Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/ works/10871430. Rating: Explicit Archive Warning: Rape/Non-Con, Underage Category: F/M, M/M, Multi Fandom: Kuroshitsuji_|_Black_Butler Relationship: Ran_Mao_(Kuroshitsuji)/Lau_(Kuroshitsuji), Ran_Mao/Ciel_Phantomhive, Lau/ Ciel_Phantomhive Character: Ran-Mao_(Kuroshitsuji), Ciel_Phantomhive, Sebastian_Michaelis, Lau_ (Kuroshitsuji) Additional Tags: Bargaining, Demons, Demons_Are_Assholes, Opium, Recreational_Drug_Use, References_to_Drugs, Drug_Dealing, Extremely_Dubious_Consent, Rape/Non- con_Elements, Non-Consensual_Voyeurism, Voyeurism Stats: Published: 2017-05-10 Words: 1942 ****** The Art of Alchemists, Sex and Court Ladies ****** by orphan_account Summary Ciel needs information. Lau just wants to watch him break. Notes I re-watched Book of Murder, and I had completely forgotten about the dress. So, now this. See the end of the work for more notes “What do you think, Ran-Mao?” Lau queried, his voice light and teasing. She smiled up from his lap, a slow twitch of lips, a quirk of personality that made them so well suited to each other. “Do you like the young Earl’s qípáo?” Lau imagined he could hear Ciel grinding his teeth. The fearsome scowl he wore couldn’t mar the image he made, the boyish lines of his body collapsed together on the brocaded chair before him. Lau could now be certain, instead of hopeful; his thighs were just as smooth and soft as his cheeks. He let his gaze drift down the Earl’s silk-wrapped body, covetous like a hand and watched red bloom on the pale, perfect canvas of Ciel’s face. Like he’d been graced with a heavier touch than Lau’s eyes could give him. “Beautiful.” She whispered to Ciel, voicing his thoughts and that seemed to make him flush more than Lau’s intentionally impolite perusal. He watched the boy shift, slippery silk making a delicious sound between the weight of him and his chair, before he took another sip of tea. The noble’s butler leaned in, stiff like a crane, bending his mouth to Ciel’s ear and whispered, throwing pebbles into the well of his young mind. It was indecorous, an intimate gesture the Earl seemed to allow without thought. It was an interruption, but one that Lau was not adverse to. He let his hand stroke down the delicate bumping spine under his hands, imagining the warm, patterned silk rubbing across his finger pads was the deep teal he’d chosen to offset Ciel’s eyes and hair. Across from him, like a mirror, Sebastian slipped a hand behind his master, ostensibly to help him sit upright. His touch lingered, and Ciel bat at his pecking hands, shooing him, a crow leering from a fence. Easy familiar bickering followed, and Lau let his smirk grow to match Sebastian’s. Today, Lau had something they wanted. That is why the little Earl, with his rosy cheeks and big blue eyes cast in porcelain, had agreed to be here, dressed this way. He looked like the cheap dolls Lau sailed home, the return ship riding low into harbor with his true cargo. Stacked chests with leaf wrapped balls of opium, the drug pressed into it’s own petals, and further below flowers of a different kind. He was a creator of dreams and another creation sat before him, silk cut to fit tight across his shoulders, embroidered in subdued English colors to fit his Earl’s particular muted beauty. He wore it sourly, uncaring of the cost as he tugged at the neck, like a collared cat. He pouted; Lau grew hard under many layers of cloth, and the gentle weight of his sister. It was why he could smile, his eyes a merry crease, to match the man across from him who stood cut in stark black lines. “About the ambass-” Ciel said, but Lau cut him off. He wasn’t even really speaking to Ciel, his eyes fixed rather, on Sebastian’s smile. “I agree, Ran-Mao. But I think the fit may need adjusting. You have-” He let his voice rise, intentions unmistakable, but the butler did no more than gaze at him intently, eyes bright. “-experience.” “The fit is fine-” Ciel said hotly, but Ran-Mao had left one lap for another as he’d begun to speak. Already her hands were upon him, tugging at the thin fabric spanning his shoulders, tweaking the stiff line of his collar. All of her movements made to look as though she was simply primping him, even as her palm smoothed over his peaked nipples, tenting and creasing the silk. She leaned up to stroke his hair, her thigh pressing lightly against the soft give between his legs, uncaring of the jerk of his knee. He heard the Earl let out a single sound, explosive in the silence, before he swallowed it. Lau sipped his tea to hide his amusement. Ran-Mao was like a tide washing over him, her hands a practiced wave as she assaulted the boy expertly under the men’s watchful eyes. “Such a pretty picture.” Lau murmured, and he let his gaze lift to the butler’s face, the calm distance with which he held himself. The image of restraint. “Stop-” Ciel breathed, but it was soft, an exhalation, more than a voiced command. He sounded unsure, but Lau could already discern the clinging, distended embrace of the silk in the Earl’s lap. It was obscene. “Lau-” “Mm.” Lau set his teacup beside him, allowing himself a break from the overload of sensate distraction. She was still combing at his hair, leaving his face pressed indelicately into the sweet swell of her breasts. “I didn’t know you and Ciel were such good friends, Ran-Mao.” “We’re not-” “Beautiful.” Ran-Mao cooed, and Ciel quieted, more like a child than Lau had ever seen him. Soft lashes swept his pale cheeks, and Lau could see his grip, unwavering on the stiff wooden arms of the chair. Lau hadn’t thought he could want this more, but now that he’d had even a taste, he craved another hit. “You are also good friends with the ambassador.” Sebastian said, his voice cutting in clearly like a gunshot from just beside his head. Lau’s eyes widened. The other man was close enough he could feel the hot, sour rush of his breath against his cheek. When had the butler moved from his place beside his charge? He must have gravitated to Lau while he was watching the spectacle unfolding before him, his eyes caught by something more interesting than the sneaky crow of a man. “I have known him for sometime. “ Lau demurred. He had known the greedy puppet for longer than that, had foolishly helped him rise to the heights he currently held in society. Not all his acquaintances were schoolboys, and Lau was owed by several powerful men. Most wanted the high, the release his particular dragon offered its penitent, but this man was much more captivated by the girls Lau brought into the city. More even than he was in the money. Lau would not miss him. Ran Mao had moved onto the Earl’s lap, her bottom snug against him and Ciel’s gaze burned, so blue against the flushed scarlet of his skin. He was sweating, biting his lip but still a breathy gasp slipped out and his eyes flew to the ceiling. Another penitent, but to a different god. Lau leaned briefly away from the butler, reaching to quickly tap out his pipe beside him, before re- arranging further into the space separating them, too quick for the man to move. Only the cushioned lounge back separated them, but Sebastian seemed to give off an unnatural heat, prickling the hairs on the back of Lau’s neck as though he stood before a fire. He handed Sebastian his pipe, papers and tobacco pouch, and the man didn’t even hesitate before rolling him the neatest cigarette Lau had ever seen. “Where must he take you?” Lau said amused, turning his head, cigarette clamped between his fingers awaiting the surely provided light. Sebastian smiled in return, and Lau could feel a disquieting tremor starting in his heart, and traveling up through his fingers, to the cigarette that waved slightly before his eyes. It felt like an attack, that single smile, and Lau could feel his body sweating and cooling, freezing him to the spot, trapping him in the moment where he could see an opening to hell through the tunnel of teeth, the hundred awful teeth in his smile. His cock wilted between his legs. There was true malice in that smile, an inevitable malevolence Lau had never felt brush so pointedly close to him before. He’d had fire reflected in his eyes before, if always carefully, and at a distance. Through his long dalliance with the English he’d learned, instead of flinching away to lean in, to tuck his head close until his lips were near enough to brush the cheek that caged that war zone of a smile. He was satisfied, gleeful as he arrested that killer smile. The butler’s eyes fixate on his, and the smell of the sweet resin lacing his tobacco rose from the lit cigarette, slim and European in his hand. It was good stock, he was proud to say and it had made him liquid and brave like a cat. “Let him finish.” Lau murmured entreating, but entirely removed from the situation, his earlier urge returned to that of clinical appreciation by the dampening of his arousal, and the sweet dreams swirling in his lungs. Sebastian cocked his head, inquisitive and avian. His eyes shone the color of blood. “Then, I’ll have no distraction while I tell you where our mutual friend the ambassador is.” He turned pointedly, let his eyes drag at the writhing pair. His young Earl had given up the pretense of control while they conversed, head tipped back, his slate hair stuck to his forehead. His lips parted with no sound, like a painting come to life. Lau couldn’t see Ran Mao’s hands, only see the rhythmic shifting of her body. “And what about you?” Sebastian intoned from beside him, and Lau smiled into his own lap. “I am content with observing.” He took a long, hot hit from the smoking madak. “Sometimes I enjoy watching something so pure-” “-become stained.” The butler said, and his voice roiled with the same dark intimation that had bled from his smile before. Lau swallowed, turning back in time to see Ciel break, body going still except the jerking of his hips, his fingers hooked like claws at the arms of the chair. He was beautiful, and Lau gave them the weighted moment, where Ciel panted, and Ran Mao preened, hands still making smooth, gentle laps over his body, before calling, “Ran Mao.” She came back to him, as he knew she would, her feet tripping delicately back across the space that separated him from the delicate, debauched nobility he had wreathed in smoke. She was smug, and warm and he welcomed her back at his side. Ciel wouldn’t look at him as he sat back up, arms draped weakly across his lap, as though to hide. His dress was rucked up on one side, the collar wrested askew by grasping hands. Lau could see pale skin from thigh to hip, and he let his eyes linger, taking advantage of the Earl’s suddenly reticent behavior. He looked spent, and Lau could see wet staining a spot in the silk cloth, evidence of his pleasure. “The ambassador, Lau.” Ciel asked, his voice a quiet breath, and Lau took another puff, letting the smoke roar through his nose. “Where is he.” “A warehouse in the East End. “ Lau said smoothly, no need to obfuscate now that he’d gotten what he wanted. “161 Heather End. Probably watched by hired men. His competitors had it out for him, long before he caught Our Majesty’s eye.” Ciel wobbled as he stood, holding his arms out stiffly for his coat, wrapping the mess they’d made of him out of sight. The viewing was over, and Lau was sorry to see it end. “Thank you, Lau-san.” The butler said, and he flashed those teeth again, just a flash, but Lau heard Ran Mao gasp beside his ear. Knew she saw the glimpse of fire too. “I hope you learned as much as we did.” “Sebastian.” Ciel said sharply, and then they were gone, presumably to hunt his foolish one-time friend. He could wait. They would need him again. All of his customers were repeats. End Notes Inhale the_smoke. Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed their work!