"Ughhhh..."
The sound that crawled out of Liam's throat was somewhere between a dying animal and a broken garbage disposal.
His eyelids felt like they'd been glued shut with cement, and when he finally managed to pry them open, the room spun like he was on a fucking carousel.
He rolled over on the couch, his body moving with all the grace of a rusty robot, joints cracking and popping in protest.
Every movement felt like wading through thick mud. His head throbbed with a dull, persistent ache that pulsed in time with his heartbeat.
'Water. I need water,' he thought, but even thinking hurt.
Liam pushed himself up slowly, planting his feet on the cold floor. The room tilted slightly to the left, then righted itself. He stood, swaying for a moment like a tree in strong wind, before shuffling toward the window.
His hand reached for the curtain, fingers gripping the rough fabric.
He pulled.
Sunlight exploded into the room like a fucking nuclear blast, searing straight through his retinas and drilling directly into his brain. Liam actually stumbled backward, throwing his arm over his face.
"Jesus fucking Christ!" he hissed, squinting through his fingers.
"Why is the sun so goddamn aggressive? It's like someone pointed the Bat-Signal directly at my face and decided to interrogate me for war crimes."
He stood there for a moment, one hand still shielding his eyes, trying to adjust to the brightness that felt like it was actively trying to murder him.
'Is this what hangovers feel like?' Liam wondered, blinking rapidly. 'Because this is absolute trash. How do people do this regularly?'
He'd been drunk before, sure, but never like this. Never the full, morning-after, why-is-my-mouth-full-of-cotton-balls experience.
Luckily the system handled that shit for him, metabolizing alcohol faster than normal, keeping him functional even when he should've been passed out in a gutter somewhere.
But last night? Last night he'd pushed it.
"I can't believe I'm just forty percent drunk," Liam muttered, wiping his face with both hands and dragging them down slowly. His skin felt clammy, slightly greasy.
He looked down and saw the blanket scattered across the floor in a tangled heap, half under the coffee table, the other half bunched up near the couch leg and a pillow he gave to Kelvin to use last night was on the other side of the room, somehow.
'How the hell did that get over there?'
"Seems Kelvin already left," Liam said to the empty apartment, his voice hoarse and rough. "I'm pretty shocked he could still move after last night. Dude was completely gone."
He bent down, moving carefully so his head wouldn't explode, and started gathering the scattered blanket. As he folded it, muscle memory taking over, his mind began to wander.
Last night.
Last night had been... something.
Actually, scratch that. Last night had been one of the best nights of his life. Maybe the best night, if he was being honest. And considering he was kind of a loser before all this system stuff started, that was saying something. Maybe he had changed.
He picked up the pillow and tossed it back on the couch, then moved to grab his shirt from where it was draped over the armrest.
His thoughts drifted, as they always seemed to lately, to Tasha.
The park. The trees. The smell of pine and wet earth. Her on her knees. The way she'd looked up at him with those eyes, defiant even when she was submitting. The heat of her mouth. The memory made his morning wood even harder.
'The punishment was amazing... It was kind of nice being in charge of Tasha for once,' Liam thought, his movements slowing as he placed the shirt on the couch. 'Was that too far?'
He remembered the look on her face when they walked back to the party. Blank. Cold. She hadn't said a word to him, just walked past like he didn't exist. And then that whole thing with Kira, the contradicting answers about whether they were cool now.
"No."
"Yes."
'She wasn't happy,' Liam thought, frowning slightly. 'I definitely hurt her feelings. That last part, the way I grabbed her hair, the way she swallowed everything whole, that was so good. But why did I just do all that alone? I could have gone all the way, but I didn't. And I've got this broken system that can help me do that. Maybe I haven't changed as much as I thought.'
His foot caught on something hard.
"Damn! Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
Pain shot up from his toe, sharp and immediate, like he'd just kicked a brick wall. Liam grabbed his leg, hopping on one foot, his face scrunched up in agony.
'Serves me right,' he thought, hopping around like an idiot.
'Can't tell if it's the system punishing me or just the universe.'
The pain started to fade after a few seconds, reduced to a dull throb. Liam lowered his foot carefully, testing it. Still hurt, but bearable.
He actually laughed a little, shaking his head.
'Universe really does have a sense of humor.'
Liam straightened up, putting weight back on his foot. It was fine. He'd live.
"Come to think of it... something did change last night," he said aloud, talking to himself like he always did when he was alone.
"When Tasha's number hit a hundred before, I don't normally control her. She still had a choice."
He walked into the kitchen, still thinking, still processing.
"But last night..." He opened the fridge and grabbed a water bottle, twisting the cap off and drinking half of it in one long gulp. "Last night I made her do something she clearly didn't want to do at first."
The water was cold, refreshing, washing away some of the cotton-mouth feeling.
'Is that what unlocking a heart does?' Liam wondered. 'They can't say no anymore?'
He set the bottle down on the counter.
If that was true...
A slow smile crept across his face.
'That's actually insane,' he thought. 'If I can just unlock hearts and they'll do whatever I want...'
"Fuck," he muttered. "I'm definitely trying that again."
He shook his head, still smiling.
'No more virgin-ass hesitation,' he thought. 'If the system's giving me this kind of power, I'd be stupid not to go all out.'
The water was cold, refreshing, washing away some of the cotton-mouth feeling.
The thought sat heavy in his stomach, comfortable and welcoming.
His phone buzzed on the coffee table, vibrating loudly against the wood.
Liam walked over and picked it up, squinting at the bright screen.
Kelvin~ yo you up?
Liam~ yeah what's good. you were fucked up last night lmao
Kelvin~ bro I thought I was gonna die. everything was spinning. you drank way more and you're fine??
Liam~ lol you DROVE home this morning and I'm over here dying 😭
Kelvin~ barely made it bro. didn't wanna wake you tho
Liam~ appreciate it man
Kelvin~ we doing anything this weekend?
Liam~ nah I'm good. had my fun last night, now I gotta deal with real life shit
Kelvin~ okay 😏
Liam~ tf is that supposed to mean
Kelvin~ nothing lol have a good one
Liam smiled, shaking his head, and dropped his phone back on the table.
'That guy,' he thought.
He walked to the front door, unlocking it and stepping out into the hallway.
The mailbox was just outside, a small metal box mounted on the wall. He opened it and pulled out a small stack of envelopes, all of them looking official and boring.
Back inside, he closed the door and spread the mail across the kitchen counter.
Bills. And more bills.
Electric. Water. Internet. And—
His eyes landed on one envelope in particular, thicker than the others, with his landlord's return address printed in the corner.
'Oh no.'
Liam grabbed it and tore it open, pulling out the letter inside.
His eyes scanned the text quickly, and his stomach dropped.
Rent increase. Effective immediately. $4,550 per month.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me," Liam muttered, reading it again to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.
The rent had been $3,550. That was already pushing it with his nonexistent income. But $4,550? That was over one thousand dollars more.
'I don't even have the old rent,' Liam thought, staring at the number. 'Let alone an extra one thousand on top of it.'
He set the letter down and leaned against the counter, rubbing his temples.
The rent. The bills. His student loans. And even his mom's hospital bill. It was all piling up, a mountain of debt and responsibility that the old him would have had no way of climbing.
But now he had the system.
A wide, victorious grin crossed his lips.
'I actually have a way out of this shit,'
Liam straightened up, his mind shifting gears.
The system gave him money. A lot of money, actually. Every time he unlocked a heart, there was a cash reward. Enough to cover all of this and then some.
'I said I was going to take unlocking hearts seriously,' Liam thought. 'This is even more motivation. I unlock a few more hearts, I get the money, and I can pay off everything'
It made sense. Perfect sense.
Except...
'How do I explain where the money came from?'
That was the problem.
If he suddenly paid off thousands of dollars in debt, people would ask questions. His landlord would ask questions.
His mom had already asked, and he'd bullshitted something about selling a rare coin he'd found in his wallet. But that excuse wouldn't work forever.
'If I don't have a job, they'll think I'm doing something illegal,' Liam realized. 'Drug dealing. Scamming. Something. And then I'll get kicked out or worse.'
He needed a cover. A legitimate source of income that he could point to when people asked.
'I need a job.'
But how does a college student with no experience and barely any free time just... get a job? Most places wanted availability, commitment, references. Things Liam didn't really have.
Then it hit him.