"Welcome, dear friends. It is with great joy that we welcome children into our world, as children are a gift from God, the source of all life, who now wishes to bestow his own life onto this little one. " The priest said to the mass before turning to the new parents. "What name have you given this child?"
"Sebastian Alexander Michealis." The man replied easily as his tiny, black-haired son wiggled around in his mother's arms, having been dressed in a long white christening gown.
"What do you ask of God's Church for Sebastian Alexander Michaelis?
"Baptism."
"You have asked to have your child baptized. In doing so, you are accepting the responsibility of training him in the practice of the faith. It will be your duty to bring him up to keep God's commandments as Christ taught us, by loving God and our neighbor. Do you clearly understand what you are undertaking?"
"Yes, we do."
"Sebastian Alexander Michaelis, the Christian community welcomes you with great joy. In it's name, I claim you for Christ our Savior by the sign of his cross. I now trace the cross on your forehead, and invite your parents to do the same." The priest said to the baby looking up at him inquisitively. The entire church went silent, save for Sebastian's cooing and gurgling as the priest traced the cross onto his forehead, his parents following suit.
The Mass continued on, despite Sebastian's restlessness. At only about two months old, the baby boy was rather talkative and vocal. His mother tried to gently shush him, though he just grinned up at her, recognizing her face once again and squealing with delight.
The Michaelis family had never been the best off. With the new baby in their house, it was only the father who could work and provide for his little family. He was a carpenter and worked in a rather renowned shop in London. However, times were tough and getting tougher, and the owner of the shop had told them that Friday that the shop would be closing soon enough.
So, it had been a miracle when Earl Phantomhive had commissioned him to build the furniture for the nursery of his own expected child. In return, he'd be paid well for his work, along with being paid a good amount of money he and his wife could borrow to help raise their new son. The only condition was that, once their son was old enough to work, he and his mother would go to work and start to pay him back what they'd borrowed, plus a small bit of interest. They'd have a monthly quota to meet, and if they were unable to do so, then they'd meet with the earl to work something out. The terms were fair, so the little family agreed to them right away.
When Mass ended, the Michaelis family left together with the Church's blessings given to their newly Christened son. They went back to their little house on the outskirts of London together, where they rested the rest of the day and enjoyed the Sabbath together. Sebastian was nursed, and then set in his bassinet to sleep. When he woke, he was changed and his parents both started to play with him as he stopped fussing. The family didn't have much, but they were happy. While the imminent loss of the father's job was rather nerve-wracking, there were other carpentry shops in London he could find work at.
When he was able to, Sebastian got a job at a bakery at the age of seven years old. His wages weren't too high, because he could only do simple little jobs around the bakery. His mother worked as a seamstress at a tailor shop and his father had gotten another job at a carpenter shop. The family set their priorities on meeting the quota every month, meaning that they didn't have quite a lot of money they could set aside for food or clothes. People in their church would help them out, though, bringing them bread to eat and giving them clothes to help dress their constantly growing son, who already stood a bit taller than the other boys his age. With his long legs and thin frame, most the clothes fit rather well, though all his pants ended up being a bit too short on him.
"Sebastian, honey, can you go bring this out to the man in the top hat and his little boy?" A voice asked, breaking the young boy from his trance as he sat in a corner in the kitchen, looking over and studying his letters, trying to copy them down as best he could.
Sebastian looked up from his work to see the baker's wife smiling down at him gently with a tray in her hand with two plates of chocolate cake. He nodded and stood up from the floor before taking the tray and happily walking out from the kitchen to the main area of the bakery. He easily spotted the man in the top hat, who was happily chatting with his own son who had big blue eyes and a wide, happy smile.
He walked over to the pair happily, giving them their plates happily. "Here's your cake, sir."
"Oh, thank you." Vincent replied easily as they got their food from the little boy.
"Thank you!" The little boy with him repeated happily, a wide grin on his face at the sight of the cake.
Sebastian looked over at the other little boy and smiled back at him happily. The other boy was beautiful and little and cute. He decided then and there that one day he'd be marrying him. "You're welcome." He said happily.
"Papa, why's there a little boy working here?" the boy tried to whisper to his father once the serving boy went back to the kitchen once again.
"Some people need extra money to help their family out, so their kids are sent to work as well as their parents. " Vincent explained as he watched his son take a bite of the cake that was a bit too large for his mouth.
"That's so sad." Ciel said, his mouth full of chocolate cake.
"Ciel, don't talk with your mouth full in public. Take smaller bites, too. I don't want you choking." Vincent replied with a laugh, reaching over to get some icing off the corner of the boy's mouth.
"Sorry, Papa." Ciel replied with a small smile and a giggle before starting to eat more of his cake.
Vincent hummed and started to eat his own cake, glancing back over at the tall, almost gangly young boy walking back to the kitchen. The boy had head of messy black hair that fell to his shoulders that looked like it hadn't been properly washed for a while. Mr. Michaelis had told him his son had gotten a job at a bakery, so he figured that could only be him. Vincent just went back to minding his own business, enjoying his cake with his own son.
Sebastian returned to his little corner in the kitchen with the tray easily when he was done with his task. "The little boy out there is pretty. I'm going to marry him one day." He said matter-of-factly to the baker's wife, making a few of the other workers laugh a bit.
"Oh, honey, you're silly. You'll find a little lady who's just as pretty as that boy, if not prettier, and she'll be your wife. Then you'll have nice, pretty little babies." She replied to him, ruffling his hair, though wiping her hand on her apron when she felt how oily and greasy the little boy's hair was.
"But what if I wanna marry him instead?" Sebastian asked curiously. "I want him to be my wife."
"Oh, Sebastian. You can't take another man as a wife, it's not right. You'll have a nice Catholic wedding with a pretty girl, just like I know your parents would like." She replied to her, patting his back as he went back to his corner to practice his letters once again.
Sebastian kept silent, though completely sure that he'd one day marry that boy with the big blue eyes. That way he could wake up next to him every day and kiss his cheek like he always saw his parents do. Sometimes they'd kiss each other's mouths, too, though he didn't think he could ever do that. It just seemed too disgusting.
Every day from that day on, Sebastian would look up when the bell over the door rang, signaling that someone had come inside the shop, hoping that the boy with the pretty blue eyes would come back inside once again. Then, he'd serve him his cake and be able to see his smile once again.
The boy would come in every so often, though not at all as often as Sebastian would have liked. Years passed by with ease, and it was nearing Christmas when he learned why he hadn't seen the blue-eyed boy.
"You wouldn't believe what a customer told me today." Sebastian's father said as they all sat together and ate their dinner of bread and a bit of cheese.
"And you say I'm the gossip of the family." His mother teased with a small smile to him.
"What'd you hear, Papa?" Sebastian piped up.
"Sebastian." His mother scolded him lightly, his parents always having to remind him to keep silent unless he was spoken to. It was impolite for children to be too noisy with guests over and, while they didn't mind, they wanted him to learn so he wouldn't embarrass them when they did have a guest in their home.
"Sorry, Mama." Sebastian said softly, looking down at the stinky cheese and going back to eating it.
"Well, evidently, the Phantomhive manor burned down last night. They say they were able to find the bodies of the Earl and his wife, but their son was nowhere to be found. It can only be assumed he's dead as well." His father said, making his mother gasp at the news before making a cross by touching her forehead, abdomen, and shoulders.
"God be with them." She prayed easily. "Their boy was about Sebastian's age, right?"
"Yes. He was just a bit younger than Sebastian by a few months. " His father replied with a nod and a small frown.
"What did his son look like?" Sebastian piped up again despite being scolded another time.
"I'm not sure, really. The earl said he was small and sickly and had his mother's blue eyes and his dark hair." His father replied.
Sebastian fell silent at that, remembering his blue-eyed boy. Whenever he saw him he was either with a tall man with the same hair as him or a woman who had his eyes. It could have only been the Phantomhive boy he'd grown so fond of, and now he'd never see his blue-eyed boy again. He frowned at the thought, staring down at the half eaten bread in his hands and feeling tears well up in his eyes until he found himself starting to cry.
Sebastian had never really been that easy of a crier, having done the most of his crying in infancy and the first couple years of life. After he turned five, though, it happened ever so rarely as he grew less sensitive and the constant reminders from his father that he was to grow into a man, and men didn't cry.
He felt his mother's arms around him, holding him close against her breast and stroking his dark hair lovingly. "Oh, Sebastian. They're all in a better place now, don't worry." She crooned to him.
Sebastian stayed relatively silent for the rest of the night as his parents tried to comfort him with promises that the family was all in Heaven now, praising him for having such a gentle heart.
His parents prayed for them that night, but otherwise didn't seem all that upset by the deaths. Instead, they seemed relieved, as this meant that they no longer had a debt to pay off and could work on getting back on their feet. Consequently, a few days later, Christmas morning graced Sebastian with a new sweater that was fresh from a store rather than a donation pile from the church. It was black wool with a big cat face knitted into the center and when he wore it, it was relatively large on him, giving him lots of room to wear the comfy thing. He absolutely loved it. After he celebrated his new sweater, his parents decided it was a good day for a bath so they could be clean for the night service at their church that night.
Sebastian sat in the corner and practiced his reading and writing and arithmetic while his mother helped to bath his father in their bath basin, then vice versa. When they were both done, he was called over to sit in the chilled water and let his mother clean his body as much as she could in the dirty water, then his dark hair. He was shivering by the time he got out of the basin and dried off. He then got dressed in his best pair of pants, and his new sweater happily. Once they were all ready to go, they left that night for the service to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ with the rest of the church.
January and February flew by with the winter breeze, and soon enough it was March and the weather was steadily growing a bit warmer and warmer. It was the middle of March when a rapping came onto their door while they enjoyed their dinner of the vegetable soup his mother had made. Without the debt to worry over, it was a lot easier for them to keep their heads above the water. They were able to have a better size of meals rather than just bread and cheese. When he needed to get new boots, as his old ones had holes near the toes, they were able to get him a new pair. They were a bit large, but that was so he could wear them as his feet grew to fit them. Plus, it was much easier to wear wool socks with them when there was extra room in them.
The family all looked up at the sharp knock until Sebastian's father stood up to answer the door, finding a stern looking old man outside with a walking stick and a top hat.
"Are you Mr. Michaelis?" the stranger asked.
"Yes, I am." Sebastian's father replied with a nod and a small frown, stepping aside when the older man hit him with his walking stick and walked inside the little house.
"Ah, I see I'm interrupting your dinner. I won't be long; I've just come to deliver a message. Your family still owed money to Earl Phantomhive, yes?"
"Well, yes, but Earl Phantomhive and his wife and hi successor passed on. There's no one to pay."
"Well, that's what everyone thought until about two nights ago. His successor is alive and staying in his family's townhome in London for the time being."
That got Sebastian's attention and he looked over at the old man, pausing the eating of his meal. The blue-eyed boy was alive and well and maybe he'd even come back to the bakery so he could see him. The thought made him smile happily.
"The new Earl Phantomhive would like me to tell you that I'll be serving as the debt collector from here on out, for your family and the others that owe him money. He'll be coming to visit in a few days' time to work something out with your family as to how you'll make up the three months worth of money you missed." The man told the family easily. The man then tipped his hat and bade the family goodnight before leaving the little house, leaving the little family watching after him, dumbfounded.