His first words to you:

"Don't disappoint me."

Of course, it was only later you learned that his standards weren't that high, since he had been previously partnered with Grell and Ronald, both of which now worked together instead of with William.

You worked tirelessly, and you often offered to do paperwork for Will when you didn't have to. It was hard, and the work was boring, but you took pride whenever he smiled; it was comforting to know he was pleased with you.

Which is why, today, you were still in his office, only just starting the work you'd promised to do for him, already running for 36 hours without sleep because of your own work.

You rubbed your tired eyes, wondering if you should get a caffeine fix. No, wait, what time was it? Didn't you have to go out collecting soon? When was William supposed to be back again?

"F/N, F/N..." William's voice broke into your conscious, and you lifted your head up from your work, realizing that at some point, you must have fallen asleep. Your eyes still felt tired.

"Sorry, couldn't..." you trailed off, your eyes closing on you again.

"Have you been here since I left?" Will asked quietly.

"No, I swear," you slurred slightly, holding your head up, feeling tears prick at your eyes. This work was too much; it was going to kill you. Again.

"F/N," William said, taking you by the shoulders.

"I said I was sorry!" you said, faintly snappish and still on the edge of crying.

"Lie down," he said, taking you over to his couch, and without the energy to refuse the comfort of a nap, you fell sound asleep.

<><><>

"What happened to her?" Grell asked unhappily, effectively waking you up from your nap. You felt a lot better, and on top of you was a plain, F/C blanket.

"Tried to do too much work," Will replied with a sigh. "What do you want, Sutcliff? I'm a bit busy."

"When you say 'work'..."

"For the last time, no!" Will freaked. "I am not having an affair with my partner!"

"Then with m—" Will's death scythe snapped up and clipped the tips of Grell's hair straight off.

"No one, now get to work!" Grell ran out off his office whining about their precious hair as William sighed, messing tiredly with his already unkempt hair before he seemed to realize you were awake. "Good evening, F/N," William said, taking off his glasses and polishing them carefully.

"Evening...?" you said unsurely, and William only resumed doing his work, which you realized with a guilty pang was the paperwork you had promised to do. "Are you mad at me?"

"No," he said, scribbling furiously on the paper, and for a while you sat in silence, still with the blanket over your knees. You played with the edge nervously as the sound of his pen filled the room.

"Are you disappointed?" For a few moments, Will looked at you again.

"Yes." Biting back bitterness and regret, you asked:

"Do you want to change partners again?"

"No." You glanced at William, who was still busy with the scritch scratch scritch of his pen.

"But you said..."

"You're a good partner, F/N. Don't push yourself so much anymore."

"Hah?"

"Bang," the familiar voice of Ronald said, and you glanced at the doorway to see the blond that always flirted with every woman he saw, including yourself. He had one eye closed, a finger-gun pointing at Will, a sly smile on his face.

"Knox," Will said warningly, and the Reaper folded his arms behind his head.

"Eh, we all know about it, ya big softie. Anyway, Grell came here earlier to tell you about your new assignment, but he ran crying about his hair, and I'm going to assume you had something to do with that?"

"An assignment?" William asked, raising his head, surprised.

"Yeah, the higher ups told us to come fetch you since you were still locked up in your office. You know that paperwork still isn't due for weeks, right? I still haven't started mine."

"What?" both of us questioned incredulously, and Ronald laughed.

"Anyway, I fetched your lists and F/N's scythe; don't feel rushed. Oh, and F/N, c'mere a sec." Confused, you walked over to Ronald, who shut the door behind you as he handed you the two books and handed you your scythe. "Okay, F/N, I'm going to let you in on this, but only if you make sure Will doesn't find out, 'kay?"

"O...kay?" you said unsurely, and Ronald clapped you on the shoulder.

"Knew you'd understand! So, the mission, to start off, is a complete sham.The higher-ups actually tried to call you guys to let you know that you have a few days off, but me and the guys didn't want to just let that go. See, Will's always so irritable and cold and just work, work, and more work."

"Where is this going?" you asked, getting a bit worried with Ronald's happy look as he pointed his index finger at the ceiling.

"We want you to get him drunk and make him have some fun. If at all possible, get us some blackmail while you're at it. There's a camera in your book."

"Why should I?" Though you and Will didn't talk very much, he was still a friend, and you felt uneasy about this. Ronald glanced at the closed door and leaned to whisper by your ear. "What, seriously?" Ronald nodded, grinning. "I'll do it."

<><><>

"I guess the target's here, but..." you glanced around, pretending to be confused at the fact that the person listed in the to-die-list wasn't present.

"This is against the rules," William protested, looking around. "Surely he must be in the restroom?"

"Guess not..." you replied. "Hey, William, let me buy you a drink." Will glanced at you. "To make up for earlier today. I know it wasn't due, but I caused you unnecessary stress, so..."

"No," William replied, walking forward and sitting down at a table. "I'll buy. Just one glass though. If we see our man, we resume the job."

"Works for me," you said with a shrug, surprised by how easy that had been. You sat down across from your partner as he ordered a bottle of wine and poured two glasses.

Those glasses soon finished as the target refused to appear. Two glasses into four. Four into six. Six into eight and so on until you came to the bleary realization that both of you were hammered.

"William, what was Ron and Grell talking about with that affair?" you groaned, your head against the bottle.

"They think I have a crush on you," Will said to the table before he raised his head, the blush on his cheeks dark as he took another glass and kept drinking. "I mean they're not wrong, but it's so unprofe—hic—ssional." You giggled

"Will, you liar, you aren't crushing on me."

"Am too," he said. "Want me to prove it?"

"I thought it was unprofessional," you said, smiling silly, leaning your cheek against your palm. The room was buzzing and your mind was colorful. Maybe it was the other way around.

"We're not on the job, and you know it F/N... Knox set this up—hic—trying to hook me up again. I'm sorry he's so pushy...sorry, sorry..."

"Really? He told me it was your birthday," you slurred. "So he told me to get you drunk because you don't know how to have fun."

"Hah! My birthday's in May," Will replied with a snort. "And my deathday's in June. Should have at least tried to get the month close." You laughed hysterically. "Still want me to prove it?"

"You can't prove it, you amoeba," you replied, cackling—that was the nickname the dispatch had been passing around for Will, although you were only just beginning to understand under your drunken haze why that was the case.

"Oh, lord, not you too," Will groaned. "I'm not asexual."

"Really? What do girls like?"

"All sorts of things," William grumbled, pouring you another glass.

"Like?" you asked slyly.

"Over here, F/N," William said, and you felt your glasses pushed back onto the bridge of your nose as Will leaned over the table to put them back on. He looked at you for several moments, a sort of pout on his flushed face. "Would you mind if I kissed you?"

"You don't know how to kiss," you mocked, and he frowned.

"Wanna bet?" he asked, fully leaning over the table now to be inches away from your face.

Then the next thing you knew, the both of you were vomiting outside, cursing yourselves and Ronald for drinking so heavily. Everything became a little blurry while the pair of you stumbled while supporting each to where you would soon learn was William's house, but that information would come in the morning when you were sober and regretting your life choices.

<><><>

"Fuck, why did I drink that much?" you moaned, already having drunk what you suspected to be a concentrated dose of aspirin and more than a little bit of water.

"That would be my question as well," William grumbled, nursing his temples. "I am desperately hoping I remember correctly when you said we have a few days off."

"Yeah," you replied. "That's the real reason Ronald was supposed to be in your office the other day."

"Idiot," William grumbled. "I have to apologize, F/N, both for his conduct and mine, even if you might have agreed to help him for some reason."

"No need, no need," you waved him off. "I agreed anyways, full-well knowing what he was planning on doing. But I seem to remember you trying to kiss me, if memory serves?" William's face lit up like a Christmas tree, and frankly it was adorable on the normally stoic man's face.

"I—I don't remember that. Sorry, F/N. I didn't mean to; I was drunk."

"Oh, my precious innocence!" You pretended to swoon. "How could you, my coworker?" You smiled as William started to relax at your sarcasm. "I really don't mind, but... do you really have a crush on me?"

"What if I do?" William asked quietly. "There isn't anything I can do about it. We work together; that would be unprofessional. It's already not good now."

"Loosen up, Mr. Stiff," you said with a laugh before you winced as your head throbbed.

"Please don't call me that," William said. "William will do."

"Willy," you mocked, and his face turned beet-red, including his ears.

"F/N, please."

"What, does your mum call you that?"

"No one calls me that, and there's a very good reason." William moved closer as you smirked slyly. "You do know what that means, right?"

"Who knows~"

"F/N!"