Leorio is (trying to be) domestic for once.
General Joy
by Maaya
It wasn't until Leorio woke up one day and realized that he'd been using that final pair of socks for at least five days now, that he decided to take the bull by the horns and do laundry. He'd been putting off for the few long weeks that he had been cramming schoolwork into his poor brain as preparation for his exams. Now, with that hell done and over with, he found that his apartment was smelling fusty from sweaty underwear and gravy stained pants.
The problem, he thought, might be that Leorio had somehow assumed that with Kurapica momentarily staying with him, his friend would've offered to take care of at least some of the household chores for the very much hard-working and stressed Leorio. Now he realized that it had been to expect too much.
Thinking about it, Leorio couldn't imagine the Kuruta doing laundry. It was as impossible as imagining the boy actually having dirty laundry.
"You've been spoiled," Leorio grumbled to his friend, aimlessly wandering around in the apartment to pick up dirty socks wherever he could find them and throwing them into the laundry basket. He tried to remember, where had that basket come from? Leorio couldn't recall ever having owned one before. "Life at the Nostrad's has rendered you useless."
Apparently, Kurapica had nicely filled the basket with his own laundry but hadn't moved a finger to take care of the actual washing.
"You don't exactly seem to be better off, Leorio." Kurapica watched Leorio's antics with one eyebrow raised in a perfectly amused arch. He was sitting on the kitchen table with an open--and ignored--book in his lap, probably having deemed that the best place to be if he wanted to avoid and not be in the way of Leorio's sudden cleaning urges.
Letting his eyes wander over the floor, Kurapica caught sight something white hanging from the handle of a drawer. "You missed one." He pointed with his foot. "How did it end up there?" he added curiously.
Leorio shrugged and picked it up. "I was tired last night."
"I see. That's why I found my toothbrush in your underwear drawer this morning."
"Seriously?" Leorio looked impressed. "No more post-exam parties for me." He stopped. "What were you doing with my underwear drawer, though?"
Kurapica snorted at Leorio's suspicious expression. "It wasn't by my free will, if you wonder. Visible toothpaste marks that led me there."
"…Told you I was tired."
"And drunk, probably," Kurapica added, putting the book aside and jumping off the table as Leorio straightened and deemed the floor clean. "Leorio, you owe me a new toothbrush."
"Just wash it." Leorio gave the floor one final look-over.
"It was wrapped in one of your dirty socks. It smelled."
"Fine." Leorio turned his back on Kurapica and grabbed the basket with both hands, using his elbow to press down the door handle. "A little help would be appreciated."
"You might want to bring the washing key," Kurapica replied, grabbing the almost annoyingly red plastic key from the chest of drawers before he stepped into his moccasins. "And a pair of shoes," he added, taking in his companion's stocking feet.
"Right."
Kurapica hit his nose against Leorio's shoulder blade as the man without warning began to back into the apartment, clumsily, arms still full with the basket. Leorio fumbled after his shoes for a while before his feet found them, stepping into them. Without bothering to stop to tie the shoelaces he walked out again.
Rubbing his aching nose, Kurapica shook his head as he followed. He closed and locked the door behind them, then hurried to see if Leorio had tripped over his shoelaces yet.
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end