Lizzie, Alois and Ciel look over to Sebastian who just smiles broadly at them as he leans over the counter, resting his elbows on the countertop. He watches the three curiously as they turn to each other.
"What's Spears doing here?" Alois asks Ciel who looks back at him nervously.
"I don't – I don't know."
"It doesn't matter why, what matters is that he's here." Lizzie interjects.
Ciel turns back towards Sebastian, who is now busy as he starts to continue the preparations for making breakfast. He takes out a knife from the block next to the refrigerator and sits it down on the wooden chopping board in front.
"Maybe you should put a shirt on?" Ciel suggests to him and Sebastian shrugs as he grabs an onion.
"I don't need a shirt for what I'm doing." He replies flippantly as he tops and tails the vegetable and peels off the coarse brown skin that covers it.
"That's not what I mean."
"Then what do you mean?" He smiles as he keeps his eyes on the task at hand.
"I...um..."
Sebastian snorts lightly as he slices the onion in half and finely juliennes it. His eyes flick over to Ciel, whose face is completely stoic, and his lips curl with a devilish grin.
"I see. You don't want him to think something is going on between us." He surmises as Ciels' cheeks start to rouge. "Well, how do you like that? When you spend the night with a man, you tend to think there was something going on between them but perhaps I'm wrong." He shrugs.
"Sebastian, you said that nothing happened last night!" Ciel protests but before Sebastian could retort, there was a rapid knock on the door. Everyone goes quiet for a moment as they look at each other curiously. "Well, I could get the door?" Sebastian offers.
"No!" The trio shout in unison as they get up and scramble to their feet.
Ciel goes over to the door and his hand hovers over the handle for a moment as he draws in a deep breath. Sebastian studies him and watches each action he takes. Alois notices Ciels' hesitation and moves over to him, using his hips, he gives him a slight bump and pushes him aside. Ciel staggers back and Alois glances at him over his shoulder.
"You were talking too long." He smiles as he finally opens the door to see Spears leaning against the doorframe.
"Why Professor Spears, good day to you." He jests.
"Hello Alois, I'm here to see Ciel."
"Come on in." He extends his hand to let Spears in and Ciel immediately stands to attention.
"Professor, what are you, um, why are you here?"
"Well you left the stage so abruptly yesterday, and then you disappeared. I just wanted to know if you were all right."
"He's fine, he spent the night with me." Sebastian interjects.
Ciels' head whips round as he shoots him such a filthy look. Lizzie purses her lips together tightly to keep from laughing as she watches Spears' eyes dart from Sebastian to Ciel.
"And you are?" He asks as he arches an eyebrow.
Sebastian puts the knife down, wipes his hands off on a nearby tea towel and walks around the marble topped aisle. The first thing Spears notices, is the fact that he isn't wearing a shirt, the second thing is that his trousers are not completely fastened, exposing a little more than he would have liked to have seen from this stranger.
Sebastian stands right next to Ciel, who takes a slight step to the side to try and create some semblance of distance.
"Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Sebastian, Sebastian Michaelis. We actually met last night." He extends his hand and Spears shakes it.
"Oh yes, I remember – you came in late." He lets go of Sebastians' hand. "Where's your shirt?"
"Oh, I must have lost it last night." He smirks.
"Lost it?"
"Sebastian is a friend." Ciel hastily interjects. "Although, I'm not sure for how much longer." He utters through gritted teeth.
The room goes quiet as everyone awkwardly looks at one another. The tension in the room is palpable, as Sebastians' gaze never deviates from Spears and vice versa.
"Ciel, do you think we can have a moment?" Spears asks, his eyes still locked with Sebastians'.
Alois looks over at the three of them, just standing glaring at one another, and decides that he should give them their space.
"Okay, well, I'm going to get ready to the gym now cause, you know, je suis fatty gay." He chuckles lightly as he looks over to Lizzie, "Elizabeth, care to join me in my room?"
"No, I'm good here."
"Lizzie! Move your ass!" He hisses under his breath and pulls her off of the couch.
"But I want to see this…!" She whines as he hauls her off into the hallway.
There is another brief moment of silence and then the trio hear the door close.
Ciel looks over to Sebastian and raises his eyebrow, motioning for him to do the same but Sebastian merely smiles at him and walks over to the refrigerator, opening the door and looking around inside.
"Sebastian, could you give us a moment please?" He requests.
"I'm afraid not, I'm right in the middle of cooking and if I stop now, everything will be ruined. Just pretend I'm not here." He grins.
"Fine, whatever." He sighs as he rolls his eye.
"I'd really like to speak with you, alone." Spears stresses.
Ciel nods and takes him by the sleeve, dragging him off into the hallway. Sebastians' head turns as his eyes follow them.
Ciel walks down the hallway and into his bedroom, which is still in slight disarray from the night before. Clothing is littered everywhere and his bed is unmade, a fact that annoys Ciel to no end as he watches his professor mill about the room.
"Um, I apologize for the state of my bedroom." He mumbles as Spears looks around, "It's usually spotless." He finishes. Spears adjusts his glasses and moves over to the desk, looking at the pictures in small basic frames on top of it.
"It's fine, I came by unannounced." He admits dryly as he glances over to Ciel, who is standing by his bed, fidgeting slightly.
A long awkward silence descends over the room as Spears continues to look around, taking it all in. He notices a shirt draped over the chair next to the bed and he grimaces.
"I'm sorry about my performance last night. You must be disappointed." Ciel admits softly. Spears stops and turns to him, shaking his head and smiling.
"Although I do want to know what happened, I appreciate that you must have been nervous."
"It really wasn't that." Ciel blurts out and Spears looks at him curiously.
"Then what was it?"
"It was you, I saw you with-"
"Ciel, where do you keep the coffee?" Sebastian interrupts as he pokes his head into the room, wearing a broad grin.
"We don't have coffee Sebastian." Ciel growls through gritted teeth.
"You don't have any coffee?"
"No."
"Oh, that's right, you drink tea. Would you like some tea, either of you?"
"No thank you, please give us a moment." Ciel lowers his eye at Sebastian, causing him to chuckle lightly.
Spears walks over to the chair next to the bed and picks up the white dress shirt that's draped over the armrest.
"I think I found your shirt." He snorts as he hands it to him. Sebastian walks into the room and accepts it.
"Thanks friend."
"I'm not your friend." Spears replies curtly.
"It's just an expression. You do have those here, don't you?" Sebastian replies sarcastically as he puts on the shirt, leaving it unbuttoned. Spears casts his eyes over his body and furrows his brow at the sight. "See anything you like?" Sebastian grins, which only causes Spears' frown to deepen.
"No."
"Sebastian, hallway, now." Ciel growls as he pushes Sebastian into the hall.
Sebastian leans against the wall and folds his arms as he smiles at Ciel, who is seething.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"If you think for one minute that I'm going to lose you to that guy, then you've got another thing coming."
"Lose me? This isn't a competition."
"Oh you bet it is and it's one I'm going to win."
"Are you insane? You're insane!" Ciel exhales exasperatedly as he steps towards Sebastian, standing a little on his tiptoes to get close to his face. "Listen to me, there's no competition."
"I think there is."
"I don't even like you!"
"That's not what you said last night." He purrs sweetly.
"Oh my God." Alois titters and both Sebastian and Ciel turn their heads towards the second door down the hallway.
The pair spot Lizzie and Alois poking their heads through a crack in the bedroom door, grinning and giggling furiously as they espy the two of them in the hallway.
"Oh I give up!" Ciel exclaims as he throws his hands up.
"Ciel are you coming back in?" Spears asks as he appears in the doorway.
"Well, I have to finish making breakfast." Sebastian moves away from the wall and heads back to the kitchen. Ciel looks over to Lizzie and Alois and they quickly shut the bedroom door, thunderously laughing behind it.
Ciel walks back into the bedroom and wearily sits down on the bed. He lowers his head as he sighs loudly.
"Sorry about all of this Professor Spears."
"Ciel, please, call me Will and I don't mind." He smiles as he comes to sit next to him on the bed. "What is this competition that man was talking about?"
Ciel turns his head to the side as he tries to hide his blushes.
"It's nothing, I don't know what he's on about."
"How long have you been friends with him?"
"Really, not all that long."
Will hums as he nods and another silence falls over them as Ciel searches his mind for something to say.
"You were going to say something earlier, before we were interrupted, what was it?" Will mentions. Ciel rubs his hands together nervously as he thinks of how to reply. "You said it was me?"
"Yes, well, I was… distracted." Ciel mutters.
"Distracted? By what? You seemed focused enough to me."
"You um, you had this person-"
"Oh."
Ciel quickly turns to him. "I don't mean that in a bad way, I just got distracted with-"
"How he was?"
"Yeah."
"Well, I apologize about that." He says solemnly.
"No need, I just… should have focused on something else. That's all."
"No, his behavior was completely inappropriate and I apologize."
"That's not really necessary profess – Will." He smiles, which causes Will to smile in return.
After a brief moment of just staring at one another, Will starts to stand. He smoothes out the pleats of his trousers and adjusts his sweater as Ciel gets up from the bed as well.
"Well, I should get going, I really just wanted to see how you were after last night."
Ciel nods. "Again, I'm really sorry about that."
"Don't be, you played exquisitely, I've never been so moved by a performance."
Ciels' cheeks burn at the compliment. "Thank you."
"Well, I should go." He mentions again as he looks over at Ciel, who stares back at him, his eye wide with anticipation. Using his index finger, he slides his glasses further up the bridge of his nose as he clears his throat. "Ciel…?"
"Yes?"
"Would you care to have dinner with me sometime?"
Ciel blinks a few times and then nods slowly.
"Y-yes, I'd like that."
"Excellent." He smiles as he starts to walk towards the door, stopping just at the doorway. "And if there's a competition for you, then I'd like to enter." He says over his shoulder as he leaves the room.
Ciel stares blankly at the doorway, his heart races whilst his mind whirls with so many thoughts, he thinks his head might explode.
He finally got the question he always wanted to have asked but the feeling he always thought would accompany it hasn't come over him. Instead he is more confused than he ever could be as he stumbles back, falling down on his bed. His head hits the mattress with a mute thud and he stares up at the ceiling. Why isn't he as excited as he wanted to be?
…
Will walks through the hallway and past the kitchen where he sees Sebastian at the stove, stirring a pan of eggs. Feeling a pair of eyes glaring at him, he stops for a moment and turns to see who was burning a hole in his back.
"Are you leaving?" He asks as he takes the pan from the heat.
"Yes."
"That's a shame, I was just finishing breakfast." Sebastian scoffs lightly as he pours the scrambled eggs onto a nearby plate.
"Save it. There's no reason to be civil."
"Then I won't bother."
Will walks into the kitchen, folding his arms as he leans against the refrigerator. He takes off his glasses and rubs the lenses on the edge of his sweater. Sebastian keeps his back to him as he places a piece of quartered orange onto a plate.
"I think you should know, I'm not going to give up without a fight." Will smirks.
"And what is it we're fighting for?"
"Ciel." He answers plainly.
Sebastian arches his eyebrow. "Is that so?"
"Quite."
"I thought you had a boyfriend, isn't that who was with you last night?"
"He was an ex and not a problem you should worry about."
"I see." Sebastian replies tersely.
Will slides his glasses back onto his face and moves away from the refrigerator. He stands right next to Sebastian who continues to ignore his presence and carries on chopping up a small handful of flat leaf parsley.
"How long have you known Ciel for?"
"Just met recently, actually." He smiles as he sprinkles the parsley over the eggs. "You know, why don't you just bow out gracefully? It's obvious that I'm the better man."
"How do you figure?"
"I'm much more charismatic then you are, plus, I'm far more attractive." He chuckles to himself as he looks around for forks.
"I can tell you like yourself a great deal."
Sebastian shrugs. "I like myself well enough."
"Typical American." He jeers.
Sebastian stops and turns to Will. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Oh dear." Alois sniggers to himself as he tucks himself away in the nook next to the hall as he watches this display of manly bravado. Turning on his heels, he tiptoes back down the hall and towards Ciels' room.
He gets to the door and sees Ciel still lying on his back on top of his bed. He shakes his head as he walks over to him, sitting his gym bag down on the ground; he bends over to face him.
"You'd better get into the kitchen." Alois advises.
"Why?"
"Cause those two are one minute away from pulling their dicks out and measuring them."
"What?"
Ciel starts to sit up and Alois moves back, putting his hands onto his hips.
"Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing that. I wonder, who do you think is bigger? My money would be on-"
"What are they doing?" Ciel interrupts.
"They appear to be arguing."
"Over what?"
"Over your fair hand, maiden." He giggles, rolling his hand out in front of him as he bows.
"This has just gotten ridiculous!" He huffs as he stands to his feet and strides to his door, with Alois in tow.
"Oh, don't stop them, this is too funny!" He giggles.
Ciel marches into the kitchen and sees Spears with his arms folded across his chest and Sebastian on his mobile.
"What's going on in here?" He wonders as Will turns to him. Ciel could see that they had obviously been arguing.
"I don't know who this man is but-"
"Do you mind? I'm on the phone." Sebastian hushes him and he scowls. "Yes, okay, we can come by and collect it in about an hour. Thanks for letting me know." He hangs up and looks over at Ciel.
"Oh good, you're leaving." He snorts sarcastically.
Sebastian smirks at him and rests against the side of the counter and starts to button up his shirt.
"No, we're leaving." He informs him.
"Excuse me?"
"That was the bar from last night, apparently, you left your violin there and we have to collect it."
"My… shit, I forgot all about it. How did they know to ring you?"
"I left a business card so they could bill me for the wreckage." He chuckles lightheartedly as he finishes buttoning up his shirt. "Anyway, I told them we'd be by to get it in an hour."
"I can go on my own."
"Do you even remember where this place is?" He asks as he tucks the loose shirttails into his trousers.
Ciel shakes his head. "No."
"Well then, we go together."
"Fine." Ciel concedes, "I'll get ready to go." He exhales as he starts head back towards his room.
Sebastian looks over to Will and smiles broadly.
"One nil to USA!" He declares, Ciel stops and looks at him curiously.
"What?"
"Nothing." Will and Sebastian reply in unison.
"All right." Ciel sighs as he makes his way back towards his bedroom.
"Oh, Ciel?" Spears calls over to him and Ciel stops again, turning to look at him. "I have to leave now but how about dinner tomorrow night? I can collect you around eight?"
Ciel smiles. "Yeah, that sounds nice." He agrees and leaves to go into the hallway.
Will smiles smugly as he turns his head back towards Sebastian whose face fell.
"Looks like England just scored." He grins as he pushes Sebastian aside to walks towards the door. He turns the handle as he chuckles to himself and strolls out.
"We'll see about that." Sebastian scoffs as he walks back into the kitchen.
"Whatcha gonna do?" Alois asks as he smiles at him from across the counter, picking up pieces of cold scrambled egg between his fingers and popping it into his mouth.
"I don't know yet."
"For what it's worth, I want you to win."
"Why?"
"Eh, I never liked Spears anyway, he gave me a C in music history. Besides, I think you're the better fit for Ciel – even if he doesn't see it yet."
Sebastian smiles. "Thanks Alois, I appreciate that."
Alois nods as he stands upright and licks his fingers to clean them off. He bends down to pick up his gym bag and leisurely saunters into the living room.
"Just don't fuck it up Sebastian." He warns as he glances at him over his shoulder.
"I'll try?"
"I'm being serious – he's been through too much."
"I won't."
"Right, well, I'm off to the gym now. See you."
Sebastian watches as Alois walks out of the flat, and then rests against the cool marble countertop. Wrapping his right arm across his chest and holding on to his left elbow, he drums his fingers against his lips as he thinks to himself. He has a day, there's a lot they could do in a day but what? He wonders to himself. It needs to be something to win him over but how? Sebastian didn't know London all that well and Ciel is already mad at him so maybe forcing him to spend time with him may not be such a good idea. Still, he had to try something.
"I'll work on him for you." Lizzie interrupts his thoughts as she appears from the hallway.
"Sorry?"
"Ciel, I'll work on him for you." She leans up against the doorframe and stares at Sebastian with a bright smile.
"Did Spears give you a C too?"
"No, no. It's just Ciel can be hard to get to know. He's been through a lot and it's made him hard, you know? He doesn't share his emotions and keeps things close to the vest." Sebastian nods and she continues. "In the last week, you have done nothing but frustrate, irritate and annoy him."
"You say that like these are good things."
"You don't understand, if Ciel didn't like you, he wouldn't bother being any of those things."
"I see."
"Good." She giggles. "Hang in there Sebastian, he's worth the effort." She advises as she turns to go towards Ciels' room.
Sebastian watches her leave and he smiles to himself as he may have come up with a way for them to spend the day together.