As the case came to a close, so did the month of January. With February coming around, the duo found themselves paying attention to less-than interesting work as they were placed on a temporary suspension from government-paid duties, including both H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. and Scotland Yard work. They could still be accessed in times of peril, but the council decided that a small amount of "punishment" for their previous failure was a reasonable idea, despite the fact that it seemed a bit minute.

Now, the pair were stuck on smaller, more "ordinary" feats. Business and academia came to the forefront of their focus, as not only was in necessary, it was all that they had to do now. Ciel sat in his office, grumbling to himself about some of the papers he was having to grade. Begrudgingly, he marked the final grade on an essay, immensely irritated by the content. Kyle, despite being his most enthusiastic student, was also the one who missed the point the every single time. With a deep breath, the watchdog set the paper aside on the "finished" stack and rubbed his forehead, taking a moment to lean back in his seat and muster up the state to continue.

Glancing over at the paper that was next in the "to grade" stack, his eye glanced over to the author, who was currently seated on one of the terribly uncomfortable sofas in the room. Ciel listened intently to the menace as the other man hummed along as he was focused on his own devices. His beau watched intently as he carefully cleaned each piece of one of the guns that was taken apart and neatly organised across the coffee table. They were relatively new, so they weren't too filthy. Mostly, the menace was seeing how to disassemble and reassemble them again for future reference.

Dexterously, thin fingers pieced together the weapon with purpose, appearing to know by heart how each part was put back together. It was incredible, how quickly the menace had picked up how to meddle with weaponry, and then how to apply what he knew to other devices as well. On the surface, he seemed like any ordinary college student—a fairly weak one, at that—yet here he was, nonchalantly assembling a gun that would go on to kill many more things in addition to a demonic leopard.

Ciel liked that about Alois, however. He was always full of surprises, and to be frank, he was fun to watch. Icy blue eyes shifted from the gun to the Phantomhive and then back again, all without having to shift blonde locks from their place by Alois moving his head. A smile appeared on his face at the knowledge that he was being watched and he stopped his humming for a moment.

"Taking a break, love?" he finally asked, continuing to meddle with his new toys and snapping the watchdog to attention. It had suddenly occurred to Ciel that he had been leaning forward, his chin resting in his palm as his elbow stabbed into the desk's surface. Blinking, the cyclops answered.

"Yes." He said, leaning back in his chair again. "I just got done reading one of the most unknowledgeable piece on criminal profiling I've ever read, and now I have to mentally prepare myself to continue on to the next one."

"Sorry to hear that." Giggled the menace, finally looking up. "Want some help?"

"No, I think it's best if I grade this next one." Informed the Phantomhive. "It's written by the most disruptive person in class." Alois rolled his eyes at the bluenette's jab, still wearing a grin on his face.

"Oh no, what a nightmare." He answered without a shred of sincerity, his words dripping with sarcasm. "I could still look over some of the others, couldn't I?"

"I'm not sure, given the punctuation mistakes on this paper." Ciel answered, skimming over his beaus' essay.

"Hey, I was illiterate for ages, and only got proficient not too long ago. Gimme a break."

"If I don't mark the mistakes though, how can you get better?" questioned the watchdog as he started to read. The red pen in his hand clicked only a few times for spelling and punctuation mistakes, but overall, it was a good prompt. For a moment, Ciel actually forgot about grading it and was simply reading it.

"Can I keep this?" he asked finally, stealing away the blonde's attention from the guns as Alois spun his head around in order to face him.

"Huh?" spouted the Macken questioningly, a light blush on his cheeks. "Why would you want it?"

"Because I like it." Ciel replied. "It's interesting to see you discussing work so seriously. Although, I'm not sure if 'creepy fuckers' is an appropriate term to use for a school paper."

"It got my point across the best." Alois stated. "I don't really care if you keep it or not. It was probably just going to be shoved back into my bag never to be seen again after I got it back." While the last part was true, the menace was sincerely flattered that the bluenette would want to keep such a thing. He really did try his best on it, although his own pride when it came to literacy got in the way of him seeking help in some patches.

"Fine by me. You've gotten really good at this." The Phantomhive said with a smile. "I still don't think that you need a degree to be a detective. You've already proven yourself more than enough."

"I want to have the same credentials as you, though." Replied the menace, locking the last piece of his weapon in place. "You're Senior Detective Constable Sir Doctor Ciel Phantomhive, while I'm just 'Jim Macken'."

"'Detective Constable Jim Macken', also known as 'Agent Macken' of Her Royal England Legions of Legitimate Supernatural and Immortal Night Guard, also unofficially known as 'Her Majesty's Lion'." Ciel chimed in. "You have some serious credentials as well. You're one of the highest ranked agents in the business. You should have more faith in yourself."

"Yes, but you still outrank me in everything. Is it wrong for me to pursue being your academic and professional equal?"

"No, it certainly isn't. If something is important to you, then I will support it. Just don't become too fixated on titles and rank."

"Is that really something a blueblood should be saying?" asked the menace.

"You have a point…" the Phantomhive replied. "No matter how much of that nasty habit I want to let go, it's still there. You're very good at bringing me back down to earth, though."

"I know, right? Us poor folks have got some knowledge, too, and can talk about it with the right learnin's."

"I still think it would be easier just to bribe your teachers…"

"No. No. Bad. Bad dog." Alois said scoldingly, pointing at the bluenette from his seat. "Bribing people doesn't solve all of life's problems."

"Just a lot of them." Ciel added, leaning back in his chair and folding his arms with a small smile.

"The whole point is to become equal to you, and I can't do that if you're paying everybody to go easy on me!"

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I won't do it."

"You better not." The blonde warned. "Besides, it's a waste of money to do it that way, when I can do it myself. You could spend that money on other things. Do you know how many people you could help with that? Lots."

"You're so kind-hearted…" the Phantomhive mused. It always pleased the man to see the same menace who carried out assassinations and was capable of smashing in the heads of enormous, armoured beasts with his bare hands, talking about the greater good. At times, Ciel really didn't understand, but he did his best since it seemed important to the Macken. "I like that about you, though. What baffles me, however, is how you can be with a horrible person like me."

"You're not as horrible as you make yourself out to be." Alois replied. "You do all kinds of good. Your morals just allow you to take different routes to get there, sometimes; or just to get what you want or need."

"The same could be applied to murderers, you know. Do you think they're different?"

"Depends on the motive." The blonde answered, setting the gun on the table. "What were they trying to accomplish? Where they trying to gain wealth, the feeling of power, or something like that? Or where they trying to defend themselves? People get jailed for the latter often, but I think killing someone who is hurting you, or is about to hurt you is sensible."

"And what about us?" questioned the Phantomhive, raising an eyebrow. His beau paused for a moment, leaning back in his seat and resting his head on the back of the couch as he pondered the inquiry.

"We kill people who are going to hurt others, but that kind of feels like some weak justification, to me." He finally stated. "It's a job. If we don't do what we're told, then they come after us. Under H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. ideology, that makes us 'dogs', doesn't it? I guess I've just never really thought about it." The menace looked over to the bluenette with a confused expression on his face. "Is it weird that I don't feel too bad about it? Killing people? Or rather, 'monsters', as H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G. would put it… We kill because if we don't, we'll be killed. Isn't that justification enough?"

"Honestly, I couldn't tell you. My record isn't exactly 'spotless' either." Ciel replied. "I think it's a pretty good reason."

"I'm not so sure…" the menace began, looking away again. His gaze turned to the gun on the table, polished and ready for use. "Sometimes… It's fun—killing 'baddies', that is. Is that weird?" he asked, looking up again. "Is it wrong to like putting down threats?"

Silence hung in the air for a moment as the bluenette pondered a response. Occasionally, the blonde would blindside him with a deep question such as this, but it always got him thinking, so he couldn't complain. Ciel stared at the menace, his features conveying how perplexed he was.

"I don't know." He said, standing up and stretching his legs. Walking over to the sofa, he leaned down, resting his elbow on the back of the seat and putting his forearm around the blonde's shoulders. "If it's 'bad', then I'm just as 'bad' as you are. The world doesn't always treat kindness kindly, so doing things in a manner that isn't 'good' is sometimes a necessity in order to improve the quality of life for people, even if it's to defend what is important to you, which can also include yourself. The Phantomhives have always been the tools used by Her Majesty in order to do things swiftly, even if the methods are considered morally wrong or unjust. Now that you live within this household, I'm afraid that burden has befallen to you as well."

Placing his free hand on the armrest of the sofa to support himself, Ciel pecked the menace on top of his head before resting his forehead in blonde locks. A small chuckle escaped the menace, although it didn't sound like a happy one. Reaching over, the Macken grasped the hand of the watchdog that was placed beside him, drawing it close and playing with the other man's fingers.

"Y'know, sometimes I wonder what it would have been like to grow up normally." He began, brushing the pads of his fingertips against those of the bluenette's and rubbing them against smooth, blackened fingernails. "Sometimes, I wonder if I could have been happy like that; or maybe living a 'normal' life with you…" Reaching up, the blonde cupped Ciel's cheek, moving him so that he could look at his face.

"I can't imagine it, though." Alois continued, stroking the soft skin with his thumb. "This is all I know, but I'm fine with that. As long as I'm here with you and the others, I can be happy like this." Leaning down again, the Phantomhive brushed his lips against the blonde's gripping the back of the man's head in order to keep him drawn in. That wasn't necessary, however. Alois was already more than happy to oblige.

"You're much too good for me, you know." Ciel said to the grinning menace.

"Who cares? I still pick you." The blonde answered, pulling the other back in. "If I didn't like you, I could always just go stay at H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G."

"You already have an escape plan? You hurt my feelings."

"Boo-hoo. For an evil businessman, you sure are whiny."

"Well, in that case, I guess I won't be asking you out on a date for Valentine's day."

"Oh? So you're in charge of it this time?" questioned the menace. "I thought it was my turn."

"Yeah, but I felt the need to impress."

"Such a gentleman."

"Wasn't I 'whiny' a second ago?"

"Oh, you are. You're the whiniest gent I know." Alois informed, pinching the man's cheeks. "Look at that whiny wittle baby." He teased in a small voice. "So cute."

"Jerk."

"You love it."

"Yeah, yeah…" the bluenette replied, rolling his eye. "I suppose I can't really help that."


A/N: Hello~!

I couldn't think of anything for a chapter. Every idea I had I lost interest in quickly... I even scrapped a draft! That never happens!

I wanted to write about the seven, but I realised that I didn't have enough content to fill a chapter for any of the members I wanted to write for... Dan and Kris weren't an option, by the way. I'm holding off on that one out of spite, mostly. People won't quit pestering me about it...

Dunno what I'm gonna do for the next chapter, though... Maybe revisit the ideas I had? I really want another big arc, but I've got nothin'...

Aaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhh

Until the next chapter, my duckies...