I Hate Baths!

Argilla wrinkled her nose in disgust and pinched the bridge of aforementioned offended nose and flapped a hand at the smelly being before her.

Heat frowned at these actions of his female companion and crossed his arms defiantly. "What?" He snarled; garnet eyes narrowed in his customary anger (though since this was always the case, his 'anger' had been labelled by his comrades as 'Happy Anger', 'Angry Anger', 'Confused Anger' and so forth).

"You stink." She frowned, voice nasal due to the volunteering blockage of her nose. Pink eyes closed and she turned away snickering. "You need a bath."

The effect was instantaneous, albeit violent.

"I DON'T NEED A BATH!!!"

It was common knowledge amongst the Embryon and those beyond the small tribe that their fiery lieutenant, Heat, abhorred, nay, despised baths with a never-ending passion. Whether this was due to the elemental alignment of his Atma or his general macho-ness it was unknown.

Argilla raised an eyebrow, nose still stubbornly blocked by her slender fingers. "Really? I bet the Brutes could smell you from here." This was a high exaggeration but it gave the desired effect.

Heat snarled angrily. "They can't! This rain is shower enough!" He declared, pointing a quivering finger to the dull grey skies above and garnet eyes narrowed in 'Apocalyptic Anger'.

Before Argilla could do a rebuttal a soft voice stopped her words short.

"Why are you shouting?"

The two Embryon lieutenants turned to the source, finding their reserved leader peering at them both quizzically. He sniffed the air and wrinkled his nose. "And what is that detestable smell?"

Argilla's hand instantly flew from blocking her nose and jabbing it at the red headed male's chest. "Heat." The mention male shot her a glare and swatted her hand away which returned to its position on her nose.

Their silver haired leader, Serph, narrowed his arctic blue eyes on the other male, resisting the urge to do the same his female subordinate was doing. "Bath." Was the one worded order laced with barely concealed disgust.

Heat narrowed his garnet eyes into thin slits. "I don't need a bath."

"Bath." Came the word again.

"No."

"…"

Serph had used up his word quota for the day and without warning, grabbed the scruff of Heat's cloak and physically dragged him to his private quarters, ignoring the roaring red head's obscenities and protests.

Argilla's laughter followed the two before the automatic steel doors cut the sound short.

Other members watched the two males cautiously; those too close ducking under the red head's flailing arms and hurrying out of their way. Their leader's face was set into a mask of determination and he ignored the death threats and insults to his mother from the hot headed male.

He didn't know what or who a mother was anyway.

He reached his private quarters and inputted the code before roughly shoving the red headed male in the spacious room and entering in after, the door closing with a soft metallic 'hiss'.

Heat growled and whirled round to face his superior. "I don't need a bath!" He protested again. He was caught off guard however when Serph grabbed his cloak again and dragged him to the private bathroom.

As soon as they entered Serph quickly pulled the cloak off and threw it carelessly from the bathroom. Heat growled, hair ruffled from the rough handling.

"What the Hell, Serph?!"

Serph crossed his arms and stared the (Slightly) taller male down. "Take off your clothes."

One couldn't blame Heat's reaction to this statement.

His eyes widened and his cheeks instantly flared red. "W-What!?" He shrieked, stumbling away from the silver haired male in shock. A brief moment of awkward silence fell upon the two men, one flushing angrily and the other confused as to what he did wrong.

Heat pointed a finger at the silver haired male. "You pervert!"

…Pervert…?

"…" Serph blinked, but shrugged it off as another one of Heat's little 'tantrums'. "Bath." He stated again, pointing at the shower stall in the wall beside the male. Heat snarled and straightened up.

"Will you stop saying that?! I don't need a bath!"

Serph sighed heavily. A catching the red headed male off guard…again, he was somehow able to unbuckle the catches on the bigger males body armour and pull it off, tossing it carelessly over his shoulder.

Heat yelped and attempted to push the other one away and backed against the wall; but Serph gripped Heat's wrists and held them above his head, the slender male pressing flush against him.

A growl lodged itself in Heat's throat and Serph's breath was hot against his cheek. "Bath." He repeated.

Heat's racing heartbeat calmed as the familiar anger washed over him. "No! And let me go, dammit!"

Serph's pale blue eyes regarded him for a brief moment and Heat was suddenly aware of the face that he was wearing nothing apart from the trousers of his body armour and the black underclothes.

Heat growled and struggled against the slender male. "For fuck sake!" He snarled.

Serph sighed again and shook his head in exasperation. His patience was wearing thin. "Take. A. Bath." Each word was punctuated, anger colouring his tone.

Heat could feel Serph's anger and he glared furiously (which he'd been doing for the whole time so it didn't faze the silver haired male that much) at Serph. "No. I. Will. Not." He bit out.

The two glared at each other, both refusing at backing down; Heat suppressed the urge to flinch when Serph's grip tightened on his wrists, pale blue eyes narrowing.

Heat was treading on thin ice but he absolutely refused to even go under the harsh spray of that shower. Agni gets agitated enough under the constant downpour of the rain.

Serph's atma mark was outlined in a light blue light and Serph growled out. "Ice shower or bath." Serph gave his ultimatum and Heat paused.

This was enough time for the silver haired male, releasing the red head's wrists he shoved him into the shower stall and turned the shower on, the hot spray thundering on the two males.

Heat growled and attempted to dive out from under the spray; Serph caught him and pressed him against the wall, directly beneath the hot water.

Heat snarled and thrashed wildly against the slender male. "Dammit!" He roared. Serph sighed, his anger dispersing with the smell of his subordinate. He gripped Heat's abused wrists and pinned them above his head again.

The clothes were specifically designed to withstand the eternal downpour of the rain but underneath the powerful spray soon they were sodden and clinging to Serph's body uncomfortably.

Heat kicked out with his leg and Serph slid his leg between the flailing limbs, ignoring Heat's growing discomfort at being this close, a few more minutes and Heat would be 'clean'.

A pink flush was beginning to crawl onto the red head's cheeks and Heat attempted to twist away from Serph. The grip on his wrists tightened and Heat settled for snarling at the silver haired male.

Serph's eyebrow twitched irritably. Sometimes, his lieutenant could be so…so irksome. Useful in battle but so damn stubborn.

That and the profanities and threats were beginning to grind on his nerves. His hands were full and so he used the only thing he could think of to quieten the raging red head.

Heat was cut off from his tirade when his superior's mouth pressed against his, muffling any further protests. For once, Heat's anger fled and his mind went blissfully blank from the strange sensation this contact brought.

Serph's eyebrow quirked upwards. That worked better than he thought. He was surprised, however, when his subordinate began responding to the action. His mind helpfully supplied to him that at the moment, he and his subordinate were 'kissing'.

It felt…nice.

The shower was soon forgotten.

Argilla frowned. It didn't take this long to force Heat to take a bath, did it?

She marched up to the Private quarters of her leader and paused from knocking when some…interesting sounds came from the other end of the door.

They sounded like…moans.

Argilla shook her head and stepped away from the door. She did NOT want to know.

It was to be noted that Heat no longer minded taking baths anymore.

FIN.