When Ciel returned home, he headed straight to his bedroom and threw himself on his bed. His head collided into his pillow and he stayed supine for a while until there was a knock at the door.
"Come in." Ciel's voice was muffled through the pillow, but his agitated tone was still audible.
Rachel opened the door and saw her son lying on his bed with his head squished within the pillow. She wondered how he was even able to breath or stay so still. But whenever Ciel was in this position, she something was wrong.
"Are you okay?" Rachel asked and sat down at the edge of the bed. She rested a hand on her son's shoulder and rubbed it comfortably.
"I can't believe you're making me do this." Ciel groaned, pressing his head in further.
"What do you mean?"
Ciel lifted his head up and looked at his mother with a subtle hint of melancholy and desperation in his cerulean eyes. He was attempting his best puppy dog expression to try to make his mom change her mind about the idea of inviting Sebastian over for dinner.
"Can I bake you and dad a cake of apology instead? Your anniversary is coming up so. . ." Ciel paused when he saw his mom frowning in disapproval and crossing her arms, an indication that his plan definitely wasn't going to work.
". . .Maybe I can do all the chores around the house this weekend?"
Rachel's frown only deepened and didn't respond at all, giving the notion that wasn't going to work either. Ciel was about to speak again but Rachel got up and left the room, leaving the teen no other choice.
x~x~x~x~x
"I seriously thought the chores idea was going to work, but no. " Ciel groaned as he walked up to Sebastian's house. His mom had told him that he needed to do something for the teen, but Ciel didn't want to owe him anything.
Ciel froze when he came up to the door. After several minutes contemplating whether to turn back, Ciel finally raised a fist and knocked on the door. He grew hesitant when he heard footsteps approaching and had the urge to break in a run before the door opened, but it was too late.
"Oh? It's only been a few hours since I last saw you, have you missed me already?" Sebastian asked once he opened the door to see the tentative teen.
Ciel avoided looking at the teen's face. His crimson eyes would just captivate him in an uncomfortable way and his smile was just too annoying to look at.
"I. . .uh. . . just wondering if you'd like to. . ." Ciel gulped down heavily and struggled to formulate the right words. "If you'd like to . . .come over to my house for dinner." Ciel kept his head down but he could sense the teen's smile growing. "Don't take this the wrong way, my parents are making me do this so wipe that stupid smile off your face."
"So you're inviting me to dinner at your house?"
". . .Yes."
"I see, well, I will happily oblige to coming over then." Sebastian announced gleefully to Ciel's utter disappointment and annoyance.
"Fine," Ciel heaved out a resentful sigh and rubbed his temple as he turned his back on the teen. "Come over at seven."
"Of course, see you then." Sebastian remarked but the younger teen was already heading back quickly.
x~x~x~x~x
Exactly at seven, the doorbell rang and before Ciel could hide in his room, his father Vincent answered the door and welcomed Sebastian in. Ciel was in mid-flight on the staircase and cringed drastically when the door swung open as a chilling wind swept in.
"Please to meet you, Sebastian, I'm Ciel's father, Vincent. Ciel, get down here, it's rude to be up there when we have guests." Vincent called out; Ciel was hoping that Vincent wouldn't notice him but hiding was futile now.
Ciel slumped over the railing and groaned. Vincent was staring up at him sternly and was tapping his foot impatiently on the hardwood floor as he waited. Sebastian on the other hand was smiling that annoying smile that Ciel wanted to smack along with a good kick in the nuts.
Ciel finally descended the stairs in a huge huff of defeat. He brushed past Sebastian as if he weren't there and marched over to the kitchen and sat down at the table. Sebastian sat down at the chair next to the teen to his great annoyance but Sebastian didn't notice and kept smiling.
"What's for dinner?" Sebastian asked curiously, ignoring the death glares that he was receiving from Ciel.
"Spaghetti and meatballs." Rachel replied as she placed a large bowl of the pasta at the center of the table. She held a hospitable smile but then it dropped when she turned to Ciel. "Dear, why didn't you set the table?"
Ciel groaned in response and got the plates and utensils out, placing them around the table before sitting back down. His parents soon sat down as well and started to do what Ciel dreaded: talking.
"So you and Ciel already know each other from high school?" Vincent asked, swirling some spaghetti into a ball.
"Yes, we were in the same classes together a few times over the years." Sebastian remarked, turning to Ciel to finally see the glare but took note that the younger teen was absentmindedly cutting his meatballs so much that they were now in diced sized pieces abut was now scratching through the plate. "Are you paying attention to where you're cutting?"
"Yeah." Ciel released the knife and gulped down a piece of meatball. And if by cutting, you mean slicing off your hand if you dare make any sort of physical contact with me then yes.
"That's fine china, Ciel," Rachel frowned slightly and shook her head. "Please watch where you're cutting and eat."
"I'm not hungry." Ciel muttered, he really wasn't and just wanted to go to his room and lock the door. He wondered if he could just excuse himself to the bathroom, but before he could ask, Sebastian unfortunately spoke up.
"What are you going to be doing for the rest of the summer, Ciel?" Sebastian asked.
Ciel's glare darkened as an indication that he didn't want to talk, but Vincent nudged his shoulder to encourage him to speak.
". . . The beach." Ciel responded. "Nothing else really."
"Have you done the summer reading assignment?" Sebastian asked just as Ciel took a sip of his water, the liquid spewed from his lips and dripped from his nose.
"Shit!" Ciel exclaimed, almost tumbling out of his chair but swiftly maintaing balance. "I haven't even read the book yet, I don't even have the book, and there's only two more weeks of summer left!"
"Now what have you been doing for the entire summer then?" Rachel asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I've been reading better books!" Ciel clutched his head and pulled at his hair. "I am so dead . . . "
"Don't worry, I'll let you borrow my book." Sebastian assured but Ciel only responded with a glare, immediately refusing the offer.
"What book do you have to read anyways?" Rachel asked.
". . . Scarlet Letter." Ciel muttered, he heard from a bunch of other classmates that it was an awful book so he was definitely dreading it.
"Oh. . ." The parents said in unison, both acknowledging that the book wasn't the best thing to read and could understand their son's agony, but nevertheless it was an assignment that he needed to do.
"Are you going to take a test on it when you get back?" Vincent asked.
"Most likely, can we move to a different subject now?" Ciel practically pleaded. Luckily for him, his cellphone started ringing, which brought up suspicious glares from his parents.
"Turn your phone off." Vincent ordered.
"Let me see who it is." Ciel retrieved his phone and looked at the caller ID. ". . . Lizzy. I better answer or else she will be calling me nonstop. Hold on." Ciel hurried out of the kitchen, ignoring his father who was calling him back.
"It'll just be a minute!" Ciel exclaimed before shutting the door to his bedroom. For once, he was grateful that Lizzy was calling him, but suddenly regret it as her high-pitched voice pierced his eardrum.
"Ciel! How is my favorite cousin doing? Haven't seen you in so long!" Lizzy squealed excitedly. Ciel pulled the phone away from his ear UNTIL his cousin had stopped squealing, it was a surprise her shrill voice didn't break any windows.
"I just saw you a few days ago . . .now what is it?" Ciel asked calmly.
"Oh! I'm having a pool party tomorrow and I want you to come!" Lizzy exclaimed. "Wear the bathing suit that I bought you and—"
"I have summer work to do." Ciel cut her off. "Besides, I can't swim, remember?"
"I thought you did? Well, you don't have to if you don't want to. But you need to come! It's going to be fun!" Lizzy continued on exclaiming with so much glee and giggles that Ciel couldn't hear the knocking at his door.
"And there will be cake, and other sweets, and we'll play games, and—"
"Lizzy, you're going to burst my eardrum, can you please quiet down a bit?" Ciel asked. "Also aren't we a bit old for games?"
"Of course not!"
Ciel pulled the phone away before his cousin's voice could penetrate anymore of his ear. He finally heard the knocking but tried to ignore it, figuring that it was either his mom or dad.
"In a minute!" Ciel called again.
"Ciel, it's me," Sebastian's voice piped up from behind the door. "Can I come in?"
"No." Ciel retorted.
"You're being rude."
"You're being annoying."
"You invited me here and you're being an awful host."
"My mom made me invite you and I don't care how I'm treating you."
Sebastian found that the door wasn't locked and decided to open it. He entered before Ciel could notice and was now hovering over the younger teen. Lizzy's endless chatter about all kinds of fun stuff that was going to happen at the party was just background noise to their ears as they were engaged in a staring contest.
"Now you're the one being annoying." Sebastian said with an impatient sigh. "Look, we came off at a bad start back in high school, but now I'd like to start over. I was immature back then but now I've learned my lesson. I won't bully you anymore. But if you don't accept my apology, that's fine, it's hard to forgive a bully so it's understandable if you still don't trust me. So you can kick me out right now if you want, I'll just tell your parents that I just had to leave early."
Lizzy's voice was now completely inaudible to Ciel as he pondered while looking at the teen. He wanted to kick Sebastian out, but on the other hand he sounded very honest and apologetic, which irked him to no end. This was the person who mocked him about his height, teased him about how slow he was when they ran during gym, and especially played practical jokes that left the teen humiliated.
"Ciel? Are you still there? Ciel!" Lizzy practically shrieked into the phone, smashing the silence and slicing away Ciel's thoughts.
"Yes, I'm here." Ciel rubbed his temple; he was getting a headache. "And yes, I'll go to your party tomorrow. Now I have to go, bye." Ciel turned off the phone before Lizzy could speak and placed the phone back in his pocket.
"Okay. . . I have a headache now thanks to Lizzy so I'm not in the mood to argue with you or my parents. You're here because I had to owe you something, if not, I would be grounded and I don't want to be treated like a little kid who has a time out, so you're staying here." Ciel explained reluctantly and headed out abruptly once he finished. "I need some aspirin."
x~x~x~x~x
"I'm so glad you came, Ciel!" Lizzy hugged Ciel tightly once she saw him at her door. She released him before he turned blue from lack of oxygen and smiled gleefully. She then dragged Ciel to the backyard where the party was. "Did you bring your swimsuit?" She asked excitedly.
"Yeah, but I'm not going to swim much." Ciel remarked and looked to see who was here. There were some of Lizzy's friends, Alois. . .wait.
"Why is Alois here?" Ciel asked, trying not to sound annoyed as he saw the blond laying on a small, duck shaped raft in the pool. He had sunglasses on and was sipping lemonade as he laid lazily on the raft.
"He's my friend so I invited him." Lizzy replied with a small frown. "You don't like him?"
"I never liked him." Ciel muttered and then sighed. "Well, at least it's not—" He froze when he saw a too familiar teen waving to them with a beach ball under his arm.
"Hey, Ciel!" Sebastian waved cheerfully.
All the color in Ciel's face drained and he slowly turned to Lizzy, gritting his teeth so profoundly that they were bound to break.
"You invited . . . him too?"
"Of course, Sebastian's my friend too. Don't tell me you don't like him." Lizzy's frowned deepened.
Ciel's eyebrow twitched and was about to speak but then Sebastian came up to them. He turned to Ciel and tossed him the beach ball, but Ciel purposely dodged it by tilting his head to the side and allowing the ball to bounce on the pavement before rolling away.
"You could have easily caught that." Sebastian remarked.
"I didn't want to." Ciel scoffed.
"Um. . ." Lizzy hesitated, as the atmosphere around them grew immensely thick. She then rushed over to a table, grabbed a tray of lemonade and rushed back. "Please have a glass of lemonade. I made them all myself."
"Why thank you, Elizabeth." Sebastian smiled warmly and took a glass.
"Ciel?" Lizzy brought the tray uncomfortably close to Ciel and held up an obviously fake smile. It was an indication that Lizzy might do something unthinkable to him if he didn't try her homemade lemonade, or there might've been something off tugging at her nerves.
Ciel took a glass as well and quietly sipped the drink. "It's good."
"Great! I used extra sugar to make it sweeter!" Lizzy giggled and faced Sebastian. "Can you excuse us for a second, Sebastian?"
"Certainly." Sebastian nodded and left to get the beach ball. When he got it, he jumped into the water and accidently splashed Alois who shot up from his raft, startled, and toppled off.
"Ciel," Lizzy turned to the teen with a twitchy smile, letting loose the sweet façade she held just seconds ago. "Please be nice to everyone here, I want this to be a happy occasion, okay? I know that Sebastian has bullied you in the past, but he has changed so please lighten up to him."
Ciel heaved out a sigh of defeat, accompanied with an eye roll, he didn't want to continue this argument.
"Great! Now get your shirt off and go swimming!" Lizzy proclaimed as she grabbed her cousin's shirt and tried yanking it off.
"Hey, hold on!" Ciel placed the lemonade down and took off his shirt himself before Lizzy rips it off. It was a new shirt and he didn't want to get it ruined. He also took off his shorts, revealing dark blue trunks.
"Aww! You look so cute in those! They fit perfectly!" Lizzy clapped, now go in the water, I'll come in after you."
Ciel walked over to the shallow end of the pool and carefully walked down the steps. He flinched at the cold water, so he stayed knee-deep in till Lizzy decided to jump behind him and push him in. Ciel yelped and yanked himself back to the surface, huddling his arms as he shivered.
"Was it really necessary to do that?" Ciel asked.
"Yup. Don't worry, you'll get used to it soon." Lizzy exclaimed. She climbed down the stairs herself and pulled Ciel in with her.
"No I won't—ow!" A ball bonked Ciel on the head and he glared at Alois who threw it. The blond teen laughed so Ciel grabbed the ball and threw it at his face. Alois rubbed his nose and checked to see if it was bleeding.
"You could've broken my nose!" Alois cried, but Ciel just chuckled quietly at his outburst. Alois grabbed the ball again and threw it back at Ciel, aiming at his face for payback. Ciel swiftly dived into the water but came back up in seconds, wiping water off his face but then another ball came in and whacked him on his cheek.
"Hey!" Ciel yelled, Alois had another ball armed with him and probably had more in storage. Alois laughed loudly till tears were in his eyes.
"You're so clueless! And are you going to stay on the shallow end? C'mon!" Alois swam over to Ciel and grabbed his arm, but the teen yanked him off.
"Don't touch me like that." Ciel muttered and then caught Lizzy frowning out of the corner of his eye. " . . . I'm fine here."
"Aw! You're no fun!" Alois stuck out his tongue in a mocking gesture and swam back to the deep end. "It's more fun being here than over there, you know."
"I'm fine here." Ciel repeated, practically spitting out his words as he glared at the blond teen.
"Suits yourself then." Alois hopped back on his raft and turned to the diving board. "How about a dive at the diving board?"
"No." Ciel immediately refused, but it didn't stop Alois from replying with a sneer.
"Are you a chicken, Phantomhive?" Alois asked questionably. "Are you scared of diving in the deep end? You must really be a chicken."
Ciel tried ignoring him but Alois started to emit obnoxious chicken noises, pushing the teen's annoyance to the maximum. Ciel stomped out of the pool and headed straight to the diving board. He was only going to do this to shut Alois up. After that he was probably going to leave.
Alois followed Ciel to the diving board with a triumphant smirk on his face. Ciel stepped onto the board and stared down at the water below. He exhaled slowly, steadying himself as he prepared to dive down but he felt frozen.
"What're you waiting for?" Alois asked with a huff, his patience was drawing incredibly thin so he took the liberty to push Ciel off the board by surprise. Ciel plunged into the water, not having time to even gasp as he fell through with the water pressuring him down. He frantically tried to resurface by thrashing his arms about but panicking only made it worse.
Alois curiously looked down at the water, noticing that Ciel wasn't coming out. He crotched down, wondering if Ciel was swimming back to the shallow end back he didn't.
"Hey, Ciel!" Alois called out but he didn't get an answer. He called out his name again but still didn't get a response. Alois gulped down heavily when Ciel didn't resurface and looked around hastily to see Lizzy talking to her small group of friends on the other side of the pool.
"Guys! I think Ciel's drowning! He's not coming back up!" Alois called out, resulting in gasps and a scream from Lizzy. Sebastian immediately dived into the water in search for Ciel while Lizzy panicked.
She hurried over to Alois and yanked him off of the diving board. "Did you know that Ciel can't swim that well!? What were you two doing!?"
"I accidently pushed him off the diving board. . ." Alois said, but it was sure not an accident. But he didn't know that Ciel couldn't swim well.
"How could you do that!? Oh, Ciel!" Lizzy turned back to the pool, covering her mouth in shock as she awaited Sebastian's return with Ciel. Her heart was beating so loudly in her chest like it was going to explode any second. She was just about to burst into tears till Sebastian finally sprung out of the water with an unconscious Ciel.
Sebastian swiftly brought Ciel out of the water and laid him down on the patio. He first laid him on his side, letting water to flow out of his mouth before turning him over to his back. Sebastian compressed his chest a couple of times before tilting the teen's head back and breathing oxygen into his mouth. Sebastian repeated this action a few more times with everyone watching nearby. Lizzy was at the brink of crying, but then she saw Ciel's chest rising, followed by a gasp.
Ciel woke up with hurried breaths and saw Sebastian hovering over him. He looked around dazedly and turned back to Sebastian. He sat up and coughed out some water, but Sebastian patted his back to clear his throat better.
"How are you feeling?" Sebastian asked.
"Alight, I guess . . ." Ciel coughed again feebly.
"That's good, so it looks like I saved your like two times now." Sebastian chuckled but Ciel didn't glare at him like he usually does and just gazed down.
"So I guess I should owe you something then?" Ciel guessed.
"Your trust in me?" Sebastian asked and Ciel stared at him wordlessly. They locked eye contact but Ciel sheepishly turned away and muttered quietly. "Fine. . .I trust you now."
"And do I get a thank you?" Sebastian smiled.
". . . Thanks." Ciel refused to look at him in the eye again and got back to his feet. Immediately he got tackled by Lizzy who was squeezing the life out of him.
"Oh, Ciel! I was so worried!" Lizzy cried out, but then Sebastian stepped in to calmly break Lizzy off to give Ciel some space.
"Give Ciel time to breath before hugging him, Elizabeth." Sebastian insisted and Lizzy obliged to Ciel's surprise.
"Okay, Ciel should I get you anything?" Lizzy asked worriedly, clasping her hands together in a pleading gesture.
"No, I just want to rest for a bit." Ciel replied, coughing once more. Lizzy nodded, took her cousin's hand and brought him inside her house. Lizzy set him down on a couch, covered his body with a blanket and gave him a glass of water.
"Do you want anything? Should I bring Alois in and make him apologize for you?" Lizzy asked.
"No, but you can kick him out. But . . ." Ciel paused for a sec, a bit hesitant as he sighed. "Can you bring Sebastian here?"
"Sure." Lizzy nodded and rushed back outside to get the teen. Ciel rested his head back on the couch and closed his eyes, next time he was going to see Alois, he was going to kill him. For now he just wanted to relax and be thankful that he didn't die. When Ciel opened his eyes, Sebastian was sitting next to him, drying his hair with a towel.
"You sure you're doing alright?" Sebastian asked, placing the towel over his bare shoulders.
"Yeah, just a bit dizzy . . ." Ciel admitted. "It's nothing bad, after I get a good whack at Alois's ass than I'll be better."
"Humph, I'll help you with that." Sebastian chuckled faintly, in result of Ciel smiling slightly but he pulled it off before Sebastian noticed.
"So I should probably owe you something more than trust, right?" Ciel wondered, but hopped it wasn't another visit for dinner, it was just awkward.
"Hmmm. . ." Sebastian pondered while tapping his chin. "Your trust is fine for now, but I'll think of something in the meantime. Right now, get some rest."