Raindrops painted the windows of the Trancy mansion as a storm set in late at night and its violent crashes of thunder awakening Alois Trancy from his slumber. The young blondes cries as he woke up filled the mansion and sent Claude running in.
"C-Claude! It hurts..." Alois said as his butler stood beside him, "What do I do?" Alois sobbed, trying not to move and cause even more excruciating pain in his side.
"Your highness, would you like me to prepare some tea?" Claude asked calmly.
"No, Claude stay with me please..." Alois sobbed, "I am alone but I don't want to be. I need someone, just please Claude stay."
"Yes, your highness" the blonde's butler replied as he was gently tugged onto the bed beside the sobbing young blonde.
Claude sat on the edge of his masters bed as he watched his tears cease and his breathing calm down. Claude placed his hand on his young masters forehead and comforted him until he fell back to sleep.
When Alois awoke the sun shone brightly through his bedroom windows like the previous morning and his butler was no where to be seen. He was too weak to cry out and too tired to care. The wounded blonde lifted his head up a little and pulled up his white nightgown to examine his wound. His wound was layered in white bandages and had rusty red stains on it from the day before but it seemed that the bleeding had stopped completely and so Alois slowly pulled himself up, trying to ignore the unbearable pain that pierced through his body every with every breath he took, often wincing because of it and his usual smirk seemed almost non-existent this particular morning.
The blonde replayed the memories of the duel over and over in his head and whenever he pushed those memories away, why was it that the first person he thought of wasn't Claude or even what he wanted for breakfast but Ciel? Of all the people, the one who put him in this unbearable condition was none other than Ciel Phantomhive. Despite this, Alois wished for nothing else but to see the familiar bluenette once more, this feeling made no sense so Alois tried to push it away using thoughts such as 'You're both mortal enemies, he despises your very existence, he was going to kill you', this stopped nothing and the blonde still continued to think about him. Alois' thought process was interrupted when he heard a knock at the door.
"Come in." He said, as loud as he could manage and still showing little excitement as to who is was.
"It's just me your highness, I'm here to clean your wound." His butler Claude said as he entered.
Alois' eyes widened and he put on a soft smile, watching Claude closely as he prepared the bandages and disinfectant alcohol beside Alois.
"Will it hurt?" The blonde asked, his faint smile now disappearing.
"Yes it will your highness." Claude replied, it was his role to be honest.
"Can you take the pain away when its over Claude? Please..." The blonde asked, now fearful.
"No I cannot your highness, that is not why I am with you." Claude replied coolly.
Alois only nodded sadly and looked down, allowing Claude to remove his night gown and wincing in pain as he lifted his arms. Claude snipped away the old stained bandages, revealing a large, red, swollen slice with tiny specks of glistening crimson blood in between the stitches. 'It seems the sword didn't go straight through, it's still deep.' Alois thought as he watched Claude dispose of the old bandages.
"Don't move too much your highness, it will only make the pain worse. Prepare yourself" Claude warned.
Alois nodded and held onto the bed sheets tightly, watching as Claude applied the alcohol onto a clean rag and dabbed it on his wound carefully.
"Agh! Claude stop!" Alois shrieked. He then gripped onto his butlers shirt in pain.
"Forgive me your highness," Claude said as he continued.
Claude noticed that his highness was in a lot of pain and although demons were not known to be caring or loving toward humans, Claude felt that considering his young master was still only a boy he felt that comforting him would be fair, after all he was there when Alois was suffering in the past. Claude watched as Alois held his bed sheets up to his mouth and bit down on them to deal with the stinging, still holding on tightly to Claude's shirt as he tended to the wound.
Claude placed his free hand on his masters to comfort him and watched as his master raised his head to look at Claude, the soft smile returning before more pain kicked in and Alois' smile once more turned into a pained expression as he was trying not to scream.
Once Claude finished he wrapped the bandage tightly around his masters waist to cover the wound and cleaned up.
"Claude," Alois said, his tone now more demanding, "bring me the phone."
"Yes your highness." Claude replied with a bow and left the room to retrieve the phone for Alois.
When Claude had left, Hannah walked in, ready to dress the young blonde and cautiously picked out Alois' normal attire, laying it out carefully along the bed and avoiding Alois' stare.
"Hannah," Alois said, staring at her with displeasure, " You stupid bitch-" Alois coughed, "get me the pants... Black ones" he finished, still coughing.
Hannah, knowing he was weak and in pain, walked over to him before obeying his order and hugged him, patting his back and trying to calm the coughing. Alois winced as he tried to move out of the embrace and elbowed her straight in what remained of her bandaged left eye causing her to move away and yelp.
"Get me the fucking pants you useless bitch." Alois said, as sternly and as loudly as he could manage.
Claude entered holding the bulky golden phone, while Hannah gathered the pants from Alois' wardrobe and put away his shorts. As Hannah cautiously buttoned Alois white shirt and green vest up, she helped him slide on the long black pants and then tied the ash coloured ribbon around his collar. Claude dismissed Hannah and handed Alois the phone with a bow.
"Hand me Ciel's number Claude." Alois said, wincing slightly as he shuffled toward the beds edge.
"Yes your highness." Claude obeyed, handing him a small piece of paper with Ciel's number written down on it.
Alois stared at the piece of paper, some excitement appearing on his face and he managed a soft smile as he dialled it. 'Why did this matter to me? Ciel almost killed me, so what is wrong with me?' Alois thought to himself, but couldn't help but softly smile when he thought of Ciel. 'What is this foreign feeling?' Alois thought, putting the phone up to his ear and awaiting an answer.
"Hello, this is the Phantomhive residence, can we help you?" A deep familiar voice answered. Sebastian.
"Hello its Count Trancy, is Earl Phantomhive free this afternoon?" Alois said.
"Ah, Alois is it? Please hold on while I make sure." Sebastian replied politely.
For what ever the reason, Alois decided he wanted to see Ciel again and so he waited for Sebastian's answer. The impatient blonde began tapping his feet on the edge of the bed until he heard Sebastian on the other end of the phone line once more.
"Count Trancy, it seems Earl Phantomhive is free this afternoon and as per usual I will be accompanying him. What time shall we arrive?" Sebastian said calmly.
"Hm, I guess in about an hour, I look forward to seeing both of you then. Goodbye" Alois replied.
"Yes of course, goodbye." Sebastian answered, hanging up.
Claude bent over and put on Alois' usual ribbon laced, knee high boots over his pants before the young blonde slowly slid off the bed wincing and gripped Claude's shoulder for support as he did so. Pulling on his normal plum coloured coat from behind his bedroom door, he made his way downstairs to sit at the dining table.
"Claude prepare tea." Alois demanded, trying to return back to his usual self but wincing in pain and looking down.
"As you wish your highness." Claude replied, leaving the dining room.
As Alois looked around the room he realised how lonely he was and that the triplets and even Hannah were no where to be seen, it was just him all alone in a huge empty mansion and without servants he would have no one. He looked down at the table watching as his vision became blurred and a faint image of tears were landing on the table cloth in front of him. He heard Claude rolling the golden serving tray into the room and quickly looked up, wiping his tears. 'You're so weak, you're pathetic.' The saddened blonde told himself and watched as Claude placed the cup of sweet rose tea in front of him and an extra plate of white chocolate cake.
After Alois had consumed his afternoon tea he put on a fake smile, trying as hard as he could to be strong, like Ciel didn't hurt him at all. That was the problem, Ciel did hurt him. Alois stood up and ordered Claude to prepare some earl grey tea because he knew that was Ciel's favourite tea, and made his way to the front door when-
'Knock, knock, knock' came from the other side. Alois nervously looked around for Claude and when he didn't see him he just opened the door with shaky hands. 'Get yourself together, be cheerful and greet them.' He thought to himself, and before opening the door all the way he sighed and faked a cheerful smile, then swung it open excitedly and greeted them.
"Welcome Ciel!" Alois said smiling. It was strange, this was the first time he didn't have to fake a smile, for some reason it came all too naturally.
"Excuse my masters attitude today he-" Sebastian paused and looked down at Ciel, "Earl Phantomhive feels a bit un well, I hope you don't mind."
Alois nodded cheerfully in reply but something was different, when he tilted his head to look behind Sebastian he saw that Ciel looked, upset? This pushed Alois even further, he had to cheer Ciel up, even though they were enemies if Alois showed Ciel he didn't care about what happened the previous day, then maybe Ciel would look more like his usual self, the one that's ready for any challenge. Alois pushed past Sebastian and walked right up to Ciel, grabbing him by the wrist and dragging him to the dining table.
"Alois! Let me go!" Ciel shouted angrily.
"You called me Alois." The blonde giggled, pushing Ciel into a chair and sitting on the one next to him.
"Isn't that your name Trancy?" Ciel replied, almost back to his usual self.
"Well I-" Alois was cut off, and just gave Ciel an irritated look.
"Because I can think of many other things to call you if that's what you'd prefer." Ciel said, his voice past angry now and his words like sharp ice.
"Look here Phantomhive, I invited you over for tea now shut up and enjoy." Alois replied, wincing and cupping his wound in his hand, making sure Ciel wouldn't see.
Claude entered the room, glaring at Sebastian as he passed and brought in the pot of earl grey tea, serving Ciel and walking over to stand near Sebastian giving him an aggressive stare. Alois propped up his head with his hands as his elbows rested on the table and stared as Ciel sipped the tea. Ciel didn't complain, which meant the tea was good and for some reason this made Alois happy and he continued to watch Ciel in silence, the bluenette not noticing.
"My, my what is happening here?" Sebastian whispered and moved closer to Claude so the boys wouldn't hear, "Don't tell me Trancy has taken a liking to my young master." Sebastian whispered to Claude as they both stood and watched from the other side of the dining room.
"Don't suggest something so ridiculous." Claude whispered back to Sebastian.
Even so, both butlers continued to watch in silence. The young blonde boy was staring intently at the other bluenette boy beside him as if nothing else mattered. This continued for a while until Ciel finished his tea and looked beside him at Alois who was still staring at him as he put down his empty cup.
"Trancy, what are you doing?" Ciel said, noticing that the blonde beside him had moved in closer, the distance between them getting smaller by the minute and this made Ciel uncomfortable, "Stop staring at me."
"Hm?" Alois replied in a dazy tone, as if someone had just awoken him from a dream, "Oh nothing, you're just beautiful when you drink tea." Alois said in a casual tone, almost forgetting the wound in his side even existed.
"You're insane Trancy," the bluenette looked away quickly, his usually pale complexion now turning a light shade of blush, "So tell me, why did you invite me over? There must be a reason, after yesterday." Ciel said, a bit more serious.
"Like I said Ciel, I wanted to have you over for tea. Is there a problem?" Alois replied.
"Yes Trancy there is a problem, I could be doing something productive instead of being here with you." Ciel answered, becoming mad as the blonde leaned in closer to his face.
"Its true Ciel, I just wanted..." The blonde trailed off becoming nervous as a new feeling took over his mind, it was attraction, towards Ciel.
"What Trancy? Speak up I don't have all day." The irritated bluenette snapped.
"Nevermind," Alois answered, "Follow me I have an idea!" He finished, grabbing Ciel's wrist and pulling him out of the room and into the back garden of the Trancy Estate. When they arrived they were both panting in exhaustion from running and being dragged through such a large mansion.
"So," Alois said between breaths, "this is where I go when I need to think."
"Trancy! You mean to say you dragged me all the way here just to take me to your own place of thought?" Ciel shouted, "I couldn't care less about whats in your head, in fact the very thought of being inside your head disturbs me." Ciel finished.
"Just listen to me Ciel," the blonde said, taking a seat on a bench near where the roses grew and tugging Ciel's sleeve over to join him, "we are both boys of similar ages and well..." Alois trailed off and looked down, "I was wondering if you've ever felt the urge to just be with someone, for no reason you just want them beside you, what is it?" The curious blonde finished.
"Trancy, why are you asking me this all of a sudden?" Ciel asked in a slightly more sincere tone than earlier, now that the blonde had opened up to him.
"Ciel, call me Alois," the blonde replied, "the main reason I invited you here is because I am asking for a fresh start. Do you think we could ever become friends?" Alois finished, looking up at the suprised bluenette beside him.
"Trancy we-" Ciel was cut off,
"Its Alois." The blonde said, irritated.
"Fine. Alois," Ciel replied, "we are enemies. There is no way in hell that is ever going to happen, I stabbed you and I still want you dead for destroying my pride and ruining my life. Don't forget that." Ciel said, his tone now stern and cold.
Alois wouldn't give up, he leaned in closer to Ciel and placed his hands on the bluenette's shoulders, staring into his sapphire coloured eye and ignoring the eyepatch.
"Trancy, what did I-" Ciel was interrupted this time by being pulled into a warm hug, by his enemy.
"I told you, its Alois." The blonde said softly in his ear which caused the speechless bluenette to shudder.
"I-I," Ciel stuttered, "let me go..." The confused bluenette trailed off as so many emotions filled him up at once, anger, embarrassment, frustration, shock, and satisfaction.
The bluenette was still only 13 years of age and had been too long with out a loving gesture to comfort him, he almost forgot what it was like to be truly cared for. After all a demon is a demon and no matter how flawless they are, they are unable to love which is exactly what Ciel wanted, to be cared for, loved.
Alois was in bliss, to him nothing else mattered, he felt loved and warm, slowly and surely this selfish blonde child began to accept these new feelings, and tears began to form in his eyes for no reason as he pulled away. Ciel stood up and fixed his collar, shooting Alois a stern look.
"I think its time I leave." Ciel said.
"Ciel don't go, please..." Alois begged, sliding across the seat to get closer to the standing bluenette.
"Give me one good reason not to go, I cant find any." Ciel replied coolly.
"Ciel! Why won't you listen to me?" Alois shouted, "I told you already, I just want to be friends with you Ciel! You're beautiful and I've never met anyone like you, I want to get to know you and I want to be with you, hug you more, care for you more and most of all I want to be able to laugh with you!" The blonde shouted, his eyes becoming watery.
Ciel was speechless, 'What had come over the delusional blonde?' He thought, this was so unlike him, 'He begs and whines yes, but to care for me? Impossible.'
"Goodbye Trancy." The bluenette said coolly, making his way back inside the mansion and returning home with Sebastian.