Espilver Flufftober 2021

28. Soothing Baths

"...What happened to you."

Wincing as he tried to close the front door to the Chaotix Detective Agency silently Silver whirled around at the voice, grinning sheepishly as his eyes fell on Espio's dry face and slightly-quirked eyebrows. "Uh... evening."

"Good evening," the chameleon retorted as Silver shut the door in full, his tail flicking behind him and the hedgehog getting scrutinised from all sides. "Tell me, do I even want to know?"

With a shrug of his mud-covered shoulders and shake of his water-soaked head Silver beamed at his sceptically-frowning beloved, tail giving a wag of delight despite all the ickiness clinging to his body. It had been snowing for most of the afternoon, wet snow that refused to stay on the ground and create a white blanket the chameleon had promised they'd see this winter, and the curious time traveller had been unable to resist the temptation to sneak out and go explore while the Chaotix were busy with wrapping up a case... and promptly his hedgehog instincts had revealed himself, and he had been digging and playing in the soggy soil of the nearby park for hours. Based on the way the other's eyes narrowed as they ran over his body, he looked like it. "You don't, Es," he purred, stepping a bit closer to the chameleon and giggling at how the latter leaned backwards to evade getting brushed by the muddy grey fur. "But I had lots of fun!"

"That's something, I suppose... Don't you dare walk on the floor." Shaking his head fondly a smile finally broke onto Espio's face as Silver beamed back at him, the psychic taking to the air with an extra layer of psychokinesis so he didn't drip dirty brown water everywhere. "Chaos, did you plunge face-first into a mudpool, or something? Again?" the chameleon inquired.

Giggling amusedly Silver flew over, his pelt itching to be shaken out but the urge firmly suppressed; Espio would not be happy if he made the hallway dirty. "More or less. Uh..." The hedgehog's face fell as he realised something, a tiny detail he had not thought about at all when the desire to be a gremlin struck. He was rather soaked, and a bit chilly, definitely feeling somewhat grimy too, and based on the darkness outside it was rather late as well... Not the perfect circumstances for rinsing himself off. "Can you... help me clean this up?" he piped up, a sheepish little smile on his face. "Please?"

The chameleon scowled as Silver gave him his cutest eyes, a deep sigh following before Espio turned to walk up the stairs and beckoned for the hedgehog to follow. "The things I do for you, at 11 in the evening..."

"But I love you all the more for it," Silver purred back, making sure to not bump into the other as he flew after him; Espio was not mad, he knew, but he also would not like getting all mucky himself.

Entering the bathroom the chameleon wasted no time in turning on the shower as Silver shut the door behind them and took of his clothes, frowning as he looked at the mud decorating each article from every angle also. He'd have to clean that later, and the tiles where he deposited them... Maybe next time he had to think his ideas through a bit more before acting on them, the hedgehog reasoned very maturely in his opinion, and with the knowledge that he likely would not do so following immediately after. "That's something, heh. Get under here," Espio murmured more playfully, and Silver obediently lifted himself into the bathtub as the stream of water got moved over the spines on his forehead. He'd long learned to not be afraid of the see-through liquid anymore; shutting his eyes the psychic sighed in relaxation, oozing with his head against the bath's rim as his back quills and the rest of his body got rinsed also. It almost made him sleepy...

"There," the voice of his beloved broke through his thoughts, and with a yelp Silver shot up from where he had nearly dozed off against the plastic edge of the tub. Beholding him amusedly Espio shook his head, putting the showerhead away and moving to grab a towel. "You're clean again, tenshi. Get out of there so I can dry you."