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Published:
2016-09-05
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2016-09-07
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2,212
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Rain Check

Summary:

Sonny confesses to Nina that he's in love with her. Nina laughs and tells him he's not in love with her, and then she explains what it feels like to be in love. Turns out Sonny is in love, just not with Nina.

Notes:

look i am NOT good at summaries okay????????? thank u for clicking it anyway
also, yes, "you know me, always experimenting" is definitely a euphemism.
third: i decided to make this a two-part thing and honestly i feel like the second part is a little gratuitous but not entirely so yeah.
and that's it just enjoy it!

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Chapter 1: You're Not in Love With Me

Chapter Text

  Five in the evening is usually the bodega's rest time, the hour where everyone is either at work or resting up or preparing dinner and only a few stragglers stop by the little shop. Sonny has his feet propped up on the counter, flipping through the day's newspaper in desperate search of updates on the world beyond Washington Heights. Normally, Pete would stop by, throw a few words around with Sonny, ask him what he’s up to, but he’s nowhere to be seen today. Sonny is trying to occupy himself in the dead hours between work breaks and the end of the day. What he really wants is good news: with all the crap in the world, taxes and strikes and homophobia and anti feminism and Donald Trump, Sonny wants more than anything to be the one to put a good headline in there. "Young, poverty-ridden activist speaks out against world issues". "Young activist from Washington Heights passes bill allowing free dogs for all". Cheery stuff.


   He sees an ad in the classifieds: "Artist needed to spray paint mural on a wall on 172nd. $250 for the wall." He grins and makes a mental note to tell Pete about this: he can't wait to see Pete's smile at the prospect of a job. He can picture it, in his mind, a slight upturn of his lips, his eyes deliberately pointed at the ground as he says thank you, because even being friends for as long as they have can’t take away Pete’s pride.


   There's a quick rap on the window of the bodega, and Sonny whips his head up quickly, expecting Pete, and jumps out of his seat, only to breathe in relief (and maybe a little disappointment) when it's only Nina.


   She gives him a half-grin and walks in, the door chiming to announce her entry. "Ay, you startled me," Sonny says, raising his eyebrows at Nina. "What can I do ya for?"


   "Well," Nina says, her voice suggesting something mischievous. She leans across the counter. Sonny resists the urge to either jump back or lean closer. "I was thinking," she says in a low voice, "I could use that slushie rain check now."


   Oh.


   "Of course, no problemo," Sonny says, too quickly, and flashes her what he hopes is a winning smile before turning around to prepare two slushies. His heart is racing. Does this count as a date? No. No , he chides himself. Nina is with Benny now. More than once, Sonny has had to slap himself to stop himself from hating Benny. It's not as if he had a chance anyway. It was always going to be Benny, Sonny knows that. Still, his hopeful fifteen-year-old brain can't help but dream.


   He's told Pete about his crush on Nina — “Well, actually, I’m in love with her,” he’d said once, and Pete had chuckled half-heartedly, slapped him on the back, wished him luck, and then excused himself — but Pete doesn’t seem to care all that much. In fact, every time he mentions Nina, Pete’s smile lessens. Sonny has stopped mentioning Nina. He hates erasing that smile from Pete’s face.


   He slides one of the finished drinks across the counter and takes a sip of his own. Delicious, tart yet sweet, and above all refreshing. Sonny smacks his lips. "Ahh."


   Nina takes a drink of her slushie. "Damn, that is one good slushie," she says incredulously. Sonny blushes.


   "Well, you know me. Always experimenting. So, what brings a lovely lady such as yourself to a place like this one at a time like now?" Real smooth.


   Nina chuckles. "Benny had to run an errand for dad downtown, and I didn't feel like joining, so I thought I'd pay a visit. Where's Usnavi?"


   Sonny bites down his jealousy and answers good-naturedly, "At Vanessa's. He spends a lot of time there now, if you catch my drift." He waggles his eyebrows and Nina giggles.


   "Sonny! Get your mind out of the gutter," she admonishes, but there's no real anger behind it and they both know it.


   "How've you been lately?" Sonny asks, truly interested. He hoists himself up with ease, seating himself comfortably on the countertop, and watches Nina sip her slushie thoughtfully. She's so pretty that Sonny feels like he'll faint. There's a pink blush across her cheeks from the heat, giving her face a delightful glow, and her hair is pulled back in an infrequent yet elegant ponytail. She looks like a princess, really.


   "I'm doing well, all things considered," Nina answers him thoughtfully, jolting him back to reality. "I mean, after Abuela... And the idea of Usnavi leaving, which scared me, even though I know that's unfair because I'm leaving too — and Benny starting his own business, which is off to a shaky start but it's not sputtering out yet, and Vanessa moved but she's not too far, so I think, in the grand scheme of things, I'm —"

   "In love with you," Sonny blurts out. His eyes widen comically and he throws a hand up over his mouth. An image of Pete, shaking his head, flashes momentarily in his mind. "I'm sorry," he says, his voice muffled. "I don't know where that came from."


   Nina looks over at him, and then does the worst thing: she starts to laugh. Honest-to-God, pure laughter, and if Sonny wasn't so confused and frustrated, he would find it beautiful. Instead he crosses his arm over his chest. "What, what's funny?"


   Nina immediately sobers up, and she says, "Oh, Sonny. That's very sweet, and one day you’ll make someone very happy, but you're not in love with me."


   That isn't the answer he thought he'd get, nor the one he was looking for. "What? Yes, I am. I've been in love with you since I was like eight," he says, affronted. He’s not a big fan of having his feelings not only rejected but invalidated, by the object of his affections, no less.


   Nina chuckles, then gets serious. "No, Sonny. Let me tell you what it feels like to be in love."


   She puts down her half-finished slushie and pulls herself onto the counter across from him.


"When you're in love," she begins slowly, like she's trying to think hard about what it feels like, "you want to sacrifice everything you have just to be with the person you're in love with. When you've got them, you don't let go. You don't give them up for anything. You think about them always, even in the most mundane tasks. You go shopping, you think of them. You eat dinner and you think of them. Yeah, other things matter, but even when you're doing what you love the most, you wish it was with them. They could be 4'2" and look like a troll, but when you're in love, that stuff doesn't matter. And," she finishes, "you feel it here." She presses a slender finger into Sonny's chest, above his heart, and gives him a soft smile. "You're great, Sonny, but you're not in love with me from there. You're in love with me" — she taps his cranium twice — "here. All logic points toward the idea that you should be in love with me, so you latched onto that. But it's not something you can reason through. Being in love just happens, and as much as I love you, Sonny, you aren't in love with me, trust me."


Sonny thinks this over. “But...but you’re so smart, and beautiful, and kind — what’s not to love?” He feels strange defending himself: he should just drop it and move on. He didn’t make a complete fool of himself. He should be grateful. But something about what Nina has said is grating at him, rubbing him the wrong way, and he’s beginning to feel upset.


“That’s very nice of you to say, Sonny, but you’re just picking the ideal traits for a partner, the most basic things you can find, and applying them to me, and that’s not love,” Nina says. Her smile is sympathetic and Sonny hates it.


“Hey, that’s not true! I think you…” Sonny racks his brain but he’s drawing a blank in terms of knowing anything personal about her life. It strikes him that they haven’t talked like this, heart-to-heart, in awhile. “I think...you’re always right,” he finally surrenders, sighing sadly.


Nina rubs his arm comfortingly. "Don't worry about it, Son'," she says kindly. "You're only young, you have plenty of time to fall in love. Don't rush it."


Sonny hates being told he’s only young , like fifteen-year-olds don’t fall in love. He bites back his retort, though, and instead exhales in acquiescence. "So everything I've told myself — and Pete, too — about how much I love you — that's all just noise?"


Nina tilts her head curiously. "Mm, yes." She opens her mouth as if to speak again, but seems to think better of it and leans back, silent. Sonny doesn't push it.


His cheeks burn. "Well, sorry for, uh, sayin' I'm in love with you."


"Hey, it's fine," Nina reassures him. "Seriously, don't worry. This stays between us unless you want to tell someone else."


He thinks of Pete again and imagines his breathless laughter as he recounts this embarrassing moment. Something stirs inside his stomach, and like an electric shock, he sits upright and leaps off the counter.


"Holy shit," he mutters, and to his surprise, his hands are shaking.


"Sonny, you okay?" Nina asks, sliding off the countertop and watching him with concern.


Sonny takes a deep breath and looks at Nina seriously. "Nina, will you watch the bodega until I get back? I won't be long. I think. I hope. Please? Thanks, you're the best!" And he races out of the store before Nina can answer.

 

Chapter 2: I'm in Love with You

Summary:

Sonny's in love.

Notes:

1. This chapter is decidedly shorter than the first one but I split it in a good place, I think.
2. It follows immediately, so if you combined the chapters it would just be one story. There's no time skip or anything no worries
3. the description Sonny uses for the kiss with the girl is one my sister used to describe her first kiss. I laughed
4. I got such nice, nice comments on the first chapter and you guys have no idea how much it made my day I was so happy so thanks for reading it and liking it you are all amazing I owe my life to you god bless
5. That's all! Enjoy!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Leaving Nina so suddenly may be abrupt and maybe unorthodox, but it's necessary. Like puzzle pieces, everything in his mind has just clicked. It all makes sense.


He runs down the sidewalks, barely looking along the streets before crossing them, until, gasping for breath, he finds Pete.


Pete fixes him with a confused look. "Sonny. Why ain't you at the bodega?"


"Because I —" suddenly the words are stuck in his throat, and he just stares at Pete with big eyes and forces himself to speak, "— because I'm in love with you."


Pete does a double take. "'Scuse me?  Thought you were in love with Nina." For once, Sonny doesn't miss the contempt that accompanies the statement.


Sonny puts his hand on Pete's shoulder, steadying himself after his uneven running, but Pete recoils. Frowning, Sonny catches his breath before saying, "Yeah, me too, man, I must've been — I dunno, projecting. Look, I was just with her —"


"I know," Pete interrupts. He seems uncharacteristically unhappy.


Sonny pauses. "What?"


"I passed the bodega, man. I was gonna stop in, say hi, but you had company, didn't wanna...interrupt your love-fest or whatever." Pete's voice is tainted with bitterness.


Sonny shakes his head quickly, determined to clear this up. "Man, would you just listen to me? I was with her, I told her I'm in love with her, and she was all like ‘nah, Sonny, you ain't in love with me. Because bein' in love is wanting to be with someone all the time and always thinking about them and wanting to sacrifice everything to be with them, and you feel it in your heart’, and then I realized, of course, I ain't in love with Nina — I'm in love with you, Pete. Y'understand?"


Pete doesn't answer him, just stares at him with a slight frown.


Now Sonny is feeling foolish, but he won't back off unless Pete tells him to. "Now, look," he starts to say.


"Being in love is a dumb fuckin' concept," Pete mumbles.


Sonny cocks his head to the side. "What? Why?"

 

"'Cause it makes you do stupid shit. Like this, right now. Man, you hearin' yourself? ‘I'm in love with you, Pete’, man, you're supposed to be working! What, you just left the bodega?"


"I left Nina in charge," Sonny says slowly. "Pete, listen, you don't have to say it back, but I swear to God I'm in love with you, alright? So just. Take it."


He turns, his cheeks bright red, prepared to leave this ordeal behind, but Pete grabs his arms and pulls him back. Sonny turns around, and before he can register anything happening, Pete's kissing him.


Sonny's kissed one person before — a girl in his grade, and it was gross and sloppy, like a slug. This is different — Pete's lips are soft and they taste like what Sonny has come to know as home. He feels breathless, clutching at Pete's t-shirt disbelievingly.


Pete pulls away, and Sonny tilts his head backwards, breathing heavily. "Thank god," he says under his breath. Pete hears and hits him with that beautiful half-smile.


"I ain't never been with a guy before," he mumbles.


Sonny grins. "Lucky me, then." Pause. "Although I do have to get back to the bodega. I told Nina I wouldn't be long."


"Go, then," Pete says, ushering him away. "I'll see you later, a'ight? Fire escape tonight?"


Sonny nods, bubbling with anticipation. "See ya."


Pete nods, his eyes soft.


Sonny runs back to bodega. Nina will have to know about this.

Notes:

Thanks so much for reading it!! Surprising ending HUH im lying it totally wasn't but anyway I really love the Sonny/Nina being bros thing so I'm glad I wrote this. Plus you can never have enough Pete/Sonny
Tell me what you thought, find me on tumblr @vivitalks, you guys are great, seriously

Notes:

THANK you for reading it! tell me what you thought!