Chapter 1: Tidings

Sebastian Michaelis pulled the heavy drapes away from the window without so much as a whisper, letting the yellow rays of sunlight fill his master's large, dreary bedchamber. The scents of freshly brewed Assam tea and warm pastries wafted toward the four-poster bed when the butler lifted the silver cover.

A tousled dark-haired head poked out of the layers and layers of blankets atop the large bed. Ciel Phantomhive yawned widely.

"Good morning, young master." The butler greeted him with a small smile and pushed the breakfast-laden trolley closer to the bed. "This morning I have prepared a newly imported brand of Assam tea and French pastries." He proceeded to identify every item on the cart.

"Croissant," Ciel said when Sebastian had finished. He shifted until his back was supported by the gleaming mahogany headboard and held out his hand.

Sebastian handed him the newspaper, going over the day's routine as he buttered his master's croissant and poured the black tea into fancy china. "Your contact in Germany is coming in two hours to discuss his business proposition. I have prepared the sitting room for this. The storm clouds on the horizon mean this afternoon's garden party will have to be rescheduled. That leaves time for undisrupted lessons if Marquis Bradford does not arrive earlier than expected for dinner." He turned toward the bed, expecting at least a grunt in response, but there was none.

Ciel was staring with great concentration at the newspaper spread out upon his bare legs, his forehead wrinkled and his startling blue eye narrowed.

"Young master?"

"Sebastian," Ciel snapped. "Look at this!" He shoved the front page under the butler's nose and pointed with such force at the center headline that his finger passed through the newspaper's thin pages.

"Oh, dear," Sebastian said with a growing smile.

The headline in question read: Windfall Debuts Best-Selling Candy Firework "StarFall"! A Worthy Rival for Funtom!?

"Are you worried for your company?" Sebastian inquired. "That headline is to capture bored Londoners' attentions. Did you read the article?"

"Yes! It is even worse than the headline itself."

Sebastian's blood-red eyes scanned the two-column article quickly, his smile never fading from his pale face. "This is merely speculation," he said dismissively, "and yellow journalism. A single new toy does not necessarily mean this Windfall aims to put Funtom out of business. We have dealt with such companies before, have we not, young master?"

Ciel ignored him and climbed out of bed. He held his arms out, waiting for Sebastian to dress him. "Cancel everything for today, Sebastian."

Sebastian's dark eyebrows rose. "'Everything'?" he repeated dubiously as he helped Ciel shrug off his nightshirt and dress in his formal garments.

"Everything." He reached for a croissant, but Sebastian pushed the trolley out of Ciel's reach. "What are you doing?"

The black-haired man announced blandly, "Breakfast has been canceled, young master. Would you like to reschedule it?"

Ciel scowled. "Take this seriously, Sebastian."

A slight bow of the head. "My apologies."

"You can leave now." The twelve-year-old head of the Phantomhive added, "And invite them here."

"On what pretenses?"

Ciel waved a hand impatiently; he couldn't be bothered with the details. "Whatever you want to come up with, Sebastian. Make it believable."

"Yes, my lord." The butler sighed after he'd closed the heavy door behind him. He listed his tasks aloud as he walked purposefully down the hallway, the tails of his black tailcoat flapping against his legs with every step. "Invitations, tea, cakes, the drawing room needs to be prepared... My, my, the young master always leaves me so much work to do."

Well, this takes place at some unspecified point in the manga/anime. I'm not really sure when because none of the plot really comes into play. Things will be mentioned in passing. Things will be ignored. I call it... creative license XD

And yeah, obviously I can't come up with good headlines XD; Hopefully the first chapter is more attention-grabbing than that poor excuse for a headline.
Being the nut for characterization that I am... I'd like to know how I did. Good? Bad? Awful?
I guess you could call this an experimental chapter. To continue or not continue? How was it? Feedback would be appreciated :D Onegai shimasu~
Random: I wish I could write a Grell fic. I loved Grell... then he turned out to be a murdering androgynous psychopath and, well, my love for Grell died -_-; My god, he was creepy. XD;