Teacups and Teapots:
Chapter 8:
Ciel looked up as his cousin sat back down. Her eyes were dark and narrowed. He only ever saw her look like that when she was up against a tough opponent. He briefly wondered if she had had a fight in the girl's toilets, but the sensible side of his mind rejected that.
"Are you all right? Did something happen in the toilets?" he asked and watched as her face rapidly turned blank.
"I'm fine. I nearly dropped my phone down the toilet," she said and picked up her teacup quickly. "The tea is cold."
Ciel looked around for the nearest employee to find it was Finny. He waved and the blonde bounded over happily.
"What can I get you, young master?"
"Lizzie would like refill of her tea," Ciel said and checked what tea it was. "Ceylon."
"Would you like any more cake?" Finny offered.
"Does everyone here offer Ciel cake?" Lizzie asked suddenly and Ciel knew what was coming.
"Some cake has fruit, it's part of your 5-a-day," he protested.
"Ciel, you're 19 and the owner of a confectionary company, you know it doesn't work like that," he reprimanded him before turning back to Finny. "I will just have tea, thank you."
Finny moved away and left Ciel to be lectured by Lizzie.
"Of course I know my dietary guidelines. I have updated all of the nutritional labelling on the confectionary to be in line with new labelling legislation," Ciel argued.
Lizzie looked doubtful. "That's good. How much work can you get done here? I would not say that this place has the best working atmosphere."
Ciel nodded in agreement. "Some of the financial reports don't quite add up at the moment. It's probably because it's hard to concentrate here with Sebastian stalking me and Grell stalking Sebastian..."
"You will not have to put up with it for much longer," she smiled a little too cheerfully. "You will get plenty of work done next week."
Ciel cast her a suspicious look, noting that she seemed happy about him not having to stay at the teashop.
"Don't you like this place? I thought you would like it."
"Under normal circumstances I would. Everything is very cute and the cake is high quality, but..." Lizzie paused.
Ciel looked at her expectantly. "Yes?"
"It doesn't matter," her gaze lifted to something behind Ciel and he looked around to see Sebastian walking towards them with a teapot in his hands.
Lizzie pushed her teacups towards him and smiled acerbically.
"Your outfit has a sophisticated aesthetic, Sebastian."
Ciel observed as Sebastian gave her a quizzical look before adding milk to her tea.
"...Thank you, young lady."
Lizzie smiled again and Ciel was sure that it was more of a smirk than a smile. Something strange seemed to be going on between his cousin and Sebastian.
"That said, I prefer a cuter look myself," she said and bent down to rummage in her pink handbag. "There!"
As she spoke she drew something pink out and swiftly placed it on Sebastian's head before he could do anything to stop her. Ciel snorted with laughter when he saw what it was. Sebastian was now wearing a frilly pink bonnet on his head.
"What do you think of this look, Ciel?" she asked him brightly.
"It's never going to get Aunt Ann's approval," he grinned and spotted Finny and Bardroy shaking with laughter a few metres away. "You can both take photos, I'm sure Sebastian will not mind. Right, Sebastian?"
The butler in question turned to look at the laughing pair and they both stiffened and mysteriously rushed off in the opposite direction.
"I am honoured that you took the effort to make me look cuter. However, may I take it off now?" he requested politely.
"You can keep it if you like," Lizzie said. "Ciel seems to like it though. Look at his face."
Sebastian caught Ciel's eye and the teenager tried to suppress a snort and failed.
"Perhaps I will keep it," he said and picked up the teapot again. "Let me know if you would like anything else. Elizabeth, remember to watch your waistline."
With that parting line he left them.
Ciel was surprised by the pettiness of Sebastian's comment and it only fuelled his suspicions that there was something strange going on. He remembered Lizzie's absence earlier on and wondered if she had talked with Sebastian.
"Lizzie, did you have a fight with Sebastian or something?" he asked and observed her reaction.
Her eyes widened and she laughed a second too late.
"No, I didn't have a fight with him. We just had a brief conversation about a subject common to us."
The next day at Black Butler proved to be difficult. There was a record number of customers and Ciel's attempts to hide himself in the corner were unsuccessful. It appeared that word of a love triangle had spread and he was now being subjected to being stared down by teenage fangirls.
The sight of Sebastian approaching made him wince. He could already hear squealing and his ears couldn't take anymore. He remembered when he used to think that Lizzie squealed too much.
"I thought I told you to stay away. I can't take anymore staring or squealing," he hissed once Sebastian was close enough to hear him.
"I was respecting that order, but we have a situation in the kitchen," the butler informed him. "You're the supervisor; you need to take care of it."
Ciel stood up and was prepared to follow him to the kitchen when he realised what it would look like if they disappeared together.
"I'll come in a few minutes, you go on ahead," he whispered.
Sebastian looked amused and pulled him by the arm. "You might as well do something to get the customers excited."
After being dragged past the customers by Sebastian, Ciel was half exasperated and half relieved to discover what the situation was.
"You brought me here to tell me that we have run out of Earl Grey tea?"
Bardroy folded his arms. "It's our most popular tea and it's only 11 in the morning. I considered it to be an emergency so I told Sebastian."
Ciel sighed. "Just take it off the menu. There are plenty of other varieties available here."
Sebastian and Bardroy exchanged looks.
"We're running low on all the popular ones," the chain smoker told him.
The teenager changed his stance instantly. It was typical of his aunt not to consider stock control systems.
"Where's the nearest supermarket?" he asked. "I know my aunt ordered all the specialist expensive teas, but we don't have time. No one will notice a difference in quality; they're too busy staring at me or Sebastian."
"That is the only way out of this," the black haired butler agreed. "Who is going to go?"
Grell, who had been lurking in the doorway finally contributed to the conversation.
"The brat should go. He doesn't exactly pull his weight around here."
"I have no idea where it is," Ciel argued and in a quieter voice he added. "I hate crowded places."
He felt someone pat him on the head and he looked to find it was Sebastian.
"I will go with you."
"Doesn't that defeat the purpose of sending the brat-" Grell was cut off by Bardroy.
"Don't take too long."
Ciel kept close to Sebastian as they navigated the busy street outside the teashop. He avoided being out in London as much as he could and the last thing he wanted to do was get separated from the person that actually knew the way. He noticed that Sebastian kept turning to look back at him as if to make sure that he was still behind him and Ciel found that he didn't mind and it was actually comforting.
They spent a while in the tea section of the supermarket debating the merits of different brands of tea and evaluating newer types of tea. Ciel had never heard of the diet forms of tea and neither had Sebastian.
"Perhaps I should look into these new products," Ciel mused aloud. "I didn't know there was such potential in tea and I drink it every day. Some of these are probably fad products though."
"Have you tried liquorice tea?" Sebastian pointed at the relevant box. "I found it didn't taste anything like actual liquorice."
Ciel shook his head and picked up the box. "I generally stick to normal teas like Darjeeling. Lizzie is the one that drinks fruit teas. Perhaps I should try some new varieties. What would you recommend?"
Sebastian looked surprised that Ciel had actually asked for his advice and then he straightened up and walked down the aisle, pointing at different teas.
"Don't bother with that variety, the flavour is too weak. Stay away from New Moon Drop. This one is good, that one isn't."
In the end they ended up buying all the tea and fifteen more types.
"Will that tea really taste like salted caramel?" Ciel asked curiously as they walked back to the teashop.
"Only if I make it," Sebastian stated simply. "Don't get anyone else to make it for you."
Ciel replied without thinking. "Why would I? I can only drink tea if it is made by you."
He realised what he said a few seconds later and hastily back tracked. He could not have Sebastian getting an inflated opinion of himself.
"You make it better than me, I can only use teabags."
Sebastian raised his eyebrows. "Oh really? Perhaps I should stop serving you tea and get Grell to make it for you instead."
Ciel shuddered in disgust. Usually Grell's tea was passable, but he had been in a foul mood when he and Sebastian had left and he wouldn't put it past the redhead to put something in his tea. Grell was as conniving as his aunt and she had been responsible for his hangover the previous week and the current situation.
"I take it back!"
Sebastian smiled widely. "That's good. There's no need to feel shy about saying complimentary things about me."
"You make the best cake and you attract lots of customers. That is the extent of your good points," the teenager retorted and walked off before remembering once he was a few metres down the street, that he didn't know the way back.
He stopped and looked around for Sebastian and began to feel worried when he couldn't see him in the crowd of pedestrians. Someone tapped him on the shoulder and he sighed in relief to find it was Sebastian.
"Don't walk off again, especially if you don't know the way back, Ciel," the older man said. "Perhaps we should hold hands in case we get separated again."
"Can we not? I'm not a child anymore," Ciel said and felt someone push past him causing him to change his mind. He held out his hand. "Sebastian, don't get any ideas that I actually like you; I'm only doing it so I don't get lost."
***
This chapter reminded me of all the time I spent in the tea aisle of Marks and Spencer when I was writing Torture and Tea and I had to update my research a little as there are lots of new tea products on the market. More time spent in the tea section and I don't even like tea.