Title: Friendship Day Preparations
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji
Pairing: Soma/Agni
Prompt: Written in the Stars Challenge C8/Nov. Challenge Day #3: clear the floor & they're swarming / added the dare
Words: 1147
Rating: PG for Soma's swearing
Warnings: none
Summary:
888
Now that summer was here, Soma was looking forward to Lizzie's "Friendship Day" celebration. Last year's picnic was a success and Agni and Sebastian were busy, going over the menu and making preparations for the big day. That left the prince with the job of playing co-host much to Ciel's annoyance.
The young earl found the whole thing rather silly as it was just a glorified picnic on the townhouse's back lawn, but it gave his servants a bit of a holiday in town, even if they were involved in the setup. Lizzie certainly enjoyed it and this year's Japanese theme promised to be interesting. Sebastian did a nice job of turning the gazebo in a tea house and Agni had surprised him by making everyone a kimono to wear too. Granted the fabric looked like it had been destined to increase Soma's wardrobe, but still, it was a nice touch and the prince did not seem to mind at all.
Things were going smoothly too, almost too smoothly, when Agni paused to think about it. Then again, things generally did go well whenever Mister Sebastian was involved, and the Bengali butler put his worries out of his head, confident that his friend could somehow stop the rain from falling or any other disaster from happening as Friendship Day approached. Agni went over his to-do list in his head, mentally checking off the tasks he had completed. Tomorrow was the big day and Miss Elizabeth was due to arrive within the hour along with her lady's maid, Miss Paula.
After reviewing his mental list, all Agni had left to do was help Sebastian clear the floor in the front parlor of the large furniture items, since tonight's menu featured chicken and vegetable tempura, and the idea was they would all eat it Japanese style. That meant everyone would be eating on the floor, something Soma was used to doing, but the others, especially Lizzie, were looking forward to it. He had already brought down the low tables, Ceil had told him he could find in the attic, and they were neatly placed by the fireplace, waiting to be set up as soon as the furniture was moved. The fireplace itself was to be hidden behind the large Chinese screens; Mister Lau had lent them for the occasion.
Soma, who had wandered into the dinning room to take a look at the how nicely the garden was decorated, gazed out the large picture window and frowned. There, by the gazebo turned teahouse, was a large, dark cloud that seemed to move with a life of its own. He could have sworn he heard a soft humming sound too, but he was not sure. At the sound of footsteps behind him, he turned to greet whoever it was who was coming over to him. "Miss Elizabeth, how good it is to see you again!"
"Hello, Prince Soma! It's good to you too!" Lizzie smiled. "It's been what? A year since last Friendship Day…?"
"It feels like, how do you say, 'only yesterday?'"
She giggled in reply, and noticing the cloud by the gazebo, she frowned. "What's that…?"
"I think they're bees and they're swarming too, damn it!" Soma swore at the look of disappointment on her face. "I'm sorry, Miss Elizabeth, I shouldn't swear in front of a lady. Please forgive me?"
Lizzie, who had been standing there, quietly shocked by his outburst, colored prettily at his apology. "Yes… of course I'll forgive you," she said softly. It was not like she had never heard such language, rough talk was common amongst the stable hands, it was just that she had no idea the prince knew such words.
"There must be a hive nearby."
She nodded. "Maybe they'll return to it?"
"I don't think so…" Soma frowned. "I think they leave one hive and go find another one, but I'm not sure." He shrugged. "I know they loved the roses and other flowers in the senior rani's garden back home, but we had servants who were beekeepers that would go into the forest a couple of times a week to gather the honey from the bees for the senior rani and my mother. Every so often they would come back with tales of how the hive would make a giant swarm to find a new place to live"
"Oh…" Lizzie looked out the window. "Well maybe they'll be gone by the time the party is ready to start."
"Hopefully." Soma smiled. "I know! I'll ask Agni about it! Maybe he'll know what to do to get the bees to go live elsewhere!"
"Okay!"
Together, they left the dinning room and went in search of Agni. They found him; a few minutes later, in the kitchen, helping Sebastian prepare refreshments for their afternoon tea. Ciel was also there to find out how the preparations for the Friendship Day were going.
"Agni, we have a problem…" Soma began, wilting a bit when Sebastian looked up at him.
Ciel glared at him, clearly annoyed at the interruption. "What is it, Soma?"
"Ciel," Lizzie began, "There's bees in the back garden. Prince Soma and I saw them swarming by the gazebo."
"Yeah. Is there anything we can do to make them go away, Agni?"
"I don't know if we can do anything about it, my prince. Perhaps they'll leave on their own," Agni said. "All I know is you don't want to bother that many bees or you'll get stung. You remember what happened to Gupta when he foolishly tried shooing away the bees in the crown pavilion so the senior rani could enjoy it."
Soma nodded. The memory was not a pleasant one as the servant had wound up dying, after being stung a couple of times. He turned to Lizzie and said, "Maybe we can eat inside, like a samurai lord and his lady would, Miss Elizabeth. You know, like in that story we read about Japan"
Lizzie, who looked like she was going to cry over having her plans ruined, simply nodded.
Ciel heaved a long suffering sigh. "Don't cry, Lizzie." He turned to his butler. "Sebastian," he commanded.
"Yes, my lord."
"Get rid of the bees."
"Yes, my lord." Sebastian, placing a hand over his heart, gave his master a little bow in acknowledgement of his orders.
"Do you need some assistance, Mister Sebastian?" Agni asked.
"I will take care of them tonight," Sebastian said.
When everyone woke up the next day, Sebastian proved to be true to his word and the bees were gone. Lunch was a delightful affair in the "tea house" with everyone having such a good time, that not only was afternoon tea served there, but dinner as well. As the sun began to set and the two butlers lit the paper lanterns, the others sat around tossing out ideas for next year's Friendship Day celebration…