Broken || William Afton x Oc ||

1

FEBRUARY 20th,
2023

MORNINGS WERE NOTHING MORE THAN EMPTY PROMISES. As Adeline trudged herself through the morning rain, the slippery pavement devouring her shoes and soaking through her socks... she felt far more than just her socks getting soggy. Her hair was thoroughly soaked through, clinging to her jaw and cheeks, and her eyes were practically budging from her skull due to the dark, purple, eye bags that carved themselves out on her upper cheek. She felt—and looked—dead.

Her boots tapped rhythmically off the pavement. Each time her foot left the ground it would bring up drops of the pesky rain with it, splashing up onto her ankles. She felt everything in her being turning sour as she stomped her way across Hurricane, the wind whipping through her hair... This was fucking Utah.

Why. the hell. was it raining?!

Her face twisted into a scowl, coiling and tightening around itself like a spring preparing to launch. She could feel every ounce of her patience draining as she barged through the door of her local coffee shop, the rain devouring her very being dripping onto the wooden floor.

"Ah, Adeline." A voice spoke, and she instantly whipped her head up. She could see him recoil from her expression, his facial expression shifting to a concerned expression.

"Hey... uh... bad morning?" He inquired, and she only huffed, walking over to the table he sat at and slamming her bag down on top of it. She was sure the papers she had inside were bound to be soaked through and soggy; completely and utterly ruined... just like her mood.

"I'm sorry you had a bad morning... but hey, we need to get to work."

She scowled at the notion—but she scampered out the flame of her irritation and let it hide under the blanket of false calm she had quickly sewn. Her face relaxed, and she slipped Cooley into the chair, crossing her arms tightly to try and hide her discomfort. Her hair was still soaked—and not even the calming aura, comforting coffee scent, and warm lighting of her favorite café could erase it. She was pissed.

Per usual.

"So... I figured we would-"

"Cant we order coffee first?" She complained, raising a snarky eyebrow.

"Seriously?" He asked indignantly.

"Seriously, Nathan." She snarked back. He scowled, then sighed. "Yeah, yeah, whatever."

Nathaniel quickly pulled out his credit card, sliding it over to her. She smirked, taking it quickly without any complaints. This was how it always worked. Nathaniel was a part of the Hurricane Newspaper writing team, same as she was—only, he held a higher roll. She was higher Ed for her expertise in writing, and he was hired for his ability to discover, and arrange, valuable information. They made a pretty badass team—and for the past 2 years they had been working together, the routine was the same. He would buy her coffee, help him with his research, and writer the report, and he would take most of the credit. It was a rather mundane, boring routine; but at the very least she got to see some cool things, and write. A big passion of hers.

She grinned playfully as she held the card. His blue eyes rolled up to the ceiling in a playful eye roll, his lips twisted into a small, but hardly noticeable grin. Nathaniel was quite attractive; he had beautiful blue eyes that reminded her of the waves that crashed onto the sandy beach on her family vacations as a kid... and his hair was a dusty blonde that resembled exactly that sand. His personality even seemed to fit; he was very easy going, but he could be playful and sarcastic, too. She would be lying if she didn't have a small crush on her coworker... but it never blossomed into anything besides that. This was a beneficial exchange, a professional arrangement—nor a way to get laid.