Thank you for reading! Please let me know if you enjoy! I don't own any of Black Butler! Updates on the second and fourth Saturday of each month!
—
Lady Phantomhive didn't even know exactly where the place was that she was looking for, but she had an approximation, and that estimate was where she told Snake to drive the carriage towards.
As the carriage clattered through London's fashion district, eventually, it came upon a nondescript building on the very end of a long row of shops.
The hour was late and the city itself had buttoned up for the night, but Ciel saw one woman after another scurrying inside that building on the otherwise desolate street.
Well, she assumed they were women.
Their skirts were plainly visible but their faces were shrouded by either a veil or a large hat.
If the rumors that Ciel had heard were true, the petite bluenette imagined that the reason for their discretion was to preserve their dignity.
As Snake parked the carriage some distance away from that simple building, Ciel wondered if she should do the same and cover her face like the other women.
Lacking a veil or a large hat, Lady Phantomhive glanced around cautiously, and once she made sure the way was clear, she scurried over to the building and timidly stepped inside.
The interior was the exact opposite of the establishment's muted face.
Elegant, damask wallpaper covered every angle, a carved mahogany staircase sat proudly in the entrance and looked as grand as it was heavy.
The splendid crystal chandelier at the top of the tall ceiling did not escape Ciel's notice.
As Lady Phantomhive stood in the entryway of the establishment, whatever it was, she looked around at the crowded rooms and listened to the voices.
She was right.
There were many other women there, but for what purpose?
Ciel saw no counter or register or extensive seating areas.
What kind of shop was this, anyway?
What was-
"It is always an honor to earn a new patron, my lady!" A jovial voice boomed from behind Ciel.
The bluenette whirled around, startled, and found herself staring at a smiling man in an expensive, grey suit.
She blinked as he bowed to her politely.
"What can I help you with this evening?" The man asked as he kept his bright smile even though Ciel looked at him in bewilderment.
"I….I beg your pardon?" Ciel stammered as she glanced around nervously.
For some reason, the scene began to sicken her.
She felt guilty and ashamed though she had done nothing of blame yet.
"I shouldn't have come here." Ciel mumbled quickly before she attempted to dash past the man and escape back to her carriage.
"Nonsense, my lady!" The man said with another smile as he skillfully caught Ciel before she managed to get past him. Ciel began to grow frightened as he went on, "It breaks my heart whenever I see a sad woman like yourself! It's blatantly obvious my dear that you've come here in search of…..something?"
Ciel relaxed after a moment and the smiling man released his grip on her as he continued, "Please, my establishment is here for you and your enjoyment. Name what you wish and I can make it yours!"
Ciel looked around once more.
She noticed that some of the women who had entered the shop had started speaking with men that had walked into the rooms.
Handsome men.
The ladies' skirts were too fine to clothe bodies of those in the working class. The women present that evening were of noble birth, or at least, they were clearly from wealthy families.
Ciel's sapphire eyes narrowed as she watched some of the women laugh and give their hands to the men they spoke with before they allowed themselves to be led upstairs…..
"What is this place?" Ciel asked the smiling man with heavy suspicion in her voice.
"This is a gentleman shop." The man replied patiently, "A place for alphas and omegas to exchange pleasantries, that's all. There's little harm in pleasantries! Please tell me, my lady? What will make you happy?"
Happy?
A pout formed on Ciel's pink lips.
No one had ever asked her before what would make her "happy".
—
Ciel felt like she was being shown around an art gallery as the smiling man walked her from room to room in the labyrinth-like halls of the deceptively long building.
Ciel was introduced to one desirable gentleman after another although she found it strange that the smiling man never asked for her name.
The smiling man thought it was odd that Ciel never smiled during his introductory tour.
Most women that came into his shop were dazzled by the quality of his employees.
The smiling man showed Ciel his finest blonde, but the blonde failed to impress the petite bluenette, despite his bright, white teeth and piercing, blue eyes.
The smiling man showed Ciel his best red head, who had hair like feathery embers from a fiercely-burning fire and a vivid, emerald gaze.
The red head also failed to impress her.
In a very short while, the smiling man found himself leading the choosy omega down an entire row of deliciously attractive men who all beamed at her with confident smirks, certain that their new, picky customer would name one of them as the alpha who caught her eye.
But when Ciel and the smiling man had walked down the entire line and that hadn't happened, the smiling man's smile turned into a frown as Ciel regarded him with a scowl.
"I thought you claimed that whatever I wanted, your shop could provide?" Ciel asked the man haughtily.
"What I said was true, my lady!" The smiling man cried quickly, "What is it that you want?"
Ciel frowned as she glanced down at the row of men and sighed, "...Nothing that I see here."
Lady Phantomhive truthfully didn't know what she wanted, but she surmised she would recognize it when she saw it.
"Wait here, my lady! I have one more possibility to show you!" The smiling man said quickly.
Ciel raised a hand to protest but the man raced away too quickly.
The other gentlemen seemed to know something that Ciel didn't and they left the room, which gave her the privacy to seat herself at a small table over in the corner.
Ciel sat…. and waited….and she was just about to leave when she heard heavy footsteps coming down the stairs.
She blinked and looked over at the doorway.
She drew in a silent breath and her blue eyes widened at who she saw standing next to the smiling man…...
—
As soon as he left Ciel in the room with the table in the corner, the smiling man pounded up the staircase and raced down the corridor towards a room at the end of the left hallway.
The smiling man knocked frantically on the door before a low, tranquil voice called out, "Come in~."
The smiling man burst inside with a gasp and he looked at a man whom he found sitting in the chair beside the room's bed.
The man sitting down was tall and lean, with handsome features and a cutting, amber gaze. The burning candle on the desk in front of him was the only light in the room and its glow glistened off of the man's ink black hair that hung in feathery strands around his angular face.
"Please!" The man called out, "I need you downstairs! There's work! A noble woman's come! I can see how intricate her carriage is from where it sits across the street! We'll make a huge profit from her!"
"I don't want any work tonight." The man sitting down replied with a sigh, "And I have no more need for profit. Give the task to someone else."
"She's rejected everyone else!" The man cried in desperation, "Please! I'll pay you triple! She's slight and petite…..She seems rather weak, she'll hardly be an effort at all for you!"
"What does she look like?" The man sitting down asked with a curious purr in his voice.
"She's…...slight, like I said." The man nodded, "Probably middle twenties, she's got great big, watery blue eyes and odd-colored hair."
"Describe it." The man sitting down ordered.
"I can't…I…..I've never seen anything like it before, it has shades of blue and gray, but not like what you'd expect from someone who's aged." The smiling man replied quickly, although his smile had long vanished.
"And she turned everyone else away? Everyone?" The man sitting down asked.
"Every last one." The smiling man confirmed.
The man sitting down let out a deep sigh and as if it were very taxing to do so, he slowly stood from his seat.
As he did, his elongated form cast a bold shadow on the wall behind him in the candlelight.
"Very well, I'll have a look at her, anyway." The man agreed.
"Oh, thank you! Thank you so much! You won't regret it, I promise!" The smiling man nodded.
The smiling man quickly led his tall employee out of the door, across the hall, and down the stairs.
Sebastian Michaelis was one of the smiling man's top producing workers. His favor with omegas was widely known. His chivalrous mannerisms combined with his stunning good looks and his entertaining wit made him a difficult opponent for any would-be rival to best.
Sebastian was also one the best paid alphas in the gentleman shop and as such, he had become scandalously choosy about which omegas he accepted to entertain and which ones he deemed…..beneath him.
Sebastian, the gentleman alpha, wasn't expecting much as he stepped through the foyer and into the parlor to take a gander at the omega with strangely-colored hair but as his amber eyes connected with Ciel's sapphire gaze, his usual, charming smile appeared on his lips in spite of himself.
Sebastian strode over to his mysterious new target in long, elegant steps as Ciel blinked at him curiously.
When he was a proper distance in front of her. Sebastian stretched out a gloved hand.
Ciel didn't even consider hesitating as she automatically slipped her delicate hand into the stranger's.
"My lady, this is Sebastian Michaelis, our most sought after gentleman." The smiling man said proudly as he smirked at the look of wonder on Lady Phantomhive's face while she gazed at Sebastian.
Ciel stared into the alpha's tapered eyes as he bent his head and delicately, intimately kissed her pale knuckles.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, my lady~." Sebastian replied as he politely released Ciel's hand and took a step back.
Ciel and Sebastian were still staring at each other as the smiling man silently took his exit from the room, nearly giddy as he imagined all the money that Sebastian was about to earn for him.
What the smiling man didn't realize though was that Sebastian had meant what he said, he didn't want any work that evening.
However, the bluenette omega he was looking at, whoever she was, intrigued him and he was anxious to chat with her.
As Ciel stared at Sebastian in silent, restrained admiration, money was the last thing on her mind.
Ciel had found what she wanted.
She wanted Sebastian Michaelis, the gentleman alpha.