The Fall of the Aftons

068: William Afton

William flopped onto the sofa next to Henry with a heavy sigh. Henry dragged William onto his lap and wrapped his arms around him in a protective hug. "Are you okay?" he asked quietly, softly finger-brushing William's long hair.

"Been better, been worse," William admitted. He sighed before he buried his face in Henry's shoulder. "I'm worried about Michael. He's taking on Terrance's death really hard. It's nerve-wracking to see him handle the guilt. I can't convince him that it wasn't his fault and that he couldn't have possibly known it was Terrance."

"Yeah, he's stubborn like that," Henry agreed softly, a slight chuckle filling his words. "But I don't want to know what's worrying you. I mean, I care about that, but that's not what I care about right now."

"Then what do you care about right now?"

"I haven't seen you cry or grieve once since we picked you up from the hospital. Holding in the grief like that isn't good, Will. You need to grieve."

"No, I don't."

"But you do need to, Will. You need to grieve at least a little bit."

"For the record, I cried a lot at the hospital. And at the funeral." He hesitated before continuing. "I just... I don't know. I hate it when people see me cry."

"I've seen you cry before," Henry reminded him quietly.

"That doesn't mean that I want you to see me cry again."

"Yet I come crying to you whenever something happens between Doc and me."

"Not to be rude, but you're much more sensitive than I am."

"You've never been married to find out years later that your wife is a whore."

"You're lucky that you can marry! I'm not even allowed to marry the one that I love!" He sighed and buried his face deeper into Henry's shoulder. "It's just..." He sighed again. "It's a weight on my shoulders that will never go away."

"I know. I understand what you're saying. And I'm sorry that the US is like that." Henry repositioned him on his lap to pull him in closer. "I never thought that you cared about that sort of thing. You've never told me that you love someone."

"I do care. Even if I didn't love anyone, I'd still care. It's extremely unfair."

"Who's the lucky guy?" Henry asked teasingly, a slight laugh filling his words.

"And you wonder why I didn't tell you that I love someone."

"Oh, come on," Henry basically whined. "Just tell me! I won't judge you--I promise."

"No," William replied. "You will judge me if I tell you."

Henry laughed. "All right. You don't have to. I won't force you." He took a long strand of William's hair, flicked out a clumpy knot, and twisted the strand around his finger. "Do you ever wash your hair nowadays? Or brush it? Your hair is so knotty and oily."

"I just washed it yesterday. I didn't brush it this morning, though." William chuckled. "It's kind of hard to wash your hair when it goes down to your knees."

"How long have you been growing out your hair, again? Since fifth grade, right?"

"Yep. It still drives my mum crazy."

Henry laughed. "Unsurprisingly." He split the hair into three equal pieces and started to plait it. "You need to find someone that can help you wash it. It's so slick with oil that it's kind of gross."

William chuckled. "I don't need anyone to help me wash my hair. I'll be fine."

"Mmhmm. Sure." He laughed again. "Do want to go to bed? It's getting late. Besides, I should probably head home soon. Doc's probably starting to get annoyed that I've been spending so much time here and little to no time at home."

"Yeah. Going to bed sounds nice," he mumbled as he wrapped his arms around his friend.

Henry laughed when William rested his head on his shoulder. "That's not going to bed, moron."

"I don't care. I'm comfortable. I doubt Doc will mind if you stay here for one more night."

Henry chuckled softly. "I'll stay, then. We can sleep here if you'd like. Maybe I won't freeze like I usually do in my room upstairs."

William didn't hear a single word that Henry had said. He'd already fallen asleep.