Henry releases his very soul in one breath.
He's done with Midterms. He took his last quiz and finally, he can look forward to the winter break. Picking up his books, Henry returns to his car and heads out for the grocery store. He deserves a little treat for himself after the hell of finals.
It's still undetermined whether he'll go back home for the break or not. While he does miss his parents, he's not sure he can handle three whole weeks of what happened last time. Three weeks of missing the past and wondering why he doesn't feel right.
"Is this it?" The cashier asks and Henry pauses. He just bought some basic foods and a mini cheese cake.
"Should I have gotten something else?" Are they trying to enforce sales now? This can't possibly be a marketing strategy.
The cashier shrugs. "Most people have been stocking up for the storm. It's supposed to last a few days at least."
This is the first time Henry's heard about this. "Really? How...how bad will it be?" Logan doesn't shut down for most storms. His boss said that the last time the schools had a snow day was ten years ago.
"Well, they're shutting down the schools until next Monday. They might not even host church meets to keep people off the roads."
"Wow." Henry looks back down at his purchase. Maybe he should stock up. But on what? New Harmony never really got storms besides thunder storms and the occasional few inches of snow. "So...can I go back for more stuff?" He asks, feeling more than a little anxious for keeping the others waiting in line.
"Go ahead. I don't want you starving to death or anything."
Henry leaves the line with his already bought food. He goes straight back in and tries to get whatever will last the longest. A few bags of rice, plenty of microwavable top ramen, and some cans. They won't have access to a kitchen, but the dorm's little sitting area should be enough. He also grabs a case of water bottles, just in case a pipe breaks too.
By the time he's back in line, he feels pretty prepared for a week of hiding away, but his mind turns back to his parents. If he left today, could he make it to them before the roads ice over? And once he's there, how long would it take for him to get back? Would he miss classes because he's stuck in New Harmony?
As he packs the groceries into his car, he spots another telephone booth and decides he'll just call them. After slipping in a few coins, he waits for someone to pick up.
"Henry?" Mom asks and he can't help but smile.
"Hey, Mom. Um, how-"
"You just finished midterms didn't you? How was it? Did you do good?"
He fumbles for a moment. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, I think I did good. I won't really know until later." He only half listens to Mom's praise. He thinks of just going down to visit them no matter what kind of conflicts come up, but then he gets a bad feeling. "Hey, Mom?" He interrupts her but doesn't have time to apologize for it. "I'm thinking...I might not be able to make it for Christmas this year."
It's going to happen, he knows it will. He prepares for Mom's outburst, but to his surprise, he just hears a sigh. "I was worried about that. The storm already hit us pretty hard. We lost power all night and your dad had to bring out the old snow shovels." So, the storm's coming from the south. That means he definitely can't drive over to see them then. He'll hit it eventually no matter what. "-lucky Jen's over to-"
"Wait, what?!" Henry interrupts again, feeling worse for it this time. "Sorry, but did you say Jen's over there? Right now?"
"Yeah! Did I forget to tell you?"
'Yes!', he wants to scream, but he doesn't. Jen really came over for Christmas the only year he can't. And now that he knows she's there, he wants nothing more than to go visit as well. "How bad is it, Mom? Is it just snow?" He can handle driving in snow. He can handle a little ice. Maybe-
"Oh, Henry, it's horrible. There's a good half foot of snow everywhere and the ice is really thick. Jen fell twice just walking out the door!." Henry's heart sinks. "Look, I'm sorry you can't come over this year, but I would feel a lot better if you stayed in Logan. It's too dangerous to be driving through that."
He rubs at his eyes, already feeling them water from the frustration. "I won't, Mom. I'll...I'll send you a card or something. Maybe I can call on Christmas day." It's not enough. He wanted to see them, to see Jen. This isn't fair.
"Thank you, Henry. I really am sorry you can't be out here." There's a long pause and Henry thinks he might actually cry, but then Mom's voice turns chipper again. "Oh! Maybe you could send us a picture of you and William! That would be nice!"
Oh. Oh no. He didn't even think about that.
He'll be stuck with William for three weeks. And not just being around him every so often, but snowed in with him. He might not be able to leave the building at all.
Henry actually sobs this time and it's a little pathetic, but he's at his end. He has no more patience left for this stupid storm and being trapped with William will only make it so much worse. He might not survive the end of this.
The call cuts off and he doesn't bother calling Jen. He already knows where she is and she wouldn't pick up the phone anyway. So, he returns to his car, cries for another ten minutes, then drives to the mechanic's shop for Fredbear. If he's going to get stuck inside for that long, then he needs to have something to work on too.
"Yeah, don't bother coming in for work." His boss says, as Henry walks out with boxes of robot parts. "We won't be fixing any cars until the roads are fine again. But I can tell ya there'll be lots of work to do after that."
He expected that. It's sad to think of people being left without cars during this, but there's nothing he or even his boss can do about it. They risk crashing their own cars just getting into the shop.
The drive back to the dormitory is purposefully slow. He thinks of any other place to go, but when he comes up empty, Henry accepts his fate and just parks. He grabs the groceries first and goes up to the room. As soon as he steps inside, William gives him a look.
"Why are you here? I though you were going to visit your family?"
He wonders if William will cry too. "I can't. They live South of here and that's where the storm is coming from." He lets it sink in. William's eyes go wide and the fear would be funny if the sentiment wasn't shared. Then, he states their doom. "We're getting snowed in together."
William sits tall, his eyes closing for a moment as he breathes deeply. It looks like a coping mechanism, honestly. Then, he opens his eyes, looking calm as ever and Henry hates that he still doesn't show much emotion. "Well, good think we have enough food and water to last us that long."
Henry looks at the fridge and to his surprise, there's already groceries there. Well, he can't complain about having more food options. Though, their choices are pretty different. How British can this guy be? Baked beans and bread? He might as well have gotten-
He finds three cases of tea as he's putting the ramen away. Perfect.
After a trip back for Fredbear, Henry finally closes the door and settles into his bed. He pointedly doesn't look at William. Instead, he thinks of literally anything else he can do. For the very first time in Henry's twenty years of life, he's upset for not getting homework.
What will William do? Henry's pretty sure the man lacks any real hobbies besides being a perfectionist and sleeping. But he doesn't ask because He really doesn't care that much.
Henry says a silent prayer, hoping that he's somehow saved from the this torture. Challenges may make you stronger, but this can't be worth it.
That's definitely more than six inches of snow. It could even been a foot. Henry can't really tell from just looking at it, but he doesn't have a ruler either.
"Looking at it won't make it melt faster, you know."
Henry turns back, watching William write something in his stupid little notebook. The same notebook he lives off of because anything that isn't structure is pure chaos. "I wasn't trying to make it melt. I just wonder how deep it is." He looks back out the window. "It's completely covered my car." There won't be any lasting damages because of that, will there? He doesn't have the money to get new parts right now.
But either way, that's a future Henry's problem.
Henry sits at his desk and begins drawing. He's not sure what he wants to make, but his pencil starts forming familiar shapes. He's soon lost in the way his wrist moves, the only focus being the figure slowly coming together in front of him.
It's not a traditional drawing. The pose isn't dynamic and his proportions are a little messy, but it's the only way he knows. He's an engineer at heart and that translates into nearly everything he does.
The end result is another bear looking robot. It's similar to how Fredbear is supposed to look once he's all finished, but instead of being wide enough to fit Henry's bigger shape, this one is an average shape. If he were to scale it up, someone might be able to fit inside, but it probably couldn't work as an actual suit. He's not even sure if Fredbear will, depending on if he gets the springlocks to work.
He tries another animal this time. Maybe a Hippo or a Frog? But as he starts forming the body, it slowly falls apart. He can't figure out how to translate the animal's features into what he wants to make.
He stops and stares down at the ugly looking frog. Frustration sets in and he decides he's had enough of just sitting here. He carefully puts his papers away, then exits the room and goes into the sitting area. Two people are already there, making coffee. They both wave at him as he passes.
"Yeah, it's looking that way." The first says, a football player if Henry remembers right. "Most people got out as soon as they could, whether they had to take a plane or not."
"I wish I thought of that." The second says, a slightly smaller football player. They got lucky in their roommate pairing. "My little brother was super bummed when I couldn't come over. It's really gonna suck being away from family for the holidays."
Henry decides that he no longer needs to use the sitting area and returns to his room. He doesn't want to think about family right now.
But as he sits on his bed, his mind is filled with nothing but home. He thinks of the past years, before Jen left. They would decorate cookies and give them to the neighbors. Henry would sneak a few and get in trouble, but it never really stopped him from doing it again.
Or just last year, when they were remaking the wreath to go on the door. He helped Mom pick out the decorations and hot glue them all on. It ended up looking pretty trashy, but she refused to take it down because of the hours they spent making it. They've probably already decorated for Christmas. They might be making cookies without him and they'll drink hot coco. He'll miss all of his favorite things because of the storm.
But most of all, he'll miss Jen. Once she goes back to the city, it'll be like she never came back. He'll never know why she's ignoring him.
"Could you please stop moping? This is already difficult."
Henry looks up and just catches William's side-eye. "I'm not...why is this bothering you? I'm not even saying anything."
William sighs, like he wasn't the one to speak first, and caps his pen. He turns to Henry, already looking out of patience for some reason. "You don't need to say anything to be a bother. Just knowing you're sitting there doing nothing is irritating enough."
"What exactly am I supposed to be doing, then?" He only really half wants an answer because any suggestion from William is just bad. "I don't have homework, I can't go to the mechanic's shop and I can't leave the building."
"I don't care what you do so long as you don't bother me. If you want to wallow in self-pity, then you can do so elsewhere."
"I'm not wallowing in self-pity!" Henry steps off of his bed, feeling the need to defend himself again whatever image William's made of him. "I'm upset because I can't see my family and that seems like a perfectly valid reason to be 'moping'!"
William rolls his eyes and Henry glares at him. "Oh please. How tragic is it that you can't be babied by your sweet mother and father."
"I'm not-"
"Do you have a girlfriend waiting for you too? That would explain the sexual frustration."
Henry is a very patient person. He likes to think that he's not prone to outbursts and rarely gets involved in big conflicts, but today is different. Today, he lets his impulses control him and before he can stop himself, Henry grabs the stupid notebook and throws it on the ground.
It feels good, actually. Really good and even when some sense comes back in, telling him that he acted childish, he still doesn't regret it. But as William stands suddenly, his tall form leaning over Henry's, he realizes that maybe poking the tiger has some consequences.
William's eyes are narrowed as he picks up the notebook, his expression still eerily calm. "I'm not sure what you think you just accomplished, but I assure you, this isn't what you want. I am not someone you should tempt."
"You're going to threaten me?" Henry doesn't back down. He's too far into this to just give up, to let William have his way. "Let me tell you something, then. I won't let you nitpick every single thing I do anymore. If you have a sad and miserable life, then fine, but don't bring me down to your level."
William tilts his head to the side, slowly. The calm exterior is starting to crack. "And what level might that be?"
"The level where you'd make fun of someone for being genuinely upset! I could be at home with people who care about me and now I'm stuck with you!"
There's a moment where where neither of them speak. Then, William stands up tall again, his chin held high with pride. "I see what kind of person you are, now."
"You don't know me!" Henry shouts, not even giving him the chance to share whatever he thinks he's found out. "You know nothing about me or my family! Did you know that my sister's been avoiding me for months? Did you know that I haven't seen her for two whole years and the only time she's over for the holidays, I can't be there?! What about the fact that Dad's getting sick and none of us know why?! Or that Mom's trying to hold everything together, but she's starting to slip and I'm the only one who can help, but I'm not even there!"
He's breathing hard and his head hurts from shouting, but he's just so angry. And when William still doesn't give a damn expression, it only makes the fire grow. "Like I said, I've figured you out. You used to have a wonderful little family but now that you're out of your happy-go-lucky world, you think everyone else should accommodate for you." Henry doesn't speak. He can't, but William takes it as an agreement. A sick smile twists onto his piece of shit face.
William starts to turn back to his desk, leaving the argument there, but Henry can't stop it. He gives into the dark thoughts clouding his mind and he says the first thing that comes up. "You're jealous." William stops. "You're jealous that I have somewhere to go during the holidays and you don't. Mommy and Daddy don't want their bratty little son back, so you're suck here with me."
He's about to say more, but William's turning around and he pushes Henry against the wall. Henry coughs from the sudden hit to his back, but then William stands over him, his arms pressed firmly against the wall on either side of Henry's head, caging him in. The man's eyes are intense and for once, William looks genuinely pissed. They're pressed so close that Henry can feel every warm breath that passes between them. It makes his stomach flip and his heart beats faster and faster, but he doesn't shy away. He stares back into William's eyes, just as determined.
When the man does speak, his tone is dangerously low. "I hate you, Emily." He spits the name out like poison. "I fucking hate you."
Henry goes silent. They say a thousand words with their eyes alone and both of them seem to come to an agreement. They hate each other more than they've ever hated anyone.
And that this is going to be a very, very long week.
Oh? You thought I was going to stop at petty arguments? Well, you're wrong.