Chapter 8: The Supreme Kai Takes a Bath With The Destroyer; Beerus and Whis Enjoy the Hot Springs On Trohs

"WHIS!" Beerus yelled, mud still dripping off him, dirtying the paving stones outside his castle.

No angel appeared and Shin reminded him, "He probably thought we'd be out longer."

"And we would have been if you'd picked a better planet to go to." Beerus growled and shook as much mud off as possible, hitting Shin in the process, not that he was in much better shape.

The pair of them had been rather unlucky on today's outing, managing to trigger a mudslide in a cave.

"I think Supreme Kais should be able to sort this kind of thing out."

"I can make you a clean set of clothes, but destroying dirt isn't really my area." Shin suffered the glare from Beerus, responding with a smile. "You'll just have to take a good old-fashioned bath. I thought you liked them seeing as your bathroom is rather luxurious."

"Everything is luxurious! Come on, let's get clean then."

"Eh? I thought I'd just go home myself…"

Beerus looked back. "Suit yourself. I thought you'd jump at the opportunity to use my facilities rather than drag this filth across your own pristine floors."

"Well, when you put it like that, it does sound better." Shin walked a little faster to catch up. "So tell me, why is your bed so tiny when that's clearly your favourite place to be? Shouldn't it rival the size of your bath?"

"I bet you lie down in the same position every night and don't budge an inch," Beerus said as he stopped to peel his shoes off. "You too. Let's not create too much work for Whis when he gets back."

Shin did as he was instructed, but noticed Beerus was intent on taking off more than just his shoes. "Are you taking off everything?"

"Damn right." Beerus peeled off the regalia around his neck, disgusted to find out it'd been stuck to his skin with more mud. "I don't expect you to fly up to the nearest window naked, but I'm at home and I don't care."

After a moment of hesitation, Shin untied his waist sash and removed his outer robe. Underneath his shirt looked pristine, and it was hard to tell if the sleeves were ever the same colour.

"Man, what fabric is that made of?" Beerus said, motioning to the discarded outer robe. "It doesn't even look damp." He reached out to feel Shin's chest, but the kai backed away.

"Don't make it dirtier than it already is."

Beerus laughed. "The sleeves are already beyond saving." He stepped closer and wiped his muddy hand down Shin's front. "Oops."

"Ass. Let's just get to the bath."

"I love it when you call me an ass. Maybe next time you can call me something else. Bastard, fucker. Hell, even asshole would be a nice step up." Beerus dropped his trousers and Shin was staring skyward, wondering which entrance they were going to take. He was brought back by the sound of Beerus sniggering. "Shin, you don't have to look that high up. Come on, although I don't mind being naked, I don't like being naked outside when people like you can see everything going on."

Shin followed Beerus up to the bathroom, amazed at how big it actually was. He'd passed by and seen glimpses, but this was really something else. What was with the snake waterfall? Wasn't that just overkill?

Beerus gently shoved him. "When you've finished staring, shower off all the excess first before you get in."

Shin looked around, seeing that there was just about everything you could want in here. "And here I thought you'd just dive in."

"I have standards, thank you. I'm sure you don't want to soak in muddied bath water either."

Of course he didn't, but he'd always imagined Beerus to be the kind who wouldn't mind. Or maybe, if Whis was here, he would and then make Whis change the water halfway through bathing. Shin couldn't remember the last time he was completely naked in front of someone else; back on the Sacred World everyone bathed separately, and on the rare occasions that they'd enjoyed a hot spring or dip in a lake, it had always been with some degree of clothing. The sound of metal on ceramic brought Shin back to the moment at hand, and he turned to see Beerus had removed his gold armbands and was diligently washing the skin beneath. Beerus caught him watching, and Shin quickly looked away once more.

"You can watch if you like," Beerus said.

"The sound caught me off-guard," Shin explained.

"Uh-huh, if you say so."

Shin wasn't going to fight the point. He had a feeling Beerus had dropped them loudly on purpose to get his attention, and while it was strange to see Beerus without accents of gold, he didn't need to stare.

Still, it was a reminder he needed to get a move on, and Shin took a while to get his clothes off, trying to figure out how best to hide himself with nothing but steam. The bathroom was so open, so clearly designed for use by one god who didn't need privacy in his own home.

Beerus breezed past him, slipping into the water. "Whenever you're ready. I won't watch." He rested against the edge of the bath; back to Shin and the showering area.

If there was a record for how quickly one could wash, Shin was going for it. Even if he believed Beerus wouldn't look, he still felt exposed. His bathroom back home was much more enclosed and he missed it.

When he slipped into the bath, he sunk down so that the tops of his shoulders just peeked out of the water.

"To answer your question," Beerus said, "My bed is small because I like hanging off the edge of it. An arm, a leg, or my tail. Not sure why, but I really like that hanging feeling. If I had a bed as big as this bath I bet you'd find me sleeping on the edge of it."

"I see."

"I think today was worth it. Just to see you all nervous like this."

"I'm not nervous," Shin said too quickly.

Beerus smirked. "Recently you've become so calm around me, it's been difficult to get a rise out of you, but something as simple as taking a bath together worked? I'm ecstatic."

"I much prefer having my clothes on."

"Well, whenever you get bored of soaking, you can just make yourself a clean set, right? You don't have to stay here with me, but man, I still feel like some of that mud soaked into my skin."

"The water does feel nice, so maybe I will stay a little longer."

"So, you didn't like what you saw earlier?"

"Earlier?" Shin asked.

Beerus stretched to accentuate his bare chest. "Yeah, earlier. When you were watching me."

"For all of five seconds."

"I'm disappointed. You really weren't sneaking any peeks?" Beerus asked. "Didn't accidentally look at my cock once?"

"No!"

"Well, we're not finished, I suppose there's still time."

Shin sunk lower in the water and closed his eyes. "I just wanted to get clean."

There was a knock on the door and Shin jumped, hugging closer to the wall.

"Come in!" Beerus called.

Whis stepped in. "My lords, I have your clothes here, all clean." He placed them on a side that Shin thought was unnecessarily far away. Then he noticed Shin's muddy clothes by the shower and fixed them up, folding them neatly on top of his outer robe. Before he left, he pulled two towels from a cupboard and placed them by the edge of the bath. "I'll leave you to enjoy the rest of your bath."

"Thank you, Whis," Beerus said. "Look at you, do you think Whis has any interest in seeing you naked?"

"No, it's just my natural reaction to this situation, I suppose."

Beerus sighed and splashed some water in Shin's direction.

"Hey!" Shin splashed back.

Moments later it had evolved into a full-blown water fight, with Beerus taking it easy on Shin who clearly didn't know how to have a proper water fight.

Still, he could hear Shin laughing, and that was what he wanted. In the end he let Shin get a good shot at him, and he fell back, pretending to be defeated, sinking into the water. He quickly sped through the water and pulled Shin under by the ankle. He resurfaced right beside the kai who was coughing up water.

"Good game," Beerus said.

"I can't believe I fell for that ploy at the end."

"Neither can I. It was fun though."

Shin nodded. "Yes, it was. I don't remember the last time I had a water fight. Some millions of years…"

"I'm glad you can still have fun like that," Beerus said. "After I splashed you first I thought you were going to tell me to stop being childish or something, but look at you getting involved and playing along. I even got you standing."

Shin looked down to realise that he was now exposed from the waist up, and resisted the urge to re-submerge himself. "Well, I think we're clean enough now."

"I'll get us some towels. I think the ones Whis left out are probably soaked."

Beerus poked the towels, picking one up on his way to get dry ones; he hated being wet once he was out of the water.

"Here." He held one out to Shin. "What? I can't put it on the floor or it'll get wet. I thought you'd appreciate not having to walk from here to there naked. Look, I'll even turn away." Which really only made the sound of the water as Shin got out sound tantalising in a weird way. At least the feeling of Shin taking the towel from him stopped him thinking about that too much. Naturally Shin was the type to drape the towel around his shoulders rather than wrap it around his waist like most people. "Oh, I forgot something."

Beerus disappeared into the side closet where he'd got the towels from, returning with a brush.

"Oh, thanks." Shin took it, wondering why getting out of the bath seemed weirder than getting into it. There was something about being lent these things that made him feel awkward, but not in a bad way. He was strangely enjoying this. Beerus had made it quite clear he cared about him, but this right now was a different level of caring. It was a quietly intimate way of caring, one that many probably wouldn't believe Beerus capable of. After all, details like a brush would be something Beerus himself wouldn't need, and if anyone else was here, it would probably be Whis sorting all of this out.

Shin had barely put the brush through his hair when the sound of a hairdryer filled the room. Beerus was stood there drying himself top to toe.

"What? You don't do this?" Beerus asked.

Shin realised he was staring while Beerus was still naked, and hastily looked away. "No? Who uses a hairdryer for anything other than hair?"

"Mortals made hairdryers for me to exploit them." Beerus raised his tail to dry his ass, and Shin definitely wasn't looking, eyes trained on the mirror and his own hair. "Why should I dry naturally and be cold when such a fine invention exists? Did you want to give it a go?"

"I'm quite happy with just a towel."

"Suit yourself." Beerus finished up and dressed, taking particular care with a full-length mirror.

Shin had always imagined that Beerus would be sloppy in this department, relying to Whis to make sure he looked perfect, but the destroyer spent several minutes making sure his sash was straight and his waistband was properly secured.

"I'll meet you in the dining room." Beerus picked up his shoes. "Take as long as you need to dry."

"I didn't ruin anything, did I?" Whis asked when Beerus appeared alone.

"No, things just didn't go to plan."

"Mm, I figured based on the clothes outside."

Beerus chuckled to himself. "I only wish I could have orchestrated such a great plan to get him in the bath like that. It's a shame he's not a fan of communal bathing."

"Ah of course, otherwise you could have taken him to Planet Trohs to bathe in their hot springs."

Beerus smiled fondly at a memory of that planet. "I wonder if they're all still little short-asses there. Remember when we went and the bathrobe they gave you barely hid anything? Wouldn't work the same with Shin seeing as he's their size."

"If you want to go, we can go if you can't convince the Supreme Kai to go with you."

Beerus hummed. "We can all go."

"Oh…"

"What?"

Whis smiled. "I'd be delighted."

"No, what was surprising about that?" Beerus asked. "I caught you off-guard there."

"I just assumed you wanted your time with the Supreme Kai to just be you two, as it seems to commonly be the case. Have things…moved on?" Whis asked delicately.

"Uh… I was just inviting you because you seemed to want to go? We…uh…" Beerus stopped mumbling because he heard steps coming down the corridor. "So where did you go today? Earth again?"

"No, actually I went somewhere else, to Planet Amai."

Beerus smiled at Shin as he took a seat. "Good, good. Wait. Amai. That Amai?" He suddenly became very interested, looking around for something. "Don't tell me you came back empty-handed?!"

Whis shook his head. "No, but what I bought is for a special occasion."

"There's a special occasion?" Beerus asked, looking at the other two for a hint.

Shin shrugged, not a clue. "Is it someone's birthday?"

"Did Champa decide to have a birthday?" Beerus asked Whis.

"No, but I suppose he might also celebrate the same day."

That had Beerus stumped. "Oh, Whis, won't you just tell us?"

"I'm quite enjoying watching you guess."

Beerus hummed and stroked his chin. "Is it something a Supreme Kai would celebrate?"

"No, but they might have their own version."

"Shin, are you celebrating anything soon?" Beerus asked.

"No. Should I be?" he asked, not expecting an answer, but Whis did.

"Not yet, you're still a little young."

Beerus was tapping the table now, wondering what that meant. "Have we celebrated this before?"

"Yes."

"How many times?"

"Seven times."

Beerus smirked. "So, about once a thud?"

"Precisely."

Shin cocked a brow at Beerus, asking if he'd figured it out. Beerus replied by ruffling his hair. "Ah, Shin, so young, not even a thud in age!"

"Well, most kais don't live to be a thud, so it's something we only read about. And even then, it's not commonly used. It's about 10 million years, right? When counting using the average year length of planets in habitable zones around medium-sized stars."

Beerus laughed. "Look at you with all the information! I remember when Whis told me what a thud was and I didn't even question which sort of year he meant. In the end it doesn't matter, because it's one of Grand Zeno's wacky measurements that doesn't need to be tracked to the precise year. But seemingly, Whis tracks thuds rather accurately."

"Well, yes, I've seen more of them than you have."

"So, what do you celebrate once a thud?" Shin asked. "It must be a very special occasion."

There was a pause. "Of course it is," Beerus announced. "Which is precisely why Whis and I have such grand plans for the occasion."

Whis laughed behind his hand. "You don't know, do you?"

"Well, excuse me for forgetting something we've only 'celebrated' seven times."

"Sorry, I should amend that to six times," Whis said. "You slept through the day once."

"See, it's not that important," Beerus said. "So, what is it?"

"Tomorrow will be exactly 8 thuds since you became destroyer."

For a moment Beerus was stunned into silence, amazed that that was the occasion. "…I'm old."

"You haven't aged a day, my lord."

Shin sat there in awe, thinking about how young he was in comparison. How much had Beerus seen in his time? How much had been lost? He thought that this explained a lot about Beerus; he destroyed planets without mercy, and perhaps that was because he'd learned not to be sentimental about things. He watched as the pair before him bantered back and forth, and thought that was probably why Beerus liked Whis so much more than anyone else; because that was the one person he'd never lose. For a moment Shin's heart ached for the destroyer and how difficult it must have been to go through so many losses. He wanted to ask Beerus about it all, but he knew he never would. He wouldn't want to reopen old wounds, and he knew he'd find it incredibly difficult to bring up.

Once Whis had fed them, he disappeared to tidy up after their water fight. Their day was at an end.

"Sorry about earlier, and thank you," Shin said.

Beerus waved a hand. "It was what it was. Actually, I'm quite happy it happened. Never would have got to have a water fight with you otherwise."

"Yes, it was rather fun." Shin floated up so he could peck Beerus on the cheek. "Will you do something special tomorrow?"

"I guess? It's really not that big a deal, as Whis said, I've even slept through it."

Shin nodded, still hovering to be the same height as Beerus. "But it's also a celebration of Whis's hard work over the years too. It would be nice for you to treat him." Shin had almost said for once, but stopped, realising he didn't exactly have the standing to say that. Naturally outsiders saw Whis doting on Beerus all the time, but no one knew how things changed when they were alone, much like how Beerus was very careful with how he acted with Shin when there were onlookers.

Beerus folded his arms. "Of course I will. But you don't get to hear about that."

Shin returned to the floor and gave a bow. "Congratulations on your 8th thud, Lord Beerus!"

"Alright, alright, no need to go around reminding everyone. I don't want to hear it again!"

"I think it's very exciting, I really do want to congratulate you."

"Yeah, yeah, off you go, see you again soon." Beerus waved him away.

Ooo

"So, you didn't invite him?" Whis asked as they relaxed in one of the largest hot springs on Planet Trohs.

"No, this is our day." Beerus didn't need to say more, because Whis already heard all the implications.

"I wouldn't have minded."

"Yeah, well I would have. I know we haven't spent as much time together recently –"

"As if we haven't spent enough time with each other over the thuds," Whis slipped in.

"– so I think it's important that today is just us. This is, after all, a day that only has importance to us. And Champa and Vados, but that's not the point."

"Well, I appreciate the thought."

"And I feel bad I slept through one. It was the last one, right?"

"You are correct."

Beerus nodded. "See, that's why I couldn't figure out the occasion. So, what did you get from Planet Amai for later? Pralines?"

"Naturally, but I also got other things. Eight different kinds of sweets."

Beerus couldn't help the way he licked his lips at the thought. He shuffled closer to Whis, not that there was anyone around to hear his words. "I want to feed them to you after I've massaged you so well that you don't want to get up. I want you to lie there in bliss and forget anything else exists. So I hope you bought your favourites."

"Oh, I did. And yours too, of course." Whis fanned himself. "But, my lord, whispering such things like they're scandalous… I'm excited."

"Good, I want you to be." Beerus increased the space between them again. "But I wish you'd reminded me in advance. I could have thought of something better."

"There's no need for you to do anything for me on such an occasion, so there's no need to remind you."

Beerus looked over at Whis, thinking how wrong he was. It wasn't just him who thought that Whis deserved to celebrate this as a day off, but he wasn't going to mention what Shin had said now that he was out of the conversation. "Today, if there's anything you want, I want you to tell me."

"There is," Whis said. "Seeing as you're so insistent on treating me today, I would like you to allow me to return the favour."

"Whis, you treat me all the time," Beerus pointed out.

"Yes, but I often treat you to things you have no idea about. I mean I'd like to treat you to something you specifically ask for. And not just something small like picking you up a pack of fish sausages from Earth. After all, it's not every day you reach your 8th thud in a job."

"But you –"

Whis cut him off, "I've been in this job a lot longer, and the first day I became an attendant is nowhere near today on the calendar. This celebration is completely different for you. Completely about you."

"Well then, we should celebrate your job birthday too," Beerus said matter-of-factly.

"While I'm sure it's written down somewhere, it's not important. The day has lost meaning now I've been an attendant for several destroyers."

"Fine, if you're not going to tell me any other days that I can use to celebrate you, then you'll just have to have this one with me. But if you keep going on, then yeah, I'll think of a special way you can repay me."

"Thank you."

Beerus sunk further into the water, stretching his legs. "For now, let's just enjoy this. We did come rather late by this planet's time."

"Yes, but it's a beautiful sunset."