Work Text:
It was supposed to be a normal day. It was supposed to be. So why wasn’t it?
Henry woke up like he always did. Get out of bed, brush his teeth, get Charlotte breakfast, take her to school, and go to work. And that was perfectly normal.
When Henry arrived at Fredbear’s, he met up with his business partner William. They talked about new blueprints for animatronic ideas, preformed for the kids whenever they had to, and brought out pizza.
But… he noticed William was off on that specific day.
The man was usually focused on his work, always a coffee stain on his shirt or a few hairs out of place. That was normal. But today, he seemed unusually... quiet? Like there was something he didn’t want Henry to know.
Henry had tried to talk to William about it while on breaks, but he always got half-sped excuses like “I’m just tired.”, or “I just need to focus on work.” And frankly, it pissed Henry off.
It pissed him off a lot.
William wasn’t one to just push someone away. He was either a workaholic or an annoying, enthusiastic bastard.
So the next day when Henry arrived at work, he decided to bring it up.
”William.” Henry opens the door to the workshop, closing it as he walked in. The man in question looked up from the blueprints he was hunched over, raising an eyebrow.
”Yes, Henry?” William sits up, the chairs screeching slightly on the tile below as he pushes the chair back enough to sit up straight.
”Are you hiding something from me?” Henry demands, slamming his hands on the table. A pencil rolls off the table from the vibrations. William frowns, his eyebrows furrowing. “No.”
”Bullshit, I know you are! You’ve been acting off all day yesterday and today!” The blonde snaps.
”Leave it. It’s none of your business, I just have a lot of—“ William begins, but Henry cuts him off.
”Oh, of course. You have a lot of work to do, right? Why not share it with me, let me take some of the load off?!” Henry gestures to the room around—endoskeleton parts scattered around, blueprints splayed across the table, some new models for animatronic eyes or parts. “I know we have a lot going on, but damnit, let me help!”
William seems to pause as he listens to Henry rant, his expression infuriatingly calm. When Henry finished, he laces his fingers together and tilts his head to the right slightly. “I can handle it. All you have to do is focus on engineer new parts for new animatronics and attractions.”
Henry’s fists clench at his sides, a muscle in his jaw ticking. “You don’t get it.” He hisses through clenched teeth. “We’re supposed to be business partners, William! We’re supposed to work together! Not whatever—“ He gestures to William. “—this is!”
William simply blinks slowly—that infuriatingly stupid calm look on his dumb face—as he unlaces his fingers and stands up, standing face-to-face with the engineer. “Are you finished?” Henry freezes for a soldier five seconds, eyes narrowing. “Pardon?” He growls out, shoving his hands in the pockets of his trousers to keep himself from just lashing out at the man in front of him.
William repeats himself with that same eerie calm tone. “Are you done with your little temper tantrum?” He turns away, rolling up some blueprints and setting them aside. “We have a birthday party today. Suit up in ten minutes and meet behind the stage of Party Room 3.”
Henry’s eye twitches, but he says nothing more as he storms out of the workshop, slamming the door behind him, stomping off to the backroom to grab the Fredbear suit.
Ten minutes later, William and Henry stand side-by-side behind a red curtain that opens up to the small party room. William’s stands in the Springbonnie suit and holding a banjo, while Henry wears the Fredbear suit and holds a microphone. Sure, they could have just put the suits and animatronic mode and let them run through their party cycle for the kids, but where’s the fun in that?
A group of about a dozen and a half kids sit across three tables with pizza, cake, presents, and party hats. The birthday kid, some blonde 10 years old with an obnoxious voice, sits at the front of the middle chair with a larger party hat than the others.
The curtains slid open to reveal the two “animatronics”. The kids cheered, the characters introduced themselves, and the show started, Fredbear told jokes and sang, while Springbonnie laughed along and played the banjo. Once the show was over, the two wished the kid a happy birthday, and disappeared behind the stage.
A moment of silenced passed between the two men, before William broke it with a blunt statement. “You were shit.” Henry just blinks at William, staring, before exploding. “I was shit?! What about you?! All you did was laugh and dance around and fake play that damned instrument!”
This argument continued while they made their way to the backroom to take off their suits. Said argument mainly consisted of William purposefully pissing Henry off. When they arrived into the backroom, Henry started taking off the suit while William stayed inside.
And unfortunately, after Henry was out, the argument got physical. Henry lost his self-control and shoved William while he was still in the Springbonnie suit. William’s stumbled back, a faint click emanating from the suit. Henry immediately recognized his mistake, his anger melting away to worry and his eyes widening with horror as he extended one hand towards the man—
And, of course, it was too late. The springlocks set off, impaling the man’s body and sending him collapsing against the wall. He slid down the concrete wall, a trail of blood following him as the metal and springs impaled flesh and bones alike. Blood dribbled from the corner of the man’s mouth as some of the pieces impaled his lungs and voice box.
Henry stood over the dying man with wide, horrified eyes, his hands trembling at his sides as he watched William. He was frozen. His legs wouldn’t move when he wanted them to. All he could do was stand there at watch his friend, his business partner, and dare I say lover die in front of him.
Blood pooled beneath the writhing springlock suit, the sounds of bones cracking and springlocks going off echoing through the otherwise silent backroom. The metal impaled his arms, legs, spine, lungs—despite not seeing what was in the suit, Henry could tell there was just a mangled body left. The struggled had ceased, leaving only a barely raspy breathing coming from the suit. Henry could see the blood, he could practically taste the pungent metallic scent that came emanated off it as it dripped down the opening between each piece of the suit.
When the springlocks finished, Henry finally managed to get his legs working. He stumbled over, his legs buckling besides the limp body. Slowly, he managed to remove the head of the Springbonnie suit. He tried not to gag—blood practically coated William’s limp body, his eyes glassed over and wide from the fear he had felt not even moment earlier. Slowly, with trembling hands, Henry brushed a stray hair from William’s face and rested his hand on the back of the dead man’s neck. Henry leaned in and pressed a simple but soft kiss to William’s forehead.
”I’m sorry,” he whispers, tears brimming at the corners of his eyes. “I’m so damn sorry. I shouldn’t have pushed it. I should’ve let you handle whatever it was you were handling.” He presses his forehead to William’s; cooling skin meeting warm skin. He couldn’t stop the sob that crawled up his throat s his grip tightened around the back of William’s neck, tears falling faster than he could bother to care.
”It’s my fault.”