A/N: I am back with another one shot! I had a chapter story kinda like this planned out, but my other writer dropped out on me! DX So that's why it's taken me forever to upload. I do have two more one shots planned out and I may write them soon, so be on the lookout! If you enjoy the story, please leave a comment! I hope you enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji in any way, shape, or form, nor do I own Spongebob. No, this is not crossover, but I do mention Spongebob at one point and therefore, have to mention it here.
WARNING: Mentions of self-harm, descriptions of suicide and language. If you are not okay with this, I will not accept responsibility if you choose to venture forward.
There is this boy I know. He's anything but ordinary, and I think that's why I'm so fascinated by him. Best part it, I never would have met him had I not gone through my own personal hell. For had I not gone through that month, I would never had stayed home today, and I wouldn't be here with him now.
It all started with one comment, which led to an eye patch hitting the floor, and ended with fists being thrown and myself being sent home for the day and that brat at school being suspended. So there I was, sitting in the kitchen working on school work that was sent home with me all by myself in the house. Sebastian wasn't happy with the situation, but I guess I was still lucky enough to know he wasn't angry enough to stay home. It was odd being home by myself during a school day, I couldn't think of a time it had happened before. My parents never let me stay home alone, and after they died Sebastian only became more protective over me, insisting he be there at all times to make sure I was okay, but I guess today he had too much work to focus on rather than stay and watch over his younger brother. That didn't stop him from giving me over one thousand different numbers and people to go to in the event that something happens. Saw that one coming.
I had almost finished my science work, when I noticed a foreign noise shatter the silence that had filled the atmosphere. I hadn't noticed it at first, but I eventually realized it to be laughter. A child's laughter. It was odd, for at the time I had no previous knowledge of any other families whose kids would be home during the mornings, there were no young toddlers, the infants would not be outside laughing so loudly, and the teenagers would be in school. I had gotten up, abandoning my work in pursuit of finding the giggling culprit, and strolling over to the kitchen window, standing on tiptoes to see over the neighbors fence into their backyard.
My curiosity led to me discovering a teenager laying in the grass, laughing like a madman as he wiped the tears from his eyes with his hand, face a deep shade of red from not being able to breath properly before another round of insane giggles came forward. His blonde hair was askew among the grass, flowers lightly decorating each strand with their pastel colors. I had almost forgotten it was summer and was shocked for a moment towards the other's attire, a lilac blouse and a pair of black shorts. The most striking feature though, were the deep bruises that dotted his pale legs, practically screaming out to be noticed. I think it was the sight of the marks that had compelled me to go out and make my way down the porch steps to the fence, dragging a chair behind me to stand on, and to actually speak to the boy.
It was that initial hello that sparked a reaction that I never thought would have happened. Who knew a quest to tell someone to shut up could snowball into an unbreakable friendship? I didn't. So imagine my surprise when it became a daily after school ritual to go out and drag a porch chair to the fence, standing awkwardly against the it as I talked to the boy. Those little interactions turned into me actually going to his house and knocking on his door, following him to his back yard and sitting against a tree as we talked, and eventually we got to the point where we spent every afternoon in my living room chatting gleefully over a stash of sweets we raided from the top shelf in the pantry where Sebastian held all the good food. I had learned a lot about him, that his name was Alois or Jim, and that it changed between the two during specific moods. If he was lonely he was Jim, if he was angry he was Alois. When he was sad he could be either, when happy he was Alois and when scared he was Jim. It took me a while to get the hang of that. I also learned the reason behind his attire and why he always wore shorts; (that I swear came from the women's department in the shops) he told me that his house got awfully hot and he doesn't like to wear short sleeves, and the reason for some of the bruises on his legs were because he was always bumping into things as he ran around the house with his brothers. It's very easy to bruise when you're as clumsy as him. The first time I had invited him to my house he had run into the kitchen counter and ended up with with a massive bruise. One thing that caught me by surprise was how big his family was. He had four brothers and one sister. He said he used to have five brothers, but he refused to say what happened to him. All he would tell me was that he died, and I knew better than to pry further.
I had always known something was off about Alois, the way he would always suddenly go from laughing to screaming in anger, the way he practically shut down in terror the minute the lights were off. According to his brother Claude, he had always been that way, but only recently had it gotten worse. Apparently he would stay up to the oddest hours of the night with a pen, writing names on his wall that numbered and overlapped so greatly that they were illegible, he would randomly go into screaming fits for no reason if he was left alone for a certain amount of time and other times he would just lie on their kitchen floor for hours saying and doing nothing. Yes, he was anything but ordinary, but that's why we were friends. On the days he was happy I could sit there and listen to him ramble for hours. He became a very close friend to me, someone I didn't want to lose. When I gave off a snarky insult, instead of storming off he would laugh like there was no tomorrow. When he was happy and would ramble on for hours, I couldn't stop myself from smiling, something I hadn't done since the death of my parents. He was able to do something not even my dearest cousin Elizabeth could do, he was able to make me happy again. Yes. he was an odd one. But that's what I liked about him.
That first day was what, only a year ago? Now we were sitting in my room, seeing how many pieces of popcorn I could throw into his mouth before he ended up choking on one, one of his many odd games. His favorite game to play is to see how many rocks he could throw at his neighbor's house before the old lady living in it noticed, one time when we were doing that I picked one rock up and chucked it at him and he freaked out for a solid ten minutes thinking the house threw it at him. I don't think I've ever laughed so hard in my life! I was sitting on the far end of my room on my carpet while Alois was laying on my bed, his head hanging off the foot board as he attempted to catch the flying pieces of popcorn.
"What number are you at now?" I questioned, grabbing a handful of the sweets for myself. "I'm kinda bored now, you haven't choked yet." I tested my luck and threw another piece before he could answer, but to my chagrin I missed and instead hit his eye.
"Ow, shit Phantomhive!" He growled, sitting up. "Watch it, I don't wanna be a bitter little pirate like you!" He rubbed at his eye before turning to face me, glaring at me whilst I laughed, and shrugged. "I dunno, I lost count a while ago. I do know that you have a bunch of crumbs on your bed now though!"
I was going to shout at him to pick them all up, but I heard the front door downstairs shut and instantly got up. "Looks like Sebastian's home." I didn't need to say anything more as Alois was already darting down the hallway, dragging me behind him. We both knew what was going to come next; Sebastian was home, which meant there are new groceries being put into the pantry, and that meant one thing: New sweets in the pantry!
"Oh, I see you're over here again Alois. How are your siblings?" Sebastian didn't even need to turn around to see us in the kitchen, this was always protocol. More often than not, Alois was here whenever he came home. It happened so often it even stopped bugging him when Alois would stay the night on school nights. As he puts it, 'He's your friend, your problem.'. He sighed after a few moments before turning and handing over the boxes we were here for. "After last Saturday's events, I believe it would be much easier to just hand the sweets over. Now, please refrain from climbing the shelves you too, I really don't enjoy spending my night making new shelves."
As we sat back down in my room to begin our ritual of Saturday night scary movies, I thought back on how weird these events were, even Elizabeth pointed out how odd our friendship was from time to time, and Sebastian commented how unlikely he thought it would've been for me to find friends after the death of our parents, especially with someone as unpredictable as Alois. I guess that's what made it work though, he was there to make my life entertaining and I was there to calm his life down. One time he told me how he used to sit at home all day bored, and how he was happier now that he had something to look forward to everyday, I didn't pay attention to it then, if I had, then maybe I would've realized that that sudden fluttery feeling was the beginning of a feeling I thought had died. When he said that, I grew feelings for him. I, Ciel Phantomhive, began to love Alois Trancy.
Sebastian willingly handing over sweets wasn't the only odd event that night, the oddest that happened was that Alois actually left instead of staying the night like always. No, instead his step-father showed up and took him home. That was strange. I've only seen his step-father a handful of times, and I'd consider that lucky. Old man Trancy isn't exactly a pleasant sight for the eyes. As Alois puts it, ever so elegantly, "He's an old fart who's fat and wrinkly with a face that's square and two nasty buck teeth. He's an old smelly Spongebob." That was from one of our very first conversations, at the time it was priceless and it still is.
I'm really worried now, it's been days since I've last seen or talked to Alois, and even though I always joke about how blissful that silence would be, now that I have it, I don't want it. I don't like it, how his backyard is always empty when I come home from school, how no one answers the door when I knock, how the lights never turn on in his room no matter how many rocks I throw. I was constantly asking Sebastian to call Claude and ask if Alois was okay, but all I got were lies.
"Claude says that he's just going through a rough patch right now, he's fine." No, stop lying! I know he isn't okay, I know what he's done in the past! I've seen the scars, and I know how to help!
But no one will listen to me.
You know that feeling you get when someone you love is in trouble? That feeling you can't explain, that interferes with everything? That's what I'm dealing with. Everyday felt horrible, I couldn't concentrate at school and eventually the school counselors noticed my sudden distress and sent me home once more. The more I laid on the couch, the more memories that surfaced, and the more I remembered the happy memories… the more my heart hurt. My actual heart hurt. It was so painful to remember his smile, it just made me want to know where he was even more. I needed to tell him how I felt, maybe that would truly help and bring back his smile. I saw through all his fake smiles and laughs, I knew something was wrong. He let it slip one time that he was lonely, that he missed his younger brother. The brother I know nothing about. All I was ever told was that he tried saving Luka, but that the only way he could save him from his step-father was to let him live with their real father, but it never made sense. I tried piecing everything together, the bruises, the scars, the pain in his eyes, but I just didn't want to accept reality, and I thought I wouldn't have to until now.
Someone was knocking at our door, and I wasn't interested until Sebastian opened it to reveal Alois' eldest brother: Claude. For once he actually looked distressed too, which only caused my distress to skyrocket. Getting up, I wasted no time in going over to question him and get the answers I thought I wanted, a decision I would soon regret.
Claude told me that Alois had come to stay with him yesterday and locked himself away in his room, and now even he himself had become worried because since this morning he hadn't said a word to anyone, and that they hoped I could somehow convince him to come out. After hearing that though, I felt my stomach drop. A nagging thought in the back of my mind screamed at me what may have happened already, for even a dramatic brat like Trancy could never keep his mouth shut for a whole day. There was one question that I regret asking though, but it just slipped passed. "Claude, what happened to Alois?"
I learned the truth about old Trancy, about how he was the reason behind the scars Alois tried to hide so badly. That he was the man Alois had tried so hard to save Luka from, and that he was the reason behind the thoughts that caused those ugly scars. But then it dawned on me. Claude didn't live with Alois, nor did Hannah or the triplets. So for the past days or weeks since Alois has disappeared, he's been by himself with his step-father until yesterday, and he was going back today, with only one way to get out of the situation. Before I had even gotten to Claude's house, I knew it was too late. Alois was a very stubborn, very scared child, and if he thought he was trapped, then he was not afraid to end it.
Claude's apartment was eerily silent as we walked in, and I guess my unease showed in my expression for even Sebastian muttered something to me about how this will all just be a misunderstanding. I was left all by myself to walk down the quiet hallway to the bedrooms, and no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't stop my hand from trembling as I grasped the doorknob. It's too cold, it's too quiet… it's too late. Everything seemed wrong, how the door was no longer locked, by how dark the room was. Alois hated the dark… When I flicked the lights on, I felt the lump in my throat try to disappear as a sob tried so hard to break its way through, how tears actually formed in my eyes and practically flooded in. The ugly red stains were everywhere, from small drops near the door, to the deep pools that were surrounding him. He was so pale, long black eyelashes rested against his colorless cheeks as his eyes stayed hidden, and they always would. Between the way the blood streamed from his forearms down into the pools beside him and the peaceful expression on his face, I guess he looked like some sadistically beautiful fairy.
Seeing the image before me, I suddenly felt so weak. I was unable to stay standing as I crashed painfully to my knees, pitifully crawling over to him as I waved my hand in front of his face in some form of an attempt to get him to wake up. "H-hey Alois-" My voice was quivering, and my hand shook so violently now, I couldn't tell if I was actually waving it or not. "Aloi-Jim… Wake up… Stop being so Goddamn lazy and get up for once, will you?" I couldn't get higher than a whisper. Oh God, did Claude know? How was he going to handle knowing his brother died in such a gruesome way? How is he going to react having been related to him? I was just a friend and I'm a mess…. No, he was more than a friend to me. "Heh, you know," I didn't feel the hot tears on my face until I heard them hit the floor as I sat in front of him, "I never got to tell you.. how I actually felt. I knew you felt the same, at least some part of you. I just wish I got to tell you before, because maybe I could've helped you." I leaned forward and carefully pressed a kiss onto his lips, finally letting reality hit me all the way once I felt how cold he truly was. "You fucking idiot… I love you!" I practically wailed the last bit as I dove forward to wrap my arms around him, sobbing those three cursed words over and over again, burying my head into his shoulder. "Just wake up, please… wake up!" I finally heard footsteps running down the hallway and stop in the doorway before Sebastian came over and lead me back towards the hallway, ears too deaf from grief to hear whatever he was trying to say.
It's been years since his death and it still feels like life is dragging me down by the ankles. My weekday and weekends quickly became dull. There was no more movies, no more throwing rocks or popcorn, no more fun. I couldn't even look at the house I used to live next to after that, the for sale sign hanging in the front yard being a cruel reminder. That old man finally got carried off to jail, but it was too late for it make any real difference.
His funeral was pitiful, only his family, Sebastian and myself showed up. He was so lonely, having been locked up all the time, at least until he met me. Well, now it's my turn to be lonely I guess. Claude had him buried next to his younger brother, alongside his mother and real father. I guess his family moved on, because after a while his siblings stopped coming by to see his grave and it ended up only being me who left bundles of bluebells in front of the stone.
One depressing thought struck me one day, no one would remember him. Only seven people would remember him for the time being, but what after that? No, this is not the death he would have wanted. The only way to do him justice would be to make sure no one could forget his story. I had recently published a book, and I needed to start my next book if I wanted to stay valid to my publishing contract. Don't worry Alois, I'll do my best to make sure you won't be forgotten for a long time, just like you wanted. Opening up a new document, I began writing his story.
There was this boy I knew. He was anything but ordinary...
A/N: Am I the only one who gets an Outsiders theme out of that ending?
Some answers I thought you might want:
Yes, Ciel became a writer and yes that final paragraph was whilst he was an adult.
Alois killed Luka. I didn't make it clear, but he killed Luka when their mom married Lord Trancy because he wanted to save Luka from the abuse, but after killing him he went insane from grief.
No, Alois did not go to school. I was going to say he was home schooled, but I just felt like leaving it up to you guys to figure out.
Yes, Ciel and Sebastian are brothers in this, and Alois had a very big family with all his servants and Luka being his siblings. Oh boy, six siblings!
Any other questions you may want answered, please om me and I'll try my best to give you the answers!