Chapter Text
Will was late. Not just was he late, but he was late in a city he wasn’t fully familiar with yet. He knew he would be late today the second he overslept his first and second alarms, but his sleep-addled brain somehow managed to convince him to stumble around New York City in search of the nearest Starbucks. Hey, he was already late. Why not be late and caffeinated as well?
So here he was, standing at the counter waiting for his iced latte with oat milk and twenty minutes late for class.
“Venti Iced Latte for Will?” the barista called from her side of the counter, directing a smile his way as she slid the drink across to him. He slipped a couple of dollar bills into the tip jar as he thanked her, and turned quickly to grab a napkin.
And coincidentally, turned straight into another person– who, in his defense, seemingly came out of nowhere. The man was shorter than him by a whole head, and his all black outfit was now soaked down the front with most of Will’s coffee. His dark eyes narrowed with annoyance as he looked up, and Will felt himself shrink in on himself under the glare.
They stood there awkwardly before Will’s gaze fell to the book in the man’s hands– also covered in coffee now. He felt his eyes widen with surprise and a gasp left his mouth as he began to shove napkins at the dark-haired man. “I am so sorry. I’m having an awful morning and now I just feel like an asshole, please let me make it up to you somehow.”
The man said nothing, only quirked an eyebrow as he began to pat himself down with the napkins Will shoved at him. “Iced Chai Latte.” He never even met Will’s gaze, rather focused on getting as much coffee off him as he could.
“Huh?” He wasn’t completely sure if he heard him right considering he only spoke three words.
“You want to make it up to me? Why don’t you buy me a coffee?” He looked at Will for the first time in a couple of minutes, and a smirk was written across his face. He rolled his eyes as he pushed past Will to throw out the used napkins.
“Oh. Oh! Yeah, yeah, of course. Just could I get a rain check on that? I’m already late for class and I just… I need some small win for the day,” he sighed, running a hand through his hair. “Here, I’ll give you my number so you can hold me accountable to that coffee, okay?”
Usually, Will knew better than to give his phone numbers to random strangers. However, the rule could be bent when presented with such an attractive stranger who he didn’t want to let slip away. He ripped another napkin from the container and fished a pen out of his bag before scribbling down his phone number and thrusting it into the man’s hands.
“I didn’t even give you an answer, Sunshine.” Sunshine? Now, really wasn’t the time for cute names.
“Unfortunately, I really can’t stick around. Text me!” He clambered towards the door, pulling it open when he heard the same voice call after him.
“You never gave me your name.”
“Will!” he called as the door slammed shut behind him, then proceeded to run towards the class he was now thirty minutes late for.
Med school wasn’t easy– not that he expected it to be– but he didn’t expect things to go as poorly as they had been so far. It was only the third week of classes, and Will seriously worried about what the future held for him. He knew he was smart, he wouldn’t have gotten into NYU if he wasn’t, but sometimes he couldn’t help but wonder if he was in over his head.
And that was only the pressure of school. He was twenty-three now, which meant constantly being bombarded by endless questions about when he would find someone to settle down and start a future with. Those questions were honestly the worst part about going home to visit Texas, but it didn’t stop him from missing it completely.
Moving to New York from Texas was daunting, to say the least. He was terrified that he would never meet anyone, be friendless, and drop out all within the first month. However, by the end of his first week, he had a solid two friends and was doing well on his own– somehow avoiding driving himself into the ground from overworking himself.
As he slipped into the lecture hall he took his seat between Cecil and Lou Ellen, the first two friends he had made. They both looked at him curiously before turning back to the lecturer and resuming their own note-taking, meaning Will was in for an interrogation after class. Sighing, he pulled his laptop out of his backpack and began to type what the professor was saying.
“So, William, care to explain why you were late?” Lou Ellen sat across from him braiding her purple hair and chewing on a piece of bubble gum. She blew a bubble that steadily grew before suddenly popping, then repeated the cycle.
He threw up his hands before placing his head in them. “I had the worst morning,” he mumbled. “I overslept my alarms, then couldn’t find two matching socks– my socks still aren’t matching by the way–, and then I spilled my much-needed coffee all over some cute guy in Starbucks!”
“A cute guy, you say?” Cecil snickered from his spot at the table where he sat stabbing a salad. “Did you turn to him and go, ‘Oh, I’ll clean that up for you.’” His voice was raised two octaves and there was a wink at the end of his sentence along with some obnoxious kissing motions. Lou Ellen giggled from her seat before he glared at her, which in turn made her jab Cecil in the stomach.
“Very funny, Cecil. I told him to let me make it up to him– do not comment on that– and he asked me to buy him a coffee. But, as we all know, I was very late so I gave him my number and ran out the door.”
“And has he texted you?” Lou sat with a mischievous smirk on her face, kicking her feet as she waited for his reaction.
“Uh, no idea,” he mumbled. Pulling out his phone, he saw no new text messages so he shrugged and shook his head.
“That’s too bad. What’s his name?” He stared at them blankly, combing through his mind for what this man’s name was. When he came up with nothing, he slowly shrugged once more and grimaced. “Will! You gave a stranger your number and didn’t even get his name ? What does he look like, or did you miss that too?”
“Dark hair and eyes, probably like 5’7”, and wearing all black? Really pale too, he could use some vitamin D. Oh, and he was reading a book before I spilled coffee on it.”
“So, that guy over there?” Cecil pointed over Will’s shoulder, causing him to swivel around quickly, only for his eyes to be met with an empty area. Cecil’s laughter hit his ears and he turned back slowly, where his friend was now hunched over laughing. “You– You turned so fast. You’re so whipped for a man whose name you don’t even know!”
Lou joined in the laughter too, briefly stopping to breathe out, “Will, I love you, but it was kinda funny.” The two of them continued on, completely ignoring his dissatisfied expression. Before long though, he began to laugh lightly along with them because it was kind of funny.
As soon as it began though it was over, and the three of them were packing their bags to go their separate ways. Will still had an anatomy class in an hour, and he wanted to squeeze some library time in before that. He knew if that if he didn’t he would be up all night saving face, and again, he needed some kind of win for the day.
It was after his anatomy lecture and he had just sat down at a desk in the library that his phone began to buzz. A simple, “hey” was all it said, and it came from an unknown number. He wasn’t really sure how to respond, so he opted for his own simple “Hello?” before placing the phone down.
Almost instantly a reply came, this time his phone lit up to show, “this is will, right?”. Again, not sure how to reply, he typed back, “Uh, yes?”
“thank god. can u meet at starbucks sometime this week? i need a favor out of you and after this morning it’s the least you could do.” At that, he realized that this must be the mystery man from the coffee shop. The lack of capitalization and proper grammar made Will cringe a bit, but his thumbs instantly typed back a response. “I’m free Tuesdays and Thursdays until 4 P.M. and after 6 P.M. on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, so whatever works best for you. Coffee is on me, of course :)”
Three dots appeared as the man typed his response, a simple “same starbucks at 12 tomorrow? try not to spill something this time sunshine ;)” Will sighed as he ran a hand through his curls, tugging slightly because no way is this guy real. “Yeah, sounds good. By the way, I never caught your name. Any way I could get that?”
He never got a response. Giving up with a defeated sigh, he slouched in his seat and pulled out his books to try and get some work done. Tried, being the keyword, because his mind raced with thoughts of his meeting with the other man tomorrow. This is ridiculous; it is literally an apology coffee not a marriage proposal. Get it together, Will.
Safe to say, Will did not get as much work or rest as he had hoped that night, and what little sleep he did get was plagued by the mystery man with obsidian-colored eyes and curly black hair.
God, he was fucked.