't even looking at him, brushing his teeth at the sink, but Henri took a moment to study him. Had anything changed between them? He hoped not, and judging from Soren's usual blunt manner, he wasn't about going to treat Henri any differently. Henri had to remind himself this wasn't unusual for him — even if he'd only mentioned Jude, there were probably other Ravens he'd messed around with and never done anything more with.

Henri scrubbed himself down in as cold a shower as he could bear in an attempt to wake himself up and only partially succeeded. He still felt like an extra on The Walking Dead as he dragged himself out of the bathroom, yawning and still half-asleep.

"Haven't you people ever heard of summer?" Henri tugged a shirt over his head and looked accusingly at Soren. "It means sleeping in late and relaxation."

"Summer hasn't begun for us. Not yet," Soren said, at Henri's incredulous expression. "When the freshmen arrive next week, the majority of the team are allowed a few weeks to return home to their families before the season starts up again in August."

"The majority," Henri repeated. "I can guess who the minority are."

"The starting line-up and freshmen remain for practice, but the hours are shortened." Soren flicked off the bathroom light. "We only practice in the morning, with gym after lunch. The rest of the day is free time."

Henri thought about all that extra free time and found he'd forgotten what he even did for fun before Exy had consumed his life. Sleep, he supposed. He wouldn't mind getting a bit more of that right now but Soren was already leaving the room and Henri had no choice but to follow. Most other Ravens were awake, putting together a quick breakfast and having a look at the news before practice started. They were so isolated down here, someone could start World War III and they wouldn't even know until practice was postponed due to nuclear bomb attacks.

"Morning, rookie," Aria said when he entered the kitchen, sounding oddly cheerful. She smirked at his suspicious look. "Remember enough of last night to enjoy it?"

Henri pulled open the fridge. "I wouldn't have enjoyed it even if I remembered it."

"You went out with him?" One of the other Ravens asked, sounding appalled and a little disappointed. Henri marvelled at the fact he would actually want to go out with them, by choice.