Go Home, Will!
William is refusing to go home from work, due to being slammed with so much paperwork. But Henry is having none of it. So he pulls an inconvenient prank on his buddy in an attempt to get him away from the work desk. And it works! Well...kinda.
I was in a rare mood to write some fluffy Afton & Emily content. And this is what I came up with! I hope you enjoy!
William and Henry’s friendship was unlike any friendships between two males would really look like. It was more fun and silly, buddy-buddy if you will. They were opposites in a lot of ways, but they always found that silly, childish middle ground.
And there was this one time when their childishness was on full display:
One day, William had been working overtime…and no matter how many pre-punch out warnings Henry had gave him, the man just refused to pack up to go home. William had been sitting at his desk, working on paperwork with his black telephone right beside him. And Henry had already packed up his stuff, and was about to leave. He looked at William. “You realize it’s 10 after 5, right?” Henry asked.
William looked at his watch, before sighing as he stared at his stack of papers. “I can’t go yet. I have to finish this.” William told him.
“Come on! It’s quitting time. Don’t you wanna go home and see your kids?” Henry asked, poking his shoulder. “I do. But I also need to get a few more of these pages done before I go home. I’m slammed. So unless you wanna help me get these done on time, then leave me be.” He told him.
Henry chuckled and pulled on something. “Good luck then.” He said before walking out of the room.
William looked over at the telephone, expecting a phone call to get one more crucial detail so he could finish this top sheet. But looking at the telephone, something caught the corner of his eye: something was missing.
“What-” William looked towards the outlet. Where’s the cord? William looked towards the side of the telephone and verbally cursed. “Henry, have you seen the phone cord?” William asked, turning to look for him. “No! I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Henry replied casually. “The-the phone cord for the-” William looked at Henry and towards his hand.
“Oh! I’m sorry…” Henry waved the black thing in his hand. “Do you mean this little cord?” Henry asked with a smirk.
“I-Henry…” William started to walk up to Henry, but watched as Henry stepped back at the same time with a growing smirk on his face. William’s face was slowly growing less and less amused. “Henry…” He muttered.
“Whaaat?” Henry replied.
“Give it to me, now.” William ordered, holding out his hand.
“And risk you staying till 2am like last time?” Henry added. “Nah.”
William made a fist and started to run up to him. “GIVE IT!” William yelled, jumping to tackle him down.
But Henry dodged his tackle and ran a few steps away, laughing his head off at William’s faceplant against the floor, before taking off running down the hall. “COME AND GET IT, LOSER!” Henry shouted.
William slapped the ground before getting up, and sprinting down the hall after him. “HENRY, THIS IS RIDICULOUS.”
“I THINK YOUR MISSUS WOULD DISAGREE.” Henry teased over his shoulder.
Henry sprinted into the security office and out the exit to the hallway on the other side. Then, he sprinted down that hallway back to the front.
“HENRY I SWEAR TO GOD!” William was slowly catching up to Henry, and trying to think of how to trap him so he could get the cord back.
“WE CAN RUN LAPS ALL DAY!” Henry yelled back. “AND YOU STILL WON’T GET THIS CORD BACK.”
William eventually managed to trap him against a corner. Smirking now, William placed both his hands and feet against either side of the wall, to stop him from getting out. “You’re stuck now, cord thief.” William warned.
“Am I, now?” Henry smirked as he put the cord around his neck like a scarf before starting to skitter his fingers on William’s armpits.
William widened his eyes in horror. “aAAAH-” He yelled before squeezing them shut. “OHNO-” William blurted out, hissing as he brought his arms against his sides to cover up his armpits.
“How long can Willy the crybaby handle being tickled?” Henry asked confidently.
“H-HENRYHYHY-” William’s wobbly smile grew wider as he quickly lost control of himself. “DAHAHA! DAMMIHIHIHIT!” William laughed, finally dropping to his knees. “WAHAIT- *snort* HEHEHEHENRYYYY!” William laughed, even letting out a snort in between.
Henry stopped tickling and quickly tried to escape. “aHA! SEE YA- AAH!” Henry yelped as he fell to the ground.
“Hehehehe…” William chuckled lowly, holding Henry’s foot. Henry’s choice to escape would end up being a HUGE mistake. “I’ve got you now, little bastard.” William said with a devilish smirk on his face, tightening his grip on Henry’s ankle.
“W-William! Wait-” Henry reacted as he tried to kick William’s hand off his ankle with his other foot. “Let’s talk about this!” But William caught the bottom of the other shoe with his other hand. Instinctively, Henry pulled on his foot. “WAIT! LET GO!” Henry ordered, pulling and shaking his leg to get his foot out.
But this would only end up wiggling his foot free of his shoe. His shoe would pop right off, leaving Henry’s socked foot out in the open. Henry froze in place for those few seconds. “......Uh oh…”
William dropped the shoe and grabbed the socked foot all in one quick swoop. “Come here, you!” William pulled his foot underneath Will’s armpit and trapped the ankle in his armpit almost like a chokehold. Then, he started skittering his fingers on Henry’s vulnerable arch.
“eeEEEHEHEHEHAHAhahahaha! WAHAHAhahahahait nohoHOHOHOhoho!” Henry yelled. “Lehehet me gohohohohoho!” He begged. “Give me the goddamn phone cord then, smart aleck.” William ordered.
“NOHOHO! NOHOT ON MYHY LIHIHIFE!” Henry yelled back.
“Then suffer under the hands of the dreaded tickle monster, Henry.” William replied. “You wanted to play? You wanted me to stop working? Con-fucking-gratulations. You did just that.” William declared with a sarcastic, witty tone.
“WOHOHORTH IHIHIT!” Henry yelled back.
“Really? You want these tickles right now?” William asked.
“IHIHI DIHIHIDN’T SAHAHAY THAHAT!” Henry yelled back.
“You didn’t? Then enlighten me, oh smart one: What did you mean?” William asked as he moved his fingers down to his heel.
“IHIHI MEHEHEANT IHIhihit wahahas wohohohorth gehehetting you to stohohop wohohorking!” Henry replied, growing more giggly than before.
“Well, you did succeed at that. But you still didn’t answer my other question: Do you want these tickles?” William asked, moving his fingers back to the arch again.
“WhahahahAHAHAHAT?!” Henry reacted, squealing as the tickling doubled for him.
“You heard me.” William replied. “Did you want to be tickled?” William asked as he moved his fingers up to the top sole of his foot.
“WHOHOHO TOHOHOLD YOHOHOU THAHAT?!” Henry asked.
William couldn’t help the laugh that left his mouth. “STILL not answering my goddamn question!” He reacted with a smile on his face. “Do you wanna be tickled?! Or do you want me to stop? It’s an easy question!” William asked him once again.
“YEHEHEHESS!” Henry replied.
“Oh my fucking- YES TO WHAT?!” William asked, growing slightly infuriated.
“YEHEHEHES! JUHUHUHUST YEHEHES!” Henry yelled back.
“You know what-” William stopped tickling and just dropped his foot to the ground.
“Hehehehe- ohohowww!” Henry whined, grabbing his own foot and rubbing the tickles and the newfound pain away. “Yohohou suhuhuck.” Henry complained.
William smirked and grabbed the telephone cord from around his neck. “Says the pillock.” William teased.
Henry dropped his jaw. “I am NOT a pillock!” Henry reacted.
“Oh, but you really are.” William replied. “Either that, or a knob.” William added.
Henry narrowed his eyes at his mate and cracked his knuckles.
“Probably both, actually.” William added, pointing to Henry without looking at him.
Suddenly, William felt his body get knocked down by Henry’s weight alone. “OW-” William looked behind him and saw the phone cord had fallen out of his hand, and onto the floor a good 10 feet away. “Come on-” He reached his arms out to try and reach the cord. “aaAAAH! HENRY!” William yelled as he brought his hands back against his chest and away from the cord.
“What?!” Henry reacted, lifting up his one arm. “You seriously thought tickling me was NOT going to result in revenge?!” Henry asked.
“I knew it would, but- eeEEP!” William clenched his teeth as he felt Henry’s fingers sneak even further into his bloody armpits. “Ididn’tknowitwouldhappensoQUICKLY!” William yelled, tugging on his arm. “LET ME GO!” William ordered.
“But letting you go would mean I would have to watch you go back to the office and work till 2am again! And pretty much everyone knows that’s not healthy.” Henry told him as he kept tickling his vulnerable armpit.
“C-COHOHOME OHOHON! THIHIHIS IS UHUHUNFAHAHAHAHAIR!” William complained.
“Do you realize how much of a baby you’re being right now?” Henry asked him. “Like, Charlie and Elizabeth would be able to handle this better than you. And you’re a grown man!” He reminded him.
William grunted and tried to tickle him back. But because one of his arms was stuck in Henry’s grip, he wasn’t very successful. He managed to get a couple tickles in (which was better than nothing), but wasn’t really able to do much else due to being distracted by the ticklish feelings in his armpit.
“Yohohou mahanaged to get me a bit there, so I give you credit where it’s due.” Henry reacted.
William finally threw his head back and laughed hysterically as he went completely limp. “OHOHOKAHAHAHAY, YOHOHOU WIHIHIN!” William told him. He had just given up fighting at that point, due to growing really tired already from the mix of fighting and laughing.
Henry raised an eyebrow. “Finally done your little fit?” he teased, noticing William’s change in his reactions. So, he decided to switch places. “Looks like a new tickle spot is in order.” Henry declared.
William shook his head rather quickly for a man who had given up, and looked at Henry with subtle puppy eyes. “Plehehease. Ihihi neheed a breheheheak.” William told him.
Henry smiled a bit as he gently tickled the side of his neck. “A break, huh?”
William snorted and curled his neck to try and stop the fingers, but to no avail. “Cohohome ohohohon, mahan! Ihihit’s uhuhunfahahair!” William complained.
“Gosh, your wife would laugh if she knew what we were doing.” Henry reacted, stopping his fingers.
William cleared his throat and huffed. “Ihi’m supposed to be getting a phone call.” William told him.
“From who?” Henry asked, smirking as he started tickling his neck again.
“eeEEK! F-FROHohom thihihis Mihike guhuhuhuy.” William replied. “Thehe nehehew sehecurity guahahard.” William added.
“Eeeh, that man can wait till morning.” Henry replied as he stopped his fingers. “You’ve got a family to go home to.”
William removed the co-owner’s hand from his neck and looked up at Henry. “Ihi guess…” William mumbled back.
Henry raised an eyebrow at his reaction and smirked. “Don’t be talking shit about your family, Will.” Henry warned.
“Ohor what?” He asked, sounding almost giddy or drunk.
“Or I’ll tickle you even more.” Henry replied with confidence just dripping from his mouth.
William narrowed his eyes for a moment before pushing Henry to the ground and staring at the tickler who was now below him. “You think you can tickle me and not get tickled back?” William asked.
Henry smirked and pushed William back down to the ground, bringing himself on top in the process. “Yes, I do believe I can.” Henry replied as he squeezed Will’s sides.
William squeaked and tried his best to grab his hands. “NO! Noho! Handsoffyoubig-” William widened his eyes and froze.
Henry smirked at this. “What? Too scared to get me back now?” Henry asked all confidently. “Did I finally scare you into going home?” Henry asked next.
William was staring at something behind him, shocked and horrified.
“...What? Is someone behind-” Henry widened his eyes and quickly got off William the moment he saw someone there. “MICHAEL! Heeey!” Henry reacted.
Michael raised an eyebrow at Henry. “...Hey…” He muttered before narrowing his eyes at his father. “Why are you still here?” Michael asked.
“I’m…about to ask you almost the same thing.” William replied, getting up onto his feet. “It’s been 35 minutes, Dad. Mom wanted me to drive over to see what you were up to.” Michael told him. “And frankly, I’m glad I was the one who came. Cause I don’t think mom would be so patient with your actions right now.” Michael reacted.
“Come on, Michael. It was just a bit of tickling.” Henry told him.
“Of course. And there is just a family waiting for the both of you to head home.” Michael added.
William got up and started to walk back up to the office with Michael. Henry turned around and looked at the telephone wire. Maybe this whole thing was a stupid idea after all…All this tomfoolery…just for 35 minutes and no more work done. Henry headed into the office and plugged the telephone wire back in, before grabbing his coat and bag off the floor. And the last thing he heard from the two of them, was this little bit of banter:
“Also, can you drive? I forgot my wallet again.”
“...And you drove over here without it?”
“......Yeah.”
*sigh* “Fine.”