A/N: Here is my one-shot for the wilson fall ficfest. Thanks all for reading and reviewing!
"Why did we even take her trick or treating? I mean she can't eat any of this candy!" Will plopped the round plastic pumpkin which was practically filled to the top with sweets onto the counter, while Sonny took his adorable pumpkin-costumed daughter into the bedroom to get changed.
"Oh come on, Will! It was Ari's first ever Halloween. We had to take her out and show her off to everyone. I can't help it if both your family and mine insisted on spoiling her with tons of treats and toys."
"Yeah, I swear half of the sugar in that pumpkin came from the Kiriakis mansion. Did you always give out full-sized candy bars when you were growing up?" Will pulled one of the peanut butter cup packages from Arianna's loot and proceeded to unwrap it. He took a bite. "Oh god this is good!" Will exclaimed after finishing one of the cups.
Sonny came walking back out with Arianna, now dressed in her festive black cat footed pajamas. "Already breaking into your kid's candy, huh?" Sonny teased heading over to where Will was standing by the kitchen counter.
"Yep! As her father, it's my duty to go through her candy to make sure it's safe, right?" They both laughed and Will shared a little bite with Sonny. "Plus, I do not remember the last time I had a peanut butter cup. This tastes damn good right now."
Sonny couldn't help but smile at Will as he shoveled the remainder of the candy bar into his mouth. Sonny had to admit that it did taste mighty good. "Mmmmm, come here and kiss me," Sonny demanded, wanting to lick the corner of Will's lips where a tiny amount of chocolate lingered. Will complied, leaning over Ari to give his boyfriend a kiss. Just as they were about to pull apart, Sonny quickly stuck out his tongue and cleaned that small bit of chocolate from the crevice of Will's mouth.
"What was that?" Will inquired when he felt Sonny's tongue draw back so quickly.
"Just helping my boyfriend clean up. You had a little chocolate on your lips."
"And you took it without asking me?" Will pretended to pout.
Sonny rolled his eyes. "It's not as if you didn't have enough."
"Hey! That wasn't nice!"
"Well, you did scarf both peanut butter cups, right?"
"Okay, maybe," Will surrendered easily.
"Plus, if I remember correctly, my Mom stuck about 5 full-size Reeses into Ari's pumpkin."
"You're right. There's more where that came from!" Will said pointing to the pumpkin on the counter filled to the brim. He stuck his hand back inside and grabbed himself a fun size Kit Kat. "Yum! I think these are my second favorite!"
"Will – I hate to sound like a nag, but I'm going to. You probably shouldn't eat a lot of chocolate tonight or you'll never fall asleep," but Will already had the entire candy bar in his mouth.
"I know," he mumbled tossing the wrapper into the garbage. "This is it, I'm done," and he made his way to take his daughter from Sonny.
"I'm going to change, ok?" Sonny headed off towards their bedroom wanting to shed the cape and vampire fangs he had donned for the day.
"Sure. Then we can put her down and maybe even get some snuggling time in for us!" Will wiggled his eyebrows at Sonny thinking he was being sexy.
What he succeeded in doing was making Sonny laugh and himself look kind of silly. But Arianna seemed to like it. She giggled and tried to reach up to grab her Daddy's eyebrows. "Not so fast little girl," Will whispered when Sonny disappeared back into the bedroom. Arianna was moving and getting into a lot these days. Will couldn't believe she was almost 6 months old. It seemed like just yesterday when he saw her for the first time all swaddled in her little pink blanket. Soon they'd have to start planning her 1st birthday party!
Will strolled into the kitchen and put her pumpkin filled with candy up onto a high shelf in one of the cupboards. "You don't mind sharing your treats with your daddies and mommy, do you?" he cooed to her stashing one more candy bar in his pocket before closing the cupboard door. She giggled and drooled in reply. "Thank you my darling daughter. It's good to learn how to share at an early age."
"So, is she getting sleepy?" Sonny came back out into the living room now wearing a comfortable pair of sweats and t-shirt. Just then Arianna focused her big blue eyes on Sonny and yawned. "I knew our little girl would be worn out from all the excitement of the day!"
Sonny headed to the room Ari and Gabi shared and opened the door for Will. Laying her down, Will started to sing a sweet lullaby to his daughter while Sonny turned on the globe that shined stars and a moon across the ceiling above her crib. It didn't take long for Arianna's eyes to drift shut completely, and Will and Sonny took that opportunity to tiptoe out of the room. Closing the door quietly behind them, they walked hand in hand to the couch.
"Whew, that was quite a day!" Will sat down right next to his boyfriend and snuggled in close.
"It was so great, Will, seeing everyone just go crazy over Arianna. She was the cutest pumpkin ever."
Will laughed softly into the crook of Sonny's shoulder. "I know, right? And she was the perfect baby, too, not crying even once."
"Yeah! Even when T came up and scared her."
"And he wasn't even in costume!" Will joked and they chuckled together remembering the look on Ari's face when T came up behind her and said "Boo!" just a bit too forcefully. Arianna's eyes got big and her lip started to tremble, but Sonny was able to pull her out of it with a tickle in just the right place.
Sonny wrapped his arm tighter around Will and pressed them even closer. "It's kind of nice having the apartment to ourselves."
"I know. I don't remember the last time that happened. Should we take advantage of this rare moment of unexpected privacy?"
"Perhaps we should," and Sonny nuzzled his nose against Will's forehead. When Will looked up at him, he had the sweetest, most content expression on his face. He steadied his gaze on Will's. "You do know how much you and your daughter mean to me, right Will?"
"Son, she may not be your biological daughter, but she is your daughter in every other sense of the word. You help care for her, provide for her, give her unconditional love…you are her father just as much as I am."
"Well, I don't know about that, but it's sweet of you to say."
"I mean it Sonny. Please don't doubt the vital role you play in Arianna's life. She will grow up knowing what it's like to be in a loving family because of you. You brought us all together here, and I can never thank you enough."
Sonny was at a loss for words. Will didn't always talk a lot about his feelings, but when he did, he always managed to blow Sonny away with his eloquence and sincerity. He leaned down to brush his lips lightly against Will's and settled him back into his arms. "I love you so much, Will. Thank you for that."
"I love you, too, Sonny." Will yawned again and lay there happily until they both drifted off to sleep.
"Sonny, let's go to bed," Will whispered to his snoozing boyfriend. "Son-ny….." he placed a gentle kiss on Sonny's ear and whispered his name one more time.
"Wha?" Sonny's eyes popped open and immediately softened when he saw Will. "Baby, what's going on?"
"Well, it seems that we both dozed off on the couch, and now here we are at midnight each with a kink in our neck. So, let's head to bed, okay?"
"I'll go anywhere with you, you know," Sonny murmured as he rose from the couch and reached for Will's hand.
"Aw, you're even sappy when you're half asleep," Will teased.
"It's all because of you Horton, and that adorable daughter of yours."
They got into the bedroom and even though they were both almost sleepwalking, they helped each other undress and shared a few potent kisses. Will pulled Sonny's sweatpants off and tossed them onto the dresser. Sonny unbuttoned Will's jeans and reached down each leg to pull them off one at a time. When he pulled the left leg down he heard a crinkling noise as he got closer to the front pocket. It sounded like some sort of paper or receipt.
"Will, do you need to empty your pockets?"
"Why?"
"Well, there's something in your left pocket. I hear it crinkling."
"Oh, I don't remember what I put in there. Can you grab it for me?"
Sonny dug his hand down in Will's pocket and felt something smooth like paper but a little soft too. Grabbing ahold of it, Sonny pulled out the mystery object.
"Will?"
"Yeah?"
Sonny grabbed one of Will's hands and dropped what was in his pocket into his palm. "Oh! My Snickers!" Will was suddenly wide awake and looking longingly at the miniature sized candy bar all wrinkled and smashed. "I forgot I put it in my pocket!"
Sonny watched completely intrigued by how determinedly Will went after that candy bar. He peeled the wrapper carefully and licked every speck of melted chocolate from it. He slid the mutilated candy into his hand and popped the entire bite into his mouth. Chewing happily, he swallowed and then used his tongue to clean his hand thoroughly. Sonny couldn't tear his eyes away from the spectacle, and he wasn't sure whether he should be turned on or grossed out. "Um, are you done now?"
"Mmmmm, yep, I am. Ready for bed." Will said groggily as he made his way to his side of the bed.
"You're something, you know that?" Sonny rolled his eyes at Will and climbed under the sheets.
"You know how much I love Halloween."
"Yeah, and now I know how much you love chocolate. I got a little jealous of that candy bar."
Will smacked him playfully. "Shut up!"
Sonny rolled to Will, and kissed him one last time. "You taste like chocolate. Yum."
"See? Aren't you glad we took Ari trick-or-treating?"
"Yes, Will, it was very fun. And now I can watch as my boyfriend eats all of his daughter's candy."
"Please! I could never eat all of it!" Sonny just shook his head, and they both settled in to sleep.
"Sonny?" Will called tentatively from the bedroom.
"Yes my love," his boyfriend responded.
Will peeked out the door and spotted Sonny packing Ari's diaper bag. "Could you maybe come here for a sec?"
Sonny looked over his shoulder at Will and smiled. They were getting ready to go out to celebrate Will's birthday, and he imagined Will probably needed help in deciding what to wear. It's not like they were going somewhere fancy; they were just heading to the pub to meet family and friends for a casual meal. Depending on Ari's disposition after dinner, Sonny may even be able to talk his mom and dad into watching her for the night, so he could take his now-one-year-older boyfriend out dancing.
"What's up birthday boy?" Sonny teased as he headed towards their room.
Will was standing by the bed with about 5 different pair of jeans spread out before him. He had his favorite ones on but not buttoned up as if he hadn't commited completely to wearing them. "Um, when you do laundry, do you typically dry my jeans?"
"Yep. I usually throw all our jeans in together and dry on Low."
"Oh. Okay." Will shrugged and glanced down at the pile of clothes before him.
"Will? What's going on?" Sonny could tell Will wasn't saying everything that was on his mind.
"It's nothing," Will tried to sound casual.
"You sure?" Sonny asked, and Will nodded and smiled. "Is that all you wanted?"
"Yeah, I guess, kind of..."
"Will. Spill it. Something else is on your mind, so you better just get it out there before we go. I don't want this festering during your party...and I know how you work." Sonny crossed his arms in front of him and looked directly at Will.
"No, I mean, I'm fine. Everything is fine." Will pulled his eyes from Sonny's and grabbed a different pair of jeans from the bed.
"Will, why don't you wear the ones you have on? I love those jeans on you. They really show off your beautiful backside," Sonny winked, trying to lighten the mood.
Will just stood there facing the bed, deep in thought. He started fiddling with his fingers, picking at a fingernail distractedly. Finally he spoke, but he mumbled so softly that Sonny couldn't hear a word of what he was saying.
"Honey, I can't hear you. Can you face me and tell me, please?" Sonny took a step towards Will and set a hand on his shoulder in comfort.
Will nodded his head. Sonny didn't have a clue what was going on. They were having such a good time these past weeks while Gabi was in New York. He and Will partnered so well together taking care of Ari while still managing work and school and other obligations. Granted, they had even less time for each other, but parenting Ari together made them both so happy that they were willing to deal with that consequence.
"Baby, talk to me. You can tell me anything, you know," Sonny placed a delicate kiss on Will's cheek and ran his hand softly up and down Will's back.
Will met his eyes somewhat reluctantly. "I-I think you shrunk my jeans. They are all small; so I think you must have mistakenly dried them on High this time."
"Actually, Will, I remember specifically turning the switch to Low after I finished the towel and blanket load. It was just last night." He paused and looked at Will closely from top to bottom. Sonny didn't notice any changes. His boyfriend was still gorgeous; his chest still sculpted and defined, hips and ass still perfect, legs still strong and a dreamy smile and eyes that never failed to make his heart melt.
"Maybe you thought you did but forgot?"
Sonny knew that wasn't the case, but he opted to keep the peace, especially considering it was Will's birthday. "Yeah, maybe. Sorry honey! Why don't you show me each pair, and I can help you decide which ones look the best, okay?"
"Okay," and Will started taking off the ones he had on. Sonny grabbed his second favorite pair of Will's jeans, unbuttoned them and held them out for Will. As he did this, he heard a similar crinkling sound coming from one of the pockets in the pants. Reaching in, he pulled out another candy wrapper, this time empty and already consumed.
"Um, Will?" Sonny knew what he wanted to say, but he had to figure out a way to approach this delicately. Will took the jeans from him and met his kind, brown eyes. "Another candy wrapper in your pocket? What a surprise!" Sonny joked playfully.
Will just chuckled, and his eyes fell on the empty peanut butter cup package in Sonny's hand. "Those are definitely my favorites," he said sheepishly.
"Did you leave any for me?"
"Maybe. I don't know actually."
"Well, I'm going to go get one, then I'll be back to help you get dressed." Sonny headed to the kitchen hoping to find Ari's trick-or-treating pumpkin in the state he expected - almost empty. He pulled the bowl down from the shelf and set it on the counter next to him. That pumpkin, which was filled to the very top just a little over two weeks ago, now had three small pieces of candy on the bottom. Sonny laughed to himself and carried it back into the bedroom.
"Will? Um, you have been raiding Ari's Halloween candy stash big-time."
"Yeah, I suppose I have every once in a while, why?" Will walked to where Sonny was standing in the hall between the kitchen and living room.
"Because this is all that's left." He tilted the pumpkin, so Will could see clearly the almost empty bowl.
"Wow! We must all be chowing that candy!"
"Actually, Will, I haven't taken any of it. And Gabi's been gone for over a week." Sonny looked at Will nervously. This meant that unless there was some crazy Halloween fairy gobbling up Ari's candy when they were gone, Will had eaten his way through almost every single piece of candy Ari had received on Halloween.
"No!" Will was in denial, but his eyes started to get wider as he thought more about it. "Son, maybe I did eat all of that?"
"I'm sorry to say it sweetie, but I think you did." Sonny was trying to remain calm and supportive.
"Oh god!" Will cried out and ran to the bathroom. Sonny followed right behind. When he got there, he saw Will standing on the scale with a look of surprise on his face. "Son?"
"Yes," he replied.
"I've gained 8 pounds. Since Halloween. I've eaten all of Ari's candy, and now I'm heavier than I've ever been and cannot even fit into my jeans." Will looked devastated. Sonny went to him and pulled him into his arms.
"Well, you could have fooled me. I don't see a change. All I see is my sexy, beautiful boyfriend."
Will stayed in Sonny's embrace for a little while. He was mad at himself and horrified at the thought of having to wear sweatpants to his own birthday party. How humiliating. But right now they were probably the only pair of pants that really fit.
"I have an idea," Sonny grabbed Will's hand and led him back into the bedroom. Sonny left Will standing in the middle of their room, still in his half-buttoned jeans. Sonny disappeared into their closet, sorted through a few things and came across what he was looking for. "Here, try these."
Will looked at Sonny's offering. "Why will these fit any differently? I just have to admit that I'm too fat to fit into my jeans and will have to wear work out pants - with an elastic waistband - to dinner." Will frowned and let his hands fall to his sides.
"Trust me, baby, and try these, okay?" Sonny shoved the pants at Will. "Try them, now." Sonny was not taking no for an answer.
"Fine," he replied begrudgingly, grabbing the pants out of Sonny's hand.
Sonny watched his boyfriend slip his legs into the jeans, pull them up over his hips and easily button and zip them. Sonny tried to suppress his smile.
"What the hell, Sonny? Where did you get these?"
"Well, I went to that store you like to get you another pair of your favorite jeans, but I must have grabbed the wrong kind because I ended up with a pair of loose fit instead of skinny jeans. I hadn't had a chance to return them yet, and then when this all happened," he gestured to the explosion of clothes on their bed, "I figured that these would probably fit. They have a little more give in the waist and hips, so...what do you think?"
Will walked to the full-length mirror and surveyed himself carefully. "They look good, Son," he said smiling at his own reflection.
"They do, Will," and he sauntered up behind Will and smoothed eager hands over his waist and hips, finally resting themselves on Will's ass. "Mmmm, you look hot." Sonny kissed the back of Will's neck and started to knead his cheeks.
Will leaned back into his touch but then pulled away suddenly. "We have to get going, Sonny. We don't want to be late to my own party, right?"
Sonny growled, "I suppose." Sonny let him go and turned him around so they were facing each other. "You look really good, Will."
"Are you sure? I am in my fat jeans," Sonny could tell Will wasn't totally teasing.
"Yes, Will. Don't you know that every time I see you, you take my breath away? You are so beautiful and kind and adorable, and I am the luckiest man alive." Sonny smiled and rubbed his hands up and down Will's arms reassuringly.
"You are sweet to say that, Sonny," Will smiled half-heartedly.
"I'm not just saying it Will, I mean it. You are perfect on the inside and out. I don't care if you gain 8 or 18 pounds. I will love you no matter what, okay? You will always be beautiful to me."
"Really? No matter what?" Will looked skeptical.
"No matter what," Sonny said confidently and kissed Will firmly on the mouth. That kiss brought them both alive and they held each other tightly, kissing and caressing until they heard Ari's coo through the baby monitor. Breaking away, Sonny smiled at his boyfriend, "I'll get Ari and you finish getting ready. We should leave in about 10 minutes, okay?"
"Okay," and Will watched as Sonny headed for the door. "Son?" he called to him just as he was about to Ari's room.
"What my love?" Sonny reappeared in the doorway and flashed him his million-watt smile.
"I love you too, no matter what." Will grinned back widely.
"Yeah?" Sonny paused for a moment to hold Will's beautiful blues with his own compassionate brown ones. Will nodded and continued to get ready as Sonny headed to Arianna's room to get her ready for the party.
Sonny lifted Arianna from her crib and kissed her silky soft head. Looking at her, he couldn't not see Will in her every feature. He stared at her in total awe. "You know what, little girl?" Sonny said quietly to the adorable baby girl whose eyes lit up whenever she saw him, "the same goes for you as your Daddy. I will always love you, no matter what." Arianna gave him her best gummy smile.
Will came up behind him and put his arms around Sonny's waist. "You mean that, Son?"
Sonny picked up Ari and turned to face Will. "I do. I've never loved anyone as much as I love you and Arianna. So, as far as I'm concerned Will, the three of us are together forever, no matter what."
"No matter what." Will had never been happier in his life. "Now where did you put that pumpkin? I know there were a few pieces of candy left..."
The End