Now Grell was mad. The little blonde brat had tricked him. It was all so noticeable- so obvious. He facepalmed himself- how could he not have realized? Ronald's superior, tall, short black hair- he might as well have been saying "Hey Grell, I like William!"

He'd skimped on his work- something GRELL had taught him. He'd made physical contact- another thing GRELL had said! And that smile- that utterly FIENDISH smirk as he walked away made Grell realize that this boy wasn't going to back down easy. This- this was WAR now.

And Grell looking forward to show Ronald EXACTLY who William belonged to.

/

The next morning Grell armed himself thoroughly:

Highest heels- check.

Favorite coat- check.

Eye makeup and polished glasses- check and check.

Teeth cleaned to a shine- check again.

Now he was ready to kick some lawnmower-wielding shinigami butt- like a lady.

/

Ronald had been discovered. He knew that. Even if he was new, he could tell that Grell's love was one-sided, and wasn't going anywhere. That idiot Grell- what with his hair, that was way too long, and his shark-toothed grin. On top of that, he wore all red, and makeup, and even dressed like a woman. If he was William, he'd be disgusted, too.

On the other hand, here was Ronald- with regular length hair, a winning, prince-like smile, and an almost perfect record of turning his work in. It was all too simple.

And this battle would be all too easy to win.

/

"Good morning, senpai." Ronald said lightly, as Grell walked into the break room.

Grell gave Ronald a look that shot daggers, glaring as he stomped in the blonde's direction. If that little brat thought he was getting away with anything, he was in for a rude awakening. What, did he think that Grell was born a century ago?

"Knox, what the HELL do you think you're pulling?"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Yes, you do. And back off- because he's MINE."

"We'll just have to see about that, senpai." Ronald got up to leave the room.

"Is that a challenge, you little twirp?" Grell's voice was escalating to higher than that of a dog whistle.

Ronald just smiled. "Oh, and thanks for the tips, senpai." With that he left the room.

Yep- that was definitely a challenge. Grell had the strong urge to slap that little smirk off his little face. But, as satisfying as that would be, it was very un-ladylike, and Grell had to save all his charm for William. It would just be unacceptable to show William his bad side- he had to be careful.

But that boy still needed a good beating, and Grell knew exactly how to do it.

/

Later that morning, Grell saw William walking through the hall, looking around cautiously for any sign of red hair.

"Will darling! There you are! I've missed yo-"

"Mr. Spears, sir!"

Grell was interrupted by that damn Ronald, who was now running up to William. Looking around, William looked relieved at the distraction from the Red-haired shinigami behind him.

"Yes, Ronald, how can I help you?"

"Well, sir, I've finished all my work today, but my shift's not over. Might you have any work that you could get off your hands?"

'Oh, what a suck-up!' Thought Grell. 'And an idiot, too. What's with this asking for MORE work?'

Grell jumped in to the conversation. "Oh, it's fine, hon. William is a pretty capable man, you know. And something you should know as the new guy, hon- he saves all his extra work for when I mis-be-have. Isn't that right, Will darling?" he interjected, tapping William's nose with a manicured finger at every syllable in 'misbehave'.

William pushed Grell backwards, brushing himself off like he had been contaminated.

"Thank you for your offer, Ronald. In fact, I think I do have something I need you to do for me." He said, purposefully ignoring Grell.

"Thank you, sir, I'll finish it by the end of today. Does Grell need any help?" Ronald asked as he took a new stack of papers from William.

William interjected. "Ronald, Grell needs a lot of help, I'm sure, but not with his work exactly."

Before he could stop himself, a smirk escaped Ronald's lips.

Grell fumed. It was one thing to be insulted by his love- something he had learned early to just ignore- but to be thought low by this BRAT was just too much.

Both William and Ronald turned to face Grell, who had smoke coming out of his ears.

"I think you may be right." Mumbled Ronald, and Grell snapped.