7. Vulnerable

Ciel groaned—this nightmare never ends. As he watched Sebastian disappear up the stairs, he was suddenly aware of a tugging on his clothes.

"Hey!" Ciel's eyes widened as he noticed Alois beside him, attempting to remove Ciel's clothing, "Don't touch me so freely!"

He was about to swing at the blond when a careless, velvety voice called from the top of the stairs:

"Oh, it won't do for you two to be wearing those wet clothes, will it? You wouldn't want to catch a cold."

"Don't pretend to care about my well-being!" Ciel shouted back, aggravated, but received no answer. Beside him, Lizzie, who was receiving a similar treatment from Claude, was also protesting.

"Hey, that's my new dress!"

Ciel sighed. As much as it pained to admit it, he had absolutely no power of the situation.

"Just deal with it for now," he told her, coming off as more resigned than reassuring, "I don't see how we're going to get out of it." And, though he'd never say it aloud, Sebastian was right: they really would have pneumonia by the morning if the clothes didn't come off.

At the very least, Claude seemed entirely dispassionate about the whole task, whereas Alois seemed to be enjoying himself a bit too much. Because Ciel was steadfastly ignoring the whole indignity, he restrained himself from whacking Alois when the blond's hands wandered.

Grell, who was taking Ciel and Lizzie's clothes, broke though Ciel's forced ignorance.

"Slowly, slowly, it's too nice a job to rush," The shinigami said with a toothy smile, "even on a pair of runts like this."

Ciel growled in a distinctly canine fashion (he wasn't called the Queen's Watch Dog for nothing, after all.)

"Are you wearing sock garters?" Alois interrupted, looking up at Ciel with raised eyebrows.

"I don't like pulling my socks up all the time, okay?" Ciel snapped. Alois just stared at him. "You know what? Shut up. I'm not the one in the dress."

"You brats are lucky to be invited up to Sebby's laboratory," Grell said, changing the subject, "some people would give their soul for the privilege."

Ciel snorted, "People like you, naturally."

"Hah!" Grell laughed scornfully before tossing the amassed pile of clothing over his shoulder, thus reaffirming Ciel's utter hatred for the gender-confused shinigami, "I've seen it!"

"All right, pick up the pace," Alois snapped, going through another one of his arbitrary mood swings, "The Master doesn't like to be kept waiting."

Ciel didn't give a damn what Sebastian didn't like, but he let himself be shepherded up the stairs. Out of curiosity, he turned to Grell.

"So, what. You and Sebastian are together now, or something?" Just saying it made Ciel cringe; it was just so wrong.

Grell gave that annoying laugh again, and Ciel wondered how many times he would be able to hear that in one night before acting out one of his homicidal fantasies (what, you don't have those?)

"The Master isn't married, nor do I think he ever will be," Claude droned with all his usual enthusiasm, "We are simply his servants."

At this, Ciel managed his first real smirk of the night. Claude working for Sebastian? That can't end well.

"Oh?" Ciel questioned, enjoying the smirk, "How's that working out for you."

As though in response, Claude dropped the glass bottle of dubious red liquid he'd been pouring into a goblet.

"That well, huh?"