Puzzle Pieces (Sonny/Graffiti Pete) In The Heights

Chapter 7: Champagne

Sorry for publishing so late!! Hope no one minds...

Sonny doesn't hear Usnavi calling him. Not at all. He's too busy thinking about Pete to bother with Usnavi anyway.

He's too busy daydreaming about a future with someone who actually cares. Because Pete does. Even though Pete was mad about Sonny- and for good reason- he came to hold Sonny, to be his shoulder to cry on when he needed it, and Usnavi? Leaving. Without a glance back., leaving his puzzle with a gaping hole.

"Don't act like you don't hear me!" Fuck.

Sonny slips into the bodega. Solid. He's solid, he won't budge. He won't cry over someone who was never there. "State your purpose."

Usnavi hands him money, tells him to spend it, and Sonny just scoffs. "So it all comes down to this? My severance package?" He knows he's pushing it, but he's pissed. Is he really this much nothing?

Pete's on his bench, running his fingers over his cans. Again. The numbers haven't changed.

Pete can't stop thinking about Sonny. What's he going to do? Pete can't very well invite Sonny to stay with him.

Even if he could, he wouldn't go long without kissing Sonny, and... Sonny's straight. He doesn't even want to think about what would happen if he kissed Sonny.

Vanessa steps into the bodega, and Usnavi all but forgets about Sonny's existence, so Sonny leaves with a huff.

Pete's on the bench and they both smile and look away, neither exactly sure where they stand. They were mad- and then Abuela died...

Sonny slides onto the bench beside Pete. "Hey."

Pete looks up and drinks Sonny in. He's still beautiful. "Sorry," he mutters finally. "I don't think of you as a kid, it's just... And I don't hate Usnavi either."

Sonny glances away because it's painfully amazing to see, hear, and feel Pete so heartfelt. "My fault, bro, I was in a bad place. Hell, I still am. It's been a pretty shit day, so when you said that stuff about Usnavi..."

Pete smiles, and it's so dazzling Sonny wonders if maybe, just maybe, he could dedicate his whole life to making that smile stay forever.

"Say something, dude, this is so awkward!"

Pete chuckles. Sonny is so, so, cute; he wants to kiss that blush away. "What do you want me to say?" because right now, Pete's mind is blank, except for Sonny, who shines so bright, nothing else matters. Not his house that isn't a home, not the broken puzzle that's scattered at his feet. He can see silhouettes of Vanessa and Usnavi drinking from a bottle. They cannot seriously be celebrating abandoning such a phenomenal person.

"I don't know, what are you thinking right now?" Sonny asks, truly curious, because Pete's glow has faded and he's nearly glaring at the bodega.

Pete glances over at him and admits easily, "I'm thinking you're an amazing, awesome dude and you deserve better."

Sonny blinks at him, seems to hesitate, then wraps Pete in a tight hug.

Pete is warm and strong and present. Even though Pete does most things half-heartedly or casually, his hugs are the real thing. Sonny loves it.

Pete does too. Pete loves Sonny holding him tight like he just might matter. He loves Sonny's cheek pressed against his shoulder because he's so adorably short. They fit like two pieces of a puzzle.

"I have an idea." Sonny announces into Pete's neck, making Pete shiver with the warm breath leaving sparkles on his skin. Sonny draws back.

"Mmmm?" Pete raises his eyebrows, wishing Sonny would fall back into his arms. He grabs his backpack, ready to go somewhere.

Sonny grins, whispering into Pete's ear, but Pete can't even focus on the wods, because he's too busy imagining just how gay this could get. That is, until he hears the word paint. Soon, he's all ears, and trying to refuse the money Sonny is pushing into his hand.

"C'mon bro, take the money!" Sonny urges Pete. He is not going to rope Pete in and not pay him for the materials.

Pete shakes his head. "I'll do this just for you, keep the money." He grins as Sonny stumbles over his next words, a flush crawling up Sonny's neck. There's nothing I won't do for you, Pete almost insists.

Just for me.That sounds romantic coming out of Pete's perfect lips. "Dude, you got money for the paint?"

Pete splutters, and Sonny claps him on the shoulder, shoving several bills into his hand. "My consolation prize," he informs Pete, who laughs. Well, maybe Sonny will spend the rest of his life trying for that laugh instead. Or both.

Pete counts the bills as he pulls Sonny along, away from the bodega that Usnavi and Vanessa are exiting, holding an empty bottle of champagne and each other.

"I hope this works," Pete mutters to himself as he hefts his backpack, hearing the metal cans he still has clang inside. He can't bear the thought of letting Sonny down.

Sonny glances up. Pete always acted so confident about his art; he didn't know Pete had insecurities. Of any kind, really. "I know it will," he promises both of them. "You're an artist, after all."

Pete sighs, although he lets a tiny smile creep onto his face as Sonny follows him through the isles of his favorite art store. Sonny actually respects him as an artist. That word fills an empty spot, a piece that belongs.

Sonny loves the expression on Pete's face, childlike delight as if he'd love to stay for forever. It's a good look on him, just like everything else.

Usnavi and Vanessa stumble past the shop window, tipsy and laughing, both too absorbed in each other to see Sonny stiffen- he'd bet his bottom dollar that Sonny isn't even an afterthought in the subconscious of Usnavi's mind. Is he even a piece of Usnavi's puzzle at all?

He is happy for Usnavi- finally getting his girl, achieving his dream of going back home- but why did it have to happen before Sonny even had dreams at all? Family looks out for each other. Or so he thought.

Still, he can't help smiling at the two, who look so blissed out, he can't really be angry.

"Like I said," Pete sighed, "You deserve better. You deserve more." He's picked out colors how, and can't stand the longing and disappointment etched into Sonny's entire frame- although it could make a pretty great portrait: Full length, the handsome face wistful, eyes lit with unconditional love-

"Hey, Pete?" Sonny blinks as Pete, who's staring.

Pete just shakes his head. "You'd make a gorgeous portrait, you know. You're like, hella expressive with your- uh- body and you alsoyoulookreallygorgeous. Anyway. It's dope you're still happy for the guy."

Pete drags Sonny out to the grate, grinning softly to himself at Sonny's splutter. Sonny is stumbling over his own thoughts- did Pete just stumble while talking about Sonny's body? Did Pete just call him gorgeous?

Pete's cans come out in haphazard rows, and though Pete shifts under Sonny's watch, he's comforted by Sonny's faith anyway and gets to work, rolling his shoulders and losing himself in swirling colors and emotions.

Pete uses red love, orange joy, coffee brown remembrance and black grief and curving lines of care and community he felt that night in the chorus of sobs and the sea of hugs.

Sonny watches the tension in Pete's back melt as Pete moves like liquid, reaching, spraying, pouring with his whole body like it's a dance that Sonny longs to be part of.

Sonny doesn't stop watching as Pete paints his heart out, paints Sonny's heart out. Paints their puzzle.

Love, love, love.

Not the strongest ending to a chapter...

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