PING!
| BANK NOTICE: 1 million creds has been added to your account. |
Lee Seng's eyes fluttered open as he reached for his phone. He clawed on it, trying to smack the alarm button. He rubbed his eyes and noticed the message.
'Money?' Lee Seng thought. 'From what…? Ah, my head…!' Lee Seng clutched his head. 'I shouldn't have given in and drank with Jordan and Ezra… Ugh, everything hurts.' Lee Seng fell back into his pillow, half-smothering himself in the process. He rolled, bumping into something warm. 'What's this?'
Lee Seng turned and accidentally pressed himself into Ritsuka. Ritsuka pulled Lee Seng in closer, squeezing him in his chest.
"Ah!" Lee Seng pushed Ritsuka. Ritsuka flew off the bed, landing on the ground with a loud thud.
"Ah!" Ritsuka groaned. He clutched his head as he turned to look at Lee Seng. "Why'd you do that for?"
"W-w-why were you in my bed?" Lee Seng asked. He pointed over to the other twin size bed behind him. "Y-your bed's right there! Why were you sleeping with me?" Memories of last night flooded back. Lee Seng could see Ritsuka pulling off clothes and moving into bed with him. "Ah, they took us out around the city and we ended up drinking alcohol… You climbed into bed with me and I didn't care? Why didn't I care?"
"Why'd you launch me off? You're already crazy strong! You could've just slapped me awake!" Ritsuka shouted. He stood up and pouted in his spot before moving over to Lee Seng and slipping back into the sheets.
"Why're you coming back?" Lee Seng pressed his hand against Ritsuka.
"It's warm here." Ritsuka answered. "If I go to my bed, it'll be cold! Move over." Lee Seng shifted over and sighed.
"Doesn't your head hurt?" Lee Seng asked.
"Kinda." Ritsuka replied. Lee Seng rubbed his temples. He hadn't felt anything this agonizing. It felt like his head was split open. "You did drink a lot with the others. Keng was trying to keep you from doing anything stupid. I had to help at some point, too."
"Ah…" Lee Seng nodded. He rested his head on his arm as he lifted his phone up and clicked on the notification. "Oh, we got paid for the Cerberus… A million each."
"Did we get paid for yesterday's job…?"
"No. I don't think we'll get that 'til later." Lee Seng scrolled out of the app and noticed he had a text. "Who's this?" He showed Ritsuka the unknown number.
"That's Ezra's number. You looked like shit after you bawled your eyes out last night."
"I cried…? About what?"
"A lot of things." Ritsuka shifted, resting the back side of his head on the pillow. He stared at the ceiling. "Home. You kept saying you wanted to go home and see your mom and dad. You missed them a lot. You wanted to live your old life, again, but you also said you knew that wasn't going to happen."
Lee Seng simply nodded and set his phone next to his pillow. He pulled the blankets up over his shirtless body and embraced the warmth between him and Ritsuka.
"Did I do anything else?" Lee Seng asked.
"Nah." Ritsuka shook his head. He closed his eyes and took a breath. Ritsuka smacked his lips and settled into rest. A knock at their door came and both young men groaned. "What now?"
"Lee! Ritsuka! Are you up yet?" Keng asked. Keng knocked on the door three more times before opening the door. "Lee, are you ok— Holy crap." Keng's mouth and eyes grew wide as he took in the scene. Lee Seng and Ritsuka were in the middle of sitting up. The blanket fell to their laps, revealing the two shirtless men staring at Keng. Keng's face grew red, averting his eyes as he froze in place.
"Why do you always freeze in awkward situations?" Ritsuka asked, standing up. He only wore black boxers with stars on it. Ritsuka looked over to Lee Seng and noticed Lee Seng was doing the same thing. Ritsuka clicked his tongue and shook his head. "You both do it. No wonder why. I bet you cry when you're drunk too then. You're literally him."
"I—" Keng shook himself off of it. "I just wanted to know if you guys wanted to eat. Manny brought some hangover soup and some hangover meds to take. Y'all should take some."
"I feel fine, but I could use some food." Ritsuka yawned. "Lemme change." Ritsuka wandered off to the closet leaving Keng to stare at Lee Seng.
"So…" Keng moved in, closing the door behind him. He sat at the end of the bed, eyeing Lee Seng. "What's all that about?"
"Ritsuka's a hugger." Lee Seng motioned. "He peeled all of his clothes off, too. It's a miracle he didn't wake up naked." Keng's eyes went to Lee Seng's crotch.
"I'm pretty sure you're naked."
"It would've been more odd with two dudes naked." Lee Seng brushed it off. He stood up, dropping the blanket and moved for the closet.
"God, I forgot you were naked." Ritsuka casually moved past Lee Seng.
"Let's just be glad we both weren't nude." Lee Seng sighed. He pulled new clothes on and stepped out to a clean room. Ritsuka had picked up last night's clothes and thrown their clothes into their baskets and fixed his bed. Lee Seng shuffled out into the living room and kitchen area. Food was set up on the counter and the group was already eating on the couch while the TV blared.
"Your food's over there!" Manny pointed at the last container on the counter. Lee Seng grabbed the soup container and held it up to his eyes. Manny had gotten them a noodle hangover soup. He grabbed a pair of chopsticks and napkins before scanning the extra goodies.
Lee Seng plucked some extra goodies and wandered over to the couch. Lee Seng scooted into his seat next to Keng. The TV was playing some odd survival show. A man was bent over to the side while the cameraman shot at him. He was dirty, pale and… puking.
"What happened to him?" Lee Seng asked.
"He ate some odd hanging fruit and got sick." Liz replied. "Dude's gonna have to go home after that. Thank god the others were smart enough to not take it. This guy's not gonna have a fun time." The camera shipped away, abruptly switching to another group.
"Oh, not them." Olivia shook her head. "They're all the drama." A woman pulled her water bottle out and noticed something floating inside of it. "She finally noticed." The woman studied it and realized what was floating in her drink.
"Who did this?!?" The woman shouted. The camera became crazy as they tried to follow the fast woman. She lifted the drink up to a guy's face and demanded an answer. The guy brushed it off, turning away.
"Wrong move, dude." Evan shook his head. The woman opened the drink and splashed it on the man's back. The man freaked out, yelling at the woman for being so inconsiderate.
"Don't you know what you've just done?!?" The man shouted. "You're gonna get me sick now!"
"Oh, so now you know?" The woman shouted.
Lee Seng's phone started to ring from the other room. Lee Seng sighed and stood up, putting his open noodle on the kitchen table before rushing into his room. Lee Seng grabbed his phone and noticed the Guild on it.
"Hello?" Lee Seng spoke, picking up the phone.
"Hello, Mr. Zhang. I'm glad your phones are working. This is Helena Farrow. I was calling to see if you thought about my proposal. We would love to get some shots of your team and you and your twin brother if you didn't mind."
"Oh, yeah. Uh, what time were you thinking? We don't have much going on today… since it's our rest day." Lee Seng answered.
"If you're free sometime in the afternoon, let's get together and get your group shots. If you and your brother don't mind some promotional shots afterward, we'd compensate accordingly."
"Why do you want group photos? I thought you just wanted me and my brother?"
"Yes, I still want photos of you and your brother, if you'd be willing to. As for group photos, usually it's because your team has gained enough traction that would result in advertisement pictures to use for Guild purposes. Since you guys are new A-ranks, it would help for you guys to gain some traction and help pull in potential adventurers with skills and experience like you two."
"Let me… talk to the others and I'll get back to you. Is this a good number to text you on?" Lee Seng asked.
"Let me give you my work cell number." Helena gave Lee Seng her information and the two said their goodbyes. Lee Seng stuffed his new phone into his pocket and walked back into the living room. He plucked his food off the table and took his spot on the couch.
"Who was that?" Manny asked.
"That PR woman, Helena Farrow. She wants to take team pictures. She also wants photos of Keng and I." Lee Seng told them. "I told her I would ask you guys."
"Photos for the group? Why?" Olivia asked. "Do all the groups do this?"
"Yeah, when they gain enough traction, apparently." Lee Seng answered.
"I don't think it's a good idea." Ritsuka threw in his two cents. "Our faces will be everywhere. Someone's bound to know one of us. You and Keng have it easy because you can shift your entire image in no time. The rest of us can't."
"I agree. I think we should try to keep on the down-low for as long as possible. Do work when necessary, but remember why we even came to this city in the first place." Manny added.
"We came to get answers for what's happening in Capitol City." Lee SEng replied.
"Exactly." Manny turned and looked at Lee Seng. "Let's do just that. Decline the photos. Let's not risk it."
"Well," Lee Seng sighed. "If we aren't doing that, I guess I should get started on figuring out what Capitol City is like… I wonder if there's anyone with that information…"
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