My Dirty Little Secret

|Secret Eleven: Ciel's Birthday|

It was this time, every year, that cursed day returned. Everyone would go out of their way to try and wish him well. He didn't want it. Especially not after what had just happened to his father. She had come back. She had slapped him, not once, not twice, but three times she hit him. That wretched woman. He wanted to slap her back, to protect his father, but he couldn't even get within two feet. He felt pathetic. Disgusted. After all this time, he was still afraid of her. And now he had to deal with all of them? All of them trying to wish him well and trying to get him to smile. It was terrible. Ugly. A waste of a day. Ciel only hoped that the cuts wouldn't scar his father's beautiful face. He had enough emotional scarring already. Oh, what a shame, that he would spend his birthday thinking only of his parent. That was just the way Ciel was and always would be.

"Ciel!" Alois waved his hand in front of the boy. He was clearly annoyed about why Ciel had been zoning out so much today. What was with him? It was his birthday! He should be happy!

"What?" Ciel glared. Alois was the last person that he wanted to hold a conversation with.

"Stay after school today, okay? Everyone is going to stay too! We all have presents to give you!" Alois stated before running off to his own class. Ciel sighed. The group of idiots did something like this every year. It was the same since he had been a freshman. Couldn't they just skip it this time? The answer was no. They had always thought that something was off about Ciel. That he didn't have enough friends. That he was underdeveloped when it came to his social skills. Because of that, they would be over-dramatic, trying to make up for all the friends that Ciel lacked. Trying to help him forget his mother and move on.

Ciel loved his hatred though. It made him who he was, without it, what would he be? As long as he had hatred he had a reason to live. Until something new, until someone new, came into his life, he would continue to think in such a sad way. That's just how it was with him. And now, as he stood in front of the cafeteria door, he contemplated on if he should enter or just leave. Should he just go home? Ciel didn't know what he should do. But he did know, that if he decided to bail, he would have to hear about it all day tomorrow. 

Walking through the door, nine people stood. The ones that Ciel expected and the ones that he didn't. Alois, Drecta, Lisa, and Sebastian. He expected those four. Those people made themselves very clear. He did not expect Finny, Mey-Rin, Snake, Madame Red, and her secretary Grell. Why were they here?

Ciel had always sensed that something was off about Grell but he couldn't place what. His brown hair and pointy teeth just didn't give much away. Ciel could feel a different person hiding within him. This was because he had already met the other version, without even knowing it, at Svante. However, if he couldn't even tell that The Butler was Sebastian, do you really expect him to be able to tell that Grell has a secret persona? He might just be the smartest idiot around.

"Happy Birthday," they said in unison, each holding out a gift, begging Ciel to take theirs first (except for Grell, who was really only here by accident). Eight gifts, three from people he didn't even meet before. Ciel sighed and started with his aunt. He smiled, halfheartedly, as he accepted hers, then went down the line doing the same thing with each person, until he reached Sebastian.

"Thank you all," he said in such a monotone voice before placing the small packages in his bag. There really wasn't anyone here, who he felt, did this without the guilt of obligation. Maybe Sebastian, but Ciel couldn't read that guy yet. Nor did he wish to. Something about Sebastian made him feel skeptical. Ciel didn't trust him.

The room had been suffocating him, the longer he stayed there, the more irritable he would get. Ciel still had to go home and finally stop avoiding his father. He had to face his own guilt and he decided that would be today. His father never tried to give him a gift and he loved that. Vincent also didn't have the money for one either...now that he thought about it...but still, that wasn't the point. His father was the only one who didn't make a big deal out of birthdays, probably because he always forgot about them. That was how it should be, Ciel's birth should be forgotten. It shouldn't have happened in the first place.