𝚄𝚖𝚋𝚛𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚊 (𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚊𝚖 𝙰𝚏𝚝𝚘𝚗 𝚡 𝚁𝚎𝚊𝚍𝚎𝚛)

𝙲𝚑𝚊𝚙𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝟼

William took my hand and guided me back to his room, down a hallway with dark, hardwood flooring. He turned the handle to open the door to his room, and hesitantly pushed it open. I looked inside, the first thing I noticed were the metal pieces and wiring sprawled out on his dark, wooden desk. His desk was in the middle of his room, facing a window, and his bed was in the corner. There was blueprint paper taped to the navy blue walls of his room, with what resembled robotic animals. Mostly bears, however, there were concept designs for rabbits there, as well. I remembered him talking about it at the diner. I went over to his bed and flopped down, sighing.
          "Going to sleep already, dear? You've only just showed up." He walked over and sat down next to me, petting my hair.
          "Perhaps," I laughed, "I think I'm hungry, though." I sat up and looked at him, "Food?"
          "Food, right! Uh... I have a pizza in the oven if you're alright with that. I made it myself, I'm not a fan of the frozen stuff."
          "You make your own pizza?" I asked, excitedly.
          "I sure do, I'll bet it's ready by now." He got up and left the room.
          I laid in his bed, grabbing his pillow and holding it close to me. It smelled like him, which of course made sense, it was his, after all. I didn't know what was taking him so long, either he forgot about me or was doing something really special, but I hated waiting, so I got under his covers and snuggled up.
          I was adjusting the pillows to my liking and I found a small rabbit stuffed animal underneath his pillow. It was pale yellow with a light purple bow around its neck- it looked like something you'd get for Easter. I set the bunny next to me and shut my eyes, but not soon after I heard Will walk back through the door. I kept my eyes shut, wanting to see what he would do.
          "She's so beautiful," he sighed, setting the slices of pizza on his desk, "I think I might really love her."
          He noticed I'd found his rabbit stuffed animal, but instead of being embarrassed about it, he sat down on the bed, picked it up, and set it on my face. I cracked a smile, then he knew I was awake, so I opened my eyes.
          "Hey, sleepyhead," he laughed, "I have the pizza, and I see you've found Springy." He gestured to the rabbit stuffed animal.
          "Oh yeah! He's very cute, almost as cute as you." I took Springy off of my face, sat up, and planted a kiss on Will's nose.
          "Well, thanks. I wasn't sure if you'd like him- I don't want you to think I'm weird. I get called that a lot, so I worry that you'll soon feel the same way as everyone e-"
           I cut him off with a kiss, bringing his body close to mine. He was surprised at first, but eased into it after a few seconds. I wrapped my arms around his shoulders and he wrapped his around my waist. I was a bit more aggressive than him, he was always so gentle, a big teddy bear.
When we broke apart he looked me in the eyes, his arms still wrapped around me.
"(y/n), I think," he looked at me, seemingly worried, "I think I'm in love with you." His whole face went bright red.
"William, I've loved you for awhile now, I thought you'd never admit that you felt the same way." I nudged him, playfully.
"I," he stammered, looking left and right, "I'm happy you feel the same way, dear. I'm just surprised because you've taken me for who I am. I haven't had to hide myself from you as much as I would with anyone else." He grabbed the pizza plate off of his desk and handed it to me, "Let's continue this conversation over dinner, shall we?"
"Of course, Will, of course. Can we just eat in your bed, though?" I laid back down, giggling.
"Sure, just, please don't get crumbs in the bed or I'll actually die." He exaggerated, flopping down on the bed and pretending to be dead.
"Amazing, wonderful performance, no crumbs." I applauded him, laughing.
He sat back up and grabbed his own plate, taking the first bite of his pizza. I took a bite of mine, too. By now it was a bit cold, but I didn't mind.
"So... you don't think I'm weird?" He gave me with a puzzled look.
"I mean, you're definitely not typical, but normalcy is so incredibly boring, why would I want someone who does what everyone else does?" I grabbed Springy and raised the pitch of my voice, pretending to be the bunny, "Yeah, William. If she thought you were weird in a bad way, she wouldn't have kissed you."
"I guess," Will looked down at his plate, "I'm just not used to this kind of attention. I'm sure you've noticed how few friends I have. I've just never really fit in with people, I constantly feel alone and assume that nobody will ever understand me. I'm the weird boy who doesn't want to go to college or become a blue collar worker. I especially don't want to join the military, in fact, I can't even join the military. I wouldn't be able to whether I wanted to or not!" He let out a sad laugh and flicked a crumb of pizza crust into the wastebasket.
"Why couldn't you join the military? Why does that bother you if you don't even want to join?" I questioned.
"Oh dear, oh goodness, (y/n) this is embarrassing!" He flopped down on the bed and slammed his head into the pillow.
"Will, it's fine. I know a lot of other people who aren't able to join the military." I patted him on the back of his head.
"Oh (y/n), I have ASTHMA." He hit his head against the pillow repeatedly.
"I-" I tried to hold back a laugh, "I don't think that's that bad, Will. Is that really it?"
"Yes." He said, the sound muffled by his pillow.
"William, it's okay. I don't care that you have asthma, I really don't. There's no need to be so dramatic." I rubbed his back, his face still in the pillow.
"Really?" He looked up from the pillow with puppy dog eyes, "You really think it's okay?"
"Yes, you dork." I laughed and flicked his ear.
"HEY, what was that for?" He flicked me back.
"Woah, woah. Violence is never the answer!" I shouted and grabbed his arm, playfully.
"I- you're the one that started this!" He grinned and used his free arm to tickle my side.
I started cackling and began tickling him back until a full fledged tickle fight had commenced. We ran around the room laughing and using pillows as shields until eventually Will gave in.
"You're ruthless!" He panted.
"I know." I had him backed in a corner, "That's what you get for messing with me, dummy."
"Fine, fine! I give up! We're watching TV now." He got me to back up and grabbed my hand, not before giving one last brutal poke to my side, and led me to the living room.