Ciel seemed, truly, fully unbothered that he spent so much time around a demon, only ever learning things from him that he shouldn't have. Sebastian was trying to keep the young man's attention during a particularly dull grammar lesson when he suddenly found himself catching a knife that had been launched at him with too much dexterity for a human.
He lowered the textbook he was holding to see Ciel diligently copying down rules, though he was clearly trying to hide a smile.
He placed the knife on the table carefully, knowing it also meant that Ciel had been back down to see Bard since last week.
"I thought you didn't hate me." Sebastian said coolly, and Ciel's sweetly mischievous smile broke open.
"I knew you would be able to catch it. It's all about the way you flick your wrist, isn't it?" Ciel asked, resting his chin on his hand as he smiled up at Sebastian.
Sebastian realized, perhaps too quickly and also not quickly enough, that Ciel was wearing a wine-red jacket with a scarlet vest, a simply ravishing color on him that he only wore once a year.
"Have you already visited Angelina?" Sebastian asked casually, adjusting the textbook again.
"I actually had hoped you would come with me, if it's not an inconvenience. There's something that doesn't settle with me about visiting the grave of a woman I killed who also happened to be my mother's sister."
Ciel explained soberly, previous energy lost.
"It was self-defense, Ciel. You did what you had to."
"The first shot." Ciel responded, only realizing it was inappropriate after saying it.
He shifted awkwardly and dropped his eyes back to his notebook.
"I would be glad to accompany you, Ciel." Sebastian told him gently, then lifted the textbook once more and continued.
The cemetery was empty; considering that it was a warm, even humid, and overcast spring day, Sebastian couldn't have been surprised.
He followed Ciel at a respectful distance as the young man picked his way through the stones, careful of the roses he had picked himself.
He knelt down and arranged them, right on top of the dried-up skeletons of the roses from all the years prior.
Ciel lifted a single branch of baby's breath from his pocket and nestled it amongst the rose blooms.
"Aunt Ann," He said quietly, "I promise, your child was never unmourned. Know that one day I will get to meet my cousin, know that Rachel has. I look forward to the day I'll see them both."
Ciel had said it very quietly, no doubt not wanting Sebastian to hear, and leaned forward to gently kiss the smooth marble.
"One day may be sooner than you think, little bitch. Oh, how I wanted to take you with me at the same time!"
Ciel startled and jerked away from the headstone.
A familiar man with bloody-red hair leaned over the other side of it, grinning stupidly with a wide mouth of sharp and uneven teeth.
He looked up to Sebastian and fluttered his eyelashes.
"For the love of God, Grell, hunt down some other teenager who killed your killer. I don't want to deal with you." Ciel snapped carelessly, standing and turning away from the reaper. Sebastian didn't bother to mention that Ciel probably knew what Grell was.
"Ohoho, I'm not here for you, little bitch~ though goodness, you would be so fun to tear apart~"
Grell straightened, turning to Sebastian again.
"Really, demon, I-er, hey!"
In the time it had took for Grell to stand all the way and threaten Ciel, Ciel had turned away and joined Sebastian, and they were walking out of the cemetery without sparing a second glance.
"Is he why you wanted me to join you?" Sebastian asked as he closed to gate to the manor.
Ciel rubbed his temple with a sigh.
"No, he hasn't been there for a few years...I really did just want to spend some time with you." Ciel said innocently, unaware of how it made Sebastian stiffen.
Rather than head towards the front doors, Ciel turned towards the rose garden again.
"Want to come see the new blooms with me?" He asked Sebastian, and Sebastian, willing to leave the ordeal in the cemetery behind, followed gladly.
"I don't understand why all these other races are so obsessed with humans." Ciel remarked quietly, though, considering he was walking arm-in-arm with Sebastian, he wasn't too worried about it. He was still very short compared to Sebastian, and couldn't properly lock arms with him, so Sebastian just let his arm hang down and Ciel wrapped around his wrist.
"Well, to me, you're food." Sebastian said honestly, still impressed that Ciel didn't squirm. "And to those like Grell, you're something to play with."
Ciel's blue eyes were clouded slightly, bothered by something else, clearly, though he didn't speak on it.
"I have to wonder if we're things to play with to God, too." Ciel remarked carelessly.
They walked down the path between the rose bushes in silence for a few paces, until Ciel paused.
"Look," he said, "this one is white."
Sebastian turned, and sure enough, there was a single white blossom near Ciel's hip.
Ciel reached out and cupped it delicately, arm leaving Sebastian's.
"How strange," he said, "that a single white bloom can grow out of an entire bush of red."
Sebastian looked down at Ciel, a blue-and-gray young man wearing a red vest and jacket, when overhead, thunder rumbled, and suddenly the clouds split open and rain poured down.
Ciel gave a short sound of surprise and grabbed Sebastian's hand, pulling him towards the manor.
There were no doors along this side of the manor, Sebastian and Ciel both knew, but Ciel pulled Sebastian towards it anyway.
"Father never locks his study window!" Ciel cried, having to shout just to be heard over the sudden torrent of rain, and Sebastian pulled Ciel's hand back. He lifted the young man easily, bracing him against his chest, and swept to the window in question all before Ciel had the time to react.
Ciel seemed surprised, but laughed, water from his hair dripping down his chin, and he pulled the window out.
Sebastian lifted Ciel through, and failed to not chuckle when Ciel offered him his hand.
Sebastian didn't need it, but he took it anyway, Ciel's small fingers flexing against Sebastian's wrist.
The din of the rain fell quiet as soon as Sebastian pulled the window closed again, replaced instead with Ciel's breathless laughter and the dripping of water from their clothes.
"That came out of nowhere!" Ciel laughed, still holding Sebastian's gloved hand.
Or was Sebastian holding his?
The young Phantomhive sighed airily, swiping his hair off his forehead and pulling at his tie with his free hand.
"I thought you could sense that kind of stuff." Ciel said idly, not noticing that Sebastian's attention was pulled towards the few inches of neck Ciel had exposed.
"How so?" Sebastian asked, stepping closer as Ciel sat on his father's desk, letting go of Sebastian's hand to pull his wet jacket off, quickly soaking the vest and shirt underneath. Wet fabric clung to Ciel, and he shivered.
Sebastian, uncaring of the rain seeping into his own clothes, reached up to wring water out of his hair.
"You always manage to have an umbrella on days when Father will need one!" Ciel accused halfheartedly, reaching up and tugging Sebastian's collar upright, away from where it was no doubt letting rain reach his own shirt. In doing so, Ciel tugged Sebastian closer, making him lean down slightly, and Sebastian was aware of how quickly Ciel was breathing, utterly winded after the apparent exhilaration of sudden rain.
"That's just thinking ahead." Sebastian explained innocently.
Ciel gave a throaty little laugh and held Sebastian's chin with his fingertips, brushing a raindrop off Sebastian's cheek.
Ciel's cheeks flushed slightly, and he looked towards the ground.
Sebastian stayed still, confused for only half a moment. Oh.
Ciel was waiting for him to move next.
Sebastian smiled darkly. How could he resist such a sweet temptation?
He closed his hand around Ciel's and pulled it over his shoulder, reaching out and taking Ciel's waist.
He tugged him to the edge of the desk, lifted his chin up gently, and leaned in.
He paused.
Ciel, noticing, opened his eyes.
Sebastian swallowed heavily, standing slowly, and Ciel, slowly realizing, turned towards the door.
Vincent Phantomhive held the door handle in one white-knuckled fist, a handful of files in the other.
He struggled in a heavy breath, stalking into the room silently.
Ciel stood, lithely, gathering his jacket.
"Fathe-"
"-Sebastian, you are hereby forbidden from touching my son. You may never lay a hand on him. That's an order."
Sebastian felt like he was watching through a tube, and stood still and silent as he tried to process.
"Fath-"
"-Ciel, go and put on dry clothes. You'll catch a cold."
Ciel made to protest, but his father gave him a lethally dangerous look, and Ciel backed away, eyes flirting from one man to the other before finally leaving obediently.
"That was an order, Sebastian." Vincent snarled.
"Yes, my lord." Sebastian managed weakly.
"He is a teenager, you perverted bastard, you couldn't possibly think-"
"-My lord, you had him engaged when he was six. Anyway, I am older than anything that still stands; the Queen is as much a child to me as Ciel is an adult." Sebastian responded coolly.
"You are filthy, what were you trying to do? My son is soon to be an Earl, do you know what kind of scandal you could have caused? What were you even hoping to accomplish, you sick, depraved-"
"-My lord, Ciel invited me to. He knows fully what he is doing."
"You are a monster." Vincent finally unleashed, slamming his files onto the desk. "You aren't even human, how dare you think you could take advantage of him, too innocent to-"
"-He knows, my lord." Sebastian finally murmured.
Vincent froze.
"What?"
"He knows what I am. And why I'm here. He has for a long while."
Vincent paled, swallowing heavily.
He knows, and he doesn't care.
"Get out of my sight." Vincent snapped weakly. "I can't bear to look at you."
Sebastian obeyed dutifully.