ImmediatelyWriting's One Shots

#36. Black Butler - Ciel/Lizzy: "Dear Lizzy..."

Summary: Ciel has to practice for his important speech for Elizabeth's birthday.

Fandom: Black Butler
Ship: Ciel/Elizabeth
Genre: Fluff, Marriage Proposal

part of Shipbruary 2021!

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"Dear Elizabeth Midford—" Ciel's voice echoes through the room. "—I, Ciel Phantomhive, would hereby like to- ugh." He frowns at the tall butler who wrote this text specially for Ciel.

"Is something the matter, young master?" Sebastian looks down at him, even though he's not much taller than Ciel now that he's finally had his grow spurt.

"Yeah, there is, in fact." Ciel slams the cheat sheet onto the table and crumbles it in his fist. "Do you even realize how important this is?" He glares at Sebastian. "She's turning eighteen, Sebastian! I can't drop by and read some sappy letter out loud, that's dreadful!"

Sebastian takes a deep calm breath. "Than what would you like me to write for her?"

Ciel notices something's off in his voice, almost as if he's getting tired of having to write Ciel's speeches for Lizzy's birthday each year. It annoys him that Sebastian's raising his voice much more often than he used to do when Ciel was just a child.

"Have it your way," Ciel mumbles, walking over to his desk where he gets a piece of paper and something write with. "I'll write it myself this year." He puts the inked pencil on the white surface and takes a moment to breathe and think. How is he going to ask Lizzy this?

Sebastian just stands there, staring at Ciel as he tries to come up with a way to introduce this most-important question to the girl. But the eyes that are fixated on him annoy him so much that instead of words written in ink, all Ciel can do is yell, "Can you just leave!" at Sebastian.

Sebastian gives him a short bow before saying, "Yes, my lord" and then he walks away to do whatever butlers do in this household.

Ciel wish he would now know how to write it all down. How to wish her a happy birthday and introduce the perfect present he knows she'll love. But his brain won't even let him think.

He sits there, staring at an empty paper for almost half an hour before he finally writes down the first words. "Will you, Elizabeth Midford—" He puts a thick black line through that.

"No, I shouldn't start with will." Ciel tries again, another way and another. But nothing seems right.

When there's a knock on the door and Sebastian walks in with cake and tea, Ciel realizes that he's been sitting at his desk for almost three hours now and he still doesn't have a single word on paper.

"Just put it there." He waves at one of the only spots on his desk that isn't littered with balls of crumbled up failures. After that he turns to the letter again, which is still only one name long.

"Young master," Sebastian says, taking stand behind Ciel so he can look at the letter over his shoulder. "You should be getting dressed, Elizabeth will arrive any moment now."

"I thought she'd arrive at four this afternoon?" Ciel asks Sebastian without looking up from his most important, and very unfinished, speech.

"Not quite, my lord." Sebastian takes a step aside and tells Ciel that he must've got his dates, or his times rather, mixed up. "Tomorrow, at four, she'll be leaving again. She will be arriving around three this afternoon, I wrote that down in your schedule, if I remember correctly."

Ciel looks up, and when his eyes meet Sebastian's he suddenly realizes the urgency of the situation; it's already almost three o'clock and Lizzy tends to be early.