in sherlock holmes' weak defence, he had entirely forgotten he was a human.

maybe not that good of a defence when he thought about it, but he was still under the firm belief that that was normal, and the fact that he hadn't showered, bathed, changed or stood in forty-eight hours entirely excusable.

you, his flatmate and...romantic interest (interest was the word he settled on, because by god did you interest him), on the other hand, did not.

it wasn't that he stunk- he smelled remarkably of nothing- it was the principal of the matter. he needed to bathe, it was just human nature. but then again, what would he know of humans? or nature?

nothing much, clearly.

he loathed baths to an extent that was probably unusual (as if anything about him wasn't). they were entirely pointless, especially compared to showers, leisurely and 'calming' and everything that frustrated him wrapped into one suffocatingly ordinary ordeal.

"give me another duck," he said sharply, dark curls strewn across his forehead in a decidedly alluring manor, despite the fact that they were most likely rather greasy.

his pale arm stretched out from the bathtub, coated with foam as it brushed against the shower curtain- making him flinch back in surprise. ugh, it was slimey.

"this soap burns, you know," he begun, received pronunciation tinged with dramatic ire. "i think i may be allergic to-" he inhaled through his nose, "lavender?"

the only thing that was saving this interaction from being painfully awkward was how purely ridiculous it was.

sherlock holmes scrunched up in a bath tub, legs curled due to his height, surrounded by...fourteen, fifteen rubber ducks.

the bubbles in the bath served as convenient coverage, making sure his...intimate areas (read: his shercock) were covered, even if he didn't see much problem in nudity. embarrassment and shame is a social construct, etcetera etcetera.

"i've got better things to do, you know," he drawled, sinking further under the water. his mouth was now submerged, and he spoke in burbles. "his 's ooo-lly oint-ess."

you were...fifty percent certain that that was a remark on how pointless this was.