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Will stood staring at a young man. Someone he knew from the Southside. He looked different now, but still recognisable to the doctor.
The man was stabbed two days ago. He was still conscious when he was rushed into the ED, although for a moment they thought they were going to lose the man, so he heard. Will wasn’t the attending doctor, Natalie was. When she heard her patient grew up on the Southside she immediately found Will to tell him the news. She just assumed he knew the man. He didn’t know the details of the case, why he was even stabbed in the first place, but knowing it wasn’t an accident or tragic natural cause that brought him to the hospital in the first place broke Will’s heart.
As he stood beside the bed, the door to the room opened and in walked a slightly shorter man. He had black, curly hair and the most incredible eyelashes Will had ever seen. He was carrying two cups of coffee, not the crap they served at the hospital, but two coffees from the coffee shop down the road. Without a word, the man handed one to Will with a weak smile. The doctor could tell he had been crying.
“Dr. Manning tells me you and Julian go way back,” the man said, staring at Julian. “I thought you might need this as much as I do.” He motioned towards the coffee he had handed Will a minute prior.
“Uh, thanks, yeah,” Will replied, trying to reciprocate the smile. He didn’t recognise this man. “I’m Dr. Halstead. But, uh, Will. You can call me Will.”
“Will,” the man said softly, almost as though he hadn’t intended on saying his name aloud. “I’m Michael.”
“I don’t believe I recognise you, sorry, did you grow up on the Southside?”
“Oh no, no, I was raised in Minnesota. I met Julian at a club in New York and eventually moved here to be with him.” Michael’s voice faded during the end of the sentence, almost as if he had unintentionally told him a secret.
“Right,” Will said, smiling at the man. He noticed a slight gash on his forehead and bruising around his left eye. “Has someone taken a look at that?” He pointed at the marks on his face to reiterate.
“Oh,” Michael moved a hand over the cut, letting out a soft sigh. “Yeah, it’s nothing serious, I got hit during the attack, but the nurse said it was minor, no need for stitches.”
“The attack?”
“Yeah, with Julian.” Michael turned to look at Julian as tears welled in the corners of his eyes. He used his free hand to wipe them away. “I still can’t believe what happened. I thought I was going to lose him.”
Will looked at Michael, then back at Julian. Julian was doing better today. He was able to breathe on his own without the help of a ventilator and he even woke up earlier. Will wished he had been there to see him, possibly even spoken to him.
“What happened?” Will asked. Michael turned to look at him and Will added, “If you don’t mind me asking.”
“No, it’s okay.” He took a long inhale. “We were walking to dinner when a man approached us. He seemed pretty young, I’d say a year or so younger than us. He started yelling at us and when we tried to walk away, he decked me. Then, of course, Julian fought back and that’s when he pulled out the knife. It all happened so fast but the next thing I knew, Julian was on the ground and I was screaming for help as the man fled. Police said they found him a few blocks away and he’s been arrested, so that’s a win, I suppose. Said they’re ruling it a hate crime.”
“A hate crime?”
“Yeah, when he approached us we were holding hands. He spat a few slurs, too.” Michael paused, letting his eyes close for a moment. “We knew it was risky, walking around holding hands in a place like this, but we’d never had issues before. I guess you can’t predict something like this would ever happen.”
Will didn’t know how to respond. They were gay. Julian was gay. The same kid he grew up with, went to school with, hung out with. He just assumed nobody from the Southside was gay. He knew it was a pretty stupid assumption, but given the way he was raised, he just thought that nobody he grew up with had the same internal struggles he did. He suddenly remembered all the times he and Julian would spend talking about girls. Will would usually pick a random girl from their school and tell his mates that he liked her. Luckily for him, most of the time the girls he ‘liked’ wouldn’t see him that way. He didn’t know what he would’ve done if they had reciprocated his so-called ‘feelings’.
“I’m so sorry, that shouldn’t have happened, especially to Julian. He’s a great guy.” Will said. He noticed the small smile appear on Michael’s face at his words.
“Yeah, he really is.”
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The rest of the day went by pretty fast for Will. He dealt with a few minor injuries and illnesses, but nothing particularly serious. After clocking off for the day, he found himself sitting in his usual spot at Molly’s. Half way through his first pint, he was joined by Connor Rhodes, the man he has been crushing on since he joined the team at Chicago Med.
“Long day?” Rhodes asked. He signalled Herrmann over and ordered a scotch.
“Yeah, I suppose,” Will replied, taking another swig. “You?”
“Yeah, operated on a patient today and he died on the table.”
“Sorry to hear, man.” The two men sat in silence for a moment, drinking away the day they’d had.
“Heard about your friend from the Southside. He’s doing better, right?” Connor asked, breaking the comfortable silence.
“Yeah, yeah, looks like he’ll pull through without any serious issues. More worried about the trauma him and his boyfriend experienced. A hate crime is something that they’ll have to work through for the rest of their lives.” Will didn’t know why he added in that last part. Did he want Connor to ask about it specifically? He wasn’t sure.
“Hate crime, hey? Because they're gay?” Will nodded in response. “Shit, that’s a lot. Well, at least they’re both alive. Did they catch the bastard who did this?”
“Yeah, he’s in custody. Jay called me about it, asking if I’d been in to see Julian. We were all pretty close in highschool.”
“And how are you coping? Must hit pretty close to home,” Connor said, causing Will to freeze. Must hit pretty close to home? What the hell was that supposed to mean? Was he insinuating that he knew about Will’s sexuality? Fuck, did he know about his long-lasting crush on him?
“What?”
“I mean, you grew up with this guy, it must’ve been pretty hard seeing him like this.” Will let out a sigh of relief.
“Yeah, it was a lot, I guess,” he said, carefully trying to choose his words so as to not sound caught off guard. “I’m just glad he’ll be okay.”
“What did you think I meant?” Connor asked, eying his colleague.
“Um, I don’t know,” he said. He had officially made this conversation harder than it needed to be. What was he supposed to say? Tell Connor that it hit closer to home than he thought? Come out to him on a random Monday night in Molly’s? He wasn’t even out to his own family, let alone anyone at Med. He knew deep down that they would all accept him, but it didn’t make the process any easier. To some extent, he was still in denial. He knew he liked men, but he was still imagining that one day he would wake up and these feelings would go away. He would suddenly like women and his crush on Connor - his colleague and to some degree, his friend - would be gone. Deep down he knew that was almost impossible, but he still liked to hope. Anything to make these feelings less complicated.
When Will tuned back in, he looked at Connor and saw that he was no longer staring back at him, but looking at a random blonde woman across the bar. She was faced away, having not even noticed the fact that the most attractive surgeon in Chicago was attempting to stake his claim on her. Suddenly, Will was overcome with rage. He was talking to his friend about something important and he was too busy eye-fucking some woman he had never met. He was also slightly jealous, not that he’d ever admit that out loud.
“You’re fucking unbelievable,” Will spat, catching the attention of the man again.
“What?” Rhodes replied, clearly confused at this sudden outburst.
“I try to talk to you about something and you’re over here undressing that blonde girl with your eyes.” Will was angry, although angry was an understatement. Will was enraged. He was furious, infuriated, fuming, whatever you want to call it. Before Connor could respond, Will shot off of his barstool, grabbing his coat and rushing out the door. He sped off down the street, ignoring the calls of Connor chasing behind him. He barely made it far before he was cornered in an alleyway by the man who pushed him up against the wall beside a dumpster.
“What the fuck is your problem, Halstead?” Connor yelled, grasping a handful of Will’s coat in his hand.
“What’s my problem?” Will exclaimed, scoffing at his words. “I’m not the one being a perv while my friend’s talking to me.
“So that’s what we are, huh? Friends? Because the last time I checked, you hated me from the moment I came into your life.” God, if he only knew how Will truly felt.
“I don’t hate you, Rhodes. We’re friends. I respect you.”
“Really? Because you sure have a strange way of showing it.” Will let out a chuckle. A short, painful chuckle, because he wanted more than anything to tell Connor why he acted the way he did around him, why he was constantly pulling on his pigtails like a school-boy. He wanted to tell Connor exactly how he felt about him.
“God, you’re even stupider than you look,” Will laughed, watching Connor’s face morph into confusion.
“Excuse me?”
“Can’t you see?” Will began. “Can’t you see why I act the way I do around you? Why I can’t stand it when you flirt with other people or look at random girls in bars?” Here goes nothing. “It’s because I want you to look at me like that.”
Connor stared back at him, the confused look still apparent on his face. His gorgeous, flawless face.
“I don’t understand,” Connor spoke, his words slow and cautious.
“Jesus Christ,” Will sighed before grabbing Connor by the neck and pulling him into a grazing kiss. The kiss was short, only lasting a few seconds before he pulled back in fear that he had just royally fucked up, but it was the kiss he had been longing for since he met the man. The kiss he dreamed about at night, wishing he would wake up from the dream and it would be a reality.
The pair stared at each other for a moment, the only sounds to be heard were their breaths and the muffled sounds of Chicago on a Monday night.
“Well,” Connor said, unsure of what to even say.
“Fuck, I’m sorry. I don’t know why I, Jesus, I don’t know why I did that.” Will pulled away from the grasp Connor still had on his coat and attempted to walk away, but he was stopped by the man pulling him into another kiss, although this time it was far more passionate. Quickly, their mouths began to move in unison, taking in every second of the moment. Will hands flew up into Connor’s hair, gripping at the stands as though his life depended on it. He tested the waters, giving his hair a slight tug which resulted in Connor letting out the most unholy sound Will had ever heard. He opened his mouth further, letting Will slip his tongue into his mouth, exploring it with eagerness and dedication.
The men continued to makeout in the alleyway, pulling each other closer until they could no longer take it. Connor’s hands slipped away from Will’s neck, sliding in between them to unbuckle the other man’s belt, then his own. Will pulled back, immediately falling to his knees as if it were the most natural thing he could do. He tugged Connor’s pants down to his thighs and grabbed ahold of his cock, giving it a couple loose strokes before taking him into his mouth. The choked gasp the man let out at the sudden warmness was something Will thought he could listen to for the rest of his life. That sound alone could make him cum in his pants like he was a horny teenager again.
He continued sucking Connor’s dick, further and further down with each bob of his head. For a man who had only done this on a few odd occasions, mainly while shit-face drunk, he really knew exactly how to make the latter's breath hitch with every intake. Connor grabbed ahold of his hair, guiding himself further down the man's throat.
“Yes, baby, just like that,” Connor moaned, throwing his head back in ecstasy. “Taking my cock so well.” Funnily enough, Will never knew he had a praise kink until then. Maybe it was the way Connor called him baby or how his filthy words sounded so sweet coming from his mouth, but Will wished he could hear him speak like this all the time. He took the man’s length further down his throat until his nose was nestled in his crotch. He held that position for a few seconds, allowing Connor to let out more ungodly noises that went straight to his own cock. The pressure was too much. He reached into his pants and freed his own member, softly stroking it in rhythm with his bobs.
“Fucking hell, you look so beautiful down there, Will. Playing with yourself as you get me off. So fucking gorgeous.” God, he was already so close. “Look at you, so desperate and I haven’t even touched you myself.”
Both men were already close, chasing the highs of their orgasms. Connor still had his hands tangled in Will’s soft ginger hair, carefully guiding him as he gave him the best blowjob he had ever received. Neither wanted this to end too soon, but they knew it wouldn’t last much longer and they were okay with that. Maybe there would be other times like this, although hopefully they wouldn’t end as soon as this.
“Jesus, I’m close. Keep going, sunshine. I know you can cum like this, rubbing your own cock while you suck mine.” Will definitely knew what he was doing because less than a few seconds later, Connor was shooting his load down the man’s throat as Will came in his own hand. Will held Connor in his mouth for a moment longer before pulling off, lapping his tongue over the slit and tasting every last bit of the surgeon before pushing himself off the ground and back onto his feet. Connor immediately reached for Will, pulling him into a final kiss. They both tucked themselves back into their pants, catching their breaths for a moment.
“Shit, that was incredible. Not where I thought my night would go, but I’m certainly not complaining,” Connor laughed, stifling a chuckle out of the red-head.
“I enjoyed it, even though you ran your mouth the entire time,” Will joked.
“Hey, you didn’t seem to mind.”
“You’re right, I liked it, actually.” They grinned at one another, both too afraid for the part that comes next. Will was the first to speak. “I like you, Connor.”
“I like you too, Will.”
“So, what does this mean?”
“It means I would like to take you out sometime, and maybe we could end up in an actual bed, rather than an alleyway behind a bar,” Connor said, placing a hand on Will’s neck and stroking his thumb behind his ear in a comforting manner.
“I would like that.” Will smiled.
“Me too, Halstead, me too.”