#tuskofthyme gave me the encouragement to write this post so. thank u :^)

[sarcasmic-skies]

the dead poets vs. laundry 🧺

based on this post by @tuskofthyme <3

i’ve worked in the laundry industry for 4+ yrs so i feel qualified to speak on the matter 😌✨(jokes!)

**i wrote these hcs under the assumption the welton boys are responsible for their own laundry & i tried to adjust to be accurate to 1959!! the first bullet points for charlie & knox i based on a guy my sister knew in college! he was from vermont & yes, that’s the god-honest truth. it makes me laugh every time i think abt it, which is at least once a day

charlie:

him & knox never learned how to do laundry so they just. buy new clothes whenever they run out of clean ones. meeks & todd are horrified.

purchases only name-brand garments. never looks at price tags (trust fund baby)

calls the laundromat a “laundry-mat”

charlie’s mother washes his clothes for him whenever he’s home. he always says thank-you and kisses her on the cheek <3 (he’s a mama’s boy)

after rowing practice he throws his dirty uniform in a pile in the corner of his & cameron’s room. the pile grows through the term, along with mold and mildew :)

favorite garment: a bright pink polo shirt he bought after reading ‘a separate peace’ (1959)

has really nice clothes but doesn’t take care of em (“i can’t put my leather jacket in the washing machine??! what do you mean i’m gonna ruin it?!? cows don’t get ruined when it rains!!!”)

once, charlie was trying to be funny and got stuck in one of the dryers at the laundromat. it took the combined efforts of pitts, meeks, todd, neil, and knox to pull him out.

neil:

watched his mother do the laundry growing up & learned by observation. his aunt taught him how to sew at the age of twelve

always lays his beloved wool sweaters flat to dry so they wont shrink in the dryer

hangs his pants with a crease. color-codes his closet. repairs any tears in his clothes with his travel-size mending kit

pairs & rolls his socks, most of which are argyle

embroiders tiny hearts on the inside of all his sweater sleeve cuffs for todd to find

goes with todd, meeks, and pitts to the laundromat every sunday after welton’s mass

gave up on trying to teach charlie proper garment care years ago (he refuses to learn)

always makes an effort to look polished and sharp. takes really good care of his clothes. mr. perry loves to remind neil that “appearances are everything”

likes to read the movie magazines at the laundromat. gossips with the older women about montgomery clift, rock hudson, and tab hunter

has to fight the urge to jump in one of the laundry carts and roll around the store every time he’s there bc carpe diem!

todd:

he’s helped his mom with the laundry from the time he could reach the dials on the washing machine. todd’s learned just about everything there is to know abt household laundry & can fold fitted sheets. perfectly <3

todd finds laundry very calming and satisfying. nice to turn his brain off and just focus on folding & hanging his clothes nicely :,)

jeff always said “thanks little man” when todd ‘delivered’ clean clothes to him. todd misses that. a lot. so does jeff.

wardrobe comprised of almost exclusively jeff’s hand-me-downs (they are a little big on him)

is a GOD when it comes to getting stains out. not even spilled ink can withstand his technique

hangs his pants with a crease, doesn’t fold em. ALWAYS checks the pockets before washing

enjoys the trips to the laundromat more than he lets on. helps him feel less homesick

pairs & rolls his socks, organizes them by color in his drawer

always checks garment tags for proper care instructions. hates having to pay for drycleaning

meeks:

neil taught him & pitts the art of laundry

measures out the detergent with the utmost precision. refuses to use bleach

does not separate darks from lights from whites (“after you’ve washed them a few times the colors shouldn’t bleed or transfer! i refuse to do multiple loads!”)

does pitts’ laundry for him helps pitts with his laundry

always brings extra change for the jukebox <3

keeps forgetting he has pens in his shirt pockets and they explode in the wash. ink ends up all over his clothes more than a few times. (todd comes to the rescue in these situations)

not fantastic at folding but better than some

washes everything on ‘cold’ (“it conserves energy & water”), dries everything on ‘low’ (meeks is terrified of starting a dryer fire)

helps the older women in the laundromat a lot. they always compliment him and try to set him up with their daughters, nieces, granddaughters, etc. (“such a nice boy!”)

pitts:

forgets to check the pockets of his clothes before loading them in the washing machine

washes everything on ‘hot’ (“it sanitizes the fabrics!”), dries everything on ‘high’ (then wonders why his pants keep getting shorter)

doesn’t fold his clean clothes, just puts em in a basket. refuses to pair his socks

is asked to help fold sheets, comforters, quilts, etc. by the older ladies in the laundromat all the time bc he is so TALL! pitts is always happy to assist <3

endlessly appreciative whenever meeks does laundry for him

made the mistake of putting a brand new pair of red socks in with the whites the first time he washed his clothes by himself. his undershirts, underwear, socks, & rowing sweater all came out bright pink, like marilyn monroe’s satin dress in ‘gentlemen prefer blondes’. charlie never let him hear the end of it.

cameron:

gets up early every morning to press his shirts & crease his pants with his personal clothes iron

uses sock garters to keep his nylon stretch socks up. sometimes forgets to unclip them & they go through the wash lol

for the longest time he was using shirt hangers for pants and pant hangers for shirts. charlie pointed it out. they argued about it for 20+ minutes (“how would you know? you don’t even do your own laundry!” “big deal! anyone can tell the difference! haven’t you ever picked up dry cleaning?!” “sure i have, but who pays attention to the hangers?!” “i want a divorce, richard”)

bleaches his whites to keep em ✨pristine✨

sometimes overfills the dryer. forgets to clean out the lint trap. gets his quarters stuck in the machines. a lot.

pretreats all stains. scrubs them out with his designated laundry toothbrush and powder soap (this is the most time-consuming part of cam’s laundering process). he’ll ask todd for advice if a stain is particular stubborn

pairs & folds his socks in half like a heathen

his mother hand-sews labels with his full name on em into every single article of clothing he owns. he refuses to be made fun of for this

knox:

no idea how to do laundry. absolutely no clue. like charlie, he buys new clothes whenever he runs out of clean ones

always forgets to cut the sale tags off and remove the big paper collar stays n shirt pins from his new clothes n dress shirts. neil helps.

knox overstreet alone keeps the town dry cleaners in business with the two-dozen cashmere cardigans he drops off each month

“i have nothing to wear!” “knoxious i swear to god if you say that one more time i am going to slap you into next week”

tagged along to help the poets with their laundry once. started a dryer fire. twice.

his dad bought him his first ever pair of blue jeans, the exact same as those worn by james dean in ‘rebel without a cause’ (“don’t tell your mother”). knoxious refuses to wash them, he’s convinced they’ll get ruined. knox & charlie start to call them his ‘james jeans’