Author's Notes: This is just something I wrote because I couldn't sleep at night. The plot bunny seemed fluffy enough, anyway. Enjoy and please review, and if you like it – "Check out my other stories. That's an order." Cue ominous music. Daph

"Sebastian?"

"Yes, my lord?"

Ciel glanced sideways at the forever stoic face of his butler. It has been this way since the whole Alois'-dying-wish-being-to-turn-Ciel-into-a-demon-coming-true ordeal, and Sebastian has been detached, almost as if he wasn't there most of the time.

"It has only been three months, yes?"

"Yes, my lord."

"And it will be this way forever?"

"Yes, my lord."

"Is this how you usually live between contracts?"

"Yes, my -,"

"Shut up!" Ciel cut him off sharply, rising from the bed of black-and-white roses he has been sitting on to his full height – not much, considering he was only thirteen when he died and would remain this way, but still managed to look quite menacing (or anyway, he thought he did).

"Yes -,"

This time, Sebastian didn't even get to the middle of his answer when a small fist hit him squarely in the face. Sure, Ciel was still a child, but being a newborn demon did empower one, to say the least. Sebastian flinched, feeling the force of the blow to the fullest. Had he been human, it would've surely bruised.

Ciel sank back to his knees, in front of Sebastian and clutched at the older demon's wrists in desperation.

"Do you think I wanted this?" He whispered, not looking up from the ground where a wilting white rose sat, reminding me of those seemingly carefree days back at the mansion, the Jack the Ripper case, the drug smuggling… It seemed so far away, he couldn't believe it had actually happened.

Sebastian expressed no emotion, staring his master down with an empty red gaze.

"Do you think I wanted to become this thing?" Ciel tightened his grip. "This disgusting creature that doesn't eat, drink, sleep, breathe, piss? I pretended to have my morning tea, for God's sakes!"

Still nothing. The red gaze didn't waver, nor did it open up to any kind of emotion. Sebastian was the perfect butler – silent, solid… And seemingly had no will of his own.

"Look," the boy paused, biting his lip. "We're stuck together for all eternity, either way, so we have to get along."

Nada. No flicker of emotion at all. Sebastian looked like a statue, a masterpiece of its own kind that betrayed no feelings, no thoughts. He looked hollowly beautiful, just like a figurine you would put on the mantelpiece. His ivory skin shimmered in the faint light that had no source over the field of rose flowers, his jet-black hair as shiny and perfect as usual, his attire neat. The only thing that was different were the eyes. Still and dull. The light that used to live in the vermillion depths was no longer there. Sebastian was a marvelously painted picture of his former self.

Ciel huffed in frustration. Had he known his butler was such a tight-arse, he would've strangled Alois while he was residing in his head.

He let go of Sebastian and folded his hands neatly on his knees, just like he had been taught time and time again by countless ethics teachers and rich ladies, the movement so automatic, so familiar, so human…

"You know," he began, lying on his back in the thornless roses, looking up at the empty sky, "I used to find you fascinating, back in my human days. I never thought you could be such a bore. Do you know what was the first time I actually acknowledged the fact that you were, in fact, so different from us, measly people?"

He pretended to wait for an answer, knowing there was little chance he would get one, but nevertheless gave Sebastian the benefit of the doubt.

"It was when you made that stupid cake. The first one. The one I childishly threw at your face. It was so hollow, but so perfect on the outside… Remind you of anyone?"

Sebastian never moved. So Ciel talked and talked and talked, reliving the hazy memories of their years together, suddenly understanding how little time he had lived. Thirteen years old and already a corpse.

When he ran out of stories Sebastian already knew, he stopped. He should've talked himself hoarse by now, but no, he wasn't even given that privilege. His voice, clear as a bell, seemed to echo through the endless field.

Sebastian was still there, sitting just like he had been hours ago, looking asleep with his eyes open. Still as handsome as he had been.

Time for a different approach.

Sighing, Ciel shifted towards him, so that their thighs touched:

"So strange. I have never done that before. Back in the human world I could've been condemned to public ridicule and humiliation for this," he murmured.

"But now I can do it. Just as I can do this."

Ciel took the other demon's hand in his, reveling in the softness of the skin. He ran his small thumb awkwardly over the flesh on the back of his butler's hand. He slowly put his head on Sebastian's shoulder, carefully, as if not to scare him:

"You know, there was a time when you would've said this was behavior unbefitting the head of the Phantomhive household."

Then, Ciel felt it. The tiny twitch of his hand. It seemed to tighten in the boy's grasp momentarily and go back to its previous state so quickly a human would have never noticed, but Ciel knew – it was there. He smiled to himself, satisfied with his progress.

"You know, you have never told me where you came from. I mean, obviously the depths of Hell, but… Shouldn't there have been something before that?" Ciel looked as the other demon sideways. Still nothing.

Then he did something his human self would probably never do even under the threat of death – he shifted his body, lying back down on the roses and placing his head on Sebastian's knees. His butler was warm, overwhelmingly so, so why… Why was he so lifeless?

"Could it be… that you had once been human?"

He felt Sebastian flinch under his weight, a small shudder running through the demon's body. He closed his eyes, reveling in the softness.

"I guessed. You know, you still haven't gotten rid of some of those human quirks. Too bad I only noticed it now, though, from this perspective." Ciel grinned softly.

"So I'm going to guess. Well, you did say you were the one to spread the Black Plague, so that would be 1348 to 1350… You have to be at least five, no, make that six hundred years old… Judging by your appearance, and I'm guessing this was indeed your human body way back when, you did not come from England… Your hair is too dark and your eyes are too exotic… I don't know, Asia maybe? Or even Arabia?..." Ciel trailed off, not really thinking about what he was saying, after all he was only doing all this to get some sort of reaction from his butler.

"Now let me have my imagination run wild. I'm guessing you were some kind of noble, stripped of his title and left for dead… Your family either died or abandoned you after some kind of gruesome crime you didn't commit on purpose… And then you decided to go and off yourself by doing something completely stupid like jumping off a cliff, but you didn't die, instead lay there on the bottom of the pit for several hours with broken bones all over your body, unable to move and finish what you started, before, finally Death claimed you…" Ciel remembered every plot of every stupid novel his aunt used to be so fond of, making the older demon into a tragic hero that would make a woman's heart melt and her eyes shine with honest compassion.

What he didn't expect was to feel moisture on his cheek. He opened his eyes, only to find a very unsettling picture before him – black tears streaming down his demon's face, his lip quivering slightly, red eyes shimmering with sadness.

Ciel sat up, surprise not even covering what he was feeling at that moment. Unknowing what he should do, he placed a cautious hand on his butler's shoulder, trying to offer some kind of comfort.

"I was 22 when I died." Sebastian said quietly, his voice raw from the silence he'd kept. Ciel moved closer, pressing more of his body to Sebastian's, hoping the contact would help. Well, at least there was some emotion now.

"I was a prince, to be exact, of a very small country that now doesn't even exist on the mad of the world. I… I had everything one could want – a palace, all the riches in the world and… And all the women I could have." He chuckled humorlessly.

"I didn't want the women though. The reason why I became this is because I… I fell in love with a man."

Ciel drew in a breath – he hadn't expected that. Instead of feeling disgusted by the demon, though, he only felt… He didn't know what it was. But it was warm and settled in his stomach nicely, lifting the weight of grief from his shoulders.

"Anyway, he was a servant at the palace and I was royalty, but I followed him around like a little dog, hanging onto his every word. I started seducing him with every chance I got and when I finally succeeded… My father walked in on us."

"In a matter of a few hours I was stripped of my title, my clothes and my dignity and thrown out into the streets only to be stoned to death by my former people. After I died, I got the choice and… I made it. Now I wish I hadn't."

"Why?" Ciel asked in a whisper, running his fingers through the older demon's hair in a comforting gesture. Sebastian gently pulled away from his touch and looked him squarely in the eyes:

"Because I'm scared of letting go. You're technically free of me yet I'm still bound to you but the mere thought… Of someone touching you… Holding you… It drives me insane."

The confession hit Ciel squarely between the eyes, making his jaw drop. Sebastian smiled sadly, wiping the rest of his tears away with his now glove-free hands.

"I'm happy you did though."

"Hm?"

Sebastian whipped his head up to look at his master, who was slowly inching closer:

"I said I'm happy you did make this choice."

He leaned forward and in one fluid motion, pressed his lips to Sebastian's. Instantly fire seemed to crackle through the air as the two demon collapsed onto the flowerbed, kissing passionately, their mouths colliding hungrily for the very first time.

Ciel closed his eyes, submitting to the feeling of pure bliss that blocked away all of the world around them, however distorted it may be. He put his arms around Sebastian's neck, pulling himself even closer to the other demon.

When they finally drew back, Sebastian licked his lips and Ciel had to smirk.

The light was back.

Mission accomplished.