Chapter Three

The cemetery was dreary with fog and a misting of rain as the small crowd of reapers drifted away, leaving William to himself as one hand clenched itself in a fist. He stared at the red reaper lying inside the coffin, that small, peaceful smile still visible on his face. His other hand slowly moved from resting on the side of the cherry wood coffin to stroke a pale cheek.

"Grell… I'm so sorry…" He murmured; the tears he never thought existed for Grell once more returning as they slowly rolled down the raven-haired man's cheeks. "For everything, accusing you, not believing you, and now this… But I know you wouldn't want me to be so upset about it, so I'm going to try not to…" His cold attitude was completely lost in his void of emotions. Had he known Grell cared for him so much to risk his life for William, he perhaps wouldn't have been so cold and cruel to the other. He'd always worried he wasn't good enough for Grell, and would only make him unhappy, so he pushed him away in hopes of the redhead finding someone better. Now he'd never be able to see Grell again, reveal his true feelings for the red reaper; to hug him, kiss him, to tell him he loved him like he'd always wanted. A gentle hand on his shoulder caused him to quickly wipe away his tears quickly and retain his cold attitude that he always held. He looked up to meet an uncharacteristic frown on Undertaker's face as he nodded,

"It's time to go…" The mortician's voice was painfully strained, and William could tell the legendary reaper was holding back his own tears as well- he knew how much Undertaker had cared for Grell. With that, the coffin lid was shut, sealing away all William's memories of Grell as it was lowered into the ground, and burying William's emotions with it.

"Mr. Spears… Mr. Spears? Mr. Spears!" Viridian eyes snapped open as a finger prodded William's shoulder, he glanced over to spot Jason, who was jabbing him. Alan, Eric, Ronald, and Undertaker were also there, all staring at William (well, he couldn't really tell with Undertaker) with what seemed like worry,

"Was… Was I asleep?" William's fuzzy vision cleared the rest of the way allowing him to see he had slumped back in the chair and most likely dozed off. He cleared his throat rather awkwardly and tapped his glasses up the bridge of his nose before sitting up in the chair.

"Yeah, we have no idea how in that uncomfortable hospital chair, but you were mumbling nonsense and we wondered if you were okay," Alan answered for Jason as the group seemed to shift closer, William scooted back in the chair away from them,

"And how is Sutcliff doing?"

"Spears, really, jus' start calling him Grell already, we all know y' want ta'…" Eric called gruffly from his spot leaning against the dreary hospital wall,

"He's asleep, but I'm sure you can wake him," Alan replied with a small nod,

"Gently wake him," Undertaker threw in, knowing how rough William was with the redhead.

"You've already been to see him?" William asked. How long had he been out for?

"You're the last to check in on him, since you were out cold, but we'll leave you two alone," Ronald teased, taking a step back at the glare he received.

"Very well, if it means you'll all shut up," William sighed, pushing himself up from the rather uncomfortable armchair, he really did wonder how he'd slept in that, but he'd been up the entire day and night, which explained it well. Stepping into the pale blue hospital room that held nothing but a bed, the computer tracking Grell's heart rate, and the catheter stand, he easily spotted the crimson form on the bed as he quietly shut the door behind him. He slowly approached Grell's sleeping figure as his features softened, guilt setting in once more at Grell's peaceful expression and lightly fluttering eyelids.

"Grell… wake up," William called softly, not wanting to scare him,

"W-Will…?" The redhead weakly called, raising his head to look for his boss. His eyes lit up when he spotted him, "You're h-here," William awkwardly took a seat on the brown wing chair by the bedside,

"Yes," He nodded, "I wanted to see how you were doing. How are you feeling?" Grell's hand moved to rest on his stomach where the now stitched and bandaged wound was.
"It hurts… a lot… but I'm okay," Grell replied, before turning curious emerald eyes to William, "A-Am I off the hook?"

"Obviously," William replied, seeing the tense body immediately relax.

"How on earth did he get a hold of my scythe?" Grell asked, stunned at how on earth a demon had managed to get even close to the realm,

"It turns out there was a weakness in the portal, leaving it accessible to demons. But it's been fixed, and your chainsaw has been returned," Grell managed to give a small smile before taking a breath, as if debating to say something else,

"And… and…" Grell trailed off,

"What?" William asked,

"W-Why are you here… why do you care so much?" Grell asked dully. His eyes widened in surprise as his chin was tilted up to meet William's gaze, emeralds locked with emeralds before William removed his hand, leaving Grell to stare into William's eyes with a soft blush,

"Yesterday when you leapt in front of that demon and chainsaw… when you thought you were going to die and told me you loved me..." Now it was William's turn to trail off,

"Yes?" Grell asked, tilting his head slightly while gazing up at William, the superior was distracted for a moment by the rather adorable redhead, but he shook himself from staring.

"I think I've made you wait long enough to say it, Grell," He saw the smaller shinigami's eyes widen at the use of his first name, "I love you too…" Tears of happiness immediately poured down Grell's cheeks as he shifted, wanting to fling his arms around William, though whimpered in disappointment as he was gently pushed back down against the bed,

"Don't disturb your wound," William instructed gently,

"D-Do you r-really mean it?" Grell stammered as his tears were wiped away by William's handkerchief,

"Well, that would just ruin my reputation if I lied now, wouldn't it?" William teased, but was suddenly yanked forward by his tie and his lips slammed into Grell's. He put up no struggle though and smiled against Grell's lips, whose eyes had quickly drifted closed. After a long few moments, the two parted, and Grell's smile was unlike any other, to put William in a good mood for how worried he had been. Grell then gave a vixen-like smirk, fangs glimmering in the bright white light of the dull room, though the redhead continue to grin, not bothered at all by how boring the hospital really was,

"And now, we just have to wait until I'm better for me to show you how good of a lover I really am~"

"Is that an offer?" William raised a teasing eyebrow

"If you'll take it~!"
"Do you really need to ask?"

"Didn't think so,"

Raise of hands if you hate me now for tricking you in that first scene?!

This story was actually quite fun to write, and I hope you guys enjoyed this little 3-shot! Make sure to leave a review and vent all you like! Thank you everyone who took their time to read this story and I hope you enjoyed it! There will be more Grelliam coming soon! See you at the next story, my lovelies~!

-Glow-