Narrator's POV

Taking a deep breath, Astre Phantomhive walked down the stairs and into the dining room.

Upon walking into the room, he was greeted with the sight of his twin sitting at the head of the table, his sight blocked by the newspaper he was reading.

Walking towards him, the younger boy sat to his sibling's left and simply waited to be noticed.

It did not take long, Ciel eventually put his newspaper down and his sapphire blue eyes widened at the sight of his twin.

"Wow, Astre, you are so beautiful," Ciel said, his mouth dry, "like a porcelain doll. You should wear dresses more, you look so wonderful in them."

Astre looked down in embarrassment as his face flushed as pink as his dress.

Sensing his brother's discomfort, Ciel changed the subject, "Tanaka presented me with the daily paperwork —it went over my head and completely covered the desk; is that what you deal with every day?"

"Yes, some days it is less and occasionally —especially during the holidays— it is a lot taller." Astre confirmed

Ciel gulped, he had thought being Earl would be a lot more fun, Astre had made being Earl look so easy.

"I can help you, though, I am used to the workload." Astre offered, "Besides, half of the paperwork is Funtom related, so you do not have to worry about that at all."

Ciel just blinked, "You do that everyday?"

Astre nodded, "Yes, in addition to my studies and Watchdog work and attending the occasional social event and hosting guests here and working on my revenge."

The older blunette was now even more grateful that Astre had not left with Sebastian, he did not want to do all of that alone; he had thought being Earl would take very little of his time and he could focus on playing with —or against if Astre had not chosen him— his twin.

Soon enough, Tanaka brought in the cart carrying the their dinner.

It was a simple three course meal, each course only having two servings.

The first course, naturally, was soup —this being Brown Windsor Soup.

The main course was perfectly boiled lobster served with creamy tomato risotto.

Dessert was a refreshing strawberry shortcake with perfectly whipped cream and delightfully soft cake.

And the palate cleanser was a board of various cheeses along with orange marmalade water ice.

Naturally, the entire meal was delicious.

"Where is Undertaker?" Astre asked, noticing the reaper had not yet made an appearance

Ciel smiled a bit, "I sent him on errand for dinner, I wanted the sight of you dolled up like this to myself."

Astre was happy to hear that, he knew Undertaker would have made fun of him without restraint.

***

Once the meal was over, the twins walked back up to the office where Ciel had barely made a dent in the paperwork.

Astre immediately got to work, practically racing through the papers and in the matter of what felt like minutes —but was actually a couple of hours—, he finished it all, signing all the documents as 'Ciel Phantomhive' as he always had.

Ciel was in shock, it felt like he had barely sit down and Astre was already done, "H-How?"

"I told you, I am used to it." Astre shrugged with a blush

***

With the daily workload done, the twins walked down the hall to their bedroom and got out of their clothes —or more accurately, Ciel changed into a nightshirt and helped Astre out of his dress so he could do the same.

Ciel wrapped his arms around his twin's head, staying there as the slightly older boy's blue eyes looked into Astre's one blue eye.

The slightly younger boy blushed, momentarily thinking Ciel was about to kiss him.

But, obviously, the undead boy did no such thing, simply untying the black eyepatch Astre wore.

Where one might expect a wound from a missing eye, a lavender eye marred with a demon's claim fluttered open.

"Pretty seal, brother," Ciel commented, "I cannot wait to see it gone and it's natural blue restored."

With that, they climbed into the large plush bed and cuddled together under the covers, both having the best night of sleep they have had since the night before their tenth birthday.

***

Just after midnight, Undertaker returned to the manor and immediately looked for the twins.

He found them peacefully asleep in their bed, curled up together.

A smile formed on his face at the sight, for this moment everything was perfect.

He stroked their faces with his palm, his long black nails just barely grazing their soft porcelain pale skin.

Oh how he wished Vincent or Claudia —preferably both— were here to see this.

But they were long gone and unable to be saved —though Undertaker had managed to save Ciel from death and was in the process of saving Astre from the demon he had attached himself to.

Ciel began to rouse from his sleep, rubbing an eye with a fist, "G-Grandfather? Is it morning already?"

The white haired reaper smiled but shook his head, "Not yet, little lord, go back to sleep."

"Was it a dream?" The sleepy blunette asked, worried the events of the day had not really happened

"Your brother is beside you and you are in your home." Undertaker soothed, knowing what he meant

Ciel turned to look at his still asleep twin, smiling as he stroked his fingers against Astre's plump lips.

"What did you learn?" The undead boy asked the reaper

The white haired man's smile turned into a frown, "Your prediction came to fruition. Blavat confirmed the servant's escape from Scotland Yard."

"Where is Blavat now?" Ciel inquired

"Polaris is escorting him to Heathfield Manor." Undertaker answered

"Excellent." The awake blunette hummed, "I imagine that demon will carry out the plan I predicted Astre would had he left. Tell Blavat to write if one of those servants appear there."

"Of course, little Earl." Undertaker said as Ciel fell back asleep...