"…And when the crew and I finally made it to the truck for our escape, one of them was injured, and the other two were manning the gun on the back." The Phantomhive explained, listing off the characters in the story he was telling on his fingers while the duo waited for their food to arrive. "Guess where that left me?"

"Oh no…" grinned the menace. He leaned forward, placing his elbow on the table and rested his chin in his palm as he listened intently as the bluenette spoke.

"That's right. One of the men manning the gun shouted at me to start driving. Unfortunately, my knowledge on how to operate a vehicle was just about as vast as it is now." Ciel stated as the blonde shook his head. "There were Nazis chasing us, no Sebastian in sight, and I'm the one in charge of getting us all out of there alive."

"So what did you do?"

"Well, we had to ditch the truck and head out on foot. I handed off the injured soldier to the other two, and had them carry him while I held off our attackers for a bit. How exactly I did that might make you proud. I busted the fuel tank on the truck and lit it with a lighter from Sir Walsh. Then, I rolled the whole thing down the hill that the Nazis chasing us were climbing up. I ran after that, but I heard an explosion, and no one came after us after that."

"That's fuckin' great!" cackled Alois, clapping his hands together. The entire mental imagery that Ciel's story brought on just tickled him, from Ciel in full-uniform, being lost at how to operate a car under fire, to him hurling said car at enemy troops in order to escape. From the looks of them, the pair was having the most fun out of anyone in the restaurant.

"It wasn't then, but now it's pretty funny." The watchdog said. He looked up, spotting the waiter walking toward them with food. Following his eye, the Macken did the same, and watched the man as he set the dishes down on the table. That's when things started to head downhill.

For some reason, the overly-fancy arrangement of the dishes struck Alois' funnybone. Covering his mouth, the blonde did the polite thing and waited for the man to leave before saying anything. Once he was in the clear, Alois let go of his face, but now sound still came out as he giggled to himself.

"What's so funny?" Ciel asked, picking up his utensils. He arched an eyebrow as he looked the tickled menace over, not sure as to what Alois had found so entertaining.

"That is the most pretentious-looking plate I've ever seen." Managed the blonde, still struggling not to laugh out loud. "Why? Just why? That's so unnecessary. It's like… if there was a fashion week for food, this would be there."

The bluenette stared down at the plate for a moment, furrowing his brow. At a glance, he saw nothing wrong with it, but when he thought about the menace, he understood. From the perspective of someone who had not been around this sort of presentation for long, it certainly must seem a bit strange. Only, in the blonde's case, he jumped from "strange", to "silly". When the watchdog looked up again and saw the menace having such a good time over it, however, he couldn't help but crack a smile.

"I suppose you're right." He answered, picking at his own food with his fork. "It probably doesn't taste that different, though."

"It better be good for the price." Alois replied, picking up his own utensils. "If it's average, I'm going to be offended. That much money for this much food? When are they going to start breaking out the guillotines over this bourgeois-bullshit?"

A genuine, hearty laugh escaped the Phantomhive at this. "True, true. If it's disappointing, we could always go somewhere else later."

"McDonalds', then."

"If that is your wish, then I will grant it." Playfully answered the watchdog as he cut his meal into portions.

"Seriously?" Alois questioned. "I figured you were too posh for a place like that."

"I'm not that out of touch, you know." Ciel stated. "It's just another restaurant, and I wouldn't mind if that's what you really wanted." To that, his beau smiled and looked down to play with his food, almost as if he were trying to understand the bizarre aesthetic of its arrangement. He was quiet for a moment as he continued to think, leaving only the clinking of silverware and the murmuring of other customers around them to fill the silence.

"Hey Ciel?" he finally piped up. "Do you really think… that it's possible to save the Glen?"

"Of course." Ciel answered. "I wouldn't have agreed, otherwise. It will take a while—perhaps years; but it can be done." He looked up and tilted his head as he looked at the menace. "Why do you ask?"

"I dunno… It just… It feels weird, somehow." Alois informed. "If they didn't care before, then, why now?"

"Many reasons… The fact that you and I were able to convince them that supernaturals are capable of resembling humans at heart, but more importantly, because of the appearance of a certain angel who ranks highly at H.E.L.L.S.I.N.G."

"Elizabeth."

"Correct."

Alois shook his head with a smile. That was definitely the sort of thing that the woman would do. Still, another feeling persisted.

"I guess I just feel sort of guilty." The blonde stated. "Not everyone has a fairytale ending of being swept off your feet by a member of a higher social class."

"You fought for it fair and square." Ciel replied. Thinking about it, with the current atmosphere, the menace might not want to indulge in the reaping of the aristocracy at the moment, especially given his background.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bring up anything negative by bringing you here…" he apologized, but Alois simply shook his head.

"You're alright. It's still an interesting experience." The menace replied. "I wouldn't have gone here ordinarily, and it's very pretty. I originally only wanted to come here because I thought it would impress you."

Blushing, the bluenette was somewhat taken off-guard by his lover's statement, while in hindsight, it did make sense. Now that he thought about it, the menace would hardly pick a place such as this for himself. Ciel fidgeted in his seat for a moment, trying to debate on what to do. This fault in foresight on his part shook him once it was brought to his attention. Even after he meticulously thought about this date, he had still made a mistake, one that he considered to be highly inconsiderate of the very person he was trying to woo.

"I-if you don't like it, then we can go somewhere else." The watchdog suggested with a bit of uncertainty, causing the other man to arch an eyebrow. Icy blue eyes scanned the slightly flustered bluenette curiously, watching as the other man nervously cleared his throat. Cracking a smile, the blonde made his reply.

"But I haven't even tried the silly-looking food, yet!" Alois said, picking up his fork and knife. "I have to at least do that after everything you went through to get us here."

"It's not that big of a deal…" his beau stated.

"You bribed a man by offering him employment at your company. That's an unnessecary headache for you."

"Well…" Ciel began, reaching up to rub the back of his neck. "I was hoping to impress you, so…"

The Macken snorted at the Phantomhive's answer as he tried not to giggle. His response didn't do anything to improve Ciel's resolve, but Alois was genuinely flattered. "You bribed a guy to impress me?"

"Uh… Well…"

"You're so cute." Alois stated, cutting off a piece of his food. "Fortunately for you, I'm into the whole 'adorkable evil mastermind' thing that you've got going on. I think it's sweet."

"The bribing part was unexpected…" The watchdog bashfully explained.

"It was just a bonus." Concluded the blonde as he ate. He paused for a while to chew, furrowing his brow as he tried to decipher the taste.

"What is it?"

"It's good, but…" the menace trailed off, speaking with his mouth full as he focused. His attention then turned back to the Phantomhive as he finished. "I didn't know that it was possible to make food taste pretentious?" His grin widened as the bluenette chuckled again, seeming to calm down a bit.

"I don't know, I'm not a chef." Ciel replied. "Is it at least edible?"

"I'm not really sure?" Alois answered with uncertainty. He continued to eat a bit more in order to try and process what exactly it was that he was feeling toward this food. "It's a bit overwhelming, and not in a good way."

"Your palette must be different." The Phantomhive suggested, proposing an explanation. "It's perfectly alright if you don't like it. We can try something else, or we can find a different restaurant."

"Isn't that a bit of a waste of money, though?"

"That's one of the good things about this kind of place. If you don't like the food, you don't have to pay. We can get a refund for the table, too."

"Are you serious? That's so bizarre."

"It's a good system for the customer. I'm not quite sure why all restaurants don't do that."

"Whatever you think is the best plan, then." Alois answered, putting down his utensils and leaning back in his seat. "Lead the way, O datemaster."

"Alright, give me a few minutes." The Phantomhive replied. Waving over a staff member, he informed them of the situation and was issued several apologies. His date was almost baffled by how easy that was. Somehow, he expected it to be a much bigger ordeal, but he was certainly not complaining.

With only a few bites of some absurdly expensive, posh, French food, the duo headed back to their vehicle. Upon hopping inside, Ciel dug in his pockets for a moment while the menace took his seat as well. Once the blonde was settled, he quickly shoved whatever it was back in its place after glancing at it, hoping his beau didn't notice.

"So, where to, then?" Alois questioned, resting his hands on the steering wheel as the Phantomhive strapped himself in as well. Ciel took out his smartphone and began punching in an address.

"I'm not really sure." He said, as he continued to push buttons. "I know how to find out, though."

"GPS, huh?" the blonde mused. "I thought mister Guard Dog knew this city like the back of his hand?"

"Even I have limitations. London is huge, you know." Ciel answered, pressing the "enter" button. "Just follow the voice."

"Following strange voices is typically frowned upon, you know."

"Not if they actually know where to go."

Calculating…