A Promise is a Promise (Black Butler Fanfiction)

A Promise is a Promise (Chapter 5) A Rainy Afternoon

It rained hard the next day. Heavy sheets of water fell from the sky, and seemed only to add to the fog curling through London's streets. At a loss for what to do, Ciel and Alois sat staring drearily out of the window.

"Won't this rain ever let up?" muttered Alois gloomily.

"Why don't we look round the library?" Ciel suggested, knowing a bored Alois also meant a grumpy one.

Alois pulled a flower from a nearby vase and began picking the petals off one by one. "Reading is dull," he complained. He finished taking his boredom out on the rose and threw it across the room.

"Well, we might find something interesting," Ciel hastily replied. "And besides, do you have a better idea?"

Alois pondered this glumly for a moment, then grimaced. "True." He jumped up, and flashed Ciel a cheeky look. "Only for you!" Having successfully made Ciel blush yet again, he strode purposefully out of the room.

--

The library had clearly not been used in quite some time. Piles of dusty books sat haphazardly, as if they could fall over if you sneezed too loudly. Ciel had to carefully dodge round them, while making sure not to walk into the cobwebs that hung spectrally from the bookcases. He eventually caught up with Alois, who had easily manuevered the obstacle course and was waiting for him.

"So how long has it been since you were last in here?" he asked, coughing on the dust.

Alois thought for a moment. "Hmm... now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever been in here by myself. Certainly not with Father." He looked down for a moment, then changed the subject. I wonder what the deal is with his father, anyway, thought Ciel. "By the way, I've noticed that whenever you're at parties, you always cling to the wall like a limpet or something and avoid dancing. Why is that?" Alois asked.

Ciel gulped. "Eh... uh... dancing isn't really my thing. I don't like parties much."

Alois looked at him, confused for a minute, then started like he'd just realised something.

"Oh! I get it! You've got two left feet, haven't you?"

"Ah! Um..." Ciel stammered, fumbling for an excuse, then let out a sigh. "Yes, I do."

Alois laughed out loud. "So the great Earl Phantomhive's one weakness is that he can't dance? It's a pity you don't like parties though," he continued, "because we've been invited to one tonight."

"What?!" Ciel exclaimed. "Why wasn't I told about this sooner?"

Alois laughed at his face. "I suppose I forgot. Sorry!" He suddenly had an idea. "I know, why don't we practice dancing? Maybe it would help you get better at it!" He grinned, and extended his hand. "Wold you care to dance, my lady?"

"Who's a lady?!" Ciel objected indignantly, but found Alois grabbing his hand and pulling him into a space in the centre of the bookcases. Alois put a hand on his back, took Ciel's and placed it on his shoulder. "And why do I have to be the girl?"

"Because you're so short, silly!" Alois giggled, and whirled him round. "Now, slide your foot backwards like this- ouch, backwards I said, backwards! There we go. Now, to the right..." They continued like this for about 5 minutes, until Ciel stopped, panting.

"You're kind of getting the hang of it! At least you aren't standing on my toes anymore," said Alois. "You know you can't always stay out of the way at parties, you've got to dance at some point."

"Oh save it, you're starting to sound like Sebastian." Ciel replied, still getting his breath back. They danced again, more slowly. Ciel laced his fingers round Alois' neck as Alois pulled him in closer. I almost forgot about last night, thought Ciel, and why is my heart beating so fast? Still struggling with his confused feelings, he leaned his forehead against Alois' chest, then drew breath in surprise as the other earl suddenly spun him round, lifting him right off the floor. "Whoa!"

"You're so light!" Alois laughed. "Shorty!"

"Well, do forgive me for being small! Your boots have heels-" Ciel began to splutter, but was cut off as Alois kissed him, running his fingers through his hair as he pulled him in even closer. Unable to resist, Ciel could only hold on tight.

When they pulled apart, Alois gently stroked his fringe back . "Let's keep dancing," he smiled. So they did.

                                                                                      --

The party that night was a success. Thanks to Alois' dance practice, Ciel managed not to step on the toes of any ladies, and found he was almost enjoying himself. He did see a few faces he recognised: Earl Charles Grey, a man whom Ciel thought was Alois' uncle, and -Ciel shuddered- Viscount Druitt. Sebastian was slightly mystified as to how his master had suddenly become so good at dancing; Claude busied himself in the kitchen.

As for Alois, he had learned his lesson from the last party and didn't even touch the wine on offer. And so the evening wore on.

                                                                                    --

Nobody knew how the fire started that night. Alois and Ciel were in bed; Claude was locking up and Sebastian was in his room, when they heard the shout from downstairs.

"Claude! Where are you? The front room's on fire!" Hannah, who had been in the servant's quarters at the time the fire started, had smelled the smoke and had gone to investigate.

Ciel appeared on the landing, yawning. "What's all this commotion so early in the morning? I demand to know what's going on!" he scowled. When he got no reply, he made his way downstairs.

He found the three demons all standing in the front room, staring at the flames. The fire had spread from the fireplace, up the drapes and had set almost the whole wall alight. Ciel stood there in a kind of fascinated horror, transfixed by the flames. "What a blaze... he murmured.

Sebastian was the first to snap out of it. "Claude! Hurry and get some water!" he asked. Silently, Claude did as he was told, and ran out of the room.

"Do not worry, young master, we will put it out." Sebastian said, turning to Ciel, who was coughing on the smoke.

"What's happening?" A sleepy voice asked. It was Alois, who had woken up, noticed Ciel was missing, and was now standing in the doorway behind him.

Hannah turned round sharply, suddenly looking alarmed.  "No, master! You mustn't come in here!" she cried. What's going on? thought Ciel. But it was too late. Alois had already walked through the door.

Hey guys. Sorry for updating so slow! ^^" I haven't had much time... I promise to try and not take so long with next chapter. Thank-you for reading till this point!!     Katxx