This is a story that came to me after i saw a picture on minitokyo. For some reason, they won't let me post a link to the picture, so go to my page to ge the link.! If you haven't already seen the picture, it won't make sense.
Disclaimer: I own nothing
The day Elizabeth left on another week-long shopping spree to London, I could've jumped for jubilation it that wouldn't have made me seem childish. I couldn't remember the last time I was so happy to see someone I cared about leaving. It wasn't that I didn't care for her anymore; it was just that her sudden urges to dress me up, impromptu dances, and girlish idiosyncrasies made it hard to breathe sometimes. Finally, a week without Elizabeth; a week of quiet, a week of progress in my work, and a week of relaxation.
I should've known Sebastian wasn't going to make it that easy.
"Young Master?"
I looked up from my work to my ever- present demon. "Yes, what is it?"
"With regard to the portrait of your parents, it seems that the wallpaper beneath it is a shade lighter that the rest of the wall. What would you have me do to fix that?"
I smirked. "What do you think? Get new wallpaper!"
I waited for him to bow and give his usual parting gift of, "Yes, my lord." But he continued to stand there and stare at me with a peculiar expression on his face.
"What?"
"Young Master, rather that going out of the way to hire a carpenter, stripping all the paper from the wall, and then choosing new paper for him to put up, wouldn't you rather just hang a new picture in its place?"
"Not particularly. I've never been one for pictures, anyway. Anything hanging on the walls are remnants from my parents. I'd rather have new wallpaper."
Still, he continued to give me this weird look.
"What?"
"Young Master, I would honestly rather just hang a new picture. It would be much less tiresome on my part, and it would be cheaper on the whole."
I threw up my hands in exasperation. "Oh, whatever! Go hang a picture of a goddamn bowl of fruit, I don't care!"
Sebastian smirked. "How about something less…. fruity?"
"What, then?"
It clicked in my head before he had the chance to respond. "No. No, no, absolutely not, hell no, uh-uh, now way."
Sebastian continued to smirk in a way that didn't make me believe he was listening.
"Sebastian, this is an order," I snapped, getting his attention. "I absolutely, one hundred percent, forbid you from doing that. Now go; it's time for afternoon tea."
He bowed and left the room without another word.
"What the hell?"
I really shouldn't be surprised that my orders went unheeded, but when the photographer began setting up the backdrop, I couldn't help but snap at him.
"Language, Young Master. And where are your manners? Aren't you going to say hello to the photographer, Miss Stephanie?"
"Hello, Miss Stephanie," I threw of my shoulder while glaring at Sebastian. "Did I or did I not specifically order you not to do this?"
"Your exact words were, 'I absolutely, one hundred percent, forbid you from doing that', he paraphrased. "Unfortunately, Young Master, you forgot to specify exactly what that was."
I growled. "Well, tell Miss Stephanie to go away, because I'm not taking a picture."
"Did you call my name?" she asked, turning around while she adjusted her glasses. Sebastian spun me around so I was facing her and laid his hands on my shoulders. "No, miss. We were simply wondering how long we had before we should be in place to take the photo?"
"Well, the backdrop you requested will take about an hour to set up, so you have time."
"Wonderful." He leaned down and grabbed my arm while whispering, "For the record, she's already been paid, so if you refuse now, you'll only be wasting your money."
….crap, he had me.
!
"Ow! Sebastian, stop it, my hair looks fine! Really, I thi-OW!"
He finished yanking the comb through my hair and pulled out the pieces that got caught. "Really, Young Master, when's the last time you brushed your hair?"
I ignored the question (about a week) and stood. "It's not important, let's go get this over with."
"But you haven't brushed your teeth yet."
I turned to him. "Oh, I'm sorry, but I'm not about to go to sleep, now am I?" I said sarcastically.
"But Young Master, how do you expect your teeth to sparkle when you smile if you don't brush them first?"
I just stared at him. "You're kidding, right? That was a joke, right?"
Sebastian, for once, looked genuinely surprised. "No."
I chucked darkly. "Please. I don't smile. Smiles are for happy people. Trust me, I'm not in a happy mood."
I pushed away from him and headed down in the lobby to get this stupid thing over with.
I sat on the stupid stool the lady had set up in front of the cloudy looking backdrop and stared straight ahead. Sebastian joined me in the photo, half a step behind me. Miss Stephanie threw the cloak from the camera over her face and looked through the lens.
"Alright then, Earl, give me a big smile!" she said enthusiastically.
I didn't move my face an inch. "Come on, I said smile!" she repeated.
"This is as close as I'll ever get," I retorted. I yelped and jumped a little as I felt a pinch on my arm.
"That was rude," Sebastian said darkly. "Now I do believe she asked you to smile."
"No, it's alright," she called. "If he doesn't want to smile, we can't really make him."
The corners of my mouth turned up a degree in victory. I sat up straighter and stared into the lens. I felt Sebastian's hand on my shoulder, but didn't really think much of it.
"One," Miss Stephanie called.
Sebastian leaned down next to my head and hissed. "If you don't smile, I can make you."
"Two,"
I glared at him from the corner of my eye. "Do your worst."
In retrospect, I probably should've seen it coming.
His arm, moving faster than the shutter speed, shot out in front of me. Before I could stop him, he'd already placed his index finger inside my mouth and was pulling my cheek upward. I reached up to grab his hand, but the flash was over already.
Miss Stephanie was laughing when she pulled away from the camera.
"Good one! This picture's going to be adorable!"
It was horrible. I looked like a child, and I'm pretty sure I was drooling. Even more infuriating was the fact that Sebastian looked, of course, perfect.
Somewhere during the day, Sebastian had found the time to go out, buy the picture, have it framed, and hang it in the foyer. I didn't even notice it until I was on my way to the bathroom and I saw all the over servants gushing over it.
"Aww, you two look like brothers!"
"That's so sweet, Young Master!"
"WHO PUT THIS ON THE WALL?"
Meanwhile, while I stewed, Sebastian was in his room looking at a smaller version of the portrait. Apparently, Miss Stephanie offers wallet sizes.
After appraising it for a moment, Sebastian gently kissed the photo before quickly shoving it back in his shirt.
"I finally have a picture of Ciel. Yay! It took a lot of scheming on my part, but it was totally worth it!"
(A/N: In case you were wondering, the thing about brushing your teeth before you take a picture is something my mom used to do to me. She'd be like, "If you brush your teeth, you'll have a nice, shiny smile in the picture!" I fell for it the first couple of times, but then I kept expecting a cartoon-like SHING! to show up near my head.)
