ACOTAR Modern AU Oneshots

I Was a Sock Once

So, this one is based on a gem of a meme that sent me and my friend into hysterics:

Mor: people who sleep with socks on are weird

Rhys: people who don't sleep with socks on are weird

Azriel: (muttering under his breath) people who sleep are weird

Cassian: (blind drunk) I was a sock once

"Please can we stay, Sir? Please?" Mr Suri just laughs and shakes his head as Cassian begs for 'just one more hour' in the drama studio. His excuse being that 'while we do have homes, Sir, yes, we also have parents'. I turn to Rhys with a grin.

"I'm getting a fishy kind of feeling about this. Just me?" His violet eyes spark with amusement.

"Odds it involves alcohol?" I can't help laughing.

"Very high."

Cassian is in full wheedling mode now.

"But Sir! Amren is your favourite student." The short girl glowers at Cassian as she pulls out the bobby pins holding her short hair under a flat cap.

"Don't bring me into this, you hulking brute."

"Amren." Mr Suri's lips twitch and I get the distinct impression that he is trying not to laugh. " We don't shame people because of their size." Amren forces her face into a neutral expression.

"Of course Mr Suri." The moment she turns around, she gives Cassian the middle finger. On the other side of the corridor, just coming out of the dance studios, my eldest sister Nesta laughs.

"And Cassian." Mr Suri attempts to look stern. "Teachers don't have favourites." Nesta snorts as she wanders in.

"Apart from Amren." She salutes her best friend with her ballet shoe as Amren retreats behind her boyfriend Varian, looking thoroughly put-upon.

"But Sii-iiir! Plee-ease!"

Nesta leans against the wall where Rhys and I stand and puts her pointe shoes on the floor.

"What's this about? I just arrived for Amren getting told of for shaming Cass because of his size." She pauses for a second, and purses her lips. "On second thoughts, this is definitely something to do with alcohol. He never begs this hard for anything other than alcohol." Rhys raises one eyebrow at her and smirks.

"What, 'cause you would know?" Nesta picks up her pointe shoes, hits Rhys with them, and walks over to Cassian and Mr Suri.

"This is the ongoing can-we-stay-in-here-after-school debate, isn't it?" Mr Suri nodded.

"Good evening, Ms Archeron. It is." Cassian takes a step back and lets his girlfriend take the lead. The lead she chooses to take being:

"Me and Amren can keep an eye on the irresponsible ones." She coughs into her hand. "Cassian." Amren appears again from behind Varian. It's not that he's massive: she's just tiny.

"Well excuse you! We can not!" Nesta continues as if Amren had never spoken.

"And Azriel when he gets here. Some of us are actually trustworthy."

The door is flung open and Mor appears.

"Emerie walloped Devlon in the face with a hockey stick! She's in detention but it was worth it!" Nesta takes a deep, fortifying breath.

"Some of us." She turns to Mor. "She alright in detention?" Mor waves a hand.

"I gave her some cards and a box of chocolates, so she'll be fine. And I imagine Mrs Winters will persuade Mr Winters to let her use the sewing machines." Nesta nods.

"True, true. Wish I'd been there to see it." Cassian elbows her.

"Nes! You're supposed to be being responsible!"

It is to do with alcohol. Once Azriel arrived, trailing one chipper Berdara, one chipper Archeron, one chipper Vanserra, and Lucien - also a Vanserra but decidedly not chipper - Mr Suri gave in under the pressure and let us stay in the studio for a couple of hours. The building locks down at half seven so we have to be out by then. The moment he leaves, Cassian produces a six-pack of beers from his bag:

"How drunk do you think we can get in a couple of hours?"

Mor grins.

"Oooh! Very!" Nesta casts me a long-suffering look.

"Remind me why I'm dating this?"

Before Cassian can respond, Amren cuts in.

"Hate to put a downer on the atmosphere, but Cassian, where did you get the alcohol? You're underage. Besides if you've been making the rest of us pay when you could have done then I swear to God I will end-"

"Only everyone's favourite Vanserra." Comes Eris' drawl from where his is leaning back on Mr Suri's chair. Leaning on his legs, Azriel looks around.

"Where did Lucien get alcohol?" Eris puts a hand to his heart.

"I am deeply offended, little bat."

Cassian thumps the beer against the floor.

"Now that that's out of the way..."

A pleasantly warm fuzzy feeling has enveloped me as I sit with Rhys, my head on his shoulder, my legs on his lap. A thought pops into my head.

"Rhys," I whisper in his ear. "Do you sleep with socks on?" Rhys sits up, outraged at the suggestion, his black hair tousled.

"What? NO! People who sleep with socks on are weird!" Mor chokes on her beer and her eyes bug out.

"What?! People who sleep without socks on are weird."

"People who sleep are weird." Azriel slurs, drooping onto Eris' shoulder. Eris smirks, having long ago abandoned the chair, and strokes Azriel's hair.

Cassin raises a hand and then climbs onto Mr Suri's chair. Nesta tries to pull him down put he tugs her arm out of his grasp.

"I was a sock once!" He announces, looking supremely pleased with himself. He then falls off the chair. Nesta - holding her alcohol infinitely better than him - catches him and rolls her eyes.

"Sure you were, honey. Sure you were." She lays him down with his head in her lap and shares a commiserating look with Gwyn Berdara, who is sat next to her. "Idiot."

"Give a man the- the-" Lucien seems to be struggling to find the right phrase. Next to him, Elaine - my other sister - sits looking like she has second-hand-embarrassment with a can of lemonade in her hand.

"The benefit of the doubt?"

"That's right!" Lucien nods profusely. "That's it. The- the-... what she said."

Hope you enjoyed! For those interested, Amren and Varian were making out in a corner, so didn't get to add their opinions to the pot...