Ciel smiled and rested his head in his hand as he ate and listened to Sebastian's parents tell him all about the infatuation his butler had held towards a boy who'd always come into the bakery he'd worked at. On one hand, he found the thought of the young baker boy rather adorable. It didn't help anything as his parents described the pictures Sebastian would draw of himself and his Blue-Eyed Boy with the ink he was supposed to be using to practice his letters. He glanced back at his butler, who was standing facing the wall, his head pressed against it and looking as if he was tempted to start pounding his head into it.
There was something extremely amusing about seeing his butler so embarrassed, and something rather endearing about the thought of him fawning over him when they were children. He liked hearing about how the Blue-Eyed Boy was always a highlight of Sebastian's days in the bakery, and he bit his tongue to keep from mentioning that seeing the skinny, gangly, awkward baker boy handing him his sweets had been a highlight of his own childhood. Sebastian would always come up to him, practically running, with the dessert served on a plate, a big smile on his face as his brown eyes lit up with joy. Then, there were the times Vincent would make polite conversation with the little baker boy, and Ciel liked to just listen and watch as Sebastian spoke with a wide smile while he told them about the most recent tooth he'd lost and how his mother would go through the normal ritual of rubbing it with salt while he sang a good luck song in the hopes that the new tooth would grow in strong and healthy.
"Sebastian, make sure you prepare enough food for four people at lunch and dinner." Ciel said as his butler and Mey-Rin cleared away the dishes once they'd finished eating.
"Why, sir? There are only three of you." Sebastian replied, letting Mey-Rin take the dishes back to the kitchen to be washed.
"Because you'll be eating with us, of course. Your parents might not get to visit again for a while, it's important for you to spend time with them as much as possible." Ciel replied to him with a small smile.
Sebastian blinked at the answer before smiling a bit. "Thank you, master."
"It'll be nice to eat with you and hear all about your first days of working as a butler." His father said easily, getting up from the table with his wife.
"I'll be sure to tell you all about him. First, though, I have a stack of paperwork on my desk I've been procrastinating on. Sebastian can attest to that, I know. Besides, I think Sebastian was going to give you a tour around the manor and introduce you to everyone." Ciel said to the pair with a small smile up at his butler.
"Yes, I was. After you, master." Sebastian replied, moving to the door to hold it open for Ciel and his parents.
He left the room with them all and happily started to lead his parents through the large manor, going room by room and working his way from front to back on the first floor.
"This is ballroom. Master says he holds parties here whether he likes it or not. I have yet to witness any parties or him dancing at all, but Baldroy says it's extremely entertaining." Sebastian explained, watching his parents marvel at the size of the room and the elaborate decorations on the walls and at the chandelier that hung from the ceiling.
"It's gorgeous." His mother mused happily as they looked around the room. They followed Sebastian out as their son lead them from room to room, leading them back to the servants' wing of the house to show them his own bedroom. He let them look around at everything an marvel at everything.
"These are your other suits?" His father asked as he looked at the nicely hanging clothes in the wardrobe.
"Yes, those are the other ones. The clothes folded up are my night shirts." Sebastian said as his mother joined him at the wardrobe and started to look at and examine the fabric and technical details of the suits.
"These are extremely nice. This feels like a wool jacket. Whoever made this knows what they're doing and apparently wants to do their best to make sure you stay nice and warm." His mother mused, turning to her son to examine the suit he was wearing. "The stitch is perfectly straight and uniform and the entire outfit fits you like a glove, albeit, a slightly roomy glove to allow you to get up to a healthy weight. I think these buttons might be silver, too."
Sebastian smiled a bit as his mother examined his new clothes. "They were made by a Miss Nina Hopkins. Do you know her?"
"Nina? I know of her, but I've never met her before. They say she's one of the best in London, perhaps in all of England, too. Even working as her assistant would be amazing." She hummed as she examined her son's clothing. "Well, I'm glad your master's making sure you're well clothed here."
"Of course there's more the check over to make sure you're being treated well here. You might wear nice clothes, but I want to make sure you and the other workers are being treated fairly." His father said.
Sebastian nodded and moved to lead his parents out of the room, briefly showing them the bathroom he shared with the other servants as he lead them back to the kitchen where he found the other servants both working and relaxing.
Finny was the first to jump from his spot next to Tanaka and run over to the group, grinning at them widely. "Mr. Sebastian! Are these your parents? That's so cool, you look just like them! Well, mostly like your mama."
"Mother, Father, this is Finnian the gardener. Because of the snow that doesn't appear to be stopping anytime soon, he doesn't have too much to do right now. Finnian, these are my parents." Sebastian said, introducing them to each other and stepping out of the way just before Finny started to eagerly and happily shake their hands eagerly.
"Hi! I'm Finny, but you know that now. I like Sebastian a lot, he's super tall." The gardener said excitedly, bouncing where he stood.
"Finny, you'll overwhelm them, you will." Mey-Rin said to the blonde boy, gently guiding him back a bit to let the group properly into the kitchen.
"Mother, Father, this is the maid, Mey-Rin. Mey-Rin, these are my parents." Sebastian said, letting them all shake hands with each other.
"I-It's nice to meet you. My-er-Mr. Sebastian's doing a really good job here." She said to them, her cheeks going pink when she glanced up at Sebastian to his brown eyes looking back down at her.
"Yeah, Sebastian's a good egg." Bard agreed, walking up behind Sebastian silently and clapping his hands down on his shoulders, making the butler jump. "Hi, I'm Bard, good to meet you."
"This is Baldroy, the chef. Baldroy, these are my parents." Sebastian said to the blonde man behind him.
"Nice to meet you. Like I said, Sebastian's a good egg. Pretty handsome one, too, though I'm sure he'll only get better once he gets a bit more meat and muscle on those bones." Bard said before giving a small mischievous smirk just before landing a rather firm smack to the other man's backside.
Sebastian jumped again at the gesture before feeling his cheeks start to burn. "My goodness, look at the time. Let's go now before too much more happens here." He said as he tried to hurry his parents out of the kitchen. His mother laughed a bit and happily waved to the other three servants as Sebastian eagerly ushered them out.
"It was really good to meet you." She said to them happily as they left, letting Sebastian lead him to the back servants' staircase to lead them up to the second floor.
They looked around at the nice rooms that they could, though there wasn't too much since the majority of the upper level were rooms that belonged to Ciel, and therefore would be a breach or privacy to show anyone.
Instead, he just sat with them in the library and talked with them contently as they asked him about his first few weeks as a butler and what he truly thought of the way his live was going while he was there.
"I'm always the first person to wake up in the morning and the last person to go to sleep. It's hard work, and my master often likes to make sure I'm working as hard as possible. Bard says it's not unlike training a soldier before he goes to war. Master wants to build me into a great butler, so he's pushing me as hard as he possibly can. However, he's not terrible and mean. I think he is very good to me. He pushes me hard, but every so often he takes a break to make sure I'm okay. He does what he does out of consideration for me. I get three meals a day, a good amount of sleep, a warm bed, and every morning I get a nice hot bath I can clean myself in. If I get sick or hurt at all, I know my master wouldn't hesitate to provide me with the care I need." Sebastian explained to them as they sat comfortably in the library for a while.
His parents listened and nodded in understanding, seeming rather pleased at that.
"Good. I'm glad. Just because you are his servant doesn't make you any less of a person. Never forget that, Sebastian." His father said, gently patting his son's arm.
Sebastian nodded and stayed to chat with his parents for a bit longer before parting so he could take care of cooking their lunch and make sure everything as ready for the meal.
Ciel heard Sebastian walk past the office and down the stairs and, after deciding he was bored of the paperwork that made his head pound, he let himself out of the room to find the other's parent's in the library. He'd never really been one for socializing too much on his own free will, but there was something extremely amusing about talking with his butler's parents. His mother seemed to warm up to him instantly, almost taking him under her wing as an honorary second son. His father, however, was much more reserved about nearly everything. He found it extremely fascinating to watch how Sebastian acted with his parents around while he was in the room, able to pin point each little flourish and detail Sebastian would add in, as if to earn proof of his father's favor. After all, when they'd been negotiating the terms of Sebastian's service to Ciel, the man had told his son he was embarrassing him and their family.
Sebastian's mother was much softer and sweeter while his father was much more proud and stern. Sebastian looked quite a bit like his mother, though he had his father's pride and stubbornness buried within him as well. Ciel figured it would be another month or so until Sebastian completely settled into his new life in the manor and got comfortable enough to start showing the rather headstrong side he'd been able to glimpse a couple times.
Ciel slipped into the library and joined the older pair of Catholics, talking with them contently and listening as they told him stories from Sebastian's childhood. He found it extremely fascinating to hear these stories. On one hand, many of the instances related closely to his own, like cuddling close between his parents when a thunderstorm rolled in in the middle of the night or being the first to wake up on Christmas morning. On the other hand, however, many points in their childhoods didn't align whatsoever. Sebastian had started working to help his family pay for food when he was seven. When Ciel had been seven, his biggest source of stress was from his lessons cutting into the time he would have preferred to be playing. When Ciel had lost a baby tooth, he'd show it to his mother, and she would spend the entire day proudly telling everyone she could about it, and having her little son open his mouth to show off the newfound gap in his teeth. When Sebastian had lost a baby tooth, he'd stick it in his pocket, tell another worker at the bakery and hold a rag soaked in saltwater to his bleeding gums for a little while before going back to work.
Ciel listened to the stories until they were called down for lunch and smiled as the stories continued all through the light meal, watching Sebastian keep his face down as he ate the salad slowly and politely, making sure no one could see the embarrassment on his face. He couldn't help but wonder if his parents would join in on sharing embarrassing stories they thought were cute, if the pair was around to do so. He quickly decided they most definitely would before forcing himself to think on something other than deceased parents. Instead, he lost himself in the stories and memory of the gangly little baker boy he'd always looked forward to seeing.
"It's amazing how just growing older can make a person look so different. I remember seeing you two when you were both very little when the late Earl and I would handle the debt negotiations. But, I guess a lot of toddlers look pretty much the same. Then, Sebastian hit a growth spurt when he was about five and I don't think that spurt ever really ended. I hope, for the sake of Miss Hopkins, his growth will finally stop soon." Sebastian's father mused as they all ate together at the table, glancing over his unusually quiet son.
"It is funny how different you two look now. You two used to be nearly identical, and now Sebastian seems to look more like your father did than you." His mother agreed, looking over at her son's face as well.
Ciel looked up and over at Sebastian at the comment, cocking his head a bit. On one hand, he could see a lot of his mother in the other young man's face, with his father's brown eyes. On the other hand, though, the woman was right. Sebastian had a face eerily similar to his father's. The only things he lacked were his father's hair and his father's mole just to the side of his eye. He couldn't help but wonder if it was his resemblance to Vincent that made him feel so secure and at ease when he stood by his butler's side.
"I suppose he does." He finally agreed before turning his attention back down to the food on his plate, not wanting to think about his father anymore, let alone Sebastian's uncanny resemblance to him. The idea that he might be attracted to a man who looked like his father was bizarre and felt almost more taboo than the idea that he might be attracted to another man whatsoever.
"Let's not talk about my face and dead parents. I'd rather not put anyone off their appetite." Sebastian finally piped up, giving a pointed look over to his parents when he could sense how uncomfortable Ciel seemed.
"Right, sorry." His mother said with a small smile to him as they all ate together and moved onto other topics.
Sebastian was rather relieved when lunch ended, and they all went to relax together, Ciel seeming happier to talk with the family than actually do his own work.
They relaxed for the rest of the day, Sebastian leaving a couple more times to make the afternoon tea, and then dinner. He could tell his parents had really started to approve of his new life in the manor as they realized he would be taken care of while he took care of the young earl.
At the end of the day, Sebastian left his parents to give Ciel his nightly bath, giving himself some time alone with his master.
"So, what all have you learned about getting rid of demons?" Ciel asked once the door was shut and they were alone.
"I confess I haven't had too much time for research, sir." Sebastian said as he stripped off his tailcoat and gloves and rolled his sleeves up to his elbows before moving to undress Ciel. "I know there might be some useful passages in Leviticus, and the Lord's Prayer might do something. Holy water and crucifixes and salt could work as well."
Ciel nodded, glancing down to see the light flush on Sebastian's cheeks as the man stripped him nude. "I see. I suppose there isn't enough time for you to find anyone in the Vatican to help. We'll just have to work with what we have."
"I might not be able to go to the Vatican, sir, but I might be able to talk to the Father at the church I- my parents go to." Sebastian suggested, letting Ciel sit on the edge of the tub to wait until it was full.
Ciel blinked and looked up at Sebastian. "You know, that's actually a rather good idea."
"I have them every so often. At least, I hope I do." Sebastian replied with a small smile to Ciel. "I think the water might be about ready, sir, if you would like to test it."
Ciel nodded and tested the water with his hand before deciding it was good enough and slipping into the bath. "Alright, so after your parents leave tomorrow, you will go out to your family's church and try to get in contact with the Father."
"Understood, sir. Please tilt your head back." Sebastian replied, taking a small bowl full of water from the tub and pouring it over Ciel's head to wet his hair.
Ciel held his head steady as he felt Sebastian start to work the bubbles of the shampoo into his hair. "Speaking of religion, how are you doing?"
"What do you mean sir?" Sebastian asked as he lathered the shampoo into Ciel's hair, fashioning the younger man's sudsy locks into a spike on the top of his head with a happy, childish smile.
"I mean, it's got to be hard on you to suddenly have to work against occult things and kill people who try to break in here on a regular basis." Ciel replied, turning his head to look over at Sebastian. His butler's eyes went wide and he clenched his mouth shut, looking as if he was trying to keep himself from bursting into laughter.
"I'm sorry. I can't take you seriously with your hair like that." Sebastian finally replied as the wave of hilarity passed, letting a few happy giggles.
"What have you done to me? Show me." Ciel asked with a small frown. He watched his giggling butler nod and fetch him a handheld mirror so he could see the small spike on top of his head.
"You're such an idiot." Ciel said, splashing a bit of water on his laughing servant.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry." Sebastian apologized between a few last giggles as he moved to rinse the shampoo from Ciel's hair so he could replace it with conditioner. "As for your question, though, it isn't exactly an easy thing for me to do. I know I have to do absolutely anything to protect you, even if it does include murder, but I'm still not too used to the feeling yet."
Ciel nodded in understanding, letting Sebastian get back to work, rather liking the feeling of the other man's fingers massaging his scalp and cleaning his hair. "I see. Just let me know if you ever feel like you want to go to a mass or confession or something sometime. I'm not going to let you stop protecting me, of course. But I guess it might be rather hard to simply yank someone out of their religion and expect them to be fine with it."
Sebastian nodded and smiled a bit at that. "Thank you, master. You're very kind."
Ciel rolled his eyes and just let Sebastian wash off his body before finishing the bath. "You always get all embarrassed when you undress me. I could understand it for the first few times, but you've been doing this every day for a few weeks." He mentioned as Sebastian helped him from the tub and wrapped him a large fluffy towel.
"I'm sorry, sir. It's not something I can help." Sebastian replied softly as he gently patted Ciel dry, trying not to think about how cute his messed up, wet hair was.
"I guess you'll get used to it eventually. It's not like you've been through a lot of pleasant things concerning nudity."
"Master."
"Right, sorry, that was insensitive. I won't joke about your past."
"Thank you, sir."
With that, Sebastian dressed Ciel in his nightshirt and put him to bed, as per usual, making sure he was perfectly comfortable and warm. He resisted every urge to kiss the other's forehead and simply moved to start winding down the day in the manor.
Eventually, his parents kissed him goodnight before they retired for the night. Then, the rest of the servants went to bed as well, leaving Sebastian as the last person awake once again.
Sebastian changed into his nightshirt and settled into his bed for the night, ready to relax and rest from the rather embarrassing day.
He had only just let his eyes fall shut when he heard someone scream from the upper level of the manor. He bolted out of his bed, the other servants doing the same.
"Sebastian, take a gun if you're going up there." Bard said, handing the butler a pistol as Mey-Rin sprinted to the stash of rifles they kept.
"Thank you." Sebastian replied before running up the stairs to see what was going on.
"Sebastian?" Ciel asked drowsily from the doorway of his bedroom. "What's going on? Did someone get inside?"
"I think so, but I don't know how." Sebastian replied, starting to inspect the area for any intruders.
He decided knocking on the door was rather unnecessary before he entered the guest room and he let himself inside, ready to release the safety on the pistol in his hand.
However, he froze up when he saw blood on the bed and floor of the room. His mother was laying lifeless on the bed, deep red stains on her nightgown. In the corner of the room, he saw two silhouettes holding his father. He made eye contact with his father, both of them looking as if they had no idea what was happening. Then, the moment passed and one of the silhouettes yanked the man's head back abruptly, letting his lifeless body drop to the floor.
"Well, well, it looks like someone decided to interrupt our fun." One of the silhouettes whispered.
"Or add to it. It's been a while since I got to play with an altar boy." The other replied.
"Sebastian." Ciel whispered, looking up at his butler, who was just frozen in shock. He gently took the gun from the other man's hand, letting Sebastian immediately wrap an arm around his smaller shoulders to hold him securely against himself.
"What do you think, Sebastian? We'll make you a deal. Completely submit to us, just for about half an hour, and we'll take our leave. We'll even make sure that neither you or your little master end up like dear old Mom and Dad." One of the silhouettes said, taking a few steps closer to the pair.
"Sebastian, you don't have to do it. It's a trap. Just shoot them and be done with it." Ciel said softly to his butler.
"You could try to shoot us, he's right. However, there's no guarantee that the bullets will do anything. There's no guarantee that you won't absolutely piss us off if you try it." One of the silhouettes added, the pair's eyes starting to glow a bright fuchsia in the dark room.
"Sebastian, you don't have to do this." Ciel whispered, trying to read his butler's face in the dark.
"Yes, I do. If I don't sacrifice myself, then you will die. I'll have failed as your butler. I've failed as a good son and a good Catholic. I'm not going to fail as your servant." Sebastian replied to Ciel softly before letting him go and letting the silhouettes gently guide him into the bedroom.
"We will only be about half an hour." One of the silhouettes said to Ciel.
Ciel frowned when he saw the fear in Sebastian's brown eyes before the door slammed shut.