Well hello there! This is my first ever fanfic, so be nice, ha-ha. I am basing this story off of the OVAThe Story of Will the Reaperand the scenes when both William and Grell are getting paired up for their Final Exam. I was wondering what that whole story was taken further back to when the whole Dispatch Team - including Ronald, Eric, and Alan - were still in school, so to speak, and this is what I came up with. I'm a serious Ronilliam and Slingphries fan and I... I... *nosebleeds everywhere. I promise for all of you yaoi, lemon, fluffy loving fans,thatis coming up later in the story! Ha-ha. Anyways, I apologize in advance for any mistakes and/or slow updates for the future and absolutely love CONSTRUCTIVE criticism and will try and fulfill any suggestions you might have. Please, don't bash on my story or anything else. If you don't like it, don't read it and if you do read it, don't say how much you hate it. It's annoying. Okay, I'm rambling... *facepalm. One more thing, this story takes place after the Final Exam, but there is one more year of schooling for the soon-to-be Dispatch Team! Enjoy the story, ha-ha. Rated M due to language and for later on, yaoi/lemon.
I do not own Kuroshitsuji, or any of the characters in it. This is an entirely fan-based story.
. . .
It was a particularly bright, early Monday morning as a tall, lean and dark haired shinigami-fledgling stepped out of the fourth-year wing and onto the stone sidewalk surround the still misty Courtyard, emerald eyes scanning the area with a calm, calculating gaze behind simple, wire framed spectacles. He buttoned up his uniform jacket before his loose tie, hanging gently around his neck, was pulled tight and was straightened in a swift move to cover his neck more as the fresh, cold morning air nipped at the previously exposed skin. He felt annoyed to look so formal this early and made a face to himself as he pulled on the leather gloves on his hands, already banishing the thought of going back to his dorm to grab a scarf when he knew he wouldn't be needing it in the afternoon.
He was in a certain mood this morning. He was not only annoyed about formal appearances but was also stressed. It was a normal feeling for him to have due to getting good, passing grades with his classes and his duties as the Fledgling-President of The Academy, but today was a day where his stress peaked to its highest point... He couldn't wait for the day to be over already.
It was the start of a new year. For him and a few other people he knew, this was a good thing. That meant that their final year of Academy schooling was beginning. It meant that they had passed their final Field-Exams and were well on their way to begin Dispatch work and to be getting new glasses - Gods know how they needed them. On the other hand, a final year for a shinigami-fledgling meant one more final test. This test was to see if they could handle teaching and training a brand-new fledgling.
The joys of becoming a fourth-year, he thought bitterly.
With a sigh, he put his hands into his pockets and began walking along the pathway, eyes constantly roving the Courtyard's many stone benches, tables and statues, intending to find a certain someone... Gods, how long has it been since he last saw him? At the thought of this, his mouth goes dry and his stomach suddenly churns. He needed to find him this morning. He would make this stress a little more tolerable...
His pace quickens as he begins to weave in and out through the Courtyard, having no luck with finding his person of interest lounging about.
With an irritated "tch" sound, he crosses to the other side of the area, his mind now beginning to become slightly crazed with desire. Logic, though, enters his thoughts for a moment and he considers that his friend might still be in bed. He pulls out his hand and checks his watch, yet another irritated "tch" making itself known as 5:43 a.m. settles into his brain. His friend would be up by now. He was sure of it.
Deciding to best not take any more precious time - he was a busy student after all - he makes his way back to the fourth-year wing only to halt dead in his tracks right as his hand rests on the large, dark metal handle of the doors.
He could smell it. That sweet, smoky smell. And it was strong... but was mingling with another smell additionally but he couldn't find the correct identification to name the other scent due to it being overpowered by the other.
His head snaps to the general direction of the smell, his soft, spiky bangs swaying on his forehead slightly with the force, and he straightens up, intending to find the source. He walks slowly, silently, following his nose towards the area where the smell was coming from and soon locates it. It was coming from behind the very large, nearly over-grown rosebush directly in front of him just near the East Wall.
Standing still and barely breathing, he leans forward and peers through the branches, attempting to see who it was that was behind but his eyes become distracted as he gazes upwards at the twirling, almost iridescent trail of white smoke rising up slowly before disappearing into the air. He tries to peer through the branches again and soon a smile spreads across his face. Quickly, he rounds the corner eagerly.
"William!" A Scottish voice says loudly, smoke coming out of his mouth as his oriental dragon pipe is pulled away. "Thought I wouldn't be seein' ya this mornin'!"
"Morning to you, Eric," William says coolly, though it was obvious he was excited as well to see the other. "Still lounging on benches?" He smirks, noting how comfortable the blonde Scotsman looked stretched out on the bench against the wall behind him. William's smirk hid his true cravings for the drug just mere feet from him and he tried to hide the fact that his hands were shaking with need.
"'Course!" Eric barks a laugh, breathing in the smoke of the pipe again before handing it to William, grinning. "I love m'benches early in the morning!"
Greedily, William snatches the pipe and takes a long drag of the opium inside the pipe with a deep, shaking breath. Oh how he loved the way the smoke traveled through his body, seeming to uplift his sullied mood with a single hit.
Eric sits up, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall behind him and watches his friend exhale smoke with an amused look. "Missed it, eh?" He chuckles, trying to make light of the jealousy he was feeling. He was taking it all and wasn't even sharing!
William inhales the drug for a second time, eyes closed as he savored the taste, the smell, the feelings it gave... Upon his exhale, he sinks to the ground almost weakly as his head began to feel light from the high and a bubble of laughter rises up his throat. "I missed what you said..." He hands Eric the pipe and runs a hand through his hair, moving the unnecessary bangs out of his eyes.
Eric makes a movement of disregard with his free hand and takes a long drag. As he blows out the smoke, he turns the pipe upside down and taps the ash from the opening and gazes at William with slightly bloodshot eyes. "So, 'ow're you 'n' that lass of yurs?" He questions. A usual question he normally asked out of habit.
William's eye twitches in annoyance at the mention of his "girlfriend." With a sigh, he shrugs. "I suppose she is fine. Nothing out of the ordinary," He states.
Eric lets out a disbelieving laugh.
"What?"
"Oh, 'I suppose she's fine'?"
"What about her being fine?"
"S'obvious you don' like 'er like tha'!"
"So what if I do not?"
Eric lets out another laugh and in the moment of opportunity, William snatches the pipe from his hand and quickly takes a long breath, attempting to get out of the conversation.
Eric sends William a short glare. "I would jus' dump the poor broad. She obviously isn't very good if tha's always what you say 'bout 'er!" His emerald green eyes, though cloudy slightly with drug, showed an intense point.
William suddenly lets out a laugh of realization. "You know, the only thing she ever allows me to do is kiss her maybe once on the lips for only a moment and then she pushes me away and says that -" He stands up and drops his left hip before playing with his bangs, pretending to be a girl who would twirl her finger in her hair. He then clears his throat and speaks in a high pitch. "- No, William, we have to be married!"
"Bullshit!" Eric gasps, sitting up fully now in outrage, holding his hand out for the drug.
"It's true!" He takes a short drag and hands the pipe back to Eric. "And then when we begin to argue about 'morals' I use the 'we're not even mortals!' and she says 'we have to abide by their rules though!'" William's voice changes pitches to describe who was talking and Eric almost laughs at the animated movements his normally stoic friend uses while telling the story.
Eric holds up his hands for a moment to stop William's rant. "Just dump 'er!" He snorts. "Besides, if you're feelin' lucky, there are new first-years coming~!" He smirks.
William snorts. "Like I would date a first-year. I'm normally too engrossed in work to be busy with a first-year and their... needy tendencies."
"Ha! You would if you met the right person. Things change, y'know."
"And sometimes they do not."
A depressing, irritated silence falls over the two shinigami as William takes a seat next to Eric on the bench with a huff. Eric passes his pipe to William who inhales slowly before letting a chuckle escape through his nose.
"So I heard you bedded that student-teacher just recently. What was her name?" William trails off in thought, trying to remember the woman's name.
Eric makes a dreamy hum in his throat. "Ah, she was a good one too... 'er name was Anne. She gave me a AAA fer the whole semester, claimin' that I deserved it, takin' my other grades away completely an' replacin' them with better ones. Tha's the only reason why I was able to take m'final exam."
"So you slept your way through that semester?" William turns his confused face to Eric, feeling slightly disgusted to know his friend manipulated a person. Then again, William could see himself taking to desperate measures if he had F's in all his classes. Especially if it involved a stunning woman who could help me get all AAA's... He thought with a dirty smirk to himself. "You're a lucky man, Slingby."
"Eh," His friend shrugs, taking his pipe back. He inhales and makes a smoke ring that quickly darts out of his mouth before dissipating into the chilled air. "I guess so," he shrugs again, blowing out the rest of the white smoke through his nose, becoming suddenly quiet. "I just want someone ta actually... love... I'm not... 'appy with the women I see. I even 'ad tried seein' the men as well, but no one doesn' feel quite... right."
William nods, reaching up to pat the somber Scotsman's shoulder, staring off into nothing as he said, "I know how you feel, Eric -"
"You don' know 'ow I feel, Spears!" Eric suddenly snaps, jerking his shoulder away from the other's touch.
"What I mean is that I understand." William turns his gaze slowly to Eric, voice hardening with irritation.
Eric takes a long moment to smoke, attempting to calm down. "It doesn' ma'er anyways... I 'ave to focus enough with assignments 'ere, I guess I don' need a distraction to mess things up more in tha field."
William nods again, turning to his thoughts as the silence settles in between them again for the next hour. They fall into a steady pattern: inhale, exhale, pass... inhale, exhale, pass.
In the time that they sat in silence, the bells in the clock chime twice, indicating six in the morning then seven in the morning.
To Eric, this meant his day was just about to start and he was likely going to eat breakfast and then go back to his dorm to fall quickly asleep to skip first, second and third hour, his worst classes.
To William, this meant he had ten minutes to get to the Shinigami-Fledgling Council Room to begin preparing for the new first-year's Orientation, a very busy, very chaotic event.
William gets up, brushing off his pants before nodding a farewell to Eric who was too deep in thought to notice William's departure. He then pushes his way out to the pathway and begins making his way to the Council Room. Gods how he wished he didn't have to do this. Couldn't it wait? Be postponed? He groaned to himself when he knew that would never happen.
There were more students wandering about, looking like corpses the way they trudged about. Some were a little more disheveled than others and then some where actually chatting very animatedly to their peers. One conversation being held between three fourth-year girls who were excitedly babbling about the new first-years and what kind of fledglings would they be like and as William walked by, they promptly dropped their voices to whispers, hoping that "the gorgeous President would tell them their new assigned trainees." William then pinched the bridge of his nose, a headache forming directly behind his eyes.
For a moment, he thought of the same thing, actually. He wondered what sort of new-shinigami he would get for the year. Who would they be like? Male? Female? Short, tall, funny, serious, strong, fast... A good back up in the field, a lousy worker? William was hoping to get a trainee who took their job seriously. He couldn't stand the thought of attempting to train a slacker.
As he neared the Main Wing, he paused before entering, noticing one of his teachers quickly coming near, appearing to be holding a file. Ah, yes that should be his new trainee's information.
"Mr. William!" His teacher called, pace quickening to meet the four-year.
"Yes, Mr. Lynndale?" William answers, eyeing the folder still.
"I have your file of your new fledgling, but I hate to say it, you are late to the meeting."
"I was told the meeting was at 7:10. Are you saying I had misheard the time?" William's eyes narrow, muscles bunching tightly as he prepared to run.
His teacher hands William the file and nods. "The meeting is supposed to be over in roughly five minutes. Hurry!"
"Gods -!" William grits his teeth, shoves the doors open and flits down the hallway only to suddenly slam into a brightly dressed fourth-year, who sends the two to a rolling and tumbling halt to the floor.
"Argh! Watch where you're going!" The red-clad shinigami spits, holding his head before glancing up and suddenly squealing, "William, darling~! I thought I wouldn't see you this morning!"
"Apologies, Grelle!" William staggers to his feet and dashes off. "I'm in a bit of a hurry!" He calls over his shoulder.
"Hey! Wait -!" Grelle reaches in the direction of his crush and realizes, as he glances down, William had left his fledgling-folder. With a wide, Cheshire cat grin, he reaches down intending to snoop just a little before returning the folder back to its rightful owner.
As he quickly scans over William's new trainee, his smile only grows wider. "Hm," he twirls a finger in his bright red hair absentmindedly as he studied the picture of the new fledgling. "He does have a cute face," the red haired fourth-year says to himself. "But the little brat looks like a trouble-maker. Says here in his biography that he used to be quite social and was found normally wasting his money in pubs. A well known ladies man…" Grelle chuckles gleefully. "Hard-working yet still manages to slack off… Aged nineteen before he died from a runaway carrage accident. Oh, what a cutie this one is!" He smirks before standing up, gathering the file in his arms. "Well now this is an excuse to pay my love a visit~!" He blushes and bites his lip with sharp, pointy teeth, excited for when he next sees the normally stoic and blunt shinigami-fledgling.
William on the other hand, now standing just outside the Council Room doors, breathless and slightly disheveled, swears angrily as he realizes his file fell out of his hands when he crashed into Grelle in the hallway. Shit, he thought, getting angrier. Just my luck. I am late to the first meeting of the year and I wind up losing my fledgling-folder. Gods I hope Slingby has some spare Opium... I will be definitely be needing it later on... With a quick mental check, William straightens up, fixes his glasses and pushes open the door, hoping that he didn't miss much.
"Ah, here's the President!" A voice, who belonged to his Vise-President assistant named Theodore Thomason, calls cheerfully, his feminine voice seeming extra perky as he met the cold and a very obvious pissed gaze of William. "We're glad you could make it!"
In the Council Room there was a large, stone table shaped in a circle with the middle cut out directly in the center of the rather large, high ceilinged room. Inside the stone table there were two relatively short, mahogany podiums facing each other, meant for debates and speeches. Surrounding the table were thirteen elegant, mahogany chairs meant for the Council Members, but only two were practically thrones, made of a dark grey granite that sat at either end of the circle, facing each other as well. These chairs were stereotypically meant for the President and Vise-President of the council.
William glares coldly around the many faces of the Shinigami-Fledgling Council, all still standing, not daring to make a sound or movement. They all flinched in reaction to the icy stare being given. William can't help but smirk darkly.
"So, I believe I was told the wrong time of the meeting," He says, voice eerily soft and gentle. If it wasn't for the dark smirk, it wouldn't have been so... menacing. "Care to explain to me exactly why that is?"
"W-we were running ahead of s-schedule!" A second-year says, voice trembling. "We thought we could hold the meeting earlier!"
"And no one cared to update me?"
"You weren't in your dorm..." A third-year drops her head, nervous.
"Ah, that was my mistake. I had... business to take care of early this morning, you see."
It goes silent again, the room growing heavy and almost cold with the fear radiating from the Council Members. Theodore knew better though and he quickly straightens the papers in front of him before deciding to break the sinister silence.
He clears his throat. "Well, I suppose we should get on with the meeting. We're running just a little behind now..." His green eyes glance at the clock above the doors and his face takes a serious look. He didn't want to run behind schedule.
"Yes, we should," William agrees, walking slowly and deliberately to his seat opposite of Theodore's. As he passed by each Council Member, they dropped their heads, intimidated by the four-year and his very obvious anger.
"By the way," Theodor says right as William sits rather heavily into his designated chair.
The President sinks a little in the seat and places his elbow on the armrest while he slowly rests his cheek on his fist, a bored expression forming as he met his assistant's eyes. William silently dreaded what was to come out of Thomas's mouth next and he braced himself. Please say I didn't miss anything! He pleaded mentally.
"I hate to say this..." The assistant shifts his weight uneasily, noticing the sudden fear spiking in the air.
"Get on with it," William waves on, sighing, ignoring the feeling of dread he had.
"You missed a lot."
An angry laugh suddenly escapes the President and he doubles over for a moment, tears running down his face as he cackled like a mad-man.
"Wonderful!"