A/N: MY 80TH FANFIC! =D And my first Kuroshitsuji one to boot! Awh yeah! xD What can I say? I fell in love with Black Butler. The accents sucked me in xDD I finished both seasons and the manga in a week. So amazing. And I instantly fell in love with the couple Ciel/Lizzy. I don't care what you yaoi fans say, Ciel/Lizzy was SO obvious and hardcore canon. But I won't go into that. All I'll say is that if you haven't read the manga, DO IT. Both seasons of Black Butler were awesome, but the manga was just.. omg. Amazing. If you don't have time to read it all, at least check out the chapters 51-58. LIZZY TURNS SO WICKED AND HARDCORE IT'S JUST AWESOME. Anywhoozle, this story could take place in the second season or the manga, doesn't really matter. Wherever it fits best.
I hope y'all enjoy this, I just randomly woke up with the inspiration/idea, grabbed my coffee, turned on Pandora, and this was the result. xD
Oh, and also, I'd like to give one of my best friends, Aria, a very special thank you. She was my fangirl ranting buddy the entire time we watched Black Butler together, and she gave me the idea for this story. Love ya giiirl!
Tanaka, would you do the disclaimer? :3
Tanaka: Taylor in no shape, form, or fashion owns Black Butler. *turns back into chibi Tanaka* Ho ho ho.
There you have it. xD
Ciel instantly noticed something was amiss once he arrived home from yet another errand for the Queen. The Midford carriage was parked in front of the manor. So much for his idea of relaxing with a cup of tea upon return of a grueling trip.
"It seems that Lady Elizabeth has decided to pay you a welcoming home visit of sorts," Sebastian remarked, having reached the same conclusion as his young master.
"Lovely," Ciel grumbled, cranky and tired.
The carriage pulled to a stop and Sebastian opened the door, getting out and offering a hand to help Ciel down. As soon as Ciel had taken his first step on the soil, his fiancee's bubbly voice rang out. "CCCCIIIIIEEEEEELLLLLLLL!" Ciel braced himself for the imminent running tackle-hug or the similar administrations Lizzy always greeted him with. As predicted, Lizzy glomped him around the neck, then grabbed his hands and swung him around with almost superhuman strength, laughing merrily all the while.
"Elizabeth!" he protested, dizzy once she stopped. "Why are you here?"
"How many times must I remind you, silly goose? Call me Lizzy!" She pinched his cheeks. "Can't a lady welcome her fiance home?"
"I will see to the tea and refreshments, my young lord," Sebastian excused himself before entering the Phantomhive mansion.
Lizzy took his hands in hers, dragging him toward the front door. "Come, come, you must see! I know you dislike parties, so I decided against a welcoming-home party, but I simply had to do something!" Ciel inwardly groaned.
Upon entering his manor, he saw balloons. Pink. And purple. Every feminine color imagineable aligned his ceiling where they all floated. Of all the... Not only that, but the servants were dressed up ridiculously. Even Tanaka, who sat sipping his tea in a teddy bear suit. "Ho ho ho."
"Lizzy," Ciel said through gritted teeth, forcing patience, "what is this?"
Mey-Rin was still blowing up a balloon, but seeing that Ciel had entered, she instantly stopped and the half-blown balloon went flying around the room. Lizzy burst into laughter. "W-Welcome home, young master!"
Ciel darkly scowled and whirled on his fiancee, trying again. "What exactly are you doing?"
"I just told you, darling boy! What does it look like?" She was beaming so innocently at him, as if.. as if she expected him to enjoy this catastrophe to the same extent as she. "Isn't the manor so much cuter now?"
Ciel brought his hand to his forehead, taking a few moments to slowly inhale and exhale. When he spoke, he addressed her as if she was an ignorant toddler that needed to be reprimanded. "I don't want my manor to be cute. I like it the way it is, so you'd do well to leave it alone entirely."
Lizzy was quick to protest. "But it's always so dark and dull! It needs a little brightening up, more color!"
"You don't live here, Lizzy!" he snapped.
Lizzy lifted a finger in truimph. "But I will one day, don't you remember?"
"Don't you have something better to decorate? Experiment on your room, not the Phantomhive household!"
"There's nothing left to decorate in my room!" Lizzy countered with a pout.
"Then redecorate it!"
"No! I love my room exactly the way it is!"
"I love my manor exactly the way it is!" Ciel barked.
Lizzy visibly recoiled at his sharp tone directed towards her, then her emerald eyes began to well with tears. "Why are you so angry with me?" she sniffed, voice quivering as she tried to speak. "I-I just want.. to make everything adorable for you.."
Ciel tried to calm his voice at her tears, but failed. "Don't you get it? I don't like adorable! I don't want anything of mine to be adorable! Do I make myself clear?"
That's when her tears began to fall. "Y..you don't like adorable? But.." Lizzy stopped cold, remembering all that Madame Red had told her about being a cute and naive wife. "That means..." She burst into sobs. "You hate me, don't you? I try to be a cute wife for you! T-that's how I was taught! You don't like adorable, you don't like me!" she wailed.
Ciel's eye widened at how she'd twisted his words around. "Elizabeth, no. That's not what I.."
"I get it now! Leave me alone!" Lizzy ran out the front door in sobs, leaving everyone staring wide-eyed at the exchange in shock.
Ciel made a frustrated sound. "Drat.." That's not what he'd meant at all. He was just lashing out from lack of sleep and irritation from his long, tiresome task for Queen Victoria.
At that moment Sebastian entered pushing along a tea cart. "If I may, young master, you should pursue her."
"Yes, yes, I know that already," Ciel mumbled, his pace brisk as he stormed out.
A long tense, awkward moment passed. Finnian coughed. Paula broke the silence by ringing her bells. "Jingle jingle jingle...?"
Ciel finally found her in the orchard, following the sounds of her sobs, his stomach clenching the entire way. He sat beside her huddled form under a tree. "Lizzy.." he started to apologize, but she cut him off.
"I-I just wanted to cheer you up.. I know how sad you get after you come home from a job for Her Majesty.." Lizzy choked up. She'd always wondered what kind of things he did for Her Highness, but never asked. Even she knew that was forbidden territory to cross into. "And I know I go too far sometimes.. and I make you angry... and I'm sorry.. I just...I want to make you happy.." I want to see you smile for me.. She missed his smile more than anything else in the whole world. She'd taken such a beautiful thing for granted when they were children, back when Ciel was all smiles.. and now that was all she yearned for. Won't you smile for me.. just once?..
Ciel watched her with a frown. How stupid was he? Nobody ever went to this degree for him, no one ever had, except for Lizzy. He slipped his hand into hers. "And I appreciate your efforts, truly, I do. But the things that suit you don't suit me." He paused a moment. "For the record, what I said about adorable things didn't apply to you." Suddenly a small memory flitted through his mind, one of when they were young children, where he had proclaimed to her, "I'm glad that you're the one who's going to be my wife, Lizzy."
Lizzy sniffed, feeling relief warm her. At Ciel's demand of "Look at me, Lizzy," she raised her gaze. Ciel took out a hankerchief with his free hand and brushed her tears away with it. "I never want to make you cry again," he said quietly. She met his eyes, her own shimmering. Then, before her eyes, he allowed the tiniest hint of a smile to cross his lips. "You may redecorate if you'd like, but on two conditions. The first is that the renovation will not be in the main room. The second is that it can't be any feminine colors. Is that suitable, Lizzy?"
Lizzy's entire face lit up. "Yes! That's perfect! Oh, thank you, Ciel! Thank you thank you thank you!" She squeezed his hand before launching at him to hug him tightly around the neck. "I'll get started right away! You're the best fiance ever!" She burst into giggles and jumped up, taking off back toward the Phantomhive estate, all traces of her tears gone.
Ciel turned and stared after her with a light chuckle. That didn't take much..
"Sebastian, this is an order," Ciel told him as he accepted a cup of steaming tea in his office at his desk. "Keep an eye on Lizzy and her project. Make certain she doesn't do anything.. drastic."
"Yes, my lord," Sebastian responded, setting down a slice of strawberry shortcake, Ciel's favorite. "You certainly are set on keeping her happy."
Ciel picked up his fork, giving his butler an unamused look. "I've told you before, Sebastian, it's my duty as the Earl of Phantomhive to keep my betrothed happy."
"Ah, but it's more than that, young master. You wish to keep her happy as long as possible before you leave her for good. Is that not correct?"
Ciel looked away sharply. "You are dismissed, Sebastian. If you have time to stand here dallying, you have time to make dinner preparations."
He already had everything prepared for dinner. "Yes, my young lord." Sebastian slipped out of the room, pushing the tea cart.
Once he was alone, Ciel reluctantly acknowledged the truth in his demon butler's statement as he ate a bite of his cake. He remembered a conversation with Madame Red after he'd returned from his one-month disappearance with Sebastian in tow, when he asked how Lizzy had fared the entire time he'd been presumed dead...
"I don't think Elizabeth ever stopped wearing black. Black from head to toe, the poor dear. Her mood was as dark as her apparel." His aunt stared into her tea before taking a sip. "Black is a dreadful color for Elizabeth."
Ciel set down his teacup to open a drawer in his desk, withdrawing an old picture of Lizzy and him, back when they were children, running around playing with wide grins.
His only regret of his contract with a demon was not that he'd die so young after getting his revenge and his soul eaten. It was not that he'd leave behind riches and no one in charge to take over the role of the head of the Phantomhive family and the Funtom company. It was not even throwing away the chance to marry Lizzy when they grew up.
His only, and biggest, regret was that he'd leave Lizzy.. his best friend, his cousin, his fiancee.. so heartbroken.
Again.