Remember the
previous oh-oh from earlier today? guess what...
but writing a series to fulfill multiple clichés is discouraged.
I don't just oh-oh once baby, I do it in multiples.
Am I thrown for a loop? Well, maybe a teensy tiny bit. But, while the next part of Sensual Magic is in the hands of a brave, courageous beta -- I did this. Technically it will finish one bingo line. Well, technically if you consider your washer and dryer as robotic machines...
Written for
cliche_bingo Title: Wash n' Wear
Cliche: Androids & Robots
Pairing: John/Rodney
Rating: G
Word Count: 618
Summary: The boys do laundry together. Literally.
Wash n' Wear
Rodney was worried about John. He wasn’t humming along with his usual vigor. Usually John could put out heat like nobody’s business, teasing Rodney with his variable drum speed.
Things hadn’t been the same since the mistress of the house had tossed her sneakers into John to dry. The banging and rattling from John’s spin dry had been frightening.
Rodney shuddered. He hadn’t been fond of washing the smelly things and he had every intention of exacting revenge. Mistress wouldn’t be finding matching pairs of socks for quite some time.
John and Rodney hadn’t been sold as a matched set. John had come to Rodney's laundry room, second-hand from a co-ed dorm. Rodney figured that was probably where John’s fluff issues came from. Too much low temperature cycling could cause a complex in a machine like John. He was a Maytag for pity’s sake, tough, dedicated, and designed for heat and speed.
Rodney swore. The first co-ed that messed with John again would find white splatters decorating her wardrobe. He’d be ruthless with his bleach dispenser. Sure it was wrong, and the other Frigidaires would disapprove. Rodney didn’t care. They weren’t on his team anymore, John was.
Side by side they’d handled every article of laundry the mistress gave them. Rodney had thrown himself into the challenge. He could handle jeans, towels, knits and delicates. Rodney was very proud of the fact that nothing went through his rinse cycle twice without coming out clean. - There was that one unfortunate instance with the master’s white tee shirt, but Rodney didn’t like to think about it. It wasn’t his fault Mistress had loaded it in with her red sweater.
And then there had been the summer of the …bed-wetters. John had gotten him through load after load of agonizing stress. He’d never been so exhausted in his mechanical life. Side by side, the two of them worked, day after endless day. Rodney didn’t think it would ever end but John never let him give up. Together they’d performed miracles of fresh smelling, downy softness.
But now John was having a hard time finishing his drying cycle. It pained Rodney to watch him attempt a high speed spin just to have it grind to a halt. John’s hot air was listless, barely able to dry anything at all.
Rodney had tried to help. He’d pumped up his final spin, wringing as much water out of his load as possible. He knew if he could get it most of the water out, if he could achieve ‘damp’, then John wouldn’t have to work so hard.
Nothing seemed to help. It looked like John was going to need a belt replacement. At least Mistress had brains enough to get John fixed and not replace him with a newer model. They just didn’t make dryers like John anymore. Rodney's own belt did a little skip. John had…John was... large capacity.
Rodney was never so grateful to see the Maytag Repairman in his life.
He watched closely as the repairman knelt next to John. Even though it was difficult to watch John’s panels come off, Rodney couldn’t look away. He winced when he saw the size of the tools and when John was unplugged from the socket, Rodney’s own voltage surged in sympathy.
Thank goodness the procedure was over quickly and in no time at all John was looking as smug and well lubed as ever. The repairman gave John a friendly little pat as he finished. Rodney heard him tell Mistress that John was a quality machine. With a little care and regular filter cleaning he had years left of service.
Rodney hummed a little spin of relief, and vibrated just a little bit closer to John.
eta*coff* Now with John's pov
Hung to Dry My Card