Ronald watched as Grell Sutcliff was thrown from a chair. And bashed against a table. And pulled by the hair. And
    “Grell Sutcliff! You shark-toothed lying slacker!” William T. Spears…was being his usual self.
    “W-w-Wiruuu! I only went to see my Sebas-chan for a little, teeny-tiny little while! Promise!” His right eye swelled up and his usual smirk turned into a lopsided frown.
    “Stop that nonsense. You used to be an okay person. Not tolerable, not likeable in the least, but at least with short hair you didn't act so...like this. What happened!?” William adjusted his glasses, like his usual-self usually did, and pulled Grell off of his knees.
    “Now, Wiru, don’t be jealous!” Grell batted his eyelashes and wiggled his hips, somehow healed from what was done a matter of seconds ago.
    “Tch. I’m anything but. Now…” He opened the door and made no hesitation to kick Grell swiftly and efficiently out of it.
    He closed the door quietly…And threw Grell’s messy pile of work down loudly. The quiet Ronald dared to make a sound.
    “Will…” His eyes were set on the floor, hoping William didn’t find a reason to be angry at him as well.
    “Not now, Knox.” Will sat at Grell’s desk, digging through heaps of papers looking for something.
    “Will…?” Knox. For some reason he couldn’t explain, Ronald hated being called Knox by him. Will continued sifting through paperwork, his eyebrows twitching like a hare’s ears.
    Ronald spun in his chair, getting bored. To be honest, he didn’t even know why he was still sharing an office with Grell. In his opinion, he did better than his Senpai! (Well…occasionally.) He stayed quiet. This may have seemed unusual for people who didn't know him very well, but once people got to really know him, he could be silent for long periods of time depending on who he was around. Since he was around William, he decided to stay especially quiet, hoping to please him in some unstated way. But then again...the silence was soon to slip...he was getting very bored. No! No...He must keep his thoughts in his head and-
    “William…Can I share an office with you?” Failure! Oh deathgods…He didn’t mean to say that out loud. How embarrassing…He looked at his watch multiple times trying not to blush or make a stupid face. He talked to himself in his head to keep his expression normal. "Oh Darn! Drats! Bloody thing broken again! Haha...would ya lookat the time, it's wrong! Oh...Oh no. Is he looking? I think he's looking...Oh no, he's gonna say something!"
    William paused, papers flying from his frozen hand hanging in the air. “…What was that, Knox?”
    “Oh! Haha…Nothing…Um…” Ronald brushed a hand through his hair. “It…was nothing. Uh. Oh darn...Again broken is watch my bloody! I m-mean...My broken is bloody William again. No! Uh...” He set his eyes on the floor again, mentally scolding himself.
    William spoke for him. "You mean...Your bloody watch is broken again." He squinted at Ronald for a few seconds, not recalling his watch ever breaking...Or Ronald ever stuttering like an idiot. A complete idiot.
    "Gah!" Ron thought, "I'm a complete idiot!!!" He facepalmed himself and went back to staring at the floor.
    William watched him fidget from the corner of his eye. He watched Ronald spin like a child in the squeaky stool. He watched him run his hand through his wonderful blonde hair. Blonde hair with dark underlayers and orange-honey streaks in it…like the sun. He watched…No. No. He had to keep working. He couldn’t let himself get distracted. But…then again…He let his eyes wander once more and found Ronald’s eyes staring right back. He had been caught.
    “I’ve been caught!” Ronald thought as he stole a glance at his superior. “Drat…I was only seeing if he was done working yet…Now he’s gonna think that I was staring. Or…Was I?” He didn’t know the answer to his own question and let the thought slide.
    William started ranting out loud. “Damn, useless…Messy…Why can’t someone just do their work?”
    Ronald looked up innocently from his chair and spoke softly. “I do my work…”
    “Why can’t someone be organized!” William threw a paper to the floor.
    Ronald looked at Will with large puppy eyes, hoping to be noticed. “I’m organized…” He twiddled his thumbs, noticing William not noticing him. He sighed.
    “Why can’t someone just be classy?”
    Ronald smiled at this, looking at his cool outfit and shining shoes while running a hand through his perfectly styled hair. “Oh…I’m classy~…”
    “Why, why, why…Honestly…” William’s voice was now at a booming level. He paced in circles. “Isn’t there ANYONE!”
    “Will…” Ron tried to get Will’s attention but he continued his rant. “Will…” Again, he was unnoticed.
    Ronald clenched his fists and darted up out of his seat. “William!...” The top of the stool spun around lazily, giving off a haunting little squeak as silence overcame everything else.
    William froze in his spot, and stared at Ronald as he snapped back to reality.
    “I…um…” Ronald felt awkward in the suddenly silent room. “Oh shit…” He thought, and by accident, said. Now he didn’t know what to say.
     “I…uh…I’m…I do all of those things, William. I…do all of those things.” It was the only thing he could think of to say. He felt sorry for Grell, but also wanted to be recognized for the good things he had been recently doing.
    Surprised and a bit flustered, William pushed back his glasses and raised an eyebrow. “W-w-why…Yes. Lately, I’ve noticed.” Will’s voice had softened, taken back by Ron’s sudden outburst. “Yes, you do.” William nodded and sat in Grell’s chair across from his.
    “I’m…sorry for yelling. You…weren’t listening so...” Ronald blushed and fumbled with his hands again, sitting back down.
    “…” William only blinked and nodded. He was going to say something harsh to him. Something about how he had only been doing well for the past month. Something about his love of women and distractions. Something about his reputation of "partier". But no. No words flowed from the cold line of a mouth from William T. Spears. He was too stuck on one thing. Something about how he had never realized what nice skin Ronald had. Something about his sunkissed locks and his up-to-no-good smirk. Something about how cute and mellow he could be despite his wild reputation. Something about him...
    “So, did you find what you needed?” Ronald felt more awkward by the minute. It had something to do with being alone with William. Maybe the tension? He had no clue but...Something about him...
    “…Ah. Um…yes, yes I did, thank you, Knox. Hm…Care to take it for me? I don’t need it now and might forget it so…How about you bring it to my office later?”
     Without waiting for his answer, William practically thrust the paper into Ronald’s fidgeting hands and left.
    Ron sighed as Will closed the door behind himself. He thought of Grell getting kicked out of the door, his crimson hair flying out after him like the spray of blood when he reaps someone with his precious mower. He thought of William’s eyes meeting his own. The awkward tension strained in the circles of his emerald eyes.. The admiration he had towards Will and the respect he wanted…craved for…in return. Then something struck him.
    “Wait a minute.” His voice echoed in the empty room. “Will…Why would he need me to hold onto this…And take it to him…He…” Ronald’s eyes widened with curiosity and a minor assumption.
    “William…NEVER forgets paperwork.” He spun in his seat once more for good measure and left to do some more thinking.


    Many days had passed since then. Many days since Ronald took a piece of paper nervously to William. Many days since William's hand shook to take it...and said thank you. Many days since from just that little moment, everything went into motion and caused many strange feelings for the two shinigamis.
    William had become distracted, and drank about as much coffee as the man named Lau contributed to things he did not know about, yet knew. So...a lot of coffee. He became jittery from both the Knox and the coffee, not quite certain which of the two made him shake. Either way, his work slowed down and for the first time in...Well...many days, William was forced to take a day off.
   
    "Urggggh! Why do you get to? What's been wrong with you lately!? Why do I have to work overtime on YOUR day off! I swear," Grell flipped his hair and flashed his teeth to William "I'm beginning to hate you..." He scowled for a dramatic second or two longer before huffing away, most likely off to annoy a certain demon of the butler persuasion.
    "Huhhhh..." William sighed, a headache growing from Grell's persistent complaining. He really did like Grell...deep, deep, deep, deeper than Hell deep down, but on days like this, he had an unending hatred towards the color red and scary looking teeth. Especially the teeth.  
    He straightened his tie and fixed his glasses out of habit, his usual self taking over once more.
    "Oh, why...?" William rolled his eyes, having to use the bathroom. He couldn't recall ever going today, and the coffee didn't help. Then again...he saw Ronald coming down the hall. He didn't want to face him, and for some reason, didn't even want to look at him. How inconvenient! His face turned a bit red, and he began to fidget. He really had to go but didn't want to see Knox...Had to go but, Oh boy, COFFEEEEEE, Whyyyyy? He had to...Ronald was coming...Didn't want to face Ronald's beautiful eyes and wonderful body...He...he couldn't hold it any longer and darted out the door, hoping Ronald wouldn't notice him.
    Ronald walked by. "Hey, Will." He said casually, waving a hand to him.
    William's usual self fainted. A bead of sweat ran down the left side of his temple and his lower lip trembled with caffeinated anxiety.
    "Tch...Honestly...He didn't even glance at me yet I'm doing...this..." He wiped his sweaty palms on the thighs of his pants, watching Ronald carry on his way down the hall and...Toss an orange?
    Yes, for some reason Ronald had an orange with him, tossing it back and forth like a ball. William raised an eyebrow. He...somehow looked good with it.
    Getting back to the thing distracting Will the most, the way Ronald walked had an inferior confidence. He nodded and respectively waved to whomever he passed, yet strutted his style and cool elegance with a confidence that made his hair flow and bounce with each step.
    William took a few steps. His legs were stiff and straight. His eyes, cold and focused on the direction he was going. His hair...unmoving from its almost permanent placement. He speed-walked to the restroom, thinking of coffee and oranges.

    He later reached his office and sat at his desk. His office was large, just about empty, and like a black-and-white photo. And large. And...empty. In all reality, he shouldn't even be there on his day off, but came to work with something in mind.
    "Hm...If I recall correctly, Ronald asked something about moving out of Grell's cluttered space and..." He looked at the empty, drained-of-color room. His usual self fixed his glasses and he immediately set to work on setting up a small desk across from his for Ronald.

    "Gee, Will, that's awesome!" The blonde smiled widely as William told him of his new workspace.
    "...I'm pleased you think so. I assumed that I had heard you right a while ago and just got around to moving your things. I understand how you must have felt with...Grell..." William's eyes closed as if in pain, the muscles in his forehead tensing.
    "Um...Not to be weird or anything but" Ronald scratched behind his head nervously "I uh...I actually like Grell Senpai sometimes. He's...She's...You know. Unique. Interesting. And...I also pity him. He's always picked on. Never appreciated." He shrugged his shoulders and walked with his hands tucked in his pockets. "Now that I think about it...you're rather underappreciated too. Well, if it even matters to someone like you..."
    William thought to himself, "Does that mean he thinks I'm...not interesting? Not..."
    "Not that I think that about you though, William. I...I think much differently of you than anyone else...William." He shrugged again, this time seeming wary.
    "Oh?" William sighed in his head. "So...He DOES think I'm not interesting. MUCH different than interesting."
    They reached his office and Ronald's jaw dropped slightly at how much work Will had done. The two desks were perfectly organized, stacks of papers on either side of the pens and folder in the middle. A small flower sat on Ronald's desk.
    He picked it up. William almost blushed. From the coffee of course...
    "W...William..." Ronald's voice was airy and breathless, his fingers handling the flower as if it were a priceless glass sculpture.
    Maybe it was more than the coffee...
    "I...I..." Ronald's face bursted with pink at his cheeks. "I think much differently of you. Much..." He smelled the flower, his eyes fluttering as they closed, his lips barely brushing its soft petals.
     Yes. Indeed, it wasn't even the coffee at all...
     Will had found the flower growing on the windowsill of some human home. He knew it was wrong to steal, but...It was just too perfect not to. The flower was bright yellow, fading to bursts of orange then to a brown-black color near the center. Like his hair. The stem was a dark kelly green...Like the pop of color in his eyes.
    "Will..." Ronald had pushed the flower into the top buttonhole of his blazer. "Do you know how differently...I think of you?" Before Will knew it, Ron's hand had made its way from his pocket to William's arm. Then his shoulder. Then brushed along his sculpted face. He trembled when William took a gasping breath.
     Ron's hand recoiled immediately, thinking that William had gasped in disgust. He felt tears spring in his eyelids and one bubble over. This was not like him. Where was his confident and cool, lady-charming self? Where was he!? He had never imagined in a zillion years that he would be making advances at another man, moreover, his own boss.
     William covered his mouth with a stiff hand, trying to keep himself from gasping again. He almost yelled out "NO!" When Ron took his hand away, but his own hand kept him silent.
     "Knox..." William's face was cold and almost angry looking, trying to keep himself composed.
    "Forget it! Forget it happened!" Before William could even respond, Ronald dashed from the room and fled the building.
    William chased after him, only to find him outside in the rain.
    "Knox!" He called, seeing Ronald turn his back towards him.
    "I...really have nowhere else to run to, but leave me alone okay? I know...I'm a kid, and have stupid thoughts, and get carried away, and get too confident, and you don't like any of that...So...Just let it be okay? It's not like..." He sniffled. He turned to face Will, his head down towards the ground, his hair somberly dripping with water and masked tears.
    "It's...not like I asked for it! Do you know how many women I can pick from!? How many are willing to just throw themselves on me! And this...Shit like this happens, and I get the hots for someone like you..." His face turned the color of Grell's hair. "I...I could pick from so many! I even have a reputation for being a playboy, a skank even, if that word fits. But...I'll have you know that I go out with them. Then dump them. Nothing...h-happens...All because...I can't love someone that isn't you. At first I ignored it. I even went along with the girls, trying to MAKE myself into that stereotype but...it didn't work. I flirt. They bite. I reel. I throw them back. Constantly, hoping to take my mind from you, knowing you won't return what I...feel. Well, here I am. Refusing to do things with women all because of one man..." His tears were now out-pouring the rain. William didn't know if they were falling in shame or relief of what he just shared. Ronald wasn't quite to certain either.
    William let the icy rain slide over his face and drip off of his dark eyelashes. "Knox...I...Don't know what to say. Do you think...Well...More importantly, is that...how differently you think of me?"
    Ronald blinked and looked up into the eyes of his superior. "...That's a stupid question."
    William took a step back. Ronald was sad and hurt...but certainly didn't let that get his personality down.
    "Of course...Very differently. Wrongly. Foolishly. Loudly. I thought it was obvious. I've been doing more work to impress you. The amount of things you do already impresses me, I wanted to catch up. Become close to you...And then...Closer...I know it's stupid, but it is what it is." His head turned down again, causing a stream of water to cascade down his jawline.
     "I...Think of you the same way, actually. Honestly, Knox...Why in the world would I want to have you in my office? Why else would..." His glasses began to slip with the rain. Ronald stared at him, waiting for Will's usual self to push at them. Waiting for Will to say "honestly" and yell about overtime. Waiting for Will to be his usual character.
    William felt the slide of his glasses. He felt the stare of Ronald.
   He thought,  "He's watching me...waiting for me to yell at him and fix these damned things...so...........
  ......Screw it."
    His glasses slipped further and crashed to the pavement. He allowed himself to blush a deep crimson and whip off his jacket. He loosened his tie and took small but demanding steps closer to the blonde that held wide, confused eyes. Ronald picked up the fallen glasses.
    He threw his jacket around Ronald and pulled their bodies together. The younger put the glasses back on for him. Will let his eyes greedily look at the young shinigami, as if looking at precious gold.
    "William...This isn't like you..." Ronald's voice was a whisper.
    "Oh? And what is? Is it not like me to fall in love so easily? Is it not like me to show my emotions? To have any emotions at all!!!? And what about you...shouldn't you be out partying!? Frolicking with ladies and saying 'to die' constantly like a drunken jerk? Really!?" He huffed in angry breaths. "Are we not HUMAN? Well...are we not LIVING? REAL!? Are we set characters in some storybook? Do we have scripts? Fixed things to say and do each and every day!? I don't think so...We're REAL! Is it so bad to act out of the norm? We're not one dimensional. We're...real...Is it so...wrong?"
    "I...I guess not but..."
     William's hands dug into Ronald's sides, one firmly yet shyly descending his hip. Ronald shivered.
    " 'Conjuring sins, even if my regulations crumble and collapse,
    I'll embrace my solitude beside me even more tightly.
    With my scythe of order raised above,
    I command the shadow at my steps.
    Ah, without the time even to take a breath,
    I can only keep enforcing the commandments,
    the rules of being a death god.'
    Those...are the only things we need to follow. And now...I shall embrace my solitude...My loneliness...and..."
     His arms wrapped around Ronald, pushing him into his heaving chest and shivering legs.
    "My love."
    "That doesn't make any sense!" Ronald let out an overly-loud giggle as Will twirled him on the sidewalk for a few spins.
    "Why? My regulations will stay yet you're making my personal morals collapse. My usual character is in shambles beneath my enlightened feet. My heavy heart. Because of this, I'll embrace my solitude...My loneliness...The one thing that makes me lonely is the thing that I love! The person! The amazing person that shocks and overwhelms me with things I've never even dared to experience! The one thing I love used to hardly listen to me...He used to go out and party with flocks of women...then spend the day working with Grell, the man...the boy I almost liked way back when. The person that walks by and makes me go dumb. The person who throws me out of character and want to scream in agony over how solitary I feel when he's both near and far. Knox......You are my loneliness." The final words were slurred and soft into Ronald's ear, causing his knees to go weak.
    "And...Since now we're both a bit broken...can we bend a bit more to say that I am only your lover? If so, “Ronald kissed William's cheek with the eagerness and exhilarated fear of a schoolboy.  "You'll never be lonely again."
    With that, William spun Ronald around a nearby streetlight, the rain pelting the dark street and glistening in Ronald's sunny hair.

    "...Does that mean we can mess around a little...?" Ronald gained his footing and poked his two pointer fingers together, acting like a schoolboy again.
    "You mean...in my...our...office?" William cocked an eyebrow, holding back a chuckle.
    "Y-yeah..." Ronald kissed William on the lips, his tongue poking into them as if to persuade him. His soft lips moved lightly with experience while William's quivered and pressed hungrily.
    "Heh...Absolutely not!" William yanked his jacket away and put it back on, quickly walking back inside.
    "B-b-but...Hey! Wait up!" Ronald let out a few laughs and chased after him.
    "No. You wanted to catch up with me remember?" William let the line of his mouth curve into a smart-ass grin.
    "Oh yeah..." Ron put a finger to his lips and his eyes went to the sky, recalling.
    "Well...Let's see, in a matter of minutes you sent me from in-character to intoxicatingly out of character. I don't know whether to congratulate you or give you overtime."
    "Hm..." Ronald caught up with Will and walked to the office with him. "Overtime would be nice...If we could...party...just a little..." He grasped Will's tie and played with it.
    William adjusted his glasses, his usual-self and other-self seeming to mesh together to make a living thing and not just a fixed shell.
    "William, please!" Ronald was begging. The tie had become wrinkled and Ronald blushed as if he couldn't hold his feelings in any longer. His legs twisted uncomfortably and his face writhed with want and anxiety.
    "Honestly...you are my loneliness. Now keep it that way?" William slammed the door
...Right after Ronald walked in.
Then he locked it.
And nervously kissed Ronald, his hand pressing into the small of the blonde's back.
    "Knox...What is it?" William looked into Ronald's eyes, sensing that he had something to say.
    "William T. Spears...I have only one more request...it's something that has been bugging me for a while now..."
    William scooped Ronald into his arms like a bride. "And what might that be,    "
    Ronald went to say something, but William cut him off with another kiss. After the kiss he smiled knowingly, the left side of his lips curving up at a steeper angle than the other side. Ronald laughed and hid his face in William's chest feeling silly, one arm around Will's neck, the other clinging to his shirt. William finished his sentence
    "And what might that be...Ronald?"
    <3
------------

A few days later, outside the office:
    "Eric...Do you think they're really going to...?" Alan's eyebrows raised and he and the others gathered around the door.
    "Hell, no. It's Will for crying out loud. He's most likely going to trick poor Ronnie into doing work or something. That's what I would do." Whispered Eric.
    "Oh. Okay." Alan realized what Eric said. "Hey! Wait a minute!"
    "Haha...Just kidding about that last part." He gave a large smile as Alan chuckled and rolled his eyes, sitting on the ground.
    "Hey, I don't hear much anymore...Grell, how about you take a listen?" Eric eyed the red reaper.
    "No way am I listening to my Wiru make romantic adventures with my annoying-brat-of-a-companion!" He gnashed his teeth together at him, almost growling.
    "Awww, come on! We'll leave once we know that they aren't doing anything."
    "Why do you want to know at all!?" Grell's eyes burned with envy of Ronald.
    "Well...We just are curious is all. There's been rumours floating about." Alan offered, tilting his head.
    Grell sighed. "Fine. I'll prove that William would never do such a thing." He moved his long strands of hair behind his right ear and pressed it to the door. He listened for a minute.
     "See?" He said to the two. "Nothing. I hear nothing. Nothing, nothing, no-"
    "..." Grell's eyes went wide. His whisper became his normal tone "Oh my...!~" He collapsed backwards onto the floor next to where Alan was sitting.
     Eric leaned over to him. "What is it?" He was a bit afraid of the answer.
    Grell didn't even need to respond, for seconds after the question was asked a whole bout of noises made it all too clear what they were doing inside the office.
   
    Papers shuffled crisply in the air.
    A wetness echoed off of the thin walls.
    The stripping of material and the sound of lips forming over something.
   
    Will was making coffee while Ronald sat doing paperwork, peeling and munching on an orange.
    The three outside the door laughed and rolled their eyes, leaving.

    Ronald stood up, chewing his orange slice. "Are...they gone?" He peeked outside the door, seeing nothing but the hall and the empty stairway.
    "Well?" William asked, sitting down his steaming cup.
    Ronald smiled and nodded, slamming the door and hopping on Will's desk, papers flying everywhere. He flung himself at William knocking the coffee on the floor, wrinkling his tie in his hands like he had done so many times before.
    Ronald crashed his lips onto William's, smiling at the same time.
    "So, where were we, my loneliness?" William chuckled after the kiss, allowing Ronald to pull him up onto the middle of their desks.
    "Right here." Ronald laughed. He dove onto William's unsteady body, not letting him get in another word.