Dead Set. || PURPLEPHONE

A Toast (Pt. II)

(( A friendly reminder that LumaTheCreative and I are writing a collab story!! Y'all may not have seen Neighbors(.) yet, judging by the amount of reads it has, (I know y'all can do better, let's shoot for at least 1.5k?) but y'all should check it out bc it's 1. Purplephone, 2. The Combined Awesomeness Of The Two Coolest Writers on Wattpad, and 3. Bc I'll Cri If You Don't. :( It's on Luma's profile!

And a query: I know y'all have been clamouring for the story to get dark 'n all (and it is), but do you still want little snippits of romance...? bc I got some cutie stuff planned not just for Vin and Scott, but for another new-ish couple involving a certain string bean~~ ;)

I'M LISTENING TO 'X BUT IT KEEPS GETTING FASTER' SONGS WHILE WRITING THIS OH MY GOSH IT'S LIKE A DOUBLE SHOT OF CAFFEINE RIGHT INTO MY VEEEEEEEEEEEEEEINSSSSS  

OH AND SINCE THIS IS ALREADY wAY TOO LONG I STARTED READING OMG CHECK, PLEASE OHHHHH MY GOSH PLEASE READ IT YOU'LL LOVE IT ERIC BITTLE IS THE CUTEST AND FOR SOME REASON HE REMINDS ME OF SCOTT I LOVE ALL OF THE CHARACTERS SO MUCH AA

SCOTT:

 But anyway here's the CHAPTER:))

Scott cleared his throat, pulling a crumpled piece of paper out of his coat pocket. He already had every word of his speech memorised forwards, backwards, and upside down, but he still clutched it tight in his hands as he stepped up to the speaker's box. 

Some people had already made their speeches. In fact, Scott's was one of the last. His Dad had gone first, and yeah, okay, Scott cried through it, but almost everyone did - in fact, he was certain that the only person who didn't cry was Vincent. It was hard to hear stories about William and Andrew. About all the University projects that William had completed for Andrew while he was out partying with Scott's mother, about William's 3am trip to the hospital when Scott and Linda were born, and about the countless years of golf tournaments that they had entered, lost, and celebrated anyway. He'd been such a good man to be killed so early. He could have lived until 80 years old. 

Scott stared out at the solemn faces of his family and Boss's friends. He knew most of them. These were people he'd grown up with and alongside. His Aunts, his Uncles, his cousins... People who had watched him grow, and now were watching him mourn the loss of a man that was honestly more like a second father to him than a courtesy uncle. He let out a shaky breath, and began.

"Well, this is it. My final goodbye," He started. He crunched the script of his speech in his hand nervously. "What does one say to sum up an entire lifetime in a few words...? To me, William was a third parent. What I didn't dare tell my Mum and Dad, William knew all about.  I trusted him more than any other human being on the planet. He was my support, my guidance... my Boss. I still remember, when I was about five years old, I..." Scott grinned, and then sniffled. He paused for a moment, taking another deep breath. "I made fake adoption papers, and formally requested that he make me his son. He... He just laughed it off, a-and, well..." Scott shook his head, "I guess I didn't really know how things worked at that age because I stomped my foot, dropped the 'adoption' papers, and demanded that he at least marry me, then." 

There was scattered laughter from throughout the crowd. Scott himself let a small, dry chuckle escape his lips. He could remember it, as clear as day. Boss turning to look at him with a raised eyebrow and that oh-so-familiar stern look on his face that Scott had grown to love, before muttering, 'You be careful who you go sayin' that kind of stuff to, son.' 

He's not here anymore.

Scott's smile disappeared, his eyes filling with warmth. A tremor ran through his heart, like somebody had just driven a chisel into him, prying into the cracks and pulling them further apart. 

"A-Anyway..." He continued quickly, feeling the cracks start to spread, spider-webbing out across his chest, feeling the wall he'd built chipping away, "I t-thought long and hard about what I'd say... to sum it all up... and I g-g-g-guess the only moment that... that r-really showed how much William cared for me was when..." Scott's voice broke, the warm tears overflowing from his eyes and pouring down his face, "...after a heap of unfortunate circumstances... I told him I was gay."

Scott's body was trembling. He took a deep breath to try and regain himself, having to bite his lip hard to stop himself from whimpering. He could see other people in the crowd crying. They knew how he felt.

He's... not here... anymore.

Scott lifted up his hand to the speaker's box and unclenched his fist from the rumpled ball of paper that his scrawled speech was written on. He placed it down  on the front of the box and tried to smooth it out with his hands. "I-I spent my... whole life with W-William D-David Lewis, and I knew how he felt abo-out gay people. W-When he f-found out I had fallen in love w-with my co-worker, V-Vincent, I... I was s-sure I'd be fired. Out-c-casted." Scott shook his head, tears falling onto the page under his fingers, smudging the ink. "Will d-didn't s-shut me out. He... he c-changed his entire o-opinion just so that h-he could a-accept me, no matter what. I-If you don't c-call that..." Scott's voice wavered dangerously, "I-If you d-don't c-call that true compassion, I don't know what is. A-And to think that... after... everything... I've done to him...t-that he would..." Scott sniffled, "T-that he would still trust me with F-Freddy Fazbear's... w-which was... his pride and joy... a-and the animatronics, w-wh-who were t-the c-closest thing to children-" 

And all of a sudden, it happened. The cracks reached the very edges of Scott's heart, and with one sudden movement, his walls tumbled down around him, and he finally heard the words his brain had been trying to tell him all this time.

He's gone. 

Scott took a step back from the speaker's box, a wave of emotions washing over him so strongly that at first, he wasn't sure how to react. And then the first sob broke through, and the second, and before Scott knew it, he was a mess. "Oh, God..." he whimpered, "He's really gone." 

Vincent jumped up the steps of the stage and sprinted to Scott's side. "Honey..." he started, reaching out to pull Scott into a hug.

Scott pushed him away, "I-I'm fine." He stepped past Vincent, back towards the side of the stage. It was hard to see where he was going - the world seemed to be spinning and swirling around him - but somehow he made it to the steps.

Vincent watched him, a frown evident on his features, and then he followed him back to their seats.