Id love to put this under a cut but! Im on mobile so enjoy some blupjeans.
---
The current world the I.P.R.E. crew was on was strange in, in Lup's opinion, the best of ways. The water was pitch black, and faintly smelled of roses (however that could have been any of the candles laying around, burning with some conjured flames). It was perfect for a spa day.
Yeah, she knew there were things that were productive that she could have been doing. Yes, she was absolutely going to get a bit of hell for this. Yes, it was absolutely worth it in every way. Well, it was once her dumbass boyfriend (she still could barely wrap her head around the fact that she was dating Barry) poked his head into the bathroom, thinking that she was done showering or something equally time consuming, and promptly turned beet red and began to cough.
It wasn't even like Barry, the lovable nerd he was, could see anything other than her head, shoulders and toes sticking above the dark water that filled the honestly kinda large tub. He just got really easily flustered.
"Uh... w-whoops?" Barry stuttered out, eyes averted. "Sorry about that, um, but Lucretia wants us to gather for a debriefing in a short bit, and sent me to let you know."
Lup raised her eyebrow at that. Lucretia would send Taako over Barry when it cames to matters like collecting her from a pampering day, since Taako wasn't afraid to just magic the water freezing while she couldn't just grab her wand. Barry however seemed to be afraid of even looking her in the eyes at the moment. This had to be some scheme her brother cooked up then.
"You sure it was Luce that sent you and not my hellion of a twin?" She asked, sinking a bit farther into the water so the water lapped at her chin. "'Cause this seems more like a 'let's embarass Barry while also setting my sister up' kinda scheme."
Nail on the head. Barry turned even redder somehow and gave her an apologetic glance. "Sorry..? He wasn't willing to get up and check on you himself so he sent me," Barry explained, "I don't think he actually was all that worried since if he was he would definitely have come himself."
"Oh, definitely. He knows I just was taking a few hours to soak, and that I'm not really feeling all that bad since no one's died yet this cycle," she chuckled, "You gonna actually step in, or are you gonna keep the door partly open while I'm bathing?"
Jumping a bit, Barry stepped into the room fully, pointedly looking anywhere but at Lup. How was it even legal for him to be this adorable? It wasn't, in Lup's book, but there wasn't anything she was going to do about it.
"Aren't you going to join me?" She asked, mostly teasing. She definitely wouldn't object to passing out in a tub with her boyfriend right now, if he did end up agreeing to this.
Barry stuttered in shock for a few moments before closing his mouth and taking a few calming breaths. He chewed on his lip seeming to actually consider Lup's proposition.
"If you... really are okay with it, I think I would enjoy that," he said slowly, testing out her reaction.
Lup beamed at him, "I wouldn't have offered if I wasn't okay with it, babe."
With that Barry very awkwardly undressed, face still as red as a tomato, and stepped into the bath. Lup had sat up, knees to her chest, in order to make room for Barry, who very stiffly mirrored her pose.
The two sat like that for a few minutes, the silence between them mildly uncomfortable. Lup was the one to break it.
"I won't bite, you know. I invited you in so I could pass out in the warm water with you, not sit stiffly with a cramp starting to grow in my ass," she teased.
Barry snorted. "So you invited me to be your pillow?"
"I guess. When you put it that way it just sounds mean almost."
Lup couldn't help but smile as Barry started laughing. She loved this fool so damn much...
"Well, we're going to need to change positions here if you want me to be your pillow," Barry said once he had gotten control of his laughter.
The two shifted oddly around in the tub, switching which ends they were sitting at. Barry, face going red again after it had finally gone back to normal (Lup was starting to worry that he was going to pop a blood vessel if he didn't get his embarassment thing handled), stretched out and opened his arms slowly for Lup. With a teasing wink she lay down on top of him, laying between his legs in the water, head on his shoulder.
"Sing to me?" She asked, bringing one hand up to brush through his hair, her other tucked under her own head.
With an overdramatic, joking sigh, Barry conceded, beginning to hum a small tune. His hands absentmindedly went to her hair, brushing out the tangles and occasionally gently rubbing her long ears.
Between the soft tones of Barry's voice, and the hands in her hair and on her ears, Lup slowly began to drift off.
Before she fell asleep, she mumbled a very quiet, "Love you, Bear..." and was out like a light, a moment too soon to hear Barry mumble his own soft "Love you too, Lu."
