Torture and Tea:

Chapter 11:

"That was very informative," Ciel said out loud and made a mental note to bring up the subject of retiring next time Sebastian got a little too close for comfort.

He took a sip of his hot chocolate and felt the caffeine kick in which gave him the confidence to pick up Sebastian's debut work and start reading.

One of Ciel's good qualities as a student had been that he could skim read very fast and still pick up important points. The writing was full of clever metaphors and unique similes and within the first 50 pages he couldn't spot any repeating patterns of words and phrases. He noted this down in his notebook and decided he would leave the rest of the book for later analysis.

Next, Ciel picked up Sebastian's latest work and found plenty to analyse as there was some form of a sex scene every 20 pages and there were a recurring use of certain adjectives. In addition he deduced that the intern that had preceded him at Funtom Publishing was a lanky ginger with an 'explosion of freckles on his face'. Ciel wondered what he had been described as. A midget? That was too simple, it had to be more eloquent. Then he decided that he probably didn't want to know exactly what Sebastian's thoughts on him were.

The intern stretched his arms and decided to adjourn to his bedroom where he could use his computer and attempt to hack into his father's employee records to see what was so secret about Sebastian. He had hacked the Funtom Publishing database before as he couldn't wait for the next book from his favourite author to be published fully so he had hacked in to view a draft.

Ciel pushed open his bedroom door to find Sebastian holding a pair of bright pink cat ears with a strange expression on his face. Ciel blinked to check if he was seeing properly.

Sebastian looked up to find Ciel staring at him. "Are these yours? When you dressed up as a cat at my flat you seemed to hate the idea, but now I think that you might have secretly enjoyed it," Sebastian smirked, having regained his usual teasing nature.

"What are you doing in my bedroom?" Ciel avoided the question because the answer was very hard to explain and the perverted author was almost certain to make some innuendo out of it.

"Tidying. Tanaka told me to."

The intern was not fooled by this lie due to the fact that Tanaka had strict instructions not to tidy Ciel's room as the last time he did he had accidently disposed of half of Ciel's exam revision notes, thinking they were scrap because they had been all over the floor.

"I'll accept your lie if you get out now."

"Not until you tell me what these cat ears are for. If I dig any deeper, will I find any other... mysterious items?"

"In your dreams," Ciel muttered. He wondered if all author were like this: in possession of an extremely perverted brain that related everything to sex. Being the CEO of Funtom Publishing was beginning to become less appealing, the more time that Ciel spent with Sebastian.

"Ciel, I will come over there and French kiss you if you don't tell me," Sebastian threatened and winked.

"You wouldn't go through with it," Ciel said with a touch of uncertainty in his voice. "I'll bite your tongue again."

This made the author remember the first time he tried anything on Ciel. The intern had been so wonderfully cute and shy in the cat outfit, but if the cat ears that he had found were any indication, someone else might have seen him like that which he didn't like one bit.

Ciel Phantomhive was his to play with. But to get an answer out of the stubborn boy he would have to change tactics.

"If you explain I will answer one question that you ask, truthfully and I will make your favourite cake for dessert this evening," he suggested hopefully. "In case you didn't know, I have an A* in Food Technology."

Ciel weighed up the benefits of cake and information against the cost of admitting that he had cross dressed as a girl more than once. The cake won.

"Fine," he scowled and tried to think of the most complex cake possible. "Make me a Patience Cake and explain exactly what your latest book series will be about and what your plans involving me are."

Sebastian knew vaguely what a Patience cake was, but he definitely had no idea how to make it or how long it would take. Damn, the boy certainly knew how to annoy him.

The author sat himself down on his intern's bed and patted the space next to him invitingly. Ciel ignored him and sat down on his black leather computer chair.

"Those cat ears belong to Alois. He wanted to do an Alice in Wonderland cosplay and he made all the costumes. I was supposed to be the Cheshire Cat."

Sebastian's eye twitched. He had guessed that the ears had been something to do with Alois Trancy. Then he picked up on the word "supposed".

Ciel nodded. "He bought the ears and I tried them on, but he said that the colour didn't suit me so I was recast."

"I agree, hot pink isn't your colour... Who were you recast as?"

This was what Ciel had been hoping Sebastian wouldn't ask.

"Alice," he murmured quietly.

Unfortunately for him Sebastian had sharp ears and heard the name of the character.

"Alice? So you were cross dressing as a girl? Can I see a photo?" the raven haired pervert asked hopefully.

Ciel glared at him. "I believe we had an agreement. What exactly is your latest series about? I feel that I have the right to know as you seem to be taking material from me."

"It's going to be set in the Victorian Era. The main character will be a teenage Earl who inherited his title after his parents died. He might wear an eye patch too, as according to market research eye patches are the next big thing," Sebastian explained.

Ciel raised his eyebrows elegantly. So far it sounded like the plot to a manga as opposed to a BL storyline. Maybe Sebastian was changing slightly... then he realised that the butler hadn't been mentioned which his fuelled his suspicions.

"What about the butler?"

"He will be contracted to serve his master for life and kill anyone that harms his master. Of course, he will also be a perfect butler."

That didn't sound at all suggestive to Ciel so he knew that the description was lacking something.

"Butlers don't and didn't work for free. What does the butler get in return?"

Sebastian smiled. "He gets to do whatever he want to his master, naturally."

Ciel slumped in his chair and face palmed. He had known it would be coming, but it still appalled him. He really didn't understand why that sort of thing was popular with females, he made a note to interrogate his mother when she got back from Paris. Females were an enigma to him.

"...Have you got a name for this series?"

"I was thinking of Black Butler or something similar," Sebastian answered thoughtfully.

"That sounds like a comic book or manga. I would choose a different name, but then again, I'm not your target audience. What exactly are you planning to do with me?"

Sebastian crossed one leg over the other. "Research... A relationship between a chaste teenage Earl and his perfect butler will be very complex to write so I need you for this."

Ciel sighed. It seemed that he was different to the other interns after all: Sebastian had been inspired to write a whole series using him as opposed to just one novel.

Sebastian correctly guessed what was going though Ciel's mind.

"Don't worry about missing me, I'm going to be around you until I get enough material for a whole series."

Ciel rolled his eyes before changing the subject. "Can I have your number? Just give me your phone and I will put mine in."

The intern didn't really want to give Sebastian his number, it was just a ruse. He would just block the number as soon as he got the chance.

With an amused glint in his eyes Sebastian handed over his mobile phone. Ciel accepted it and dug his own phone out his pocket. He tapped the screen of Sebastian's phone and was asked for a pass code.

"What's the code?" he asked.

"666," was the answer.

Ciel snorted. "How fitting."

Once he was in, he immediately found Sebastian's photo gallery and deleted all the photos that Sebastian had taken of him the previous day- all 50 of them from various angles. Ciel now knew which angle was his unflattering angle.

"I wouldn't bother deleting those, I also saved them onto my computer," Sebastian said having deduced Ciel's ulterior motive already. "I'm not going to use them to blackmail you,"

Damn, Ciel thought. Then he remembered that he had never seen any sign of a computer in Sebastian's flat. The desk which was normally the most likely surface to have a computer had just housed reams of paper and a pencil pot.

He needed to ask Sebastian where he kept his computer, but considering that the pervert had guessed his true motive for asking for his number, he would have to be more subtle.

"You're lying. I didn't see one at all when I was last in your flat. You don't really have a back up of those photos," Ciel scoffed.

"You really need to work on your acting," Sebastian muttered under his breath, but it would be best to let the boy think that he had the upper hand for now. Besides the contents of his computer would make Ciel freak out a little which would be amusing. "My laptop is beneath the sofa in the study. I keep it out of the way so I don't get distracted whilst I am working."

"I see. Could you possibly get out of my bedroom now," Ciel ordered Sebastian.

"Yes, Ciel," Sebastian replied and leaned down to give Ciel a kiss on the cheek before leaving the room.

Ciel's blood pressure moved up a few points in reaction to the kiss, but he calmed himself down by imagining the pervert being forced to spend the day with Grell who seemed to have more than a fleeting interest in the author.

After calming down he began to plan out his next move. He needed to gain entry to Sebastian's apartment and get hold of his laptop. He knew the hiding place now, he just needed a key to gain entry. After a moment on consideration he deducted that it was probably in the bedroom that Sebastian was currently using which was next to Tanaka's on the ground floor. In order not to get caught, he needed Sebastian to be occupied in another part of the house for a set amount of time.

Ciel drew out the key to his bedroom door out a drawer in his desk. It was normally never used, but he didn't want the pervert to keep visiting. He used the key to lock his bedroom door behind him.

Once he was in the kitchen downstairs, he ascertained that Sebastian was absent and spoke to Tanaka.

"Can you find a task that will occupy Sebastian for several hours this evening?"

Tanaka looked thoughtful for a second as he went through a mental inventory of tasks that needed to be done.

"I believe that the silver in the display cabinet in the hallway needs polishing."

"Perfect."

As Ciel turned to leave Tanaka tapped him on the shoulder.

"Please remember that breaking and entering is against the law and you could end up with a prison sentence in the worst case scenario."

Ciel flinched guilty before recovering. "It's only against the law if you get caught."