Chapter Text
Atsumu left the Kappa Tau house in a suit and tie Monday morning with his vice president in tow. Kuroo wore red skinny jeans and a gray blazer. They stuck out among the students that were dressed in pajamas heading to 9am classes. Two members of the executive councils were summoned to the administration building to attend a meeting with the other to discuss the contents of Dean Takeda’s letter. It felt like they were walking toward their executions. There was tension in the air as soon as they walked in and sat down, their peers were at each other's throats, looking to blame someone for the new restrictions.
Dean Takeda walked into the room and took his spot behind the podium. His chilling, serious presence did nothing to quiet the room full of arguing students.
“Enough!” Feedback whined in the microphone, silencing the rest of the room. “Bribing girls to pledge during rush? An automated phone service for cheating, rampant underage alcohol abuse.” He paced in front of the podium. “Clearly, you people are unable to regulate yourselves, so from this day forward the university will do it for you. As dean of students you’ll answer to me now.”
“Your honor, I object!” Atsumu stood up, yelling with the irreverence of a high schooler at a mock trial.
“To?” Dean Takeda asked, unamused.
“Well…” He looked back at the crowd behind him. “Low-rise jeans, skim milk–highly objectionable. Oh and your complete and utter lack of presumption that we’re innocent until proven guilty. No more questions, your witness!” He turned and dramatically pointed at the Omega Chi’s before sitting back down.
Kuroo leaned in and whispered “Pre-law?” He asked, wondering if Atsumu had changed his major again.
“Not yet, but I’m digging the suit.” Atsumu smirked.
“Son, stand up.” Dean Takeda stepped closer to their seats. “The only presumption that I’m willing to make is that the Greek social calendar will now be much less crowded. This semester everything changes.” He pointed a sharp glare at the Kappa Tau president. “I’ll be watching you.”
“Did you mean for that to sound pervy?” The Dean didn’t even entertain Atsumu with a look back as he walked out of the room.
“Hey!” Sakusa tapped Atsumu’s shoulder. “Dean Takeda is this close to shutting us down and you’re mouthing off?” Sakusa griped, voice raised.
“Will you quit your bellyaching, Omi-omi? Your parties are so lame anyway so what do you have to lose?” Atsumu scoffed.
Later in the week Atsumu was called to a combined Inter-Fraternity Council and Pan-Hellenic meeting. All the presidents of the Fraternities and Sororities gathered in their designated conference room. Sakusa sat at the head of the table, dressed in his perfectly tailored suit and Omega Chi tie. He pounded the gavel twice, signaling the start of the meeting.
“I want to thank everybody for coming on such short notice.” Sakusa unbuttoned his suit jacket as he sat down.
“Dean Takeda?!” Atsumu interrupted, eyes wide at the Omega Chi president. Kiyoomi casually glanced at the open door frame but the Dean wasn’t there. Atsumu stared at the Omega Chi president in wonder and continued, “you’ve grown…younger. Share with us your magic.” Kiyoomi rolled his eyes and turned his attention to the thick binder in front of him.
“First order of business, the university has created a new ‘Greek task force’ composed of alumni and administrators to deal with the fallout from the events of last year. I was appointed their liaison.” Sakusa pulled out a stack of folders from his binder, one for each person at the table. He split the pile in two and started passing them down the table.
“So what does this mean?” Tanaka Saeko, the Tri-Pi president asked.
“You can see for yourself- basically we’re gonna be watched closer this year. Curfews, cops checking ID’s, a higher GPA requirement, wristbands.”
“Wristbands?” Atsumu interrupted in a British accent. “Good God man, not wristbands! Come on!” He joked, earning a chuckle from a couple of the other presidents.
“This is unfortunately not a joke, though I’m sure many of us wish it were. The choice is either comply or get your whole chapter shut down.” He pointed a glare at Atsumu. “Which, in the case of the Kappa Taus, might be doing us all a favor.” Sakusa smirked while Atsumu rolled his eyes.
“Why are we all being punished when not all of us were involved with what happened last semester?” The Gamma Psi president chirped.
“It doesn’t matter. The administration doesn’t trust us anymore. Until we regain that trust, this is the new normal.”
–--
The Kappa Tau’s had finished their meeting, discussing plans for the intramural sports season that was set to begin the very next day. As always, they were planning to use Bokuto’s immense athletic prowess to win every single game. This only worked about 50% of the time due to Bokuto’s unpredictable nature. The pledges dispersed, all except Atsumu’s little brother.
“Atsumu-san! What can I do?” Hinata beamed up at him, hoping to receive an assignment for the upcoming floor hockey game.
“I have a very important role for you my little bro.” Atsumu smiled. “Hydration Coordinator.”
Hinata looked excited for half a second before the words registered in his brain. “You want me to be the waterboy?” Hinata’s shoulders slumped. Atsumu nodded and tried to convince his little bro of the importance of water distribution.
Hinata was still determined to make the most of it. He showed up to the Kappa Tau house bright and early the morning of the game, a blue cooler in hand. There were sleeping bodies sprawled around the living room furniture, red plastic cups littered on the floor and the overwhelming smell of alcohol attacked Hinata’s senses.
“Guys?” He dropped his things in the foyer and shouted. “The game starts in fifteen minutes!!”
The Zeta Beta girls had partied with the Kappa Tau’s the night before, hoping to incapacitate the entire house so their beloved Omega Chi’s would have a leg up in the tournament.
The Kappa Tau pledges were able to get their brothers up and running across campus to the gym. Bokuto might’ve thrown up in a few bushes on the way. Hinata was very committed to his job, filling up water bottles and mixing sport drinks to help their team against the first opponent, the Lambda Sigs.
Over halfway through the game, Tanaka called a time-out so they could take a breather, Atsumu was getting a stitch in his side so he took a seat in one of the folding chairs on the sidelines. “We’re down three goals. There’s a minute left in the game. There’s only one thing left to do.” He paused, trying to catch his breath. “Start drinking. Now.”
“Pledge!” Atusmu waved over one of the boys standing on the sidelines.
“Yes sir.” Inuoka hurried to his president’s side.
“All fours, please.” Atsumu pulled his gym bag from under his seat and set it down on his back. “Thank you, pledge.” He unzipped it and unveiled an open storage bin with all the components you’d find in an at-home bar. He handed a short stack of cups to Bokuto on his right, the top one full of celery sticks.
“Hey Sho!” Atsumu waved Hinata over. “Hop in, don’t die.”
“Ok! You got it!” His little brother went from dejected to human sunshine in less than one second as he hauled ass onto the court. Hockey stick in hand, Hinata ran out onto the court, hi-fiving a few brothers on his way. Atsumu and Bokuto occupied themselves with cans of tomato juice and vodka, stirring their drinks with a stick of celery. The whistle blew and Hinata ran with the ball, hitting it against the face of his stick between steps. The row of Kappa Tau brothers watched in confusion as their pledge ran through players, hyper focused on hitting a shot into the goal. When the ball hit the net, Hinata dropped his stick, arms raised in victory. He skipped over to the sidelines, face lit up in shock. “Did you see that??” He repeated to the crowd. Hinata didn’t notice Tsukishima and Kageyama sitting in the bleachers, laughing with the other Omega Chis. He only noticed the concerned expressions on his fellow teammates as he circled back to the goal.
Tanaka pulled off his goalie mask “Nice job, Hinata! You just scored against your own team.”
Hinata rapidly turned his head between the two goals as he assessed the court.
“They should really mark those.” Atsumu sauntered over, bloody mary in hand.
“Take off the mask!” They heard the referee shout on the other side of the court. The student dressed in black and white stripes blew his whistle and announced- “The Lambda Sigs are disqualified for the improper use of a professional athlete! He’s an alumni.” Various reactions sounded from the gym.
“The Kappa Tau’s will play the Omega Chi’s!” The referee announced.
Atsumu hi-fived Tanaka, laughing at their good luck. Hinata was overjoyed that his mistake didn’t ruin anything for his team. Biting down on his celery, Atsumu looked up into the stands and locked eyes with his next opponent. Sakusa stared down at him with his typical unamused pout.
“Kappa Tau’s win on a technicality. Shocker.” Sakusa scoffed, walking into the locker rooms to get ready for their match.
“Don’t worry we’ll beat you Omega Chi’s fair and square.” Atsumu approached his opponent and smiled carelessly.
“Oh, like you guys have ever beaten us at anything,” said Sakusa.
“One word. Beer pong.” Atsumu smirked.
“You are a joke, you know that?” Sakusa was pulled away by his brothers before the argument could get any more heated.
In the end, Atsumu was all talk. The Kappa Tau’s were still too hungover to play well, but even if they were at their best, Omega Chi would’ve probably still beat them. Their time in the intramural sports tournament was over, but Atsumu got a much more interesting offer later that week.
--–
“The Zeta Beta Zeta’s are having a ‘Great Gatsby’ themed party and they have requested use of our humble grotto.” The KT president addressed his chapter, the brothers crowded around the two dingy couches that sat in their concrete covered basement.
“There will be great costumes, music, and a dance instructor that will teach us dances from the 20’s. The administration will see it as an alcohol-free book club activity.”
The room groaned in disgust, complaints immediately bursting from the brothers.
“That’s just the upstairs party!” Atsumu shouted over the noise. “Downstairs we’ll have a once in a lifetime, down and dirty, secret prohibition party.”
“A what party?” Bokuto asked.
“A prohibition party– a speakeasy.” Atsumu explained, the look of confusion still present on Bokuto’s face. “Alright look, here’s how it’s gonna work– upstairs will be an authority pleasing, yawn-inducing Great Gatsby party, but downstairs will be a delightful, delicious den of iniquity.”
“You know alcohol was illegal in the 20’s.” Tadashi asked Bokuto.
“No. Is that why they call it the great depression?” Bokuto asked, completely genuine.
Atsumu brushed over that question and continued, “Let’s get started. We need to soundproof down here. Semi-semi, do you still have that disturbingly loud band?”
“Disturbingly loud? I thought you guys liked the band.”
“Of course we do! Now get some pledges to help you soundproof the basement and you’ll have a perfect place to practice.”
“Next, we need enough liquor to incapacitate Zeus so who’s gonna go hit the store with me?”
Kiyoomi and Motoya walked home from campus that afternoon, passing the Kappa Tau house on their way. They saw Atsumu instructing some pledges as they lugged a few heavy boxes out of his red truck. Kiyoomi recognized the size of the boxes and clinking sound immediately.
“Hey. Are you having a party?” Kiyoomi asked.
“Na.” Atsumu dismissed him immediately, passing another box to Hinata who happily hauled the bottles toward the house.
“Are you sure you have enough liquor there?” Motoya looked at the collection of bottles in the truck.
“Uhh…Na.”
“You know, smuggling liquor for a party is not just a violation for your house, it’s going to reflect poorly on all of us.” Sakusa pointed out.
“Well then it’s a good thing that we’ve only got diet soft drinks Omi-Baloney. Don’t worry we left some at the store for y’all.” Atsumu winked, ignoring the disapproving looks from his rivals.
That afternoon, the doorbell rang at the Kappa Tau house, a bleach blonde security officer stood on the porch. Atsumu opened the door, Kuroo and Bokuto standing behind him, peering over to see who it was.
“Need your noise permit for the Gatsby party.”
“Are ya yankin’ me? Since when does that rule get enforced?” Atsumu noticed his ear piercings and hoped that he would be as lenient as the other officer he’d become friends with.
“Since I was hired.” He smirked, arms folded.
“Oh, okay I get it. So…” Atsumu looked at the name on his campus security uniform. “Officer Ukai.” He smiled. “You look like you could use a little break! Wanna come in? We'll set you up with a nice cold beer. That's what Officer Bob always did. Where's good ol Bob anyway?”
“Rehab.” Ukai replied, completely deadpan. “Your permit deadline was today at 0900 hours.”
Bokuto scrambled in the foyer behind him, finding a piece of paper for his president. Kuroo passed it to Atsumu.
“Well then here you are, my good sir.” He presented the loose piece of paper to the officer.
“This is a parking ticket from five years ago.”
“Really? My bad. One second.” Atsumu looked back at his two brothers that were sprinting back from the living room with another piece of paper, and Atsumu handed it to the unamused officer.
“This is a ticket for…” Ukai holds the paper up higher, reading the fine print. “A tour of Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory.” He whipped the golden paper back at Atsumu.
“Oh my God I better hold onto that.” He turned back around and Bokuto handed him another sheet of paper, folded in half. “This is it.” He smiled at Officer Ukai.
“Is this a page from The Bee Movie script?!” Ukai looked up at the fraternity president, completely dumbfounded. “No permit. No party.” He shoved the paper back at Atsumu’s chest and turned to leave. “Although…you could see if the events office will make an exception. All you gotta do is ask Gladys.”
Atsumu groaned. Gladys. “Pledge!” Atsumu snapped his fingers and Tadashi appeared at his side. “Assemble my cougar sack, don’t forget the aftershave.” Tadashi looked at the president, confused. “I said, bring me my cougar sack! I'm going in.” Atsumu groaned. Kuroo pointed the pledge in the right direction.
After an hour of successfully seducing the campus administration employee, Atsumu walked back to his house with their noise permit in hand.
The main floor of the KT house had been cleaned and decorated with help from the ZBZ’s. Furniture was moved from the living room to make room for dancing and there were multi-colored streamers and balloons all over the main floor of the house. Nearly everyone was in costume- flapper dresses, pearls, newsboy hats, and suspenders were in abundance. The basement speakeasy was going smoothly. The round bulb lights hanging from the ceiling provided the perfect mood lighting.
A knock at the door drew Atsumu’s attention away from the dance and the careful system he’d orchestrated that had two people going down to the basement party and two people coming up to replace them at the boring book club party.
“Dean Takeda! What are you doing here?” Atsumu smiled, doing his best to hide the fear he felt when the Dean walked in the door.
“I couldn’t miss the chance to see a famous ‘Kappa Tau’ party,” said Dean Takeda, flashing a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Atsumu hovered around him as the Dean looked around their pretend party. He and the Zeta Beta president, Kiyoko, followed him step by step, asking him what he was looking for.
“I was looking for the punch,” Dean Takeda answered.
“Do you want me to get you some?” Atsumu asked.
“No thanks, I’m perfectly capable.” He tried to get away from the looming presence of the Kappa Tau and Zeta Beta presidents. “Then I’d like to give myself a tour of the house if that’s alright.” The Dean walked away to inspect all of the refreshments.
“What are we going to do?” Atsumu frantically whispered to the group of brothers that were standing with Kiyoko in the living room.
“I have my stun gun upstairs.” Tanaka offered. Atsumu shook his head at the suggestion.
“Distract him for a second, alright? I have an idea.” Kiyoko slipped away to the basement party while Atsumu started up a conversation with the Dean.
“Incredible! So then what happened?” Atsumu nodded, faking intense interest in the Dean’s life story. He kept replying in a monotone voice, not falling for Atsumu’s distraction.
An alert sounded from Dean Takeda’s phone, he immediately answered it and said, “yes. I’ll be right there.”
“Atsumu. Code red.” Tanaka whispered, his thumbs tucked underneath his suspenders. “Someone dropped the dime, called the coppers.”
“It was someone on the Greek task force from what Takeda was saying on the phone–claiming there’s booze,” said Kuroo.
“Plan B?” Atsumu asked.
“There’s no time!” Tanaka replied, his anxiety radiating off of him.
“There's always time for plan B,” said Atsumu, trying to remain calm.
“No, you really only have like 72 hours.” Terushima chimed in as he walked by, not understanding which plan B his brothers were talking about.
“Ukai, you stay with me. The rest of you fellas spread out.” Dean Takeda said to the security guard that stood at the front door.
Atsumu ran around to the front of the house to the campus security golf cart that was parked on the street, jumping into the driver's seat.
“Hey boys!” He sang at the crowd of campus security. “Care to join me for a drink?”
“Hey! What the hell are you doing??” Ukai walked past his co-workers and switched to a full out sprint when he saw the Kappa Tau president sitting in his driver's seat.
“Takin’ your cruiser out to the open road see if i can’t get her up to 15 miles an hour you want to join me? I'd love the company!!” Atsumu sang the last word before his foot slammed down on the pedal.
“Get out of my squad car!” Ukai shouted as he ran down the sidewalk and chased his hijacked golf cart down the street.
“This thing’s kinda peppy! You got turbo on this thing?” Atsumu shouted at the officer running behind him.
“Ukai! Let him go! We always know where to find him!” Dean Takeda yelled from the front porch.
Unfortunately Atsumu’s quick distraction wasn’t enough. Campus security found the liquor at the party. Dean Takeda broke up the crowd, sifting through the attendees and making sure no Kappa Tau escaped. The night ended with the KT’s sitting on the floor and window seat in their living room, waiting for their punishment from the administration.
Atsumu walked out of the admin building bright and early, his twenties themed suspenders hanging loosely off of his hips.
“Hey Omi-omi! Are you here to give the dean his morning foot massage?”
“You know, I don't think I've ever seen you in the sunlight before noon.” Sakusa took in the state of his rival- his disheveled hair, tired eyes, and the thin layer of grime that seemed to cover him.
“Did you get in trouble with the law again?” Sakusa nodded to the paper in Atsumu’s hand.
“100 hours of community service.” He held the paper close to his chest as if it was a badge of honor. “Not to mention the other citation the house received along with the suspension of our social calendar for the next month and that adds up to us losing ten blue ribbon points.” Atsumu smiled. “Oh and by the way, you’re a total douchebag.”
“Why is that?” Sakusa feigned ignorance.
“Because you ratted out our party. I knew it was someone on the Greek task force and you’re the only one I know with a personal vendetta. Still, pretty low. Even for you.”
“Well, maybe now you’ll think twice before stealing our tables.” Kiyoomi smiled, his eyes narrowing. Atsumu scoffed, now exasperated.
“Are you serious, Princess Omi? We always go to Shimada’s on bid night. Always.” Atsumu said.
“Do you also always ignore signs that say ‘Private Party’?”
“Listen Omi– what you Omega Chi’s like to do with your privates are none of my business.”
Sakusa rolled his eyes as dramatically as he could. “It would’ve been just as easy for you to get drunk anywhere else. You chose to crash our party because you knew it would piss me off.”
“Next time, why don’t you just find a more pretentious watering hole. One with a bouncer even. And big enough for you and your ego!”
“Y’know what- it doesn’t matter. Just watch your back.”
“Are you threatening me, Miya?” Kiyoomi scoffed.
“No, I'm just simply letting you know there will be retribution.”
“Bring it.”