William wasn’t quite sure what he would do if it wasn’t for Jane. The woman had kindly offered to babysit his siblings for him tonight, and while he had been all too ready to refuse, she had cheekily reminded him of Nathaniel’s rule. He was to accept all presents given to him on his birthday, and he supposed that Jane’s offer did masquerade as a gift of sorts. He was grateful for the chance to sit at the doorman’s desk and doodle away in his sketchpad, but before long the silence became daunting and he almost missed having to tell Abby off for dragging yet another rodent indoors.
He was busy sketching a picture of Jeremy clutching onto his old, ratty teddy bear, steadily ignoring the building ache in his hands, when he heard the door open and a familiar voice chasing the sound.
Looking up, he pushed a small smile onto his face when he saw Diana, although it wavered a little at the grin she wore. Always unnerved when he saw a smile like that, Will half expected her to throw something at him as a means of wishing him a happy birthday. While he’d become an expert at dodging objects being lobbed at him, having gotten plenty of practise from his father, he was tired and figured his reflexes weren’t up to speed. Nevertheless, he stood his ground and watched her warily when she thrust a small, giftwrapped box in his direction.
“Di…” he began, as if to protest. There was a hint of amusement in his voice when he took note of the way the blonde was standing, but attempting to reject the gift while not sounding ungrateful was more of a pressing priority to him at that moment.
Eventually, he caved, knowing that the wrath of Nathaniel would be a lot more bruising to his pride than simply accepting a gift. He threw Diana a look, before taking the box. His ears burned as he made to unopen it, the idea of someone watching him react to a present being a daunting one. He found himself staring at a black box, the name of an expensive designer printed on the top of it. Praying that this was a gag gift, just so Diana could see his face look the way it did right now, William lifted the lid with shaking hands.
Inside, a watch was nestled, not at all lacking in quality or expenditure, and he felt his eyes sting for some unfathomable reason. It was the kind of watch men who wore clean cut business suits donned, not boys who were only venturing into proper adulthood and didn’t know which way was up half the time. Knowing that his face was burning a bright red, he didn’t dare look up at his friend.
“Di, you know I can’t take this,” he said, quietly, still staring at the quartz face of the watch, and the slim, shining hands which let him know that his birthday was almost over. He wished that Diana had been late so he wouldn’t have to take it. He was sure that Nathaniel’s stupid rule didn’t extend to this level of generosity, from Diana, no less, who made a show of hating him on a daily basis.
She could tell by the expression on his face from the moment he’d taken the box from her hands that he was planning on refusing it. But there wasn’t a chance in hell Diana was going to let him do that. Will was so desperate to refuse help from his friends, she knew Jane and Nathaniel had offered so many times to help with the kids (though it looked like tonight he’d been forced to accept Jane’s offer of babysitting), to help with money, clothes, work, and a million other things. But every single time Will had refused, point blank, with little to no explanation. Diana had long since learnt that this was a stupid endeavour on the part of her friends, and she tended not to offer, it was pointless. Even the elephant in the room, Will’s dad, the only thing they weren’t allowed to talk about within their group, was off limits for Diana and the rest of them, though they were never even allowed to get so far as asking if they could help where he was concerned.
His face shifted as soon as he pulled off the paper to reveal the logo that sat, gleaming, on top of the box. She watched him carefully, from the tips of his ears that were turning red, to his eyes that looked oddly glazed as he pulled the lid of the box with slightly shaking hands. Of course she wasn’t surprised by his reaction when he saw the watch that lay nestled inside. She’d known it was ostentatious, and perhaps a little too much, but Will didn’t own a watch, and she knew that deep down beneath all that pride, he would like it. Frowning lightly, she could tell that he was determinedly avoiding her gaze,
“You look like you’re about to fucking cry,” she stated rather bluntly, watching the colour rise in his cheeks. In all honesty Diana had expected an outright, stubborn refusal, because it was only really in situations like this where Will would be aggressively assertive with her, and she would let him. But this quiet refusal had unsettled her and she was really sure how to deal with it. So she resorted to her usual tactic of attacking things head on and with as little thought as possible.
“Yes you can. Why on earth not?” she countered, but when he still didn’t move, she took the box from him, rather roughly, and carefully pulled the watch from its wrappings, taking a moderate amount of care not to get any finger marks on it. Tucking the box beneath her arm, Diana wrapped her fingers around his left forearm and pulled it towards her so she could fasten the watch around his wrist, doing it quickly so he didn’t have chance to pull away.
“There. And remember Nate said you can’t refuse any gifts on your birthday, and according to your latest birthday present it’s still your birthday so you can keep your mouth shut,” she said bossily, reminding herself of her older sister with an alarming jolt.
Turning her back on Will she placed the now empty box on the desk where he had been sitting, next to his sketch pad, which currently displayed a drawing of one of Will’s younger brothers, the one who’d thrown pudding at her the first time she’d met him. It was a remarkable likeness from what she could tell. It also made her wonder where the kids were, perhaps just lurking out of sight, ready to attack her with more food that wouldn’t come out of her clothing.
“Cute drawing,” she commented, turning back to him and leaning against the desk, “Where are all your children anyway?”
