Tales of Tribulation

10

Sebastian observes Ciel struggling with his schoolwork across the dinner table in the long Phantomhive dining room. He's been tutoring Ciel for well over an hour and progress is moving frustratingly slow. Like dead snail levels of slow. "Why don't we go outside?" he suggests, staring at the vast and well-maintained estate gardens. A change of scenery might help Ciel's learning process but he can't deny his own motivations. Dozens of species of flowers kept up by the friendly gardener who comes by once a week. Sebastian would love to go walking through it with Ciel. Sit at one of the neglected patio tables drinking their afternoon tea. Maybe he'll meet some cats. 

The glare he receives tells him that isn't happening. 

Ciel tosses his textbook across the table and scowls at it. The book sits there uselessly and he feels justified in blaming it for all life's problems including the fiery deaths of his parents. "This question is horrific," he states with a huff. He seems to have some personal vengeance against this question that's as repressed as the rest of his emotions. 

"Let me see, drama queen," Sebastian scoffs mockingly, grabbing the book and finding their page. He looks endearingly at his boyfriend who's acting  just so cute. Like a kitty cat hissing at a Rottweiler. Sebastian could crush him under one finger if he wants to. He turns he paper around to himself and stares at this dumb low-level AQA Applied General Business question paper. 

"Which of the following organisational structures is most likely to use project teams that are formed for specific tasks?" he recites to himself in a mumble before looking over his glasses at Ciel. It's a simple multiple choice he can figure out even though he's never done business a day past Year 7 and he barely attended it then. The fact that Ciel can't answer something so basic is igniting his frustrations even more, with himself as much as his boyfriend. 

He quirks an eyebrow. "Really?" he rills his eyes. Ciel glares deeply. 

The options  are - 

A) flat structure

B) hierarchical structure

C) matrix structure 

D) tall structure

"It's - I can't even explain this, it's fucking C Ciel!" he sighs. Ciel marks it down angrily, pissed at Sebastian for insulting his intelligence. Honestly Sebastian knows he's amazing at business analytics. But he fails spectacularly on the knowledge front because 'this information doesn't matter when you're actually running a business!' Maybe not Ciel, but your grade does. 

Sebastian catches Ciel's hateful glare, one of vitriol but also one of hurt. Sebastian swore at him and enflamed one of his biggest self-hatred triggers: his intellect. 

"Sorry," the butler rests his head on the desk, black locks spilling over the side. He looks deathly pale against the dark wood and raven hair. "I'm dealing with my own A-Level shit and it's killing me right now. Why am I even bothering with them? I just want to be a butler, I just want to quit," 

"A Phantomhive butler must be highly educated!" Ciel quips, reciting a rule he's heard from Vincent for years and that's stuck in his mind. Come to think of it Vincent can be blamed for all of his prejudices given he never taught Ciel how to correctly interpret his words.

 He sees Sebastian grin briefly under his hair at his dramatic tone but it's gone again. Replaced by that mild melancholy. He tries again. "You're so intelligent, how can you possibly say you want to quit?" 

"I'm not intelligent," he stares into the distance for a second. He knows, logically, that it isn't true. He surpassed everyone's expectations with his GCSEs achieving 10 A*s and passing 14 total. That's the kind of grade those with perseverance and determination can achieve no matter their family background. But A-levels... those aren't for people like him. Those are for people like Ciel Phantomhive with status and family values to push them to university which he doesn't even plan on going to. He's nothing like the people who get A-levels, he should have went to a sixth form college instead of stupidly staying in school and reaching for something higher. A wasted year in school spending wasted time on useless grades he can't do anything with because he certainly wouldn't be able to achieve university level.