Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

 It was just another day for Will Byers, taking orders from the customers and smiling when they grabbed their coffee. He had been working at a small cat coffee shop for about a year now, after finishing his sophomore year in high school, he decided he wanted to start working to help his mom pay for things.

The coffee shop had a really nice environment overall, it being one of the reasons Will liked working there so much. It was always a nice warm temperature, not too cold that you needed to wear a jacket, but not too hot that you felt overwhelmed. It smelled like chocolate and coffee all the time, if you concentrated enough you could even smell a bit of cinnamon, of course, that would be pretty obvious considering their main purpose was for hot chocolate.

 The counter was sat right in front of the door, connected to the back wall. There were tables and chairs up against the window at the front of the building, having a nice few of the sidewalk outside the café, as well as some on the side wall, having a bit more space for people to sit. The walls were painted a nice light-brown, with black paw prints painted on top, as well as a chalkboard that had the drinks labeled with prices for that day. There was always soft, soothing background music that left everything feeling soft and comfortable.

There was a door on the side of the wall that led to a room a bit bigger than the main café that had 7 cats spread across it. There were 4 cat trees placed throughout the room, with a basket full of different toys to play with the cats, with used toys being scattered around the floor already. And with 2 small couches for people to sit, despite it usually being used by the cats themselves most of the time. The room smelled a lot less like coffee or chocolate, only having a faint smell that usually came from the actual main room. It had a really special smell, that was usually just described as “the cat smell” by the people that smelled it. It was actually Will’s favorite part of the café, the soft meows of the cats and their warm welcome when you pet them always made his day a lot better. There was one cat that always stood out to him though. It was a black and white cat, mainly white with small black spots scattered around it with black little ‘boots’ on its paws. It was really affectionate towards Will, always coming straight to him when he walked in the room, meowing and purring every time it was pet. Most of his coworkers just called it “Will’s cat” because of this, of course, he didn’t mind.

It was 7pm on a Monday, this hour usually being very slow, and today wasn’t any different. Will was waiting until 8pm so he could finally go home and finish the homework that he had left to finish.

The café was mostly empty at this point, only a couple sitting while taking their last sips of coffee, which they had been drinking for almost an hour now, and a small girl with her parents playing around with the cats in the other room. Will looked at the time, the clock still pointed at 7:36pm, and let out a small sigh, leaning forward on the counter with his forearms.

Suddenly, Will was deep in his thoughts about what he was going to do when he got home while looking down at the wooden floorboards. A surprising jingle went off from the doorway bell, a tall boy coming in, looking tired. Will looked up from the floor and immediately made eye contact with him. He looked about Will's age, maybe slightly older, and was wearing a dark blue sweater with a white collar popping out from under it and black jeans with holes on the knees that Will wasn’t sure were purposeful. 

The boy gives Will a warm smile, he smiles back, standing up straight as he gets ready to take his order. Will couldn’t help but be mesmerized by him, the boy had pale skin, freckles being painted on his nose and cheeks. He had dark curly hair that fell a bit under his chin, and bangs that were straightened and carefully styled. 

Will didn’t actually notice that the boy was already waiting for him to say something until he felt a small tap on his shoulder and a soft, but raspy voice quietly trying to get his attention.

“Hello? Are you doing okay?” The boy asked, his voice was quiet, but also confused. And it was then that Will realized that he had been thinking about this guy for a few seconds while he was standing right in front of him, he felt his cheeks heat up slightly from embarrassment.

“Oh hi —“ Will finally replied, snapping out of his analysis of this random stranger that just happened to be cool-looking. He cleared his throat, shaking his head slightly and blinking up at him, waking himself up a bit. “— sorry.. I got distracted with some stuff, I can take your order.” Will wanted to melt into the floor. 

“It’s fine, don't worry about it,” the boy laughed. Will chuckled slightly as he watched the boy look at the chalkboard, searching for a good drink to order. After a few seconds of silence, other than the soft music playing, he finally let out a small hum. “Ok, could I get the plain coffee with a bit of caramel?” He asked, his voice slightly louder but still soft.

“Yeah of course! To go or to stay?” 

The boy looks around for a second, before replying, “to stay please.” 

“Ok, could I get a name?” Will asked, looking up from the tablet where they put the order information, the boy was a few inches taller, enough to have to look a bit up at.

“Mike,” he replied almost immediately.

“Thank you, Mike,” Will smiled, putting that into the tablet next. After putting all the information he turned to start making the coffee, the bittersweet smell filling the air. He couldn’t stop thinking about Mike for some reason, the way he smiled and small lines formed in the corners of his mouth, the way his hair managed to shine softly from the light in the café, and the way he walked in and it seemed like there was a light coming from him. Will had to press his palms to his eyes to snap out of his daydreams.

After making the order, he walked over to Mike, who was watching something on his phone, seemingly bored. He walked to the table and put the mug on the table, which made him look up at Will, a small smile forming on his face. 

“That was quick,” he said, gently grabbing the handle of the mug and pulling it towards him. 

“It was a simple order,” Will replied, shrugging slightly. “If you’d like anything else, I’m up at the counter.” He continued, pointing back at the counter with his thumb. 

“Ok, thank you..” Mike’s eyes squint as he tries to read the small name tag on Will’s uniform, which was a white shirt with a brown apron and normal blue jeans. “—Will!” He said, smiling after finally reading the tag.

Will let out a chuckle as he nodded “no problem.” He turned back, going back to his spot on the counter, doodling some stuff on a small piece of paper.

He ended up drawing some chairs that he saw, then some mugs, and while he was deep in his thoughts, thinking he was scribbling random lines, he blinked a bit, trying to line his eyesight back, and realized he had unintentionally drawn Mike. He quickly erased the sketch, his face turning a slight pink. He let out a strong exhale, calming himself down. 

Why am I so distracted with this guy? I need to focus on work. Will thought, poking his forehead with the eraser of the pencil. A few minutes of quiet music later, the couple left and the only people left in the café was Will, his coworker in the cat room, and Mike. 

After around 10 minutes after they left, Mike went up to the door, looking at Will for a second, who gave a smile at him, and gave a wave goodbye before leaving. Will looked at the clock again, 7:58pm. He went into the cat room, which was now empty with only the cats and Mila, the other worker in the building at the moment. 

Will smiled as the cat came running up to him, meowing as he crouched down and petted it. 

“Hey, Mila,” Will said, looking up at her. He was actually the only male worker there, he didn’t really mind though and they actually joked about it a lot.

“Hi, Will!” Mila smiled, she was always sweet and polite. Full of energy and enthusiasm towards everything she does, and a perfect counter to Will’s own self doubt. 

“Is there a lot left til we can close up?” Will asked, standing up.

“Nope! If you want you to close up already, I’ll can just lock the door,” Mila said, already putting the cats in the building beside the café. Mila lived next to it so she could take care of all the cats, she never complained at all.

“I’ll wait for you to finish up first!” 

“Thanks, Will!”

“Of course,” Will said, helping her to get some food for the cats.

After a few minutes of quiet, Mila decided to break the silence in the air.

“I don’t know if I’ve asked before, but are you dating anyone, Will?” She asked, sitting down on the couch.

Will was slightly surprised at the sudden question, “no, why?” He replied, leaning on the wall.

“Well there’s so many other workers here that are into you so I just thought you never took that chance because you were taken,” she shrugged, leaning back on the couch.

Will felt his face heat up slightly, light pink tinting his cheeks. “Oh—I just.. They aren’t.. Really my type.” He said, air-quoting the last sentence.

She looked at him questioningly. “I’m slow, what do you mean?” 

Will just looked at her, sighing and staring at her, knowing she would probably get it in a few seconds. Mila was smart, but her brain just took a few seconds to process things.

Soon, as Will had expected, her eyes lit up and she looked up at him. “Ohh.. Wait, are you gay?” She asked, her eyes wide.

“Yeah,” he replied, sitting on the edge of the arm rest of the couch. 

“Cool,” she smiled, then looked back at the floor “I’ve never actually thought about that, well, not about myself..” she muttered, barely audible.

“That’s fine, labels aren’t for everyone.” Will looked at her, smiling even though she was looking straight down.

“Yeah, but I do like girls, I know that.” She said, looking back at him.

“I could never, personally.” He jokes, laughing as they both finish cleaning up and listening to the end of the playlist of that day.

After they fully closed up the shop as Will got into his car as he immediately turned on the heater, he never liked the cold, but strangely loved the snow. The soft wind that accompanied the white flakes falling onto the ground and people. The smoke from chimneys while kids hoped Santa would be able to get through them when Christmas came. 

After a few seconds of letting the car heat up slightly, he finally started it fully and drove off slowly, making sure to be careful on the icy roads.

He checked his phone before going into the house, seeing if anyone had messaged him before walking in slowly, taking his shoes off and hitting them softly on the ground outside, making some extra snow fall off them.

“El?” He called, walking in. Jane was his sister-in-law, adopted daughter of Jim Hopper, the City’s Chief of Police. But her close family and friends usually called her El since her first name was Elenor, and only used Jane, her middle name, with other people. 

“Hello, Will!” She called back, already running to the living room and hugging Will. She always had a positive attitude towards everyone, and managed to spread that optimism to everyone she knew.

“Hi, El,” He said, hugging her back and letting out a small happy sigh as her warm hug held him.

“How was work?” She asked, pulling back from the hug and smiling brightly at him.

“Good, just tiring.” He replied, taking off his jacket and hanging it on the coat hanger. Letting the warm air hit his arms, feeling at peace as he felt the sweet smell of bread hit him. “Did you bake bread?” He asked, walking into the kitchen as she walked beside him.

“Yes, I did! Do you smell it?” She said, quickly speeding past him and grabbing the bread in question.

“It smells amazing!” Will’s eyes lit up, and suddenly he was hyper aware of how hungry he was, and a small grumble came from his stomach. 

Both he and El looked at the source of the sound, Will feeling his face turn into a shade of red on the cheeks, El looked up at him and let out a giggle, “I think that is a sign we should try some.”

“Yeah..” Will laughed, getting out a knife, being careful because the counter was two hard pulls away from breaking completely (again). 

As they ate some of the bread, he couldn’t help but ponder on that guy that had shown up. I wonder if he goes to our school, he thought.

Will never really looked around at who went to Hawkins high, he usually kept to himself, talking to El most of the time, as well as Dustin and Robin, two friends of his that he had managed to make mostly by pure coincidence.

He met Dustin in middle school because of the DnD club they had started (well, it was only Dustin, Will, and another guy who liked it). And Robin was a friend of a friend of Dustin who somehow managed to start hanging out with Will and sometimes Dustin too.

Will preferred to just stay away from most people since he always felt a little nervous talking to them, so, El was usually the one who made them go out and do things, and she always managed to convince him.

“So, are you planning on doing anything tomorrow?” El asked, distracting Will from his thoughts. 

“Uh— no, I don’t think so,” he replied, El nodded and put the bread away since they were both full at that point.

“I am thinking of going to Robin's house tomorrow, do you want to come with us?” She asked, smiling as she sat back down.

“Yeah, sure! I only have work hours after five so I can stay for a bit.” He smiled, checking the time on his phone, which had a simple wallpaper of 3 photos ; one of him with Dustin, one with him and El, and one with him and Robin. He never changed it, just updated the photos every few months. It was already 10pm, and he needed to go to bed.

“You look like you are almost falling asleep.” El remarked, smiling softly. 

“Oh— Sorry El..” He replied, yawning before rubbing his eyes softly. 

“It is ok, go to sleep.” El said, already getting up to finish washing the dishes. 

“Are you sure? You don’t need to do it yourself—“

“Will. Go.” She insisted, trying to seem as serious as she could, which wasn’t that much to be fair.

Will sighed, then nodded. As he got up he gave her one last look, you sure? And she just rolled her eyes and turned on the sink, a small smile on her face.

He chuckled and went into his room, which was covered in drawings he had made over the years and posters Jonathan had given him.

Will sat down, staring at his desk that had been untouched for a few weeks now. He let out a tired sigh and laid down, falling asleep with the soft sound of El washing dishes while humming some song that was popular right now.

Chapter Text

Will was waiting in his car, looking around to see if El was anywhere to be seen so they could drive to Robin’s. When he spotted someone who looked awfully familiar, it was him. 

Mike, who Will thought he would never see again, was talking to this girl with wavy orange hair that reached her mid-back, she was pretty. The girl seemed annoyed at him for some reason but they continued talking for so long. Will didn’t realize he was staring at them until he heard the car door open and heard El's voice. 

“Will? You ok?” She asked, Will jumped slightly in surprise. Immediately snapping out of his little daydream, which he wished was a little less obvious. He turned and saw El with a confused expression on her face.

“—Oh! Hi El,” he smiled, trying to be as casual as he could be, which currently wasn’t too much especially because he knew he probably looked as red as a beet right now. She looked at him up and down, looking in the direction he was looking at for a second. “El.” Will interrupted, he knew exactly what she was going to say.

“Who—“ Her eyes finally landed on him. She looked back at Will. “Him?” She looked directly at Mike, who was now walking in the direction where the motorcycles were parked because of course he drove a motorcycle.

“What—I no ..” Will started, dragging out the ‘ o ’ then just sighed. “He’s just a guy that showed up at work yesterday and I was surprised that he goes to our school, that’s all!” He explained, starting up the car.

El shrugged then nodded, she wasn’t a persistent person and usually trusted that a person would tell her anything if they actually wanted to. Will liked that, he wasn’t a person that kept many secrets, especially after coming out. But he appreciated how he knew that he could choose when he wanted to choose to tell El something, even though she was usually the first person he told either way.

The drive to Robin’s house was thankfully normal other than some little jokes made about Will “spacing out” while looking at a random customer. Hopefully it won't continue happening.

      *** 

“—and then I actually asked for her number !” Robin smiled brightly as she told El, and, by extension Will, the story about how she finally got a girl's number. Robin was painting El’s nails as she dramatically recreated the story she was telling. A small ‘be careful’ being said by El every time Robin almost smudged her nail.

Will wasn’t actually too focused on the story but instead his focus was on the clock that he was waiting to get to a normal hour for him to go to work. He didn’t want to seem too desperate to leave because that would be rude, obviously.

It’s not that he didn’t like hanging out with Robin or El! But when they hung out it’s like the filter (that was already low) for Robin went down to zero and she basically never stopped talking.  Which usually wasn’t a problem but when you had a test the next morning, which was the case for Will , a story about a girl isn’t exactly the top thing on your mind. When suddenly, Will liked the look of the time on the clock, perfect.

“Guys it’s 4:37 already!” Will interrupted, looking at his phone while trying to seem surprised. 

“Oh, do you have to go, Will?” El replied, turning to him. Being careful to not move her hand.

“I should, I don’t wanna be late,” Will nodded as got up. “Have fun you two! And El—“

“Text you when I want to go home, yes, I know.” She smiled, waving at him with her free hand,

Will sighed and smiled at Robin. “Bye Robin! See ya later,” he said from the door.

“Bye, Will,” she exclaimed. Robin, much like El, could spread positivity almost anywhere, she was also hilarious. She always had something interesting or funny to tell, almost like a mystery box, every time you talk to her you couldn’t be completely sure where the topic was going to be.

Will finally left and took a deep breath, getting into the car and praying it actually works this time. The car he used was Jonothans old one, and to put it simply, it sucked ass. The car smelled like car scents, coffee, and a bit of weed. But it was the only thing he had and it worked sometimes so he couldn’t complain.

After a few attempts of starting the car, it finally got moving and he drove to work. He turned on the radio for some sound in the background, he had no idea what was playing.

He walks in and the small bell on the door rings. Will doesn’t even need to look around to know that he’s not the first person there. As soon as he closes a door he can hear a happy voice call his name.

“Will!” Mila smiles, waving at him from a table she’s wiping. He could have sworn he had wiped them last night but he wasn’t going to question it.

“Hey Mila,” Will replies, going behind the counter to grab his apron and put it on. He goes to check his phone, 4:57, right on time.

Will’s shift was relatively quiet, no crying children, no complaining, and smooth sailing for Will. Tuesday always seemed to be even more boring than Monday. Just some average people and kids coming in and out with minimal fuss.

Well, that is until Will looks at the door that had just opened and sees a very familiar face.

Oh for fucks sake.

Mike smiles as he walks in, taking a small inhale and taking in the sweet aroma of coffee and chocolate that he had smelled the day before. The tall boy walks up to Will, waving. He had clearly recognized him and Will wasn’t sure if that was a good thing yet or not.

“Hey,” the boy says. Will feels his warm up slightly for some reason.

“Hi,” Will responds, smiling softly. He was just praying he didn’t look as stupid as he felt at that moment. “What can I get for ya?” He asked, trying to keep his voice as normal and as casual as he possibly could at that moment.

“I’m just going to have what I had yesterday, plain with a little caramel.” Mike still has the look he had yesterday, tired, but caring. 

“Ok,” Will nods, already trying to distract himself again, he would rather shoot himself then embarrass himself like he did yesterday because he couldn’t stop looking at the guy. But the more he tried to not look at him, the more he felt like he needed to. 

“Mike, right?”

“Yeah, I’m surprised you remembered!” He laughed.

Was it weird that I remembered? Will thought, It was weird, wasn’t it?

Will just laughed softly, shrugging slightly. “For here or to go?” He asked, feeling like a clown in front of this man.

“For here, thank you,” Will nodded, already turning to start making it immediately after filling in the order.

As Mike walked to a seat he couldn’t help but admire him a bit.

Mike just had this effortlessly cool look to him. Currently wearing a black sweater with a gray scarf layered on top, his jeans were a dark blue and less holes than the one he had worn on Monday. He wore these black boots that Will wasn’t sure if he wore yesterday, is he paying more attention to him than yesterday?? Get a hold of yourself , he thought. He needed to snap out of it as soon as possible. Preferably now.

He made his order and walked up to his table. Will felt his hand shake slightly, he knew he would develop small crushes on strangers he found cool sometimes but never to this level. They would also typically go away after some minutes but it was like Mike stuck for some weird reason.

“Here’s your coffee,” Will places the mug on the table, making a soft plink plonk on the wood and smiles.

“You’re always so quick with it!” Mike remarks, chuckling. His voice seemed so perfect, like someone that sang a lot. He just seemed like someone famous in general, he looked like a model for a magazine if you thought about it. 

“Guess I am,” Will agrees. 

As he walked back to behind the counter he looked at the time, 7:26, didn’t he come around the same time yesterday? It’s probably just a coincidence, stop being weird, Byers. Will was annoying himself at this point.

He sighed and went to the bathroom, asking Mila for a 5 minute break, to which she asked if he ‘was doing ok?’ and of course in the least convincing tone he said he was. 

Either way, he went into the employee bathroom and locked the door, he lowered the toilet lid, sitting down on it. He let out a breath of defeat and just rubbed his eyes. 

“What’s wrong with me?” He laughed dryly, he was talking to himself in a bathroom when he should be working or at least doing something useful. He stood back up and washed his face lightly with some water, carefully drying it with a paper towel so it didn’t look like he was crying, which usually happened when he wet his face.

After a few seconds of just standing in front of the door he finally opened it and came out with a small smile. 

“Ok, I’m good now,” Will blurts when he gets close enough to Mila. She just looks him up and down, probably searching for any signs that something happened, “Ok then,” she replies, shrugging and going back into the cat room as Will went back to his place behind the counter.

As he looked through his phone, he tried to distract himself from Mr. Pretty boy, so maybe he could go back to functioning like an actual normal human being again. 

At least after today they’ll probably only see each other from a distance at school, right? Right??

Of course, Will Byers cannot have any happiness or joy in life. Because it’s almost like the universe itself has decided to take its anger out on one person, that being him. 

Every day since that first encounter, Mike has shown up to get his ‘plain coffee with a bit of caramel’. And to put it simply, it is driving Will insane . Of course a bit of the nervousness and awkwardness that Will had during their first few meetings had gone down a significant amount. But even after the first few bursts of ‘admiration’ that Will had, he still found Mike way too pretty to be talking to him. 

“I just don’t know what to do at this point,” Will groaned, laying down on the small couch in the cat room while Mila sat on top of a beanbag that was admittedly, full of fur. 

“So you’re telling me, the guy that has been coming in everyday at around seven at night, ordering the same drink, and leaving, is somebody you didn’t know?” Mila recalled, laughing a bit to herself as she looked a little shocked at the stupidity of the situation.

“Well, yeah ?” Will nodded, feeling the red creeping on his cheeks. 

“And now you have this little puppy-crush on him and he gets you all nervous?” Mila smirked, already knowing how Will was probably going to react.

It took a second for him to process it, “I— hey!” he sat up. “I do not!” He rolled his eyes.

Mila looked at him, raising an eyebrow. “You’re telling me that the nervous wreck that you are around him is just natural? ”

“I’m nervous around most people and you know that.” Will reminded her, and he wasn’t wrong, he was in fact someone who got really nervous around people.

“Ok whatever you win.” Mila got up, locking up the back door, “anyway, we gotta close up.” 

Will nodded and got up too, following behind her and waiting for her to lock everything up.

Mila was genuinely the opposite of El in the context of anything personal. Despite Will knowing that it’s mostly out of worry and care, it was still annoying when you wanted to keep a secret from her. Mila always managed to convince him to tell her anything that happened so he usually just told her before she started insisting. 

She was always cheerful though, usually helping kids to stop crying if something happened or just cheering up the atmosphere in general. Her uniform is always decorated with stickers and pins with a frilled white shirt under her apron. She had these dark curls that she kept organized in this big bun on top of her head with little clips on both sides to keep the stray curls from falling on her eyes. 

As Will got outside, he felt the sting of the cold immediately. It was snowing like crazy. Will ran over to his car, closing the door desperately and turning on the car so he could actually heat it up. After embarrassing himself in front of Mike basically every day, he wondered a bit around why he got nervous around him. Either way it didn't actually matter that much, right? c