Stevie came into the job knowing she couldn't really keep it a secret for very long, and she doesn't really want to keep it a secret anyway, she wasn't ashamed for what she was, just for the mistakes she made trying to be what she wasn't. That was the whole point of leaving Andrew in the first place, she had been hurting both of them and it wasn't fair and they did both deserve to be happy. She had an easier time of believing that for Andrew, but her and her therapist back in detroit, and something to work more with, with her new therapist in chicago.
So when Will starts talking about going out for things to eat, and going to work events together, and she yoyos between agreeing and rebuffing him, she knows she has to shut this down. And she hopes it doesn't ruin another thing because, despite their old rivalry, they do work really well together. They are something like friends now, something like what they used to be in med school without the insecurities burning each other.
So when it's, she dares to think the word, quiet, she seeks out Will who is thankfully in the break room by himself scrolling on his phone.
"Can we get drinks later? I want to talk to you about something."
Will looks up, concern written all over his face. "Yeah, sure. You okay?"
Stevie plasters a cheery smile on her face, knowing it doesn't quite fit, and says yes. Which Will clearly doens't believe but he nods and says yes anyway.
"Great, meet you here at end of shift." And she walks off and tries not to practice exaclty what she's doing to say. Or thinks about how Will, with his St Christopher medal and cross tattoo may react.
They don't go to Molly's, where others might be, they go somewhere Stevie's remaining chicago friend took her to a few weeks before, where the end with the pool table and kitchen is always loud but the area with the tables nearest the doors are quiet. They both order beers and Will darts looks at her to try and guage the conversation they're about to have.
Anything she thought of saying has vanished from her mind and she think she should just blurt it out and get it over with when-
"Are you okay?" Will asks.
Stevie laughs because that's Will for you.
She sighs, takes a drink and then looks at Will. "I don't know if you're just glad to have a friend back or if you're trying to date me, but I have to tell you why me and Andrew broke up."
Will looks like he is about to protest the accusation of trying to date her, but must realise that's not the focus of the conversation, because he nods slowly like he's taking it in. "Okay."
"I... I always thought it wasn't quite right, me and Andrew, but I thought I had cold feet, and then commitment issues... and then I realised i was gay. A lesbian.."
Will pulls his head up, taken aback by Stevie's admission. "Oh."
"And I don't, uh, I don't want to have a problem with it anymore, so if you do, I need you to tell me now because-"
Will is already shaking his head and waving his hand a little. "I don't have a problem with it. It's fine. It's great, even! I mean" He pauses to collect himself, and then looks at Stevie in sincerty, "- I'm glad you figured that out, you must have been unhappy for a while, there."
Stevie wasn't expecting that and it chokes her up a bit. "Yeah, I was."
"Are you... are you more happy now?"
Stevie thinks of her decent apartment, starting new, but problems with her mom and not settling in quickly enough for her liking overshadow the leaps she's taken to find herself. "It's so so," She settles on, "Some things are better, but some things are just the same."
Will quirks his head and huffs out a self depreciating laugh, "I hear you."
"So... we're good? We can still be friends?" She hates how childish it sounds, but can't take her words back. Besides, she really wants to know the answer.
Will's eyes soften, "Of course we can. Of course we can be friends. Stevie, I'm an asshole soemtimes, and an idiot, but i'm not a bigot."
Stevie laughs and nods, "You can be an idiot, yes."
Will gestures between them with a smile, "See? I'm being honest and you're insulting me. Nothing's changed."
They both laugh softly but then Will sobers up. "But I am sorry that I made you... uncomfortable. In all honesty, seeing as we are being honest, I have... issues when it comes to people who are nice to me. I guess i've got to work on that."
Stevie was surprised by the admission but glad he said it.
She raised her beer bottle up slightly "To working on things."
Will knocked his bottle against hers, "To working on things."
Stevie thinks about how this could have gone, how this might have gone back in college, med school, how her life might have been different for it. But she knows that she can't go back and change things, can't realise things about herself sooner, can't go through therapy she wasn't ready for yet - couldn't even fathom therapy as anything other than things psych patients go to - so as for an alternative, a second chance as it were, it's pretty good.