Four Heart, One Roof

Three: The Chore Wheel

[Scene: A week has passed. It's early evening in the apartment. The four roommates are gathered in the living room, eyeing the chore wheel on the wall.]

Marcus: (clapping his hands) Alright, gentlemen. It's time to address the elephant in the room.

Jace: (looking around dramatically) Elephant? Where? Did you guys get a pet without telling me?

Leo: (sighing) It's a figure of speech, Jace. Marcus is referring to our living situation.

Aiden: (nervously) Is something wrong?
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Marcus: Not wrong, per se. But if we're going to make this work long-term, we need some ground rules. Starting with this. (gestures to the chore wheel)

Jace: (groaning) Do we have to? Can't we just live in happy, messy harmony?

Leo: (firmly) Absolutely not. A clean living space is essential for mental and physical health.

Marcus: Exactly. So, let's divide up the chores fairly.

[They gather around the chore wheel]

Marcus: I've listed all the main chores. We'll spin the wheel to assign them randomly. Fair?

[The others nod in agreement]

Aiden: (quietly) What if we're really bad at a particular chore?

Jace: (throwing an arm around Aiden) Then we suffer together, my artsy friend!

Marcus: (chuckling) Or we can trade. Within reason. Ready?

[Marcus spins the wheel]

Marcus: And for bathroom cleaning duty, we have... Jace!

Jace: (dramatically falling to his knees) Nooooo! My rock star hands can't touch toilet cleaner!

Leo: (rolling his eyes) I'm sure your "rock star hands" will survive.

[The wheel spins again]

Marcus: Kitchen duty goes to... Leo!

Leo: (nodding) Acceptable. I prefer to ensure my cooking space is immaculate anyway.

Aiden: (hesitantly) What about the living room?

[Marcus spins again]

Marcus: Living room is... me! I can handle that.

Jace: (grinning) Looks like you're on laundry duty, Aiden!

Aiden: (eyes widening) Oh no... I once turned all my white clothes pink...

Marcus: (patting Aiden's shoulder) Don't worry, we'll give you a crash course in laundry 101.

[They continue assigning chores]

Leo: Now, let's discuss frequency. I propose we rotate weekly.

Jace: (whining) Weekly? Can't we make it monthly? Or yearly?

Marcus: (laughing) Nice try, Jace. Weekly sounds good to me.

Aiden: (nodding) I can manage that.

Jace: (sighing dramatically) Fine, fine. The things I do for domestic bliss.

[Later that evening, they're all tackling their assigned chores]

[In the bathroom]

Jace: (talking to himself while scrubbing) ♪ Scrub-a-dub-dub, Jace is a schlub... ♪

Leo: (passing by) You missed a spot.

Jace: (flicking bubbles at Leo) Perfection takes time, doc!

[In the kitchen]

Leo: (meticulously organizing) Alphabetical order by brand name should suffice...

Marcus: (watching in awe) You know we're going to mess that up in like, a day, right?

Leo: (determinedly) Then I shall reorganize. Repeatedly.

[In the living room]

Marcus: (dusting) Hey Aiden, can you help me move this couch?

Aiden: (looking up from folding laundry) Sure, just a sec.

[They move the couch, revealing a small pile of guitar picks and candy wrappers]

Marcus: (sighing) JACE!

Jace: (calling from the bathroom) My bad! Souvenirs from my composing sessions!

[As the evening progresses, tensions start to rise]

Leo: (exasperated) Jace, you can't just shove everything under your bed!

Jace: (defensively) It's called storage optimization!

Aiden: (panicking) Guys, I think I shrunk Marcus's favorite shirt...

Marcus: (from the other room) You WHAT?

[They all converge in the living room, looking frazzled]

Marcus: (taking a deep breath) Okay, maybe we need to rethink this.

Leo: (snippily) I knew this wouldn't work. We're too different.

Jace: (flopping onto the couch) Maybe we should just hire a cleaning service.

Aiden: (quietly) Or maybe... we could teach each other?

[They all turn to look at Aiden]

Aiden: (gaining confidence) I mean, we all have different strengths. We could help each other out.

Marcus: (thoughtfully) That's not a bad idea. Leo, you're great at organizing. You could show us your system.

Leo: (surprised) I... I suppose I could.

Jace: And I can teach you all how to speed-clean. I've got it down to an art form from last-minute tidying before gigs.

Marcus: Great! And I can share some stain-removal tricks I've picked up.

Aiden: (smiling) I could decorate a bit? Make chores feel less like... chores?

[The mood in the room lightens]

Jace: (grinning) Look at us, all domestic and stuff. Who would've thought?

Marcus: (laughing) Certainly not the housing office.

[They spend the rest of the evening sharing cleaning tips and tricks, the apartment gradually becoming tidier]

Leo: (surveying the clean apartment) I must admit, this is much better than I expected.

Jace: (throwing himself onto the clean couch) We make a pretty good team, huh?

Aiden: (yawning) A very tired team.

Marcus: (stretching) Movie night to celebrate our first successful chore day?

[They all agree, settling in for a movie]

Jace: (as the movie starts) Hey, whose turn is it to do dishes after our popcorn?

[They all groan, throwing pillows at Jace as the scene fades out]

[End of Chapter Three]