Hello everyone!~ Thank you all so much for all the wonderful reviews on the last chapter; they really mean a lot :) And they definitely motivate me to churn out these chapters faster! In particular, garryxmrchairfan really prompted me to stop being lazy and finally write this chapter! Thanks so much for the kind review!
I hope you enjoy!~
(-)
"Oh, God, what should I wear?" Ciel stressed, shuffling through his minuscule accumulation of t-shirts and blue jeans. He really should go shopping, considering he'd just inherited enough to buy thirty new wardrobes, but he'd have to worry about that later. "Claude said that we aren't really going anywhere fancy – but what exactly does that mean? Is his definition of fancy the same as mine? What if I show up in casual clothes and it's actually a formal restaurant? But I don't really have anything too fancy, anyway... Maybe I should just put on my nicest clothes and hope for the best. Yeah, that sounds like a plan."
While Ciel fussed over what to wear, Vega sat calmly on his still-unmade bed, swishing her tail back and forth as she pawed at Ciel's silver barrette that he'd tossed on the comforter. Her blue eyes silently followed her owner as he darted around the room, digging through piles of clothes that still hadn't been properly put away.
"These look pretty decent," Ciel said to no one in particular, holding up a pair of straight-legged dark-grey mid-rise jeans that were finely pressed and quite an attractive fit on his body, if he did say so himself. "Maybe if I wore these and my blue sweater..."
Scurrying over to a different throng of shirts and pants, Ciel shuffled through them in a haste, finally finding what he was searching for and holding it up to get a full view of the item. In his hand was a light-blue pull-over sweater, accented with a low v-neck collar and banded cuffs.
"A little dorky, but I can pull it off," Ciel smirked to himself, pulling on the sweater over his white button-down. The stark white of the undershirt poked out just beyond the sleeves of his sweater and above the neck of the collar, making for quite a nice overall appearance.
Glancing in the mirror hanging beside his bed, Ciel smiled his cutest smile towards his reflection, batting his long eyelashes and giggling sickeningly-sweetly. "Claude, none of the desserts are good here – maybe you have something better back at your house I could eat?~" Before he could even say the last word, Ciel was practically gagging at his own act, shivering despite himself. Thatwas beyond disturbing.
Startling him out of his reverie, Ciel's phone began chiming with an alarm bell tone, signaling that he about fifteen minutes before the time Claude was scheduled to pick him up for their date.
At the thought of the handsome veterinarian, a blush powdered Ciel's cheeks and his stomach flipped with anticipation. He hadn't been on a date in at least three years – in fact, the last person he'd ever gone anywhere with had been Timber. He wasn't even sure how to act or what to do after having been recluse for such a long period of time.
"God, I'm so damn awkward," Ciel huffed, running a hand through his hair. "We probably won't even get down the driveway without me saying something that makes him regret asking me out."
Groaning dramatically at his own anti-sociality, Ciel suddenly caught sight of a flash of headlights turning down his long driveway, and his stomach did another somersault at the realization that yeah, this was really happening right now.
Swallowing down his nerves, Ciel gave one last glance in the mirror, suddenly not feeling as confident as before about how he looked. His hair was too ruffled, and his sweater didn't fit as well as it should, and his shoes didn't match anything he was wearing, and his jeans didn't hug his waist like they used to, and–
God, just get over yourself, Ciel admonished in his mind. Your hair is fine. Your sweater is perfect. Your shoes match flawlessly. Your jeans make your ass look awesome. And besides, it's too late to back out now.
(-)
"I hope I didn't forget anything," Ciel muttered to himself as he strode down the long hallway leading to the living room. He patted his back pocket, making sure that his wallet was snug inside his pocket – though it wasn't as if he couldn't afford to lose a few hundred dollars. Ciel smirked at the thought; that sure felt comforting to know.
Just as Ciel was about to enter the main area, he paused.
He hadn't told Sebastian about the note.
He hadn't told Sebastian about the date.
He hadn't told Sebastian about Claude.
What was he going to say when Sebastian asked why Claude was waiting outside and why Ciel was dressed up in his Sunday best at 6:00 at night?
Peering around the trim of the entryway, Ciel was slightly surprised to find Sebastian still sitting on the couch, having not moved an inch from where Ciel had left him nearly three hours ago. Quirking a brow, Ciel moved quietly from his hiding spot towards the couch, realizing that Sebastian had fallen asleep amongst the mass of documents and bylaws scattered around him. Ciel subconsciously observed the gentle rise and fall of the man's chest, his eyes trailing up to Sebastian's dark eyelashes casting shadows down his pale cheeks and the subtle parting of his lips to allow air intake and outtake. A blush consumed Ciel's cheeks as he realized he was staring, and he stubbornly tore his gaze away from Sebastian's sleeping visage to observe the documents still laid out on the coffee table.
...Wait, weren't those supposed to be faxed at 4:30?
Rolling his eyes, Ciel crossed his arms and threw a spiteful glare towards Sebastian.
"You idiot," Ciel growled in a whisper. "And after I gave you my favorite blue ribbon..."
Looking towards Sebastian's right ring finger, Ciel's eyes widened slightly when he noticed the silky fabric clutched tightly between Sebastian's fingers. He brushed that odd observation off quickly, however, when he realized that the unsent documents were still disarrayed among Sebastian's other miscellaneous office supplies. Sighing, Ciel gathered up the stack of briefs, quietly trekking across the living room floor to the fax machine, turning it on and waiting for the options screen to appear.
I can't let him get laid off just because of a stupid mistake, Ciel told himself in his mind. I can tell he really loves his job.
As he waited for the fax machine to power up, Ciel heard a chime come from Sebastian's large computer situated next to him. Curious, Ciel approached the desktop, noticing the Skype icon on the main page blinking – someone was requesting a video chat. Throwing a quick glance back at Sebastian who was still deeply asleep, Ciel turned down the computer's volume to minimum, hesitantly double-clicking the icon. He knew he probably shouldn't be doing this, but it was just too tempting – it was Sebastian's fault for falling asleep, anyway.
"MICHAELIS!" A booming voice suddenly blasted over the speakers, but because of the low volume, it wasn't as intimidating as intended. Nonetheless, Ciel still jumped at the unexpected rage in the person's tone – someone obviously wasn't very happy with his housemate. "What have you been doing?! Where are the briefs for the PMC case?! I told you to fax them over at exactly-"
"Excuse me," Ciel interrupted in a hushed tone, taking a seat in the large office chair and offering an impish smile to the man on the other end of the chat. Ciel instantly recognized him as William, the irascible underling that was trying to threaten Sebastian into moving back to Fayetteville. "Sebastian isn't here right now; he's...busy. Is there anything I could help you with?"
Upon realizing that he was yelling at the wrong person, William looked a little embarrassed, his cheeks tinting as he cleared his throat and attempted to appear composed. "Who are you? Why are you answering Michaelis' video calls?"
"Oh, sorry, I'm Ciel Phantomhive," Ciel greeted politely. William was obviously a huge tight-ass, but he'd always found that being nice in response to hostility made people even more irritated than if he tried to pick a fight. "I'm the one who inherited this house along with Sebastian."
After blinking a few times, William's face deadpanned. "Ah, so you're Mr. Phantomhive. Michaelis has told me quite a bit about you." At this statement, Ciel's cheeks colored. He's talked about me? "It is nice to meet you, however I'm afraid I'll have to cut our meeting short. Your irresponsible house-mate has neglected to fax me very important papers for an extremely difficult case and I'd appreciate it if you would allow me to speak with him. Surely he isn't doing anything of more priority than his job."
"Um, well, actually..." Ciel struggled to find an excuse. "I know which documents need faxing; would it be alright if I just sent them over for him? I'd really hate to bother him – he seems pretty busy."
William appeared to be a little surprised for a fraction of a second, but all emotion quickly drained from his face as his eyes smoldered with vapid exhaustion. "Truthfully, I don't care who sends the documents as long as they are in my hands within the next five minutes. I've had a long day and can't possibly deal with any more of Michaelis' negligent behavior; please just fax them over as soon as you are able, and tell that lazy roommate of yours that he'd better straighten up or I'll bring in the extrinsic supervisors to have him thrown out of office."
"Isn't that a bit harsh?" Ciel asked hesitantly.
"Harshness is irrelevant; jobs are on the line and I will not tolerate anyone who doesn't take theirs seriously," William dismissed, and with those foreboding words, the Skype logo replaced the coiffed image of the reticent lawyer as the screen blanked. Ciel's eyebrows raised a bit, and a scoff escaped his throat; he couldn't fathom how Sebastian put up with this guy on a regular basis.
Regardless, there were documents that still need to be faxed, as well as his own social obligations currently parked in their driveway. Quickly running the papers through the machine after locating the IP address they needed to be sent to, Ciel sighed in relief as the green light flashed, signaling that the papers had successfully reached their destination.
Clicking the fax off, Ciel looked back towards Sebastian's sleeping form and supposed that he should at least leave some indication as to where he went for when the man woke up. Striding to the coffee table, Ciel snatched up a random sticky-note pad that was cluttered amongst other miscellaneous papers and packets that were obviously more of Sebastian's work and proceeded to write a short, to-the-point message.
I got bored, so I've gone out to pick up a few things for later.
Also, I faxed your documents for you – you're welcome. I expect something in return, of course, but we'll discuss that later.
- Ciel
Satisfied with his note, Ciel carefully stuck the adhesive to Sebastian's left leg where he was sure he'd find it immediately upon waking up. Shaking his head once more as he noticed a bit of drool roll down Sebastian's chin, Ciel rolled his eyes and proceeded to walk quietly across their living room, taking a deep breath as he opened the door and mentally prepared himself for the rest of the night.
(-)
"Thank you for accepting my invitation," Claude said suddenly, breaking the silence that had reined over them ever since Ciel had stepped into his car. Ciel jumped slightly and glanced over to Claude who had his eyes firmly locked on the road ahead, but Ciel could see a small quirk of the vet's lips and the soft way his irises seemed to shimmer. Red dusted Ciel's cheeks, and he shrunk himself into the plush seats, snuggling into his thin sweater which he dumbly decided to wear – he really should have put on something warmer considering it was already December.
"S-sure, thanks for inviting me," Ciel muttered his reply, cold and fidgety and desperately hoping they weren't too far from the restaurant so he could get inside and warm up. Claude's car wasn't necessarily uncomfortable – it had a nice, homey scent to it, in a way, and a skylight that kept their compartment from being totally blacked-out – but, somehow, Ciel just couldn't get in a suitable position. He was constantly shifting from one side of his seat to the other, crossing and uncrossing his legs, propping his chin in his hand and then folding them in his lap. He almost cried in relief when Claude came to a stop, nestled in a parking lot with quite a few other cars parked around them. His immediate reaction was to try to locate the restaurant, but even after glancing through all the car's side-windows, he couldn't see anything through the darkness.
"Are we at the restaurant yet..?" Ciel questioned, careful to keep the disappointment out of his voice. He was sure that if he had to ride one more minute in silence, he'd end up just bailing out the passenger door. The sound of a soft chuckle caught his attention, and Ciel curiously turned towards Claude to see the man unbuckling his seat belt and proceeding to open his driver's-side door.
"Technically, yes," Claude answered elusively, shutting his door back and pacing over to where Ciel was waiting, opening the door for the boy to get out. "This is the parking lot for it. The restaurant is actually about a block northwards – this is the closest I could get. I hope you don't mind a bit of a walk."
Ciel swallowed thickly, already feeling the near-blistering cold filter through the cab the moment Claude had opened his door. Regardless, Ciel supposed that he couldn't back out after all the trouble he'd gone to, so he acquiescently unbuckled his seatbelt and hopped out of the car, squinting through the cold wind that instantly dried out his eyes.
Shit, it's fucking freezing out here. It wasn't near this cold back home, Ciel thought to himself, attempting to make his legs work forward as he heard Claude shut and lock his car before contently following behind. How am I even going to last for 5 minutes in this fucking wind?!
Ciel tried to make his shivering less apparent, but the cold bit into his skin until his entire body was virtually freezing from the inside out. He licked his chapped lips bitterly, sticking his hands into his pockets in attempt to keep his fingers from falling off, but pressing them against the denim of his jeans only served to make them colder.
Okay, well, it's apparent that I'm going to die from frostbite out here. I guess no one will miss me – Sebastian'll get the house to himself, and Vega can settle down and have a family with Demon. I bet their kittens would be cute– Ciel paused in his morbid musing when he suddenly felt a warmth completely engulf his body, instantly melting the ice he'd surely felt forming on the ends of his hair. He automatically pulled the – what he discerned to be – large black coat around his shaking frame that was quickly abating to normal. Realizing who must've given him the coat, Ciel glanced to the side to see Claude quietly observing him with a calculating – but at the same time fond – gaze, a hint of a grin on his lips.
"You seemed cold," Claude said finally, turning his gaze back to the sidewalk ahead. "I know my coat is big on you, but I supposed that it was better than nothing."
Ciel's face instantly heated despite the chill of the December air, and he slowly turned away from the veterinarian as he pulled the coat closer still around himself. He was admittedly a little surprised that Claude would so willingly give up his coat in these freezing temperatures, but also beyond grateful for the gesture; the coat was incredibly warm, and smelled a lot like the man's car. It was a mixture of a certain flowery detergent and strong black coffee, Ciel decided.
"It definitely is, thank you," Ciel responded quietly, subconsciously snuggling down into the fabric. "But aren't you cold? I don't want you to freeze just because I was too dumb to not bring a coat."
Another handsome chuckle filled the quiet night air, and Ciel found himself liking the sound more and more each time he heard it. "I appreciate the concern, but I'm fine. I'm typically hot-natured, so it's really not so bad."
Ciel hummed his understanding, subconsciously scooting closer to the man as he did so. Ciel could almost immediately feel the change in the air around him – it was like he'd stepped next to a furnace.
Damn, he wasn't kidding, Ciel thought, moving so that his left side was nearly pressed against Claude's own, so desperate was he to absorb all the warmth he could.
Feeling something brush up against his arm, Claude looked down in surprise to find the boy practically walking on top of him, so close was he to his side. Claude briefly wondered whether or not Ciel realized just how close he was, but he decided not to comment – he was quite content with their proximity, and even while it was true that he was hot by nature, the extra heat was definitely welcomed.
They walked in comfortable silence for no more than a minute before Claude could feel Ciel shiver beside him; glancing down at the boy once more, Claude couldn't help but smirk when he saw the shorter male blush and sheepishly look up at him, obviously embarrassed even though it really wasn't his fault. It was colder than normal out tonight, and Claude almost felt guilty for choosing a restaurant that required a walk to get to.
"Are you still cold?" Claude asked, even though the answer was painfully apparent.
"A little, but it's mainly just my hands. My fingers feel like they're about to fall off," Ciel said bitterly, shoving his right hand into his pocket in an attempt to warm it, at least a little bit. He was about to do the same with his left when he suddenly felt a wonderful heat thread through the spaces between his fingers – it was immediately apparent what it was, and Ciel could feel himself blush deeper as the source tightened around his hand.
"I apologize if I'm overstepping my boundaries, but it's really quite pitiful watching you shiver like you are," Claude explained.
While a bit indignant about being implicitly called pathetic, Ciel had to admit that the gesture was sweet, and the warmth covering his palm was certainly nothing to complain about. He could feel a smile tug at his lips as he intertwined his hand with Claude's in return.
(-)
"Wow, this place is really incredible," Ciel marveled after they'd gotten inside, taking in the amazing ambiance of the restaurant. Bright lights showered the occupants in a warm orange glow, and red carpets and walls sheltered out everyone from the cold and gave the entire enormous main room an elegant feel. The chairs were an expensive black oak wood as were the tables, which was apparent from the legs that peeked out from underneath thick white tablecloths. The people dining were equally as regal, making Ciel feel dreadfully out of place. He shrunk back behind Claude when a couple passed them by and strode into the main area, clutching onto the fabric of the man's sleeve. "...But I don't think I dressed appropriately. I thought you said this wasn't going to be a fancy dinner?"
Claude regarded Ciel briefly, seeming to give him a once-over before turning back to the receptionist and supplying their names for the reservation. Once their place was cleared and they were being escorted to their table, Claude discreetly leaned towards Ciel, whispering, "I think you look perfect."
The familiar heat of embarrassment rose to Ciel's cheeks, and he quickly distracted himself with a lively table adjacent to theirs which seemed to be crowded with people a little too drunk to realize that they were the loudest people in the restaurant. Rolling his eyes, Ciel turned back to their chaperon and muttered a quiet thanks when the man pulled his chair out for him.
"Your waiter will be with you momentarily," he said, posture flawless and eyes a bit condescending as he observed the way Ciel instantly slouched in his seat. "I hope you enjoy your evening."
Ciel sneered at the man's back as he walked away, and Claude apparently noticed because he quietly cleared his throat to rapt the boy's attention back towards him. "Don't take their treatment personally. Supercilious restaurants like this don't always have the nicest personnel."
"Guess not," Ciel agreed, scooting backward on his cushion a bit to sit up straighter, despite how odd the unfamiliar posture felt. "And especially in an area like-"
"-Afternoon," a voice suddenly interrupted Ciel mid-sentence, and he was quick to glare up at the waiter that had decided to rudely cut in. Ciel was somewhat surprised to find that their server was a boy likely not much older than himself, bright blond hair framing his youthful face and curling around striking light-blue eyes. The boy didn't seem to be in the best of moods, either, if the disdainful frown etched into his features was anything to go by. "I'm Alois and I'll be your server this evening. You guys know what you want to order?" Ciel was a bit dumbstruck by the blond's unsophisticated disposition; was this kid new or just unversed? Regardless, Ciel opened his mouth to respond, but he was once again cut off. "But before you order, I'm obligated to point out that – as I'm sure you're already aware – this is not a family-run restaurant. Basically, it's one of those hoity-toit expensive restaurants where the menus aren't in English and the portions are smaller than your fist. So, what'll it be?"
(-)
And there you have it! I really just wanted to get this finished so I could post it since it's been so long ;w; I am so sorry for the long wait – life has been crazy lately and I've had no time for anything, much less writing.
But anyway, there'll be a MAJOR plot twist/development next chapter, so stay tuned! Thank you to everyone who's stuck with this story! (Even though the author never updates...)