Author's Note: No beta. Contains spoilers for current storyline. M/M.I got sucked into the Will/Sonny storyline in September, and this is my first fic for them. Feeback would be lovely! I've read so many wonderful Will/Sonny fics over the past few months, I hope there's someone who will enjoy this!
Eight-year-old Sonny Kiriakis spends a lot of time daydreaming. He lies down on the bright green lawn of his front yard and stares up into the clear blue Texas sky, dreaming about his future. Eight-year-old Sonny has a pretty active imagination, and his mind often wanders off to distant places and times.
Sometimes, he sees himself as a world famous mountain climber. Maybe the mountains he'll climb haven't even been discovered yet, maybe he can be the one to find them. When he gets to the top, he'll stick a flag in the mountain and christen it Mount Kiriakis.
Sometimes, Sonny sees himself as the fastest runner in the world, competing in the Olympics and shattering all previous records. He'll wear a red, white, and blue sweatband as they present him with the Gold medal. He'll pump his fist in the air, and the crowd will go crazy. The picture will be on every Wheaties box for the rest of time.
After a long day of mountain climbing and medal winning, Grown Up Sonny will drive home in a red convertible. Grown Up Mountain Climber Olympian Sonny is a daddy, and his two kids, a boy and a girl, will cling to his legs from the moment he gets out of the car. Grown Up Mountain Climber Olympian Daddy Sonny will lift them over his shoulders as he races their Golden Retriever to the door of the huge house they live in. His pretty wife will meet them at the door. She has blonde hair and blue eyes, and she wears a checkered apron. She kisses Grown Up Mountain Climber Olympian Daddy Husband Sonny on the cheek and tells them that she made dinner. Cheeseburgers and French Fries! They feast at the dining room table, and they all laugh as Rover lays his head at Sonny's feet.
Grown Up Mountain Climber Olympian Daddy Husband Sonny has the perfect life and the perfect happy family. But eight-year-old Sonny can't help but feel like it could never happen, and he doesn't really understand why. He doesn't have time to think about how much that frightens him, because he is quickly pulled out of his daydream by a Nerf football to the face.
"Sonny!" His brother Joey calls over to him, "You wanna play?"
Eight-year-old Sonny jumps to his feet and runs over to play with his brothers, all thoughts of the future swept out of his mind for now.
Fifteen-year-old Sonny Kiriakis tries to spend as little time daydreaming as possible. Between honors classes, baseball practice, and Driver's Ed, he really doesn't have the time anyway.
But when he lies awake at night, his mind can't help but wander. He thinks of the life he imagined for himself all those years ago. He understands now why that could never be.
Fifteen-year-old Sonny thinks he might be gay.
During the day, he's pretty good at pushing away those thoughts and fears. At night, he realizes just how weighed down he is. He thinks about how cute Josh from Algebra is and how awkward he feels in the locker room after practice. He thinks about how he wants his picture perfect life so badly, but how he knows it could never make him truly happy.
He thinks about his imaginary wife, kids, and dog, and he starts to feel nauseous. He wants to cry, but he can't.
Fifteen-year-old Sonny dreams about the day when all of these confusing feelings magically disappear. He breathes in and out through his nose until his mind is blank, and he drifts off to sleep.
Eighteen-year-old Sonny Kiriakis doesn't have a lot of time for daydreaming, but doesn't mind letting his imagination free every now and then.
With Alex, Joey, and Vic all away at school, his home seems empty, especially since his parents have been acting so weird lately. He knows they're trying, he knows they love him just the same, but they've been treating him like he's made of glass, and it's driving him crazy.
Half of him is so relieved to finally have reached self-acceptance and to be able to share this part of himself with the people he loves. But the other half can't wait until he graduates, so he can catch the next flight to Europe and just feel free.
Eighteen-year-old Sonny daydreams about the adventures he'll have abroad. The sights he'll see, the people he'll meet, the languages he'll learn, the food he'll try. He daydreams about climbing mountains, bungee jumping, and swimming the English channel.
Eighteen-year-old Sonny daydreams about dating guys and being kissed. He remembers the daydream family of his youth. Maybe he could still have that. He could still have that white picket fence, the kids, and Rover. Maybe someday he could find a man he loved to do all that with.
Eighteen-year-old Sonny knows he will have a happy life, even if things are never perfect. He can just feel it.
Twenty-two-year-old Sonny Kiriakis daydreams in the early hours of the morning, when he is just about to fall asleep. Will snores right after he falls asleep, and Sonny can't start dreaming until Will's breathing has softened. So while he listens to Will's heavy breathing, he closes his eyes and comes up with his own dreams.
Earlier in the day, they had talked of plans for Christmases yet to come. Singing "Jingle Bells" in the December Dubai heat and going to the European markets. Just the two of them. Holding hands, drinking hot chocolate, and whispering in each other's ears.
Twenty-two-year-old Sonny can't wait to travel the world with Will. To show him all the places he had fallen in love with, and to find new places to make their own. He can see Will steering a blue convertible through the desert, while Sonny kicks his feet up on the dashboard. He'll take Will to a starter mountain, and he'll hold his hand all the way to the top. They'll drink margaritas and dance to the music of a mariachi band in Mexico. They'll kiss on a gondola in Venice. They'll ride on the back of an elephant through the African savannah. They'll ski the Swiss Alps, make love in a tent in the Australian outback, and maybe he'll even get Will to the top of the Eiffel Tower to see that amazing view on a warm summer night.
Someday, after they've seen it all, that's when they'll settle down. They'll buy a house together in Salem, but venture out to Will's family's cabin on Smith Island whenever they need to get away. They'll adopt a puppy from an animal shelter.
Their Christmas tree will be decorated with unique trinkets and one of a kind ornaments from their extensive travels. Their mantle will have five stockings hanging over the fireplace, each knit by his mom. Christmas morning would leave their living room a sea of wrapping paper and toys. Christmas would be full of lots of hugs, shrieked Christmas carols, and misshapen chocolate chip cookies. Their kids would fall asleep that night on his and Will's laps, and they'd smile at each other. "Merry Christmas, Sonny," Will would whisper.
Twenty-two-year-old Sonny wants that life someday, but it's buried away safe in the distant, distant future. In the meantime, he watches Will sleep, his breathing becoming softer. Will's brow is crinkled, and Sonny can't help but worry that something is scaring Will, even while he sleeps. He kisses Will's forehead and tucks himself further under the covers, finally ready for sleep.
Twenty-two-year old Sonny wants to spend every night for the rest of his life curled up next to Will, no matter where they're sleeping.
A month later, twenty-two-year-old Sonny Kiriakis can't even picture his future anymore. How many times had he and Will discussed honesty? How could Will hide something so huge and life-changing from him?
For the first time in a while Sonny feels that Will doesn't care about him nearly as much as he cares about Will.
He understands how hard this must be for Will. He wants to cut Will some slack. He wants to hold Will in his arms and tell him that everything will be okay.
Is he really that weak when it comes to Will? He hates that about himself, that he's so easily able to ignore Will's flaws and mistakes.
Twenty-two-year-old Sonny sits in his pajamas, eating chicken noodle soup in the living room of his family's mansion, as he watches mindless reality TV with his mother. She doesn't say anything judgmental or condescending. She doesn't speak negatively of Will, no matter how much she may want to.
Twenty-two-year-old Sonny doesn't want to throw away all of his dreams with Will. He doesn't want to go on his adventures alone, or with anyone else. He still wants to live his life with Will, but he doesn't know if that's the right thing to do anymore.
Twenty-two-year-old Sonny doesn't know what he should do.
Almost twenty-three-year-old Sonny Kiriakis sits in a hospital waiting room reading the same sentence of a book over and over again, not absorbing any of it.
He sits next to Lucas and Sami, and listens to them argue as he plays with his threaded bracelet.
"Sami, you can't just barge into a delivery room. They already kicked you out before, I'm not letting you go back over there right now."
"Watch me!" Sami jumps to her feet and awkwardly sits back down after catching the Evil Eye from Rafe.
Right then, Will walks into the waiting room with his hair messy and his face red. He doesn't have time to say anything before Sami runs over to him and grabs his arms, demanding to be updated.
He tells them that everything went great, and Sami cries and holds on to Will for dear life.
It isn't long before Sonny is nervously sitting in a chair in Gabi's hospital room. Will brings the baby over to him, gently placing the soft, pink bundle in his arms. She fusses for a moment, her eyes still closed, so Sonny rocks her slowly in his arms.
She quiets down and Sonny is struck by how much she looks like Will. Her blonde hair showing from under her white baby hat, her little button nose.
Of course she looks like Will, he thinks. Will's her daddy. She's Will's daughter.
Gabi smiles shyly at him from across the room, and he smiles back, feeling a lot of the anger and resentment he has been holding in slowly slip away.
Will sits down next to Sonny, and leans over to kiss his neck and run his thumb over his daughter's cheek.
When she wakes up a few minutes later, Sonny sees her big, bright blue eyes for the first time ever.
Will is whispering to both of them, and Sonny doesn't know how to respond. He can't speak. He hadn't known how he was going to react to her or what he was going to feel. But now that she's in his arms, he feels overwhelmed in the best possible way.
He loves her more than he thought was possible.
He leans down and kisses her forehead, and he feels Will rub his knee.
Sonny turns to look at Will, taking his eyes off the baby for the first time since Will placed her in his arms.
"She's beautiful."
Will smiles and kisses Sonny on the lips.
"I'm so glad you're here," Will whispers, before he rolls his head onto Sonny's shoulder.
Almost twenty-three-year-old Sonny hadn't expected his life to be this way, especially so soon. But somehow, this quiet moment is better than any of the scenarios he had ever imagined. This is the warmest and strangely happiest he has ever felt, and he never wants to let this feeling go.
Almost twenty-three-year-old Sonny Kiriakis rocks his boyfriend's newborn daughter back to sleep, knowing that his dreams have changed for the better.
