Work Text:
It was a chilly Saturday in early December of 1967; the sun barely shone through the gray clouds that hung in the sky, the raw cold bit at any exposed skin of those that dared to walk through it. There wasn’t any snow yet, but the forecast that day called for it at any time. A harsh wind swept through the campus of Brown University, carrying a few crisp leaves along with it.
As the wind howled against his window, a young man glanced up from his work, tucked away in his warm dormitory room and certainly glad for that. He sighed, shaking his head some before returning his focus to his current project: a paper, of course. “Better to be in here than out there,” he mumbled, shivering slightly before continuing to write the rough draft of his assignment in his notebook. He was never a fan of the cold, but at least this gave him a reason to be held up inside his room. Being a double major in engineering and business required a lot of work, and despite his roommate’s insistence on getting out more often, he preferred staying inside and working.
The door to the dorm room swung open suddenly, and a young man wrapped up in a large scarf and cashmere coat entered the dorm room. He easily found his roommate sitting at his desk, and a smile as bright as the sun spread across his face. “William!”
William Afton, junior college student, turned in his chair to face his roommate with a single raised brow. “Henry. You seem to be in good spirits.”
Henry Emily, also a junior college student studying engineering, started unraveling himself from his scarf and coat as he spoke. Quite giddily, at that. “And rightly so. I may or may not have a present for you.”
William pursed his lips, leaning his side on the back of the chair with his gaze still fixed on Henry. “A present, you say? It’s still a bit early for that, don’t you think? Christmas is still a few weeks off-“
“But this just couldn’t wait!” Upon taking off his warmer layers, Henry reached into the pocket of his coat and quickly pulled the contents from inside it behind his back. “Alright, I need you to hold out your hands and close your eyes.”
William chuckled lightly, standing from his chair and walking closer to his friend. “You must be joking, Henry.”
Henry shook his head, that smile of his not at all fading. “No, I’m quite serious. Now, hold out your hands.”
William let out a breath, shaking his head incredulously for a moment. “… Alright. If you say so.” He closed his gray eyes after a second, lifting his pale hands to be cupped in front of him and towards Henry. Truly, he hadn’t a single idea what his friend was about to place inside his hands.
Henry, after making sure William wasn’t looking, pulled his surprise out from behind his back, and carefully set it in his roommate’s hands. As far as William could tell, whatever it was was small and felt like a stiff type of paper. He couldn’t quite put his finger on what on earth this could be…
“Okay,” said Henry. He wrung his hands in front of himself, the smile he had fading ever so slightly; a mix of nerves and excitement for William’s reaction to the gift came to the forefront. “You can open your eyes now.”
William opened one eye, then the other, before looking down to the contents placed in his hands. His brow immediately furrowed, shifting his gaze from the gift in his hands to Henry. “… Tickets?”
Henry nodded, that goofy smile of his returning. The one William found ever so endearing. “Yes! I was coming back from the library, and had a brilliant idea. I thought, maybe, it would be nice if we did something to kick off the holiday season. So, I stopped by the box office of the university theater and, well… got us tickets to see Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker tonight.”
William just… stared at Henry for a few moments, then looked down to the tickets again, then back at Henry. He bit his lower lip in contemplation, despite the rest of his usual stoic disposition. Theater and ballet weren’t really his idea of entertainment…
“… You know I have my paper to work on.”
Henry couldn’t help but laugh incredulously. “It’s not due until the end of next week! Come on, you owe yourself a night to go out and enjoy yourself. Even if it’s just for a few hours.” He looked down to William’s hands, which still held the tickets, then returned his gaze to meet William’s.
For a few moments, it was just the two young men staring at each other, warm brown eyes gazing into sharp gray ones. After some silence, William let out a quiet yet harsh sigh, closing his eyes for a second before looking back down to the tickets. ‘What’s one night out going to hurt?’ he thought. “… Alright.”
To say that Henry was ecstatic would be quite the understatement. He clenched his fists and raised them in the air, as if victory was his, with a loud exclamation of “Yes!” But he quickly returned his hands behind his back, knowing his excitement got the better of him. He cleared his throat and looked away from William. He probably could have kept that excitement internalized, but it was far too late for that now. “Good! Good.”
That caused William to chuckle, setting the tickets down on his desk before returning his gaze to Henry. “Thank you, my friend. It was a kind gesture.”
Henry shifted his gaze from the ground back up to William, a gentler smile pulling at his lips. “I’m glad you think so. It starts at 7:30, so we should be heading there well before that. I, uh… may or may not have gotten us orchestra-level seats.”
William immediately furrowed his brows again, simply staring in disbelief.
Henry shrugged, as if it weren’t a big deal. As if seats that close weren’t a lot pricier than all the others in the venue. “No balcony seating for us! No sir, not for the occasion of one William Afton finally getting a night of fun.”
William rolled his eyes, returning to sit at his desk and look down at the rough draft of his paper. “You say that as if you’re trying to convince me to go.” He glanced back at his roommate, that infamous smirk pulling at his lips. “I’ve already said yes.”
Henry’s cheeks went slightly pink, but whether it was from recently walking in the cold outside or from William’s mysterious charm, who can say. “R-right. I just thought I’d let you know.” He lifted a hand to rub at the back of his neck, walking over to his own desk to get some work done before changing into finer attire for the pair’s night out.
——————-
William looked in the bathroom mirror at himself, glancing over his appearance over and over again. If he was to go out, he must look absolutely pristine with not a thing out of place. His gray three-piece suit was pressed to perfection, the blue and red-spotted tie –almost making it seem as if it were colored purple– neatly tied around his neck over a crisp white button up. Surely, this wouldn’t be too ornate for a performance such as this.
A knock on the bathroom door pulled William from his thoughts. “Yes?”
“Are you almost finished?” Henry’s voice called out from the other side of the door. “It’s almost quarter ‘till seven, if we’re walking to the performance hall we need to be leaving in a few minutes.”
William adjusted his silver cufflinks, finally deciding this would work for the evening with a nod to himself. He turned to the door and opened it, a smirk coming to his face upon seeing his roommate. “Think this will suffice?”
Henry, clad in a brown turtleneck with an orange cashmere blazer and pants to match, glanced up from his watch to see William standing before him. His prior thoughts escaped him for a moment, eyes appreciating the way that gray suit fit on William’s form. God, it was so hard to look away… Henry shook out of his thoughts as best he could, replacing the brief far-off look on his face with a smile. “You look great, perfect for the evening.”
The look on Henry’s face didn’t at all go unnoticed, and William couldn’t help but let a low chuckle escape him. His chuckle turned to a hum after a moment, as he moved from the bathroom doorway over to the coathanger. “Why thank you. You don’t look too shabby yourself, my friend.” William grabbed Henry’s cashmere coat, and threw it over to him.
Henry caught it with ease, and slipped it on as he snickered. “Such a high compliment coming from you, Mister Three-Piece Suite over there.”
William let out a single stark laugh, pulling his arms through the sleeves of his black knee-length overcoat. “You act as if you’re surprised, and that you expect anything less from me.”
With a few steps, Henry was at William’s side and quickly opened the door to the dormitory hallway. He looked to his friend expectedly, his smile growing even more if it were at all possible. “No, I don’t expect anything less at all.” He gestured with his hand to the hallway. “After you.”
William couldn’t help but react with a roll of his eyes and a small smile, slipping a scarf around his neck before strolling into the hall with Henry not too far behind him.
The walk to Brown’s performance hall from the pair’s dorm was maybe fifteen minutes, but it was a brisk fifteen minutes at that. The wind bit at their noses, their coats not doing much to stop the cold from causing goosebumps to rise on their skin. But, it was better than driving only a few minutes to then begin the laborious task of finding a place to park William’s car amidst the rest of the crowd attending the performance that evening.
The two young men reach the entrance of the theater, both internally thankful to return to the warm indoors. William pulled the two tickets from his pocket to present to the entrance usher, and after only a few moments the pair were both inside the elaborate lobby of the venue. Henry looked around with content wonder, while William was simply trying his best to warm up. Truly, he didn’t get along well with the cold. But, he figured, hopefully walking around the lobby while also trying to find their seats would help warm him up. Hopefully.
William’s thoughts couldn’t help but drift back to his paper, ever so wanting to get back to work. It had to be perfect, just like all the rest. But, his thoughts quickly got interrupted by Henry’s voice when he asked, “Would you mind handing me the tickets? So I may get us to our seats?”
He glanced down towards Henry, handing his friend the tickets with a curt nod of his head. Henry’s brow furrowed in concentration as he looked at the tickets and found their seat numbers, and it was only a few moments later that he turned on his heel towards the theater’s entryway doors to find the seats, with William following close behind.
The university’s main performance hall wasn’t anything to get excited over. It wasn’t very elaborate, or large, but regardless of that fact the attendants inside the venue seemed to be teeming with excitement over the evening’s performance. The hall was abuzz with enthusiastic chatter as William and Henry found their seats, which were seven rows back from the stage. How Henry managed to get such good seats inside an already crowded theater William could never guess. Must have been pure luck.
The two got settled and slipped off their coats, both finally having started to warm up from the brisk outdoors. Henry looked over to William, that smile of his still stuck to his face. “Are you excited? I’ve heard only good things about this production over the past few days.”
William simply nodded with a small smirk, trying to hide how he wasn’t exactly enthused to be there. His mind couldn’t help but wander back to his paper yet again, as well as all his other assignments; ever the workaholic. But this was only going to take a few hours, and then he could return to the solace of his work. “Well, this was your gift to me after all. How could I not be?”
Henry nodded at that with a smile, his attention being brought to the stage as the overhead lights slowly changed.
William let out a soft breath as the lights of the theater began to dim along with everyone’s ecstatic chattering, those in the performance hall settling down to enjoy the next few hours of what was sure to be an elegant ballet fit for the holiday season. Honestly, he wasn’t really sure what to expect. Obviously, this wouldn’t be like The Royal Ballet back in London, but he still had some hope it would at least be somewhat enjoyable. He took a brief glance over to Henry, who seemed to be a bit more enthralled with what was to come than William. Not that he minded, though. At least it would be a topic of conversation for the rest of the evening once this was all finished.
The playful and joyous overture played, bringing everyone’s full attention to the stage, including William’s. Partway through the overture did the scarlet curtain begin to rise, the opening scenes of the Nutcracker beginning to play out before the crowd. Henry smiled with glee as the story commenced before him, those brief opening facades leading into the large party scene at the beginning of the ballet. Eventually, a few moments into the party scene, did Henry take a glance over to William. He seemed… Well, it was hard to say. William’s brows were ever so slightly furrowed, which Henry could recognize as concentration on William’s end, at least. His expression was fairly neutral besides that, no surprise there. Henry hummed, deciding he could hear William’s opinions about everything at intermission as his focus shifted back to the stage.
The first act continued on with its normal narrative; the leading heroine receiving the nutcracker during the longest party scene known to man (at least in William’s mind), the short-lived fight scene between the Nutcracker and the Mouse King, and, of course, the snow scene where fake snow actually began to fall onto the dancers all the way until the curtain closed on act one.
William was trying so hard not to bounce his leg in anticipation throughout it all, though; clearly he was starting to get antsy. Sure, the dancers were very talented, but if the rest of the ballet’s pace was to be like this then he wasn’t sure how much he could take. He turned to Henry once the overhead lights of the theater returned for intermission, and Henry looked right back with a smile.
“So, how are you liking it so far?”
William let a long breath escape through his nose, contemplating his next words very carefully. “... It’s very well done, so far.”
Not a total lie, but not a reveal that William would rather get back to the dorm either.
Henry seemed to accept that answer with a satisfied nod. “I completely agree.” He nudged William’s arm with his elbow, smirking all the way. “See? I told you that you needed a night out! You should do this more often.”
William chuckled, charm oozing from him without even trying. “I suppose we’ll have to see, won’t we?”
The pair chatted in small talk just for a little while longer before the lights in the hall began to dim once more for act two of the ballet. William sighed, crossing his legs and leaning back in his chair as the curtain rose. ‘Almost there, William,’ he thought. ‘Then back to your work.’
Behind the curtain revealed the land of sweets, the titular characters entering the surprisingly elaborate scenery and being introduced to-
All of William’s thoughts stopped, at that moment, when he spied the pair of dancers that entered the stage; his sights on the Sugar Plum Fairy, to be exact. His brows furrowed as he gazed at her, her movements full of such grace and control, more so than all the other dancers in the company, somehow. She was only gesturing, in the moments of her entering with her dance partner, not even formally dancing yet, and yet somehow William was completely enraptured by her every move.
Through all of this, Henry glanced over at his companion and absolutely did not miss the complete focus on his face as he watched the stage. Ever oblivious, Henry contently returned his gaze back to the performance.
Throughout all the rest of the dancing variations in act two, William sat almost anxiously; awaiting the return of the Sugar Plum Fairy. He couldn’t exactly put his finger on why, but he simply couldn’t wait for her to return. Finally, after a while, she did.
William sat attentively, head leaning into his hand as he watched the ballerina’s every move across the stage for the beginning of the dance between her and her dance partner.
The pas de deux.
Everything started with the gentle sound of a harp with flowing strings adding to it shortly after, and the Sugar Plum Fairy moved with such control and gentleness through it all. In William’s eyes, she was astounding, and this was only the beginning of the variation. Even just the way she smiled through it all had William completely engrossed in her performance. As if everything she did was absolutely effortless.
The hardest of dance moves came to her with ease; the slow extension of a leg, the multiple turns being achieved with the support of her dance partner, even just the elegant positions of her hands and fingers was flawless. It was as if William was hypnotized by her, and being this close he couldn’t help but notice her features were just as gorgeous as her movements. The way she smiled towards the audience whenever she looked out before them had William in a complete trance.
The music of the pas de deux began to swell, and William could feel his heart swelling with it as the Sugar Plum Fairy was raised into the air by her partner in an elaborate lift. The slow duet between the pair became more and more intricate as the music carried on, and yet the ease at which everything came to the ballerina had everyone–not just William–in utter awe.
The final moments of the pas de deux came, and William hardly wanted it to end. The final beats of the movement were performed by the dancers skillfully, full of turns and lifts and the most illustrious of choreography. And once the final beat of the movement was hit perfectly by the orchestra, did the Sugar Plum Fairy and her partner finish on the most perfect lift out of their entire performance thus far. The audience roared with applause, many rising to their feet in astonishment with hoots and hollers as well as their clapping. And that included William, finding himself standing with the rest of the crowd around him in applause.
All William could think of was the absolute brilliance of it all, and how none of it would have been the same if it wasn’t for that particular ballerina performing the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy. He clapped with the rest of the audience until the last possible moment, finally taking his seat once the orchestra started back up once more.
He felt something sink in his chest as he watched the Sugar Plum Fairy leave the stage for a few moments, only for her partner to begin a solo performance of his own. It’s not that he wasn’t paying attention to the other dancer’s dedication, but William couldn’t help but glance over to the side of the stage the Sugar Plum Fairy left to not moments before. Internally, he desperately longed for her to return to the stage and grace it with her presence for hours on end. Externally, he tried his best to keep his focus on the rest of her partner’s performance. Until finally, his solo was finished, and she returned to the stage for a solo of her own.
William felt a small smile creep up onto his face as she gracefully entered, practically taking command of the stage with just her presence alone. He let out a sigh of anticipation as the strings of violins were plucked and she began, causing Henry to look over at him.
Henry furrowed his brows slightly, noticing how much attention William was truly paying to the performance now as opposed to earlier in the evening. He couldn’t quite understand why, but alas, he would take it. After all, the whole point of this was to get William out of the dormitory and to enjoy an evening free of work.
The Sugar Plum Fairy danced as gracefully on her own as she did with her dance partner, engrossing William in her performance all the more. Her auburn hair shone in the stage lights, her smile just as bright as it had been earlier. Even by herself, the dancer did not miss a single beat in all of her movements, executing every gesture and turn with ease. Even as she turned across the entirety of the stage itself, she did it with a grand smile on her face. When her final pose was hit in perfect time with the orchestra, William couldn’t help but realize she was looking right at him. Surely it was accidental, he thought, with the stage lights being as bright as they were there was no way she could even be seeing who she managed to somehow lock eyes with. And yet, something in the back of William’s mind wanted it to be on purpose so badly… The applause of the audience drew William back into reality, and he couldn’t help but applaud loudly for her once more.
The rest of the ballet seemed to breeze right on by, in William’s eyes, his gaze only focused on the Sugar Plum Fairy the rest of the time she was onstage. He continually found himself so drawn to her, and yet he couldn’t place exactly why… There was nothing logical about fate, that William knew as much. And yet, seeing her.. It made him question if fate was unrealistic or not.
Even just seeing her bow once the ballet had finished made his brain swirl with thoughts he didn’t quite know how to process, yet all the while he applauded and stood to his feet once again for her. But, a sad realization came to him shortly after: he wouldn’t see her after this performance. This was it… All this internal admiration for someone William didn’t even know, was to be cut short the moment the curtain closed.
By the time the performance had concluded, snow began to drift down upon the streets and sidewalks of campus. It was light, nothing too heavy for only the first weekend of December. The audience began to leave the theater and return to reality, all abuzz with thoughts and positive comments on the evening’s delightful and awe-inspiring performance.
Henry looked up to the sky, smiling some upon seeing the light precipitation as he exited the theater with William. “Ah, how fitting.” He chuckled, before taking a glance at his companion. William’s face was stoic, and his eyes seemed to stare into absolute nothingness. He seemed… distracted, to say the least. Henry waved a hand in front of his roommate’s face. “William?”
William’s mind, on the other hand, had drifted back to the ballerina he had admired for all of the second act, with the auburn hair and grace of an angel… But when Henry’s hand hit his vision he almost immediately shook out of his state, looking slightly down to his roommate with a raised brow as if he never drifted off in the first place. “Hm? Oh, yes, lovely performance.”
Henry furrowed his brows as the two continued to walk. It wasn’t unusual for William to be lost in his thoughts, but somehow this was different. Yet, Henry couldn’t quite put his finger on why… “Clearly, you have something on your mind.”
William hummed, folding his hands behind his back whilst looking up to the snowy sky. “I just… didn’t think I would enjoy ballet so much.” Not entirely a lie, at least. He looked back to his roommate, smiling lightly. “Thank you for the tickets, I suppose this is something we must do more often.”
Henry smiled at that, setting his hands back in his coat’s pockets and following William’s gaze up to the sky. “I think that can be arranged.”
A small smirk found itself on William’s lips as he continued to look up to the sky, but before he could respond to Henry he heard a distant laugh. Out of curiosity he turned his head toward the noise, brow raised, and found himself looking at the stage door of the theater the two had just come from. The laugh had been from one of the few girls leaving the theater at that moment, heading to their cars or dormitories, more than likely. William recognized a couple girls in said group as those in the ballet corps, and almost immediately he bit his lip in contemplation. Maybe…
An idea came to his mind. He looked over to Henry, stopping their walk back to the dorm room by setting a hand to his roommate’s shoulder. “Meet me back in the dormitory, will you? There’s something I must take care of first.”
Henry raised a brow almost immediately, wondering what on earth spurred William’s sudden insistence on “taking care” of something this late into the evening. “Surely you’re joking. Come on, you can do whatever you need to do tomorrow-“
William only stared, insistently. “No. It must be done tonight. This may be the only chance I have… You understand, yes?”
After a moment, Henry just shook his head and sighed. It was always hard saying no to him… “… Alright, if you say so. Just don’t be too late! You know how I am about being woken up.”
William merely chuckled in response, patting his roommate’s back as an indicator to go to the dorm without him. “It will be just a few mere minutes, I assure you. Now, off you go.” With a light and playful push to Henry to get him moving, William turned around and started back across the street to the stage door of the theater.
Henry chuckled from his roommate’s push, shaking his head before continuing on. Yet, it was only after a few paces that Henry turned back to see where on earth William was walking to. But even after a few moments, still ever confused and not a clue as to what William had brewing in his mind, he just shook his head once more and continued his small trek back to the dormitory.
After a few minutes, William finally made it to the stage door of the theater. Yet, when he was finally there, he felt his heart beating in his chest ever faster than before. Maybe she already left and he’ll look like a fool, or she’s… ‘No. No negative thoughts, William. If she is already gone, then it just wasn’t fate. That’s all…’ Subconsciously, he started to wring his gloved hands together out of pure nerves, the cold doing nothing to cool the warm nervousness coursing through William’s lanky body. Standing some feet away from the door, he watched dancer after dancer leave the stage door, none having that bright auburn hair he saw on the ballerina dancing the sugar plum fairy.
After what seemed like ages, William sighed with disappointment. She was already gone, she had to be… Feeling defeated and dejected in every sense, he started to shuffle his feet back to the direction of the dormitory.
Until, he heard the stage door open once more. He slowly turned around, and, as if on cue, out she stepped.
Her hair was no longer wrapped up tightly, but rather into a high ponytail, light curls due to a long day of her hair in a bun cascading down to reach the back of her neck. Her bangs now covered her forehead as opposed to held back with hair gel and pins. A plaid coat wrapped around her slim figure, with a dance bag that had seen better days draped over her shoulder. Her face was void of all the sparkles and stage makeup from earlier, leaving completely clear skin with only a few noticeable freckles spotting her cheeks. All William could do was just… stare. For a while. Longer than he intended. All the words he wanted to say instantly became stuck in his throat.
After feeling a set of eyes watching her, the girl, who seemed to be around his age, just simply stared back at him for a few moments before cocking her head to the side in confusion. “Um… were you waiting for someone, or…?”
William felt a small smile pull at his lips. God, even her voice was heavenly! He took a few nervous steps closer to her, decidedly shoving his hands in his coat pockets so she couldn’t see his nervous fidgets. “N-no, I mean y-yes! Actually. Yes. Yes, I was waiting for someone. Euh, you, actually…” Was he avoiding eye contact? Possibly. And since when did he get so nervous around a person, ever? Since now, he supposed.
The girl raised a brow at him, looking at the person before her carefully, before finally responding. “Me? I’m sorry, I don’t believe I know you. You don’t look familiar to me…”
‘Fuck…’ William collected himself for a moment, before striding closer to the girl before him. Ever so slowly, his charms started to come back to him. “I was in the audience tonight, near the front, and was just… completely enraptured by your performance.”
Her confused expression fell some, a small smile pulling at her lips instead. “Oh. Uh, thank you. That’s very kind of you to-“
“I apologize for staring, and stopping you. I-I’m sure you’re tired. Surely, being so elegant takes lots of time and hard work.”
The girl let a very light chuckle escape her, surprised he interrupted her mid-sentence. And to be fair, William was just as surprised as she was that he did such a thing. She looked at him a little closer before responding. He was handsome, she’ll give him that, and his silky voice –accent and all–somehow made his actions a little more forgiving. “Thank you for saying that. It’s hard work, yes; most people don’t exactly realize that. But still, I’m glad you enjoyed the performance. Have a good evening.”
She looked away from the person before her and was about to slip past him to get back to her home, but William felt deep inside him that, somehow, he can’t just let her pass him by.
“Wait, miss.” The words left his mouth before he even realized he said something at all.
The girl stopped once again, on the very edge of annoyance, before turning to him with what she thought was going to be one final time. “Yes?”
William sighed once again, his breath causing a cloud in the chill air as he made eye contact with her again. Here goes nothing…
“… You’re the most beautiful young woman I’ve ever seen.”
His words gave the young ballerina pause, causing her to finally meet his eyes. His gray eyes gazed into her hazel ones, and her expression slowly began to soften. It wasn’t as if she hadn’t heard those words addressed to her before, but this… this, somehow, in a way she couldn’t quite place, felt different. Unknown, uncharted, in a way. For once, she was utterly speechless. “… I…”
William took a few more steps closer to her, just ever so slightly closer than before. “I know that was forward. Just… throughout all of tonight’s performance, from the moment you stepped onstage to the moment the curtain fell, you immediately engrained yourself into my brain forever. I couldn’t help but feel the need- no, the pull to meet you, even if it were just to express that and that alone. I apologize if I have interrupted your evening of wanting to rest. Have a lovely rest of your night, miss.”
Not exactly sure if he felt any better after releasing his confession, William was about to turn around to go back to his dormitory before the ballerina finally gathered the words to speak. “… What’s your name? If I may ask.”
His heart nearly lept out of his chest, just from that mere question of hers alone. He took a few steps closer to her, his famous smile starting to pull at his lips. “William. William Afton.”
The dancer smiled lightly back, adjusting the bag on her shoulder before holding out her gloved hand to William. “Clara Schmidt. It’s nice to meet you, William.”
William took her hand in his, shaking it lightly. “Just as it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Clara.” The way her name rolled off his tongue damn-near felt like honey, and he relished it. The two let go of the other’s hand after a moment, and a thought came to William’s mind. “This… is probably going to be very forward-“
“As if you haven’t been forward already.” Clara chuckled, returning her hand to her coat pocket.
William chuckled along with her, setting a hand to his chest. “Would you allow me to walk you to your car?”
Clara shook her head. “I’m only saying no because I didn’t drive to the theater tonight. My home isn’t very far from here, actually.”
“Then allow me the pleasure to walk you home. If you’ll let me.” William held his arm out for Clara to take, the look upon his face being one of genuine care.
She hummed, stepping forward to William’s side and setting her hand in the crook of his arm after a moment of contemplation. She looked up at him, and smiled warmly. “I gladly accept your offer.”
With that, William walked along with Clara to her home, which was only a twenty minute walk from the theater. Unfortunately, it was in the opposite direction of William’s dormitory, but the thought of it didn’t at all seem to phase him. The pair talked of many things along their snowy walk; how long Clara had been dancing for, how William came to be at that night’s performance in the first place, what William was studying at the university, and all matters of getting-to-know-yous in between it all. He even offered to carry her dance bag for her as they walked, to take some weight off of her shoulders. And for once, in this instance, William didn’t mind the cold. Until, of course, Clara’s home came to the pair’s vision. Almost instantaneously as the two reached the sidewalk leading up to the front steps of the home, both felt what could only be described as a sense of longing for each other, and almost dread to leave the other.
Clara, after a few moments, let go of William’s arm and looked up at him with a gentle expression. “Will I see you again?”
William’s heart fluttered at her question, not being able to help committing the image of her soft features and snowflakes in her auburn hair to memory. “If you would allow me, it would be a pleasure, love.”
Her face warmed, pink rising to her cheeks at the pet name. Love… “Once my performances are over, maybe we could…” Clara bit her lip, her hands subconsciously beginning to wring together out of slight nerves.
“Dinner. On me. It would be an honor, Clara. Truly.” William noticed her nervous fidgeting, and carefully took one of her hands in his. He bent down, raising the back of her hand to his lips, and softly kissed it with a chasteness he himself couldn’t believe he mustered.
Clara’s warm cheeks now burned, pink becoming practically red at his action. She quickly mulled over her schedule in her mind, before the words left her mouth faster than she could even comprehend. “Next Wednesday night, maybe?”
William looked up to meet her gaze and smiled, leaving his hand in hers for a few moments more. “I will be here. Six o’clock.”
“Divine.” Clara smiled, and William did right back. The pull the two felt between each other was undeniable, the thought of kissing the other briefly crossing their minds before deciding the action too preposterous after only having just met. Clara let go of William’s hand as slowly as she could, already missing his grasp after having just left it. “Walk back safe, William. The last thing I want is for you to catch a cold.” She chuckled.
William handed Clara’s bag back to her, before stepping back onto the main sidewalk. He looked back at her one final time, keeping her warm smile committed to his memory. “Until next time, my dear Clara.”
She couldn’t help but feel giddy at that. She waved him goodbye as she replied, “Until next time, William Afton.”
He bowed, and she chuckled in return, before the two parted for the night. As soon as William heard the faint noise of Clara’s front door clicking shut behind him, he couldn’t help but run back to his dormitory with an absolutely indescribable glee. Something he hadn’t felt in a long time, if ever, took over his mind and senses as he ran, snowflakes getting caught in his eyelashes and dark hair.
When William finally reached his dorm room, Henry was just getting settled into bed for the evening. He wasn’t exactly annoyed, internally grateful his roommate returned before he actually fell asleep for the night, but seeing William’s face gave him pause. Henry immediately saw the utter happiness across William’s features, and sat up in bed. He almost smiled along with him, wondering what could have caused such elatedness in his friend. And when he did ask, William couldn’t help but respond with one thing and one thing only, a genuine smile on his features.
“I… I think I’m in love.”