Tails of Change [Revamping!]

15) Early Morning Laundry

[Author's Note:

X-Men Characters in this Chapter: Nightcrawler (Kurt)

OC Characters in this Chapter: _____(Sorin)

*Italicized words are either German words or English words with a more Germanic spelling. Any words that are dissimilar to the English version (or a bit out of context) will have a translation appearing here:

wunderbar [woon-dar-bahr]== wonderful

natürlich [nah-tuhr-lik] == naturally

{1.5.2020} Revamped! New material!]

---

Kurt woke before the sun rose. His uniform was chafing and his body felt laden from being crammed in a skin-tight suit all night. He needed a shower.

Grudgingly, he wrenched his eyes open and let them adjust to the darkness. It took only a moment for Kurt to see with an unusual clarity, a benefit he owed to his mutant abilities. 4:38. Wunderbar, he thought exhausted. Only three hours of sleep and he woke up before his alarm. Pushing himself upright and off the bed, he stretched in an attempt to ease his discomfort and grogginess.

The warm water was a welcome refreshment. Kurt closed his eyes while shampooing his hair and nearly drifted back to sleep. When he was finished washing up, he turned the shower handle to cold for a moment and stuck his face under the stream. The cold jolt woke him up, his body prickling as the hairs covering his skin raised and his nipples hardened. He twisted the dial to off. He grabbed his navy towel — the one he thought was an excellent match to his skin tone — and dried off as quickly as he could to fend off shivers.

Kurt neglected underwear and pulled on a loose pair of sweatpants with a stretch-band waist and slid his feet into his fuzzy slippers. There was no point in getting fully dressed just to do laundry. It was unlikely anyone was awake and about at this early hour anyway. He balled up the sheets, pillow casings, and comforter from his bed and walked down to the laundry room.

Kurt was surprised to find one of the four dryers running when he arrived. Who was doing laundry this early in the morning?

Besides him.

The laundry room was a windowless, LED-lit, colorless box with one entrance without a door. Alternating along the back wall were four 4-foot tables and four joint washer-dryer units, with the washer on top. The table between the wall and the first unit had an empty laundry basket on it. It was this first unit that was being used.

Kurt dropped his bedding on the floor before the third unit and retrieved detergent from the shelving along the wall across from the dryers.

That shelving held everything from detergent to fabric softeners to stain removers. There were clothespins and collapsible racks, if you wanted to hang up something, and dryer sheets and antistatic balls for use in the dryer.

Next to the shelving was a single deep-base sink for handwashing articles unsuitable for the machines. Kurt wasn't sure anyone actually used it, but there were supplies for that on a shelf too.

He dropped the appropriate number of Meadow-scented Tide Pods, the only scent that didn't bother his keen sense of smell despite its strength, into the washer and shoved his bedding in after them.

Kurt set the dial, checked his holo-watch for the time, and started the machine. He turned to go, beginning to run through the tasks he needed to do before school and identify which ones he could do in the thirty minutes or so that the washer was running, only to halt mid-thought process, mid-step, at the sight of Sorin coming through the doorway.

Sorin stopped a few feet from Kurt. Kurt caught the surprise in his eyes and watched Sorin glance over his chest. Kurt found he wasn't the least bit self-conscious about Sorin looking. Sorin was wearing loose sweatpants and a wrinkled t-shirt. Unlike Kurt's, Sorin's hair was no longer wet, but Kurt could tell by the smell of shampoo and body wash that Sorin had showered recently.

Kurt hesitated. Did he say it was good to see Sorin? Should he ask if Sorin's okay or how he's doing?

"Guten morning." Good morning? Kurt settled on good morning when all he wanted was to ask Sorin what was going on, ask why he was shut up in his room for four nights in a row? At least it was something normal and at least he said something and wasn't just silently watching Sorin for signs. Any sign. One that indicated he was not okay, or one that indicates he was. Or even one that indicated he was uncomfortable around Kurt. Kurt was familiar with those.

Sorin cleared his throat.

"Good morning." Sorin's voice was scratchy as if he'd just woken up.

Or as if he was sick.

"Are you feeling better?"

Sorin looked away.

"I'm starting to."

Kurt felt the worry that had been weighing on him melt right off. Whatever was going on with Sorin whether it was a problem with his mutation, an illness, or something else: it was going away.

"Gut."

They stood there for a moment until the dryer with Sorin's laundry stopped running.

"I'm," Sorin paused and pointed "gonna go..." he left the sentence hanging.

"Natürlich." Kurt gestured towards the machine and stepped aside.

Sorin stepped around Kurt and went to the machine, yanking the door open with a metallic clunk.

"I vill see you later, ja?" Kurt asked after a moment.

Sorin looked back, gave a small wave and a small nod.

"Yeah."

Kurt returned to his room, leaving the door cracked open so he could hear when Sorin returned to his room.

Despite what may or may not have been an awkward encounter, Kurt was feeling optimistic for the first time in the last few days. Sorin was fine.

They'd only known each other for a couple weeks. It was perfectly normal for there to be things they weren't comfortable sharing with each other yet. It was perfectly normal for awkwardness to occur. They needed to get to know one another better. They needed to get more comfortable with each other. They needed to spend more time together.

Kurt wanted to spend more time with Sorin. Whether that meant only as friends, or friends with the possibility of something more, Kurt wanted to.

He pulled on some clean clothes and shoved his homework off his desk into his backpack. He'd have to finish the last assignment during lunch.

He heard Sorin's door close and glanced at his watch. Nearly five-thirty, and already time for him to head back down to the laundry room to put his bedding in the dryer.

After doing so, Kurt moseyed to the kitchen. It was still early for Ororo's six o'clock breakfast, but perhaps she was almost done. Maybe he could help her finish and have a plate or three before the dryer was done. Chances were, he would have to run the dryer a second time to get his heavy comforter completely dry. He knew he wouldn't want to make his bed after school. It would be close, but he should be able make his bed beforehand and still catch a ride with Scott and Jean.