Ciel/Sebastian and Alois/Clause with some Ciel/Alois. AU, takes place primarily during WWI. Tried my best to make the dialogue match the time, hope you like it!
Deep in the English countryside, sat a lavish manor. Nearly two kilometers away from the city and guarded by the green, watery moor, the manor held a small but loving family.
Vincent Phantomhive, tall and handsome with dark hair and dark eyes and very strong arms. His wife, Rachel, a pretty little thing with deep honey curls pinned modestly atop her ever smiling face. And lastly, of course, their darling little boy, Ciel.
Born December 14th, 1899 and sweet as the Mince Pies he so adored, Ciel was a lovely child if ever there was one.
While the word "handsome" could be used to describe this young boy, but more than often he was called "beautiful" (to which Ciel would wriggle his little nose, as only girls were called beautiful and he was most certainly not a girl). He was, however, be it handsome or beautiful, a very good looking child. He had feathery dark hair, like his father, but from the rest came his mother, as Ciel had her dainty little nose and deep blue eyes and face the shape of a heart.
It was not just the boy's looks than won folks over; it was the joy he radiated, for no one could resist a smile when in the presence of Ciel Phantomhive. He seemed to share his fathers' and mothers' magical ability cause those around him to instantly swoon.
Which is why his close friendship with the infamous Alois Trancy was both surprising (and really not surprising at all).
Alois was quite nearly the opposite of Ciel. One year older, he was spoiled and loud and rather nasty in temper. He was very unpleasant to be around, and not even his own parents wish him to be near (which only seemed to worsen his very horrid attitude).
Then, one cold and cloudy spring afternoon, the Trancy's piled into their automobile, unable to leave Alois at the manor (his nanny, his fifth nanny, had stormed off just that morning, vowing never to return), and they simply refused to reschedule for a second time.
The parents and their children, all sat around a cherry-wood table, sipping tea and lemon tart skillfully prepared by the Phantomhive's butler. While the adults exchanged pleasantries and talked about boring matters, the boys fidgeted in their seats.
Ciel, sitting in his mother's lap, whispered something on her ear.
The women giggled "Oh of course dear!"
The young boy jumped off of his mother's lap and walked up to the child, smiling playfully. Alois, seated between his parents, simply glared, looking awfully sour and as unpleasant as he could possibly muster.
"Would you like to come play with me?" Little Ciel asked.
The young Trancy sneered and turned his head away. "No, I don't think I shall!"
While Mr. and Mrs. Trancy looked utterly horrified with their son's rude (but not unexpected) behavior, Vincent and Rachel laughed.
Alois turned his head back to Ciel, slowly, for the other boy was sniffling!
The young Trancy looked utterly shocked, for no one had ever been so sad when he said no to them! (And he said no to quite a few people on many, many occasions. No was his favorite word to use!) Nobody ever really wanted to be around him, not without being forced...
"Fine, fine! I'll play with you; just stop crying like a baby!"
Immediately Ciel stopped and flashed a brilliant smile, before dragging the other boy from between his parents and far-far away from the adults and their boring talk.
For a moment, Vincent wondered if his 6 year old son was perhaps, not as innocent as he seemed, but resolved to himself that long as Ciel didn't use his powers of persuasion for naughtiness, then it was just fine.
The relationship Ciel and Alois shared was rather unique (albeit queer) one. Ciel regard Alois, as a younger child regarded an "admirable" older child: with a slight awe. And Alois, very attention starved, basked in this admiration, as any lonely child would. Ciel never felt the need to annoyingly mimic his friends every move, and was, for the most part, independent (which Alois was perfectly content with, given he was a terrible, terrible influence.)
Mr. and Mrs. Trancy were delighted their sour and disagreeable son had managed to find a friend (and a way to keep out of their business and general vicinity.) Vincent and Rachel were happy Ciel had found a playmate, as they often worried his constant sickness and frailty would prevent him from socializing as other children do. Alois had no qualms about traveling to the Phantomhive manor.
Nearly every day, after he has finished his studies, Alois would ride his bicycle along the rich countryside, as the Phantomhive's live only 10 minutes away, and he did enjoy the time to calm his nerves.
Mr. Phantomhive would laugh and recall upon the days when he was young, while Tanaka, who had been the Phantomhive butler for quite some time, would pitch in a piece or two.
"I remember, when I was your age, my father would have insisted I take as horse drawn carriage, even if my friend lived down the road!" both Ciel and Alois would giggle, because it seemed awfully silly to do so much just to make such a small distance. "Yes, yes boys, I kid you not! Things were quite different then, under Queen Victoria's rule. The aristocracy was very ridiculous."
Then Tanaka would tell them all sorts of stories from his youth, and the "Land of the Rising Sun".
Alois found he rather liked Ciel's parents, much more than his own. They were very kind, and very welcoming, even when he was in a rotten mood.
The young Trancy often wondered how in the world they had fostered such a fair-looking child! His father was a gluttonous man, bulbous and beefy and not at all handsome. While his mother might be pretty, had her face not so resembled that of a horses! No, no, Alois did not like them one bit! He was very glad he didn't look anything like them.
And Ciel would never quite understand why Alois held such a strong dislike for his parents, as Alois was never one to waste valuable play-time by divulging in such details.
Together, the two friends were inseparable, and despite their constant bickering, they were tied together by an indestructible thread.
There were times, however, when Alois would come over, near-tears and trying to work himself out of hysterics. Times when Alois would act very queerly when Ciel touched him, as if his touch burned. Sometimes Ciel would drag Alois out to the edge of the moor, with a picnic basket in his hand, and they would laugh and play and eat until they had quite forgotten whatever there was to be sad over. Other times, he would simply allow Alois to sob in his bed, gingerly patting his friends back and reassuring Alois of his presence.
Never would Alois tell Ciel why he was feeling so cross, so Ciel had stopped asking. But when Alois was done being bothered, Ciel would tug on the sleeves of his blazer and they would go running down the stairs. Tanaka would serve them tea and cold beef with rolls of lunch and then they would play outside and have a jolly time.
"Today we're going to play pirates! And I get to be the captain!"
"Why do you get to be the captain?" Ciel whined.
"Be-cause! I'm bigger than you are and older and that means that you have to do what I tell you!"
"That's not fair! That's not fair!" Shouted Ciel. "I bet you just made that up!"
"No I didn't!" Alois shouted back with equal vigor. "Older kids always get to boss the younger kids around! Everyone knows that, the only reason you don't is because you're stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!" he stomped his foot on every "S".
"Don't call me that or I'll box you in the head, I swear I will!"
Ciel's bulldog, Sebastian then came out to express his displeasure at all the ruckus by barking.
"Oh that's a wonderful idea Sebastian! Ciel, Sebastian said we should have a race to that tree, and whoever wins gets to be the Pirate Captain!"
Ciel muttered something about dogs not being able to speak English, but both boys finally agreed. They both ran to the tree, a race with of course, Alois being both taller and better in health had won. Ciel, however, didn't seem to mind as much as he minded a very large black and yellow garden spider that was much too close to his vicinity!
"Alois, come look! What a ghastly thing!"
The older boy did not seem to share his friend's sentiments. Rather, he was delightfully intrigued by the creature.
"Ghastly? I'd rather saw marvelous don't you think? Look at the web, oh it does look quite complicated doesn't it? Besides," he continued, "nothing can beat a spider! Even though they're quite small, nothing wants to get close to their web!" He watched the spider with its long, spiny legs crawl about towards what appeared to be a struggling horse-fly.
Sadly enough, as if triggered by his words, both boys watched in shock as a great black raven swooped down and ate the spider in one great bite.
Alois shouted after the bird, "Get back here you big stupid bird! Get back here! Oh, Ciel, Ciel, what horrible thing to do don't you think? Simply awful!"
But Ciel dare not say anything, for he was secretly quite happy the spider was gone. He very much admired the big black raven, how it swooped down like a great shadow and carried the evil spider away.
Both boys, having forgotten their game of Pirates, ran inside to tell Ciel's mum what has happened, where she carefully explained neither was right nor wrong, but it was instead, quite simply, the way the nature worked.
As the boy's got older, they became more daring, going further and further off of on their own. This particular day, Ciel was 8 and Alois was 9.
It had been a queer sort of day. Alois had come by, obviously trying to work himself out of hysterics, but again, he wouldn't tell Ciel what the matter was. Then, when they were standing about in the back yard, he quite suddenly became very calm, and was grinning at Ciel with a look the younger boy couldn't understand.
"Ciel, let's go to the moor! Not to the edge like we usually do, but into the moor!"
"What? No! Why on earth would I want to do such a thing?"
"Oh come-on Ciel, don't be such a baby!"
"Don't call me that!" Ciel said with a stomp.
But Alois smiled purposefully.
"I shall call you whatever I want! Besides, you are a baby! Only babies would be afraid to go out into the moor."
Alois, like Ciel, could be quite cunning. He knew just the kinds of words to trap him.
"We've been out there plenty of times and you know it!" Ciel shouted. "Your mad if you want to go all the way out there wear there's snakes and big cats and wolves-"
"Don't be stew-pid Ciel! Everyone knows there's no wolves in England! Has your mummy been reading you bedtime stories again you big baby?"
Ciel's face burned with embarrassment and he became very, very cross.
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"ARE TOO!"
"AM NOT! AM NOT! AM NOT!"
"FINE! I'll go by myself then and you can sit here all alone and cry about it!"
But as Alois was angrily stomping away, the boy suddenly felt very lonely without his blonde friend. Resolving that he'd rather be in danger with a friend than safe alone, he ran after.
"Wait for me, wait for me!"
It wasn't quite the marvelous adventure both of them had been hoping for.
The deeps of the moor were much the same as the edge they were used to playing in, but it had been fun all the same. Perhaps, Ciel thought, it was because they were doing something they both knew they ought not to be doing.
"Ciel, do you think if we looked far enough, we could find Wonderland?"
They were lying beside one another amongst the tall grass, staring up at the clouds, both long since forgetting their fear of the moor.
"I dunno. I don't think I'd like to go there anyway."
"Why not?"
"Poor Alive was always getting into trouble, and things were awfully queer there."
Alois turned to look at his friend curiously. Ciel turned too, and their eyes met in a pleasantly lazy gaze.
"Ciel... close your eyes. I want to try something."
"What?" Ciel whined. "Is this going to be like the time you stuck a centipede on my finger?"
"No you twat! This is completely different! Now just do it..."
The young boy grumbled still, but complied with his friend.
In the darkness of his closed eyes, he heard Alois move before him, and quite slowly, something soft and warm pressed against his lips. A pleasant tingle went down his back at the tough, but when he realized what was happening, he jerked backwards.
"What you doing?! Are you dapper?!"
Alois simply shrugged, sitting up so he could look down at Ciel.
"Don't fret so much. Grown-ups do it all the time!"
"I know that, I know that! I'm not stupid!" Ciel shouted, quite red in the cheeks, before sitting up haughtily.
"Only married people kiss and only boys and girls! Not people who are...the same!"
"Do you honestly believe that?" Alois said, rolling his eyes. "Wait, of course you do. I forgot you don't know anything. Anybody can kiss Ciel, just as long as you don't do it in front of other people."
Ciel looked awfully conflicted. How did he know his friend wasn't lying to him? Just because Alois was a year older than his, didn't mean he knew everything. Perhaps he was right though...after all, they had kissed, and nothing unpleasant happened because of it.
"But...but doesn't that make us poofers?"
"Oh please... We can be..." He slowly crept towards his young friend, sitting atop him and pushing him down, "We can be whatever we want to be."
Their noses toughed and Ciel, looking quite flustered, closed his eyes as his lips were pecked again. This was very, very odd and he wasn't entirely sure what to make of it…
"See Ciel, nothing bad happened. It can be between us...Just us, if you want it too."
Ciel looked up at his friend, and was surprised to see his usual pompous grin had disappeared, to be replaced by something quite since and almost...sad.
Hesitant, and unsure, but not want to see his friend sad, Ciel pressed a kiss to Alois hovering face.
"Alright then, alright. We can share it Alois. It'll be like a big grand secret and nobody will know accept for us."
Ciel saw perhaps, the most joyful smile he had ever seen on his friends face, and after a few more kissed, they decided to go on a grand hunt for a rabbit hole.
Later the night, after being scolded for nearly an hour (by his mummy who was dearly upset he had run off all day with no regard to his health and no warning for his poor mother) Ciel thought still of the kissed he had shared with his friend.
He wondered how his friend of such grown-up things. Perhaps he had seen his mummy or daddy kiss someone who was… like them. The idea seemed very unlikely though... Then, he thought, just before he drifted to sleep, that perhaps someone had kissed Alois, someone who was the same. But why had Alois looked so sad? He never looked sad... Perhaps he didn't want them too...
And so they grew in both mind and stature, ignorant of the approaching storm.
As long days turned into weeks and months and years, Eastern Europe began to stir. Turmoil surmounted the long the long era of peace that had so sturdily prevailed over chaos.
The war, the accident, and the most curious arrival of the new servants. The most curious arrival of a new butler… Yes, yes. Everything was going to change.
A ho ho, what do we have here? What could the author be foreshadowing?! ;)
Review. Reviews inspire me, they will me the strength to go on! They make me happy and fill me with joy :)