Title: Washing Up

Characters: Gokudera x Yamamoto, slight Gokudera -Tsuna

Word Count: 1,660

Rating: PG

Summary: Gokudera tries to learn how to do dishes with Yamamoto as his teacher and finds the results disastrous for his mind.

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Gokudera wondered if one had to have some kind of Midas touch to wash dishes without breaking them. If you scrubbed too lightly it wouldn't clean but if you scrubbed too hard the plate would break. And despite Yamamoto's encouraging words, plastic plates were just as easy to break as the ceramic ones were.

The silver haired teen sent a glare Yamamoto's way as the taller teen was busy bringing ingredients out of the kitchen and to the counter in the main part of the sushi restaurant. Of course the big oaf didn't even notice Gokudera's gaze on him and kept moving along while he hummed a tuneless song. There was no way he was going to let the baseball freak win more favor with the Tenth because he just happened to be able to do household chores and Gokudera couldn't.

The Italian youth wondered how a dope like Yamamoto could be so good at washing dishes when it was such a delicate task even he couldn't master. There had to be some trick to it that the other boy didn't show him in the demonstration he gave him when Gokudera first began practicing on the plastic dishes. Not wanting to break anymore plates until he discovered the secret technique, as he was beginning to run out of plates to break, Gokudera stared menacingly at the pile of whole dishes as if warning them not to dare to break on him as well.

"You have to touch the dishes if you want to wash them," Yamamoto offered, when he returned to the kitchen after taking the last of the food out to his father. The comment only earned a glare in the taller boy's direction and a slight growl. Whether he didn't notice the animosity aimed in his direction or didn't care Yamamoto just gave his classmate a friendly smile as he walked over to the other boy while saying, "Here, let me try something to help you out."

Without waiting for Gokudera's response, Yamamoto lined himself up behind the shorter youth then placed his arms and hands over the Italian's. "Wha-what are you doing!" Gokudera exclaimed, shocked at the sudden lack of personal space.

"It's a teaching technique I saw on a TV show once," Yamamoto answered, talking softly into Gokudera's ear, "It worked really well in the show and it's really simple. All I'll do is guide you through all the steps like this so you're doing exactly what I'm doing."

The silver haired teen didn't even realize he was holding his breath until after Yamamoto stopped talking and it was his turn to speak. As he let his breath out he also became aware that his cheeks were feeling unusually warm so he didn't dare turn around in case really he was blushing like he thought he was. "It sounds stupid," is all he could grumble out after a seemingly endless moment of silence, which Gokudera tried to figure out why he hadn't pushed the other boy away yet.

Even though he couldn't see the other boy, Gokudera swore he could still feel the smile on the cheerful idiot's face as Yamamoto assured him, "Well it couldn't hurt to try as just telling you doesn't seem to work. It shouldn't take very long either, just for the first couple of dishes and then you can probably be able to go solo."

As much as he hated to admit it, the oaf had a point and it wasn't like there was anyone watching him make a fool out of himself. "Fine, whatever, "Gokudera finally said, trying not to think about how warm the taller teen's body felt against his own.

"Okay," the other boy chimed cheerfully, "let's get started then." Yamamoto entwined his fingers through Gokudera's as he moved the Italian boy's arms and hands with his own. Gokudera tried not to think about the blush now burning on his face and most likely on his ears and neck that the action caused and concentrated on picking up a plate and not dropping it as Yamamoto moved their hands back to the sink to dip the dish in the soapy water. "Alright now, we take the sponge and squeeze it gently in our hands as the other hand holds the plate so it doesn't slip away," Yamamoto explained softly breaking the silence, "It's really not that different than washing yourself when you clean off before soaking in the bath."

"Who washes themselves before taking a bath?" Gokudera wondered out loud to no one in particular. He's surprised when the other boy answers, "But if you don't wash beforehand then you dirty all the water up for everyone else who uses the bath after you."

"You share baths?"

"Everyone does. Well I guess unless they're rich like you, then you could probably afford to drain it every time, hunh?"

Gokudera can't help but feel embarrassed not to know this bit of information. If everyone in Japan bathed like that it meant the Tenth did as well and Gokudera would have looked like an idiot if he tried to correct the Tenth's bathing habits. Not that he would be around while the Tenth was bathing, or at least not on purpose but the occasion could always possible arise at some point in the future.

"If you'd like you could take a bath here to try it out," Yamamoto offered breaking the other teen's train of thought, "we could even help scrub each other's backs."

While Gokudera's earlier thoughts were derailed they weren't completely off track when Yamamoto made his offer and the picture that Gokudera swore he hadn't been really thinking about shifts to have himself and Yamamoto in a tub together. The thought overloaded his brain as it fails to figure out if it was something it wanted to store away for later or purge on the spot. The fact he couldn't figure that out disturbed the Italian youth, as the Japanese boy was his rival which should not be confused with his object of affection. Though the image of sharing a bath with said rival wouldn't go away as much as he willed his mind to just get rid of it. The fact that he could still feel the taller boy's body against his so well was not helping things either as he tried to steer his mind to other less questionable thoughts.

"You can just think about it as we continue with the lesson, ok?" Yamamoto calmly continued oblivious to the fact Gokudera's mind has begun to spiral completely in another direction, "Now you see, you don't need to force it so hard if you prepare it well enough. Just rub it with nice even strokes while you keep a firm grip on it."

The Italian boy just let out a weak squeak as he willed his mind not to go to the place it was careening towards since the taller teen began his instruction. How he kept himself from just pulling out a stick of dynamite and putting himself out of his misery was beyond him, except for a tiny voice that told him he likes the feel of Yamamoto's skin on his and didn't want to do anything that would mean breaking away from the taller boy's gentle grip. He deemed that voice traitorous and would deal with it later when he could think straight again.

Letting go of the sponge, Yamamoto lifted the plate and their arms up out of the water then crab walked them over to where the drying rack was. He picked up a dry towel and walked Gokudera through drying as well, though by then the silver haired youth found it much less troubling if he just didn't listen to what Yamamoto was saying and worked on repeating the steps on making his explosives over and over again in his head.

Finally the plate, miraculously still intact, was set on the drying rack and the taller teen broke the contact between them as he took a couple steps back. "There you see, one plate washed without even a chip. You think you got it, Gokudera?"

He ignored the mental traitor in his head that was disappointed at the break of contact so he can find his voice again to answer, "Um, sure. I guess I mastered that and won't have to practice washing dishes anymore."

Gokudera took a chance to glance over at Yamamoto finally and couldn't help but be reminded of a puppy at the confused look on his classmate's face that made the oaf kinda look cute. He then began to wonder if Yamamoto's stupid rubbed off of him since there was no way he would ever think the baseball freak could be cute. Even if the look he had on his face now was just begging for someone to pet him or something.

"Are you sure? You should at least try it out by yourself once."

"Nope, completely sure. You've made me an expert dishwasher now."

The usual dopey smile returned to Yamamoto's face and so does Gokudera's mind to a more comfortable zone that did not have conflicting thoughts running through his head. That is until the idiot plunged his thoughts back where he didn't want them to be again by asking, "So do you want to stay for dinner so you can try out a Japanese style bath afterwards?"

Gokudera's face turned bright red and when he couldn't find his voice to speak he just violently shook his head. Not wanting to suffer this embarrassment anymore he dashed off before Yamamoto can say anything else.

It may be rude to leave without a good-bye, especially since the other boy had agreed to help him out, but the traitorous part of his mind couldn't be trusted. He would just have to apologize in the morning when he was back to being himself again and could put all thoughts of baths and Yamamoto out of his head.