Dusk Till Dawn (Parker X Chester)

Chapter 9: Self care is important

As I predicted, his hair was basically a rats nest, with dirt and dried blood covering the roots.

It's a good thing he ended up leading me to the small waterfall, cuz this man desperately needed a shower.

"Alright, this isn't just about your hair anymore, dude...you need to bathe yourself completely." I stated, looking around for anything that I could use for a towel....

Luckily, there just happened to be an old piece of cloth laying around near the water. Parker wasn't going to be too picky about a washcloth, right? He lives in a nest full of dead animals, after all...

"Alright, pop that shirt off and get in." I hesitantly spoke, focusing on the cloth in my hand instead of Parker's pissed off glare.

"Dude, it's just water, you'll live."

Growling, he finally gave in and took off his shirt, revealing what could've been the most scratched up back I've ever seen. There were so many scars along his back, a few were much more massive than others, I could barely find a single small scar on his skin.

"Holy shit...what kind of animal decided to rip into your back?!" I gasped, gently tracing a finger along one of the many scars.

"Fi..ght." He mumbled, taking a seat next to the running water.

"Damn...fights must really be brutal around here, huh?" I laughed, my mind thinking back to when he full on ripped a creatures head off.

Brutal indeed....

After wetting down the old cloth in the water, I slowly brought it up to his back, "Alright, I don't exactly know how much this is gonna hurt, so...please don't attack me if I accidentally hurt you, okay?"

All I got back in return was a grunt.
(Okay then, be that way....)

Parker really didn't react all that much when I started cleaning his wounds, but his body did tense up tremendously, as if it was trying to stay numb to the pain that was most likely shooting through his back as I scrubbed up and down.

"You really are a fighter, eh? So tense..." I muttered softly, bringing the cloth up to his left shoulder.
"You're doing great, by the way...I have yet to be shanked by your vicious claws!"

A small "hmp" barley left his throat as I moved onto his right shoulder.

"You should start talking to me, instead of just making noises, you know? Gotta work on speaking normally, dude." I smiled, examining his back to see if I missed any spots to clean.

"Okay, I think we can move on to your hair next...can you move under the water real quick for me?" I held my breath, waiting for some kind of growl to attack my ears once more....

....
Instead, Parker lazily tilted his head under the waterfall, wetting down his entire head and face. I was pleased at the fact that he didn't put up a fight...

"Okay, so just dig those nails really deep into your scalp, alright? There's a lot of built up dirt in there...but also don't accidentally hurt yourself."

With a quick nod, he started to scrub his head under the water, muttering something under his breath that was impossible to hear due to the water coming down at such a quick pace.

I decided to back up and let him have his own space for a while, it's only fair since I basically forced him to do this.

Though, taking a few steps back did give me a good view of the rest of him, that's for sure. He wasn't super ripped, but it was obvious that Parker most likely went to the gym regularly when he was still...well, fully human. I wonder what his old life was like before this....
I probably shouldn't try to bring up his past or anything, I don't want to accidentally trigger him by saying something wrong or whatever...

It took me a minute to register that he tossed his pants to the side a while ago, now fully nude while still continuing to scratch at his head under the running water.

The realization caught me off guard, he probably thinks I'm a fucking creep or something now. It's not my fault that I zoned out while looking in his direction!

What took me out the most was the fact that he was staring back at me, raising an eyebrow in what looked to be confusion. My embarrassment wasn't that noticeable, right??

"Sorry!!! I didn't mean to stare, I promise! I was lost in thought and didn't realize you were uhm...uh...I'll look away!" I stammered, covering my face with both hands.

It didn't take long for him to finish up, hopping out of the water with a chirp as he picked back up his shirt and pants.

I was startled by the sudden tap on my shoulder, absolutely not hearing his footsteps approach me.

"O-Oh, your done already?" I muttered, taking in the beauty that was towering over me. It was a surprise to realize that his hair wasn't actually dark brown, but more of a jet black than anything....
It looked a lot cleaner, too...

"You look uhm...great! Not that you didn't before, I just mean that you uh...look....even more...beautiful now that your clean." I stammered out, hiding my face in even more embarrassment than before.

I heard Parker chuckle, then felt a warm hand gently grab me by the arm to pull me up. He had the strength to raise me to my feet without having me actually do anything in the process, so that's nice I guess.

The not so nice part, however, was the newly formed tent in my pants that was totally on display for the world to see now.

"GAHH!" I yelped, shooting my back to the wall as I slapped a hand over the issue.

Parker started to laugh even harder than before, patting me on the back as he chirped away.

"Y-Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, why don't cha?! You aren't helping!" I glared at him.

His laughter was put to a sudden halt as I huffed the rest of my sentence out, his mouth left slightly agape,
"Wa..nt he..lp?"