Chapter Text
1958
Sun streamed through the rustling leaves, bouncing off the Elementary school wall and falling right into William's eyes. No matter how often he repositioned himself, it seemed to hunt him back down, smearing his gaze and forcing him to move, thus knocking sand everywhere. William hated sand. He had no idea why people insisted on filling children’s play areas with sand. It itched, stuck, and snuck into every crevice imaginable. William picked up his rubber duck and tipped it over, spilling sand out of the hole in the bottom. He sighed. Why did his mother insist on sending him to the school playground every weekend? It made William seem like a loser, playing by himself at school outside of hours, with his parents hovering nonetheless. They would meet up with other adults and leave William here alone in the hot sand. William didn’t mind being alone, but the sun was so bright and obnoxious. He’d prefer to be inside at the least. William looked up from his sandy toys and at a couple crossing the street. They wore bright clothes: the woman a light blue polka dot dress and a purse in one gloved hand, the man a brilliant red sweater. They were undoubtedly heading to the other side of town. It was much brighter there, much more lively and interesting than a school, full of shops and boutiques. That morning William had tried to convince his mom to let him go to the other side of town. He was 9 years old after all, and that seemed old enough to walk an extra block from the school. His mother, of course, denied the question in its entirety, and thus he was stuck here.
Looking back down at his toys, William re-alined them against the swaying tree above’s shadow. Under a tree was the best spot at the time for avoiding the sun, but dappled leaves meant the sun snuck in and scored a point against William's eyes. He moved an inch to the left.
William had decided among his few toys to bring his rubber duck, wooden fox, and stuffed rabbit. All fit in his pockets, allowing them to leave his house without detection from his parents. Imagine, being stuck all alone in the sandy playground with no toys. What was one supposed to do?! He dusted off some sand from the stuffed rabbit’s arm. The faded yellow bunny was his favourite toy and went with him everywhere. After all, rabbits were the best animals, even when compared to humans. Absorbed in his toys, William jumped at the sudden bang of an engine behind him. He turned around and shielded his eyes.
Loudly, he noted, four people stepped out of what he could only discern as a car. Rickety doors slammed, giving the bruised and broken box a run for its money. The engine cut off abruptly and then gave way to a few bumps and booms. William noticed most likely a family, complete with a mother, father, maybe older sister, and a brother. What William noticed after that, however, was exclusively surrounding the brother. How the sun's rays highlighted his already golden-brown hair, forming a halo around his outline (and pointedly not bouncing off into William’s eyes. Finally, he thought.) The boy yelled something over his rambling father, laughed, and then turned around. William involuntarily dropped his stuffed rabbit in the sand, jaw following suit.
The boy's cherry-round face encircled stem green round glasses. Freckles sprinkled around his nose and cheeks, mirroring fairy dust. A wide toothy grin split open like dawn over a dark sky, too bright for this world. As the boy turned to face William, their eyes met, or rather, William's eyes grazed upon what he could only describe as an angel incarnate. Deep golden haze encompassed by syrupy layers of heaven, sparkling right directly at William. The boy started towards William, startling him out of his trance. If not for this, William might have never found his way out of those eyes. Luckily, due to the angel boy’s poor eyesight, he saw none of this. Only that a twiggy kid dressed in a lot of purple for a boy, hidden under an equally twiggy tree, had dropped his toy in the sand.
“Hey, you dropped your bunny,” the boy exclaimed as he crouched down in front of William. “I hate it when I drop my toys in the sand. Who thought sand in a playground was a good idea?” he laughed.
William noticed his mouth was open and closed it abruptly, embarrassed. “I.. I do n… I don’t know but… Yes?” he stuttered.
The angel boy sat down in front of William, criss-cross-apple-sauce. His head tilted to the side. “Why do you sound different?”
William was used to this. Almost all the kids in his grade had asked that somewhere along the line. “M-my mum’s not from here,” he explained. He didn’t add how the boy in front of him also sounded different due to an endearing lisp.
“Ok,” the boy shrugged. William expected more response than that… “My name’s Henry, and my mom’s from Four East Four-hundred street!” Henry gently sat the stuffed rabbit next to the wooden fox. “What are you playing?”
William looked down at his toys. “I’m not.”
“Well,” Henry laughed, “what are you doing with them?”
William adjusted the stuffed rabbit. “Putting them in a queue.”
“Oh, they’re in line! Maybe it’s picture day!”
William didn’t agree, nor did he want to play “picture day”, but was willing to do anything to keep the angel boy in front of him. “...Ok.”
Henry laughed. William didn’t know what was funny. “Well, if this is picture day, we need a picture-grapher,” Henry reached into his pocket and pulled out a tiny bear figurine. He set it down next to William’s rubber duck. “This is Freddy. And this…” Henry picked up a leaf from off the ground. “...Is the camera.”
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“William, love, it’s time to go!” William’s dad called. William looked up from his and Henry’s toys. The sun had sunk to eye level. He pulled a hand up to his eyes.
Henry’s haloed head tilted. “You’re leaving?”
Of course, the one time William actually wanted to stay at the playground, his parents insisted he go. “Er, I-I don’t want to…”
“William!! Come on!” His dad yelled.
“I ‘probly’ have to go, too. I had a lot of fun playing with you, William!” Henry’s perfectly crooked smile beamed. William’s face started to heat up. This darn sun… he thought.
“I liked you, too!” William exclaimed. Henry’s head tilted even more. “IT I MENT IT I liked it, too!!” William’s face heated up even more. Henry’s face lit up with laughter.
“William! Now!!” His dad started towards William.
Henry stood up, then crouched back down to pick up their toys. William begrudgingly rose up next to him. Henry pushed the toys into William’s arms. “Here. You don’t want to forget them!”
William was so focused on Henry and his towering height that he forgot completely about his toys. He stuffed them into his pockets before his dad saw them. “Wait… Henry.” William held out Freddy the Bear. “This is yours!”
“William Louis Afton! I said now!!” His dad was almost at the tree William and Henry stood under.
Henry’s laugh tinkled again in William’s ears. “Keep it! I had fun; you can have it.” Henry poked William’s hand. “He likes you!”
William’s dad finally reached them and grabbed William’s shirt collar, pulling him away from Henry. William struggled against his dad’s grip but obviously failed because his dad was a good 3 feet taller. Henry, completely unfazed waved at him. “Bye-bye William!” William managed to wave back before he was shoved into his parent’s car.
Nine Years Later
Henry’s hand hovered over the doorknob. Through the door, he thought he heard someone crying. Henry wasn’t too surprised. After all, it was the first day of college. He cried when his parents left for back home; he had never been away from them for more than a week at camp. Figuring the person inside didn’t want to be caught off guard, Henry walked back down the dorm hallway, then back up as noisily as he could, practically jumping to make his footsteps louder. Squeezing in between his two suitcases, he knocked on the door loudly. The crying stopped, but the door didn’t open. Henry gave it a few seconds, then raised his hand to knock again. Before he could, the door burst open.
A scrawny man stood before Henry. He was tall, but not taller. He stood there in high-waisted black dress pants, a white T-shirt, and a purple flannel that was left unbuttoned. Henry noticed that his socks were also purple. The man had one black-nail-polished hand on the open door and the other over his face. Henry cleared his throat and held out his own hand.
“Hi there! I’m Henry Emily, your roommate. Nice to meet you!”
The other man’s hand dropped from his face and into Henry’s. “Hello. I’m Wil…” The second Henry made eye contact with him, “Wil”’s jaw dropped. Henry smiled nervously. After a very uncomfortable pause, Wil spoke again. “...Y-your Henry?”
“...Yes, I’m your roommate. Are you alright?” Henry asked. At this point, he was genuinely worried about this guy.
“You… I know you… You were at the park…” Wil seemed to be in a haze.
“I’m sorry, but were you crying? Do you need some space?”
Wil didn’t let go of Henry’s hand. “You…” Suddenly he flinched, as if remembering something, then broke down into tears again.
“Oh my goodness… Here…” Henry managed to yank his hand out from Wil’s and pulled him in for a hug. I’m not even in the door yet… Henry grimaced. “Is this your first time away from your parents too?”
“Th-the bear… F-Freddy…” Wil sobbed.
Cripes. “What bear?” Henry tried to lead them into the dorm room.
Wil was very easily led into the room but didn’t let go in the slightest. “You-your bear…” he cried.
Wait a minute… The excessive purple, the stuttering, the scrawniness, the bear… “Do I know you?” Henry proposed.
“Y-you gave me Freddy the b-bear at th-the park…”
The park… Henry led them through the room and to one of the beds on either side. He sat both of them down on it. “What’s your name again?”
“William…” he sniffed.
“Jeepers!! You’re William! From the park! I know you!” Henry laughed in excitement. If he already knew his roommate, that would make living together so much easier.
William looked up at Henry, arms still tightly clasped around him. Tears spilt out of his dark eyes and onto Henry’s buttoned orange flannel. “I-I lost F-Freddy!... H-he got packed aw-away and I l-lost him!” William blubberd.
“W-well, that’s fine. It was just a toy, you know…” Henry was very taken aback by how attached William appeared to be, both of the toy and of Henry.
“I-I held onto it ever since y-you gave it to me…” William buried his face into Henry’s chest.
Henry lifted one hand off William’s back to his head, patting his dark hair. It was cut in a mullet. Normally Henry didn’t like mullets, but its feathery edges contrasted nicely against the sharp lines of William’s face. “It’s totally ok, William. Really, I’m not mad at you for losing it. I’m actually surprised you held onto it that long!”
William sniffed again. “Of course I d-did! You were my only friend!”
Henry quietly gasped. Sure, he had a ton of fun playing for hours with William that day, but gosh! That was, what, five or more years ago?!
William flinched. His crying slowed down enough for him to sit in Henry’s arms silently.
After a pause, Henry looked back down at William. “You know I can just buy you a new bear, right?”
William’s head jolted up to look Henry in the eyes. William swallowed. “R-really?!”
Henry laughed. “Well, of course! It was just a toy; I could even make you one. It’s alright!”
William burst into tears again. “R-really?? Th-thank you Henry!” William squeezed Henry even harder. “Thank you!” He re-burried his head into Henry’s shirt, smile beaming through the tears. Henry hadn’t seen William smile this whole time. He sighed. Collage should be easier living with someone he already knew, but… Henry chuckled. This William guy might be more trouble than he initially thought.