Summary: You quickly made friends, and when Ciel paired you off to run errands for him, you most often found yourself in the company of one man in particular. And if you'd ever caught the smirks Ciel sent his butler as the two left the room, you might have begun to suppose it was on purpose. As it was, however, you missed the smirks exchanged and believed it to simply be luck that continued to put you together with the man you managed to get along with so well.

Pairing: Lau/Reader

I know you've suffered,
But I don't want you to hide,
It's cold and loveless,
I won't let you be denied...

Your upbringing in good English society had certainly not been the easiest one, but you didn't hold how the private tutors your parents had hired treated you against said parents themselves.

You grew up knowing that you had to sacrifice certain things in life in order to get what you wanted, what you needed to survive.

Being the only heir to a large estate had not been as much of a difficulty as you might have once imagined, and when your parents passed away suddenly and unexpectedly, you decided you wanted to do something wise with the money and businesses they'd left you.

And when you wanted something done in England, there really was only one person you went to.

When you'd first gotten involved with the Phantomhive family, you hadn't quite known what to expect. There were rumors, of course, and you always had at least one ear open to such gossip, but you knew how to tell the difference between what was based in fact and what was pure conjecture.

You were smart, and it was one of the reasons why Ciel Phantomhive had agreed to let you join his company in the first place.

In a manner of months, however, you'd gone beyond simple investor, and Ciel had taken you into his confidence to meet the other members of, what you liked to call, The League.

It was an odd assortment of individuals by any standard, but you somehow managed to feel right at home among the rag-tag group, and promised Ciel that he would not regret your inclusion into the ranks.

You quickly made friends, and when Ciel paired you off to run errands for him, you most often found yourself in the company of one man in particular.

And if you'd ever caught the smirks Ciel sent his butler as the two left the room, you might have begun to suppose it was on purpose.

As it was, however, you missed the smirks exchanged and believed it to simply be luck that continued to put you together with the man you managed to get along with so well.

Soothing,
I'll make you feel pure,
Trust me,
You can be sure…

Whether out on an errand for the Earl or not, whenever you went places with Lau you felt… Safe. The China-man would always give you those slightly silly smiles and take you by the hand, stopping you before you went around a corner or tugging you gently in the correct direction when you were in an unfamiliar part of town.

The offhand manner he used with everyone and everything was a nice change to the way Ciel acted, and you liked the more relaxed air Lau always managed to exude, even when clearly under stress.

There was a soothing, calm atmosphere that seemed to follow him wherever he went, making it easier to carry out your orders or to relax once you'd successfully completed whatever task had been set to you.

Lau made you feel like you belonged, no matter where you happened to be at the time, and you liked that he never pressed you for information about your past.

There had been so many people who'd wanted to know about your parents' deaths, and you'd never been ready to talk about it when the questions had been put to you.

You didn't have to verbally dance with Lau, because almost by instinct he knew what subjects to avoid and which you enjoyed. He could laugh in the middle of Ciel's occasional interrogations of you and demand that he leave you alone in a way that didn't make it sound like a demand at all.

And any man who could do that deserved a great deal of respect.

You trick your lovers
That you're wicked and divine,
You may be a sinner,
But your innocence is mine...

When you needed a place to let your mind unwind, somewhere not inhabited by either Phantomhives or your own estranged family, it was Lau you turned to for a place to rest.

And although you often wondered what an Opium Den looked like, that was never the place he took you.

He claimed ladies like you didn't belong in places like that, and when you tried to ask why not, he would give you a signature smile and say, "you just wouldn't mix well."

So he took you to an apartment he kept in the city, and just by glancing around, it was easy to see it was his.

The colors swirled around the room like currents in an ocean, and the faint hint of smoke still lingered about the place even though he always swore that, "I never bring my, ah, work home with me."

It was there that you forged your fondest memories together, spending hours doing nothing but sitting in each other's company because that was all you needed to feel comfortable with him.

And when you did talk, it was always about things that no one else had ever thought to ask you, because others would see them as childish even though they certainly weren't.

He was the first person to ever remember your birthday and give you the one Funtom toy you'd secretly been trying to get your hands on for the past month because it was just too cute to pass up.

And when he handed it over, his eyes opened long enough to take in the look of pure joy on your face before they slatted shut again, and that smile went from being soft and pure to silly and frivolous once more.

You slept with the stuffed animal at your side that night, running over the glimpse of soft smile you'd managed to see before it had vanished again in your mind as you drifted off into sleep. And although you never told him, you imagined that he knew.

I want to reconcile the violence in your heart
I want to recognize your beauty is not just a mask,
I want to exorcise the demons from your past,
I want to satisfy the undisclosed desires in your heart...

When Lau started escorting you about, even when you hadn't been given an occupation from Ciel, you didn't think twice about it because he's presence in your life had become so commonplace.

It was like having your best friend follow you around and make soft, snide comments to you when he knew you needed a bit of cheering up.

A best friend that, should you require it of him, could do any number of things to help you escape the world and whisk you away to paradises he created with a snap of his fingers.

He could do anything for you, and although he never said it outright, there were always gestures and comments that led you to that conclusion without any doubts on the matter.

Lau would have turned the world upside down if you'd asked him to.

At first, you'd assumed the reason behind it was akin to the reason he kept Ran-Mao around, because he saw you like a sister. Because he wanted to be sure you were kept close enough to keep an eye on in case anything went wrong. Because, for whatever reason, he cared about you.

But you weren't the one he pulled into his lap, weren't the one he took back to his Den, weren't the one he gallivanted across the town with on a whim.

You were the one he watched like a hawk and never let out of his sight, the one he would steal away from the world when you needed rescuing, the one he always treated with the greatest of care, as though you might break at a moment's notice.

"It isn't that I don't trust you, my dear," he'd whispered to you one night as you'd fallen asleep in his apartment, cradled gently against his chest, "but I don't want anyone else breaking my precious little doll."

And whether or not he knew you could hear him, you appreciated the sentiment all the same.

He might have been a strange man to everyone else, and certainly tricky to get to know, but it was always worth it for the way he treated you and treasured you, and made sure you were always safe.

He treated you as if you were breakable, because he was well aware of the fact that you were.

Please me,
Show me how it's done,
Tease me,
You are the one...

It had been a perfectly ordinary evening in autumn when he'd caught your wrist as you walked by and tugged you down into his lap as he sat on one of Ciel's couches.

Almost without thinking, you wrapped an arm around the back of his neck and arranged yourself more comfortably in your new perch.

Although Ciel had been far too busy going over the details of his most recent case with Sebastian to notice it right away, you caught the sly smirk on the China-man's lips and the slight flutter of his eyelashes as he glanced over at your face and then returned his attention to the young Earl.

It was the same perfectly ordinary day in autumn, although a few hours later, when Lau gently pulled you to one side before you entered the dining room in the mansion and smiled blandly at you. "We really must do something about that dress of yours, my dear," he breathed the next words by your ear, and your cheeks flushed at his tone, "I can hardly appreciate your figure to perfection when it's bundled under all that fabric."

The dress in question he produced as a substitute never saw the outside of your bedroom, but you couldn't help but giggle at the sentiment behind it.

You refrained from wearing dressed with bustles when you knew you'd be in his company, and he continued to pull you into his lap with a good deal of unnecessary flourish just to make the fact that you now sat there all the more obvious.

Lau continued to tease you about your taste in clothing, and you continued to tease him about his.

The day you found him standing outside your door in a tailored suit and exceptionally flowery cravat was the day you knew you were in love.

"You didn't have to wear that ridiculous thing, you know…" You muttered into your teacup, unable to take your eyes off him as he sat across from you.

"Oh, I know, but I decided that I might give it a try, just for a day." He frowned at his coat sleeves as though the deep, peacock blue buttons that rested there had personally insulted him. "I must say, though, I find it rather constricting."

You licked your lips, wondering if there was any comment you could make in return that wouldn't end up sounding completely inappropriate.

"I noticed you haven't worn the dress I procured for you as substitute for your usual attire," he pointed out, the hint of a smirk creeping onto his lips, "why is that?"

"You know very well why," you replied with a huff, "my nightgowns offer more modesty than that thing you call a dress."

His eyebrows floated up his forehead. "Really now? I hardly believe that to be true…" The smirk was no longer a hint, but an obvious truth. "I would have to be convinced through unshakable evidence."

You stared at him for a full minute before his eyes fluttered open to stare at you, burning brightly in the light streaming in from the window.

"Would you be able to provide me with such evidence, or will we be forced to call a truce on the subject and separate, unsatisfied on all accounts?"

There were only so many things you could say no to in the world; and the look he was giving you combined with his tone was not one of them.

"I believe I can prove it beyond a shadow of a doubt," you replied softly, setting down your cup and standing, "if you'll follow me."

"To the ends of the earth, if you asked me." He replied; standing and offering you his arm. "And certainly to your bedroom."

Please me,
Show me how it's done,
Trust me,
You are the one...

The song "Undisclosed Desires" belongs to: Muse

Black Butler and its related characters belong to: Yana Toboso