[fic, BTR] All That Counts (Part 3)
Title: All That Counts (Part 3/?)
Word Count: ~4,600 / 40,000+
For bigtimebang
Previous: Part 1 | Part 2
----
Auditions…did not go well. James wasn't really expecting them to; like he'd told Logan, he was a freshman with next to no experience. He'd only picked theatre as a major instead of music because his mom had made less of a face about it, and so now he was stuck auditioning for a play in front of three people from the theatre department-including his acting class professor-and by the end of it they all had identical confused looks on their faces.
Whatever. He'd get a small part with no lines and he'd probably be on stage for less than a minute and it would be fine. Or maybe they'd just want him to help backstage. James didn't belong backstage, but he was a freshman and college was stupid and singing was better than acting, anyway. Even if he really did want to be in a movie one day. Or lots of movies.
The worst part about the auditions, though, wasn't that James did so badly at his but that he was so nervous beforehand and so unhappy afterwards that he completely missed the opportunity to make new friends. He recognized people from his classes and acknowledged them with a sort of lame little greeting but he didn't really talk to anyone. Two weeks into the semester, and his only friend was the guy he'd bribed into tutoring him.
He missed Kendall and Carlos. Maybe it was time to try to find them. But what would James say to them when he did? What could he say?
Well. If he was only going to have one friend, at least he found a good one.
Logan's good-friend status was cemented Monday night when, after a day full of ups (his one music class was pretty awesome, and French was fun) and downs (Intro to Theatre, where at least half the class laughed at something James said when he was not trying to be funny), James realized his clean-clothing situation had gone from manageable to alarming and he needed to do laundry like, yesterday, then realized about 20 minutes later in the laundry room that he had no idea how to actually work a washing machine. And so he called Logan.
At first James was worried Logan wouldn't pick up; he obviously had a pretty busy schedule. But after three or four rings he answered. "Hello?"
"Logan!" James clutched at the phone. "It's James."
There was a soft chuckle on the other end of the line. "Yeah, I know, cell phones have these things called caller ID. What's up? Calling to set up a time for tomorrow?"
"What? Oh," James said, blinking. He hadn't even thought about that in his laundry-induced panic. "No, I'm having an emergency and I need your help."
"What?" Logan's tone was completely different now, worried and serious instead of amused. "What's wrong? Where are you?"
"I-" James paused, partly because he realized he'd freaked Logan out and partly because he realized how stupid he was about to sound. He took a deep breath to calm his voice and rephrase his answer. "I…am having some trouble with a washing machine."
"You're having-what?" Logan asked. "That's your emergency? Laundry?"
"Hey, I don't have any clothes to wear tomorrow, okay?" James said defensively. "How is that not an emergency?"
"Right, yes, my mistake, that totally qualifies."
"Your sarcasm isn't helping get my clothes clean, Logan."
"I didn't realize getting your clothes clean was my responsibility, James."
"Well, you should have," James shot back, not sure if he was teasing or flirting or just fed up with Logan's sarcasm and still panicking about not having anything to wear. "Look, okay, I just-I don't-I-"
"You've never done laundry before," Logan supplied, like it had just hit him.
"…No," James admitted. That wasn't something to be embarrassed about, right? He was a college freshman, he'd never needed to know how to do laundry before.
Logan laughed again, but it wasn't mocking. "Where are you? Fourth-floor laundry room?"
"Uh, yeah," James said, blinking. He'd just planned on asking Logan to walk him through it on the phone.
"Okay, I'll be up there in a few minutes. Try not to break anything before I get there."
"Ha, ha. And you say I'm funny." James could be sarcastic, too. Take that. But Logan just hung up without replying, because he was a jerk.
James leaned back against the wall of dryers and glared at the washing machines. His panic was gone now; Logan was, once again, going to fix things. And yeah, maybe James should have been able to figure out the whole laundry thing on his own, but if it meant getting to spend more time with Logan he could handle being a victim of his own ignorance. In fact, maybe he should be thanking the overly-complicated machines for giving him an excuse.
Less than five minutes later, Logan showed up to find an already-bored James still leaning against the dryers, eyes closed and singing along to a song in his head. "Wow."
James startled at the word, but not badly. "Thanks," he said, cocking a smile at Logan. "I know my voice is impressive, but it's nice to hear it sometimes."
Logan rolled his eyes. "I was talking about those." He pointed down around James's legs.
James furrowed his eyebrows and looked down. His laundry bags? "What about them?"
"I was wondering how you managed to go over two weeks without doing laundry, but that explains it. That…actually looks like way more than two weeks' worth of clothes, wow."
"I don't like rewearing workout clothes," James explained with a shrug. "They get gross. Plus sometimes a day requires more than one outfit." It was only three bags. They were big bags, yeah, but they weren't completely full or anything. Or at least one of them wasn't.
"Right," Logan said with a laugh. "Okay, well, I guess we should start getting all of those sorted."
"Sorted?"
"Yeah, you know, lights and darks? And heavier versus lighter materials…different fabrics have to be washed differently, and you don't want the colors to run. Right?"
James shook his head. "No, that would be bad. Okay. So what do I do?"
Logan had James bring his laundry bags over to a table in the room, and got him to pull the clothes out and sort them into piles. Handling his dirty underwear right in front of Logan was a little embarrassing, but Logan was being sort of weirdly professional-or, scientific, maybe?-about the whole thing, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
"Okay," Logan said when James had finally gotten the last piece of clothing sorted. "Now we load 'em up. Well, by 'we' I mean 'you,' because I'm not touching your dirty laundry. No offense."
"Too bad, I'm offended," James replied, stifling a grin at Logan's rolled eyes. James went to grab for the closest pile-darks, medium-weight fabric-when he realized the old black t-shirt he was wearing fit into that category as well. He tugged it off and added it to the pile before gathering up the clothes and walking over to shove them in a washer.
"Um," Logan said as James straightened up to head back for the next pile. He was looking not-quite at James and his eyes were a little wide.
"What?" James asked without thinking. Then- "Oh! Is this weird? Do guys not do laundry without shirts on?" He looked back at the washing machine, face scrunched up. "I don't really want to go try to find that shirt again…"
"No, it's-it's fine," Logan said, still not really looking at James. Great, I made him uncomfortable, James thought guiltily. But he really didn't want to pull that t-shirt back out. "Not weird, other guys in the building do laundry shirtless…I mean, I don't, but-" Logan shook his head quickly, blushing a little, and James was about to sigh loudly and find the stupid shirt when he spoke up again. "Anyway, go ahead and get the rest of them in so I can show you what to do next."
"Okay." James smiled at being spared the trouble of finding one black t-shirt in a washer full of dark clothing and did what he was told. When all the washers were loaded up, Logan went to the first one and showed James how to put the detergent in and push the buttons for the right settings, explaining how you shouldn't overload the washer or use too much detergent. After that he just told James what to do and watched to make sure he did it.
After James pushed the 'Start' button on the last machine, he beamed at Logan. "I did laundry!"
Logan laughed. "You're doing laundry. This isn't the end of it, you still have to dry them all."
"Fine, I'm doing laundry," James said, rolling his eyes. "But not all of them go in the dryer, I know that much at least."
"Right," Logan said with a nod. "Or well, I figured not all of them did. We'll check the tags before we put them in the dryer. Do you have hangers to put them on?"
"Yeah, in my room." James paused for a moment, and glanced over at the washing machines. "We've got like half an hour before these are done, right? Want to play the PS3 until then?"
"I-" Logan stopped, and looked over at the machines, too, for some reason. "I'm in the middle of homework, I should probably…get back to that."
"Oh," James said, feeling a frown forming and not bothering to stop it. "Yeah, okay, I-I should probably do some work or something, too."
"I'll be back, though," Logan said quickly, and James felt his heartbeat pick up at the words. That was a bad sign. "I mean, to help you with the dryers."
"Okay," James said with an easy grin, ignoring the back of his brain telling him he was being stupid stupid STUPID. "So…meet you back here in 30?"
"Yeah," Logan said, returning the smile before it shifted into that now-familiar smirk. "Don't be late; you were lucky to get the laundry room to yourself like this, but if someone wants a washer and your clothes are just sitting in it they're liable to end up on the floor."
James's eyes went wide. What the hell was wrong with college students that they'd mistreat someone else's clothes that way? "I won't be late," he assured Logan.
James spent the next 25 minutes in his room working out, trying to get rid of that pleasant, warm sort of feeling Logan's smiles left him with by burning it out with the heat of exercise. It was working, too, until he got a text and had to stop.
'Bring hangers. Don't expect me to put anything in the dryers for you if you're late.'
James stuck his tongue out at his phone, grabbed some hangers from his closet and two bottles of tea from his fridge, shoved his keys, ID, and phone in his pocket, then headed back to meet Logan. When he got on the elevator (he had to hit the button with his elbow) there were a few girls on it already, and James smiled at them politely, then asked them to hit the button for the fourth floor.
"Laundry day?" one of them asked, with a nod towards the hangers.
"Oh, yeah," he answered. They all sort of smiled then and it hit him: they were totally checking him out. Well, he couldn't let that go to waste. "Figured if I was washing clothes anyway," he added with a grin, gesturing (as well as he could with his hands full) at his bare chest.
"Guys are lucky they can do that," one of the other girls said.
"I don't think anyone would mind if girls did it, too," James said with a carefully raised eyebrow, hoping his ability to flirt wasn't completely shot from lack of use. Then the elevator doors were opening and he stepped out to giggles from the girls. James grinned. He totally still had it.
"Hey," a voice said when he was a few feet away. He turned to see one of the girls hanging out of the elevator, holding the door open. "What's your name?"
"James," he answered, flashing a smile.
"Fifth floor?"
"Fifth floor," he repeated, confirming. She stepped back into the elevator with a smile, waving as the doors closed.
"You're not late." James spun back around, seeing Logan walking towards him from the other end of the hallway. "Hey, and you brought hangers."
"Yep," James said.
Logan eyed him sort of suspiciously. "And you're grinning in a vaguely creepy manner."
James scoffed. "My grin is not creepy. And I got hit on in the elevator."
Logan rolled his eyes. "Well, you walk around like that…" The eye-roll seemed to spin his whole body, turning him towards the laundry room. James followed him in. "Did you get a number?"
"What? Oh, no. It was a short trip, you know, my room's just one floor up. But one of them asked what my name was."
"Nice," Logan said with a nod, looking away from James as he opened the door on a washing machine.
"Thought you weren't going to put my stuff in the dryer for me," James said teasingly, letting the elevator incident keep his mood up and his romantic thoughts focused on anyone-but-Logan. After all, Logan wasn't the one hitting on him while he was shirtless. If James had even thought that was a possibility he wouldn't have taken the shirt off at all, because he was not messing things up with this one.
"I said I wasn't doing it if you weren't here on time," Logan countered. "This'll go faster if we both work at it. Just check the tags to make sure it doesn't say 'line-dry only' or anything like that."
"Oh," James said, feeling his mood dampened already at the implication that Logan wanted to get away from him as quickly as possible. "Oh, hey, I brought you a drink." He held the bottle out to Logan, and even though it was dumb he hoped Logan would stay to drink it so they could have a few more minutes together.
"Oh, thanks," Logan said, blinking as he took the drink. "You didn't have to do that."
James shrugged. "I was working out when you texted me, so I was thirsty, and I figured if I was bringing a drink for me I should bring one for you, too."
"Oh," Logan said again, looking from James to the bottle and back again. "Well…thanks." He laughed, lightly. "I already said that. Okay, well we should get these washers emptied first, just in case anyone else needs them."
"Right," James agreed, moving to set his drink and the hangers down on top of a washer. He read the tags out loud as he pulled each piece of clothing out (which Logan seemed to find amusing, if the occasional chuckling was anything to go by), before hanging it up if necessary, or putting it in the dryer Logan had assigned for that load. They were using fewer dryers than washers, Logan explained, because they didn't have to worry about colors running together, but it was still important to keep the delicate fabrics away from the heavier ones.
They got all of the clothes loaded in the dryers, and James was moving to close them all when Logan stopped him with a hand held up. "Do you have dryer sheets?"
"Um…" James said, thinking. "In my room. Do I need to go get them? Are they important?"
Logan tilted his head from side to side like he was weighing his answer. "They're not essential. I didn't think to tell you to grab them if you had them…but you should be okay without them. Your clothes might be a little static-y and they won't smell as good, but it shouldn't be a big deal."
"Okay then," James said with a shrug, and closed the dryers. Like with the washers, Logan demonstrated on one how to program the settings and then had James do the others. "Tea time?" James asked once all the dryers were running.
Logan laughed. "Yeah, sure." He hopped up to sit on a washer and opened his bottle. James resisted the urge to watch him take a drink, and instead sat a couple washers over.
"What happens if someone needs to use these?" James asked as he opened his own bottle.
"We move," Logan said with a shrug. "So how were your classes today?"
"Okay, I guess," James answered, watching his clothes go around in circles across from him. "Freshman comp was boring. French was cool, though. My teacher said my accent's good."
"It is." James looked over at Logan in surprise, to see him fiddling with the top on his bottle. Logan glanced up, a half-smile on his face. "French is dumb, but I know how it's supposed to sound. You are pretty good. Did you take it in high school?"
James shook his head. "No, my school only had Spanish. I was going to take Spanish here, too, but it didn't work with my schedule."
Logan made a sound in acknowledgment and nodded. They went back to staring at the dryers, and it had finally occurred to James that he should ask Logan about his classes when Logan spoke again. "So have you finished your paper?"
James cringed. "Not yet?" He glanced over to see Logan giving him a scolding look. "I started on it though!"
"Good. Come on, I'll help you carry your clothes upstairs so you can finish it." He hopped down off the washer.
"But they're not dry yet," James said, confused.
"The ones hanging up, I mean," Logan explained, pointing at the hangers on the bar above the table.
"Oh right." James slid off the washer he'd been sitting on, stretching a little before taking the final swig of his tea and tossing the bottle in the recycling. They divided up the hanging clothes then headed out of the room. "Am I going to have to iron these?"
Logan shrugged as they waited for the elevator. "Maybe. Do you know how?"
"No…" James answered, sort of pathetically.
James couldn't hear Logan laugh, but his shoulders shook a little. "I can show you, if you need me to."
"Okay." James didn't know whether to be embarrassed that he knew so little about how to survive on his own, or just happy that Logan was so willing to help him. At least his mom didn't know how bad he was at this college thing. She'd luckily been way too busy to call to check on him very often.
They'd gotten the clothes up to James's room and hung them up on the lofted bed to dry when an idea struck James. "Hey, will you take a picture?" he asked, grabbing his phone and holding it out to Logan. "For my mom."
Logan took the phone, but was giving James a (sort of hilarious) confused look. "A picture of what?"
"Of my laundry!" James picked up a couple of the hangers again and held them in front of him. "And me. To show her I can take care of myself."
Okay, the sarcastic disbelief all over Logan's face was just rude.
"Whatever, okay, I have you, don't I?" James said, flustered. "Maybe I don't know how to do things but finding someone who does is a survival skill and that totally counts so just-just take the damn picture." Logan raised his eyebrows. "Please?"
"Smile," Logan said, holding the phone up and blocking most of his expression. He was taking the picture, though, so that had to be a good sign.
James did as he was told, beaming triumphantly at the fact he did his own laundry for the first time ever. Maybe not completely on his own, but he was sure his mother would applaud his ability to make such a useful friend. Not that he was using Logan, or anything.
"I'm not using you," James blurted as Logan handed the phone back.
"Um…what?"
James fidgeted a little, worried and really wishing he hadn't said that. "I mean, um, with the tutoring, and calling you with my laundry emergency…I'm not like, trying to take advantage of your genius, or anything."
"Right…" Logan said, slowly, and then started laughing. "Um, I didn't think that you were?"
"Well…good," James said lamely.
"You're a freshman, James," Logan said, taking the hangers out of James's hand and putting them back with the others. "You're on your own for the first time, of course there will be things you don't know. I'm happy to help."
James grinned, but couldn't help his response. "You mean after I chased you down in the library and had to practically beg you for your help."
"That wasn't 'practically'," Logan countered, smirk fully in place, "you were begging. But yes, after that. We're, you know, friends now, so." He shrugged, hands in his pockets.
James had to force himself not to fist-pump. His first official college friend, yes. "So that means I can call you the next time I have an emergency, right?"
"I'm a little concerned at your definition of 'emergency,' James," Logan said, eyebrow raised. "Speaking of, can you handle the final stage of laundry on your own?"
James blinked, thinking about what the 'final stage' was. Then he narrowed his eyes. "I know how to fold clothes, Logan."
"Hey, I didn't know," Logan said, raising his hands, palm-up, in a shrug. "I mean, folding clothes is a delicate art. I'm just trying to help, here."
"Jerk," James said through a grin.
"Yeah, you say that now, just wait and see what happens if you don't have your paper done tomorrow. You've got like 40 minutes before your clothes are done, that's plenty of time to work on it."
James rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yeah, yeah. So you-" want to stay, was what James wanted to ask, but maybe that was too much. Logan had already said he had his own work to do, after all. And the reasons James wanted him to stay went beyond simply friendly and into unfortunate-crush territory, so. Best to avoid temptation. "You're, uh, gonna be able to stop by tomorrow?" He couldn't help sounding hopeful, though.
"Yeah, I should be. Around seven? Will that work?"
James nodded. "Am I feeding you again?"
"Ha, no, I'll eat before I come over," Logan told him with a grin. "Well, I have to finish up some reading, so…see you tomorrow?"
"Yep. Thanks for coming to my rescue again."
"Anytime," Logan said, before looking almost startled and turning away quickly. He was out the door before James could ask what was wrong.
"Weird," James said to the closed door. That was okay, though. No one was perfect.
--
James actually did work on his paper, right up until the time he got a text that said 'Don't let your clothes sit in the dryer or they'll get wrinkly'.
He laughed and sent one back. 'Pretty sure i asked for a tutor not a nanny'
But Logan did have a point, so James got up anyway. He was in the elevator when he got the reply.
'Changed my mind. Next 'emergency', you're on your own.'
It was a sign of how good James was feeling about this whole friendship thing at the moment that his first reaction was amusement rather than frantic worry. That happened, but secondly and sort of in the background. 'I take it back ur a gr8 nanny dont hate me :(', he typed out on his way to the laundry room.
He still had a few minutes before the first load was done, so he hopped back up on a washer to watch his clothes spin and wait for Logan's reply. He saw movement as someone walked in the room and for a split-second wondered if Logan had decided to come help anyway, but it wasn't him. The guy looked vaguely familiar, though, and smiled politely at James so James smiled back, then realized he might be in the way. "Oh, do you need this washer?"
"Nah, you're good," the guy said, and started loading clothes into another machine. James sort of watched him without meaning to. The guy was attractive, even in his obvious laundry day attire of running shorts and a t-shirt. Or maybe he was planning on going for a run while his clothes were washing. Did Logan run? Would he want to go running with James? How do you ask someone you're not supposed to have a crush on if they want to go running?
"Didn't want to wash the pants, too?"
James blinked, looking up at the guy's face once he realized that question was for him. The guy was giving him a sort of sidelong glance as he measured out detergent, and for the second time that night James realized someone was hitting on him. College was awesome.
"Um," James said, intelligently. He handled guys flirting with him so much better at parties. Or choir competitions. But he didn't exactly want to duck into a dark corner or closet to make out with this dude, so he didn't really know where else to go from here.
Until he did. "Laundry day, you know," James said, letting a small, flirty smile creep on his face. "It was either the sweats or nothing, and as much as some people might appreciate the nothing, I didn't want to get written up."
That was…a really lame line, and also a lie because James was definitely wearing underwear. He was afraid of what the guy would say next, so when his phone buzzed he turned to it intently.
'How's your paper coming?'
James frowned at his phone. For a second he couldn't even remember what he and Logan had been talking about, but when he looked back at the other texts to check he saw that response really had just come out of nowhere. Apparently Logan was dodging the whole 'nanny' thing entirely.
'Good' he sent back. Then, after a second: 'I think i just got hit on again'
The buzz of a washer starting made James jump a little, and he looked up to see the guy setting his laundry bag and detergent on a table. James wondered if he should say something else; this was the first guy at college who had shown interest in him, so maybe he shouldn't let him get away?
"See you around," the guy said, with part of a smile and an acknowledgment-nod in James's direction, and then he turned to leave.
"Yeah, see you," James said hastily as the guy walked out the door. He sighed at the empty space then looked down at his phone when he got a new message.
'Are you just bragging?'
James laughed before typing 'Maybe :)' and sending it. No need to tell Logan the utter failure flirting back had been.
Then his clothes were done and James got up to start putting them in the bags. He didn't think to bring hangers this time, and he knew he should probably fold everything so it didn't get wrinkly…but wrinkled clothes meant time spent with Logan learning how to iron so he just started shoving everything in. When the dryers were all empty James hefted two of the bags over his shoulder and checked the text he'd gotten. It was just one word: 'Jerk.'
His first thought was to send back 'I'm sure you get hit on all the time, genius smartasses are totally hot' but decided that would not be the best idea. So instead he just sent a ':D' before pocketing his phone, picking up the last laundry bag and heading back upstairs to finish his paper.
Part 4
Word Count: ~4,600 / 40,000+
For bigtimebang
Previous: Part 1 | Part 2
----
Auditions…did not go well. James wasn't really expecting them to; like he'd told Logan, he was a freshman with next to no experience. He'd only picked theatre as a major instead of music because his mom had made less of a face about it, and so now he was stuck auditioning for a play in front of three people from the theatre department-including his acting class professor-and by the end of it they all had identical confused looks on their faces.
Whatever. He'd get a small part with no lines and he'd probably be on stage for less than a minute and it would be fine. Or maybe they'd just want him to help backstage. James didn't belong backstage, but he was a freshman and college was stupid and singing was better than acting, anyway. Even if he really did want to be in a movie one day. Or lots of movies.
The worst part about the auditions, though, wasn't that James did so badly at his but that he was so nervous beforehand and so unhappy afterwards that he completely missed the opportunity to make new friends. He recognized people from his classes and acknowledged them with a sort of lame little greeting but he didn't really talk to anyone. Two weeks into the semester, and his only friend was the guy he'd bribed into tutoring him.
He missed Kendall and Carlos. Maybe it was time to try to find them. But what would James say to them when he did? What could he say?
Well. If he was only going to have one friend, at least he found a good one.
Logan's good-friend status was cemented Monday night when, after a day full of ups (his one music class was pretty awesome, and French was fun) and downs (Intro to Theatre, where at least half the class laughed at something James said when he was not trying to be funny), James realized his clean-clothing situation had gone from manageable to alarming and he needed to do laundry like, yesterday, then realized about 20 minutes later in the laundry room that he had no idea how to actually work a washing machine. And so he called Logan.
At first James was worried Logan wouldn't pick up; he obviously had a pretty busy schedule. But after three or four rings he answered. "Hello?"
"Logan!" James clutched at the phone. "It's James."
There was a soft chuckle on the other end of the line. "Yeah, I know, cell phones have these things called caller ID. What's up? Calling to set up a time for tomorrow?"
"What? Oh," James said, blinking. He hadn't even thought about that in his laundry-induced panic. "No, I'm having an emergency and I need your help."
"What?" Logan's tone was completely different now, worried and serious instead of amused. "What's wrong? Where are you?"
"I-" James paused, partly because he realized he'd freaked Logan out and partly because he realized how stupid he was about to sound. He took a deep breath to calm his voice and rephrase his answer. "I…am having some trouble with a washing machine."
"You're having-what?" Logan asked. "That's your emergency? Laundry?"
"Hey, I don't have any clothes to wear tomorrow, okay?" James said defensively. "How is that not an emergency?"
"Right, yes, my mistake, that totally qualifies."
"Your sarcasm isn't helping get my clothes clean, Logan."
"I didn't realize getting your clothes clean was my responsibility, James."
"Well, you should have," James shot back, not sure if he was teasing or flirting or just fed up with Logan's sarcasm and still panicking about not having anything to wear. "Look, okay, I just-I don't-I-"
"You've never done laundry before," Logan supplied, like it had just hit him.
"…No," James admitted. That wasn't something to be embarrassed about, right? He was a college freshman, he'd never needed to know how to do laundry before.
Logan laughed again, but it wasn't mocking. "Where are you? Fourth-floor laundry room?"
"Uh, yeah," James said, blinking. He'd just planned on asking Logan to walk him through it on the phone.
"Okay, I'll be up there in a few minutes. Try not to break anything before I get there."
"Ha, ha. And you say I'm funny." James could be sarcastic, too. Take that. But Logan just hung up without replying, because he was a jerk.
James leaned back against the wall of dryers and glared at the washing machines. His panic was gone now; Logan was, once again, going to fix things. And yeah, maybe James should have been able to figure out the whole laundry thing on his own, but if it meant getting to spend more time with Logan he could handle being a victim of his own ignorance. In fact, maybe he should be thanking the overly-complicated machines for giving him an excuse.
Less than five minutes later, Logan showed up to find an already-bored James still leaning against the dryers, eyes closed and singing along to a song in his head. "Wow."
James startled at the word, but not badly. "Thanks," he said, cocking a smile at Logan. "I know my voice is impressive, but it's nice to hear it sometimes."
Logan rolled his eyes. "I was talking about those." He pointed down around James's legs.
James furrowed his eyebrows and looked down. His laundry bags? "What about them?"
"I was wondering how you managed to go over two weeks without doing laundry, but that explains it. That…actually looks like way more than two weeks' worth of clothes, wow."
"I don't like rewearing workout clothes," James explained with a shrug. "They get gross. Plus sometimes a day requires more than one outfit." It was only three bags. They were big bags, yeah, but they weren't completely full or anything. Or at least one of them wasn't.
"Right," Logan said with a laugh. "Okay, well, I guess we should start getting all of those sorted."
"Sorted?"
"Yeah, you know, lights and darks? And heavier versus lighter materials…different fabrics have to be washed differently, and you don't want the colors to run. Right?"
James shook his head. "No, that would be bad. Okay. So what do I do?"
Logan had James bring his laundry bags over to a table in the room, and got him to pull the clothes out and sort them into piles. Handling his dirty underwear right in front of Logan was a little embarrassing, but Logan was being sort of weirdly professional-or, scientific, maybe?-about the whole thing, so it wasn't as bad as it could have been.
"Okay," Logan said when James had finally gotten the last piece of clothing sorted. "Now we load 'em up. Well, by 'we' I mean 'you,' because I'm not touching your dirty laundry. No offense."
"Too bad, I'm offended," James replied, stifling a grin at Logan's rolled eyes. James went to grab for the closest pile-darks, medium-weight fabric-when he realized the old black t-shirt he was wearing fit into that category as well. He tugged it off and added it to the pile before gathering up the clothes and walking over to shove them in a washer.
"Um," Logan said as James straightened up to head back for the next pile. He was looking not-quite at James and his eyes were a little wide.
"What?" James asked without thinking. Then- "Oh! Is this weird? Do guys not do laundry without shirts on?" He looked back at the washing machine, face scrunched up. "I don't really want to go try to find that shirt again…"
"No, it's-it's fine," Logan said, still not really looking at James. Great, I made him uncomfortable, James thought guiltily. But he really didn't want to pull that t-shirt back out. "Not weird, other guys in the building do laundry shirtless…I mean, I don't, but-" Logan shook his head quickly, blushing a little, and James was about to sigh loudly and find the stupid shirt when he spoke up again. "Anyway, go ahead and get the rest of them in so I can show you what to do next."
"Okay." James smiled at being spared the trouble of finding one black t-shirt in a washer full of dark clothing and did what he was told. When all the washers were loaded up, Logan went to the first one and showed James how to put the detergent in and push the buttons for the right settings, explaining how you shouldn't overload the washer or use too much detergent. After that he just told James what to do and watched to make sure he did it.
After James pushed the 'Start' button on the last machine, he beamed at Logan. "I did laundry!"
Logan laughed. "You're doing laundry. This isn't the end of it, you still have to dry them all."
"Fine, I'm doing laundry," James said, rolling his eyes. "But not all of them go in the dryer, I know that much at least."
"Right," Logan said with a nod. "Or well, I figured not all of them did. We'll check the tags before we put them in the dryer. Do you have hangers to put them on?"
"Yeah, in my room." James paused for a moment, and glanced over at the washing machines. "We've got like half an hour before these are done, right? Want to play the PS3 until then?"
"I-" Logan stopped, and looked over at the machines, too, for some reason. "I'm in the middle of homework, I should probably…get back to that."
"Oh," James said, feeling a frown forming and not bothering to stop it. "Yeah, okay, I-I should probably do some work or something, too."
"I'll be back, though," Logan said quickly, and James felt his heartbeat pick up at the words. That was a bad sign. "I mean, to help you with the dryers."
"Okay," James said with an easy grin, ignoring the back of his brain telling him he was being stupid stupid STUPID. "So…meet you back here in 30?"
"Yeah," Logan said, returning the smile before it shifted into that now-familiar smirk. "Don't be late; you were lucky to get the laundry room to yourself like this, but if someone wants a washer and your clothes are just sitting in it they're liable to end up on the floor."
James's eyes went wide. What the hell was wrong with college students that they'd mistreat someone else's clothes that way? "I won't be late," he assured Logan.
James spent the next 25 minutes in his room working out, trying to get rid of that pleasant, warm sort of feeling Logan's smiles left him with by burning it out with the heat of exercise. It was working, too, until he got a text and had to stop.
'Bring hangers. Don't expect me to put anything in the dryers for you if you're late.'
James stuck his tongue out at his phone, grabbed some hangers from his closet and two bottles of tea from his fridge, shoved his keys, ID, and phone in his pocket, then headed back to meet Logan. When he got on the elevator (he had to hit the button with his elbow) there were a few girls on it already, and James smiled at them politely, then asked them to hit the button for the fourth floor.
"Laundry day?" one of them asked, with a nod towards the hangers.
"Oh, yeah," he answered. They all sort of smiled then and it hit him: they were totally checking him out. Well, he couldn't let that go to waste. "Figured if I was washing clothes anyway," he added with a grin, gesturing (as well as he could with his hands full) at his bare chest.
"Guys are lucky they can do that," one of the other girls said.
"I don't think anyone would mind if girls did it, too," James said with a carefully raised eyebrow, hoping his ability to flirt wasn't completely shot from lack of use. Then the elevator doors were opening and he stepped out to giggles from the girls. James grinned. He totally still had it.
"Hey," a voice said when he was a few feet away. He turned to see one of the girls hanging out of the elevator, holding the door open. "What's your name?"
"James," he answered, flashing a smile.
"Fifth floor?"
"Fifth floor," he repeated, confirming. She stepped back into the elevator with a smile, waving as the doors closed.
"You're not late." James spun back around, seeing Logan walking towards him from the other end of the hallway. "Hey, and you brought hangers."
"Yep," James said.
Logan eyed him sort of suspiciously. "And you're grinning in a vaguely creepy manner."
James scoffed. "My grin is not creepy. And I got hit on in the elevator."
Logan rolled his eyes. "Well, you walk around like that…" The eye-roll seemed to spin his whole body, turning him towards the laundry room. James followed him in. "Did you get a number?"
"What? Oh, no. It was a short trip, you know, my room's just one floor up. But one of them asked what my name was."
"Nice," Logan said with a nod, looking away from James as he opened the door on a washing machine.
"Thought you weren't going to put my stuff in the dryer for me," James said teasingly, letting the elevator incident keep his mood up and his romantic thoughts focused on anyone-but-Logan. After all, Logan wasn't the one hitting on him while he was shirtless. If James had even thought that was a possibility he wouldn't have taken the shirt off at all, because he was not messing things up with this one.
"I said I wasn't doing it if you weren't here on time," Logan countered. "This'll go faster if we both work at it. Just check the tags to make sure it doesn't say 'line-dry only' or anything like that."
"Oh," James said, feeling his mood dampened already at the implication that Logan wanted to get away from him as quickly as possible. "Oh, hey, I brought you a drink." He held the bottle out to Logan, and even though it was dumb he hoped Logan would stay to drink it so they could have a few more minutes together.
"Oh, thanks," Logan said, blinking as he took the drink. "You didn't have to do that."
James shrugged. "I was working out when you texted me, so I was thirsty, and I figured if I was bringing a drink for me I should bring one for you, too."
"Oh," Logan said again, looking from James to the bottle and back again. "Well…thanks." He laughed, lightly. "I already said that. Okay, well we should get these washers emptied first, just in case anyone else needs them."
"Right," James agreed, moving to set his drink and the hangers down on top of a washer. He read the tags out loud as he pulled each piece of clothing out (which Logan seemed to find amusing, if the occasional chuckling was anything to go by), before hanging it up if necessary, or putting it in the dryer Logan had assigned for that load. They were using fewer dryers than washers, Logan explained, because they didn't have to worry about colors running together, but it was still important to keep the delicate fabrics away from the heavier ones.
They got all of the clothes loaded in the dryers, and James was moving to close them all when Logan stopped him with a hand held up. "Do you have dryer sheets?"
"Um…" James said, thinking. "In my room. Do I need to go get them? Are they important?"
Logan tilted his head from side to side like he was weighing his answer. "They're not essential. I didn't think to tell you to grab them if you had them…but you should be okay without them. Your clothes might be a little static-y and they won't smell as good, but it shouldn't be a big deal."
"Okay then," James said with a shrug, and closed the dryers. Like with the washers, Logan demonstrated on one how to program the settings and then had James do the others. "Tea time?" James asked once all the dryers were running.
Logan laughed. "Yeah, sure." He hopped up to sit on a washer and opened his bottle. James resisted the urge to watch him take a drink, and instead sat a couple washers over.
"What happens if someone needs to use these?" James asked as he opened his own bottle.
"We move," Logan said with a shrug. "So how were your classes today?"
"Okay, I guess," James answered, watching his clothes go around in circles across from him. "Freshman comp was boring. French was cool, though. My teacher said my accent's good."
"It is." James looked over at Logan in surprise, to see him fiddling with the top on his bottle. Logan glanced up, a half-smile on his face. "French is dumb, but I know how it's supposed to sound. You are pretty good. Did you take it in high school?"
James shook his head. "No, my school only had Spanish. I was going to take Spanish here, too, but it didn't work with my schedule."
Logan made a sound in acknowledgment and nodded. They went back to staring at the dryers, and it had finally occurred to James that he should ask Logan about his classes when Logan spoke again. "So have you finished your paper?"
James cringed. "Not yet?" He glanced over to see Logan giving him a scolding look. "I started on it though!"
"Good. Come on, I'll help you carry your clothes upstairs so you can finish it." He hopped down off the washer.
"But they're not dry yet," James said, confused.
"The ones hanging up, I mean," Logan explained, pointing at the hangers on the bar above the table.
"Oh right." James slid off the washer he'd been sitting on, stretching a little before taking the final swig of his tea and tossing the bottle in the recycling. They divided up the hanging clothes then headed out of the room. "Am I going to have to iron these?"
Logan shrugged as they waited for the elevator. "Maybe. Do you know how?"
"No…" James answered, sort of pathetically.
James couldn't hear Logan laugh, but his shoulders shook a little. "I can show you, if you need me to."
"Okay." James didn't know whether to be embarrassed that he knew so little about how to survive on his own, or just happy that Logan was so willing to help him. At least his mom didn't know how bad he was at this college thing. She'd luckily been way too busy to call to check on him very often.
They'd gotten the clothes up to James's room and hung them up on the lofted bed to dry when an idea struck James. "Hey, will you take a picture?" he asked, grabbing his phone and holding it out to Logan. "For my mom."
Logan took the phone, but was giving James a (sort of hilarious) confused look. "A picture of what?"
"Of my laundry!" James picked up a couple of the hangers again and held them in front of him. "And me. To show her I can take care of myself."
Okay, the sarcastic disbelief all over Logan's face was just rude.
"Whatever, okay, I have you, don't I?" James said, flustered. "Maybe I don't know how to do things but finding someone who does is a survival skill and that totally counts so just-just take the damn picture." Logan raised his eyebrows. "Please?"
"Smile," Logan said, holding the phone up and blocking most of his expression. He was taking the picture, though, so that had to be a good sign.
James did as he was told, beaming triumphantly at the fact he did his own laundry for the first time ever. Maybe not completely on his own, but he was sure his mother would applaud his ability to make such a useful friend. Not that he was using Logan, or anything.
"I'm not using you," James blurted as Logan handed the phone back.
"Um…what?"
James fidgeted a little, worried and really wishing he hadn't said that. "I mean, um, with the tutoring, and calling you with my laundry emergency…I'm not like, trying to take advantage of your genius, or anything."
"Right…" Logan said, slowly, and then started laughing. "Um, I didn't think that you were?"
"Well…good," James said lamely.
"You're a freshman, James," Logan said, taking the hangers out of James's hand and putting them back with the others. "You're on your own for the first time, of course there will be things you don't know. I'm happy to help."
James grinned, but couldn't help his response. "You mean after I chased you down in the library and had to practically beg you for your help."
"That wasn't 'practically'," Logan countered, smirk fully in place, "you were begging. But yes, after that. We're, you know, friends now, so." He shrugged, hands in his pockets.
James had to force himself not to fist-pump. His first official college friend, yes. "So that means I can call you the next time I have an emergency, right?"
"I'm a little concerned at your definition of 'emergency,' James," Logan said, eyebrow raised. "Speaking of, can you handle the final stage of laundry on your own?"
James blinked, thinking about what the 'final stage' was. Then he narrowed his eyes. "I know how to fold clothes, Logan."
"Hey, I didn't know," Logan said, raising his hands, palm-up, in a shrug. "I mean, folding clothes is a delicate art. I'm just trying to help, here."
"Jerk," James said through a grin.
"Yeah, you say that now, just wait and see what happens if you don't have your paper done tomorrow. You've got like 40 minutes before your clothes are done, that's plenty of time to work on it."
James rolled his eyes and sighed. "Yeah, yeah. So you-" want to stay, was what James wanted to ask, but maybe that was too much. Logan had already said he had his own work to do, after all. And the reasons James wanted him to stay went beyond simply friendly and into unfortunate-crush territory, so. Best to avoid temptation. "You're, uh, gonna be able to stop by tomorrow?" He couldn't help sounding hopeful, though.
"Yeah, I should be. Around seven? Will that work?"
James nodded. "Am I feeding you again?"
"Ha, no, I'll eat before I come over," Logan told him with a grin. "Well, I have to finish up some reading, so…see you tomorrow?"
"Yep. Thanks for coming to my rescue again."
"Anytime," Logan said, before looking almost startled and turning away quickly. He was out the door before James could ask what was wrong.
"Weird," James said to the closed door. That was okay, though. No one was perfect.
--
James actually did work on his paper, right up until the time he got a text that said 'Don't let your clothes sit in the dryer or they'll get wrinkly'.
He laughed and sent one back. 'Pretty sure i asked for a tutor not a nanny'
But Logan did have a point, so James got up anyway. He was in the elevator when he got the reply.
'Changed my mind. Next 'emergency', you're on your own.'
It was a sign of how good James was feeling about this whole friendship thing at the moment that his first reaction was amusement rather than frantic worry. That happened, but secondly and sort of in the background. 'I take it back ur a gr8 nanny dont hate me :(', he typed out on his way to the laundry room.
He still had a few minutes before the first load was done, so he hopped back up on a washer to watch his clothes spin and wait for Logan's reply. He saw movement as someone walked in the room and for a split-second wondered if Logan had decided to come help anyway, but it wasn't him. The guy looked vaguely familiar, though, and smiled politely at James so James smiled back, then realized he might be in the way. "Oh, do you need this washer?"
"Nah, you're good," the guy said, and started loading clothes into another machine. James sort of watched him without meaning to. The guy was attractive, even in his obvious laundry day attire of running shorts and a t-shirt. Or maybe he was planning on going for a run while his clothes were washing. Did Logan run? Would he want to go running with James? How do you ask someone you're not supposed to have a crush on if they want to go running?
"Didn't want to wash the pants, too?"
James blinked, looking up at the guy's face once he realized that question was for him. The guy was giving him a sort of sidelong glance as he measured out detergent, and for the second time that night James realized someone was hitting on him. College was awesome.
"Um," James said, intelligently. He handled guys flirting with him so much better at parties. Or choir competitions. But he didn't exactly want to duck into a dark corner or closet to make out with this dude, so he didn't really know where else to go from here.
Until he did. "Laundry day, you know," James said, letting a small, flirty smile creep on his face. "It was either the sweats or nothing, and as much as some people might appreciate the nothing, I didn't want to get written up."
That was…a really lame line, and also a lie because James was definitely wearing underwear. He was afraid of what the guy would say next, so when his phone buzzed he turned to it intently.
'How's your paper coming?'
James frowned at his phone. For a second he couldn't even remember what he and Logan had been talking about, but when he looked back at the other texts to check he saw that response really had just come out of nowhere. Apparently Logan was dodging the whole 'nanny' thing entirely.
'Good' he sent back. Then, after a second: 'I think i just got hit on again'
The buzz of a washer starting made James jump a little, and he looked up to see the guy setting his laundry bag and detergent on a table. James wondered if he should say something else; this was the first guy at college who had shown interest in him, so maybe he shouldn't let him get away?
"See you around," the guy said, with part of a smile and an acknowledgment-nod in James's direction, and then he turned to leave.
"Yeah, see you," James said hastily as the guy walked out the door. He sighed at the empty space then looked down at his phone when he got a new message.
'Are you just bragging?'
James laughed before typing 'Maybe :)' and sending it. No need to tell Logan the utter failure flirting back had been.
Then his clothes were done and James got up to start putting them in the bags. He didn't think to bring hangers this time, and he knew he should probably fold everything so it didn't get wrinkly…but wrinkled clothes meant time spent with Logan learning how to iron so he just started shoving everything in. When the dryers were all empty James hefted two of the bags over his shoulder and checked the text he'd gotten. It was just one word: 'Jerk.'
His first thought was to send back 'I'm sure you get hit on all the time, genius smartasses are totally hot' but decided that would not be the best idea. So instead he just sent a ':D' before pocketing his phone, picking up the last laundry bag and heading back upstairs to finish his paper.
Part 4