The Tales of a Fox (Black Butler! Various x F!OC! Reader)

Chapter 8

A/N: Writing skills, where art thou? At least I found a way to wiggle Phipps and Grey into this chapter, woo~ This is for Chapters 3-5 of the manga.

I still dunno what I'm doing on the fight scenes, oopsie-

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You strolled down the palace halls, sighing tiredly. Of course your report to Her Majesty about Ciel's current situation had to be today, when the Aristocrats of Evil were meeting. There wasn't really any way you could make it back in time, and you would, at best, be very late. Normally, it wouldn't be a problem. But Ciel and Chlaus had been alluding to a certain rat among you, and both you and the young earl had pieced together a practically solid conclusion about the culprit. Both of you had also been prepared for him to make his move today, and naturally, you were worried about the boy because you knew Sebastian was a conniving shit who wouldn't mind letting you both take a few hits if you'd survive in the end. Just the thought of it twisted your lips into a frown.

"(Y/n)."

The voice wiped the scowl from your expression, and you turned to face the source with a smile.

"Phipps," you grinned. If it weren't considered absolutely improper, you might've hugged him. "It's been a while."

He gave you a smile and nod. "It has."

"Wait, what about me, little lady?" Grey pouted childishly from beside the taller Charles.

"Ah... I see you're here too."

"Eh??? So dry! So cold!" he complained.

You chuckled, lightly patting his arm. "I'm only joking. It's good to see you both."

"How's Phantomhive?" Phipps inquired as they began to escort you to your carriage back.

"He's doing rather well, especially for his age," you said fondly, a touch of pride flashing across your features. And honestly, both Charles thought it wasn't fair that the little brat was monopolizing your attention. Had you ever had that look in your eyes while talking about them?

"It reminds me of you," Phipps muttered. You paused briefly, but continued moving forward, eyes flickering to his face.

"Does it?"

"Now that he mentions it, that's really true, little lady," Grey looked up thoughtfully, arms crossed behind his head. "A little kid taking over a noble household, starting and running a successful business, working under Her Majesty... All that sounds rather familiar, doesn't it?"

Phipps nodded as Grey leaned an arm on your head.

"Hmm. I never really thought of it that way," you said, whacking his arm off, only for him to flop it straight back on.

"Maybe he's taking after you," Grey grinned. "Following you like a little duckling. Or puppy, more like."

You laughed, amused at the mental image. "That's actually pretty true. He'd deny it to the depths of hell, but he's adorable like that." (And here we see that Edward totally rubbed off that sibling complex on you. Dang it.)

"Really?" Grey drawled. "I don't really see that brat being cute." (Says the biggest brat himself.)

You sent him an offended look, and Grey sweatdropped as he practically heard your silent "how dare you" echoing in his ears.

"... He's not as cute as you were," Phipps told you quietly, petting your head. (Damn, what a smooth boy.)

"Huh?"

You and Grey both looked at him dumbly at the sudden and unexpected compliment.

"Don't say something so embarrassing," you pursed your lips as you covered your face with a curtain of hair, feeling out of your depth. It flustered you to hear such a genuine compliment from someone like Phipps, who was typically stoic and silent. He wasn't really one for sweet words. "Really, stop messing around..."