Puzzle Pieces (Sonny/Graffiti Pete) In The Heights

Chapter 11: You Deserve Better

Thank you for reading!!!! I don't know what to say... I just saw Newsies with  and I'm- 

Pete isn't Usnavi's biggest fan, but watching him laugh and blush beside Usnavi like a fool in love makes it impossible to dislike him. Usnavi's complicated, and if he can invite Pete in, Pete can learn to ease up too. People are puzzles with lots of different pieces.

Everyone's laughing and talking- not around them, but with them. This time, they're part of the puzzle.

"He's not so bad, huh?" Pete jumps a little as Sonny murmurs into his ear and nudges him a little.

Pete shrugs lightly. "No one's perfect, and you deserve perfection." But he smiles, and Sonny can't help but smile back, inching closer to Pete.

By the end of lunch, they're nearly pressed knee to thigh.

"What you plan to do with that money?" Sonny inquires curiously as they walk out of the bodega together in the hot sun.

Pete raises an eyebrow. "What do you think?"

"Can I come?" Sonny can't remove the image of Pete's face, childlike wonder of a kid in a candy store, and he doesn't want to.

Pete winks. "What do you think?" Yes, of course, yes.

Sonny can't keep a shy smile from creeping onto his lips as he hazards a guess. "Yes?" It morphs into a full fledged grin when Pete grabs his hand to pull him along. Their hands lock like pieces of a puzzle.

"Hell yes."

Sonny spends the rest of his afternoon trailing eagerly after Pete, strolling through isles of spray paint, racks of acrylics, watercolors, and shelves stacked with thick and thin papers of different shades and textures.

It's amazing here and Pete can't keep his fingers from wandering over each new medium the way he's always wanted to.

The sun is nearly gone, flashlights are turning on when Sonny and Pete finally step out of the shop, Pete's backpack full and Pete carrying a couple cans.

"Here- let me." Sonny takes several cans and a set of brushes from Pete, who gives him a grateful smile and blushes when Sonny's hands linger longer than they need to.

Pete does hope his nervousness isn't showing, 'cuz he was going to drop these off at his house... he doesn't know an alternative spot. He motions for Sonny to follow, and he does, wondering why Pete's gone quiet and isn't walking like water anymore.

"Uh. Well." Pete stops in front of his house, but doesn't go in, eyeing Sonny's full arms. He really doesn't need Sonny to come in and see his house, or his mother. This is a piece of his puzzle he'd rather not share.

Uncomfortable is written all over Pete, from the way he's standing to the tense set of his shoulders to how he doesn't look Sonny in the eye, so Sonny hands back the things he has in his arms and pushes open the door, not looking inside.

"Thanks." Pete mutters, slipping past Sonny, trying not to think about how Sonny picked up on it. He tosses his armful on his bed and then drops his backpack on as well. Sonny's still waiting.

Sonny looks up as Pete steps back out, closing the door behind him. He doesn't really know what they're doing now. "Today's been-"

"Great."

"Yeah."

They stand awkwardly together, gazing at each other. Pete doesn't want Sonny to leave, which is perfect because Sonny doesn't want to. Well. Pete thinks. He's right here.

He's just leaning when the door behind him opens and Pete jumps back to see his mom at the door. "Get your damn shit off my bed-"

"It's actually mine-"

"It's his?" an angry voice calls from behind Pete's mom and Pete's ready to explode. It's not even the same guy as last time. "You want me to sleep on his- I thought it was your-" Sonny looks back and forth in confusion.

"It is. It's mine, isn't it, Pete?" Pete's mom is glaring daggers at Pete, but Pete's had enough.

"Nope." Pete throws his hand up, and it's the first time Sonny's seen Pete lose his cool composure. "Even though you make me sleep on the floor anyway."

The guy pulls his arm from around Pete's mom's shoulders, and now Pete, Sonny, and this guy are all glaring at her. "I'll just-" the guy offers, jerking his thumb over to a parked car.

Pete shoves his hands into his pockets. "Me too." He storms off, Sonny trailing cautiously behind.

"You can stay with us again," Sonny suggests hopefully, a little out of breath when he catches up.

Pete snaps his gaze to Sonny's face, surprised. "Nah, I can't ask you-"

"Not asking, I'm insisting," Sonny argues, pulling Pete by the arm. "Where you planning to sleep, bro?"

Pete doesn't have an answer for that one. He wasn't really planning when he.. "Look, sorry about that. My mom- back there was..."

"You standing up for yourself like you should. Ain't nobody make their son sleep on the floor so this other guy who ain't even been in the house can sleep on your bed, damn it. This happen all the time?"

Pete suddenly feels defensive. "She's not all that bad. She's only fucking away her grief, you know, after Dad died. She went ballistic. This is her trying not to drug her feelings away, man."

"Damn." Sonny doesn't even know what to say to something like that. "I'm sorry, man." Pulling open the door, Sonny turns to Pete, hesitating. "Can I-"

They're standing so close. He's breathless.

"Yeah." Pete is too.

Sonny presses his lips to Pete's, wordlessly telling him Pete what he'd just told Sonny. You deserve better.

Sonny rolls over to catch sight of Pete beside him in bed and blushes bright red, grateful for the dim light of the morning and the fact that Pete's obviously asleep.

While Sonny always sleeps a little curled- not tight but on his side like a halfway unfurled fern leaf- Pete's clearly the opposite. He's lies on his back, his long limbs stretched in different directions, one hanging off the bed and the other pressed against Sonny. His legs are spread, and Sonny fights his dirty thoughts tooth and nail.

He's pretty when he's sleeping, his dark lashes against his dark skin, his breathing peaceful and protective.

Sonny's just about to slip out of bed when Pete stirs, fluttering his thick lashes and murmuring something incoherent. He stretches and opens his eyes. Sonny. He can only see Sonny, which makes sense because they're faces are half a foot apart. Sonny is awake, watching with a sort of longing what makes Pete's heart race.

"Hey."

"Hey."

Sonny's center piece might be Pete now.

Thanks again for reading!! Jack Kelly... 

                       -The Worst Writer on Wattpad