Dispatch Society [SEQUEL TO THE FUNTOM COMPANY]

8: Meeting|Society

"What the hell Victor?!" Adrian practically kicked open the door on his way home from work and stormed in, searching for his son.

"What?" Victor asked, wondering what he did, but he couldn't think of anything that would make his father this mad.

"Why the fuck are you in a gang?!" he seethed. Oh. Right. That. He'd forgotten all about that. Mostly, he'd forgotten Grell was supposed to tell Adrian that. Uhm. Well, you see, father dearest, he just wanted to be like you? That was a terrible answer. Victor needed to come up with something else. Something Adrian might not hate him for. He couldn't use Ciel as his excuse. He also couldn't lie. There was another reason hiding in here somewhere...what was it?

He placed the mug of tea he was drinking down on the counter and stared at his father. He looked at the rage, knowing where it was coming from, and sighed, smiling a bit sadly. "I have friends," he began. "I have friends that need a place to belong and were going into terrible places and doing terrible things. They were already in gangs so I thought maybe if I made one, they would leave those and join mine. There are people I want to protect, Papa."

Adrian relaxed a bit; exhaling breath he didn't know he was holding onto. "You have to stop this," he said. "If you're going to follow in my footsteps that closely, do it on your own terms. Don't...don't use my old gang as a cushion to fall back onto. There are people that still hate me, still hate that name, and will use it."

"You're not...mad?"

"Of course I'm mad!" Adrian snapped. "Mad that you would do something incredibly foolish! Gang life is exaggerated and romanticized and people don't know the first thing about that shit!" he slapped his hand on the counter, causing the mug to fall over and spill. Victor immediately cleaned it up.

"I'm sorry," he apologized. It was instinctive. He didn't know what else to say. He knew why Adrian was mad but he also knew that he couldn't get rid of this. He needed it right now. He needed a place to belong completely and a place where he could say 'Fuck the Phantomhives' without anyone caring. Without the news wondering why or people confronting him too much.

"I won't tell you to stop, even though I would really like to," Adrian sighed, running his hand through his hair. "But I do want you to be careful."

"I'll be careful, Papa," he promised.

"Really?" Adrian smiled a bit, but he didn't believe Victor. Victor did lots of reckless things for the people he loved.

"I promise."

"Good," Adrian finally relaxed.

"Uhm," Victor looked at his hands, not sure how to bring this up now, since Adrian had just scolded him so much. Maybe he should wait?

"What is it?"

"Do you think I could start taking ice skating lessons?" he asked, not sure what to expect.

"What do you mean? I thought you weren't interested in sports or hobbies."

"I'm not really, but something about ice skating draws me in..." he admitted. He didn't know why but it just did. Dancing was nice but ice skating seemed better somehow. The image of him with skates, on the ice, with his silver hair, perfect image of a snow fairy. Or something like that. He just thought it would be nice. A good thing to do.

"I'll look into some places," Adrian said. "But don't get your hopes up, I'm not even sure if there are any places in this town..."

"Thank you," Victor smiled, nodding.

"Ice skating?" Adrian laughed. "Ice skating...that's kind of random but it suits you."

"Do you think so?"

"Yeah, it really suits you."

"I thought so too," he grinned.

... 

Victor didn't know why Ciel suddenly wanted something to do with him. Maybe it had something to do with his conversation with Vincent. Maybe he made Vincent uncomfortable? Unlikely. But, in any case, the two were supposed to meet. Victor wasn't interested in being completely compliant. He basically only started up Dispatch again to get on Ciel's nerves. It was working. But, the two both had fathers that wanted their gangs shut down. Maybe there was a way they could connect, find a common ground, and start working together. 

The meeting was to be on truce land. Not Funtom's. Not Dispatch's. It was going to take place in the orphanage. Noah's Arc. There was a room waiting in the back for them. The two sat down in opposing chairs, waiting to start the conversation, neither one interested in revealing anything on their faces. 

Ciel sat with his right-hand man next to him. Sebastian was standing behind Ciel, in the same way that Grell was standing behind Victor. The two looked at each other, smiling, even though their bosses remained neutral in expression. Why was Sebastian always in black? Was it supposed to be a 'cool' thing? His hair was black. His outfit was black. His entire existence was a metaphorical darkness. Why? But, then again, Grell's entire existence was red so maybe he couldn't say too much. 

Ciel sat in the chair, shifting to a position Victor had seen Vincent use time and time again. Was he trying to be like Vincent? Or was he just doing it without realizing? He was wearing his father's old Funtom Company jacket, just like Victor was wearing Adrian's old Dispatch Society jacket. The two felt a bit more bonded over this. Maybe that was a good thing. Maybe it was a bad thing. Neither one could say for sure. 

"Shall we get started?" Ciel initiated conversation. "My name is Ciel Phantomhive. I'm the current leader of The Funtom Company, as you know," he smiled slightly, but it was obviously forced, the guy couldn't smile very well at all. 

"My name is Victor Nikiforov," he replied, exaggerating his Russian accent just a tad. "Current leader of Dispatch. Get down to business. We don't have all day." He just wanted to sound tough, Victor didn't really care about this meeting. It could take however long it took. He didn't have anywhere to be but he wanted to be just a bit more intimidating than Ciel. As if he had something to prove to the son of Vincent... 

"I would like to propose a merge. We both have the same interests in mind: to revive our father's memories. So, let's do it together," he tried his best to sound as kind as he could. Victor could tell he was forcing it. He had no interest in smiling and compiling. Was this his rebellious phase? 

"Our people have fought each other since the original gangs," Victor tried his best to refrain from glaring but a piece of it still remained on his face. "What makes you think we want to trust you? Or that we need your help in any way?" 

"A little bird told me your father isn't interested in you taking up the family business. Quite frankly, neither is mine. So, should we form a new gang together, one they won't know we're running, we can share a name but in our hearts we will know the truth," he offered. Victor didn't like it. Did he really think his father wouldn't know about it? His father knew about something Victor never even told anyone. Vincent knew everything that happened in this town as if he held everyone on a string. He conducted the chaos, watching it, the same way someone else did in Japan. He'd seen an article about that on the deep internet once. What was his name? 

"Besides," Ciel smirked, an actual expression that wasn't forced. Victor was proud of him. "if our fathers thought a duel gang wasn't possible. Doesn't that make you want to prove them wrong?" 

Victor couldn't help himself from laughing. He laughed, and laughed, and laughed a bit more. "You're an interesting one, shortie," he emphasized the name, knowing it bothered Ciel. "I like  you. Let's give this a trial run. However," he lost his lightheartedness, staring deep into Ciel's soul, "the minute me and my family don't like it, we back out and go our separate ways. Deal?" He held out his hand to shake. 

"Deal." Ciel shook it. 

"What do you propose we call our new gang?" Victor crossed his arms. 

"Our gang doesn't exist. Colorless without a purpose. What else has little purpose except what you make it? Dollars. Bills are just tiny pieces of paper and yet they control the world, fitting, don't you think?" 

Victor laughed again. "I really do like you, shortie," he said. It was true. Ciel was much more agreeable than Vincent. Maybe he just didn't like him before because he assumed he would be like Vincent. This would prove to be most entertaining...