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“You want me to bathe with you?” Chick asked, surprised.
“I’ve never bathed on my own before,” Mei replied, “Normally Malt helps wash me but he’s busy helping Jin with something. Sometimes Hanna likes to bathe with me, but she’s in the mess hall working on a recipe for tonight’s dinner that she’s been wanting to try and I don’t want to interrupt her. I asked Sheena earlier but she seemed rather shy about it for some reason, and Wappa’s still napping and I didn’t want to wake her up.”
“Which brings you to me?” Chick asked, if only for clarification.
Mei nodded, “I haven’t asked any of the other boys, I figured they wouldn’t be comfortable with it considering one time back home Kyle accidentally walked in on me and Hanna bathing and immediately slammed the door and shouted ‘I saw nothing!’, his face turned red for a week.”
Chick couldn’t help but chuckle at that even though part of her felt she shouldn’t, “Alright, lead the way.”
There was a happy twinkle in Mei’s eyes that Chick found adorable as the former promptly took the latter’s hand and they both arrived in the Taranis’s bathroom.
Chick took off her helmet and set it aside, she was about to undress further until she noticed Mei standing in a t-pose as if waiting for something.
“What are you doing?” Chick asked.
“Whenever I take a bath,” Mei explained, “Malt or Hanna would undress me before putting me in the tub.”
“Don’t you know how to undress yourself?” Chick asked.
“I do, but they still do it even after I learned how,” Mei replied, “I guess you could say they like to baby me, but I honestly still like the attention, I think there’s a word Socks said that described it; nas-tal-cheek?”
“I think you meant ‘nostalgic’,” Chick pointed out, then realized, “You’re trying to bring back something from home into the Taranis? Is that why you asked me to bathe with you?”
“Yeah,” Mei admitted, “Though if you’re not comfortable with it, I can-”
“Oh no! It’s fine!” Chick quickly reassured, she unties Mei’s small red cape before crouching down and grabbing the hem of Mei’s dress.
After Chick finished stripping Mei down to nothing, she took a step back and couldn’t help but find Mei’s almost cherub-like body adorable. Mei looked back at her with a blushing smile, as if slightly embarrassed, but also felt somehow liberated.
“You know, I’ve heard that being four years old means you’re still technically a toddler,” Chick remarked as she started stripping down herself.
“Maybe that’s why Hanna still likes to baby me,” Mei suggested as she turned the knobs on the bathtub and it started to fill.
Once Chick found herself just as bare as Mei, she looked down at herself and noticed that, aside from being at least half a head taller than Mei and having different fur, her figure was not too different from Mei’s. Chick couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed by this; she prided herself on being very mature for her age, yet unlike Hanna, Sheena, or even Wappa, she physically had practically nothing to show for it.
Once the tub was filled, Mei turned off the knobs, “Normally Hanna would pick me up and carry me into the tub with her, but since you’re not as big as her you probably can’t-”
“Who says I can’t?” Chick asked, half-cheekily and half-indignant at Mei’s accidental insinuation.
Mei was surprised when Chick suddenly swept her off her feet and carried her bridal style as walked into the tub with Mei in her arms and carefully lowered Mei into the water.
Chick herself sat down on the floor of the tub and relaxed, Mei did a surprisingly good job getting the bathwater at the right temperature. She thought back to how back home she’d bathe with Hack all the time and how her brother would probably be a little miffed she did this without her, though she hopes Hack will get one of the other boys to bathe with him to balance it out.
Chick noticed Mei sitting at the opposite side of the tub and was staring at her, looking a mix of embarrassed but also in awe.
“You’re strong,” Mei commented simply, she seemed to be struggling to find any other words.
“Oh, well, to be honest I didn’t know I could do that until just now,” Chick admitted, “In my defense you were surprisingly light. Then again, there were times when I had to hold Hack back whenever he tried pulling a prank at a bad time. So maybe I had more of a workout than I thought.”
After a brief moment of silence, Mei started crawling toward Chick like a baby, “So I’m still a toddler, still a baby, how would you take care of me?”
Chick was overwhelmed by how cute Mei was and immediately pulled her close, positioning the four year old caninu to where her posterior was sitting on Chick’s lap, her back was pressed against Chick’s chest, and Chick’s arms were wrapped tightly around her torso in a loving embrace.
“I would give you all the hugs and cuddles,” Chick replied, “And I’d keep at it so much you’ll hardly remember ever leaving my embrace.”
Chick took a bottle of caninu shampoo and squirted some of it in her hand, “I’d keep your fur so clean, fresh, and shiny that if you were to walk outside buck naked, the sun would shine on you like you came from Heaven above!”
Chick started vigorously scrubbing every part of Mei’s body, not missing a single spot, no matter how ticklish. Chick then decided to intentionally tickle Mei relentlessly, with Mei only able to laugh adorably as she’s unable to resist.
“I’d tickle you so much that you’d get put in a good mood if my fingers touched so much as your chin,” Chick declared.
“I honestly thought you’d go at least as far as to tickle me until I wet myself,” Mei noted, “I can kinda remember Malt having done so by accident when I was two, he gets embarrassed whenever I bring it up to him.”
“Well if you’re still a baby, I would have to go all the way with treating you like one, wouldn’t I?” Chick asked, somewhat rhetorically, but Mei didn’t pick up on that detail.
“Does that mean after this bath you’re gonna put me back in diapers?” Mei asked, looking somewhat embarrassed, “I don’t think we have any on the Taranis.”
“We can improvise,” Chick reassured, “I practiced some fold and wrap techniques for cloth diapers on some of my dolls back home and I think the dormitory has some spare pillow cases we can use. That said, are you up for a brief cheat on that arrangement?"
“Like what?” Mei asked.
Chick handed the caninu shampoo bottle to Mei and turned around so that her back was facing Mei.
“Can you help shampoo my back?” Chick requested, “Normally Hack helps me there, but since he’s not in the bath with us..”
“Alright, no problem!” Mei exclaimed cheerfully and squirted some shampoo in her hand before lathering it on Chick’s back.
Mei’s hands felt soft and gentle on Chick’s back, like she was being washed by a little angel. Chick guessed that Mei must’ve done this before with Hanna. Chick leaned back a little to feel more as she felt more relaxed by Mei’s lathering, but was careful not to lean too much to avoid accidentally falling on her.
“Would you like me to shampoo the rest of you?” Mei offered.
“It’s tempting, but if I let you do that, you wouldn’t be the baby in this bath,” Chick pointed out, “But maybe after this little game we’re planning, next time we do this we’ll just be washing each other as friends.”
“Fair enough,” Mei said with a smile and a shrug.
After both girls got shampooed and rinsed off, Chick carried Mei out of the tub the same way she carried her in and dried both herself and Mei with towels.
Afterwards, Chick wrapped herself in her towel to cover herself from her chest on down, then wrapped Mei in her towel in a way that left only her face uncovered, fittingly it looked very much like Mei was baby wrapped in a swaddling cloth.
“Alright, Mei,” Chick once again carried her bridal style. “You ready to be the baby in this dedicated take on ‘playing house?’”
“Yes I am!,” Mei cheered, “Or maybe I should say ‘goo goo ga ga’?”
Chick chuckled as she carried Mei out of the bathroom, appreciating Mei having a sense of humor about the whole thing, “Then let’s get started. Don’t worry, I won’t actually make you use the diapers I put you in, that’d be messed up if you’ll pardon the pun.”
Both Chick and Mei giggled as they set off for a rather unique take on a common game.