Title: The Second of our Reign
Fandom: Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler
Pairing: Ciel Phantomhive/Sebastian Michaelis
Categories: Established relationship, future fic
Length: Medium (5,720 words)
Warnings: Underage? (This story is a bit vague on Ciel's age. He is certainly older than his canonical age of 13, but likely still a teenager.) Knife/blood play.

Author on LJ:  p_zeitgeist
Author Website:  Phoebe_Zeitgeist

Review: I fell in love with Kuroshitsuji | Black Butler a few weeks ago after streaming the first season of the anime, and since then, I've been gorging myself on all of the fanfiction I can find. "The Second of our Reign" is one of the handful that's really stood out to me. This story follows the course of a day in the Phantomhive household in a structure that feels very in keeping with the show. But unlike other days, Ciel has some strange and pointed questions for Sebastian, as well as a mysterious errand to run.

This story captures a lot of what I love about Black Butler. The power dynamics between Sebastian and Ciel are what first hooked me on the canon, and p_zeitgeist captures them beautifully here. The constant references to the eating of souls kept the eventual termination of their contract firmly in my mind as I read, and served as a nice counterweight to Ciel's control over Sebastian as both his demon and his butler. The characterization was a real strength of this piece. This takes place a few years after the anime (though it ignores the ending of the first series), and I really enjoyed seeing how the two of them had settled into their relationship, while still keeping each other on their toes. The one sex scene is smoldering! The story conveys the obvious affection between Sebastian and Ciel without sacrificing either of their characterizations or giving way to sentimentality. The prose is lovely without drawing too much attention to itself, and the dialogue is as witty as I could hope from Black Butler. There was also a very nice exploration of the theology of this universe, which I thoroughly enjoyed. Although on the shorter side, this story has some heft to it. I found myself thinking on it again and again after reading it.

I also highly recommend the remix, Cafe de I'Europe (The à la carte remix) by Lady_Ganesh (1,416 words and gen, rated PG-13), which is a lovely and tragic look at what, exactly, Ciel was doing during his mysterious errand in "The Second of our Reign."

The Second of our Reign
Cafe de I'Europe (The à la carte remix)