As Grell was washing his hands and face and explaining how he had accidently cut his hand, Sebastian was noticing that Grell didn't look well – which was to be expected, as he was ill – but even worse than he should. When the shinigami had finished speaking he looked so utterly exhausted that Sebastian took a step in his direction and firmly grasped his arm, as he had earlier when he took him to the bathroom. Sebastian touched a hand to Grell's scarlet cheek, which was now the same colour as his hair. He could hear Grell breathing quickly and deeply. Sebastian frowned and directed his attention away from Grell to Mey-Rin. "Mey-Rin, please perform the following tasks quickly and accurately. I would like you to leave this room with everything that you brought here and the teacups from earlier. When you have returned those to their proper place, come back with a clean quilt and a pitcher of water and a glass, please change the quilt and leave the other two objects on the bedside-table (which will thankfully be cleared once the cosmetics and teacups are gone). When all of that is finished, may I trust you to clean the mess Finny made earlier? I would normally do it myself, but Grell needs attention, (and you are the maid) I recognise these symptoms from when I was treating the young master's asthma."
While Sebastian was explaining his orders to Mey-Rin, the maid's face changed from anxious to frightened – she was blushing furiously when he was finished – she was determined to follow Sebastian's orders to the best of her abilities, and was only worried if she would be able to. She nodded and swiftly and left the bathroom to begin. Sebastian shut the door behind her, and turned his attention to Grell. He had him sit on the toilet as Sebastian began filling the bath with cold water. "I had to sponge you to lower your fever last night, but that was because you were asleep. Sponging is only used when the victim is bedridden, asleep, or unconscious. Since you are not any of those, but your fever is past using an ice-pack, I am going to have you lay in cold bathwater." Sebastian, as a demon who was forced into the position of a butler through a contract, was not used to serving or assisting others and felt that he had to explain everything that he did to be understood or trusted. Sebastian held his hand underneath the running water, testing that it was the correct knob, before standing to his feet and taking the frame and glass shards of Grell's mirror. He told Grell that he was going to take care of his mirror, and left the room with simple instructions. "If the bath fills before I return, turn off the water and get in without me."
Once he entered the bedroom he saw that Mey-Rin was frantically attempting to place the new quilt on the bed, the pitcher and cup were on the table beside her. He smiled, "I am proud of you, Mey-Rin, you actually did what I told you to without making a mistake. Good job." Sebastian left with the fragments of the mirror, headed for his own bedroom, to place them aside before returning to Grell. On his way there, Sebastian encountered Ciel at the bottom of the stairs that led to the main floor. He paused in front of Ciel and bowed his head with his hand on his own shoulder, "My lord."
Ciel analyzed the situation before replying, "Sebastian, where did you find that broken mirror and what are you doing with it?"
Sebastian explained without hesitation, "It was Grell's, my lord; he broke this mirror last night. I am going to try to repair it."
Ciel nodded, "Alright, take it away. But do not let that... thing distract you from your work. I will be expecting my meals on regular time and for the trail of filth I saw earlier to be cleaned."
Sebastian bowed again and answered convincingly, "Yes, my lord."
Sebastian entered his own bedroom and set the broken mirror down on his bed, he would repair that later today, if he had the time to. He returned to the bathroom (with a bucket) and entered without knocking and saw the Grell was already in the tub. It was cold water, so there was no steam, and it was clean water, so there were no bubbles. Sebastian, as a demon and one who bathed a small, male human daily didn't feel that this was intrusive in the slightest. Grell though, apparently did, because when Sebastian came into the bathroom he stared at him in frightened embarrassment before he screamed loudly and quickly covered himself (as well as he could with the circumstances). He would have been blushing wildly if he cheeks were not already red. Sebastian quickly made to cover his sensitive ears from Grell's womanly screaming and only put them down when he was finished. He spoke loudly and with a touch of anger, "Calm yourself, Grell, what was that for? Do you think that I have never seen a naked human before? Even if I hadn't, I am not looking, please believe me when I tell you that I don't want to. So don't be so conscious!" Sebastian approached the bath and knelt beside Grell, dipping the bucket in the tub to fill with water, when it was half full he poured the water over Grell's head. "Think of this only as being necessary in your current condition, you are very weak now." Sebastian realised that Grell may not be so ill that he could not pour the water over his own head, but as he demon he greatly underestimated a shinigami's endurance.
Grell watched Sebastian as he left the room with his broken hand mirror; he said he was going to take care of it – which probably meant he was throwing it out. The shinigami sighed as he watched the bathtub fill with water, there was no point in becoming sad over the object, it's not like that was going to fix it. Grell decided he should get ready for his bath, since he washed his hair last night there was no need to wash it again – it usually took hours to dry. He searched the cabinets in the room for a towel and some soap, eventually finding them and placing them on the counter. Afterwards he began braiding his hair, styling as much of the braid as he could into a bun, wrapping what was left around his neck once or twice. He secured the bun with the ribbon of his robe, tying it in a large, neat bow; there were still some curls in his face (because Mey-Rin had curled most of his bangs) but he decided to leave them be. The bathtub was full by the time Grell had finished his hair, so after he turned it off he folded his clothing and placed them on the counter next to the towel, taking up the soaps and setting them on the border of the bathtub.
The shinigami still had his glasses on (as he imagined he wouldn't be getting his head wet) and the gauze Sebastian had wrapped around his torso and back last night was still present (since Sebastian said it was waterproof). Grell usually preferred warm baths, but this was more of an attempt to calm his fever - he was feeling rather hot, so maybe it wouldn't be so bad. He cautiously touched the still water with his foot, pulling it back almost immediately with a gasp – this water was cold! The shinigami had such sensitive skin, the temperature affected him tremendously - but it wasn't going to get any warmer, so he was just going to have to deal with it. Grell carefully slid his foot into the icy water, feeling an unpleasant shiver, proceeding by sliding in the rest of his pale leg before climbing in, hissing as he lowered his body into the tub.
Grell sat uncomfortably in the water, trembling as he waited for his body temperature to adjust. After a few minutes he was familiar enough with the feeling to move around, taking hold of a nail filer he found in the cabinet, he began filing one of his toenails that had been bothering him recently – it was slightly uneven. He took advantage of this opportunity by doing the same with the rest of his nails. As he was in the midst of filing, he heard the door open from behind him and someone walk in. He turned his head around enough to see who had entered, only to distinguish Sebastian – holding a bucket. Grell felt ultimately exposed, as he had his bare leg lifted to ensure better filing, as well as the water he was sitting in being translucent. He stared at Sebastian for an awkward moment, not even believing the situation he was in right now, before screaming out of realisation that he was naked in front of Sebastian. The flustered shinigami quickly brought his leg down before frantically covering himself the best he could.
Sebastian covered his ears until Grell had finished screaming and told his after that he shouldn't be so conscious. Grell noticed that he seemed angry. He also noticed that he was walking towards him, Sebastian was approaching him, Grell couldn't even recall a time he had been this embarrassed! Didn't Sebastian understand the concept of privacy? The demon knelt down in front of the tub; the shinigami's heart was racing as he stared at Sebastian – backing away quickly as Sebastian dipped the bucket into the tub, pouring it over his head. The shinigami shut his eyes, the water soaking his hair and wetting his glasses, which was just what he was trying to avoid. Grell opened his eyes, touching his hair that he had put so much effort into putting up just to avoid it getting wet, and Sebastian had dumped water all over it!
"Sebby, I was trying to keep my hair dry." The shinigami whined nervously, sticking the tip of his thumb in his mouth. His shoulders were trembling from the cold water as it ran down his face, dripping off his eyelashes when he blinked. This was extremely awkward, was Sebastian trying to embarrass him? Grell removed his thumb from his mouth before leaning forward on the edge of the tub, crossing his arms on the border and resting his head on top.
"You should apologise, Sebby, it's very impolite for a man to intrude on a lady while she's bathing." Grell giggled – amusing himself - before sitting up and coughing abruptly, letting out a moan of discomfort from the sting in his lungs after. He still felt terrible and weak, touching his chest as he took a deep breath.
