Mrs.Afton's Tale Told [FNAF] [TEMPORARY HIATUS]

Woke up Next to William

Claire wakes up to the shine of the rising morning sun. The blinds are mostly covering the window, but they're opened enough for her to see the blue to orange color shift outside. The sun was coming right above the roofs of other houses.

She sighed, taking in the sight. It never got old for her. But she felt tired today, and sleeping in was an option she had.

She turned onto her other side to avoid the sunshine of sunrise and nearly rolled into something else in the bed. William laid with his back to her.

Since when was he here? And when did he get home last night? Late?

His snores were heavy but not loud, and his hair was still stained by mechanic oil, staining the pillowcase as well. Since it's the middle of summer, the comforter was relegated to the bottom of the bed and Claire could see that he wore no shirt and just purple khaki shorts, the sides lined with orange. His love for the color purple was very obvious.

"William?" she called, her voice bleary.

"Mm." he grumbled, acknowledging her, but still sleeping.

"Will."

"What?" the man responded slightly louder. He was irritated. Claire could tell because his British accent became stronger. The accent had faded over the years, but when he was annoyed his voice progressively became accented. Their kids were similar too. The children had the american accent from their mom but also adopted their father's accent for when they had strong emotion.

She softened her tone, "I just wanted to know when you came home."

He hummed 'I dunno.' Claire really needed to tell her family that 'I dunno' is not a valid answer.

She shifted closer to her husband and reached her arm from behind to hug him. She overlapped her hands on his chest and pressed her face against his back, "Guess when please?"

"... 1... ish," he murmurs, "I left before Henry at least." William was always competing with his work partner—even if there wasn't any competition.

"Honey, I need you to leave earlier. I miss you, the kids miss you. Also, You're over stressed."
The man exhales and runs a hand through his grimy brown hair. He rests the other hand over Claire's wrist.

"I need to work though," he states abruptly.

"But- why?"

"Well, we need the revenue—" he turns to face his wife "—I have to work out the legal stuff regarding the girl, and... you know Lizzy's been nagging me about the new animatronic line for the past month- no- months. I've been meaning to open the new sister location soon anyway."

"Called?"

"Circus Baby's Pizza World."

"Or CPBW? It's a long name."

He snorts at her remark, "Not my idea."

"I thought— I thought that this was your project. Isn't it?"

Afton shakes his head, "No, he created it. I'm just his financial resource... like every other time."

Will came from a richer family, so he was the money management and character design side of business. He really, only recently had been more engaged with robotics.

"What about Elizabeth?"

He casts a glance to the side; at the moment the ceiling is the side. "He's unsure of this project. I've been doing most of it anyway, so I could probably take it over," he grins, for some reason Claire detects something sinister behind it, "Besides, Henry has just as much on his hands to handle." 

They look at each other for a moment. Claire's own green eyes searching in his blue. He looked tired, disheveled, overwhelmed... but he was also prideful, he looked like he just figured something out, and was somewhat—content.

William adjusted himself so that he comfortably could leave a kiss on her cheek. She grinned at the gesture and returned it on his lips. They pulled closer together, enjoying each other's presence.

The phone started ringing. She shifted again to get up and answer but William held her in place.

"Will-!"

"If it's important they'll call again," he assures, tightening his arms around her waist. The phone keeps ringing in the background as they lay still in the bed. Claire feels William press his face into her orange hair; the other arm curled from under her neck and gripped the ends of her hair. He spent most of the time just twisting his fingers around strands of hair. She slid her own arms from his chest and around his neck.

Claire took in his look, feel, smell... They hadn't spent much time together recently. But was upset when she smelt the slight odor of 'JR's' alcohol on him. Giving her husband the benefit of the doubt she chose not to address it.

Eventually the phone's incessant ringing stopped; when it did she felt William relax. Then it rang again. He groaned and buried his face into the top of her head. Claire slipped from his grasp and he whined to himself like a toddler.

The woman picked up the rectangular brick, making sure the antennae didn't hit anything.
She yawned, "Hello? Afton household—"

"Claire? Claire!" Henry. Her cousin sounded panicked, "I-I... I can't find Charlotte!"

I'm so sorry the update is late!!