My Butler, His Master

5. Ver à Soie

-5-

Ver à Soie

Ciel turned around, and jumped nearly ten feet out of his skin as he saw the dark figure leaning nonchalantly against the door frame to the laundry quarters. His hand flew to his chest for a moment, attempting to tame his rapidly beating heart while regaining his lost breath.

"Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Ciel managed to huff, as the figure smiled and lifted himself from the doorway, walking towards him with his arms crossed.

Sebastian surveyed the condition of the laundry room; sighing from the amount of mess left over from Ciel's laundry crusade. The box of soap had been overturned on the table, leaking the precious substance all over the wet floor. The dollie had been tossed unceremoniously against the wall, and lay on it's side, still soaked from use. The mangler had been left full of water, and the hot iron lay on it's side on the wooden table. He touched his temple in brief annoyance, sighing heavily before chuckling to himself. His young master, the Earl of Phantomhive, cleaning clothes. The very idea had tickled him earlier when he gave the order, but seeing it in fruition caused him so much delight that he had to stifle his reaction to brief light laughter.

"What's so funny?" Ciel frowned sourly, looking behind him at his workplace and seeing it as a battlefield, celebrating his victory over the menacing task of cleaning the jacket. He felt proud, despite it's condition, that he had performed the act to the best of his ability, alone and without prior instruction. Every spill was a badge of accomplishment.

Sebastian didn't share his insight. The quiet laughter had ceased almost immediately, and instead of answering Ciel's question, he crossed the room in a few strides, fingers taking up a sleeve of the ruined jacket hanging from the drying rack. Ciel bit his lip, backing up a little towards the door. His denial that Sebastian wouldn't notice started breaking down, as the reality of the situation began to weigh on him. Sebastian would notice; of course he would notice! Ciel had failed to comply with a direct order, and now the elegant jacket was ruined beyond repair.

"Oh my," Sebastian exclaimed, holding up one unfortunate sleeve that bore a long streak of burned fabric, "You destroyed my favorite jacket."

"Well," Ciel tried to save face. He was new at this whole business, and Sebastian new that all too well. He figured that Sebastian should not have expected less of him, and if anything, complimented his attempt in some form, "What do you expect? I've never washed things myself. You didn't show me how to, either."

"I wasn't given instruction on how to do it properly," Sebastian reposed, turning his head slightly to look at Ciel as his hand slowly reached for the door latch, "yet I had enough sense to look up what I had to do from one of the many books in your library."

Ciel flushed, insulted by Sebastian's words, and cursing himself for not thinking about consulting a proper text first. His fingers fumbled for the metal handle as he stared off with the demon at the far wall, and finding it almost an impossible task.

"Stay where you are," Sebastian commanded. Little pin pricks started creeping up Ciel's fingers, each one of them hot. He drew his hand away from the door and held his hand to his chest, rubbing it gingerly as to ward off the irritation.

"Are you getting some sick enjoyment from this?" Ciel waved his hand briefly, attempting to shake the last of the prickling feeling off. A dark shadow fell over his hand, and he turned his gaze up to a face that was now only inches from his own. Sebastian's fingers wrapped themselves around Ciel's, and he blew softly on his fingertips.

"Seeing your expression is quite amusing, yes," Sebastian smiled, "but even more amusing... is this."

He rotated Ciel's hand so that the young boy could see what he meant. Ciel's eye widened as he saw a small trickle of blood flow from a broken blister on his hand. Several other angry and pulsating red welts dotted his delicate fingers, and he whimpered softly upon acknowledging their existence. His self pity immediately shifted into extreme resentment of the hand that held the sight before him, and he quickly wrenched his poor hand free of Sebastian's grasp.