Teacups and Teapots (Kuroshitsuji/Black Butler) (Ciel x Sebastian)

Fifteenth Cup

Teacups and Teapots:

Chapter 15:

"Drink your tea," Tanaka ordered and pushed it closer to him. "You have had a lot of shocks today."

Ciel stared blankly at him unable to properly process the revelation. The man that had helped him overcome his fear had only been close to him in order to get evidence of his aunt's criminal activities. He had come to trust him and like him and now he felt betrayed as a result.

Thankfully their relationship had only progressed to handholding and their accidental kiss. Ciel had never actually said out loud that he liked the man and he was glad about that because he would feel even more betrayed now.

The fact that Sebastian was a Police officer made sense now. It explained how he had known where Ciel lived when he walked him home and why he turned up everywhere Ciel was. It explained his random visit to Funtom the previous day and his mysterious trip to the toilet which obviously had been a visit to retrieve evidence from his aunt's office because Ciel himself had picked up the records right in front of him. His closeness with Ciel had been for his other job, nothing more than that.

"Ciel, you were quite close to Sebastian Michaelis, weren't you?" Tanaka asked softly.

Ciel nodded slowly, dreading what Tanaka's reaction would be. Although it was really his aunt that had destroyed the company, he had played a role in it by letting Sebastian get so close to him.

"He was the one to tell me everything," he explained. "He wanted you to know before you found out from the news."

"...Did he say anything else?" Ciel questioned curiously. He was of the opinion that an apology was in order.

"No, but he did appear to be regretful for keeping the truth from you."

Ciel picked up his teacup before realising that he was never going to taste tea made by Sebastian again. For some reason that broke him.

He knocked the teacup off the table and watched it smash into tiny pieces and a pool of tea. Was he really going to think of Sebastian every time he drank tea? The Sebastian he had never really known. He was definitely going to give up on drinking tea.

"I'm sorry, Ciel. I should have paid more attention to what Angeline was doing."

"It's fine," Ciel answered brusquely. "We just need to fix the mess she has caused us. Of course, Black Butler will have to be closed down. Negative publicity lasts for a long time and it will never recover."

"I will handle everything for now. You should time off to recover."

"Just today, I will be fine by tomorrow."

Tanaka finished his tea and stood up. "I will leave you now then. I hope you feel better tomorrow so you can help me sort everything out."

As soon as Tanaka had left Ciel adjourned to his bedroom where he felt more at peace and calm until he caught sight of the photo frame standing on his dressing table. The photo was the one that Finny had taken of everyone at Black Butler the week before. Standing next to him was a Police officer and next to him, his aunt's criminal accomplice.

"I knew it was a bad idea not to ask them for their CVs," he said out loud, remembering his complaint from when his aunt had hired everyone. "I thought Grell looked shady, I was right about that."

The knowledge that he had been right to dislike Grell on their first meeting did not console them for long.

It must have been convenient for Sebastian that his aunt had not required a CV or references from past employers. His aunt had simply employed Sebastian to distract him from finding out the truth and Sebastian had become employed by her in order to gain evidence to arrest her. He snorted at the irony. It had worked out well for both of them. He had never noticed a thing and Sebastian had obtained the evidence he required.