So, I'm really late to the bandwagon, but I started watching Kuroshitsuji. Holy shit this show is good! It's been a long time since I've had a show run away with my heart and brain so quickly and completely.
As one might expect if they know anything about how my plot bunnies breed, this show has also been fornicating wildly with my muse.
Here is the first of what I expect will be a number of short fics for Kuroshitsuji!
Title: Questions About and Musings On the Nature of Love and the Emotions of Demons
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Pairing: Sebastian/Ciel
Rating: PG-13 for strongly implied shouta
Summary: Ciel Phantomhive is curious by nature. Who better to ask than the source? No spoilers.
"Sebastian?" Ciel asked one night while his butler was attending him in the bath, "Do demons feel?"
"Of course, young master," Sebastian replied smoothly, soaping up Ciel's shoulders, "We feel plenty of things. Pain, anger, greed..." Ciel fancied that he could hear Sebastian's lips quirk up into a smirk, "Lust." He lowered his hands to tease briefly at Ciel's chest, but Ciel shrugged him off and Sebastian removed his hands, his touch changing back to purely professional in an instant.
"Not until I tell you to," Ciel scolded. He didn't wait for the murmured apology before continuing, not wanting to get off topic. "All the darker emotions, then. Do you feel anything like hope or joy? Or love?" He turned around to look into auburn eyes that gleamed the color of blood underneath that human disguise. "Are demons even capable of feeling love?"
"Yes, we are," Sebastian answered simply, "But not in a way that humans would recognize."
Ciel blinked at him, and then looked away to relax lower into the bathtub, "So... how do demons love?"
"I am not sure that I can put it into terms you would understand, young master..." Sebastian trailed off, seemed to be considering how best to explain it. "We... own. We cannot love something unless we own it. And if we own anything, sooner or later we will need to break it, so that it cannot be taken and owned by anyone else. Demon love is very selfish."
"All love is selfish," Ciel said, "You can't love anyone without wanting their love in return. And if you can't have it, eventually that love turns to heartbreak, and bitterness. You'll hate the person you loved who couldn't love you back. It... breaks."
Sebastian said nothing for a while, continuing to wash Ciel's body with no hints of lust, or base desires, or of what they would be doing in the bedroom in just a few minutes. "Are you thinking of Lady Elizabeth, young master?"
Ciel's shut his eyes, "I hope for her sake our contract concludes and you devour my soul before she realizes that I can't love her anymore."
Sebastian hummed a little in response, and braced his hand against Ciel's back, "Lean back, young master, I need to rinse your hair."
Ciel leaned back, let himself float braced securely on Sebastian's strong hand. How strange, that the only person he could trust completely was the one who planned to destroy him utterly. Although, maybe that was why he could trust Sebastian completely. Sebastian didn't pretend that his ultimate goals were anything other than what they were.
"Sebastian?" Ciel asked when the demon raised him from the water again, "Do you love me?"
"As only I can, My Lord," Sebastian whispered, his breath ghosting across Ciel's ear, "I love you as a demon. Don't think that it will turn out well for you." He nipped gently at Ciel's earlobe, then soothed the spot with a kiss.
"You're going to eat my soul. How much worse can it turn out?" Ciel asked, "Will you remember me afterwards, or will I be nothing more than another snack for you?"
"I will remember you," Sebastian says, his voice crooning and melodic, "Your essence will nourish me, and in that way, you will be a part of me forever. I will remember you."
"For how long?" Ciel demands.
Sebastian reaches into the tub, hooks his arms under Ciel's shoulders and pulls him out of the water. He wraps a towel around Ciel and doesn't look like he's going to answer. Ciel stares him down until Sebastian speaks again, "Forever. When mankind is but a distant memory, when all your great monuments have crumbled, when nothing remains but dust, I will remember my young master. I will remember the only one ever brave enough and foolhardy enough to want a demon's love. I will remember you then, and I will love you still. Because you are mine, now and forevermore. My Ciel."
Ciel had no good response to that. He wondered if demon love was really as strange to humans as Sebastian seemed to think it was. That speech had made perfect sense to him - felt rather nice to be on the receiving end of, actually.
"Kiss me, Sebastian," Ciel ordered, since there didn't seem to be any better response.
"Yes. My Lord."