Revelations

Chapter twenty two

AN: So, I stayed up till like almost 1:00 writing this so I hope it turned out okay...
Enjoy, friends! :)

Ciel stares out at the Phantomhive estate's grounds, from his place curled up on the large window pane's ledge, a cup of his favourite Earl Grey tea in one hand, and a large brown, worn, leather, book in the other. It's pages are yellowed with age, and are no longer the crisp, clean, white that they once were, no doubt long before he had been born.
The young Earl doesn't know what it is about this one book in particular that he finds so appealing, maybe it is the story itself which he can seemingly somehow relate to, or maybe it is the characters in it, appearing in his mind to take on the roles. They seem to evolve from people he knows well, like: Alois, Lizzy, Claude, Lau, and Sebastian.
'Lau...', Ciel can't help but think, the thought trailing off as he then chuckles under his breath at what the crazy opium dealer's reaction would be if he knew about what had all go on only a week ago, at most.
'That bloody bastard would just laugh at me and tell me he was right all along...', the young boy mutters angrily.
This seems to bother him so much, thinking about that traitor of his anyway, that he finds himself throwing the book down onto the floor and sighing at the instantaneous banging sound that follows. He knows without a doubt that such a raucous will most definitely cause his demon to frantically run up the stairs and inquire on what is wrong with him.
So, before he can even detect the sounds of Sebastian's shiny, black, leather shoes, and the slight squeak that often accompanies them, Ciel quickly reaches down and grabs the large volume from its place on the carpeted floor.
He then decides to distract himself with other matters, well, one in particularly, that being Alois Trancy's and Claude Faustus' wedding that has now been scheduled for this coming Friday. Ciel knows this for a fact because, he went with Alois to his manor and the young Earl finally managed to convince his acquaintance (basically friend) to hire a wedding planner. Of course, that had been easier said than done because, Alois Trancy wouldn't-no couldn't have just ANYONE design and plan his dream wedding.
'It has to be perfect.', Ciel remembers him saying, as a young blonde woman attempted to run her measuring tape across Alois' chest, from shoulder to shoulder, as he had been trying to equip the boy with a proper outfit for the grand occasion.
Extravagant would've been a much better word for it, Ciel thought. But, he had fought with himself slightly, so he wouldn't say so to Alois.
It hadn't been till later that same week, that the Trancy boy finally selected and decided on a 'suitable' outfit, well whatever was deemed suitable by him, of course. Which, usually meant wearing a long coat and well...booty shorts.
Honestly, Ciel couldn't stand them, so he had NO idea how his friend was able to basically function with those bloody things on, the silky fabric hugging his butt, so that it made Alois' behind look firmer than it most likely was, otherwise, there would've been NO need for those wretched things!
'Oh well, no doubt Claude likes them...', the young boy thinks, not even bothering to suppress the little giggle he lets out at the very thought of Claude liking really anything else besides the young boy's (Ciel's) soul.
"Indeed, it will all be worth the bother.", he says aloud, then smiles at the afterthought he's just had.
For a brief second, Ciel Phantomhive actually feels jealous of his friend, as if somewhere deep down in his own heart he wants the same thing for himself.
This only causes the young Earl to begin to daydream, a wide grin slowly spreading across his face as he does so.
In his mind, he sees it, it's the Trancy manor, that's not even up for debate, but he's not sitting among those gathered and neither is Sebastian...
Instead, they're in one of the front rooms, Alois and him anyway, as his cousin Elizabeth puts the finishing touches on his suit jacket, making sure the almost pure white corsage he wears, is fastened properly and won't accidentally poke Sebastian or himself during the ceremony. Ciel of course, can't make out her words because he's not even really listening to her. His heart's pounding rapidly in his chest, seemingly trying to throw itself against his ribs so that it can perhaps break free and run to the tall, dark-haired, crimson-eyed individual who is no doubt waiting to see him, to hold him in his arms...
"Young Master....Young Master....Are you awake, my Lord?"
It's the sound of Sebastian's white-gloved hand wrapping firmly against the wood of the door, that startles Ciel out of his trance.
"Yes, what is it, Sebastian?", the young boy manages to get out, trying not to stammer.
"It appears that you have a visitor, my Little Lord. Alois Trancy wishes to speak with you."
'Tch, not again!', Ciel thinks, but says instead: "Very well, I will be right out to see him."
And with that, the young boy gets up from his place on the large window ledge and slowly opens the door once he's certain that Sebastian has gone, and then swiftly makes his way down the stairs, one surprisingly ungloved hand trailing over the bannister, as he ponders what the Trancy boy wants, now.
He stops suddenly as the thought from earlier enters his mind, again.
'Oh gosh, what if...', but he refuses to finish the thought because, Alois is standing at the bottom of the staircase, hands on his hips as he chastises Ciel for being late, even though the other boy in a guest in his home.
"Hi, Ciel. Bet you thought you wouldn't see me till Friday...right?", the blond-haired boy doesn't give the Phantomhive Earl a chance to speak before, he continues.
"Well, I would've stayed away, but I just couldn't bare to leave the matter till Friday morning. Most likely, it'd be too late, then..."
Ciel glares at Alois, trying to seem threatening to the other boy.
But, the Trancy boy just laughs, then he smirks knowingly at Ciel.
"How would you feel about a double wedding, Phantomhive?", he asks, innocently looking at Ciel.
The other boy gasps at that, seemingly shocked at his friend's question, well, more like proposition.
He quickly shakes his head, then laughs, lightly at his friend.
"Alois, are you daft? I can't just marry him! He hasn't even proposed and even if he did...it's too soon to get married...I mean, it's one thing for you to, but-"
"But, what? Ciel, why not?", the Trancy boy whines.
"I told you, bastard. It's because I am not ready for something serious like marriage with Sebastian, we haven't even been together for a year and you already think we should get married?!"
"Yes, yes, I do.", Alois replies with a finality.
Ciel sighs, exasperated.
"Please, Ciel! Do it for me! For your friend? Me! Alois Trancy! Please? You know that I won't be able to go through with this wedding if you don't. Please, for me? And, if not for me, for your soon to be husband, Sebastian?"
"Alois! Bloody hell, he hadn't even proposed to me yet and you are already referring to him as my 'husband'?!"
"Yes, yes, I am, Ciel. Because, before you know it, that will be the reality."
The young Earl bit his lip, contemplating.
"Does Claude know of your scheming?"
The blond-haired boy, scoffed.
"It's called planning, Ciel! Not scheming!"
The Earl of Phantomhive just sighs.
"Well, it sounds more like scheming to me..."
"Think what you want, but later on down the road you'll damn well be thanking me for this little nudge if you will that finally got you both to become serious about your relationship!"
"Alois, a 'little nudge' would have been you setting us up on a blind date or something like that, not forcing us to marry each other!"
"Well, whatever. The point is I think you two need to make your other contract official, if you know what I mean...", he says, winking at Ciel.
The young boy just sighs.
"Alois, you can stop beating around the bush, we already did it.", the young Earl says, matter-of-factly.
"REALLY?! WHEN?!", the other boy yells, his eyes like saucers.
"Bloody hell, Alois! Do not shout so loud! He will hear you!", Ciel whispers rather quite loudly, gesturing toward the kitchen where no doubt Sebastian is.
"Sorry. I'm just-I'm SHOCKED! You-YOU of ALL people having sex with your own bloody butler! Man, that takes some serious guts! I can't believe you actually did it!"
Ciel just rolls his one crystalline blue eye at his friend's words.
"You don't have to get SO worked up about it, it has only happened once!"
Alois now even more shocked, stares at him, mouth agape.
"What?! ONLY ONCE?! CIEL, YOU HAVE A BLOODY FINE LOOKING BUTLER AND YOU'VE ONLY SLEPT WITH HIM...ONCE?! I MEAN, EVEN I, IF I WASN'T WITH CLAUDE WOULD'VE TAKEN ADVANTAGE OF THAT PRIVILEGE DEFINITELY MORE THAN ONCE! I MEAN, REALLY! CIEL, I THINK YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S DAFT!"
"Yeah, yeah, say whatever you want. I'll have you know that the reason I've been so hesitate to 'take advantage of my butler' again as you say, is because, when we did it the first time I did not exactly know about the pain I would experience until, after he did it. So in all due respect, it was amazing yes, but also something that I will need time getting used to."
"Well, at least you're not saying he was bad in bed that can be very problematic for a dominate figure like him."
"Alois! Must you say such things?!", Ciel yells, hoping that his demonic butler hasn't caught wind of their current conversation, or he'd surely die of embarrassment.
"I could say worst things like, did he use lubrication? Cause, you know nothing works right without lubrication."
"Alois! Shut it, will you?! He is going to hear you!"
The Trancy boy just smirks.
"In that case...", he says, slowly strolling over the kitchen doorway.
"SEBASTIAN, YOU THERE? IT'S ME! ALOIS! I JUST THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW FOR FUTURE REFERENCE THAT CIEL THOUGHT THAT YOU SUCKED ASS IN BED, MEANING YOU WERE TERRIBLE AND HE WAS IN PAIN BECAUSE OF YOUR REFUSAL TO STOP BEING SO DAMN STINGY AND BUY SOME LUBRICANT BEFORE YOU TO GOT IT ON AT THAT BALL! SERIOUSLY THOUGH, WHY DIDN'T YOU USE LUBRICANT, IT IS BETTER THAT WAY! ANYWAY, I GOTTA GO NOW BUT TAKE HEED YOU DEMON, IF YOU LOVE CIEL PHANTOMHIVE AS MUCH AS YOU SAY YOU DO THEN YOU'LL DO WHAT I KNOW YOU'VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT DOING! SO YEAH, ANYWAY, BYE!!!!!", Alois yells into the kitchen before, skipping past Ciel and opening the one of he doors.
"Bye, Ciel! I'll see you Friday morning! Bring your best outfit cause you my friend are getting hitched!"
The Trancy boy than breaks into a fit of laughter and closes the door behind him, before Ciel can do so.
The young boy knows he's blushing, no doubt his face is on fire from his friend's display, but all he can really think about is one thing. And that one thing is that, this coming Friday morning, he will be getting married to the love of his life and his friend will be doing, likewise.
"Oh well", Ciel says to himself.
"It was bound to happen sooner or later..."
And indeed it was, because little did he know that said demon who he was supposed to marry according to Alois on Friday, had been standing behind a slight alcove in the wall near the manor's kitchen and was already contemplating not just what Alois had said-yelled to him, but also the unspoken words of his Ciel, knowing full well what he must plan to do in the coming days, if he is to listen to Alois' words about doing what he's thought about doing.
Which he has.
Daily.
"I must do the right thing and make of Ciel Phantomhive, an honest man."