［ house of cards. ］

[ murder on his words ]

[contains mild depictions of violence]

❧

"Morning. Up early, huh?"

"Could say the same to you."

This was the brief conversation between a bright-eyed Yuusei (although that doesn't change the fact that his eyes are still half-open) and a Naoyuki just out of bed.

The time was seven-thirty in the morning, where normal people would usually wake up and go to work. However, the two had woken up early at the beginning of the day with different objectives in mind.

"Pretty amazing for you to wake up at seven-thirty in the morning after seeing you getting mad drunk just yesterday night." Yuusei said to the elder, who did some morning stretches. They were both walking side by side along the hallway that would lead to their other residents' rooms, which were all closed, signifying they were all still fast asleep.

"Yeah, could say so myself." The elder mumbled as he popped a few joints. "Didn't you get wasted too?" he retorted.

"I only had two and a half bottles. You had four, I suppose." Yuusei said as he fished his cigarette packet out of his pocket and took out a cigarette, lighting it for a morning smoke.

"Four and waking up at seven a.m?" Naoyuki scoffed. "I'm probably still drunk then. Are you really Yuusei...?"

"I am Yuusei. But I think you're probably still drunk." The younger said as he blew a puff of smoke and watched it dissipate as he walked past it.

"Hm? What, aren't you Yuusei?"

"That's not the point."

"Then what is?"

"You never call me by my real name."

"Oh."

The two reached the living room. Naoyuki expected to see a bottle of wine or two still open so that he can steal a drink, but his smile faltered the moment he saw the empty coffee table and roundtable near the window, tidy and clean. It even looked a bit shiny under the morning sun that had just peeked out of the clustered clouds. The living room floor that was previously littered with bottles, beer cans and packets of chips is now literally spotless. At a corner of the living room, near the entrance, laid a big black garbage bag that looked stuffed to the brim.

Yuusei stared at the garbage bag. "Well, this amount of trash always appears whenever we drink. I'm honestly not surprised anymore."

"Probably Naru who cleaned up after us." The elder said as he inspected every nook and cranny in hopes of finding a bottle, but to no avail. He sighed deeply. "After all, he ain't called a clean freak for nothing."

He straightened his back and proceeded to walk to the living room entrance, where the younger was standing.

"Did you check the fridge?" Naoyuki asked.

"Yeah. We're still stocked. Washi's bought the groceries the day before yesterday, remember?" Yuusei said while taking out his camera and checking its current state.

"Oh, right." The elder mumbled. "Gosh, I needta wake the fuck up."

"You could say that again." The other said with a chuckle.

"Wanna buy stuff?" Naoyuki asked, his hand reaching for the doorknob.

"Could do. I'm kind of starving." Yuusei quipped as he tilted his head sideways, positioning with his camera.

A snap was heard.

"Did you just take a picture of me?"

"Just testing it out."