Quietly, the "Devildog" platoon was putting up decorations and setting up for the party that evening, all under the watchful eye of their leader, Ciel Phantomhive. The Amateur Classes were tasked with the preparations for that evening, leaving only the devildogs and a few other small platoons, each with their own assigned tasks to handle. This meant that the lads were mixed in with other men, but more importantly to them, women. Sadly, many men took the opportunity of finally spotting a member of the opposite sex to attempt to flirt, but the women were just as busy as the men were supposed to be and were not so keen. Some were caught being aggressive and punished outside by one of the supervising officers. Most were too nervous to cross that line.
Ciel's group was the best behaved out of all of them, however. He watched them like a hawk and after all of this time, they've learned better. As Ciel himself put it: "This is not the appropriate time for flirting. Few women will be pleased with being flirted with while they're trying to complete their own work. You'll just be annoying them. Wait until the party. The change in setting and obligation will make things much more casual, so your luck will be better. Especially if you don't agitate them before then."
Thus, the group collectively decided to take his advice, no matter how hard it was. They trusted in him that is would benefit them in the long run, although they wondered how he knew so much about girls, given that he has a husband. While asking where to carry a box, one of the recruits, Private Wallace Young, thought to ask.
"Huh?" inquired the bluenette. "I talk to quite a few women. In fact, my closest friend is a woman. From talking with her, I've found that the same basic principles apply. 'Don't act threateningly to the people you want to date' is sort of solid advice no matter what sex you're interested in."
"That's sort of a weird image..." the private said while thinking aloud. "When you imagine 'gay best friends' with girls, it's always a sassy, feminine guy, but you're the total opposite..."
"Not all gay people act that way, Private Young. They're just as diverse as anyone else. Many are probably more masculine than most straight men." Leaning back in the chair that he was observing from, Ciel crossed one leg over the other. "Besides, I'm not gay in the first place. I'm bisexual. I just happened to fall in love with a man and decided to marry him."
"Huh?!" Wallace gawked before composing himself. "I mean, wait… Isn't that sort of the same thing? You picked a side, so wouldn't that make you gay?"
"I didn't 'pick a side'… I'm still perfectly capable of finding women attractive. It's just that I love my husband more and am most attracted to him."
"So you really do like both, but you're stuck with a guy..."
"'Stuck with' isn't the right description. Out of all of the men and women in the world, I fell in love with him, so I married him." Uttering a sigh, Ciel added before Wallace could ask himself: "I never think of straying or having a relationship with a woman because I love and care about my husband enough to not do things that I know would hurt him. Just the thought of it is upsetting."
"So even if a girl was all over you and super fit, you wouldn't think about going for it?"
"No."
"Not even a little?"
"No."
"You're sure you're not gay?"
"Private Young, don't you have work to be doing?" the bluenette reminded, giving his student the hint that he no longer wished to speak with him on the matter. It was obvious to Ciel that private Young simply wasn't getting it and his patience for that day was already wearing thin.
"Oh, sorry!" the younger man nervously apologised before returning to his duties. He perceived the annoyance in his superior's tone, and graciously accepted his offer to leave before he accidentally caused him to shift into full-out irritation.
Ordinarily, Ciel wouldn't really mind explaining it, but he was already dreading what was to come that evening. The questions do get annoying after a while, however. While he was perfectly comfortable in his sexuality, the lack of understanding and seeming lack of willingness to understand would always get old very, very, quickly.
Closing his visible eye, he frowned, trying to compose himself and will himself some interest in the festivities. Sadly, he could conjure nothing and merely fixated on how badly he wished he could forgo the event completely and go home. His eye opened again, however, as he felt a hand on his shoulder and a familiar presence. Looking up, he saw his cousin smiling at him.
"Now, now, you need to calm down, Ciel. You shouldn't get so overly-excited." she jested, shaking her head. Taking her hand away, she shot him a sympathetic look. "You appear as though you wish to hang yourself."
"Honestly, it would probably be less painful than this." the Phantomhive replied. "You know how I feel about parties. They've only gotten worse with time, as well. When they start getting pissed and trying to flirt, it's going to be absolutely cringeworthy. Worse still, I have to babysit them."
"Yes, I imagine babysitting a group of awkwardly amourous bonobos must be rather dreadful..."
"There's nothing 'amourous' about it." Ciel scoffed. "There is only one thing on their minds, you know that perfectly well."
"Ah. Men." the angel nodded.
"Just think of all of the sin."
"It's not 'sinful,' per se. Just sad." Looking to her cousin, Elizabeth asked: "So what about you? Is Jim coming?"
"No, he's not feeling up to it at the moment and I do believe he has a mission tonight." the bluenetted stated.
"How has he been?"
"It's been rough..." he sighed, dropping his surly look for a forlorn one. "I know that it is something that he needs to do for himself, but he's been so torn up lately… There's nothing I can do about it but help him wait until if passes."
"The desire for revenge doesn't pass quickly, unfortunately." the angel said.
"It's not 'revenge,' actually. It doesn't feel the same at all. It's more like… 'justice.'"
"How so?"
"Revenge is selfish. It's pure hatred and nothing more. All it does is destroy, but this? The intention is to stop them from hurting others. It's actually quite positive."
"I suppose that makes sense." the woman answered, pondering the matter. "Forgive me, but I'm finding it difficult to condone murder, however."
"It isn't that difficult to understand. These people have been trafficking people for over a century. They buy, sell, and trade human beings, taking advantage of them, torturing them, and then discarding them when they're no longer useful. They did it in our time and continue to do it now. Simply locking them away never works, as people who commit this crime almost always reoffend upon release. No amount of 'rehabilitation' works, therefore the logical solution is to simply remove them from the equation."
"I see. That's hard to argue against." Elizabeth sighed. "I would love to see the good in people and believe that there is hope in rehabilitation, but as time goes on, I somewhat wonder about humans as a species in general..."
"Careful. Don't commit blasphemy while talking to a demon."
"Many angels occasionally think about that." she dismissed with a wave of her hand. "We have a tendency of dealing with rather nasty and unpleasant things, so you do wonder..."
Ciel opened his mouth to speak, having a rather obvious retort, but refrained. He thought about it and decided that it wasn't worth talking about right at that moment. It would only make his bad mood worse. The woman saw him, however, and tried her best to piece it together.
"Sorry..." she apologised, having an inkling of what her cousin was thinking about without him saying it.
"I realise it's not your department, but beyond what you do? I don't really understand angels at all. To be entirely honest- and I don't mean to be rude- I don't really want to. It would only make me angry, I'm afraid. There's a reason I'm a demon." Ciel said. The mood was in a death spiral and was just about to plummet toward earth in a ball of fire. It was heavy. Neither of them intended it to be.
"There's no easy answer for that..." Elizabeth stated. "I don't know much about the others."
"Doesn't matter, now. It can't be undone. Thankfully, I actually quite like being a demon. I've gotten all kinds of opportunities I wouldn't have, otherwise. I don't think I could hack it as an angel."
"This suits you, oddly. It's almost like you're somewhere in the middle."
"Such is the fate of the Phantomhives. We are both upstanding citizens and murderous scoundrels. It's our nature."
"I have the same blood as you, so what does that make me?"
"Close to getting sacked, I'd say."
"You're so mean!" Elizabeth accused, playfully swatting the man's arm while he let out a chuckle. Leaning down, she went so far as to pinch his cheek. "You've gotten quite the mouth on you, now that you've gotten so casual!"
"Get used to it." Ciel's words were a bit slurred due to the position of his mouth from having his cheek pulled. "The era of gentlemen died years ago."
"You act gentlemanly for Jim!"
"Yeah, but he's my husband and I must woo him. He makes me actually want to do the whole 'courting' thing!"
Suddenly, the woman gasped. "Just who are you?! You're not my Ciel!"
"I feel passionate and manly."
"Stop!"
Even though the Watchdog seemed distracted, none of his subordinates thought to seize the opportunity. They were far too stunned by the sight of him acting playfully. Elizabeth really did have a good grasp on how to cheer up the Phantomhive and it was why even after all that time huffing and puffing about having to entertain her when they were younger, she was the one who he considered to be his "best friend." He really hoped that she would be staying for the party, giving him at least some semblance of reinforcements, but alas, she wasn't certain if she could make it. With his hopes dashed, he continued to grumble at being expected to chaperone perhaps the worst party he had ever been to in all of his one-hundred and forty years of being alive. Yes, that is also including the many parties that he was almost killed at, as well. Those at least had something interesting going on that he was capable of participating in.
But no. This was not the case with this one. As the sun began to set and the soldiers grew rowdier, he became less and less enthused. At long last, it was time for the festivities to begin. The room was decorated with a Halloween motif with tacky plastic skeletons and faux jack-o-lanterns that plugged into the wall. The men and women being trained there all filed in and began to mix in. Only the amateur and career classes were left however, as the advanced course ended with the mercenaries and ex-military personnel being trained attending a few lectures on how to kill supernatural threats, specifically.
There were no costumes, sadly, as everyone there was required to wear uniforms. They chose their best pieces with everything pressed, ironed, and polished. There was mixing between the sexes just as they had hoped, chatting away and dancing together like they had never done before. Yet, there was still somewhat of a divide between the classes. Career class members only seemed to want to talk to other career class members, while the amateurs were open to practically anyone who would let them get a word in.
"Sir Phantomhive really kicks our ass, but he's a pretty good guy." said Private Cooksey while talking to a group of others of his kind. "He knows a lot about life and he won't let you get away with being a piece of shit. Honestly, I'm kinda scared of hitting on girls, while he's here."
"C'mon! After a few drinks, I'm sure he'll loosen up!" answered one of the other privates he was speaking to. "Where is he? Is he even looking?"
"That's him over there." Gordon pointed at the rather surly-looking Guard Dog, causing the others to turn their heads and look at the demon as he loitered on the outskirts of the party. He was up against a wall, observing, but not participating. Casually, Gordon took a drink from his glass and asked: "Does he look like he can loosen up?"
"He looks like he's going to kill someone..." one of the other male recruits said, flabbergasted by how badly the bluenette stood out in the crowd.
"Knowing him, he probably would. I'm not gonna risk that shit, as much as I want to." Suddenly, two women from the career class walked by them, prompting Gordon to turn his head. "And I really want to."
Blinking, he thought he caught a glimpse of something strange. Suddenly, the smile on his face fell and he felt the need to shout: "Hey, Braumfeld! What are you doing?!"
Private Ryan Braumfeld casually looked over his shoulder, pausing the conversation he was having with a woman from one of the other amateur classes. He said nothing however and simply waved him off before turning back to keep talking. It wasn't fair. It simply wasn't fair! Here Gordon was, holding himself back, when even the near-silent Braumfeld was able to chat up a girl! Turning back to the people he was talking with Gordon made a declaration.
"I'm gonna get a girl's number while I'm here if it kills me!" he stated, prompting the others to chuckle.
"If that guy's your commander, then I believe that." spoke one of the other men. "What about her?" he asked while pointing. "Go ahead and try it. I bet you a fiver that she won't even acknowledge you!"
"You're on!" Gordon declared and with that, he made an about-face and walked over to the woman in question. Due to the distance, the men he was talking to before couldn't hear what he was saying as they looked on, but they did hear the loud "SLAP" of an open palm striking Gordon's cheek.
Cringing, one of them asked: "Does that count as acknowledgment?" while the one who made the bet simply shrugged and took a drink.
Others fared better. Private Solomon Danlaw successfully made a move that was well received, while Kidman and Maddigan were too busy having a lively conversation with their intended targets to remember to flirt with them. Private Withers didn't seem interested at all, however, but then again, neither did Private Clancy Peterson. Instead, Peterson hung back along the walls, unsure of what he could or should be doing. His own possible pool of prospective partners was statistically much smaller and definitely harder to spot. Thus, there was no one to dance with and no one to flirt, and it seemed that a lot of the people there had come to the party to do just this.
He started looking for people who appeared to be in a similar situation, thinking he might start there in looking for conversational partners. His line of thinking was that surely, someone who was also not comfortable with what was going on yet was somehow there would have enough in common to talk to. Eventually, however, he saw his commanding officer on the outskirts. Clancy figured that he was working, given how he was scanning the room every so often while wearing his scowl. Then again, he thought that the man might mingle at least a little bit. Perhaps being married, there wasn't much point.
Walking over to him, Private Peterson finally noticed that the Phantomhive was scowling. "Not having fun, either, huh, sir?" he questioned, gaining the other man's attention. He watched as the bluenette tried and failed to completely remove his deep-set frown, gaining his answer right there and then without having heard a word.
"Death would be preferable." Ciel thoughtlessly said before catching himself and clearing his throat. "I mean, no, I'm not. Why aren't you having a good time?"
"No one to dance with and drinking isn't fun by yourself." Clancy replied, laughing a bit. "Most of the people here are straight."
"That must be rough." The bluenette appeared as though he had just realised something obvious. "Fortunately for you, you don't have to be here if you don't want to be."
"I thought I'd give it a shot. I kind of worry about not finding anybody in the organisation who is like me. Even in just like, a 'someone to talk to' way."
"Gay people at HELLSING..." Looking up, Ciel pondered this for a moment. "The only people I can think of are the Garous, but they're lesbians… I'm absolutely certain that there's more, however. There might even be a group for it, sort of like how there's a group for Wiccans. Once you join, you could probably ask the information desk."
"I'd kind of like to be discreet until I get comfortable, here." confessed the private.
"Oh, in that case, I would ask if I could see a list."
"That's a good idea..." the younger man nodded. Before the conversation could die out, however, Ciel saved it by recalling something.
"Ah, there is one other person and he is into men, but he's kind of… What is the word? Regardless, you'd probably do well to stay away from him." Ciel recollected. "His name is 'Dafydd' and he works in research."
"Why? What did he do?"
"He keeps trying to convince my spouse to to be unfaithful ever since school. It stopped for a while after he started seeing someone, himself, but after he was dumped, he went right back to it."
"Were you ever worried?"
"About what?"
"About Mister Phantomhive… uh… you know..."
"Oh, heavens, no." The Watchdog had the confidence to actually laugh at the implication. "Jim makes no effort to hide his feelings whenever he sees him. The face he makes is as though he's looking down on Dafydd and expressing his contempt at once. It's rather impressive. I trust him with my life, so I trust him not to cheat. I also assume that he has better taste than that."
"Wouldn't you have to since he's married to you?"
"Do you want me to make you do bunny hops around the yard, Private Peterson?"
"No, sir!" Clancy answered despite picking up on the fact that his superior was most likely joking. It was best to not chance it, however. Once the bluenette chuckled, he realised that he was in the clear. Clancy relaxed and noticed that he had automatically stood at attention without even thinking about it. It had become reflex, much to his embarrassment. Looking down, a blush appeared on his face, both at being laughed at but also in hearing the Watchdog laugh at all.
Clancy felt bad as it occurred to him that he might have had an ulterior motive in asking what he did. Never would he ever condone or take part in an affair, himself. Even his subconsciousness didn't want that. Still, whenever he saw the Phantomhive smile or hear him chuckle, it only made him want to talk to him more. There was the rub, though. Clancy wasn't dense. He noticed what was starting to happen here and knew that he needed to place some distance between himself and his superior in order to save him a lot of disappointment in the long run.
He was almost glad that the other man got distracted as he spotted something in the corner of his eye. "Excuse me for a moment," Ciel said, "but I need to take care of this. I swear, the next pair I see… I'll cut off their bloody hands..." he grumbled while turning to walk away.
"Okay." the private replied, waiting until the bluenette had walked away to utter a sigh. He hoped that Jim knew how lucky he was and wondered if he'll ever get some luck for himself as well.
It didn't cross the blonde's mind right then, of course, as it was already occupied with things he needed to do and he simply couldn't think about his husband at every waking moment. With both of his siblings and the family butler gone of to Gehenna for the Halloween festivities, he was alone in the house, although only until he left to go back to work. Jim had donned one of his working suits and began rummaging around for the final pieces he needed when the phone rang. Raising his head, he arched an eyebrow before pulling the device out of his pocket and placing it to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Hello, Jim!" called a pleasant voice on the other end. Immediately, Alois recognised it as Elizabeth's. "Just thought I'd check on you and wish you a Happy Halloween!"
"Happy Halloween, Lizzie." Alois chuckled.
"Do people even call others for Halloween? It's big in Gehenna, so I wondered if it would be rude if I didn't." the woman explained. "Isn't it like Christmas for demons?"
"Not really. It's more of a supernatural thing, though a lot of us just celebrate Christmas on Christmas." Bending down, Alois reached his hand into a box and pulled out a large piece of red fabric. He held it up to examine it while holding his mobile between his ear and his shoulder, still chatting away. "Are you not going to the party?"
"No, it isn't really my kind of party, I'm afraid. I don't think I would make it out without slapping some twenty-year-old infant whose never been out in public before."
"Yeah. That's what got Ciel so bent out of shape over it. A lot of them have never been out in the real world before, so they're making all kinds of cringy mistakes. Unfortunately for him, he's got to deal with them."
"Did you have any plans this evening?"
"Yeah, I was going to go to a party." While it technically wasn't a lie, it wasn't the entire truth, either. Alois was going to go to a party, but it wasn't one that he was invited to and he wasn't going to have fun. "I'm getting ready right now."
"Is it the one at the base?" Elizabeth questioned, sending the man's mind into a frenzy as he calculated the best response.
If he said "no," he would have to come up with a fictitious party, and knowing Elizabeth, if she didn't have any plans of her own, she might ask for details and if she could tag along. Alois couldn't have that. If he said "yes," however, who would know apart from his own spouse?
"Yeah." he lied, draping the fabric over his arm before reaching back down into the box. "I thought I might go after all. Ciel could probably use a hand."
There was an unusual pang in his chest as he said that. Ordinarily, he wouldn't have batted an eyelash at a lie such as this. It didn't even appear to be a particularly harmful one! Alois was more than accustomed to telling fibs, as he lied and lied and lied his way in and out and through situations that were far too horrible, grim, and downright atrocious for regular human comprehension. Yet, this was Elizabeth he was talking to. He was quite fond of her as a person and found her to be a pleasant delight to be around. Furthermore, she was family, so that didn't sit well with him. No matter how much he found that he disliked it, he had said it, so he needed to commit.
"Are sure you're feeling up to it?" the woman questioned. "None of us want you to push yourself too hard again..."
"How do you know about that?" Alois asked in return. "And 'us?'"
"Ciel and I. He told me" Elizabeth answered. "We talk all the time."
"So he's a snitch, huh?" Who was Alois to talk, however? He knew good and well that he did the exact same thing when he spoke to Kristopherson. Thus, he let it go. "I'm fine, though, so don't worry about it. I'm feeling pretty good today, so I'll be fine. If not, I'll just leave."
"If you say so..." Dame Hellsing said. "Well, anyway, I'll let you go, then. Have fun at the party!"
"Thanks, Lizzie. I will. Bye."
"Bye-bye~!" With that, Elizabeth hung up. Staring down at her phone, she pondered for a moment about Alois' intentions. His voice and manner of speaking sounded genuine, but a gut feeling of hers told her that something was off. In truth, it wasn't really any of her business and she knew this. If Alois wanted to tell her something, then he would do it, and him going to the party to see Ciel was between only him and his spouse. Elizabeth still couldn't help but feel nosy.
Thus, she began to text. "Hey, Ciel! I called Jim to see if he wanted to hang out, but he said that he was going to the party, instead." She wrote. It felt as though she was tattling and she considered what she could add to make it less so. "I'm glad he's feeling better, but I'm still a little worried."
"No..." she said aloud to herself upon rereading what she wrote. "That's still a bit- Oh, no! I sent it!"
Moments later, Ciel felt his phone vibrate in his pocket. He arched an eyebrow at the message, finding it odd that the menace would want to go to this party, considering how they both mutually agreed that there was absolutely no way that Jim was going to go. Then again, the blonde was wild and occasionally impulsive, so there was no telling what he was thinking until he was asked. Still, Ciel couldn't help but be a bit concerned, especially given the atmosphere that the party had taken on, just as expected. He shot Elizabeth a quick message to let her know that he saw hers and was going to ask the blonde to confirm, as he hadn't heard anything of the sort. Then, he did as he said he would and texted his husband.
Minutes passed with no response from Alois, so Ciel thought he might be driving. If he was, then perhaps the blonde really was going to attend the party. While Ciel was glad that he was going to be able to socialise with his husband if he arrived, he was worried if Alois would actually have any fun. There was no use in worrying about it until his spouse arrived and that was if he arrived at all. Until then, Ciel still had a job to do, and he was hating every moment of it.
He had already sent three people out with one of the corporals to run laps in the yard and carry weights as punishment, and he had split up several couples who had appeared to have forgotten that they were still in public. Other officers seemed to be having similar results. It wasn't merely obscenity, however. Ciel also had to cope with recruits who drank too much.
"Shut the fuck up, you bloody wanker!" shouted a slurred voice belonging to one of the recruits. From the patch on the man's arm, Ciel could tell that he was in one of the amateur classes and was thankful that it wasn't one of his. The man was arguing with one of the career classes, who was also drunk, but not nearly as sloshed. Sadly, the bluenette knew that he couldn't simply leave it and that he had to intervene before someone got hurt. As the demon made his way over, the belligerent recruit shoved the man he was arguing with. "You're not that great! You're just as shit as anybody else here!"
"Don't fucking shove me again!" shouted the career recruit in return. "I'll fucking beat the shit outta you! I could kick your ass any time I want!"
"Then do it, you fuckin' pussy! Kick my ass, then! Oh, wait, you can't! 'Cause you're full of shit!"
"Gentlemen, if you don't stop this immediately, I'm going to have to beat both of you." Ciel butted in, snaking his arms between them and pushing them both apart with such abruptness, that they lost balance and fell backwards in their drunken states. Ciel hadn't meant to knock them over, but underestimated their current states.
"What the fuck, asshole?!" the amateur recruit barked.
"If you want to be taken seriously by your peers, you must carry yourself in a manner that is respectable. Getting into drunken brawls does not qualify." Ciel said, frowning further as he heard the career recruit snickering. He turned his head to face him, immediately cutting the sound short. "As for you, this man will have the exact same qualifications as you, so I'm not exactly certain as to where this arrogance that many people within the career classes have is coming from. Everyone must start somewhere, and unlike you, these men and women did not have the privilege to be eased into it as children, either. You are required to treat your coworkers with respect as well. If you can't do that, then I suggest looking for work elsewhere."
"Sorry, sir." the career said, standing at attention. Meanwhile, the amateur recruit struggled to get back up.
Holding out his hand, Ciel offered to help the man to his feet, only to have to leap out of the way so his own didn't get splashed when the poor recruit vomited onto the floor. The Watchdog's shoes were still clean, but he still couldn't help but roll his eye and revoke his hand in disgust. Turning to the career recruit, he said: "You get him to his feet. That's an order."
"Yes, sir." the man answered, joined by one of his friends in tiptoeing around the puddle in order to grab the other under the arms and hoist him up. Ciel used the opportunity to walk away and tend to other bouts of mischief and mayhem.
A/N: Much shorter than the previous chapter, but I hope you'll forgive me. The last one was ridiculously long.
I tried to do more with Ciel, since I kind of get the impression that people like the boot camp stuff more? I don't know if that's the case or not...
Alois' storyline this time isn't so clear cut. It's messy because emotions are messy. I've gotten a few people saying they're confused by what's going on, meanwhile, I have others who say I should just keep on course, so I dunno what to do. I'll figure it out. Probably just stick to the program, if I'm honest. If you aren't sure of stuff that's happening, feel free to ask questions! I'll answer them either in the A/N or if you'd rather ask on Tumblr, I have one of those. Same username as here. I can't shut up about this shit, so I'll be happy to explain what I can without any spoilers!
Next chapter should be... something... I've got ideas and honestly? It might not be as fun as this one. Stay tuned~!
Until the next chapter, my duckies~!
