MATCHPOINT

"You want to tell me what's going on?"

"Is that kid bothering you again? That Phantomhive?" Aleistor asked, his tone angry. If I were paying more attention I might have even called it jealousy.

"And if he was?" I deadpanned, tired of both him and Freckles constantly interrogating me.

"Then I'd make him regret it." Aleistor immediately answered, his glare morphing into a scowl.

"Oh, how masculine of you." I sneered, rolling my eyes. He opened his bag of apples with more force than necessary and turned his scowl to the table seating the blue haired boy in question.

Freckles looked between us uncomfortably and tried to soften the tension. "Can't you just tell us what's bothering you? You've never acted like this before. We're your friends it's natural for us to worry about you."

Truthfully, I knew I was acting ridiculous. If I didn't want them to keep badgering me then I should be making more of an effort to seem normal and calm. The problem was that they kept reminding me how ridiculous I was acting and I was being forced to admit that that blonde had gotten under my skin. And in efforts to convince myself that wasn't the case I kept inadvertently reminding myself of the words he had said to me. That egotistical prick. I'm the one who likes him? Did he get his lessons in flirting from Aleistor? How dare he even think that he was my first kiss?! Just because I was surprised doesn't mean I've never been kissed before- anyone would be surprised if someone forced themselves on you like that. Just because he's been with more people than I have doesn't give him the right to-

"Aria!" Freckles is squeezing my wrist and I see that the soda can I had been drinking from is now crushed and half of the contents are spilled over my hand and onto the table. When I look up again Freckles is looking at me with wide eyes and Aleistor is raising a skeptical eyebrow. With a huff I get up, shaking the dripping soda from my hand.

"I'll go get some napkins." I mumble, although I have no intention of doing so. I feel itchy again, as I've been feeling all morning and the soda was doing nothing but magnifying that feeling. My feet find their way to my brothers table and they all stop talking when they see me approaching. I can feel eyes on me, people curious as to who was brave or stupid enough to walk up to the Royal Cabinet's table but the stares dissipate when they realize it's only me.

"Why, what did we do to earn such a pleasure?" Sebastian jests, although his face looks concerned and serious- a complete opposite to his voice. Claude's eyes are searching and he says nothing as he picks up his bag and stands up from the table.

"Claude?" Sebastian asks as Claude begins walking away. He knows I'm going to follow him.

"Thirsty." I tell Sebastian before quickly following behind Claude. He walks out of the cafeteria and his eyes scan the hallways before he finds what he's looking for. A bathroom- the huge ones that are wheelchair accessible. He checks the hallway left and right then quickly ushers me inside closing the door immediately behind him.

As he begins rummaging through his bag I walk over to the sink and turn on the tap rinsing off my sticky hand.

When I turn back around Claude is holding a thermos out to me with a grim look on his face. He's silent as I quickly unscrew the cap and gulp down the contents hungrily. When I finish the thermos is empty but I still feel itchy as though I need more. Claude looks extremely displeased.

"Did you drink this morning?" He asks, his voice accusatory as it often is when he speaks to me.

"Of course I did." I snap returning the thermos to him. He feels its emptiness and looks skeptical.

"And last night?"

"I did." I repeat. Claude frowns.

"You're drinking more. You've gone through as much as you drink in a week in three days." I avoid his stare as best as I can.

"You want to tell me what's going on?" He asks at my silence. He's leaning against the door now, blocking my entrance so I'm trapped in the bathroom with him.

"Nothing is going on." I sigh, pacing the floor instead of looking at him.

"So you expect me to believe you're just hungrier than usual?" He asks, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. Because it's the truth." I must answer too quickly because his expression quickly changes into concern.

"Aria I'm worried about you. If there's something going on just tell me so that I can help you." Guilt prickles around my spine. He sounds legitimately concerned but it's not as though I'm lying to him. I've been feeling agitated and much hungrier than usual and the amount of blood I've been drinking has not been able to subside the hunger that I've felt. The only thing telling him that would do is make both him and Sebastian bother me more and I was growing extremely tired of everyone making a huge fuss over every little thing I did.

"There's nothing wrong. I just feel hungrier than usual." I insisted. Claude stared at me in silence, using his menacing tactic to get me to reveal whatever it was he thought I was hiding. After a while the bell announcing the end of lunch rang and the hallway became loud with moving students.

We had stayed in the bathroom for too long.

Frustration mounting, I moved towards the door Claude was blocking as he tucked the thermos back into his bag.

"I'm going out first. I left my bag in the cafeteria." As I put my hand on the door a hand quickly wrapped around it and as I turned to face the body it belonged to I found myself staring Claude in the eyes. I grimaced and tugged against his grip.

"Aria…" He began and paused and after a moment his hand released me and he stepped away.

"Nevermind." Confused but tired of being in such a confined space with him I quickly exited into the hallway.

…

Alois was feeling pleased with himself that afternoon. Well that was an understatement. He was feeling smug, confident, and he couldn't wipe the smirk off his lips to save his life. Her face! If only she had seen her own face when she walked, and half ran, away from him. He would bet a million dollars that he was the only one who had ever made Aria Tamburlaine so obviously embarrassed. He had to wonder if he had hit the nail on the head with his accusations. He wouldn't be surprised if she really hadn't kissed anyone given how strict her brothers were and even a stranger could see that she was interested in him, how else did she manage to always find him when he wasn't even looking for her?

So, when Aria finally escaped his eyesight and he had a little giddy laugh to himself about her reaction he walked with a pep in his step back to Bard and Meyrin who were eagerly awaiting his return.

"Oh my! Oh my! Oh my-" Meyrin was babbling, her eyes wide and her mouth failing to form coherent sentences.

"What the hell were you two talking about just now?" Bard asked, intensely curious but not as excited as his girlfriend. He took a drag from the rolled up cannabis in his hand.

"Oh, nothing." Alois answered, though the wide smirk on his face suggesting everything but.

"Bullshit." Bard snapped, rolling his eyes. "You look like you just won the slut of the year award."

"Shut the fuck up." Alois snapped but he happily sat back down with them. Bard offered him his joint back, the one he hadn't just taken a drag from, but Alois just shook his head. He felt high enough without the weed.

Meyrin looked about ready to strangle him.

"What did she say to you! I heard you say something about Ciel!" Alois frowned, he didn't want to talk about Ciel. It would ruin his mood. He still had no idea what had happened between Ciel and Aria after the party and he was annoyed that Ciel kept running into Aria after she ran away from him.

"Don't worry about it, wasn't anything important. She didn't say anything."

"That's bullshit and you know it!" Meyrin squealed shoving him so hard he almost fell over. "Are you trying to tell me that she dragged you specifically away from us to tell you nothing?!"

Alois was having trouble holding on to his giddy attitude. His shoulder now hurt and his friends were annoying him and although they were in the shade it was too damn hot even though it was the middle of September.

He sighed and leaned further back against his backpack.

"That's exactly what I'm telling you and I don't plan to say anything else. I don't like losing and I'm going to win this bet. That's all you need to know."

…

"So, what happened at lunch today?" Sebastian asked from his seat on the couch. We had gotten home a few minutes ago and Claude had gone off somewhere claiming to have some business that needed taking care of. Sebastian didn't ask and I didn't care.

"I needed a drink." I replied vaguely, annoyed that he was bringing up the subject.

"Yes, I understood that. I also saw you eat this morning and last night. I also know that you've gone through more blood in the past few days than you do in a week." He let his question go unspoken but it was obvious what he was insinuating. I scowled.

"You're making the same exact face Claude made earlier. It doesn't suit you." I said, dodging the question.

"And you're being as evasive as Aleistor is when I ask if he's coming to practice and that surely doesn't suit you either." I roll my eyes.

"I've just been feeling hungrier than usual, alright?" I acquiesce. "Not that drinking more blood is helping any."

I regret the words the second they leave my mouth. I didn't mean to say them.

"What did you just say?" Sebastian is frowning now and looking more serious than he's possibly ever looked in life.

"I meant it's not having as much of an effect." I know he heard every word so I try to make up something quickly. "It's just taking more to make the hunger go away. Maybe there was some deficiency in it so it's not as potent. It's happened before." Sebastian looks severe and I've never regretted opening my mouth more in my entire life. He doesn't say anything for a moment and looks over toward the door looking deep in thought.

"Alright." He says finally, sighing. "If the problem continues let us know." He rocks himself upwards standing up from the couch like an old man and disappears upstairs.

I rest my head on the back of the recliner I'm sitting in and breathe out a deep sigh. I don't think I've ever felt so agitated in my life. Everything is annoying me much more than it usually would and along with the irritation of constantly feeling hungry I felt close to losing my mind.

When Claude and Sebastian had sat me down when I was 7 and explained to me that I was not normal I hadn't cried or even been surprised. I had known that already. I was taller, prettier, and more mature than any of the kids around me. It wasn't as obvious a difference as it had been when I lived in London with my mother but my teeth were still sharper than all the other kids and I hadn't ever lost a single one.

They had explained to me the certain precautions that I had to take with the people around me. The number one rule being no biting at any time or for any reason. I was not under any circumstances allowed to drink directly from the vein. I would hurt someone they had said. The urge would begin to come and I was to tell them when it did. They likely thought that I was going through the urge and didn't want to tell them. Deep down, though, I knew that wasn't the case. I had felt hungry before. Immensely hungry, to the point where I shook with it. They had described the urge as a feeling of intense starvation. The feeling I felt now was not hunger. Or at the very least- not for blood.

…

It was around an hour later when my phone vibrated angrily. I had fallen into a half awake, half asleep daze and the sound startled me into full consciousness. I picked my phone off the wooden side table which had caused the loud noise and held it up to my face.

Pluto: Outside.

A smile tugged at my lips and I rose like a snake from the recliner. My gaze travelled upstairs. I heard music playing. Violin. How Sebastian could listen to the whiny sound for recreational purposes was beyond me.

Feeling too lazy to yell up to him or walk all the way I decided to just text him that I was going out with my regularly scheduled supervisors. He texted back "K" a few seconds later.

There were few people my brothers permitted me to spend time with. Basically, it was anyone in their Royal Cabinet. Of course, I had no interest in being anywhere near Grell and I'm sure Victoria would rather spend her time with a roach than with me. So that left Ash and Angela. There was a loophole in the arrangement, though. As long as Ash and Angela were also around I could also spend time with anyone I wanted. Sebastian and Claude trusted them enough to keep me out of trouble.

Pluto's beat up and rusted white truck was running noisily from the street. He often had impeccable timing for things like this. Whenever I needed to relax he suddenly appeared to take me away. I opened the door and hopped into the cab. Pluto was resting his arms on the steering wheel and his head on top of them, looking uninterested but not bored.

"Aria!" He barked as I got in, turning towards me with a grin on his face much like a pet seeing their owner return home after a long day. A genuine smile stretched my lips, an unfamiliar feeling after spending so much of the week scowling in some way or another.

"Hey, how've you been?" It really had been a while since we last met, a few months probably. Pluto frowns, looking uncharacteristically upset. I want to tell him to start driving or we'll end up sitting here talking all night but he has a habit of giving one hundred percent of his attention to whomever he was talking to.

"You haven't been to visit. I had to find you." I had been putting off spending time with Angela and Ash for a while. I had too many exhausting people around me to go out of my way to talk to even more people- exhausting or not.

"I'm sorry." I said earnestly, reaching over to ruffle his hair. I open my mouth to come up with some excuse but realizing I don't have one, shut it and opt for smiling apologetically instead.

"Accepted!" He cries happily and grins broadly at me. He puts the car in drive without me having to tell him and pulls away from the curb. He's a bit of a reckless driver, making quick dangerous movements without proper warning causing a few horns to honk at us. It begins to rain halfway through the drive and while I usually find the dreariness and pitter patter of rain drops soothing-

Today it does nothing but annoy me.

Hello, lovelies! I've missed you guys! I feel like I haven't updated in a year- it's awful! But I've been working on another story- first chapter is going up sometime today! It was supposed to be more of a crack fic but it somehow turned into one of the best things I've ever written? It's an AU modelling story SebastianxUndertaker and I love it so go check it out! Anyways that aside- omg THE REVEAL was it what you were expecting? Maybe it wasn't? I really liked writing this chapter and I'm so excited to write a bunch more "Alria" scenes- yes official ship name there. Ciel and Aria is "Ariel" Which do you ship!? I'd really like to know! I've got a poll on my profile! (No, I'm not determining anything about the story based on the poll results. The end has already been written actually and I'm not going to change it) Not sure when I'll update again but Happy Halloween! Be safe out there! I'll be inside watching Tim Burton movies and rewatching Halloween Town xD