Work Text:
December 14th, the day a loved one was born
The strong icy breeze blew across England creating great blizzards, the snowflakes falling slowly and majestically. Inside the woods, in the grounds of the mansion, the gardener was strolling. He had finished removing the snow accumulated at the entrance, so he was going to take advantage of his free time, with scissors in his hand, he was ready to do his job.
The garden was full (for now) of exotic flowers from different parts of the world brought by the main butler. Flowers like the cyclamen or the tricolor viola, among others, were standing there showing themselves to the world to be admired, surviving the infernal cold. Not knowing the cruel fate that would befall them in the hands of the gardener.
The aforementioned gardener was crouching down. The scissors he held swayed, cutting the stems of the most beautiful flowers. Carefully, measuring his strength, he placed them all in a corner beside him. When she was done the ground once full of flowers was now a crime scene, with ground up dirt everywhere and bits of flowers from her earlier attempts. "Sebastian will be angry, but he'll calm down when he knows the reason" Finnian thought naively. Delicately, the flowers were wrapped by a satin cloth and as a final touch, he tied them with a blue ribbon; giving as a final result a beautiful bouquet.
"Yay, I'm done, now I can give a present to the young master!" proclaimed Finnian. He was happy; today was a very special day for him it was his master's birthday! That boy was the first person who did not treat him as if he were a guinea pig. He gave him his name, a place to live, he was free and could do whatever he wanted.
The affection he felt was so much that it turned into love; that's what the blond thought, although he wasn't sure, maybe he always loved him. He still remembered the first day he realized, well, actually it was pointed out to him. Snake (actually it was Emily, one of his snakes) had commented to him that he looked at his master as he should only look at a lover; at first he denied it, but as the months passed he admitted he was right, he loved him deeply. He didn't plan to tell him, he knew he would be rejected, the young master already had a fiancée and someday he would have to marry her, the thought of that made him feel a strange knot in his stomach.
Finnian thought about giving him a gift that day, besides the flowers, he wanted to give him something else that would show his feelings and gratitude, but I don't know if he could come up with something up to his young master's standards. As a last resort he had asked his friends for advice, since for him they had more experience in such things.
The first was the housekeeper, Mey-Rin.
Mey-Rin agreed to help, she was very excited to get down to work. She commented that when she was the young master's age, she saw how her old friends had wished they had dolls to play with, so with cloth and buttons they made a small rag doll trying to recreate the count.
When they finished Mey-Rin apologized and advised him that he had better not give him that doll and make something else.
"Ehhh?! Why?! Finnian hugged the stuffed animal and looked at Mey-Rin with sad eyes.
Mey-rin stared at the doll. The plushie's face had an angry expression, she could already see it coming that her teacher wouldn't like it very much, she could even imagine his grumpy expression just like the plushie.
" You just listen to me " sighed Mey-Rin, not sure how to explain his point to Finnian.
" Fine, fine. Then I'm going to keep it " Finnian already figured he was going to use it for sleeping.
The second was Bardroy.
Everyone in the mansion knew about the count's fascination for sweets and more for chocolate; for that reason Bard and Finnian had tried to make a cake of that sweet, but all the results ended in ashes or in inedible substances for human beings. They left the kitchen being scolded by Sebastian as they destroyed their kitchen for the tenth time.
"The cook rested his hand on Finny's head to reassure him.
The third was Tanaka
The former head butler just laughed and encouraged him to just give him the flowers, that didn't help much, but he thanked him anyway.
Last was Snake (and his snakes).
Snake and his snakes helped him compose a thank you letter. He escaped when he realized that the direction of the letter went more into the romantic realm.
He would have asked Sebastian for some advice, since he was the head butler and consequently spent more time with the count, but both the butler and his master traveled at dawn and when they returned they were accosted by the Midford family to celebrate the count's birthday.
Presently the gardener was inside the snowy forest, practicing his "confession" with a tree.
"Young master... I w-want to be by your side forever " his voice stuttered, he couldn't help but get nervous, he felt this as an indirect confession of love.
After his "confession" he sat down next to the tree. As the minutes passed her mind was making her regret filling her with negative thoughts.
"I don't think I can do it. I'm not good enough for the young master. I'm too clumsy, everything I touch I destroy, I could never protect him without harming him. I couldn't even give him a worthy gift. Maybe I should just leave him the flowers and go" The more he thought about it the more useless he felt. The gardener's eyes began to fill with tears about to spill over.
"Finnian? " That voice was...
The blond fixed his gaze to where the voice was heard coming from, not far away came the product of his tears. His winter clothes were swaying in the winter gusts. For a moment Finnian felt like those romance books Mey-Rin used to tell him about. He quickly stood up from the snow-filled ground and wiped away his tears.
" Welcome back Young master!" he greeted as he normally did. After a brief moment, he picked up the bouquet, took courage and added " Happy birthday.... These flowers I picked for you I hope it pleases you! " He approached with a quick step, until he was face to face with the boy and handed him the bouquet, almost hitting him with the flowers.
Caught off guard, the count's cheeks colored a shade of pink.
"Thank you Finnian" murmured the count, giving him a small smile of gratitude.
Finnian thought it was the moment to tell him, but at that instant only vague words were coming out of his mouth, which could not be understood well, product of nervousness.
"I ... I have ... You... Umm... I want to be closer to you! " shouted the blond blushing after his lips started to leak nonsense words and he started to play with his fingers because of his nervousness.
Silence reigned in the place. The gardener could not look at the count and already regretted it, his heart was beating a thousand. On the other hand, the younger one was looking at him from head to toe examining his gardener with his gaze.
" I don't think that's possible, Finnian" said the count, lowering his gaze towards the flowers. " An earl's job doesn't leave much free time.
" I... I understand " Small tears came out of the gardener's big green eyes. Ciel was surprised and quickly pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and reached out to Finnian's face wiping away his tears.
"That's not the right face for a servant of the Phantomhive family" commented the blue-eyed man to the taller one. When Finnian calmed down he put the handkerchief back in its place " I don't think you understood me Finnian, I didn't mean to make you feel bad, but I don't have much time " he kept the fact that he felt the last very literally. Ciel saw that his gardener was still looking sad and tried to cheer him up "when I have free time I'll visit you and we can spend it together".
Finnian nodded with emotion. He wiped the remaining tears with his sleeve.
"If it's to be near the young master I'll accept! shouted the gardener happily jumping up to hug his master.
" Good, good, now we can go back inside, so you can let go of me now " ordered the patched boy, pulling himself out of the embrace.
The blond teenager nodded his head several times. He hadn't said his feelings out of fear, but he might say it later, he would always be happy with any deal that gave him the opportunity to spend time with Ciel.
Ciel headed back to his mansion, Finnian followed from behind. Already inside the blond's head a question arose, seeing that no one was around he asked his master.
"Young master, how did you know that I was near the forest?" asked Finnian.
" I was trying to run away from Lizzy, I ran into Snake and he advised me to go that way " recalled Ciel feeling a little shiver as he remembered his fiancée.
Finnian kept smiling and smiling, he felt so happy! Later he would find a way to thank his friend Snake for his help. Unfortunately their paths parted when Ciel had to go to his office.
Finnian couldn't stop smiling, he felt so happy! Later he would find a way to thank his friend Snake for his help. Unfortunately their paths parted when Ciel had to go to his office.
He hadn't said his feelings that day
nor did she know if she ever would
but
but she could continue to serve him until death
y
could dream of a world where only he and his young master would be.
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Extra: Ciel and Sebastian
Leaning back in his armchair Ciel was reading letters from potential new investors. All was quiet in the office until he was interrupted by Sebastian, who came in with his cart filled with the afternoon snack. The butler served everything with quiet grace until he couldn't hold it in and opened his mouth.
" So the master had a declaration of love from his servant? And you accepted it. Forbidden love could we tell him should I keep this fact a secret from Miss Elizabeth?" the butler covered his mouth dramatically, despite that you could tell by the look on his face that he was teasing.
Ciel was taken aback by that statement "what's wrong with her? that didn't happen".
"What are you saying? Shut your mouth and don't talk nonsense " Ciel just tapped the demon's shoulder with the paper in his hand - if you have time for jokes you can leave now.
Sebastian smiled falsely and said goodbye. When the silence returned Ciel looked for a moment at the flowers adorning his desk "why was he so nostalgic for flowers?" the count shook his head trying to forget those thoughts and went on with his work.