As a writer I think Will can do much better than the cover stories about people he used to care for. In addition, I saw some pictures and gifs about intolerance and inequality. So I put these things together and wrote this story.
Sonny's POV
(…Year 2014…)
"Kiss me…"
His soft smile and transparent blue eyes show how he is completely comfortable and relaxed. He is stretched out on the couch, somewhere in the middle of sitting and lying. His laptop rests on his lap while his fingers lie still on the keys. When our eyes meet his smile widens and he repeats:
"Kiss me…"
I walk over to the couch and lean down to kiss him softly on his lips. Before I stand back up I give him my signature second peck and he chuckles happily. My hand slowly goes through his blond hair as I asks:
"What's up?"
He shrugs and waves at the laptop screen:
"I am trying to write…"
I frown while I reach down to grab his laptop so I can read what he is writing about. My eyes fly over the lines of the last page and while I give his laptop back I ask:
"This doesn't appear to be a cold and clinical journalist cover story…"
"It isn't."
"What is it…?"
"A novel…"
"You are writing a novel?"
"Well, I have had this idea for a novel for a long time and last week I decided to just start on it…"
He flashes me a cute smile:
"And I just wrote about the two main characters kissing… so I decided I deserved some action as well…"
I grin happily and pull his hair before I kiss his temple:
"You can get all the action you want, anytime you want…"
While I return to my cooking he answers:
"I think I am going to take you up on that later tonight…"
I turn to him and smile widely, telling him wordlessly I look forward to that.
"So what is this novel about…?"
"Promise you won't laugh…"
I immediately frown and shake my head while saying firmly:
"You should know me by now… I would never do that…"
He blushes and mumbles:
"I know…"
Then he quickly summarises his idea:
"It is about two guys, a doctor and a lawyer, falling in love. Neither of them is out yet though as they live in an area where there isn't much tolerance towards gay people… Perhaps it is a bit cliché…"
I shrug:
"Well as long as these places of intolerance are still actual places in this world we live in, I think we need to raise the issue in every way possible… sounds like a good story to me…"
"A bit cheesy perhaps?"
"Well that depends on how you write them…"
He nods and chews on his bottom lip, and I watch him with a smile as he seems to fall back into his writing concentration. And while I go back to my cooking I mumble:
"I hope you do know I want every book you ever publish dedicated to me…"
(…2015…)
I can almost feel the nervous energy radiating from him. He is sitting at the desk and stares at the screen in front of him.
"Are you OK?"
He almost jumps up when I ask him that and then he shakes his head and murmurs:
"Yeah… I'm fine…"
I walk over to him and curl my arms around his neck while I read the page he is looking at:
"You're sending your draft to a publisher…"
"Yeah…"
I plant a kiss in his hair:
"Wow honey… I am so proud…"
"Well, I haven't sent it yet… what if they hate it… what if they say it is a stupid plot and badly written…"
"They won't…"
"What if they do…?"
"They won't, believe me…"
He sighs impatiently:
"Well, let's just imagine that they do say that… then what do I do…?"
I let him go and turn the chair until he is faced towards me. I kneel down and grab his hands in mine:
"If that is what they say then… then… whatever…"
He smiles a little smile:
"Well that sounds like a great back up plan… you do know how to make me feel better, don't you"
I laugh out loud and lean my forearms on his legs while looking up at him:
"Just sent it and we will see what they say… and whatever they say we will deal with it after we have actually received their response…"
His hands lock around my neck and he leans down to kiss me. When he lets go he rests his forehead against mine:
"Can you press sent?"
I see the insecurity radiating from his blue eyes and without saying anything I lean over him and press the button. He sighs deeply when the email is gone and I reach out to cup his face:
"Positive thoughts, babe…"
"I can't… you know me… I am picturing everything going wrong and I already have six scenario's in my head of how this is going to turn out and in all of them I am failing terribly…"
I shake my head but before I can say anything he mumbles with a blush:
"I think you have to distract me…"
His eyes avoid mine, but he stares very tellingly at my lips. With a sparkle in my eyes I tease him:
"OK… we can watch the news, you can pick up a shift at the coffee house if you want…"
His eyes quickly meet mine and then he stands up while pulling me back on my feet. His strong arms fold around my waist and with a very quick squeeze of my butt he tells me wordlessly what he wants.
"Oh… that kind of distraction…"
His lips have found my neck and while his tongue leaves a warm wet mark behind on my skin he murmurs:
"It is the best kind, you know…"
He leans back to look at me and with a soft smile and butterflies in my stomach I cup his face with a tender touch. While my thumbs stroke his cheeks I murmur with my lips almost touching his:
"I know…"
(…2016…)
"Are you ready?"
"For what…"
"I want to take you out…"
"Now? It is four in the afternoon…"
"So?"
I hold up his coat and hold the door open for him.
"Why are you in such a rush? You just came home from work and now you are dragging me to… I don't even know where you want to take me…"
"You'll see…"
I smile and he shakes his head while grabbing the coat out of my hands:
"You are lucky you are cute…"
I shrug and push him towards my car:
"Whatever gets you moving babe…"
I start the car and he starts his interrogation:
"Where are we going Sonny… where are you taking me… why aren't you telling me…?"
After twenty minutes I park near Horton Town Square and we both get out of the car. I grab his hand and pull him towards the shops. Soon we are standing in front of a small bookshop and I point at the window:
"Look…"
I watch his face intently as his eyes grow big when he sees his book displayed in the window of the bookshop. After two rewrites of the original draft his book was accepted by the publisher and only I know the enormous amount of work and energy he has spent on it. Seeing the tears in his eyes tells me how much this means to him. I wrap him up against my chest while he keeps staring at the pile of books with his name on it. I squeeze him against me as I whisper with my breath warming his ear:
"I'm so proud of you…"
"I can't believe it… That is my book… Sonny…"
I chuckle in his ear and feel how his arms grip around me and hold me so tight, it hurts a bit. I suggest:
"We should buy one…"
"Why… I have it all on my laptop…"
"I know… but we should buy one so we can put it on a shelf…"
I lean back and he frowns:
"I feel a bit stupid buying my own book… feels like googling yourself…"
"Don't be ridiculous…. This is very different…"
Moments later I am paying for his book and when we walk out of the store I reach in my pocket for a pen:
"I want you to sign mine…"
"Don't be stupid Sonny…"
"I'm not… sign it…"
I push the pen and the book into his left hand and he grabs my hand with his right hand and without using doing what I asked him to do, he says:
"Let's go home…"
When we are back home I sit down on the couch and hear him ask:
"Did you look at it?"
I turn around to look at him and nod:
"Yep… I like it…"
He shakes his head:
"Inside I mean?"
"Not yet…why…"
He hands me the book and smiles:
"I think you should…"
I frown and take the book to start screening through the pages. It only takes a while when I see it. It is on one of the first pages, an almost empty page with just a few words. I look up to reassure myself by looking at his sky blue eyes and when I see the sincerity in them I have to swallow the lump in my throat:
"I was just kidding…"
He sits down next to me, leaning his shoulder against mine:
"I wasn't…"
I smile when I read the words in front of me over and over again: 'To Sonny, everything I do is because of you and everything I do is for you'. His hand hides in my hair and I lean back into the familiar touch:
"I was really kidding… you didn't have to do this…"
His lips brush my cheek just before he whispers:
"I know… but I wanted to…"
He pulls me against his chest and we get comfortable against each other. I just stare at the words printed on the white page and let his hands make a mess of my hair. And in a soft whisper, deep with emotion, I say:
"This is the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me…"
(…2025…)
I smile when the kids come home all excited and loud. Arianna pushes her younger brother Justin to the couch and sits down next to him while waving a book in the air. I smile at Will, tall and blond, who just walked into the living room, probably because he heard his children coming home. While he walks over to us I point at the book Ari is still waving in the air:
"They bought it on their way home…"
He reaches out and grabs it from Ari's hand. Then he hands it to me with a twinkle in his eyes:
"You always get the first look…"
I blush and am quickly reminded by the voice our son that we are not alone in the room:
"Wow dad, you're face seems to be on fire…"
I ignore my son and open the book on one of the first pages. The white paper shows only a few words, and I feel a thud in my heart when I read the familiar words: 'To Sonny, everything I do is because of you, and everything I do is for you'. He leans forward and kisses me, while Ari asks:
"So number how much is this?"
I frown at the English my daughter is using, but her father answers:
"Number seven…"
I quickly look at him and shake my head:
"I Can't believe you have published seven books already…"
He smiles and pulls the book from my hands. Moments later it is sitting next to its siblings on the book shelf destined to hold Will's books. While my hands slowly go over the covers, he stands right behind me and curls his arms around my waist. I lean back against his chest while I listen to him speak:
"And I just finished writing down an idea for a new book…"
"Are you kidding me?"
"Nope…"
I turn around in his arms and smile when I see over his shoulder how the door closes behind our leaving children:
"I think they have had enough of us…"
His breath warms my ear and his tongue softly licks my earlobe:
"Good… because that means I can do this…"
I pull away and laugh:
"That tickles…"
He smiles and pull me back against him, holding me close with a firm grip on my hips:
"You inspire me every day… and Ari and Justin inspire me every day… do you remember when I started this whole thing and we talked about wanting equality and tolerance? Over the years things have changed… for the better… but we are not there yet… and I want everyone to be able to have what we have… so if writing about a gay couple contributes to that in any way, I will do it until I am physically unable to write…"
I see the emotion held in his blue eyes and I smile tenderly:
"I love you…"
I feel the squeeze of his fingers on my hips and hear the emotion in his whisper when he answers:
"I love you too…"
(…2040…)
He is nervous. I can see it in the way his fingers play with his tie. The make-up lady has just finished with him and he walks back over to me while flashing me a nervous smile. His whole posture reminds me of the Will I dragged out of the pub while he was having lunch with his grandmother. He was so insecure and scared he wasn't good enough, and the way he is right now is just as he was then. I can't help but smiling when I remember our kiss just outside the pub, and then I ask softly:
"Almost ready?"
He nods and bites his bottom lip:
"What are you smiling about…?"
"You…"
"Me? Is me being nervous funny to you?"
I laugh softly and look into his blue eyes, slightly darker than usual:
"No… But your nerves remind me of the time I found you in the pub, we went outside, and I kissed you…"
For a moment the nervousness disappears and he smiles happily:
"You sure did…"
"Good ol' times…"
He shakes his head:
"It has been years, but I can remember it as if it was yesterday… You told me you're the one who should decide on whether I am good enough…"
I smile softly and lean over so I can say something that is just meant for him to hear:
"You are more than just good enough… you are amazing… I knew it then and I still know it now…"
He blushes a little bit and suddenly I lean in a bit further to kiss him softly and quickly on his lips. He sighs and says:
"You know… when you pressed sent on that email with the first draft of my first book, I never thought I would one day be giving a television interview about my books…"
"Not just books… bestsellers…"
I smile while I correct him and he shrugs:
"Whatever…."
I can feel his discomfort and with a sweet touch of his arm I say:
"You can do this honey…"
He sighs:
"I have refused interviews up until now for a reason, Sonny… I hate this…"
"I know… but remember this show is to celebrate how far we have come when it comes to equality and tolerance… and they invited you because your books are about that…"
I can almost hear his heart pounding in his chest when someone comes over to tell him it is almost time. He is rushed towards the set and I am directed towards a television screen so I can follow the interview. I smile when I see him walking onto the screen, nervous, sweet and cute at the same time. My phone pings and I read a message from Ari:
'Watching the show… so proud…'
And shortly after a message from Justin:
'That's my dad on TV…"
I smile happily and listen to the question of the interviewer:
"You have always been a very private man and we don't know much about you. I was wondering about the message that is in the front of every book you have written… 'To Sonny, everything I do is because of you, and everything I do is for you'… who is Sonny…?"
For some reason my heart is pounding and I feel a lump in my throat when he answers:
"Sonny is the man I have shared my life with… we have two children together… he is… he is… he is the love of my life…"
The interviewer smiles and I cannot look away from the screen where Will is sharing his deepest feelings for me with the world, with a goofy smile on his face and soft red cheeks. I hear the next question:
"Would you say your books are grounded in reality?"
"Definitely… I mean… it is about fictional characters and fictional lives… but the message that two men can love each other and share a family life, is very much based on my personal reality."
I listen with a full heart to the whole interview and sigh when I hear the interviewer say that she would like to ask a final question:
"Is there anything you can tell us about your new book?"
Will smiles and shakes his head:
"I don't even know anything about my new book… so I'm afraid there is not much to say…"
"You can't give us one little preview?"
He shakes his head and answers:
"I'm honestly not sure yet… I have written some ideas down, but have not yet decided which ones will be used…"
"So the new book will just be one big surprise?"
"Yeah… well, I guess there will be one certainty about the book…"
The audience erupts in a loud cheer when he says with twinkling eyes:
"It will be dedicated to Sonny…"
Hope you all like it. Let me know with a review or a message, they always make my day! If you have any prompts you would like me to write a story about than do not hesitate and let me know!