Eric lead Alois into a kind of creepy looking neighborhood. From one house, you could hear two people having sex. One of them was a very loud man and the other was an equally loud woman shouting the name "Ronald" over and over again.

Eric sighed. "Sorry about my neighbor. He likes to bring a lot of lady friends over." He opened the door, revealing a small house with cheap, broken furniture and various art supplies everywhere. The whole house smelled like both charcoal and baked bread. "Alan must be asleep."

Growing up in a horrid environment made it easy to be in places like this for Alois. Although, he stuck out like a sore thumb due to his noble status, he was used to it. Once inside the house, he glanced around, taking in every detail. "Is Alan your friend? Should I introduce myself?"

"He's probably sleeping. I don't want to wake him. In the morning. You want anything?"

"No. Not at the moment." He walked around, picking up a charcoal pencil. "Do you draw?"

"Yeah, a lot. I started back in highschool. Or should I say hell-school."

Alois chuckled softly. "You seem pretty good at it. I want to learn to draw."

"I should teach you some time." Eric smiled softly. "What kind of things are you interested in drawing?"

"Hm…" Alois thought about his so called "family" of demons. "How about supernatural beings? Are they easy to draw?"

"It depends on how human they look. Like shinigami are pretty similar to humans, for example, at least in appearance."

"They're exactly like humans...except they're not. Almost like shinigami."

"Like… demons?"

Alois nodded. "Yes. That's exactly what I'm thinking." He found it weird that Eric knew about things like shinigami and demons.

"Well, they're just as hard to draw as humans. And humans are not simple."

"Oh... Maybe you could draw it for me?"

"Alright. But I don't know what they look like."

Alois nodded and thought. The first person he thought of was basically imprinted on his mind. "Well, he has black hair that's sort of long. He always has a sharp glare. He wears glasses and a tailcoat. He's associated with spiders, too…"

Eric pulled out his sketchbook and grabbed a pencil and eraser. "Alright, alright. One thing at a time. What's this man's personality like? I want to get a feel for him first."

Alois smiled, remembering his now-deceased butler. "Well, he's very stern and uptight. He never talked much, but he was always there to help me with things, no matter how stupid they were."

Eric smiled softly. "He sounds like he was a kind man, in a sort. What was his facial structure like?"

"Um… Somewhat sharp, but with smooth features. He seemed to have a glare every time you'd see him. Sometimes I think he resembled a spider." He smiled at a few old memories, chuckling softly to himself.

Eric began sketching as Alois spoke, his fingers lightly grazing the paper. "And his nose?"

"It had a certain point to it. I'm not sure how to explain it."

"I'll try." Eric sketched quickly, then held up a picture of a face without glasses and hair that looked similar to Claude's.

Alois's eyes widened at how realistic it looked. "That's him. He also wears glasses, rounded rectangles. Oh, and his glare needs to be more… stern."

Eric nodded softly, then quickly sketched a pair of glasses on the face. He then erased the mouth and made his lips into more of a frown. "And what's his hair like?"

"It's sort of long. But not too long. It flows down to just about his shoulders." The blonde boy tried to show the hair length with his hands, placing them just to where his hair would end.

Eric began sketching Claude's hair in long and smooth strokes. He then added a pair of shoulders then began shading a bit. He drew the butler's uniform, and when he finished, he tore out the page and handed it to Alois. "Is that what he looks like?"

"Yes. It looks exactly like him," Alois smiled, carefully tracing the lines of the drawing with his finger. "Can I keep this?" He didn't remove his gaze from the picture.

"Of course." Eric smiled, happy he could do something, even if small, to make Alois feel a bit happier.

Alan wandered downstairs, wearing Eric's huge white shirt and a pair of gray boxers. "Ah, what time is it? Hm? Who's this?"

Alois turned his gaze to meet the brunette. He stood. "I'm Alois Trancy. Your new child, so to say."

"What…?" Alan looked to Eric for answers.

"I adopted him."

Alan began to cry shakily. "Oh my god… Oh my god. That's amazing."

Alois stared at the scene in front of him, not knowing quite what to say. He wasn't very good at first impressions, and even though he seemed outgoing and careless, he was quite socially awkward.

"Alois, you said your name was?" Alan asked. "That's a wonderful name. You're so… beautiful." He began to weep. "Ah, I'm sorry. I'm a mess. I'm Alan, by the way." Alan turned his gaze to Eric. "You did tell him about… well… right, Eric?"

"About what?" Eric looked confused.

"That we're not… well…"

Alois studied the two before speaking. "You two aren't human, right? You're eyes. They're the color of a shinigami's."

Alan nodded softly. "Yes." He walked to the door, locking it by using five different locks because Eric had just locked it once. "Eric, what did I tell you about the locks?"

"Sorry." Eric sighed. "Yeah, this is going to be a weird family dynamic. This is an odd family, isn't it?"

Alois smiled. "There's nothing wrong with being odd. Being normal can be quite boring, you know."

Alan beamed. "You're so sweet, Alois." Eric grinned, happy to see that Alan was so joyful.

"Am I? I don't really see myself as 'sweet.'" Alois shrugged. "Do you guys happen to be together?" He touched his two index fingers together to indicate what he meant.

"Together…? Like?" Alan cocked his head to the side.

"N-No! Nothing like that!" Eric chuckled nervously. "I like women!"

Alois smirked, a mischievous look in his eyes. "Whatever you say then," he mocked, laughing a bit. Right then are there he made it his personal goal to get the two together somehow.

"I mean…" Alan was blushing quite a bit.

"What?" Eric said defensively.

"N-Nevermind." Alan looked tiny. Not just in a physical way, but in a power way.

"Oh!" Alois exclaimed, reaching into his coat pocket and pulling out his last sweet from the bakery. "I was going to save this for later for myself… but after hearing about you, I want you to have this." He handed the crumpled bag to Alan.

Alan's eyes went huge, beaming, the pulling Alois into a huge hug. Well, as huge of a hug as a man so frail and thin could give. His body was practically bones, afterall.

Alois instantly realized how skinny the man was. He felt a piercing pain in his chest. He had just met Alan a few minutes ago and yet he cared enough about Alan that he knew he didn't want the older man to die.

"Children are so amazing." Alan pulled away from the hug gently. "I remember when I was a child. I was so loud and boisterous."

Eric chuckled to himself. "I was a shy lil' guy."

"Isn't that a tad strange?" Alois questioned. "I mean you guys are the exact opposite of what you were."

"Eh, my childhood toughened me, I suppose. I kind of weakened me at the same time, though. Some people can be assholes." Eric shrugged.

"I… I actually used to kind of bully Eric back when we were in highschool, although I was a lower classman. I mean… I wasn't his main bully or anything. His main bully was named Tom, actually."

"Please don't mention Tom."

Alois's eyes showed curiosity, but he decided to drop the subject. "Well, you two seem to be the best of friends now. Maybe even more…?"

"Time can heal a lot of things, can't it?" Alan smiled thoughtfully, looking to Eric, who merely grunted.

Alois grinned even more. "So does that mean that you two are technically married now?"

"M-Married!? Like I said before, I like women. Two totally heterosexual men can live together and adopt a child, can't they?" Eric was blushing bright red.

"You weren't very heterosexual that one night… Or the second night. Or the third."

"Alan, what has gotten into you!?" Eric's eyes were huge as he spoke.

It took every bit of strength he had for Alois to hold back his laughter. A few snickers escaped, however. "Well… it does mean that you two are parents. And seeing as one of you must be my mother…"

"I volunteer Alan," Eric blurted out.

"But we're both men," Alan argued. "We're both fathers."

"Well, one of you must be more feminine than the other." Alois snickered to himself. "I mean, I'll admit that I'm more feminine myself."

"It's Alan. Alan's more feminine."

"You cook!"

"Since when is cooking feminine?"

"You… You wear that frilly little apron!"

"That you sewed me."

Alan sighed before giving in. "Fine. I suppose I'm the more feminine one."

Alois laughed. "That makes two of us then, hm?" He looked to Alan. "I'll call you Papa." He turned to Eric and smiled. "And you can be Father. Problem solved!" He twirled and grinned. Having a family was fun. At least he was an only child. However, he'd always miss his brother.

Alan grinned. It seemed like this was the happiest day in his life. He was crying and grinning and he hadn't looked so lively in so long. His smile suddenly faded, and he was back to looking weak and ill. "Please don't get attached to me. I haven't much longer to live."

Alois's smile faded when Alan's did. "I almost forgot…" He let out a shaky sigh. "Isn't there a way? I mean… You can't just die. I can't have somebody important die again." He hated how selfish and whiny he sounded.

Alan shook his head. "I'm sorry. I wish it wasn't this way, I really do. I don't want to leave anybody. But it's a rare disease, a shinigami disease called The Thorns of Death. There's a myth, see, that killing a thousand souls will save one shinigami from The Thorns of Death. But I could never do that. Besides, it's just a fairytale. The hardest part of dying is leaving all the people I care for."

Alois's head perked up at the mention of the myth. "What if it's not a myth?" A melancholic smile spread across his face. "What… What if there's a way you could be cured? I'd take that risk if it meant you could live!"

"But a thousand people would be killed!" Alan argued. "I could never do that."

Eric looked oddly uncomfortable at the mention of the myth, squirming and looking away.

"So what? The world is full of unforgiving souls. There are plenty of people dubbed as inhumane for what they've done!" Alois glared at nothing in particular as painful memories returned. "Hell, I'd even pull the trigger myself if it meant getting rid of somebody despicable."

Eric sighed. "They must be pure souls. That's the catch."

Alan shook his head. "It's not worth it. I would much rather die than kill one thousand innocent people! That's just awful."

Running a hand through his blonde hair, Alois sighed. "I mean… We just met, but I know that someone like you doesn't deserve to die. I just can't go through death again."

Eric, standing behind Alan, winked at Alois. Clearly he had something up his sleeve that Alan didn't know about.

Alois smiled a bit when Eric gave him a wink. He didn't know what it was for, but something like that was enough reassurance for him. He'd have to ask Eric about it later. "Then let's make the time you have left special, okay?"