Author notes:
The Xenochildren stories are all within a loose cannon of one another, so sometimes there will be a reference to another in the stories.
Ages of the kids: Shulk is still barely 6, Reyn and Fiora are 7, Dunban is 19
Xenochildren: Bath time
Dunban sighs as he runs a hand through his short, choppy hair. Today was a long day, and the fact he was late for training and got scolded by Vangarre didn't help the situation any, just adding insult to injury really. The young adult is just glad his shift is over for the day and that he is able to leave the military district and pick up Fiora from school.
Much to the raven-haired teen's dismay; however, when he arrives at the school the teacher tells him that Fiora left over an hour ago to play with Reyn and Shulk out in the field just outside Colony 9. This doesn't please Dunban in the slightest considering that it had rained all morning and that just means that the children are covered in mud knowing Reyn and his rough tendencies. He thanks the teacher and jogs off towards the area he knows all three of them will be if they haven't wandered off to Tephra Cave, to which he hopes to Bionis they didn't.
At the field at the base of the stairs to Outlook park Reyn and Fiora are busy puppy fighting in the mud while Shulk contents himself to drawing in the dirt with a stick he picked up, having exhausted himself earlier while roughhousing with his auburn-haired friend and rolling around in the mud. It doesn't take long for Fiora's older brother to walk up to the three and unceremoniously sigh at the fact all three are topless and covered in mud.
"Ok you three, it's getting close to dinner time and you all need a bath. It's time to go home." Dunban says as he picks up the variously strewn garments on the ground.
Fiora pushes Reyn off her and attempts to dust herself off but just ends up swearing the mud even more. Shulk stands up as well and lightly throws his stick towards a nearby bunnit. Reyn refuses to get up though and remains on the ground as he attempts to throw a ball of mud at the oldest, barely missing due to the raven-haired teen sidestepping out of the way just in time.
"Reyn, we've discussed this before, no bath, no dinner." Fiora's brother says as he watches Shulk carefully walk towards him, "Now, get off the ground so you can get cleaned up."
The small boy huffs out his cheeks in defiance, "I'm not going anywhere! You're not my daddy!"
"But I'm older than you, and in charge of watching you. Now, I can do this the easy way or the hard way. It's up to you."
"Come on Reyn." Fiora says, "I'm getting hungry!"
The redhead sticks out his tongue as he again refuses to stand up to get washed off. Dunban's already depleted patience is wearing even thinner as the seconds tick by and the child is just becoming more of a brat. He waits another half a minute before marching over and picking up the boy and slinging him over his shoulder. He asks the other two to follow him as he starts the walk back to his house, a kicking and screaming Reyn trying to wiggle from his grasp.
It thankfully doesn't take long for the quartet to return to Dunban's house. The teen waits for his little sister to lock the door before he sets down Reyn to prevent him from running away, like he did last time. Thankful for getting the kid to stop pulling his hair he walks off to draw the water, asking the trio start getting undressed so the water doesn't get cold in the meantime.
As he begrudgingly takes off his shoes, Reyn mumbles to himself about how he doesn't understand why he has to take a bath if he was just going to get all dirty again anyway. Shulk quietly tries to answer, but he barely speaks above a whisper, the fact he's missing most of his teeth doesn't help him either. Fiora just hits the older boy on the shoulder for arguing with her brother when he's already irritated.
After a few minutes of waiting for the bath to fill just right so it doesn't overflow when the trio gets in, Dunban calls the three in, promising to help scrub the mud out of their hair. Fiora is the first in, using her little step-stool to get in, Shulk tries to climb in by himself and just ends up clumsily falling in, Reyn continues to pout as he stands outside and has to be picked up again by the oldest.
It doesn't take very long for the raven-haired teen to get most of the mud loosened from his sisters hair so she can start putting the soap in to clean the rest out while Dunban washes Shulk's hair and get the knots out without hurting the boy. The only thing testing his patience is the fact Reyn keeps splashing water trying to get Dunban wet, or entertain himself the young adult couldn't tell.
"Reyn, I'll ask this of you once. Stop splashing. You're going to end up getting soap in Shulk's eyes and he'll start crying again." The eldest says as he picks up a towel to dry off his hands, "Now get over here so I can get the mud out of your hair."
The auburn haired child takes this as an invitation to splash the water really hard while his blond friend moves out of the way to grab one of the small basins to wash the soap from his hair. This results in Dunban getting pretty soaked and Fiora gasping in surprise, knowing this will really tip her big brother off.
"Ok you little brat, I'm done playing." The oldest says as he starts undressing himself and crawling into the tub himself.
The teen grabs the small boy around the chest and pulls him towards him as he screams and flails, trying to get out of the stronger's grasp. He pleads that the Defence Force recruit let him go as he starts loosening up the mud in the red-head's hair, but failing as the his words mean nothing to the other. It doesn't take very long for Dunban to loosen up the dried up dirt and to begin scrubbing the soap into Reyn's hair while the two blonds sit off to the side and watch the oldest try to regain his composure as he bathes the auburn-haired child.
After thoroughly getting all the mud out of Reyn's hair and cleaning some off his face and shoulders to reveal his freckles, Dunban starts draining some of the water and adding more so the four can all relax in a nice clean bath before dinner.
"Now see Reyn, that would have gone so much smoother if you had cooperated with me today." The raven-haired teen says as he leans back and lets the warm water relax his sore muscles.
Fiora nods as she wades her way over to her brother and sits next to him, curling up close to his chest, "Yeah Reyn you big meanie. You got big brother all wet too."
Shulk decides to get closer to both Fiora and her brother by half-swimming to them and sitting on the other side of the teen, trying not to rub his eye where he accidentally got soap when he was washing it from his hair. He quietly says that he likes taking baths, especially if all four of them were together because he didn't like being alone.
Reyn stops his pouting for a bit to look at his friends before looking down towards the water and apologizing to Dunban for being a brat and splashing him with the water. The eldest's gaze softens as he smiles at the oldest of the trio. He too apologizes for being so rough with the child, explaining that he had a rough day of training and accidentally took it out on the auburn-haired child because he was being stubborn.
The young adult smiles widely as he leans out and ruffles Reyn's hair and looks at the other two, "Alright you three, time to get out so I can get to the commercial district and get us some food before all the shops close."
The three agree as they crawl out of the water and start drying off while Dunban starts draining the water before getting out himself to dry off and get some clean clothes, at least some pants, before leaving to get something three would like, and secretly get them dessert.
After watching her older brother leave, she walks over and punches Reyn in the shoulder, causing him to rub it in pain.
"What was that for!?" The red-head asks.
"For arguing with my brother."
The two start a small argument while Shulk stands off to the side and sighs, realizing it's going to be a long night.
Another story in Xenochildren finished, I hope to, at some point, start doing these based on the Heart-to-Hearts, but this came to my mind while working on my other story Heart-to-S Support and I couldn't resist the urge to write tthis one out. I just always imagined Reyn being a brat sometimes and doesn't like to listen to Dunban because he's not his dad while Shulk is too shy to say anything or just talks very quietly to the point sometimes he isn't heard, even though he's ok with Dunban's authority.
I hope you enjoyed this short story :)
Reviews are appreciated, and feel free to give me other ideas for these :D