Today was most certainly not a good day for Alois Trancy. His beau had called H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G; and not only had they said that they were going to only call upon the demons if needed, Sir Integra had deliberately banned Alois from participating altogether! While he understood her intentions, he was still rather peeved. The woman knew that Alois wasn't very good with cases involving human trafficking, being a victim of such a crime, himself, and did not want to expose him to a mission involving it, simply to save him from recalling his trauma.

That was reasonable, but Alois, being the rather bold individual that he is, felt that it was best for him to face things head-on. He had made so much progress during the Black Annis case. If he can handle that all of that, then surely he can handle this mission as well. Still, while he was stubborn, he wasn't stupid. Arguing with Sir Integra was unwise, especially since he had finally managed to be on her good side. All he had to do was wait on everyone else. Today, in more ways than one.

It was the end of the week, and the demonic duo had made a bet. Unfortunately for the blonde menace, he had lost. Thus he donned his butler suit, which suspiciously still fit him, somehow, even though it was made several years ago, and he got to work. First order of business: wake the master.

Since it was the weekend, Alois' alarm was turned off, leaving it up to him to wake Ciel manually. He had somehow weaseled out of the bluenette's grip in order to get ready, knowing full-well that he had woken the other man in the process from the smirk on the Phantomhive's face. Now that Alois was fully clothed, however, Ciel had managed to fall back asleep in the time it took Alois to figure out the butler uniform. The blonde walked over to the bed and stretched out a hand before pausing. How does a butler wake their master, again?

After thinking about it, Alois took his hand back and left the room altogether. When he returned, he had a tray in hand with tea on it and a newspaper tucked under his arm. He then set that down and walked over to the curtains that shielded the room from the light outside. When was the last time they were opened?

It didn't matter. After mustering all of his strength, Alois opened the curtains. The light pouring into the room caused Ciel to stir. Confusedly, he opened his eyes to see his beau standing there with the most butler-like smile he could muster.

"Good morning, Master. It's time to wake up." The blonde greeted, slowly dying inside already. He did his best to conceal his embarrassment, allowing only a little bit of blood to rush to his cheeks. The dumbfounded look on the Phantomhive's face, however, was quite pleasant.

Ciel sat up and rubbed his eye, making sure he saw what he was seeing correctly. He had almost forgotten about the bet for a moment, he was so taken aback. The blonde's fair skin and hair almost glowed in the new lighting, and the butler uniform was almost predictably appealing to the bluenette. Ciel loved it when Alois' appearance or demeanor was somewhat "powerful". After all, the Phantomhive did love power. He gawked when the blonde handed him the newspaper before gliding over to pour the tea.

"Uh… good morning…" the bluenette said, watching the other man carefully. When the blonde looked over his shoulder to catch Ciel staring, the Phantomhive quickly opened the newspaper and pretended to read it. Perhaps this would be more entertaining for the blonde than he thought. Alois smirked to himself before swiftly concealing it again to hand his new "master" his tea.

"Earl Grey." The blonde said as the other man took the cup and saucer. He remembered that it was the watchdog's favourite. Ciel put the cup to his lips before pausing.

"It smells like there's rosemary in this." The bluenette said. He looked up at the menace, who did his best to not allow his smile to turn mischievous.

"A pinch." He replied, holding his index finger and thumb together.

"You're devious." Accused his beau, taking a sip.

"Not especially." Alois answered. "I'm simply one hell of a butler."

Ciel choked, nearly spitting out his drink at those words. He couldn't tell if it was because he wanted to laugh, or something else, but he quickly righted himself to keep from making a mess. He could tell, however, that the menace was amused by his reaction.

"Are you alright, master?" inquired the blonde, putting emphasis on his beau's temporary title. Ciel set his tea down on the nightstand next to their bed and wiped his mouth before shooting his new "butler" a glare.

"Shouldn't you be working, or something?" he asked, only to have the blonde shrug at him.

"Most likely, but I'm not entirely sure what a butler does." The menace stated. "You could give me an order. Or, perhaps you would like me to help you get dressed?" he teased.

"That won't be necessary!" the Phantomhive insisted. He shouldn't have made this bet. Even though he was the victor, he could tell that this was going to be a long day. "Why don't you… uh… go… get my things organised in my office so I can start back up with FUNTOM business."

"As you wish, sir." Alois replied, offering a small bow. As he turned to walk away, he smirked and was sure to add a little more effort into his strides, simply because he knew the bluenette would be watching him.

He was right. Indeed, Ciel was watching; paying special attention to the blonde's hips as they sashayed from side to side. The sight almost made the man want to grab onto them and—

As soon as the door had shut behind the menace, Ciel threw his pillow at it, irritated that his amusing idea had completely backfired on him and became a means for Alois to toy with him. He certainly wasn't going to turn this into something obscene, but the situation was tempting. Quickly, the Phantomhive gently slapped his own face to wake himself up before hoisting himself out of bed to make his way toward the bathroom for a shower. Perhaps the water would clear his head and help him remember the important tasks that he was supposed to complete that day.

Perhaps Ciel could "order" Alois to follow Sebastian around and help him with his duties. That would keep the menace out of his sight and absolve him of the potential distraction. Meanwhile, Sebastian had secured a location some time ago, and had suggested to the Phantomhive a caterer for the FUNTOM event. Ciel needed to contact them and as well as go through those perfume samples, still. Why couldn't the marketing team do that? Why was it that the owner of the company had to hand-pick these items? They had claimed that it made it seem more "important" if the owner did so himself. What a joke.

Soon, the CEO had to get out and get dressed. Once he did, he made his way toward his office. He took a deep breath upon approaching the door, having sensed the blonde's presence on the other side. When he opened it, he saw the menace leaning over the desk, writing something down with one hand, and holding his cell-phone in the other, occasionally glancing at it. When he was finished, he looked up at the bluenette.

"What were you writing?" Ciel asked, walking over to the other man and looking at the paper. "These are my notes…"

"I know." Alois replied. "I was writing down all of the things that weren't on there and that weren't done. I had Sebastian text me a few things that might also be important."

His beau actually raised his eyebrows at the new notes. Alois had written down the phone number for the caterer, as well as a recommendation for someone to do the decorating and their contact information. Apparently, Ciel's wardrobe situation had slipped his mind, and there were several names written down as possible attendees. Finally, the watchdog looked up from the notebook.

"You've saved me a lot of time…" he said. "Thank you."

"I was only doing as instructed." The Macken practically beamed. "I've sorted most of the paperwork, and can finish that in a few minutes."

"Nevermind that." Stated the bluenette. "I need you to go help Sebastian with his duties."

"Huh? Why?" asked the younger demon. "I thought the deal was for me to serve you for the day?"

"A butler doesn't question his master's orders." Ciel pointed out, smirking inwardly at the blonde's pout. With that, Alois offered a small bow.

"My apologies, sir." He said in the snidest way possible. When he straightened himself, he turned toward the door. "I'll get right on it."

"Just a moment." Interrupted the bluenette, catching Alois' attention. His temporary butler looked over his shoulder, waiting for him to continue. "Come here for a second."

Curiously, Alois walked back over to the Phantomhive's desk, where his boss was seated. When he stopped, the bluenette simply motioned for him to come closer, so he did, walking around the desk to be at the other man's side. Arching an eyebrow, the Macken was confused as to why Ciel motioned for him to come even closer still. He assumed that there was something wrong with his notes and bent himself at the waist to lean in.

"Yes?" he called, only for the watchdog to grab his tie and pull him closer. He would have made a sound of surprise, had his beau not connected their lips. The blonde's eyes fluttered shut and he placed one hand on the back of the man's chair and the other on his desk. He sighed through his nose, but as soon as he did, the bluenette gently pushed him away.

"You forgot my 'Good Morning' kiss." Ciel stated, a smirk gracing his face as his new, temporary servant started blushing like mad. With that, he released the other man's tie and turned back to his desk.

"Now, fix your uniform and get back to work." He instructed, rather content with himself, having regained the upper-hand. His amusement was equally matched by his partner's embarrassment, as Alois furrowed his brow and straightened his back.

"Y-yes, sir." He forced out, trying to maintain at least a shred of his pride. Alois snorted as he walked away, placing his tie back in his vest and making his exit. This time, he made no effort in his walk, tickling the bluenette even more.

A masculine and seductive Alois was good, but an embarrassed and indignant Alois was just as charming. In all honesty, Ciel didn't know which one he liked more. Fortunately, he didn't have to choose. Now that the menace had left and that the Phantomhive had to work again, he couldn't help but think that he should have teased his blonde for a little while longer.


A/N: I hope this spawns some dirty fanficceptions.

Remember kids: Alois doesn't like it from behind.

...Or maybe... Since Ciel likes Manly-Alois...

Pfft-! I'm sorry. I'm actually just sort of stalling until I figure out how I want this next arc to go.

You know how it is.

Aiyt, Questions?

"what year is it now in DLTP? How old is Luka?" by CiaranMicaelis

It's October 2014, and Luka is... I want to say 11... He was nine when he first showed up... DLTD starts in 2010, so when was that?

"HateWeasel: How are you? Life in college doing ya any good? And, I know you must've answered this question a bunch of times but HOW CAN YOU MAKE YOUR CHARACTERS-your OCS- likable? I mean, I hate OCs but in DLTD/P you make me forget that they're even OCs! What's your damn good secret, if you have any. :))" by I'm just a person now read 66

I dunno. I just treat them like they're real people. They have real problems, real weaknesses, and insecurities that people deal with every day. Sometimes, they respond badly and totally fuck shit up. Even your goodest of good-guys can, and sometimes, they aren't forgiven. They aren't always liked by everybody, especially immediately. They can be serious assholes sometimes, because that's what even perfectly nice people are like. I don't want to read about mister/missus perfect card-board cutout, I want to read about someone who isn't the strongest, smartest, or best, who struggles with things, no matter how small they may seem overcome that and succeed because that's something that almost everyone identifies with. They have to have things that are important to them, and their own lives outside the story.

A lot of the personalities of the characters are based both on people I've met or seen, or even off of qualities that I, myself have, even if they aren't good. Just keep your characters real, man. Make them "people", not "characters".

One of the things that's a really big turn-off for me in OCs is just the naming of the character. There's names that just immediately make me not want to read something upon seeing them in the description because I've heard them so many goddamn times, and a lot of them are Mary Sues. It's like a "Sue-dar". Names that are common to make people think "Sue" are Alice, Sophie/Sophia, Raven, Anastasia (which is why I gave it to a background character who was originally snobbish), and stuff like that.

There's also the rule that "If you wouldn't meet someone on the street with that name, don't use it." That sounds really stupid, but think about it. If you're trying to make a realistic "person", why the hell would you name them something bizarre like that? The only exceptions to the rule is if that name is specific to a character's nationality, or if there's a fantasy element that's really really in your face. If they're some ancient being, then yeah, that's totally cool, but don't name some "ordinary" highschooler from New York "Balthazar" or "Cornelius" or some shit.

That just annoys me beyond reason to perhaps an extent that is somewhat inappropriate... I do break the rule though. I specifically chose "Kristopherson Miles" because it was pretentious-sounding as fuck, and I picked "Preston" because it sounded really British at the time. I usually pick names of old classmates, or relatives, or people whose names I just happen to catch and then slap a surname on it.

There's probably more, but it's 2 am.

Until the next chapter, my duckies~!


CHARACTER SHET

Question: "for Revy: Where have you been? And why do you look cooler than Alois (in my head)? Why are you so punk? Why are you so coolishly emo? I don't think you look like Alois that much anymore since I think you have your own flair. And last question: Can you be my adorably cool guy friend? And Ciel: Stop imitating your boyfriend. You suck at it. And you're undeniably hilarious when you do that. " by I'm just a person now read 66

Revy's Answer: I've been at school. I started at Warwick this year and I hate it. I dunno if I'm 'punk'. I just wear whatever's comfy and practical. I don't really think I'm 'emo', and I only really look like Alois in the face and body area, really, since my eyes are this gross black colour, I dress completely different and I cut my hair and don't really do anything to it. I'm told we make different expressions, though. He's a lot cooler, too, so I dunno where you got that idea. He's a lot better dressed and just carries himself a certain way, y'know? And... uh... sure, I guess?"

Ciel's Answer: "Oh, well there's one impression I can do: 'Piss off.'"

00000000000000

Question: "To Sebastain: Are you still in your tailcoat or have you adopted a more modern attire to avoid suspicion?" by Blonde Sunflower lover

Sebastian's Answer: Not really. The more modern-looking uniforms aren't as pleasing to the eye, especially since they look like the suits worn by the masters! My 'traditional-style' uniform, as they call it, is much more suitable. Since I am a butler, it's not suspicious in the slightest."