#spreading my phantomfam agenda as well as my dadbastian one today

[purpleandstarlight]

Dadbastian Week 2023 - Day Three: Trick or Treat

It was amusing how his Young Master - despite all his talk of being this invincible Lord of the Underworld, the feared Watchdog, the vicious King of the chessboard, someone ready to throw away his 'pawns' for the sake of his own goals - folded so quickly at a simple word from his own underlings.

Not Sebastian, of course. He was always as vicious as ever with the demonic butler. In fact, when the man clad in back ever suggested something, it only made the little Earl do just the opposite as a way to give him more troubles, even if the head servant had already enough of those.

No, when Sebastian wanted his Young Master to do something, he needed to be sneaky about it. But if Bardroy mentioned seeing something that reminded him of his departed son in a shop's display as a way to apologise for stopping in front of it for a little too long while walking on the street in one of the rare times the Young Master and his servants got out for some much needed shopping, the so-called Cheff would 'misteriously' find said item on his bed that same evening. If Mei-Rin was even slightly inconvenienced after hurting her ankle in a slightly nastier fall than usual, the clumsy maid would soon receive some medicine to help with the pain - and not the cheap kind, either. If the respectable Tanaka, usually silent and so adept at minding his own business, simply arched his eyebrow after one of their Young Master's uglier remarks, the child was quick to calm down and apologise to even the rudest of guests, acting like a proper gentlemen even though he was prey to seemingly uncontrollable rage just a moment before. And if the earl overheard the as-inhumanly-strong-as-extremely-naive gardner as he excitedly wondered how trick-or-treating went, mentioning how he's never celebrated this tradition before...

Well, thats how an amused Sebastian found himself watching his Young Master from afar, disguised as a commoner (probably so that the people who lived on his property didn't suspect it was their own landlord who was now succumbing to such a child-like festivity), while he and the older blond tried to convince the habitants of the little house to share their candy with them by showing some tricks or telling little jokes. Unsurprisingly, Finnian did most of the work, but the family was still enamoured by the younger child's red face and shy behavior.

This had been going on for a little under an hour and, although Sebastian and the blonde were clearly having the time of their lives, their Young Master had clearly reached his limit of social interactions for the day. It was almost bothersome, how inept he was when it came to talking with strangers for more than half-an-hour...Luckly, this wasn't an important business party where he had to keep up appearances, so Sebastian quickly sneaked down from a tree and made his way towards the pair of kids.

After all, if he couldn't save the Phantomhive Earl from too much public speaking, what kind of butler would he be?

"There you are. I take it the evening is going well?" Smiled the demon, carefully hiding his amusement by closing his eyes in a friendly expression, knowing that only the younger of the two would get the slight hint of mockery in his tone.

"Mr. Sebastian! Are you trick-or-treating as well?"

As expected, the Young Master's slightly uncomfortable smile turned into a grimace as soon as the butler made himself known, while the gardener's eyes sparkled at his own honestly ridiculous speculation.

"Not really, no. I just came to find you and bring you both back to the Manor. The Young Master's bed time is fast approaching, after all, and he has important business to attend to all day tomorrow."

He could tell the Earl was clearly unhappy with the idea of going along with the demon's suggestion, but in the end, his despise for social events must have been enough to convince him not to throw a tantrum and just accept the escape route the older being was offering.

"Right, I guess it is quite late...We should head home. You have to work too, after all, Finny, and a gardner job starts as soon as the sun is up."

This annoyed the butler, seeing as the younger servant clearly didn't work as much as he ruined everything and made more work for Sebastian instead, but the man clad in black decided not to speak his thoughts out lout, and instead started leading the two as they walked back to the Manor.

"This way, then."

Though silent, the demon still listened to the conversation happening behind him.

"Thank you for the fun night, Young Master! I never went trick-or-treating before, so i was curious!"

"Didn't you?" He very clearly lied. Of course the gardner never experienced such a tradition. It wasn't as if mad scientists normally let their illegal test subjects run around town asking for chocolate. But their Young Master was always into pretending his acts of kindness towards others were just things made to help himself and himself alone, Sebastian knew, so that wasn't a very surprising answer. "I'm glad this little research for Funtom helped us both then. But from tomorrow, it's back to work, you hear me? No lazing around in bed eating candy all day."

"Yes, my lord!"

Internally, the demon rolled his eyes, amused by the irony. His Young Master was clearly projecting, but again, he'd keep his thoughts to himself for now. It would be against a butler's code to speak against his own Young Master...in public, at least.

"Why did you follow me? If you knew where I was, you clearly already knew Finny was with me, therefore you didn't need to protect me. Are you that much of a control freak that you can't leave your prey alone for more than five minutes?"

More than an hour had passed, and since then, the three had already arrived home, and the Phantomhive Earl was now clean as his butler prepared him for bed.

"You could say that...After all, what kind of butler would I be, if I didn't worry about my Master's safety?"

"Don't give me that crap. You probably just wanted to see me struggle."

Right on the money. He could be quite clever, sometimes, for such a tiny human.

"As a butler, I would never do such a thing."

"And as a Demon?"

"Well, If I had to be honest -and I have to, seeing as that's one of your conditions for our little deal- as a Demon, i just like seeing you fail."

"Pfft," His Young Master let out an amused sound, a smirk on his face. "As expected from a beast."

"That's in my nature, at least. You as a human, though, still like to see me fail as well, so what's your excuse?"

"We could argue that wanting a seemingly perfect being not to succeed is human nature as well, but honestly? I just really despise you."

"I see," the butler had been smirking as well this entire time, and didn't abandon the amused expression even as he got up after fixing the last button on his Master's blouse, making him able to climb up to the bed, ready to be tucked under the covers by the demon. "If that's all then, I'll free you from my despicable presence for tonight."

"Yes, that would be ideal. I am quite tired of seeing your face already."

"Good night, then, my Lord." The malicious entiry bowed elegantly one last time after blowing on the candlestick, leaving the child to his needed rest.