storiesbybest:

Aaa, I thought I had queued this up ages ago, but apparently I’ve just been putting things in my drafts instead. So sorry! Anyhow, here it is, and hopefully it’s to your liking if you’re still around anon!

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Alexis was waiting for him when he stepped off the boat. Diederich knew he was there, though he hadn’t seen him yet, from the bellow that managed to rise above even the din of so many people. The man himself parted the throngs like he was Moses, and clapped Diederich hard enough to make him stumble.

“It’s been ages, Diederich! I can’t believe you’ve set foot back in England.”

“That idiot earl needs me here,” he muttered as he was led to a carriage. Diederich and Alexis loosely kept in contact since school, and Alexis had been far too ecstatic for a man his age at the idea of Diederich’s return. Diederich wasn’t sure how he’d found out this time, since he usually kept his comings and goings unmentioned, but felt Earl Phantomhive was somehow to blame.

‘A rekindling of old camaraderie’ Alexis had called it in his most recent letter. It was certainly a rekindling of something, and Diederich wasn’t sure how to classify this strange sense of foreboding at Alexis’s presence. The last thing Diederich expected to associate with someone like Alexis was foreboding. He hoped it was just his lunch sitting poorly.

“Like father like son, eh?” Alexis said as he climbed into the carriage. Diederich settled in beside him and prepared for more rocking, listing movement. The boat over had been enough to last him a lifetime. He hated travelling.

“Ja,“ he said.

“I hope you know you’ve been invited to dinner at the manor.”

“I must have missed that in your last letter.”

“I didn’t put it in my letter. I’m inviting you. Now. You can’t say no because I’ve already told Francis you’ll be there.”

Diederich grunted and fell into a silence he hoped Alexis would take to be his usual German gruffness. Francis Phantomhive – well, Francis Midford now, and for many years already. He had gone to the wedding, then made himself as scarce as possible while still remaining at Vincent’s and Ciel’s heels. It was surprisingly easy, as she had her own life and growing family to look after far apart from the messy Phantomhive business, and that was where Diederich wanted her. Safe.

As things stood now, it might not have been worth the heartache.

Francis met them at the door along with Elizabeth and Edward, who were growing into a proper little lord and lady, and graciously waved Diederich in. Francis was still severe and lovely as she’d been all those years ago, so unlike her horrid brother who didn’t even have the decency to stay alive.

She kissed Diederich on his cheek with a familiarity like he’d only been gone a few days, then abandoned him to the children. Elizabeth wanted to talk about her new friend who sounded suspiciously like the little girl Diederich had met in Germany, and Edward wanted to grouse and grumble right alongside him about Ciel Phantomhive.

It had been a long while, longer than Diederich had thought, since he’d had good company.  Much as he had wanted to remain sour and irate at both the inconvenience of having to come to England and his current predicament, the Midfords proved too congenial of hosts, and Diederich found himself sharing stories of his own life in Germany to fill in in the gaps the years had left wide open. The entire family had a charm and good grace would turn even royalty green with envy.

Between the four Midfords, he was caught up on all the recent and very strange happenings around Ciel and, subsequently, them. He’d known that there would be some involvement when he first heard of Elizabeth and Ciel’s betrothal, but things like fighting off the undead on a sinking ship weren’t even in the realm of consideration when Diederich thought of the dangers the Phantomhives got into. He really had to start broadening his scope when it came to that boy and the troubles he would bring to the Midfords’ door.

The hours waxed on and soon Alexis left them to their after dinner coffee to see the children to bed. Though they weren’t his, and he ostensibly didn’t like children, Diederich felt a certain pride in how they were growing as though they were his own niece and nephew and he had had any hand in raising them.

They said their goodnights, and Diederich found himself alone with Francis.

She sipped her coffee with a calmness that he envied, and Diederich was suddenly aware of how different they were from when they were younger. Not just physically, though he’d never been put off by his loss of youthful beauty and found no flaw in Francis, but they’d lived entirely different lives since he’d fumbled his way through pleasantries and dances and walks in sunset gardens with her. Diederich could see the light of long-dead days caught in her hair and the glint of her eyes, and he found it hard to keep looking as Francis watched him over the rim of her cup.

All the ease with which he’d talked before vanished into the aether. He ate another piece of cake.

“The food seems to be proving better company than me,” Francis remarked when the silence stretched on too long.

“This feels a little inappropriate,” Diederich told his cake.

“What’s inappropriate about two old friends catching up?”

Diederich was about to protest the idea of them having been just friends, but Francis’s smile gave him pause. It was small and smug and hurt from how much it looked like her brother’s, but it was there. He grumbled something unintelligible and tried not to blush like he was back in school and she was teasing him in her prim, aloof sort of way. Perhaps they weren’t that different from when they were younger.

“Alexis doesn’t mind our shared history, you know. Or you would, if you ever thought to ask him. He considers you a good man and good friend, however distant you’ve become.”

“And do you consider me a friend, still?”

“I would like to,” Francis said, letting the statement hang between them for a moment as she sipped her coffee. “I feel any relationship should start with a foundation of friendship. But it has been several years since we’ve actually spoken. Before I say yes, I want to know if you’re the same man I used to love.”

Diederich nearly died on his coffee at the casual declaration. Francis waited politely for him to collect himself. “I’m involved again in that watchdog business,” he warned, as though he’d ever left it behind.

“So I heard. As my daughter will be and has already been. And likely her brother, because that boy would follow her into hell itself.” She sighed, green eyes unfocused for a moment as she thought on the fates of her children. “I’m glad to know you’ll be there, as well.”

“In hell?”

“If your business takes you there.”

“I’m no good with children.”

“They’re hardly children anymore. It’s been a very long time since you’ve visited us.”

Diederich let out a groan like a child being scolded. Francis’s mild chastisement somehow carried more weight than a lashing. “I know. I’m sorry. I just –”

“Apologies aren’t necessary, Dee. You’re here now.”

“Which I, for one, am happy about,” Alexis added as he slipped into the room. He settled in next to Francis and helped himself to a cup. Diederich cleared his throat and made to stand. “It’s a little late to be travelling,” Alexis added pointedly.

“I’d rather not intrude any fur–”

“Nonsense! We’re glad to have you as long as you’d like.”

Diederich squinted at Alexis. Francis had said he was comfortable with their history, and knowing Alexis, it was probably true. But to be so trusting of people, even friends and especially ex-lovers of his wife, sat oddly with him. There was naught to be done about past affairs now, though, and Diederich wasn’t one for burning his strong and time-tested bridges.

Ciel would last a day longer without him. This was his territory, after all.

Diederich settled back into his seat.

Good people were rare, a pair like the Midfords even rarer, and Diederich wasn’t quite sure how someone like him had wound up with the two seated opposite him. He ate another bite of cake.

“I guess I can stay a while longer.”