Sebastian's first instinct was to grab the red shinigami by the neck and squeeze his hand until he sees the veins pop.
However, the fact that he was under an order as well as having that foul spider beside him convinced his pride that it would not end well if he did otherwise. So the butler stood there, hands balled into fists so tight that they drew blood from his palms until he felt that an appropriate time has passed for Grell to call it a kiss.
"Aw, wasn't that too short Sebby?" Grell asked, his expression innocent while the triumph behind his eyes were less so. It didn't help that Sebastian caught the beginning of a smirk that started to form on the corners of Claude's mouth.
"Get it done by tomorrow morning." Sebastian shot a glare at Grell, his patience already snapped about three minutes ago. The shinigami simply batted his eyelashes before leaping onto the roof and promptly getting away, right before Sebastian sent a well aimed knife at where he used to be.
"Always so quick to get away." Sebastian said under his breath.
"Wouldn't you say the same for yourself?" Claude mused, not even trying to cover the fact that he was referring to Sebastian's previous activities.
"Watch your tongue Faustus, or I might cut it off," the Phantomhive butler hissed, "Go back to your master. We'll go to Ms. Elizabeth's house right after Grell finishes the dress."
"Very well." Claude said before leaping out of sight himself.
Sebastian watched the spider go, all while thinking to himself about Bocchan's choices.
He couldn't ignore the fact that something will happen if Bocchan continues to associate himself with Alois. It was easy enough to save Bocchan this time, and undoubtedly everything after that, but it just disturbs the Phantomhive schedule, and it's quite troublesome to have to fabricate lies to the lord's many customers every time. Sebastian was a man who liked everything the way it's suppose to be. Breakfast at eight, dinner at seven. The rows of silverware must be polished and place exactly according to the handbook, and tardiness was something that he loathed.
Perhaps it would be easier if Ms. Elizabeth were to marry Ciel after all.
"Sebastian." Ciel's voice traveled down the long corridors of the Phantomhive household and into the kitchen. The butler frowned, having only just begun making the pastry dough moments ago before setting it aside and tending to the young master.
"Yes?" Sebastian kneeled before the raven-haird boy, head bowed respectfully low and hand placed firmly on his chest.
"Is everything ready?"
"I have yet to finish making the pastry for this morning's breakfast. Everything else is prepared."
"Good." Ciel's eyes went to look outside the window distractingly. Even though he will not be present there himself, the lord couldn't help but feel nervous.
"Are you alright, Bocchan?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Just make sure that Elizabeth will no longer want to marry me in the end. Then take Elizabeth and I to Red's place so that she can cancel the marriage."
Ciel's heart beat a little faster when he didn't hear an immediate reply from Sebastian.
"Can you not do that?"
"Of course," Sebastian said promptly as he stood up, "but may I ask something?"
"Go ahead." Ciel said stiffly, sensing that the demon was acting a little out of character today.
"Why don't you want to marry Ms. Elizabeth?"
The raven's eyes widened at the sudden question, and couldn't stop a deep red from crawling up his face.
"That's obvious. She's whiny and rude. She's too loud and has a fucking obsession with everything pink." Ciel spat, no longer being able to look Sebastian in the eye but still feeling his stare bore right into his soul. It felt like he was looking into every little secret that Ciel had.
"Is that all? Pardon my rudeness young master but you didn't seem to mind any of these things until recently. Is anything that happened in this time that is bothering you?"
"Of course nothing happened. I always felt the same way, but I didn't have a reason to bitch about everything like she does until Red brought up the idea of a marriage."
Sebastian looked down at the raven boy, who's cheeks were flustered and hands sweating. He might as well have it written across his face. Deciding it wouldn't be wise to push any further and seeing that he got what he needed to hear, Sebastian bowed again before exiting the door.
Ciel was fuming as he saw the back of the man leave, and fell backwards onto his bed, feeling the beginning of another headache come on. He twisted his body until his face sank partially into a nearby pillow and closed his eyes. It felt for a millisecond that Sebastian knew about what he and Alois did, and that was a thought that Ciel did not want to become true. He never knew what the blasted cat butler was thinking, and usually it wasn't anything good, but this time in particular he felt like Sebastian was hiding something from him. Alois wasn't it making the situation better. After the brush with death he had with Gabriel, both Alois and himself suffered the consequences, with the blonde taking the worst of it.
Ciel felt a sliver of guilt when he thought of the blonde. He couldn't shake the memory of Alois being tortured by that madman, as well as the severity of the wounds he had afterwards. He mind trailed off, thinking about the Trancy boy and he was suddenly flooded with so many emotions. His body twitched slightly at the memory of having Alois's hands trail teasingly all over him, his mind was furious and reliving the arguments they had all while his heart was aching at the fact that somehow Alois's beaten and bloodied body was all his fault. All the pain and pleasure, guilt and satisfaction resonated in his head, gathering more and more thoughts, creating countless crescendos until all of it reached a sudden finale.
He was love.
He was in fucking love with Alois.
There were countless times where a microscopic part of him thought of that, but he always brushed it aside, claiming it was nothing, but he couldn't turn away from it this time.
Here, alone in his room, completely sobered from the realness of it, hurt from the cuts and bruises he had with Gabriel, scared about the possible marriage with Elizabeth and so, so lonely without the Trancy, Ciel couldn't brush away the though anymore. Forced to face with the raw truth he wanted nothing more than to reject it with every part of his being.
It only hurt more that he realized he couldn't do it.
He could no longer separate himself with Alois anymore. He could no longer live in the Phantomhive mansion knowing that the world will move on. That he will move on. That Alois will move on.
Shaken by everything and not even trying to hide the fact that it's wrong and it's shameful and tears were falling freely down his eyes, Ciel used the last bit of his energy to hope that the plan will work and that he'll get a chance to sort everything out.
It was the only thing that he could do.
Sebastian nodded to himself after he placed the now readied pastry into the oven. Wiping his hands clean with a white towel he put away all the equipment before sitting down and writing a letter.
He long had a hunch about this, but it was made certain today. Bocchan gave him an order that he cannot disobey, but letting him to continue to be around the Trancy boy had equal dangers.
Bocchan's orders were to make fall in love with someone else.
But convincing Madame Red was a thing of an entirely different matter. A marriage between two households. A bond that will last forever. It didn't matter if they didn't love each other.
That's the way arranged marriages were suppose to work anyways.
Maybe Sebastian is the real third wheel in this relationship.
Anyways, it feels really good to continue this, and I'm actually really excited to continue this one. The finale is coming soon, and I can feel the feels emerging through the crevices of the keys on my keyboard,
As always, thank you so much for reading, and any feedback will be GREATLY appreciated. I'll be brutally honest with all of you and say that I am really scared about this. Posting a chapter a year later. My heart is fucking beating out of my chest as I press the upload button. I have no idea if my writing got better or worse or if the style changed altogether. If you have any suggestions please let me know. I'm a little rusty afterall -.-
-A. Lullaby