The Fall of the Aftons

056: William Afton

The smile on Michael's face was everything. As soon as little Evan snuck into the room from behind William, Michael's eyes widened with excitement and ecstasy. William couldn't help but laugh when Michael rushed off of his chair and gave the little boy a big hug. 

"How did you get Miss Iaea to allow you to take him from the Center?" Michael asked as he continued to hug the small boy. "She doesn't let anyone leave without special paperwork--and she's super overprotective of him because he's so young."

"Well, it's easy to bring him places when he's your kid," William said with a shrug, laughing when Michael went ballistic.

"You adopted him without telling me?!" he exclaimed

"It would've ruined the surprise, goofball!"

"Well, you could've at least told me you were adopting somebody!"

William shrugged again. "Come on, it's time for dinner."

~ ~ ~

Michael clearly loved Evan. It was amusing to watch as he fed the little infant. He laughed when Evan tried to take Michael's food from his plate on the table. He lightly chastised the boy when he refused to eat whatever Michael picked up on the tiny baby fork. Overall, he was great at keeping his new baby brother entertained but in a way where Evan wouldn't misbehave.

A tiny, sharp pain shot up William's neck, nearly making him shriek. He whipped his head to the side, seeing Henry laughing. He scowled and crossed his arms, looking away.

"Sorry, Will. I didn't mean to hurt you," Henry apologized, laughter filling his words. "I was trying to get your attention but you weren't answering me."

"Oh. Sorry. I was watching Michael and Evan," William replied as he looked back at the boys. 

Henry chuckled. "It's fine. It's pretty amazing how quickly he went from an adopted only child to a caring older brother. He took in that role really fast."

He nodded his head in agreement. "It is." He turned to Henry. "Did you need something?"

"I was going to ask you something, but I don't remember. Oh, well." Henry stood up and took his plate so he could bring it to the sink. "Would you like me to take your plate, too?" 

"Sure. Thanks."

Henry reached in front of him, took his plate, and walked away with the dishes. He watched his friend for a moment, then turned his attention back to his sons. Evan was happily chewing on a bite of food as he patted the high chair table. Michael stared at his plate of food with an odd, distant expression. William noticed that nothing was missing from his eldest son's plate. Not even a single bite of food was gone.

"Are you going to eat, Michael?" William asked worriedly. When Michael didn't answer, he asked, "There's not a problem with the food, is there?"

"I'm not hungry," Michael mumbled. He didn't look up from his food.

"Are you sure? You barely ate anything for breakfast. And I got another call from Noah's father earlier this evening. Noah's worried that you didn't eat anything for lunch again."

"I'm not hungry!" he exclaimed firmly. He sighed and nervously fidgeted with his thumbs.

William frowned. Michael had been "not hungry" almost every night recently. The calls from Mason were starting to get annoying, too. As was Terrance's constant worry about Michael's bullying issue at school.

William's attention was diverted from his apprehensive thoughts when Henry pinched his neck again.

He screamed, surprised, and smacked Henry's hand. "Henry!" he shouted irritably. "What in the world is wrong with you?!"

"It's funny!" Henry managed to say between laughs.

William rolled his eyes. "You can be such a tosser. You know that, right?" he asked. He couldn't help but chuckle, thought--his friend's laughter was just too contagious.

"But you love me, so it doesn't matter," Henry responded. He lightly tugged on William's typical braid before he wrapped himself around William's shoulders. 

"You're my friend," William felt the need to remind him. "And you're going to stay here overnight for two reasons. One, you're acting like you've drunk plonk. Two, you seem to be the only one who can get Michael to go to bed."

"Oh, come on, Will. You know that I didn't drink anything. You don't have anything good!" he exclaimed, laughter filling his words. "Besides, the homemade stuff Doc's mom makes is ten times better than any fancy, store-bought stuff."

"Who's Doc?" Michael asked curiously.

"My wife," he answered, a slight chuckle in his voice. "Everyone calls her Doc as a nickname."

"Your wife? But I thought you two were dating?" Michael said as he pointed back and forth between Henry and William.

Henry burst out into a fit of hysterical laughter. William could feel his face flame as he scrambled to find the words he needed to tell Michael that they weren't. Even if they were dating, they'd be breaking a major societal rule. Nobody would ever want to go to Fredbear's ever again and would never go to Fazbear's once it opened. But for some reason, even after he found the words to explain, he couldn't seem to force themselves out of his mouth.

"What's so funny?" Michael asked as he fed another bite of food to his little brother.

"We're not dating," Henry explained, not laughing as much as he previously was. He rested his hand on William's shoulder but William shrugged it off. "Even if we wanted to, we can't. First off, I can't because I'm married. That would be considered cheating, and that's not a good thing. Secondly, boys aren't allowed to date boys. And it's the same thing with girls. A boy can't date a boy, and a girl can't date a girl. It's against the rules."

"Oh," Michael murmured.