A/N: May I begin by apologizing for any lurking derp that may be in this fic? I have Breathe Carolina blaring, and I never listen to music while writing. I'm just trying it out, you know? Maybe it'll do something good for me (I definitely need it.) Wish me luck? ^^


Alois's hands shook as he read aloud the letter that had been delivered to his room a few moments ago. "Dear Alois Macken.." He paused, his eyes widening. There was only one person to whom he had given that name. Only one person that knew which hotel he'd checked into. Only one person old fashioned and formal enough to send a letter in this day and age- Ciel Phantomhive.

He continued, struggling to reading the elegant calligraphy with such an unsteady grip. "You have been honored with an invitation to the Phantomhive Mansion to attend a party on Friday, October the Fourteenth. Celebrations will begin at Nine o' Clock, and formal attire is not required. We hope to see you there. Sincerely, the Phantomhive family." His eyes were wide as he lowered the letter, setting it down on the small end table provided by the hotel.

He slumped onto the small loveseat in the corner of his hotel room, completely taken aback. That Ciel would want to invite him to a party at his mansion.. maybe his plan was working after all. Did Ciel trust him?

Alois realized with a purse of his lips and a furrow of his brow that he didn't want the Phantomhive boy to trust him. He felt deceitful, underhanded, and catty. Maybe toying with Ciel's emotions had been a bad idea. Maybe he shouldn't have accepted his assistance at the airport. Of course, it wasn't as if he'd never met any of his targets before the action began, but looking back, all of the other targets had been terrible men and women- people who had killed and lied and cheated eighteen times more than Alois ever would in his life. But Ciel.. he was an innocent boy, still a minor, hardly even a teenager. He had his whole life ahead of him, his career, parties, friends, and falling in love.

The tall boy shook his head, blonde hair flying. Love? Why the hell had that word even crept into his thoughts? Love wasn't real, as he had been shown time and time again. It was just a falsified feeling, made plausible by believers. It was a myth, much like the Loch-Ness Monster, or Bigfoot. It was just a figment of everyone's imagination, clung onto because, well, if you don't have love, what do you have?

Alois shook his head, tracing back to his original thought. He did, indeed, feel bad about what he was doing to Ciel. For some reason, though he was here in the first place to kill him, the last thing he wanted to do was see him get hurt.

He suddenly cursed himself for sliding so deeply into thought. It was already October Fourteenth, after all. He would go to the party, and he would associate with Ciel as little as possible. It was that simple.

He didn't want to get close to his target, no one would. A two-year-old would understand the issue in that.

But, as he dug through his things looking for a formidable pair of thigh-highs, he couldn't help but wonder if it could be avoided, or worse, if he really wanted it to be.

-/-

Alois dodged through the crowds, pushing his way around. He just wanted to find the food, and occupy himself. People stared at his knee-high lace-up boots, and he caught a few eyes on his shorts. Normally, he would've enjoyed the attention, but right now, it jut felt suffocating.

He had been greeted at the door by a raven-haired man in a black suit, who he'd taken to be Ciel's agent. The man had called him by his name as he allowed him in, which lead him to believe that Ciel had been talking about their encounter. The blond wasn't hard to recognize, but only if you were aware of the fact that he wore hooker boots and booty shorts. Alois felt a pang in his stomach as he imagined Ciel gushing about his skimpy attire. It wasn't a bad feeling, necessarily, just more like nervousness.

His thoughts were cut off as he was spotted by a certain blue-haired boy, who waved shyly, the man he was conversing with turning to see who the actor had greeted. Alois had no choice. He plastered a cheery smile onto his face, waving excitedly and standing on his tiptoes in order to see over the people.

He watched as Ciel promptly ended his conversation and made his way over to where he stood, greeting him warmly.

"Alois," he addressed with a slight smile. "I.. I'm glad you came."

The blond giggled sweetly, suddenly feeling a bit dizzy. "Well, of course I did, Ciel," he replied, still making an attempt to make his voice higher. "Why wouldn't I?"

The bluenette averted his gaze, shrugging a bit. "Well, the way you escaped the plane like Houdini, I kind of figured..." he trailed off, deciding not to say 'that you never wanted to see me again.'

Alois just smiled apologetically. "Oh, I'm sorry. I just had so many things to do, and I was tired on top of it." He grinned warmly, though he felt rather lightheaded. "I figured that if you wanted to see me again, you'd contact me. I guess I was right."

The conversation continued for a few minutes. Ciel made little movements as they spoke. A small smile. He touched Alois's arm. He gradually stepped closer. His hand was on the boy's shoulder. He was giggling. Their bodies were nearly touching. And then..

Alois was hit hard with a wave of nausea, his hand coming up to his mouth. Ciel noticed with a cock of his head. "Are you alright?"

He was about to say yes, but he thought better of it as his stomach did a flip, shaking his head. The last thing he wanted to do was lose his lunch all over the beautiful marble floor. "Actually," he mumbled, "I feel like shit. I think I'm gonna.. pass out or something." He waved the hand that wasn't over his lips to signal that he was alright. "D-do you have a bathroom or something?"

The blunette went to point the boy to the other end of the hall, but changed his mind quickly. "Well, yes, but it's probably occupied. Let me take you to mine."

Alois was too sick to recognize the potential of the situation as Ciel took him by the hand and led him up the stairs, earning a few stares from the guests.

The older boy glanced around on his way to the bathroom, taking note of the beautiful art and detailing that decorated the walls. The home really was beautiful, though it was no wonder that the small boy had so much money. He was an amazing actor.

He was soon led by Ciel into a huge master bathroom, and he gasped a bit in awe. It was bigger than his bedroom and closet combined. The bluenette sat the taller boy down on the toilet lid, adorned with a fluffy blue cover. Alois moaned a bit, feeling worse by the moment.

"If you need to get sick", Ciel instructed, wetting a washcloth in the unusually large sink, "then by all means.."

Alois shook his head, though he was pretty sure that he was going to do it eventually. He didn't want to do something so embarrassing in front of Ciel, in his bathroom.

The actor turned off the sink and made his way over to the blond, brushing his platinum bangs away in order to press the cold cloth to his forehead. "You're feverish", he informed, using his fingers to move any stray hairs from Alois's now flushed face. "Damned shrimp," the bluenette mumbled, shaking his head. "This is why I hate seafood."

Alois wanted to argue that it was wonderful, but the very thought of food nearly made him gag, so he kept quiet, accepting that it probably was the airplane shrimp that had thrown him off. By now his stomach was hurting, too, sharp cramps stabbing through his gut. He groaned a bit, grabbing a hold of Ciel's shoulder to keep himself steady. The actor just stared into his eyes, flipping the makeshift cold compress over as the original side warmed with the older boy's body heat.

They stayed like that for a good ten minutes, Ciel turning the watered-down piece of cloth over every now and again, trying to keep something cold on Alois's forehead at all times. Alois just sat, his face twisted a bit with the nausea he felt, his eyelids fluttering closed once in a while, which was rewarded with them snapping open. He did not want to fall asleep on Ciel Phantomhive's toilet after eating five rounds of bad shrimp. This was degrading enough as it was.

He was aware of Ciel's hand running up and down his arm comfortingly, and the contact point tingled. Then again, his whole body tingled. But this was different. It was a good kind of tingling, not the burning kind like he felt in every one of his other nerves at the moment.

"Are you alright?" Ciel asked, concern in his voice.

Alois just nodded, afraid that if he spoke, he'd start feeling like he was about to throw up again. It'd been a long time since he'd felt this. No one comforted him when he was sick anymore- that had left with his mother. For years, he'd spent his nights that he had the flu sleeping on the bathroom floor and wishing that he had some decent Pepto-Bismol. But here, with the actor standing in front of him, making sure he was doing alright, it brought things back for him. It felt nice.

He sucked in a deep breath, then let it out slowly, feeling a bit better, though he still felt as if he was on fire.

Alois was surprised by Ciel's next move, the bluenette bringing one arm behind the boy's neck, and the other in the crook of his legs, picking him up bridal-style with a grunt.

"What are you doing?" Alois mumbled, noticing the struggle that the younger boy had to put up in order to carry him.

"Taking you to lie down", he replied breathlessly, kicking a door, different than the one they came into, open with his foot and revealing a giant room. It had blue walls, and a canopy bed, complete with an array of expensive-looking dark-wood furnishings, spread around across the expanse of it. Alois took this to be Ciel's bedroom, and just snuggled into the boy's chest, allowing himself to be carried to the bed and laid down as gently as possible, the actor tucking him into a comforter that (of course) was also an intense shade of royal blue. The blond let out a sigh, pulling the covers up to his chin. "Please don't go", he whispered, not sure whether Ciel planned on getting back to the party.

"Of course not," the smaller of the two replied with a slight smile. "I'm right here."

On that note, Alois finally allowed his eyes to fall closed, and soon he was engrossed in a blanket of sleep, comforted by Ciel's presence, and having never slept so soundly.


A/N: I'm not so sure about this one.. I like the plot of the chapter, and the way it played out, but I'm not sure my writing was at it's best. Ah, well, I had fun anyway.

I'm eager to see what my friend does next! ^^

And if you're watching this, may I ask that you watch the one by Eclipsed and Shadowed Heart, as well? For some reason, I seem to be getting a lot more credit, and that's not fair at all. o: