It’d been about a month since they’d confessed their feelings. But there wasn’t much change after that. Ciel still came and left with his family while George still did the night shift. The only noticeable difference was that Ciel smiled more often and Master Gin looked grumpier. During that time, Liath had gone to see Gin and informed him that Tór had disappeared and all attempts to find him had not succeeded. He supposed that the lad may have slipped into one of the portals and was hiding in another world. As Liath was only a watcher of dead and abandoned worlds, he suspected that Tór was in a living one.

Gin did not watch all of the other worlds and would have to work together with other doorkeepers, making him annoyed at the extra work. They suspected that Tór was working for shadow though they couldn’t be sure if it was forced or voluntarily. The only good news was that after so many months of research, Gin with the collaboration of Liath and several other mages managed to remove the contract on Iktomi, finally freeing him from his servitude to the shadows. Ciel watched as Iya appeared, with his cloak and shadowy face to come for his brother. The two brothers were extremely formal with each other, as if they did not interact often. Not every family was like his; he understood that but when he watched the way the two brothers did not speak, just one following the other out the club, Ciel decided he preferred his family more.

Ciel smothered a yawn and stretched. Everything was going fine for a change; except his sleep that is. Ciel wasn’t sure why but something was off with his sleep. He always woke up a little dissatisfied, as if he did not have enough rest. It wasn’t as obvious at first and he had put it down to his illness and the emotional excitement of finally going steady with George. They’d meet for lunch normally and then George would either accompany Ciel at the library while he did some magical research or just relax in one of the many rec rooms on the third floor. With the amount of time they stuck to each other, it was amazing that the staff did not notice anything out of the ordinary. But Ciel was just not getting any restful sleep. It didn’t matter what time he slept or got up; something was just not right and he was waking up increasingly grumpy.

“Tired?” a sudden kiss on his forehead.

Ciel froze for a moment before he opened his eyes and looked at George. “Stop sneaking up on me.” He grumbled as he put his hand on his forehead, his ears pink.

“But I like it.” what a blasé response. Ciel gave him a frown but said nothing. If he complained too much, he had a feeling that George would stop like he asked but then Ciel would have to be the one to swallow his pride and embarrassment to ask George to kiss him after that. So he just pouted and gave George an aggrieved look, forgetting that George loved kissing the pout right out of his face. When he saw the hot look in his eyes, it was too late and Ciel was captured into an embrace and had his breath kissed right out of him. When they separated, Ciel was panting with more than just his ears pink. He decided to ignore his boyfriend for the time being before he lost more territory.

George gave an indulgent laugh as he sat properly on the sofa next to him. “All right, I’ll stop” He placed his hand on Ciel’s head and gently pushed him onto his lap. “Sleep if you’re tired. I’ll wake you up in a bit.” Ciel was about to protest but was caught unaware by another yawn. Feeling the warm hand stroking his hair, he reluctantly complied.

“Fine but wake me up in half an hour…”

“Yes, dear.” Another chuckle.

Dear… Ciel liked the sound of that as he drifted off to sleep, soothed by the gentle stroking of his head. When he awoke, George was still there, reading a book that he got from who knows where. He looked down when Ciel stirred.

“Had a good rest?”

Surprisingly, Ciel did. He felt more refreshed than he had in days. He sat up and stretched, giving George a satisfied smile. “Yup, all better.”

“That’s good. Your father’s looking for you by the way.”

“What?” Ciel scrambled out of the sofa, his good mood from his nap gone. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Noire was the one who came looking for you but she said she’d let your father know that you were asleep.” Ciel could just imagine the smirk on Noire’s face when she saw Ciel sleeping on George’s lap. His face flamed up again, and he kicked George in the shins out of vexation. An indulgent George said nothing, only tidying his hair and clothes before he ushered Ciel out the door. Looking at how tolerant George was, Ciel gave a sigh of repentance.

“What did I do to deserve you?”

“More like what did I do to deserve you. Let’s go.”

“Wait, you too?”

“Yes.”

Ciel covered his face in silence as they walked out. “Can I go back to hating you like before?” he asked after a while.

“Not allowed. We’re here.” George knocked on the door and they entered when they were told to.

“Had a good nap?” Master Gin looked at his son.

“Yes…”

“Good, you were getting annoying.” Master Gin’s reaction to the change in Ciel and George’s relationship was to ignore it and hope that it would go away. It was going to take a lot of convincing but at least he was less grumpy nowadays. “I need you and George to go to the human world.” Ciel’s eyes widened and he stared at his father. “When you disappeared and we found the array that trapped George, we narrowed downs some suspects, who fled immediately after. Kou and Yue went after them and after a month, I still haven’t heard from them. If this was before, when Kou has all his memories, I wouldn’t be so worried. But after what happened the last time…” The last time when Dawn came back as nothing but a soul. Ciel nodded. They didn’t need to speak to understand, after all.

“Where and when did they go?” George’s face was serious.

“Eastern region during the cultivation period.”

“I’m familiar with that time and region. I can go alone.”

“Ciel can track Kou’s bloodline or I wouldn’t have asked him to do it.”

It was a staring contest between the two men with Ciel wanting to pretend that he was part of the furniture. But after a while, he sighed and patted the other man beside him. “Kou’s my brother. I want to help look for him too.”

“But your powers…”

“I’m not totally defenceless. I can still use magic and spells. And my mother’s talismans will help. Besides, you’ll be there to protect me, right?” his phoenix eyes widened as he looked at George with complete confidence and trust. George reciprocated with a soft smile and a doting look. Meanwhile, Gin’s face was a sight as he was served a taste of his own dog food. Maybe he should tone it down in the future… he gave a cough, bringing them back to the topic at hand.

“As I was saying, I need the both of you to look for the two of them. If the ones who made the array are in collaboration with the shadows, then it might be more than Kou and Yue can handle.” The pink bubbles popped and Ciel and George turned back to Gin. They both nodded and discussed further details to the proposed trip. It was decided that they would leave in two days, after his father had gathered all the things they would need for the trip. Ciel was instructed to go see his mother to discuss a few spells as well as to pick up some talismans and pills from her. He nodded and left, leaving the two of them together. Only a fool wouldn’t realize that his father wanted to speak to George alone.

When Ciel had left, Master Gin looked at George and his look sharpened. George sat there calmly, waiting for whatever tirade Master Gin wanted to unleash on him. He’d travelled far and wide, killing dragons in his madness. But during his bouts of sanity, he remembered a few things. One of them was that dragons hate it when their treasure is touched by others. While Master Gin did not say it, everyone knew what his most prized treasures were. Now that George had touched one of them, who knows what would happen? After all, he didn’t like Yue one bit.

“I can’t say that I like the idea of my son having a lover but in the one month that you’ve been together, the both of you have kept your working relationship professional and all PDA to a minimum.” Master Gin’s opening surprised George but he kept silent. “If I could, I’d like to bind all my children to my side but I know that’s not how it works. Ciel has always been meeker in comparison to his sister and I think I got used to him being in the family fold for far too long. So take him and let him explore, get a little stronger and find the things he likes. My children are not hot house flowers.”

George stared at the Master’s frank confession. That was unexpected. “What about the law about leaving Time Valley?” He’d heard that rule before, during one of Yue’s drunken spiels, condemning the valley and the Master.

“That? It’s not an iron clad rule. Youngsters are actually encouraged to leave the valley to seek experience and find out about the world. Most return with a better understanding of why the valley is so important and why they need to protect it. The reason why Dawn was exiled was because she has my hot temper and argued with her grandfather in front of his people. A leader who isn’t respected can’t control or lead his followers. I was the one who suggested that she be exiled.” This was a rather calm confession.

“Let’s just say that things are complicated. If you only see one powerful faction, then there will be those who will feel threatened and try to sow dissent and cause it to collapse. But if you see two more or less equal powers at odds with each other, then you adopt a wait and see approach, hoping to benefit from the fallout.”

As an observer and sometimes participant of warring kingdoms and palace intrigue, George understood what he meant. If the enmity between Master Gin and his father-in-law was a ruse, then so be it. His job was to keep Sanctuary safe although now he added an additional job of loving Ciel from flaw to perfection; everything else was none of his business.

“Keep what I said to you from Ciel. All I need you to do is keep my son happy and safe. I nearly lost him and Kou before. If something really happened to them, you can be sure I’ll skin you alive.”

“You’d have to find my body first.” George stared at Master Gin. “If anything happened to Ciel, I’ll be the first to follow him to the other side, after I've wreaked havoc on his enemies. Wherever your son goes, I go. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to make some arrangements for our upcoming trip.” With that, he got up and left, leaving an annoyed but satisfied Master Gin.