Teacups and Teapots

Chapter 16:

Lizzie smiled happily when she heard that and Ciel felt the need to embellish on that statement before she did anything sudden like contacting Sebastian for him.

"Well, I am going to see him at the trial, we will both have to attend," he pointed out. "I never specified when I would see him."

His cousin shot him a ferocious glare that did not go with her pink accessories. "You know how long it's going to take to go to court, it's going to be more than a year!" she exclaimed and then she shrugged nonchalantly. "You will crack before then."

That caused Ciel to experience some dread about his plan of never seeing Sebastian again until the trial. When Lizzie set out to make him do something she got her way most of the time, usually by annoying him until he gave in.

She sprang up suddenly. "I will go and dispose of all of your tea then since you said you had given it up. I'll make you some hot chocolate instead."

Ciel reached out to stop her but was too slow in reacting. She had spent her childhood fencing whilst he had spent it isolated in his house reading books and preparing to take over Funtom so he was a lot slower than her when it came to physical activities. By the time he rushed downstairs she had located all of his tea and had all of the boxes stacked in a pile on the table and was pouring chocolate powder into a cup.

"I didn't think you would have so much tea," she said conversationally as she boiled the kettle.

"Are you really going to get rid of all that tea? A lot of it was expensive, you could leave some behind and pick it up later," he suggested, not prepared to see his tea collection suddenly disappear.

"I thought a Phantomhive was supposed to stick to their word," she warned. "You said you were going to give up tea, you should stick to it, or go and meet with Sebastian."

Ciel had to appreciate how well she had added in meeting with Sebastian. It appeared that she would throw away all of his tea it he didn't meet with the Police officer soon. He was saved from answering by his phone ringing.

He left the room and checked the number on the display cautiously, wary of it being a newspaper asking for a statement. Not many people had his number and he wasn't listed publically anywhere so he took that risk.

"Hello?" he said doubtfully.

"Is this Ciel Phantomhive? I'm Inspector William T. Spears. I am working on Angelina Durless' case, we need you to clarify something. When are you free to come in?"

That was the last thing that Ciel had been expecting and he didn't like the idea of visiting the people working on his aunt's case as there was a high chance that he would encounter Sebastian and he knew that he wasn't prepared to meet with him yet. He was still slightly annoyed with him.

The Police officer detected his hesitation.

"If it's Sebastian you are worried about, we can arrange it at a time when he won't be here."

"That would be helpful," Ciel said, relieved that the potential situation had been avoided. "What do you need me for?"

"It's nothing too major, it's a legal detail. We have to make sure the methods of investigating used are not used as a defence by Angeline Durless' lawyer when it comes to court," he explained. "Sebastian is due to be out tomorrow afternoon."

"I will visit then," Ciel hung up after being given further details.

He returned to the kitchen where Lizzie was waiting for him holding a teacup that strongly smelled of chocolate.

"Who was that?" she enquired.

"It was the Police," he answered casually, suspecting that it would confuse her.

"...Was it Sebastian?" she perked up and handed him the cup.

Ciel peered into the cup to obverse the unusually dark coloured hot chocolate. "What is this supposed to be?"

"Hot chocolate. Since you are giving up on your source of caffeine, you need a new one. It looked like it was going to taste weak with the recommended amount so I added 20 teaspoons instead. I can make it for you everyday if you like."

By now Ciel had picked up on what Lizzie was trying to do.

"You made it badly on purpose so I will decide that I can't give up on tea and will see Sebastian."

"Has it worked yet?" she asked eagerly as she watched him take a sip and pull a disgusted face.

"I have to go to Scotland Yard tomorrow, maybe I will encounter him there."

Ciel gazed at the door in trepidation. He was at Scotland Yard outside the room that William T. Spears had told him to come to. He was now going to meet the people that had worked on arresting his aunt. Even though he had accepted that his aunt was a fully fledged criminal it still did affect him. He knocked on the door and waited for an answer.

The door was pulled open by a tall bespectacled man with black and blonde hair.

"You really do look shorter in real life," he said cheerfully and gestured for him to enter. "Hi Ciel."

"What do you mean shorter?" Ciel muttered and followed him in.

He took a careful look around the office to see if it resembled anything he had seen in crime dramas. There were desks, computer and the essential bulletin board with arrows pointing in all directions and lots of photos affixed to it. The other people in the room were another dark haired man with glasses and a stern expression and a kinder looking brown haired man that smiled at him.

"I've only ever seen photos of you, I've never seen you in person before," the Police officer explained. "I'm Ronald Knox, that person is Spears and the other one is Abberline."

There was an unoccupied desk that Ciel took to be Sebastian's and he averted his eyes from it. He refused to be distracted by Sebastian again.

"You have photos of me?"

Ronald plucked a file out of a filing cabinet.

"You were investigated at the start as a potential accomplice of your aunt and you were followed around for a while and it became clear that you weren't involved. Have a look."

Ciel opened the file slowly and was confronted by a full page photo of himself sucking a lollipop. He blinked and turned the page hoping the next picture would be more normal, it turned out to be him with cream around his mouth and the background was a cafe close to his office. He wondered if all the photos were going to be creepy like that. He had never noticed anyone following him and taking photos and he prided himself on being observant.

"You are not supposed to be showing him that," the officer named Spears complained. "He's not a suspect, but he is involved. Just explain to him why he is here."

"I know," Ronald said and Ciel handed the file back. "It was Sebastian that had to follow you around in case you wondered. You need a better diet, there are too many photos of you eating sweets."

Ciel scowled. Now there was pictorial evidence of his unhealthy eating habits.

"What do you actually need me for?"

Ronald reached over to his desk and gave Ciel a form.

"It's a legal technicality regarding Sebastian having two jobs at once, you just need to sign it in case Durless' solicitor uses it in defence at the trial. Something similar has occurred before and we don't want her to get a reduced sentence because of it."

Ciel read it through thoroughly. He understood their reasoning, but surely the fact that Sebastian was working for the Police negated that. He decided it wasn't for him to decide and he had limited legal knowledge so he signed it.

"Is that all you needed me for?

Ronald glanced down at his watch for an unclear reason before answering.

"Do you want to know more about the case?"

"I thought I wasn't supposed to know the details because I am involved," Ciel replied, confused by the offer.

"Never mind that," Ronald said and directed him towards the bulletin board and pointed to the photo of his aunt at the centre. "This is Madam Red."

"Madam Red?"

It did seem to be a fitting name considering the amount of red she wore.

"That was the name that she operated under for her criminal activities."

A question that had been bothering Ciel ever since he had found out came to mind.

"Why did she do it? She has never been exactly in need of money."

The expression on Ronald's face became more guarded and he looked very reluctant to answer.

"We had a suspicion why and she admitted it when we interviewed her yesterday. She wanted to carry out something that is illegal and needed large amounts of money to do so. It is banned on ethical grounds and is likely to increase her sentence."

"What is it?" Ciel enquired curiously. He couldn't think of any likely contenders, but it seemed to be that he didn't know her as well as he thought he had.

"She wanted a child of her own, but she didn't want it to inherit her red hair meaning genetic modification would be involved. It's illegal to carry out Germline Gene Therapy and that's why she needed all the money," Ronald concluded.

Ciel stared at the photo of her sadly. He had never really known her that well after all. He had believed that she liked red.

"Can I go now?"

Again Ronald checked his watch. "You can. Remember to sign out when you leave and hand in your pass."

Ciel nodded and left the room. On his way out the entrance he encountered someone he had been hoping not to see. Sebastian Michaelis. He really couldn't avoid him.

He saw the shocked look in Sebastian's eyes when he caught sight of him.

"Ciel, what are you doing here?" he questioned after a moment of awkward silence. "...Did you come here to see me?"

The teenager was tempted to answer yes to see his reaction, but he had not intended on seeing Sebastian anytime soon so he answered truthfully.

"I was called here to sign something and I ended up talking to Ronald for a while."

There was an undeniable narrowing of Sebastian's eyes when Ciel mentioned Ronald Knox.

"I didn't know anything about that," he frowned and stepped out the way so the person behind him could get through. "We are blocking the way here so let's go somewhere else."

As much as Ciel would have liked to refuse Sebastian's offer, it was an opportunity that wouldn't occur again. Sebastian was clearly unnerved by his presence at his workplace and would more likely to answer questions truthfully.

That was how Ciel found himself sitting opposite Sebastian in an alcove of a cafe. He had to laugh at the irony- he was never going to escape tea.

"Will you have tea?" Sebastian asked the difficult question.

"I'll just have orange juice," Ciel said weakly. "I need the Vitamin C."

The former butler left to order leaving Ciel alone to consider how to approach the subject of their relationship. He wasn't going to blurt out that he had liked/still liked him like a teenage girl. It was going to be hard. He rested his head on the table and stayed that way until Sebastian returned with his orange juice.

"So what did Ronald need you for?"

"It was a "legal technicality" and I had to sign something. Something was strange about it though, I was told that you wouldn't be there and Ronald kept checking the time and kept me there for longer than was necessary."

Sebastian's reaction was to sigh. "That's because they wanted us to meet. I was sent out for half an hour to pick up some documents for them. We have fanboys in the Police in addition to female fangirls."

"They showed me all those photos you took of me. They were all a little stalkerish."

"I got carried away with that," Sebastian admitted.

"I never noticed you following me," Ciel commented to ease the tension and to delay the inevitable conversation about feelings.

"I'm good," Sebastian said with no trace of modesty. "I followed Madam Red for most of the time though. Then one day she dragged you into the street and randomly grabbed Finnian, I wasn't entirely sure what was going on until she "randomly recruited" Grell so I made sure to be recruited too."

Ciel cast his mind back to that day. Sebastian had smiled at him as he walked past which had caught his attention. Of course he now knew that Sebastian and Grell being in the right place at the right time was not a coincidence.

"By smiling at me and acting like you were interested in me which made her set us up so she could distract me from discovering the truth about Black Butler."

"I was interested in you..." the former butler paused. "When I said I liked you I wasn't lying. I just couldn't tell you the truth about your aunt because, firstly I would get into trouble with my superiors, you might have changed your attitude towards her or you might have told her everything."

The first part elicited a tomato red blush from Ciel.

"I liked you at the time," he coughed and tried to hide his blush by looking away. "I still like you."

He risked a glance at Sebastian, finding that the former butler was also sporting blushed cheeks. Their eyes met and Ciel blushed even harder, he hadn't thought that was possible.

"Thank you, Ciel," Sebastian said and flashed him the most genuine smile Ciel had ever seen. "I love you too."

"I didn't say "love"!" Ciel spluttered. "That's too much at once."

He felt Sebastian ruffle his hair gently. "I know. Maybe you will feel that way soon."

The word "soon" caught Ciel's attention and Sebastian elaborated.

"I am planning on handing in my notice when this case is finally over. It's been more stressful that I had anticipated at the start and I didn't expect to become so fond of you."

"What are you going to do after that?" the teenager questioned. "You can't expect me to provide for you just because we like each other."

He realised too late that he had given Sebastian a perfect opportunity for teasing.

Sebastian leaned forwards so their faces were only a few inches apart. "So you have considered me in your future."

Ciel averted his eyes. "Just a little."

"I have been discussing something with someone named Tanaka. He has suggested a solution to Funtom's problem that involves both of us."

1 year later:

A 20 year old Ciel Phantomhive pushed open the door of a teashop, the doorbell tingling behind him and sat down at a reserved table. The solution to the company's monetary problem had been to sell off one line of products and to reopen Black Butler as the sales has been good at the time it was open. Currently profits were at a record high as he and Sebastian were providing fanservice on a completely different scale to before, something to do with the fact that there were no secrets between then and they were dating.

A teacup of his favourite tea was placed in front of him and he titled his head back to see Sebastian standing behind him.

"Welcome back, young master," he said and leaned down to give Ciel a light kiss on the lips.

The sound of females squealing didn't bother Ciel as much as it used to, he could put up with it if it was for Sebastian.

He took a sip of tea and smiled. His avoidance of tea had only lasted one day.

Sebastian sat down opposite him. "Why are you smiling?"

"Because I love your tea."

"You're supposed to say that you love me," the butler complained. "Sometimes I think that you love tea more than me."

"I do love you," Ciel leaned across the table to kiss him. "You should get back to work."

As he had promised Sebastian had quit working for the Police and was now back to working at Black Butler. Ciel was happy with that as he could see him every day and was able to drink tea made by Sebastian and he hoped that their routine would continue on forever.

The End

I would like to thank everyone that commented and voted in this story. I always needed the motivation because university is very stressful and I am grateful to all the people that understood this.

The setting is adapted from the Korean drama, Coffee Prince with the only similarities being the good looking waiters and the chapter titles which is part of my reasoning for ending it on Sixteenth Cup.

I will write for Kuroshitsuji in the future, it will just have to be after my summer exams.

There was an issue with the reconciliation between Sebastian and Ciel. I was planning on using feedback from reviews to decide if they should end up together or not. The problem was that if all the comments from wattpad and AO3 and reviews from here were added up, they were split down the middle. Some people said Sebastian's actions were of no issue to their relationship and the other half didn't like what he had done. In the end I had to come up with a conclusion that satisfied both sides which is why it may seemed rushed to some people.