Top Posts Tagged with #will miller

You Bring Me Back to the Light

Pairing: William Miller x nurse!fem!Reader Word Count: 4.7k

Warnings/tags: 18+; pining, mentions of PTSD, slight confession of feelings, guarded Will

Summary: Having been best friends with Benny for years, you'd known his brother, Will, for just as long. While you'd always felt a spark of attraction towards him, he'd been engaged to Rachel when you'd first met. But now, almost two years after that engagement had fallen apart, Will continued to keep himself closed off from relationships–yet that didn't make you care for him any less.

a/n: After watching Triple Frontier, I couldn't resist writing a little something for Will (and yes I definitely made up a name for his ex-fiancé). This is also my first time writing for him, but if there's genuine interest, I could be convinced to add another part for this! Feedback and reblogs are always appreciated!

Loud pop music blared over the speakers in The Tipsy Flamingo, the noise so thunderous that you could feel the bass vibrating in your chest as you rested your forearms against the small, circular table. The bar was packed tonight–a usual for a late Friday evening. The heat of so many bodies shoved together, some of them grinding and dancing between the tables, only seemed to increase the temperature inside the place. The cool beer you’d been drinking down since you arrived was only marginally helping to moderate your own body temperature.

Across the table from you, Alicia glanced down at her phone, tapping a nail along the screen. You watched as her brows furrowed at the device when it lit up before her. A second later, she looked back up at you and your friends gathered around the table.

“Where the hell is Benny?” she asked, shouting over the music. “His fight ended more than a half an hour ago, he’s usually here by now.”

“Maybe he lost and he’s sulking in the locker rooms,” Mitch joked.

Shaking your head, you swallowed down the drink you'd just taken. You knew Benny the best out of everyone in the group, mostly because you'd both grown closer during all those times you’d patched him up after a fight to save him on medical bills since, as an ER nurse at the hospital, you had the experience. But you knew win or lose, Benny would be here drinking to either celebrate his victory, or blow off steam after a defeat. And since he always picked this bar–solely because it attracted lots of single women and was a short drive from the arena where his matches took place–you knew he’d be here.

“Probably just got held up,” you said over the loud music. “I'm sure he's–”

The weight of a hand landing onto your shoulder cut you off, the unexpected touch causing you to startle. Turning to look over your shoulder, you expected to see some drunken dipshit grabbing at you, but your gaze landed on Benny and his wide, triumphant grin. There was a red mark on his left eye that was impossible to miss, one that looked as if it would turn into an impressive shiner by tomorrow.

“There you are,” you said, a smile sliding onto your own face as your body shifted towards him. “We were just wondering what was taking you so long.”

“Took me longer to get over here because I was trying to convince this asshole–” Benny teased, removing his hand from your shoulder and pointing at his brother now approaching your table, “–to come out for a bit after the match.”

Will's eyes narrowed at his brother as he came up behind you, stopping just a foot away from where you stood. He was so close that you could smell the usual musk of his cologne, the warm, woodsy scent of it immediately sending that familiar rush of longing through you. With his focus fixed on Benny, you couldn't help but to stare at him, admiring how good he looked–something you did every time you laid eyes on him.

It had been three months since the last time you'd seen Will, which had been when he'd last come out to one of Benny's fights–or rather, when Benny had repeatedly and successfully harassed and hounded him to come out. Because Will, as Benny had been telling you for awhile, had been spending all of his time either keeping busy with work, or overdoing it at the gym. He’d been like that ever since things had fallen apart with Rachel almost two years ago.

You knew Benny worried about his brother, always trying to get him out of his brooding, moping moods any chance he could. It was why he kept trying to drag him out to different events like his matches, or Benny often tried inviting him out with your group of friends. Because ever since Rachel had called off the engagement after The Incident at Publix, Will had closed himself off from everyone.

But in the three months since you'd last seen Will, you couldn't deny that he'd somehow gotten even more attractive. As he stood there behind you, calling his brother out for his comment just now, your eyes traveled over the dark jeans that fit his thighs just right, and his black, fitted t-shirt that looked as if it was struggling around the girth of his biceps–especially with the way his arms were crossed over his chest. You wondered if he’d managed to gain more muscle in those months that had passed, or if you just had forgotten how damn handsome he was.

Though as both brothers briefly bickered behind you, the conversation picking back up at the table among your friends, your attention shifted to something else. You could still see that familiar lingering look in Will’s blue eyes. You had a feeling that you knew exactly what it was just from the way Benny often talked about Will with you. Loneliness. Because he'd spent almost two years now self-isolating himself in his grief like some sort of self-inflicted punishment. Will hadn’t been dating, he barely hung out with his own friends, and only on occasion he’d let Benny successfully rope him into one thing or another–usually involving you.

Which had only increased your growing attraction towards the man the more time you spent with him. Despite how guarded Will kept himself, you found yourself inevitably falling further for him. Those rare moments you’d seen him actually relax–when the tension finally eased out of his broad shoulders, and his eyes lit up with a bit of something more–you’d witnessed his sense of humor return. You always forgot how much you’d loved the sound of his laugh until you finally heard it again; it was so warm that you found yourself craving more of it. During those rare times he'd let that guard of his down around you, you found yourself falling into easy conversation with him about anything–something that hadn’t happened since he’d been engaged. You enjoyed Will’s company, and from how long some of your chats had lasted when Benny found some excuse or another to disappear on you two, you figured he at least didn’t mind yours, either.

“So Benny,” Jake asked, interrupting the bickering brothers, “how’d the fight go?”

At the mention of the fight, Benny snapped his attention back to your friends before he sidled up on one side of you, making space for himself between you and Gavin at the table. He reached over to grab the pitcher of beer in the middle of it while you became painfully aware of Will sliding into the space on the other side of you. Biting your lip, you tried to keep your focus on Benny to your left, watching as he poured himself a glass of beer while your hand tightly gripped your own glass.

“I won,” Benny gloated, that triumphant smile returning to his face. “Knocked his ass out within a few minutes.”

An eruption of cheers broke out among the group in response, the sound only making Benny's smile grow. As if he needed anything more to inflate his ego. You had been about to congratulate him yourself, but you noticed how Will leaned in towards you on your other side, his voice beside your ear making you forget everything else around you.

“Hey,” he said, catching your attention. “Been a bit since I've seen you.”

Tongue darting at the sound of his deep voice which was just loud enough to be heard over the music in the bar, it nervously ran along the length of your bottom lip. Even your pulse inevitably quickened at Will’s close proximity and his unexpected attention. Glancing over to your right, you saw him resting his forearms along the table, his blue eyes fixed on no one else but you.

You wished he'd stay like that all night.

“Yeah,” you agreed, speaking up over the music. “Few months.”

Still trying to calm your racing heart, you watched as Will nodded, reaching his hands out to pour himself a beer once Benny had finished. Your eyes were focused on the way the muscles in his arms flexed as he held onto the glass and raised the pitcher over it, pouring the amber liquid without spilling a drop. Gaze skimming down his bare arms, they lingered on his tattoos along his forearms–tattoos you’d often imagined tracing with your fingers more than once.

“Seventy-eight days, actually,” he stated matter-of-factly.

The corner of your lips curled upwards at that, your gaze returning to his face as he set the pitcher of beer back down on the table. He'd been paying enough attention to how long it’d been since he'd last seen you that he’d actually been counting the days? That little flutter in your stomach only grew more insistent at that knowledge, even though you’d long since known about Will's penchant to count everything in his life. Will wasn't remotely meaning it as anything like that and you knew it, but still, the thought that he was that aware of your absence in his life had you grinning.

“That's…definitely a lengthy bit of time,” you agreed.

Will smiled back at you as he raised his glass of beer to his lips, taking a deep drink. But as he swallowed the alcohol down, you noticed how his eyes darted around the bar, taking in his surroundings when a bass-heavy song started to play over the speakers. The smile quickly fell from his face, a frown settling over it instead as he lowered his glass.

You could easily tell that he didn't want to be here. The anxious energy from the noise and the crowd of people was practically rolling off of him as he stood beside you. He appeared on edge, his gaze continuing to dart around the bar as his hand on the table curled into a fist. The urge to distract him hit you hard in that moment.

“So how’ve you been over these past seventy-eight days?” you asked, drawing his focus back to you. “Keeping busy?”

“Just been working mostly,” he answered, his eyes leaving your face to scan the bar once again. “Going to the gym. Sometimes with Benny.” A muscle jumped in his cheek before his attention returned to you beside him. “How's the hospital been?”

You shrugged a shoulder at his question, the loud pounding of the bass causing your own chest to thump in time with the music. It didn’t help that it felt suffocatingly stifling in the bar with all of the people packed inside, and the noise mixed with the beer you'd already drank was beginning to give you a headache. You couldn’t exactly blame Will for being on edge here.

“You know, the usual,” you told him. “Not a day goes by that the ER isn't filled to the brim with chaos. It's actually why I wasn't able to make it to Benny's fight tonight,” you continued, trying to speak over the music as Will leaned in closer to you. “Barely had enough time to get out here after my shift as it was.”

“Wondered why you weren't at the fight tonight,” Will said, a partial grin tugging at his lips. “I missed your entertaining commentary.”

Hand gripping tight around your glass of beer, you watched as he raised his own to his lips for another drink. Had he been expecting to see you there tonight? Was that what had drawn him to come out to Benny’s fight initially and then to the bar afterwards? Had he been hoping to see you?

But no, that was just your wishful thinking talking. Bringing your own glass to your lips, you took a drink and tried to shove that thought aside. Will wasn’t interested in you like that. He wasn’t interested in anyone like that after Rachel.

As the conversation continued at the table among the group, you caught the way Will’s attention shifted to it. But while you chatted and joked with your friends, you’d become keenly aware of how quiet Will remained beside you as the night wore on. Even Benny kept flashing him curious looks from around the other side of you, keeping an eye on his brother. More than once, Benny or you had attempted to pull Will into the conversation, but often he would respond before falling silent again, more focused on his beer than the topic.

It didn't help that while you’d been focused on the conversation, you kept accidentally brushing your arm against Will’s whenever you’d take a drink. It often threw off your train of thought as you glanced over at him, an apologetic smile on your face each time. And each time, you received one of his handsome smiles in return that had you drinking down a deeper drink at the sight of it.

But you weren't blind. You could still tell that Will was anxious as he stood there leaning against the table beside you. He looked unsettled and uncomfortable with the way he was drawn in on himself, his shoulders more tensed than they usually were when you'd seen him out in the past. His eyes kept flitting around the bar as if he couldn’t just relax and enjoy the conversation occurring at the table.

The times you'd spoken with Benny while patching him up after a fight had been insightful. You knew that what he’d told you was just a miniscule fraction of what he and his brother had been through as you sat there bandaging his injuries, but it had become evident that both him and Will now suffered the consequences of their time in the special forces. They both had different things that seemed to trigger them, and you'd come to recognize the signs from both men over the years you’d gotten to know them. Will particularly didn't like loud, crowded places that were unpredictable–like bars. It was why he usually avoided coming out for drinks after Benny’s matches even if he’d never outright say it.

Turning towards him, you leaned closer to be heard above the music. “Hey,” you said, catching his attention before hesitantly resting a hand against his shoulder, careful not to startle him. “You doing alright?”

Will immediately nodded his head, a strained smile stretching across his lips. “Yeah,” he replied, voice tight. “Yeah, I’m good.”

He absolutely was not good. It was written all over his face. But clearly, he wasn’t going to be honest with you–not that that really surprised you. So you figured you’d try a different tactic.

“I might actually step outside,” you told him, setting your almost empty glass of beer down. “Could use some fresh air. It's a bit hot in here.”

Mirroring your actions, Will set his own half-finished glass onto the table. Straightening to his full height beside you, he gestured his head towards the direction of the exit. “I might join you outside, then.”

Your eyes caught Benny’s just as you turned away from the table, the small grin on his face not going entirely unnoticed by you. Ignoring it, you began weaving your way through the crowd of people in the bar, squeezing your way between them all. At one point you glanced over your shoulder, wanting to make sure you hadn’t lost Will in the sea of people, but your heart flew into your throat when you’d paused and unexpectedly came face to face with him.

For the briefest moment, with the music still pounding through the speakers, time felt like it halted. You stood there with your eyes locked on his, aware that he was so close that you could smell the beer on his breath mingling with the mint from a piece of gum he’d probably been chewing during Benny’s match. His eyes remained locked on yours, a heat gradually beginning to settle in your gut the longer you both stood there like that–until someone at a nearby table bumped into you.

The nudge pulled you away from Will’s stare, causing you to look over at the clearly inebriated girl who was apologizing to you before stumbling her way towards the bar. Remembering that you’d been trying to lead Will outside and away from the madness inside The Tipsy Flamingo, you turned and continued maneuvering your way through the throngs of people and towards the exit.

Despite the humidity and heat of the evening, it was vastly cooler outside as you stepped out onto the sidewalk in front of the bar. Running the back of your hand across your forehead, you could feel the faint accumulation of sweat that had formed. Though even from outside, you couldn’t entirely escape the noise of the bar.

“You good?”

At the sound of his voice, you looked over to see Will standing a few feet away from you. His blonde brows were knitted together as a look of concern drew itself across his features, his blue eyes studying you in the street lights overhead.

“Me?” you asked, laughing softly. “Yeah, I’m good. It was just getting incredibly hot in there, you know?”

“Yeah, I do know,” he agreed easily.

“I wish Benny would pick a different bar for after his fight nights,” you told him. Walking over to the side of the building, you leaned your back against the cool brick. “Like I get why he always picks this place, but I mean…”

You trailed off, shaking your head. Will made his way over to where you were standing, the faintest hint of a smirk on his face. That was a sight you never saw often, and you could tell the change of scenery was already helping his nerves.

“You get why he comes here, do you?” he asked curiously. “You sure about that?”

“Because he’s looking to hook up after a fight,” you answered, watching the look of surprise wash over Will’s face at your blunt answer. “He’s told me countless times before. He likes his odds of finding someone at this bar in particular because there's a ton of girls who come out here.”

Will ran his hand over the back of his neck, his attention shifting down to his shoes. He nodded his head slowly at your words before a soft huff fell out of him.

“Guess you two really are close,” he muttered.

Something passed over Will’s face as he spoke, a flicker of an emotion you couldn’t quite make out. You watched as his hand lowered from his neck, dropping back to his side as his eyes once more met yours.

Had that been…jealousy?

“He’s like a brother to me,” you confessed, wanting to make it clear. “We've gotten really close over the years, but he's just my best friend.”

Very slowly, a grin began to spread across Will’s lips. The sight had your heart stuttering inside of your chest, especially with how the smile for once reached his eyes. He was so completely and unfairly beautiful it made your chest ache.

“Just a brother to you, huh?” he asked, taking a step closer towards you. “That’s all Benny is?”

Lips parting in surprise at the potential implication of his question, you weren’t sure if you were misinterpreting what he was asking right now. Had he been thinking there was something more going on with you and his brother than friendship all this time?

“We’ve always just been friends,” you answered. “I’ve never…been interested in Benny like that.”

Will nodded slowly at your response, that grin still spread wide over his lips. He looked pleased with your answer before he took another step closer to you. His head tilted a little to the side as his gaze slowly began to run up the length of you. You swore you could feel his eyes on you as if he’d been touching you instead of just looking, the sensation causing your mouth to run dry and goosebumps to prickle along your forearms.

“You look good tonight,” Will told you.

His eyes met yours again and you could tell there was something else lingering behind that compliment. Even the tone in which he’d said it wasn’t the usual way you heard Will speak to you. And now, as you both stood there on the sidewalk staring each other down, you could feel a palpable tension hanging in the air around you. Before you could stop yourself, the words tumbled right out of you.

“So do you.”

Will's smile widened before he took another few steps towards you, closing the distance between you both until he was standing so close that you could have reached out and brushed your fingers along his cheek, just above that beard you’d often wanted to run your fingers through countless times in the past. Breath coming in sharper as you held his gaze, you were uncertain if he was feeling what you were in that moment. Afraid to do something that would push him too far too fast, you tried to remain patient, wondering where this was about to lead.

“You know, when Benny asked me to come out to his fight tonight,” Will began, his voice low and quiet, “I really didn’t want to come out. Wasn’t really feeling like dealing with a bunch of those hillbillies at that arena. But I did anyway.” He paused, his eyes tracing their way around your face. “You wanna know why I did?”

Your tongue slipped out, wetting your dry lips. The pounding of your heart was so loud, you’d already forgotten about the noise from the bar you were both standing outside of.

“Why?”

The question came out soft in the space between you. Will’s eyes dropped down towards your lips for a moment before they returned to yours. He was looking at you differently tonight–differently than all the times he had before.

“Because I wanted to see you,” he confessed quietly.

Those words hung heavy in the silence that followed, your eyes widening slightly at the admission. He’d wanted to see you. He’d come out to see you tonight. Not Benny–you.

“I…”

Your voice trailed off as you stood there, struggling to process what you’d wanted to hear from him for so long now. When you’d come out tonight, this was the last thing you’d expected to happen.

“I know that you’re Benny’s best friend,” Will continued, shaking his head as if he was trying to explain things, “and I know that you both are close, and that–”

“There you two are!”

Benny’s exclamation immediately cut Will off, causing both of you to turn your attention towards the bar’s entrance. Benny was making his way over towards the pair of you, a ridiculously large smile on his face as he took in how close you both were standing.

“You two disappeared on us,” Benny continued. “I figured I’d make sure everything was alright.”

Will took two abrupt steps back from you as his brother joined you both outside of the bar. The distance immediately caused a bolt of frustration to run through you. You swore Will had just been about to admit that he’d had feelings for you before Benny came and interrupted the entire moment.

“We’re good,” Will assured his brother, that guardedness quickly returning. “We both just needed some air. Figured we’d step outside for a bit.”

“Oh?” Benny asked.

“But I think I might head out,” Will added on, taking yet another step back. “Early morning and all.”

You could feel your heart sink at his words, but you tried your hardest to hide the disappointment on your face. Whatever had been about to happen, Benny had clearly just interrupted and ruined it. Now Will was closing himself back up and planning to hastily retreat like that moment hadn’t even happened.

“You’re leaving already?” Benny asked. “You’ve barely been here longer than an hour, man. You don’t need to go yet.”

Will’s eyes darted from Benny to you, his jaw tensing before his gaze quickly returned to his brother. “Like I said, Benny,” Will repeated, “I got an early morning.”

He gave you a curt nod in farewell before he abruptly turned, stuffing his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he walked off towards the bar’s parking lot. You couldn’t do anything but stare helplessly after him, feeling as if the moment you’d been wanting had just slipped through your fingers.

“Hey,” Benny said, his elbow nudging your arm. “What the hell just happened? Something going on with you and Will?”

In the distance, Will turned the corner, disappearing from sight around the back of the bar. The breath you hadn’t been aware that you’d been holding slowly passed between your lips as you practically deflated beside Benny.

“No,” you answered, finally shifting your attention to him. “No there’s not.”

Benny’s eyes narrowed skeptically back at you, that red mark around his left eye looking a bit more angry than it had an hour ago. You shot him a flat look as he continued staring at you with that calculating expression on his face, as if he was trying to figure something out.

“But you want there to be,” he finally said. “Don’t you?”

“Benny,” you replied, shaking your head. “Don’t start this.”

“Be honest with me for once, dammit,” Benny demanded. “Tell me the truth. You like Will, don’t you?”

A resigned sigh fell out of you as you glanced over your shoulder, staring at the place Will had disappeared. It wasn’t worth lying to Benny anymore and making excuses. You knew he wasn’t buying it at this point.

“Yeah, I do,” you finally relented, looking back over at him. “And I don’t know what you just interrupted, but I got a feeling it might be another two years before I maybe get an answer to even that.”

“Naw,” Benny disagreed, a knowing look on his face. He stepped over towards you, slinging an arm over your shoulder as he began guiding you back towards the bar. “Not two years. Just two more weeks.”

Pulling a face, you looked over at Benny as the pair of you neared the entrance of The Tipsy Flamingo. “What?” you asked.

A devious grin spread across his mouth as he stopped the pair of you just in front of the doors. He was staring at you as if he knew something more than you did.

“You’re my plus one,” he reminded you. “At our cousin Melissa’s wedding that's in two weeks. And I am well aware that Will is attending solo.”

You stood there with his arm still slung over your shoulder, taking in the sight of that shit-eating grin on his face. And then gradually, it dawned on you.

“Benny,” you began carefully, “did you invite me because you knew it meant that Will and I would be forced to spend more time together?”

“Maybe,” he replied mischievously. “That might’ve been on my mind when I told you I didn’t want to go to a stuffy wedding all alone.”

“Benny!” you exclaimed, eyes growing wide. “Christ! Have you been doing this the whole time? Trying to get us to spend time together?”

His grin only grew wider at your question, a glint of something flickering in his eyes. “I have absolutely no idea what you’re talking about,” he replied sarcastically, pulling you back towards the bar with him. “But there's no one else I've ever seen calm Will like you naturally do. I swear my brother always looks like he’s two seconds away from laying his head in your lap and letting you scratch him behind the ears like a dog whenever you’re around.” He shot you a sideways glance at the amused snort that fell out of you. “And after whatever I just saw? I’m thinking maybe I’ll catch Will slow dancing with my plus one in two weeks.”

Surrounded by the loud music and the crowd of people as you stepped back inside the bar, you could feel the amusement at what he'd said fade as that heat gradually filled you again. The thought of seeing Will dressed up at that wedding had crossed your mind more than once, but now the mental image of him with his strong arms holding you against himself all night while you both swayed to the music was a new thought–one you knew would be stuck in your mind until then.

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