[continued summary]...William finds himself intrigued by her uncanny resemblance. Desperate to find a way out, William finds himself drawn to the doppelgänger named Renée who may be the key to his obscure and unresolved past life. Grell, worried about Will's abnormal behaviour believes that it could be a recipe for a 'deserter' but surely not William T. Spears? Well it could happen to anyone, just like to Adrian... and so he, along with Ron makes it his business to find out really what's happening.
A/N: This is my first Kuroshitsuji fic so please be gentle on me.
Featured Main Characters (Other than the already mentioned): Ciel P., Sebastian M. and a demon OC.
All Characters except my OCs belong to Yana Toboso. ENJOY!
The sunlight of the Shinigami realm had awoken a particular reaper, instigating the beginning of another day. Although today wasn't any other day, it was an important day fittingly named 'deathday' which sounded similar to a day in a year in which humans celebrated their 'birthdays' but instead there is no celebration involved as it was a rather sensitive matter to all Reapers. Also, it wasn't celebrated annually but every decade or so. It was a day off for self-reflection for how and why they had committed suicide and consequently sent into the Shinigami realm as re-born supernatural entity- a Grim Reaper: whose purpose is to collect and review human souls to serve the higher ups as punishment.
Today was William T. Spears' deathday and so were all the other reapers who had the same date of death as he. Despite the fact that all reapers were given a day off work, William saw it as a waste of time not to do anything to contribute to his atonement as a Shinigami- to work. So naturally after showering, drying off, dressing into his three piece suit, combing, brushing his teeth and put his specially crafted glasses on, he headed to the cafeteria of his workplace that was joint to his apartment block, conveniently.
There he spent at least an half an hour doing absolutely nothing but sitting and staring at the greenery outside the window, which was essentially the wall of the building, before getting coffee and breakfast. By then the cafeteria had begun to accommodate dozens of Shinigami who were starting their morning with an early meal. As he grabbed a cup of coffee and his bowl of porridge he could see from his peripheral vision two distinctive and very familiar figures, he is able to confirm that these two were the Blond and Dark haired Shinigami, Ronald Knox and his long red-headed superior and William's former partner- now his subordinate, Grell Sutcliff.
As William returned to his seat and table he'd found it occupied by none other Mr. Knox and Mr. Sutcliff. They were lucky that he didn't feel the urge of confronting anyone due to the nature of this particular day and before looking for another available table, Grell had noticed his presence, which alerted young Mr. Knox's attention too.
Fleeing from their view they caught William as Ronald waved to him, "Good morning Sir!" He chirped, "were you looking for something?"
Grell joined in, as expected and greeted his former partner, "Oh, Will! I'm terribly sorry. I had told Ronny here not to take your table~ who does he think he is to do such a thing to his superior~" Grell grinned, flashing his array of pointed teeth as young Ronald protested.
"I-I'm sorry Mr. Spears, I had no idea! Mr. Sutcliff told me that-," Ronald asserted as he clung onto the top rail of his chair.
"Ron! Be quiet, you ruined it~," his Superior scolded, silencing Ron. However, in repentance to Will, Grell offered him a place at their table, which he readily accepted as he sat nearest to the window.
There was silent as William placed his tray onto the table and began eating his breakfast. Ronald sat confused wanting to ask questions as his red headed superior sat- hand resting on his face, elbow resting on the table, staring at William eat but not in infatuation as he would usually show, but in curiosity.
"Good morning Will~," Grell crooned and moved in closer William's proximity. Their Supervisor did not flinch or move and simply continued eating his meal,
"You're awfully quiet and closed off Will, at least utter a word back~!"
Ronald sat in confusion and as he saw Grell closing onto their boss. Hesitantly, held the red-headed reaper away from Mr. Spears and before Grell turned to bite his head off Ron spoke out his words of wisdom, "Sir, I think the reason the Mr. Spears has not initiated eye contact or spoken to us is because he wants to be left alone."
"Hmm?! Fine!" Grell slumped back onto his seat with a pout but his gaze still lingering at William's.
Eventually after adjusting his specs William did speak, only to appraise young Ronald and offend his former partner, "You are correct Mr. Knox. Perhaps might learn some observational skills from you." Ronald's face lit up in recognition as Grell fumed.
"UGHH! I've had enough, I'll get Mister-better-than-me-Knox breakfast!" The now red-faced Shinigami announced as he suddenly stood up. He waited for a reaction from Will, getting nothing but a downcast look on his face. But Grell began to understand as he analysed his body language and when he returned from getting breakfast for his subordinate and himself their table began eating, in silence.
Seconds passed as Grell initiated another conversation but this time with sympathy, feeling as if he finally understood what the matter is, "Will, I think I know what's wrong with you… is today the day?" William paused from eating his porridge signifying that he was correct and for Ronald to share a sympathetic look as the young Shinigami seem to understand as well.
"Mr. Spears I think it would be best if Mr. Sutcliff and I moved to another table, if you'd like." Ronald suggested.
"As if I'd take orders from you Ron, I am your superior!" Grell imploded, though his anger left him immediately as he saw William looking at Ronald meaningfully only for the red-headed Shinigami to turn red again in jealousy, "Hey, how come you're given him all your attention?!"
William took his last gulp of coffee and placed it on his tray as he stood up he addressed the two, "That is not necessary Mr. Knox" then Will nodded at Mr. Sutcliff as if to aggravate him, "If you will excuse me." And before Will could grab his tray and leave Grell had stopped him, rather pushed him down back onto his seat.
William grunted by the forced of which he was pushed back down and let out an energetic sigh as his glasses fell off the bridge of his nose and onto the hard tiled floor, to hear the glass crack, revealing his phosphorescent yellow-green irises.
"This may be out of my character but…," Grell flicked a long strand of his red hair before continuing, "I consider you my friend William since our academy years and I'm here to set you out straight!" Ronald almost spat out his orange juice only to gag on it as he couldn't believe what he was hearing.
"So out with it Spears, tell us your story and we'll share ours~ We are Shinigami so typically we have our own tragic backstory of how we died and all that jazz," the red head said nonchalantly, "it's who we are and we should acknowledge it. This time of reflecting is stupid, just move on! Alright then, we'll start with you then Ron, tell William here how you managed to kill yourself."
"S-s-s- SIR! I don't think this particular counselling of yours is very effective. For either parties!" Ron quickly turned to William who was as still as a statue, not bothered to procure his glasses and then towards Grell whose face was painted with determination.
"What are you trying to say Ronald? Have not gotten over your suicide too?!" The red-headed reaper exclaimed, possibly too loudly, "Pathetic you are, you're both pathetic, especially you Will! How long has it been and you still haven't moved on!" Grell slammed his hands onto his table unaware that a fist was en-route to his face. Grell looked in shock as he saw Ronald's fist heading towards his face. Reflexively he managed to swipe Ron's glasses off his face (a reaper's major weakness- he wouldn't be able to see) but in the process scratched Knox's face with his long manicured nail. Grell suddenly knew that he was too slow and so instead anticipated the contact as he shut his eyes and he felt the forced of the punch break through his red framed glasses and to his face.
However he did not feel the contact of the fist on his face. Tentatively he moved away and stuggled to see through his cracked spectacles. What he saw was another arm extending to Ron's: restricting any further action. It was Will's arm grabbed onto Ronald's wrist whose fist was clenched and eager to punch his face.
They could imagine what they had looked like right now, probably the whole of the English Branch of Reapers staring at them in shock themselves of their situation. William being in charge of course had to act accordingly and so he miraculously stopped the young reaper doing damage to his superior despite being practically blind.
"Ahem," William spoke to the subordinate and its superior, "it appears that we both have our own problems concerning this particular day. As both your supervisor and superior I will have to order you, Mr. Knox to refrain from such violence and you Mr. Sutcliff from your provocative nature involving a very sensitive subject."
William finally procured his glasses from underneath the table and grimaced inwardly as he saw the state of his specs. He quickly placed it on his face and went over to grab Ronald's spectacles who had suffered the least damage, probably due to the fact that it was a newer model from what Grell and he had. With his hand still grasped onto the young reaper's wrist he placed the spectacles into his breast pocket then headed towards Grell to grab onto his crimson coat to make their swift exit.
"Excuse us." He bowed to the staring crowd.
The two apprehended reapers were now being led by William, who was headed to meet with Mr. Lawrence Anderson the director of the Glasses Department. Ronald was glassless and unaware of where William was currently leading them. He couldn't care less where or what his punishment would be, Mr. Sutcliff shouldn't have said those things to them but he shouldn't have tried to punch a superior however much he deserved it.
"Will, where are we going?" Grell asked as he took off his red-framed glasses. He scowled as he saw the evident damage, he glared at his subordinate slightly annoyed at the fact his red-framed glasses were cracked. Grell then realised that Ronald wasn't wearing his specs- instead William had it confiscated- hanging off his breast pocket.
"Obviously, we will be unable to carry out any practical tasks if our glasses are not in proper standards. Therefore we are heading to the Glasses department to repair them." William replied.
They arrived into a the workshop where Mr. Anderson, the Grim Reaper responsible for creating all their glasses was sat, sanding off another one of his many crafted specs. Fortunately, there weren't many Reapers present inside the facility and so William, along with Grell and Ron sped-walk towards the legendary Shinigami before collecting their glasses and placing it on the table where he was working.
Mr. Anderson looked up towards the presence of glassless reapers: the one on the right with a sullen look and long red-hair was unmistakably Grell Sutcliff, the middle one with authoritative expression was none other than William T. Spears and another reaper with blonde and dark hair and downcast eyes, which after a few observations Mr. Anderson figured out was young Ronald Knox.
Shortly, Mr. Anderson resumed sanding and after finishing he grabbed the three cracked, bent or scratched glasses and thoroughly examined all three before giving William a dismissive gesture.
Carefully, he led the two and himself to the nearest seats where they would wait until Laurence had finished his repairs, as for the meantime they were very much blind and helpless.
They sat there in silence unwilling to speak but this time William was the one to break the silence. "I will not be reporting any of these to our higher ups but I don't expect such behaviour from either of you anymore or more preventative actions will take place if this happens again."
Ronald huffed and Grell crossed his legs away from the two, "Hmph! You think you're so high and mighty~" Grell spat, "You're always unfeeling~ I wouldn't be surprised if you were born without emotions as Shinigami!"
"I'm acting accordingly as your supervisor. I don't want either of you to think of me as anything else."
"That would be mostly true for Ronald but… what about me? I'm your friend WILL!" Unbeknownst to the two sat beside him William did flinch at the emphasis of friend which he had dismissed earlier. Had they really thought of him as such? They were merely work colleagues.
"Mr. Spears, I'm sorry for my actions earlier especially to you Mr. Sutcliff. I should have refrained from doing so. I will accept any punishment that you will inflict on me, Grell…" Ronald spoke up to which the red-head responded with a grunt.
After a deafening silence between them William spoke up, "Well if I must, I provide you an adaptation on my human biography." He crossed his arms, "I believe it is fair, since I am familiar with both yours."
Grell and Ronald's heads turned towards his voice in absolute shock but that was expected from William. As their supervisor he did have some power over them. After all he was the head of the whole dispatch of the English branch.
"I've had quite enough for reflections. I need to get it off my back… and you're quite correct Grell, it is pathetic of me to be acting the way I had. I should not have my personal problems interfering with work or within a workplace."
"Oh Will! I knew you'd eventually listen to your friends~" Grell then quickly stood up and attempted on figuring out the two sat figures before them and initiated a group hug to which Will had no way chance of evasion, "and yes, I forgive you Ronny! But if try punching my face again expect a fist in return."
"Y-Yessir..." Ronald blurted out as he found it difficult to breath from the constricting hug.
I probably made Ronald and Grell quite ooc but please bear in mind that they its a sensitive subject about their suicide and that's surely got to trigger some strong emotions when provoked...? Well that's how I perceive it; that Reapers put up a façade but in actual fact, they're a relatively passionate and emotional species.
Please review but no flames. It's my first Kuroshitsuji fic and I am relatively new to the fandom so please bare with me.