The Colors Universe
Adventures in Laundry by Lazuli
Characters: Akai-san, Mikan-tan, Kou-kunWord Count: 1,216 words
Theme: Misplaced items
Author Notes: Sorry for any typos, just wrote this at random. And I tried to keep it as clean as possible, but I can't be held responsible for eye candy of any sort or blushing boys... X3
“There’s a ghost in the house!” Mikan said as she poked her head into the kitchen one morning, hair disheveled.
With a mouth full of toast Kou turned to look at the younger girl before raising an eyebrow at her.
“Don’t give me that look Kou-kun,” she said popping the half-eaten toast out of his mouth, “there’s a ghost on the loose and he stole my underwear!”
“What?”
Now there was something you don’t hear every day. And in a house where three very different people resided, well things were bound to get interesting. Yet again this was Mikan who thought just last week a six-tailed Kitsune had run off with her basket of oranges she had picked from her favorite tree out back.
“You sure it was a ghost? Did you see it?” He said leaning on the kitchen counter.
“No I didn’t see him, it was a ghost silly. But…who else would steal my panties? Not Akai-san and they wouldn’t fit you…I think. Meh.” She slid the top of her hoodie over her head until only her pouting mouth was visible through the circle of fabric.
“They were my favorite pair too, all white with chibi oranges…”
Holding back an awkward grin the young boy patted her covered head though the last thing he wanted was a detailed description of Mikan’s underwear.
“There there, I’ll help you figure out where they went, okay?”
That was an instant perk. “You’re the best Kou-kun!”
Latching onto her “other big brother” her head once again popped out of her hoodie, face lit up like the Fourth of July on steroids.
“That’s what I’m here for,” he said winking at her. “Let’s get on with the investigation!”
“HAI!”
Slipping his favorite bright yellow cap on he led the way towards the laundry room, actually quite sure where Mikan-tan’s poor unmentionables were wandering around at. Probably with that missing sock from the 3rd grade and quite a bit of fuzz. Oh hell if Akai-san had stuck it in his drawer by mistake he’d kill him.
Speak of the devil.
“You two need something?” Akai-san said glancing over at them two as they entered the laundry room.
In just his usual pair of red pants and pretty much nothing else but a bandana tied around his head, the older guy was going through his daily cleaning ritual, fresh clothes hot out of the dryer already folded in neat little rows inside the laundry basket he held at his hip. Looking as casual as ever they both knew when it came to any household cleaning chore, Akai-san was a master at it (or demon depending on who’s pov you looked at it from). Though did the guy have to do chores shirtless, Kou thought averting his gaze away from the nipple piercings.
“We just came to look at the dryer,” Mikan said, giving her favorite person of the house her brightest smile, cheeks all flushed with color.
“Yup, we’ll only be a minute!” Kou said giving the big guy the thumb’s up and still avoiding eye contact.
“Hm. If you say so. Just don’t make a mess,” he said leaving them behind and heading back to his room.
Popping the dryer door open the both of them peered into the bright metal basket, but it was clearly empty. Same to say for the rest of the laundry room.
“See nothing here. I told you, they were stolen. By a ghost.”
“Where did you last see them?” Kou said shutting the door.
“Um, I’m pretty sure I had them in my room.”
“Alright, let’s go there next.”
“No.can.do.”
Lifting both her arms and crossing them in a giant “X” she shook her head vigorously.
“Why not? How am I suppose to help you Mikan?”
“But…it’s messy.”
“So is my room.”
“Nuh-uh. Your room is spotless. Mine is a disaster zone.”
“That’s because Akai-san cleans it for me. I’m just as messy as you are, if not worse.” Oh hells that ain’t gonna work. “Ok, ok, well why don’t you go tidy it up a bit before I look around?”
“I suppose…”
Trotting off down the hall Kou-kun watched as she entered her room and shut the door behind her. He was getting a good idea already at where her missing underwear had gone if the stories Akai-san told were true about her sense of organization. If a mess could divert the clean-freak of the house, then it had to be bad.
“All clear!” she said minutes later waving from the doorway.
Nodding to himself (can’t chicken out now) he strolled over to Mikan-tan’s room and looked inside.
…
“You know Mika-chi, maybe we should just ask Akai-san if he’s seen them?”
“I think that’s a good idea,” she said nodding before promptly shutting the door.
Neither of them said a word about what they had seen.
Patting the girl’s head again he lead the way down to the end of the hall and up the steps to the loft floor of the building, giving Akai-san’s door a soft knock.
“Come in.”
“Woah Akai-san you’re room is great!” Mikan-tan said running to flop on his bed, waving her arms about the cool sheets as if she was making snow angels on it.
“Geeze Mika-chi, just make yourself at home,” Kou said sighing.
“I don’t mind,” Akai said giving the flailing younger girl a quick glance.
“That’s cause Akai-sensei is awesome!” Mikan said glomping the older guy from behind, wrapping her arms around him. “I love Akai-san the best!”
Pausing in his task sorting through clothes on the floor he glanced back at the small thing before lifting before her eyes what appeared to be a very cute pair of orange-printed panties.
“My panties! You got them back from the ghost Akai-san!”
“Huh?”
“Gee, you really did take them Akai-san,” Kou said looking away and clearly blushing.
“Akai-sensei is naughty!”
Mikan clearly was fine with this turn of events.
Figures Kou thought.
“You left them in the middle of the hallway. I spotted them on the ground when walking by earlier,” Akai-san said pulling something else out from the pile of clothes. “Yours too Kou-kun.”
“Dude! Don’t just go flashing those around!” Kou said snatching them and hiding them behind his back.
Snorting and giggling Mikan-tan couldn’t contain her laughter as she pointed at him. “Even your briefs are yellow! Pfft!”
Grumping on the spot the usually cheerful boy wasn’t amused. “Look who’s talking. You and your orange-printed panties…”
“I think they’re kinda cute,” Akai-san said lifting a few more pairs of underwear in his hands.
“The hell?” Kou said grabbing another pair of his. “Dude, you got an underwear fetish or something? And stop laughing Mikan!”
“It would be rude to throw away what is left behind in the laundry room. So I did the proper thing and returned them to their owners. A lot of items get stuck to one another because of the static.” Blinking he turned to look at both of them clearly confused.
“Well looks like we found our ghost,” Mikan said hugging Akai from behind. “Come on Kou-kun, thank Akai-sensei for finding our things! Like this!”
And she kissed the red-haired boy on the cheek.
Blushing the boy turned on the spot and headed back to his poor forgotten breakfast.
