Author note: Hey everyone! Thanks for your patience with this!
Warning: Sex, violence, masochism, bondage, good lord, it's GRELL, that deserves a warning all it's own!
Pair: Grell Sutcliff and William Spears
Disclaimer: None of this is mine, except Alice, Rebecca, and Evans. I just borrow the characters for a while.

"Freak."

"Did you hear about her?"

"Sick."

"She's a guy?"

"Disgusting."

Grell ignored the comments, and kept walking. He was used to the derogative names and the harsh comments. It was true, he supposed. He was transsexual, and plenty of people would think that was repulsive. Two centuries of hearing the same insults and prejudice had hardened Grell, and taught him to ignore them.

He whistled as he strutted down the corridor, head held high, stilettos clicking on the marble floors, ankle-length wrap-around skirt fluttering open from his momentum to reveal one long smooth leg. More than one male co-worker watched him go, and only a couple had a friend to tell them the 'rumours' that were going around. Maybe the tune from Kill Bill wasn't the best thing for him to be humming then, but it was stuck in his head.

"Grell!" Scarlet hair tied into a long braid whipped around as he turned to face Alice and Rebecca.

"Hey." He smiled, only for the cheerful expression to fade as he saw their faces. "Are you two alright?" Rebecca looked troubled.

"Grell, can we have a word? In private?" She nodded to a nearby empty room. Grell followed the two girls in, eyes flicking automatically to the available exits. So close to a breakdown, the last thing he wanted was to slip again while alone with two women.

"What's up?" he perched on the edge of a desk.

"Those marks." Alice cut straight to the point. "Grell, we're worried about you. I know things have been... difficult since the Evans thing, but cutting isn't the way to cope." Grell looked between them blankly. Rebecca looked down at Grell's hands. Alice and the redhead followed her eyes.

"Oh!" Grell slid the cuffs of his long-sleeved gypsy blouse up to show the red marks at his wrists. "I don't do that. No, really." he promised, seeing their disbelieving gazes. "Those are from handcuffs." He confided. Alice's eyes widened.

"Grell, is Mr Sp-"

"Will's never done anything to me I haven't asked for." Grell cut her off. He slid off the desk and pushed up the sleeves further. Shinigami healing was more efficient than human healing, but it wasn't instantaneous – and the fading cuff marks were only the beginning.

From elbow to wrist he was clear, but his upper arms each bore bruises in the unmistakable shape of fingerprints. Clearly Will had gripped him too tightly. Grell unselfconsciously moved his skirt aside, showing more bruises and love bites on his thighs.

"Oh my god..." Alice had to sit down. Grell offered her a brief smile, then turned his back and raised his skirt just high enough that they could see the lashes from the whip. "Why is he so rough with you?"

"Because I enjoy it." Grell admitted. "But last night, he was stressed out; he didn't mean to go so far. The marks have usually healed by now." He dropped the hem and sat back down. "All these rumours and things being spread have been really hard on Will. We agreed to keep everything quiet when we started work, but we had no idea all that crap from back home would follow us here. Down in London, all our friends know – that I was born a guy, that Will and I are together, everything – the only reason we moved is because they offered us both jobs up here." He chuckled weakly. "Said it would be a new start – I could make new friends who didn't know me as a gender-confused murderer, but as a woman in my own right."

"That is how we see you." Alice reassured him. "We like you for who you are."

"You're still one of my girls, honey." Rebecca kissed his cheek gently. "Nothing will change that now."

"So... how'd you guys meet?" Alice nudged her friend. Grell started playing with his braid.

"We were in the Academy together. Partners for our final exam. He was such an ass... walked right up to the target, and told the guy everything. Thomas Wallis." He smiled reminiscently. "The first person to ever tell me I was beautiful. I started off wanting to just reap his soul and get on with it, but oh no. William T. Spears insisted we do it properly, and of course, I changed my mind. I think I fell in love with him then, when he beat the shit out of me to prove his point."

Grell flushed red as he remembered. Will had, literally, knocked him flat, and for the first time, Grell had been turned on by the pain. The fantasies it had brought on had put Grell in high heels for the first time since his mid-teens, and had him start growing his hair – the realisation that if it was what his body wanted, then it was what his body wanted, then he couldn't deny it. His body wanted to be female, wanted pain in bed, and wanted Will.

"So you two have always been together, huh?" Rebecca chuckled. Grell shook his head.

"Nope. We worked together for years before we started dating."

"How old are you?" Alice blurted. Grell laughed.

"I wonder..." he smirked. "I've been a shinigami for over two hundred years, and then you have to add my age when I started." Rebecca blinked, shocked. Alice fell of the desk.

"Grell," Rebecca rubbed her forehead, "I've seriously underestimated you." The redhead patted her arm.

"It's alright, dear. Most people do."

TBC