Now that, Will decides, is a much better way to start your morning. Will hovers over his first cup of coffee at the small table, Sonny's set up on the veranda outside his bedroom. Since he has limited choices for food, Will settles for cereal, watching Sonny go to town on an overflowing bowl of his own.
"Why don't you just eat a candy bar for breakfast while you're at it?"
"Cause I don't have any."
Sonny smiles at Will, and goddamnit, he really does take Will's breath away.
"That's a really nice spot for you." Will tells him. "Really nice morning reflection spot."
"It's gonna look so much better once I replace the boards and paint them over. Need some more stuff too." Sonny looks around. "Flower pots, you know, and other things."
Will takes another bite of cereal. "You're just the boy next door, aren't you?"
"Looking like it." And just the idea itself makes Sonny so happy. "Who knew?"
"So what does the boy next door have on the agenda?"
"I want to finish the work on the stairs. If the weather holds out over the weekend, I'll have a promising start on the front of the house. I have guys coming in to work on the other bathrooms. More shopping. Wanna come with?"
"I don't think I've met a guy as crazy for shopping as you." The idea of treasure hunting with Sonny is so unbelievably tempting, as is the thought of getting to be a part of picking out pieces for the mansion.
It would also mean taking another step away from being just two people sleeping together, and towards being a real couple.
So Will shakes his head, refusing to let himself give in. "Unless we're shopping for groceries or clothes, you can count me out."
"I could probably squeeze that in somewhere between drawer handles and hardware. Actually...wait here a sec."
Sonny gets up and heads back inside, while Will stretches back, cupping his mug with both of his hands, looking out at the gardens and the pond.
Will had succeeded in distracting him, Will thinks. Either that or he's doing a really good job at pretending to be distracted from what happened. He'd practically fainted, which would definitely be a first.
There's something in the house, Will muses, that's affecting him, just like it is Sonny. One side keeping him here, the other wanting him to go away, but he's determined to stay exactly where he is.
Is it possible Sonny was right all along? Is it really that easy? Was Sonny Tom in a past life, and himself his condemned Alice?
Had it really been them who had danced in the moonlight to that song?
If that's true, what does that mean for them now, in the present?
Will's face is one of worry when Sonny finally returns. And puts a small box on the table next to his cereal bowl.
"Sonny, come on. If you keep buying me gifts, what are you gonna do when we get to my birthday?"
"I'm sure I'll think of something."
"I already know there's no way you're gonna top the salt and pepper shakers, but…" Will opens the box, expecting to see something silly like an antique bolo tie, or maybe some cufflinks. And finds himself staring down at the encrusted anchor pin.
"It just called out to me."
"Jesus you-you can't just give me something like this." For the first time since Sonny's know him, Will stutters. "You can't just--just give me a pin like this. Those are real diamonds. Did you really think I wouldn't be able to tell?"
"Not at all." That's interesting, Sonny thinks, how Will goes straight from flustered to angry at being given diamonds. "I just thought it would look good on you."
"I don't care how loaded you are." Will snaps the lid back down on the sparkle of diamonds. "I don't care how much money you have stashed in bank accounts and your investments. Please don't buy me expensive jewelry." Here, Will stands up before continuing to shout, "If I want diamonds, then I'll go and get them myself. I'm not a gold digger."
"Well, looks like I hit the jackpot." Sonny tips back his chair to look at the angerin Will's eyes. "So you'd be fine if they were zirconium? I just want to know the ground rules. If I see something I want to buy for you, the price limit has to be what, under a hundred? Hundred fifty? I need a ballpark."
"I don't need you to buy me stuff."
"Will, if you needed me to buy you things, I'd do what you said and buy groceries. It was nice, and it made me think of you." Sonny picks up the box, running his free hand around it. "No ulterior motives involved."
"Something that costs as much as a decent secondhand car always has ulterior motives."
"Wrong again. Money has nothing to do with it. I just happen to have a lot of it, so that's on you to deal with. If you don't want it, that's fine." Sonny shrugs, picking up his coffee. "I'll just give it to someone else."
Will's eyes narrow. "Oh you will, will you?"
"You clearly have some sort of moral objection to it, but why does that mean I have to let it go to waste?"
"You're trying to make me sound ridiculous."
"No, you're acting ridiculous. All I'm doing is playing my role in your little soap opera. I'd love for you to have it, but not if you think it's just a severance check. That's insulting to both of us, Will." Sonny says when Will's mouth drops open. "Thinking I'm just paying you for sex tells me you think that's something I'm willing to do. It's just a few tiny rocks."
"But they're beautiful." Damnnit damnit, and damnit again! Why does this man insist on throwing him off his axis?
And isn't it just like Sonny, exactly like him, to just sit there as he calmly watches Will flip out right in front of him?
Will takes a deep breath while Sonny looks at him, simultaneously patient and amused. "I was rude, and I completely overreacted. I'm just not used to guys giving me diamonds and silver over paper bowls of cereal."
"Okay. Then how about I wait to give them over a nice steak dinner?"
Will laughs weakly, dragging a hand through his hair. "You are officially too good for me."
"What the hell are you talking about?" Sonny demands.
But Will just shakes his head, picking up the box again. He studies the pin against the velvet it's sitting on for a long moment, before taking it out and pinning it to his collar.
"How's it look?"
"Perfect."
Will leans down, kissing him. "Thank you. It just scared me, that's all, but I'm learning to get over it pretty damn fast."
"Good."
I'm gonna have to stay in this flannel so I can show it off. Goddamnit." Will says as he runs for the door. "I gotta see for myself."
Will stops in front of the mirror, holding out his shirt's collar with one hand. "It's brilliant. I've neer had anything so beautiful in my life. You're a wonderful man, Sonny. A stubborn, insane, wonderful man."
"When we get married," Sonny says from the doorway, "I'm gonna shower you with diamonds at breakfast once a month."
"Take that back."
"Fine, but I'm still keeping it in mind."
"I have to get going. Want to stop and see my grandma before heading back."
"Can you give me a lift too? I got something for her too."
Will eyes, as they track Sonny's in the mirror, are softeharted, and maybe just a little exasperated. "You bought her another gift?"
"Don't you dare have a go at me." Sonny warns as he steps back out to gather up the bowls.
"Why do you insist on buying gifts for everyone, Sonny?"
Will knows him so well by now, and the slightest shift in Sonny's shoulders tells him he's annoyed and clearly uncomfortable. So Will decies to soften it by kissing him on the cheek.
"I have money." Sonny says. "And I like having stuff. You trade money for goods, which is loads more fun than having a bunch of metal and paper sitting in your wallet."
"I don't know about that. I like the metal and paper. But…" Will touches the pin on his shirt. "I could grow to love these pretty little chips. Go and grab whatever it is you bought for my grandma Marlena. It'll gonna make her day just because it's from you."
"You really think so?"
"She's got a soft spot for you."
"I love that." Sonny turns, wrapping his arms around Will's waist. "What about you? You have a soft spot for me too?"
A warmth spreads down Will's spine, almost making him sigh. "I'm finding it harder and harder not to."
"Good." Sonny gives Will a light peck on the lips, before pulling away. "I love that even more."
