Grelliam

Grelliam is the het ship between Grell Sutcliff and William T. Spears from the Black Butler fandom.

Canon
In the anime OVA The Story of Will The Reaper, William recalls meeting Grell for the first time. She is a more talented grim reaper than he is, but he is more consistent and cautious. They are assigned to reap the soul of the human writer Thomas Wallis together and although Grell encourages William to get it over with, he encourages her to wait until Wallis dies. After Wallis compliments Grell’s appearance, she changes her mind and tries to physically fight William to let Wallis live, but William defeats her in battle, allowing Wallis to die and causing Grell to fall in love with William.

After Grell runs away from the Grim Reaper Dispatch to live with Angelina Dalles and murder women not on the death list using an illegally modified death scythe, William shows up to arrest her.

After Grell and Ronald Knox are badly wounded on board the Campania by Undertaker, William shows up to recover them and make sure they continue to collect souls. Grell is just thrilled she gets to see William again.

In the 2013 version of the musical The Most Beautiful DEATH in the World, Grell sings about her attraction to William and Sebastian, flanked by Sebastian and William, who dance with her. Grell likes to name drop William in the musicals, even those in which he doesn’t appear.

Fanon
Grelliam is the second-largest ship in the Black Butler fandom on AO3. As of April 2022, it has over 700 fanfics on the website. Grelliam is the most popular ship on the site for both characters, although is also popular. Grelliam became notably more popular after the release of the anime’s OVAs.

Many fans believe that William used to, or currently does have feelings for Grell but hides them due to embarrassment, an inability to express his emotions, or his fear of homo/transphobia. The ship is popular because of the contrast between Grell’s expressive personality and appearance and William’s dull appearance and introverted nature.

Fandom
TUMBLR

Grelliam fics on AO3

Trivia

 * Yana Toboso has described William as Grell’s favorite crush.