Sonny had been waiting patiently for his new charge to arrive at the airport. As a Dormitory Floor Leader, one of his jobs was to pick up foreign students from the airport. And although some, like this Will Horton person, would not be coming from that far away, (in fact Mr. Horton's town was closer than a good number of students coming from within Canada) it was still deemed appropriate to have someone show up to help students, coming from foreign countries, to adjust to life in Ottawa, especially on the first day. And since this Will Horton not only came from Sonny's good Ole- US of A, but in fact, from Sonny's own home-town, someone in admin thought it would be appropriate for that helper to be Sonny Kiriakis.
" Wasn't that long ago when the one getting off the airplane and starting a new life here in Canada was me", Sonny thought to himself. He shifted a little in the seat he had acquired that basically overlooked the entire arrivals area. He had arrived fifteen minutes before the scheduled time of arrival, expecting the plane to be a little late, and sure enough, it was. He had brought a book with him, one of his favorite Christopher Rice novels, which he had gotten from his backpack and which was lying face down on his lap. Instead of reading he started to reminisce about his life so far.
He arrived here in Ottawa after having taken 2 years off to travel the world. Those two years were two of the best years of his life. He was fortunate enough to come from a rather well-to-do family with quite a few connections and so he didn't have to worry about money, at least not most of the time. He had decided to take a year off, a year that stretched to two years, in order to find himself and get away from the pressures of being a Kiriakis. Not to mention getting away from the small-town bullies. He had outed himself in his junior year in high school. Well, at least he had told his so-called best friend and baseball teammate, who had proceeded to tell his other teammates, and the rest of school. His life after that was a rather lonesome one. He pretty much kept to himself. Although because of that his grades actually improved, quite a bit. His parents wanted to send him to private school for his senior year but Sonny would have none of that. He decided that he wasn't going to let a bunch of small minded morons ruin his life, so he quit the baseball team, join the high school theater group and made many new friends. So many in fact that he became his high school's first openly gay Prom King. He had applied to several colleges and had gotten into a few, including Salem U. but decided he needed a break. So, off he went in search of himself. He thought that maybe somewhere out there would be his soul mate and decided to take the opportunity to search for him too. Because he was gay, that turned out not to be easy.
He first traveled to India and Tibet and climbed K2. Then his travels took him to the Philippines, South Korea and Japan. He then planned to spend a month or so in Africa. And there he discovered his passion for development work. So those few months turned into a year. He met a development worker named Daniel while travelling in Uganda and decided to stay awhile and help out in re-establishing a hospital and a water purification system in a small village outside of Kempala. His life with Daniel was not easy. In Uganda, you can go to jail for being gay so it was extremely difficult not to show affection in public. In the end Sonny opted to just be friends with Daniel because living back in the closet was too excruciating. Daniel encouraged him to apply to U of O as an International development student. To this day Sonny believes that the only reason he was accepted was that Daniel was an Associate Professor there and Daniel had pulled some strings, although Sonny thought that his family might have had a hand in it as well. The evidence was there in the form of a plaque on the wall of the newly renovated student lounge. Sonny figured it was only due to a small miracle that only a few of his friends and student colleagues have thus far clued into the fact that the Plaque had his last name written on it.
His daydreaming was interrupted by the sound of several dozen pairs of feet coming down the escalator, as well as a marked increase in the level of the murmur of perceptible voices and those that were just out of reach of his hearing. He stood up and grabbed his sign. "Boy this sign is corny. Hope this William Horton dude doesn't think we're all dorks." thought Sonny, as he placed the rather conspicuous sign at chest level. His eyes followed upwards towards the start of the escalators. A telltale sign of a first year student arriving into town alone was the number of boxes and suitcases in that student's possession. Business persons tended not to carry that much luggage with them. Students on the other hand had a tendency to over-pack, since they would be staying somewhere in town for several months at a time. And sure enough Sonny spotted a trolley with several suitcases, and quite a few boxes on it. As the trolley came closer into view Sonny noticed wavy blond hair. The trolley and its pusher came down the escalator with only a minimum of trouble. After shifting the trolley in order to pull it now, the student started scanning the room. And that is when Sonny noticed the student noticing him and his sign. And that is also when Sonny noticed those eyes.
They were the most beautiful combination of different shades of blue that Sonny had ever seen, on anybody. Just above those gorgeous jewels were some rather bushy blond eyebrows that lifted slightly when Sonny and his sign came into focus. The student started to walk towards him. "Oh My Effing Lord! This dude is Uber-Hot! Please be William Robert Horton! Please!" were Sonny's immediate thoughts. And as the person was getting closer, Sonny realized that he was probably looking far too excited than he should. He thought to myself, "Okay there Sonny boy. He is only an Uber-Hotty. You can handle yourself." And with that final thought the hotty reached Sonny, pulled out his identification and said, in a trying-to-hide –it-but-still-Uber-sexy voice: "Hello, I'm Will Horton." And, Sonny, dry-mouthed and a little sweat-panicky, put out his hand and uttered:" Hey there. I'm Sonny."