#minor:pamela

[dickspeightjrs]

What’s In A Name? (coffee shop au / 10.1k words / barista!cas / mentions of alcoholism)

Castiel had always enjoyed the smell of coffee. 

His parents were both lawyers with long work hours, which meant they always had a pot of coffee brewing in the kitchen to keep them going. The smell was the blanket of Castiel’s childhood. 

That was one thing that led Castiel to open his own coffee shop in downtown Chicago. His parents had actually disowned him when he’d quit law school and decided he wanted to try something different but it was still the memories of rich coffee that made Castiel open ‘Angel Delights’.

Nearly a year on from first opening his doors, Castiel couldn’t be happier with how things were going. 

At first, he couldn’t afford extra workers so he went for many weeks without a day off or even a lie in. But welcoming customers from all walks of life into his shop, and seeing them leave satisfied was worth the tiredness. 

He’d since been able to hire a few members of staff to help him out. But he still found himself spending as much time as he could at the shop. It was his favourite place to be and he was proud of what he’d achieved. 

And spending so much time in the shop meant that he could get to know his regulars. 

There was the guy who came in always looking a little worse for wear. He’d ask for their most basic coffee and pay for it with scrunched up dollar bills. Castiel always made sure to give him a snack on the house, waving off any protests from the man until he relented and gave Castiel a grateful smile. 

Then there was the gaggle of young mothers who met every Thursday morning to swap stories of what their little ones had managed to get up to that week. They even wrenched Castiel in to look at pictures of their children as they grew. Castiel couldn’t complain. He loved children and was sure to have special cookies tucked away for when he had the pleasure of having well-behaved, smiley kids in the shop. 

But none of them compared to Batman. 

Of course, Castiel knew that Batman wasn’t the man’s real name. But it was all he’d had to go on so far. 

Batman first appeared in Angel Delights one Wednesday afternoon. The lunch rush had just ended and Castiel was manning the counter while Charlie went on her break. 

Castiel was wiping down the surfaces and rearranging the mugs when the bell above the door jingled. He turned to stand at the counter, giving the new customer his best customer service smile. 

But his smile faltered slightly when he took in the man before him. 

Simply put, he was beautiful. 

Well, Castiel couldn’t actually see his whole face but what he could see was wonderful. Short, perfectly styled hair, which complimented sun-kissed skin. A dark leather jacket that hugged his torso in all the right places. And a whispering of stubble across his cutting jawline. If only he wasn’t wearing those sunglasses. Castiel would have loved to have seen the eyes that surely would be as beautiful as their owner. 

But, despite catching Castiel’s attention with his good looks (and a few of the other customers, it had to be said), Castiel couldn’t help but notice that the man didn’t carry himself with the confidence that his appearance suggested he should have.

CONTINUE READING ON AO3

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