The fire was casting a warm glow through the festively decorated room. Ribbons and baubles and boughs of green were festooned along the mantle while candles flickered on large brass pedestals. Before the fire, two high-backed chairs set on either side of a small table, the chess board and its intricately carved pieces glowed with a soft orange tint, awash in the firelight. A pot of tea and one festively crimson tea cup sat before one of the chairs, the contents now cooled and forgotten.

"Would you like a fresh pot of tea?" Sebastian's voice chimed through the silence of the room. Rather than break it, shatter the stillness of the night, it rang like a deep, solid bell, adding to the warmth and the darkness of the room.

Ciel looked up from the sea of blankets puddled around him at the base of the large Christmas tree. He was almost catlike in the way his body curled beneath the covers and his arms reached out as he stretched. Those mismatched eyes caught the glowing lights from the Christmas tree, small candles reflected against glass baubles, their light caressing lace and feathers and ribbons. He blinked slowly and turned his head towards the small table and then back towards the tree before rolling over onto his stomach.

"Yes, I should think so, Sebastian." He turned his attention back to the tree, and pulled the book he had been reading earlier - before it was cast aside in haste - towards himself and flipped it open.

Sebastian arched a brow and bowed before collecting the dishes and turning away.

"Oh, one thing, though."

"Yes, Young Master?"

"... Do hurry back." The boy smiled impishly and kicked his legs, exposing his unclothed and - much to the demon's satisfaction - rather reddened rear to the glow of the fire and the ravenous demon's eyes. He smirked to himself as he watched his butler depart, clad only in a dressing gown and slippers, with the cord loosely tied about his thin hips so that it hung open to his waist. He was far too warm and pleasantly exhausted to give too much thought to how this must look. How scandalous to have been thoroughly thrashed and then have those hurts and aches tended to on the floor, only then to experience a new, more desperate, kind of ache. Of course, his ever faithful servant tended to such a thing as well. As is only proper. He did cause me quite a bit of pain in the first place, the boy reasoned.

He wasn't back long when the tea was forgotten once more. Steam rose from the cup and gasps rose from the floor. Dark, musical chuckles brushed against the shell of the boy's ear as his heel propped against the top of the table and upset the china cup. Long, languid fingers wrapped about the thin, quivering thigh, pressing it against the little earl's chest and removing it from the danger of being scalded by the hot tea. The devil swallowed the syllables of his given name as Ciel panted them out between thrusts. Small fingers laced through inky black hair, soft and shining with the glowing light from the tree, and as the small earl climaxed with his back arching, he yanked those silken locks harshly.

Propped on his elbows, Sebastian looked down into an impish face, eyes dancing with mischief and hair matted with sweat.

"Oh dear, I think you shall have to make yet another pot of tea."

The demon's lips curled at the corners and he smirked. "I am sure I could think of something you would prefer to keep you warm."

The boy's eyes widened for a moment before he grabbed a corner of the mussed blanket and tossed it over his butler's head. "You wretched thing."

Sebastian rolled to the side and slipped from beneath the mounds of blankets heaped about them on the floor. "Oh, very well. I shall return."

The butler did return, but it was not with a pot of tea. In his hands he held a small box topped with ribbons of red and white. He set it down upon the floor and sat himself in one of the chairs.

Ciel glanced up with a question playing behind his eyes and then down at the box. "Christmas isn't until tomorrow."

"I know. I thought you might like one present early." Sebastian chuckled and it was anything but wholesome. "I've already had mine, after all."

Ciel glared at him for a moment but then sat himself up and pulled the ribbon at the top of the box. Much to his surprise, the box moved of its own accord. It shook and tilted to the side as he touched it. "What the deuce?"

Sebastian remained annoyingly silent with a smirk playing about his lips.

Ciel scowled but refused to be disturbed by a box. So he pulled the ribbons and lifted the top off the box. Shock would be a bit of an understatement. A small, furry nose poked itself out of the box, followed by two bent little ears, a wet pink tongue, four paws and a wagging tail. Ciel looked from the puppy in his lap to the butler sitting with one leg draped over the other and his hands folded on his knee, and then back down at the puppy. "You…?"

"It is my job to anticipate the wants and desires of my Young Master."

"I never said..."

The demon merely smirked and tilted his head to the side as the small animal stumbled its way over the mounded blankets, his irritation hidden well except for his eyebrow twitching beneath the fringe of his hair.

For the moment at least, the young master was entertained and with careful planning, his beloved cat might find itself allowed somewhere other than the kitchens. He was lost in this thought when a tugging sensation brought him out of himself. He looked down and the impudent little creature was tugging on his slipper. His eyes narrowed and blazed slightly as his impish little contractor giggled at him from beneath the tree.

"Looks like he likes you, Sebastian." The boy bit his bottom lip charmingly and tapped his leg to distract the puppy. "Whatever shall you do now?"

"Hide my slippers," Sebastian retorted with only the slightest amount of exasperation in his voice.

"You deviant, evil, wonderful thing. Stupid Devil… to bring something you hate into the house. Whatever for?" And as he said these words, the boy crawled from the blankets and into Sebastian's lap, settling his rosy backside down softly.

"Why indeed."

"Stupid devil," he whispered and as talented fingers cupped the boy's rear, and an agile foot scooted the small animal from beneath the chair, the boy breathed in the cinnamon and clove scent of his butler before being lost once more to the darkness, the pleasure, and his own finely crafted damnation.