SURPRISE BITCHES! I BET YOU WEREN'T EXPECTING A RANDOM ASS CHRISTMAS FIC! WELL GUESS WHAT?! NEITHER WAS I! THIS STRAIGHT UP CAME FROM NOWHERE AND I AM JUST AS BAFFLED AS YOU ARE!
But seriously though, thank y'all so much for your patience with my inconsistent ass uploads. I won't try and promise to work on that, cause then I'll just let you down, so I'll just say that this is not the fanfic I was talking about on my announcement board lmao. That one is gonna probably turn out angsty, and this one is just cute confession fluff. Anyways...
Slight trigger warning for brief mentions of divorce and domestic violence. Both are mentioned but not in detail and only briefly.
Also, obligatory, this is not canon to my The Show Must Go On AU, but this is canon to my Happier Endings AU, which William and Henry decide to go their own separate ways after college and then reunite years later by complete chance. Maybe I should do more content for that AU.
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🎶Have yourself a merry little Christmas-🎶
The radio softly played its festively welcoming music as William sipped his cocktail then swirled the glass around in his hand. He briefly sucked his lips in and looked down into the stem glass. Betty had told him it was called a Poinsettia Cocktail when she had handed it to him, winking at him as she told him he’d need it. He’d been hesitant to take it before and was certainly regretting it now, as the drink had cranberries in it… Not that he had any sort of vendetta against cranberries, but given it was the holidays, he’d been going to his fair share of holiday parties these past few months, and was starting to really grow tired of them. Briefly, he looked around to see if anyone was watching him, then quickly dumped his drink out before setting down the glass.
“Not too big on cranberries, huh?” Clay asked. William widened his eyes and turned his head to look at Clay. The blonde man was leaning against the wall, holding a mug of hot cocoa and wearing a Christmas sweater that fit his body just a tad bit too snug.
“Ah… Apologies, I hadn’t realized you were standing there.” William replied awkwardly. Apparently he hadn’t done a good enough job of checking to make sure no one was watching.
“No worries. I won’t snitch on you to Betty.” Clay chuckled, sipping from his cocoa. “I’d have done the same. Besides, I bet you get to drink much nicer things than that now, huh?” he added with a wink.
“Oh it’s not that I don’t appreciate a good affordable cocktail anymore,” William laughs before lowering his voice a bit. “It’s just that you get sick of the taste of cranberries after having them so much…”
“Guessing you’ve been going to lots of parties, haven’t you, Mr. Hollywood?” Clay teased, causing William to blush a little.
“It comes with the whole acting gig.”
“Mmmh. Amazed you even bothered with us. I mean, you’ve been to lots of parties and-”
“It’s nice to be amongst old friends.” William said, interrupting him. He knew what Clay was going to say. He knew at least one person would have the balls to say it when he came back to town.
Clay nodded and took another sip of his cocoa. The two men looked out at both their families. Both Betty and Linda were drinking wine and chatting up a storm in the corner, while Charlie, Sammy, Michael, Elizabeth and Carlton all played with each other. They seemed to have a game of Life going. William smiled a little bit as Elizabeth and Sammy argued on if it was against the rules to have a set of two blue pieces married to each other, with Elizabeth insisting it was allowed. Eventually, Sammy gave up and allowed her to place a blue piece in the driver’s seat, right next to her other blue piece, which she did quite triumphantly. William chuckled.
“Well, looks like she’s gotten your sas.” Clay pointed out.
“Oh they both do. Michael has just learned to only bring his out when necessary.”
“Oh, and when is it constituted as necessary?” Clay asked, quirking up his brow at William as he glanced over at him.
“When he needs to get his way.” William scoffed, playfully of course. “Can’t even get him to bed without reminding me of the fact he’s my flesh and blood.” Clay cracked a smile at that, but William didn’t notice. His eyes were on Charlie and Sammy. “Speaking of flesh and blood, those two sure have grown, haven’t they?” William said. He felt a strange dryness creep up in his throat. He needed to ask Clay something. “... Is there anymore hot cocoa?”
“Oh, we have too damn much of it. Want me to make you some?” Clay asked.
“That would be rather lovely, thank you.”
Clay walked off and William just stood there, continuing to watch the children. How does one even phrase such a weird question about their long-time friends’ personal life… Especially when you no longer felt like you were a part of their personal life?
The thought made William cringe. He’d never even considered how he was basically a stranger stepping back into Henry’s life. The two had been so close as boys, but after college, William had realized he had needed to go off to pursue his life’s purpose, even if it meant Henry wouldn’t be by his side throughout it. After all, chasing after a taken man was far from healthy for the body and mind, let alone the heart. He hadn’t wanted to leave Henry, but he knew he couldn’t wait on him forever, and he had done it. He had done it rather well, in fact… Or so he thought, because even now, as he stood here, surrounded by old friends and their new families, he still felt that familiar ache in his heart, and he knew what it was.
Despite everything, he still loved Henry.
This really shouldn’t have surprised him, but yet it still felt strange to him. Even after all this time apart, he still felt that familiar ache in his chest when he saw the man. It was both a beautiful yet pitiful ache, the ache of knowing you’re hopelessly in love with someone, and you can’t do anything about it other than pursue them or pretend to move on. It was oddly poetic, in a way, how, despite his growth as both a person and an actor, his heart still ached and yearned for-
“Hey, earth to William Afton?”
William snapped out of his thoughts and looked over at Clay, who was holding out a large mug of hot cocoa to him.
“Oh…. My apologies…” William said, gently taking the large mug from Clay’s hands.
“Something is on your mind.” Clay remarked.
“Ah… Yes… So… Henry-”
Clay chuckled. “Oh of course it’s about Henry.”
William pouted and looked at Clay. “Oh don’t act like it’s obvious…”
“It’s very obvious how often you think about him. Allow me to be the first to say, it’s nice to know some things never change.” Clay joked.
William sighed and sipped his cocoa before deciding to ask the question. “Actually, I was thinking about his wife.”
“Oh. Divorce.” Clay replied bluntly. He could immediately tell where this conversation was going.
“Ah… Well, I can’t say I’m surprised she left him. She was always-”
“Nope. Other way around.”
“Wait… He left her?” William asked, actually surprised to learn this. Clay nodded.
“Oh yeah. You should have been here to see it. Jesus what a mess. He served her papers and she got physical. Charlie called me after locking herself in the closet.” Clay sighed.
“At least she was smart enough to dial 911.”
“Oh no, I mean she called me. Normally I’d be upset but the kid did something smart. She called me so there wouldn’t be any sirens to alert her mom… So I got to witness some shit. Man that saved his ass in court. She was going to try and take damn near everything.” Clay groaned. “You should have seen the look on that bitch’s face when I came up to testify against her. We ended up mopping the floor with that gold digger’s tears.”
“Oh god…-”
“Yeah… Anyways, he left her, got to keep everything and she’s off, probably leeching off some other poor sap.”
“... Jesus… I feel guilty for not at least being around for that…” William mumbled.
“Hey, at least he had a pretty good support system. Not to mention, he had a hell of a lot of people who were backing him. Hell of a lot of single mothers are trying to get a slice now too.” Clay joked. “How about you?”
“What do you mean? Are you asking if I’m being pursued by single mothers or-”
“No no, I mean you and Linda. What’s going on there?” Clay asked. “Do I remember correctly or did you not come out as gay in college?”
“Ah, I guess you didn’t hear the big news about Linda and I-” William chuckled awkwardly.
“I’m not one for paying attention to celebrity gossip.”
“Right… Well uh, I didn’t exactly come out in college… More so fairly recently actually…” William corrected. “But her and I got a divorce and we’re co-parenting.”
“... Huh… She seems surprisingly fine with this-”
“I mean, she was shocked at first and it took a bit of time for her to process, but she said she holds no ill-will towards me and understands… She also joked that she should have expected this of me, considering I’m a theatre major.”
Clay laughed for a moment then asked “And the kids?”
“They were not surprised.”
Clay laughed again.
“It’s been nice though. It feels like a massive burden is off my shoulders.” William continued. “... Though coming back here, it’s reminded me of another burden I have yet to let go of.”
Clay didn’t say anything, but he nodded in understanding. He had known for years William had been head over heels for Henry. It felt obvious to everyone except Henry himself, who tended to be denser than a brick when it came to realizing people liked him.
“Where is Henry anyways?” William asked.
“Not sure.” Clay shrugged. “Hey, has anyone else seen Henry?” he asked the others.
“He said he needed to wrap up a few last gifts.” Linda replied. “He should be down any time now.”
William nodded and looked towards the staircase. As if right on cue, Henry came down the stairs, holding a few more wrapped boxes, which he proceeded to set under the tree.
“Sorry about that. Took me an embarrassingly long time to find the tape.” Henry chucked. “You won’t believe where it got stuck.”
“Was it your hair again?” Clay asked with a grin.
“Lucky guess! That means you get to open a gift first!” Henry replied, joining William and Clay in leaning against the wall.
“Oh lucky me! I get the first pair of Christmas socks!” Clay replied. It was hard to tell if Clay was being sarcastic or not.
“Daddy, when do we get to open presents?” Charlie asked, looking up at Henry with her big, brown eyes.
“After dinner, sweetheart.” Henry replied gently. Charlie nodded and went back to playing with the others. They were on their fifth round of Life, and seemed to be making a graveyard for all their old player pieces now, and moving the children up to the driver’s seats.
“Huh… Never seen it played like that before.” William said.
“Oh, that’s our special little way of playing. Uh, Charlie came up with it. She says the game is too short and asked me why we don’t get to play as the kids that the adults had afterwards? So yeah, she made up a rule that the game keeps going until there’s no more player pieces and everyone is dead, and the winner is the person with the most money at the end.” Henry said.
“Well… That’s certainly creative.” William replied.
“Like I said earlier, she’s a very smart kid.” Clay said. “By the way, Henry, want anything to drink?”
“Yeah sure. I’ll have some hot cocoa.”
“You sure you don’t want one of those wonderful cocktails Betty made?” Clay jokingly asked. Henry scrunched up his face and shook his head, making William realize the man had decorated his beautiful hair in present bows.
“I absolutely loathe cranberries.” he groaned.
Clay laughed. “Alright I’ll be back with your hot chocolate.”
Henry watched as Clay walked away, then turned his attention back to William, who was staring at him.
“... I love what you’ve done with your hair…”
“Oh thank you! You can thank my kids for the idea. I woke up this morning with my head almost completely covered in them! Figured I’d put some in my hair to be a bit festive for tonight! After all, this is the first Christmas I’ve gotten to celebrate with you in years!” Henry replied, a large grin on his face. The way Henry looked at William made his chest begin to ache again.
“Yeah, it is pretty nice.” William replied back, softer than intending to.
“I’ll admit, I’m actually kinda surprised you came back up to celebrate with us.”
“Why’s that?” William asked.
“Don’t take this weird, but I kinda assumed you’d forgotten about us.” Henry said, awkwardly chuckling. William recognized there was pain behind that chuckle and he couldn’t help but frown.
“I could never forget about you… We’ve been friends since we were just young boys, Henry. I mean, I still remember how we met and-”
“I mean… You never called… Never sent letters… I mean you did at first, but-”
William sighed. “Look, I… Okay you do have a point there. I didn’t keep in touch very well, but I was dealing with some complicated things at the time. I needed distance and I should have communicated that better. I’m sorry.”
“... So you’ll keep in contact, right?”
“Of course.”
Clay walked over with a mug of hot cocoa for Henry, then excused himself, claiming he had to go help Betty with something. Henry nodded, but WIlliam caught that look in Clay’s eye as he made direct eye-contact with the man, then watched as Clay discreetly looked up before walking away. William’s eyes briefly darted up and he caught sight of it.
Ah… A mistletoe… Now it made sense. Clay’s odd movements made sense earlier now. He’d been trying to get William and Henry under the mistletoe together.
How sly of him.
William sipped his drink, acting casual about this circumstance. Henry had not yet noticed what they stood beneath.
“Mike looks a lot like you.” Henry said.
“Yes, so I’ve been told. And both Charlie and Sammy look so much like you.”
Henry smiled at that. “Yeah. It’s weird… And they’re growing so fast. All of them are.”
William nodded. “It seems you’re doing a good job raising them, especially on your own. I can’t imagine how hard that must be, especially with twins.”
“Oh uh, I guess you heard about the divorce?”
“Yeah. Clay actually just told me earlier. I actually was shocked you’re the one who initiated it.” William confessed.
“Yeah. I was shocked too. Uh, I mean, I’d been considering it for a while before it happened, but… I never thought I’d get the guts to actually do it. Smoked a shit ton the day before. I was so damn nervous.”
“Considering how Clay told me she reacted, I can’t blame you for being nervous.”
“Yeah…” Henry said. He was silent for a few moments, drinking his cocoa, before he followed it up with something that caught William off guard. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you.”
“Apologies, but what did you say?”
“I said I’m sorry for not listening to you back then. Looking back I feel like an absolute moron.” Henry repeated.
“What are you talking about?” William asked, genuinely confused.
“Back in college you got upset when I told you I was seeing her. You told me I could do better and I did something shitty and just brushed you off as being jealous.”
“Oh… Right… I’d forgotten about that. Though, I was a bit drunk, so that really comes as no surprise there.” William chuckled. “... Though, you were right on the jealous assumption. Hah… God I was so upset… I’d always liked you, so… You know…” William shrugged.
Henry nearly choked on his cocoa. William quickly sat his mug down and focused on trying to help Henry. “Good lord, are you alright-?”
Henry coughed a bit but gave a thumbs up. “Sorry, I swallowed wrong. Did you just say you liked me?”
William blinked for a few seconds, processing that he had just, oh-so-naturally and oh-so-unintentionally just told Henry he had feelings for him. He couldn’t help but be somewhat annoyed with himself at this fact because this had been a task William had been struggling to do for years and now all of a sudden it decided to just… Slip from his mouth with no effort. Henry seemed to notice the irritation, because he quickly misinterpreted it as being directed at him.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to frustrate you like that.” he quickly apologized.
“As much as I appreciate the gesture, I’m afraid it’s a tad too late to apologize for frustrating me… By many years. However, you are not what I’m currently frustrated at. My current frustration is directed only at myself…” William groaned. “Because I’ve been trying to tell you for years I like you and for all that time it’s remained caught in my pitiful throat like a cat trying to cough up the world’s largest hairball, only for it to just now slip out so effortlessly.”
Henry felt his face get warm at William reconfirming his confession to be genuine. “So-” he started to say. William quickly cut him off.
“As much as I do love the sound of your voice, I do need to cut you off and speak on this before I choke back on my feelings for another twenty or so years.”
Henry quickly shut his mouth and nodded, urging William to continue with his words. This both made WIlliam somewhat anxious but relieved him as well.
“But yes, I was jealous when you told me about her and you. It’s why I’d gotten drunk like that, to deal with my own repressed emotions. I hadn’t expected myself to go and get angry at you like that, though… And perhaps it’s time I come clean about other things as well.” William sighed. “... The reason I had ceased contact with you for a while was due to my own feelings for you. I feel immature looking back on it now, but at the time, I felt the only way I could ever get over you was taking some time away to focus on myself. I don’t think it did what I was hoping it would…”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, when I came back to Utah, I, admittedly, was not expecting to see you again. Do not take this the wrong way, I am happy I ran into you again, but… When I saw your face, I realized the feelings never really left. Perhaps I might have never given myself a proper chance to get over you, instead just focusing on hiding my feelings with my career, or if there’s just never a shot at me forgetting how you make me feel…” William took a deep breath, preparing to say what he’s been dying to say for years. “And it’s why I came here for Christmas. I needed to see you again. Part of me knows I’m not doing myself any favors by running away from my affections like that any longer. I needed to come back not only to make amends, but to tell you that I am deeply in love with you, and I always have been.”
The silence hung in the air after those last few words left his mouth. The only noise that remained was the soft sound of George Michael’s soft, melodic voice over the radio. Not even the sound of chatting from the others in the house could be heard, though, neither of them had also realized that Clay, Betty and Linda had ushered the children to another room to give the two men some privacy. William watched with an ache in his chest as Henry stood there, taking in what William had just told him.
“... Wow… Uh… Jesus that’s a lot to take in-” Henry finally said.
“I understand. It’s a lot for me as well. I have no idea why the hell it’s only now this all comes out so effortlessly. I can’t tell if it’s that cocktail I had earlier or not-” William joked.
“Oh come on, amazed you didn’t joke about the mistletoe above your head! … You do realize we’re standing under one, right?”
“Oh, I am aware. Though, a confession under the mistletoe wasn’t my intention.” William admits.
“It is quite fitting, even if it wasn’t intentional.”
William noticed Henry didn’t back away and he couldn’t help but blush.
Well, William might as well shoot his shot. He already laid his emotions bare.
“Are you by chance already spoken for?” William asked.
“Depends, do you plan on kissing me under the mistletoe?” Henry asked, a big, doofy grin on his face.
William placed his fingers beneath Henry’s chin and tilted it up. He stared at him for a moment, then gave him a tender kiss on the lips before pulling away. “So, are you spoken for, Mr. Emily? Or are you my Christmas gift for the year?”
“Well, I guess I am spoken for if I’m your gift for the year.” Henry replied, a sly smile on his face. He was so proud of himself for being clever, William could tell.
“Well then, I dare say this Christmas has already exceeded all the others, and we haven’t even gotten to ripping apart all the pretty paper yet.” William smiled.
“Shh, don’t say that. The kids are gonna hear you and then they’ll get worked up and think they get to unwrap presents early.” Henry said, placing a finger to William’s lips.
“Well, I got you before dinner, so I don’t see why they can’t.” William joked, making Henry laugh.
“Okay no, Clay is trying to teach Carlton patience and I don’t want to interfere with his parenting.”
“Alright then, fair enough. So shall we go join the others for dinner then?” William suggests.
“Yeah. We don’t want to keep the kids waiting.” Henry said, taking William’s hand in his own.
And that made his chest fuzzy.
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Wow I just realized I'm gonna publish this right as it hits 12 AM on Christmas. How fitting lmao.
Anyways...
Happy Holidays 💕