The tea was still steaming as Sebastian poured it into a fragile, china teacup and added two teaspoons of sugar and a tablespoon of cream. He stirred the liquid with the tablespoon from before, the spoon never touching the sides or bottom of the cup, until it was a light brown. Sebastian frowned as he realised the tea may be too hot for Grell; (although it was just the right temperate for him) he sipped it lightly and tried to imagine what the ideal temperature would be. He decided that even if he knew the right temperature, he would be unable to adjust it to that degree, and so instead placed the cup on a tea saucer and set it on the bedside table. "I believe that the tea is too hot for you, so I would suggest waiting a short while until it has cooled." Sebastian looked outside through the snow-boarded window into the early, gray February sky, and actually desired a cup of tea (black, of course) himself.
When Sebastian looked back to his cart, he saw that Mey-Rin had taken and was eating her breakfast in a gloomy fashion; he was curious why she was acting that way. Sebastian poured two more cups of tea, one black and one sweet, and sat down beside Mey-Rin to hand her the cup of sweet tea. Sebastian smiled at her, and sipped his own tea, not seeming to notice that the liquid was still too hot to drink. This was curious, Sebastian decided, as he thought it over carefully. If he were in his true form then this scene would be impossible – he would be unable to drink the tea and he would be alone - as he always was and always would be - as his true self. It was a despairing thought, but it was true, the only thing more pitiful was the desire for companionship that had inspired the idea.
So Sebastian drank his tea between happiness and hopelessness, when unexpectedly Finny entered the room, laughing and trailing snow and mud as he entered. "Sebastian, Sebastian!" Finny shouted playfully, "I tried to stop him – but he wouldn't listen – Sebastian, sir, Bard brought his snow-person into the house! He said he was going to place it in the kitchen, with a mop and pail, and dress it in your clothes, sir!" Sebastian paused and looked at Finny contemplatively, as if he was unsure how to respond to what he had said. He let out a sigh as Finny continued to smile and giggle sincerely. "He should know that my clothes won't fit the round body of a snow-person, and more importantly that taking in his snow-person will make a mess that I will have to clean!" Sebastian set his tea, which he hadn't finished (and wouldn't have time to now) on his cart and was about to exit with it when he stepped in a small pile of snow and mud. "Finny! Why didn't you take your shoes off before you came inside?" Sebastian quickly looked out into the hallway and stared in horror as he saw that Finny had left a trail behind. Finny looked very flustered as he spoke, "I apologize, sir, I didn't realise that if I left my shoes on it would make a mess!"
Sebastian didn't hear him, though. To clean the snow-person and the trail of snow and mud and grass and leaves that the idiot servants had created would take hours! Sebastian left the room with his cart and instructions. "Grell, when you're finished with your tea pull the chain to summon me to take it away, or give to Mey-Rin, who will take yours and her own to the kitchen if she is still here." Finny followed after Sebastian with a concerned expression, as though he were uncomfortable.
"I-I'm so sorry, Grell! I'll begin cleaning up your floor immediately!" Mey-Rin yelled as she ran quickly out of his room to go fetch some cleaning supplies - dropping her tea onto his bed in the process. Grell gasped and quickly picked up the teacup before too much of it could spill, but most of it had already left the cup - probably staining the covers. Grell sighed, why did Finny have to come in here and make Sebastian and Mey-Rin leave? The shinigami ran his fingertips over the tea stain, afterwards setting Mey-Rin's mostly empty teacup on the overcrowded bedside table. There was a slight clack noise as the teacup made contact with Grell's, noticing this, he realised that it probably wasn't too hot anymore.
Grell picked up his tea, bringing it to his lips – as the tea journeyed its way into Grell's mouth he felt a sting of displeasure. He quickly pulled the cup away, whining as stuck his tongue out. Why was it still hot? It was tolerable to drink, but not pleasant – the shinigami hadn't been expecting it. He wondered how hot this had been originally, remembering Sebastian sipping his tea without pain. Since it was still unpleasant for him to drink - the shinigami must have had a sensitive tongue.
Setting his tea aside, he decided to go wash his face while he waited for it to cool. As he stood up though, he felt that nauseating feeling overcome him again. It had only been slight when he was sitting down, but it became much more obvious when he tried supporting himself. The shinigami walked quickly into the bathroom, leaning against the counter for support; climbing onto it shortly afterward, seating himself on the edge to let his legs dangle. He turned his head just enough to where he could see his face reflecting in the mirror. He was looking a little better after he had gotten some proper rest, but he still looked sick and exhausted. Grell sighed and twirled one of his curls with his index finger on his bad hand, setting his other hand on the countertop, causing his weight to shift to the left. Suddenly he felt a sharp sting in his hand, and the shinigami shrieked out in pain.
Immediately he pulled his hand up, looking to see what had happened. Whimpering, Grell noticed that he had pressed and cut his hand on a piece of glass from his hand mirror. He remembered picking up the shards and placing them in the frame of the mirror, leaving it on the counter. How could he have been so stupid not to notice it when he was climbing on? The cut wasn't very deep, but it was bleeding a lot - and quickly. The blood was trickling down his arm as Grell lowered himself from the counter, grabbing some toilet paper to hold against it.
The shinigami heard a knock at the door. "Excuse me, Grell, are you in there?" Mey-Rin had just returned to Grell's room so she could proceed in cleaning up the mess Finny had left behind. She noticed that he wasn't there, so figuring he was in the bathroom, she decided to knock first.
Grell opened the door with his left hand, not wanting to touch anything with his now bleeding right. "Mey-Rin, do you know where the bandages are? I cut my hand on a piece of glass." The shinigami said in a teary voice, he whimpered in pain as he felt the delicate paper become soft and turn a deep red colour. The maid screamed and ran over to the pull chain to summon Sebastian, she didn't know if she could handle it herself. Grell leaned on the border of the door for support, slowly sinking to the floor, why did it have to be so hard to stand? He knew Sebastian was busy, and wished that Mey-Rin could have just told him where the bandages were, he knew that Sebastian probably wouldn't be very happy having more work to do. Mey-Rin ran over to him, "G-Grell, are you alright? Where did the glass come from? Did you break something?"
"I broke my hand mirror last night…"
"You should have told someone! It could have been taken care of."
"I didn't want to throw it out." The shinigami had grown attached to that mirror, since he had been using it for so long, he couldn't accept that he had broken it. Mey-Rin, not sure what to do, sat beside him, waiting eagerly for Sebastian. She usually lost all logic when it came to things like this and probably would just make it worse if she tried anything.