To Protect and To Serve

Chapter 10

"Gray darling can you do me a favor?" Juvia asked him one morning.

"What is it?" He answered.

"Ciel was supposed to come over for tutoring but I'm going to be a little late because I have a meeting with the board of education. Can you pick him up and just keep him entertained until the meeting is over?"

"He won't be much trouble will he?"

"No he's a good boy but he's not exactly well mannered and he tends to be a bit snarky. In fact you could say he kind of reminds me of you."

"Really? Well then I should be able to handle him. I wasn't that difficult as a child."

"That's not what your father says. He once told me that you were such a handful that he would've sold you to the circus if your mother had allowed him." She giggled.

"Oh ha-ha. You know he's lying when he says that. I was a well behaved kid and my old man wouldn't have sold me for anything."

"Well I believe that he wouldn't have sold you for anything but I'm not so sure if I believe you were a well behaved child."

"Whatever, no kid is perfect."

She kissed her husband and left for work. Many hours later Gray went to pick up Ciel from school.

"Now let's see, what does this Ciel kid look like?"

He looked around the school yard where the kids waited for their parents to pick them up. He rolled down the window of his car and called out: "Hey I'm looking for a Ciel Hughes! Is he here?"

A boy walked up to the car.

"What?" The kid said.

"Are you Ciel Hughes?"

"That depends, who's asking?"

"I'm Gray Fullbuster, Juvia's husband. She's in a meeting today so she wants me to pick you up and keep an eye on you until the meeting is over."

"How do I know you're her husband and not just some creep who abducts children?"

"You're nobody's fool kid." Gray pulled out his wallet and showed Ciel a photograph of him and Juvia on their wedding day. "Does this convince you?"

"Okay."

Ciel got in the car while Gray drove to his house. During the car ride Gray noticed that the boy looked a lot like himself when he was a kid. Of course there were some differences, his skin wasn't nearly as pale and his eyes were so blue. Blue like Juvia's eyes.

"Can you stop staring at me? That's creepy." Ciel asked.

"Juvia was right, this kid was snarky." Gray thought.

When they arrived at his house Ciel decided to catch up on his reading while Gray went down to his art studio to work on a new painting. He pulled out a bunch of paints and brushes.

"What are you painting?" Ciel asked.

"I don't know yet. Right now I'm just as the hippies say expressing myself."

"Do you only paint?"

"No. Sometimes I draw and occasionally I'll sculpt. Juvia says that you like art, you got any talent for it?"

"I draw a little and sometimes I take some parts I find and make them into sculptures."

"Really? I'd like to see your work."

"No you wouldn't. It stinks. My parents said so."

"And yet you still do it."

"Well I need something to blow off steam so it's either that or graffiti art and I don't want to end up in jail."

"Uh-huh...Do you like anything else? Like sports?"

"I'm not into sports but I like music. I think my mom used to sing to me when I was little but that doesn't make sense because she and my dad hate music."

"How can anyone hate music?"

"I don't know. They're weird."

"Hey do you wanna do something fun?"

"What?"

Gray went upstairs and about ten minutes later he came back with two large sheets of white poster paper, two smocks, and a cart of gallons that were filled with something. He hung the papers up, put on his smock, and handed the second one to Ciel.

"What are we doing?" Ciel asked.

"This is a game I invented when I was just about your age. See those balloons over there? They have paint in them, we are going to throw them at our own papers and whoever makes the most appealing painting wins. No brush, no pencil, you just throw the balloon. So wanna give it a try?"

Ciel seemed reluctant to participate at first but eventually he found himself joining in and having a fun time.

"Hmmm...I think mine is the best." Gray said.

"No fair! You can't be the judge." Ciel said.

"My game."

"But that's cheating."

Upset and feeling mischievous, Ciel picked up a balloon of blue paint and threw it at Gray while his back was turned. Gray gave the boy an equally mischievous grin.

"So is that how you wanna play?"

He picked up a balloon filled with green paint and threw it at the boy. Next thing they knew, they were throwing all the remaining balloons at each other. Needless to say, when Juvia came home she found both her husband and student covered in paint.

"Care to explain how this happened?" She asked trying not to laugh at their rainbow colored bodies.

"We got a little carried away with the painting." Gray chuckled.

"Well I brought home a pizza for dinner but before we eat I want you both to take a bath."

Gray and Ciel took turns bathing in the shower. Juvia put Ciel's clothes in the washing machine and gave him one of Gray's sweat shirts to wear all though it was very big on him. In fact it covered both his chest and legs.

"I look ridiculous." Ciel said.

"Don't worry Juvia doesn't plan on sending you home like that." Gray said.

"These sleeves cover my hands! How am I supposed to eat like this?"

"Here I'll fix em."

As he was fixing the sweat shirt to wear it would fit him better, Gray glanced down at Ciel's feet and noticed something. On the front of Ciel's left foot was a small marking that reminded him of a snowflake.

"Hey Ciel what's that on your foot?"

"Oh this? Is just a birthmark. I've had it for years. It's weird I know."

"Dinner time boys!" Juvia called from downstairs.

"Finally! I'm starving!" Ciel rushed downstairs to eat.

Gray was taken aback by what he had seen. Winter had been born with a mark exactly like that in the exact same spot. In fact that's why they had named him Winter in the first place because his birthmark reminded them of a winter snowflake. Gray started thinking, Ciel looked almost identical to Gray when he was eight years old except he had pale skin and blue eyes just like Juvia. He had the same birthmark as Winter and he was eight. That's exactly how old Winter would be. Was it a coincidence? Or was it something else?