I was walking on air as I was escorted from the foyer to the living room, tea room, dining room, through the kitchen, up the back staircase and into a narrow hallway with doors on either side. On the doors were tiny plaques, one reading Finny, another Bardroy, the others Tanaka, Sebastian, and Maylene. The last door had the newest looking plaque, proclaiming Gwenivere to any passer-by. I smiled.
"After you," Sebastian said with a grin, gesturing inside the room. I stepped in, and darkness enveloped me. The setting sun was low in the sky, on the other side of the house, and heavy rain clouds had set in for the evening, so no light seemed to reach my room.
There was the sound of shuffling footsteps behind me, and I shielded my eyes from the sudden glow of an oil lamp. I gazed at the expensive looking object, transfixed. Sebastian cleared his throat softly, and I turned to examine the rest of the room.
My knees buckled underneath me. I fell to the floor, amazed at the big queen size bed, the silk sheets, the large window with the little bench underneath. I turned my head to the wardrobe, solid oak with intricate carvings, lion's head handles, eight feet tall and five feet wide.
"Are you alright?" came the startled voice of my fellow employee. I simply nodded, unable to form words with my gaping mouth. I couldn't close it. Every time I blinked and saw the room, - my room, - I got the sudden feeling that I was dreaming and that if I didn't remember the space I'd forget it once I woke up.
Gloved fingers gripped my lower jaw and placed it carefully back under my upper jaw, forcing my mouth into its proper closed position. When I was released, two hands grabbed my waist and hoisted me up. I was unsteady on my feet, but those hands held me in place. I shook my head.
"I'm sorry, it's just... we get to sleep in rooms like this?" I asked.
"What were you expecting?" came the reply.
"A cold stone walled room with no windows, in the cellar, rats and spiders sharing a straw mattress with me, cement floor, dim lights, and nothing but a bell that called for service to connect me to civilization," I replied, as if that were the most normal thing in the world.
"Ha!" It wasn't a humorous laugh so much as a startled exclamation. Sebastian cleared his throat again.
"You will find your clothing in there," he said, pointing at the wardrobe. I nodded and leaped towards the handles, stopping to look at the craftsmanship of the piece. I swung the doors open and lifted out the dress, glaring at it.
"Um," I muttered, flushing deep scarlet, "how do I get this on?" I turned to Sebastian, who looked away and sniffed. I tried my best not to notice how his cheeks colored slightly. I thought it was out of character for him.
"Oh!" a new voice broke in, and a red haired girl with broken glasses swung into view. "Is this the new girl?" She asked. She shrunk into the door frame when she saw Sebastian, then started grinning stupidly and blushing.
"Excuse me," Sebastian said, covering his mouth with his hand and turning to leave. I watched him go, then looked at the other maid shyly. I was still standing there with the dress in front of me, and she looked at me with a peppy smile. "Confusing, isn't it?" she asked. I nodded.
"You're, um, Maylene, right?" I asked.
"Yep! Now let's get you into your uniform!" she chirped, pushing me behind the folding screen.
*********
I'm sure that if someone had walked into the room, they would have laughed and walked back out. I'd just been shouting in surprise as I was dressed by the older girl, who knew the outfit very well and had only told me to hold my arms out before she'd started spinning me around and tying various bows here and there. When she finished I'd jumped on the bed and begged the room to stop spinning. She'd laughed.
Maylene blathered on about working at the mansion, but her attention soon turned towards Sebastian. Her crush was immediately obvious, and she'd had to turn away a few times so that she could stop a sudden nosebleed. I guessed that I really didn't want to know.
When I arrived outside the sun room, I cast a withered look at Maylene. She looked me right in the eye and growled, "listen. There are rules for the staff here. One: protect the mansion. Two: protect Ciel. Three: do your best at all times. Four: Do as Ciel says, (or Sebastian says, if you've screwed up, because he knows how to fix it). Five: Be nice, and that means to everyone. This isn't so much a rule as a courtesy, but we'd still like you to do it. Six is not a rule, really, but a favour to me: do not fall in love with Sebastian-sama. Got all that?" I nodded, smiling. "Good. I look forward to working with you, Gwenie!" She then shoved me through the doors of the sun room.
It was dark outside by now, but the oil lamps that took up space on multiple tables let off plenty of light, and gave the room a cozy, if not slightly eerie feel. I saw an empty chair across the room and rushed to sit in it. On my way there, I caught a glimpse of a black and white chess board, with tiny pieces lined up on either side like two armies about to start a battle. I settled in just as the clock struck seven. I smiled at the child sitting across from me.
He was asleep. His hand propped up his head and his legs were crossed. He looked sort of mature, but his beautiful face said otherwise. Like this, he looked like a little boy. Not glaring, sneering, or bored, but asleep. I leaned forward, over the table, and whispered: "bocchan." He stirred slightly, so I said a little louder, "bocchan." He opened his eyes and looked at me, seemingly confused, then tilted his head up and asked, "are you late?"
"Actually, I was here on time. Waking you took a minute or two, though." I sat back down and said "um, are you sure you wouldn't rather go to bed, Ciel-sama?"
"No, I said I'd play a game of chess, and I intend to," he snapped. My shoulders slumped. Back the cruel Earl, was it? Oh, well.
"Do you know how to play?" he asked.
"No."
"Well, then, pay attention. This is your king," he said pointing to a figurine at the back of the board in the middle. I nodded, and he continued, telling me each figurine, how they move, and their importance. He explained checkmate and how to remove different pieces, and finally, how white moves first. I was white.
I'm quite proud to say, I won. Ciel was shocked, then angry, then sulky. I laughed at him.
"What's so funny?" he demanded.
"I like it when you lose, bocchan," I said.
"Why? Because you win?" he snapped, pouting.
"Not at all! You act like a child when you lose." I then got a look like I'd lost my mind. "I'm just saying, sir, that when I first met you, you acted like a very strict adult. Then you smiled, but it seems that was fake. Now, you're acting like a little boy, like you should at your age."
"I'm not exactly in the position to act like a little boy," he muttered.
"It doesn't matter the position you're in, a little boy should still be allowed to act like a little boy," I reasoned.
He looked me deep in the eyes, and said "you can't be more than fifteen years old. Why don't you act like a little girl?"
I was stunned, and I had to stop and think about it for a second. "I," I started, then took a breath and replied, shrugging, "I don't know how."
"You don't know how?" he asked. "You talk to me about acting like a little boy, and you say you don't know how?"
"I know how children act, but I’ve never had any practice. I'm afraid I'm frightfully bad at being childish," I replied.
"When you're scared, you're pretty childish," he noted.
"Most people are," I pointed out. "But I think it's time you went to bed."
"Are you telling me what to do?" he asked, raising his voice.
"You bet," I said sweetly, sitting straighter in my chair. That earned my a smile that seemed more suited to his personality. Challenging, and yet oddly amused, and it didn't seem half as fake, now that I knew what fake was.
"Fine," he replied, standing up. "Oh, wait - damn!" he said.
"What?"
"Well, Sebastian is downstairs and I, ah, I don't..." he huffed, and finished, "I don't know how to undress myself."
"I could do it if it doesn't bother you," I said. That earned me a glare.
"What?"
"I'm a boy. You're a girl. That's embarrassing!"
"Not unless you think of it like that," I murmured.
"Alright, but you can't ever give me a bath."
"Fine by me," I replied.
*******
Ciel was dressed in his nightclothes and tucked into bed. I blew out the candles carefully, as I was slightly uncomfortable with fire. It always seemed to burn too big and bright when I was around it.
"Gwenivere," Ciel growled. I turned from my place by the beside table, about to extinguish the final candelabra.
"Yes?" I asked softly. My boss looked uncomfortable, and flipped around on the bed.
"My pillows are lumpy," he complained.
I sighed and sat down on the bed. "Here. Lay your head in my lap while I fluff them." Ciel looked reluctant for a moment, then wriggled over and obeyed. I reached over and grabbed the first of about five pillows.
I hadn't even finished the first when I looked down and realized that he was asleep. "Bocchan," I whispered, shaking him slightly. He groaned in defiance, wrapping his arms around my waist and refusing to let go. I sighed and rang for someone to come help.
A minute or two later, Sebastian, (of all the rotten luck,) appeared in the doorway. I looked at him pleadingly and whispered "what do I do? Wake him up? Push him away? I've still got work to do!"
The black-haired man sighed and whispered back, "I'll finish with the kitchen. Can you sleep here tonight?"
"Um... wouldn't that make him mad when he wakes up?"
"He doesn't like to be touched," Sebastian admitted, "but he's doing this. I don't think he'll mind." He came around the bed and grabbed the candelabra, then walked to the door and said "good night." Then he held a finger to his lips as a sign to be quiet, and left me in total darkness.
I huffed, pulled the covers tighter around Ciel, grabbed a pillow, put it behind my head, kicked off my shoes and carefully lifted my legs onto the bed so they wouldn't be numb in the morning, and settled in for the night.
