A/N: I can't thank everyone enough for the support they have given to the story so far! This will have a plot, it isn't completely (*cough*mostly*cough*) smut and romance, so I hope you aren't too bored (:

On Monday morning, Ciel skipped school for the first time in his life. He waited for Tanaka to drive away before he began walking in the opposite direction. He opened his phone and looked at the conversation. It looked like even worse of an idea now that he was going through with it. They hadn't talked since the night he texted Sebastian, leaving him to assume the bartender would be waiting for him as promised. He stopped at a crosswalk. Reading their messages, he couldn't believe this had been his idea.

He double checked the message. Two blocks south of the school, at the coffee shop on the corner. He found his destination and lingered outside, looking around in paranoia that a member of his family would appear any moment. None of the cars parked on the street looked like they could belong to a working man. If they weren't sports cars, they were luxury. He looked up at the sign for the coffee shop, almost expecting there to be a notation that they only served the upper class. There was no such additive.

His phone vibrated and he jumped. Muttering curses, he took it out of his pocket. The screen told him he had an incoming call from "S." He slid the green icon and put it to his ear. "Yes?"

"In times of old, people greeted you with 'Hello.'"

"I don't think you called to criticize my etiquette."

Sebastian's noise of agreement sounded more like a purr, making Ciel fidget. "I just called to see if you were going to stand in front of that coffee shop all day, or if you're going to get in the car."

Ciel looked around. No one had pulled up since the first time he checked. The tinted window of a car rolled down, and Sebastian leaned over from the driver's side to look out at him, phone still to his ear. "Well?"

Ciel almost dropped his phone. He ended the call and went over to the car, agape. "This can't be yours."

"Yet I am driving it."

"I'm not going anywhere in a stolen car."

Sebastian leaned back into his own seat and gave him an offended look. "It's mine."

Ciel watched the doors slide over and up. He sat down in the car, running his hands over the gray carbon fiber interior. Sebastian pulled away from the curb but it didn't even feel like they were moving. He was dressed down for his day off, in the same outfit as Saturday and black gloves. The way he upshifted as their speed increased was practiced and effortless.

"How does a bartender afford a McLaren?"

"I do some odd jobs on the side."

Ciel swallowed. What had he gotten himself into? As if Sebastian wasn't surrounded by enough mystery, he showed up in a black McLaren P1. He rode in awkward silence until he decided what to say. There was clearly more to Sebastian than met the eye, with some of it maybe being dangerous, but Ciel's reason for texting him had not changed. He took a deep breath and asked, "Where are we going?"

"You said your family couldn't know of this, so we're leaving the city for the day." Sebastian looked sideways at him. "You look like you just got kidnapped."

"I've never kept secrets before."

"I'm flattered to be your first. Now stop looking at me like I'm going to take you to a dark cave and sacrifice you to Satan. You told me you were bored, we're just going somewhere to have some fun."

Ciel's mind raced with the possibilities of what fun with Sebastian could entail. His inner Alois helpfully presented full color visuals of dimly lit hotel rooms, moonlit beaches, and a dungeon full of obscure sexual torture devices. He reminded himself that was not why he was here at all. He didn't want to explore his physical attraction to Sebastian, he just wanted a break from his monotonous day to day life. Sebastian seemed like the perfect person to give that to him. He was sure there were other things Sebastian wanted to give him, but that was neither here nor there.

"How long have you lived here?" he asked, trying to diffuse some of the tension.

"I moved when I was eighteen."

"Any family?"

Sebastian glided on to the freeway. "My father passed away but my mother still lives in Europe and, unfortunately, my twin lives here in New York."

"There's two of you?" Ciel blurted out.

"Oh my, are you excited?"

Ciel prayed for the road to open up and swallow him. "Just curious," he mumbled.

"Don't get too worked up, he is my paternal twin. I would ask about your family but I probably know more about it than you do."

Ciel lapsed back into silence before he could embarrass himself any further. He couldn't have said how many miles went by before they got off the interstate, only that the drive seemed to last forever. He was in a car that could do over two hundred miles per hour with an older man who his father would never allow him to befriend (let alone anything else) who seemed to be into shady supplemental income. He was beginning to question if boredom was preferable to the shredded state of his nerves.

One hand clasped both of his and he was pretty sure he jumped all the way out of his skin. Sebastian did not look over at him as he drove, but his fingers curled around Ciel's hands. "Relax, you've been twisting your hands together for thirty minutes."

"Sorry."

"If I make you uncomfortable, why are you here?"

Ciel cringed. He could hear the slight offense Sebastian had taken to his behavior and he couldn't really blame him. He was the one who asked Sebastian to keep their involvement, whatever it became, a secret. "I know I've been kind of a brat to you. To be honest, I barely know anything about you, I don't even know your last name. I certainly don't know why you gave me your phone number after the way I've acted."

"Michaelis. My last name is Michaelis," he clarified to Ciel's look of confusion.

He smiled and Ciel found himself smiling back. "Thanks for meeting me today. I've been homesick from the minute I stepped off the plane."

"You wanted a distraction." Sebastian gave him a look that could have melted him into the floorboard. "Lucky for you, I can be very distracting."

Ciel didn't say anything, as he didn't know what would have came out of his mouth if he opened it. He watched the horizon fly past the window in a blur. Sebastian's hand was warm on top of his, and he found their silence to be a far more comfortable one for the rest of the drive. There was a palpable tension between them but he didn't think it had anything to do with anger. He almost would have preferred that; at least he was used to making people mad. Whatever connection had formed between Sebastian and him was all new territory.

"Er, are we lost?" he asked. They had been off the freeway for miles and seemed to be driving straight into a dead end.

"We're nearly there, actually."

His confusion did not abate as they stopped in front of a set of barricades. They were connected by a chain that held a sign reading 'Bridge Closed.' Sebastian turned the car off and got out. Ciel watched him, sure that he was just checking a map or something, but the bartender bent down and stuck his head back inside to ask, "Are you coming?"

Ciel unhooked his seat belt and climbed out. On neither side did he see how this was their destination. To his left was the dead end road from which they had come, and to his right was the barricaded bridge. Sebastian had stopped to wait for him, so he followed against his better judgment. He walked around the yellow barricades in full awareness he was now doing something illegal. It was terrifying and a little exciting. Sebastian ran his hand along the contorted metal railing as he walked, making Ciel wonder what had happened to close the bridge down.

Sebastian stepped over the railing onto the grassy incline that ran the length of the bridge. His long legs cleared it with ease, and he laughed when he saw Ciel trying to do the same. He extended his hands across the railing. "Come on, then."

Ciel took his hands for balance, climbed onto the railing, and hopped off the other side. He went to let go of Sebastian only to be pulled down. "Hey!"

"You might as well get comfortable," Sebastian said, sitting against one of the supports for the bridge.

Ciel sat cross-legged next to him. "Why, what are we even-"

"Look."

Sebastian put a hand on the back of his head and moved it so that Ciel had to look straight ahead. His breath caught in his throat. They were miles above the city. From the bridge, he could see New York City stretched out before him. He blinked a few times to make sure he wasn't imagining it. The cars were multicolored dots on the distant streets. "Sebastian," he breathed.

"Your new home doesn't seem so bad from up here, does it?"

He looked over at the taller man. Sebastian was looking at him, too, and Ciel fought the instinct to turn away again when he found Sebastian's face enveloping his sight. He closed his eyes as the hand on the back of his head moved to rest on his neck. Sebastian's thumb rested on his pulse point and his eyes darkened as he inevitably felt it pounding. Ciel swallowed around a dry mouth. "You didn't have to go to the trouble of bringing me all the way here."

"You asked if I could keep a secret, don't you think I'm going to give you a secret worth keeping?"

Ciel felt himself scrambling against a downward spiral. He was unable to speak when Sebastian leaned closer, cloaking him like a shadow. Sebastian brought his lips to Ciel's ear. "If I didn't know any better I would think you were testing me, coming here dolled up in that little school uniform."

"T-Tanaka had to think I was going to be in school," Ciel said, stammering as the finger on his pulse moved to hook into the knot of his tie.

Sebastian tugged on the knot. "Now would be an advisable time to start drawing lines, Ciel."

The heat of Sebastian's mouth on the shell of his ear was rendering him unable to do anything except nod. He didn't know what that nod would be taken as, but he felt his tie loosen. Sebastian's hair tickled his neck as he ducked his head to Ciel's collar and took his tie between his teeth. He pulled slowly until it lay open over the top of Ciel's blazer. His fingers moved to the top button on Ciel's shirt, questioning, and Ciel let his head fall back against the pillar of cement behind him. He sucked in a sharp breath as two buttons popped open.

"You're so sensitive," Sebastian murmured. As if to punctuate this, he ran the tip of his tongue along the exposed part of Ciel's collarbone, causing the teen to gasp and clench his hands in his lap. "Has anyone ever done this to you?"

"No."

Sebastian began kissing his way up Ciel's neck. "What about this?"

Ciel shook his head, biting his lip hard enough to draw blood. There were crescent shaped indents in his hands where the nails of one hand dug into the other. He knew this was the part where he drew the lines Sebastian mentioned but it felt good. He didn't think he could imagine asking Sebastian to stop, until a hand went to his belt and he froze. Part of his brain was offline, the other part was waving a red flag and yelling at him that this wasn't okay. He caught Sebastian's hand and felt the other man pull away from his neck.

It was like a cold gust of wind blowing across his body as every part of Sebastian that was touching him moved away. He took a minute to catch his breath before he looked up at Sebastian. "Sorry."

"Don't apologize, it was I who got carried away. Forgive me. I brought you here without any expectations, and I wouldn't want you to think otherwise."

Ciel was envious of how fast Sebastian had composed himself while he was still trying to calm his racing heart. "It's fine, I'm sure when I sent you that message you thought I wanted..." Before he could pick up the end of his sentence, Sebastian pressed a finger to his mouth.

"I don't assume things. When we met I was intrigued by you and highly attracted to you. Make no mistake, if you gave me the chance I would claim that pretty virgin body faster than the fires of Hell. However, I will never lay a finger on you that you don't wish to be there." He removed his finger and used it to tilt Ciel's chin up. "I can't promise you affection or companionship as long as I'm your dirty little secret, but there are things I am willing to promise.

"I will never lie to you, I will never force myself upon you, and so long as you're mine I will never allow harm to come to you."

Ciel found his eyes flicking between Sebastian's eyes and his mouth, his mouth uttering sweet, dangerous things. "When did I say I was yours?"

"You haven't said that you aren't," Sebastian pointed out as he leaned his forehead against Ciel's.

"I belong to no one." He tilted his head slightly, so that his nose was next to Sebastian's and their lips touched when he spoke. "I'm not going to be yours, but...I guess I can agree not to be anyone else's, either."

Sebastian laughed. "I can accept that."

Knowing Sebastian would not close the distance without an incentive, Ciel pressed their lips together. He'd never thought much about what his first kiss would be like but if he had, his imagination wouldn't have done Sebastian justice. His lips were hungry but gentle as they moved against Ciel's. His tongue, though it ran along Ciel's lower lip for a taste, stayed in his mouth. Sebastian's arms went around him and he threaded his own around Sebastian's neck. He couldn't resist running his fingers through Sebastian's hair to see if it was as silky as it looked. It was.

He was breathless when he pulled away, starving for more but knowing he wasn't ready for it. There was a click beside him and he looked over to see Sebastian checking his pocketwatch. Sebastian sighed. "I must get you back to school."

Sebastian helped him back over the railing and he turned back for a last look at the view. He wished he had spent more time appreciating it, but Sebastian hadn't been lying when he said he was good at being a distraction. Ciel tore his eyes from the city. The view wouldn't be much of a consolation if his father found out he was absent from school. Up here, away from the rest of the world, it was easy to forget just how severe the repercussions would be if they were discovered. Judging by the car he drove it wouldn't hurt Sebastian all that badly if he was fired, but Ciel still didn't want that to happen. He also didn't think he could bear the looks of anger and disappointment he would get from his parents for skipping school to spend time with an employee of his father's, who happened to be too old for him. He shuddered at the thought as they pulled away from the bridge.

They were almost back to the coffee shop when Sebastian's phone went off. He tapped the screen and put it to his ear. "Hello?"

Ciel heard a shrill voice on the other end. "Don't 'hello' me, where the hell are you?"

"Late?" For the first time, he saw fear in Sebastian's eyes and heard a placating tone in his voice.

He couldn't make out what else was said, but Sebastian was cringing as his ear was yelled into. "I know, love, I'm sorry." Ciel's eyebrows shot up. The pet name seemed to soothe the caller, who quit shouting as far as he could tell. Sebastian sighed as he put the car in park. "I'll see you soon."

As soon as he hung up Ciel had to ask, "Who was that?"

"Grelle."

"Is she your girlfriend?"

Sebastian smirked. "You sound jealous."

"No, I am merely asking so we can rework our agreement if she is, because I will not be exclusive to you if you have a significant other. I won't be fraternizing with you at all. I'm not a homewrecker, I do have class you know."

"Are you done?"

Ciel deflated. "Yes."

"Grelle is my roommate, and yes, I love her but not in the way you seem to think I do. She's just angry because we were supposed to have an early dinner."

Ciel wasn't angry, per say, but he was confused. He tried to imagine two people who were that attractive living together and nothing happening between them. He knew he couldn't ask as many questions as he wanted to because he had to get back to school, but he swallowed his pride long enough to ask, "How do you love her, then?"

"She's been my best friend since she transferred into Weston. I moved her here with me when I left London."

"I know all about that. I'm the same way with...oh, God."

Sebastian looked over after he hit the button to open the doors. "What?"

"Alois! He's into so much trouble I kind of assumed he wouldn't say anything if I skipped school, but I forgot to tell him I was going to. The paranoid bastard might have put out a missing person's report by now." Ciel yanked his messenger bag onto his shoulder and almost lost his footing trying to get out of the car.

Sebastian chuckled. "I'm sure you'll be fine. I suppose I will hear from you next time you get bored."

He caught Ciel's wrist and pulled him back into the car for a final kiss. Ciel let himself enjoy it for as long as he could before he got out onto the sidewalk. His lips tingled long after the McLaren pulled away, and he was wrought with both excitement and panic on the walk back to school. He was almost running by the time he was within a block of the building. The last bell hadn't rung yet, but he doubted Alois was inside. He began to check the usual hideouts while he still had time.

Right before the bell rang he saw a wisp of smoke rise from behind the school greenhouse. He ran over, panting from his efforts, and stopped in front of Alois. "Hey."

Alois lowered his cigarette and blew out another cloud of smoke. "Hey?"

Ugh. This must have been how Sebastian felt when Grelle called. "Look, I know I have some explaining to do."

"For being a selfish tart?"

"Yeah, that. I'm sorry I didn't tell you I was skipping-"

"I would have gone with you!"

"You couldn't have."

Alois took the last drag of his cigarette and forgot his anger long enough to look Ciel up and down. His smirk grew bigger the longer he looked. "Might want to fix your shirt before old man Tanaka gets here."

Ciel hastily buttoned and fixed his tie. "Come on, I'll explain on the way to the car."

"I'm still mad at you."

"You took off on my birthday to go dance with a bunch of strange men, I'd say we're even now."

Alois raised his hands in surrender as they crossed the grounds. Ciel was grateful for the identically dressed students around him as he made his way to the curb, as he needed to avoid questions from his teachers. He already had to hope they wouldn't call his parents to ask why he wasn't in school. Maybe since he was such a good student, they would leave it alone. He kept his fingers crossed for that as he relayed his situation to Alois in the briefest, least embarrassing way possible. He expected Alois to demand all the perverted details but he was surprised to find a look of humorless concern on his friend's face.

Before they reached the car, Alois asked, "I know this sounds crazy coming from me, but this sounds like trouble."

Ciel kept his voice low as they came within earshot of Tanaka. "It probably is."