3. The Domestic and The Handyman
Elizabeth was already knocking on the door when Ciel appeared beside her, panting and swearing under his breath.
"You shouldn't have done that," Ciel chided, referring to her bolting off without him as well as to pounding on the door before he could examine the place more closely. Frankly, Ciel thought it was too convenient. He didn't trust it. Moreover, the combination of the rain and his sprint after Lizzy was causing his asthma to act up.
There was nothing to be done about it now, however, for the door had already opened to reveal a tall, thin figure with dark hair and golden eyes. Ciel recognized him immediately: Claude Faustus, silent and stony-faced as ever. Still...there was something different about him, something very small...
"What do you want?" He demanded bluntly. Ciel frowned-rather rude behavior, he thought, still examining the man. He had it: it was the uniform. Or, more specifically, the crest on the uniform. It was not the Trancy family crest, but rather something else. Instead of a spider on the coat of arms, there was some sort of black bird...a crow? A raven?
"We're stranded and lost," Ciel answered just as brusquely, but with an air of authority, "Will you let us stay the night?"
It was a phrased as a question, but Ciel's tone of voice made it sound more like a command. Still, Claude seemed to consider a moment before stepping back from the doorway.
"Why don't you come in? It is a very special night for the master..."
Oh ter-riffic, Ciel thought sarcastically. The last thing he needed was to get caught up in another damned Trancy affair. As if on cue, there was undeniably girlish giggle that Ciel knew all too well.
Not only am I cold and tired, now I have to deal with Alois Trampsy, Ciel thought, then frowned. He'd just made a pun. A very catty pun. What was going wrong with his brain?
"Ugh. Alois, I have no desire to be involved in whatever you're-wait, why are you dressed like that?"
The fourteen-year-old had appeared in the doorway, but not in one of his usual ensembles. Once again, the blond boy was outfitted in a maid's costume, which made Ciel wonder if this was just another one of the super-brat's bizarre tendencies. It was even worse than the last time though: black replaced the periwinkle color of the other dress, and it was much shorter, revealing fishnets below. Ciel had a sudden desire to put his hands over Lizzy's eyes.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Alois frowned, "And what do you mean? This is my uniform."
Ciel sighed, deciding to write this off to standard bi-polar-Alois behavior. The latter statement, however, caused him to wonder if maybe he'd walked in on some kinky sex-act. He wouldn't have ever thought that Claude would be for that sort of thing, but he wouldn't put it past Alois. The boy was clearly depraved.
"How nice for you," Ciel rolled his eyes and stepped through the doorway. Lizzy was close behind, smiling as she looked around.
"It is nice!" Alois laughed, somewhat crazily, "It's nice for you, it's nice for me, it's nice for everybody!"
Ciel cringed. Alois's very presence pissed him off; the sound of the blond boy's cackling nearly made Ciel homicidal.
"Yeah. Great. Can we jus-" Ciel started to talk, but all of a sudden Claude started-oh, dear God-singing.