Work Text:
Alexis has been working at the same coffee shop for two years now, and she’s met a lot of people there. For starters, she meets hundreds of customers a day, taking orders and payments and whatever elaborate modifications the 40 year old white women (it’s always the 40 year old white women) can come up with. She also has met a handful of coworkers over the years, many complete idiots, like Claude, the half-french, half-bitch guy that she was convinced was sleeping with their ex-manager since he managed to get employee of the month three months in a row, despite doing absolutely nothing.
Alexis is not a big fan of Claude. She brought in a cake and champagne when he quit.
There’s also Matt and Ross, the two brothers that have to be sharing one brain between the two of them, considering they also do nothing, and take credit for work that other employees do. Unfortunately for Alexis, they still work here.
But not everybody there is bad, she still does have some friends. Allison was around for a little bit, but she ended up quitting for a better job (lucky), and Alexis is pretty neutral towards the rest of the staff.
However, Will Byers was hired a few weeks ago, and he’s easily her favorite coworker she’s ever had.
She trained him on his first day of work, and while he was incredibly shy at first, she ended up noticing his sassy little side-eyes at their coworkers (specifically Matt and Ross) and his subtle humor. They ended up being put on the schedule together a lot, mostly because of how their schedules align, but also because they just work really well together.
About two weeks into knowing Will, they sat outside of the shop together, knees pulled to their chests and back against the brick sharing a blunt after a particularly rough closing shift.
She’d asked about his life, his childhood, what it was like growing up in rural Indiana. He was vague, and laughed before he reached for the blunt to delay his response.
“What, pretty different from New York City?”
Will snorted, then nodded. “Yeah. It’s weird.”
Alexis took a hit. “What’s the weirdest part?”
Will was quiet for a moment. He studied Alexis then looked up at the night sky. “Just…the culture.” He glanced at Alexis again with a searching look. “The politics,” he said vaguely.
“Oh god, I can’t imagine.” Alexis shivered and passed the blunt back to Will. “Me and my girlfriend get harassed enough here, I don’t wanna think about some place in Nowhere, Indiana.”
At the mention of girlfriend, Will turned to Alexis, his eyebrows shooting up. “Girlfriend?”
Alexis shrugged. “That’s what you were referring to, right?” She took another hit, watching the smoke curl through the air.
A small smile appeared on the corner of Will’s face. “Yeah. Me and my…boyfriend,” he peeked over at Alexis through the corner of his eye, and she urged him on with a nod. “We grew up there. Definitely a culture shock from there to here.”
“Yeah, no kidding.” She leaned her head against the brick, feeling the cool night air against her cheeks. “So…boyfriend?” She glanced over at Will, who offered a hesitant grin and nodded. “How did you guys meet?”
“On the swingset in Kindergarten.”
Alexis’ mouth fell open. “No shit.”
Will laughed. “Yeah. I’ve known him longer than anybody, other than my mom and my brother.”
“How did that work out?”
“God, it was awful.” Will let out an exasperated laugh. “I started crushing on him when I was 12 or 13, and it just grew and grew.” He took a hit. “It took until college before he kissed me, turns out he’d liked me just as long.”
“Shit, you gotta sell that to somewhere. Some TV producers or something.”
Will snorted at that.
“Seriously, you could make billions.”
Will leaned his head back and looked at the sky with a soft smile and hazy eyes. “Maybe.”
Alexis did the same. “What’s he like?”
“Hm?”
“Your boyfriend. Is he nice?”
Will shrugged, and a smile quirked on the corner of his mouth like he had an inside joke with himself. “I think he is.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah, he’s, just, the most thoughtful person I know. He knows me so well, he knows my needs, he knows my boundaries, and he’s so sweet about everything. Nobody knows me like he does. Sometimes it feels like we read each other’s minds, you know? Like we barely have to use words to know what the other is thinking. I’ve had a few boyfriends in the past, but nothing has ever felt as right as this does.” Will rubbed his face, which had been overtaken by a huge smile. “I don’t really believe in soulmates, but he’s probably the closest anybody would get to being mine.” Will shook his head. “Sorry, I’m getting sappy.”
“No, it’s alright. I asked.” Alexis shuffled her feet. “Is the sex good?”
Will turned to her with his jaw dropped.
Alexis shook her head with a laugh. “Sorry, I have no filter when I’m high.” She doubled down. “Is the sex good?”
Will laughed, putting his reddening face in his hands. “Yeah, it’s…yeah.” He rubbed his eyes. “It’s pretty good.”
“Well this guy sounds damn near perfect.”
Will smiled at that. “I like to think we’re right for each other.”
They have a few conversations like that, lightly buzzed and sitting outside of the shop after a long shift, discussing anything from school and the future and coworkers and crazy exes. She ends up looking forward to shifts with Will, mostly because she knows she’ll enjoy them more than she would with any other coworker.
However, the shift today must have been sent from hell.
Alexis wipes her hand over the sweat beading against the skin under her visor as the last few customers of the rush fizzle out. She sighs and grabs a washcloth that almost definitely needs to be replaced, and holds it against her apron streaked with espresso and caramel as if it were a lifeline.
She turns to Will beside her, and he forces out a laugh, also wiping his forehead.
“Holy fuck,” she says.
“That was awful,” he agrees, pulling off the visor for a moment to run his hands through his hair.
“How many people need coffee at 3 p.m. on a Wednesday, seriously?”
Will leans against the counter and snorts. “Too many.”
Alexis stares at the counter, sticky with various syrups and sauces. She would usually go to wipe it down, but her arm feels sore from just how many drinks she’s handled in the past 30 minutes. She sets the washcloth on a particularly messy corner of the counter, choosing to believe that it’ll somehow soak up the nastiness if she just ignores it. “We should’ve called in someone.”
Will pauses, then shrugs. “We handled it ourselves.”
“Barely.” Alexis rubs her temples. “Thank god it was you with me and not some moron. I don’t think I would’ve made it out alive.”
Will laughs. “Jesus, imagine this rush with Matt or Ross.”
“Oh my god.” Alexis puts her hands to her throat and makes a face, pretending to choke herself to death. “I would have killed myself. Or one of them. Or both of them.” Alexis shoots out her hands for emphasis. “I cannot believe they haven’t been fired yet.” She glances at Will, then leans in closer, her eyes suddenly twinkling with gossip. “Did you hear that Ross’ wife-”
Someone at the register clears their throat, loudly. Will and Alexis both flinch, and then she sighs. “I’ll get them if you wanna check inventory.”
Will mouths thank you as he walks to the back. Alexis puts on her “customer service face” and takes the order for the woman impatiently waiting at the register.
It’s an incredibly ridiculous order for no reason (seriously, who orders thirteen pumps of caramel in a medium?), but thankfully nobody else gets in line while Alexis is making the drink. She hands it off, then goes to tackle the disgusting mess leftover from the rush.
She’s scrubbing off a particularly difficult patch of syrup, really using her elbow here, when she hears an irritating, agitating, evil, horrendous noise from the register.
Everyone who has ever worked in the customer service industry knows the sound, it’s the sound of a tired, overworked, broke college student’s worst nightmare.
“Helloooo? Could I get some help?”
It’s the sound of somebody who obviously thinks they’re better than everyone working here, the sound of an entitled douchebag who thinks the world revolves around them.
Alexis closes her eyes for a moment, wishing the sound to go away.
“Hey, you! Don’t you work here?”
Damn. The universe really hates her. Alexis opens her eyes and forces a smile, albeit a faltering one, and turns to see the person that God decided to test her with today.
Her face drops. She should have known.
Standing in front of her, leaning over the counter and aggressively tapping his foot is Mike fucking Wheeler.
Alexis had the displeasure of knowing Mike Wheeler for a whole semester, when they shared a creative writing class. It was back when she was undecided and was taking any random classes she could get her hands on, and let’s just say that the whole writer thing did not work out for her (she’s a cosmetology student now, and she loves it way more than writing out dumbass prompts and having to read Mike’s Dungeons and Dragons stories).
While her rivalry with Mike didn’t stem from one specific issue, she still couldn’t stand his attitude and general bitchiness towards everything. If he was a cartoon character, a stormy cloud would hang over his head and he would manage to make it everyone else’s problem.
(She briefly considers that maybe she’s been too harsh on him, 9 a.m. classes really do change you as a person. Half the time she didn’t even recognize herself at that hour.)
She approaches the register, forcing her smile back onto her face, and grinning at Mike. “How can I help-”
“Where’s Will?” Mike interrupts, his eyes shooting around behind the counter.
She blinks at him, her fake grin still plastered on her face. Maybe she wasn’t harsh enough. She takes in a slow breath, then tries again. “Hi, how can I help you?”
Mike rolls his eyes at her, moving his whole head in the motion. Holy fuck, she might actually kill him. “Is Will here?”
Alexis presses her lips together and closes her eyes, trying to maintain her composure. “Who’s asking?”
“Uh, Mike? Mike Wheeler? Do you not remember me?”
I wish I didn’t! she thinks. “I mean, how do you know Will?”
He squints at her. “Uh, that’s none of your…” he seems to change his tactic. “We’re friends. Best friends.”
Alexis narrows her eyes. “Right. Is he expecting you?”
“Well, no, but…” Mike shakes his head. “Can you just get him?” He’s tapping his finger against the counter in an extremely annoying tic, his whole body moving like he’s got ants crawling under his skin.
Alexis looks him over.
Now, she’s known Will for less time than she’s known Mike, but she knows him a lot better, and she knows that he has some weird exes. Right now, her intuition is raising a lot of red flags about the guy in front of her.
“We don’t have a Will that works here,” she says sweetly.
Mike’s mouth falls open and he scoffs. “See, I know that’s bullshit. Just get him for me. He knows me, I swear to god.”
“Even if we did have a Will that worked here, I wouldn’t tell you where he is. Company policy. We protect our employees.” She gives him a shrug. “Sorry.”
“Can I speak to the manager?”
Alexis rolls her eyes. “Are you seriously pulling that card?”
“Uh, yes! You’re being rude.”
“Oh, I’m being rude?” She stares at him. “I’m so sorry about that,” she says, her voice dripping with sarcasm and disdain.
Mike makes a face at her. “Can you just get your manager?”
Alexis pauses. While today is their actual manager’s day off, Alexis is basically the assistant manager. She’s been here the longest, and she works the hardest out of anybody else here. She has all the keys, and is trusted to count the register.
“I am the manager,” she fires back with a smile, it does feel as good as people say.
“The fuck you are!” Mike throws his hands in the air. “Do you have a manager’s ID?”
Alexis hesitates. “I don’t have it on me.”
“Oh I’m sure.” He glares at her.
Alexis glares back. “Okay, fine,” she concedes.
Mike leans back, an awful smirk on his face.
She decides to double back. “I’m not the manager, but I’m the assistant manager. Our manager is off today.”
Mike groans. “Of course she is.”
“I’m not lying!” She kinda is, but he doesn’t need to know that.
“No, it’s fine.” Mike sighs.
Alexis raises an eyebrow.
Mike twists his mouth to the side and puts his hands on his hips, contemplating. “Can you please just tell him I’m here? If he doesn’t want to talk to me, I’ll leave, I swear.”
Alexis stares at him, then scoffs and turns to go find Will in the back.
She finds him crouched in the walk-in fridge, stacking sandwiches. “Hey, there’s some guy here for you. He’s super antsy, and seems kinda weird, maybe an ex of yours?”
Will cocks his head glancing to the side to think. “Uh, okay.”
“Ring any bells?”
Will shakes his head.
“I can tell him to leave, if you want. But I figured I’d see if you wanted to take care of it yourself.”
“No, yeah, I got it.” Will puts the rest of the sandwiches on the shelf and stands up. She follows him out to the front. “Is he…” Will shrugs with a half-laugh. “What does he look like?”
“Uh, kinda lanky. Black curly hair.”
Will glances back at her, his brow furrowing. “That almost sounds like…” he trails off once he pushes open the door to the front, and Alexis almost runs into him.
“Shit,” she says, and pushes past Will to try and get between him and Mike, but she stops when she sees Mike’s face.
Every feature of his has softened, his shoulders seem to have relaxed a whole foot, and his hands come together while he fidgets with his fingers. His scowl is gone, she didn’t think that was possible, and the insides of his eyebrows are turned up.
“Hey, Will,” he says in the softest, kindest tone Alexis has ever heard from someone not speaking to a baby or an animal.
She glances at Will, bewilderment overtaking her, and Will breaks into a huge smile, and he runs over to Mike. He goes to push past the swinging half-door that separates them and the customers, and it gets stuck for a moment. For a second, Alexis thinks Will is either going to break it or scale it, but it eventually swings open and Will crashes Mike into a hug.
“What are you doing here?” Will asks, pulling out of the hug, his hand against Mike’s head. He wraps a finger around one of Mike’s curls.
“I came to see you.”
“I didn’t know you were coming.”
“I wanted it to be a surprise.” Mike smiles softly, something that Alexis has never seen before. What the hell is happening? She glances around to see if anybody else is seeing this, or if there’s a hidden camera somewhere recording her reaction because this has to be a prank.
“What the fuck,” Alexis whispers to herself.
Will glances around the shop, and, finding it empty, presses a kiss to Mike’s mouth.
Alexis’ jaw drops, and she stares at them as they kiss (not in a weird way). Mike’s arms wrap around Will’s waist, and they pull each other closer as the kiss deepens into something Alexis feels is way too intimate for her to be seeing.
She turns away, blinking. Did she miss something? What is happening?
She politely stares at the ground for a few minutes, then hears Will clear his throat.
“Uh…sorry.” She glances up and sees Will’s sheepish and very red face looking at her. Mike’s arm is draped over his shoulders possessively, but Will doesn’t seem to mind at all. If anything, he’s leaning into it. “Mike, this is Alexis.” Will gestures from Mike to Alexis, then Alexis to Mike. “Alexis, this is Mike. My boyfriend.”
“I gathered.” Alexis tries desperately to hold back a laugh. “That’s, like, cool with me, by the way,” She says to Mike with an enthusiastic nod. “Love is love, and all that.”
Will laughs, and Mike stays glaring at her. “Um, I’m gonna take my break now, if that’s okay.” He glances around at the empty shop. “It doesn’t seem to be super busy right now.”
“Hey, knock yourself out,” she replies, but they’re already halfway out the back door. “Wow,” she says to herself once they’re gone. “Who would’ve thought?”
About 10 minutes later, she realizes she never saw Will clock out, and she jogs out through the back door to find him.
“Hey Will…” She sees Mike pressing him against the brick wall, his hand wrapped around Will’s thigh and lifting his leg up next to Mike’s waist. Will’s hands are in Mike’s hair, and their tongues are very clearly halfway down each other’s throats. Alexis turns away, putting her hands on her hips and nodding at the floor.
“Sorry,” she hears Will say. She glances up, and Will’s hands are by his side, his face bright red. Mike hasn’t moved, and his hand is still on Will’s thigh while he stares at Alexis. “Did you, uh…” Will clears his throat, and his eyes briefly flit over to Mike. “Did you need something?”
“You just, uh…” she glances at Mike, who squints at her. She shakes her head and turns to Will. “You forgot to clock out.”
“Oh, shit. Um…” Will looks at Alexis, then turns to look at Mike, and they make striking eye contact. They seem to have a whole mental conversation in the two seconds between Will’s responses. He turns back to Alexis. “I can clock out while working for 30 minutes once I’m…done.” Will somehow blushes even redder than he already is.
“Okay, yeah.” Alexis swallows. “Yeah, that works.” She turns to the door. “So should I just come and get you once your break is over?”
“Yeah, but uh…” Will sheepishly laughs. “Maybe knock? Or just make your presence really known, I guess.”
Holy shit, okay. “Yeah, yeah. For sure.” Alexis nods, taking in a breath. “Yep, I will definitely do that.” She awkwardly laughs as she opens the door back inside. “Have fun."
20 minutes pass, and more customers start to fill up the shop. She lets Will have an extra 5 minutes, he clearly hasn’t seen his boyfriend in a while, but eventually she decides that she needs him to help with orders.
She pounds her fist against the back door, as loudly as she can. She then turns the doorknob over and over, and slowly swings the door open. “It’s Alexis! I’m here to tell you your break is over,” she calls out, a hand over her eyes.
“Yeah, we heard you,” Mike says, and she looks down to see him and Will sitting next to each other, holding hands while Will’s head rests on Mike’s shoulder. She notices Mike’s thumb gently rubbing circles onto Will’s hand. It’s a sweet motion, one that doesn’t match his snark from just a second ago.
“Is it time for me to come back inside?”
“Yeah, unfortunately.”
Will nods and gets up, pressing a kiss to Mike’s cheek. “Love you. See you at home.”
Alexis looks between them, her brow furrowing. “You guys live together?”
Mike and Will glance at each other, then at her again. “Well, yeah,” Will says.
“You’re not long-distance or anything?”
“Oh my god, can you imagine?” Mike snorts. “I’d go insane.”
Will shrugs. “Of the 15 years that we’ve known each other, we’ve only lived more than ten minutes apart once.”
“And it was the longest five months of my life,” Mike adds.
Alexis stares at them. “What? So you saw each other this morning? And you’ll see each other tonight?”
“Yeah, why?”
She blinks at them, then sighs and shakes her head. “Nevermind,” she replies with a laugh. Mike and Will glance at each other once more, both shrugging, and Will follows her back into the shop.