Tales of Tribulation

5

This is it, Sebastian decides as Adrian firmly pushes him downstairs by his shoulders. The light from above has long since burned out, and no windows allow moonlight to penetrate the stone passageway. Can Adrian see? Probably not. Sebastian has lost all sense of direction. This is it. This is how he finally dies. Maybe he deserves this for being such a sucky butler, maybe Vincent told Adrian to kill him. He hears a click. A gun? They stop, and he closes his eyes, awaiting the blow.

Bang!

Sebastian opens his eyes to reveal Adrian standing by the kitchen doorway, having unlocked the door and is holding it open for him, the old wooden structure banging off the doorstop. The light is on inside. Sebastian almost collapses to the floor and barely stops a whimper escaping his throat. "Dammit, you nearly gave me a fucking heart attack!" He seethes at Adrian, pushing past him and storming indignantly into the kitchen.

"What?" Adrian quirks an eyebrow in confusion.

From the door at the other end of the kitchen, the one Sebastian actually knew existed and not this secret entrance or whatever, emerges Vincent steering in a very sleepy and very grumpy Ciel dressed in striped pyjamas. They lock eyes for a second, both angry and confused at being dragged out of bed, wondering if this was the other's doing. They're shoved together by the preparing bench and Vincent stands before them, on the opposite side. He places his hands on his hips and makes a stern face, though Vincent can never really look stern. "Right, Sebastian undoubtedly needs to learn to cook properly to be a worthy Phantomhive Butler. You Ciel, will be teaching him,"

"What?!" Ciel objects. "This is outrageous, I can't-"

"I assume," Vincent interjects, a satisfied smile playing on his lips. "That if you were so critical of Sebastian you have your own culinary skill set, right?"

Ciel glares venomously at his brother. He doesn't know how to cook, he failed Year 7 home economics. This Idiot knows exactly what he's doing and that Ciel will make him pay for it afterwards. But he doesn't want to be shown up in front of Sebastian and Idiot #2. "W-Well of course I can!"

"Great!" Vincent claps. "We'll leave you to it!"

Ciel shudders a little, feeling the burden of pressure overcome him. He's suffered with high-functioning anxiety for a while and it often manifests in situations like this, where he's being put on the spot and tested on things, like intelligence, with the consequence of humility if something goes wrong. He fiddles with the ring on his fingers as a way to ground himself. Vincent goes to leave and Adrian follows but as he does, Ciel feels a hand on his ass that can't possibly be Sebastian's. He looks up at Adrian to see him place a finger to his lips in a conspiratorial manner - and obeys, keeping his mouth shut.

Reaching into his back pocket, Ciel feels something crinkling. Paper. A recipe! "Come now," Vincent calls on Adrian who follows him out the kitchen obediently.

Sebastian rolls his eyes. Now the brat gets to teach him how to cook in the middle of the night, how fun. Ciel will likely be a lil bitch and piss him off all night. Well, he'll get his revenge at their tutoring session tomorrow. For now he swallows his pride and bows to Ciel. "Well Young Master, what shall we make?"

Ciel quickly and... discreetly... checks the recipe. "Raspberry and white chocolate cake," he reads from it awkwardly. What and what what cake?! Even with these instructions, Adrian has severely overestimated his abilities. "Uh, go and get butter, white chocolate, eggs, castor sugar, flour, raspberries and double cream,"

"Yes, my Lord," Most of these are common ingredients Sebastian finds in the fridge, thank Hell. He can't help wonder if this was all premeditated since all the ingredients are right there for him. He sets them neatly on the table. "Now what?"