Day Twenty-nine: Doing chores around the house

Since they moved in together, Taylor and Saguru had a schedule. Every day after meals they would do the dishes together; every two weeks they would do their laundry (or sooner, if need be, but that wasn't often) and clean the dogs' blankets; and at the end of the month they would do a mass clean of the whole house.

It's a schedule that worked for them, since Taylor could now wait to do stuff that she didn't want to do- like laundry- and still have the house be clean, and Saguru would get the schedule that he loves so much. The only problem was on the mass cleaning days, when Taylor's procrastination want was at its peak

"Do we have to?" Taylor moaned, lying face down on the couch. Wilson was lying by her feet while Duke stood next to her, resting his head on the small of her back and wagging his tail. He probably wanted to go outside and was bothering Taylor about it. Saguru reached down to scratch Duke's ears. "Why can't we just skip it this time and lie around and do nothing?"

"If we do that then we'll skip out on our other chores and keep putting it off until the house is a mess." He told her, furrowing his brow as he looked down at her lazy form. "And we don't want a dirty house, do we?"

Her voice was muffled when she stuffed her face into the cushion, still in denial about cleaning. "No."

"Then get up!" He nudged her side before letting Duke outside, staring at the yard and taking note of the darkening sky. "Do you want to start inside or out this time?" He was thinking that they should start outside because of the rain. Taylor didn't agree with him.

"Inside- if we hold off on cleaning outside then I can have something to look forward to. Plus, it shouldn't rain until later tonight." Taylor loved cleaning outside, simply because it was easier for her to get distracted with Duke running around wanting to play with her. This could either be a good or a bad thing, depending on who you ask.

"Alright, then what room do you want to start with?" He asked. "I'm going to work on the kitchen."

"The dining room." Saguru nodded but didn't move. Taylor lifted her head when she didn't hear his footsteps. "What?" He raised his eyebrows, clearly calling her out on her innocent look. "Do you want me to get up?"

"Preferably, yes." He said. "That way I don't have to worry about you procrastinating on your job." Taylor groaned and rolled off of the couch and onto her knees. She paused and ran her fingers over the hardwood before making a face. "What is it?"

"Can I change my answer to the living room? I don't like this floor's condition." Saguru nodded before walking off to do his job, where would work for exactly half an hour before she would call out to him (it was almost like she was watching the clock instead of working).

"This is taking forever!"

"It wouldn't take as long if you picked up after yourself." He called back. He could hear Taylor grumble in the other room and smiled to himself as he wiped off the counters. Then he moved to clean the dining room table. "Do you have the broom?"

"Probably." He would wait for more of an answer before sighing.

"Would you look around for it, please?" She would look around before finding it leaning against the wall (where she put it when she first started cleaning) and will call out three seconds later before running into the dining room. It happened each and every time, and this time was no different.

"Found it!" Saguru nodded to himself and reached out his hand just as Taylor pressed the cool, round surface into it. "Here ya go."

"Thank you. How's the living room going?"

"It's almost done; I just have to wipe the dust off the shelves."

"The shelves aren't that dirty, so it shouldn't take too long."

"I know that, but if I'm cleaning then everythinghas to be sparkling." She ran back out. "I'll get the bathroom done after this!"

"Maybe you could clean your office instead."

Footsteps paused before racing back into the dining room. "That's my space. I don't have to clean it."

"I know you don't have to. I'm just saying that it would look better if it was."

"I wouldn't know where everything would go." She protested.

"In an organized arrangement, where you can easily find the items you need while having the added bonus of it looking good." He inspected the table before nodding and moving towards the decorations on the walls.

Taylor snorted as she moved to help him with the decorations. "Like your office? I'll have you know that my stuff is organized."

"Is that so?"

"Yes- it's in an organized mess."

"That's an oxymoron." He told her. "Oh, that reminds me. Do you want another bookcase in your office? I'm getting another one and was wondering if you wanted one as well."

"I'd like one, yes." Taylor responded. "But don't expect me to be any more organized afterwards."

"I wouldn't expect you to." Saguru sighed, looking down at her.

She grinned and hung up the one decoration she cleaned before turning to walk out of the room. "Once you're done with that, will you help me clean the bathroom? I lied when I said I wanted to clean it."

He knew that already, but that didn't stop him from giving the same answer he always did. Repetition was always welcome in his life, but if Taylor noticed then she would try and change it. "Yeah, go ahead and get the stuff out to clean it- and don't forget to do the shelves in the living room.

He would later come and find out that the bathroom was already cleaned and she would have moved on to another bathroom, claiming that they were much faster to clean than she previously thought. He would agree and would let her finish with the bathrooms (he would tidy his office a little bit because, unlike Taylor, he liked working in a clean space) before they would work on the entrance hallway together. Then they would move upstairs to work on their room.

It wouldn't take them long at all to clean the space, mostly because Saguru made sure it was mostly tidy already. But when a clasp of thunder sounded outside, making them both jump in surprise, Taylor cheered and fell back on their freshly made bed, almost making a point of messing up the fresh sheets as she squirmed around on it.

"Come lay down with me, Saguru." She offered a hand out to him after she got comfy.

He stared at her for a moment with a sneaking suspicion that she knew that this was going to happen, and chose to clean inside first so they won't have to do the outside, before sighing and moving to lie down next to her. She let out a pleased sound and curled up next to him. Saguru closed his eyes and listened to the rain, thinking that maybe, just maybe, next month they could switch up the schedule and end the repetition.

Then Taylor shot up, exclaiming, "Duke!"

They left Duke outside while it was raining. He was fine with it, of course, but they weren't when he dragged in a bunch of mud with him as well.

"I have to re-clean the living room!" Taylor moaned, lying face down on the couch again. "And we have to wash Duke! Why did it have to start raining?"

And then Saguru changed his mind about getting rid of the repetition. They were definitely keeping it for next month.