Ciel had decided he wanted to cook dinner.

What had caused such a decision was beyond Sebastian but he wasn't going to argue with the young demon for fear of being made to prepare dinner himself and, after the pounding he just took only half an hour ago, he really couldn't be bothered to do much more than pull on a pair of jeans.

Humming a tune Sebastian recognised as Katy Perry's 'Teenage Dream', Ciel grabbed the frying pan and turned to Sebastian. "We're going to need a couple of things." he said. "Mind going out and getting them?"

Sebastian frowned.

What are you plotting, young one?

Ciel pulled Sebastian to his feet. "I order you," Ciel said kissing the elder demon's chest. Sebastian groaned. The master knew that the elder couldn't resist obeying a direct order. "Get me a Christmas tree."

A . . .?

"A what?"

"A Christmas tree." Ciel repeated with all the enthusiasm of a child. "And decorations."

Ciel. . . ?

"But you hate. . ." Sebastian was silenced when Ciel pushed him back on the sofa and kissed him slowly.

"Are you disobeying an order, Sebastian?" there was mischief in those mismatched eyes of mauve and cobalt. Sebastian shook his head and continued to kiss his young lover. "Then get dress properly and get going."

The elder let out a sigh before grabbing his clothes off the floor and pulling them on along with his socks and trainers. "I'll be half an hour." Sebastian promised before grabbing his coat and heading out.

Making sure that Sebastian had gone, Ciel grabbed Sebastian's forgotten mobile (cell phone for you Americans) and dialled Grell's number.

'Sebastian?'

"No, Grell. It's Ciel." the once-earl said. "I need a favour."

'Oh?'

"I need to get Sebastian a Christmas present and. . ."

'Say no more. I have the perfect thing.'

"I was hoping you'd say that."

Ciel was bizarrely cheery through the next two days leading up to Christmas eve.

The elder demon knew that the young master had hated the very mention of Christmas and anything to do with it and yet, here they were, in a flat ornamented with Christmas decorations, with Ciel's whistles of Christmas tunes and bright smiles.

The only plausible conclusion Sebastian could come up with to explain the young one's oddly optimistic attitude was that the little devil was plotting something. Something he wasn't telling Sebastian about and that worried the elder demon.

He was only half right.

Ciel had become a little more confidant about Sebastian keeping his word and staying since he over heard the elder demon's confession to the redheaded former pain in the rear. The knowledge that Sebastian was just as insecure and as frightened as the young one was had done something to the young demon.

Ciel felt safer.

Christmas morning and Sebastian awoke to find the room absent of his young lover and present of a small parcel lying on his pillow. Curious, Sebastian couldn't stop himself from opening it.

It was a set of keys that rested familiarly on Sebastian's hand as if he had held them before or, at least, held a set similar to these.

The demon got off the bed and dressed.

A sudden knock came at the front door. Sebastian wasted no timing in opening it to find a tall man with a dark complexion against pale skin. "Zeno." Sebastian growled remembering it was he who had silently given the order to snatch the young lord away from him.

"Yes." Zeno said. "Your master is waiting for you. If you would follow me. . . ?" Sebastian didn't move. "yes, the King demonling foresaw this. He also said that, if this be the case, I could 'drag you kicking and screaming if need be'."

That pulled a smile out of the younger of the two demons. "yes, that sounds like my young master." he agreed. "Alright, I'll come quietly. Let me get something on my feet."

"Don't forget the keys." Zeno reminded the younger.

Something was going on, Sebastian decided. It wasn't like Ciel to be so secretive.

Not from Sebastian so. . .

What on earth was going on?

And what was with getting others to do the young master's dirty work?

That wasn't like the Ciel he knew now.

Perhaps some of the earl was still there, buried under all that insecurity and tender-heartedness.

Sebastian followed Zeno to a car waiting outside the block of flats, which were more like hotels to be honest.

The two demons got in and the oldest started the car.

"Where are you taking me?" Sebastian asked.

"You don't need to know."

Hours.

That's how long it took for them to reach their destination. It was getting dark by the time they pulled up outside an oddly familiar mansion. Sebastian didn't recognise it at first. The once neat gardens had grown wild over the decades, windows were bordered up and unfinished work on the manor rendered some quarters useless but, over looking all that as well as the ivy vines crawling up the side of the mansion, Sebastian recognized the old Phantomhive Estate.

Sebastian gasped and heard Zeno chuckle softly. "At the young Phoenix's request, we're installing modern updates such as modern plumbing, modern electricity and we're also patching up the parts of the estate that has fallen apart." Zeno told the eternal butler.

"Why?" Sebastian asked.

Zeno laughed. "Because he asked us to."

"Asked?"

That doesn't sound much like Ciel. . .

"Yes, that's one of his many admirable qualities." Zeno said. "His majesty doesn't demand like many of the demon lords in our realm. He asks and, if we say no, he doesn't press us any further. He offers payment too but some of us find ourselves unable to take his money."

Are we even speaking of the same person?

Sebastian frowned. "Why?" he repeated.

Zeno looked at Sebastian. "He is. . .honourable."

Now that sounds like Ciel. . .

"The keys to the mansion are on the key set you were given."

Sebastian gave the other demon a curt, polite nod before getting out of the car and making his way to the steps of the old manor. A sense of déjà vu almost overwhelmed Sebastian as, for the first time in over a hundred and twenty two years, he entered the Phantomhive manor.

"Finally." came the impatient sigh of the master of the household.

Sebastian smiled at the contrast of the old fashioned hall and the young demon dressed in jeans.

"My young lord." the former butler said with a bow.

A tender smile lit up the young master's visible eye.