Disclaimer - Noblesse and all the characters belong to Son Jae Ho and Lee Gwang Su

M-21 stared blankly down at the soapy plate and sponge he held in his hands, vaguely wondering just how many plates he'd washed thus far. Plates, and bowls, and cups, and forks, and pans, and that... that... He lifted a bizarre-looking metal cooking utensil out of the sink, but couldn't identify what it was used for. Letting it drop into the soapy water again, he sighed slightly.

Night after night, he was always stuck at the sink, washing dishes. At least he had Takeo there for company. Though they didn't actually talk to one another, as Frankenstein had reprimanded them for speaking the one time they'd tried. Apparently it distracted them from the washing.

Or maybe the blond man had simply wanted to vent his frustrations over getting his house muddled up every evening by his master's school friends.

Whatever the situation had been, M-21 was getting very bored with his constant dish washing duties. Frankenstein could have at least mixed up their chores every once and a while to keep things fresh. Or as fresh as doing household chores could be, anyway. Even cleaning the living room with Regis the Shrimpy Runt seemed to be gaining more appeal than standing around with his arms up to the elbows in hot, soapy water for hours on end.

And even if he never got assigned something else, why couldn't Frankenstein buy a dishwasher? He surely had enough money to buy one, and M-21 was certain that Frankenstein would also approve of the time-efficiency of such a machine. After all, he definitely liked promptness.

That night, once all the children had left at last, M-21 lowered himself onto the seat opposite Frankenstein, watching silently as he sifted through various papers. Frankenstein glanced up a moment later, quirking an eyebrow questioningly. "Yes?"

M-21 suddenly felt rather uncomfortable, and looked away from Frankenstein's gaze. Randomly asking for a dishwasher seemed a bit rude. And strange. "I was just wondering something," M-21 finally said, turning to look back at the other man again.

"And what might that be?" Frankenstein inquired, a polite smile turning one corner of his mouth upward as he sat up straight.

"Well, I wanted to ask you," M-21 answered quietly, wishing Frankenstein would stop looking at him. "About the dishes, I was wondering if you would buy a dishwasher?"

Frankenstein stared at him expressionlessly for several long moments, and M-21 inwardly sighed. Apparently it had been too demanding of him, after all. Standing up, he walked away from the squashy couches. "Never mind."

"Wait," Frankenstein called softly, causing M-21 to pause and look over his shoulder. "I think it's a good idea."

Frankenstein stood and walked past him, into the kitchen area. "A very good idea," he mused, running his eyes over the spacious counters. He glanced at M-21 and faintly smirked. "You could have asked earlier on, if you had wanted one. I'll have one installed by tomorrow night," he informed, patting one hand on top of the smooth counter top.

M-21 nodded in relief. That had been easy.

The next evening, M-21 loaded the brand new dishwasher, and shut the door. It gave a satisfying click as M-21 crouched down to set the correct wash cycle running. Smiling at his odd feeling of triumph, he stood after the machine whirred to life, and stretched himself out. No more dish washing.

"M-21," Frankenstein called. M-21 looked up, feeling somewhat startled at Frankenstein's sneakiness. He hadn't heard him approach.

Frankenstein ignored M-21's wide-eyed look, beckoned to him, and walked away.

Giving one last glance to the dishwasher, M-21 followed after as Frankenstein led him down the hallway, and they stopped outside one of the doors. Frankenstein slowly opened it, stepped inside, and emerged a moment later with a vacuum cleaner in hand. Smiling brightly, Frankenstein thrust the vacuum at M-21 as if he was giving him some sort of present. "Here you are!"

M-21 looked at him blankly as he slowly took the vacuum. Why hadn't he predicted this? Of course Frankenstein would have planned some other chore or another for M-21 to do now that the dishwasher had taken his place in the kitchen.

Regardless of his dissatisfaction with the situation, he patiently listened to Frankenstein's lengthy instructions on how to use the vacuum, as apparently Frankenstein had built the vacuum himself and it was different than normal vacuums, though M-21 wasn't sure he really wanted to know just how it differed from the normal vacuums. Frankenstein also informed him of which rooms to vacuum and when, and how to shampoo the carpets.

After what seemed like a year, Frankenstein finally stopped talking, gave M-21 a pat on his shoulder, and wished him good luck before returning to the living room where M-21 was sure he was going to drink tea with his master, leaving the work to him.

Staring at the closet door for a moment longer, M-21 finally sighed, shut the door, and slowly walked down the hallway to start his new chore.

It was nearly midnight when M-21 finally finished vacuuming all of the pointless rooms in Frankenstein's pointlessly huge house, and returned the vacuum to its closet before slowly plodding to his bedroom. He felt somewhat startled as he nearly ran into Takeo when he turned a corner. "Sorry," he said quietly, stepping to one side so Takeo could go past.

When Takeo didn't move to walk away, M-21 glanced at him, and his eyes widened. Hatred was etched into every corner of Takeo's face. His fists were curled around themselves as if he was contemplating punching M-21.

M-21 opened his mouth to ask what was wrong, but Tao popped up over Takeo's shoulder, and gave him an apologetic look. Putting his hands on Takeo's shoulders, he steered the man down the hallway. "Come on, let's go. 'Night, M-21!"

"Goodnight," M-21 returned, glancing at them in bewilderment as they disappeared into Takeo's bedroom.

"Pull yourself together," M-21 heard Tao say before the door was shut. "Your new chores can't be that bad!"

"You weren't there, you wouldn't know!" Takeo snapped back, sounding somewhat hysterical.

M-21 quickly resumed his walk to his bedroom, wondering what in the world Frankenstein had reassigned Takeo with.