#apartment laundry

Sometimes being an adult had its perks.

You spent forty hours a week slaving away at your office job, and while you left feeling exhausted, the pay for it was great. After your promotion, you had stopped living paycheck to paycheck and eating crappy food to actually having leftover money to enjoy being an adult. You began putting aside money, and eventually you were able to move out of your parent’s place and get your own apartment.

The apartment you had moved into was a ten minute drive from your job, which was in the Downtown portion of the city you had grown up in. You were just outside Downtown, which meant you got to avoid all of the crazy traffic and commotion but close enough that you could walk and be part of the social life there. The apartment itself was swanky, recently remodeled to have a modern, luxurious feel. You were in a one bedroom apartment with a great view of the city skyline, and you spent your mornings on the patio sipping on your coffee as you watched the morning unfold below you.

Despite living in a nice neighborhood, you had yet to meet any of your neighbors. The neighbors to your left in 308 had introduced themselves the day you had moved in, asking if you had any dietary preferences before bringing you cookies later that night. They were a couple about your age, and they always made an effort to talk to you the few times you bumped into them. Beyond that, you had no idea who the other people living around you were. You mostly kept to yourself, often leaving in the morning and arriving at dinnertime. If you did see anyone, you stuck to simple hellos before shuffling into your unit.

A lot of your friends and coworkers were surprised you didn’t know your neighbors. You were quick to point out that they lived in a house, where you lived in an apartment.

“If I could actually afford a house of course I would get to know my neighbors!” you had argued.

“Apartment neighbors are nice to know,” your cubicle mate had frowned. “You never know when you might need a favor.”

“Yeah, what if an emergency happens!” your other coworker had echoed. “What are you going to do?”

You had ignored their suggestions, enjoying your solitude in your apartment. You had developed a routine that you really enjoyed, and it was nice to have a space to yourself. The only thing you disliked was that you had to rely on a communal laundry room that was a bit of a walk from your unit. Your Mom had bought a cute laundry cart for you to wheel so you wouldn’t have to struggle with dragging your dirty clothes back and forth. Since you often went out on Saturdays, Sundays were the days you did laundry and cleaned your apartment. You would sleep in, stretching lazily before stumbling into your bathroom and starting your day.

Since moving in, you had been really lucky with the laundry room. It was rare that you had to wait for a machine to open up, so you immediately got to loading it. It was a little over a month since you had moved in, and your luck continued. You hummed to yourself as you began loading up the machine, going through your favorite breakfast spots to order some breakfast.

It was rare that anyone came in while you were in the laundry room, so you were surprised when you heard footsteps behind you. Instinctively, you glanced over your shoulder.

A man had walked in, and you quickly decided he was probably the handsomest man you had ever seen. He was tall and broad, his shoulders stretching out the plain blue tee he wore. His black hair was cut short, his bangs brushing against the top of his forehead. A pair of intense blue eyes were staring at you, a slight frown touching his dark brows. Your eyes took in the rest of his face, admiring his narrow nose and full lips before following the sharp curve of his jaw.

Yeah, this man was the hottest man you had ever seen, and just your type.

He greeted you with a simple good morning, his voice deep and rumbling from his chest. You blinked, staring back at him as your brain tried to formulate some sort of response that made sense.

Have you mentioned that his man was hot?

You slowly turned back to your machine, your hands forgetting how to grab clothing all of a sudden. From the corner of your eye, you could see him examining the machine at the other end of the room. Now that you were done admiring him (for now), you realized he had a basket of his own clothes. You turned your head slightly to stare at his basket, a tall one that seemed to be filled with workout clothes.

Well that explains why he’s so buff.

“Do you need some help?”

His head snapped towards you, frowning slightly again before nodding.

“Sorry. I don’t usually do laundry here.”

You shook your head.

“No need to apologize! I can help you if you want.”

When he didn’t object, you put your clothing down and walked over to him. You had to crane your neck to look up at him, and you realized he was much more handsome up close.

“You have two choices to pay. You can do it the old fashioned way with quarters or download the app.”

“These machines have an app?”

You laughed. “Yeah, we’ve come a long way.”

He asked if you could help him find the app on his phone’s app store and you walked him step-by-step on installing it and getting his account set up. Once you were done, he thanked you before apologizing again.

“Like I said, no need to apologize! It really wasn’t a bother.”

You finished loading up the machines before he did. You turned to give him one last look before leaving.

“Enjoy the rest of your day!”

He replied with a quick you too before turning back to begin pouring detergent. You admired him one last time before walking back to your unit.

***

When your coworkers asked about your weekend, you immediately brought up Laundry Room Guy. After you finished describing him, they both let out longing sighs.

“He sounds perfect,” your cubicle mate gushed.

“He is!” you agreed. “He’s seriously just my type.”

“Well, he obviously must live on your floor if he’s using that laundry room,” your other coworker said.

“Wait, didn’t you say he hadn’t used the machines before?”

You nodded. “Yeah, I helped him with using them.”

“Hmmm, maybe he was just visiting?” your cubicle mate frowned. “Oh no, what if his girlfriend lives there?”

“Why would you say that?!” your other coworker cried.

“Well, if I see him again I guess I can find out!”

That Sunday was lonely, with no sight of him in the laundry room or in the hallway. You reported back to your coworkers, who were just as sad as you. Sunday came again, and you were lugging your clothes and blankets down to the laundry room. This time, however, you were surprised (and glad!) to see the cute guy there again.

“Good morning,” you greeted him.

He turned his head to glance at you over his shoulder.

“Oh, it’s you. Morning.”

His eyes flickered over to your cart before his brows creased in concern.

“Oh, I’m sorry. I see you have a lot this time. I’ve been up for a while, I’m almost done.”

“It’s alright,” you smiled. “I can start one load at least.”

The room was silent as you began loading up the machine while his whirred in the spin cycle. By the time you finished, his machine had finished and you were able to put your blankets in it.

“Thank you again for your help last time.”

“Of course, it wasn’t a big deal.”

The both of you stood there awkwardly for a moment before you cleared your throat and spoke.

“Have you just moved into the building? Is that why you were having a hard time with the machine?”

He opened his mouth to respond but you panicked.

“I’m sorry! I hope it’s okay to ask that!”

It was his turn to laugh, and you were drawn to the sound.

“I’m not home often. I travel a lot for work, but I’m basically done working for a while.”

“Oh? What do you do?”

“I’m a professional volleyball player.”

Your eyes went wide. “Oh, wow! That’s so cool!”

“The volleyball center I train at is close by, so I live here. The season is done so I’m just here now.”

Well, it made sense why he was so buff now! Your eyes quickly trailed down his arms, noting the veins running down his skin. His hands were nice, and you admired his long fingers.

“How about you?”

Your eyes flickered up to meet his.

“Oh, I just work an office job. I got promoted recently, so I’m finally able to afford my own place.”

“That’s great. Congratulations.”

He began to gather his laundry and walked towards the door.

“It was nice talking to you. I hope I get to see you around.”

“Likewise. Have a great day.”

You waited until you heard his footsteps recede before letting out a quiet squeal and doing a little happy dance.

***

When you gave your coworkers the update, they were squealing just as much as you had been.

“You have to ask him out!” your cubicle mate exclaimed.

“Wouldn’t that be too direct?” you pouted.

“Maybe he’s into that?” your other coworker shrugged.

“He gives me the impression that he likes to take charge,” you sighed.

“Well, that may benefit you later down the line if you know what I mean.”

While you had been excited to share the update, your week was anything but. Your boss had asked if you could do overtime all week, and you had told him it was fine. You slaved away, eyes burning from looking at the screen as you typed furiously away at your keyboard. Dinner was fast food, and you ate before crawling into bed and repeating the cycle.

You had been hoping to leave early Friday, but you did overtime and left work late. You wanted to take a shower and order some takeout while watching your comfort show on the couch. Since it was so late there was no traffic, and you were thankful that the drive was relatively short. You dragged your feet as you walked through your garage, pushing the elevator button and feeling your eyes get heavy while you waited for it.

The hallway was empty, and you continued your slow pace towards your door. You yawned loudly, fumbling with your keys to find your door key. The keys slipped from your hands, tumbling to the floor. Cursing to yourself, you were about to bend down to grab them when you heard a voice.

“Let me get that for you.”

You looked up to see Laundry Room guy walking towards you. He quickly bent down and handed you your keys.

“Thank you.”

"Are you just getting home from work?” he frowned.

“Er, yeah. I had a deadline to meet, so I had to stay late.”

You quickly took in his appearance, noting the duffle bag hanging from his shoulder.

“It looks like you had a late night, too.”

“A few of my teammates wanted to play a practice match for fun. Even though we aren’t in volleyball season, we still meet up to play often.”

“That sounds fun,” you smiled.

There was a pause. He reached up to rub the back of his neck nervously as he cleared his throat.

“Have you . . . had dinner yet?”

You blinked up at him.

“Er, no I haven’t.”

“Would it be appropriate if I asked you to come and have dinner at my place? My treat.”

“I would love to,” you beamed at him.

It turned out he lived five units to your right. He opened his door, flicking on the lights and stepping aside so you could enter. His apartment was bare but neat, an obvious sign that he wasn’t home often. You slid your shoes off and walked into his kitchen, placing your purse on the counter before turning to look back at him.

“I just realized I don’t know your name.”

He paused, slowly turning to look at you.

“Huh, you’re right. I’m Kageyama Tobio.”

You quietly gave him your name. He smiled.

“That’s a really nice name.”

He walked over to his couch and sat down, gesturing for you to do the same. You sat on the opposite end, watching as he pulled his phone out and opened Postmates.

“What are you craving? Like I said, my treat.”

The two of you scrolled through each option, weighing the pros and cons before settling on Chinese food. The app informed you the food would be arriving in half an hour, so you both got comfy.

“Thank you so much for this,” you said. “I really appreciate it.”

“Of course. It’s the least I can do since you were a help with laundry.”

You laughed. “You’re still going on about that?!”

“Well, we have a laundry service for the laundry team during the season.”

“That’s fancy,” you mused.

He laughed, shaking his head.

“It’s really not. A lot of my clothes always get mixed up with my teammates.”

The conversation shifted to your job, and you informed him about your responsibilities and duties. He listened intently as you spoke, nodding occasionally and asking questions when he was confused. You began talking about your coworkers, which made him smile.

“It sounds like you have awesome coworkers.”

“They are! I wouldn’t survive without them.”

Kageyama’s phone pinged, and he swiped open his screen.

“Looks like the food’s on its way. Let me grab some plates for us.”

Just as Kageyama had finished putting the plates out, there was a knock at his door. You went to open it, taking the food from the worker and thanking them. You moved over to the table and set the bag down, untying the knot and placing the food out.

“Thank you again for this, Kageyama.”

“Of course.”

He glanced between the table and his coffee table.

“Um, do you want to watch a movie or something?”

Your heart was pounding as you carried your food over to the coffee table. Kageyama settled beside you, clearing his throat as he turned on the TV and clicked on Netflix. The first movie recommended to him was one you had been wanting to watch, so he selected it. You both ate in silence as the movie began playing the credits. Suddenly, he reached for the remote and paused it.

“I hope you know this isn’t, like, a Netflix and chill thing!”

You blinked, cheeks burning as you turned to look at him.

“N-no! It’s . . . no, it’s okay!”

He couldn’t look at you as he spoke.

“I’m sorry, I just . . . I like you, and I don’t want to make things awkward between us, and I definitely don’t want you to think I’m trying to take advantage of you.”

You gently placed your hand over his.

“Kageyama, relax. I like you too. I wasn’t, like, weirded out by any of this.”

“Wait, you . . . like me?”

You laughed. “Since the moment you walked into the laundry room.”

Your words seemed to relax him. He gave a slow nod before grabbing the remote and hitting play.

“Sorry,” he mumbled.

“It’s okay,” you giggled.

Once the both of you finished eating, he paused the movie to clean up before the two of you settled onto the couch. He had looked at you hesitantly before he leaned towards you.

“Um, can I put my arm around you?”

“Please,” you whispered.

Kageyama was careful as he placed his arm around your shoulder, gently tugging you towards him. You sighed, relaxing into his touch as you rested your head on his shoulder. He froze for a second before slowly relaxing, grabbing the remote and hitting play. The two of you sat side by side, watching the movie and making occasional comments. Even though it was late, he started another movie.

However, the food plus the tiredness of work began to creep up on you. Your eyes began to get heavy, your head dipping forward as you began to slip into sleep. Kageyama shifted, and you immediately sat up straight.

“Lay down. You can sleep on my lap.”

He glanced down at your work clothes and frowned.

“Wait here.”

He disappeared into his bedroom and returned with a T-shirt and sweats.

“Why don’t you get comfortable? You can change out here, I need to use the bathroom.”

The clothes were very large on you, but they smelled like Kageyama. When he returned he sat back down and you immediately laid your head on his lap. It didn’t take long before you were asleep.

When you awoke, the room was completely dark. Kageyama was snoring quietly above you, his head leaning back against the couch. You smiled, making yourself comfortable before falling asleep again.

You woke up to sunlight and a cold couch. Kageyama was gone, and you were about to pout before you heard movement in the kitchen. You sat up, groggy, as you rubbed the sleep from your eyes.

“Sorry, did I wake you?”

You shook your head. “No, not at all.”

“I . . . haven’t done groceries in a while. Do you want to go get breakfast?”

“I can cook us breakfast, but we have to go to my place this time.”

He grinned.