Chapter 10: Jabberwocky

"T'was brillig and slithy thoves, did gyre and gimble in the wabe." Alois recited smoothly. He had followed Ciel back to his office to urge him to play. In Ciel's other words, annoy the hell out of him.

"…Beware the Jabberwock, me son! The jaws that bite and the claws that catch! Beware the Jubjub bird and shun the frumious Bandersnatch!"

Ciel leaped to his bed and forced himself to take a nap so that he will miss the psychotic boy's constant poking around. He buried his head under his pillow in hopes that the boy's voice will not reach him. But no, Alois seemed to be getting closer and closer every time and no matter how hard he tried.

"One, two! One, two!" He felt Alois flop beside him. "And through and through, the vorpal blade went snicker-snack!"

"Alois, stop your nonsense!" Ciel cracked his patience. "Can't you see I'm trying to take a nap?"

Alois looked all over him. "With your shoes and without your nightshirt?"

Ciel growled. "Leave me alone! I told you to go play with Finny!"

"Awww… I don't want to play with Finny. I want you to play with me!"

Ciel lost his temper and threw a pillow at Alois with all his strength. The blonde toppled over with a little scream and fell off the bed heavily. Ciel sighed in relief when the boy didn't say anything afterwards.

. . .

"Now this is odd." He thought. "Silence doesn't last a minute when he's around me." He shuffled close to the edge of the bed. "Hey Alois what are you do— ?"

Seeing the blonde sprawled all over the floor not moving made him nervous. Also, the last expression on the boy's face seemed to connote pain. "A-alois…?" He swallowed in guilt. "H-ey!" He got out of bed and went near him. "If you're joking on me, you…" He shook the boy's shoulder roughly. "I'll kick you out of my mansion with or without Claude!" He yelled the last part directly at the boy's ear. But Alois didn't flinch or make any move.

Ciel gulped in anxiety. "Okay… calm down, calm down…" He took in deep breaths. "What to do with a concussion? In a different light, this may certainly be a good thing." He smiled inwardly. "A hit or two at this guy's head might get his thinking straight."

So he stopped worrying and decided to savor the silence and stillness of the blonde. But there wasn't anything available to do. He had finished signing the business papers and he was waiting for the sweets he had ordered from Sebastian.

… The more he stared at the unconscious boy, the more he felt nervous. What if the boy didn't wake up? He prayed that he hadn't killed him.

"Nonsense…" He snorted. "Whoever dies from a fall from the bed?"

The silence was agonizing.

"Alois, wake up!" He pleaded. "This isn't funny!" He yelled at his ear. The boy didn't flinch a bit. He then proceeded to check his pulse and breathing. His pulse was a bit fast but still, it was a good sign that he was still alive.

… Darn.

He growled in frustration and decided to drag the boy's body up to his bed. He could just tell Sebastian to carry Alois for him but he dismissed the choice immediately. That guy would surely laugh at him for not being able to solve a simple trouble such as this. The thought of hearing the demon's laughter irritated him. "I'll just do this myself."

He mentally noted to be careful of moving the boy's head. He blushed as he slid his arms under the boy's back and thighs; he didn't like touching the boy but…

… Nevermind. "So… maybe this is what Sebastian feels when he carries me…" he thought as he held him close and struggled to lift him up. As expected, the boy was a bit heavy but he could manage it.

"Endure it… endure…!"

He agonizingly set the boy on bed carefully. He accidentally fell on the other boy's tummy when his knee slipped from the cushion when he had finally set him down. Alois groaned in pain of course. "Ah… Ow…"

"Ah! S-sorry…!" Ciel blushed heavily as he pulled himself up. "S-so… what do you feel?"

Alois opened his eyes a bit. "M…my head hurts…"

"D-don't move! Just stay there…!" Ciel said with alarm and ran towards the door. "I'll be back after a bit…"

"Mmhm…"

Alois did as he was told and waited for him to come back.

"Here!" Ciel returned no less than five minutes later with a bag of ice in hand.

"…Fast."

Ciel went to him and held his shoulder. "Can you point which part of your head hurts?"

"Here." Alois pointed at the back of his head weakly. "I think there's a bump on it." Ciel carefully placed the bag on the spot and he groaned as the cold container came into contact with his head.

"Uhmm… just h-hold it there…" Ciel said. "And…"

He stopped stuttering when Alois' warm hand suddenly gripped his hand holding the ice bag. When he looked at the confined boy's expression, he was looking mischievously back at him. That mischievous look meant trouble.

"Ciel, you're so sweet." Alois giggled and shook his head about to fling off the bag on his head. "You really do care about me!" He dropped his sore act to switch back to his aggressive behavior again.

Ciel blushed beet red. "You…!" He pulled at his hand. "Let go of me you…!"

Alois pulled him close and tangled his waist with a swift motion of his legs so that he couldn't escape. Ciel's neck dangerously loomed near his lips. "Hmm… didn't I tell you before?" He locked his legs tighter around the boy's waist. "Beware of the Jabberwock?"

"Alois…!" Ciel's protests choked back when Alois pulled his body to fall to the bed on top of him. The blonde quickly braced his torso with his arms. "Let go of me! Now!"

"Oh c'mon!" Alois pouted. "You should be more touchy-feely!"

"I do not want!"

The other boy gently brushed the tip of his nose on Ciel's neck. "What do you think does the Jabberwock do?"

"Eat whatever things?" Ciel answered with a puzzled look. "And didn't I tell you not to touch me?"

"… But you're allowed to touch me whenever you want to?" Alois argued. "You're unfair. But you're right about the Jabberwock. It eats things." He giggled and licked his earlobe.

Ciel protested as he continued to pull his way out of the blonde's grasp. "Don't you da—! Ah…!" he twitched when Alois' warm tongue slid along his throat. He protested wildly but Alois held him back tighter. The blonde's lips trailed kisses from his jaw line up to his cheeks. "Alo—!"

Alois reached up and gently kissed the eye under his eye patch. Ciel gasped in shock and blushed. Nobody had the nerve to do that and that action held him dumbstruck.

"Why do you hide your eye?" Alois asked even though he knew why. "It's beautiful."

Ciel snorted and shook his head to focus in his current situation. "You know very well why."

Alois giggled. "Have you ever thought that there are others who are curious to know what happened to your eye and want to see it?"

"I would come across that situation often." Ciel said as he gave him a cold glare. "You know what had happened to my family…" He attempted to pull himself away again with all of his strength but the blonde refused to let him go. "… And to me. I just tell them that I lost my eye from that tragedy."

"That mark could go to any other part of your body, you know? Why in your eye?"

"The more visible the contract mark is, the more powerful it is when giving orders."

Alois pouted. "It could be anywhere else! Just not your eyes!" He loosened his grip around the boy's waist. "It can be on your hands…"

"Idiot. That would be too obvious." Ciel snorted. "I have to hide it from those ridiculous people you know."

"Oh."

Both boys stared as they laid against each other.

"So… what does the Jabberwock do again?" Alois smiled mischievously and put his arms up to his head to use them as a headrest. "It slipped my mind."

Ciel frowned. "I said, it eats things."

"Very good."

"So, what?"

Alois' legs loosened. "Nothing."

Ciel growled. "You'd better make use of your time asking sensible questions than nonsensical ones."

"And to you," Alois giggled. "I think you'd make better use of your time getting away from me before I eat you."

Ciel blinked and realized that the blonde wasn't holding him anymore. He blushed madly and jumped away, hissing and glaring at him. Alois giggled and crossed his legs as he continued to lounge.

"I hate you…!" Ciel retreated to the furthest corner of his bed and clawed the sheets in spite. "ALL of YOU!"

"Hate me all you want, Ciel." Alois said dismissively. "But remember, I LOOOOOOOVE YOU~"

… Talk about shameless confessions. Whatever love the blonde was declaring, Ciel felt nothing about it and it was definitely not the type of love that a person would be happy about…

"Achoo!" Ciel scrunched his nose and sniffed. It was definitely not the time to think of those things…

"Hmmm…" Alois propped himself up. "I'm the Jabberwock that eats certain things." He giggled as he surveyed his eyes all over Ciel's body. "I wonder what taste—?"

"PERVERT!"

"— Will Sebastian's sweets taste like?"

Ciel growled as he showed his fist to him. "Stop turning the statements around!"

"Was I even turning them around?" Alois cooed. "It's your dirty mind that keeps on thinking about those things. My, my~"

Ciel's face turned red. "I AM NOT!" He said through gritted teeth.

"Do you really want to do that with me that much?"

"LIESSSSS!"

"TRUUUUUUUUTTTHHHSSS!" Alois hissed back without tongue accentuation difficulties.

"SHUT UP!"

Alois laughed as mad as a hatter. Ciel was about to jump and strangle the blonde's neck then and there to end his misery when a certain knock on the door interrupted his attempt. "COME IN!"

Sebastian came in with the usual dessert trolley. On top of the trolley was a dark pink-iced strawberry chiffon cake with blueberries on top. Despite Ciel's sweet cravings, he detested the cake right away because its color was almost the same shade of Alois' frock coat.

"Ooh! Strawberry!" Alois' eyes sparkled.

Ciel glared at the cake. "Take it away, Sebastian."

Sebastian blinked. "But I…"

"NOW!" Ciel glared.

"Hey Ciel can I have one?" Alois asked; seemingly oblivious of the other boy's annoyance.

"Stuff it in your face for all I care!"

Alois giggled again. "So, you really do care about me!"

"GET OUT! ALL OF YOU!" Ciel roared in a red rage.

The next moment, Sebastian and Alois found themselves standing side by side outside the angry boy's office; both gulping and dumbfounded at the amazing display of the little boy's rage.

"So Sebastian, strawberries or blueberries?"

"Neither." Sebastian replied flatly. "I advise you to stay away from the young master until he calms down."

"Okay!" Alois chirped. "I have a great idea to calm him down immediately, anyway!"

The butler frowned as he watched the blonde skip happily away. "I doubt if Lady Elizabeth can cure him at this time. And as for this…" He looked down at the rejected dessert. "What should I do to it?"

A/n: Kinda late. And now that I've got a bit of info about Hannah's demonic background she deserves a nice little chapter sometime after this "Kitty-Claude" plot line (is it even a plot? XD).

By the way, those who know my other fanfic Iunctum of Adversus I know updating is taking a while but I'll start uploading as soon as Kuroshitsuji II ends... or sometime when I'm not busy. Dammit I want to bring my laptop everyday in school but I've got a lot of personal deadlines to meet. I'm training myself for tight deadlines since I'm going to be an animator someday... (shot) XD