A/N: I am back, as promised! Firstly, I want to thank Narutopokefan, Carrie2sky, tina, Thegraybluekitten, Quinn1989, sujufreakz, Reviewer666, machi-pan, JezebelStrike, bluejeanswhiteshirttt and KuroPenny for reviewing, it means so much to me! And to all of you who followed, favorited or just read this fanfic!
I'd like to thank this amazing author, machi-pan, for all support she offered me :) She wrote beautiful Kuroshitsuji story "Defenestration", an art piece! If you're in need to read something good, go check it out!
Of course, thank you, Carrie2sky, for beta-ing this chapter!
I think you waited long enough for this chapter, so I won't further delay it! The only warning for it is language!
Push The Limit
Chapter 3
"You see Claude, you were partially right. Ciel is my boyfriend."
Ciel's eyes widened and his mouth fell open in shock. What was this idiot saying? A boyfriend? As in, a man who is in relationship with you? Your significant other? Oh, no, no, Ciel wasn't going to be a part of this crap. Sebastian was overdoing it. He turned around to the said human, whose face was still resting on his left shoulder, not even trying to cover up a look of utter horror on his face. He didn't care if Alois or Claude knew about Sebastian's doings because of him.
Sebastian, on the other hand, smiled reassuringly, obviously having foreseen Ciel's reaction. However, when a single peck was delivered to his left temple, he blushed furiously, up to his ears.
"Hush, love, do not worry. No matter what they may look like, both of them are trustworthy, believe me. There's no need to hide our relationship from them," Sebastian cooed in his ear, a hot breath not helping his blush to retreat. The arms around his waist tightened their grip possessively. Ciel had to commend Sebastian, no matter how annoying the man was. Somehow, he always found the way out of compromising situations like this one.
Nevertheless, he didn't play along. Whatever Sebastian said, humans could not kill him, and so his threats were non-existent in Ciel's eyes. He glared hard at Sebastian's warm looking eyes as if they could burn right through them. Sebastian's smile didn't waver, not for as second as he pressed another sweet kiss to his ear.
Claude coughed in his fist, his tiny smirk still in place. Ciel snapped his head in his direction, glaring at him now.
"Oh, and here I thought you were a ladies' man. Well, at least you weren't into underage children," he said cruelly, his hands finding their ways into his pockets. And Ciel's eyes narrowed, ready to declare he was not a child, but a squeak interrupted him.
"Oh-my-fucking-god," Alois began, pronouncing every word slowly, running to Ciel and taking his hand in his slightly larger. "I would never, ever take you as a guy to be into this shit!" He declared rather loudly, tracing the red marks handcuffs left. "You know, I'm proud of you Ciel! You don't even have any underwear at the moment, do you?"
"So we did interrupt you two…? Michaelis, I even told you I would be coming." Claude concluded in slightly disappointed tone (faked, of course), motioning at the two and quite obviously staring at the Ciel's lower part of his body, trying to deduce if Ciel was wearing underwear or not.
And that made Ciel positively furious. He slapped Alois' hand with a hiss and turned around to face the one who started this whole mess, namely Sebastian Michaelis. But the human was quicker in his response, unfortunately, leaving Ciel gaping.
"I would appreciate if we stopped discussing Ciel's and my private life for now and get comfortable in the living room." Sebastian stood erect and put a hand around Ciel's waist, continuing. "Though I would suggest you to put something on, Ciel, I'm afraid that with how…your clothes aren't useable anymore, that's not an option. I will bring you a blanket; feel free to join Claude and Alois." Sebastian finished with a smirk, and Ciel got out of his hold, slapping his hand away. Oh, no, those two freaks would get completely the wrong idea! This savage did not rip his clothes, no; they were burnt because the said savage saw it fit! Well that did it!
"You- You are bastard, Sebastian! Don't listen to him alright!" Ciel jumped in front of Sebastian, shouting desperately, in a desperate need to be understood. His cheeks, ears and even neck were pink, with mixed embarrassment and anger towards his kidnapper. His outburst only produced a chuckle from Alois and a smirk from Sebastian, though.
"Feisty as always, Ciel?" Alois said wickedly grinning. "No need for this, really. If you think us catching you during your little BDSM show was embarrassing, you should see me and Claude going at it! Just yesterday, we were in cinema, but the movie became boring, and you know, Claude always carries a-" He was interrupted when Claude decided it was about time to take up on Sebastian's offer and drag Alois to the living room, next door on the right side of hallway. Ciel sighed in relief, glad the attention wasn't on him anymore, and was about to follow, but when he turned around, he saw Sebastian was already going to his room to find a blanket, so he entered the room behind him, deciding this was the right moment to talk.
"Sebastian-"
"Get out, I told you to go with them," Sebastian stated, his tone icily cold, while he didn't even bother to turn around to face Ciel. Amusement was obviously gone from his voice, and Ciel suddenly felt like a true child who did something very wrong, angering mother and father. Which was absurd, seeing how he felt superior even to his poor parents.
"Tsk, firstly, what the hell was that 'boyfriend' thing? I'm definitely not playing along; you should know that much by now!" Ciel growled in a whisper, hoping that the creepy couple wouldn't hear him. More so Alois than Claude, since he was pretty sure Claude couldn't hear anything with two closed doors and hallway separating them.
"I said get out. We'll talk later," Sebastian said, folding blanket and finally turning around. His eyes were void of any emotion but anger, and as predicted, not even amusement was present. It was strange to see that face, and Ciel had to admit, he felt a tad guilty for not listening to him. If he did, that 'boyfriend thing', as he named it, surely wouldn't have existed in the first place.
He huffed out and stomped out of room, his chin high. He paid attention where Alois and Claude entered, so he did as well, finding himself in the room where he saw Sebastian for the first time. More precisely, where Sebastian had caught him. He sat down on the chair next to Alois'. Obviously Claude and Alois were discussing something before he entered, so now there was an awkward silence between the three. Until Alois became his old curious self, of course.
"Sooo, how long have you two been 'boyfriends'?" He asked rather cheerfully, saying the last word mockingly and leaning fully on him. So, was Ciel supposed to play along? He would probably get some explanations afterwards if he did.
And following that logic, he couldn't make up any other believable lie, because then it wouldn't make sense why Sebastian lied to them in the first place. Telling the truth wasn't an option either. That would alarm other humans, and while there wasn't any rule that prohibited letting humans know he was a reaper, that would probably make things more difficult for him. That's how myths about grim reapers were created in the first place. Death gods that told humans about their existence were usually executed secretly. There was no solid proof of this, but what was certain was those death gods disappeared. Because grim reaper's job must be done discreetly and silently.
He could always tell Alois the truth (alright not complete truth, he'd have to leave out the part he was caught) when this mission was over, while Sebastian and Claude…one of them would surely be dead, while Ciel would see to killing the other one with his own hands so the rumours couldn't spread.
"Not too long," he replied, pushing Alois away and propping his chin on his hand. His eyes met Claude's and the human licked his lips, openly showing his attraction to the boy. It was utterly creepy, seeing how his expression stayed completely emotionless. Ciel shuddered and turned to face Alois who already began talking.
"Oh? And you're already getting handcuffed to his bed? Really, Ciel, you never cease to amaze me. And? How is he in the bed? Quite a beast if I had to guess." Alois' question was met with silence as Ciel yawned and pushed his new glasses up, giving an impression of rather bored child.
"Aww, come on, if you are that shy I can always tell you about my experiences with Claude first! And then you must promise me to tell me yours!" Ciel didn't bother to reply to that either, instead focusing on not meeting anybody's eyes in the room and they landed on a clock above the TV set in the corner of the room. It was ten to eight in the evening, meaning he had spent the whole day chained to the bed. He wouldn't know, though, he had fallen asleep easily, after his failed attempt to read Shakespeare.
"Pretty please?" Since Ciel stayed silent, Alois probably started recalling their earlier conversation, since he had an uncharacteristic thoughtful look. A few minutes passed and Ciel absolutely hated the grin that took over his face in realization.
"Wait, wait, wait! You two are dating, right?"
Ciel hesitated in answering, not sure where this was going. Alois would probably try to get some information out of him, however Ciel couldn't even fathom which piece of information could it be. He settled for a safe answer, knowing that damn Sebastian would approve of it. "Yes…?"
"So you two are in because of emotions you feel, not just fucking each other like Claude and I?" Ciel choked on his spit upon hearing the question. What in the name of God was he supposed to say? He knew nothing of Sebastian's personality; therefore he didn't know if he was one to commit to only one person. Claude and maybe Alois knew Sebastian way better than he did, so it didn't leave much room for improvising. Besides, this was the first time he heard about the nature of Alois' relationship with Claude. Maybe he was supposed to expect that, but, still, it surprised him. Why would one grim reaper be interested in a human in such a way? That was…weird to say at least.
Now, however, he needed to give Alois a decent response, didn't he? Damn him, what was going on in his mind to even think he could play along correctly? He tore his gaze from Alois and turned to look at Claude, hoping for some hint for how to reply. Claude looked quite interested in conversation, his eyes never leaving Ciel's and then Ciel just closed his to breathe in.
"I-"
"Oh, there you are. I am glad to see you enjoying yourself." Sebastian entered the living room, smiling sweetly and walking over to Ciel. He kissed the top of the boy's head and covered Ciel up with the blanket he was carrying. The said boy blushed again, and Sebastian nodded, seemingly pleased before going to fetch the dinner he made from the kitchen.
"Uh, I think that answered my question, Ciel," Alois said smugly and leaned over to the navy haired boy. He was about to say something before his eyes widened and he leaned back in his chair.
"Since when…do you wear new glasses?" Alois managed to say, obviously shocked and reached over to touch the glasses in question. Well, it wasn't like death gods just appeared with new glasses, so it was reasonable why Alois was acting so surprised, however to any human changing glasses was pretty usual. So, it was normal for Claude to furrow his brows wondering what was his fuck buddy on about. Ciel shrugged, hoping Alois would get a hint, and he did, actually.
"My diopter changed, so I kinda had to change frames and everything." Well, he hoped that counted as a nonchalant reply for humans, since it sounded like nonsense and simply dumb to his own ears. Judging by Claude's a bit more relaxed expression, he succeeded. Mostly. Since Claude leaned back in his chair and called Sebastian.
"So, Michaelis…how long were you trying to convince all of us you were single?"
"Claude, I remember saying what Ciel and I do in our private lives, and even more important, inside our bedroom is none of your business," Sebastian's irritated voice could be heard from kitchen along with footsteps that slowly neared the three beings sitting in the living room. Alois looked at Ciel, who could only massage his temple.
"Besides, how are you two doing?" Sebastian entered the room smiling brightly with a silver tray in his hands. Just a complete opposite of how he was merely seconds ago. Perhaps it was Sebastian's inviting demeanour, but Alois felt inclined to answer this not-at-all sincere question for both himself and Claude. Ciel sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose, knowing that Alois would, unfortunately, have different interpretation of this question than originally intended.
"Oh you finally asked! We're doing great, especially inside the bedroom! Or anywhere else where sex is included! Well, to tell the truth, most often it's out of the bedroom, since I think that's really over-rated, and luckily, Claude agrees-"
"That's nice to hear, Alois, but I wasn't referring to your sexual life, but your lives overall." Sebastian smiled again, putting four plates on the coffee table from the tray carefully, making sure nobody had their meals spilled on their pants. Ciel eyed the meal he was presented. It was curry, very attractive to the eye and smell that could make any mouth water, however, Ciel held dislike for spicy food. He was not looking forward to the meal. Though he didn't eat at all since he left his dorm, which was around four am, to be sure he would get there before Sebastian woke up, so he supposed he was a tad hungry after all and he would eat.
"Well other aspects of our lives aren't nearly as exciting, but if-" Alois picked up a spoon, ready to dig into curry, almost absently answering when his partner interrupted him.
"Really, Michaelis? Chicken curry? You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? Why am I not surprised?" Claude shook his head in disbelief, sighing. Two grim reapers looked at the humans confused, not exactly following. However, Ciel quickly understood. Sebastian worked in international restaurant, didn't he? Curry was probably something he made often (possibly the only thing he could make). The mahogany-eyed human smirked and continued standing.
"This is a curry soft boiled with spices and onions. It is seasoned with coriander and yogurt. This time, there is not touch of Chinese cuisine, and I must say, the results please me immensely."
Claude mostly expressed his irritation with sound that was close to growl, yet not audible to the more distant and younger looking occupants of the room. Sebastian sat down next to the irritated human and across the irritated death god, looking quite satisfied. Alois nodded, only interested in the delicious looking curry and voiced his want.
"Let's eat, I'm starving!"
The pair of mortals and immortals ate in silence, until Alois, at some point, grunted. Sebastian and Ciel both turned to his general direction immediately. They didn't know what they expected to see, but definitely it wasn't Alois smirking with light pink colour tinting his cheeks and hand under the table. He smiled at the two and batted his eyelashes.
"Pardon me..."
"Claude," Sebastian growled in warning, turning to face his stoic rival, understanding what was going on. Said human only shrugged, breaking eye contact and looking back at curry he barely started eating. Ciel watched the scene curiously, well, that was, until he understood what was going on under the table. A tiny blush appeared on his face, and it seemed only Alois took notice of that.
"His advances were getting annoying. I needed to do something in order to make him stop," Claude replied, glaring at Sebastian over his glasses.
"This was more than enough, Claude, Alois. When I said it was all right for you to come over, I didn't mean to bring your damn sex obsession with you. That's disgusting." Sebastian was more than pissed off, no matter how calm he looked or sounded; he was never one to curse. The only other human made a sound that could be interpreted as both of agreement and disagreement.
Silence enveloped the room again. Ciel was quite surprised, to say at least. He remembered how Sebastian and Claude interacted from that first unfortunate encounter, and still remembered mention of 'Lau' before they were silenced. What was really going on?
The sun had set a long time ago, it was winter and days were too short. Ciel preferred night anyway. It started snowing again, and maybe, just maybe, it made Ciel a bit uncomfortable. He held a certain dislike for winters. Lesser than for summer, though, but still dislike. His birthday was in winter. Actually, he accepted this mission to save himself from 'the party', among the other reasons. His parents, not having enough time to consider his wishes thanks to their work, would usually call over a bunch of immature kids his age, because they are children of their co-workers, whatever. Therefore, this birthday was his best, because he spent it in office, filling in paperwork, so he would be able to watch over the human.
He put spoon aside, and took a napkin standing up.
"It was…" Truth to be told, he was never one for giving compliments. If the situation were any different, he'd say 'passable' or something that wouldn't exactly make the cook feel accomplished or anything. Nevertheless, he was a guest here. Among foolish humans. Who would be offended, had he said that? "…delicious." At least there was that cruel hesitation, which should make Sebastian doubt his cooking skills and unspoken 'I ate better' hung in the air.
"My, Ciel is right," Alois injected, failing to notice the said pause, or simply trying to piss Ciel off, which is more likely (and possibly working). "This is delicious, perhaps one of the most delightful meals I've ever eaten! Better than Claude's, I'd say. " Sebastian chuckled, obviously feeling rather triumphant because of the compliment. Claude stayed silent and raised a skeptic eyebrow.
"Sorry, you know I'm just kidding, baby!" Alois winked and reached over to grab Claude's hand, only to be ignored. "Hey, don't sulk like a kid, it doesn't suit your masculine look!"
"Anyhow," Sebastian cleared his throat. "Ciel, Alois, I'd ask you to find something to do if you're finished, I'd like to talk with Claude alone. I'll call you when dessert is ready, alright?" He asked and cocked his head smiling brightly as Alois stood up. There it was again; he was treating Ciel as a child. Good thing he didn't tell them to go and play, and he was so certain that that thought went through arrogant bastard's head already.
"Great! Ciel and I also have a lot to catch up on! We didn't see each other for a while now!" Alois grabbed Ciel's hand and dragged him out of room before hearing a reply. It was questionable if there even was one, of course. Alois climbed upstairs (with Ciel behind him trying to keep up with a taller grim reaper) and seemingly searched for something, rushing through the hallway.
"Ah, there it is!"
Alois grabbed the doorknob and opened the door throwing Ciel inside with so much force he actually bumped into the desk that was positioned at the center of room.
"Ouch…" Ciel rubbed his aching hip and glared at blond who closed the door and entered the room completely. Turning around he realized he was in the library, probably the one Sebastian mentioned earlier. It was indeed large; many rows of bookshelves were there, making it look rather ancient and somehow rather familiar to him, thanks to that. But a fuming Alois entered his vision and he collected himself.
"Trancy. I believe you owe me some explanations," he narrowed his eyes and sat on the desk crossing his arms on his chest.
"Oh? So do you. Where are your glasses? And what is it with your eye? Why the hell did you approach your fucking target? You better talk, Ciel, or else…" Alois threatened, putting one hand on his hip, tilting head upwards, and lowering his glare on the enraged blue-eyed boy.
"Or else? I don't really think any of that is your business! While I think how you know our target personally is my bloody business, so spit it out!" Ciel shouted, his hands no longer on his chest, but next to his thighs, clenching the edge of the desk trying to contain an urge to grab Alois' collar to emphasize his words.
"Ah, are you maybe…jealous? Of me, knowing your lover far better than you? Are you?"
"Shut up! Don't just assume things, you can send your poor little brain into overdrive!" A sigh followed, as Ciel reminded himself he needed to be calm in order to get something out of the other. "Trancy, look. I just want to know how you met Sebastian and Claude. No need to argue, I just need to finish our mission and I think you may have the information that would speed up the process." He gestured tiredly before crossing his arms on his chest again. Alois' expression became thoughtful for a second before he quickly replied.
"Well, we could exchange information then. I'll tell you if you tell me what happened to your glasses and your eye."
"Nuh-uh, one piece of information for other."
"Ugh, whatever. What's up with your eye?"
"I was born with it. "
"Whaaat? Only that?"
"Yes. However, it must stay between two of us. Now, how did you meet Sebastian?" Ciel questioned, leaning back as Alois sat next to him smirking widely.
"That's an interesting story actually. You know how I have this weird fascination of human race? Sooo, I was literally everyday there, on streets, having fun. And I was wondering how many people would actually pick up such a defenseless little creature like me for a good fuck. Like, oh my god, you'd flip out if you knew the number! " Ciel only glared in warning not to go into details. "Long story short, Claude fell victim to my charms, so he actually let me live with him. I had to be introduced to Lau, though, as a precaution, as-"
"Who is that Lau?" Ciel interrupted, hearing the familiar name. Alois' smirk disappeared and turned into confused expression.
"You don't know?"
"Obviously. I wouldn't ask otherwise, would I?" Alois rolled his eyes and hopped off the desk.
"That was a rhetorical question and you know it! I hate that smartass attitude of yours!" Alois brought his hand to chin and thought a bit. "Besides…you said so yourself; one piece of information for other~! If you wanna know, you tell me what happened to your glasses!"
Ciel sat in silence. He didn't know whether it was a good idea to tell Alois the whole truth. Not the part when he was caught, as he said earlier, that wasn't something he was proud of, but the fact Sebastian and he weren't…in relationship. He wanted to deny it, yes, but then Alois would know he was caught and imprisoned. Alois did show he wasn't as stupid and oblivious as he let on.
"Is there something else you want to know?"
"Not at the moment~! Shall I continue then?" Ciel hummed in agreement and Alois sat next to him, ready to finish his story.
"As I was saying, Claude took me in for unknown reasons. That was about six or seven months ago. I met Sebby when he called Claude over, immediately after Claude picked me up, and we chatted and all." A silence ensued.
"Wait, that's it?!"
"More or less. I disappeared for few days, during which I was in Dispatch Society, helping with fucking paperwork. Moreover, Claude actually accused Sebastian he was involved with my sudden disappearance! Can you believe it? It seems that bastard hates me, if even Claude noticed! I mean, like…yeah…" Alois awkwardly finished, rubbing the back of his neck and looking back at Ciel.
"So you recognized Sebastian from photo on his file, yet you said nothing?"
"I did…yeah. But what was I supposed to say? To tell Will and Grell that I lived with Sebastian's rival? What do you think, how would they react? Hell yeah, suspend me! Or even worse, expel me!" Alois jumped off the desk again to lean against the bookshelf across the desk, so he could glare at Ciel.
Ciel refused to answer, just because he knew how awkward it felt when your statement was met with silence. Blond reaper became furious, and stomped out of room, but not before he spared one last glance to Ciel. As the sound of the slamming door echoed the library, Ciel exhaled. It surely was hard to deal with the blond full of himself, but he kind of hoped that information he got could be useful. Not that the uselessness of given information was not expected, but…he had hoped.
That Lau guy, who was he? Was he actually connected to Sebastian owning the gun, suspecting he was a spy, or anything at all? In addition, Alois also mentioned something about Claude being Sebastian's rival…what was that? Ciel slipped off the desk and decided he could take a tour of library, since he had a feeling he would spend much time there from now on. Books looked quite old, and he could recognize only of a few titles. He took out one randomly, and skipped through it. He wasn't focused at all, his mind just drifted. He put the book back and continued his journey through the library. It was really bigger than Sebastian's bedroom, and when he got on the opposite end, he saw a desk, fairly similar to the one he was sitting on few minutes ago. On the desk was a computer. He actually had never in his life used a computer. Grim reapers held no use for one; everything they did, they did by themselves. Trusting another machine could turn messy were it for a simple failure to happen, and death gods were not known for making mistakes.
"Ciel!"
Sebastian called him from a room below. He was supposed to go downstairs to have dessert with guests, right? It was quite inconsiderate of Sebastian to leave him on his own, knowing he could try to escape. So, maybe he could use his chance and earn his freedom again? He ran to the closest window, but was gravely disappointed when he tried to open it. He moved to the next one, but he couldn't open that one either. He tried to open every window in library, but the outcome was always the same. Tch, it was ridiculous to even think Sebastian would be that careless!
"Ciel, sweetheart, it's time for dessert~! C'mon now, I know how much you love your sweets!" Alois chirped, quite sour from their conversation. Clenching his jaw, Ciel went to the door and down the stairs. He ran his fingers through his fringe, making sure they covered his grim reaper's eye.
"I'm coming," he said coldly and entered the room where Sebastian was bringing a knife, ready to cut a first slice of the cake resting on the table about him.
"Oh, there you are, Ciel," Sebastian noticed him standing in the doorway, not exactly sure whether to enter the room or not and he motioned him to enter with a large smile. "Come, please sit."
He sliced the first piece elegantly and handed it to Ciel.
"This is Charlotte Cake, filled with fruit purée. As you can see, it's warmed, and it could be lovely warm treat during cold winter days as this one," he explained, and continued to slice pieces for both Claude and Alois.
Ciel suspiciously eyed the piece of cake that now innocently rested on his plate. He nudged it with fork, so it fell on its side, easing his tries to see what exactly it was filled with (ignoring Sebastian's polite explanation.) He could recognize strawberries, and whipped cream and, oh god, it seemed impossibly delicious! In all honesty, Ciel had a weak spot for sweets. He was extremely picky about them, true, but if they were up to his standards, he could live on them. It seemed very childish, so he tried to keep that fact about himself hidden, but unfortunately, there were people who did dig out that information about him (Alois). He sliced a small piece with his fork very gentleman-like and brought it to his mouth, carefully taking it in.
It was three times tastier than it looked like. Dare he say it was the best cake he ever had in his very long life (long by humans' standards)? Regrettably, metaphorical fireworks in his stomach caused by his taste buds came to an abrupt stop when he heard a disgusting voice.
"Darling, does it satisfy your sweet tooth?" Alois said in the sweetest voice he could make. Ciel snapped his eyes open, and glared at the blond, only to realize both Sebastian and Claude were staring at him rather intently. Oh goodness. What was he thinking, getting carried away so easily by eating a mere cake? Not just any cake, he justified, but the best cake he ever ate…
He just glared at the three, letting them know what exactly he thought of their stares and continued eating ignoring them completely. But the warmth on his cheeks stayed even after they returned to their mindless and not so friendly chatter.
"It was nice to talk with you two, I must confess. Maybe we should repeat this in the near future?"
Or not.
Sebastian and Ciel were standing in the doorway, seeing their precious guests out. It was already about ten in the evening and staying any longer would seem rather inappropriate, or so Sebastian said. It seemed, as he was an expert for kicking guests out in polite manner. He had to be, if Alois was speaking truthfully about how often these little 'gatherings' were.
"Of course! As always Sebby!" Alois was clinging on Claude's arm, reluctant to leave, unlike Claude who was in far worse mood than he was in when he came. Of course, Sebastian seemed to feel accomplished, making obvious that it was their adult conversation that upset Claude. No wonder, even Ciel had to admit that Claude was a rather annoying individual. He was emotionless, amused or irritated. Not that you could see difference between the first and the last, anyway.
Sebastian's arm was around Ciel's waist, pressing their bodies together. To prevent Ciel from running away, naturally. Luckily, this also provided extra heat for him, seeing how he was in nothing but too big shirt and a blanket around his whole body and tonight was a particularly cold night. It was still snowing, and the weather changed often these few days he spent watching over the human.
"Well then, Michaelis. Until tomorrow, I suppose." Claude nodded politely, and so did Sebastian in return, letting the couple go home.
Sebastian breathed out one huge sigh of relief, but didn't let go of Ciel's waist until they were inside and the doors were closed. He turned around to face the child, with raise of his eyebrows.
"So, Ciel. I believe we have to talk. In the living room, if you will," he suggested, not as angry as he was earlier, motioning for Ciel to go ahead, in front of him. Well, said grim reaper would lie if he said he didn't expect some kind of interrogation from Sebastian that night. Luckily, he had a fair share of sleep earlier, so staying up a bit more wouldn't make any difference to him. This was a hard day for both of them and he could bet Sebastian wanted nothing more but to jump under the covers and fall asleep.
Ciel entered warm room and sat on the couch, making sure all of him was covered and snuggled further into pleasant warmth. Sebastian nodded when he saw where Ciel positioned himself and walked over to kitchen. The death god closed his eyes when he heard footsteps inches away from him. Judging solely by the sounds that could be heard from the kitchen, Ciel would say Sebastian was putting water to boil, most likely brewing tea.
He opened his eyes as the footsteps approached again, just to be on guard. Who knows what Sebastian could pull out of his sleeve this time? The human seated himself on the couch as well, sitting so he could rest his elbows on armrests and face Ciel, and he crossed one leg over other. Ciel, in return, raised both of his legs on the couch, away from cold floor. Sebastian gazed at the other's eyes, daring him to start talking, probably so he could over-analyse everything he said and draw some conclusions. However, Ciel was never the one to turn down the challenge.
"…What was that 'boyfriend' thing? I mean, first of all, how did they believe you? Aren't you about…twice as old as I am? Isn't that illegal?" Ciel gave his best not to cringe at talking with Sebastian like he was the older one, when Ciel was literally centuries older than him. Moreover, according to Alois' story, having such young sexual partner wasn't quite normal and highly risky.
"As you have seen, Claude couldn't have judged me; Alois is about your age. Besides, what other explanation could I have offered as to why were you dressed in nothing but my shirt, in my bedroom?" Sebastian leaned back, putting more pressure on his elbows.
"For one, you could have said I'm just some kid you took in."
"Ha, they wouldn't believe it for a moment. I would never take anybody in, that's not a part of my personality. Further, you must learn that believable lies are those ones that hold a tiny piece of truth in them. "
"What was that supposed to mean?!" Ciel demanded embarrassed, and Sebastian just chuckled and winked, before putting a lock of his hair behind his ear.
"And, pray tell, how would you explain that red mark caused by handcuffs?" Ciel blushed again and attempted to hide his blush with his fringe, glaring at Sebastian from the corner of his eye, who smirked and shrugged nonchalantly.
"I think they knew I have nothing against bondage anyway, so it seemed plausible."
"Well, Alois knows I would never let anybody do something like that to me!"
Oh, no, no, no, no, that was an accident! He didn't want this topic to be brought up, but he brought it himself. Or did he? Damn, damn, damn that sick liar and manipulator and incompetent idiot-
"Oh? He seems to know you rather well, right? How do you know each other?" Ciel's glare hardened, his fists clenched at the question he expected. It was certain that Sebastian read his body language as an open book, so if he somehow managed to play it off as nothing important…perhaps it was too late for that, but he could at least try.
"That's rather complicated story I'd rather not tell. Long story short, he was my…childhood friend, to say, our families were pretty close and all, but I personally had always found his personality highly disagreeable, I'd say. We parted ways some time ago and it was rather unfortunate we met today. I had no idea he had…that kind of relations at the moment, much less with an adult man," Ciel finished, not once looking away from the mahogany orbs, which seemed to search him for signs of dishonesty. Sebastian ran hand through his hair yawning.
"Rather unfortunate, I couldn't agree more. So, Ciel, how do you like my home?"
"When Trancy and his 'partner' aren't here, I must admit I find it quite comfortable." Ciel's reply was equally sophisticated as the question, and attitudes of both beings were completely aristocratic. The younger looking smug at the notice, and Sebastian obviously caught on what was he thinking about because he returned the look with one of his own.
"Those are quite contradictive words to come from somebody who was complaining because, apparently, I treated them as a hostage."
"Tsk, whatever you say." Sebastian chuckled again before standing up, stretching, and walking to the kitchen, leaving Ciel alone to his thoughts. Well, not exactly alone, as he felt something crawling around his legs, and tucking itself between Ciel's lower back and backrest, obviously seeking warmth. He jumped on reflex, only to see black kitten he saw the first time he visited the manor. It was really small and young, with blue eyes, as every youngling had. It mewed curiously and approached Ciel, not afraid of people.
"Oh, I see he found you. Curious little thing, he is." Sebastian was bringing them both mugs with tea.
"Curiosity killed the cat, they say," Ciel mumbled under his breath, trying to get away from the creature that was nuzzling his thigh. Sebastian purposely took no notice of the hateful remark.
"Here you are. Drink this to get warm, and then finally, we can get some sleep." Ciel took a mug in his hands, the familiar smell coming from it.
"Ceylon Tea?" He guessed.
"Why, yes it is." Sebastian replied as he took the black kitten in his hand, seating himself where Ciel was sitting earlier. "You know, he has a twin. I actually wonder where she is, she is a real devil, if I say so myself. So be careful around her." His warning was met with silence, so he didn't bother trying to initiate the conversation. As he took small sips of hot tea, Ciel remembered something.
"Wait, what am I going to wear? You're surely not expecting me to wear only your shirt during the winter?"
"Well, tomorrow I'll go to the mall and buy you sets of clothes, so we can go together there after I come back and you can choose then."
"…Why would we go together?" Ciel asked, sincerely confused. Sebastian was supposed to be cruel, not to waste his money on his clothes. Something was going on.
"You will need more than one set of clothes, you know, and you can choose your style or whatever."
"My style?" The boy teased lightly
"Something you'd normally wear. Do I really need to define the meaning of the word style now?" Sebastian frowned as he put away the mug.
"Not really. Do you now see me as a fifteen-year-old girl to have my own wardrobe, make up and all?" Ciel said as he fought off the yawn, making Sebastian chuckle and shake his head.
"Come, let us go to bed." Sebastian motioned him to follow him as he stood up. They walked to the room Ciel spent his whole day yesterday. Sebastian took out the key from his pocket and unlocked it. Why was it locked?
"This is my room," Sebastian announced proudly as he stepped in, gesturing towards the bed, as if he didn't handcuff the boy there earlier that very day.
"I got that much. Why are we here?" Ciel raised an eyebrow suspiciously, also stepping inside the room, letting Sebastian lock it again.
"We will sleep here, obviously." The human was more than happy to reply and sat on the bed, observing boy's movements.
"I will sleep on the floor, I presume?" Ciel stood next to Sebastian, looking down at him.
"Of course not, you'll sleep with me in the bed. I'm afraid I'll need to handcuff you again, and because of that, I shall be nearby if you need to go to bathroom or something similar." Sebastian said as he stretched and took out cuffs from under the pillow and locked them around Ciel's wrist and bedpost. Ciel lay in the bed and tried out if he could lay without being uncomfortable with his restraints.
"I'll go shower, if you don't mind, Ciel. You can take shower in the morning." And he didn't mind. He was too tired to mind. Even if he also wanted to shower. So he just lay down, and slowly drifted to sleep. He didn't even notice when the bed dripped and another body joined him under covers.
"Ciel?"
Ciel cracked his eyes open and turned to face Sebastian, who was lying on his side propped on one hand.
"I'll let you sleep in tomorrow morning, because I need to go early to work. I will remove your handcuffs and lock the room, but you can use my bathroom in this room. I will also leave you something to eat, but you'll have to wait for me for lunch. I apologize for not managing to make you lunch today, however I needed to get everything ready for our guests," Sebastian finished and waited patiently for the response.
"Ugh, whatever!" Ciel snapped, fully awake now and turned around, letting his head fall back on the comfy pillow. Sebastian let out a breathy chuckle and hugged Ciel's waist, burying his nose in Ciel's hair.
"What do you. Think. You're. Doing." Ciel growled, accenting every word, clenching his jaw. Before Sebastian managed to reply, Ciel continued.
"Are you continuing that charade? I can't believe I played along, letting them believe I'm your boyfriend! I don't even-! You know what, just leave me alone, you bastard!" Ciel slapped Sebastian's hand away and moved towards edge of the bed, away from Sebastian.
"Ah, but I wouldn't need to cover for you, have you just listened to me," Sebastian replied, finally losing his patience and Ciel heard shuffling of the blanket, and felt the body heat of the other leaving him, as Sebastian turned away from Ciel.
"Believe me, I can make your stay here much more troublesome, Ciel. It's just matter of your behaviour." With that last warning, he let both of them rest in silence. Minutes passed, leaving Ciel to his own thoughts. This time, he didn't even try to speculate who was Lau, or who was really Sebastian, but now he was trying to understand meaning of Sebastian's words.
"You must learn that believable lies are those ones that hold a tiny piece of truth in them."
What was that 'tiny piece of truth'?
A/N: There we are, finally moving! Thank you all who read this, you are all so awesome, just so you know!
Who'd think Sebastian isn't just a handsome cook with gun in his cupboard and handcuffs under his pillow, but also an intelligent manipulator? Like a Mary-Sue or whatever. But all humans have their flaws, right? Let us see it in the next chapter!
And thank you for waiting a whole month to read this chapter, but as promised, I'm back in July! And ready to have some fun writing!
As I said you're all so awesome, you have a potential to become the most awesome people on Earth...I think a review could help it. Yep, yep, I'm sure it will help! It's your choice whether you review or not, really. But more awesome things happen in fanfics when a writer is high on reviews. Consider it, please. Until then.
Kitten Rebel.