Or: In Which Ciel is Introduced to Modern Gaming ((the boxes for chapter titles aren't long enough))

Sebastian had honestly thought letting Ciel try out the games of this era wasn't going to be a problem. He truly did. He figured that the Young Master would try the games once and then move on to more stimulating, thought-provoking things, just as he did back at the manor. But he was wrong, so very wrong. He hadn't thought it possible, but he had managed to sorely underestimate the Young Master's penchant for games and now he was paying the price for it. All things considered, he probably deserved it.

It started fairly innocuously. Our favorite butler-master duo were one week into their stay in the strange new world they found themselves in when Kyoya finally asked what Ciel did for a living. When Ciel answered that he ran a confectionary and toy business, the Hitachiin twins had taken one look at each other, grinned mischievously, and asked Ciel if he was interested in trying out some popular games, to give him more ideas, of course.

Ciel, being the master of games that he was, promptly responded that yes, of course he would like to try some games. The twins promised him that they would give him a bunch of popular games within the week.

They did not disappoint. The next day, they came in with boxes upon boxes of games and the systems to play them on. They first recommended that Ciel play a couple games in the Pokémon franchise, starting with Sapphire. The twins also rattled off a bunch of games and their corresponding systems that he should play after that.

Ciel had looked a little overwhelmed by the list they gave him and the prospect of adjusting to so much new technology, so the twins offered to set up all the game consoles in the penthouse apartment Ciel and Sebastian were staying in. The Host Club ended up making a day of it and several hours later, they had all gone back to their own homes and Ciel was left to his own devices, both literally and metaphorically.

This brings us to three days later, with Ciel working his way through Pokémon Sapphire, aiming for 100% completion, of course, and Sebastian at a loss as to how to tear his Young Master away from the game.

Ciel was currently lying on his stomach on the couch, chin on the armrest and arms dangling over the side holding the Gameboy Advance, focused completely on the game, music coming from the speakers on the device. Sebastian was standing off to the side, carefully crafting an argument that would be enough to convince the Young Master that food was more important than that blasted game. The child had already missed both breakfast and lunch due to his obstinance and desire to keep playing, even outright ordered Sebastian to leave him alone for a few hours, but Sebastian was equally as determined to get dinner into that boy.

At length, Sebastian spoke. "Surely that cannot be comfortable, Young Master."

"Sod off," came the immediate reply.

"I must insist that you at least have some dinner, sir. You haven't eaten a thing all day."

"Leave me alone."

"At this rate, you shall waste away before you obtain your revenge."

"I don't care."

Sebastian crossed the room and stood at the end of the couch, just in front of Ciel, and clasped his hands behind his back, waiting.

Ciel stopped clicking at the buttons and slowly rolled his exposed eye up towards Sebastian's face, making eye contact with Sebastian for the first time in several hours. "What have I told you about looming over me, Sebastian?" Ciel asked rather brattishly.

Sebastian gritted his teeth, eyes briefly flaring up into a bloody red in response to his irritation. With inhuman speed, he snatched the device out of his little contractor's hands and snapped it shut.

"Hey! You can't do that! I needed to save my progress! You bastard!" Ciel shouted, getting up on his knees and straining towards the confiscated device behind Sebastian's back.

"I have put up with this nonsense for the past three days, Young Master, and I refuse to have any more of it," Sebastian practically snarled. "Such laziness is not healthy, nor is it proper of an upstanding gentleman like the one you are supposed to be."

Ciel opened his mouth to angrily shout at him, but Sebastian swiftly placed a gloved finger firmly against Ciel's mouth and it snapped shut with an audible click.

"As a direct consequence of your impertinence, Young Master, you shan't have dessert for the next three days, nor will you have access to the game until you have learned your lesson."

"What?! You can't do that!" Ciel exclaimed.

"I can and will. Come, you must eat your dinner." Sebastian seized Ciel's upper arm and practically dragged him off the couch.

When Ciel had regained his footing, he wrenched himself from his butler's grip. "Let go of me!" he yelled.

Sebastian gripped both of Ciel's shoulders and leaned in close to him. "You're starting to act an awful lot like a spoiled brat. If you don't want a punishment fitting for one, you would do well to heed my directions," he said darkly.

Ciel knew perfectly well that the punishment Sebastian was referring to was a good harsh spanking. If he continued to kick up a fuss about this, Ciel would find himself bent over Sebastian's knee faster than he could spit an order at his demon to stop all this nonsense at once. It wouldn't be the first time he found himself in such a position, or even the second.

"Fine, have it your way," he relented, having decided that he was too fond of both his intact pride and sitting properly to risk getting a dose of corporal punishment.

Sebastian smiled and released his grip on his master. "Excellent decision, Young Master." He turned and placed a gentle but firm hand on Ciel's upper back, urging him towards the dinner table.

"You're going to pay for this," Ciel muttered under his breath as he sat down at the table.

Later that evening, Sebastian was washing dishes when he heard Ciel start screaming insults and curses in the living room. He moved to see what the fuss was about and saw him playing a multiplayer first-person shooter and yelling into a headset. He sighed heavily, muttering, "Absolutely incorrigible, that little brat. Honestly, do those twins intend to make my life miserable?"

Sebastian ended up being wholly unable to tear Ciel away from his game systems with anything short of sweets or the threat of being thrown out onto the streets if they didn't participate in the activities of the Host Club.

This lasted for all of about two weeks. The Host Club had taken to visiting their place of residence nearly every evening to watch Ciel play games, or more accurately, watch Ciel rage at the television screen and nearly throw the controller at the wall. (He actually did throw the controller once and it left a nice dent in the wall for Sebastian to fix. Sebastian teased him about it for days afterwards.)

It all came to a screeching halt when Ciel found out that the twins had been recording these gaming sessions TV and were uploading the videos to a certain video-hosting website. One of the girls at the Host Club had let slip that she had seen him in a video on the internet. He was confused at first, but when Honey had cheerfully explained all the unfamiliar words and ideas, he immediately turned an accusing eye towards Sebastian. The butler had insisted that these concepts were just as new to him as they were to Ciel and so he couldn't have been the culprit (but he totally would've done the same thing had he known, but he wasn't about to tell Ciel that).

The only people in the Host Club cruel enough to do such a thing were the twins, Ciel concluded, so they were immediately on the receiving end of his wrath. When Ciel decided the trouble-making twins had been sufficiently scolded, one of the girls giggled, saying that Ciel was awfully cute when he was angry, which, of course, riled Ciel's feathers up even more and caused him to emphatically deny the statement. Sebastian found the whole thing incredibly amusing, of course.

Afterwards, Ciel adamantly refused to touch any of the console games for fear that the twins had planted recording devices in the living room. He stuck to his Gameboy and even then would only play it in the privacy of his bedroom. Sebastian scoured the apartment for any such devices to ease his master's worries and found none, but the Young Master didn't believe him, despite his inability to lie.

Sebastian was quietly relieved by this change of pace, since the lack of games played resulted in fewer childish fits of anger and stubbornness and made him more receptive to Sebastian's suggestions. At the same time, he was disappointed that Ciel no longer played as many video games, since Ciel's frustration at the games were an endless source of amusement for him.

Now all that was left for him to do was wait until the Host Club came along with something else to amuse him. Knowing the twins, Ciel's little spiel hadn't discouraged them in the slightest, and Sebastian was interested in finding out what they had up their sleeves next.

AN: Thank you for the lovely comments, guys! They give me motivation to write more :)

Ciel would absolutely be the type to yell at his video games. He wouldn't ragequit, but he would absolutely swear very colorfully at the TV. Writing arguments between Ciel and Sebastian is just too much fun, as is writing an incredibly bratty Ciel. I should probably stop being so mean to Ciel, but like Sebastian, my entertainment is at Ciel's expense. He's just so much fun to tease, the poor kid.