Reaper's Angel

[Gunneh]

He’d always enjoyed the smell of fabric softener in the morning. Ok, let’s not put it that way because that’s the most cliche anyone could put it. The fact of the matter is, though, that he had a connection with this place because it gave him a connection to her. It wasn’t anything spectacular, of course, but seeing her every Thursday made him feel better than most anything else could. A picture of her face ran through his head as he pushed the door to the laundromat open, a white, plastic basket full of clothes held under his arm securely. He looked around the room carefully, inspecting the faces of everyone that inhabited the building on a typical Thursday morning and found that hers was not among the regular crowd. It worried him a bit, but he kept it under wraps just as best as he could as he slammed the basket on top of the washer beside his regular one.

“You’re losing it, J,” a voice in his ear said. He’d have told anyone that it was just his ‘inner voice’ having a little chat with him, but there’s was no way he could reasonably do that, especially since he had an earbud in his right ear that was feeding directly into some unmarked van somewhere a block or two away. “Just because she isn’t here doesn’t mean a damn thing. Besides, you really don’t need a fucking distraction as it is: We already have a hard enough time keeping your shit in line without some pretty little tart making it that much more difficult.”

He flipped off a nearby security camera and half-smiled as he lifted the lid on a nearby washing machine and started to sort through his dirty unmentionables to find a nice, decent sized load of whites. His eyes darted towards the door as a few more started to make their way inside, but they weren’t her and he quickly lost interest. He measured out the recommended amount of washing detergent, tossed in a cup of liquid fabric softener, shut the lid with a little more force than called for and started his cycle, all in silence.

“Cross reference her name with any hospital and just about anything else,” he mumbled, trying not to be heard as he sorted the colored clothes into the next pile. “If she’s made any kind of significant moves in the last twenty-four hours, I want to know about it.”

“Jesus Christ, J,” the male voice replied. “We barely do this much fucking research on a goddamn target, but you’re wanting us to do it for some broad you’ve got a crush on?”

“Fuck you,” he said, barely above a whisper as he shot a smile and a curt nod to a brunette woman as she made her way in. Beautiful lady, yes, but it still wasn’t her so he still didn’t care. “Do it because I need to know to feel less paranoid and trigger happy if nothing else, alright?”

“Right, whatever,” he voice returned. There was a minute’s worth of silence as the man on the other end of the line checked everything, and then he heard a sigh. “Nothing. Would you like me to call every childhood friend and boyfriend to see if she’s been sleeping around on you while I’m at it?”

“Unnecessary,” he said, an actual smile blossoming across his face. “I see her right now. Radio silence until otherwise noted. How copy?”

“Wilco, asshole,” the man on the other end replied. “Out.”

[sobamushi]

Laundry was not supposed to be fun, it always took up so much time, time wasted walking around in circles and reading out of date magazines. That was the case until one day he showed up. Tina smiled inwardly as she struggled with her large basket, being careful to not drop anything as she hurried down the two blocks from her apartment to the laundromat. It was Thursday, and although she was late, she hoped he would be there like he had been for the past little while.

Jesse.

His name was all she knew about him, maybe that was what kept it so interesting, so...delicious, he was a blank canvas that she could fill with whatever colours and patterns she liked. She imagined his toothy smile, the way it lit up his eyes and her heart and cringed in guilt. Tina bit her lip slightly and slowed down her hurrying steps, she shouldn't be having these thoughts about another man. Subconsciously she brought her small fingers to touch the corner of her left eye and winced, the slap from Jason this morning had landed high and caught her in the temple, causing her world to spin and her stomach to heave. It was also the reason why she left so much later today, as she gathered her wits and tried to pretend nothing had happened.

Tina bowed her head slightly, her temporary good mood evaporated, she knew the few hours spent at the laundromat with Jesse was a dream, eventually she would wake up to the reality of her world. Jason was that reality, his tender touch laced with poison slowly sapping away her strength until one day she would simply disappear, that was her reality. She remembered all the hidden bruises under the blouse and smiled bitterly, maybe his touch wasn’t so gentle after all.

The laundromat door swung open with the crisp jingle of a little bell as Tina pushed it with her shoulder. Anxiously her eyes darted around room as she scanned through the crowd, searching for the face she had grown to know so well. It was busier than usual and Tina was almost ready to give up when she spotted him, a slow smile tugged at the corners of her lips as she made her way quickly towards him.

Jesse turned towards her and his smile both warmed and excited her, it was filled with such joy and genuine affection that for a moment she allowed herself to indulge the thought that the smile was just for her. The gap between them decreased rapidly until she was looking up into his bottomless eyes, even losing herself in them just a little, and dropped the heavy basket by her feet.

“Morning,” Tina chirped and looked towards the floor, hoping the cascade of black hair would cover up the bruise that was starting to throb on her left temple. Quickly Tina bent down to start sorting through her basket, separating the whites and colours. “Hope you didn’t miss me too much, I got caught up at home.”

[Gunneh]

"How much is too much," he asked, his smile broadening, "because I did miss you quite a bit. Luckily, I don't have to worry about that anymore because you're right here." He hopped onto the top of his washer and sat down, the smile never leaving his face. He loved watching her sort through her clothes, as weird as that sounds. There was something almost graceful about it. His eyes drifted down from the crown of her head to her hands to her feet and all the way back up before he spoke.

"How about you, babydoll," he asked. "You didn't miss me enough to leave your douchebag for me yet, did you? That offer is still on the table, you know: Dinner, a movie, and then Paris. And that's just the first date, mind you."

[sobamushi]

Tina stole a glance at the man whose feet dangled back and forth, like a child sitting on a stool, and smiled to herself as she continued to sort through her basket.

"How about you, babydoll. You didn't miss me enough to leave your douchebag for me yet, did you? That offer is still on the table, you know: Dinner, a movie, and then Paris. And that's just the first date, mind you."

Her smile wavered slightly and her hands shook before dropping the last sock into the colour pile. Wouldn’t it be nice to just drop everything and take the offer, but she knew she couldn’t, couldn’t leave Jason even if her life depended on it. In a sense, it did. With a soft grunt Tina lifted the basket onto the dryer, her hands automatically went through the familiar motions as she looked at Jesse, the smile back on her face.

“You know what the answer it,” she replied lightly. “Though it is a generous offer, I’d love to see Paris.” Before she met Jesse she would run two or three machines at once, but now even doing three loads in one machine seemed like it would finish too quickly. Tina checked all the setting one last time before dropping the basket back onto the tiled floor and jumping up to sit on the washer next to Jesse’s, her feet dangling just a few inches above his.

“You’re sweet though,” Tina shifted closer until their elbows touched and leaned in to give Jesse a peck on the cheek. “I thought I’d missed you today. How come you’re here so late?”

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