Sebastian hurried back to the estate; he hoped that Grell's appearance didn't hold him back. He really couldn't handle another whipping, Johnathan could be pretty vicious. He got back in the house and went straight into the kitchen, he set the bags of groceries down on the counter and then walked into his room and then started to take his coat off.
"You're back."
The voice made Sebastian jump slightly.
"Yes lord, I am. I'm sorry if I took so long."
Johnathan's eyes narrowed. He stalked over to Sebastian.
"You were late…are you planning to escape?"
Before Sebastian could answer the inane question, Johnathan took a fistful of his raven locks and forcefully pulled it, making Sebastian close his eyes so he wouldn't give in to the pain.
"No lord, I had no intention of escaping."
What a lie.
"The line was long and I wanted to make sure that I bought only the best for you and your guests tonight."
He only clenched the hair tighter and then held it up so Sebastian's ear could face his mouth.
"Remember, if you EVER try to escape from me…I will find you and trust me, your punishments would be even worse than the ones you have now." It was a very intimidating whisper. Sebastian gulped and nodded.
"Yes, Lord."
"Good."
With that, he punched and then threw the demon on the floor. Usually Sebastian would have been able to catch himself but with the wound on his leg, he had no choice but to fall. He was never so embarrassed before. His master humiliated him. Johnathan laughed as he saw Sebastian on the floor.
"I thought demons were supposed to be scary, look at you, as pitiful as ever."
Sebastian just hung his head in shame. He was glad that no one else was around to see this horrid sight, his pride and dignity was gone.
"Now, before you get ready to cook the food, meet me in my study."
Sebastian didn't respond. Johnathan glared at him.
"Don't ignore me Sebastian…"
With reluctance he said, "Yes…my lord…"
Johnathan gave one last smug look and then walked out of the room. Sebastian was trying to get himself off of the floor when he heard a familiar voice.
"Bassy! Are you alright?"
The demon's brows furrowed.
"Grell?"
He looked to see his suspicions were confirmed. There the red-head was, staring down at him with green eyes that were filled with pity. Sebastian looked away, he was disgusted with himself. He let Grell out of all people see him in this state! He'd sooner let Ciel see him like this. Ciel…if only he was back at the Phantomhive manor, if only. Grell helped Sebastian stand, which Sebastian really needed. The unhealed cut in his leg has opened even more; he felt it when Johnathan pushed him on the floor.
"Bassy…"
"When did you get here?"
"Well I followed you here after I bumped into you near the market."
Sebastian's eyes widened and he rushed over to the door and closed it. Grell didn't know what he did to make Sebastian react this way. Maybe it had something to do with his master.
"Bassy, what's the matter?"
"If my lord saw you here, I would get punished."
Grell stepped closer to the troubled demon and placed a hand on the other's arm. Words could not describe how bad he felt for Sebastian. This wasn't the man he fell in love with, it was someone different, someone much, much sadder.
"Sebastian…what has he done to you? You have a bruise on your cheek…"
Sebastian didn't say anything to Grell. He was ashamed. Grell understood if he was humiliated to this point, he would want to be left alone too. Grell only gave a sympathetic smile.
"I can see that you want to be alone, it's quite alright. See you later Sebastian…"
As Grell turned to leave, he felt a hand latch onto his arm. He looked down to see that it was Sebastian's wounded hand that was on him. The blood was staining his white dress shirt. Sebastian saw what the reaper's eyes fell on and immediately retracted his hand.
"My apologies, I didn't mean to stain your shirt."
Grell chuckled.
"It's quite alright Bassy; you know how much I love the color red."
Sebastian hung his head. Grell frowned, clearly there was something he wanted to say but didn't know how to. Grell thought for a minute and then found a giant smile reach his mouth. He knew what Sebastian wanted to say.
"Bassy, do you want me to stay here with you?"
"I just want someone to talk to is all."
Grell felt his heart skip a beat. Finally, he had a chance to make his Bassy happy! He would stay with him in a heartbeat, anything to make him forget his abusive master. Grell nodded and led Sebastian to his bed and sat him down, joining him soon after taking off his shoes. For a while, Sebastian just stared away from Grell with the most depressing expression on his face. Grell didn't know what to say without upsetting the butler further and this was one of the few times where Sebastian didn't open up a can of whoop ass on the flamboyant man.
"So Bassy, how long have you been here?"
Sebastian took a moment to respond. Grell thought that either Sebastian was recounting the days or he was simply trying to forget them.
"I've been here for a month…it will be two months tomorrow."
Grell noticed that the butler was speaking barely above a whisper. It seems like there was nothing left of that smooth-talking, sarcastic, confident man that Grell first saw. His new master must really be tormenting him. Speaking of masters, Grell wanted to know why he was even hear in the first place.
"Why are you here, Bassy? I doubt that Ciel would ever let his star butler be pawned off to another person willingly."
"It wasn't his choice."
A red eyebrow rose at the statement.
"Really?"
Sebastian nodded. It was like talking to a zombie. It nearly brought Grell to tears, he didn't know if demons could cry or not but he would cry for Sebastian. He felt badly.
"Whose choice was it then?"
"It was Satan's. He felt as if I was too attached to Ciel, so he sent me here. "
Grell nodded to let him know that he was listening.
"I can't imagine Ciel was happy to hear the news."
That's when Sebastian showed emotion. It wasn't any positive emotion at all, if anything, it made Sebastian even worse than what he was before.
"Actually, he didn't seem to care. He just dismissed me."
"What?"
This was new to Grell; he didn't think Ciel would be so indifferent to Sebastian leaving the manor to serve another. He let Sebastian finish whatever he wanted to say.
"None of them cared. I told the whole household and…they just brush me aside. I know that being a demon, I don't expect for anybody to care about me but, when you're with people for so long and you're so used to being with them and then when the time comes for you to leave and no one cares…It hurts Grell…"
He slowly reached over to the reaper's hand and slowly guided it to his chest, the place where his heart should be.
"It hurts me right here, why does it hurt?"
Grell felt the tears getting ready to fall right out of his eyes. He didn't know that Sebastian was hurting so bad, he didn't even know if demons had hearts. He didn't know if this was true for all demons but at least he knew that Sebastian had a heart.
"Bassy, that pain you're feeling is called, sadness, and this right here…" He patted his chest.
"That's your heart, Sebastian, that's the source of why you're feeling that way."
"I don't want this feeling anymore, Grell."
Grell let the tears flow. Of course Sebastian wouldn't know about feelings and such and know that he was experiencing this, especially the worst emotions, it made Grell's heart sadden. Sebastian reminded him of a little kid who was as confused as to why they were cursed to feel. This is the most vulnerable Sebastian has ever been around Grell ; and now this is what Grell as has always wished of the demon, but now that he's seeing it, he wishes that his wish never came true. The last thing he wanted was for his demon love to cry.
Then, Sebastian's sad, crimson eyes met Grell's.
"I have to go see my master; he's probably starting to get upset because I am not in his study yet. You have to leave now; I don't want you to get in trouble."
Grell wiped away the tears and his runny mascara as he nodded and started to get his things together.
"I don't want you getting into trouble too. I also have to reapply my makeup and change my clothes."
"Whatever for?"
"Didn't you know? I am one of the guests for your master's dinner tonight."
Sebastian raised an eyebrow.
"Do you know who else is coming?"
Sebastian was so hopeful for Ciel to be among the other attendees. To his dismay, Grell shook his head. If he had any information he would tell Sebastian but this is one of the few times he had none to give.
"I'm sorry Sebastian, I wish I knew."
Seeing the look on Sebastian's face made Grell wish he lied to him. There was no helping the poor raven.
"Ah, I see, it's quite alright. I shall see you later then."
Grell gave a sympathetic smile. Sebastian just wasn't the same. It depressed him, being around the man. He climbed out of the window and was gone from Sebastian's sight. Sebastian closed the window and then turned around to face the door. With a deep breath, he walked out of the room to see what his master wanted.
He walked in to see his master sitting there in his "throne" with his hands folded underneath his chin. He was anticipating his loyal, broken butler.
"Where have you been?"
Sebastian gulped.
"I was collecting myself."
"Why did it take you so long? I didn't hurt you as much as I wanted to and still have the desire to do, you know why right?"
Sebastian nodded.
"There are people coming over and you don't want them to see the marks on me."
Johnathan smiled.
"Quite on the mark, butler."
Sebastian didn't respond, he was used to just hanging his head and letting his master do whatever he wanted to him so he could get it over with faster.
"Come Sebastian, take off your jacket."
Another deep breath and Sebastian removed his signature tailcoat. Johnathan raised an eyebrow.
"Now turn around so your back is towards me…"
Sebastian obliged and turned around, letting Johnathan see the results of his frequent beatings, making the young man smile as he was taking pride of his work. The poor butler's shirt was all ripped up and the fresh cuts were bleeding through the shirt, making the whole back of his shirt stained with Grell's favorite color. Johnathan walked toward the taller man and ran a hand down the wounds, getting some sort of excitement out of this. Sebastian resisted the urge to wince while his master was inspecting the severity of the wounds.
"Wow. I really did a number on you, eh Sebastian?"
Once again, there was no reply from him, vexing Johnathan, he dug his bony fingers into one of the cuts, making the demon's body tremble from the pain.
"Now you will stop ignoring me or I swear I will get my holy water and throw it on you."
"Nngh…Yes my lord…"
"Good…"
Just like that, he released his grip on Sebastian. As he went to clean off his hands, he started to spew another command to Sebastian.
"Remove your shirt."
Sebastian nodded and then started to remove his shirt. Johnathan, obviously not amused with his butler at the moment, spoke a little louder.
"Do you want your wounds cleaned or not? Hurry up!"
Sebastian took his shirt off even faster, he did want his cuts to be sanitized, he didn't know if demons could get infections and he didn't want to find out. Johnathan motioned to the chair next to Sebastian.
"Sit."
The demon sat down and waited for whatever was going to happen next. He watched as Johnathan got out his first-aid kit and set it down on the table next to Sebastian. He silently started to clean out the demon's wounds, and he certainly wasn't being gentle. It hurt more when he was cleaning, then when Sebastian just had them healing on his own.
"Sebastian I'm surprised at you, what do you say when someone does something nice for you?" He was speaking to Sebastian as if he was a child who didn't know his manners.
"Thank you, my lord."
Johnathan smiled at having a demon completely submit to him. He gave a smack to the exposed wounds, making Sebastian jump a little. Johnathan returned to cleaning his butler's wounds. Sebastian noticed that his master's hands were wandering, a little too far down for his liking. Was he…being molested by his master?
"My lord, please stop…"
"No. You're my butler and I can do whatever I damn well please."
Sebastian felt Johnathan's hands lingering on his hind quarters, and then finally a full-blown grab. Sebastian closed his eyes as his master was molesting him, he was powerless to stop it, he was ordered not to do anything. Then, Johnathan's hand wandered to the front part of Sebastian's pants. He groped the butler's private area.
"You're very nicely built…"
Sensing how uncomfortable his butler was, he let go and let Sebastian stand back up.
"Change your shirt and then get started on dinner."
Sebastian stood up and dashed out of the room. He couldn't believe what just happened. Hopefully making dinner would take his mind off recent events.
If anyone would like to give me any ideas for later on in the series, I would gladly appreciate it!
Thank you all again!
