"Snake! Go clean up the broken vase!"
"Snake! Straighten up and properly show our guests to the parlor!"
"Snake! Where are those books that the young Master ordered?"
"Snake! Your little friends are tripping our fellow servants! Take better care of them!"
Snake, Snake, Snake! The scaled man was getting tired of hearing his name so much. It was nice that he was being addressed as a normal person now, instead of receiving the usual terrified looks, but he was getting irritated. It wasn't fair how Black pushed him around so much, even if he was new to everything. In his old way of life, he barely took care of himself, and now he was expected to take care of others?
Not that he was complaining or anything. He had been saved from the little circus act that he was in, but he still wanted to go back and visit his friends. Not like he talked to them much; he wasn't a very friendly person. But he still wanted to see them every now and then. I mean, they were people he had grown up with, so naturally, he'd grown quite attached to them.
But every time Snake worked up the courage to ask Black, the butler somehow managed to get away, giving Snake more tasks to be done before he could even get a word out. He didn't like it, but he could never disobey his superiors. He wasn't used to talking, since the only thing he ever had to do in his life, was put on a show in front of an audience. Now though, he had to converse with eccentric Englishmen that couldn't manage to hide their obvious fear of Snake and his scaled skin. He wasn't completely covered in scales, so he didn't see what the big deal was about.
Sometimes, he thought of just simply running away. There was nothing to stop him if he just slipped out into the forest while he was tending to the shrubbery behind the mansion. Besides, his friends could scout out the area around him for any dangers, and could help him find food. The only kink in the solution was that Snake wouldn't be able to last out there for long.
He couldn't remember much from his childhood, but his earliest memory was of when he was around five or six, he was camping out in the woods with his friends, living off of dead mice and berries. He wandered for weeks before coming across a big clearing, with a few trailers scattered about. There, he had met the crew in the circus. If he had arrived a few days later, he would've missed the moving group completely, since they were packing to move to a different location. He was very lucky. Any much longer, he would've died from starvation and exhaustion.
Anyways, it's not like Snake would have any other place to go. Everyone was scared of the strange man, what with his snake friends always coiling around him and his scaled skin. No one would take him in. So he stayed with Black and Smile, knowing he had no other option. He knew he should be grateful to them. The young boy didn't have to bring him home. But he chose to provide a roof over Snake's head, along with warm food and clean water, with the small price of doing a little bit of housework. It should've felt like a miracle to him. So why was he getting so annoyed?
"Snake! I thought I told you go help Bard prepare today's dinner! What are you doing, just standing there?" Black yelled from across the room, startling the new butler.
"How annoying. You sure we can't poison him?" Wilde hissed in Snake's ear.
"You already tried to, but that didn't work, remember?" Snake reminded the snake that was coiled around his neck in hushed tones. His snake friends never liked Black since the beginning, though Snake didn't really know why. He was very talented in, well, pretty much everything. He (usually) had good manners, and was polite to everyone around him. He seemed almost perfect. Maybe too perfect..
"Tried to what? Are your friends talking about me?" Black had appeared behind Snake, whispering dangerously in Snake's ear. Their sudden proximity caused Snake to involuntarily shudder, never knowing how he managed to get so close without any warning from his friends.
"A-Ah! I'm sorry, Black! I'll get right to it, says Wilde!" The frightened butler apologized with his eyes shut, not wanting to take a look at Black's menacing face. He rushed forward, only to collide into something and hit his face on a.. surprisingly soft material. His gloved hands came up to rub his nose, and once he took them away from his face, he noticed he was staring into a black, silky material adorned with gold buttons. His gaze trailed up, only to see Black's smiling face staring down at him.
"B-Black! I didn't see you there, says Wilde!" Snake let out a yelp before apologizing, and tried to escape the butler's clutches by sidestepping him. Before he could take a step, his arm was grabbed and pulled back, crashing into Black's chest again. Snake wasn't used to any sort of contact, so he only screwed his eyes shut, looking down and hoping that it would end soon. Black found this somewhat amusing, but he knew he had to come up with an excuse for treating him this way. So he slipped a finger under Snake's chin and forced him to look up.
His eyes were still shut, and his pale lips were set in a thin line, trying not to bite himself, as he knew his fangs would cause him to bleed. Black examined his flushed face for a while longer, before sternly commanding,
"Snake. You have to look at people while they're talking. It's rude to address someone without giving them their full attention."
"S-sorry, says Wilde.." Snake opened his eyes apprehensively, scared of what he might be faced with. His yellow eyes stared up into Black's red ones. Black now smiled wider, not breaking eye contact when he continued.
"See? It's not so bad, is it? Though we're going to have to work on your speech. And your friends will eventually have to go, for that matter."
"W-What?! I'm not leaving my friends! A-and what's wrong with the way I talk?... says Wilde." Snake winced, knowing he was going to get a scolding for speaking back to his superior. He realized Black now had his hands on Snakes' shoulders, and was not about to let him go anytime soon.
"A-ah.. Sorry, Black. I-" Snake was interrupted as a gloved finger traced his jaw line, slowly moving down his neck. He let out a small whimper and looked to the side, allowing Black to do as he pleased. He knew he couldn't oppose Black, so he silently stood there, clenching his hands into fists. Black chuckled, curling white strands of hair around his finger before getting back to the task at hand. He grabbed the snake wrapped around the trembling man and detached it from him, all in one swift motion. Black handled the snake easily, despite its thrashing about.
"Wilde! Give him back!" Snake realized he didn't have the reassuring weight on his shoulders anymore, and shrieked at Black. He didn't feel right without any of his friends. He just felt so.. vulnerable. They had allowed Snake to keep just one friend with him at all times, but the rest had to be locked up in his room. Which he didn't like, but he consented to it. Now though, he was without his precious Wilde, and he didn't like it at all.
"Oh? No 'Says Wilde' this time?" Black smiled down at the enraged butler. Snake pouted in response, vaguely aware of the rising heat going towards his cheeks. He tried to tell himself that it was the anger, but a teasing voice in the back of his mind told him otherwise.
"Please, Black. Give him back." The smaller butler looked up at his superior through his white bangs and frowned, trying to look commanding. What Snake didn't know, was that Black thought that an angry and flustered Snake was proving to be quite adorable. With that thought in mind, he used the other hand that wasn't restraining Wilde to ruffle Snake's silky hair, pausing to toy with his cowlick. Once he was done, he declared,
"You're going to be in the kitchen, so we can't have any animals in there. You understand, right? I'll take Wilde to the others, so don't worry about him. Now, don't make Bard wait." And with that, Black smiled one last time at him and walked away with Snake's precious Wilde, leaving behind a confused and beet-red Snake.
Wha- what just happened..? Did Snake really just let Black walk away with his only friend? There was no way. He did.
The still blushing butler tried to reason out that he couldn't have done anything, since he knew he couldn't disobey orders, but surely he would've been able to take Wilde back if it weren't for that… Right?
Ahhh! It's not fair! All Black did was simply touch the scaled man! There was no reason why Snake should've been feeling so jittery and nervous. Then again, Snake wasn't used to much human communication, much less contact. That must be the reason he hadn't been able to object. It wasn't that Black had that much control over him. Certainly not.
With his mind made up, but still obviously distraught, Snake was able to de-root himself from that spot. He stumbled off towards the kitchen, steps unsure, as he felt out of place without Wilde.
Without Wilde. Without anyone. Snake hated this sudden feeling of loneliness. Trying to shake it off, he noticed that he had reached the kitchen door. He absentmindedly fidgeted with the silver buttons on his coat as he stood there, debating on whether or not he should knock, or just go straight in. He didn't have to decide, since it was at that moment that Finny came sprinting down the hallway, trailing mud on the tiled floor. Meirin chased after Finny, wheezing, yelling things like,
"Finny, for the love of god, stop! I worked hard to clean these floors! Finny you-" The panting maid had noticed Snake standing at the door, and halted her pursuit of the careless boy. She placed her hands on her knees, breathing heavily. Snake knew he should say something about her condition, but Meirin beat him to it.
"I-I'm all right…. I just need… some water.." She managed to gasp out. "Is… Bard in there?"
"A-ah, umm.. I don't know.. but let's get you that water..!" When snake opened the door, he didn't expect to have smoke and ashes pelt his face. But that's exactly what he got, accompanied by a yelling chef with an equally charred face, waving around a giant flamethrower. Bard only flailed about for a few more seconds before the seemingly possessed machinery died down, and the smoke settled.
The once white walls were now stained with black soot, and the tabletops were completely scorched. Atop one of the tables, was a now-melting plate with a pile of ashes sitting on it. The edges of the curtains were burnt, but mostly left untouched, and the pots and pans hanging on some singing hooks were now completely black. Surprisingly, there were no flames left.
I-is this how one cooks? Snake began to fear the ash-covered cook, hoping he wouldn't turn into whatever meal he had burned.
"Woah! What are we going to do when Sebastian-san see this!" Apparently, Finny had come back and had also witnessed the horrible scene in the kitchen. "Oooooh Bard! You're gonna get it~!" The small gardener pointed at Bard with his brown gloves, childish face going perfectly well with his childish words. Finny's smirk fell when Meirin informed him of all the mud he was trailing everywhere, and his face turned red.
"Ah, what are we going to do?!" Meirin repeated the now stressed gardeners' words. She wiped at her large glasses, movements shaky.
"L-let's just keep this a secret, ok? Snake and I can clean up the kitchen, and you and Finny can clean up the halls. But let's make this quick! Before Sebastian-san comes!" Bard pulled Snake into the burnt kitchen once he saw the curt nod from Meirin and handed Snake the broom.
"You sweep up the place; I'm going to try to get this stuff off the walls!" Bard commanded the scaled butler. Snake quickly complied, not wanting to have another confrontation with Black anytime soon.
Roughly after half an hour, Finny had burst in announcing that they were done, and would go back to their original tasks. Bard had tried to make Finny help, but Finny simply hadn't listened and pranced out of the room, leaving Snake and Bard to keep working. Time passed, and they were almost done. Only a single countertop remained, and Snake approached it eagerly, desperate to just be done with the thing.
He hadn't gotten very far when he heard a familiar voice cut in.
"Is dinner ready yet?" Black had appeared at the door, smile ever so charming. The effect was lost on Snake, as he refused to turn around. Black noticed his hunched shoulders and trembling limbs, so he decided to address Bard instead.
"Bard? Master Ciel is getting rather hungry." Black had turned to the cook and noticed the ashes still staining his face and clothing. Black knew what that meant. The food had gone up in flames. Again. The young master would be very displeased. Black felt his smile deform into a grimace.
"You burned it again, didn't you?" At this, the chef let out a nervous laugh, accidentally dropping his cigarette on the floor. Bard bent down to pick it up, but Black's polished heel stomped on it. This caused Bard to cry out, face scarily close to being stepped on. He slowly straightened back up, facing the now smiling Black. "We'll have a talk later."
Bards' eyes widened, almost not believing he was getting off so easily, at least for now. "Y-yes Sebastian-sama!" The blonde cook scrambled off, busying himself with his cutlery. Snake still hadn't turned around, but was nonetheless still listening. Not wanting to take the brunt of the punishment, he began to walk toward his fellow frightened servant, wanting to help him.
He was interrupted once again as his hand was seized. Instead of the icy cold grip he was expecting, Snake found that the fingers weren't digging into him. No, instead, he felt a spark of electricity go past his glove, into his hand, and make its way up his arm. He shuddered, not sure of what to make of the weird feeling that washed over him. His heart skipped a beat, and he felt his eyes widen. Everything else seemed to fade away, and all that mattered was the simple contact that was sending warmth all throughout Snake's body.
Just w-what is this feeling? Snake wondered if everyone felt like this every time two people held hands. Snake noticed that Black was still not letting go. He was terrified to turn around, but he knew he had to face Black. Once the scaled man was done with the extremely hard task of turning his body towards Black, he finally looked up at his face.
Snake had always known that Black had one of the most attractive faces he had ever seen, but he had refrained from looking directly at him as much as he could. He didn't think he was worthy to even be seen by such godly people. Hell, even Finny was attractive, and he was just a teen! Snake always felt so out of place here at the mansion.
Snake took note of Black's perfectly smooth, porcelain-like skin and felt a twinge of jealousy. Snake wanted to move on from that, so he settled for inspecting his pitch-black hair. He noticed that while some of it was tucked back, stray stands still fell forward, trying to obscure his high cheek bones and small nose. The silver-haired butler found that to be irritating. Nothing should obscure such beauty. (Beauty? Wait, what are you thinking?)
Without giving it a second thought, Snake reached up and pulled the silky obsidian locks back, furthering his inspection of Black's face. He stared into the deep, deep red pools that were his eyes, reminding him of blood. His eyes trailed down, and he started paying attention to Black's rosy, moving lips.
Moving…? Wait.. Ah! Black had been talking! And Snake hadn't been listening! Wait, screw that! Snake had touched his superior! This was horrifying. What was Snake going to say? He couldn't really say anything. More importantly, what was going to be his punishment? Would he have to sleep outside? Would he get punched in the face like Bard? Would he be pushed off a cli-
Enough! Snake had barely noticed he had frozen up, thumb poised over Black's cheek. Black still showing that darn beautiful smile. Snake finally came to his senses and pulled his hand away. Or at least he tried to, because that hand was captured as well. Black gently pulled, leaning slightly into Snake's open palm; letting Snake touch him. Even beneath gloved fingertips, Snake was able to tell how soft and cool Black's skin was. The flushed butler did what he was too scared to do earlier, and caressed Black's cheek.
Snake had never even though of coming into physical contact with anyone, besides his snake friends. Now though, he didn't see why he never wanted to. It felt… nice. Really nice. Snake wondered if this was just with Black, or if it was like that with everyone else, but he pushed that thought aside; wanting to relish in the touch as much as possible. Snake closed his eyes, almost not believing that this was reality. Wanting to prove himself wrong, he peeped one eye open. Black's slender eyes bore into him. His superior kept smiling down at him. This time though, it felt a bit… different.
It was filled with warmth, still with a hint of his usual charm. Snake couldn't take the intensity of his gaze and turned his head to the left. Letting out a shaky breath, he wondered why his heart was beating so fast, and why he was getting goose bumps on the skin that wasn't scaled. He decided he could ask Wordsworth and the others later. Right now, he thought it was too risky to go on any further; so he began to pull his hand away, but was stopped for the umpteenth time.
"A-ah… Black, I-I.." The flustered butler stammered, trying to protest; but it was to no avail, seeing as he couldn't force the words out. Internally, he didn't really want Black to stop. But he had to. Snake was feeling way too confused to continue.
Black brought the captured hand up to his lips and paused, still looking at the blushing Snake before him. Snake simply looked back in curiosity. The head butler kissed Snake's gloved hand, causing Snake to shiver. When Black pulled back, he took note of the scaled man's tomato-red face and trembling body, and grinned widely. Using it as an excuse to search the room for unwanted audience, he pulled the shuddering butler into a gentle hug. He placed his chin on top of soft, white hair, eyes looking around the room. Finding that Bard had abandoned his post (he didn't know if he should be pleased or not), he ran his hand up and down Snake's back assuredly, trying to get the still-shivering boy to calm down.
Sebastian was used to such reactions. If he ever pulled anything like what he did to Snake on any women, some would even faint. Recently, he had learned that men could be the same way. Especially that annoying Grell, or whatever the hell he was. The only person who remained impassive during such flirtatious acts, was his young master. That was a different matter, though. Sebastian didn't want to think about that right now. All he cared about at the moment, was the newest additions of servants that he held in his arms.
He knew Snake was being lied to, but surely Snake wouldn't have to find out. Sebastian would soon grow bored of him, so there was no real danger to doing what he was doing right now. Or at least Sebastian hoped so. He hoped his fascination for the scaled man would fade away with time, for he didn't want to disobey his young master's orders.
A pair of arms that tentatively wrapped around his middle pulled him away from his thoughts. He smiled against Snake's head, remembering that he was holding the cute butler in his arms. He desperately wanted to try out other things, just to see what kind of expressions he could pull, and he knew that they were alone, but he refrained from doing so. Sebastian didn't want to scare him off, so he settled for keeping him in that warm hug, toying with his adorable little cowlick.
Sebastian was just happy to have him there, at least for now.
AN: Reading the chapters where Snake was introduced, I noticed that he's not as compliant as I remember him ouo; Sorry about that, but I've been in Mexico for 2 weeks, and I wrote this while I was over there and didn't have access to the interwebs, so I couldn't really do any research… But I'll be coming up with a cover picture for this soon! So umm.. please bear with me if this chapter seemed a bit wonky ouo; Also, I originally wanted to write this is Snake's point of view, so that's why Sebastian is called Black. But I guess I ended up putting Sebastian's own thoughts in too. Ah, this whole chapter has so many bugs and errors.. I'M SORRY-