I was having a really hard time getting this chapter off the ground, and apparently getting tipsy was the answer to my creative challenges. And I know it's been a few days since I've uploaded a chapter, but to make up for it there're like 1000 words more than in the last chapter :) Oh, and exciting stuff happens. And stuff.

Shock and Water

"You realize that this is an absolutely perfect opportunity, don't you?" Alois reached over, taking a fry from Ciel's lunch tray.

"A perfect opportunity for what, exactly?" Ciel had just finished telling his friend about the meeting he'd had with Michaelis and the principal two days before. It had taken a good five minutes to get Alois to stop laughing about the prospect of Ciel's taking summer classes.

Alois grinned, putting a rather liberal amount of ketchup over Ciel's remaining fries. "For some ill-getting, of course."

Ciel rolled his eyes, giving up and pushing his tray over in front of Alois. "We've been over this, Alois. It's not happening. And didn't you already eat? You're going to get fat."

Alois made a face. "I am not. I'm much too attractive to get fat." He made short work of the rest of Ciel's food, stacking the empty tray on top of his own.

"I don't think it works like that, Alois. And has anyone ever told you that your ego is about the only thing bigger than your mouth?" Ciel noticed that a few girls at the next table over were watching his friend closely, and he prayed Alois wouldn't notice.

Alois grinned and leaned over to kiss Ciel's cheek. "Only you, sweetheart." Alois glanced over at the table of girls and smirked. "They don't seem to agree with you, though."

Ciel rolled his eyes again, picking up both of their trays and standing. "Come on. We have class." He walked over to the trash can and dumped what was left on their trays, stacking them on the table when he was done. He then headed off down the hall without waiting for Alois, who scrambled to catch up with him.

It had always been that way. Alois attracted the attention of everyone wherever he went, male or female. He was just so damn flirtatious. And it didn't help that he positively dripped sex appeal. Ciel tried to ignore Alois's many admirers, as they could get tiresome. He tried his best not to encourage his friend's behavior, but he knew he went to a lot of parties and met a lot of people. He tried not to think about how many people he'd probably been with, but he'd called Ciel drunk enough times to pick him up from rather seedy parts of town that it was hard to muffle his imagination. He liked to tell himself that his annoyance with Alois's explicitness was in a strictly friendly sense, but he wasn't always so sure. Not that it mattered, anyway. Alois teased him constantly, but he knew he really was just the only real friend that Alois had in the world.

"Hey. Slow the fuck down, will you?" Alois caught up with him, falling into step beside him. "What's the hurry? Besides, we could always just skip."

Ciel raised an eyebrow at him. "You want to skip history? But won't Faustus miss you if you do?"

Alois shrugged, unfazed by Ciel's picking fun at him. "Eh. I don't care. I'm over him anyway." Alois stretched his arms above his head, sighing. "It's time to move on."

"Oh? Do you have another middle-aged man in mind?" Ciel stopped outside their classroom, leaning against the wall, his voice thick with sarcasm.

Alois stopped next to him. "Oh, Ciel." He lightly tapped Ciel's cheek with his open hand, smiling at him. "Lose the judgy-face. It doesn't suit you. And since you apparently have no interest yourself, I was considering Michaelis."

Ciel felt his stomach turn over. "Wh-What?"

Alois grinned. "Now jealousy does suit you, Ciel. Why? Is there a problem?"

Ciel felt his face flush slightly, which angered him. "I'm not jealous, Alois. You know I hate that son of a bitch for basically threatening me with summer school. So yeah, I guess it's more like fuck you for wanting to sleep with the teacher who's forcing me to stay after class."

"Sure, sure. That's fine, too. I much prefer to think that the jealousy is over me, and not some dried up old English teacher, anyway." Alois touched Ciel's cheek again, smirking at him. "But as much as I hate to break your heart again, I'm failing his class, and I'm out of options."

Ciel knocked Alois's hand away. "Sometimes I wonder if you even consider other options. And I'm not jealous over either of you, you egotistical whore. I'd just prefer it that my best friend wasn't sleeping with that fucking guy."

Alois shrugged, leaning back against the wall. "Whatever, Ciel. You know, all you have to say is that you want him and I'll back off. As much fun as it is to give you a hard time, I'm totally for the idea of you finally getting some. You really need to loosen up."

"Well I don't want him. So fuck it, do whatever you want. But I should warn you, I don't think Michaelis is even the type to go for it. Not that it wouldn't be funny to watch you get dropped on your ass for once." Ciel pushed the uncomfortable squirm in his stomach back down, trying to ignore it. He didn't know why the thought of Alois sleeping with Michaelis was bothering him more than any of his other conquests, but he didn't really want to explore the feeling.

Alois laughed. "Oh, Ciel. No one ever drops me." Just then the bell rang, and people in Faustus's previous class began to file out. Once the room was empty they headed in. "Except you, maybe." He grinned at Ciel as they headed to their respective seats. Once they'd sat down he leaned into the aisle between their desks, winking as he whispered at him. "And that's only when you're sober."

Ciel did his best to ignore Alois for the rest of the class, but gave up about halfway through to ignore Faustus in favor of gossiping about the rest of the idiots in their class. Alois might be an egotistical slut, but more often than not they were the same friends they had been since they were five.

The rest of the day went by without incident. Once the final bell had rung, Ciel begrudgingly gathered up his things and headed down the hall to Michaelis's classroom. Once he got there he didn't bother knocking and went right in.

Michaelis was sitting there behind his desk, and appeared to be grading papers. Ciel felt his former anger stir up in his stomach, but mixed with something else, too. He pushed the thought from his mind, going over and pulling up a chair next to Michaelis's desk. "Okay. I'm here. Now can we get this over with?"

Michaelis raised an eyebrow at him, smiling slightly. "You're here, indeed. I'm surprised you came."

"Yeah, well, you didn't give me much of a choice." He made a point not to look at his teacher, mostly because he knew it would be easier to hold onto his anger that way. And then there's that other feeling, too. Ciel shook his head to clear his thoughts and sat down in the chair. Michaelis leaned back, watching him carefully.

"What?" Ciel spat, annoyed with how much his teacher seemed to be enjoying his resentment.

"Oh, nothing. So." Michaelis took out a few sheets of paper and set them down in front of him. "I want you to write me an essay on your current plans for your future."

"This is ridiculous. I get that you're pissed at me for ignoring you the other day, but making me write stupid essays isn't going to help anything." Ciel reached into his bag for a pencil, rummaging around.

"Here." Michaelis picked up a pen from his desk and held it out to him. "You can use this."

"Uh, sure. Okay." Ciel reached forward to take the pen, and when he did, his hand brushed up against Michaelis's for half a second, and he immediately dropped the pen, recoiling.

Michaelis raised his eyebrows. "Is there a problem, Ciel?" And before he could respond, he delicately took Ciel's hand in his own and set the pen in it, closing his fingers around it.

Ciel's hand twitched, as if to pull it away, but he stopped, his hand still in Michaelis's. He looked up at him, confusion clouding over his eyes. Pull your hand back, you idiot. What in the world are you doing? But he didn't.

Michaelis was looking back at him steadily. Ciel tried to look away again, but the man's strong gaze held his eyes captive. "Michaelis…" He tried to make his voice sound nonchalant, but it came out more breathless than he'd intended, and he silently cursed himself for it. The warmth of Michaelis's hand felt magnified more than it should have, and he became sharply aware of the feeling of the man's skin on his own. And still, he couldn't look away.

Michaelis laughed softly and dropped his hand, pulling the stack of essays over in front of him again. "It's Sebastian, Ciel. Call me Sebastian." He picked up a pen and began reading over the first on the stack, making marks as he went.

Ciel just sat there in stunned silence for a moment, trying to absorb what had just happened. ...Had something happened? Had he just imagined it? Surely something had happened there. Hadn't it?

Sebastian raised an eyebrow at him. "Do you need me to remind you of your prompt?"

"I - No. I remember." Ciel felt his face flush, and he bent over the papers in front of him so Sebastian wouldn't see his blush. Sebastian? Since when do you call him Sebastian?

Since he asked me to.

Ciel shook his head, trying to rid his mind of the conversation in his head. He kept telling himself that nothing had happened. That he had imagined the moment that passed between them. And part of him was satisfied with that conclusion.

But part of him wasn't.

Even as he sat there, turning every half second of their brief shared touch over in his head, every time he dared sneak a glance at Sebastian he was still focused only on the stack of papers in front of him. He's completely ignoring me. That son of a bitch is ignoring me! The silence in the room taunted back at him, telling him things like you're crazy. You're delusional. You're just like Alois, aren't you? Ciel managed to write a total of about six words before he couldn't take it anymore.

Ciel threw down his pen a little more harshly than he'd meant to. "Will you fucking say something?"

Sebastian finally looked up at him, eyebrows raised in surprise. "Excuse me?"

Ciel opened his mouth to say something, but found no words there. He realized that anything he said would either sound too childish or too insane. So what he said instead was really nothing like the questions swelling up in his chest. "Aloisisgoingtotrytosleepwithyouforbettergrades." His words came out in one sputtered string of syllables.

Sebastian just looked at him blankly. "…I beg your pardon?"

Ciel huffed a little, feeling his face color again. "…Alois. He's going to try to sleep with you for better grades." He'd come up with something completely random and unrelated and he stillfelt childish and crazy. And what in the world did Alois have to do with any of this? Why in hell did he say that at all?

"Now jealousy does suit you, Ciel."

Sebastian raised his eyebrows again, setting down his pen and leaning back in his chair. "…Oh?"

"…Yes. He's done it before. He's sleeping with Faustus. Well, he was, but now he says he wants to move on and it was going to be you but he thinks I - " Ciel stopped himself, biting his tongue to stop its mutinous slithering. He didn't even know what he was saying anymore. He was just talking. He just didn't want to think about the strange conflicting feelings fluttering and dancing in his stomach.

Sebastian was just watching him, grinning ever so slightly. "…I see. And why are you telling me this?"

"I…" Ciel trailed off, and as he looked back at Sebastian, the fluttering in his stomach turned to anger in his chest. He was just sitting there. Smiling. Looking so fucking smug. Couldn't he tell that something was happening to him? Couldn't he tell that he was experiencing feelings that he didn't even understand?

Ciel's anger began to bubble over as he thought about everything strange that had happened lately. About being called out on not ever doing his classwork. About Alois getting drunk and pretending he cared about Ciel as more than their friendship called for. About being expected to think about his fucking future. About being forced to feel things he didn't understand. For some reason, it all felt like Sebastian's fault. And all this son of a bitch had to fucking say was 'why are you telling me this.'

"Why am I even fucking here? Why couldn't you just settle for taking my phone? Why did you lie to the principal? Why do you care so god damn much what I do after I graduate? Why did you make my class read fucking Hamlet? Why do you watch me read? Why don't you care more that Alois wants to sleep with you? And why the fuck did you hold my hand?" Ciel just sat there for a moment after his outburst, breathing somewhat heavily, feeling the waters of anger cool to confusion and something like desperation, and his voiced became quiet. "…Why did you hold my hand?"

Sebastian just looked at him carefully for a moment before responding. "…Have you ever thought of how many lives would have been spared if Hamlet hadn't asked so many questions? If he'd just gone with his instinct and acted right away?"

Ciel just stared back at him. He'd just spoken to him in such an embarrassingly personal way that he was already feeling shame well up inside him and all this fucking guy could do was ask about fucking Hamlet? "What the hell do you - "

But before he could utter the rest of his sentence, Sebastian had leaned forward, closing the space between them. Before Ciel could even fully register what was happening, he felt Sebastian's hand on his cheek, and then the warmth and pressure of his lips on his own.

Ciel stopped breathing. He stopped thinking. He could have sworn his heart itself had stopped, the rushing of his blood frozen in time with everything to the ticks of the clock. Time could have stopped, though he hardly would have noticed. In that moment, all he was aware of was that he was kissing him. Sebastian was kissing him. He felt Sebastian smile against his lips, and if Ciel's heart could still have moved, it would have dropped. Sebastian was kissing him.

And then it was over.

Sebastian pulled back, settling back into his seat and returning his attention to the papers in front of him. "You're free to go."

Ciel just stared at him, the shock of what had just happened slowly wearing off. "Wh-What?"

Sebastian didn't even look up. "It's Friday, Ciel. I won't keep you any longer. You can finish the essay next time. See you on Monday."

Once he'd thawed out enough to move, he stood, managing with trouble to push his chair back to where it belonged. "S-See you," was all he managed before he grabbed his bag and quickly left the room.

He walked down the hall as fast as his legs would carry him. In his haste he knocked over a garbage can and nearly fell, but he barely noticed. His head was swimming with all of his thoughts, feelings, and sensations from the last few minutes, and they were threatening to drown him. He exited the school and headed off down the street, hardly noticing or caring where he was going. He ended up in the park near his house, and he finally stopped once he'd come up under a large maple tree there.

He leaned up against the tree, slowing his ragged breath before sliding down to sit on the slightly dampened grass. After sitting there with nothing but his own silence for a few minutes, he felt shame flood into him again, tempered with confusion.

What had just happened? Why had it happened? What was he supposed to do now? The more questions he tried to answer for himself, the more that sprang up in their wake. More because he couldn't bear the silence than anything, he pulled out his phone and called Alois before he could talk himself out of it.

"Yeah?" Alois sounded bored, and like he was eating something.

Ciel was silent for a moment, waiting for his voice to return itself to him.

"Ciel?"

"…He kissed me." Once he'd found his voice again it was quiet, wrapped up in something that sounded too much like helplessness.

"What?" Ciel could hear the interest pique in his friend's voice. "Who? Who kissed you? You did say 'he,' right? Ciel, what happened?"

"…Sebastian. Sebastian kissed me."

"Sebastian? Wait… Do you mean Michaelis?" The awe and disbelief in Alois's voice turned Ciel's stomach over.

"Yes."

Alois said more after that. It was nothing more than a flurry of excited words and phrases that Ciel didn't hear. At some point he hung up on him. He hadn't really wanted much to talk to Alois. He'd just needed to tell someone. And he had no one else to tell.

Ciel stayed there at the park until the sun began to dip beneath the line of the trees. It wasn't until dusk began to kiss the sky a deep purple that he raised himself on his weakened legs to walk the rest of the way home. Once he got there he went straight to his room and threw himself onto his bed without bothering to change. His phone was alive with texts and missed calls from Alois, but he ignored them.

It only took him about five minutes after his head hit the pillow to slip into sleep. And as he did so the same singular thought was playing itself over and over in his head. But no matter how many times it did, he wasn't able to untangle the mess of thoughts and feelings that had wrapped themselves around the words like spider web strands.

He kissed me.

Sebastian kissed me.

I've noticed that like 98% of what I write is focused on posture and the movement of eyebrows. But that's okay because it's the weekend and I do what I want. Also you're all wonderful, beautiful human beings. A real credit to your race. Thanks to those of you reviewing :)