"𝑾𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒓" - William Afton x reader

Chapter One

Warm shades of deep amber, burgundy, plum, velvet green, and sweet honey litter life around you as you joyfully skip down the sidewalk without a care in the world.

You laugh as a cool breeze nearly sweeps you off your feet, inadvertently lifting your skirt up and almost exposing you to the man walking alongside you.

Autumn was in the air, there was no doubt about that. As the beautifully familiar colors fill your vision, delicate scents of fallen leaves, pinewood, and cinnamon fill the air.

Even as a young child, Autumn had always been your favorite season, and so you welcome it into your life once again with open arms.

Undoubtedly, this year had been the hardest of your life.

Lots of unexpected surprises had been thrown your way, and you had not only been robbed of several of your loved ones, but of your joy.

Of course, the year 2021 had been difficult for everyone, but you especially felt its consequences.

But right now, at least in this very moment, as the soft sights and scents of heaven itself hold you in its arms, you finally feel happy again for the first time in awhile.

The once familiar sidewalk, precisely the same one your footsteps had graced almost every single day of your life, took on a new form as various warm shades of deep ruby, yellow, and brown fallen leaves enveloped it.

You had walked this route back and forth from school for near seventeen years now, but never cease to find wonder in how it transforms during the season of Autumn.

As you lift your hands into the air, your arms follow, feeling weightless as you twirl slightly, your soft h/c hair veiling your face.

You hear a gentle laugh to your right, and watch as the boy beside you softly cups the side of your face with one hand and brushes a few messy strands of hair behind your ear with his other.

He was your best friend; a gentleman. Kind, considerate, and most certainly charming.

You would be lying if you claimed he never made you blush... but you can admit that you never did see him as more to you than a friend.

You smile at him as he tucks your hair back, watching the way his deep brown eyes scan your face with amusement.

Though his wavy, light brown hair was perfectly kempt during your morning walks to school together, it always became disorderly throughout the course of the day, inevitably ending up messily framing his face by the time you walked home together in the afternoon.

He was in no way a messy boy, albeit clumsy and often spontaneous, but rather took care of himself and his appearance.

Though his tie routinely hung loosely around his neck by the end of the school day, much like his messy hair, he always made sure it was securely tied around his collar in the morning.

In this way, you couldn't help but admire him.

Although you two are in the same grade, he is a year and a half your senior, equally in part as a result of your late birthday and his early one.

At barely seventeen and eighteen and a half respectively, however, your slight age gap never caused any kind of discomfort in your relationship.

Uniforms are mandatory for the high school you both attend: a navy blazer over a white dress shirt, a red tie, and dress pants for guys or a pleated skirt for girls.

You sometimes complain about your uniform, griping about the skirt you have to wear or how your socks never fail to fall down at the worst time... but he never complains.