Ciel watched carefully as Felix packed up a supply box of different medicines that Ciel might have need of whilst on the residential. As it turned out, Felix had also volunteered to be the trip’s doctor, which had filled Ciel with a sense of reassurance and relief as at least he wouldn’t be completely alone.

“I can’t believe how selfish my cousin is being,” Felix sighed, shaking his head at Ciel. “Refusing to give up a holiday. You’re going to be awfully sensitive to the cold now most of your demonic energy reserves will be settled around the fetus.”

“Vex said he had to go,” Ciel pouted. “Otherwise it would upset his father.”

“Of course,” Felix let out a bitter laugh, “Pleasing Uncle will always be Vex’s priority.”

Ciel shrugged, whilst he was perfectly content that Felix didn’t seem to worship Vex like everyone else at the academy, he did think perhaps that was a little harsh. After all, Ciel had been terrified of Solomon Dubois after just one meeting and he dreaded to think what the man was capable of.

“Do you have warm winter clothes? A decent coat?” Felix asked, raising a blond eyebrow.

Ciel had plenty of knitted sweaters that he used to conceal his skin condition, however he was fully aware that none of them were really thick enough for the climate on the Neandate Islands. Plus, most were now held together by odd bits of diligently sewn yarn.

Ciel considered lying for a moment so as to save face, but then he realised how quickly that would fall through once Felix was on the trip with them. “Not exactly,” Ciel admitted.

“Well I have plenty of coats I’ve grown out of over the years,” Felix nodded, “I’m sure they’ll fit you.”

“Thank you,” Ciel replied, feeling rather flustered.

“We’re travelling by plane,” Felix murmured, rifling through some papers on his desk, “but don’t worry, it’s perfectly safe for the baby at this stage.”

Ciel half winced as his hand instinctively went to settle on his stomach. He hadn’t really been giving the fetus much thought if he were honest. On the whole, whenever Ciel attempted to consider his future with a child he ended up panicking with cold shivers tracking up and down his spine.

“I’m…I’m not sure I’ll make a very good parent,” Ciel whispered, half horrified when he realised he had said that out loud and Felix was now giving him a scrutinizing look.

“Don’t be so hard on yourself Ciel,” Felix tutted. “No one expects you to have everything figured out already.”

“Okay,” Ciel nodded gratefully.

By the time Ciel had made it back to Vex’s quarters the sun was slowly starting to set behind a thick band of clouds. Ciel was cradling a large armful of furry winter coats and knitted sweaters, all of which looked worryingly expensive from designers Ciel had only heard of from billboards.

He yelped as he stumbled across the door’s wooden threshold, finding himself hurtling forwards and into something hard.

Ciel let out a winded ‘oof’ as he looked upwards into Vex’s chestnut eyes, the other man’s brow furrowed as he reached forwards to stable Ciel.

“What are you doing?” Vex snapped impatiently, as if Ciel had purposefully canon-balled into him.

“I tripped, obviously,” Ciel retorted acidly.

“I meant why are you carrying so much stuff?” Vex huffed, “I thought you weren’t meant to –“

“It’s not exactly heavy,” Ciel interrupted, shaking himself free of Vex’s grasp and going to deposit the clothes onto the trunk beside his bed for sorting, he wasn’t quite sure how he was going to squeeze all of them into his one rickety suitcase.

“Did you go shopping?” Vex frowned, picking up one of the sweaters and inspecting the label. “About time I guess, your clothes are terrible.”

“Dr. Blake gave me some winter clothes for the residential,” Ciel explained, not missing the way Vex snapped his head to him with an angry expression.

“These are Felix’s?” Vex asked incredulously, “Seriously Ciel, you don’t need to resort to hand-outs from staff.”

Ciel whipped around furiously, scrunching his hands into fists and digging his claws into his palms. “Why – does it embarrass you?” Ciel was only further humiliated to find his voice cracking.

“No!” Vex shouted, “I just meant you could have asked me. Why the hell did you go to Felix?”

“He’s my doctor!” Ciel replied, anger bubbling up in his veins. “Not that you care but I have to see him almost daily now because of my condition and for your information he offered me the clothes when he found out I –“ Ciel snapped his mouth shut.

“That you didn’t have anything warm for the Neandate Islands,” Vex concluded with a weary sigh. “Look, I’m sorry. I should have thought of that and –“

“And what?” Ciel asked petulantly. “Given me your cast offs instead?”

“No! Stop being so fucking difficult,” Vex growled. “We could have just gone shopping together.”

“You –“ Ciel stopped, unsure how he wanted to respond. The violent fizz in his blood seemed to dissipate, the bubbles popping impotently.

“I’m not your enemy Ciel,” Vex sighed again and Ciel noticed that the other man looked exhausted, dark smudged circles under his eyes. “I’m trying to protect you okay?”

“From your father?” Ciel asked quickly.

“From him at least,” Vex nodded, looking grim. “My family, Felix’s family, all the higher demon families, they run this world, it’s just a different way of doing things, ways of thinking…it’s…it’s a fucking mess of politics, money, power, sex…” Vex trailed off with a frustrated noise, as if he wasn’t able to articulate what he was really trying to say. “Look, I know I can be an ass…”

“But I should trust you?” Ciel asked, his voice slow and careful, he tried not to let any bitterness seep into his tone lest Vex dismiss the genuine question as a barb.

“It would certainly make our lives easier don’t you think?” Vex looked over at Ciel with a small, tired smile.

“Why are you protecting me?” Ciel murmured. “You’ve slept with half the academy, I was just some dream-bridge mistake that you don’t even like, you don’t want anything to do with the spawn…”

“I can’t,” Vex hissed irritably before stopping and clenching his jaw, the tendons in his neck and cheek flexing. “You haven’t been listening.”

“Fine – if you think I’m that stupid,” Ciel huffed, turning back round to start folding Felix’s clothes, a faint fragrance of rose lingered on them.

“I don’t think you’re stupid,” Vex scoffed. “You’re here on a scholarship aren’t you? I’ve seen the graded work you get back when you leave it lying around. If anything, you’re aggravatingly intelligent.”

Ciel froze, his eyes widening and a blush rising on his cheeks. That was probably the first semi-compliment that Vex had ever paid him.

“I just want you to be less stubborn,” Vex grumbled, but his tone was so petulant that Ciel had to suppress a smile. “And for hell’s sake –“ Vex snarled, striding over to snatch the coat Ciel was holding.

Ciel let out an angry noise of protest as Vex threw it over to a corner of the floor. “Don’t trust Felix Blake,” Vex concluded. “Please Ciel, just…just let me order you some new clothes?”

“Fine,” Ciel agreed, simply wanting to avoid another argument. He was feeling exhausted and already the muscles in his back were crying out in overworked pain.

“Are you alright?” Vex frowned. “What happened today?”

“Nothing,” Ciel shook his head, “Just some injections, they’ve made me stiff.” Ciel hiked up his shirt to reveal a pattern of bruises on the soft flesh above his hip, visible even across his dark skin.

“For fuck’s sakes,” Vex hissed, “that man is quack. I keep trying to tell people my aunt paid Felix’s way through medical school.”

“He’s nice to me,” Ciel murmured absently.

“He wants something,” Vex huffed, reaching out tentatively as if to touch Ciel’s abused skin.

“Because that’s the only reason someone would be kind to me right?” Ciel snapped, feeling himself bristle.

“No,” Vex groaned, pulling his fingers back before they made contact. “I didn’t meant that Ciel.”

“Then why do you always speak before you thi – ow!” Ciel let out a cry of pain as he twisted the wrong way and a sharp stab rippled up his back. He whimpered as he clutched at the bed.

“Shit – sit down,” Vex said quickly, helping Ciel onto the mattress.

“No,” Ciel moaned unhappily, “I’m in outside clothes, I don’t want to touch the bed until I’ve showered.”

“Should have known you’d be a clean freak,” Vex muttered as he knelt down to start peeling off Ciel’s socks. “It’s not a big deal you know, we can just change the sheets later before you sleep.”

“Wait –“ Ciel hissed as he realised what Vex was doing but it was too late, the sock was already off.

“You have webbed feet,” Vex announced loudly in the otherwise silence of the room.

Ciel flushed with embarrassment as he tried to curl his webbed toes away from the other man’s view.

“Wait – are your fingers the same?” Vex asked, reaching forwards to spread out one of Ciel’s hands. “How come they’re not webbed?” he asked, looking genuinely curious as he stared up at Ciel.

“I don’t know,” Ciel admitted, feeling uncomfortable, “I don’t think I’m a good example of an aquatic hybrid.”

“Can you swim faster with your feet like this?” Vex enquired.

“Aren’t you going to tell me how disgusting I am?” Ciel snapped harshly, feeling a little guilty and surprised when Vex blinked up at him in confusion.

“No,” Vex replied slowly, “because I don’t think that. Why would you? All demons have individual genetic features – take Felix for example, the man has croissants instead of horns.”

Ciel pulled a face at Vex’s mean joke. “I know what people think of aquatics,” Ciel shrugged, aiming for nonchalance and probably missing it by a mile.

“Do you know what my dominant lineage is?” Vex asked, sitting back and beginning to roll off Ciel’s other sock. Ciel chewed the inside of his cheek before nodding.

“It’s shadow.”

“That’s right,” Vex replied. “And if you had to generalise, what do people think of shadows?”

Ciel shifted uncomfortably, remembering the dark tendrils of pure black that had rustled and undulated from Solomon Dubois’ imposing form. “Maybe…danger?” Ciel hazarded, swallowed awkwardly.

“Killers,” Vex finished for him. “Full shadow demons have always been tyrants, often gone mad with power and paranoia, many murdering their own families. Wherever they go, death and destruction follow.”

“But…no one looks down on them,” Ciel offered, realising his mistake as Vex’s gaze hardened.

“They fear them,” Vex retorted. “When I first came to Nessus it was only Kane who would even speak to me, and that’s because he’s known me since infancy.”

“Really?” Ciel cocked his head in surprise. “But you’re so popular.”

“Must be my charming personality and good looks that finally won them all over,” Vex smirked up at Ciel.

The other man was still sat between Ciel’s legs, his large, warm hands holding one of Ciel’s feet. Ciel blushed and pushed himself further up the bed.

“You never answered my question,” Vex said, standing back up and dusting himself off. “About how fast you can swim.”

“I…” Ciel swallowed thickly, “I’ve never learned to swim.”

“You’re kidding,” Vex’s mouth dropped open in shock. “But you’re literally an aquatic demon.”

“Yes, I know,” Ciel snapped, wrapping his arms defensively around his chest.

“The academy has two pools,” Vex continued, “One indoors and one outdoors.”

“I know,” Ciel groaned, angling his head so he wouldn’t have to look at Vex’s face anymore. “But I…I never learned and can you imagine me trying to learn now? At my age in front of everybody with my lineage?”

“You’re too embarrassed,” Vex remarked, but Ciel could hear the amusement in his voice.

“Wouldn’t you be?” Ciel hissed, feeling sweat prickling the back of his neck.

“Not really,” Vex shrugged. “The trick is to act like you don’t care, then people will just leave you alone.”

“That’s never really worked before,” Ciel sighed. “Besides, I’m not sure what the chlorine would do to my skin.”

“Nice try,” Vex scoffed, “but the pools here are saltwater.”

“Really?” Ciel turned to Vex in surprise, he genuinely hadn’t known that. “Do…do you think the salt would hurt me?”

“Do you know your aquatic line?” Vex asked with a frown, “As in, is it freshwater?”

“I don’t know,” Ciel shook his head, “I don’t have any family records.”

“Okay,” Vex nodded thoughtfully, “well I think we should give it a go anyway.”

“What? Why?” Ciel turned over, looking aghast. “I’m pregnant!”

“I was wondering how long it would take before you started using that as an excuse for being pig-headed,” Vex laughed, but he sounded genuinely amused rather than derisive. “What I mean is I think it would be a good idea for you to at least learn the basics of swimming before we go on a month’s long trip to the islands.”

“They’re frozen islands!” Ciel persisted, “We won’t be swimming and all the lakes will be ice at this time of year. You just want to see me make a fool out of myself.”

“Ciel if that was my true aim in life then I would already be content having witnessed you trying to have a full blown conversation with the toilet yesterday,” Vex stated drily.

Ciel let out an aggrieved noise and thumped back down in the bed with a plum coloured blush on his cheeks. It wasn’t his fault that Vex had one of those ridiculous high tech electronic toilets installed, the type that played music and asked if you wanted a bidet function.

“I didn’t realise you had to press the button,” Ciel muttered through gritted teeth. “I thought it was voice activated.”

“It was cute,” Vex laughed as Ciel wrenched his head back to look at the other man in astonishment. A moment later Vex also seemed to realise what he had said as a faint pinkish hue coloured his face and he cleared his throat.

“Anyway, swimming lessons start Friday morning at nine a.m., don’t be late.”

“Wait,” Ciel protested, “I don’t want lessons!”

“You don’t want to learn how to swim?” Vex asked, raising a dark eyebrow.

“I…I mean, I do,” Ciel admitted honestly, biting his lip with worry.

“The pool is always nearly empty at that time,” Vex shrugged.

“I don’t have swimwear,” Ciel replied, acutely aware that none of Vex’s would even stay up on him.

“Looks like another item to add to the internet shopping list,” Vex grinned.