DragonEscence Asked: Do they groom each other? Maybe that?

"What if I just took off an ear. It's not like he ever listens to anybody anyways. He won't miss one." Keith wheedles, from where he's perched on the bathroom counter. Lance had seen fit to leave behind a little 'surprise' for Keith, while he was away escorting some of their new allies home. Keith had walked into Red's hangar earlier only to have something purple and sticky dump all over his head. He doesn't know what it was, but it had quickly set in his hair and on his skin. He's been trying to convince Shiro to let him enact bloody retribution ever since.

"You can't maim your teammate, babe. We need him. If you want revenge you're going to have to get creative," Shiro says, from where he's running a bath. When he had finally stopped laughing at Keith's predicament, he'd offered to help get him clean. Keith had nearly turned him down in a fit of pique.

"I can be creative in my maiming," Keith chirps, watching the water rise. Their bath tub is huge. Could easily fit three grown sized men with no discomfort. Makes sense considering the varying species of differing sizes that have used these quarters in the past.

Shiro snorts, "Answer's still no. Now strip. Bath's ready." Shiro turns off the water and eyes him up and down, "Unless you need my help with that?" He asks.

"I think I can manage," Keith says, tugging off his shirt and pants to fall in a heap on the floor. Surprisingly, Shiro is not staring at the skin he reveals. Keith had thought, when his mate had first offered to help him, it meant that they were going to have sexy times in the shower. He'd been rather disappointed to find out he was the only one getting undressed. "So why a bath?" Keith asks leaning over to test the water temperature himself. Shiro is behind him picking up his discarded clothes to toss in the hamper. He's always been fastidious like that. The water is perfect, nice and hot, but not quite scalding. Just like he likes it.

"If we are going to get this off, you need to soak first." Shiro says. That makes sense, he'll just have to rinse off afterward to get off any left over residue.

There is still one very important question that hasn't been answered, "What about the bubbles?" The entirety of the bath is covered in a couple inches of fluffy whiteness. Keith doesn't even know how Shiro got the stuff to make them. Had Coran given it to him, or had he snuck off to the space mall while Keith wasn't looking?

Shiro shoots him a shit eating grin, "Oh those, that's just because you're cute as kittens, when you're covered in them." He laughs when Keith slings soap and water at him, "Okay, okay, babe," Keith's feet leave the ground as Shiro hauls him up into his arms, "That's enough," He sets Keith gently down in the water, "You stay here, and let your hair soak. I'm going to grab some things."

"Fine, go, leave me forever, again." Shiro chuckles at his dramatics and presses a kiss to his temple before leaving the room.

As soon as he's out of sight, Keith goes about the very tricky business of getting his hair underwater without having bubbles flow up over his face. The task is made harder when he figures out that while they may be light and fluffy like regular bubbles, whatever Shiro used to make them is not the normal bubble bath ingredients. These things won't pop for love or money. Slipping between his fingers when he claps his hands together. He's glad getting rid of them afterward is going to be a Shiro job.

"Alright, back," Keith looks up to see the older alpha is indeed back with a box full of things he can't see from this angle and for some reason he's taken off his grey undershirt but kept his vest on. Keith doesn't mind the extra peek at skin, but he'd really prefer that Shiro went ahead and stripped everything off and joined him in the tub instead.

"What did you get?" Keith asks, sitting up as Shiro sits down on the opposite side of the rim. He scoots over to the edges so he can peer into the box.

"Shampoo, soap, bath stuff, and oh! This!" Shiro says, with a goofy grin on his face. He presents a green plastic thing for Keith's examination. He thinks it is supposed to be a stylized representation of an Altean water monster he remembers being told about, but it also might just be a weird blob with eyes and teeth, "It's a rubber ducky!" Shiro explains excitedly, when Keith gives him a dubious look, "I was telling Coran about things humans have in baths," Keith really wants to know how that conversation got started, "And when I told him about rubber duckies he got really excited and explained the Alteans had similar toys of their water creatures. Apparently, this was one of Coran's favorites growing up. He said he didn't want it anymore, so we could have it!" Shiro drops the toy in the water then starts pushing it towards Keith, still grinning like an idiot and now humming the Jaw's theme song. His mate has officially reverted to five years old.

"Really showing off that leap year baby status." Keith says with a sigh and a raised eyebrow. He snatches the toy from Shiro's hand, giving it a squeeze. Huh, the air hole is in the mouth. Hmmmmm, a plan quickly develops. Keith drops the thing under the bubbles so he can fill it with water. A quick glance tells him that Shiro is rifling through the box again and hasn't noticed what he's up to. As Shiro pulls something out the box, Keith lifts his chosen weapon into the air. Shiro looks up, and Keith squeezes down. Simultaneously, there is stream of water shooting towards Shiro as a flash of light blinds Keith. Shiro sputters and Keith tries to blink the stars out of his eyes.

When Keith can see again, Shiro is looking down at his wet vest with sad puppy eyes. Keith almost feels bad, until he notices just what Shiro has in his hand. It's one of the recorders Coran is so fond of, and floating above it is a projection of Keith. There are tufts of white bubbles sticking out of his hair and sluicing down his purple splotched torso. The toy can be clearly seen in his hands.

Keith lunges for the little box. Shiro shoves him back into the tub with his Galra hand then holds him there until he can toss the recorder up to the counter and safety. "Shiro, I swear. If you share that picture with anyone, I will murder you, mates or not," Keith warns.

"Ah babe," Shiro drags him to the rim where he can nuzzle at the side of his face, heedless of how it coats his own hair bubbles or how Keith is glaring at him, "You're so cute, though. The whole universe should know."

"Shiro," Keith growls, nipping at his nose as the older alpha laughs.

Shiro sighs dramatically, "Well, it'll be a hardship, but I guess I can keep the proof of your cuteness to myself." Shiro gives him a quick peck to the cheek, "Now put your hair back under. We'll let you soak a bit more, then see if this stuff is wet enough to get out with shampoo." Keith pulls away. He smiles to himself, when he gets a clear view of just how much whiter Shiro's hair has gotten from rubbing on him. Serves him right.

When he slips under, the water is still that perfect almost too warm temperature as it was when first poured. Some Altean technology was apparently put to good use in making sure that baths never cooled until the recipients were ready for it too. He hopes whoever first thought of this got a raise. Keith let's himself slowly relax into the heat. Shiro places his flesh arm on the rim of the tub and rests his chin on it to watch Keith as he soaks, right arm lazily stirring the water. Keith can feel tiny currents across his skin from the movement. The whole situation is peaceful. It's little wonder that after a while his eyes slip shut and he begins to drift.

A small shake to his shoulder, has Keith reopening his eyes. Shiro is smiling down at him with unabashed fondness. Keith sits up, water pouring out of his hair and down his back. He shivers as his skin is exposed to the cold air and immediately ducks back down to preserve his precious heat. There's a pop as Shiro opens the shampoo bottle and squirts a bit of it in his hand, "Could you turn for me babe?" Shiro asks, gesturing to in front of him. Keith is grateful for the huge size of the tub as he turns sideways in it and only has to stick his knees out of the water to fit. "Thanks," Shiro says.

Shiro's fingers are magic in his hair. The stuff sticking it together parts with barely a tug under his ministrations. He works methodically from Keith's bangs to the nape of his neck, alternating scratching softly and massaging Keith's scalp. It's heavenly. Despite the slight chill, Keith would happily stay here until he turned into one giant prune if Shiro would just keep it up. There is a tap to his shoulder, "Sit up a second," Shiro says quietly. Keith does, and Shiro flips on the hand held shower head to rinse out the shampoo with more warm water. He turns it off and taps Keith again. Keith lean back against the rim as Shiro squeezes out some conditioner, and resumes his massage. Keith sighs happily at the contact. They stay like that, for much longer than can be even be pretended to be necessary. At some point, Shiro starts playing with his hair. Seeing what strange styles he can tease it in to.

"Smile for the camera, babe." He hadn't noticed that Shiro had recovered the recorder from the counter, but there it is staring down at him. Shiro's touch has lulled him into a generous mood, so instead of dunking the devil box into the water he give it a small smile as it flashes. The projection it shows a second later isn't half bad. The bubbles cover everything below his upper chest and the less said about his hair the better, but the happy Takashi leaning close above him is sweetness incarnate. He might have to steal a copy for himself to keep in Red. She'll only tease him a little about it.

"Sit up for me again, I've got to get the rest of you now,"

Keith pushes himself to a seated position with an exaggerated groan. Shiro ignores him, pulling out a washrag and bodysoap from his box that Keith is really starting to wonder if he threw together on the fly or if he'd been planning this for a while. Some questions about his mate would never be answered. The soap he uses smells sugary sweet, almost like cotton candy tastes. That stuff, he knows for certain, is not normally in their bathroom.

"You know I can do this part myself," Keith says. Having Shiro wash his hair is one thing. Shiro's fingers feel much better than Keith's ever could, but now he's starting to feel a bit like a little kid and not in the good way.

"But then what will I do?" Shiro asks. He does stop moving his hand towards Keith.

"Sit there and look pretty." Keith suggests. Shiro pouts, but he hands over the wash rag when Keith reaches for it. A grown man should not be able to look that disappointed at not being able to help Keith scrub off, especially when he's made no moves to start anything further this whole time. Still, he didn't have to cut him completely off from the simple pleasures in life. Even if he's being a big weirdo. "If you grab another rag, you can get my back for me." Keith offers. Shiro perks up, and immediately goes searching through their bathroom cabinets for just that.

With both of them working, getting the purple gunk off his skin is much quicker, though less enjoyable, than getting it out of his hair was. Shiro's fingers wander after he's finished Keith's back. He doesn't go anywhere important, just slides his fingers along wet shoulders and down Keith's arms. The simple purposeless touches feel nice, so Keith doesn't say anything. Maybe even slows down a bit to give Shiro more time.

At the end Keith stands up, and Shiro manages to snag the hand held shower head before he can, so he ends up with nothing to do while his smiling mate rinses the last of the bubbles off. The towel Shiro wraps around his shoulders before sweeping him off his feet again, is incredibly fluffy and warm. Whoever the god is that invented this bathroom seems to have hated being cold nearly as much as Keith does.

Shiro sets him down where he has another towel laid out on the cabinet. This is, apparently, Keith is not allowed to walk on his own time or do much of anything really. Shiro plucks the towel from Keith's shoulders and starts to dry his hair. Keith, not being completely dense, can see where this is going. As soon as Shiro gets past drying his neck and shoulders, he grabs the bigger alpha's hair and drags his head down level with his own. His scent has been cleaned off with everything else, but a little bit of rubbing the gland against the skin of Shiro's neck gets it producing again. Shiro holds still for him, until they both smell like a mated pair again.

"Can never just sit still and let me baby you, huh," Shiro huffs at him, before taking up his drying task along Keith's waist and legs. Shiro hasn't stopped smiling, so Keith wouldn't even call him annoyed about it.

"If I let you have your way, I'd never get to do anything. You'd carry me everywhere like an invalid." Keith says. He has to look down to where Shiro is now kneeling between his legs to dry his feet, and oh, if Shiro being there isn't a pretty image.

"You're just jealous you can't pick me up." Keith bats at the top of the smart-ass's head, "Also, I wouldn't not let you do anything. I'd let you spar and fly." Shiro presses a parting kiss to one of his knees and stands back up.

"So basically you'd only let me do the things you find sexy." Shiro's appreciation of him after working out or in a cockpit had been made very clear on multiple very fun occasions.

"Yep," Shiro doesn't even try to deny. He pulls Keith up off the counter, and Keith wraps his legs around Shiro's waist.

Shiro walks them purposefully out the bathroom, "I take it you have plans for the rest of the afternoon?" Keith asks. He kind of hopes there is a bed involved.

"Uh huh," Shiro nods, and moves them towards the closet, "Going to get you some clothes, and then find someplace to cuddle."

"Cuddle?" He has to check Shiro's face to make sure he's not pulling his leg, but he doesn't look like he's joking. He swears, Shiro is the only alpha in the galaxy that carries around a naked mate and decides he'd rather snuggle instead.

"Cuddle." Shiro says seriously.

"You know teddy bears are lower maintenance than mates, right." Keith snarks.

"But they don't smell as good," Shiro noses at his neck and breathes deep to emphasize, then pulls back to look him in the eyes, "Or look nearly as cute when their sleeping." He's got the love struck look on his face, the one he gets when he call Keith beautiful.

Keith has to look away while he blushes, "The recorder stays in the bathroom." He says, rather than respond to that, "I'm not waking up to a blinding flash of light again." It's happened more than once. He's not sure how many pictures of him napping Shiro needs, but the answer is apparently never enough.

"No promises." Shiro says with a smile.

Note:

This was supposed to be a drabble. Just like everything else in this series, but yeah, so much for that plan. At least I've balanced out the angst vs. fluff in this series now.