Will plopped down next to Sonny on the couch in the Gryffindor common room. He dropped his head onto the back of the couch, loosened his tie, and groaned in frustration.
"I am so sick of studying for N.E.W.T.s. Can we go play Quidditch or something?" Will asked, rolling his head almost onto Sonny's shoulder.
"It's after curfew, Will. You've already gotten enough detentions this month to last you a lifetime. I don't think you need another one," Sonny said, smirking. His hand moved furiously as he scratched out the last paragraph of his Potions essay.
Will stuck his tongue out at his best friend. "Then can we at least play chess? I'm bored."
"You're always bored. Why don't you read a book?"
"I read all of them," Will said, pouting.
Sonny shook his head in exasperation, but a small smile graced his lips.
Will sighed and stared across the room to the corner where their mutual cousin Abigail was making out with her boyfriend and their other friend Chad.
"Do you ever think about what it'd be like to have a boyfriend?" Will asked Sonny.
Sonny had told Will he was gay a week into their second year, despite the fact that he had been terrified Will would no longer be his friend. But Will had hardly batted an eye, opting instead to grab his hand and pull him onto the Quidditch pitch for a one-on-one match. The next year, Will had come to Sonny just before Christmas break and confessed that he too was gay. After that, the two of them had only grown closer. They were literally each other's best friend, able to say anything and everything to the other. Except one – Sonny harbored a deep, burning passion for his friend. It was something he had realized sometime around the end of their fourth year and had never said aloud, certainly not to Will, for fear of Will rejecting him because he was sure Will did not share his feelings. While he kept it to himself, he could pretend the feelings weren't there.
So when Will asked his question, he wanted to answer 'I think about what it'd be like to have you as a boyfriend.' Instead he said shortly, "Of course. Don't you?"
"Yeah." Will said quietly. Sonny was too absorbed in editing his homework to notice the way Will stared at him.
"Okay. I'm almost finished. If you want we can play chess in, like, five minutes."
"Sure," Will said, snapping out of his reverie. "I'll get the board. Is the set of your pieces in your trunk?"
"Yeah," Sonny answered absentmindedly as he crossed out something.
Will jumped off the couch and headed up to the dorm to retrieve the board and two sets of pieces.
He dug his board and his set of pieces out from under his bed before rummaging through Sonny's trunk for his set. As he shuffled through the things in the trunk, Will's hand brushed across a book he didn't recognize. Will furrowed his brow in confusion.
He pulled the book out of the trunk. It was bound in red dragon-leather and Will was quite certain he'd never seen it before. It took him a couple seconds before he realized that it was Sonny's diary. Will bit his lip. He knew he shouldn't read it. Sonny was entitled to his privacy but, then, there were no secrets between them. So what was the harm in reading a couple pages?
Will sat down on Sonny's bed and opened the journal. The first few pages were entries about how excited he was to be at Hogwarts and how much he liked or disliked each of his classes. Will smiled at the three-page entry on Potions. It had been his favorite and best subject since the first day in their first year and why he was on the path to being a Healer for St. Mungo's Hospital.
Will flipped through a bunch of pages that were about teachers and other students, the things Sonny liked most about the food the house-elves made, and the things Sonny most disliked about playing Quidditch. The entries became fewer and far between around the time of their fourth year and then started to pick up again during the summer between then and their fifth year.
He scanned the pages quickly and was surprised to find his eye caught by an entry with only a single sentence. His hand paused in the middle of turning the page and he stopped to read it. His eyes grew wide and his mouth fell open in shock as he read the one confession Sonny had never divulged to him, scribbled roughly in Sonny's chicken-scratch handwriting:
I'm in love with Will.
Will stared at the page and then flipped through the subsequent pages, searching for clarification and something to make sense of the secret he shouldn't have seen. As he quickly scanned the pages later in the journal, he found entries upon entries of Sonny declaring his love for Will and why he could never tell Will about it.
Will's mind and heart raced. Sonny had been in love with him for over three years and had never said anything because he'd been afraid Will didn't feel the same way. He wished he could be mad at Sonny, but he couldn't because he'd been doing the exact same thing. They'd been in love with each other for so long but didn't know it because both of them were scared that the other didn't feel the same way about them.
"What are you doing?"
Will's head snapped up at the sound of Sonny's voice and he let the journal fall from his hands onto the floor.
"I – I was getting the chess board and pieces," Will stammered.
"You were reading my journal," Sonny said angrily.
"I – no – I – I was looking for the pieces," Will said in a weak attempt to not admit that he was in fact reading Sonny's journal.
"So what? You just thought you'd read my journal along the way?" Sonny walked over and picked up the fallen book.
"I'm – I'm sorry. I didn't think there was any harm in it. We tell each other everything. I didn't think there'd be anything I didn't know," Will said defensively. "But I guess that wasn't quite true."
"I – I don't know what you mean." Now it was Sonny's turn to go on the defensive.
"Yes. Yes you do, Sonny. I shouldn't have read it, but I did. You can't take back what you wrote on those pages. You're in love with me."
Sonny stared at him, his teeth clenched.
"Why didn't you say anything?" Will asked quietly.
"If you read my journal, you should know," Sonny snapped.
"So – so it's true? You're in love with me?"
Sonny was quiet for a minute. Then he said, "Yes."
Will's shoulders sagged in relief and he laughed. "Jesus, Sonny, we've been such idiots."
"What?" Sonny asked as Will rushed across the room.
Will came to a stand still when he was inches from Sonny. "I love you, too."
"You – what?" Sonny blinked at Will.
"We've been so worried about each other not feeling the same way that we just ended up pining for each other for years." Will smiled at him.
Sonny opened his mouth to speak but Will grabbed the back of his head and crashed their lips together. Sonny whimpered, dropped his journal, snaked his arms around Will's waist, and furiously kissed him back. Their lips were so pressed together they were almost one and their tongues battled for dominance in a kiss that was attempting to make up for three years lost time.
Eventually, they broke apart, both breathing heavily. Will rested his forehead against Sonny's, his eyes closed and his arms around Sonny's neck.
"I love you," Will whispered.
Sonny kissed him again briefly. "I've waited so long to hear you say that. I love you, too."
Will smiled peacefully, his heart skipping a beat. "I'm sorry I didn't say it sooner."
"Me too." After a beat, Sonny asked, "Did you still want to play chess?"
Will laughed and nodded. He walked back over to the bed to pick up the board and two sets of pieces and walked back to Sonny who was waiting at the top of the stairs.
"By the way. That thing about wanting a boyfriend?" Will asked. "Do you maybe want to be mine?" Will's eyes twinkled.
Sonny snorted in amusement. "Idiot." Sonny kissed Will's cheek, laced their fingers together, and led them back down to the common room.