The Fall of the Aftons

001: William Afton

William sat uncomfortably on the wooden stool, watching with boredom as his childhood friend made adjustments to the thick yellow glove he was wearing. The yellow glove was meant to look like a fluffy bunny paw, but without the rest of the costume, it kind of looked like a swollen dog paw dunked in soft yellow paint.

"Henry, how much longer will this take?" William whined, even though he was at the beginning of his thirties. "I promised the new employee I would help him move in the endoskeletons once you finished, but I don't think either of us expected it to take this long."

"Patience, Will. I'm nearly finished!" Henry chuckled. "I swear, whenever you have kids, they're going to be as impatient as you!"

William laughed, but Henry shrieked at him to stop. There were springlocks in the glove, a special kind of mechanism that could allow either animatronic endoskeletons to control the suit, or the springlocks could be cranked open and a person could be the one in control. If William moved too much, they would activate, and William would be severely injured. If he was in a full suit, he would most certainly die a very, very painful death.

Within a few minutes, Henry finished. He slowly, gently, carefully took the large paw off. It was such a painstakingly slow process that William groaned loudly, nearly making him laugh. But he settled for a single, near-silent giggle. With his hands on the glove, the springlocks could activate from him just as easily as they could from William.

"Finally!" William shouted joyfully the instant his hand was freed from its furry cage. "Sorry, I didn't mean to be offensive. You're an amazing engineer, Hen." 

Henry smiled, his cheeks pink with embarrassment. "Thanks," he mumbled humbly. He rested his hand on the back of his neck. "It means a lot."

William slung his arm over his friend's shoulders. "You're welcome. You deserve all the compliments you can get. You're extremely talented! I'm so lucky to have you as a friend."

"Oh, stop it, I'm not that talented," he gushed, looking at his pale blue tennis shoes. His favorite shoes he owned at the moment, although they were just starting to fall apart. The soles were getting ready to peel off soon, and the ends of his laces were frayed. Henry's wife--whose name William could never remember, not for the life of him--kept trying to convince him to buy new ones. But he always declined politely. Claimed that they were full of character.

William's stomach growled violently, the result of skipping dinner last night and breakfast that morning. Ignoring his desperate-for-food stomach, he grabbed his friend's hands and twirled Henry around in a tight circle. He ended the dance cycle by holding Henry above the ground. His close friend laughed, used to being spun around like this. After all, it was he who had taught William how to dance God knows how long ago.

"What, are you going to ask if we can go get some lunch?" Henry asked jokingly. This was his daily schedule now. First, he had to get up, get ready for the day, then go to work. Once he arrived, he had time to work on the animatronic endoskeletons and make adjustments to the springlock suits with William's help. Next, it was time to go out to lunch. Lastly, the two of them always come back and he would make any quick fixes to the endoskeletons,  then help William with any employee interviews. That's what happened nearly every day now. They did everything together. Well, almost everything, at least. There were some things that Will did by himself as Henry worked on the things that he couldn't help with.

"Actually, no, I wasn't. I was going to ask if you'd like to come to the grocery store with me."

"You're back to no money again, aren't you?"

William stood Henry up and stepped away, then crossed his arms. "I have money, I'm just..."

"Saving it for bills again?" Henry asked, pitying his friend. Most of the money put into the diner came from Henry's wife, who was the head pediatric doctor at the hospital in the next city over, Silver Reef, where his older sister Jennifer lived. "Don't worry about it. Once this restaurant is a big hit, you won't have to save money just for bills. You'll just have it!"

"But what if Fredbear's doesn't become a hit?" William asked quietly, looking at his feet. His shoes were full of holes, constantly making his feet cold. Especially with the cold that sprung up out of nowhere that early October. 

"I'm positive it will. And if it doesn't, then future us can deal with it."

William looked up at his optimistic friend and offered a smile. "Yeah, I guess it is their problem. Not ours."