The Funtom Company

23: The |Stein| Company

"Vincent, are you quite alright?" Adrian asked for the one-hundredth time that evening. The two were currently sitting in an Uber, making their way to Adrian's apartment. Vincent, being the gentleman that he is, couldn't return home first without escorting his plus one home. He never liked Ubers, to be honest, you never know who the driver is. For all he knew, in another timeline he was a serial killer driving an Uber. I mean really, are these things safe? Didn't anyone ever tell you not to get into a stranger's car?

"You worry too much," Vincent laughed it off. "Why wouldn't I be fine?"

"Well, for one thing, you never sweat. You wear three piece suits in the middle of summer and I haven't seen you sweat once. But, you're like a puddle now. Are you sick?" Adrian was too observant for his own good.

"Perhaps I am," Vincent rested his head on Adrian's shoulder. "Change my clothes and make me some porridge like they do in those shoujo mangoes," he said.

"I think you mean 'manga'?"

"You understood, didn't you?"

"Okay, I did. But don't start talking about demon butlers because I can't stand that type of plot line. Don't get me wrong, Devils and Realist was a great series, but I swear if I see one more manga where a demon butler is totally into his contractor but there isn't canon fucking, I'm going to explode," Adrian went on and on about various plot lines and things. Vincent drifted off. It was a peaceful thing, listening to Adrian ramble. The guy wasn't the type to talk much.

The car stopped and Vincent sat up. He felt a bit dizzy but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. As long as he could get through his press conference tomorrow, everything would turn out okay. "I suppose this is goodbye," Vincent said as Adrian opened the car door. Vincent wished that he could give Adrian a kiss, but he couldn't risk poisoning him. Speaking of poison...

"Oh, before you leave," Vincent grabbed the handkerchief and held it out to Adrian. "Would you be willing to give this to your brother? Tell him 'Henry Clerval' he will understand. It's important, so don't forget about it, okay?"

Adrian grabbed the handkerchief. "Uh, okay?" he was confused. Of course he was confused. Vincent wasn't going to tell him he had only a few more hours to live. What nonsense.

Adrian waved as the Uber car drove off. He made the journey to his apartment and tried his best to repeat the name over and over again so he wouldn't forget. "Stein!" he yelled as he opened the door. "Are you back yet?" he looked around. No Stein, however, there was a half naked Sebastian Michaelis and a certain Ciel Phantomhive straddling him on their couch.

"Oh, sorry, wrong apartment," Adrian closed the door. He checked the number again. Nope, this was definitely his apartment. He opened the door once more and Ciel stood there, not at all embarrassed.

"I can explain everything," he began. "It wasn't at all what it looked like."

"Are you quite certain it wasn't at all what it looked like?" Adrian frowned.

"It wasn't," Ciel assured.

"Well, goddamnit kid, let me leave so you can make it what it looked like. I am sick and tired of fake gay shit!" Adrian was still on his demon-butler-contractors-aren't-gay-enough spree.

"No, no, wait!" Ciel grabbed the door before Adrian slammed it shut. "Please don't leave me alone with him," he whispered. "I cannot stand it. Victor left ages ago and it was so awkward. Please just act normal."

"There is nothing normal about a Michaelis and a Phantomhive in my home to begin with, but sure, okay, why the hell not. It's not like I haven't been asked stranger things," Adrian gripped the handkerchief in his hand tighter. Fuck. The scene had made him forget the phrase. Howard? No it was Henry, wasn't it?

"Are you just going to stand there like an idiot, or are you going to let me into the apartment, Adrian?" Dr. Franken Stein, brother of the imbecile Adrian, stood behind him with a multitude of things in his hands. Ciel opened the door wide, and stepped out of Franken's way.

"Is there a reason the son of Vincent Phantomhive is here with his..." Franken eyed Sebastian, "clearly not a friend 'friend.'"

"I have absolutely no idea why they are here," Adrian explained. "But Ciel's father wanted me to give you this...he said to say...uh...Howard Clirfal...or something like that." Adrian held out the handkerchief.

"Henry Clerval?" Ciel offered. He had no idea what Adrian was trying to say but he did however know a bit about literature.

Franken put the groceries down in the kitchen and grabbed the handkerchief. "What the hell am I supposed to do with this?" he sighed. "Vincent is always giving me these damn riddles."

"Henry Clerval is the friend of Victor Frankenstein, does that mean anything to you?" Ciel tried his best to help.

"Oh, yes, very funny, my parents name me 'Franken Stein' and suddenly I'm an expert on the novel," Franken rolled his eyes. "Damn you, Vincent. I haven't seen the man in years and now his kid is in my living-room and my idiot brother is his secretary and he assumes I know exactly what he wants me to do with this," Franken threw up his hands and retreated to his room. "Make yourself useful for once and put those things away," he yelled as he shut his door.

Sebastian was already on it. Shirtless and all. He was putting things away as if he lived here his whole life. Consider Adrian impressed. "So, how did the ball go? Aunt Angel was messaging me about it the entire time but didn't mention you two much."

"It was terrible," Adrian threw his hat. "Miserable social event. I hate it. Did you know your father was a painter? Because I didn't."

"You didn't know that?" Sebastian snickered.

"You, attractive teenage boy, stay out of this," Adrian pointed at Sebastian; the guy shut up as requested.

"Do you want to see some of his paintings? I do have a few pictures saved on my phone," Ciel scrolled through his photos and revealed some of the artworks. Most of them consisted of angels and demons. A lot were simply people doing people things as well.

"So, I have a bit of bad news," Franken returned. "The good news is, I know what Vincent wanted me to do," he said.

"What's the bad news?" Adrian asked.

"It's impossible for me to do it in the amount of time that I have left," Franken confessed. "I'll just have to try, I suppose," Franken grabbed his coat and exited the apartment again. Sigh. Just when he thought he'd have the night off. Nope. Back to the lab it was for him. Damn you, Vincent.