A/N: Sorry for the very long wait! I actually intended to take a veeeeeery long pause from writing fic, but I can't just leave an unfinished one like this, especially since I've got it more or less planned out in my head.

This chapter is unbeta'd, because the inspiration for the end of this chapter just came to me after it's been sitting around for something like five months. Hopefully there are not too many mistakes. I can't promise regular updates, but the next chapters should be beta'd again :)

Enjoy!

Chapter 5

One day, they find themselves in the human's car, stuck in what Sebastian calls a 'traffic jam'. While the doctor is silently seething, Ciel wonders how he doesn't seem affected by this day's main event: Somebody passed away on the operation table. There has been a strange atmosphere around the doctors today. Has this happened before? Ciel is sure he heard the redheaded female mutter something like 'Not again.'

Whatever the reason for the mood, Sebastian has yet to bat an eyelash for the dead patient and the doctor who'd lost him. Ciel finds this vaguely amusing.

"Doctors help people," he says.

The man blinks, his eyes still set on the road as if it would make the cars move quicker, but Ciel has his attention. "Yes."

The demon boy nods carefully, looking at his black nails. "You don't strike me as the type to help."

"But I'm doing it, am I not?" Sebastian counters. He briefly looks at Ciel and then back at the street. "It's a family tradition. I'm just following in my father's footsteps because Claude found that his own interest were more relevant than tradition."

Ah, that Claude again. "What would you have wanted to become if not a doctor?" Ciel asks.

"A musician," Sebastian answers after a considerable pause.

This is where Ciel falls silent. He doesn't suggest forming a contract and doesn't comment on how Sebastian sneers and suddenly switches off the radio as if it was an annoying insect that needs to be squashed. But, he thinks, maybe the voice he just heard sounded similar to Sebastian's. He doesn't ask about this, either, because he feels that this isn't the right moment to prod.

(Whenever did he start considering a human's feelings?)

The silence isn't very comfortable, even the young demon realises that, but he has no talent when it comes to conversation. Some demonic traits are there, some must be acquired, and some are there but one must learn how to use them properly. It seems that Ciel has encountered an awful lot of situations to which the last applies.

When they get out of the car and take the stairs to Sebastian's flat, Ciel suddenly feels that something is amiss. There is a supernatural creature that doesn't care about being caught. Could it be the demon?

Ciel feels a strange emotion rising inside him that makes him restless. His heart, while technically speaking just a fake, is beating rather fast, and he frowns at the processes in his body that he does not and maybe does not want to understand. He taps his fingers against the side of his upper thigh, watching Sebastian's back as the doctor climbs the stairs in front of him. It's funny how he doesn't seem to mind too much about this: Turning his back to a demon. Ciel wonders if he really appears that harmless. He almost feels insulted, but then again, the human seems pretty daft anyway: He doesn't recognise a high status when it stands in front of him and doesn't really understand that Lucifer himself is just a few strings away that wait to be pulled. Those strings are Ciel's father.

Not that Sebastian cares, really.

Ciel almost rolls his eyes at this. "They are here," is what comes out of his mouth instead, and that is where Sebastian stops and turns around to look at the demon boy as if he has never seen him before. Lost in thought? Ciel wants to know what's inside this man's head.

Sebastian blinks a few times and seems to snap out of it. "Are they now?" he mutters darkly. He approaches Ciel and rests his hand between the boy's shoulder blades. "Since you're royalty in your world, I hope I am correct when I assume that you're the stronger one?"

Ciel grimaces. "Strength depends on age and on how much of it you were born with."

"Great. Finish that kid off."

"Kid?" Ciel repeats. "The demon is a child?"

"Much like you," Sebastian replies. They are speaking in low tones, the taller one's head bowed while the younger one stares up at him. "Though he's been around for almost eight years."

Ciel grimaces. He does not want that beast to touch Sebastian, but he also knows that he might be at a disadvantage should the other demon choose to attack. And since they are demons, he just might, seeing that Ciel is likely to have the higher rank which is wanted among lower-ranked. And if Ciel is defeated in battle, the other demon has the 'right' to replace Ciel and his parents wouldn't even mind.

"Appearances can also deceive," he murmurs. "Demons aren't necessarily children just because they look young."

Sebastian hums noncommittally as they reach the top of the stairs. The stench of another demon in the building intensifies and Ciel wrinkles his nose in distaste. Clearly, he can smell pheromones.

They round a corner that leads them right to Sebastian's flat and Ciel freezes when he sees the pair: On the surface, the raven-haired man is very similar to Sebastian, but that is where the similarities end. He stinks of slimy greed and the sharp tang of… Ciel halts. No, that can't be right.

The demon is a boy with a cherubic face twisted into ugly rage. He has a most interesting sense of fashion, Ciel notices. This can't be clothes on his body, can they? Whatever they are, it doesn't matter, because the older demon begins hissing loudly, a sound that Ciel is very much used to. Many demons have challenged his father to a duel while he watched. Funny how it has never been one of the counsellor's own people, but that seems to be another story in itself.

Ciel doesn't give an answer to the hiss. Both humans are staring at the blond boy now who is slowly approaching Ciel, and the higher-ranked demon pushes Sebastian to the side. That boy hisses again, loudly, rudely, and by now he has grown fangs and part of his face is covered in scales. Blue eyes flash red and that is when Ciel lunges. The older demon, too caught up in the process of threatening, stumbles to the ground with Ciel on top of him. That's what he gets for his theatrics. Ciel is more the practical one, and even though his father taught him to never be the first to strike, the opportunity was too good to pass up.

They snarl and slash at each other, a tangle of children's limbs on the floor, until someone suddenly lifts Ciel from Alois. The young demon immediately calms down, hoping that he's proven a point now. He's his father's son, and he will do his best to stay that way.

"Didn't strike you as the hands-on type," Sebastian murmurs, still holding Ciel by his collar.

"Shut up," Ciel snarls. Suddenly it's embarrassing to have a mortal speak to him in such a way when he isn't even contracted.

"So you're the counsellor's pup, huh?" the blond demon sneers, getting up and licking the blood from his split lip.

Ciel doesn't answer.

"It's not about you two," Sebastian says into the silence, his voice leaving to opening for a comeback, "it's about me and my brother."

"My brother and me," Claude corrects in a drawl.

Sebastian looks at him as if he might want to strangle him. "Why don't we begin, then?" He points to Alois. "I should have known you were using unfair means to become England's most famous pop star."

"He offered, I accepted," Claude says. "Like you did."

"I didn't," Sebastian says.

Claude looks between Sebastian and Ciel. "You didn't," he repeats. Something in his expressionless face lights up, something that could threaten Ciel's intentions to contract Sebastian, and the young demon fights the urge to attack Claude. He eyes Alois suspiciously, but the blond is sauntering over to the kitchen, climbing on the counter and fetching a cup before expertly pressing buttons on the grey electronic box. Soon the smell that Ciel has come to recognise as 'coffee' fills the room.

"We need to talk," Claude is saying now, frowning. Even though he addresses his brother, he is staring at Ciel.

"Yes, yes I know." Sebastian gestures with mocked politeness. "Do begin."

Claude eyes him for a long moment. "Alois, this is an order."

At this, the blond demon stiffens slightly, the force of the contract taking over, waiting for what needs to be done.

"While I speak to my brother, I expect you to stay out of hearing range. You will not eavesdrop, you will not try to watch us in any way. You are not to interrupt. Wait until I call you."

"Sure thing, you Highness," Alois chimes. He takes his coffee and leaves the room.

"Ciel," Sebastian begins, "I expect the same of you, even if we are not contracted."

"Would it make you more likely to accept the contract?" Ciel asks. He hates the way Claude smiles at that.

"Why not?" Sebastian shrugs. "You've got a long way to go." He turns to his brother. Ciel takes this as a cue to leave the room.

He has to get out of hearing range. This means that he will have to leave the flat. As he does exactly this, shuffling lazily through the corridor – he doesn't feel like keeping up appearances at the moment, he catches the scent of coffee. Despite his mind telling him not to, he follows the scent to its origins, which would be the cup that Alois is currently holding. The blond demon is leaning against a wall on the other side of the building, which is more than just 'out of hearing range', because not even Ciel could hear the brothers from here, not even if he tried.

"I have laid eyes on this pair first," Alois says. "Way before you. It would be better you left. There are many other souls that you can have, oh mighty son of the Lord Counsellor."

"Do not try to mock me," Ciel warns him. "This human has accepted me already. The deal has already been established."

Alois nods in an indulgent manner. "Of course. And your contract mark is invisible to all the senses."

Ciel has never met a demon who can enrage him so quickly. He locks that emotion away, though, for he doesn't enjoy fighting and it is very clear that Alois wants him to attack. "Who are you anyway to think you have the right to contract two humans at a time?"

"Easy," Alois says. "My human's time is almost over. All I have to do is wait a little longer. And if you must know, I've been very patient so far."

OOO

Not too long ago, Claude has told him that one can never know when they see someone for the last time.

And now he's saying: "The contract will expire in three months."

"And you will die," Sebastian adds.

Claude nods. "I thought you should know."

"I didn't want to know," Sebastian says.

"You wound me." Claude's voice is incredibly bland when he says it. "Alois was just going to help me become famous quickly. I honestly didn't expect the fame to last for so long." He regards the living-room, as if he's searching for something he hasn't noticed yet. "Don't form a contract with the demon."

"I don't intend to."

Claude halts. "Good."

Sebastian smiles tightly. "Give me the date. I'll visit you the day before."

Claude tells him, almost hesitantly, before he tells him. Sebastian is surprised that he feels grateful for this.

They remain silent for maybe half an hour, and that silence feels heavy, but words wouldn't help, either, so they don't even try. Claude getting up signals Sebastian to accompany him to the door. He waits until Claude is happy with his reflection in the mirror by the hallway, and then tells him goodbye by the doorstep. He watches his brother's back, thinking that he isn't angry with him anymore, but he sure as hell isn't sad, either.

When Claude is out of sight, Ciel returns, his face informing Sebastian of the demon's bad mood. It is almost adorable. Just as the boy wants to open his mouth to say something, they hear a loud clatter. Frowning, Sebastian tells Ciel to stay (to which Ciel scowls at him) and follows the sound to its source. What he finds there is box lying on the floor and a man trying to lift it again, with obvious effort. He has long grey hair, and Sebastian first thinks it is an elderly man until the stranger lifts his head to look at him, revealing that he can't be much older than Sebastian himself.

"Hello there~!" The stranger grins at him. He has the most interesting set of eyes that Sebastian has ever seen apart from Ciel's red ones. Those seem just as supernatural as the demon's. "You live here?"

Sebastian nods.

"Well, then hello, neighbour!" The man grins so brightly that Sebastian wonders if it doesn't hurt him.

"Hello," he says, shaking the proffered hand and introducing himself. The other man strangely enough calls himself Undertaker. "You need any help with this?" Sebastian asks politely.

"Nah, it's okay, I'm strong," Undertaker says, holding out a skinny arm. "Just wondering where my flatmate went."

"Right here," somebody says from behind Sebastian, and the doctor whirls around to see a younger man in a hoodie and with a very bad posture looming behind him. He holds out a hand that is covered with dried paint. "Gregory Violet. Pleased to meet you." When he lets go of Sebastian's hand, he turns to Undertaker, who is now carrying the large and heavy-looking box. "There are five more to go." He opens the door for the other man. "Going to take a bath."

"You aren't going to help me?" Undertaker asks in mock exasperation.

"It would just ruin my hands." And with that Gregory enters the flat before Undertaker. The silver-haired man smiles at Sebastian before he vanishes from sight, too. There is a heavy thud as the box is dropped again.

Sebastian takes two steps backwards before he turns and goes back to his own flat.

Don't forget the reviews, so that I know you're still there *coughs* As always, I'm interested in what you think!

I intend to finish this fic, don't worry, but yeah, it will take a while, even though this fic isn't very long (I'm thinking around 10-15 chapters)