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William had always been a mysterious man. It wasn’t that he seemed too very secretive, he was actually quite open. It was just that his eccentricities were so abundant it was difficult to try and figure out or ask about all of them.
For example, he had a tendency to stare blankly in a general direction for much too long, sometimes scaring people who were in his line of sight. This, as many of the people he knew eventually learned, was when he was organizing his thoughts or trying to plan something complex, like upgrades for the animatronics.
Another odd tendency people wondered about was that if he had two objects or tools he was switching between using, he tended to hold whichever wasn’t in use in his mouth. This, along with the smoking, stress eating, biting his nails, and tendency to chew pencils until the wood cracked, came as a result of a lack of stimulation during oral development.
There were thousands of little eccentricities that made up William Afton, and it’d take an incredibly long time to gather explanations for them all. As such, Henry just learned to ignore the little ones, deciding he didn’t need to know the meaning of every twitch and fidget Will had. It’s not like they were too difficult to ignore usually.
Until they were.
__________
Getting in and out of the Fredbear suit was a difficult feat, Henry had learned early on. William seemed to get in and out of the spring Bonnie suit without too much problem, so one would think the same of Henry in the Fredbear suit. However, Fredbear’s stomach was more rounded than that of Bonnie, which they hadn’t given thought to until they actually had to put it on for the first time, when they quickly realized it was a two person job.
“Will, a little help with the suit, please?” Henry requested as soon as the staff room door closed, lifting the head off his shoulders and putting it down. Will nodded, pulling the pieces apart one at a time until Henry could slip out, before allowing Henry to close it up. Henry moved the animatronic back behind the closed curtains of the stage.
The thing about the springlock suits was that when you were done using it as a suit, the process involved manually cranking it back into animatronic mode with a hand crank; an annoying little task, but standard operating protocol. What wasn’t standard, however, was the odd feeling that he was being watched as he cranked the springlocks that made the hair on his neck stand on end. He quickly finished and whipped around, only to find William watching him.
“You alright Henry? You’re looking a bit anxious.” William pointed out with concern in his voice. Henry sighed, tense shoulders relaxing. William was just thinking while looking in his direction again, that wasn’t abnormal. At least, it didn’t seem to be at first, not until Henry started getting the feeling of being watched more often.
This time, however, moving a bit to the side to avoid Will’s blank, calculated gaze fixed in that general direction didn’t seem to help anymore. If he was out of his office and on the diner floor, chances were that he would feel eyes follow him as he did whatever job he needed to complete at that time, with the exception of the times when the Afton boys came to see their father.
Despite knowing it was William, the feeling still put Henry on edge. Ignoring it didn’t make the feeling go away, and it was truthfully getting on his nerves. He supposed it was probably time to ask his business partner what the hell was going on.
This proved to be rather difficult.
William was a man who, when he felt threatened, tended to close up in his shell. Henry, however, was a very blunt man. Trying to find a way to phrase what he was saying without making William think Henry was freaked out or annoyed by his habits proved to be quite difficult.
It took him two days to actually say anything, but by the time he felt ready enough, Fredbear’s was closing for the night, and he was on his way out while William prepared for his night shift. He sighed, heading to the back room where the other man was just settling into his role for the night.
“Still here, Emily? If this is about the kazoo I gave Sammy-“
“No, it’s- wait, he got that from YOU? I don’t suppose you also told him to play it in my room at two in the morning?” Henry questioned with a frown.
“Well, I may have suggested it” Will muttered with a sly smile, chuckling quietly. “So why are you here then, Henry?”
Henry blinked owlishly behind his glasses.
“Huh? Oh yeah, right. Sorry.” Henry apologized, subtly angling himself between Will and the door. “I noticed your staring problem has been getting worse, Will.”
Will tensed, his expression not giving away his thoughts. To anyone who hasn’t known the man for over a decade and a half, he’d look as though he didn’t responded at all. Henry, however, knew the man and his reactions well enough to notice the slight discomfort he showed.
“I’m sorry, I suppose I’ve been getting lost in thought more often.” Will replied coolly, glaring into Henry’s eyes as if challenging him to press the issue further. The intensity of the glare forced Henry to break eye contact. It was very clearly meant to nip this conversation in the bud, but Henry persevered.
“Usually if that’s the case, moving a few inches to the side breaks the staring. Recently though, you’re eyes haven’t been fixating on a random place, recently you’ve been fixating on a person; me.” Henry explained in a professional tone.
Will barely showed any nerves, though Henry could tell he was starting to stress. He watched his partner lean back in his chair and light a cigarette. He offered one to the shorter man, who shook his head with a frown.
“I told you not to smoke inside the establishment, Will”
“Well, you tell me to do a lot of things I don’t.” He replied, opening the window so the smoke alarms wouldn’t be set off. “Anyways, I’m not fixating. I’m just curious what you’re doing. Is that such a bad thing?” Will leaned in over the desk, making Henry lean back in his chair.
“Well, No. but you know what my day consists of, I don’t understand what you’d be curious about.” The bespectacled man stammered, struggling to keep eye contact with Will.
His partner had a way of looking at people when he didn’t want to answer their questions, a look that made you feel like you must’ve said the most insanely stupid thing to earn it. It was usually reserved for the members of the board when they questioned him on his ideas. It was not used very often on Henry.
It was now.
Henry tried to brush off the unnerving look, taking his glasses off and going through the motions of cleaning them as if they weren’t already spotless.
“Henry. Once again, your ability to remain completely oblivious to very obvious things astounds me.”
The Brit leaned back in his chair, seemingly sizing Henry up. The room was quiet for a long moment, and Henry was starting to lose hope he’d find the apparently obvious answer to his question.
William sighed, putting the cigarette out on the ashtray sitting on the desk before rising to his feet and leaning over the desk. The curly-haired man chose not to comment on his personal space being invaded, but did huff indignantly when Will wrapped his fist around the collar of Henry’s shirt.
“I should’ve known. You can’t read people to save your life; I, on the other hand, excel at it. Henry, you’ve been lying to yourself.” Will muttered, tugging Henry closer so he knew he had the man's attention. The American man, to his credit, was holding eye contact even though it was difficult, especially when Will got closer, glaring from only two inches away. There was a long pause where neither man moved or spoke.
It was only a split second. One moment they were eye to eye, the next moment Will had tugged Henry’s shirt until he fell forward, Williams mouth colliding with his. Henry’s mind raced as he balled his hands in Wills shirt to catch himself from the fall, and was caught between the desire to pull away, and to his surprise, the urge to let this happen. His mind reeled before suddenly the reasoning he had to pull away completely escaped his mind and he eagerly leaned in.
It was a long minute before Henry pulled away for breath, Will growling as he tried to reconnect their lips immediately.
“Stop, stop I need to breathe.” The American admonished, finally calming Will.
“Fine. I’ll allow it, Love,” Will eyed his partner, pulling him in again when his breathing became less labored. The time that passed melded together for either seconds or years before Henry’s head cleared and he pushed Will away.
“William, what- we’re both men, this isn’t right. I’m not a….”
“A queer?” Will interrupted when it became clear Henry didn’t know what to say. “Clearly you are, or that would not have gone on as long as it did” he pointed out nonchalantly, leaning back in his chair.
“But I’m not! I’m not like that, I’m normal!”
The darker haired man raised an eyebrow.
“You are normal. Even so, you have an eye for men. For me, specifically. I’m not going to blame you for what you said, growing up in a catholic household in Utah and all that, but there’s nothing wrong with it. Do you think that I’M bad?”
“No.” Henry’s response was immediate and firm.
“Well I’m a queer. Clearly, if you can’t tell after that you’re a fool. If you don’t think I’m bad, but queers are, it’s a bit of an oxymoron, isn’t it? And if I’m not bad, how can I be bad for you? Henry, you know you want me. I want you. What’s so wrong with that?”
Henry bit his lip. Part of him said it was wrong, but if he couldn’t answer Will’s question, could it really be bad? Maybe so. But he wanted it so bad, so if he couldn’t see anything wrong with Will’s reasoning, why not just accept it? Have the man to himself?
“I… don’t know. Maybe you’re right, I’m not sure. How can I be sure about this?”
The Brit tilted his head calculatingly, then pushed himself forward to press his lips to Henry’s again.
Henry didn’t feel so unsure anymore.