Who do you think you are? (LauKi)

Question III

Kiku glanced down the street before he hurried into Mr Tadaomi's laundromat. The smell of smoke was still hanging around, but he didn't see that man anywhere, so he rushed to his usual machine to find it... Empty. Maybe he used a different one? Perhaps someone (Read: Lau) was using his machine and he moved over two? There are clothes in this one, meaning this must have been the case. Kiku unfolded his laundry bag and began to take clothes out one by one. But the strangest thing was that everything seemed to be in one huge tangle of fabric. Strange, he always separated his clothes precisely so this didn't happen. Nevertheless, he carefully untangled everything and noticed more odditites. As far as Kiku knew, he didn't own a changshan, much less eight. One of them, a deep blue reminiscent of an opal, looked like precisely the same one Lau wore the day they met. Well, if one might call it that. 

"Meaning Lau stole my laundry instead of my supper this time..." Kiku sighed. Luckily, if Lau came from a city, he should, theoretically, live right above his shop. With a roll of his eyes, Kiku picked up all of Lau's laundry and started walking toward D Street to drop everything off. Along the way, he could swear he saw local surf shop owner Sora and Hot Topic manager Riku very, very close, but, in proper polite fashion, he walked diligently past as if he saw nothing.  

Not far from that scene was the shop, eloquently named Měilì de huā with plenty of flower motifs. Kiku supposed someone may quite like pretty plants. The door was open, so Kiku stepped inside to be immediately greeted by a thin girl in an almost impossibly short cheongsam. She was fairly petite, nearly shorter than Kiku, and had twin buns in her hair with long thing braids. 

"Welcome." She said simply, bowing her head before going back to folding a brilliant green dress nearly identical to her's. 

"Pardon me, miss, but do you know where Mr Lau might be? There seems to be a rather odd mix-up regarding our laundry." Kiku held up his laundry bag as proof of the excuse. The woman nodded and pointed toward a small hall behind the counter. 

"The door on the left is the staircase." She said simply. Not a lady of many words, which Kiku dearly appreciated. Kiku bowed his head as thanks and headed back. Opening the door, he found a narrow staircase, as promised, and went up. At the top of the staircase, Kiku knocked politely on the wall. It opened up to a rather nice living space. Rather, it would be nice if it weren't so filthy. There were wrappers and cans and empty food packaging everywhere, scraps of fabric here and there, papers galore, both neatly stacked and crumpled into angry balls, half finished projects, boxes of fabric and bolts of... whatever the heck that was -Stiffer fabric?-, as well as hundreds of rolls of ribbon and boxes of other weird sewing stuff. As much as Kiku cosplayed, he had no idea what half of this was. Some clothes were half hung by the large window opposite the stairs, and, just as predicted, they were his. A light tap alerted Kiku to the fact that Lau was, in fact, also in the room. He had been sitting at what might've passed for a dining table, if he had been so inclined as to clear it off and have proper food on it, and the tap had been his laptop closing. He looked a bit tired, actually, but that might've been the environment around him projecting itself onto the man. Either way, his expression was rather blank until he painted a large smile on his lips and stood grandly, opening his arms as if expecting a hug. 

"I've been expecting you, Hon!" he smiled, walking over in easy strides. How he didn't step on everything was a miracle. 

"Please, do not call me that. I only came to retrieve my laundry and deliver your's." Kiku leaned back to avoid the impeding hug, but Lau only took the bag from his hands and swept away. 

"Your's is there, Hon," Kiku could swear he was winking under those closed eyes. Kiku grumbled and picked his way over. A room this disastrous should be a crime... As he did so, Lau continued talking and started to get his mass of tangled clothing out of the laundry bag and plop it into a nearby woven box.  "I'm so glad you came yourself. My clothes are more expensive than your tiny apartment, you know." 

"You're welcome?" Kiku rolled his eyes, something he has only started to do but seems to be more of a habit when this guy is around, and began to fold his clothing into a nice pile. 

"You know, I never pegged you for a idol loving guy, Hon, but I also didn't know you were an author until just a few moments ago. Your series, Pastel Memories, is quite cute, but, if I may, a tad bit... Underwhelming. So many characters, it's hard to keep track of everyone. No wonder you have to work full-time to make ends meet." 

At this, Kiku's hands froze. "Pardon me, sir, but how do you know all of this?" 

Lau shrugged rather simply. "Friends in high places, I suppose. You are just as much a quiet man as you said the day we met, you know. Such honesty made it easy for my dear friend to track you down. But don't tell the Earl I outsourced this time. He should know by now that Iza dearest always has more of the juicy details to sell." 

"Excuse me? You what?" Kiku asked, doing his best to control the rise in his volume. 

"Oh, I did some research on you, Hon, only a friendly bit, asking a friend here and buying a password there. You're quite cute, by the way, having your phone password still the name of your ex. Romantic, considering what he did," Lau sighed and shook his head, as if finding all of this had been easy, just another day, as opposed to Kiku's horrified exclaimation. 

"Eh?" It was almost hard to contain the anger. "Could you possibly clean up your act? First you steal my dinner, then you steal my laundry, and now you're stealing my privacy? No, at this point you could steal my identity! Sir, I understand your mother may have dropped you one too many times before deciding never to come back, but I would rather like you to leave my life untouched. Thank you and good day, sir!" Kiku gathered up his clothes in his arms and left as quickly as he could pick his way out of the pig's nest of a room, refusing to listen to whatever the bumbling idiot had to say now. He ran down the stairs, pushed the door open with his foot, and burst out of the store with a quick "Thank you and goodbye," to the young lady tending the store, who had watched with concerned eyes. 

...

Speaking frankly, Kiku doesn't remember the walk home, just unlocking the door to his neat and tidy apartment and angrily shaking open his wash to hang them on the rotating laundry wheel outside his largest window. The repetitive movements calmed him down a little. Shake, Pin one side, pin two, and repeat. This laundry load hadn't bee a terribly large one, so as soon as he finished that, he lay back on his cushiony sofa, staring at the ceiling. Perhaps he shouldn't have said that. It's been so long since someone got on Kiku's nerves like that. Last time someone was able to infuriate him like this... Well, his name is still the phone password. Kiku should change that, but right now he just felt so tired. Kiku sighed softly and closed his eyes. 

... That harsh noise, is that the alarm clock?