I, um, I wrote a thing. >>;;
Title: "Heart and Home"
Series: Black Butler
Genre: Romance, Humor, Fluff
Characters/Pairings: Will/Grell, drive-by Ronald
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,555
Summary: Grell attempts the role of a perfect housewife, with "mixed" results.
Notes: Blame Credit for this drabble goes to this character song for being so goddamned catchy and adorable. Since Grell identifies as transgender, I refer to her with female pronouns in this fic. Minor spoilers for "The Story of Will the Reaper."
To Read:
It was 5:30 in the afternoon, on a Monday, when Ronald Knox suddenly exploded into his superior's office.
"Hey, William, guess what time it is...?" he asked with a grin that seemed far too cheeky to remain on a single person's face.
William sighed and glanced over at the torsion pendulum clock resting near the edge of his stern yew desk.
"Five thirty, nearly five thirty-one," he paused to adjust his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Why?"
"Why?" Ronald echoed incredulously, "I do believe that's quitting time, boss. I'm about to head out, myself."
"Mm, very well." William's eyes returned to the stacks of paperwork arranged neatly atop his desk, "I'll expect you bright and early tomorrow morning, of course."
Ronald rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips.
"...Guess you'll be staying after, then?"
William began to grow slightly irritated. His subordinates weren't normally so pushy. Well, aside from Sutcliff, though he could hardly classify her behavior as "normal."
"Yes, Knox, I will be remaining after until all of this," he gestured to the forms on his desk, "has been dealt with. It's called a work ethic, you would do well to develop one of your own someday."
Ronald cringed. He hadn't expected to send William into lecture-mode. So much for making small talk with the boss...
"Besides," William continued, a bit softer than before, "it's not as though I'm keeping anyone waiting for me back home."
Ronald's eyebrows raised nearly a centimeter above his glasses.
"Ohhh, I see how it is! Well, maybe you wouldn't be so lonely if you took a break from work every now and then just to, y'know, mingle or...something," he finished rather lamely, intimidated by William's slowly darkening expression.
"Well," William began, evening out a stack of paperwork by dropping it against the polished surface of his desk with an ominous clop-clop-clop, "as much as I appreciate your input, Knox, I seem to have just remembered a rather large box of unsorted forms that desperately need alphabetizing, over there in the break room. Do go and make yourself useful in that regard, if you please." It was more of a hiss than a request.
"Um..."
"You may leave as soon as you have finished, yes."
Ronald nodded sheepishly and, deciding he'd rather cut his losses than risk getting into an argument with his grumpy superior, swung open William's office door, scarcely taking note of the thud-yeowch and the flash of red hair from the reaper who, until seconds ago, had had her ear pressed against it, eavesdropping.
---
William had left Reaper Dispatch at 7:00 in the evening, a full hour and a half after most of his coworkers.
He then found himself standing at the threshold of his open front door, taking a few steps back to double-check the sturdy bronze numbers posted outside and verify that it was indeed his own apartment that he had just stepped into.
...Ah. Yes, it was.
Now that that little mystery had been solved, he needed to determine how exactly Grell Sutcliff had managed to break into his apartment and why she was currently standing in his foyer with her hair tied back in a girlish ponytail, wearing a frilly pink apron over her standard work attire, spatula in hand.
"Welcome home, darling~"
There were simply too many words of reprimand to choose from, so his mind saved him the trouble and decided to grind to a screeching halt entirely, leaving him to stand blinking stupidly in his own doorway.
"What," he intoned flatly, little knowing how he intended to follow up that word with a complete sentence. He glanced over to his coat rack, taking note of the gaudy red jacket that now took up a full two pegs all on its own. "What..."
"Ooh, I'm so happy to see you! You've come home just in time, dinner's almost ready!" And with that, giving him a quick peck on the cheek that he was in no condition to avoid, Grell spun on her heels and flounced back into the kitchen.
William remained in the corridor for a moment, before sighing deeply and bracing himself for the inevitable chaos ahead.
The kitchen in William's apartment was furnished with all the cold sterility of a surgery. He had never really shared his coworkers' enthusiasm for cooking, so anything more would have just seemed like excess. That being said, it was incredibly satisfying to stroll in and be immediately welcomed by the savory scents of a home-cooked meal.
Whatever Grell was preparing, it smelled delicious.
"Sutcliff," William managed, finally. "Would you care to explain...this?"
"Hmm?" Grell twirled around from her position kneeling in front of the oven to meet his eyes. "It's chicken pot pie."
"That's not--" William was interrupted by a loud mechanical ding, as the timer atop the stove reached the end of its cycle.
"Pie's done!" Grell exclaimed gleefully, with all the enthusiasm of a schoolgirl in summer.
Then, after carefully removing the pie from the oven, she cut William a generous slice and placed it on the table, alongside a small dish filled with grapes and some cheese. And as she watched him eat with a smile on her lips and a flush in her cheeks, he couldn't help but notice that she'd managed to include all five major food groups in a single meal.
Rather impressive, even if the pie crust had turned out slightly overdone.
---
After dinner had been finished and cleaned up, William had had every intention of kicking Grell out of his apartment with a sincere thank-you for the meal, but a stern warning to "never do that again or else," yet somehow he'd found himself seated on the couch in his study, with Grell's cool hands gently massaging his neck and shoulders.
It boggled the mind.
"Oh, my poor Will... You've got knots all over your back, you know that?"
"Maybe if I didn't have to spend so much of my time disciplining foolish rule-breakers, I'd-- Hrnnnf."
"My, my... What was that, darling?"
"A little lower, please."
Grell smiled satisfactorily to herself, before slowly moving her hands downward towards his shoulder blades. She gave a low sigh of contentment that rather perfectly mirrored William's own.
"Wouldn't it be nice," she murmured softly, more to herself than to him, "if we could spend every night together like this?"
William didn't quite know how to respond to that, but luckily for him he wasn't given too much time to mull it over, as he suddenly felt a pair of soft lips pressing gently against the nape of his neck.
He stood up like a shot and issued Grell a steely reprimand with his eyes. A childish pout appeared on her mouth, but she merely gave an apologetic shrug before casually resuming the massage in earnest.
---
When Grell had asked for the use of his restroom, William planned on sending her home directly afterwards. It was getting late and he was dealing with all manner of emotions he was not ordinarily used to dealing with.
However, to his surprise, rather than emerging from the modest bathroom in the same attire with which she had entered, Grell strolled out into William's bedroom wearing a red gingham nightgown that made her look as though she'd gotten into a fight with a picnic blanket and lost.
"No," William said immediately, before Grell had had the chance to open her mouth and speak. "No, you are not spending the night here, so don't even bother asking. End of discussion."
"B-but... Will..."
"No."
"Please?"
"No!"
"Pretty please?"
"No."
Grell went quiet for a moment, a flicker of sadness behind her electric-green eyes.
"Will, just...give me the opportunity to fall asleep in your arms tonight. Just this once, then I'll never ask it of you again."
William hesitated, and she noticed.
"Please. Come now, we used to sleep together all the time back in the old days..."
William very nearly corrected her: they hadn't slept together "all the time," it had just been once or twice, back when he was still coping with the trauma of having experienced a human being's cinematic record first-hand... Reapers were never meant to know the horrors of dying. Death was supposed to be nothing more than a job.
The experience had almost broken William.
To this day, Grell was the only one who knew of his tears from back then. And, to his knowledge, she had never shared that knowledge with anyone. Thinking back on those times reminded him of how she'd been the one to save his life that fateful day. If it hadn't been for her, he wouldn't even be standing there right now. Surely he couldn't begrudge her one simple (albeit strange) request, right...?
William sighed audibly. He was probably going to regret this.
"Very well, I will share my bed with you. But just for tonight, you hear me?"
Grell's face lit up and she threw her arms around his neck, confessing her undying love again and again, snuggling her face against his chest all the while. William couldn't help but notice that her hair smelled like roses...
---
And, to William's credit, he wasn't wholly surprised to come home and find her waiting there the next night, either.
Series: Black Butler
Genre: Romance, Humor, Fluff
Characters/Pairings: Will/Grell, drive-by Ronald
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 1,555
Summary: Grell attempts the role of a perfect housewife, with "mixed" results.
Notes: Blame Credit for this drabble goes to this character song for being so goddamned catchy and adorable. Since Grell identifies as transgender, I refer to her with female pronouns in this fic. Minor spoilers for "The Story of Will the Reaper."
To Read:
It was 5:30 in the afternoon, on a Monday, when Ronald Knox suddenly exploded into his superior's office.
"Hey, William, guess what time it is...?" he asked with a grin that seemed far too cheeky to remain on a single person's face.
William sighed and glanced over at the torsion pendulum clock resting near the edge of his stern yew desk.
"Five thirty, nearly five thirty-one," he paused to adjust his glasses on the bridge of his nose. "Why?"
"Why?" Ronald echoed incredulously, "I do believe that's quitting time, boss. I'm about to head out, myself."
"Mm, very well." William's eyes returned to the stacks of paperwork arranged neatly atop his desk, "I'll expect you bright and early tomorrow morning, of course."
Ronald rolled his eyes and placed his hands on his hips.
"...Guess you'll be staying after, then?"
William began to grow slightly irritated. His subordinates weren't normally so pushy. Well, aside from Sutcliff, though he could hardly classify her behavior as "normal."
"Yes, Knox, I will be remaining after until all of this," he gestured to the forms on his desk, "has been dealt with. It's called a work ethic, you would do well to develop one of your own someday."
Ronald cringed. He hadn't expected to send William into lecture-mode. So much for making small talk with the boss...
"Besides," William continued, a bit softer than before, "it's not as though I'm keeping anyone waiting for me back home."
Ronald's eyebrows raised nearly a centimeter above his glasses.
"Ohhh, I see how it is! Well, maybe you wouldn't be so lonely if you took a break from work every now and then just to, y'know, mingle or...something," he finished rather lamely, intimidated by William's slowly darkening expression.
"Well," William began, evening out a stack of paperwork by dropping it against the polished surface of his desk with an ominous clop-clop-clop, "as much as I appreciate your input, Knox, I seem to have just remembered a rather large box of unsorted forms that desperately need alphabetizing, over there in the break room. Do go and make yourself useful in that regard, if you please." It was more of a hiss than a request.
"Um..."
"You may leave as soon as you have finished, yes."
Ronald nodded sheepishly and, deciding he'd rather cut his losses than risk getting into an argument with his grumpy superior, swung open William's office door, scarcely taking note of the thud-yeowch and the flash of red hair from the reaper who, until seconds ago, had had her ear pressed against it, eavesdropping.
---
William had left Reaper Dispatch at 7:00 in the evening, a full hour and a half after most of his coworkers.
He then found himself standing at the threshold of his open front door, taking a few steps back to double-check the sturdy bronze numbers posted outside and verify that it was indeed his own apartment that he had just stepped into.
...Ah. Yes, it was.
Now that that little mystery had been solved, he needed to determine how exactly Grell Sutcliff had managed to break into his apartment and why she was currently standing in his foyer with her hair tied back in a girlish ponytail, wearing a frilly pink apron over her standard work attire, spatula in hand.
"Welcome home, darling~"
There were simply too many words of reprimand to choose from, so his mind saved him the trouble and decided to grind to a screeching halt entirely, leaving him to stand blinking stupidly in his own doorway.
"What," he intoned flatly, little knowing how he intended to follow up that word with a complete sentence. He glanced over to his coat rack, taking note of the gaudy red jacket that now took up a full two pegs all on its own. "What..."
"Ooh, I'm so happy to see you! You've come home just in time, dinner's almost ready!" And with that, giving him a quick peck on the cheek that he was in no condition to avoid, Grell spun on her heels and flounced back into the kitchen.
William remained in the corridor for a moment, before sighing deeply and bracing himself for the inevitable chaos ahead.
The kitchen in William's apartment was furnished with all the cold sterility of a surgery. He had never really shared his coworkers' enthusiasm for cooking, so anything more would have just seemed like excess. That being said, it was incredibly satisfying to stroll in and be immediately welcomed by the savory scents of a home-cooked meal.
Whatever Grell was preparing, it smelled delicious.
"Sutcliff," William managed, finally. "Would you care to explain...this?"
"Hmm?" Grell twirled around from her position kneeling in front of the oven to meet his eyes. "It's chicken pot pie."
"That's not--" William was interrupted by a loud mechanical ding, as the timer atop the stove reached the end of its cycle.
"Pie's done!" Grell exclaimed gleefully, with all the enthusiasm of a schoolgirl in summer.
Then, after carefully removing the pie from the oven, she cut William a generous slice and placed it on the table, alongside a small dish filled with grapes and some cheese. And as she watched him eat with a smile on her lips and a flush in her cheeks, he couldn't help but notice that she'd managed to include all five major food groups in a single meal.
Rather impressive, even if the pie crust had turned out slightly overdone.
---
After dinner had been finished and cleaned up, William had had every intention of kicking Grell out of his apartment with a sincere thank-you for the meal, but a stern warning to "never do that again or else," yet somehow he'd found himself seated on the couch in his study, with Grell's cool hands gently massaging his neck and shoulders.
It boggled the mind.
"Oh, my poor Will... You've got knots all over your back, you know that?"
"Maybe if I didn't have to spend so much of my time disciplining foolish rule-breakers, I'd-- Hrnnnf."
"My, my... What was that, darling?"
"A little lower, please."
Grell smiled satisfactorily to herself, before slowly moving her hands downward towards his shoulder blades. She gave a low sigh of contentment that rather perfectly mirrored William's own.
"Wouldn't it be nice," she murmured softly, more to herself than to him, "if we could spend every night together like this?"
William didn't quite know how to respond to that, but luckily for him he wasn't given too much time to mull it over, as he suddenly felt a pair of soft lips pressing gently against the nape of his neck.
He stood up like a shot and issued Grell a steely reprimand with his eyes. A childish pout appeared on her mouth, but she merely gave an apologetic shrug before casually resuming the massage in earnest.
---
When Grell had asked for the use of his restroom, William planned on sending her home directly afterwards. It was getting late and he was dealing with all manner of emotions he was not ordinarily used to dealing with.
However, to his surprise, rather than emerging from the modest bathroom in the same attire with which she had entered, Grell strolled out into William's bedroom wearing a red gingham nightgown that made her look as though she'd gotten into a fight with a picnic blanket and lost.
"No," William said immediately, before Grell had had the chance to open her mouth and speak. "No, you are not spending the night here, so don't even bother asking. End of discussion."
"B-but... Will..."
"No."
"Please?"
"No!"
"Pretty please?"
"No."
Grell went quiet for a moment, a flicker of sadness behind her electric-green eyes.
"Will, just...give me the opportunity to fall asleep in your arms tonight. Just this once, then I'll never ask it of you again."
William hesitated, and she noticed.
"Please. Come now, we used to sleep together all the time back in the old days..."
William very nearly corrected her: they hadn't slept together "all the time," it had just been once or twice, back when he was still coping with the trauma of having experienced a human being's cinematic record first-hand... Reapers were never meant to know the horrors of dying. Death was supposed to be nothing more than a job.
The experience had almost broken William.
To this day, Grell was the only one who knew of his tears from back then. And, to his knowledge, she had never shared that knowledge with anyone. Thinking back on those times reminded him of how she'd been the one to save his life that fateful day. If it hadn't been for her, he wouldn't even be standing there right now. Surely he couldn't begrudge her one simple (albeit strange) request, right...?
William sighed audibly. He was probably going to regret this.
"Very well, I will share my bed with you. But just for tonight, you hear me?"
Grell's face lit up and she threw her arms around his neck, confessing her undying love again and again, snuggling her face against his chest all the while. William couldn't help but notice that her hair smelled like roses...
---
And, to William's credit, he wasn't wholly surprised to come home and find her waiting there the next night, either.