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“Too hot, Rock...” Grace strained against the wall, trying to recover from the shock on his big toe. Rocky took a moment to help steady him, then scuttled hurriedly to the tap to turn it. They waited. Grace dipped his toe in again and sighed dreamily. “That’s perfect.”
[In, Grace! In in in!] Rocky trilled excitedly, finally managing to drag out a weak little chuckle from his Human companion. With Rocky’s help once more, Grace slowly submerged himself up to the neck in the tub. Grace was very particular about having a bathtub rather than a shower in his biodome—it was really the only thing he was particular about, aside from the whole oxygen thing.
Grace’s head fell limp against the lip of the tub and his eyelids drooped, worrying Rocky. Rocky reached out and touched Grace.
[Grace comfortable, question?] He asked, patting Grace’s arm. Grace nodded slightly, heaving out another deep sigh.
“Hey… Rock?” The Human’s voice was quiet. Rocky stood at attention. “Ugh… you mind grabbing the… the shampoo for me?”
The shampoo was much closer to Grace than to Rocky—in fact, Rocky had to reach over him to grab it—but Rocky did it anyway. He made to hand the bottle over to Grace, but the Human’s arm was just as limp as his neck.
[Rocky take care of Grace.]
Tenderly, Rocky dipped his hand into the water and began to pour it over Grace’s head. Rocky had a fascination with the privacy of Humans and all the strange things they did behind closed doors. Cleaning oneself was typically a single-person event. Even though the pair had been through everything together by this point, Rocky still felt touched that Grace would share this sacred tradition with him—would allow Rocky to touch him in these closed-door moments.
Grace barely reacted when the water ran down his face, only scrunching up his nose and closing his eyes occasionally. Rocky loved his face, even though so many things on it leaked. It was soft and pliable. Rocky could squish and stretch his face forever and never get bored of it.
With blunt fingers, Rocky began to scrub a dollop of shampoo into Grace’s hair, causing the Human to groan in pleasure. His long eyelashes fluttered as he leaned into the touch. Rocky massaged his delicate head (Humans were delicate everywhere) using the techniques he read about in the many health books and articles on his Thinking Machine. Although his hands didn’t work the same way as those in the reference images, they appeared to do the job just fine.
[Grace feels good, question?] Rocky hummed as he scratched at Grace’s flaky scalp. Grace moaned in response and threw a quick thumbs up his way. [So dirty dirty dirty, Rocky fix.]
Grace laughed again, a sweet sound that could rival any Eridian’s song. Rocky wanted to draw out every single sound Grace could ever make and keep them in his memory forever. Mindlessly, Rocky stroked his cheek. Grace’s eyelids lifted just enough to look at him, and Rocky tapped on his face to get the full effect of his smile.
“Y’think I’m good yet?” Grace asked with amusement. It occurred then to Rocky that he’d been shampooing the Human for longer than was necessary. Rocky chittered and began to rinse. “Jeez, I really was dirty… and here I thought the washcloth was enough. Look, the water’s brown.”
[Rocky clean Grace whole body.] Rocky nodded insistently. [Up up up, Grace dirty!]
“I’ll try, bud…” This time, Grace’s groan was one of pain as he sat up. Rocky put one of his hands on Grace’s back to steady him. Grace had lost so much weight on the journey; all his muscle mass had been consumed and Rocky could feel his ribs and spine.
Leaning heavily against Rocky’s hand, Grace spread out his arms and rested them on either edge of the tub.
With one of his other arms, Rocky squirted body wash over Grace’s trembling chest. He flinched at the difference in temperature, but Rocky hummed again to soothe him.
[Rocky study Human books, know all about Human body.] Rocky said as he rubbed the body wash into Grace’s abdomen. Dead skin sloughed off the Human and clung to Rocky’s suit. [Euughhh…]
Grace’s head tipped back at an uncomfortable angle as he laughed, which trailed off into a coughing fit as Rocky rinsed the substance off his hand.
Working through his disgust, Rocky continued washing his Human’s body. It took a long time of dedicated scrubbing, but eventually, the dead skin stopped coming off. The water had grown lukewarm, if not cool, by this point.
“So gross…” Grace mumbled, looking down at himself.
[Is not disgust—is Grace!] Rocky scolded him. Grace smiled again.
Once he was satisfied, Rocky reached down and drained the tub. Grace watched the water, and Rocky watched Grace.
[All clean! All clean!] Rocky cheered, jumping up and down.
“I do feel way better.” Grace yawned, but he made no move to stand. Rocky wasn’t sure if he could stand.
[Grace tired, question? Rocky put to bed, statement.] Rocky collected the Human in two of his arms. Grace wasn’t especially heavy before, but there was definitely a difference now. Rocky cooed sadly at the thought as he walked to Grace’s bedroom.
[Grace eat, question?]
Grace grimaced. “Not right now, bud…” He mumbled. Rocky nodded and placed him down on the bed.
[Grace eat tomorrow. Rocky make Grace good food!]
“Yeah… lookin’ forward to it.” Grace lifted his arm with great effort and pet the top of Rocky’s carapace. “Thanks, Rocky. For… for everything.”
[Is easy. Is for Grace! Rocky love Grace, make Grace comfortable and happy.]
A leak sprung in Grace’s eye again, but the Human made no effort to plug it, and it trailed down to Grace’s pillow. “Love you too, Rock.”