I genuinely have no idea how I could ever look at PD without upp’s influence on it now. Sure we get a lot of context and details about Williams life pre-PD, but we also now always know that PD, to William, is like a second chance at being a friend.
With how self deprecating and hyperaware of his flaws he is in PD, I’m so so SO certain he thinks upp will be and are better off without him, one way or another. William may make fun of Dakota sometimes and purposefully mislead Vyncent to get a laugh, but he’s so much more of a Guide to both of them and a proper shoulder to lean on.
William stands up for Ashe against Mark (something he never did for Isaac), William takes care to gingerly approach traumatic situations his friends have experienced, tries his best to help soothe that ache for Dakota, even if he doesn’t do it quite right most of the time (something he never did for Norah) and William, despite his moments of jealousy and pettiness, never leaves anyone’s side whenever he can help it, and never forces anyone to go with him into danger: Vyncent in Grayscale. William never held it against him that he left, despite clearly being hurt and saddened about it. And in fact, when David was knocked out and Will was preparing to curse him, he offered Vyncent the option to Leave, not to burden himself with Williams mess (something he never did for any of his friends in upp).
Williams promise to PD in the s2 finale, once all is said and done, being “I promise to protect you” means so much to me with this in mind also . Throws up