Chapter Title: In a Corner

Anime's: Kuroshitsuji and Pandora Hearts

Pairings: CielXOz

Chapter Summary: News of an engagement brings to light a bigger issue. One that Oz had not been aware existed.

Quote: Nobody puts Ciel in a corner.

To say that Ciel was upset was a gross understatement. It was only years of putting on a stone cold face, perfecting the epitome of nonchalance, which kept his emotions from being noticed by the boy sitting opposite of him. Still, Ciel knew that Oz was well aware of his thoughts. He was positive that the other could sense how hostile his feelings were. He knew because Oz absolutely refused to meet his eye. Instead the blonde was doing a fine job of seeming overly engrossed in the chess game the two of them were playing.

Standing behind the two heirs were their ever faithful servants. One stood amused as his master glared and muttered dark curses under his breath. The other fidgeted and mentally cursed the fact that Ciel would never let him smoke in the mansion. The tension was just so suffocating. Even though he was not the one in trouble, Gilbert still felt the undying need to get rid of the stress with a cigarette.

"Care to explain yourself?" Ciel said casually. Though if read between the lines, the obvious message he was trying to relay was, 'Just what is the meaning of this?'

"I'm playing a game with you in your study." Oz answered back with just as much casualty. "What is there to explain?" Meaning, 'This is not as a big a deal as you think.'

"I suppose I should congratulate you." The earl said calmly. "For your engagement with Ms. Rainsworth."

Gilbert had to violently stomp down the reflex to flinch. He knew, mentally, that even if he managed to hide it, the desire to do so was still present in his body language. It was difficult for him not to some kind of reaction. Especially when the reason for all the tension in the room had just been identified.

"So you've heard?" Oz asked bashfully. 'I meant to tell you.'

"I got a letter from Elizabeth." 'I highly doubt that'. "She seemed excited. She appears to think very highly of Ms. Rainsworth."

"Sharon-Chan likes Elizabeth too. They've become almost as inseparable as you and I." 'I love you. Remember that.'

Ciel moved one of his pawns across the board. "I suppose I'm somewhat fond of you as a business partner." 'You only love me because you know you did something wrong.'

Gilbert nearly cried out in relief when the door to the study was suddenly opened. Break poked his head in, smiling slyly as all eyes turned to him. "Oh Raven~" He cooed. "Miss Alice seems to have taken hold of your hat and appears to be looking for ways to alter it."

"Why that!" That was another thing Gilbert could curse Ciel for. The brat always insisted that his hat, the thing that made Gilbert feel calm, cool, and composed, was to be off at all times whenever the Nightray was in the mansion. He grumbled curses under his breath before attempting to calmly make his way towards the door. He had taken about two steps before Oz had taken hold of his sleeve.

"Gil," He said innocently. "Don't you want to see the end of the game?" 'Don't you dare leave me in here by myself!'

Gilbert was thankful, yet again, when Break spoke up. "Oh, and Mr. Butler! I do believe your staff was calling for you. Something about a wrecked ballroom."

Sebastian sighed. He had just finished cleaning up the mess those three had made in the dining hall yesterday. Now this? He strode past his master to the door, taking hold of Gilbert on his way out, successfully dislodging him from Oz. "I'll be back shortly Young Master."

Gil muttered his agreements before closing the door behind him.

The room was completely silent. Not even the sounds of chess pieces moving towards enemy lines could be heard. Then again, neither boy had been seriously playing the game to begin with. No, their minds were focused on more pressing matters.

"So is this what you do in your spare time? Shamelessly flirt with strangers and then suddenly propose to your rich and glamorous traveling companion?"

Oz ran a hand through his hair. He could already feel the headache coming on. "Don't start this Ciel, please?"

This one last bullet you mentioned is my one last shot at redemption

"I suppose I should have seen this coming. You never were the type who seemed satisfied with what he already had."

"Ciel, would you listen to yourself?" The blonde said somewhat angrily. "I'd expect something like this from Elizabeth. Not you."

Ciel shrugged. "It seems that it shouldn't matter what I think. You have a lovely fiancé, the money she'll come with, and all the convenience you could ask for. Do tell, when is the wedding?"

Oz threw his hands up in frustration. "I was going to tell you about it,"

"When?" Ciel interrupted. "When you got up to the alter?"

Oz took in a long, deep, soothing breath. It occurred to him that his partner was being fairly hypocritical about this particular subject. Especially when the reality of his situation was taken into account. Ciel already had a lovely fiancé anxiously waiting for their wedding day before Oz had ever come along. When Oz had taken measures to stop the relationship from furthering, he was by no means a man who took joy in ruining a happy family, Ciel claimed that he was being selfish and put an end to all of Oz's attempts. Now, when it seemed that Oz had decided to acquire a fiancé of his own to even out the playing field, Ciel was just as determined to disrupt any kind wedding ceremony before a hall was even so much as decided on.

Oz found that selfish, but saying something of the sort at the moment would only make matters worse. "What was I supposed to do? I am the current head of the Bezarius family. They want to see me wed and prepared to create an heir before I die, and they have been very persistent for quite some time. If I had ignored them any longer, they would have started asking some very serious questions." Oz took hold of one of his pawns and moved it across the board carefully.

Ciel rolled his eyes. "Technically your father is still head of the family." He was angry, but he grabbed one of his own pieces and continued the game.

Now it was no longer about winning or losing. Now it was all about survival.

"Everyone else thinks he's dead, and since I took Griffin from him, he has no means by which to return to the family as a suitable leader, if he came back at all."

Ciel huffed. "The fool would never get the chance. Certain individuals would see to it that he never interfered with your life again."

Oz just had to smile. It was obvious that the younger boy was still upset with him, but beyond that itch of anger was the underlying concern Ciel had always held towards him. It could not be helped. The two had known each other for too long. They had learned too much about each other to be fooled by the false face's they exchanged on a daily basis. The bottom line was that they would always care. No matter what arguments went on between them, once the other was in danger, all bitter feelings were thrown to the wind.

That was how it had always been. It was how it always would be. That was why Oz knew that when Ciel said 'certain individuals', what he meant was 'me'.

"This will change nothing." Oz said reassuringly. "I did it to appease my family and to stop trouble before it could start."

Ciel looked less than impressed, but at least he was looking at him again. "I don't see why you couldn't just refuse them."

"We can't all be fortunate enough to be like the hounds of the royal bloodline. I have to make sure that those in my family who could do decent damage are kept happy. To an extent anyway."

Ciel raised an eyebrow. "To an extent?"

Oz smiled. "It's not like I'll ever really marry Sharon-Chan."

"Oh?"

Oz moved his queen along the board. "I doubt I'll live that long." His hand found its way to the constant ticking clock beside his heart. "This hand moves closer and closer to its destination every day. It won't be long now until I'm finally sealed back into the abyss for good."

Ciel narrowed his eyes. When his next piece hit the board, it did so with an audible clank. "You could just kill the rabbit and be done with the whole thing."

Oz looked back at him with a coy smile. "And you could just slay Sebastian and not have to deal with your soul being eaten." Ciel merely glared. "We both have things we need to see done, and at the end of both those tasks lay our unfortunate ends."

"Yours doesn't have to end that way."

"But it most likely will. I refuse to be left behind at any rate, so you and I will always be facing in the same direction. In the end we'll both be dead, leaving our widows behind to pick up the pieces and our estates in others hands." Oz tipped over his king. "So there's really no need to worry about how things here turn will out."

"Since when did you get so cynical?"

"Since you and I went far beyond the boundaries of work associates." He winked. "You've grown on me."

Ciel huffed, but tipped over his king as well. "You've grown on me as well it seems."

Something was still not sitting well with him. Oz could see it in the way the Phantomhive's body had yet to relax. It had been tense since the news of his lover's engagement was released. Oz did not know just what it was about the arrangement that was making the boy so uneasy, and he would likely get no more clues about the issue until tomorrow, after the two had a small break from each other. A day was a relatively short wait, especially when dealing with a boy like Ciel, who could carry grudges for years on end. And yet, Oz felt that 24 hours was just far too long to leave matters unsettled.

Slowly, cautiously, he stood from his chair and walked over to Ciel's. His movements were slow. If he took things too far too quickly, without gaining the proper clearance, he would find himself in a very uncomfortable position by the next morning. Ciel would not kill him, but he would most certainly see to it that he had something to wince over for the next few weeks.

Tentatively, he placed both hands on each of the younger's cheeks. His grip was fairly gentle, giving the other the opportunity to slap him away if he wanted. "What's wrong? I told you nothing would change. Everything is going to be exactly the same."

Ciel scoffed. "Don't be stupid. Of course something's going to change." Oz could swear there was a small twinge of longing in those dark blue eyes. "Even if it's just in name, you have a fiancé. You'll be expected to spend time with her, show up to special events with her, and shower her with words of love and affection. She gets to claim a part of you in public. I have to stay hidden in the shadows."

Suddenly, Oz realized that the situation was about more than just his supposed engagement to Sharon. That was part of the problem, yes, but that was hardly the full story. Ceil was afraid. Oz had been his and his alone up until that point. A short time ago the blonde had but one person to remain loyal too. Now there was another human being involved in the equation, and Ciel could not get rid of her without causing some serious damage. However, getting rid of the competition was all the earl knew how to do. How was he supposed to remain a contender all by himself when the odds were so heavily stacked against him?

Sharon had more access to Oz than he did. He had remained at her home for months and the servants had come to accept him in no time at all. Oz had had a small crush on her at one point, so there was no question that the Bezarius did indeed find her at least a little bit attractive. Sharon could give him what Ciel could not. A child, decent social standing, not to mention, quite a bit of financial security. She could also offer a possible way out of his illegal contract, what with her connections to Pandora and all.

Ciel was a diamond in the rough. He was in and out of himself, an enigma with the most tempting existence in the universe. But his appeal was dramatically cut in half in Oz ever decided that he wanted to live a very long and happy life.

With Ciel, Oz either resigned himself to dying young because of his refusal to more thoroughly look for a solution to his own problem in order to help his lover with his wishes, or he lived life alone because his lover eventually did adhere to the rules of his own bargain with a devil. There was no such thing as a happy ending when Ciel was involved. At least with Sharon, the possibility of a fairy tale, sugar coated, happily ever after was there. Oz did much better with happy endings than he did with tragedies.

Not to mention that, pushing aside the thought of the inevitable specter known as death, Sharon was a lot more social than Ciel was. She did well in crowds and entertaining others just for the joy of it. With her by his side, Oz's social circle would grow immensely. His list of friends and trustworthy companions would be close to endless if he played his cards right and Sharon would never deny him the company of others. Ciel never did that either, to be fair, but it was incredibly hard to mingle with others your own age when your lover was less than willing to give anyone the basic time of day. Because of that Oz's friends were far and few in between.

Any sane person would have the obvious lesser of two evils, and maybe that thought alone was what scared Ciel the most. Not the fact that Oz might marry the girl, but the possibility that she would prove to be more of what the blonde wanted in the long run. If that were to happen, the earl would be left alone, more so than he had been in the past. While it was selfish, along with someone you loved was a much more attractive offer than perishing by yourself.

Poor Ciel. He may have been a genius, but he obviously still knew next to little about the hearts of those around him.

Oz brought himself closer so that their noses touched and rubbed them together. Ciel had always claimed to always hate the gesture, but today he was unintentionally leaning in for more, trying to milk what comfort he could without needing to ask for it. It was one of those times that the young earl looked truly adorable.

"Ciel, you have nothing to be afraid of."

"I'm not afraid of any-"

Oz silenced him with a kiss. "Humor me then." Ciel promptly shut up. "I like Sharon. She's a lovely lady and a very good friend. I can depend on her for a lot, including watching my back with Eques when I get slightly in over my head. I treasure her deeply."

Ciel glared. "If this is your attempt at making me feel better, I can assure you that you have failed horribly."

Oz rolled his eyes. "However, I don't love her. Maybe once upon a time I might have been able to see her as a woman I could have in my life and consider it complete. Too much has happened, though, and by now, it's too late to consider her as anything more than a friend."

Ciel's eyes softened.

"This engagement and what may come from it mean nothing for you and me. Our goals, our plans, and most importantly our relationship will always remain the same. I know it, she understands it, and I can only hope you'll believe it."

This time it was Ciel who rolled his eyes, but he tugged the blonde into his lap. Oz laughed before shifting positions so that Ciel was the one being held, tucking the earl's head under his chin and fiddling with the dark blue tresses. Everything was fine now. No more words needed to be said. Perhaps later there would be hurt comments and more assurances to a contrary, but for now things were settled. Oz would not let himself be swayed by possibilities that were, at their core, not worth exploring. Ciel, meanwhile, would refuse to be left out of anything that involved something of his, and he would eventually get his way.

Life would continue on as the two of them had always had it, and that was just the way they preferred things.