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It's a well known fact that Jabber, being so lost in his own poison-focused hobbies, shrugs off showering and taking care of himself in general in favor of finding new toxins to experiment with. He saw it as more of a chore than a 'need'. Unfortunately for him, that wouldn't fly with you.
You were a lot like Jabber in the sense that you also liked to experiment with chemicals. Instead of poisons though, you experimented with scents; it wasn't any less dangerous, but it was more tame — at least that's what you thought. In reality though, if you put it into perspective, your expertise was a little more insidious than Jabber's given the fact that you could make a person lose their mind without them even knowing it.
Being an expert on scents meant that you also knew how to hide them from noses that weren't as sharp as yours. That fact alone made you lethal.
Unlike Jabber though, you weren't a Raider. Your residence was a few ways away in a Town near Hole Town, where you could sell the scents you came up with; It turns out that your skills were actually quite profitable as you were able to make a living off of selling perfumes and other unique scents.
Business came and went like it usually did until it was time for you to head back home. But as soon as you'd opened the front door, you could immediately smell the scent of poison (among other, more pungent smells) which let you knew immediately who was in your home. With a heavy sigh and two fingers pinched over your nose, you rose your voice to greet the wearer of that signature irksome scent.
"Jabber! What are you doing here?"
Jabber, who was currently in your kitchen, poked his head out into the hallway with a cheeky smile on his face. "What? I can't see my girl now?"
"You know damn well that is not what I meant." You deadpanned, nose still pinched in between your two fingers.
"Oh, don't start with this shit again," He groans, "I took a shower like.. A month ago."
"It was two, actually- and I had to make you take one!" You argue, "-And you're overdue for another! Way overdue."
"Fine," he shrugs and disappears back into the kitchen which leaves you blinking in the hallway. Was it really that easy?
"Wait- really? You'll let me bathe you?" You smile in disbelief, "I don't have to handcuff you to me again and force you into the bathtub??"
"Jeez, Ma, you make it sound like it's impossible," He rolls his eyes as he watches you step into the kitchen to look at what he's doing. Currently, he's eating all of your sweets that you bought but you don't care too much, given that he's being docile right now.
"'Cause it is, Jabber. You seriously underestimate your similarity to a cat when it comes to bathing." you sigh, "But whatever, I'll get the bath running."
He freezes, "Didn't you just come back from work though? Ain't you tired?"
You smirk, "What, did you agree thinking that I'd say no 'cause I just came back from a shift? Yeah you wish. You're taking a bath, to-day."
He groans and watches you leave with a pout on his face, but he finds himself almost looking forward to it. Jabber normally gets so wrapped up in creating new poisons and going on missions for the Raiders that he doesn't really place an importance on bathing, but unfortunately for him, he's got you — who fusses over his scent whenever it's particularly bad.
Moments later, he finds himself submerged in the water of your bathtub with his back towards you as you scrub at his skin with a new body wash you engineered.
"Ya know, m'fully capable of doin' this myself.." Jabber huffs, playing with the soap in the water like its entertaining by any means.
You scoff, "Yeah, every month or so, maybe."
"It's not like I intentionally forget! I just got shit to do n' places to be at." He crosses his arms childishly.
"Yeah, well, in any case.."
He doesn't hear you continue, so he asks, "In any case what?"
"Nothing," you say, scrubbing the back of his neck and trailing down to his shoulder. You would have continued down his back if he hadn't suddenly turned around and leaned in to look at you face to face, his nose only centimeters away from yours. "Jabber-!"
"What were ya gonna say?" A huge smile appears onto his lips when he sees your flustered face. "Must be real interesting with the way you're lookin' at me right now."
You blink a couple of times and back away from him so that he's not so close. "Turn around," you tell him, "I was just gonna say that in any case, I'm doing this 'cause I want to not 'cause ya can't."
"Awhh," He lunges out of the tub to hug you closer, getting soapy water all over you. "You're so cute when you're all mushy!"
"Jabber! You're getting water all over me!"
He only snickers in response, rubbing his cheek against yours and planting kisses on them before going settling back down like he didn't just drench you in his dirty bath water. By now, his locs had broken free from the hair tie you'd used to put his hair up so it wouldn't get in the way of you helping him bathe. Nonetheless, with wet clothes sticking to your body, you smile and gaze at the back of his head.
"You're gonna pay for that," You tell him passively as you get onto your knees again and get the shampoo bottle. Hygiene products aren't too common on the ground, but with your expertise in mixing scents and with a bit of Jabber's help due to his knowledge about certain solutions and liquids (the non-poisonous kind), you were able to craft some pretty nice-smelling products that actually worked well when it came to cleaning.
"Am I, now?" He taunts halfheartedly.
"Just shut up n' let me take care of you," You lips curl into a warm smile as you begin to lather his scalp in some shampoo. "Tilt your head back so you don't get soap in your eyes."
"Nah, that's fine. I like the stinging feeling." He says passively.
"…" You freeze for a moment before continuing, "Right, I forgot you're not normal when it comes to pain," you deadpan. Jabber only snickers at your comment, relaxing into your touch. While Jabber didn't shower as much as you probably wanted him to, he didn't mind you doing it for him. Frankly, when he wasn't doing anything at all, he got bored out of his mind which is why he preferred to be working on new poisons or searching for ingredients to improve the ones he already had.
This was one of the rare instances in which he could just relax. At the end of the day, Jabber was still human — an odd one — but human nonetheless. There were times where he got tired too, even if he did find joy in the pain. Moments like this allowed for him to just be. It was the only time he took off his rings so they wouldn't get rusted in the water. The feel of your hands scrubbing his scalp and rinsing the shampoo from his hair was comforting in an odd way.
He liked it.
"Jabber?"
"Yeah?"
"You weren't listening, were you?"
"Nope." He admits, "Too busy thinkin' about you."
"That's… oddly nice of you?" You chuckle, massaging conditioner into the ends of his hair. "What were you thinking?"
"Nothin' just, I like when you take care of me. Feels nice."
They're simple words but they pull at your heartstrings anyway. You continue taking care of his hair, sectioning each thick loc and gently re-twisting them so they maintain their form. Tender moments like this are the moments you live for. Living on the Ground was just survival and uncertainty, but if you could be certain of one thing, it'd be that what you and Jabber had was timeless.
Chaotic at times, sure, but the raw affection you two shared could never be taken from either one of you. Even if you two were miles apart, separated by responsibilities or heaps of trash, he'd always come back to you.
And you'd do the same.
"Good." You lean forwards and plant a chaste kiss on the skin between his neck and shoulder, "I like takin' care of you."