Chapter Text
Fingers danced through dirty blond strands soothingly, almost lovingly, twirling and twisting each lock in mesmerizing, careful patterns. It only did so much to soothe the sobbing man, carefully hugged close in the arms of a shorter brunette.
“Tell me again what happened? I could hardly understand you the first time what with all the crying, Henry.”
The words came out sounding so cruel, but that was just William for you. He didn’t seem the type to have a lick of anything soft and caring inside him.
Henry knew better, though. The proof was right in front of him as Will petted and played with his hair, a gesture that meant far more to Henry than most. He was practically melting into the other, scruffy stubble scratching against Will’s neck as he hid his face away… Of course that came with the gross wet tears getting all over William as well, but he didn’t seem all that bothered at the moment.
Henry sniffled and wiped his face on William’s shoulder, letting out a heavy sigh as he did his best to stop his sobbing.
“I-I’m… I’m not a queer okay??”
Henry’s voice shook and broke as he spoke, more tears welling up in his eyes as the words stumbled from his mouth. Will rolled his eyes, gently soothing back a wild piece of hair on the back of Henry’s head.
“That’s not what I asked. But I assume it has something to do with this, hm?”
A soft sigh, hands moving from hair to shoulder to carefully pry Henry away from the hug that they had been lovingly wrapped up in.
“I know you’re not a queer, okay? Now please explain what happened?”
Henry looked up at William with big sad brown eyes, bringing a hand up to wipe away tears. It was always so hard for him to compose himself when he got like this.
“S-Sorry… um… I-i went to see my parents…”
He took a shaky deep breath as he forced himself to recall what happened.
“A-and it started off really rocky… Father complained about m-me being in college, supposedly abandoning the family… b-but it only got worse a-as I told them a-about college and such… Father he um… he immediately jumped to a-accuse me of being gay… b-because I mentioned our friendship…”
Henry looked away from his dear friend with complete shame, eyebrows furrowed. He was most certainly fighting off more tears.
“H-he kicked me o-out right away, t-told me if I ever came back… he’d um…. He’d kill me himself. A-and mother and my br-brother did nothing but watch…”
The blond squeezed his eyes shut tightly, images flashing in his mind. His fathers angry face, devoid of any love for his own son. His family’s faces, all staring on with nothing but shame. Of course Henry had been the failure of the family. He had always been different, and his parents hated it so much… growing up all he had was his brother, but not even then could his brother defend him.
William’s rough hands gripped Henry’s face tenderly, forcing him to look up at him.
“Hey… calm down okay? I’m sure your brother was just… afraid of what your father would do if he tried to stand up for you… but er…”
A look of uncertainty flashed across Will’s face… he had never been really good with these emotion things. Henry had introduced that in his life when they met a semester ago, freshly into college and ready to learn robotics. They had bonded over being outcasts who loved engineering, Henry never really minded William’s asshole attitude, and William was welcoming to Henry’s softer and reserved nature. Of course he was less reserved now, but it took that whole semester to get even close to this point!
“Your family will come around eventually, they’ll realize how wrong they were and come begging to have you visit again. And even if they don’t… well you’ll be alright, Hen. You’re a budding mechanic, and a grown man, AND you have friends. Who needs your lousy family at the end of the day?”
Will smirked, dropping his hands back down to his side. Henry just sat there, taking in the words his dear friend spoke…
They were of course still harsh in spirit, because of course Henry would be devastated being disowned by his family, who wouldn’t be? But it was also… kind of nice to know he at least had William there to back him up. Besides, the Brit was right! Henry was a budding mechanic and grown man! He was more successful than his other family members! Minus his brother, of course.
Henry offered Will a shaky soft smile, sniffling again and leaning right back into his friend for a hug, his big arms squeezing the smaller pole of a man tightly.
“Thank you Will… it’s nice to know I’m at least not completely alone in the world… and maybe my parents will realize in not gay…”
That last bit held so much uncertainty within it, a nervous look crossing Henry’s face as he settled back down with William, those gentle fingers returning to his head to play with his dirty blond hair.
Henry himself wasn’t sure if he was straight or gay, he just always desperately hoped and prayed to god he was straight. He was a god fearing man, of course… and this all came with the territory. But truth be told, Henry had never found himself caring much for any of the women he had met.
He did know, however, that he cared very much for a man.
But that was just in a friendship kind of way, right?
Right?
His brown eyes slowly glanced up at William, who seemed pleased to not have to be trying to verbally comfort Henry anymore, content with providing Henry with his weird need for physical contact, fingers splitting his fluffy hair as he ran them through it so lovingly, like any friend would.
Just friends, yeah.