A/N: Okay, time for the rating to go up. For anyone wondering, Sebastian is the only non-human in the story so far. In this AU Grell and William are human. Thanks to everyone who has read and reviewed (:

"One drink won't hurt ya," Ronald said, putting a tumbler of whiskey in his hands.

"I'm fine."

"You graduated at the top of the class, celebrate! That's what this party is for."

Ronald disappeared into the crowd before William could hand the drink back. He took a reluctant sip. It did pleasantly burn as it went down, and warmed him against the chill that had settled in the vast room. The university had allowed them the main hall of the school for their festivities. William lurked in the corner of the room, only there because he had been talked into it by that dratted Ronald Knox, who was a year behind him but got invited to the party by a graduate. William had been tutoring him for the past few months and in a way, he saw himself in Ronald if he had been born with a more wild streak.

"Our whole graduating class and not a good looking man to be seen."

He looked over to find Grell Sutcliff leaning against the wall next to him. After never speaking in their time at university, they had been paired for an assignment in their last week. He found the red head vexing to no end but he had ended the assignment with reluctant respect for the flamboyant man. Grell was crazy but he was more intelligent than he let on.

"How were we even in the same class?" William asked, lips loosened by the drink. Grell seemed the type to a seek a physically demanding job, as from what he could tell the man bored easily.

Grell hesitated before he answered, and he was looking at his feet when he said, "I've always wanted a child of my own, but if I can't have one then I suppose I can at least be around them."

One drink turned into two, and before William knew it, they were talking about everything and nothing. Either the whiskey was strong or Grell was actually quite funny. They sought somewhere more quiet to talk after awhile and ducked out of the party. William was too disoriented to protest when Grell took his hand as they ran down one of the hallways, after complaining that William was going to get lost on his own. In truth William probably would have.

Grell pulled them into the first room with an unlocked door. They laughed as they ran between towering shelves. There was just enough light for William to make out the flame colored hair in front of him but everything else was cast into shadow. The diligent scholar who had been drowned by alcohol quite some time ago surfaced to remind him that they were in a library, and ask him just what the hell he was thinking. We're just here to talk, he thought, but he couldn't convince even his own subconscious while he was staring at the way that black suit clung to the dark form that was Grell.

"So I was saying about the orphanage on the East End, I think they-"

His attempt to continue their conversation from the party was thwarted by Grell taking him by the lapels and pulling him into a deep kiss. His brain short circuited at the taste of cherries and liquor. They stumbled into a bookshelf and William found his hands clutching the back of Grell's jacket, his lips parting to the intrusion of the red head's tongue. Even drunk Grell was one hell of a kisser.

He was too inebriated to argue when clothes started to come off. His hands seemed to act on their own as he stripped Grell, and he didn't know whose buttons were popping off and rolling across the floor. Grell was kissing his neck, sending a rush of heat to his core that had nothing to do with the whiskey. He pulled them between two bookcases and divested Grell of his trousers.

"I've never done this," he admitted, breaking another long kiss.

"Give me." That was the only explanation he got for Grell sucking his fingers into his mouth, making William wonder just how many nerve endings they had, for the things Grell was doing to them with his tongue felt all too good.

William thought his undergarments seemed a bit soft for a man, but he didn't think anything else as he pushed them down and pushed two fingers inside Grell.

"Jesus Christ, Will!" Grell cried, but he rocked against his fingers.

The rough treatment just spurred Grell on more. He cried out with every thrust of William's fingers inside him, getting louder and louder until William covered his mouth with his free hand. Finally William removed them and began to slick himself up. He didn't see how he was going to fit in that tight passage, but pain seemed to make Grell hotter than anything.

He lifted Grell so that his trousers slipped off his feet and he could grip William with his legs. William moaned as he sheathed himself in Grell, and felt slightly sharp nails dig into his back when he started to move. Books fell off the other side of the shelf with each thrust but he could think of nothing except the pleasure coursing through his body. Grell's thighs trembled around him and the red head's eyes were screwed shut. The sight of him was nearly his undoing.

He began to thrust with all his considerable strength. Grell was gripping the shelf at his back, almost screaming when William nailed that bundle of nerves inside him. "Oh Will, don't stop, please..."

William didn't slow down until Grell came with a final cry of Will's name. His whole body jerked when William continued to fuck into him relentlessly. William's thrusts had become slower but deeper. He buried his face in Grell's neck, grinding his teeth against shouting obscenities as he climaxed into the red head's writhing body.

They slid unceremoniously to the ground, both panting and sticky. Will's glasses had fallen off at some point. He couldn't even tell which way was up let alone right or left, he was blind as a bat without them. His hands slid along the floor until he felt them being pushed up the bridge of his nose. Grell swam into focus and in the low light he thought he saw his classmate smile.

"You should be more careful with those."

Some Many Years Later

William Spears believed details were important. Few people shared this value. He finished combing his hair, and slid into his tailcoat. There was not a scrap of lint to be found nor a hair out place. He could not imagine being anything less than perfectly groomed for dinner at the Phantomhive residence. Vincent had phoned earlier in the day to invite him, the family wished to express their gratitude for bringing them together with Ciel. He had told Vincent he need not go to such lengths to thank him, but the lord insisted.

William sighed. He had planned to catch up on some paperwork this evening, and he had no use for social outings. Alas, it would have been disrespectful to decline a second time.

"Are you ready yet?"

"Oh William you're ever so impatient, you can't rush perfection!"

He felt his eyebrow twitch as he locked his office. This was the pentacle of bad ideas but Vincent was a cheeky bastard and he would never hear the end of it if he came alone. So, he had brought a change of clothes to work (where he slept many nights of the week) and instructed his overenthusiastic plus one to do the same. If only he'd had anyone else to ask he would have but he knew no one outside of work and none of his colleagues cared for his company. Except one. It also happened that the only one who enjoyed his company enjoyed it far too much for William's liking.

"Are you quite fin...oh, dear God."

William had been raising his hand to knock on the door across from his when it swung open and there stood his coworker in all his scarlet glory. He froze and found himself unable to speak. Grell had always been eccentric and loved to push the boundaries of dress code with his indecently long hair and bright red coat that always seemed to bunch up around his elbows, but William had never seen how he dressed outside work. He couldn't stop staring. Even his eyebrows, arguably his most expressive feature, had nothing to say of this.

Grell wore an elaborate red gown over petticoats, his hair was french braided and he was in as much makeup as any woman. He didn't look anything like a he. He spun around and looked at William expectantly, looking thrilled to have stricken his stoic boss speechless. "Well?"

"You have never been more revolting, Sutcliff."

William turned on his heel and led the way out to the front of the orphanage, pushing his glasses up his nose as he went. Behind him Grell was shrieking about how cruel he was but he walked resolutely forward. He didn't want to look at that trainwreck any longer than necessary. There had always been something left to center about his classmate but he had underestimated just how perverse Grell Sutcliff had become since graduation. Ugh...that night. His single greatest regret.

"I suppose you're my female companion for the evening," he said as they settled into the carriage.

Grell batted his long, fake lashes. "Haven't I always been?"

"You are in possession of male reproductive organs, therefore you are a man. However, I have no intentions of letting the Phantomhives know I have come to their gala in the company of a crossdresser."

"You're so mean," Grell said, and spent the rest of the ride with his arms folded and painted lips in a pout.

William wondered what had happened to the fierce, proud student of their university days. He had been clearly homosexual then, too, but he had not been this simpering mess. They had graduated university five years ago but he could still vividly recall the short tempered, hard edged Grell of that time. He stole a glance at his coworker of present. People changed, he supposed.

They arrived at the estate and were escorted inside by the butler. William pretended not to notice the way Grell flirted with him, but he was hard pressed to ignore the pang of jealousy he felt. He averted his eyes as they entered the manor. Honestly, there was no sense in feeling that way. He had been the one to break his drunken promise he made to Grell the night of graduation that they would stay in touch, and by the time their paths crossed again at the orphanage, Grell was a stranger to him.