#mywilsonfic

[danrdarrenc]

100 Different Kisses

74. a kiss to forgive each other after an argument

Will opens Allie’s door to Sonny a half hour after Will walked out of the Kiriakis mansion.

“Can we talk?” Sonny asks.

Will steps aside to let Sonny into the apartment and closes the door behind him. 

“I’m sorry,” Sonny says. 

“For what?” Will snaps, crossing his arms over his chest. “Choosing Leo Stark over me?”

Sonny sighs and purses his lips. “I didn’t choose Leo over you, Will.”

“You did though, Sonny! I told you to have him leave and you choose for him to stay!” 

“It’s Christmas, Will! I am not having him sleeping on the streets on Christmas!”

“Why not?! After everything he did to you, why do you care that he even exists?!”

It’s the same argument repeated from earlier and it’s no closer to a resolution.

“Because I’m not a monster, Will!” Sonny shouts. “Because I am a decent human being and I believe that everyone should have a roof over their heads, especially at Christmas, no matter who they are or what they’ve done!” Sonny’s breath is coming in hard, short bursts and his cheeks are splotchy with color.

Will swallows thickly, takes a deep sigh, and drops his arms to his sides. “I understand that,” Will says gently, calmly. “But Leo Stark?”

Sonny rubs a hand over his face. “You haven’t been here, Will.”

“So this is my fault?”

“What? No one is at fault here, Will, because nothing wrong has been done. You’ve been away and I’ve been lonely and Leo has been showing me a decent side to him in being kind and trying to be my friend. He hasn’t asked for anything from me, Will, other than a place to stay for the holidays. I really believe he’s trying to be a better person and he’s truly remorseful for the way he’s treated us, treated me.”

“You really believe that he doesn’t have an ulterior motive?” Will asks skeptically, his eyebrows raised.

“No I really don’t.”

Will shakes his head. “I don’t know, Sonny. Something about this doesn’t feel right.”

“What about Ben?” Sonny asks, his face grave and his eyes boring into Will.

“What about Ben?”

“He killed you,” Sonny answers flatly.

“So?”

“So, when you were in prison together you came to the conclusion that he was no longer a murderous psychopath and decided to be friends with him again, despite all of my misgivings. How is my wanting to be friends with Leo any worse than that?”

Will stares at Sonny. “I - I hadn’t thought of it that way. I’m just trying to protect you, Sonny. I don’t want to see you get hurt or humiliated again.”

Sonny’s face softens and he closes the distance between them to take Will’s hands in his. “I know. Don’t you know that’s why I don’t like you being friends with Ben?”

“Ben went to therapy. He’s on medication. He’s not a danger anymore,” Will argues.

“You can’t know that,” Sonny argues back. “He could relapse at any time. Isn’t it better that Leo has actually made the conscious decision to try to become a better person? Or at least equally the same?”

Will sighs again, relenting, and drops his forehead against Sonny’s. “Can we agree to disagree about Leo and Ben? I came home to be with you and Ari for the holidays and I don’t want to be fighting.”

Sonny nods against Will’s forehead. “Okay. I’m glad you’re here,” Sonny adds after a beat.

Will pulls his head back and grins at Sonny. “Me too.”

Sonny’s lips curl into a smile and he stretches his neck to press a soft kiss to Will’s mouth. 

Will pulls Sonny closer by their clasped hands, circling Sonny’s arms around his waist and wrapping his own around Sonny’s neck.

“I love you,” Sonny whispers when they break apart, their foreheads still together and their eyes still closed.

“I love you, too.”

“Leo can stay at the mansion for the holidays,” Will says after a quiet minute, pulling back to look at Sonny, “but can you at least put him in a room on the opposite side as ours?”

Sonny snorts in amusement and shakes with laughter. “Yeah. I think that’s fair.”

Will grins and pulls Sonny into another kiss.

[danrdarrenc]

100 Different Kisses

62. caressing your lover’s cheek

Will sighs wearily as he opens the door to their bedroom at the Kiriakis mansion. 

His long day of remote working had been made longer by his detour to Allie’s apartment to comfort her over her break up with Chanel and by his telephone argument with his mother about why she couldn’t get her ass back to Salem for her mother’s funeral.

“What’s this?” Will says as his eyes catch on Sonny and the table at the foot of the bed. 

There’s two candlesticks burning softly on the table set for two and a dozen other candles burning on the dressers and desk. 

“Hey,” Sonny says, meeting Will in the space between them for a soft kiss. “I know that tomorrow is your grandmother’s funeral and that you’re running on fumes, but it’s Valentine’s Day and I thought you could use a break from everything.”

Will hums noncommittally and falls into Sonny’s arms for a hug, burying his face in Sonny’s neck. They stay like that for a long moment as Will lets some of the tension release from his shoulders.

“That food smells amazing,” Will says into Sonny’s shoulder.

“C’mon.” Sonny separates them and leads Will to the table by the hand, pulling out the chair closest to the door for Will.

“Thank you, sir,” Will says dramatically as he sits down.

Sonny snorts in amusement. “What did Allie need?” Sonny asks as they pull off the covers to their dishes to reveal steaks and fries.

“Chanel broke up with her,” Will says, greedily cutting into his steak.

“Oh no. Today?” 

Will nods.

“Not a great day for that,” Sonny says before popping a fry into his mouth. “What happened?”

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow,” Will answers. 

Maybe he’ll admit this to Sonny when he tells him, or maybe he won’t, but he doesn’t want to bring up cheating during their romantic dinner and sour it with their own bad experience.

They eat in silence for a while, both of them hungry, and to allow Will some time to relax.

“Oh, hey. What was that message you left me earlier about Leo and The Spectator?” Will asks, remembering the missed call he’d gotten while he was on the phone with Sami.

“It’s a long story. I’ll tell you about it tomorrow,” Sonny mimics, with a cheeky grin. “I don’t want Leo to ruin our dinner.”

Will shrugs. “Fair enough.” Then, with dawning horror, “I didn’t get you a present!”

Sonny laughs lightly. “It’s okay. You’ve been distracted. But I do have a gift for you.”

Will deflates. “Now I feel like a terrible husband. This is a special day for us! I should have remembered to buy you something or at least made you a new page for the scrapbook.”

“It’s okay, really,” Sonny says with a chuckle.  “I didn’t say I had a present. I have a gift.”

“Okay...” Will says, squinting his eyes suspiciously.

“C’mere,” Sonny says, shifting the table away from the bed so he can sit down. Will follows and sits next to him.

Sonny twines their fingers together on top of Will’s leg. “My gift to you is that I’m coming to New Zealand with you.”

Will’s heart skips a beat. “What?”

Sonny nods and smiles. “I’ve been doing a lot of thinking since Marlena died. And my main thought has been: ‘What am I even doing here?’”

“You’re running Titan! It’s your dream job.”

“Is it?” Sonny asks. “In the twelve years that you’ve known me, has it ever been a dream of mine to run Titan?”

Will frowns and says nothing because it’s never been anything that Sonny has ever said. 

Sonny looks away from Will and stares at their linked hands. “When I thought you’d died, I was lost and throwing myself into something that didn’t feel like me, that was nothing I ever wanted to do with my life, that gave me a purpose, something to focus on. By the time you came back and your amnesia was reversed, I was already in it for four years and by that point, it almost felt like that was the job I was meant to be doing.

“But this last year, being CEO of Titan has taken me away from you, and I don’t want that,” Sonny says forcefully, turning his attention back to Will. “I don’t want us to be separated anymore for a job that I never really wanted in the first place and that I don’t need and that doesn’t need me.

“I talked to Uncle Vic and Alex this afternoon and it’s all settled. Alex is going to take over as CEO, effective immediately, and I told Uncle Vic that I’m no longer interested in working for Titan.”

“Are you sure you’re not rushing into this?”

“I’m absolutely certain.”

“What are you going to do in New Zealand? I don’t want you just sitting home watching TV all day.”

“I think it’s time I start my acting career, don’t you think?” Sonny asks, his mouth curling into a crooked smile.

A startled laugh bursts out of Will, and his face splits into his first grin in a week. Will’s cups Sonny’s cheek with his free hand and strokes his thumb across it. 

“I love you so much, Sonny. Thank you for tonight,” Will says seriously, and leans forward to press a kiss against Sonny’s mouth. 

“I love you too,” Sonny says when they break apart.

Will yawns a second later. Sonny pats Will’s knee and stands up. “C’mon. Let’s get you to bed. You’ve got an emotional day tomorrow. You should rest.”

Will yawns again, nods, and follows Sonny in getting ready for bed.

[danrdarrenc]

100 Different Kisses

34. i missed you kisses

Sonny breathes in the warm Los Angeles air as he steps off the Kiriakis jet, his suitcase dragging behind him as he walks down the concourse towards the gate and the airport. 

LAX is a loud bustle when Sonny steps off the concourse. He hasn’t visited Will here often so he doesn’t know his way around the large and busy airport too well. He scans the area for signs and finds the one pointing the way to the baggage claim and exit. 

Will is waiting for him at the bottom of the escalator, a JACKSON KIRIAKIS sign clasped in his hands.

Sonny grins and barks out a laugh. He’s glad he made the decision to come out here for the week instead of bemoaning that Will couldn’t come back to Salem.

“Your car awaits,” Will says as Sonny steps off the escalator. 

“You’re ridiculous,” Sonny responds with a fond shake of his head.

Will grins and takes Sonny’s bag before turning and leading him out of the airport into the sunny LA late afternoon.

“How was the flight?” Will asks.

“Uneventful.”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t come to Salem this week,” Will apologizes. “But I’m glad you decided to come here!”

“Me too,” Sonny agrees, and he truly means it despite the still niggling resentment that Will’s job is more important than their marriage.

But he’d heard and listened to Maggie’s advice about meeting Will halfway, if he wanted to save their marriage, so he’s happy that he’s at least getting to see Will.

“I’m free for the rest of the day. Did you want to go sightseeing and get something to eat or did you want to go to my hotel?”

“Hotel.”

Will nods and they walk to Will’s car in comfortable silence.

* * * * * * * *

“Do you want room service?” Will asks when Sonny closes the door of the room.

“No. Just,” Sonny says and holds out his hand.

Will smiles softly and takes Sonny’s offering, pulling Sonny close. Sonny goes willingly, wrapping his arms around Will’s waist.

“Hi,” Will says.

“Hi,” Sonny replies and presses his lips to Will’s.

Will’s arms slide around Sonny’s neck as he returns the kiss. 

Sonny breaks away just slightly to whisper, “I missed you,” before turning his head to change the angle and deepen the kiss.

Will hums into Sonny’s mouth, their tongues tangling together. 

“I missed you, too,” Will says eventually, when they break apart for air. “I’m sorry again that I couldn’t get to Salem. I begged my director to let me work remotely for the week but -” Will doesn’t finish his sentence and sighs instead. “I really want this to work between us this time. I don’t want to repeat our mistakes.”

“It’s alright,” Sonny says, because it is. He’s determined to not let this break them up again and he’s relieved that Will feels the same. “Thank you for saying that and I agree. Which is why I’m here instead.” Sonny smiles, and nips at Will’s lips.

“You’re the best,” Will says with a crooked grin.

“Don’t you forget it,” Sonny teases.

Will’s face turns serious. “I won’t. I promise. I won’t take you for granted again. I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

Will’s lips curve again and this time it’s Will who kisses Sonny.

“Want to get some dinner?” Will asks when they separate again.

“Absolutely.”

Will kisses him quickly and leads him by the hand out of the hotel and into the LA evening.

[danrdarrenc]

100 Different Kisses

11. a kiss that says “we’re late for work, but let’s be later”

The morning is chaos.

Will and Sonny sleep through their alarm because Sonny forgot to turn on the ringer when they went to bed last night. Instead, they’re woken by the sounds of babbling crackling through the baby monitor, Justin and Lucas’s baby talk to each other the signal that they’re awake. 

When they realize they’re an hour behind on their morning schedule, they scramble out of bed. Sonny rushes into the shower while Will runs out of the bedroom to check on the kids. 

He has to throw the blankets off of Arianna to get her moving (because at twelve she has no desire to get ready for school without a hard nudge) before he hurries into the twins’ bedroom to take them out of their cribs. He changes their diapers quickly and then dashes down the stairs to the kitchen, one baby in each arm.

He settles them in their high chairs just as Sonny walks into the kitchen fully dressed. He shoos Will away as he pulls out bowls and cereal and starts brewing coffee.

Will shouts at Arianna to hurry up if she wants to eat breakfast before the bus picks her up as he himself hurries back into the bedroom and jumps in the shower. 

Fifteen minutes later, Will is back in the kitchen fully dressed, shoveling a bowl of cereal into his mouth as Sonny ushers Arianna to the front door where the bus is waiting for her. 

Lucas comes up the driveway just as Sonny is closing the door behind Arianna to pick up the twins. Sonny hands them and their bags over to Lucas as Will waves a quick hello from the sink where he’s piling the dishes into the dishwasher.

Sonny closes the door behind Lucas and then they’re alone. 

“Sorry about the alarm,” Sonny apologizes, as Will comes into the foyer from the kitchen. 

Will snorts in amusement and crowds Sonny against the front door. “We didn’t get to say this earlier but - good morning.”

Sonny’s mouth quirks up in a crooked smile, his arms snaking around Will’s waist. “Good morning.”

“We are very late for work,” Will says seriously.

“Yes we are,” Sonny agrees, cocking his eyebrows in a challenge.

Will accepts it for what it is and dips his face forward to catch Sonny’s lips against his. Sonny’s arms go tighter around Will’s waist, pulling him closer, and Will’s arms slide from the door to around Sonny’s neck. 

They don’t make it to work for another hour.

[danrdarrenc]

100 Different Kisses

59. kissing your lover’s wounds after having bandaged them up healed them

Will sprints through Horton Town Square in his haste to get from the airport to the hospital. He nearly upsets Allie and Chanel’s table, but he doesn’t stop to apologize, simply waves over his shoulder at Allie as his sister shouts “Will!” at him. 

He rushes through the automatic doors of University Hospital, dodges patients in wheelchairs and families with balloons and flowers, and rushes up four flights of stairs instead of waiting for the elevator, which is always interminably slow.

He bursts out of the stairwell on Sonny’s floor, wheezing for breath, but he spots Chad in one of chairs by the nurses’ desk and hurries over. 

“Chad,” Will huffs out, practically skidding to a halt, his hands on his hips as he gulps air into his lungs. 

“Will!” Chad jumps out of the chair to hug him. “Did you run here?!”

Will nods, still catching his breath. “Where - Where’s Sonny?”

“C’mon,” Chad puts his arm around Will’s shoulders and leads him down the hall.

Sonny’s lying on his side, the machines beeping loudly, when Will pushes the door open, Chad at his back. 

Will sucks in a sharp breath. 

“Will,” a soft voice says from next to Sonny’s bed.

Will’s attention snaps to his Aunt Kayla. “How is he?” Will croaks, stepping further into the room.

Chad closes the door behind them.

“We’ve stopped the bleeding and sewn up the wound, but -�� she hesitates and Will’s heart clenches in fear. 

“Please, Aunt Kayla.”

“But the knife severed a nerve in his spine,” Kayla continues, coming around the bed to stand in front of him. 

“What does that mean?” Will asks, even though he’s pretty sure he knows the terrible answer.

“Well, we won’t know for certain until Sonny wakes up, if he wakes up at all, but it’s likely that he’ll be paralyzed if and when he does,” Kayla says gently, confirming Will’s suspicions.

“There’s nothing you can do?” Chad asks.

“I’m afraid that we’ve done all that science is currently able to do,” Kayla says, staring at Will pointedly.

Will blinks, not understanding, still thinking about Sonny being paralyzed. 

But Chad says, “Will...” and Will’s brain catches up, understanding what Kayla has implied.

It’s not a secret that the Bradys are aliens. But they have kept their healing powers hidden from the public, otherwise they would constantly be at the beck and call of all of Salem. But Chad knows, and Kayla made an oath to herself that she would never use her healing powers in her job. She can’t heal Sonny anyway, even if she wanted to, because their healing powers only work on significant others and a direct blood line between parent and child and siblings.

“If I heal him, he won’t be paralyzed?” Will asks.

“Again, I can’t say for certain, but the nerve damage is what’s likely to cause him problems and we can’t fix it with surgery.”

“But I can heal it. Reverse the damage?”

“It’s Sonny’s best chance to walk again. Yes.”

Will swallows. He’s never used his healing powers before. He’s never had to. Sonny is usually healthy as a horse and the last time Sonny was stabbed (how has this happened again?!), there was no lasting damage, and they were in a terrible place in their relationship anyway, so Sonny wouldn’t have let him, even if Will had wanted to.

“Chad, why don’t we go get some coffee?” Kayla says.

“Sure,” Chad agrees, getting the hint.

They both pat Will’s arms supportively before leaving Will alone with Sonny. When the door clicks shut behind Chad, Will steps tentatively towards the bed, towards Sonny’s exposed back. 

He kicks his shoes off before climbing onto the bed, curling in towards Sonny, but leaving a tiny bit of space between them. Slowly, he unties Sonny’s hospital gown, carefully pulls off the gauze, and breathes in sharply again as Sonny’s wound is revealed.

Sonny’s skin is red and angry looking around the sutures, the area where Sonny’s skin has been sewn back together raised and certain to leave a scar without Will’s healing.

Will’s hand hovers uncertainly over Sonny’s wound. He’s not sure how to do this. But from what his family has explained about how the power works, he knows that he has to touch the wound and channel his love and their connection into it, willing it to mend.

Will takes a deep breath, places his palm over Sonny’s wound, and closes his eyes and thinks of Sonny and their life together.

Memories flash in his mind: meeting on the pier; laughing together during the year when they were just friends; their first kiss outside the Pub; their first time; their first break up; their Valentine’s Day reunion; their engagement; their wedding; a lazy morning with Sonny and baby Ari; Sonny walking out; their reunion after Will’s memories returned; their second wedding as Will was dying without his powers; happy and carefree days in Arizona.

Will chokes back a sob as his hand burns red-hot. His eyes fly open and he watches in awe as his hand glows blindingly white. Will gasps softly as he feels the skin beneath his palm begin to knit itself seamlessly back together. 

Encouraged, Will closes his eyes again and this time he imagines he can see Sonny’s spine, imagines that it’s broken, and pictures it putting itself back together like a puzzle. He has no idea if it will work, but he presses his hand harder against Sonny’s back and wills him to be okay. 

The lights flicker and the machines beep frantically in response.

Kayla and Chad hurry back into the room at the sound of the chaos, and Chad locks the door behind him just to be safe that no one else walks in.

After another minute, the lights and the machines return to normal and Will slumps back against the pillows, completely exhausted. He has a pounding headache and his right arm is throbbing. 

“Did it work?” Will asks, as Chad hands him a glass of water and places a comforting hand on his shoulder.

“His vitals are all normal, but there’s no way to tell without an X-ray unless -” Kayla cuts herself off as Sonny begins to stir awake. “Sonny?” Kayla asks, switching tacks. “Can you hear me?”

“What happened?” Sonny asks groggily.

“Can you sit up for me?” Kayla asks, ignoring Sonny’s question.

Easily, and seemingly without pain, Sonny pushes himself into a sitting position and startles when he finds Will sitting next to him.

“Will?”

“Hey.”

“Can you move your legs for me?” Kayla asks.

Sonny furrows his brow, clearly confused, but obeys and stretches his legs out under the blanket.

“Good,” Kayla says with a smile and a barely-there nod at Will. “Now, can you tell me what you remember?”

Sonny squints, thinking. Then says, “I was in my office and I remember a pain in my back and then waking up here.”

Kayla nods but it’s Will who says, “You were stabbed in the back. Chad found you on the floor of your office. We think - we think it was Leo.”

Sonny sighs. “He came to see me earlier but then he left.”

“He was there when I found you,” Chad says.

Sonny shakes his head and rubs his hand over his eyes.

“Let’s give them some privacy, Chad,” Kayla says. “I’ll be back in a little bit to check you out some more but you seem to be fine.”

Kayla and Chad slip out of the room and Sonny turns to Will.

“How are you feeling?” Will asks, shifting to turn a little more towards Sonny. 

“Perfectly fine. Why was Kayla asking me if I could move my legs?”

Will grimaces but tells Sonny the truth. “The knife severed one of the nerves in your spine. She thought you’d probably be paralyzed when you woke up.”

“But I’m not.”

“No.”

“Why?” Sonny asks, but Will suspects he already knows the answer.

“Because I healed you,” Will answers quietly.

Sonny sucks in a breath. “Is there a handprint?” Sonny whispers, shifting to turn his back to Will.

They’ve discussed it, what healing means to Will’s species, the connection it requires, and the handprint trace that lingers for days after a healing. Will’s never actually seen a healing done, his family opting more often than not to use the hospital and science for even life-threatening injuries, so he has no idea if the handprint story is real or just a myth.

But when Sonny turns around, Will breathes out a shocked huff of air. There, right over the smooth skin where Sonny’s wound was not even a half hour ago, is a glowing handprint. 

Will touches the tips of his fingertips against it and Sonny jolts, gasping. 

“Did I hurt you?” Will asks, snatching his hand away, alarmed.

“No,” Sonny assures quickly. “No. I felt...you.”

So that’s not a myth either, Will realizes. The handprint really is an emotional connection between the healer and the healed. 

On a whim, Will bends his neck to place a soft kiss at the palm of the handprint. When Sonny moans in pleasure, Will brushes his lips feather-light across the rest of the handprint, from the palm up to each of the fingers. 

Sonny’s head drops back against Will’s shoulder as Will outlines his handprint with his lips, his arms snaking around Sonny’s waist. 

“That’s incredible,” Sonny says hoarsely. 

“What’s it like?” Will asks, kissing his third path around the handprint. 

“Like I can feel your heart beating next to mine.”

“Fuck,” Will mumbles against Sonny’s skin and in the next second Sonny has turned himself around and smashed his mouth against Will’s.

Surprised, Will catches Sonny, his hand meeting his own handprint on Sonny’s back. They gasp into each other’s mouths at the force of the intensity of the connection and Will, somehow, has just enough presence of mind to telekinetically lock the door before Kayla and Chad can return.

[danrdarrenc]

100 Different Kisses

58. playful kisses, such as, ‘‘i’m not going to kiss you.’’ ‘‘why?’’ ‘‘because if i do, i don’t think we’re getting out of bed today’’

Will wakes to the sound of rain pounding against the roof and windows and opens his eyes to Sonny’s sleeping form.

Will’s lips curl up into the tiniest of smiles as his eyes trace over his husband’s face. Will has always thought Sonny beautiful, but there’s something about Sonny in sleep that is breathtaking.  In ten years, Will has never tired of admiring Sonny’s face in sleep. 

After a minute, Will shifts his head on his pillow, his face a breath away from Sonny’s, and closes his eyes to drift back to sleep. 

When he wakes again an hour later, Will finds he has turned in his sleep, his back flush with Sonny’s chest, Sonny’s arm draped loosely over his waist. The rain is still relentless and now there is a howling wind.

Will yawns and Sonny mumbles, “Morning.”

“Morning,” Will says as he flips his body under Sonny’s arm so that they’re face-to-face.

“What time is it?” Sonny asks. 

Will reaches his arm back to grab his phone from the nightstand. “Ten.”

“I don’t think I’ve slept until ten since college.”

“It’s the rain and Ari away at camp.”

Sonny hums in agreement and dips his head forward to kiss Will, but Will turns his face into the pillow.

Sonny startles.

“Sorry,” Will says with a snort. “I don’t think I can kiss you.”

Sonny frowns. “Is my morning breath worse than normal?”

Will grins. “No. I just don’t think we’ll be getting out of bed today if I kiss you.”

It takes Sonny a few seconds to register the meaning of Will’s words, but then his face splits into a slow grin. “Is that right?” Sonny teases.

Will laughs as his face heats. “Shut up.” Will shoves Sonny away from him as Sonny laughs. 

“Just a quick kiss?” Sonny mock pouts, batting his eyelashes.

Will shakes his head in amusement and leans forward to peck Sonny’s lips. But Sonny grabs Will’s face before he can pull away and deepens the kiss. Will goes willingly, his body falling on top of Sonny’s as Sonny rolls over onto his back.

True to Will’s word, they don’t leave their bed that day except for food and the bathroom, instead enjoying a lazy Sunday of sex, sleep, and TV.

[danrdarrenc]

A Hundred Different Kisses

​Going to try to write little fics based on this post. Some might be more than one, or just individual.

73. kissing your lover’s forehead, then bending down to meet their lips 

“Happy anniversary,” Sonny says, apropos of nothing. 

He slides a plate of a stack of pancakes with a single candle sticking out in front of where Will sits at the kitchen table and drops a kiss to Will’s forehead first, then bends down to meet Will’s tipped up and waiting lips, before sitting down next to Will in front of his own stack of pancakes.

Will cocks his head and looks at Sonny curiously. “Babe. Our anniversary was yesterday. We had dinner at that new restaurant in the Square,” Will says slowly, half-afraid Sonny’s somehow gotten some form of amnesia overnight.

Sonny grins, popping a forkful of pancakes in his mouth. “I know.”

Will stares at Sonny for another second, panicking now that he’s gotten part of his amnesia back, but blows out the candle before it melts into his breakfast.

Sonny snorts and takes pity on him. “It’s ten years since you came out to me!”

Will’s mouth drops open with his fork suspended in the air. He turns to stare bug-eyed at Sonny.

“You know what date that was?” Will asks, recovering, and eats the pancakes that were momentarily forgotten on his fork.

“You don’t?” Sonny asks, curiosity sparkling his eyes.

Will scoffs. “No. Those three months from when I kissed Neil to coming out to my parents are all one giant chunk of time to me. I have no clue what happened when other than, like, vague generalities. Like the kiss with Neil was in February sometime, maybe? And I came out to my parents in May sometime, I think, after the school year was done? And everything else happened in between.”

Will takes another bite. “Why do you remember the date?”

“It was the week after the coffee shop opening. And because I was proud of you!”

Will smiles softly at Sonny and hooks their ankles together under the table. They finish their pancakes and clean their plates in comfortable silence. 

As he’s closing the dishwasher, Will says, “I wanted to kiss you that day.”

Now it’s Sonny who stares at him wide-eyed, the dishcloth still clutched in his hand. “You did?”

Will hums in assent as he nods. “After we hugged, we had that moment. Remember?” 

Sonny grins slowly. “Of course I remember.”

“I wanted to kiss you,” Will repeats. 

“Why didn’t you?” Sonny asks, pulling Will closer by the hem of his sleep shirt.

Will’s arms fall automatically around Sonny’s neck. “I was terrified,” Will answers honestly.

“Of me?!”

“Yes!” Will laughs. “No. Not you specifically. I was terrified of what it meant. I had literally just come out. I was not ready for a relationship. And we’d just had that conversation about not being able to see ourselves settled and married and with kids. That’s funny to think about, considering.”

Sonny’s grin stretches impossibly wider. “You know I was lying, right? When I said I couldn’t imagine settling down.”

“You were?” 

Sonny nods. “I had imagined it. I was already madly in love with you by that point.”

Will snorts in amusement. “Shut up. No you weren’t.”

“I was,” Sonny insists.

Will’s smile sobers and he searches Sonny’s eyes.  “Your New Year’s Resolution,” Will says after a minute, a lightbulb going off. “Get Will Horton to fall in love with me. You really had written it at the beginning of 2012?”

Sonny nods, his smile soft and his eyes fond. “It took a lot of effort not to kiss you that night in the coffee shop.”

Will swallows, speechless, overwhelmed as he often is at Sonny’s grand gestures and reminders of the depths of his love.

“I love you,” Will says after a few seconds, a soft smile tugging at his lips again. 

“Love you, too,” Sonny responds as the doorbell rings, no doubt Gabi come to drop Ari back home.

[danrdarrenc]

100 Different Kisses

82. whispering “i love you” in-between kisses

“Will? Are you here?” Sonny says quietly but frantically, the second he steps into the mausoleum.

“I’m here,” Will answers, slinking out of the shadows, his long leather coat whoosing behind him, every bit the demon he is.

Sonny breathes a sigh of relief and rushes to throw his arms around Will’s neck. Will’s arms wrap around his waist, tight and possessive, and Sonny feels Will breathe in his scent.

Sonny pulls away and fumbles for the vial in the pocket of his leather jacket.

“We don’t have much time,” Sonny tells Will. “I think Alex might have followed me. We have to do this now, if we’re going to do it.”

“You’re sure you want to do this?” Will asks.

Sonny nods, unstoppering the vial of potion. “If my brothers think you’re dead and that I killed you, it’ll hold off their suspicion, at least for awhile. Drink this.”

“What is it?” Will eyes the vial with suspicion.

“It’s a potion to make you untraceable. Tracking spells and scrying won’t be able to pick you up, so it’ll look like you’re dead.”

Will nods, takes the vial, and downs it in one gulp.

“What now?”

Sonny leans forward on his toes to press his lips against Will’s. Will makes a hungry sound and pulls Sonny closer by the waist, knocking Sonny off-balance. Sonny falls into Will’s chest, his arms flying arounds Will’s neck for purchase.

A twig breaks somewhere outside and Sonny pulls away, his head snapping around to peer through the open door. Why hadn’t he closed it when he came in? He swears under his breath.

“Okay. We have to do this now,” Sonny says anxiously, turning back to Will. 

His heart is beating frantically in his chest. He doesn’t want to do this, but they have to do this, so he can buy time to convince his brothers that Will is no danger to them. It’s the only way they have a chance of being together at some point in the future. 

“What do you need me to do?”

“Take off your coat and throw it on the ground,” Sonny instructs, pulling a second vial out of his jacket. 

Will obeys, shucking his coat to the ground.

Sonny unstoppers the second vial and dumps it on Will’s coat.

“I need your hand,” Sonny says, pulling out a small dagger from his belt holster. 

Will eyes it warily. 

“I just need to slice your hand a little for blood, to activate the potion. I won’t hurt you, I promise.”

Will holds his hand out obediently.

Sonny guides Will’s hand over the coat where it lies on the ground and carefully runs the dagger across Will’s palm. Will clenches his teeth as the knife slices his skin but he doesn’t cry out. 

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Sonny chants in apology, squeezing Will’s fingers closed to form a fist, so the blood will drip onto the coat.

As soon as the blood touches the wet spot potion on the coat, it hisses angrily, burning a hole through the coat. Smoke billows into the air, and fills the mausoleum with the acrid smell and ashy taste of burnt leather.

“Okay. That’s it. You’re vanquished,” Sonny says, as the hissing stops and the smoke fades away.

“You’re sure this will work?” Will asks, stepping around the ruin of his favorite leather coat to stand next to Sonny.

“Demons don’t usually leave behind coats when they’re vanquished, but I hope the evidence and no trace of you will be enough to convince them. It has to be,” Sonny says and rests his forehead against Will’s.

Sonny feels Will nod against his forehead and then Will’s lips against his. Sonny sighs into Will’s mouth, wrapping his arms around Will’s waist. Will’s arms snake around Sonny’s shoulders, trapping him in a tight embrace.

“I love you,” Sonny whispers against Will’s mouth when they break apart.

“I love you, too,” Will echoes, kissing Sonny again.

Sonny reluctantly pulls away and steps back. “You have to go.”

“You have the ring?” Will asks.

Sonny lifts his right hand, where it rests warm and comforting on his middle finger.

“Remember, when it burns it means I’m here waiting for you.”

Sonny nods. “And yours will go icy when I’m calling for you.”

Will swallows and stares at Sonny, not wanting to leave.

“Please go,” Sonny begs.

Will blows a kiss to Sonny and disappears into the shadows. 

Swallowing his heart, Sonny picks up the ruined coat and disappears into the daylight.

[danrdarrenc]

100 Different Kisses

4. breaking the kiss, instantly pressing your lips back together

“I need you to be my boyfriend.”

"What?" Sonny asks, startled, looking up from his inventory book at Will who's slid onto a stool in front of the bar.

Will winces. "My mom and EJ are getting remarried in Italy next week. I told her I was coming with a plus one so she would stop nagging me. But, uh, I don't actually have a plus one and if I go alone she'll start asking me all kinds of questions about what happened."

"So, you want me to be your plus one."

Will grins sheepishly. "Please? If you don't mind," Will pleads. "They paid for two tickets for me. It's only a week. Ben can look after the club, right?"

"Won't Chad and Abby and your grandparents be there? They know we're not dating."

"I'll talk to them. Get them to play along. Please, Sonny. I really can't take a week of my mom hounding me about boys."

Sonny sighs. He knows Sami and he knows the dangers of having a pestering and persistent mother. "Alright," Sonny agrees against his better judgment.

Will grins, wide and bright, and hops onto the bars of his stool to bend over the bar to kiss Sonny's cheek. "Thank you so much! You're the best! We leave Saturday at noon."

As he watches Will leave, Sonny is absolutely certain this is going to be a disaster.

* * * * * * *

"So what are you comfortable with?" Will asks halfway through the flight.

"What?" Sonny looks up from his book to look at Will.

"The fake dating! What are you comfortable with? Holding hands? Cheek kisses? Light pecks?"

Sonny shrugs. "Sure. That's all fine. I don't mind."

"You're sure?" Will asks. "If I thought that we could get away with none of it, I would. But my mom will see right through it if we don't do PDA."

Sonny snorts in amusement. He's known Sami his whole life. He knows Will is right. "Yeah. It's all fine. I promise. I don't have a problem giving Sami a show."

Will grins and turns back to the story he's writing.

* * * * * * * * 

Their trip to Florence starts with a thunderstorm. The sky opens just as they exit the airport and they get drenched in warm, summer rain as they run to the limo waiting for them in the long queue of cars at the Arrivals.

"Excellent start," Sonny says as they slide into the backseat.

Will laughs. "Let's hope it's not an omen."

The drive to Sami and EJ’s villa is surprisingly short. Within twenty minutes, the limo is pulling through wrought-iron gates into a vast driveway lined with tall cypress trees.

Sami and EJ greet them with umbrellas and usher them inside while two footmen retrieve their bags from the limo.

As soon as they're in the foyer, Sami turns on them. "Sonny is your plus one? Why didn't you tell me you were dating!" Sami smacks Will on the arm.

Will laughs nervously. "It's, uh. It's pretty new. I didn't want to jinx anything until we were sure it was going somewhere," Will answers, smiling softly at Sonny and lacing their fingers together.

On a whim, Sonny kisses Will’s cheek. Will blushes and Sonny’s stomach does a funny little twist.

"Well, I'm so happy for you!" Sami says with a huge grin, pulling them both into a hug.

Just then, Allie, Johnny, and their respective wives arrive at the same time, distracting Sami and EJ. Sydney is already there, waving from where she’s seated on the staircase leading to the second floor of bedrooms.

Will lets out a relieved sigh. "One week," Will mutters, and Sonny grins, as a servant shows them to their room.

"There's only one bed," Will says when they’re left alone to unpack. "Of course there's only one bed. What was I thinking doing this charade? This is ridiculous. I'll just tell her and they'll give you another room."

"Wil!!" Sonny steps into Will's sightline and grabs Will's face with his hands to focus him. "It's okay. I don't mind sharing."

"You're absolutely sure?"

Sonny nods. "Remember when we used to have sleepovers when we were kids? It'll be just like that."

Will scoffs but smiles and Sonny lets go of his face.

"I owe you so much for this. Thank you again, Sonny."

"You had me at 'free trip to Italy'."

Will grins and hauls his suitcase onto the bed to unpack.

Dinner that night is thankfully just them, Allie and her wife, Johnny and his wife, Sydney, and Chad and Abby. EJ and Sami are off doing last-minute food testing at the caterers and John, Marlena, Roman, and Kate are off getting dinner by themselves. Still, Will drapes his arm over the back of Sonny’s chair when they’re done eating, his fingers absentmindedly scratching through Sonny’s hair.

It feels amazing and, mixed with the two glasses of wine he’s had, Sonny is in danger of falling asleep from the sensation. But he manages to stay awake listening to Johnny’s wild and most likely wildly exaggerated tales of actors he’s met on his quest to become the next Quentin Tarantino, and unconsciously leans into Will’s side, his hand falling on Will’s thigh under the table.

Just as they’re all getting ready to head up to their respective rooms, Sonny sees Chad and Abby sharing a strangely knowing smile, their eyes flicking over to where Will and Sonny are standing holding hands.

“What?” Sonny mouths at them but they just shake their heads.

“Nothing,” Chad says quietly in his ear when they hug goodnight. “You and Will just seem happy.”

Sonny furrows his brow, not sure what Chad means, but then Abby is also hugging him goodnight and Chad has moved on to Will, and Sonny doesn’t get a chance to ask him to elaborate.

“Are you sure this isn’t weird?” Will asks an hour later when they’re settled in bed for the night, facing each other.

“Sharing a bed?” Sonny asks with a slow grin.

Will nods against his pillow. 

“No. It’s kind of nice actually. It’s been a long time since I shared a bed with someone.”

“Yeah,” Will agrees. “Me too.” Neither of them has had a serious boyfriend in almost three years.

They lapse into quiet for a minute, just staring at each other, until Sonny says, “You know what I miss most about being with someone? Sleeping with them.”

Will quirks a crooked smile.

“Not like that!” Sonny says with a laugh. “I mean actually sleeping. I miss those moments before you fall asleep when you’re cuddling, and the sound of their heartbeat and the feel of their arms around you or them in your arms lulls you into unconsciousness.  Hook-ups don’t usually like cuddling and it’s not the same as with someone you love anyway. That probably sounds stupid,” Sonny adds as an afterthought.

“No it doesn’t,” Will assures him immediately. “You’re right. It’s not the same and I miss that too. Jason never wanted to cuddle. After sex, before bed, even on the couch,” Will adds after a beat, his eyes darkening and his mouth twisting sourly at the memory of his last relationship, which was bad and ended even worse. 

“Neil did though,” Sonny replies. “I remember you were always cuddling, even when we were in public.”

“Yeah.” Will’s lips curl up a little at the memory of his college boyfriend, even though the break up was rough. “You’re one to talk. You were always in Paul’s arms.”

Sonny’s face heats at the mention of his high school sweetheart, but he smiles softly and nods. “Brian hated it though.”

“Stupid boys who don’t like cuddling,” Will deadpans.

Sonny shakes with laughter and buries his face in his pillow. When he comes up for air, Will is grinning at him, and his heart does a little flop in his chest that he chooses to ignore.

“Wanna cuddle?” Will asks.

Sonny nods and shuffles closer to Will, who lifts up his arm in invitation. Sonny slides into the space Will makes for him and pillows his head on Will’s shoulder. 

His head still fuzzy from the wine and the food, the comforting weight of Will’s arms around him almost immediately lulls Sonny towards unconsciousness and he swears he feels Will kiss his hair just as he falls into sleep.

* * * * * * * * 

Sonny blinks awake to the sound of water running. Will’s side of the bed is empty. He must be in the shower, getting ready for the day.

Sonny stretches lazily thinking about how nice it had felt falling asleep in Will’s arms. Safe and warm, like home. He hadn’t quite realized how much he’d missed falling asleep wrapped up in someone else until he had it again. 

Sonny curls into the empty side of the bed, the memory of Will’s arms around him, and buries his face in the pillow. It smells like Will, woodsy and minty at the same time. Sonny’s lips curve into a small smile and his eyes droop closed again.

“Morning,” Will says, waking Sonny from his doze.

Sonny opens his eyes to find Will fresh out of the shower, towel wrapped around his waist and his chest sparkling with the droplets of water dripping from his hair.

Sonny blinks rapidly and swallows against his suddenly dry mouth. 

“Morning,” Sonny says, a beat too late. “You could have woken me earlier.”

Will shrugs, turning to rummage in one of the drawers for clothes. “You looked peaceful. I thought I’d let you sleep.”

Sonny smiles softly, ignoring the swooping in his stomach.

“We’re meeting everyone downstairs for breakfast in a half hour,” Will says, disappearing back into the bathroom to get dressed. 

“Okay,” Sonny says and slides out of bed.

At breakfast, Sami grills them about when they first started dating and how it happened.

“Uh. I don’t know. Two months ago,” Will answers, looking at Sonny for confirmation. 

Sonny nods and Will continues with the story they’d come up with on the plane. 

“It’s not really an exciting story. We were at the movies one day just the two of us and we looked at each other and decided it was a date.” Will shrugs and twines their fingers together atop the table for effect. 

Will smiles softly at Sonny and Sonny can’t help but smile back.

The rest of the day passes uneventfully, the guests who have already arrived free to do as they please while the remaining guests make their way to the villa.  Tomorrow, Sami and EJ are treating everyone to a tour of the vineyard five miles from their villa.

Will and Sonny spend the day exploring Florence with Allie, Johnny, and their wives, visiting museums (David is the largest statute Sonny has ever seen), eating delectable food, and drinking wine with ice cream.

Since they’re in the presence of Will’s siblings, they walk around the city holding hands, and it feels so natural, his hand fitting so perfectly in Will’s, that Sonny can’t remember why they haven’t been doing it for years.  The selfies they take are of their faces squished cheek-to-cheek, Sonny kissing Will’s cheek, and one of them half-kissing, half-looking at the camera, both of them grinning, their lips just meeting at the corners. 

But as he looks at the photos in his camera roll later as Will is brushing his teeth, Sonny thinks his favorite is the candid that Allie took of Will staring at him adoringly. The others were staged, part of their charade, proof of a relationship that doesn’t exist, but this one - this one was real. Sonny doesn’t want to examine too closely what that might mean, but his heart goes a little tight in his chest and his stomach flip-flops in a way that he chooses to ignore.

“It’ll be like a scene from a Jane Austen novel,” Will says as he slips into bed. 

“Huh?” Sonny asks, his attention snapping away from his phone.

“The hosts taking everyone out on an excursion,” Will clarifies.

“Like the disaster picnic in Emma,” Sonny adds, remembering that Will is talking about the trip to the vineyard tomorrow.

Will chuckles. “So far this week has not been the nightmare I was expecting.”

“It’s only been a day,” Sonny comments.

“It’s only been a day,” Will agrees as he puts on the TV. “Want to watch something?”

“The Devil Wears Prada? It is what we saw on our first date,” Sonny teases.

Will grins, finds the movie on Netflix, and presses play. They curl into each other as they watch quietly, and Will’s head drops onto Sonny’s shoulder halfway through, Will’s breathing deep and slow. 

Sonny smiles to himself and once again ignores the swooping in his belly and the quick pitter-patter of his heart.

* * * * * * * *

The trip to the vineyard is a disaster. 

It starts peacefully, Will and Sonny again walking around hand-in-hand, admiring along with everyone else the grape fields and enjoying their wine tasting. But an hour into the visit, half of the guests are drunk and the indoor storeroom is too small to hold the fifty person party. 

Will and Sonny aren’t sure how it happens but suddenly Johnny and Chad are brawling, knocking into other people and into the shelves. Three bottles of aged and expensive wine come crashing to the floor, shattering and spilling, before John and EJ are able to pull Johnny and Chad apart.

Sami apologizes to the owner profusely as they’re ushered out the door and Sonny knows that EJ will be paying for the broken bottles and that it will be a long time before they can show their faces here again.

“Well, that went about as well as expected,” Will says an hour later, as they make their way to the pool behind the villa.

“Did Chad or Johnny say anything about what happened?”

Will shakes his head. “Neither of them is talking.”

“Weird.”

Will shrugs and asks, “Do my back?” 

“What?” 

“My back?” Will repeats, holding out a bottle of suntan lotion. “I’ll be a lobster in a second if I don’t put it on.”

“Remember that time in summer camp you got so red from the sun the other kids started calling you Clifford, the Big Red Dog?” Sonny says, taking the sunscreen and rubbing it into Will’s shoulders and along his back. 

Sonny resolutely ignores the feel of Will’s muscles under his fingers or the soft little noise Will makes when Sonny massages his shoulders. 

“I wouldn’t go in the sun for three summers after that!”

Sonny laughs and hands Will the bottle back. 

“Want me to do you?” Will asks. 

Sonny blinks, panicked, before he realizes what Will means. “Uh. Sure. Thanks.” 

Sonny turns around. His face flames the second Will’s hands are on him and he thinks that maybe he can’t ignore his reactions to Will anymore. But he tries valiantly nonetheless and he has a lovely rest of the day, with just Will as company. 

* * * * * * * *

The next three days they spend running around Florence on various errands for the wedding. Sami has a habit of incessantly changing her mind on decorations, food, and party favors that has them and half the vendors in the city scrambling in time for the wedding. 

Thankfully, they and everyone else are so busy that they don’t have much necessity to pretend to be dating, so their touching is minimal and Sonny can continue to ignore the niggling at the back of his mind. 

But on the morning of the wedding, Sonny blinks awake to the sun illuminating Will sleeping next to him, and the sight is breathtaking. Will has been up every morning before Sonny this week, so Sonny hasn’t had the opportunity to see him sleeping.

Will looks beautiful like this, the sun peeking through the curtains making Will’s blonde hair shine golden and softening the features of his face. Sonny itches to trace his fingers along the shape of Will’s eyebrows, the planes of his cheeks, the bridge of his nose, but he resists the temptation.

As his eyes memorize the picture, Sonny thinks that he could get used to waking up to this, could get used to falling asleep in Will’s arms, that he would like nothing more than to live in this moment for the rest of his life. The thought hits Sonny so forcefully, combining with his unusual reactions to Will’s closeness this week, and Sonny can no longer deny that he’s in love with his best friend.

Sonny slips quietly out of bed, careful not to wake Will, and makes his way into the bathroom to take a shower. He undresses slowly, his mind a riot of memories and thoughts. 

His mind focuses first on this week, all the ways that they’ve pretended they’re together: the little cheek kisses, the soft smiles at each other, the hand holding, the photos. And the one way time they haven’t pretended: sleeping. In the privacy of their bedroom, there was no one to see them, and no need for them to pretend. But they’d slept curled up in each other every night this week anyway, and Sonny’s felt the most rested he’s felt in a really long time.

It’s all felt so natural and so good that Sonny never stopped to question why. 

As he steps in the shower, Sonny thinks about other things too: 

Seeing Will has always been a highlight of his day, ever since they were kids, but none more so than the last few years since they’ve both been single. Sonny’s been lonely since he broke it off with Brian, he’s known that for awhile, but whenever Will walked into his coffee shop after that, his day got a little bit better, his loneliness a little less, and the rest of the day he’d usually spend smiling, thinking about the conversation they’d had, or laughing to himself about some stupid joke Will had made.  

He remembers that time at the beginning of their sophomore year of college right after he’d broken up with Paul because they were living halfway across the country from each other and it wasn’t working. He and Will were roommates and he’d spent nearly every free minute with Will in the aftermath of his break up, trying to mend his broken heart, but then Will started dating Neil, and Sonny had been irrationally jealous. At the time, he’d thought it had been about Will having someone else to spend his time with, and leaving Sonny to wallow in his heartbreak. But what if it hadn’t been about that at all? 

As the water cascades over him, he thinks about those late nights they spent tucked into one of their beds watching trashy shows and movies on Will’s laptop, eating popcorn or ice cream. He thinks about meeting Will for lunch when they shared free time and Will waiting for him after class to walk back to their dorm together. He thinks about all the times they sat in the library quietly studying together, and all the ways Will cared for him that year, even after he started going out with Neil. 

It had felt so nice being cared for by Will, and he remembers missing it desperately when Will and Neil got serious, and Neil took up more and more of Will’s time and space. As he rubs shampoo into his hair, he distinctly remembers the pit in his stomach he carried with him everywhere as his time with Will dwindled and he spent more and more nights going to sleep alone in an empty dorm room. 

Had he been in love with Will then and just not realized it?

He remembers the day that Neil broke up with Will. It was a week before graduation and Will had stumbled into their half-empty dorm room in tears. Alarmed, Sonny had gotten the story out of Will. Neil had accepted a job in Atlanta and he’d decided unilaterally that Will shouldn’t move with him, even though Will could have easily found a journalism job there. Sonny remembers as clear as if it had happened yesterday, that he had seriously considered murdering Neil, as they’d sat on Sonny’s bed, Will sobbing in his arms.

As he absentmindedly rubs soap over his arms, Sonny knows that he hated Jason. He hated Jason for the way that he treated Will, always snapping and sniping at him, belittling him, making Will shrink into half the person he is. Will never smiled during his relationship with Jason, and Sonny hated that he could never get Will to smile even when Jason wasn’t around. 

He’d thought that he’d just hated that Jason was an asshole and that Will didn’t deserve to be treated that way, but he also distinctly remembers that time at the Horton Town Square New Year’s Eve party when Jason had made Will cry, and Sonny had thought to himself that, if he was dating Will, he would never make Will cry.

Oh.

Sonny bangs his head against the shower wall. He’s pretty sure he’s been in love with Will since college and he’s been too stupid to see it.

Sonny lets his panic subside to a minimum before turning off the shower and emerging from the bathroom.

Will is awake and rummaging through his drawer when Sonny steps back into the bedroom.

“Oh great. You’re out,” Will says, turning his head to look at Sonny, and then turning back to the drawer. A second later, he closes the door and clutches a pair of underwear, khaki shorts and a polo shirt to his chest. “We have breakfast in a half hour and then three hours before we have to meet in the garden for pictures.”

“I’m doing pictures?”

“Duh. You’re my boyfriend!” Will says with a smile and Sonny’s heart flip-flops. This time he does not ignore it. “Or y’know,” Will says, clearing his throat, once he realizes what he’s said. “My mom and EJ think you are.”

“It’s fine, Will,” Sonny says, because it is, and because he likes the idea that this week of dating Will will be immortalized, and Sonny can forever pretend that it was real.

“You’re the best,” Will says, squeezing his hand as walks by into the bathroom.

Sonny closes his eyes and prays for the strength to get through today without doing something stupid like confessing his love. 

* * * * * * * *

Breakfast is uneventful and they spend the next two hours with Chad and Abby who keep shooting them looks every so often. Sonny thinks back to what Chad had said earlier in the week and wonders if maybe Chad and Abby have known about his feelings all along. He doesn’t ask them, because he doesn’t want to know if he’s been obvious for years to everyone but himself. 

Pictures are also surprisingly uneventful. Will and Sonny stand where they’re told and Sami shockingly doesn’t make a fuss about anything. But Sonny spends the hour trying not to faint from how good Will looks in his tuxedo and from the overwhelmingly delicious aroma of his cologne. 

Once, when they’re not in pictures but they’re standing close anyway for the ruse, Will catches on to Sonny’s tension.

“Hey? You okay,” Will asks, and gently cups his cheek with one of his hands.

Sonny breathes in sharply at the contact, his new understanding of his feelings making every touch now unbearable and devastating. 

“Yeah. Just a little hot,” Sonny says with a smile he hopes isn’t a grimace.

“We should be done soon,” Will says and drops his hand from Sonny’s face. Sonny nearly cries, his cheek burning with the phantom touch of Will’s palm.

Sonny nods and, five minutes later, they’re ushered inside to dawdle for a half hour until the guests begin making their way into the garden for the ceremony.

“I’ll see you after, yeah?” Will says, with another squeeze of his hand, as he follows Chad fifteen minutes before ceremony time to line up for the wedding processional. 

Sonny watches him go and Abby sidles up to him. “It’s not pretend for you, is it?”

Sonny sighs. “It was,” Sonny answers honestly. “I only just realized...” Sonny trails off, unable to say the words aloud.

She looks at him pityingly. “You should tell him.”

Sonny swivels his head to look at his cousin, alarmed. “It’d ruin our friendship.”

“How do you know that?” she challenges. “How do you know he doesn’t feel the same?”

Sonny blinks at her. He hadn’t even considered the possibility that Will might have feelings for him too.

“You should tell him,” Abby repeats with a kind smile and a hand on his back. 

“I’ll think about it,” Sonny placates as he follows her back out to the garden to grab their seats.

The ceremony goes off without a hitch and Sami and EJ are remarried a half hour later, although Sonny doesn’t process anything that’s said, including the vows, because he’s too busy imagining himself at the altar with Will and panicking about it.

Will finds him at the cocktail bar. 

“Ceremony was great,” Sonny says, and he hopes that it was.

“Yeah. Surprisingly uneventful for Mom,” Will chuckles.

Sonny grins and they eat too many hors d’oeuvres. By the time they’re led to the covered area where the dinner and dancing will be, they’re already full and already half drunk.

“I’m so glad I don’t have to make a speech,” Will whispers to him when Johnny, the best man, is announced after they’ve had their fill of their appetizers and meals.

"Wanna dance?" Will asks when the speech is over and the music starts up again. He stands up and holds his hand out to Sonny.

"Sure," Sonny agrees, sliding his hand into Will's.

They find their way to an empty spot on the dance floor. It’s a slow song and Will’s arms fall naturally around Sonny’s neck. Sonny’s hands rest lightly on Will’s hips as they begin swaying to the music filling the garden.

“It’s really beautiful here,” Sonny says, because it’s the truth and because he needs a distraction from focusing on slow dancing with Will. “I can see why they don’t want to come back to Salem.”

“Yeah,” Will agrees. “I always thought their drama was just because they were Sami and EJ, y’know? But I think maybe it’s being Sami and EJ in Salem that’s their problem. Too many landmines. Plus, I think they like being on the same continent as Johnny and Sydney.”

“I guess they’re the favorite kids, huh?” Sonny jokes. 

Will laughs, his eyes sparkling. “I don’t mind. I was the only kid for thirteen years. I like not having Mom around to nag me all the time. And I’m pretty sure Allie doesn’t mind either.”

“So sucks for Johnny and Sydney then?” Sonny says with a crooked smile.

Will throws his head back with laughter, his shoulders shaking with amusement. 

They dance in silence for few songs after that, mostly swaying in place to their own rhythm. At one point, Will tightens his arms around Sonny’s neck and they end up dancing cheek-to-cheek. 

Sonny swallows thickly, his heart beating a rapid and unsteady beat against his ribcage. Sonny closes his eyes and wills himself to remember that this is a charade, that they’re not actually dating, that Will doesn’t love him. 

But it feels so good having Will in his arms, and Will’s arms around his neck, their cheeks pressed together, and Sonny fails miserably at remembering the truth, choosing instead to pretend just for a few minutes that this is real. 

They come to a stop as the music fades out, the emcee announcing cake is making its way to the tables. 

Will pulls his face away from Sonny’s so they’re looking at each other and Will’s gaze is so intense it steals Sonny’s breath away. They stare at each other for a long beat, the air between them suddenly charged and tense in a way it wasn’t even when they were dancing. 

Will’s eyes flick down to Sonny’s mouth and back up to his face in quick succession. Sonny’s heart skitters in his chest as Will leans his face in and it’s all too much, too real and yet not, and Sonny pulls away like he’s been shocked. 

“I’m - sorry,” Sonny mutters, and hurries away, leaving Will staring after him.

Five minutes later, Will finds him at the shore of the lake that sits on the edge of Sami and EJ's property. The setting sun is a burning pink on the edge of the horizon, silhouetting Sonny's shape in the water.

"Hey," Sonny says when Will is beside him.

"Hey."

"Sorry if I made things weird back there," Sonny says, turning his face to Will.

"I was going to say the same thing."

"You were?"

Will nods, turning his face to watch the sun sink lower into the horizon. "I shouldn't have tried to kiss you. I'm sorry. It felt right in the moment, like something boyfriends would do. And we had agreed that light kissing was okay."

Sonny sighs and swallows his heart, turning his face back to the lake. "The charade. Right."

Will must catch some hint of bitterness in his voice because he says, "Sonny?"

"You're right. We did agree that light kissing was okay. It's just. That was before I -" Sonny starts to explain but cuts himself off, afraid that finishing the rest of his sentence might cause irreparable damage.

"Before you what?" Will asks.

The sense of urgency in Will's voice makes Sonny turn his whole body to face him and he finds Will already turned towards him.

Sonny takes a deep breath. "Before I realized that I have feelings for you."

The words hang in the air between them, caught on the light breeze over the lake.

"You do?" Will asks, mouth parting slightly in surprise.

"I think I have for a long time," Sonny confesses. "I just didn't realize it or want to admit it because we've been friends our whole lives and I didn't want to ruin that."

"Me either," Will says, a look of relief on his face and his shoulders sag like a weight has been lifted off them.

"What?"

"I've been in love with you since high school, Sonny."

"You have?"

Will nods earnestly. 

“What about Neil?” Sonny asks, because he can still feel Will shaking apart in his arms from their break up.

“I loved him,” Will concedes. “I loved him a lot and he broke my heart. But I loved you before him and I loved you even when I loved him. And I definitely loved you after him. I never said anything because I didn’t think you felt the same and I didn’t want to ruin our friendship.”

Sonny can’t breathe. "And asking me to this week with you?" 

"It wasn't a plot or anything, I promise. I really just needed a date to keep my mom from setting me up with someone and I thought you would enjoy the vacation. I thought that my feelings for you had maybe finally gone away but this trip made it clear that they haven't. I tried to kiss you when we were dancing because I really wanted to."

Sonny's mouth stretches into a slow grin. Abby was right. Sonny wonders if she knew Will loved him too but didn’t want to break a confidence.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I'd also really like to kiss you right now,” Will says, his eyes flickering down to Sonny’s mouth again.

Sonny takes a step towards Will, closing the distance between them, and settles his hands on Will's hips, an echo of the dance they just shared.

Will's arms snake around Sonny's neck, his hands cradling the back of Sonny's head, a soft smile curving Will's lips.

Heart rabbiting in his chest, Sonny presses their lips together in a soft kiss. They kiss close-mouthed for a beat, just lips against lips, testing this new and uncharted territory of their relationship.

Overwhelmed, Sonny breaks the kiss to catch his breath, but Will has other ideas, his lips chasing Sonny's, catching Sonny's mouth in another kiss almost as soon as Sonny has broken away.

Sonny’s lips part in surprise and Will takes it as an invitation to slip his tongue into Sonny’s mouth. Sonny whimpers, his own tongue darting into Will’s mouth, and he slides his arms around Will’s waist to pull him closer. 

They kiss for a long time, the warm, evening breeze rustling the trees around them and the sounds of birds darting down to fish in the lake mixing with the soft music drifting over to them from the reception.

Sonny lets his forehead fall against Will’s when they break apart for air, his eyes still closed. “I love you,” Sonny whispers into the space between them, and it feels so good to say it out loud.

“I love you too,” Will replies quietly, and Sonny’s heart skitters in his chest, the butterflies in his stomach fluttering happily. 

After a beat, Will asks, “Have dinner with me?” 

“What?” Sonny says with a breath of laughter, pulling his face away to look at Will.

“When we get back to Salem. Have dinner with me. I want to do this for real. You and me.”

Sonny grins again, slow and wide, his cheeks hurting from the force of it. “Okay. Yes. I’ll have dinner with you when we get back to Salem.”

“Good,” Will says, a smile splitting his face, and he ducks his face forward to capture Sonny’s lips again in a quick, nipping kiss.

“We should probably go back,” Sonny says. “Your mom is going to start noticing we’re missing.”

“Eh. She’ll probably think we’re off having amazing sex somewhere.”

Sonny howls with laughter.

“We should go back though,” Will agrees and drops his arms from Sonny’s neck. 

Will holds a hand out in invitation in the space between them and Sonny lets go of Will’s waist to take it.

They lace their fingers together and walk back up to the party, hand-in-hand, but this time it’s for real. 

[danrdarrenc]

100 Different Kisses

96. kissing your lover’s tears away

Sonny’s on the bed finishing a report for Titan, his computer propped on a pillow on his lap, when the door opens and Will walks in.

“Hey. How was the wedding?” 

Will sighs deeply, dropping his house key onto the TV stand dresser, and sits down heavily on the edge of the bed, his head in his hands. Even staring at his back, Sonny feels like Will has aged twenty years in three hours. 

“Will?” 

Sonny closes his computer and deposits it on his nightstand before sliding forward on the bed to sit next to Will. He cups the back of Will’s head gently. “What happened?”

Will lifts his face from his hands and sighs wearily again. His eyes are red-rimmed and dull when he looks at Sonny. “It was my dad.”

“What was?”

“It was my dad who kidnapped my mom,” Will says flatly.

“What?” Sonny asks, alarmed.

Will scrubs his hand over his face. “When I was helping my dad get ready earlier I noticed he had a big bandage on his hand. He told me he fell off the wagon a couple weeks ago, went on a bender with no memory of what happened. I ran into Chad after and told him I was worried about it. I guess something about that conversation triggered something in Chad because he came bursting into the church to accuse my dad of killing Abby.”

“Why would Lucas kill Abby? She’s his niece.”

“Because Abby knew that Dad had kidnapped Mom.”

Sonny stares at Will, not sure what to say.

Will continues, almost absentmindedly. “So Chad was raging about my dad killing Abby and Chad exposed the truth about the kidnapping. My dad tried to deny it at first but he - he admitted it. Said he did it to save Mom from EJ because he loved her so much.” Will’s voice cracks at the end and his eyes go glassy with unshed tears.

“I’m so sorry, Will.” 

Sonny holds his arms out, offering a hug. Will falls into them willingly, his own arms going around Sonny’s waist, and buries his face in Sonny’s shoulder. After a little bit, Sonny repositions them, falling sideways onto the bed, Will falling with him, one of each of their arms tucked underneath them. 

Will pulls his head back to look at Sonny. “It was horrible, Sonny,” Will whispers. “My mom gave this whole speech about what it was like being trapped there, not knowing if she was going to live or die or ever see us again.”

Sonny’s fingers pet Will’s hair comfortingly. 

“My parents have done awful things to each other my whole life. But this. This feels different.”

Sonny nods and shifts to close the little gap between them when he realizes Will is crying.

“I’d stopped wanting my parents together because I thought Mom was always going to pick EJ,” Will says, staring past Sonny. “But listening to their vows, I started to get that old feeling back, the one from when I was a kid, when I wanted so desperately for them to be together. I thought this might be it. Might finally be their time.”

Will sighs again and it feels like Will has just come home from war.

Heart hurting for Will, Sonny presses lips against Will’s in an effort to take away his pain in any way he can. Will accepts the kiss and wraps his arms tighter around Sonny. There’s no heat in the kiss, Will too weary and upset for anything sexual, but it’s desperate nonetheless, Will taking from Sonny’s mouth the comfort he needs.

When they break apart, Will’s eyes are closed and he lets his forehead fall against Sonny’s. “Thanks,” Will mutters and some of the tension he’d been holding in his body seems to have lessened. 

“Do you want to try to get some sleep?” Sonny asks.

Will nods against Sonny’s forehead. 

“Come on. Let’s get you undressed,” Sonny says, tapping Will’s head lightly to get him to move. 

Will takes a deep breath to steady himself and lets Sonny pull him off the bed to get ready for bed.

[danrdarrenc]

100 Different Kisses

88. kisses in which ‘i’ll kiss you right now to prove i don’t feel anything for you’ but the kiss proves the opposite & 52. kisses in which, “i can’t believe this is real, but i love you so much”

It starts when Will walks into the Pub in the middle of June to find Abby having breakfast with a dark-haired man he doesn’t know. Within minutes, he’s discovered the man is her cousin Sonny, son of Justin and Adrienne Kiriakis. When Abby leaves for work, leaving Will and Sonny alone to talk some more, they hit it off right away. 

In the first half hour of meeting they’ve discovered: that they both love baseball (although Sonny would never be caught dead on a field), they’d both come out to their families at fifteen, Sonny lived in Dubai while Will lived in Switzerland, they both love to read, they both love trashy TV shows (The Bachelor is Sonny’s favorite; Keeping Up with the Kardashians is Will’s), and that they each have three siblings.

Will is immediately smitten. 

What Will hadn’t noticed at breakfast, however, was the shining gold wedding band on Sonny’s finger. So when he arrives that night at his grandparents’ townhouse for a welcome home dinner for Paul, Will is surprised to find Sonny there.

“Sonny?”

“Oh. Have you met?” Paul asks. 

“We met this morning. I ran into him having breakfast with our cousin Abby. How do you know each other?”

“Sonny’s my husband,” Paul announces, a huge grin on his face. 

Sonny laces his fingers with Paul’s, but his eyes find Will’s, almost in apology.

And so begins the longest year and a half of Will’s life.

Although Paul is his stepuncle, because they’re close in age, Will has grown up alongside Paul, as close as brothers, the only brother Will had known for thirteen years until Johnny was born.

So when Paul returns home to join John at BlackPatch, they fall into their natural rhythm of hanging out - watching movies, playing basketball, meeting for breakfast or lunch. Only, now Paul has a shadow, an extra appendage, a husband who joins them, but Will cannot separate himself from them without seeming suspicious. 

But he’s gotten ridiculously attached to Sonny in so short a time and Will hates it. He doesn’t want to be attracted to his basically-a-brother’s husband, but Sonny is everything Will wants for himself: kind, funny, smart, beautiful, easy to be around, confident. So Will sticks around, spends as much time with them as he can, joins them in creating Sonny’s new coffee shop cum event space, and he tries to stop his feelings for Sonny, he really does, tries to see Sonny as a friend only, goes to The Spot, the gay club in Salem, to try to find someone else, except fighting his feelings only makes them stronger.  By the time September rolls into October, and Common Grounds has its grand opening, Will is madly in love with Sonny. 

Working at the paper, Will has much more flexible hours than Paul, who’s always off somewhere investigating and at all hours of the day and night, and so as fall turns into winter, Will finds himself alone with Sonny more and more often. His daily routine is to stop by for a cup of coffee in the morning, a cup of coffee and a bagel at lunch, and help Sonny close up shop after work. It’s so domestic and so ingrained into his life that Will can almost pretend it’s their life and that Sonny isn’t married to someone else. But he is and when Paul is there, Sonny only has eyes for Paul, and on those days, Will leaves them to it, slips out quietly at night while Sonny and Paul are laughing softly together or making plans for the weekend that don’t include him. 

Will’s had unrequited feelings for guys before but it’s never been this bad, never felt so out-of-reach as it is with Sonny and yet so close as when he’s alone with Sonny and he can imagine them sharing a life together.

Things get strange when Paul goes incognito undercover with John and Steve just before Christmas. 

From all the time they’ve spent together in the last six months, Will knows that the holidays are Sonny’s favorite time of year. He loves the cheer, the spirit, the generosity, the gift giving and receiving, and the time spent with family. But this year, Justin and Adrienne are in Arizona visiting Sonny’s three older brothers and Paul is literally nowhere to be seen or heard from. So Sonny is understandably a bit down. 

Will makes it his mission to make Sonny’s Christmas and New Year’s cheerful ones. 

“Are you doing anything for Christmas?” Will asks over coffee two days before Christmas, three days after Paul’s disappeared. 

“Uncle Vic wants me to attend the annual Titan Christmas party but I really don’t want to. I don’t even work for Titan.”

“Come to the Horton tree trimming with me tomorrow.”

“I’m not a Horton,” Sonny hedges.

“Your aunt and cousins are Hortons. I’m allowed to bring a guest. Aunt Jen won’t kick you out, I promise,” Will assures with a grin.

Sonny huffs out a laugh. 

“Come on. Pleeeeeasssse,” Will begs jokingly and bats his eyelashes obnoxiously.

Sonny laughs fully and shakes his head in amusement. “Okay. Okay. I’ll close up here at noon and we can go to Aunt Jen’s.”

Will’s heart leaps and he just barely refrains from telling Sonny he loves him. 

So at noon on the dot the following day, Will picks Sonny up at Common Grounds and they walk together to the Horton house. As promised, Sonny is welcomed with open arms and plied with eggnog and cookies. The rest of the day passes uneventfully with Sonny quietly observing the horde of Hortons hanging their ornaments until things get uncomfortable as they’re getting ready to leave. While they’re putting on their coats and saying their goodbyes, they inadvertently get themselves stuck under mistletoe in the foyer. 

“Come on. You know what mistletoe means,” Julie insists.

His heart beating wildly in chest, Will stares at Sonny, who has a strange look on his face that Will can’t decipher. After a long beat, Sonny steps forward and pecks Will’s cheek quickly. 

Will blinks, his cheek burning where Sonny’s lips touched it, and turns to Julie who is smiling, apparently satisfied. 

They don’t talk as they leave the Horton house and they part ways soon after with a silent wave goodbye, their homes being in opposite directions. 

For the next week, Will attempts to maintain their routine of coffee, bagels, and close up, but suddenly Common Grounds is twice as busy as it usually is and Sonny is almost always occupied when he comes by. Considering the strangeness between them after the mistletoe incident, Will suspects that at least part of Sonny’s constant occupation is purposeful. 

The morning of New Year’s Eve is the first time in a week that Will catches Sonny alone and at a quiet moment. 

“Hey,” Will greets him cautiously, unsure if Sonny will spook.

But Sonny grins at him and Will relaxes. “Hey. I’m sorry we haven’t seen each other since Christmas. It’s been absolutely insane here.”

“No worries,” Will says honestly since Sonny doesn’t appear to be weird around him. “Are you having a party tonight?”

Sonny nods. 

“If you need an extra set of hands, I’d be happy to help,” Will offers.

“Are you sure? You don’t have plans or anything? Not meeting anyone for a kiss?” Sonny asks and Will has a niggling feeling that Sonny is fishing for information on his dating life.

“Nope. Completely plan free.”

“Okay. I’d love the help. Thanks. Actually, are you free now? I could use a hand doing some inventory.”

Will rolls up his sleeves dramatically. “I absolutely love doing inventory.”

Sonny throws his head back with laughter and Will’s heart flutters.

Twelve hours later, Common Grounds is packed like a can of sardines and so loud no one can hear anything even said directly into their ear. But the shindig is a hopping success and Will, Sonny, and Sonny’s staff are running themselves ragged keeping up with all the partygoers. 

Will has been so busy that he doesn’t realize it’s almost midnight until the DJ announces it and the entire place erupts in a countdown. He thinks briefly that maybe he should have gone to The Spot instead to get a New Year’s kiss from a random stranger, but he’s never really been that kind of person and he would much rather be staring longingly at Sonny, imagining a different universe where he throws his arms around Sonny’s neck, their lips meeting at the stroke of midnight.

Will and Sonny finally collapse on the sofa in Sonny’s office at three in the morning, both yawning and half asleep. 

“I should go home,” Will says, his eyes drooping.

“You’re almost asleep, silly,” Sonny mumbles. “C’mere,” Sonny adds and pulls Will’s arm as he lies back on the couch.

Will goes willingly, almost asleep, as Sonny said, slotting himself into the space between Sonny and the back of the couch. His head falls automatically onto Sonny’s chest and he’s fully asleep within seconds.

It’s only six hours later when Will blinks slowly awake that he realizes he slept curled into Sonny’s side, Sonny’s arms tight around him.

In the weeks that follow, they don’t discuss falling asleep together on Sonny’s couch but Will senses something has shifted between them. Sonny’s always been happy to see him, but Will’s almost certain there’s an extra twinkle in his eyes when he spots Will walk into Common Grounds or a wider grin at something Will says or that Sonny sits just a little bit closer to him when they eat together or just talk. It’s driving Will crazy because it’s not obvious enough for Will to broach the subject with Sonny but Will swears that he’s not imagining it either. 

Valentine’s Day is when Will knows absolutely without a doubt that he’s not imagining it. 

Sonny is short-staffed for all the reservations he’s booked for the night so, based on Will’s one summer waiting tables at the Brady Pub, Sonny hires Will for the night. After they’ve closed up, they share some left over food and Sonny offers to walk Will home despite living on the other side of town.

“If you ever get tired of writing your articles, I’d be happy to add you to my staff, even if you are a bit green,” Sonny propositions as they stop in front of Will’s apartment building, knocking his shoulder into Will’s playfully. 

“Oh, thanks. I’ll keep that in mind,” Will teases with a laugh. 

Sonny grins. “No but really,” Sonny says with a hand on Will’s elbow. “Thank you for the help tonight. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”

Will doesn’t know how to respond to that and is preoccupied anyway thinking about how beautiful Sonny looks in the moonlight and how much he wants to kiss him right now.

So Will just says, “You’re welcome.”

Sonny’s grin turns soft at the edges as his eyes trace Will’s face, flicking down to Will’s lips and back up to Will’s eyes. Will’s breath catches in his throat as the air thickens around them and he realizes just how close they’re standing, and that Sonny’s hand is still cradling his elbow.

They stare at each other, the moment of tension building and hanging between them, and Will’s face, unbidden, leans forward, slowly closing the space between them. His heart beats a drum against his chest as Sonny’s face moves forward to meet his and their lips are just about to touch when a car alarm goes off. 

Sonny jumps like he’s been shot, his hand dropping Will’s arm and his eyes wide and horror-stricken, like a deer in headlights. 

“I have to go,” Sonny says quickly and disappears into the dark within moments.

It takes Will a long time to fall asleep that night. 

The next morning Will stands outside Common Grounds for five minutes before gathering the courage to walk inside. He needn’t have worried, though, because Sonny grins at him the second he sees him. 

Will’s stomach flutters with nerves as he walks over to the counter but Sonny greets him like nothing happened last night and his nerves turn to confusion and a bit of paranoia when Sonny acts completely normal. It’s only when their hands accidentally brush over a packet of sugar and Sonny snaps his hand back like it’s a rubber band that Will knows he hadn’t imagined them almost kissing last night. But still Sonny doesn’t say anything and then quickly rushes off to his office to make an apparently very important phone call. Will leaves Common Grounds confused and returns later for their nightly close up only to find the shop already closed. 

Hurt, Will retreats home like a wounded animal.

It doesn’t get any better as winter stretches into spring.

Sonny never acknowledges it, continues to pretend like there’s nothing wrong, like there’s no tension between them, like things are exactly like they used to be before Valentine’s Day, despite Sonny jumping a mile in the air whenever their hands brush, despite Sonny never letting himself be alone in a room with Will, despite Sonny unilaterally changing their routine to closing Common Grounds before Will gets off work and never mentioning it. Sometimes, when they are together Will catches Sonny staring at him and then quickly turning away.

It’s absolutely driving Will up the fucking wall with want and frustration and a tiny bit of anger. He wants to shake Sonny, to get him to admit his feelings, but Will has always been a bit of coward, and so he lets the tension between them simmer unacknowledged, albeit with great effort.

When he knew his feelings were one-sided, he was able to suffer in silence, to hope that one day they would morph into something softer, something more brotherly and he could let Sonny go. But with the way Sonny’s been around him since Valentine’s Day, Will’s got so much hope that Sonny returns his feelings, it’s all he can do to not do something stupid like ask Sonny to marry him.

It comes to a boiling point at the welcome home party at the beginning of May for the BlackPatch spies. The whole family is there at Common Grounds: John and Marlena, Steve and Kayla, Tripp, Stephanie, Joey, Justin and Adrienne, Paul, Sonny, Will, Brady, Eric, Belle, and even Sami makes an appearance. 

Sonny’s been avoiding him all night, running around making sure the food and drinks are ready and available, counting and recounting napkins, plates and bowls and silverware, and mingling with his family. Will has watched Sonny’s frenzy, so unlike his usual calm and steady assurance, and his clinginess to Paul unlike anything Will has ever seen from Sonny in the year that he’s known him. Paul and Sonny have always been affectionate, never afraid of PDA, but Sonny’s never attached himself so thoroughly to Paul’s side before now, like they’re glued together. 

It’s easy for the guests to pass it off as Sonny having missed his husband for six months, but Will is certain there’s a different reason for Sonny’s unbreakable attachment and it snaps something in Will.

As the party winds down, Will follows Sonny into his office at the back of the club.

“Need any help?” 

Sonny nearly jumps a foot in the air at his voice. “No. I’m fine,” Sonny says sharply.

“Are you though?” 

“Yes,” Sonny grits out, rifling through papers and not looking at Will. 

“You know you’re a terrible liar, right?” 

“What’s your problem, Will?!” Sonny shouts at him from behind his desk, spinning around to finally face Will.

“What’s my problem? Will asks. “What’s your problem, Sonny?” 

Sonny’s eyebrows shoot up into his hairline. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Will barks out a bitter laugh. “Of course you don’t.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Sonny asks angrily, finally emerging from behind his desk.

“How long are we going to deny this, Sonny?” 

“Deny what?” 

“My god. You are so frustrating,” Will mutters to the ceiling. “There’s something between us. You know there is. You’re just too afraid to do anything about it.”

“There’s nothing between us,” Sonny denies. “Anyway, even if there was, it doesn’t matter because I’m married.”

“I think we both know that doesn’t matter.”

Sonny glares daggers at him. 

Will can’t blame him. He can’t believe he’s said that; after everything he’s said to his parents about unfaithfulness, he can’t believe he’s even thinking about hurting Paul like this. But he wants Sonny so much, desperately needs Sonny to admit that he returns his feelings, that right now Paul just seems like necessary collateral damage.

“I’m sorry,” Will apologizes, because he hates that he’s willing to hurt Paul to get Sonny. “You’re right it does matter. But Sonny,” Will almost pleads and takes a step into Sonny’s space. “Can you really stand there and pretend like we haven’t been dancing around each other for months?”

“We haven’t,” Sonny denies again, his mouth a thin, angry line.

Will takes another tentative step closer to Sonny. “So, us almost kissing on Valentine’s Day, and every time since that our hands have accidentally brushed and you’ve pulled away like you’ve been scalded, every time I catch you staring at me when you think I’m not looking, every time you run out of the room when we’re left alone, you purposefully changing the club’s hours so that I’m still at work when you’re closing up, that was all because I mean nothing to you?”

“You don’t mean nothing to me,” Sonny answers immediately. “But I’m not in love with you.”

“Prove it.”

“Excuse me?” 

“Prove it. Prove you’re not in love with me. Prove that I’ve just been imagining the tension between us,” Will challenges.

Sonny stares at him, his mouth hanging open slightly.

Will stares back boldly, a dare.

After a long minute, Sonny says, “Fine. Fine. I’ll prove it. I’ll kiss you right now to prove that I don’t have feelings for you.”

“Great,” Will says, his heart beating a mile a minute against his chest. He hadn’t actually expected Sonny to give in and now he’s suddenly been granted the opportunity to kiss Sonny. 

“Fine,” Sonny says again. 

Then he swallows thickly, stalks forward, grabs Will’s face with both his hands, and slams their mouths together. 

It’s a hard kiss, bruising lips and too much teeth, Sonny’s fingers digging painfully into his cheeks, nothing like Will imagined their first kiss to be, and it’s over before Will can fully process the feel of Sonny’s lips against his. 

When Will opens his eyes, Sonny is back behind his desk and he looks absolutely wrecked, close to tears.

“There, see. Nothing,” Sonny croaks, a blatant lie. 

“Sonny, I -” Will starts, not quite knowing what to say. This hasn’t gone at all like he planned and now he feels even more miserable than he’s felt all year pining after Sonny. Somehow this has made things worse and he thinks that he might have just ruined their friendship and possibly his brotherhood with Paul.

“Please leave, Will,” Sonny pleads, his voice a broken whisper.

Will swallows his heart and leaves, but not before taking a last glance at Sonny, who’s collapsed into his chair, his head in his hands, quietly sobbing.

Will avoids Sonny for the rest of May and into the beginning of June. When Paul asks why the three of them haven’t been hanging out the way they had before he’d left on his mission, Will says simply that he’s been overwhelmed with work and he’s leaving them alone to make up for the six months that they were apart. For his part, Sonny never asks. 

But as Salem turns hot, Paul insists that Will start spending time with them again. Unable to decline without raising questions, Will agrees. The first time Will sees Sonny in over a month it’s at the lakeside and he’s shirtless and dripping wet. Will nearly turns around on the spot but Paul catches sight of him and waves, so Will swallows the lump in his throat, plasters on as sincere a smile as he can, and walks over to their beach spread.

“Hey! Haven’t seen you around in awhile,” Sonny says to him as Will drops his beach bag on their blanket. “Everything alright?”

Will stares at Sonny in disbelief; he never realized Sonny was such a good actor, or else that he is extremely successful at compartmentalizing. 

“Uh, yeah. I was just giving you and Paul some space,” Will answers flatly. 

“You really didn’t have to do that,” Paul replies, draping his arm across Sonny’s shoulders. 

“It’s fine. I wanted to,” Will says, watching Sonny gently move out from Paul’s arm to grab a bottle of suntan lotion.

“In case you didn’t bring,” Sonny says, holding it out to Will. 

“Thanks,” Will says politely as he takes it, deliberately brushing his fingers against Sonny’s. 

Will feels Sonny’s fingers flinch under his, but he doesn’t jump away as he had been months ago, and Will’s certain Sonny holds his gaze for longer than is strictly necessary.

“Meet us in the water?” Paul asks.

Will nods and watches them walk down to the lake hand-in-hand. Five minutes later, Will joins them and it’s more than a bit easy to fall back into their old camaraderie.  As they joke and laugh together and splash each other, some of the tension in Will’s shoulders eases and he ends up having the most fun day he’s had in months.

After that, Will finds it slightly less painful to be around them and he manages an internal balance of desperately wanting Sonny and studiously ignoring his feelings the way Sonny seems to have done himself. Thus, June passes in playing basketball games, going to baseball games, watching movies, and the three of them generally spending most of their free time together.

Things get uncomfortable for Will in the middle of July when Paul suggests they all hit The Spot for a night out.

“We can be your wingmen!” The excitement on Paul’s face sinks Will’s heart.

“I’m not interested,” Will says over the top of his coffee mug.

“Come on, Will. For as long as you’ve been out you’ve always been boy crazy,” Paul announces.

Will’s cheeks flame. “I have not,” Will mumbles, embarrassed, and avoids meeting Sonny’s eyes. 

“Really?” Paul challenges with a raised eyebrow. “You had a crush on every football and baseball player in high school. And how many boyfriends did you have in college?”

“Two! I had two boyfriends in college! I’m not my mother, thank you very much,” Will replies, indignant and offended that Paul is making him out to be a runaround. But Paul just laughs and, to Will’s chagrin, Sonny is grinning into his donut.

“No, but really. Are you even dating around?” Paul asks more seriously. “Since I came back last summer I haven’t seen you with anyone.”

Will swallows. “I told you. I’m not really interested right now,” Will answers, but his eyes flick to Sonny, who’s frowning at something apparently very interesting on his napkin.

Paul shrugs. “Whatever. But come with us tonight. Maybe you’ll meet someone.”

Will turns his attention back to Paul and agrees to join them.

As it turns out, Will does meet someone. His name is Neil Hultgren and he’s wonderful. Smart, an athlete, kind, everything Will would normally be attracted to, if only he weren’t fiercely in love with Sonny. But Neil is fun and the sex is great, so they date casually, Will, Sonny, and Paul’s hang outs now becoming double dates, and Will thinks it might be the start of a long road of getting over Sonny.

As summer fades into autumn things get serious with Neil. Will likes him a lot, more than he expected to, and so Will agrees to be exclusive, considering he’s not seeing anyone else anyway. He’s still in love with Sonny and he’s certain he’s not in love with Neil, but he immensely enjoys the time they spend together and being with him greatly takes his mind off of Sonny, at least until Will is alone again without Neil to distract him. 

Sometimes, when the four of them are together, Will thinks that Sonny has a scowl on his face after he and Neil share a kiss or that Sonny stares at their linked fingers just a little too long, but with how Sonny was before the disaster confrontation at Common Grounds in May and how he’s been since that brief unmentioned kiss, Will thinks he’s probably just imagining it. 

September and October pass uneventfully under the same routine of work, dates with Neil, double dates with Sonny and Paul, and family gatherings. As November blows in with a blizzard, Paul insists on making Will and big 25th birthday party at Common Grounds.

“I don’t know,” Will hedges. “You know I don’t like birthday parties.”

“Come on, Will! It’ll be fun,” Paul promises.

“Everyone always says that and something always inevitably goes wrong,” Will counters.

“Don’t be a spoilsport.”

Will sighs. “Fine.”

Paul grins and sweeps Will into a big bear hug.

So for the next two weeks, Paul, Sonny, and Neil buzz around town inviting literally every person in town that Will is related to, any and all Hortons and Bradys, and all of Will’s other friends and coworkers. There’s sure to be at least fifty people there and Will dreads it.

But they’ve all worked so hard on this party that Will can’t do anything but appreciate it.

So on the morning of November 16th, Will is just getting ready to hop in the shower when there’s a knock on his door. As far as he knows he’s not expecting anyone; they’re all busy getting Common Grounds ready for his party.

Curious, Will opens the door. 

“Hey,” Will says, surprised to find Sonny on his doorstep. “I didn’t think I was seeing you until the party tonight.”

“Can I come in?” Sonny asks and Will swears he sounds nervous.

“Sure. Everything alright? Where’s Paul?”

“He’s with your grandparents getting stuff ready for the party. Is Neil here?”

“No,” Will says slowly. “I’m meeting him at Common Grounds. Sonny? What’s going on?”

“I wanted to give you your birthday present before the party.”

“Oh no. Did you and Paul get me some kinky sex stuff you don’t want my family to see?” Will laughs.

“I love you,” Sonny blurts out.

Will blinks, thinking he’s misheard. “What?”

“Neil’s going to ask you to marry him tonight. Please don’t say yes,” Sonny responds.

“What?” Will asks again, confused because that’s definitely not what Sonny said before and also because he’s in a little bit of a panic now. Will’s been considering breaking up with Neil because despite how much he’s tried, he still hasn’t gotten over Sonny and he’s still not in love with Neil and that’s unfair to Neil who Will knows is in love with him. 

“I don’t want you to marry Neil.”

Will is so confused. “What are you saying, Sonny?”

“I love you,” Sonny repeats and Will definitely doesn’t mishear it this time.

“Please don’t say that if you don’t mean it,” Will pleads.

“I do mean it. I love you,” Sonny says for a third time.

“Why would you say that to me?” Will asks angrily. “For almost a year you’ve made it very clear that you don’t have feelings for me and now you come barging in here on my birthday to tell me you supposedly love me and you expect me to believe you?!” 

“I - you’re right. I’m so sorry, Will. I’ve been terrible to you. I have had feelings for you since Paul went undercover, probably even before. I was lying to myself and to you, trying to make myself believe that I didn’t because I didn’t want to. I’m married, Will! I didn’t want to fall in love with someone who isn’t my husband! But you - you just - you just happened. I don’t know. I don’t know! You snuck up on me. With Paul busy all the time and then gone without a trace for months it was just the two of us and it felt so domestic, y’know? Like it was our life,” Sonny says, pointing to himself and Will.

Will can barely hear Sonny’s ranting over the blood rushing in his ears and the pounding of his heart. That’s exactly how it had felt to Will, and Will has so much hope he doesn’t dare breathe for the possibility that this is all a dream.

“And it was so easy to imagine that we could have that forever,” Sonny continues, caught up now in his confession. “And when we almost kissed on Valentine’s Day, I got scared. I got scared shitless, Will, because I wanted to kiss you so much that night and I didn’t even think about Paul until that car alarm went off. I just forgot about my husband because I was with you. So I ran away. 

“I pretended that things were the same between us, but I couldn’t, not really, so I kept my distance from you, just like you said at the welcome home party. And I hated being called out like that because you were throwing everything in my face that I was trying to deny. So I kissed you to prove you wrong but it only made it clear that I was in way deeper than I thought I was.

“With Paul back, I thought it would be easy for me to convince myself that I didn’t have feelings for you, but right away I knew that something had changed within me because suddenly things felt different for me between me and Paul. I couldn’t stop thinking about you and wishing that I was living with you instead of him. I was so grateful that you stayed away from me after the party because I thought with the space I could shift things back. Get myself back on track with Paul, but it just made things worse, honestly. Because you weren’t there, but I was thinking about you anyway all the time. Missing you and wanting to be around you. Paul started feeling like a nuisance and I hated that. I hated that I didn’t want to be around my husband but it happened and I couldn’t fix it.

“And then you started dating Neil and I’ve been so jealous, Will. Like, it’s insane how jealous I’ve been watching you with him. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve wanted to punch him in the face for kissing you or holding your hand. And that’s when I knew that I loved you. That I was in love you and that I wanted to be with you for real. Because I wanted to be the one casually kissing you and holding your hand.”

“You really love me?” Will whispers, hope fluttering wildly in his chest.

“I’m crazy about you,” Sonny answers. 

“Prove it,” Will says, the ends of his lips curling up in amusement.

Sonny laughs a full-belly laugh and closes the distance between them. 

Will’s heart is beating painfully against his chest, threatening to explode, and his breath in coming in short puffs, so close to an anxiety attack, as he watches Sonny walk towards him. 

Sonny stops toe-to-toe with him, their faces inches apart. Will can see the gold flecks in Sonny’s brown eyes and the beginnings of the moustache and beard Sonny had mentioned last week that he wanted to grow for the winter. 

“What about Paul?” Will asks quietly into the air between them.

“I have to have a long and painful conversation with him. Not tonight but I will. I promise. I don’t want to break his heart, but I have to because I want to be with you, Will. I want to be with you so much I can hardly stand it. Can I kiss you?”

“It wouldn’t be much of a birthday present if you didn’t,” Will deadpans.

Sonny laughs again, bright and loud, and shakes his head in exasperation. “C’mere,” Sonny mumbles and places his hands on Will’s cheeks, cradling Will’s face gently, so different from the pinching grip of the fleeting kiss months ago in Sonny’s office.

Their lips meet softly, and this time it is exactly what Will imagined their first kiss to be. Sonny’s hands slide off his face to cup the back of Will’s head, his arms resting loosely around Will’s shoulders and his fingers tangling in Will’s hair. Will whimpers when Sonny’s tongue darts into his mouth and he wraps his arms around Sonny’s waist, pulling him closer so they’re chest-to-chest.

They kiss unrushed and unheated for a long time, Will’s not sure how long, but at some point his lungs start burning and he regretfully breaks away for air. He drops his forehead against Sonny’s, his eyes still closed, and whispers, “Is this real?”

“Yeah,” Sonny whispers back. 

Will opens his eyes to find Sonny watching him, a tiny smile curling his lips. “I love you so much, Sonny.”

“What about Neil?” Sonny asks, an echo of Will’s earlier question.

Will lifts his head away from Sonny’s to better look at him. “I don’t love him. That’s not true. I do love him. I’m just not in love with him. I’ve loved you since that first day I saw you with Abby and I’ve tried to stop, I really have. I tried to fall in love with Neil. I wanted to. But you’re the one in my heart, Sonny. You’re in my bones. You are a part of me. I’ll always love you.”

Sonny’s face splits slowly into a blinding grin and Will’s lips curl into a matching grin, his heart bursting with joy. 

They grin stupidly at each other for a long minute, their arms still around each other, until Will asks, “What did you mean that Neil is going to ask me to marry him tonight?”

“Oh. Neil told me and Paul last week that he was planning to propose to you at the party tonight. He has a ring and everything.”

Will bites his lip, thinking. “I have to talk to him before the party then. I can’t let him come and propose and turn him down in front of everyone.”

Sonny nods. “Can you ask him not to say anything to Paul? I can’t let him hear about us from anyone but me.”

“Yeah. Of course.”

“I should go,” Sonny says unconvincingly. “I told Paul I had to run an errand for the party. He’ll be wondering where I am.”

“Okay,” Will says and regretfully drops his arms from Sonny’s waist as Sonny’s arms pull away from Will’s shoulders. Will misses them already.

“I’ll see you at the party,” Sonny says and heads towards the door.

“Yeah,” Will agrees, following behind Sonny.

“Good luck with Neil.” 

“Thanks.”

At the door, Sonny turns around and grins again at Will. “Happy birthday, Will,” Sonny says and kisses him quickly before slipping out of Will’s apartment.

Will closes the door behind Sonny, the reality of the last half hour fully sinking in. Sonny loves him. Sonny is leaving Paul for him. Sonny loves him!

Will laughs into the emptiness of his apartment, giddy with nerves and happiness. He knows that the fallout from this is going to be messy and painful for everyone involved but Sonny loves him and wants to build a life with him and that’s really all that matters. 

As he makes his way into his bathroom to take a shower and get ready for the party, Will thinks this is the best birthday he’s ever had.

[danrdarrenc]

100 Different Kisses

31. kitchen counter make-outs

The stove is sizzling when Will pads into the kitchen, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

"What're you doing?" Will asks, coming up behind Sonny and sliding his arms around Sonny's waist, hooking his chin over Sonny's shoulder.

Sonny deflates in his arms. "I wanted to bring you breakfast in bed for your birthday."

Will grins, though Sonny can't see it, and drops a sweet kiss to the crook of Sonny's neck. "Are you making pancakes from scratch?" Will asks, taking in the mess of eggshells, half-used sticks of butter, open bags of flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt, measuring cups, whisks, spoons, and bowls scattered over the majority of their counter space.

"It was supposed to be a surprise," Sonny pouts, turning around in Will's arms and draping his own around Will's neck. "We aren't meeting Gabi and Ari until this afternoon. I thought we could spend the morning in bed."

Will smiles, kissing Sonny softly. "You know, my mom tried to make pancakes from scratch once," Will says.

"Tried?"

Will laughs. "Yeah. My dad started making fun of her terrible kitchen skills and they ended up in a food fight. I came out of my bedroom and the entire apartment was covered in flour and sugar, including my parents."

Sonny grins and turns back around to attend to the pancake batter frying in the pan.

Will leans against the counter next to the stove to watch him. "Where did you learn to cook and bake?"

"My mom, mostly. But I took a couple Home Ec classes in high school and college."

"Did you really?" Will asks, amused. "I didn't even know they still teach that stuff."

Sonny nods. "I always knew I wanted to open my own business and I thought it might be useful."

"Well, I for one am very grateful, because those look and smell delicious," Will says, kissing Sonny's cheek before sliding into his chair at the kitchen table.

"Happy birthday," Sonny says a minute later, placing a stack of fresh pancakes in front of Will, a single candle sticking up.

"Thank you," Will says, lips curved into a soft smile. He closes his eyes, makes a wish, and blows out the candle. "Mmmm. And they taste delicious too," Will adds, after his first bite.

"What they don't teach you in Home Ec is that the clean up from baking and cooking is almost not worth it," Sonny says, twenty minutes later, staring at the mess of the kitchen.

"I'll help."

"It's your birthday!" Sonny protests.

"I really don't mind," Will says.

Sonny sighs. "Okay. It'll go faster if it's both of us."

"Maybe not," Will says, a glint in his eyes.

"What?" Sonny asks, confused, just as Will swipes a bit a flour onto his nose.

"You've got flour on your nose," Will announces with a crooked smile.

"Yeah. Well, you've got sugar on your face," Sonny retorts, smearing powdered sugar across Will's cheek.

Will gasps. "It's on!" and suddenly they're flinging sugar and flour into the air, running around the kitchen chasing each other.

They laugh as they dodge throws, shriek at flour and sugar meeting their targets, and slip on the mess of the floor, as they grab each other to smear the powders across each other's faces, sprinkle them in each other's hair.

Eventually, Sonny catches Will in his arms, pressing him back against the sole countertop devoid of bowls and utensils but nevertheless covered with the sugar and flour explosion, both of them breathless with laughter.

It reminds Will of that day, what feels like a hundred years ago, when they chased each other around Sonny's old apartment with a can of silly string.

Will drapes his arms around Sonny's shoulders. "I'm sorry. I couldn't resist," Will says, grinning.

"I was going to do it, if you hadn't," Sonny admits.

Will laughs, bright and loud. "We should clean up properly."

"I'll do it."

"No! That's ridiculous. It's my mess too!"

"Consider it my birthday gift to you."

"Well, then," Will relents easily, hopping to sit on the counter.

Sonny scoffs and shakes his head in amusement, moving to grab paper towels.

"No!" Will laughs, catching Sonny's hand. "I'm kidding. I'll help you. C'mere first though."

Will pulls Sonny into the space between his legs, his arms falling around Sonny's neck again. Sonny's hands splay on the counter either side of Will, bracketing Will in his arms.

Will leans his face down to steal a kiss from Sonny's lips, Sonny's face tipped up to meet his mouth. Will loves kissing like this, when there's a height difference between them, so different from their usualness of being equal.

Sonny's hands find Will hips, anchoring him in place, Will's legs wrapping loosely around Sonny's knees, pinning him against the counter.

Sonny's tongue laps at Will's mouth, deepening the kiss, and Will tastes the sweet, stickiness of the syrup they'd had with their pancakes mixed with the soft, powdery sweetness of the sugar and flour they both have smeared all across their faces.

Will's fingers curl into Sonny's hair, as he tilts his head to change the angle, to twist his tongue around Sonny's differently, to better taste their breakfast and their food fight on Sonny's lips.

Eventually, they break apart, foreheads pressed unevenly against each other.

"Thank you for this," Will says quietly into the space between them. "I love you."

"Love you too."

"C'mon. Let's clean up and get showered. We're meeting the girls soon."

Sonny nods and pulls away to start the process of clearing their mess.

[danrdarrenc]

100 Different Kisses

99. hungry kisses and ripped apart clothes

“How long do we have?” Sonny asks, gasping into Will’s mouth as his back hits the door, his hands pushing the purple-and-gold blazer off of Will’s shoulders.

“Five minutes, ten tops, before the concealment charm fades and your friends find us,” Will answers, shaking his arms to help Sonny remove his blazer the rest of the way. 

Will’s mouth is back on Sonny’s even before the blazer falls to the floor with a light thud, his hands clawing at Sonny’s T-shirt even before Sonny has his arms out of his own leather jacket. 

“Better be quick then,” Sonny says, when they break the kiss to pull his T-shirt over his head. “Why do you wear so many fucking layers?” Sonny mutters, annoyed, as his fingers scrabble to unbutton Will’s waistcoat.

“It makes this part more fun,” Will answers with a smirk, expertly unbuckling Sonny’s belt.

“Not when we only have five minutes,” Sonny replies with a huff and grabs the edges of the waistcoat and pulls. The buttons pop as the waistcoat comes loose.

“Hey! That was my favorite!” Will says indignantly, but he lets go of Sonny’s now unbuckled belt to shuck off his ruined waistcoat.

“Shouldn’t have worn so many layers then,” Sonny retorts, his hands going to Will’s collar.

Before Sonny can rip the shirt, Will waves his hand and the rest of their clothing is laying on the floor, a discarded mess.

“You couldn’t have done that two minutes ago?!”

“I told you. More fun,” Will says.

Sonny swears under his breath before crashing his lips against Will’s again, as Will spins them to the floor, Sonny’s back landing on a pile of pillows that definitely was not there two seconds ago. 

Will’s lips are bruising against his, his own lips claiming Will’s hungrily, as Will pushes quickly but gently inside Sonny, the cold of magicked lubricant tingling Sonny’s thighs. 

Sonny wraps his legs around Will’s waist pulling him deeper inside, urging Will to go faster, harder.

The door bangs open five minutes later, Sonny’s team of demon hunters filing in weapons at the ready, just as Will has magicked their clothes back on and vanished the pillows. 

[danrdarrenc]

100 Different Kisses

89. kissing each other’s pain away, your tears mixing with your lover’s

Will’s at his desk finishing up his latest story when the door opens.

“Sonny!” Will jumps up from his desk in alarm. They’d just said goodbye at the Salem airport not even twelve hours ago with the promise that Will would be back in a few weeks when Ari’s school finished up for the summer. “What’s happened? What’s wrong?”

Sonny’s face crumples as he lets out a strangled sob and Will catches Sonny as he launches himself at Will.

Sonny’s arms are tight around his neck and panic blooms in Will’s chest.

His arms still around Sonny’s waist, Will bends his back so he can look at Sonny. “Talk to me, Sonny. Please. You’re scaring me.”

“Abby’s dead,” Sonny chokes out. 

“What? Here. Come sit down. Tell me what happened.” Will separates himself from Sonny but takes his hand to lead him over to the couch.

They sit and Sonny takes a deep, steadying breath. His hand clutches Will’s like a vise. “Abby was murdered last night,” Sonny explains, his voice rough with emotion. “Chad was out with the kids and when he came back he found her on their bed stabbed in the stomach. She died at the hospital.”

Will inhales sharply.

“Do they -?”

Sonny shakes his head. “Rafe’s investigating.” After a beat, Sonny whispers, “What if it was Leo?”

Will swallows thickly, a knot twisting sickly in his stomach.

“Leo’s not capable of murder. Is he?” Will asks.

“I think he’s capable of doing anything to get revenge. He tried to kill you.”

Will blinks as sudden tears cloud his eyes. Abby dead. Murdered. And maybe their fault.

“Have you talked to Chad?” Will asks, in an attempt to turn their thoughts away from Leo.

Sonny shakes his head again. “When I got the news alert, I, um. I kind of froze. I just like, flashed back to my apartment in Paris when Victor called me about - about you. And then I booked a flight out here.”

Will’s heart breaks and he scoots closer to pull Sonny into a hug. Sonny wraps his arms tightly around Will’s waist and buries his face in Will’s neck. 

They stay like that for a long time, wrapped up in each other, Sonny’s tears tickling Will’s neck, Will’s hands carding through Sonny’s hair. 

Eventually, Sonny pulls back, resting his forehead against Will’s. “I don’t know what I would have done if I’d come home that day to find you there on the floor like Gabi did,” Sonny says quietly.

Will’s lips tremble and tears escape down his face. They don’t talk about it often, Will’s death, because sometimes Sonny still has nightmares of Will being dead and Will still wakes up screaming, clutching his throat, gasping for breath.

Will brushes his nose against Sonny’s and then turns his head to press their lips together softly. Sonny whimpers as he deepens the kiss, his arms pulling Will closer. The bitter taste of salt tingles Will’s tongue, his own tears mixed with Sonny’s, reminding him of the pain he’d kissed Sonny to try to forget.

Will breaks the kiss, leaning his forehead against Sonny’s temple. He breathes Sonny in, the woodsy scent of his shampoo, the citrusy scent of Sonny’s favorite detergent. The thought of losing Sonny terrifies Will beyond all words. He has no idea how Sonny survived the two years without him. 

“Stay with me tonight?” Will asks, because Sonny came here because he needed to see Will, but in the wake of Sonny’s news, Will needs Sonny too.

Will feels Sonny’s nod. 

“I love you,” Will says into Sonny’s ear.

“I love you, too. More than anything,” Sonny replies, turning his face to steal another kiss.

[danrdarrenc]

A Hundred Different Kisses

14. kissing under the stars & 51. spinning your lover into a kiss on the dance floor

“You know, I didn’t expect to be in Salem for our anniversary,” Sonny says, apropos of nothing as they walk towards the center of town. 

His hand is warm in Will’s and the early April breeze is on the edge of balmy, the evening sky clear and full of stars. 

“I know. I didn’t either. But thank you for agreeing to stay a bit longer. There’s so much going on with my family, I feel wrong for leaving.”

“I know.” Sonny squeezes Will’s hand and gives him a small smile.

“I know we’d planned on going to that new outdoor restaurant in Phoenix,” Will says. “But I thought we could try this.”

Will gestures as he pushes open the rarely-closed gate to Horton Town Square.

Sonny stares at the scene. There are fairy lights strung criss-cross across the Square from tree to tree with Christmas lights adorning the trunks and lampposts. Miniature cacti are interspersed with the flowers in the flower boxes that line the plaza and that surround the Tom and Alice plaque. The roof is open on this beautiful spring night, providing the illusion that they are outdoors. Soft music filters out of the speakers that are hidden around the edges of the Square.

Eventually, Sonny realizes that the Square is deserted and that there is a single table sitting in the middle in front of Sweet Bits. 

“How did you do this?” Sonny asks, eyes wide with awe.

“Well, it is my name on the Square,” Will jokes. “I rented out the Square for a few hours with a private patio reservation from the Bistro and Chad helped get cacti and lights. Also, I’m pretty sure Allie and Chanel baked us a cake. I didn’t ask them to, but Allie seemed suspicious when I saw her this morning.”

Sonny grins as he follows Will to the table. A waitress from the Bistro appears as soon as they’re seated, offering them menus, pouring water into their glasses, and asking if they want drinks. They order sodas and a bottle of the restaurant’s best Pinot Noir.

“I still can’t believe you did this,” Sonny says, a grin across his face. He holds his hand palm-up on the table. 

Will slides his hand into Sonny’s. “I know you were bummed about the Arizona plans. And it’s been kind of crazy since we’ve been back. I thought we could use some time for us.” After a beat, Will adds, “Also, I’m expecting something equally as breathtaking for our June wedding anniversary.”

Sonny throws his head back with laughter just as the waiter arrives with their drinks and for their dinner order. The waiter retreats once Sonny’s ordered a prime rib and Will’s requested shrimp scampi. 

“I always forget that this place has a retractable roof,” Sonny says, tipping his head up to the sky. “It’s closed so often.”

“I requested the beautiful night weather, too,” Will cracks, making Sonny shake with laughter again.

“Will Horton, Weather God,” Sonny quips, returning his gaze to Will. 

“When I was little, my parents took me camping once.  It was one time when they’d stopped fighting momentarily for my sake.  A snake almost bit my mom.” Will smiles fondly at the memory. “But I remember lying on my back on my sleeping bag, looking up at the stars. It made me want to be an astronaut. I thought it would be so cool to be able to get away from Earth, my parents. Find other beings. Maybe a new family.”

“What happened to the astronaut plan?” Sonny asks as he sips his wine.

“Too much math and science.” 

Sonny grins.

“It’s crazy that it’s been eight years,” Sonny says absentmindedly, stroking Will’s hand with his thumb.

“It’s been a crazy eight years.”

Sonny nods in agreement, but smiles fondly. “I wouldn’t change it though.”

“Really?” Will tilts his head in curiosity. “I can think of one thing in particular I would change.”

Sonny doesn’t ask if it’s the cheating or the death but instead says, “Really. I wouldn’t change any of it. Because it all made us stronger and what we are right now.”

Will’s face goes soft. “Sap.”

Sonny grins just as the waiter arrives with their food.

They eat in comfortable silence, listening to crickets, the nighttime sounds of Salem through the gates and the open roof, and the soft music filtering around the Square. 

When they’re finished, Sonny pushes his chair back and holds his hand out to Will.  “Mr. Horton, may I have this dance?” Sonny asks dramatically, affecting a terrible British accent.

Will pushes his chair back, stands up, and bows to Sonny, equally dramatic. “You may, good sir,” Will responds with his own fake accent, slipping his hand into Sonny’s.

Sonny laughs and leads Will towards the empty part of the Square next to their table. Maintaining his part, Sonny places one hand on Will’s hip and holds the other out in the air for Will to take. Chuckling through a splitting grin, Will obliges and they dance formally across the Square for a bit, half dancing, half hopping their way from end to end. 

When they pass by their table for the third time, Will huffs out a surprised laugh as Sonny lets go of his waist and spins him out towards the center of the Square and pulls him back in in quick succession, Will’s free arm flying around Sonny’s neck to steady himself. Sonny grins as their chests collide and he leans forward to steal a kiss.

Will shakes his head in amusement as their trance is broken by their waiter appearing with a cake.

“Aha! I knew Allie and Chanel had baked us something!” Will says triumphantly as they retake their seats. 

It’s a beautiful chocolate cake with matching chocolate frosting and the words “Happy anniversary, Will and Sonny!” written on top in blue icing. 

They devour half the cake in minutes and ask the waiter to wrap the rest of it. Arianna will love it.

“This was wonderful. Thank you,” Sonny says, his arms snaking around Will’s waist, as they stand outside the Bistro waiting for their dessert box.

Will’s arms find home around Sonny’s shoulders as he shrugs nonchalantly. “I love you,” Will says simply and kisses Sonny gently.

They kiss lazily, unheated, for a long time after the waiter has returned their leftover cake to their table, the stars shining brightly above them, illuminating the night sky.

[danrdarrenc]

100 Different Kisses

94. untying your lover’s tie, using it to pull your lover into a kiss

Will’s lounging on their bed reading a book when the bedroom door opens and Sonny walks in.

“Hey.”

“Hey. You look exhausted,” Will says because Sonny’s sluggishly removing his suit jacket and he looks completely worn out.

“Long day at the office,” Sonny answers, face-planting onto the bed.

Will scowls. “I don’t like what running Titan does to you.”

Sonny flops over onto his back and looks at Will upside down. “What do you mean?”

“You don’t seem happy, Sonny,” Will says gently.

Sonny sighs. “I am. It’s just... a lot.”

Will puts his book on the bedside table and scoots down the bed to lay next to Sonny. “The coffee shop and club were a lot of work too. But you never seemed stressed the way you are running Titan. Are you sure it’s not too much pressure?”

Sonny doesn’t respond, just stares at the ceiling. 

“Do you remember what you said when you first told me about Victor’s offer?”

Sonny rolls his head to look at Will but doesn’t answer.

“You said that the last time you were CEO of Titan you lost yourself and you didn’t want to become that person again.” Will laces their fingers together in the space between them. “I want to make sure you’re not losing yourself, Sonny.”

“I’m okay,” Sonny says with a small smile that doesn’t reach his eyes. “It was just a long day of meetings.”

“You’re sure?” 

Sonny nods.

“Because Victor almost destroyed us once by taking me away from you. I won’t let him take you away from me. It’s not worth it.”

Sonny’s eyes go soft. “Last time was different. I promise. I won’t lose myself this time.”

“You’re sure?” Will asks again.

Sonny nods. “Last time was a year after you died. I already wasn’t myself,” Sonny answers, squeezing Will’s hand.  “But now I have you to anchor me.”

Will’s smile spreads slowly across his face at the old, familiar phrase. “Okay.”

They lay in silence together for a few minutes until Sonny says, “I should get ready for bed,” but doesn’t move.

“You know, there is one benefit to you working at Titan,” Will says, letting go of Sonny’s hand to untie Sonny’s tie with both hands. 

“Yeah? What’s that?” Sonny asks with a grin.

“Getting you out of your suits,” Will answers through his own grin.

Sonny laughs as Will gets the knot free. 

“C’mere.” Will pulls Sonny’s face close by the loose ends of his tie, their lips meeting in a soft kiss. 

They kiss lazily for awhile, Sonny too tired for any real heat, until Sonny breaks away to yawn.

“Am I boring you?” Will jokes.

Sonny shakes with laughter and buries his face in Will’s shoulder. “Sorry.”

Will snorts in amusement. “Don’t be. Come on. Up you get.” Will stands up and pulls Sonny with him by the tie he’s still holding. 

“You’re absolutely sure that this isn’t too much for you and that this job is what you want?” Will asks again just to be certain and because he’s still concerned.

“As long as you’re here.”

“I am. Always. I just want to make sure you’re running yourself ragged like this for the right reasons.”

“I am. I promise I’m fine and I want to do this.”

“Okay. But also promise me you’ll resign if it gets too much for you?”

“I promise.”

“Thank you,” Will says and pulls Sonny’s tie again for another quick kiss. “Go get undressed then, sleepyhead.”

Will lets go of the tie and pushes Sonny towards the dresser to retrieve his pajamas.