hope you guys enjoy chap 10:

After the incident William's classmates were noticeably more hostile toward him. It seemed like Ronald had exaggerated what happened and spread it like wildfire. Great, Will thought. I was slapped but I'm the bad guy; so typical. Though the class's opinion of him was low his grades had improved. Ever since that night William spent much more time in the library in order to avoid Grell. He also assumed that it would provide the redhead with enough practicing time so that the reaper would not have to preform while he was in the room. Something Grell greatly appreciated.

Today they were in Introduction to Philosophy class and William sat in anticipation. Today the teacher would be handing back an essay he had slaved over for hours. He was proud of it and hopped that his hard work would pay off. His heart sank when the teacher handed him his paper. In big red letters his professor had given him a C. It wasn't a failing grade but it wasn't a good grade either. What had he done wrong? He scanned his teacher's notes and furrowed his brow in frustration. 'Talk to me after class,' was all that his teacher had written.

Will looked around the room and saw as his roommate red his own grade. His paper had a large A plus written on it with a gold star sticker. The dark haired boy fumed with jealousy but wouldn't let it show.

The rest of the class went on painfully slowly for him. He just wanted it to be over so that he could find out why his paper had received such a bad grade. When class finished Will waited for everyone to leave class before he approached the teacher.

'You wanted to talk to me?'

'Oh, yes William. I wanted to talk to you about your writing; sit down'

'I just don't understand how I received such a poor note, I covered all the topics, and I spent hours on this paper.' Will's voice was starting to sound flustered.

'Yes William you did cover the topics, but you did so shallowly. Your ideas were frankly immature and unfounded. You didn't back them up by any sources or experience. But that isn't why I wanted to see you. Will, your writing is atrocious'

Will's heart sunk but the teacher continued. 'You spell everything phonetically and your punctuation skills are nonexistent. Your whole essay was an entire run-on sentence,' the teacher paused. 'William, I think you may be dyslexic.'

'I am not!'

'It's nothing to be ashamed of, however you do need help. I already spoke to Grell and he was very enthusiastic about helping you. As living partners you have to work together in order to succeed as reapers so this may be a good opportunity to bond.'

William rolled his eyes, 'couldn't you have asked anyone else?'

'Grell is a good kid and one of the best writers in my class; he was the best choice.'

What a joke! He couldn't believe this was happening to him. William T. Spears did not have a writing problem! He wouldn't be subjected to such humiliation; he just couldn't believe this was happening. However, he internally calmed down and coolly excused himself to lunch. As he left the teacher coyly added:

'And if Grell tells me that you are not studying with him I will be deducting points from your final grade.'

Great, Will thought. His life was officially over!

Later that night Grell had been pacing in the dorm hallways for several minutes before he had the strength to go in his own room. After he went ballistic on Will he had been avoiding his roommate as much as possible. He had hoped that agreeing to help his with his essays would make Will happy but he knew that it would only annoy him. The reaper wondered if he had made the right choice… Still he couldn't avoid William all night so he quietly walked into his room.

To the redhead's surprise his roommate was peached over the piano playing it. The thirty seconds of playing he did heir wasn't half bad. When Will noticed his presence he abruptly stopped playing and flashed him an icy glare.

'Why did you agree to help me?'

'I didn't know you could play so well.'

'Don't avoid the question Sutcliff.'

'I wanted to; Will, I want to help you. I want us to be friends.'

'Well, that's never going to happen.'

'Why do you have to be so difficult?' Grell had unintentionally raised his voice causing his roommate to smile with satisfaction.

'I may be alone but I am not lonely. I most certainly don't need someone like you as my friend.'

'And what is it about me that is so utterly unsuitable?'

'I thought you would never ask,' William smiled causing Grell to start shaking with anger. The dark haired reaper was about to continue his statement but was cut off by the redhead.

'Forget it! I don't want to know. Just give me your paper, it's late and I'm sure fixing your "atrocious" writing will take the entire night!'

William silently handed the boy his paper and his roommate took it to his own bed. William studied the expressions Grell made as he red and then aggressively scribbled notes on the margins. The redhead's eyebrows moved about wildly on his forehead and his nose wrinkled in distaste. Was his paper that bad? Apparently it was because a few minutes later his roommate casual ripped the paper evenly in two.

'William, did you even read the assigned reading?' He asked darkly.

'Of course I did'

'Then tell me why your paper was nothing but your personal opinion? You didn't site any of the theories discussed in class, there were no quotes or sourced to back up your ideas. Musings, that may I say were revolting. What kind of a sheltered life have you been living?'

William was shocked that his roommate had enough balls to rip him a new one. His expression remained unfazed. Grell took his silence as an encouragement to keep insulting him.

'In fact, from this paper one could conclude that you have never read at all, your spelling and grammar was horrid. How are you such a fluid conversationalist when your writing is so lacking?

William remained silent.

'Will, do you know why we take Morality and Philosophy classes?'

'Elucidate me, please.'

'Because as reapers, it is our job to not only take souls, but also to judge them. Our true gift is the ability to judge. Because of that responsibility the academy tries to produce well rounded reapers that will have flexible, and just, moral standards. In this paper you showed full contempt for the vast variety of different opinions available and only offered your own shallow one.'

'My moral creed is severe and unwavering. I'm sorry if you don't appreciate it but I don't think it has much room for improvement. As they say "perfection needs no correction".'

Grell sighed, what did he do to get on Will's bad side? He understood that not everyone would like him but his roommate hated him. What could he do to change that…Only one thing came to mind.

'I have weaknesses too you know.'

'Oh what could those be?' He sneered.

Grell lowered his voice 'well a lot of things, but what I'm most ashamed off is that I'm homosexual.'

William's eyes widened as silence enveloped the room; he felt very uncomfortable. It wasn't that the revelation was shocking but it was surprising to hear Grell open up to him. He could tell that his roommate was really ashamed too. Should he sling back another insult or try to be friends with the boy? He gulped loudly and decided on the latter.

'You shouldn't be embarrassed you know…' Grell gasped. 'There isn't anything wrong with that.'

'Hmm Well, society as a whole thinks that people like me are dammed.'

'Ha, Grell…you're perfect. You have nothing to feel ashamed off.' William froze. He hadn't meant to say that or to say it so tenderly.

'Perfect?' Grell gulped, 'no one's every called me that before.' Grell had inched uncomfortable close to the other reaper and was looking deeply into his eyes. His roommate noted that they were so full of innocence yet piercing; William had to get away from them.

'I'm going to take a cold shower…We can work on my papers afterward.'

'Yea, of course,' Grell helplessly watched the other reaper get up and leave. What just happened? Was that chemistry he just felt? Either way he had butterflies in his stomach. He sighed in disappointment and started playing some songs on his piano, quickly writing one about his roommate.

From the shower William was surprised to hear his roommate's voice; out of curiosity he listened in to the lyrics:

'Your green eyes make me blue

How am I to run from you?

And do you hang me this high just to watch me fall'

He chuckled. Was Grell singing about him? Apparently so, because the song was loosely about unrequited love. This was such a bother, had his comment made that big of an impact on his roommate? No. The redhead had probably always had feeling for him. Uh, or was he only projecting his own emotions? No. William T. Spears may be gay but he did not fall in love, especially not with people like Grell. Love was a messy emotion that he was uninterested in. yet as he herd Grell sing with such passion it almost brought him to tears. He couldn't keep hiding in the shower forever. After chewing his next plan of action over he turned off the shower and quickly dried himself off.

After getting into his night garments he went into his room. Grell looked up from the piano keys with a raised eyebrow.

'I'm ready to study.'

'Ok let's sit down at the desk.'

The rest of the evening went on remarkably well. With Grell's help they were able to re-wright three of Will's papers. Still, there was a lot of work to be done in order to improve his roommate's skills but the redhead felt good about their progress. He was however a little disappointed that his roommate hadn't acknowledged the comment he had made earlier. Grell was worried that if he let it go he wouldn't be able to bring it up later. Regardless, William had the right to privacy; if he had feelings for Grell then hopefully they would come out eventually. For now Grell was happy that his roommate was acting so civil.

When the night ended William was incredibly relieved that Grell hadn't made any moves on him. For now he wanted to be friends with him and nothing more.

oh poor Will 3 for this chapter I was pretty unimaginative when it came to his professor's dialogue. I basically regurgitated what all my teachers said about my horrid papers during high school.

also the lyrics to Grell's song are from the song "green eyes make me blue"

Next chapter will be pretty 'gasp' worthy so hang in anticipation :P