His Maid, Her Butler

You left your room promptly at six and went straight to the back door in the kitchen to retrieve the morning newspaper. Laying it on a board, you let the iron heat up on its pad while you fixed the morning breakfast for the young master. You placed on the cart, a plate of cold ham, a scrambled egg, two slices of toast and side of butter, and the coffee awaited to be put on before you left to keep it warm. Once the iron was ready, you spread out the paper and gently ran the iron over the creases.

“Oh my,” you said, reading the headlines as you ran over the last crease on the front page. “Another death has occurred by that killer they suspected a few months ago. No doubt it’s…” You stopped and a chill ran down your spine. You hated the Grim Reaper who pursued you relentlessly. The man was what many would have called a freak of nature. It took you a moment to calm down, but you did and pressed the rest of the paper and laid it neatly on the cart. Grabbing the coffee pitcher, you placed it as well on the cart and went to the young master’s room by seven to wake him for the day.

Grabbing the handle to the door, you opened it quietly and pulled in the cart behind you. Leaving it by the bed, you took hold of the curtains and flung both of them open. Ciel groaned.

“Good morning, young master. It is time to rise and shine.” You shuffled through his wardrobe and settled on a simple dark blue suit.

“And what if I don’t wish to ‘rise and shine’?” Ciel mumbled from beneath the covers.

“Then I will have to get you up by force. You have several studies and appointments today, and you must be present for them all.” You laid his suit neatly on the hope chest and began to pour the coffee. “Plus, young master, if you do not get up, your breakfast will go to waste.”

Ciel groaned again, but slowly pulled the covers from his head and sat up. “You torment me so, Sebastian. Why can’t I just have one day for myself?”

You chuckled. “You are the Earl, young master; all responsibility of an Earl of Phantomhive lies on your shoulders. Therefore, you are required to take place in affairs of the queen’s notices.”

“Why must you always be right, Sebastian?” Ciel asked rhetorically, taking the coffee from you and allowing you to place the tray on his lap.

You smiled humbly. “I am merely your butler, young master.”

Ciel looked sidelong at you. “As you prefer to say. We both know you’re much more than that.”

You smiled demonically. Taking up Ciel’s suit, you pried him from his bed and helped him dress.

“What’s on the list for today?” Ciel asked, lifting his foot so you could place his shoe on him.

“The queen has sent you some documents that must be signed and returned as of this evening. Then you have your violin and jousting lessons. After that, you have an appointment to meet the young lady Elizabeth for an outing then tea. And this evening you have an arithmetic lesson and then the evening meal,” you related, picking up Ciel’s finished dishes as he read the paper.

“All the juicy news of today, and do I care for any of it; no. Nothing intriguing strikes at me. Even the murder. We know who it is and the queen has had us following at his heels for the past few months.” Ciel folded the paper back up and tossed it onto the cart as you passed by to the door. “Meet me in the study in twenty minutes, I should have those documents ready by then.”

“Yes, young master.” You bowed and exited the Earl’s room. On your way back to the kitchen, you heard a crash. With a groan, you entered the kitchen to find Mey-Rin atop a rickety chair, standing as a frightened little girl over the mess she had just made.

“I’m…sorry,” she managed to say as she began to sob.

Footsteps came running, and a moment later, Orea was at your side. “Oh, Mey-Rin, what happened?” She flew to Mey-Rin’s side as she climbed off the chair.

“I was trying for the nice China dishes on the top, I was, and I tripped and knocked into the row below.” Mey-Rin buried her face in Orea’s shoulder. “I’m so sorry!” she wailed.

“It’s alright,” soothed Orea. She gave you a look of confirmation that all would be alright for Mey-Rin. You nodded and placed the tray beside the sink.

You watched as Orea led Mey-Rin out of the room and away to another job, but you felt the gaze that was set upon you as she left. You turned your head back in her direction, but she had already left, too late to make contact. You contemplated on leaving the dishes for Orea to do, but you decided to just go ahead and do them. Taking off you tailcoat, you rolled up your sleeves and went to work. The few dishes didn’t take long, and when you were finished, you still had ten minutes to spare before meeting the young master in the study. You decided to check on Pluto.

“Pluto!” you called out, walking up to the edge of the woods.

A terrible crashing sound was made and then loud thuds could be heard. With a loud ‘yip’, Pluto dashed out of the trees and right up to your side, coating you in a slobbery kiss.

“Pluto, stop. That is no way to behave,” you scolded. Pluto bowed his head. A second later, he was a man. Sebastian adverted his eyes and sighed in misery. “Why must a demon hound be here? I really don’t like dogs.” Pluto barked and crawled over to Sebastian, nudging his leg.

A squeal came from behind. You turned to see the back of Orea. “I’m sorry!” she said. “I’ll go now.”

“Come back here,” you called out after her. She did as she was told. Covering her eyes, she made her way to you. “Would you mind doing something for me?”

She peeked up from her fingers. “What is it?”

“In the cupboard closest to the back door, there is a bundle. Please retrieve it and bring it to me,” you asked.

Orea nodded and went back into the manor. Pluto began to follow. “Sit boy!” Pluto sat and watched Orea leave. You hated how he acted; after almost two years of being at the manor, the dog had still not learned proper manners. Orea returned, hand over her eyes, and handed you the bundle.

“Here you are.” She continued to stand there, waiting for another order.

“Wait here, I’ll be right back.” Pluto began to pull at her dress, but you grabbed his arm and dragged him off behind a tree and tore into the bundle. “You, dog, will be properly clothed. I don’t care how much you hate it. If you’re going to stay in your excited mood, you need to stay covered!”

Pluto gave you a pouty look. He hated the restraints of humans, but he loved to play with them. They smelled so good, and gave excellent treats. “Arf!” Pluto jumped forward as you began to button the pants and licked your face.

“Pluto! No!” you scolded. Pluto whimpered.

“Everything alright back there?” Orea called out.

“Just fine. We’ll be back in a minute.” You turned your attention back to Pluto, who was momentarily entertained by a butterfly that hovered around his nose. “What are we to do with you?”

“Arf!” Pluto said.

As soon as you finished dressing him, he dashed away from you and went straight back to Orea, who jumped as Pluto wrapped his arms around her waist and snuggled his face in her side.

“Pluto,” you yelled after him, “what are you doing? You mustn’t go and just rush up to people like that.”

Orea giggled. “No, no, it’s fine.” She ran her fingers through his hair as he continued to hug her. Pluto grinned in happiness. Detaching his arms, Orea bent down to his height. “So, your name’s Pluto, ey? Well nice to meet you Pluto, I’m Orea.”

“Arf!” Pluto grinned, tongue hanging out, and licked Orea’s cheek, making her squeal in laughter.

You watched as Orea took his hand and pulled him up to his feet, making him stand, sit, role over, and mostly catch up to her as she ran away in laughter. As you watched you remembered the time.

“Oh my!” you said, checking your pocket watch. “Orea!” Orea stopped in her tracks and gave you her attention, being knocked down by Pluto in the process. You rushed over and helped her up. “I need to go to the young master now; do you think you’ll be alright?”

Orea nodded and petted Pluto’s head. “Yup, just fine.”

“Good. I won’t be back again until just before lunch, so please, make sure all goes well, and that he,” You pointed at Pluto, “behaves.”

“As you wish, Sebastian.” Orea smiled back at Pluto, who had run off to chase a squirrel that had dared to come into the yard.

“Thank-you.” Bowing out, you left and hurried to the study, making it right on time.

“Come in.” said Ciel in reply to your knock. You entered and made your way around to the Earl’s side. “Sebastian, what am I to make of these? They’re petty invitations to balls and only one is of any importance to me. Why did you make me return them?”

You bowed your head to him. “The young master would never upset his queen, would he?”

Ciel grumbled under his breath. “I have this feeling that means I must invite Lizzy to them.”

You smiled at him in congratulations to his realizing. “Of course, young master. A lady must be at your side if you are to attend a ball invited by the queen. She may wish to meet the future bride of her watchdog.”

Ciel gave you an irritated look. “Let us just get on with the rest of the day now, please. I would like to be done so I can have some sweets.”

“Of course, my lord,” you replied.