Teacups and Teapots:
Chapter 10:
It was the last day that Ciel had to be present at Black Butler to supervise. Although he kept telling himself that it would be a relief to be away from the teashop even if it was making money, he knew that he was going to miss it.
He checked the thermometer in the fridge critically. It seems that his lectures about temperatures and the danger zone of bacteria had finally sunk in. Temperatures were not something he was personally fussy about, if temperatures were wrong, Black Butler would fail an environmental health inspection and the consequences of that were unpleasant.
"Is the temperature to your liking?" a voice asked from behind him. "It is below 5°C."
By now Ciel knew who always crept up behind him silently.
"Sebastian, what is the danger zone for bacteria?"
"If I get it wrong, does it mean that you will have to stay because we are all too incompetent to work without supervision?"
Ciel turned around and regarded him closely. Sebastian seemed unusually serious for a change.
"Of course not. I know that you know the correct answer. Even Grell knows it," Ciel answered after a moment of consideration. He was unwilling to give out any hints that he wanted to stay at the teashop.
"5°C to 63°C," the butler said, seeming reluctant to give the right answer. "Fridge temperatures should be 0-5°C. Are you sure you don't want to stay?"
Ciel allowed himself a moment to be impressed that he had schooled everyone so well before he gave his answer to the question.
"Why would I? I can finally get some proper work done with no distractions. There will be no more silly plots from my aunt either," he said happily.
"Are you sure that you won't get bored?"
The teenager took a step closer to Sebastian whose eyes followed his movement.
"Sebastian, is there something that I am supposed to be picking up on?"
"Ciel, I-"
The moment was broken by Bardroy and Finny entering the kitchen talking loudly. Bardroy paused on noticing them, making Ciel widen the distance between himself and Sebastian. He did not want to give his aunt anymore material or anyone else for that matter.
"Did we disturb anything?" Bardroy asked hesitantly.
"The young master was just testing me on bacterial growth. He seems to be worried that we won't survive without him. If you mess up your answers he might just stay," Sebastian informed the former chain smoker.
"We'll be fine," Finny grinned and a moment later his attitude changed. "...I think we might need you here after all."
Since Ciel had known them all for several weeks now he knew what Sebastian had done behind his back.
"Sebastian, stop leading Finnian. I know he is susceptible. You cannot convince me to stay."
He walked towards the door and something incongruous with the surrounding caught his eye and his gut instinct told him that his aunt was involved.
"Bardroy, why are you holding a red carrier bag? You haven't been in contact Aunt Ann, have you?"
Bardroy held out the bag and said what Ciel had been predicting he would say.
"We met your aunt outside. She told us to give it to you. She said you had to wear it or she will show Sebastian your baby photos," he said and baulked before continuing. "...She also said that the cat ears are optional."
Tentatively Ciel took the bag from him and felt around without looking to feel fabric beneath his fingertips. He did not like where this going. He pulled out an item at random to find it was a pair of shorts that were rather short. He put them to one side and picked out something else that turned out to be a white blouse with a bow attached.
"Is she making me wear Ouji Lolita to match Lizzie?" he asked out loud, recalling when Lizzie had tried to persuade him to match her Lolita style.
Sebastian pointed. "There's a note pinned to the sleeve."
Ciel read it carefully and sighed. "She wants me to cosplay as a 13 year old Earl from the 19th century."
"How did she come up with that idea?" Bardroy asked admiringly.
Ciel made a face, knowing his family tree fairly well. "She isn't that imaginative. I had a number of ancestors that were Earls. I think one of them was called Ciel too. Sebastian, what is that?"
Whilst Ciel had been reading the note, the dark haired butler had taken the remaining items out the bag and was holding up something long and black with a clasp attached.
"I believe these are socks," Sebastian observed. "I was looking for the cat ears to check the quality, but Miss Durless appears to have been joking about them."
A look of disappointment was apparent on his face and Ciel felt the need to ask why.
"Do you like cats?"
Sebastian's face brightened and Ciel blinked in surprise. He had never seen Sebastian this animated.
"I do. My hobbies mainly revolve around cats. I like to pick stray cats off the street and keep them in my wardrobe."
Ciel wrinkled his nose. "Don't you dare do that here; I'm allergic to cats."
"How unfortunate. You see, cats-"
Sensing that Sebastian was very eloquent on the subject of annoying furballs known as cats, Ciel cut him off.
"It doesn't matter; I am not wearing any of this. I looked fine as a baby, there's nothing embarrassing to see."
Bardroy twitched and Ciel knew his aunt had thought of a way to cover that avenue.
"Miss Durless said that she had some good shots of you in the bath."
Without giving anyone time to react, Ciel grabbed all of the clothes and left the kitchen, muttering curses under his breath. His aunt clearly did not know when to stop. He reiterated that when he found another item in the bag that had been folded in with the jacket. He stared at the item before reluctantly putting it on. His aunt would hear via Grell if he had worn it or not.
Finny was the first to see him when he finally ventured from the toilets, feeling very self conscious.
"It suits you, Ciel," the blonde complimented. "Where did that eye patch come from?"
The previously unnoticed item in the collection had turned out to be an eye patch for an unknown reason. He found that having one eye covered was quite annoying as he had to pay more attention to where he was walking.
"Looks good," Bardroy said when Ciel strode past him and headed over to where he had left his laptop only to be intercepted by Sebastian who corrected the tie on his eye patch for him.
"It needs to be tied tighter otherwise it will slip down," Sebastian said and adjusted Ciel's collar and bow too.
"Thank you," The teenager said and waited for the butler to release him which didn't happen. He had a feeling that he knew what Sebastian wanted. "All right. I will promise to visit here if that is what is making you so clingy."
Sebastian let go of him immediately. "Let's make it official."
Ciel stared at him. "How?"
"Let's make a contract."
"That's going a little far for something as minor as this," Ciel scoffed.
"You run a company, surely you know what you should always use contracts to make promises binding," the butler pointed out.
"Just don't act like a demon and make me use blood," the teenager relented. "There had better not be any pentagrams on it either."
"As you wish, young master," Sebastian bowed before leaving, presumably to draw up the contract.
After closing time, Ciel was handed the contract by Sebastian. He perused it and signed at the bottom as there didn't seem to be anything suspicious or untoward in it.
"I still can't believe that you made a contract just to make sure that I visit once a week," Ciel complained and handed it back.
"I like seeing you and I would like to see you at least once a week," Sebastian explained. "I suspect that you would prefer the opposite so a contract is required.
Ciel flushed. "I would have visited anyway," he said quietly.
Unfortunately Sebastian heard that and a smile spread over his face and he patted Ciel's head affectionately.
"I'm glad that you have admitted your true feelings."
"It's nothing to celebrate," Ciel mumbled.
"I think it is," Finny argued. "Let's take a group photo to mark that we are now free from supervision."
Ciel wasn't fooled. He had been waiting for one his employees to request a photo of him. He had been subjected to the stares of teenage girls all day and lots of squealing over how cute he was.
"You just want to take a picture of me in cosplay."
"Can I?"
"Just because I am feeling generous, you may. I'm not going to pose though," he warned.
It took a few minutes to get everyone in the right position as Sebastian wanted to be as close to Ciel as possible and Grell wanted to be next to Sebastian which did not go down well with the dark haired butler. Despite these issues they managed to get a decent photo eventually.
"I'm going to make this my phone wallpaper," Finny announced brightly. "I'll send it to everyone else so they can do it the same."
Grell snorted. "That angle is not befitting a lady like myself. I'm not seeing that picture every time I want to use my phone."
"It's a good thing you aren't a lady then," Ciel smirked, keen to get back at Grell for reporting everything to his aunt.
"At least I don't look like a snotty nosed 13 year old brat with an eye problem in it."
"Well, when you're old and decrepit, I will still look youthful," Ciel stuck his tongue out.
"I think I'm going to print it out and put it in a frame," Sebastian said, effectively ending the disagreement between Grell and Ciel.
Ciel was silent following that, but he found himself doing the same thing when he returned home. He claimed to himself that it was a memento that he had survived several torturous weeks and Black Butler, but deeper down he knew he just wanted to remember it for what it was.
Temperatures used are UK values and are not the same in all countries so do not worry that the temperature of your fridge is wrong. 5°C to 63°C is considered as being the danger zone for bacteria as that is when they reproduce the faster with 37.5°C being the optimum temperature. Any temperature above 63°C kill them with 72°C being the preferred temperature for pasteurisation.
Although I have done my exams, faster updates are not guaranteed because I have several other assignments looming.