#phantomfam fic

[aroturier]

And a short-short i wrote a couple weeks ago...

“Bard? What happened to you? You’re white as a sheet!” Mey Rin asked as she stepped into the manor kitchen.

Bard looked up at her from his seat at the table, an expression of horror stamped on his rough features. “Tanaka around?” he asked softy “Don’t want him to hear this.”

“Why? Cried Finny, suddenly concerned enough to stop stuffing his face with the young master’s luncheon leftovers. “What did you do now?”

Bard let out a windy sigh and lit up the stub of a half-smoked cigarette he’d been keeping behind his ear. ”Think I just ended a three year relationship.”

“Wow,” Finny whispered. Where’d you find time to get a girl? You’re always working here with us!”

Mey Rin put a comforting arm across the man’s drooping shoulders. “I’m so sorry Bard. I didn’t even know. You okay?”

“Hm?” grunted the manor’s chef’ who seemed to be just snapping out of a daze. “Oh yeah, I’m fine, no worries.” he waved a careless hand and barked a dry laugh. “Wasn’t my relationship.” He took a moment to fetch his secret stash of bourbon from behind a nearby basket of produce and poured himself half a glass. “Last I saw of them, the young master n’ Sebastian was upstairs rolling around on the floor, tearing each other’s hair out.”

“What really?”

“Really. An me? I started it…somehow.”

“Wow!” Finny repeated. “Is Mister Sebastian gonna hang you up by your thumbs in the garret again?”

Ignoring Finny, Bard asked” You ever fight hand to hand in front of that kid Mey?”

“Why?” asked Finny, his eyes as big as saucers.

“What? Course not! I’m a sniper, I am. What do I know about hand to hand fighting? I plug ‘em from the rooftop, then go hide in the garret and bawl me eyes out!”

“He hooked a couple fingers up that butler’s nose-holes and took him to his knees*. Sebastian. To. His. Knees, Mey. Where’d the kid get that from? Never seen such a thing! That boy is not to be messed with. Fights like a sewer rat!”

“Wow,” Finny said yet again, for want of anything substantive to contribute. “I bet he learned that from Mister Tanaka.” And from out in the passage, they heard a faint but hearty “Hoh, hoh, hoh,” come echoing down the hallway.

“’S got really sharp ears for an old fella too**.” Finny said pensively, starting in again on his cold collation.

[hisbutleronhiatus]

It has been 100 days since the Kuroshitsuji hiatus was announced.

Today, the Phantomhive estate threw a lavish picnic for their extended phamily and friends. A wonderful time was had by all!

[pain-in-the-butler]

Could you give us some good dadbastian fanfic? Oneshots, incomplete, completed anything really, i am starved and need some more food other than coattails(which i love very much!)

Hey there, thanks so much for being a Coattails reader! As an aside, I'm not sure if you're totally caught up or not, but sorry I don't yet have an idea of when the next part will be ready. I only have 4k words written so far and chapter 33 is looking to be another doozy... I'll be sure to keep everyone informed of when we're close 🫡

Anyway, I have no idea if you're like me when it comes to Dadbastian, but I'm pretty particular about what I enjoy. Angst has to play a factor in some form, for instance. I also don't like it when Ciel and Seb are too sappy with each other without it being earned. There's a reason Coattails had like 250k words of build-up before Sebastian actually accepted his Dadbastian fate.

With that in mind, here are my suggestions!

bottom of the deep blue sea by sunflowergiorno Easily one of my favorite Dadbastian fics, hands down. I remember going positively bananas waiting for the second part to come out. It's so gentle and tender and honest. It perfectly showcases the thoughts and feelings I'd hoped for Sebastian and Ciel to have to approach after their experience on the Campania. Words, Strings, and Butterfly Wings by Kimberly_T I love this story so dearly, and it's tragic that it's unfinished. This fic is a retelling of the Circus Arc, in which Ciel and Sebastian must actually pretend to be father and son, sometimes with hilarious results, other times endearing. A major inspiration behind Coattails for sure. I would die for Falco, an original character who to me is more endearing than any of the canon Noah's Ark cast members.

Dadbastian Week Drabbles by HeartLeftovers Nobody does angst like HeartLeftovers, and you'll drink up her poetic language like nectar. My personal favorite is Midnight, but read Magnifying Glass and Domesticated Wolf first for the full impact of the final stanza.

Sensorium by OtherCat Short but sweet. A story about how Sebastian helps Ciel at the beginning of the contract to stop thinking like a boy trapped in a cage. I love that it shows that Sebastian couldn't possibly have frightened Ciel into becoming an earl: he had to actually coax Ciel towards it.

Singing in the Silence by Kimberly_T Another one from Kimberly_T. Not strictly Dadbastian, but a story about the servants learning how to help Ciel with his PTSD in their very own inventive and roundabout way. Heart-meltingly adorable. It's canon to me, dammit.

Front Page News by TheArchaeologist Also not strictly Dadbastian (in fact, Ciel is incapacitated the whole time), but I only need the slightest reason to suggest this Phantomfam-centric fic. Mey-Rin's voice is especially realized. Even though you already know Sebastian, Snake, and Ciel will make it back from the Campania in one piece, you feel the Pham's worry palpably.

Through the Years by Kimberly_T Can you tell yet that I love Kimberly_T? Admittedly, this one I haven't read with perfect thoroughness, but I can tell you that the Dadbastian moments are peak. Ciel hires a new maid, a woman who nearly killed him when he invaded a brothel on a mission for the Queen. Please mind that this involves some discussions of SA. Also mind that the story largely centers around an original character, but no one does OCs like Kimberly.

ad perpetuam memoriam by redrobin1989 Only Dadbastian if you squint, but my god if you haven't read it yet go do it now.

I also have my Dadbastian week drabbles, Cutting Teeth, if you haven't read those! I hope that's given you some food for the time being. Eat up and enjoy!

[warmmilk-n-honey]

I'm splitting all the kuro fans I'm acquainted with into four categories-

The dadbastian enjoyers-These fans' main focus is on Ciel and Seb's dynamic, they also love the phantomfam antics as well as Ciel's friend group-Lizzie, Soma, and Sieglende. These fans are drawn to Ciel's familial bonds with different characters, so they tend to love characters like the Midfords, Diedrich, and the ones mentioned above. These fans tend to love Tango on the Campania and/or Noah's Arc Circus out of all the musicals. Obsessed with the concept of dadbastian, wishes Yana would lean into that aspect of their relationship more and writes/reads fic to rectify this problem. Ciel is their son and they have adopted him from Yana in order to give him a better life, filled with found family and talking about your feelings. Or on the flip side they revel in the pain and toxicity of Ciel's situation and relationship with Seb.

The reaper fans aka, the Grelle nation-These fans are obsessed with Grelle, interested in the reapers, and wish Yana gave the reapers more depth. They write/read fic to rectify this problem. Most likely ships Redcliff and is probably also a Madam Red stan. May or may not be a SebaGrelle and/or a Mey-rin x Grelle shipper. Angry at the transphobia Grelle faces, as we all are. Are obsessed with The Most Beautiful Death in the World. These fans are unreasonably horny for Miss Sutcliff, which y'know, more power to them.

Season 2 captives- These fans are being held captive by season 2 for reasons that mystify the rest of the fandom. They love Alois Trancy and wish he was given the justice he deserves; they wish his character, and his trauma were written in a more respectful way, they write/read fic to rectify this problem. They see the potential in season 2's characters, but understandably hate the execution. These fans also usually have some kind of fascination with the Weston boys and like to explore the concept of Alois attending Weston.

Phantomhive twins stans- These fans love the twins, usually are obsessed with R!Ciel, and generally love to explore/theorize about the Phantomhive lineage. They probably believe in the Undertaker grandpa theory and may or may not believe in the RCMMT. They may or may not be obsessed with Claudia Phantomhive, but they've at least drawn/reblogged art of her. They may or may not have an Undertaker pfp, and if they don't it's a pfp of one of the twins. They love to make memes about twins, I've noticed this group is extremely memey, like even compared to the rest of these groups. They love the blue memory arc despite how brutal it is, and they wish the twins dynamic was explored more beyond that arc, they write/read fic to rectify this problem. These fans are very much Ciel Phantomhive apologists, like even more than most other fans.

So which one/combination of categories are you?

[grelleswife]

I bet if Sebastian had picked up and carried Alois in an au where nothing bad happened, Alois would be comforted <3

Hi, anon! As fate would have it, @reine-du-sourire and I collaborated on not one but two fics (Starting Over and Partners in Crime) that include that exact scenario! Besides the Dadbastian carries sprinkled throughout, this AU also features O!Ciel reluctantly bonding with Alois over cake and chess, Phantomfam hijinks, demon mum tending to his Victorian younglings when they temporarily succumb to the maladies, and stealth investigations at a high-society birthday party. Alois deserves to feel cared for, so we wanted to ply our craft to make that happen! 💜

[catdemontraphouse]

I should do a Dadbastian and Phantomfam fic where they form a makeshift consumer panel out of regular visitors to the manor to test new products and somehow something goes wrong idk what yet

[cangrellesteponme]

the options are: - very stupid fembastian AU but it's mostly just humour - sonboy is NOT doing well and the hungry demon isn't helping... until he is for some reason???? (dadbastian but in the fucked-up way i enjoy writing dadbastian) - grelle character study that's kind of cute but depressing - weird sebagni "fix-it" except agni still dies - finny-centric early days of phantomfam fic because i need to learn how to write finny at some point

now the real question is which writing wip do I want to work on

[pain-in-the-butler]

what are your favourite black butler fanfics?

Hello! Though I've made a post on my favorite Dadbastian fics, I suppose I haven't done one on my favorite Kuro fics overall. Some from the previous list will be included regardless, and also I won't be including unfinished fics here.

ad perpetuam memoriam by redrobin1989 I linked this in the previous post, despite not being an actual Dadbastian fic, strictly because it's just that good. Around 130 years after Ciel Phantomhive's death, a couple of students begin to uncover the history of who he really was. And they aren't the only ones interested in his name's revival...

bottom of the deep blue sea by sunflowergiorno I can't laud this fic enough. It perfectly encapsulates the angst and sweetness combo I so love in a Dadbastian fic yet so rarely find. Takes place during the Campania rescue on the trip back to England. The way Francis is written is the cherry on top.

Everything's So Green! by Cr4shjay Some heartwarming fluff by my friend and the editor for Coattails, Jay! A sweet story about bonding between the Phantomhive servants early on in Bard's career. Wah!

Front Page News by TheArchaeologist Another I included on my previous list, though it's not really about Dadbastian, having more to do with the servants finding out about the Campania sinking and their fears as they wait to see if Sebastian and Ciel are coming home safely, let alone at all. Mey-Rin's perspective is lovely.

His Highness, Comparative by three-sixtynine-hexose I don't often read fics that are about season two, but this take on the relationship between Alois and Claude is far better than the canon. This is not a lighthearted romp but a poignant and bittersweet look inside the head of a kid desperate for affection, whose designated caretaker is basically an emotional brick wall.

Jurassic Butler: The Butler, the Butler, and the Dinosaur by Cherumie Okay, obviously this one is a humor fic, and it's mainly going to be enjoyable to people who are familiar with Phantom & Ghost, but how could I not recommend it. I got my start in writing fanfic with parody, a genre that you hardly see explored anymore in this fandom, so I have to give it some props.

Sensorium by othercat A short but sweet read that I linked in my previous post. Explores the early contract days in a way that I think is more realistic, showing that Sebastian needed to reintroduce Ciel to his own humanity before he could possibly hope to cultivate his soul.

Singing in the Silence by Kimberly_T A fantastic Phantomfam story about the servants learning how to keep their young master safe "from any and all enemies… even enemies they can't actually see." Absolutely heartwarming. Mey-Rin's appreciation for music in Coattails is actually a small nod to this fic.

The Boy Who Called Down a Ghost by ivoryandhorn Probably the most unusual entry on here and not for everyone, but I remember being intrigued by this fic's unique voice. A rewrite of the contract scene if it took place in a cyberpunk future.

This might not be the list that you were expecting — I actually have some relatively specific tastes and it's not often I find something that suits them. But I hope that this can give you some more material to read as we wait for the manga to return! Thanks for reaching out!

[pain-in-the-butler]

This is a bit of an odd (and maybe even a little forward) question, but it’s something I’ve wondered so I figured I might as well ask :)

It’s not hard to say that your story Coattails is a very high quality piece of fan work, like seriously, take all the praise. It’s extremely impressive. So I’m curious if you find it difficult to read other people’s fanfic’s? (If you do a lot of reading yourself) Or I guess find ones that you enjoy? If that makes since.

I guess what my question boils down to is do you find yourself having higher standers after writing something of that quality? Given that there are very few works out there that quite reach the level of coattails. Again, odd question ik, but I’m curious what the answer is!

Been thinking about how to answer this ask on and off today, because hmm... on the one hand, yes, I do have higher standards for writing because of how important writing is to me. I do tend to enjoy fics much more when I can tell the author gives a lot of care and attention to their work. And much as I love me a childishly ridiculous meme, I am also thirty-two years old and most of the fandom is closer to half my age. I don't automatically dismiss any writing based on the age of the author (I rarely even look authors up before reading their work --- who does?). It just sometimes means that what is being written about and the way that it's written aren't going to appeal to me.

That said, I am also fairly particular when it comes to what I want out of fanfic, especially since Black Butler is my only major fandom. I don't really care about shipping, I prefer things focused on the Phantomfam, I'm not here for the majority of AUs (I like things to stay in the Victorian era), crossovers are a no-go, and self-insert/NSFW fics are not my thing. So, that also leaves very little that I care to delve into.

And my job involves reading all day, so yeah, that does sometimes put a damper on reading for fun lol

Thanks so much for your high praise of Coattails! I really do give it my all and I'm more than thrilled that it comes through. I hope this answered your question! Take care!

[grelleswife]

Hi! I wanted to ask your opinion on why you enjoy Kuroshitsuji if it isn’t too much to answer. Recently I have been feeling like I’m being ‘punished’ for enjoying Kuro because I always see people talking bad about it and Yana on twitter. 😅 I am well aware Kuro has a lot of issues but I really enjoy the characters and such but the opinions of people about the series kind of has been hurting me as a fan and thus I have been losing interest🥲 I was hoping I can talk to someone who is a fan of Kuro that can help give me some mindset or something. I have been drawing for Kuro for years so I’m quite passionate towards the series and Yana herself and but this has been bugging me. If you can’t answer this it is totally okay and you can delete this ask❣️

Hi, anon! That’s not too much at all! My apologies for the late response; I wanted to make sure I could sit down to properly get my thoughts in order before answering.

My love for Kuro was originally (and is to this day) rooted in the source material. The manga and anime introduced me to some of my most beloved fictional characters, including Miss Grelle—as attested to by my url! 😉 The story instantly had me hooked with its campy hijinks, tragic undertones, and forays into the dark corners of the human psyche. Even with the current lag in pacing, I’m excited to see where the Phantomfam’s adventures take us next! And, of course, I would be remiss without mentioning the artwork. In a visual medium like manga, aesthetics can make or break your enjoyment of a series, and Kuro’s Victorian steampunk flair is perfectly suited to my tastes, especially with the steady improvement in quality as Yana’s honed her craft over the years.

However, particularly during this dry season of short chapters and plodding plot progression, it’s the community that grew up around Kuro that nourishes my love for it the most. Naysayers condescendingly sneer that the fandom is dead, but the incredible art, funny memes, awesome animations, excellent fics (some of which outshine published novels I’ve read), insightful meta and more that I see across my dash and in the tags suggest otherwise. And when we come together (such as during past fandom weeks or @anewp0tat0 ‘s recent event to celebrate the 200th chapter) that display of talent burns even brighter. As a writer, building up lore in headcanons and fic or reading my mutual’s creative interpretations of Yana’s world is just as fun—if not more so—than engaging with the actual manga. That enrichment alone is enough to keep me invested in the Kuroverse for the foreseeable future.

The series also holds considerable sentimental value for me because it served as the catalyst for my queer awakening and brought friends and loved ones into my life who I would never have met otherwise. Even if the day comes when I put Kuroshitsuji on the shelf in favor of other stories, that positive impact will remain.

However, that doesn’t mean that the series or fandom are perfect. Yana’s sleazy past and irresponsible pandering to the gross side of the fandom are an unpleasant reality with which we must contend, as are the fujoshis, transphobes, and other creeps—some of whom proved to be a genuine danger to minors—who continue to give us a bad name. But those people who blindly label Kuro as wholesale trash and accuse all fans of condoning the problematic content merely betray their simplistic, black-and-white way of thinking. We cannot and should not sweep the objectionable aspects of the series under the rug, but we can interact with Kuro critically—recognizing and calling out the areas in need of improvement while also cherishing the best parts of this cursed butler manga. As long as you’re consuming media responsibly, and in a way that doesn’t actively harm others, then you have no reason to feel guilty. You sure as heck don’t deserve to be punished!

Ignore the haters as best you can, and try to focus on what first ignited your passion for Kuro; don’t let those jerks steal your joy. 😤 Alternatively, if you need to take a break from that onslaught of negativity and just rest for a bit, that’s fine, too! There’s no shame in stepping away to recharge, and you shouldn’t push yourself to participate in fandom if doing so is detrimental to your well-being.

I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been having a tough time over on the bird app, but I hope my answer was helpful and that Kurohell can continue to be a happy, welcoming place for you! 🖤