thenearshore | Laundry Day Blues [closed]

Who: Tsuzuki Asato, Yamanbagiri Kunihiro
Where: Temple of Konohanasakuya-hime
When: September 4th
What: Yamanbagiri has been wearing an increasingly dirty and beat-up sheet as a cloak since his arrival. It's starting to look really bad. Tsuzuki's decided to curry favor with his new junior shinki by swiping the sheet while he sleeps and washing it so it'll be nice and clean when he gets up. This is not going to end how he hopes it will....
Warnings: Probably just some shouting! Will update as necessary.

[It's a nice day -- okay, it's a little brisk, and the wind's kicking up dust from the courtyard, but the sky is blue. The sky's usually blue in the Heavens, which Tsuzuki figures is due to all of the various deities of wind and weather living there, who don't like being rained on, mostly.

It makes for a perfect laundry day, and besides the piles of brightly colored Hawaiian shirts and cargo shorts that he's accumulated (and a few more work-appropriate pairs of slacks for the bar), Tsuzuki's got one extra-special item in the laundry pile. It's either a sheet or a cloak, or a sheet used as a cloak, and it really, really needs the double heap of detergent that he's applying to it before he begins to earnestly scrub it across his old-fashioned washboard. Wherever he learned how to do this, he reflects, it's seriously useful.

The laundry lines hung between two facing porches run over his head, silently pointing out where he is for anyone who's somehow missed his cheerful humming.

Yeah, Yamanbagiri's going to appreciate this! He's a cute guy; if he insists in wrapping himself up in a sheet-cloak, at least he can have a clean one that'll set off his blue eyes. He'll look way better that way.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[When Yamanbagiri woke up, he's half-awake as he get himself ready for the day. Getting out from his futon, dressing up. Each article of clothing automatically get worn with practiced ease. Until finally, he reached out for his cloak.

And feel nothing.]

Mm?

[Blinking, he glanced over and see... also nothing. Everything is in their place since last night. Except that his cloak is missing. He blinked again, getting more awake before it sank in. Yamanbagiri starts searching through his room, but he haven't found it.

Where did it go? Did someone take it?

He quickly leave his room, searching for someone to ask. Until he find Tsuzuki doing the laundry. Okay, that's a normal looking sight, even with all of those colourful looking shirts. And Tsuzuki's washing something on a washboard.

Tsuzuki would soon hear the sounds of fast footsteps coming over.]

Tsu... Tsuzuki!

[Once he's close enough, Yamanbagiri can properly see his fellow shinki is washing. His eyes widen, and he feels something building up fast in his chest.]

Is that my...?

[Is that his cloak?]

Oh, hey, good morning! I was hoping to get this washed before you woke up -- it was starting to look kind of grimy.

[This isn't a problem, right?

... Right?

Somehow, Tsuzuki thinks, Yamanbagiri's looking a little more upset than he was expecting.]

You...

[His chest feels heavy, until he raise his voice, sounding as upset as he looks.]

Who said you can take it?! It's fine the way it was!

[Tsuzuki's eyes go wide with shock at the outburst: Yamanbagiri looks seriously upset. And he's shouting! He doesn't shout that much, and it just doesn't make sense. Tsuzuki didn't do anything wrong. He's helping, dammit.

This is probably the part of the conversation where he should apologize. But he didn't do anything wrong, he's sure (all right, maybe he should have asked first) and defensiveness puts his shoulders up and a scowl on his face as he sits back, soaked sheet in hand.]

It was dirty! You can't just wear the same thing all the time without washing it!

[This favor isn't turning out at all the way Tsuzuki'd imagined.]

[Logically, Yamanbagiri can see that Tsuzuki is being helpful. He just forgot to ask first. That did little to calm himself down, especially in this heat. He clench his hands into fists, scowling right back at Tsuzuki.]

So what! It's mine and I can wear it as much as I like, dirty or not!

[A dirty cloak. That feels important to him, which is probably why he feel so... riled up? And now it's wet, probably soapy and still in Tsuzuki's hands.]

Sure, whatever. We have extra sheets here! Seriously, you can wear another one till this one's dry.

[It is still a little soapy. Tsuzuki plunges it determinedly back into the washbasin, swirling it through the warm water until the last suds have given up clinging to the fabric, and pulls it out, wringing a stream of grayish water out.]

It's not like it's going to take that long.

[A dirty cloak. People are going to think Sakura doesn't take proper care of him, or that he's weird, or a vagabond, or something: as much as Tsuzuki thinks they'd be jerks for making assumptions like that, he flinches in equal measure from the idea of just letting people make assumptions about Sakura and about their temple.]

Fine! I'll use one of those for now!

[A sheet. He'd need to it to wear it comfortably. The idea does feel weird to him, using one of their extra sheets for himself. Yamanbagiri's eyes are on his cloak being washed, and then... and then
get wring!

Which is, okay, normal. But someone else is doing it instead of him!]

I don't care if it doesn't! Just don't take it from me ever again!

[In his anger, he almost didn't realise Tsuzuki is seeing his exposed face right now...]

I didn't take it! [Okay, technically, he did. But he didn't steal it: he's just a couple rooms away from where Yamanbagiri'd gone to sleep, and he's washing it, and he was going to give it back, anyway! Tsuzuki bristles again, re-rinsing and re-wringing the water from the fabric before he gets to his feet.]

But fine, if you want to wear a dirty cloak that's up to you.

[He casts Yamanabagiri a defensive glance over his shoulder. He doesn't even know why the guy's so obsessed with his robe; he's pretty cute under that hood. His hair doesn't even look bad.]

You know you look fine without it, though, right?

Yes, you did!

[Because Tsuzuki technically did, and he's upset enough to hone in on that point.

His face reddens at Tsuzuki's words. Not the dirty cloak part, but rather... He raise a hand to his face, as if trying to cover it from sight.

Being seen like this, he looked "fine" without the cloak, it all bugs him.]

S-So what? So what if I look fine without it? My looks have nothing to do with this!

I'm just saying, you don't need to hide behind a hood all the time, you know?

[Man, now Yamanbagiri looks like he's actually trying to hide. Tsuzuki swallows, trying to hold back the sharp twist of guilt.]

-- I've got a coat if you want to borrow it, though? Till your cloak's dry?

I... I know, but I want to.

[His fingers curl up by reflex, except he realised (again) there's no hood for him to tug down. He feels so exposed right now, it's getting to him more and more.]

... Fine. I'll borrow the coat for now.

[Tsuzuki makes a face, feeling, if possible, even more awkward.]

... Fine.

[So he's just going to... run off and get that, then. It's fine. It'll be just fine.]

[It's definitely fine. And yet, he doesn't feel good about all of this.

Yamanbagiri stay where he's standing, staring at the pile of washing Tsuzuki was working on. Tsuzuki's doing something to help out around the temple.

... What can he do?]

Laundry Day Blues [closed]

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