Rain heavily poured down from the sky as if the clouds had been sliced open and the contents were forced to come spilling out. It pelted against poor students trying to dash to their class, as school was still open. Some held umbrellas, while some used their bags. Some simply ran like mad, and occasionally, one would make the mistake of wandering from the concrete as a shortcut, only to slip in mud. Ciel's pupils were not spared either, and showed up to class soaked.
Even Doctor Phantomhive himself was wet after making the mistake of forgetting his umbrella. With a huff, he took off his damp coat and hung it over an empty chair. His feet were wet, as was his face and neck, but the area that the coat had protected was relatively dry. That aside, his face was in a particularly rotten scowl. Running a hand through his sopping wet hair, he swiped his bangs back and out of his face, giving him dastardly look when combined with the eyepatch and scowl on his face. The only thing that cut away from that was the man's bookish sweater, which was quickly removed. The fabric had soaked up too much water and had become unbearably uncomfortable, so it was disgarded in order to reveal a white dress shirt underneath. Ciel rolled up his sleeves and dug around in his suitcase for the attendance sheet.
"Right…" he began, trying not to sound annoyed. "I'm glad you all made it. Bonus points for you. You'd have to be really into thing in order to brave this bloody weather." He grumbled. "I'm going to make a note of that when I call roll today, so be sure to answer. Abbey."
"Here." Called the student called upon, prompting the bluenette to write it down. He continued to do so as he went down the line, but the sound did not reach the ears of a certain gentleman in the front row.
The blonde was far too occupied in his thoughts in order to pay much attention, instead opting to focus on the Phantomhive at the front of the room. Icy blue eyes scanned the instructor up and down, accidentally wearing the smallest of smiles on his face as he took in the mans' form. His shirt was just damp enough to stick to his skin, but not enough to be see-though. Good thing. Alois didn't want to share that with anyone, nor would he want Ciel to accidentally show off his brand against his will. He knew it was embarrassing to him, after all. Despite this, the menace was deeply fascinated by the Phantomhive's appearance.
"…cy." Alois could pick up a faint noise, but failed to register.
"Trancy." There it was again, much clearer, bringing the blonde to the edge of conscious thinking.
"Good God, you're hot…" he murmured, his mind finally catching up with him as he saw the Phantomhive being taken aback by something, his face slightly flushed. Suddenly, the room was completely silent, and Alois finally snapped back to his senses.
"Uh… I mean- here?" He didn't dare look around the room at his classmates. He could hear some of them gasping, shocked at what just happened, while others tried their best not to laugh. Ciel, meanwhile, stood at the front of the room, eyebrows raised, with a surprised expression on his pinkened face.
"Well, uhm…" the Phantomhive began, floundering a bit for a response. This was the first time during the entire semester that Ciel lost his composure in front of the students. On one hand, he felt genuinely happy that the menace found him attractive, while on the other, he was embarrassed, and still had to keep the air of unfamiliarity with the blonde while in plain sight on campus.
"Thank you?" he finally said, ultimately unsure of how to act. With that, he quickly tried to advance the roll call, doing his best to ignore the blonde currently sinking in his seat.
He messed up. He messed up badly. Now everyone suspected him of having a crush on a teacher, specifically, one that he had been previously been suspected of hating. This could complicate things, especially if it was suspected that Ciel returned his feelings. The bluenette's response did send a few mixed messages, after all.
Once class was over, he didn't wait for Ciel, or head straight to his office. Instead, he did something that he never did as a demon. He went to the bathroom. There, he made sure that it was empty before finding a stall. During class, he had thought extensively about how he was going to get into Ciel's office. The solution, of course, was to not be seen. The way he would do that is by doing something that most demons are quite good at. He shape-shifted.
Choosing the form of someone he already knew was easiest, so he opted to change into the guise of someone who didn't attend school. Alois' hair turned black and his face became slightly rounder. The menace's eyes changed from blue to green and became more narrow. With that, he buttoned up the front of the dress shirt he was wearing in order to conceal the T-shirt he wore underneath. As he was rolling down his sleeves, he exited the stall and peered into the mirror.
His likeness of Audrey was practically spot-on. He didn't bother changing the length of his hair, however, and opted to brush his bangs in front of his borrowed face with his fingers instead. There, now he looked a lot like Audrey did while they were at Warwick, and no one would recognise him.
Swinging his back over his shoulder, he waltzed to the Phantomhive's office without a care in the world, knowing that no one would ever be able to know it was him. Once he got there, he didn't even bother with knocking, instead just stepping inside, taking the bluenette professor off-guard. Ciel narrowed his eyes and looked the grinning Macken over as his beau shut the door behind him and locked it.
"'Sup?" questioned the menace, using his own voice. Ciel's perplexed expression fell, after pondering his boyfriend's appearance, before leaning back in his chair.
"Not much." The Phantomhive replied. "What's with the getup? Are you experimenting with shapeshifting again?"
"No." Alois stated, his face morphing back to its usual state and his hair becoming blonde again. He rubbed the back of his neck, wearing a slight pick tint on his cheeks. "I figured it would be best if I wasn't seen around your office for a while."
"Probably." Ciel said. Knowing the menace, there was no way that he would actually stay away from the Phantomhive's office. He lightly smiled, remembering the blonde's blunder, rather pleased with himself that he possessed the capability to provoke such a response as said Macken set his bag down before laying on the small loveseat that was somehow crammed into the office.
"I can't believe I did thaaaaaat…" whined Alois, placing his hands over his face and causing his lover to chuckle.
"Don't be upset. I'm sure you're not the first student ever to have a crush on an instructor."
"I'm sure you're not the first instructor to have an inappropriate relationship with a student, either." The menace quipped, sitting up a tad.
"We were dating before either of us came here. It's not 'inappropriate'." The instructor answered, greatly amused by the blonde's pouting. "Now, your comments in class, however, were quite inappropriate."
"Ugh!"
"Not that they weren't appreciated." Ciel added, prompting the other man to cease his groaning for a moment to register the slight pick hue that dusted his beau's cheeks. Alois tried his best not to return Ciel's grin, the corners of his mouth being forced downward and his cheeks puffing. Finally, he caved and held out his arms, inviting the other man to get in them. Happily, his boyfriend obliged, standing up and walking over to the loveseat before sitting down.
"Put your back against me." Alois instructed, and the Phantomhive did just that, leaning back so that he was laying against the blonde's chest and positioned between the blonde's legs. He set one hand on Alois' knee, while the other was laid across his own stomach. One of his legs was folded so that it still fit within the tight space, while the other hung off of the couch.
The man's eyes closed and he let out a content sigh as the menace kissed his head while wrapping his arms around him. His hair was still a bit damp, but Alois didn't seem to mind, pressing his cheek to the side of his beaus' head and running a hand through blueish-black locks. While Ciel would never admit it, he really did like the attention, and was perfectly content to simply stay still and enjoy it. It was nice to be doted on every once in a while. Happiness bubbled up within Ciel's chest as it always did when the blonde was treating him this way. In that current state of his, he looked like the kind of man who would beat someone bloody and then sue them for getting their suit dirty. Yet, here he was, completely docile in the hands of the Macken.
"You look so bad right now…" Alois said, grinning as he felt the bluenette relax against him.
"That's not what you said in the classroom…" the bluenette quipped back, furrowing his brow as he focused on Alois' fingers and the vibrations of his chest as he giggled.
"No, I mean 'bad' as in, 'you look like a mobster'." The blonde clarified.
"As long as you think I'm cute, I don't really care."
"I never said I didn't think it's cute. I like it. A lot."
"You're weird." Ciel accused half-heartedly, knowing full-well that he wasn't alone in that aspect.
"You love it." Hummed the menace. His hands continued to run through dark, blueish-black locks as his focus honed in on the Phantomhive. His smile softened as he did. It always did. This bad, bad, evil man was good to him. Ciel's heart belonged to Alois, and it was almost disappointing to the blonde that he couldn't show off his beau to the other students.
"Hey, guess what?" he asked.
"Hm?"
"I love you." He said, causing the watchdog to grin.
"And I love you." Ciel replied, reaching up to touch the side of the blonde's head. Softly, fingers brushed against Alois' cheek and against his hair. For the time being, he completely forgot that they were on campus, as he might as well be on cloud nine given how at ease he was.
Class was over, terrorists had been thwarted, and things were relatively peaceful, for the time being. There was no need to worry or rush. Although things were not right elsewhere, and things had not turned out for the best, the duo's job had been done. The mission had been completed, despite the cost. Workers packed up and went home for the day, opting to not work on the repairs to Big Ben in the heavy rain. Preston was in H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. custody—a broken man, having lost his freedom and his humanity for doing what was justifiable. The environment in the Public Relations department was hectic, as they scrambled to get the events that took place at the monument under wraps and out of the sight of the general public. All was not well with the world, but Ciel was with his Jim, and at that moment, that was what was important to him. Part of him felt guilty, but the warmth that radiated from the menace onto his back quelled his anxiety, for now.
Despite the fact that the world was not calm, Ciel was, because he was safe in the arms of his highness.
A/N: Oooh, just short of 2,000 words. 1,978. So close, so close.
No idea what I'm going to do next. I HAD an idea, but then...
I've slept since then. I really need to start writing this shit down.
Aaahhh... Some of you are still not sure why Preston would do what he did. I thought I made it pretty clear, but I guess not.
Preston was dying. He was dying painfully. Black Annis shards were growing outward from his scar as well as inward, stabbing his internal organs. He was loosing his ability to move around. He couldn't go anywhere. He was stuck. He was dying slowly, painfully, and somewhat alone. Isolation was starting to drive him mad.
Then, Voros comes along after he's somewhat accepted his fate, and offers to make all of that go away. No more pain, no more suffering, he will feel better than ever and he would be alive, as long as he did as they instructed. Preston's emotional state was and is still fragile. He was depressed, anxious, and felt suffocatingly hopeless, so when this person comes along and says they can make that go away? Hell yeah, he's gonna say "yes". No more pain, no more suffering, and no more despair.
Unfortunately, it's not that simple. He is angry, he is upset, and now, he's feeling hopeless again. How is he supposed to overcome this? Who knows. One thing you can be certain of, tough, is that the "Preston" from the beginning of the story is gone now, and whatever it is that took his place is what remains.
People are complicated. We act irrationally under stress. It's in our nature. While baring that sort of weight, no one is going to act 100% rationally. Preston did what he could to survive. Ciel did, too, once. Do you think he gave a shit about selling his soul when he first summoned Sebastian? No. He was interested in getting out alive.
On that note, we part ways until the next chapter, my duckies~!
