When the explosion hit, Alex was leaving a club called The Spot. He remembered Will mentioning the place during their talk and went to check it out.
That night he danced and indulged in a few body shots. He met a hot brunette a few years older than him. The guy had big lips and was dumber than a box of rocks. Just what Alex wanted.
In an alleyway behind the club, with his hand rubbing against the man's groin, the earth began to shake. Not in the romantic sense as the guy wasn't that great of a kisser despite his ample mouth.
The ground beneath their feet quivered, throwing Alex off balance. Part of the roof of the club cracked and just missed landing on Alex.
"What the fuck was that?" Alex asked as steam erupted from drainage pipes and a fire hydrant across the street burst.
"I dunno," the man responded, scratching his head. "Tornado?"
Alex stared at the guy for a few long seconds before rolling his eyes.
Sirens and screams echoed around the alleyway as the clubs inhabitants came pouring out.
"See you around," Alex said, getting out his cell phone and walking away.
"What? That's it?" the guy followed, pushing through the throngs of people. "I thought we had something."
"What you have is not big enough to tempt me now," Alex said before drifting into the crowd.
Alex didn't get a chance to call his dad. Justin called him just as Alex pulled up the contact info.
"Dad?" Alex answered. "The fuck is going on?"
"Are you alright?" Justin asked in a panic, disregarding the language. "Alex, are you safe?"
"I'm fine," Alex said. "You?"
"Yes, yes," Justin said, sighing in relief. "We're all fine, Adrienne, Victor, Sonny."
"Good," Alex mumbled, searching his pockets for a cigarette. "Any idea what happened?"
"No," Justin said. "I don't know anything. Can you come to the mansion? I don't know if this is over and done with. I'd feel better if you were here."
"Dad, relax," Alex said with a cigarette dangling from his lips. "I'm fine. I wanna go back to my hotel and get some sleep. I'll see you in the morning."
Reluctant, Justin said, "Alright but stay inside. Stay safe. I don't want anything happening to you."
"Yeah, yeah, me either," Alex admitted. "I'll see you later."
Alex got to his hotel as fast as he could. Offering to help wasn't him. He didn't do well with blood anyway. Or crying. Or people in general.
Help and assistance were better left to more qualified volunteers.
Glad his hotel was unscathed, Alex remembered Will when he saw his camera sitting on a dresser top. Alex had wanted to take Will's picture for some time. He even thought about how to approach Will with the subject but figured it was a lost cause.
Hope he's alright. It'd be a pity if something happened to him.
The next morning, Alex, camera in hand, wandered through Salem. He'd already stumbled upon some fascinating scenes. While chaos and destruction weren't his normal medium, it made for an interesting study.
He most certainly did not keep his eyes peeled for a certain blond, not at all. If Alex ran into Will while he was out and about, it would be a happy coincidence, nothing more.
After a few hours, Alex spotted Will.
For a few seconds, Alex considered walking up to him. He even took several steps closer only to stop.
Alex didn't have a reason to talk to Will. He didn't have a reason to care that Will seemed fine, tired, but fine. Alex definitely had no need for the wriggling inside his chest whenever Will was around. No, Alex didn't need to talk to Will. In fact, it was better for everyone if he didn't.
Turning and walking in the opposite direction, Alex almost barreled right into his father.
"Alex!" Justin said. Before Alex could stop him, Justin yanked his eldest son into a hug. "What are you doing here?"
Alex lifted his camera in explanation. He resisted the urge to look behind him and search Will out again. He didn't know what the deal was with Will Horton but it was getting on his nerves.
"I see," Justin nodded. "I'm just so relieved you're alright. You and Sonny."
"Where is your golden boy anyway?" Alex asked. The explosion left him a little sentimental. The idea of spending time with his youngest brother didn't sound too terrible.
"Alex," Justin warned, "Don't start with that. And I left him with Will. Sonny panicked when he couldn't get Will on the phone."
"Will looked fine to me," Alex said before thinking.
"What does that mean?" Justin wondered. "Did you talk to Will?"
"No," Alex said gestured behind him with his thumb. "I just noticed him over there. He looked alright."
"Oh," Justin said, examining Alex's face. When Alex wouldn't hold his gaze, Justin sighed. Oh indeed.
Clearing his throat, Justin said, "Come on, we're having brunch at the mansion. You better come along. Adrienne's going to need us around her now."
Alex didn't know what it was but the expression on his father's face freaked him out. Justin had a way of seeing through Alex at the worst times. Seeing things in Alex that he couldn't see in himself.
"I'd rather not," Alex said, needing to halt his father's thinking. "I wouldn't want to run into the maid."
"The maid?" Justin asked.
Alex smiled in response, grin lascivious.
Justin shook his head but slapped Alex on the back and laughed. "I think we'll risk it."
Will Horton had a horrible day. Well, a horrible night and day. A horrible day, night, and life.
Everything started out fine. Will, certain EJ wouldn't get a fair trial, assisted in EJ running away. Will got off EJ's ankle monitor with ease. Then, before Will knew it, the town exploded all around him. His mother almost plummeted to her doom. Sami and EJ were most likely going to jail. Will knew it was only a matter of time before the police realized his involvement too.
Consumed with fear and worry, Will helped Aunt Kayla set up a triage center. His uncle died at the hospital. The town was a wreck. Most of his friends and family dealt with one terrible incident after another.
After cleaning up the town, Will had Sonny to handle. One second, everything was fine and the next there were lips against his and Will couldn't handle it. He couldn't.
It was too much, too soon. Will didn't know what to do, what to feel. Someone like Sonny wasn't supposed to like someone like Will. That wasn't how it worked.
Sonny couldn't just do that. He couldn't kiss Will like that, not in public, not without warning. Anyone could have seen.
But Sonny didn't get it. He didn't understand Will's confusion and panic. The crippling fear that swelled up inside Will.
With one kiss, everything blew up in Will's face again.
Sonny's words rang in Will's ears. How Will didn't know what it meant to come out. But how could Will know when he still fought with it every day?
To make matters worse, he ran into T. That only served to make him feel even worse about his feelings.
Will had one friend who hated that he was gay and another who thought Will was a bad gay man. No matter what Will did it still wasn't right.
Talking with Marlena helped but now he regretted following her advice. She encouraged him to apologize to Sonny. That was when Will saw Sonny with Brian.
Will didn't know what he thought would happen when he met Sonny again. Maybe that Sonny would understand Will wasn't comfortable with himself yet. Maybe that Sonny would tell Will all was forgiven. Maybe Will considered what it would be like to kiss Sonny again when he was prepared and ready.
Instead, he found Sonny with Brian and realized the truth.
Sonny didn't kiss me because he liked me. He'd never like me. No one will like me. Not when there are guys like Brian around. Guys that are put together and proud and good looking and not me.
Even that wasn't enough, Will had to have an argument with his father. Apparently, Will was selfish because he wasn't there for his family.
All Will heard was he wasn't doing enough. He wasn't enough. No matter what he did it wasn't enough. It was never going to be enough.
Worst of all, for one idiotic minute, Will thought Sonny might have actually liked him.
Will held his arms across his stomach as he walked in a daze through the square. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He would never like me especially when he could have someone like Brian.
Not paying attention at all, Will plowed right into someone else.
"Hey," Alex complained as Will knocked into him. "What's with you, kid?"
"Sorry," Will replied so trapped in his own thoughts he didn't even realize who was in front of him.
Alex followed after Will. He'd had a long day surrounded by Adrienne's family. He could only deal with so much crying before he offended someone.
Alex didn't care for the expression on Will's face. Annoyed that he was even concerned about it, Alex elbowed Will. "What the hell is wrong with you?"
Unaware that anyone was talking to him, Will headed for the park. Before he knew it, someone grabbed his arms and shoved him onto a bench.
"What?" Will asked clearing his head.
"You," Alex sat down next to Will on the park bench. "What the fuck are you doing?"
"I-I don't know," Will admitted feeling his lips tremble and his eyes water.
"Is this about the explosion?" Alex wondered in a lower voice. Why the hell do I care?
"Not-um-no," Will tried to explain, "Well, I guess kind of but also no."
Alex gave Will a blank look. "Can you try speaking in real sentences?"
"I'm sorry," Will looked down at his knees. "It's complicated."
"Oh yeah?" Alex leaned on the bench and threw his arm around the back of it near Will. "Here I was thinking it was easy."
Will smiled despite how upset he was. He always found Alex's blunt manner of speaking amusing.
"There we go," Alex encouraged. "You look better when you're smiling."
Will closed his eyes and shook his head. He knew he had to look ridiculous. His eyes and face always got red when upset. And my cheeks always burn around Alex, whatever that means.
"I'm serious," Alex insisted with a chuckle. "What, like you don't know how good you look?"
Will opened his eyes and looked around the deserted park. "Are you talking to me?" Will wondered.
"You've got to be fucking kidding me, kid," Alex snorted. "Do you even look in the mirror?"
"I-" Will couldn't look at Alex for a long time. "I don't know."
Alex shook his head in disbelief. "You need some serious help."
Will didn't know what to say to that.
"So," Alex said after a moment, "you gonna tell me what the problem is now?"
"It's nothing," Will sighed, turning away from Alex again.
"Sad about Jack dying?" Alex guessed.
"No, well, yes," Will conceded. "But that's not it."
"Hmm, something happen to your mom? EJ?" Alex continued.
"Not that I know of," Will responded, knowing he couldn't tell Alex the truth about that.
"Then I don't know. I mean, shouldn't you be happy now that you've figured yourself out or whatever?" Alex questioned, goading Will into talking about it.
Alex was curious.
Will crossed his arms again. "Don't talk about that."
Alex lifted one eyebrow and rotated to look at Will, "Hmm. Someone still fighting their homoerotic urges?"
"I might not be," Will argued.
"Might not be what?" Alex moved closer to Will on the bench, "Gay?"
"Yeah," Will cringed a bit at that word. "I don't know. Maybe I'm just confused."
"Oh?" Alex smiled a bit. "Okay, if that's what you think then let's go find out."
Alex stood up and put his hand on Will's wrist and yanked him up off the bench.
"Find out what?" Will let Alex pull him away.
"If you're gay or not," Alex grinned. He wasn't passing up a golden opportunity like this.
Alex hung up his cell phone and pronounced, "Okay our testers will be here soon."
"Um," Will held onto one elbow as he shifted on Alex's couch. "Exactly how are we testing this?"
"You know," Alex sat down next to Will, "I don't understand this whole battle you're having with being gay or straight. You could be both or neither or something between."
Will tilted his head to the side.
"How the fuck has no one told you any of this?" Alex groaned and rubbed his forehead, "Your grandma makes a shitty therapist."
Clearing his throat, Alex explained, "You could like guys and girls. You could like one and not the other. Or just like a person. You don't have to label yourself one thing over another."
"I don't?" Will didn't think that sounded right.
"I'm just saying you don't have to be gay or straight. There are shades in between," Alex shrugged when he heard a knock on his door. "And we're going to find out exactly which one you are."
Will fidgeted on the couch as he saw two girls walk into Alex's apartment. He turned away when he saw the enthusiastic greeting they were giving Alex. It gave Will time to contemplate what Alex said.
I don't have to be one thing or another? Maybe I do like girls. I could like girls. I could.
"Ladies," Alex took them both by the hand and guided them towards Will, "I need a little help with my friend here."
"Is that so?" the first girl said as she looked Will over and gave him a wide smile.
"So," Alex pushed them both towards Will, "figure it out."
Will's eyes bugged out of his head when he realized what Alex wanted him to do.
"Alex, I don't think this is-," Will tried to say as the girls sat next to him. "How do you even know them?"
"Psh," Alex dismissed as he sat down in the chair near the couch to observe. "Figure it out, Horton."
"He's hot," the second girl said as her hands went to caress Will's chest.
Will moved away from her hand, "This doesn't seem right."
"Why not?" Alex demanded. "What's the matter? You don't want to kiss them?"
"I-I didn't say that," Will shook his head.
"Then kiss them," Alex gave Will a challenging look.
"O-okay," Will took a deep breath before turning to the girl closest to him and kissing her.
Will tried to pull back when the girl wrapped her arms around his neck and refused to let go.
Alex smiled a bit and shook his head. Likes girls, my ass.
"No fair," the other girl said as she yanked Will in her direction. Will struggled to get away but didn't want to exert too much force and hurt the girl.
Pulling away with a loud smacking sound, Will put his hand over his mouth and frowned.
"Thank you, ladies," Alex said as he stood up. "That was most informative."
Alex gestured for them to follow him to the door.
Will tuned out what Alex was saying to the girls as they left. He was sure he heard more kissing sounds.
"So," Alex relaxed onto the couch next to Will. "Prognosis?"
Will knew. He knew he didn't enjoy those kisses the way that he should have.
Refusing to look at Alex, Will shrugged.
"Hmm," Alex hummed before moving so they were sitting thigh to thigh. "Have you ever kissed a guy before?"
"Yes," Will admitted, eyes on his knees. He flashed back to earlier in the day with Sonny. The way Sonny's lips felt against his before he shoved him away. No, don't think about that. Don't think about him.
"How was it?" Alex put his hand on Will's knee.
"Confusing," Will said before mentioning his moment with Neil. "I was pretty drunk."
"Well," Alex nodded. "I guess the only way to figure out if you like kissing a guy over a girl is to actually do it."
"How am I going to do that?" Will asked before seeing Alex smirk.
"I'm sure you'll find someone somewhere," Alex teased with a quirked brow. Before Will could protest or even think, Alex cupped the back of Will's neck, pulling him into a kiss.
Will sucked a deep breath through his nose and held his breath. It took a few beats before he kissed back.
Alex, eyebrows creased together, adjusted his hold on Will. Their lips moved together in a gentle press. Before anything could get too heated, Alex pulled away.
"How was that?" Alex breathed against Will's lips, thumb tracing along the curve of Will's jaw.
"Why did you do that?" Will whispered. Overwhelmed with the scent of cologne, the gentle scratch of a callused thumb on his skin. The tiny hint of smoke curling around Alex's clothes.
"You needed a kiss, Snow White," Alex teased before kissing Will once more.
"You're not even gay," Will said, eyes closed, mouth open.
"I told you," Alex chuckled. "You don't have to be one or the other. Some people like guys, some like girls. I happen to enjoy both."
"But," Will knew the first time he met Alex he was getting vibes. He always felt like Alex's stares were just a little too intense. "You've only been with girls."
"That you know of," Alex argued. "Just because you haven't seen any guys doesn't mean I haven't been with them."
"Sonny never told me," Will licked his tingling lips.
"I've never made a big deal of it," Alex admitted. "It's no one's business if I want to fuck guys or girls."
"Do you?" Will asked in a high pitched voice.
"Do I fuck guys?" Alex smiled. "Of course I do."
Seeing the way Will was hanging onto his every word, Alex continued, "Kiss, touch, suck, fuck, I do it all."
"Oh," Will breathed a little too heavy. Realizing Alex was still holding onto him, Will pulled away. He had no idea why he could have Alex be with him like this when he recoiled at Sonny's touch earlier.
"It's nothing to be weird about," Alex said. With anyone else, he'd find the innocence and confusion annoying. On Will it was adorable.
"You never told me," Alex added, "How was the kiss, hmm? Better than with a girl?"
Will looked away from Alex. "I don't know."
"Guess you'll have to do some more research," Alex stated before kissing Will again. He pressed his mouth against Will's waiting to see if he would kiss him back or push him away.
Will felt terrified and turned on and everything was so, so wrong and so, so right. He knew he should push Alex away. He knew he should go home and stop this but then he remembered what he saw at Common Grounds. The way Brian was touching Sonny's face while Sonny smiled and laughed.
Pushing aside thoughts of Sonny, Will pressed his lips back against Alex's.
Finally, Alex thought as he dug his hand in Will's hair and opened his mouth.
When Alex's tongue darted out against his lips, Will whimpered. Kissing a guy, especially a guy like Alex, was so beyond any kiss he had ever had with a girl.
Alex pulled away after a few more moments. Pressing his forehead against Will's, he asked, "Do you know now?"
Will couldn't find the words to answer. He couldn't think about anything but getting Alex's mouth back against his.
Alex smirked before Will yanked him into another kiss.
Will moaned when he opened his mouth wanting to feel Alex's tongue once again.
Before anything else could happen, Will heard his phone going off in his pocket. Recognizing the ringtone, Will pushed Alex away.
"Sorry, sorry, hold on," Will said as he struggled with getting his phone out. "Mom?"
"Will," Sami started talking, "I need you. Can you come home?"
"Now?" Will asked in an annoyed voice.
"Yes," Sami said drawing out the word, "Are you busy? Are you with a guy? Oh, are you with Sonny?"
"No!" Will shouted. In a calmer voice, Will sighed, "I'm not with him. I'm with Alex."
"Oh, the hot one," Sami pouted. "I was hoping you were on a date."
"Uh-" Will tried to say before getting cut off.
"In that case, I need to see you," Sami ordered. "Tell him goodbye and come home."
Sami hung up before Will could reply. Trying to keep his emotions under control, Will sighed.
"Um, I need to go," Will mumbled, resigned.
"Uh-huh," Alex nodded. "I gathered."
Will stood up and rubbed the back of his neck. "I don't know what to say now."
"You don't have to say anything," Alex shrugged as he followed Will towards the door. "But if you need help figuring anything else out, you know who to call."
Will looked down at his feet and nodded, "Um, okay."
As Will went to leave, he pressed his lips together. Using a bit of courage, he kissed the corner of Alex's mouth.
"See you later," Will said before opening the door and walking away.
Will slumped at a table in the Brady Pub the next morning. He had no idea what he was going to do about anything. He especially didn't know what to do about Alex.
Why did he kiss me? Why did he even care?
"Hey," Alex startled Will as he sat down across from him. "What's good here?"
Will stared at Alex in wide-eyed confusion instead of answering.
Quirking an eyebrow, Alex asked, "Something wrong?"
"Wh-wh-," Will tried to say before shaking his head. "No, I guess I'm just confused."
"About a lot of things, I've learned," Alex said before a waitress came over to take his order.
"Anyway," Alex continued once he ordered, "I figure you need a good influence in your life. I'm starting to suspect the ones you have now are useless."
"And you're a good influence?" Will wondered with no small amount of caution.
"Ha ha," Alex rolled his eyes, "Maybe good isn't the word I should use. You need someone in your life that isn't going to judge you for anything. That just wants you to realize how much potential you could have."
Will's eyes, somehow, managed to get even wider. He had never heard Alex talk this way before. There has to be a catch, Will decided.
"If all goes according to plan," Alex reached across the table and stole Will's coffee, "I'll have you back in my apartment soon enough."
Blushing, Will played with the strings on his jacket, "Um-"
"Relax," Alex laughed, "I'm kidding, for the most part. But that's going to be part of your lessons."
"Sleeping with you is a lesson?" Will looked at Alex's face to see his signature smirk in place.
"You should consider yourself lucky, Horton," Alex informed him. "I've fit you in my busy schedule. I've had to drop my waiting list for you. There's gonna be a revolt."
"Uh, thank you?" Will questioned.
"First lesson," Alex rolled his eyes. "If you aren't sure, don't say it."
Will blinked a few times before grabbing his phone and making a note of that.
"This is going to be harder than I thought," Alex said before adding a packet of sugar to the coffee and taking a drink.
Author's note:
That was mostly repeated from Unfinished Business. From now on the majority of things will be new.
Thanks for reading and please let me know what you thought.
