Just as everyone had hoped, Alois' eye did get better in the following days. The redness and blurriness was gone and Alois was finally able to see. It was a relief, although it took some getting used to. His eye was very sensitive for a while and he had to readjust to his regained depth perception. Otherwise, he was doing alright. In fact, he was feeling so good about things that he accidentally caused both of them to be running late for the big game.
"Damn it..." Ciel grumbled while quickly lacing up his shoes. He took a moment to check himself in the mirror and straighten up, all the while pondering who on earth came up with such a silly uniform.
He wore a blue baseball shirt with the word "Phantoms" written on the front in cursive and his surname along with the number one written on his back. Beneath it was a black, quarter-length sleaved shirt, and both were tucked into snugly-fit, white baseball trousers. It looked comical to the Watchdog, especially when he pulled up the matching pair of blue socks over the skinny legs of his trousers. He knew Kristopherson was a very capable designer, but wondered if he had offended the wolfman in some way to deserve this. After rummaging around, he found his matching cap with an image of a cute little cartoon ghost on it and quickly knocked on the bathroom door.
"Are you almost done?" he questioned, raising his voice over the sound of the shower running. "We're running behind."
"This is a process, you know." his husband replied at a similar volume, causing the other man to groan.
"That could have waited until we got back, you know. I'm starting to think that article you read was rubbish."
"It's not! Having sex before a big game totally increases performance! It's got something to do with testosterone!"
"'It's got something to do with it?'" echoed the Watchdog. "You don't even know how it works?"
"Well, I'm sorry, 'mister conveniently-forgets-a-condom-while-knowing-we're-on-a-time-limit,' but I can't leave yet." Alois called out, reminding his beloved of his own blame in this. "Why don't you go on ahead of me and stall? I'll be right behind you as fast as I can."
"Are you sure?" the bluenette questioned.
"It's better if they have an explanation or excuse than be sitting around wondering if we're gonna show at all." The water was still running, but the sound of the curtain opening could be heard. Alois opened the door and stuck his head out.
"But before you go..." he trailed off, closing his eyes and pursing his lips. With a roll of his visible eye, Ciel humoured him and gave him a quick peck. "I love you, poochie."
"I love you, too, even if your researching skills leave much to be desired..."
"I know you desire me. That's how we ended up in this mess." teased the menace before shutting the door again. "Have a safe trip!"
"I will." the bluenette answered before turning to leave.
Exiting the room, the man made his way down the stairs and joined the other members of the family. All of them were dressed and ready to go. While they weren't going to play, they were going to cheer the Phantomhives on from the sidelines. Sebastian had packed a picnic and everything. As soon as Ciel made himself visible, however, the middle Macken brother started laughing.
"Nice threads, Ciel." Revy snickered.
"Thank you. I'm afraid I still can't pull off the angsty, Hot Topic teen look, so you'll have to forgive me."
"Not with that attitude, you can't." Luka chimed in. "Where's Jim?"
"He said to go without him and that he'd catch up." explained the Watchdog with his hands on his hips. "We need to go and explain that he's going to be late to the others so we can get started."
"Very well, then. Shall we?" beckoned Sebastian while gesturing toward the door. He was obviously miffed by how behind schedule they all were, and would most likely do whatever he could to correct the mistake if it wasn't too late. If that meant kicking the Rolls Royce into high gear, then so be it.
The others were unaware of this when they got in the vehicle. It was one of the rare occasions where Sebastian got to flaunt his ungodly driving skills, much to the distress of his passengers. They all arrived in once piece, certainly, but their hearts were beating frantically and the colour was drained from their faces. All of them were convinced that there was no way that it was necessary to have drifted around two of those roundabouts, and they are most definitely certain that there was no weave in and out of traffic at such a close distance.
When the car finally stopped, the passengers practically leapt out and collapsed on the sidewalk. Revy fell to his knees while Ciel hunched over. Luka just laid down and was elated that he was finally stationary. Sebastian, however, stepped out as if nothing happened at all. Shockingly, they were actually on time. At the same moment they arrived, a few of the other Phantoms had already arrived on the scene and started exiting their own cars, already in uniform.
There was Kristopherson Miles, Daniel Westley, Audrey Baines, Elizabeth Midford, and Seras Victoria all on one team. All of them were in uniform and ready to go. Even the girls pulled it off splendidly, needing no extra altercations apart from a women's cut. Including Ciel and Alois, that made eight players, which was fine for what they were playing. No one wanted to stick around for all nine innings, so they were only going to play a few and then end the game. Whoever racked up the most points in that time would win. It seemed simple enough, but things were already off to a bit of a rough start.
"You okay, over there, Phantomhive?" questioned Audrey with a metal bat resting on his shoulder. "You look a little winded, Captain."
"Are you alright, Ciel?" questioned Elizabeth in a much kinder fashion, prompting the bluenette to actually reply to her.
"I'll be alright. I'm more worried about the kids." he said, pointing to Luka. "Jim is going to be very upset if they're traumatised from this."
"Where is he, by the way?" the Kristopherson questioned while looking around. "Did he not come with you?"
"We were running behind, so he said he'd catch up." Ciel explained to the brawny werewolf. "He'll be here soon."
All the while he was explaining this, the driver of the Rolls Royce casually chatted with his fellow servant, Seras Victoria as they often did. He always had good tips and tricks, so she found it beneficial, but she was also relieved to be able to have another person apart from Elizabeth that she knew. In fact, Elizabeth wasn't entirely sure she knew how to talk to Ciel's friends, either. They weren't really sure how they were all going to get along, but they were all here and ready to play.
They had time, so they got snacks from the various vendors who had strategically opened in and around the play area to reap quite a profit. Elizabeth talked to ticket collection and a lot of money was being made there as well, so in no time, they had already successfully achieved their goal, but they had promised the crowd a sports game, so that is what they were going to get.
Every once in a while, they caught a glimpse of the uniform of the opposing team. It was purple, accompanied by black pants with a purple stripe down the side. In gold letters was the word "Lions" in cursive writing, with the surname of the player and their number written on the back. Scoping out the competition, they spotted Tegwen Sybil, Babyface Baldassare, and the leader of the all-female werewolf pack formed from the ashes of the Kessler boys, Amber Savage. They found Logan, too, but not from spying on him. Instead, he actually came up to Kristopherson on his own accord.
"Kris!" he called with a wave and a big smile as he jogged up to the wolfman. He wore his hat backwards so it wouldn't get in the way of his horns, but one could tell that Kristopherson was immensely pleased.
"Logan!" Kristopherson smiled back. "You look great!"
"Thanks. It fits really well. I'm going to have to resist wearing it with my normal stuff." the incubus replied. "I'm so excited for this! It's gonna be a lot of fun!"
"Yeah, it is!" the wolfman stated, naturally matching the other's level of excitement. Alas, it wasn't meant to last, however.
"Kendrick! Quite fraternizing with the enemy!" called out Baldassare from a small crowd of purple shirts. "Get your blue ass over here! The captain's almost here!"
"Gotta go, I guess." Logan said to his beau before pecking him on the lips. "Good luck!" he waved before joining his own group, all the while leaving Kristopherson waving after him with a goofy grin.
"Gaaaaaaaaay~!" snickered Audrey, snapping the wolfman out of his trance.
"Shut up." Kristopherson huffed.
"What? It is pretty gay."
"Yeah, that's gay." chimed in Daniel.
"Quite literally." added Ciel.
"Whatever. Speaking of non-heterosexuals, where's your husband, Ciel?" snorted Mister Miles with his hands impatiently placed on his hips. "We've been waiting forever!"
"It has been quite a while..." agreed Elizabeth. "Do you think he's alright?"
"Maybe he had to call a cab." suggested Seras. "His eye has only just recovered, right? Maybe he felt like he couldn't drive or something? That would slow 'im down."
"I don't know..." the Watchdog stated before pulling out his phone to call him. After pulling up his recent contacts, he paused and looked over his shoulder toward the street. Following his gaze, the others watched too. Sure enough, a black Mercedes drove up and parked on the curb. After letting out a collective sigh of relief, the team made their way to greet the menace.
"Wait, what are those guys doing?" Audrey inquired, stopping to point at the Gehenna Lions, who were also walking toward the car.
"Who knows? Alois is popular around here, so maybe they just wanna see him?" proposed Daniel, but Ciel sensed something was amiss.
All of them watched as the door swung open and a head of blonde hair got out. As he stood up, however, one could only imagine the astonishment of the Phantoms as he was revealed to be wearing a purple jersey. Placing the black cap with a picture of a lion on his head, he looked up at his friends and smiled.
"What's up?" he innocently asked, leaning against his car as though nothing was unusual.
"You're wearing the wrong uniform, mate." Audrey pointed out. "Where's your real one?"
"What're you on about? This is my uniform." Turning to the other team, Alois waved. "Hey, guys."
"Jim, what are you doing?" questioned the man's husband. "Why didn't you tell me you were playing on the other team?"
"Wait, you didn't know?" asked Kristopherson, who made the uniform. "He didn't tell you?"
"I thought it would be more fun if it were a surprise~!" stated the menace with a shrug and a sing-song voice. All the while, his team was grinning. "Are you surprised?"
"Traitor!" Daniel accused. "That's no fair! What's with that all of a sudden? Do you want us to lose?"
"If you don't suck, you won't lose. That's how sports work, you guys. Duh." Placing his hands in his pockets, he added: "It shouldn't be that shocking. I helped build this place, remember? I gotta represent the Lions."
"What about Ciel?" asked Kristopherson. "Isn't it more fun to play on the same team as the person you love?"
"Could ask the same of you, Kris." Alois teased, but then he got more serious. He smiled, but something more sinister seemed to be hiding behind his grin as he spoke. "That's not the point, though. You've totally got it wrong. It's not nearly as fun to play with Ciel as it is to play against him. We're a team in life and love, but not in sport. When it comes to games, playing against Ciel is definitely the best!"
"So in other words: Alois is nuts. Big whoop, we already knew that." Audrey snorted, trying to keep his cool despite already pondering how this is going to go.
"I don't get it." stated the Westley. "How is that fun?"
"It's a challenge, isn't it?" spoke the blonde Phantomhive, putting his nose in the air with a slight smirk. "What's the fun in playing a game you're guaranteed to win? The odds are already stacked against the Lions no matter how you look at it. You've got three of the most elite operatives at Hellsing, all trained in strategy and whose strength only rivals each other's. It'll be way more fun to win against that. So that's what I'm gonna aim for. Yeah, Ciel's my husband, and yeah, I love him with all my heart, but you're missing something very important, here."
Raising his hand, he pointed directly at the Watchdog as he continued. "He's also my biggest rival. Always has been, and probably always will be. If I'm gonna play, I want to play against him. That's just the way it is."
The Phantoms looked toward their team captain, worried about how Ciel was taking this. He had been mostly silent this whole time, leaving them clueless as to how he felt. The Watchdog stared directly into the haughty eyes of the menace, while Alois stared right into his.
"So? How about it?" Alois asked. "We gonna play or are you gonna wuss out?"
Silence followed, only to be broken by a chuckle. Keeping his chin high, Ciel matched his spouse's cocky smirk. "I accept your challenge." he said. "Just promise me you won't divorce me when you lose."
"What? I would never, seeing as though I'm not gonna lose." the menace scoffed. "I don't mean to cut your stalling short or nothin', but are we gonna stand around here all day and talk shit? Or are we actually gonna play?"
"Very well, then. Let's get started."
With that, both groups turned toward the field and started walking. The two team leaders stayed behind for a few seconds longer to continue glaring, but eventually, Ciel decided it was time to cut it short and join the others. As soon as he turned around, however, he felt a hand pat his rear. Whipping his head around to shoot his husband a look, he was greeted by an expression of nonchalance as Alois started walking as well.
"What?" his beau questioned. "It's what people do in baseball. Besides, everybody's looking that way."
"I certainly hope you don't plan on doing that to your teammates, regardless." Ciel said as they both continued on. As much as he played it as if he was joking, Alois' eyes gleamed at the slight hint of jealousy at the hypothetical situation.
"Who knows if I will? I'm an enigma, Ciel."
"That's one way of putting it."
Smirking, the blonde seemed to attempt to put his mind at ease. "Don't worry, I won't, but I have a little request in exchange."
"Oh yeah? What's that?" his husband inquired in an unperturbed manner. In response, the menace put his arm around his shoulder and leaned in close. Ciel could feel not only his breath, but his lips gently brushing against his ear as he spoke.
"When I win," Alois whispered, "I'd like it if you did a little twirl for me in that. Your hips and ass look really great."
"JIM!"
Cackling, the menace walked faster so that he was now ahead of his husband, leaving the other man alone to contemplate this. Rejoining his own group, he began walking alongside Logan, who immediately took a step to the side to create some distance between them. Once they were sufficiently far enough away from the other team, the incubus spoke up.
"Wasn't that a bit overkill?" he questioned.
"Sorry. You could sense that? I wasn't trying very hard." replied the demon.
"It's noticeable, but I can probably turn it around. I'll keep focused on my own target." Logan stated.
"Good man." Alois smirked. "Follow the plan, and victory is ours. Hit him hard so he trips up."
"Is that what you were doing?"
"Ciel gets flustered easily. Once he figures out what I'm doing, it'll only get worse."
"You want him to find out? Wouldn't we get disqualified for cheating?"
"It's not cheating. I mean, I'm probably gonna have to cheat a little, but he should already be expecting it. Don't worry, he won't report it. He's stubborn, so he'll try to get us back to regain his integrity. If he's flustered enough, though, he won't be able to focus on doing that, though."
"I thought you said it isn't fun if you know you're gonna win?" questioned Logan with an arch of his brow. "Does that kind of go against that?"
"Nah, because I don't know that we're gonna win. Ciel's crafty. He might actually pull it off."
"Then why cheat at all?"
"Because it's more fun this way. It adds some drama in what would ordinarily be just a game of hitting a ball with a stick. I think that's way more interesting for everyone involved."
"Who knew Mister Lion could be so scary..."
"Am I?" questioned Alois while raising his brows. "Huh… I guess with my image in Gehenna, that could be a bit shocking. It's all in good fun though, I promise. It's just fun to mess with people. Just a little playful teasing and banter amoung friends."
"You have a weird way of doing it, though." the incubus replied.
"I guess, but it's just how we roll. We should be having fun, first and foremost, because if we're having fun, so will the audience!"
"If you say so..." Pausing, Logan conceded: "Messing with Kris does sound pretty fun."
"That's the spirit!"
A/N: Happy chapter 500, y'all~! I feel like I should do something special...
Anyways, Alois is shady. I feel like we don't acknowledge this enough? He's having a good time. Ciel is shooketh.
What else... what else...
I got nothin'.
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
