I don't want to want you

Chapter 7 . Friends

Where am I?

Ciel shot up from the bed and shook his head back and forth, blinking rapidly trying to get his eyes to adjust to the dark, the room creeping into focus one blink at a time. It was night out, and someone had turned off the lights in the room. Ciel relaxed at the realization that he was still in his dorm. The dream that had woken him up had him perplexed, and even though the dream affected him to such an extent, he could only remember tiny fragments.

He remembered feeling anxious and frightened as someone was holding him down. No, several people were holding him down. He felt a slight tremor rattle his body as the scattered images flashed through his mind and he closed his eyes in an attempt to calm himself down, feeling his body slowly beginning to relax with each deep breath.

He heard snoring coming from the other bed and glanced over to discover Finny's sleeping silhouette in the dark, tucked in by warm blankets. Ciel's mind was still muddled from the brute awakening and he tried to go over the day in his head in an attempt to figure out how he had ended up here.

They had been studying... And Finny had tried to convince him that he liked Alois. Oh god. Ciel cringed at the memory before he continued to reminisce. They had gone outside where they had picked up an injured Alois and brought him back to their dorm. And they had fallen asleep...

Ciel gasped and looked over to his side. Aside from him, the bed was empty. Alois was gone. Had he still been here when Finny had returned? Had he seen them sleeping beside each other?

My life sucks.

He couldn't believe that he had fallen asleep; he hadn't even been tired. He rubbed his eyes, slid of the bed and stood up on wobbly legs. Unsure of how late at night it was, Ciel grabbed his phone and checked the time. 11 PM. He had slept for seven hours. Ciel sighed deeply at his own carelessness and at the fact that he never would be able to fall asleep again. He scratched his head while muttering to himself and stumbled to the door. Thank god it's Saturday.

On the way to the bathroom the image of Alois' swollen eyes from the night before flashed through his mind. He had been crying in the bathroom. Why had he been crying? Did it have something to do with that Claude guy? He clenched his teeth as the thought made the anger want to resurface. With a deep breath, he quickly calmed himself down and got surprised when a sting of pity replaced the previous emotion. He found himself wishing that there was something he could do for Alois, something to make him feel better. This newfound compassion had him thoroughly confused to say the least.

He was heading back to his dorm when a thought suddenly hit him. He felt so bad for Alois, and for some weird reason that he couldn't explain he wanted to cheer him up, despite all that had happened between them over these past weeks. Somewhere deep inside he knew that there was a reason to why Alois acted the way he did, and he had a feeling that reason wasn't a good one. With that thought he decided to go against his very nature and help him out. Just this once.

By this point Ciel had realized that there was no escaping this boy. Whether they would end up as friends or not was irrelevant, Ciel was certain that Alois would be in his life in some way or another.

Friends. That would work, right?

He pondered on the idea for a while before giving up. This wasn't exactly Ciel's area of expertise, but he knew someone who might be able to help, and who might just be awake. He had been meaning to talk to his brother anyway, he had questions that needed answers. He dug his phone up from his pocket and began typing.

Ciel:
Are you up?

The answer came immediately.

Sebastian:
Yes