Grell x Reader oneshots • Black Butler

Flashbacks

A/n: TW for MAJOR transphobia, slurs, religious trauma and PTSD. Note I'm not bashing religion here, this is unfortunately a common trans experience especially in the 1800s. I'm also only using the slurs I can reclaim myself as a bi NB for the sake of expressing transphobic comments in a negative light. Girlie is majorly traumatised and I never see anyone delve into it, I'm going to. Also Gender ambiguous reader.

What the reapers often forget about themselves is that they're all undead. Understandably, no one wants to think about their deaths. But unfortunately it was necessary to heal, and overcome whatever it was that lead to your death. Although that was something Grell really struggled with. She took her own life thanks to crushing dysphoria and literal hate crimes she'd faced as a trans woman.

And while the world hadn't quite progressed to the point being trans was seen an normal, research was being done on it. At the very least, people were trying to understand. So the whole topic of Grell's gender became kind of a 'don't bring it up' things among dispatch. She only had three people in her corner.

Othello, who was rather interested in the science behind it and had Grell willingly participate in all his studies about how being trans worked.

Sebastian, surprisingly. He was a shapeshifting demon so he didn't really have a gender himself. He just took on whatever form was needed for his current contract. He could be a girl, boy, androgynous or even something not human at all if he wanted. Gender didn't mean anything to him, so he knew exactly what Grell was and while he had to blend in as a human butler and never really bought it up with her, there was an understanding between the two of them that Sebastian understood.

And you of course. You were rather gender ambiguous yourself so it'd be plain hypocritical of you if you weren't her corner. Since you met, you were trained under her, you'd been inseparable. The only two openly gender ambiguous ones in the whole of dispatch, you were practically made for each other. You were always around each other.

Expect for right now, unfortunately the higher ups dumped extra paperwork on you and you were stuck filling that out while she was out on the field. You were going to catch up with her by lunch though, so all morning she'd worked solo. Finally though, you were due to come by soon, so she waited at the designated spot you'd discussed.

Unsurprisingly, a lot of deaths happened in the sketchier parts of the city. Crime ran rampant and murders and drug overdoses were common in the area, so the reapers were often down there collecting souls. Unfortunately that also meant running into some icky people from time to time.

Grell leaned against the wall by one of the alleyways, waiting for you and flipping through her ledger for the next souls to collect. It was a quiet day, not many people were out and about. The area was pretty religious (and the time period, this IS the 1800s after all) and it was a Sunday, so she figured they were all in church.

Her train of thought was broken when she heard the voice of a man calling out rather slut shamey phrased. She just rolled her eyes, having heard that a lot in his area. It was only when she heard it again she came to the cold realisation it was directed at her.

"What kind of harlot wears their hair down like that, and with trousers!" The man's voice said.

Not only was he slut-shamming but was enforcing toxic gender roles. Woman in Victorian England were told to wear their hair up and under a bonnet when out and about. And they never wore dress pants, only walking skirts and gowns.

She snapped her ledger shut and turned to face him with a scowl. Seeing there were actually three people, a man and what she assumed was his wife and another family member.