Supernatural

Summary: Arthur is used to seeing faeries and goblins, so it's no surprise when he meets a reaper. Written for the Crack Pairing Generator Challenge on . Eric SlingbyxArthur Wordsmith.

Disclaimer: Black Butler/Kuroshitsuji belongs to Yana Toboso-sensei.

A/N: My random pairing was EricxArthur, so here you go.

Arthur, for some reason or other, attracted the supernatural like flies to a corpse. After his strange encounter with Earl Phantomhive's demon butler (which had left him shaken for quite some time), he had begun to notice other beings which were more than human. It was now such a common occurrence, that he was no longer shocked, and in fact had made many friends among the good neighbors.

After leaving the Phantomhive mansion, it was several months before he saw the first faerie. After that, it was all downhill as he began to see more and more unearthly beings. He found goblins in his sock drawer and pixies in his newspapers. He even once found an oriental looking, reptilian creature in his bathtub. It had demanded cucumbers and wouldn't leave until given some. After all that, Arthur was used to strange things and was not at all shocked or scared when he met a reaper.

Arthur had been taking another of his walks, again to get ideas, and was entirely focused on his protagonist and not where he was going. As such, he soon ran into another person walking along. The man was taller than him, with strange hair that was blonde with a patch of black braiding. He turned around and Arthur noticed that he had green eyes that almost glowed. The writer felt like they were staring into his very soul.

"S-sorry," Arthur stammered.

"S'alright," the stranger responded casually.

"I hope you won't be offended," Arthur said, "But by any chance are you a demon?"

"Excuse me?" The man raised an eyebrow at the question.

"Ah, you see I can tell that you aren't human, and your presence is similar to that of a demon. Is that what you are?" Arthur clarified.

"I'm impressed," the man chuckled, "Most humans can't tell us apart. You must have faerie sight or something. But don't compare me to those demon scum. I'm a reaper."

"As in a grim reaper? A reaper of souls?"

"Yeah. Eric Slingby of the London Reaper Dispatch Society," he introduced himself.

"I'm Arthur-."

"I know your name. It's part of the job, y'know."

"Right."

Eric suddenly checked his watch.

"Crap. I'm going to be late if I don't hurry. Nice meeting you Art."

"Art?"

But the reaper had already disappeared. Arthur went home marveling at his new nickname. 'I guess I made another strange friend', Arthur thought as he recalled his other "friends". 'A pastry making demon, a cucumber eating...whatever that was, and now a grim reaper with blue glasses.' But the reaper was somehow different from the other creatures that Arthur encountered before. Those eyes seemed to captivate him even after their glow was no longer present.

A few days later, Arthur saw Eric again, this time it was outside Arthur's home. One of the writer's elderly neighbors had died and Arthur had been helping her feed her cats at the time that she passed. He felt bad for poor Mrs. Jenkins, but was pleasantly surprised when Eric showed up, along with a redheaded woman. 'Or is it a man?' Arthur mused. 'She.. he.. it is wearing pants, but also lipstick. How confusing.'

"Fancy seeing you again, Art," the reaper saluted.

"Oh yeah, you're probably here to reap her soul."

"Yep. She's one of the ones on our list."

"Who is he~?" asked the ginger.

"He's a friend of mine. He has faerie sight. Art, this is my co-worker Grell."

"Nice to meet you, miss." Arthur said, hoping to have gotten the gender right.

"He called me miss!" exclaimed Grell, "I think I like this guy."

"Er, thanks?" Arthur breathed a sigh of relief.

Arthur then got to watch as the two reapers did their job. Grell watched a film of Mrs. Jenkins' life, which she explained was a Cinematic Record, and then reaped her soul. As she did this, Eric took notes in a notebook bound in black leather.

"Wait, now what am I to do with all these cats?" Arthur complained.

"I have ju~st the place!" Grell offered.

"Here, you take them, then," the writer proceeded to put the six cats in a basket and handed it to Grell.

The red reaper grabbed the basket and went off to wherever she was going to leave them.

"Great. We were supposed to go for dinner after we wrapped up here."

"Er, sorry. Did I ruin your date?"

Eric laughed. "It wasn't a date. He's just my co-worker. Some others from the Dispatch'll be there too."

"He?" Arthur gulped. 'So I did get it wrong?'

"Yeah, even though Grell always wants to be called a lady. Either way, he's probably going to end up goofing off for a while. Say, why don't you come along? I'm sure the others would be interested in meeting a guy like you."

And that was how Arthur began spending time with Eric. It would be the first of several outings with the reaper, though Arthur didn't know it yet. 'You know,'Arthur said to himself, 'I think I'm starting to like this friend more than my other friends.'

Meanwhile, at the Phantomhive estate, Grell had snuck into a certain butler's room just in time to be caught by the butler himself.

"Grell, what are you doing here?"

"I brought you a present~!"