Based on the The Life of White Blood Cell portion of the fifth volume in the chapter H. Pylori
That part talks about how White Blood Cells take a bath after fighting and being covered in cytoplasm. It shows that WBCs can only bathe in cold water and soap. No hot water. Cold. Also this is bc 1146 looked like a cutie while he was taking a bath.
•••
Being covered in cytoplasm really wasn't the most ideal when roaming around the body, but he had no choice. The nearest reserved washing station for white blood cells wasn't really that near and he still had the job of patrolling the vessels this time around. He just had to suck it up and hope for the best for the rest of his patrol.
Neutrophil U-1146 sighed. It wasn't new to him, being covered head to toe in bacterial cytoplasm, but it didn't make the experience easier or more bearable. It made him feel so uncomfortable, moving around in his dirty clothes and having to look like he didn't mind it. And the added complication was the other neutrophils telling him to be more clean about his body in his new situation.
"You have to take better care of yourself," his closest friend, U-2001, told him once, "You're not just you anymore. You're living for someone else as well now."
It totally wasn't like 2001 to talk about how 1146 wanted to look like or how he looked like, and it had taken the older immune cell aback, but it was true, he couldn't argue with that. But it wasn't even 2001's words that struck him the most. Physical appearances aside, it was in the deeper sense that 4989, of all cells, somehow made him turn and realize some things. Things that he sould really start to take care of himself and that 4989 was a genius… at times.
"I think you're forgetting that you have someone else worrying about you now,"
He stopped his his tracks once he heard a familiar voice calling him from behind.
"White Blood Cell!" The cheery voice made him turn and immediately offer a smile.
"Red Blood Cell," he spoke as soon as she was in front of him, her eyes not even wandering to his clothes but immediately focused on his face, "Nice to see you here."
"It's nice to see you here too!" She grinned wide, "Where were you going?"
"On patrol," he answered, "Do you have a delivery? I can help you there."
"No, senpai told me to rest a bit," the woman explained, "It must have been a huge fight with a bacterium, huh?"
"Huh? Oh, right," Of course she'd notice him covered in red. He could even rival with her clothing at this point, "Yeah, sort of."
"Do you want me to help you clean up?" She asked, "You've been helping me a lot lately and I want to return the favor."
1146 nodded as soon as she had offered, eliciting a soft giggle from the erythrocyte.
"You should really clean up before patrolling you know," she pointed out, "You've been scaring the platelets this whole time. I mean, a tall, scary neutrophil covered in cytoplasm is looking right at them with a look that could kill."
The neutrophil pouted a bit that only the red blood cell could see, "I'm not a scary neutrophil to them, though."
The woman laughed, taking his hand in hers, "Come on. Let's go to where you clean up and then you can tell me all about how you're not a scary white blood cell."
"I'm not," he repeated, "How often do you hear cells call me scary?"
The red blood cell pretended to think for a second or two, "Hmm, let's see. There was this one time when a cell whispered to me how scary you were when you killed all those allergens. Oh! And there was this one time I overheard cells saying how scary you look when you see an antigen. And, and! A cell told me the other day how-."
1146 pecked 3803's lips once.
"Point taken," he said, "But do you find me scary?"
"No," she said bluntly, "I don't think I'd ever find you scary. But I find your lips scary because of their powers to make me stop what I was thinking of-, what am I even saying?"
As the red blood cell's cheeks matched her hair, the white blood cell offered her a weak laugh.
"I'm sorry for that though," he said genuinely, "Promise I'm not doing that ever again."
3803 could only nod and look away.
The walk to the cleaning station was a silent but nice walk. 3803's life was always buzzing with loud voices and excitement and running around to deliver this and that on time, but being with 1146 made her feel that she could take her time on things. There was always that pressure to do things good and to get things done fast, but with him, she could spend the entire day just holding his hand, doing nothing, and yet feel completely accomplished in the end. What was his effect on her? She couldn't quite understand and she didn't want to understand. She wanted it to stay like that, completely mysterious and covered with a thick fog of questions and yet so satifyingly correct. It was the best.
It was quite some time until they reached their destination. 1146 was thankful that there weren't white blood cells using the cleaning stations or else he would have to wait in line.
"You can wait for me over here, I'll be quick," he told 3803 who shook her head.
"It's fine," she said.
"No, you'll get wet for nothing. It's no big deal," he responded, letting go of 3803's hand but she took his hand once more.
"I'll help you." She smiled at him, "I'll brush out where you can't reach. It'll be fun!"
1146 let out an exasperated sigh. There was no arguing with 3803 when she really wanted to do something. In the end, he had agreed and he found himself under a pipe, waiting for the water to flow.
"I'm gonna remind you," he said to 3803 as she picked up a brush from above the handle, "The water's c-."
The water came flowing even before he could finish his sentence. A shiver ran down his back as the water enveloped his body.
"Ooh, this water's cold," 3803 pointed out, "Don't you have hot water?"
"C-c-cold water removes stains bet-better," he said as the temperature controlled his mouth.
3803 frowned at that as she started scrubbing 1146's back, "So you never get a satisfying bath? After all the work you put in?"
"You get used to it… at some point," 1146 explained.
"Are you used to it?" 3803 asked.
"No," he answered, "I hate cold water."
After about a minute or two of silently scrubbing his body to remove the cytoplasm, 3803 let out a laugh.
"I just realized something," she said, "You always feel so cold when I touch you. Is it because of this?"
1146 nodded, "Do you not like that?"
"Whoa, when did you start to get insecure about yourself?" 3803 asked, "And why would you think that I don't like it? It's you. I like it because it's you. Because I'm in love you."
3803 blushed deeply as the words slipped out before she could control her tongue, "I'm sorry, that was too soon, I shouldn't have said that. We've only started dating not so long ago and I can't believe I said that. No, sorry, no pressure if you don't feel that."
1146 turned around, holding 3803's cheeks, staring at her eyes, and said, "I wouldn't have gotten together with someone I didn't love in the first place," he paused, "I don't really know if I'm in love with you, but just know that I love you and I'd go to the ends of this body if that meant I could be with you."
1146 moved to a spot that was less wet, gave space between his legs, and patted in front of him. 3803 sat down, back facing him, and leaned towards him, resting her head on his chest. 1146 wrapped his arms around her, basking at the thought of having his whole world in his arms.
"I feel so warm," he spoke weakly, "I've never felt warm after a bath."
"I'm glad I could help," 3803 murmured, "I'm really sorry though. I shouldn't have said it."
1146 took a deep breath, closing his eyes. "Help me understand myself then," he responded, "I always feel so happy when you're around. You're peaceful, and I like it."
She was the peace in the never ending war that is his job. He liked that a lot. It made him feel lighter compared to when she wasn't around.
He hugged her tighter, looking at her, "Also you're getting more squishy since we started dating. Have you been eating sweets more often?"
AE 3803 squirmed in his hold, "Don't call me squishy!"
"But you are," 1146 joked, "I like it though, don't change that. More to hug."
3803 pouted, looking up at 1146, "I'm still sorry."
"Don't be," he said, nuzzling his left cheek to her right cheek, "I don't like it when you're feeling sad."
3803 smiled weakly, "Is this okay?"
"I want genuine happiness," he demanded, "It's not you if you're faking your happiness."
3803 chuckled weakly, "Are you sure that I don't get sad though?"
"I know that you get sad," he stated, "That's why I also get sad when you are. I want to make you happy. Always."
She smiled sweetly at him, "When did you get so talkative? I believe I met you when you were so quiet."
"I have so many things to tell you," he whispered to her, "Like how you're pretty, how you're the best red blood cell ever, how you're doing your job as perfectly as you could, how sweet you are, how adorable you get when you're flustered, how you'r-."
"Okay, okay, I get the point." 3803 laughed then looked down grabbed 1146's right hand. She pulled the glove out of his hand and removed the glove on her hand then intertwined the two.
1146 blushed deeply, hiding in 3803's red hair to not make it so obvious. They always held hands at all the times possible but they've never had skin to skin contact like that. 1146's thumb carressed the top of 3803's hand, making the woman smile.
"You're always so cold," she said, "Not just because of your baths. Maybe it's from all the years that you've been hiding things and distancing yourself away from the others. Or maybe it's just because all of you guys are really just cold." She couldn't help but let out a laugh, "Still, I'm glad you're opening up to me. You make me feel… special."
"You are." He kissed the top of her head, "You're very special to me."
3803 sighed with satisfaction, "I wish I could spend everyday with you like this."
1146 smiled, "I wish that as well. I love my job as a neutrophil but what I love more is being like this with you after a long day."
"Are you proposing?" 3803 giggled, "That's really bad etiquette, you know. We just started dating."
"If I could, I would," 1146 answered, "I want to spend everyday with you."
A very familiar sound rang in the air, the two cells simultaneously looking up to 1146's receiver. The white blood cell frowned for a bit before placing a soft kiss on 3803's forehead.
"Can you say the thing that you always say?" 3803 asked, a curious and excited look in her eyes.
"Antigen sighted!" 1146 shouted in his usual demeanor, making 3803 laugh and grin wide.
"Be safe," 3803 said.
"I'll be back," 1146 responded, standing up and running away.
3803 stood up, grabbed their gloves, and followed suit.
•••
When 1146 had gotten there, there were already a few neutrophils around the area to attack. A neutrophil, he didn't quite see the number, threw a dagger towards the bacterium. 1146 expected it to be over but the bacterium caught the dagger, catching all of them offguard. The bacterium threw the dagger back, towards 1146 but he was a second too late to parry so he opted to dodge. He attacked a second later, slashing the bacterium using his knife once and ultimately destroying the bacterium.
He walked away from the scene, stained in cytoplasm once more. But instead of making him annoyed, it made him smile a bit. It meant spending a little bit more time with his favorite red blood cell and that was fine.
From behind the battle, there were cells crowding at a single spot, all looking at something he couldn't see because of the thickness of the crowd. Was it an infected cell? He hoped not.
1146 walked over to the crowd, hearing the cells' shocked whispers.
"What do we do?"
"She's been hemolyzed, what else do we do?"
"Isn't she that blood cell that's always lost?"
It was like his receptor stood up.
He pushed his way to the center of the crowd only to see the hemolyzed body of a familiar red head.
He felt his cytoplasm being drained. Was that even possible? He stared and stared and stared, his thoughts not quite matching the reality that he saw now. It wasn't true; it couldn't be true. He left 3803 at the cleaning area, she wasn't here. She was never here.
But still, his knees gave in in front of the hemolyzed erythrocyte.
He held her hand, still holding the gloves that he didn't even realize that he didn't have. She wasn't as enthusiastic as earlier. Her smile, it left already. Wasn't she just laughing because he did what she wanted to see? Wasn't that just a second ago? She was sitting with him a while back, her entirety in his arms, now…
"3803," he whispered weakly.
He felt so cold; so alone and confused. It was like she left with the warmth.
•••
If you've read all my HataSai fics from Origins, you'll find the pattern. It's like I give you a cupcake, and then you eat it, and then I tell you that it has poison, and then you stop, and then I say that the amount's not gonna kill you, and then you continue eating, and then I stab you am i making a point?