ficlet; 004: laundry
pairing: aizawa kosaku/shiraishi megumi
word count: 906 words
note: prompt from Sakura: laundry. Also borrowed a-flowing heat's scrubs and laundry plot bunny. More notes at the end.

Aizawa came out of the bathroom, towelling his hair dry. He dropped his towel into the hamper of dirty laundry, and then he paused, staring at the hamper. It was full, nearly overflowing. Both he and his wife had been extremely busy for the past week, pulling countless shifts at Emergency, thanks to Fujikawa taking leave for a vacation with Saejima, before it became too unsafe for the pregnant Saejima to fly. As such, laundry wasn't something they thought of when they had a spare moment for themselves, as there were much better activities to occupy themselves with.

He pursed his lips a little, knowing that there was another collection of dirty clothing in the laundry room; their scrubs, which according to Shiraishi's rules, was a separate batch of laundry. Coming to a decision, Aizawa picked up the hamper of clothing, and headed towards the laundry room.

It will be a nice surprise for Megumi when she comes home, he thought. He ignored the little voice in his head that told him that he did not exactly know how to operate the washing machine. As a bachelor, Aizawa had always been sending his laundry to the cleaners, and ever since he got married, his wife was the one taking care of the laundry. Hence, he never did the laundry duty for the household in their two months of marriage, so he supposed that it was about time he did.

He surveyed the two piles of laundry on the floor, unsure of where to start, and being unsure was a kind of a foreign feeling for him. He knew that he should sort the laundry, perhaps. The scrubs did not need to be sorted, he thought, so maybe he should start with the scrubs, and sort the rest while the machine was running. Satisfied with his line of thought, Aizawa pulled open the door of the washing machine, and started piling their scrubs in. Once that was all in, he studied the settings.

Normal. Delicate. Cotton. Permanent Press. Wrinkle Control. Heavy Duty. Bulky. Hand Wash. Rapid. Rinse and Spin.

He frowned. Well, scrubs should be 'normal', he supposed. Or should it be 'wrinkle control'? Shiraishi never ironed their scrubs, did she? So it should be 'wrinkle control'. Convinced with his line of logic, he selected the cycle, and the options for the temperature of the water flashed at him next. He paused, and then he chose 'hot'. And then it was the settings for 'rinse and spin', and he had absolutely no clue, so he just selected a random option. Carefully, he pressed the 'start' button, and the washing machine started whirring away.

Aizawa was feeling quite pleased with himself, until he realised approximately five minutes later that he did not put any detergent or fabric softener into the washing machine.

"I'm home!" Shiraishi called out, a smile on her face as she anticipated seeing her husband. It was extremely busy at the hospital today, so she was looking forward to a quiet night in with Aizawa.

"Ah, welcome home." His voice floated out from within the laundry room. She placed her bag on the couch, and wandered into the laundry room, to be greeted by the sight Aizawa standing in front of the washing machine with his arms crossed, looking at it with an almost murderous expression.

"Kōsaku…? What are you doing?" She asked slowly.

"I'm doing our laundry," he said evenly.

"But why are you glaring at the washing machine?"

"Because it wouldn't start," he jabbed at the selection panel, looking irritated.

Shiraishi peered at the machine. Several lights at certain settings were blinking red. "What did you do before this?"

He frowned, trying to recall. "I accidentally pushed the wrong selection, and I couldn't reselect, so I unplugged the machine and…" he stopped talking at his wife's incredulous expression. "…was I not supposed to do that?"

"I think you jammed the machine," she said, trying not to laugh as a scowl came over his face. "That's all right, I'll call the repairman.." she broke off as loud beeping interrupted her. Aizawa moved towards the dryer, and pulled its door open, unloading their scrubs.

"At least I managed to wash one load," he said wryly.

Shiraishi laughed, and helped him with taking out their scrubs, only to notice that the scrubs with the name K Aizawa looked…extremely small. Frowning, she shook it out. It had definitely shrunk; the shirt right now would barely fit her. "Kōsaku…what settings did you use for the washing machine and the dryer?"

Her husband blinked at her, but said nothing. Shiraishi reached for a shirt marked M Shiraishi-Aizawa, and held it up against herself. It was two sizes smaller. Aizawa groaned softly, leaning against the dryer, and running a hand through his hair. He saved lives by cutting into people's vital organs on a daily basis; how on earth did a washing machine foil him?

Shiraishi dropped the too-small shirt back into the clothes hamper, and took a step closer to him, slipping her arms around his waist as she leaned against him comfortingly. "We'll just order some new scrubs tomorrow."

He sighed, stroking her shoulder softly. "I'm sorry for ruining our scrubs, and for breaking the washing machine."

"That's okay," she reassured him. "It's the thoughts that count. Thank you for doing the laundry."

Aizawa looked at her, and dropped a kiss on top of her head. He really did have the best wife in the world.

A/N: More domestic!Shiraishi/Aizawa, as requested! I don't know why both of them suck at domestic chores so much in my head, hahaha. But I find the notion that a brilliant neurosurgeon like Aizawa would be completely discombobulated by something as menial as laundry to be amusing, hence the birth of this ficlet.

Writing married!Aizawa/Shiraishi is kind of fun, by the way.

All reviews/comments/suggestions/criticisms/prompts will get cookies and my eternal love. Thanks so much for reading!