After the year he'd had, Will Horton was ready for a break. A welcome break that his best friend Tad, or T as most people called him, was willing to provide. However, Will was hesitant to trust T's idea of a good time. After all, T always got them into trouble, whether it was with parents or with the girls T liked to pursue. With a little smile and a chuckle, Will cards his fingers through his hair to give himself the messy look. Girls really liked that look on him, however Will was hoping this look would turn some male heads tonight.
In all the years he had known T, Will had never once felt like he could trust his best friend with the secret that he is gay. Will saw how T treated people who could be assumed as gay. Will always got uncomfortable about T's words, but he never said anything because T was one of his only friends in Salem. At least since his break up with Gabi last fall. No, Will was 21 years old and he desperately needed to start actually living out the gay part instead of just feeling it.
By 9:30 the two buddies are starting to get sloshed. T is more drunk than Will, but Will isn't too far behind him. Every girl that T has hit on has gotten disgusted and turned away. That is until he hit on a girl claiming to be Margaret. Will doubted that was her real name, after all she was drunker than T. If that was even possible. Will shakes his head and sucking down the last drop of his beer, he gets up to go get another.
"Will, man, whereyougoin?" T slurs as Margaret almost devours his neck with her kisses.
"To get another drink." Will responds, throwing his arms out to steady himself a little better.
Right as he throws out his arms a guy walks by and gets Will's left hand squarely in his chest. Will feeling the contact, turns to the man and gives a goofy drunk grin.
"Wow, you're really hot!" Will mutters, his filter having been impaired by the alcohol.
"Erm. Thanks!" the young, brunette, says back giving Will a really awkward look.
"Would you like to have sex?" Will blurts out just before barfing all over the guy's front.
"Actually we should probably get you home." the brunette says, wrapping an arm around Will's waist to steady him. Glancing over at T the brunette decides to clarify, "both of you."
"I'm j-j-just goin here" T slurs as he captures Margaret's mouth with his own.
Not wanting to argue with T, the brunette just shrugs and helps Will steer himself towards the door. Within a few minutes both are standing in the cool night air. The brunette tries to see if Will can stand on his own, but the minute his hands fall away, Will starts to sway. Immediately the brunette replaces his hands.
"My name is Sonny, by the way, Sonny Kiriakis." the brunette says with a smile.
"Wilim Horon" Will slurs as he tries to give Sonny an award winning smile.
"Nice to meet you. So Will where do you live?" Sonny grunts under the weight of Will's slumping body.
Will points in the general direction of his house, but then he starts to slump even more on the verge of passing out.
"Tell you what, I'll just call someone to come pick you up." Sonny says as he reaches for Will's front pocket, which held his phone.
"My mom. Don't." Will mutters as he passes out onto the ground.
Sonny turns on Will's phone and begins searching for someone he could call. Looking at the call log he sees Grandma Marlena as a frequent caller. Throwing caution to the wind Sonny decides to call her. After explaining the situation to her, Sonny receives an "I'll be right there" response. With a shake of the head at Will's unconscious body on the ground, Sonny sits down on the club's steps to wait for Marlena.
The next morning Will wakes up to a major pounding in his head. Looking around the room before him he wonders what he's doing on the couch at Grandma Marlena's. Slowly he sits up and leans his head back against the couch cushions. He can't figure out how he managed to get from the club last night to his grandma's this morning. Just as he is about to give up trying to figure things out, his Grandma walks in.
"I see you are up. Some water and aspirin. It'll help with the pounding, trust me." Marlena says as she smiles at her grandson and sits down next to him.
"Thanks, Grandma." Will says in a scratchy voice.
"You want to talk about why you got so drunk you passed out?" Marlena asks.
"Not really." Will groans and puts his head in his hands.
Marlena looks as though she is going to say something to try and convince him to talk about it, when the doorbell rings.
"Hang tight sweetie, I'm sure that's just someone who needs to make an appointment." Marlena says as she gets up. Will knows from experience that his Grandma is really accommodating with her patients.
He groans again and slumps down on the couch. The aspirin hasn't kicked in yet and his head is still pounding. He hears his Grandma talking with someone and he wishes that the person would just go away so that the house could be silent again. Just as he closes his eyes to help thwart off the pain the lights were causing his brain, Will hears some footsteps approaching.
"Grandma if that is mom, I am not in the mood to talk to her right now." Will calls out, not opening his eyes.
"Last time I checked I was all male, all the time." Sonny says with a wicked grin on his face. The grin turns to a look of utmost concern when Will groans.
"That's the problem. You're so hot that I know you must be male." Will says opening his eyes and squinting at Sonny.
"Good to know that you still don't filter the compliments to my looks." Sonny says with another stellar smile and plops down on the couch next to Will.
He claps Will on the knee and says, "So, after last night I realized that I wanted to get to know you better."
"If I'd known that I would have started barfing on guys a long time ago." Will says with a smile.
"Oh you can remember that can you?" Sonny says, a twinkle in his eye.
"I can remember bits and pieces. I kind of hoped that the barfing part wasn't real." Will mumbles, looking at his hands.
"Hey, where'd you go just now? Your attitude took a total 180." Sonny says concernedly.
"Huh?! Oh nowhere, just thinking." Will says quietly.
"Hey, cheer up! I came here because I wanted to ask you out to dinner tonight. There is this restaurant I've been wanting to try and I'd love to take you there." Sonny says softly.
"Like on a serious date?" Will asks incredulously.
"Yes. A date."
"Thanks, but I don't think you need to get involved in a mess like me."
"I think I should be the judge of that. So get off your bum and go out with me. Just one date. That's all I am asking for."
Will looks back at his hands. After thinking about it for a while he looks up at Sonny and cocks his head with a look that says, "Sure why not".
Sonny smiles and replies, "Okay. Great! I'm going to go get changed and cleaned up. I'll pick you up here in about 3 hours, how does that sound?"
"Yeah that sounds great."
A few hours later Sonny is pulling up to the restaurant with Will in his passenger seat. The blonde has said nothing the entire ride. Instead he has watched the scenery outside and nibbled on his left thumbnail. Sonny realized that he was nervous so he didn't try to get him to talk against his will. He turned on the music and right before they pulled up to the restaurant Sonny had started singing the song on the radio. This act causes Will to smile despite himself.
Sonny turns to Will as he puts the car in park and smiles at him. Grabbing Will's hand away from his mouth, Sonny intertwines their fingers before speaking.
"Maybe we should just do a meal to go so we can have a picnic and just talk." Sonny proposes. Will simply smiles and nods.
"Okay, I'll be right back." Sonny says with a smile and a comforting pat on Will's thigh.
Will watches Sonny cross over to the strip mall across the street and lets his emotions all flood out.
Why is he being so nice to me? I barfed on him last night for crying out loud. Maybe this is another Skylar incident. I can't let my guard down, no matter how cute or kind he is. Sonny is not going to know the real me, because if he did he'd run in the opposite direction and I just can't take that right now. Besides, I deserve a little fun fling, especially after Skylar.
Will is so wrapped up in his own thoughts that he doesn't even notice when Sonny gets back in the car. Even the fumes of a fresh pizza don't truly permeate his consciousness, until Sonny speaks, drawing him in.
"Where were you just now?" Sonny asks with a smile.
"What do you mean?" Will says, trying to cover up the fact that he knows exactly what Sonny is talking about.
"When I got in the car with the pizza you didn't even notice."
"Well maybe I decided to ignore it."
"Right! Because guys can ignore pizza? It's like a natural instinct for us to immediately seek out the nearest pizza location."
"Well, not all guys like pizza."
"Name one guy you know that doesn't like pizza" Sonny replies with a hint of laughter in his eyes as he puts the car into gear.
Will sits there silently, desperately trying to locate a guy. The longer he sits and thinks on it the more he realizes that Sonny is right, but he doesn't want to admit the guy is right. Just as it seems there is no hope of thinking of someone, Will remembers Skylar. He is about to say so when Sonny speaks first.
"That's what I thought! You can't even think of one! I win!" Sonny says jokingly.
"Skylar." Will whispers, turning away from Sonny and devoting all his attention to looking outside in the vain hopes that the mention of his ex won't bring on the flood of heartache he's trying to keep at bay.
"Who's Skylar?" Sonny asks his voice taking on a concerned tone.
"Nobody" Will says hurriedly, "Let's just drop it ok."
"I don't think he's nobody, or else you wouldn't have mentioned him."
"I SAID DROP IT SONNY! OK?!" Will suddenly yells out as angry tears overpower his vision.
Sonny doesn't respond, instead he pulls the car into a parking lot for a giant grocery chain and puts the car in park. Then he takes off his seat belt and leans over the console to give Will a comforting hug. The two boys remain like that for what seems like eternity. Suddenly Will's stomach growls and the boys fall away from each other in nervous laughter.
"Sounds like maybe we should dive into the pizza right here." Sonny says as he grabs the pizza and opens the box.
Will just nods and begins to devour the first piece. They remain there in silence but, Will can't help shake the feeling that maybe he should open up to Sonny about Skylar. After all Sonny was giving off the strong vibe of being an understanding and forgiving guy.
"So, Skylar's not just anybody." Will finally says, barely above a whisper.
"Will, you don't have to talk about it if you don't want." Sonny says, placing a hand on Will's arm.
"No, I think it's time I tell someone about it. But first you must understand that no one in my friends and family know I'm gay. So, therefore no one knew that I even had an ex-boyfriend. I tried telling my Grandma about what he did, but I just never could pluck up the courage." Will pauses to take a deep breath.
A look of encouragement from Sonny urges Will to continue. "I met Skylar at school last fall, not long after breaking up with my girlfriend, and we immediately hit it off. He was great. A very attentive and caring boyfriend. After about three months I realized that he was very clingy and controlling. I would try to go out with my friends T and Chad, but Skylar would call me partway through and convince me to go to him. My friends got frustrated and I don't blame them because I was getting frustrated too. I wanted so badly to tell Skylar that I was feeling smothered and that he needed to back off, but on the other hand I was so glad that there was someone who loved me; all of me. So I didn't say anything to him and the relationship continued like that for another two months. By the time it happened I was so broken down that Skylar's behavior no longer bothered me. After all he loved me, right? Or that's what I kept telling myself. Anyways one night I was studying over at his apartment when he suggested we take our relationship to the final level: sex. I told him that I wasn't ready, but my cries fell on mute ears. Next thing I know I'm lying in his bed and he has gotten in the shower. For some reason I feel so dirty by what had just happened, but according to what I knew about relationships, this was the next logical step and I should have been happy about it. So I got out of his bed, got dressed, told him that I was going home and that I would call him. I went home and took no less than 5 showers. I still felt dirty, even then." Will pauses to catch his breath and to wipe away some tears. He looks to Sonny and sees the most heartbreaking face he has ever seen in his life.
"Will, please tell me you broke things off with him." Sonny whispers.
"I didn't, not right away. I just ignored his phone calls and his texts. When I saw him I would walk away in the opposite direction. Finally, he just stopped trying. Then a few days ago he sent me this text I'm through with you and your cheating ways. I didn't even text him back to argue with him because I honestly felt relieved. I was free and that was so refreshing to me."
Will sniffles and grabs a napkin to blow his nose. He looks to Sonny for a response but, Sonny is sitting back in his seat with his gaze on his steering wheel.
"Sonny, please, just say something. Anything." Will pleads in a cracking voice.
Giving a sigh, Sonny picks at the steering wheel and then he speaks "Will, I had no idea you'd been through all that. And then to not be able to tell anyone. I would have exploded."
"That's why I got really drunk last night. I was tired of feeling. For the first time in my life I just wanted to be, not feel." Will says somberly.
"Will, I want you to know that you are broken, but that doesn't mean you can't be fixed. I want to be the one to fix you." Sonny says, looking into Will's eyes as he softly strokes Will's hair.
After what seems like an eternity of just looking at each other, Sonny leans closer to Will. Before Will can object their lips have met in the gentlest of kisses. Very soon Will realizes this is what kissing it truly supposed to feel like. His heart is pounding in his chest and feels like it's as light as a feather. Will wants nothing more than for this kiss to last forever. However, soon enough, Sonny pulls away from the kiss. Will pouts in protest.
"Will, I want nothing more than to do everything a boyfriend should do, but for now let's take things slow. For now let's leave it with just a kiss." Sonny says with a smile that could light up the night sky.
"That sounds perfect, Sonny." Will says as he grabs Sonny' s hand in his own.