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Sometimes, fate has a way of making love happen in strange places at strange times.

Other times, fate is a bitch and won't leave well enough alone.

And very rarely, fate had nothing to do with it, sometimes, something beautiful blooms all on its own, and its a strange, lovely thing.

Twenty year old Ciel Phantomhive was insanely rich due to his family's fortune and his own confections company, Funtom, and smart enough to breeze right through school and an online business degree. However, since his parents were long dead and he hated the large mansion he'd inherited, as it was empty and cold, he'd gone and done something he knew his aunt would hate and his cousin would definitely support without hesitation.

He, one of the richest young men in England...got a small, one bedroom apartment in the middle of London, only half an hour away from his college of choice (he wanted a second degree in business as well as psychology). It was only him and his dog, after all, and he doubted anyone would dare attack with Pluto on watch all the time. He had enough room for one or two visitors, which was usually just Lizzy or Alois, sometimes even Finny dared venture into his home (his enthusiastic dogwalker was kind, but a bit of a coward honestly).

But Ciel loved the place. He'd painted the walls pastel blue and zinc white, hung up the few paintings he had, and filled the apartment with tasteful furniture and decor even his aunt would appreciate. Well, except for his beanbag chair and the crate of Pluto's toys.

He even had a fire escape where he could slip out and stare wistfully at the sunrise and have tea before he needed to set out for work or classes.

He loved it, it was perfect, absolutely nothing could ruin the peaceful new home he'd carefully constructed.

"What the fuck, where'd you come from?" Ciel stared out the window leading out to the fire escape, right at a small black kitten with really pretty blue eyes. She meows pitifully, shaking in the cold night air, and, despite having suffered years of allergies with cats, he opened the window and scooped the poor feline into his arms.

He'll close the window later, he wanted to set the kitten down first. After settling her on top of Pluto (good boy laid so still for him) Ciel shut the window and came back to the kitten with a warm towel straight from the dryer and a bowl of milk.

Pluto sniffed the tiny cat as she lapped up the offered milk, looking at his master as if he were offended by the other creature sharing his living space.

Honestly.

"I'll have to figure out who you belong to later, kitty." He told the kitten, scratching her under the chin and smiling when she mewled happily, whiskers twitching with drops of white still on them.

Ah, so cute. If only he wasn't allergic (he'd sneezed four times already and had to take his allergy medicine).

Rapid, persistent knocking woke Ciel up the morning after finding the tiny kitten. Still half asleep and not quite thinking, he held a pillow over his head and tried to block out the noise. This proved to have no effect, as his alarm clock went off, and then Pluto jumped onto the bed in an excited uproar, whining and wragging his disastrous tail.

"Ok ok, I'm up." The twenty year old smacked his hand down onto his clock, shutting it up for the time being, rolled out of bed (followed closely by Pluto) and landed, cat-like, on his feet. The knocking continued, louder now that he was standing. It sounded like it was coming from the fire escape. Perhaps his downstairs neighbor had run out of milk again and forgot to go shopping? (Mey-Rin was great, but very forgetful).

Ciel took his time in getting to the window, pulling on a sweater before he dared venture to the fire escape, Pluto right behind him (and now that he looked, the kitten was perched on the white dog's back).

Upon throwing open the curtains, Ciel came to the frightening conclusion that the person outside his window was not, in fact, his ditzy downstairs neighbor, but a tall, slim man with messy black hair and disturbingly red eyes. He was also handsome, despite wearing sweats, cat slippers, and a paw-print patterned turtleneck. The mystery man knocked on the glass, perfect eyebrows raised in little arches.

Quickly, Ciel unlocked the window and pushed it open, now face to face with the handsome man who had woke him up right before his alarm had sounded (he could've used those extra few minutes).

"Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for one of my cats. Little black kitten, answers to Sasha?"

Huh. He looked over his shoulder, at Pluto and the black kitten still clinging to his dog.

"Does she have blue eyes?"

"...yes."

"Does she have a crook in her tail?"

"At the very end."

"Yeah she's inside. I'll get her." Ciel turned away from the man to find both his dog and the cat gone. Fuck.

"On second thought, come inside. You can chase your own damn cat, I have to get ready for work." He left the man crawling through the fire escape window, glimpsing white fur as he passed by his tiny kitchen on the way to the bathroom.

"Check the kitchen first!" Hearing an affirmative from the raven haired stranger, Ciel ducked into the bathroom to brush his hair and his teeth, as well as fix his eyepatch - now that he thought about it, mystery man hadn't even blinked at his multicolored eyes. Not many people would act so disinterested in such a bizarre sight. Mm, perhaps the man just cared more for his missing cat than for a college boy's appearance?

When he came back out in a blue button up and his black slacks, he found the stranger sitting on the floor with Pluto more or less in lap, the big dog effectively pinning him down.

"I see you haven't found Sasha yet."

The man looked up, though he didn't look startled at all. And Ciel had been so quiet.

"Ah, no. I believe she went into your bedroom, but I wasn't sure you'd be so forgiving if I invaded your privacy like that."

"...thanks? Look, I'll go get her. Stay here."

"I don't think I can move."

He went back down the hallway, finding the kitten sitting right inside the doorway to his room. After scooping the calm feline into his arms, he went straight for where the man was still pinned by Pluto. A tap of his foot and a huff had the dog moving with a whine. He handed the cat to the man in the turtleneck, watching him coo at the damn thing.

"You can leave my apartment now." Ciel crossed his arms over his thin chest. leaning back a little when the tall man stood up with the grace of a dancer. Damn his shortness.

"Thank you, I wasn't sure what I would've done if I couldn't find her." The college student followed his uninvited guest to the fire escape, telling himself it was because he wanted to lock the window after him. Just before he left, the man smiled crookedly at him.

"I'm Sebastian by the way. I just moved in above you."

"Don't care. Have a good day, don't come back." Ciel closed the window and snapped the curtains back into place, shutting Sebastian out.

Good riddance.

"I like his cat more than I like him." Was what he told Pluto, but in fact, he was having trouble disliking the polite, probably cat obsessed man.

Today was Sunday. A perfectly sunny, warm Sunday that beckoned even introverts outside with a breeze that smelled faintly of cut grass, hot sidewalks, cooking food, and the chlorine from swimming pools.

Ciel hated it, although his hatred for the weather certainly hadn't stopped his friends from dragging him out of hiding (along with Pluto) and to the nearest park so that they could pretend they weren't all college students with semester finals fast approaching. He knew it was for his own good, he'd been studying for almost twelve consecutive hours, but he also knew his damn allergies would rear its ugly head and tear his immune system apart.

Lizzy was the one who voted for bringing their swim suits as well and take a dip in the river, and after multiple attempts to get him to join they'd all left him alone and jumped into the cool water. This left him laying in the shade, the grass pleasantly smooth against the bare skin of his arms and legs, Pluto stretched out next to him, having been tired out by Lizzy and Alois. He could faintly hear Finny's excited screaming and a large splash, and could only guess that the slightly older male had jumped into the river via the rope swing.

"Hey, I remember you! My downstairs neighbor. I never caught your name." Oh.

Oh shit.

Ciel opened his uncovered eye, entire body freezing as he looked up into familiar red eyes.

"The cat obsessed mystery man." Was what came out of his mouth, followed quickly by a horrified gasp of fucking hell.

"I am not obsessed." The man put a hand to his chest, which was covered by a cotton-looking white shirt, and faked an offended expression. Another man that looked quite similar to the red eyed stranger leaned over his shoulder, sneering like Ciel was some sort of dirty peasant.

"The cat charms on your phone say otherwise, Sebastian."

So the handsome owner of Sasha was Sebastian? Ciel sat up, quickly finding where his friends and his cousin were at in the river. Next to him, Pluto also sat up, tail wagging and thumping against the ground. He caught Alois's gaze watching the blond notice his visitors and his mouth open wide enough that he could see his tattoo. The bickering continued above him, but the young man was busy watching as his friend scrambled up the river bank, attractively tripped over a tree root, and ran across the short distance until he stopped just in front of Ciel, panting and his hands on his knees, hair still dripping with water.

"Hi!" He gasped out, grinning at Sebastian and his friend. The two seemed bewildered, but Sebastian did nothing but smile and wave.

"I'm Alois, and you've already met my best friend Ciel. Our other friends, Finny and Elizabeth, are down in the river." Ciel kicked the blond's leg, but the damage had been done; now his upstairs neighbor knew his name and probably either A. wouldn't leave him alone or B. end up fucking Alois.

"This is my brother Claude, have fun with him." As Sebastian viciously shoved his brother towards Alois, Ciel took his chance to appreciate that ass in those black jeans.

"That was cruel." He remarked, removing his shades from on top of his head and sliding them on over his eyes to hide the way he was kinda sort of still admiring the view. Alois made quick work of dragging Claude to the river, leaving the two neighbors alone in the shade.

"Mm, Claude could use the socializing."

"You could probably use manners."

"You know, I thought you were cute, but you're kind of a brat."

"Happens when you're rich and your upstairs neighbor is kind of a nosy bitch."

Silence. Blissful, utter silence. Out of the corner of his eye, he spots long legs folding as the tall man comes to sit gracefully next to him. Sebastian shuffles his lean body until he was comfortable next to Ciel, all lanky limbs and messy black hair.

"Alright, well, you've got me there. I knew you seemed familiar - you're that guy, Phantomhive, right? You Own Funtom."

"Err, yeah. I won't give you many or anything."

"Nah, I was gonna ask if you could give me free dark chocolate. The Mexican one-"

"The one with spice in it?"

"The only one I can stand." Ciel rolled his eyes, but he relaxed a little bit. Anyone who liked chocolate was ok in his book (that, and after seeing this man in cat slippers, he couldn't really fear him).

For a while, they just sat there, watching Alois attempt to pull Claude into the river with him; laughing when Lizzy tripped him and sent the poor man tumbling into the water.

"So, do your cats always escape and cuddle with someone else?" Sebastian seemed surprised by the question, but after a moment of thoughtful staring (Ciel had never felt more twitchy than when those red eyes were on him) he shrugged.

"Usually it's just Sasha or Lucifer, the other two don't like being outside too much."

"Well, I won't be letting them in anymore."

"Whys that?"

"I'm allergic to cats."

"Fuck - and I was about to ask you out."

"Pick me up at seven."

"Wait. What?"

Fate is a sneaky little bitch, slipping butterflies into stomachs, pounding hearts into lovesick fools, but fate had absolutely nothing to do with the warm body that occupied Ciel's bed, all long limbs and soft skin and mysterious scars.

Having Sebastian in his bed was not an act of fate, but simply an act of unbridled desire, carried out by a stubborn man and one small kitten.