Best In Show

“Eliooooooo!” Hutch screamed at the top of his lungs as he walked into the back area of The Imporium.

“Huh?” Elio replied, looking over. He was helping Hutch out for the weekend and had already been dragged into copious amounts of chores, training and imp watch.

They’d just recently taught their newest imp, Buddy, how to sit. The little impup was doing great in training which was where Hutch had been this morning. He had taken him for a walk and gone through some neat training exercises in order to show everybody how to train an imp properly. 

But when Elio looked over he could see Hutch, completely covered in mud and Buddy was dangling from his arms, looking as aloof and content as ever. 

“He jumped in a muddy puddle and when I tried to get him out, I ended up falling in too,” Hutch complained and Elio let out a sigh.

“You’re both filthy, you know I just finished cleaning the backroom…ughhh come on let's get Buddy to the grooming tub,” Elio instructed. He wasn’t an expert on all things imps - not yet. But he knew a thing or two about grooming them.

So he helped get Buddy into a bath of lukewarm water and squeezed some bubblegum-flavoured soap onto his body. Scrubbing away any of the mud. The little impup let out whine after whine. Clearly not happy about being bathed.

The little imp complained continuously as Elio cleaned his coat. When all the mud had run down the drain he picked up the shivering imp and brought him over to the drying table. Wrapping an elastic towel around his head to shield his ears - did imps have ears?

Then he turned on the dryer and began to dry his coat. Rubbing it with his hands to make sure every spec of fur was dry and clean. After he was finished, he put a little bow on the pup and smiled at the outfit.

“So cute,” he said and the little impup yapped before shaking himself and leaping off the table. Elio grinned at it and turned around to Hutch, who had been observing from a seat in the washroom. 

“Your turn,” Elio said with a devious grin and Hutch went scarlet.

“Huh?” he replied.

“You’re a dirty boy Hutch, and you need to be clean,” Elio continued and as Hutch began to protest the obscurity of being bathed by somebody else Elio caught the end of the leash attached to Hutch’s collar and pulled him toward him. 

“In the bath now, there’s a good boy,” Elio growled playfully and watched Hutch’s face light up in a beautiful scarlet colour before he did as he was told and got in the bath. Elio, happy he’d gotten what he wanted turned to Buddy.

“Now you sit there Bud, like a good imp while I clean Hutch up, alright,” he said to him and the little imp puppy barked in response while Elio got to work. 

Elio scrubbed Hutch good. He used warm water to get rid of any dirt on his skin and made sure his long ears were free of any grime. Hutch was quiet, still blushing a dark shade of red as he let Elio bathe him. 

“You’re secretly enjoying this, aren’t you?” Elio asked him as he scratched the other’s head and got some reaction out of his tail. It flicked from side to side but Hutch remained quiet. Elio laughed softly but said nothing more as he finished cleaning Hutch off. The water, now an awful brown, grey colour. 

“You’re all done Hutch,” Elio said getting a towel for him and holding it up. He tilted his head when Hutch paused.

“Aren’t you going to dry me too?” Hutch asked and Elio’s brain took a moment to register what he said before he smiled at the other. 

“Of course,” he replied. “You’ve been such a good boy, after all.”

Elio led Hutch by the leash up onto the table where he got him to sit down. He wrapped the muffler around his ears and dried him like he would any of the imps after a bath. Buddy watched intently as Hutch was dried by Elio so carefully. 

Hutch smiled quietly as he was dried. Enjoying the feeling and happy to be clean. When Elio was done he jumped off the table in a similar fashion as to how Buddy had jumped off earlier. He looked at Elio and whispered a thank you before collecting his dirty clothes.

“I’m…uhh…going to put these in the wash,” he told him and scampered off to do just that. 

Elio tidied up in the washroom. Cleaning out the tub and making sure everything was put back in it’s place. He smiled softly to himself and looked down at Buddy. 

“What?” he asked him but the imp just yapped in response.