A/N: I wrote this while listening to Jimmy Buffet songs (Boat Drinks, Margaritaville, Volcano, Bama Breeze, etc). You know, beachy music. Those are all songs from my childhood. I almost cried listening to them. God, I miss Florida.
Go listen to those songs while you read this. They're good.
Also, I just finished Kuroshitsuji II. (SPOILER ALERT!) I cried at Claude's death. I loved him so much T-T
And if I was sad at his death, you should have seen me during the part where all of Ciel's friends got the packages he sent them. It kind of surprised me that he sent them to the Shinigami as well. I was like, "Aww, maybe he does care about them!"
... LOLZ.(Chatspeak is something I don't use very often, well, unless I'm in a hurry. Savor it.)
~And with that said, let this epic tale begin...!~
(HAAAZAR!)
...
"LET'S GO TO THE BEACH!" Ronald shouted as he burst into William's office wearing nothing but his swim trunks and an inner-tube.
Both William and Grell looked up at the joyful intruder. "The beach?" they said in unison, Grell sounding far more enthusiastic than the former.
"Yeah." said Ronald. "You know, the beach? With all the sand and the water and crabs and stuff?" he looked at William like he was stupid.
"Yes, Knox. I know what the beach is, thank you very much." the stoic man snapped. "That would be nice and all, but I just so happen to be working. AND SO ARE YOU. Back to your desk, Knox."
"Oh, come on, boss. It'll be fun!" Ronald walked up to William's desk and spun the man's chair around to face him. "You need to get out more, anyway! Plus, we all know that you would love to sit on the beach with Grell, drinking a argarita as you watch the sun set in the distance. Can't you see it now, boss? And then, you two would proceed to have hot beach se-"
The boy was cut off as a flushed William slapped a hand over his mouth. "You need to shut up. Get back to work!"
"Oh, come on, Will~! It'll be fun! I can't even remember the last time we went to the beach! Well, yes I can. How could I ever forget something like THAT~?" William's free slapped over the flamboyant redhead's mouth. Sadly, Grell continued speaking. "I mean, we don't even have to have sex. Well, unless you want to, of course~"
William's face was turning redder by the second. Whether it was out of embarrassment from Grell's words, or if it was out of anger, nobody knew. "Will you both just shut up! We are NOT going to the beach, and that is fina-"
"Did someone say beach?" Eric appeared in the doorway with a smile.
"Umm, Eric-" Alan, whom was behind his taller colleague, tried to talk Eric out of pursuing the idea of going to the beach further. Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain.
"No. Get back to work." William snapped.
"Then, why is Ronald in his swim trunks?" Eric raised an eyebrow.
"Honestly. You ask too many questio-"
"We're all going to go to the beach! Including you two!" Ronald shouted.
"I thought I told you to be quiet!" William hissed through his teeth.
"Oh, we are?" Eric seemed excited.
"No, we are not!" William argued.
Grell turned to his boss and did the only thing he could do. Well, the only thing besides flashing him, but he had a feeling that that would only resort in a suspension. No, he used the puppy dog eyes. It was a skill that he had mastered throughout the years, and it worked especially well on William. "Please, Will? Please can we go?"
William glared down into Grell's big green eyes. It was really hard to deny him when he used those gorgeous lime pool- 'What the hell am I thinking?' William mentally facepalmed. He ran a hand through his hair and clicked his tongue. "Fine. You four go ahead and go to the beach. I'm staying here and doing my paperwo-"
"Noooooo~!" Grell whined, "You have to come with us~! It'll be no fun without you~!"
"Yeah!" both Ronald and Eric said in unison as they made their own pouty faces. In William's opinion, their's were not nearly as cute as Grell's.
"Come on, sir! Please come with us?" even Alan was whining, a rare occurrence, indeed.
They all really wanted him to go that badly? But, why? He was their uptight, un-fun boss. What could they possibly want with him?
Well, he had to admit, sitting on the beach with Grell, sipping a Margarita did sound awfully nice.
Fine.
He would go.
But he wouldn't like it (Yes he would).
"Fine." he put a hand on his forehead and sighed. Looking up at his band of morons, he threw his hands up and said, "Let's go to the beach."
Everyone cheered.
"I'll go get my swim trunks!" Eric sprinted out the door.
Alan chased after him. "Eric, where did you put the sunscreen?"
"Oh, I have the cutest swimsuit to wear~!" Grell bounced merrily out of the office.
"I'll go fix us a portal!" Ronald stated happily.
And with that, William was left alone in his office, wondering what the hell he just signed himself up for.
...
"Knox, why is it taking so damn long to get there?" William asked irritably.
"Just one more second and- Ah! Here we are!"
They stepped out of the portal to find themselves in alley by the back of a restaurant.
Grell looked up at the sign near the back door. "Jimmy's Bar and Grill? I've never heard of this place before, and that's saying something, considering that I have to reap drowned people at the beach at least every week."
William gaped at him. "I thought you said that you haven't been to the beach in a long time! That's one of the only reasons I came here, because you guilt tripped me!"
"Oh, please. Reapings at the beach don't count as 'going to the beach'. Oh, and what's this? You came because you felt bad that you haven't taken me to the beach in such a long time? William, you're so romantic~ How swee-"
"You and I both know that that is NOT what I said. Honestly."
"Oh, but it is~"
"Sutcli-"
"Will you two lovebirds just stop arguing for five seconds?" Eric chuckled.
"We aren't arguing!" they both said in unison, Grell sounding significantly more playful than his boss.
"Whatever." Ronald rolled his eyes, "Let's go!"
The five of them started to walk out of the alley, William and Grell striking up a little 'conversation' on the way. "By the way, Sutcliff, I'm honestly scared to see what's under that swimsuit cover-up of yours."
Grell pouted in return. "It's not like I'm wearing a string bikin-"
"Woah, Grell-senpai! I really didn't want that image in my head, thank you very much." Ronald chuckled. Meanwhile, William's face was turning blue.
"Grell Sutcliff, could you please try and be a little more- WOAH!" William gaped at the scene around him.
Once they were out of the alley, they were in a cute little shopping center with a great view of ocean. There were people everywhere, most of which were wearing swimsuits. Umbrellas and blankets littered the sandy shore. A lazy breeze blew through the area.
It looked like something out of a magazine.
"Ronald Knox, where the hell are we!?" William continued to gape like a fish.
"Umm, well, look over there. That's the Atlantic." Ronald pointed to the large expanse of water on the horizon.
"Okay, but where are we viewing it from?" William's patience with the boy was at an all time low.
Ronald gave a nervous chuckle. "Well... Florida."
Everyone was silent.
"... Florida?" William asked quietly. Ronald nodded. "You mean as in... The state? In America?"
"Yes... That's precisely what I mean." Ronald started to sweat a bit. The blank look that William was giving him was unnerving.
After a few moments of silence, William said calmly, "Tell me, why did you take us all the way to FLORIDA in the UNITED BLOODY STATES OF AMERICA?"
"Well," Ronald shifted a bit, "I've been told that the beaches in Florida are really nice. Plus, look at all of the pretty ladies in bikinis!"
"Knooox." William said dangerously.
Grell bit his lip and latched onto William's arm, partially because he thought that it would maybe calm William down a bit, give William a new target for his anger instead of poor Ronald, or he would be able to hold his love back from tearing Knoxie's head off. "Come on, Will. Don't be mad at Ronnie. It was very considerate of him to phase us here in the first place. Plus, it's not like we can't just phase back when we're done."
No matter how much he wanted to, William couldn't argue with Grell's logic. He adjusted his glasses and sighed. "Fine. Let's just hurry up and pick a space to put the umbrella."
'Thank you.' Ronald mouthed to Grell. The redhead only smiled at him and latched onto William tighter.
...
After making their way down to the beach, Eric set up the umbrella and folding chairs. He and Ronald immediately removed their shirts and ran for the water.
"You boys should really put on sunscreen before you get wet!" Grell called after them. They just ignored him and kept running. He rolled his eyes and turned to Alan. "Do you need help with sunscreen, sweetie?"
"Huh? Oh, sure! Could you get my back, please?" Alan took off his shirt and turned around.
"Sure."
William watched Grell from his spot on one of the towels. 'I wonder what his swimsuit actually does look like... I'm sure that it isn't horribly inappropriate... Or at least I hope.'
Once Grell was done slathering the small reaper in sunblock, he turned to William and raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you going to put on some sunscreen?"
"I'd rather keep my hoodie on, thank you." he held onto his black sleeveless hoodie protectively. Hey, it was a gift from Eric! Today seemed like the opportune day to wear it.
"Looks like somebody is a little bit shy~" Grell smiled slyly. "That's cute, Will. So you're not going to swim, then?"
"No, thank you. You go ahead, though." William adjusted his glasses. To be completely honest, he was a bit self-conscious.
"Aww, that's no fun. Do you want me to stay out here with you? I can, if you want." Grell looked a little bit bummed that William wasn't actually going to swim.
"No. I'll be quite alright. Go swim." William pulled out a book from his bag.
"Suit yourself." Grell walked over to his bag and pulled off his red dress-like cover-up so that he could store it somewhere safe from the water.
William was curious. He kept telling himself not to look. What did it matter to him what Grell's swimsuit looked like? Or, more importantly, what Grell looked like wearing it. He buried his nose into his book, trying to do everything in his power to keep himself from looking...
But, it couldn't be helped. He was going to see it sometime this evening anyway, why not do it while good and prepared? William lowered his book and turned his attention to the flamboyant man. "Oh, wow." he didn't mean to let the words slip out, they just did.
Grell heard him and looked up at William. He smiled. "Oh, do you like it?"
Well, it certainly... Suited him.
It was a very frilly red bikini that came with an equally frilly skirt. As far as William was concerned, it covered everything, and Grell could easily pass off as a woman, so he wasn't too worried about it.
"It looks nice on you, I suppose." William lifted his book back up to cover his face.
"Thank you, sweetheart~! Are you positive you don't want to swim?" Grell asked sweetly.
"Yes, I'm sure. Go have fun while you still can, because I'm going to work you to the bone once we get back to the office."
Grell shrugged, turned on his heel, and headed toward the water. William glanced up from his book for a moment to watch the redhead leave. He did a double-take. Grell really did look great in that swimsuit...
Especially from the back.
"... I suppose a quick swim won't hurt."
...
"Eric! Pass it over here!" Grell swam around and raised his hands up, prepared to hit the beach ball when it was passed to him. Eric did as he was ordered, but Ronald jumped up in front of Grell and smacked the ball in the opposite direction. "Ronnie! No fair!"
"Sorry, senpai, but, I can't let you get all of the points." Ronald smiled. Eric smirked and threw the ball at the back of Ronald's head. It successfully hit it's target, making the young blonde give a yelp of surprise and pain. "Hey! That wasn't very nice!" he rubbed the back of his head and pouted.
Grell laughed victoriously. "Serves you right, you little- AHH!"
Suddenly, Grell was lifted up from the water. He looked down to find himself sitting on William's shoulders. The man had swam over to them, keeping himself hidden underwater. He looked up. "Hello, Sutcliff."
"Woah! Wait, how the hell did you get over here so fast? You were sitting under the umbrella just a few minutes ago! How did-" Eric was ignored.
"I feel so tall~!" Grell spread out his arms, as if he was flying.
William rolled his eyes. Instead of making a mean remark, he flipped Grell into his arms bridal style. To this, Grell's face turned as red as his hair. That is, until his beloved William threw him. Grell hit the water with a loud splash.
Grell surfaced and pouted at William. "Ah, you are so cold~" once he finally got a good look at the taller man, he raised an eyebrow and made a suggestive purring noise. "And, evidently, you also look very good shirtless~" William grabbed the beach ball and threw it at Grell's face. Sadly, the shorter man caught it before it broke his glasses. "You know what? I really don't want these to get broken." Grell unhooked the chain and removed his glasses. "I'm just going to put these on the shore."
"Grell, if you do that, you're going to lose them." William adjusted his own glasses.
"Oh, no I won't! They'll be fine." Grell turned around and began swimming back to the shore.
Once he was out of earshot, Alan said, "He really does look like a woman in that swimsuit, doesn't he?"
"Disturbingly so." William replied.
"Well, the Boss looks really sexy in hi-" Ronald started, but was cut off by the beach ball hitting him in the nose, successfully knocking off his glasses.
"Honestly. Nobody likes a kiss up, Knox." said William, obviously the one that threw the ball. "You better find your glasses before the current carries them away."
"Damn it!" Ronald went underwater to begin his search for the fallen spectacles. After a few minutes, he found them. He gave a triumphant laugh as he put the glasses back on his face. The first thing he saw was Grell swimming back to them.
Once the redhead reached his destination, he said, "I put them right over there." he pointed to a towel near the shore.
"That's fine, I guess." William sighed. "Just don't forget that they're there."
"Oh, please. How could I forget? I'm practically blind without them!" Grell rolled his yellow-green eyes. He swam over to William's general vicinity and placed a hand on his chest. "See? I can hardly see you! Wow, Will, do you work out~?" his question was answered with a swift smack on the head.
"Honestly." William fixed his glasses out of habit. "That is extremely inappropriate... But, for your information, yes. I do."
Grell drooled a bit, his eyes practically turning into hearts. Ronald shook his head. "Enough of this! It's time for a chicken fight!" he pointed to Eric and Alan, "You two," he then pointed to Grell and William, "verses you two!"
Alan raised his hand. "What exactly is a 'chicken fight'?"
"It's an awesome game you play when you're in water." Eric explained, "Basically, you sit on somebody's shoulders and try to push your opponent off of somebody else's shoulders."
"I see." said Alan quietly.
"Knox, I am not going to do a chicken fi-" but it was too late. Grell had already climbed onto William's shoulders and assumed a fighting position. "Honestly..."
Eric pulled Alan onto his own shoulders and faced William and Grell.
"Now," said Ronald, "... BEGIN!"
Alan made the first move. He tried to shove Grell off of William's shoulders, but found it nearly impossible. Grell, on the other hand, was having a fairly easy time, and didn't really have to shove hard at all before Alan toppled off and into the water. Grell gave a victorious smile.
"Hold on, boss, don't throw senpai off just yet. I want to fight him." Ronald climbed onto Eric's shoulders.
"And when did I ever approve this?" Eric raised an eyebrow.
"Just go with it." Ronald snapped. Eric didn't question him further.
Grell readied himself, and as soon as Alan gave the okay, he shoved Ronald off with little to no effort.
"What!?" Ronald gave Grell a disbelieving look.
"AAA's, Ronnie." Grell smiled down at him.
William looked up at Grell. "Only in Practical Skills." he corrected.
"Oh, shut up, dearie~" Grell tugged on William's hair a little.
"I want a rematch!" exclaimed Ronald. And so, Ronald got his rematch. Three times, to be exact. He just couldn't win. "You know," Ronald started after his fourth time being dumped, "You're pretty strong for a guy with a waistline the size of boss's deathscythe."
"Why, thank- AHH!" Grell was unceremoniously thrown into the water by William.
The five continued to swim until about 5:00 P.M., when they decided to at least take a break. They all got their towels and settled down for a little while.
Well, everyone besides Grell. The petite man ran up to his boss, worried. "William?" he said timidly.
"Yes?"
"I... I can't find my glasses."
...
William quickly stood up from his chair. "You LOST your glasses?"
"I-I... Yes." Grell prepared himself for a smack on the head. But, it never came.
Instead, William just sighed irritably. He slid his glasses up and rubbed his eyes. "Ugghh! I told you that this would happen! And what do you do? Ignore me! Why can't you ever just listen to me?"
"I-I'm sorry. You were right. I was wrong. I'm so sorry..." Grell trailed off a bit. He sounded like a guilty little kid that just broke his mother's favorite vase.
William sighed again. 'Stop yelling at him, William. It's only making things worse.' he thought. He looked back at the redhead and said, "Honestly, Sutcliff. What am I going to do with you?" his gaze softened a bit, not that Grell could see this without his glasses.
"Hit me?" Grell cowered a bit more.
"No," William's voice calmed down a bit, "I'm not going to hit you. I WANT to hit you, but I'm not going to."
Grell looked up at him sadly. "Well, what am I going to do, then? I NEED my glasses."
William was silent for a moment. "Well, come on." he offered his hand to the troublesome redhead (only to guide him around while he couldn't see, mind you). "Let's go find your glasses."
Grell smiled softly at him and took his hand. "Thank you."
...
They searched the beach hand-in-hand for about thirty minutes before Grell started to get discouraged. "Will, we've been looking for half an hour! What am I going to do if we don't find them?"
"We are GOING to find them, Sutcliff." when Grell didn't reply, William looked down to find him looking a bit depressed. "Oh, come on. Quit looking so sad. They'll turn up."
Grell looked up at him with big watery eyes. William had to admit, he looked pretty cute without glasses. Not to say that he wasn't cute with the glasses. "What if they got sucked up by a wave?"
William kept his cold gaze. They walked in silence for a few minutes, and Grell thought that William was probably wasn't going to answer his question. He was sadly mistaken. After the rather long pause, William said in his low, unwavering voice, "Well then, I'll just have to take a little swim and find them, now won't I?"
Grell looked up at him with wide eyes. "You would do that for me?"
"Don't get the wrong idea, Sutcliff." William snapped, cheeks dusted with a light pink blush. "Pops worked hard on those glasses."
"You're not fooling anybody, William T. Spears. Admit it. You care about me~" Grell gave William a playful nudge.
"Well, somebody has to look out for you." William kept his gaze ahead of him. "You are a huge responsibility, Grell Sutcliff."
"Oh? And yet, you still put up with me~? I knew you cared~!"
The two decided to take a break from their search. They sat down by the shore. William took off his glasses to clean them. When he put them back on, he couldn't believe what he saw in the sand beside him.
Grell's glasses.
He picked them up and put them on the redhead's face. "W-William! You found them!" Grell smiled happily.
William grabbed Grell's chin and gave him a stern look in the eyes. "Now, you need to take better care of those."
Grell's heart sped up tenfold and his cheeks flushed. "Y-Yes, sir."
William stood up and helped his redheaded friend up along with him. "Now, I think it's time we head back to the others. We still have a sunset to watch, and I'll be damned if I don't get a Margarita."
...
The rest of the evening was spent in relaxation. William and Grell watched Eric, Alan, and Ronald swim and play ball, while they just sat in folding chairs under the umbrella and watched the sun go down.
William had to admit, this was nice. He wished that he could do this more often. He laid down, and with his eyes closed, said, "Sutcliff, you and I are going to grow old together, right?"
Grell smiled at him. "Well, that's been my plan for about 200 years."
"Are you still going to love me when I'm a grouchy old man?"
"Aren't you already?" Grell said with a teasing tone in his voice.
"Thanks a lot." the older man sneered sarcastically.
"Oh, I'm just joking. Of course, darling. I'll love you as long as I live." Grell took William's hand in his own. Surprisingly, William didn't pull away. He twitched a bit, but didn't pull away.
"... Would you call me crazy if I told you that I'm relieved to hear that?"
Grell looked at him with a confused expression. "You are? Why?"
William sighed again. "Well, you guys are a lot different than me. Eventually, you'll all get married and live your own lives. We won't see each other everyday. We won't go to dinner every Saturday night anymore. We won't do any of the things that we do now. I'm just... Scared of being left behind. I don't want to be forgotten."
William looked over to see Grell with tears streaming down his face. "William T. Spears, I promise that I will never EVER leave you behind. Hell, none of us will! We're all inseparable. Even when we're all grouchy old men, we'll still have dinner every Saturday night. We'll still see each other everyday. And plus, I would never dream of marrying a man that isn't you, Will."
This really got to William. He was almost positive that, no matter how much he tried to run away from it, he and Grell actually WOULD end up getting married someday. He liked the feeling of being wanted and needed. He liked to think that people would miss him if he were to leave. And now, he knew that he would never be alone.
He squeezed Grell's hand a bit as he looked out at the other three playing with the ball in the water. "Thank you, Grell."
Grell just looked at him and smiled.
Sadly, their little moment was ruined by Ronald whistling at them and Eric making some lewd kissing noise. Alan only tried to hide himself underwater. "Boss and Sutcliff sitting in a tree," Eric sang.
"F-U-C-K-I-N-" Ronald tried to finish, but was cut off by William throwing a bottle of sunscreen at his head. Ronald gave a weak cry of distress and fell back into the water.
"Honestly..." a flushed William adjusted his glasses. He looked over to find Grell giggling at his subordinated little 'song'.
'I'm going to grow old and die putting these imbeciles in their place.' William thought to himself with a pout. 'Oh well. It beats growing old and dying alone... Well, not that Shinigami ever die of age. We do become more frail as we grow older, though.' William reasoned with himself.
He was snapped out of his thoughts as Grell nudged him with his elbow. "So, how about that hot beach sex~?" he said with a flirtatious wink.
William's eyes widened. All off the color drained from his face as he looked at Grell. Ronald and Eric started cat-calling and shouting words of encouragement.
"N-No!" William stuttered. "Honestly!"
This raised some noises of disappointment from the Peanut Gallery.
"Eh, it was worth a shot." Grell shrugged. "Maybe someday."
And so, the rest of the evening was spent in relaxation as the five Shinigami watched the sun go down together.
As the sky turned beautiful hues of orange, red, purple, and navy, one thought remained on all of their minds...
Maybe eternity isn't so scary after all, as long as you have somebody to share it with.
...
A/N: WOOT! That was one sappy ending! Sorry if the last few paragraphs seemed a bit rushed. I was slowly falling asleep.
I love Ronald.
I swear to God, if anyone even mentions William being OOC, I'm gonna... Explode, I guess.
By the way, yes. William got his Margarita.
I know, this was pretty sappy and awful, but, what can I do, AMIRITE?
I HAD TO WRITE SOME SHINIGAMI FUN IN THE SUN FRIENDSHIP FLUFF!
By the way, I have know idea if the first letter of "Margarita" is actually capitalized. That's what auto-correct said, but, we can't really trust auto-correct, now can we? Anyway, I apologize if it's wrong.
I'm sure that there are various grammar mistakes throughout this story. Sorry about that.
One more thing...
We all know that William wants it. (Badly.)