Midnight Sparkle

Chapter 9

! Warning - NSFW !

The next morning Adrian wakes up to Vincent having already gone and left him alone in the big pink room. It reminds him of a chateau, even the glitter patterns on the walls like battlements. On Vincent's pillows rests a note addressed to 'Adrian', his name written as if by a calligrapher in stunningly precise Eutemia 1. It looks like he used real ink with a metal-headed quill - there's a line of faint dusting across the letters where the ink hadn't yet dried. Vincent is left handed so it's expected. Inside the letter is written in his normal handwiritng and signed 'The Phantom'. It just details Vincent's absence beign as he's visiting the railroad offices in central London as well as the shipping ports for some negotiations. What psychopath puts this much effort into an FYI?! Adrian doesn't feel like asking. 

The letter also instructs Adrian to get the twins up - fed, clothed and out the door for school. A daunting task that fills him with great dread. The kind of dread you feel before going on a perilous voyage to Mordor. But a reward is heavily implied at the end of the letter so he can deal. Getting dressed himself, he pulls his hair back in a lazy ponytail and brushes his fringe down with his fingers. 

The manor is dark all around, especially the inner corridors that are completely windowless, the ones where time doesn't exist. Night and day are irrelevant, nothing penetrates these walls. He approaches the twins' bedroom door. Apparently Vincent had tried to give them their own bedrooms but they preferred sleeping together in a wide queen bed. He knocks the door first, barely audibly. He feels like a vampire sneaking into an uninvited house, like he'll burst into flames if he touches the doorknob. With a final, tiny sob he throws the door open to the dark room. 

He flicks on the light switch and sees the twins under the duvet. Ciel is lying on his back, flat. Junior is curled up in the foetal position. His eyepatch isn't on and Adrian can see the open socket staring back at him like a black hole. "M-Mornin'... uh wake up," he whispers, blinking. He's more surprised than he should be when it doesn't work. Of course it doesn't, he whispered. 

Approaching the bed with tremoring steps, Adrian shakes Ciel's shoulder. "W-Wake up, morning," he greets Ciel once his eyes open, stirring and rubbing them. Ciel sits up, face going blank at the sight of Adrian. All the emotion drains from his face. 

"Hmph, good morning," he wakes up Ciel who outright scowls at the sight of Adrian. They dress in their private school uniforms, those similar to sailor suits. Black blazers adorned in blue lapels with badges lining the collars - different ones depending which twin has earned what. Their maroon ties look very out of place against bright light blue, black, white and dotted badges in multiple colours. A straight man definitely designed these. Adrian fixes Ciel's eyepatch, he doesn't do it right the first time and some stray hairs get caught. 

Downstairs, Baldroy looks up with a grin. "A'right Adrian, Phan'omhives. Wait till ya see what I got this morning!" 

The twins sit unenthusiastically at the table, sharing looks of impassion. Adrian briefly remembers what Vincent told him: act like their ally, a confidant. Someone they can relate to. How exactly he's going to relate to these rich-ass kids he has no idea. Ciel  is calmly reading on his Kindle and Junior is driving a toy car along the edge of the table. It's hard for Adrian to remember these are just kids and not some tiny alien businessmen. He gets an idea. 

"Who wants cake for breakfast?" he asks. Not at all because he wants cake for breakfast...

"I do!" Junior answers immediately, his eyes wide an innocent, pleading for a morsel of sugary sweetness. All disdain dissolves from his brain to his tastebuds and he acts like any other regular child at the promise of sugar. Particularly cake and double-particularly angel cake.