One of the things that William hated the most about the 21st century was the increase in demon activity. So many wars, natural disasters, homicides, and suicides made the death rate sickeningly high, but without death they would be out of business. The demons though he could fully do without. At the moment himself and five other reapers were fighting off at least ten of them. An abandoned looking little neighborhood in the depths of London where the poor and the junkies liked to hide out and struggle to survive, the demons loved the weakness these humans showed. It had basically become a breeding ground for the repulsive creatures. William had absolutely no problem killing them; they had killed so many reapers he had gone through academy with so many centuries ago, they had stolen many human souls meant to be reaped, and in the end they were as bad as the rats and cockroaches. The only problem that he had with this assignment was that four of the five other reapers were new, teenagers who didn't have a damned clue about what to do or how to fight. They looked scared, they were constantly off guard, and one of them was already injured. The biggest problem was that the fifth reaper had been employed just as long as himself; Grell Sutcliff. He didn't hate the red haired male, sometimes he secretly enjoyed him, even was fond of him...Not that anybody especially the red haired loon needed to know about that. His problem with him stemmed from the fact he was never professional and he was completely insane. He looked in the direction of the other reaper; he wasn't even dressed in their regulation uniform, but then again ever since graduation and his lovely little relationship with that red haired woman many years ago he hadn't dressed in regulation. Through the centuries though he became less and less professional with his attire and his style. He currently was wearing ill fitting black jeans, red boots, and a red t-shirt that rose up over his belly button every time he lifted his death scythe up into the air. Will and the elders had given up years ago trying to make him be appropriate. He would threaten to reap them and well...He never listened to Will.
Back to the current situation though; Will drove his scythe through the heart of a demon that was attempting to blind side him. The creature's red eyes widened in surprise, his clawed fingers thrashed in the air grabbing at nothing as he tried to attack the black haired reaper. He didn't retract the weapon until the demon's movements stopped and its filthy eyes rolled upwards, he felt a strange sort of satisfaction watching its body thud against the ground. He turned his attention back to the other reapers, he noticed there were only two demons left, and he also noticed he couldn't spot the new reapers he was forced to bring along on the mission. He did spot Grell though, he had one of the two demons cornered, that manic look in his eyes, and scythe in the air. What Will didn't manage to notice in time was the second demon quickly coming up behind the red head. The demon delivered a hard strike to the back of Grell's head knocking him off balance, his grip loosening enough that the cornered demon could take the weapon from his hands. Will moved as quickly as he could, he plunged his own scythe through the head of the demon that had hit Grell over the head. A loud cry of pain caught his attention; he looked to see the other reaper fall face first onto the ground, blood spraying the polluted London air. The remaining demon held the blood stained scythe in his hands, a proud look on his face before he went to stab the weapon a second and final time through the now unconscious man's back. The filthy creature didn't get a chance to finish off his victim, with a growl Will stabbed the creature through the heart, twisting his blade then pulling it out. The demon's body hit against the ground, the chainsaw clattered loudly against the road. Will knelt down next to the other man, gently he rolled him onto his back; his records weren't bleeding out; that was a good sign. The red head's eyes were closed, his skin felt slightly colder than normal.
"Grell Sutcliff wake up this instant, come on you idiot."
The other man didn't move or even twitch. He wasn't dead, Will had watched enough of his co-workers and apparent friends die to know that the red head wasn't dead. He was just injured and the blow to his head didn't help. He kept one hand cradled on the back of Grell's head, he could feel blood seeping through his glove. His other arm was gently wrapped around the other man's waist holding him up off of the filthy ground.
"Damn it wake up, if you die it's your bloody fault for acting like a psycho. Grell wake up, now."
What if he did die?
Immortality was such bull shit; you supposedly never died, but you did. He'd watched many immortal beings died, he just killed several himself. He wondered where the new reapers had run off to, how could they just desert? He knew they were scared and it was ridiculous the higher ups forced them to take the new recruits with them to kill demons, but that was no excuse to just leave.
He couldn't stop staring at his face; it was strange how many centuries he spent just being absolutely annoyed, disgusting, and enraged by this man. He didn't understand his love for the color red, he didn't understand his intense desire to have the body of a woman, his desire to some day have a child though it was impossible for their kind, and he truly didn't understand his deep infatuation with William. Through training he'd always been so wary of Grell, nearly scared of him; he had better grades, a short temper, and found Will to be more worthless than humans. Then all of a sudden he wanted him, chased after him, and seemed visibly fine with Will hurting him and cursing at him every single time. At the moment he couldn't grasp the idea of Grell going away, him dying. He couldn't grasp the idea of the red head no longer annoying him, chasing him, touching him, or anything ever again. Maybe he shouldn't have shot him down all of those times, was he really that bad?
He'd honestly considered it so long ago, but then the Madam Red incident happened along with his infatuation with that filthy demon who had played butler all those years ago. Those things had reminded him that Grell was crazy, he didn't understand true affection or love. He just latched onto anything cold, distant, and emotionally damaged; he only wanted Will because he was cold and distant...Damaged, but he didn't know about that because there was no reason for him to know about that. If he really cared then maybe after the assignment before graduation he would have asked if Will was alright, if the experience had screwed with his mind, but he didn't care so he never asked.
Would he care if it was Will on the ground right now, possibly dying?
He continued to stare at the man, his mind calculating in an attempt to make him not care. For once he couldn't do it, he could feel himself trembling slightly.
"Don't leave me, damn it you're the only person who hasn't died on me. Don't leave me. Wake up Grell, you understand? Just wake the Hell up already."
A weak groan left the other man's parted lips, the sound was faint, but it made Will's body relax considerably. After a moment his bright green eyes opened and focused on the black haired man.
"Heard you the first time, I'm not dead y'know...You don't have to cry."
His voice was weak, cracking slightly; he reached up an non gloved hand to Will's cheek lightly brushing his fingers against his skin. It wasn't until Grell brushed the stray tears from his face that he even knew he had been crying. He hadn't cried since they reaped Thomas's soul, he'd never had reason to cry, and he wasn't even sure how to react to it.
"Shut up, I'm taking you to the infirmary."
Grell gave another groan, more out of annoyance this time. He tried to move as if to show that he was perfectly fine and didn't need the older man's help. The movement made him give a weak little cry, he fell back into Will's arms.
"I don't need the infirmary, I hate it there."
"Your back is still bleeding, plus I really don't care what you want right now."
"My B-average worrying about me, I wonder why."
Will scoffed at the name he'd been given ages ago by the younger man.
"I'm not yours and I really don't need you of all people to die on me."
He didn't allow the younger man to question that, he ported them back to their own realm and to the entrance of the hospital. He carried him inside and told the nurse in the front room what had happened, the brought out a gurney for Grell. He sort of expected Grell to whine and ask him to stay with him, but he didn't. He had hoped that he would, he wanted to stay with him for reasons he didn't even fully understand. He told the red head that he needed to talk to the elders about the assignment; tell them that the others had ditched them and that Grell had been injured.
Once he was done with his report he considered going back to the infirmary, checking up on him. A logical part of his mind told him he shouldn't, it would be personal and not normal for himself. He also thought about how he could have lost somebody he didn't even really have, because he apparently never wanted him. He was starting to think that maybe he did want him though, at least enough that the idea of his death scared him; he had cried, William never cried. Maybe he wasn't letting himself know just how much the crazed man meant to him.