Greetings Earthlings! Soooo, seeing as I'm now part of Hello Kitty01's wonderful "General Fanfiction Challenges" forum; I've decided to take up the One Ship Boot Camp challenge. This is a 50 prompt challenge for any ship (I chose Grelliam), and hopefully I'll update every couple of days. Also, these are (for the most part) in chronological order.
Quick note: I'll say this once and once only, and skip if you don't care, but about Grell's gender. As I (and, I believe, the author) see Grell as a trans female, when it's Grell's POV she will refer to herself as "she/her". However, when in William's POV, she will be referred to as male, as in canon Will only ever refers to her using the masculine pronouns. This mean that if a chapter starts out in Will's POV, but has a flashback in Grell's POV, the pronouns will change partway through the chapter. I will be addressing Will's pronoun confusion in due time, but for now, he calls her "he/him".
Warning: As I am caught up with the manga and the anime, I don't know how much I will or will not be spoiling. Nothing much in chapter one besides the Will the Reaper anime-only OVA, but I'll let you know on a chapterly basis.
Disclaimer: I don't own Kuroshitsuji, nor will I ever. I can dream, but... nope.
And on that note: enjoy!
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Death Scythes and Glasses
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Ghost
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William T. Spears was an orderly man. Professional, calm, he did his duty with much efficiency and minimum complaint. But occasionally Grell caught a glimpse of the man beneath the mask. And that man was fascinating.
The reaper had first seen it during their final exam together. The rule-compliant B average student? How dreadfully boring. The redhead had been perfectly prepared to reap their target and be done with it, but Will had forced her to stay her hand.
And then the complete maniac had gone off and revealed himself to the man they were to reap. It wasn't expected, not by a long shot, and thinking back on it Grell giggled at her reaction to her partner's rash act. She had wanted to kill him back then, hadn't she? In any case, the target turned out not to be nearly as boorish a person as she thought he was going to be, so perhaps a little good had come from the encounter.
And then, of course, there was the reaping itself. What a momentous occurrence that was; a cinematic record coming to life. Even now, she had only seen two others act that way, and both were of particularly important figures in history. One had even tried to strangle poor Ronnie in an attempt to free itself during the reaping.
In any case, herself and William had somehow managed to collect their target's record, and she had obtained a friend along with it. She had always hesitated to use the term, because it was Will darling she was speaking of, however, infatuation was the only other word she could think of and it didn't quite fit. Infatuation on her part, certainly, she reflected, grinning sharply, but also something different. Perhaps he didn't think of her as a friend, per se, but the redhead doubted he consciously thought of anyone as such, and he had put up with her throughout the centuries so she would say that counted.
And throughout those centuries Grell certainly had seen some interesting glimpses of William's personality that hid behind all that order and irritation. For example, an absolutely delightful menace that he let slip on occasion, but also those few signs she saw (or perhaps merely imagined?) once in a blue moon that showed that the stoic man actually had some semblance of warmth hidden behind his glasses.
Like at the end of the Jack the Ripper incident. Despite his constant complaints about being understaffed, the division had had an influx of new employees at the time; reapers fresh out the academy, terribly fun to play jokes on. Any one of them could have easily covered so a less important coworker more experienced in dealing with her could have dragged her back home, kicking and screaming. But no, William came to do it himself. Quite an interesting choice on his part, Grell mused.
But perhaps she was overthinking it. The idea was laughable; Grell Sutcliff, the lady in red, thinking through something logically? Overthinking it, even? But even an actress could have her doubts, she supposed. Maybe she was making a mountain out of a molehill, with her ideas of hidden sides and friendship. Perhaps there was none to be found, and she was merely a person who wanted companionship so badly that she saw it everywhere-
Whap.
"Ouch! Who just hit me with their... Pruning.. pole? Will darling, whatever are you doing here?"
The man walked up next to where she was sitting at her desk stepping cautiously around where her chainsaw was lying against the wall. "Sutcliff, get back to work. We're shorthanded enough without a reaper who can be efficient when he chooses having an existential crisis. Return to your paperwork."
Grell blinked. "I'm not having an existential crisis!" she protested loudly, straightening up from the lounging position she had adopted while thinking. "I haven't had one of those in years!"
William sighed, pushing up his slowly slipping glasses with his scythe. "Be that as it may, I will not tolerate you getting lost in thoughts until after you've finished. You're behind on your past two missions' reports, and while you often seem to decide that paperwork isn't worth your time, I have seen you actually doing your reports and in a timely manner at that. Therefore-"
"Wait a moment," the red reaper cut in, suspicious, leaning over her desk and resting her chin on her hands. He couldn't be telling the truth. William T. Spears did not just complement people. This had to be a ploy to get her back to trudging through her reports. Well, it was an impressive ploy, she could say that much. It was almost working. "You're actually implying that I can be efficient?"
The dark-haired man shot her a glare. "Seeing as that was indeed what I just said, much as it pains me to say it, it is indeed true that you can be of more help than you let on. So yes. When you choose to, you can be one of the more efficient reapers in the division. Why you spend your time dallying with others when you should be working is beyond me."
Well then. Perhaps William did have emotions, in his own particular way. Even hidden behind a complaint, that was a compliment. Perhaps their friendship wasn't the ghost her mind had thought it was, Grell reflected. Latching on to her superiors' last statement, which had cheered her up quite a bit, she grinned sharply and exclaimed, "Dallying with others? Now whoever could you mean, Will?" She paused for effect, letting an 'idea' strike her. "Or perhaps you mean my Bassie?"
The other reaper's eyebrow twitched in annoyance. "I cannot understand how you enjoy spending time with a creature like that."
Grell got up, pushing her chair away in favour of playfully clinging to her superior's shoulder. "Oh I knew it! You're jealous, aren't you?"
A vein pulsing in his temple, the black clad man attempted to shake her off. "Why on Earth would I be jealous of that scum?" he asked belligerently. "And release me at once!"
"Not until you admit you're jea~lous!" the reaper in the red coat sang, shifting positions to fully hug the man. "I've been around long enough to know the signs, you know, and it's just so cute seeing it on you."
Heat rising to his cheeks (it must have been from annoyance, he thought), William attempted rather futilely to disentangle himself from his partner, whose grip was so strong he felt his ribs dangerously close to breaking. "Sutcliff... I cannot... breathe.." he wheezed out, supremely irritated.
Grell pouted, but loosened her grip accordingly. Then, releasing William and poking his cheek with a gloved finger, she skipped away, chanting, "You're jealous! You're blushing!", causing the man's eyebrow to twitch and making him chase after her, waving his death scythe and shouting, "Sutcliff, quit these childish antics and return to your work at once!"
And with that, it was just another day at the office.
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So what do you guys think? I'm neither good nor experienced in writing romance, so this'll be pretty slow, but I hope that there were at least some hints of shipping in there. Also: trying to write Grell terrifies me. She's just such a character; it's really scary.
Please tell me if you thought anybody was OOC, especially Grell, and if you think her self-doubt was too much, please let me know with constructive criticism.
Thanks guys.
See ya!
-Unconscious Again