A/N: Alright, dears, this is an unbeta'd chapter because I just crushed my writer's block half an hour ago (Yeah, me likes to keep my deadlines XD). I'm going to upload a beta'd version with the next chapters. You might want to look out for changes in this one when the next chapter's out.

Disclaimer: Do not own and never will.

Chapter 4

If Sebastian has intended to avoid Grell for the rest of the day, it doesn't happen. The nurse waits for him by a patient's room, having a one-sided glaring match with Ciel who has reverted to ignoring the reaper, and as soon as Sebastian exits the room Grell hugs his arm, pressing his body against the doctor's limb. The redhead is still wearing that white dress.

"Sebastian, we need to talk immediately."

"I refuse if it has to do with weddings," Sebastian answers. Ciel has put away the comic he's been reading for show (or maybe because he's genuinely interested?) and is now watching them with a mixture of disdain and interest.

"As much as I'd like to discuss our romantic relationship, we've got other things at hand." Grell's gaze wanders over to Ciel. "Things that, unfortunately, are of higher priority."

The doctor purses his lips. "Alright," he says at last, "let us discuss."

"Not here, Bassy." Grell starts walking away, obviously expecting Sebastian to follow, which the doctor reluctantly does. But the redhead quickly turns around again, lifting a hand. "Stay, boy."

Ciel narrows his eyes.

"He's not a dog, you know?" Sebastian says.

Grell rolls his eyes. "I know that. Come now, my boss is already getting pretty mad at you for being such a magnet."

They find an unoccupied hospital room where the nurse sits down on a plastic-covered bed. Sebastian chooses not to take a seat. Grell crosses his legs rather slowly, his eyes on Sebastian's, and the doctor stubbornly refuses to break the eye contact, lest the nurse (reaper) think something inappropriate. "We don't have to talk yet. You know, me, you, a bed…"

"I'm not interested," Sebastian deadpans.

Grell rolls his eyes. "Your loss, really."

"You wanted to talk to me? Do it before I leave this room. I have got patients to look after."

It doesn't take very long for Grell to focus on business. Sebastian is glad about that; he doubts he can take the nurse's incessant flirting any more. "You know about him."

There is no nee din playing dumb. Sebastian nods.

"You… know about me?"

"I heard that you were a reaper."

"And a very good one at that!" Grell suddenly exclaims self-confidentially and grins to show a very… sharp row of teeth.

Sebastian recoils slightly. How come he's never seen them before?

"If you know that this is a demon, you will also know what it desires," Grell continues, flicking his ponytail behind his shoulder. "I cannot allow this. The demon must go."

"How do you intend to accomplish this?" Sebastian asks.

"Tell him no. If that doesn't work," Grell adds when Sebastian snorts, "I'm there to chase him away. Or cut him up. Whatever comes first. Before he does it to you."

"He wouldn't do that to me," Sebastian says. "It's against his aesthetics. As long as I don't form a contract with him, he's harmless."

"Harmless!" Grell huffs in indignation. "He's as harmless as I am tame. This isn't any demon, no less."

Sebastian smirks. "I know."

"He needs to be taken care of." Grell gets up from the bed. "I wanted to inform you of this. As a member of the Dispatch Society, I don't need your consent to get the demon away from you. It is for your own good; humans tend to forget their own wellbeing sometimes. Don't form a contract with him, no matter how harmless he looks. It's dangerous."

Sebastian has lost his smirk by now. He can't say why, but the thought of having to part from Ciel doesn't sit well with him. It is as if somebody intends to steal this great chunk of possibilities from him. He knows he can use Ciel to his own gain.

He also knows he will never act upon this selfish intention.

He doesn't know why he wants the demon to stay.

"I'll keep it in mind," he says. "But I'd like for you to leave the demon to me."

Grell grins. "It doesn't work that way. Don't tell me how to do my job, sweetheart. I'm one of those who will guide your soul to rest. I don't feel like losing it to a demon child."

"Who said I'll ever form a contract?" Sebastian asks.

The grin is wiped off of Grell's face in an instant. "Wait, what?" He scrunches up his face in confusion. "Sebby, what is the meaning of this? Are you aware of what you're doing? He'll sway you!"

But Sebastian is leaving the room already. He can't stay any longer and as he walks away he becomes aware of this burning sensation inside his chest, scalding and painful, and he can't tell why he's so incredibly furious.

When he rounds a corner, he finds Ciel where he's been left. The demon boy sits primly in his seat, looking at the comic in his hands in polite interest. His gaze lifts and meets Sebastian's and the doctor feels that his fury is slowly subsiding. Instead he wants to laugh, until he cries, until his stomach hurts, until he's breathless, because his life has just been turned upside-down in less than forty-eight hours and it's absolutely pathetic.

"Let's go home," he says.

Ciel blinks. "Your day isn't over yet." He at least has enough sense not to question Sebastian's choice of words. 'Home' must be a new concept to him anyway.

"Angelina will understand that I'm not feeling well." Sebastian might just have to pull the 'favourite' card but it's better than nothing.

Ciel gets up, slides his hand into Sebastian's. "If you say so."

OOO

The first thing he does that evening is call Claude. It's a funny thing, he thinks as he looks into the contacts saved in his phone, because Claude's number is there: home, mobile one, mobile two, even his manager's number. Sebastian stares at the digits in bewilderment, unable to tell when exactly he'd saved those numbers in his phone. But there they are, and all he can do is dial the number beneath 'Mobile one' for now.

Claude answers after the third dial tone. "What a surprise, little brother." It's hard to tell whether he's honestly surprised or not because right now, he just sounds tired.

That's what he wanted, right? Being a celebrity has its dark sides. Sebastian can't keep the snort to himself. "Hello to you too."

"Why are you calling? There are no relatives that could have died."

"There are no deaths. We need to talk."

"That's something new." Claude gives a low 'oof' and there is more rustling on the other side. "What do you want to talk about?"

"Who is it?" a young voice murmurs. It remains unknown whether Claude gives his young guard an answer or not.

"About your contract," Sebastian says with a straight face. He sees Ciel coming from the kitchen with a poison green apple and waves the demon closer. It's crazy how casually he is interacting with the supernatural creature and he thinks that something must be terribly wrong with him. On the other hand, Ciel is so innocent in this world. While Sebastian does not know what the demon might have seen in his world, he can't help but find the creature's lack of knowledge incredibly adorable. He takes the apple, polishes it with the sleeve of his cardigan as he balances the phone on his shoulder and hands it back to the boy. Ciel sniffs again before he takes a tentative bite.

Claude has been silent for quite a while now, but it seems as if he's finally found his words again. "What contract?"

"That contract, Claude. I know about them. In fact, there's one sitting next to me. Want to say hello?"

"No," Claude replies icily. The tiredness is gone. "Why have you got one? You shouldn't-"

"It's none of your business, brother." Sebastian can't help but wonder. Could it be that Claude is concerned?...

He snorts to himself. Of course. Claude would choke himself before even thinking about being concerned.

"My, ah, contractor would like to meet yours." He regards Ciel as the young demon pulls a face around the piece of apple in his mouth. The boy gives him the fruit and moves to spit out what's in his mouth, but a stern look from Sebastian causes him to keep it in.

"Why?"

"I don't know, some kind of marking their territories? How can I know what they're going to do?"

There is a drawn sigh from the celebrity and Sebastian can hear the young voice murmuring again, almost as if chanting: "Oh, come on, Claude, it would be fun. Say yes, Claude, please say yes. It's important to meet your rival, don't you think? I want to meet them. Don't worry about me, I can crush them. Claude, we should meet them."

"… Alright," Claude finally says, surrendering to the soft chants and Alois giggles happily in the background. There is the sound of a kiss, and Sebastian frowns.

"So, it's Alois?" he asks, taking a bite of the apple. He's careful not to touch the place that Ciel has eaten from. While he doesn't fear the demon's actions, he doesn't know whether demon salvia is something dangerous or not. He probably should have asked, but Ciel is already interested in other things, so Sebastian feels alright with eating the apple. He can imagine that Ciel wouldn't try to switch on his TV if a human was about to be poisoned.

A pause. "Yes, it's him."

Sebastian hums. "I don't know what to say."

"Then you might want to keep quiet."

"Come to my place," Sebastian tells him. "Whenever you're free."

"I will," Claude says.

Sebastian hangs up after a short goodbye, finishes most of the apple and then throws it away. "Are you happy now?" he asks. "My brother will be coming over with his demon."

"Very happy," Ciel tells him blandly from where he's standing by the TV. "I'll tell the demon to stay away from you…. Now how do you switch this on?"

Sebastian takes the remote control and presses the power button.

Nothing happens.

The doctor frowns, trying it again.

Nothing.

"Okay, what did you do?" he asks the demon.

Ciel just looks at him. "What makes you think I did something?"

Sebastian joins him by the TV and looks behind it. There is a mess of severed cables and bits of isolation and the doctor purses his lips at the sight. "You are going to stay away from electronic devices, you hear me?"

"Maybe," Ciel replies haughtily.

Sebastian is having a headache by now.

OOO

In the course of the week, Ciel has acquired this nasty habit of wandering around at ungodly hours, snooping around Sebastian's things, clattering pots and pans, opening and closing the fridge, switching lights on and off as well as the shower. Sebastian understands that the boy most likely is bored out of his wits but being a light sleeper, this is keeping him from his much-needed rest. The quick taptaptap of small feet hitting the floor at night is all it takes to stir him from his slumber. It doesn't even matter whether his bedroom door is closed or not, because as soon as the pots clatter, he's up and out of his bed, shooing the boy back into the guest room.

And while he complains about the boy making too much of a racket, he can't help but wonder whether Ciel is starting to do it on purpose. So on a particularly loud night, Sebastian lifts the demon into his arms, drops him on the bed in the guest room and takes a seat in the chair by the window, watching the boy as he glowers at his host. "What is it that you want?" Sebastian asks. "You know you can't force me into a contract by sleep deprivation."

"I'm hungry," the boy says.

"Then eat something-" The doctor stops. He clears his throat. "I'm not going to form a contract with you. There is nothing that I want enough to sell my soul."

"There must be."

"I wouldn't let you eat me anyway. This might sound strange in your ears, but the thought of you gnawing on my bones unsettles me slightly."

"I'm only eating your soul," Ciel says with a frown. "It doesn't take much more than lip contact. But I suppose I could eat your heart."

Sebastian huffs. "Nice try. But no, I'm afraid I must decline."

"What a shame," Ciel says.

"Indeed." Sebastian smiles at him. He folds his hands in his lap and regards the demon with new interest. Now that he's here ,at night and with sleep far away, he figures he can indulge his interests a little. "Tell me, what can you do?"

"What do you mean?" Ciel asks. His pale features are enlightened by moonlight (but also streetlights) pouring into the room.

"With your body. As a demon in general, what can you do?"

Ciel smirks at him and rolls onto his stomach, watching Sebastian almost playfully from where he is lying. "I can do many things."

Sebastian hums noncommittally, trying to hide his obvious interest. "Well, show me something."

He holds in breath in shock when the sudden ripping of fabric is heard. There is motion above Ciel, rustling, but Sebastian can't see much in the half-darkness. He reaches to his side, switching on the light in the room and feels his jaw drop.

They are of the deepest black he's ever seen, contrasting sharply with the white fabric hanging of Ciel's frail shoulders: Wings, as high as the boy is tall, looming over the now sitting figure. Ciel's eyes have lost their shade of sky blue and are of a faintly glowing red. Without asking, Sebastian gets up, walks over to the boy and touches the feathers. He is intrigued, if not from a scientific point of view. Ciel lets him brush his hand over the feathers without making a sound. It only occurs to Sebastian that this might be an intimate act, but when he looks at Ciel, the boy seems bored.

"What else can you do?" he asks.

The boy's wings disappear into his back with the sickening crunch of breaking bones, and Sebastian fights the urge to actually check the area to make sure that nothing happened. Ciel takes his hand and closes his eyes. Sebastian is startled when the scent of fresh grass washes over him, and then he feels an actual breeze hitting his back. He turns around, confused. A large field lies in front of him the sky is stretched out above his head, as blue as Ciel's eyes. There are two young boys running around, one chasing the other.

It's Claude and himself.

Sebastian's younger version looks happy as he runs away from his brother. Claude huffs with a smile on his lips, following his brother. Sebastian remembers that the older sibling used to be sick all the time when they had been children, turning simple events like playing catch into a rarity. He thinks of how Claude used to play the piano even when he was sick and weak from having beaten the latest fever, how Sebastian himself sat next to him on the piano bench without a worry about getting sick, too (he never did) and the picture shifts to Claude sitting in front of his piano, smiling into the camera on his birthday. Sebastian is standing next to his parents, grinning from ear to ear when Claude gets him and lifts him up to sit on his lap. The real Sebastian frowns and looks to where he suspects Ciel to be, but the demon boy is nowhere to be seen and he realises that he can't feel the warmth of the child's hand on his own.

The picture shifts again and the boys have grown into adolescents. Claude and Sebastian both play the violin, but being three years older and with Sebastian's disinterest in music until he was eight, Claude has around eight years' worth of experience that the younger brother lacks.

They must be around fifteen and eighteen in this scene. Claude is going to finish school soon and leave home to study music. Sebastian faintly remembers that their relationship had been off for years now. The whole thing had started with something trivial: Their voices. But Sebastian suspects that the problems had always been there. Their musical ability had just been another trigger.

Claude scowls in displeasure as they play the duet, as Sebastian is trying hard to keep up with him. Their parents will be listening this evening, and young Sebastian is stressed by trying to impress them.

'You know that this is played at a faster pace, don't you?' Claude suddenly asks. 'You'll be having problems if you don't concentrate.'

Sebastian stops playing and casts his bother a dark look. When he drops both the violin and the bow, Claude winces but not because of his brother's anger. He of course, is more concerned about the violin and as Sebastian rushes out of the room, Claude bends to pick it up, inspecting it thoroughly.

Pictures of them yelling at each other surface from this moment onward, and Sebastian remebers that he hasn't touched a violin since then.

"Stop that," Sebastian says loud and clear. "Ciel, stop looking into my head."

The images end so abruptly that Sebastian finds himself breathless at the sudden loss. A splitting headache emerges and he groans, pressing his fingers into his temples. The back of one hand is uncomfortably cool because of the loss of Ciel's warmth. Sebastian doesn't want to think about it. "Never do that again, you hear me? Never."

"No need to get angry," the boy says, "although I find myself intrigued. What happened between the two of you?"

Sebastian groans. "Nothing. It's just bad chemistry between us."

"Sure," Ciel says, sounding unconvinced.

Sebastian doesn't feel the need to explain himself to a demon and so he doesn't. "Do try to stay quiet at night," he murmurs and leaves the guest room to spend the rest of the night wide awake in his own bed

So far so good for this week! I'll see you in the next chapter. Don't forget to review. I always read your reviews even if I sometimes fail to reply.

And if you've got free time at hand and like plots with a nice side dish of twistedness, you might want to check out my modern artist AU fic 'Crescendo' which is a Sebastian/Ciel story.