Flowers (Sebasclaude)

Chapter Four: Blatant Exposition

((This was originally going to be part of the previous chapter, but that chapter was getting really long. Also, I'm sorry, I know it's not the best chapter ever, but, hey, it's a chapter))

Sebastian could still distinctly recall how he'd met Ciel -  the irrelevancies had been lost to time, but the bits that mattered most had not.
It had happened eight years ago. It must have been at least two in the morning on a Friday evening, the ground was shifting underneath his feet and the chilling November air was biting at his face, but he scarcely felt it. A couple of his friends had ditched him, so he had to find his own way back, which was difficult when the walls wouldn't stay still so he could lean on them. From far away and very close he heard sobbing - frantic, gasping sobs, and too high pitched to be an adult's.
Pushing through the fog in his brain, Sebastian searched the swaying, lamplit streets for the source of the noise. It was a shock of white and blue amidst the black and yellow. The mist cleared, from his mind, as he realised it was a boy, no older about ten, covered in ash and scratches, and Sebastian's feet started walking before he even had time to decide what to do.
"Fuck." He knelt in front of the boy, who promptly threw himself into Sebastian's arms, weeping and trembling. The mist returned in the form of blind panic, and it took Sebastian quite some effort to be sensible. He had to be.
"Are you alright?" Sebastian asked, his tongue thick in his mouth to the point where he had to concentrate on every syllable. "What happened?" Uncertainly, he put his hands on the boy's shoulders, then rubbed his back inexpertly, as the child continued to sob. Should he go to the police station? He thought there was one nearish, nor could he think of anywhere else he should take the boy.
Wading harder through the mist of anxiety, Sebastian forced his mind to concentrate on one thing. "It's alright now. Are you hurt?" He asked, forcing calm into his voice, and even managing a smile, despite feeling his hands shaking. The boy looked up at him with one blue, tear stained eye - he didn't open the other one.
"M-my eye, a-" the boy took a shaky, hiccuping gasp, and gestured to his side. The fabric was singed and melted, twisting with scorched flesh. Sebastian had to bite back the urge to throw up.
"Okay, okay. Can you walk?" The boy bit his lip, then nodded, before whimpering again. "Alright. Uh, come on, we had probably go to the police. They'll know what to do, hey?" The boy nodded again, and followed Sebastian on wobbling legs.
They walked for at least five, maybe ten minutes, time seemed to stretch on forever, but when recalling it, it felt like an instant. He could remember the worry clear as day though - double guessing himself, uncertain as to wether he was going the right way, uncertain as to wether he was doing the right thing, uncertain as to wether he should have asked the boy more questions.
When he finally spotted the glowing window, with its sensible, law abiding people inside it relief washed over him in waves, lapping at his previously racing heart, before retreating, but always coming back before he could have any further doubts. At the time, Sebastian had never once thought he'd be relieved to see police station, but here he was, looking at it like a stranded man might look at lake amidst the desert.
He opened the door, glancing around the people waiting on plastic chairs, then at the receptionist - he couldn't remember his face. It briefly crossed his mind that someone would tell him off for being drunk, but he figured he'd just deal with it if they did. What were they going to do, phone his guardian? He wouldn't pick up.
The receptionist looked calmly between Sebastian and the boy, probably already assessing the situation better than Sebastian had. He turned to someone else, Sebastian couldn't remember their name or face either, and told them to get someone trained in first aid and to phone an ambulance, but not in the terrified way people usually did, before turning back to Sebastian. "What happened then?" Sebastian hadn't really expected to get this far, for some reason, so it took a few seconds for him to respond, meanwhile a woman with a kind smile who looked like she knew what she was doing ushered the blue haired boy he had found away, probably to treat his eye and burns.
"I- I was just heading home, and I heard crying, and went to see who it was, and I found him, and... I probably should have phoned an ambulance or something, I don't know... I don't know anything about him." Sebastian could feel eyes trained on the back of my head, or at least he thought he did, he assumed they were staring. He probably sounded suspicious.
"Okay, can you fill this in for me please?" The receptionist handed Sebastian a pen and form, and he nodded dumbly.
The rest of it was a blur. He filled in the form, somebody offered him water and asked lots of questions, the ambulance arrived and took the boy to hospital. The police tried to get in touch with his 'father', but to no avail. He ended up spending a lot of the night at the station - it had felt like a long time to spend there, back then, but it was nothing compared to the amount of time he spent there now.

By this point you've probably figured out the ten year old boy Sebastian found on that fateful night was Ciel, though as Sebastian glanced over at the Ciel he knew today, sitting next to him in the passenger seat with that unyielding look on his face, it did seem a little strange. He still wore patch over the eye he'd lost. The one thing that hadn't changed much since then was Ciel's height, which had remained largely the same for the past eight years. As Sebastian waved his goodbyes to Ciel, who he still couldn't quite accept as an adult, it occurred to him just how much would have changed, or not changed, if he hadn't met Ciel. It hardly seemed worth thinking about.