Arthur takes a bath

The summer sun twinkled high in the sky as Cuphead and Mugman happily played fetch with Arthur. The sounds of laughter and cheerful barks filled the air as Arthur chased the ball every time it was thrown. All was going well until- SPLORT! Arthur had flopped face-first into a puddle of mud!

“Oh no! Arthur! Are you ok?!” Mugman yelped as he rushed over to Arthur’s side.

“Don’t worry, Mugs. It’s just a little mud, see?” Cuphead reassured as he gestured to the puddle. Arthur rose to his feet and shook off the excess mud, causing the Cup brothers to shield themselves from the storm of mud headed their way!

“Ack! Ew!! Looks like someone needs a bath.” Cuphead groaned as he avoided the mud spray.

“True but he’s too muddy to take inside. We better wash him out here” Mugman replied.

“Don’t worry! I’ve got an idea!” Cuphead chirped as he snapped his fingers. And with that, Cuphead ventured off into the backyard and dragged over a large kiddie pool

“Ta da! A perfect outdoor bathtub!” Cuphead beamed as he gestured to the kiddie pool.

“Great idea, Cuphead! But where’s the water-” Mugman was cut off by the sound of his brother grunting and dragging something heavy.

“I’ve….already….Got it.” Cuphead heaved as he dragged over a hose.

“Good gosh, Cuphead no! You know we’re not allowed to use the hose without Mom’s help!” Mugman squeaked as he jumped away from the hose.

“Don’t worry! Mom won’t know about this!” Cuphead chuckled as he ran back to turn on the hose. After a few moments of struggling Cuphead finally managed to turn on the hose. SPLOOSH! The hose whipped to life as the water charged through it! Water sprayed in all directions as the hose flopped about. Mugman let out a yelp and quickly tried to wrestle with the hose.

“CUPHEAD! TURN IT OFF! TURN IT OFF!”

Cuphead let out a gasp, quickly shut the hose off and rushed back to check on Mugman. Mugman let out a small growl as he shot Cuphead a glare. The poor mug was soaked from head to toe! Even his blue ribbon was dripping wet!

“Heh. Sorry about that.” Cuphead let out a half hearted chuckle as he rubbed the back of his head.

“It’s fine. Let’s wash Arthur now, ok?” Mugman sighed as he squeezed the water out of his ribbon.

“Right! Here Arthur! C’mere boy!” Cuphead whistled as he patted his legs. Arthur was about to run over to Cuphead when the large pool of water made him stop dead in his tracks.

“Alright, we need to clean you up now, so hop in!” Mugman explained as he gestured for Arthur to enter the pool. Arthur simply stared at the kiddie pool as his ears lowered.

“Arthur, you gotta get in this pool or else you can’t come inside.” Mugman sighed. Arthur shook his head as he backed away from the kiddie pool.

“Now, Arthur we can do this the easy way or the hard way.” Cuphead warned as he put his hands on his hips.

“Or the medium way.” Mugman added.

“Or the semi-easy-medium-hard way.” Cuphead giggled.

“Or the sort-of-hard-with-a-touch-of-awkward-difficult-easy-challenging way.” Mugman snickered. Arthur ran in the other direction as fast as his paws could take him.

“So that’s how you wanna play it, huh?”

And with that, Cuphead bolted across the backyard. Within seconds, Cuphead returned with Arthur’s favorite ball in hand.

“Hey Arthur!!! Come get the ball!” Cuphead sang as he waved the ball in front of Arthur. Arthur let out a happy bark as he wagged his fluffy tail.

“Alright boy, go fetch!” Cuphead commanded as he threw the ball towards the kiddie pool. However, Cuphead had thrown the ball too hard! The ball was sent flying over the kiddie pool and landed into another mud puddle. Arthur let out a few more cheerful barks as he jumped over the kiddie pool and- SPLORT! Landed into the other mud puddle.

“Yikes! He’s even more muddy now!” Mugman squeaked as his eyes nearly popped out of his head.

“Don’t worry! I’ve got a plan B!” Cuphead announced as he pointed to the sky. Cuphead zipped over to Arthur and cleared his throat. “I am now going to assault your mind with subliminal messages!” Cuphead uttered in a spooky voice. He waved his hands together as pictures of bathtubs, soap and rubber duckies appeared. All was going well until an image of Eva smiling popped up. “Ack! Forget you saw that!” Cuphead grumbled as his face turned a bright shade of pink.

“Let me try something.” Mugman hummed as he walked over to Arthur. Mugman took in a deep breath and begun to preform a funny dance! He tapped his feet and hummed a tune! He waved his hands and even played with his ribbon. Arthur watched Mugman intently as he made a fool of himself. It wasn’t long before Mugman began to run out of breath. His dance slowed to a stop as Mugman posed a bit. “That... didn’t work either huh?” Mugman paned as he wiped a few beads of sweat dripping down his face.

“Ok, new plan.” Cuphead sighed as he dragged a hand down his face. Cuphead ran inside for a moment before returning with a couple of pirate costumes.

“Cuphead, are you sure this is gonna work?” Mugman asked as he adjusted his costume.

“Of course it will! Who doesn’t love pirate treasure?” Cuphead chirped as he fixed his eyepatch. After finally getting ready, the cup brothers approached Arthur once more. “Hey Arthur!! Check it out!! We found a pirate treasure map!” Cuphead squealed as he shook a poorly drawn map in front of Arthur. Arthur barked in confusion as he tilted his head.

“C’mon, boy! Let’s go treasure hunting!” Mugman urged as he gestured for Arthur to join them. And with that, the Cup brothers led Arthur around the backyard.

“Alright, we’re almost there…and WOAH! LOOK A TREASURE CHEST!” Cuphead squealed. Sure enough the ‘treasure chest’ was nothing more than the kiddie pool painted to look like one.

“Wow! Arthur! A real pirate treasure chest! Let’s take a look!” Mugman coaxed as he rushed up to the pool. Arthur narrowed his eyes as he let out a skeptical bark.

“What?! No! This isn’t the kiddie pool! It’s a treasure chest!” Cuphead chuckled as he gestured to the kiddie pool.

“Look! Doubloons!” Mugman sang as he pulled out two bath toys.

“And just look at this broach!” Cuphead announced as he gestured to a rubber ducky. Arthur rolled his eyes and barked once more. “I don’t know what a Growlithe would want with a broach! Why don’t you just get in the pool?!” Cuphead growled as he picked up Arthur and tried to drop him inside. Arthur simply wriggled out of Cuphead’s grip.

“Get in the pool!” Mugman commanded as he tried to put Arthur into the pool. Arthur simply popped back to the Cup Brothers.

“Now Arthur you’re gonna get in this tub or I’m gonna-” Cuphead was cut off by Arthur trotting off to another mud puddle. “Fine, Arthur. You asked for it! C’mon Mugs! It’s time to break out: The Water Guns.” Cuphead growled. Meanwhile, Arthur cheerfully chewed away at his ball when-

“Oh Arthur….” SPLOOSH! Arthur let out a gasp as he just barely avoided a blast from Cuphead’s water gun.

“This is for your own good!” Mugman growled SPLORT! Arthur escaped Mugman’s water gun just before the spray touched his tail.

“Hold still already!” Cuphead commanded. SPLOOSH! Arthur made another daring escape! It wasn’t long before the backyard became a battlefield as Arthur dodged splat after splat. The Cup brothers refused to give up! They kept firing their water guns! Soaking everything in their path! Arthur ran straight for the mud puddle that started it all as the Cup Brothers closed in on him! “There’s no where left for you to hide!” Cuphead chuckled as he prepared to fire another blast. However, when Arthur stepped out of the way, the Cup Brothers tripped over a large rock and-SPLAT! SPLORT! They both fell face first into the mud puddle.

“Great…Now we’re the dirty ones.” Mugman groaned. After wiping off the excess mud, the Cup Brothers took a walk of shame to the bathtub. Arthur let out a sad whimper as he laid down outside. As much as he hated baths, he hated seeing his masters sad more. Taking a deep breath, Arthur knew what he had to do.

“Well, look on the bright side! It could’ve been worse!” Cuphead chuckled as he splashed a few bubbles.

“Be sure to wash around your handle.” Mugman reminded as he scrubbed his own handle.

“I know. I know.” Cuphead huffed as he started to scrub his handle. SPLOOOSH!!!!! Arthur jumped straight into the bathtub, painting the walls with foamy bubbles.

“Hey, a little warning next time!” Cuphead grunted.

“At least he’s finally taking a bath.” Mugman chuckled. And with that, the Cup Brothers laughed as they scrubbed Arthur clean.