Alois Trancy has not concept of knocking. Immediately upon returning home, he located the Phantomhive gentleman and tried his best to startle him half to death. When he found out that he was in the dining room, the Macken immediately went to violently swing open the doors.
"Hello, my baby! Hello, my honey! Hello, my rag… time… gal?" the menace trailed off as he registered the sight before him.
There were boxes upon boxes of candy scattered about across the dining room table, as well as some in the floor. Mountains of empty wrappers littered the entire area as two lone figures sat at the far end of the table. Both Ciel and Luka were laying their head on the table as they both tried to shake being nauseous.
"What happened here?!" demanded Alois rushing over to the two. "I leave for a couple of hours and y'all have some kind of candy-party without me?!"
"Jim…. I feel gross…" Luka whined to his older brother, lifting his head so that his chin was touching the table's surface. "I ate too much candy…"
"I can see that. Now, why?" The older Macken asked while his beau propped his own head up.
"I needed help picking out which products to showcase for the anniversary and I had Luka's help because Sebastian can't taste properly." Ciel answered, his eye still shut. "We got done, but we really shouldn't have done it all at once…"
"Obviously." Scolded the fair-haired demon as he stroked his younger brother's hair in a soothing fashion. He knew it would probably wear off quickly, but it still was somewhat flabbergasting to see that the bluenette would do something like this. The more he thought about it, however, the more plausible it seemed.
"Go lay down, Luka. You'll feel better." Alois said with a sigh.
"Guh…" the younger boy grunted. "I don't wanna move…" With a roll of his eyes, Alois gently picked his brother up and carried him toward the door. Before exiting, however, he looked back at his boyfriend.
"I'll be back to chew you out, in a sec." he warned with only partial seriousness. Ciel waved him away, indicating that he heard the other man, prompting the blonde to make his exit.
Luka whined as he was set down on a sofa in the entertainment room. His brother had picked it specifically because it was close to a bathroom, just in case the younger demon got sick. He found himself incased in warmth as Alois took off his coat and laid it over him like a blanket.
Luka liked Alois' coat. It smelled nice and felt kind of like a hug. It also looked "cool", although it was too big for the younger Macken and it was currently covering him as he tried not to vomit. A sigh escaped the blonde's lips as he stroked the brunette's hair again.
"Ciel is so dumb." Alois said, causing Luka to giggle. "How could he let you eat all of that?"
"I was helping." Replied the younger demon.
"I see that. But you shouldn't help if you start to feel sick…"
"It was tasty."
"Tasty enough to deal with an upset tummy?" questioned the menace, gently poking his brother's abdomen.
"I dunno. It was fun when I was eatin' it." Luka stated. "We had a real good time."
"Well, if you put it that way, how am I supposed to scold him for being irresponsible?"
"I dunno. Do you have to?" asked the brunet, laying on his back.
"Yes, because you don't get too many chances to scold Ciel Phantomhive, after all." His brother answered. Luka laughed.
"So you just wanna boss Ciel around?"
"Yea." Alois said bluntly, ruffling the younger boy's hair. "Try to take it easy, alright? If you have to puke, the bathroom's where it's always been, alright?"
"Okay." Luka replied, wrapping himself in his older brother's warm coat.
The menace smiled at him before standing up and walking back toward the dining room. There, he found his beau in the exact same spot as he left him, still lying on the table feeling like a beached whale. When he heard the blonde's footsteps, he lifted his head despite his crummy feeling.
"Am I in trouble?" he jokingly asked, reading the expression on the blonde's face.
"You made my brother feel sick, and Sebastian's going to be pissed off because Luka's not going to want any supper." Alois answered, trying not to smile at the bluenette's chuckle.
"I'm sorry." Ciel answered. "Is there anything I can do to repent?"
"Probably, but I can't come up with anything at the moment." His beau said, plucking a piece of candy off the table and unwrapping it. "I'm not good at punishing grown-ups in ways that aren't horrible and sadistic."
"Sounds gross."
"Not like that, you little shit!" Alois insisted, popping his treat into his mouth before flicking the back of the other man's head. "Ya nasty…"
"Ow. How dare you? Hitting your boyfriend like that? I didn't take you for an abuser."
"Oh, shut up." The menace replied, taking a seat where Luka had once been on the side of the table opposite to the Phantomhive.
"You're cute when you're flustered, though." Ciel protested, grunting as he sat up in his chair. "So, how'd it go with the Dinsdales?"
"They're weirdos." Answered the other demon before swallowing. "They said they did it because a group of vampires said it would turn them into one of them."
"What?" inquired the Phantomhive, narrowing his eye. His switch had been hit and he was somehow serious again. "Why would vampires do that?"
"That's what I was wondering. I thought you might have some ideas."
"I don't…" stated the watchdog, folding his hands in front of him. "Vampires would have just killed them. There's no reason for them to do something like that…"
"Well, shit." Alois said. "The only other information I got was that they came across a vampire eating, and he told them to go to a warehouse, where they met the others."
"Did he have a name?"
"Uh… yeah, hang on a sec." The menace paused to pull out his memo-pad. "They said his name was 'Baldassare.'" He jumped when the other demon coughed. Ciel leaned over and grabbed his stomach as he tried to stop. "Are you okay?!"
"Yeah… I'm fine…" his boyfriend answered, finally managing to stop. "That just surprised me."
"What? 'Baldassare'? Who's Baldassare?"
"A vile piece of scum that has somehow managed to take on a humanoid shape." Ciel snidely stated. "He's the head of the biggest coven of vampires in London, now that he's taken over Charlie's territory, too."
"Who's Charlie?"
"Remember that vampire who Charlotte and Amelie used to live with?"
"Oh, yeah, him. I didn't like him. Glad we off'd 'im." Alois replied. "Anyway, you know that guy?"
"He's somewhat of an informant. He tells me about suspicious vampire activity, and I pass it on to H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G." the bluenette answered.
"Why would he do that?"
"Less competition for him." There was a pause as the Phantomhive took a drink of water in hopes of quelling his irritated throat. "Why he would be involved in something like this, however, is beyond me. It's not like him at all."
"You gonna go ask him?" questioned the Macken.
"I can't." Ciel replied. "Not directly, at least. I need to get ahold of a certain someone to act as a medium, first. Problem is, moving around in that part of the city is a bit a problem for me."
"Why's that?"
"I'm a bit of a 'boogeyman' to the supernaturals, remember? It's hilarious."
"So how are we going to do this?" asked Alois. "Want me to go for you?"
"There is no way that I'm going to let you talk to Baby-face Baldassare on your own." His beau stated.
"'Baby-Face'?"
"He became a vampire when he was a child, so he's stuck in that form forever. That's why they call him that." The Phantomhive paused for a moment and thought.
"What you can do is go get that medium for me, and tell her I need to talk to Baldassare." He continued. "Her name is 'Sister Dorothy'; a nun and also a vampire. She's very kind. You'll like her. She also just so happens to be one of the only people that Baby-Face will listen to."
"Tell me the plan, man." Said the fair-haired demon, leaning forward. This was all incredibly exciting for him. Not only would he get to meet Ciel's lesser-known informants, but he would also get to go on a greater adventure than he was going to had this been an ordinary murder. He watched as the bluenette absent-mindedly rummaged around the piles of wrappers.
"Easy. We go into the old, abandoned part of town and look." The Phantomhive answered. "First, we'll start at the church, which is where she'll probably be, if not, we'll look in The Wolf's Glen- that's a little shop run by supernaturals who help other supernaturals. If she's in neither of those places, then we'll leave her a note at the church." He said, finally locating a small box of candy and picking it up.
"That sounds too easy." Alois replied. "Boring!"
"What? Did you want to get in a shoot-out or something?"
"Shoot-outs are fun, unless they interrupt a date and make me crash Sebastian's car."
"Technically, it's my car."
"Ah, but the man was deeply in love with it, and now his heart has been broken as he is forced to mourn. Poor soul."
A laugh escaped the bluenette's throat as the menace made his jest. He opened the box in his hand and placed one of the hard candies in his mouth before speaking. "Please don't make me picture that."
"You're still eating?" Alois inquired, arching an eyebrow. "Haven't you had enough?"
"You don't eat these, you suck on them." Ciel corrected, furrowing his brow in confusion when the blonde laughed.
"Are you thinking of alternative meanings to that which might be questionable in nature?" asked the watchdog.
"No, sir. Well, not until you said that, that is." Replied the menace. "I was just laughing at how childish you can be."
"How dare you. I am deeply offended."
"I can tell. It still isn't a suitable enough punishment for giving my brother a stomachache and spoiling his dinner." Stated Alois as he leaned forward. "How dare you, sir?"
Instead of talking, the Phantomhive merely leaned forward as well, closing the gap between them. He cupped the other man's cheek before pressing their lips together, feeling Alois smile into the kiss. It didn't waver even as Ciel ran his tongue along the blonde's bottom lip. Access to the menace's mouth was happily granted as Alois stood up a bit and placed a hand on the back of the bluenette's head. Suddenly, though, he stopped smiling, and his cheeks turned pink. Soon they parted again, however little, both staying within an inch of each other.
"There, now you've taken my candy, too." Ciel mused, enjoying the embarrassed look on the other's face. "You like the red ones, right?"
Alois pulled back before exploding into a coughing fit. Quickly, he reached over and took a drink from the Phantomhive's glass of water. The blonde coughed a few more times, leaning over the table, before falling silent again. For some reason, he refused to look at the smirking bluenette.
"Did you swallow it?" Ciel asked, to which his embarrassed beau so eloquently replied:
"Shuddup."
