Behind Closed Doors

"SEBASUCHAAAAAN~!!"

The loud yell for attention reverberated across the large hall filled with people, and once it reached the aforementioned butler's ears, his back stiffened, muscles locking. 'Oh fuck…' Of course the butler would never say such an unprofessional and inappropriate remark out-loud. Instead, he leaned down to Ciel's ear, hand on his back, and murmured, "Without calling attention to ourselves, quickly and quietly, follow me…"

As Grell launched himself through the crowd in attempts to find his favorite demon, Sebastian was weaving Ciel through the throng of people, doing his best to avoid him.

"Sebastian. What are you doing." Ciel was saying to him at normal voice level, making no attempts to hide himself or make them less obvious. He was unhappy to be there in the first place, and this was not helping in the slightest. The grumpy teenager stomped along, being led by his butler.

"I am escorting you out of the mass of people, bocchan. I feel you have socialized enough for publicity for one evening, and you don't like being here, do you not?" Sebastian murmured, pushing him now more than guiding him, and quickly nearing the staircase.

A loud squeal from right behind them stopped them dead in their tracks, as the Shinigami threw himself onto Sebastian, his arms wrapped tightly around the poor butler's shoulders, his face nuzzling into his back, between his shoulder-blades. The butler heaved a sigh, out of most of the public eye, and not bothering with his more professional face of complacence, replaced with irritation. He patted the red clad former butler on his arm, half in greeting and half in attempts to get him to let go, saying, "Hello, Grell-san."

"Mmmn, hello, Sebas~Chan." Grell mumbled into his coat, squeezing him one last time before letting go. "And young master Ciel~" He grinned widely at them both. Grell closed his eyes and made his famous hand sign, smiling, waving his hand around, and speaking almost melodically. "And what are you doing on this gloriously fantastic evening?"

Ciel's palm met his forehead, eyes closed, as he turned away from both Grell and Sebastian, three quarters facing the stairs. Sebastian answered for him. "This is bocchan's home, Grell-san. We are entertaining company at the moment. To what do we owe this," He paused, looking at Grell who was nearly radiating adoration. "…pleasure?" He finished, grimacing.

The red shinigami hummed, gesturing with a graceful sway of his gloved hand toward a more elderly lady, gingerly eating cake with a trembling hand. "She is scheduled to die later tonight. And since she is here, I thought what better than to stop in on you, Sebas~chan darling?" His hair was bouncing and flowing out behind him, completely radiating happiness, despite the indirect snub Sebastian had made.

"Sebastian." Ciel said, frowning. He was now standing on the staircase, one hand on the banister and the other on the handle of his cane, his hair and hat both angled so that his eye patch was unable to be seen. "I am tired. Put me to bed."

Sebastian, who had been making a vaguely disgusted look at Grell, turned to Ciel, instantly donning his ever-present complacent smile, his hand over his heart. "Hai, bocchan. Please go to your room, I will be there in a moment to make the nighttime arrangements. First I have to… Properly take care of shinigami friend." He bowed slightly to Ciel.

The young master rolled his large eyes, starting up the stairs. Both red and black watched him ascend, the red inching closer to the black, before both of his arms locked around one of the black's, clinging to it, nuzzling his shoulder. Sebastian waited until Ciel was completely out of sight, before sighing once more and turning to Grell, more annoyance radiated from him.

"Must you have done that. You know he doesn't like you. You could have-" Sebastian cut himself off, sighing and raising his free hand to touch his temples for a moment, then quickly recovered and tapped his chin instead. "Forgive me, Grell-san." Once again, stoic as ever, he retook his arm from the nuzzling shinigami, and patted his shoulder once. "I must attend to bocchan."

Grell had been silent now, his head slightly tilted and his bangs falling in his face, looked at Sebastian with a vague pout. He had wanted more snuggling of that arm.

"…." Heaving yet another sigh, Sebastian kept his hand on Grell's shoulder, looking him in the face with a blank expression. He stared at him for a moment, before the edges of his lips twitched upwards so swiftly, had Grell not been watching him back with the same intensity he may have missed it. "…You know where to meet me. I should think it would take not more than twenty minutes. Plenty of time to finish your job for the evening." He fully offered up his small smile now, and ascended the stairs, headed after Ciel. Grell beamed again, and bounded off through the hall to find his prey, hardly able to keep himself from yelling "DEATHU~"

*~*~*~*

Sebastian buttoned up the last of Ciel's nightgown buttons, and delicately removed his eye patch, placing it on the nightstand next to Ciel's preferred sleeping spot. Ciel made a quiet hum noise, clearly exhausted and not far from drifting off right there in his sitting position. Sensing this, Sebastian pulled back his covers for him and let him slide into his bed, curling up automatically. The butler smiled; times like this it was apparent how beneath all the splendor of his clothes and the importance of his duties, his bocchan was still just barely a teenager, still delicate in features and frail.

Sebastian pulled the covers over the lithe, still body, hovering over him with his candelabra in hand. Ciel's eyes closed, his fingers curling into slight fists aimlessly, and a soft sigh escaping his lips. "Sebastian…" He quietly mumbled, gently drifting off, but still speaking to him directly.

"Hai, Bocchan?"

"…" Ciel shifted slightly, an eye cracked open to look up at his butler's candle-lit face. "…Stay with me until I fall asleep…"

Sebastian paused for a moment, before frowning. Ordinarily he would say yes. But he had somewhere to be, and this was not a direct order. "…No, bocchan. I have matters of the estate to attend to, guests to see off, china to clean, kitchen to de-char, grounds to fix. I cannot stay." It was somewhat of a lie, but Ciel didn't have to know the order in which he was going to do things.

His eyebrows furrowed and he frowned slightly. "…okay…" Sebastian turned and made to leave, but a quiet "wait-" caused him to pause.

"…Leave the candles and wind my music box." Ciel demanded, voice sure of what he wanted, with a tint of embarrassment trailing it. Sebastian smiled and set the candelabra down and went to the dresser, grabbing the box and winding it. He opened it and set it down next to Ciel's eye patch, letting the soft music lull the boy's eyes to close once more with its soothing melody.

Sebastian took one of the single candles (so he could see) and bowed a good night to his bocchan. He turned silently and glided to the door, opening and shutting the heavy wood as quietly as he could. His candle did not provide much light, but he didn't need much to see by, anyway. He held it high and let the soft light stretch as far as it could.

He passed by the staircase, seeing the guests still lingering in the hall, and chose to do nothing about them, continuing on his way. He did not look up at anything: not people calling his name, not paintings askew, not loud noises made. His sole intent was to get to his room, doing his best not to call attention to himself.

Reaching his door, the butler turned the handle, entered, and locked it behind him. Sighing for what seemed like the umpteenth time that night, he shed his coat and un-tucked his shirt, kicking his shoes off in the process. His room was dark, so he took the candle as he went and lit the other ones around the room before dropping himself on his bed, lying on his back and grunting slightly in release of stress.

Sebastian raised both his hands to his head, entangling his hands in his own hair. He made no move to stop the foreign arm, which wrapped itself around his waist, nor the head, which had nuzzled itself between his elbows, settling against his chest. The body that these parts belonged to cuddled itself up against Sebastian, a leg in between both of his, and a soft purr-like noise emanating from the body.

Said body was bereft of its usual long billowing red coat and overly enthusiastic nature, settling now for quiet affection, not needing his usual loud nature. Sebastian automatically wrapped an arm around him and gently rubbed his shoulder. Grell nuzzled him with his cheek to the best of his ability (having glasses in the way).

"Grell-kun." Sebastian said, tiredly. He squeezed him once before rolling him off, freeing himself to sit up. He leant against the headboard, looking straight ahead, face absent of any emotion or feeling other than exhaustion. "To reiterate from my comment to you earlier, must you have done that?" He frowned slightly as he turned his gaze to the shinigami lying on his side and staring up at him. "Bocchan doesn't like you, and I'm rather tired of having to pretend I share the sentiment in front of he and others."

Grell just shrugged, and looked at him semi-apologetically, speaking to him for the first time since explaining his motives for being there. "It is amusing, your reactions to me. In public, as we first met, in private, as we are now… The contrast is so different." He rolled himself over and wrapped his arms around Sebastian's legs, nuzzling his face into his thighs. "Also I quite enjoy having the freedom to be as expressionate as I well please."

Sebastian just rolled his eyes and took off one of his gloves, freeing his hand to run through the long, red, and surprisingly soft hair. Some of his reaction to Grell in public was quite genuine. The irritation at being attacked, the surprised blinks at hearing his name shouted from across great distances, the grimace at squeezes that were just a bit too tight. But the rest was for show. The disgusted faces, the annoyed eye rolls, the ignoring him in favour of Ciel; all were strictly for show. He really did enjoy the company of the irksome, fickle, pain in his neck shinigami.

Grell sat up suddenly, shifting himself to sit on his feet at Sebastian's side, head tilted. He grabbed onto Sebastian's now ungloved hand and stared at it. Sebastian let him, watching him, a tad confused. Seemingly mesmerized, Grell let go momentarily to pull off his own gloves, then he grabbed the last glove of the four hands and took that off, too.

He seemed to be absent of all rhyme or reason as he angled both of their pairs of hands so their palms faced their owners, but then Sebastian understood as Grell moved his arms so the hands connected palm to palm, and laced the fingers. He leant forward and pressed his face and lips against the backs of Sebastian's hands.

The butler gently smiled at this strange show of affection, and mimicked his motion none-the-less, pressing his lips to the back of Grell's hands as well, their foreheads touching over their knuckles.

Skin to skin contact, so rare unless in intimate situations in Victorian England, made said situations all the more intimate. Even a simple gesture, like lacing hands and soft lips pressed to them, was a close kind of thing.

Sebastian and Grell sat like that, eyes closed and enjoying the physical contact, for what could have been minutes, or seconds, neither really knew. When they eventually pulled away, they looked at each other for a moment, then, with a glint in his eye, the passive, pensive nature Grell possessed in knowing he had what he wanted, faded away. It was replaced with a spurt of energy, which manifested itself in his grabbing Sebastian's cheeks in cupping his face, and he drew their mouths together, crashing the lips in a very sloppy kiss.

"Mmph-!" came from the very startled Sebastian's throat as Grell pounced, pinning him down and sitting on him.

Even in a secret, closed relationship, Grell Sutcliff will still be Grell Sutcliff. Sebastian, you are lucky you got away this time without being groped. … Yet.