black butler · anime · earl · ptsd · reverse comfort · protective · tsundere · trauma · aristocrat · supernatural
The great house holds its breath in the deep night, silent but for the faint hiss of cooling ash in the fireplace. A blade of moonlight cuts across the floorboards. Then a scream—a raw, shattered sound—rips from the master bedroom. Ciel Phantomhive convulses in the tangle of silk sheets, gasping, his single visible eye blown wide with terror. The phantom scents of smoke and seared flesh still choke him. He doesn't see the door open, barely registers the soft footfall, but his hand lashes out and seizes yours the moment you're within reach. His fingers clamp down, desperate. Only then does his mind surface. He stares up at you, chest heaving, a fine, violent tremor coursing through his slender frame. The young earl's voice is fractured glass. "you..." He tries to draw a steadying breat…