I know this seems a little late to the party but I started writing this when the first coffee shop AU's were in the process of being written so HA I still sort of win. Nah, I still wanted to post this and since Painful Irony is getting a little lacking (guys what plot can I introduce its impossible), I wanted to give you some Ectofeels with this little side project. :) Have fun reading!

Warnings: Homosexuality, Alive!Billy, Older!Spencer, overused settings, I know nothing about coffee, and other things Idk yet.

Pairings: Ectofeature (Billy/Spencer), previous mentions of Shanilla/Spencer, and possible Lolo/Rajeev?

**EDIT** Lot's of thanks to my beta Vanilliaify for doing the edits I can never find. She's awesome guys, everyone should give her a pat on the back.

Spencer didn't know how his mother roped him into doing it but she had somehow convinced him to get a job. She didn't think his personal agenda of just making low-budget films and hoping for someone to get him to direct their movie was going to cut it for the mean time and Spencer had to stop mooching off his parents for money.

She'd told him he needed to get a job to pay for the special effects and materials himself and that he also needed to start supporting himself in case his director's dream didn't work out. Spencer scoffed when she said that last part but knew she was being realistic.

Lying around in your parent's attic wasn't exactly being productive. He contemplated selling his own scripts but that didn't get him anywhere. He was sitting at their kitchen table staring at the newspaper in search of jobs. Honestly, who used the newspaper anymore anyway?

Spencer surely wouldn't have done so if not for his father setting it down on his head that morning with a sticky note saying that the newspaper was the best place to start.

He would have hoped the WiFri was hiring but they hadn't been hiring since he was in high school.

His mother eventually wandered in, deciding to make breakfast for the family, or really just Spencer and his parents because Jessica was away at Karate camp for a good portion of the summer.

"Any luck?" She asked, reaching into the fridge and looking for some eggs. Spencer shook his head. She frowned, knowing her son had many talents and there had to be a job that interested him somewhere and if not, she'd find one that wouldn't annoy him too much.

Without thinking, she turned to her son. "Spencer, sweetheart, could you make me my coffee? You know it tastes better when you do it." She smiled kindly as she began getting out the bacon and other necessary ingredients for breakfast.

Spencer nodded his head with a noise of commitment and casually stepped towards their coffee machine. His mother was a coffee junkie, considering she spends most of her early hours styling people's hair down in town. She was one of the better stylists so she made a good amount of money but it wasn't as much as she'd like. She wanted to send Spencer to college between the money she and Hugh could put aside, but having two children made it difficult and Spencer openly agreed to letting his sister get the college fund money instead.

Spencer had said he'd make money off of his films to go pay it by himself, or he'd head straight into the film industry if he could. They knew he wanted to go to an expensive film school which was probably why it'd be better if he got a real job and began saving up all he could. But, of course, Spencer didn't want to take time from his creative genius.

Jane, while mulling over her thoughts of where her son could get a job for a decent pay and okay work hours also thought of how great a barista her son really was. Her son could make millions just by the recipes he came up with for his lattes.

The moment Spencer had successfully mixed her cup of coffee and placed it beside her, Jane began to think. As she lifted the mug to her lips and smelled the wonderful caramel scent that was Spencer's coffee, the light bulb went off.

"Spencer!" She instantly yelped, almost scaring the living daylights out of her son. Spencer didn't think she could yell at him for his coffee making skills. Was it really that bad?

He watched her as she turned on him, a giant smile on her face. Okay, she wasn't mad. But she sure was scaring him. "What about the coffee shop? You could become a barista there! I heard they were hiring!" She grinned, beaming.

Spencer blinked, tilting his head to the side as he thought about her offer. The coffee shop? The one that was always hiring for new baristas because the A-listers that came through there kept having them fired for bad coffee? Oh no. Spencer wouldn't get his one cooking talent squashed under the feet of celebrities with their extremely sensitive taste buds.

"Mom, that's not the best idea…" He started, already trying to guard his low self-esteem. He wasn't a moping mess but he did take it in the gut whenever someone insulted him or his abilities. It was probably why he never felt so good about his films.

Jane shook her head. "No, no Spencer they'll love your coffee! Trust me!" She insisted, knowing her son's self-confidence wasn't exactly the highest out there. It was the reason why he needed to spend more time with friends and out in public rather than shooting his films in the backyard.

Spencer stared at her long and hard for a few moments before shaking his head and giving in. "Fine, when can I go book an interview?" He asked, looking around the room dejectedly. He was so not going to get hired by such a high profile place.

"Right now!" Jane stated, grabbing her son by the wrist and leading him out the kitchen with the thought of breakfast completely abandoned.

-o-

It turned out the coffee shop employees had to restrain themselves from attacking Spencer for all his coffee making secrets. Spencer was more disturbed than anything. The boss wanted him working within the next few days so he had been doing his orientation for a few hours after they hired him directly during the interview.

The entire time his mother was giving him reassuring thumbs up. She left after about forty-five minutes of his orientation and left to go back to work but that didn't make Spencer feel any better about the new job.

Spencer had been informed of when his usual work hours would be since he was a new employee, aka, the early morning almost every day of the week. Luckily, the place wasn't going to be as boring as he thought it would. Local musicians played mostly on week nights and there was almost always a theme to each week at the end of the month that went with their new limited time specials that only lasted for said month. Spencer was just looking forward to October because of the Halloween week.

The place was called the Mocha Loca and at least once a month they had a Mexican mariachi band come in and play music live. The place was known for its signature Caliente coffee, aka, the hottest coffee around in both temperature and spicy flavor. They had an entire side of the menu dedicated to their Caliente, Mas Caliente, and Muy Caliente coffee flavors. Spencer found that a little odd and endearing but didn't judge it.

His normal uniform consisted of any pair of jeans, without holes, a polo shirt with the Mocha Loca logo of maracas and a coffee cup on the back in the golden-yellow color that reminded Spencer a lot of tacos. But he guessed that was the appeal to the Mexican theme. The color on the polo was red and so were the sleeves, creating a bright and annoying look.

Spencer already knew his eyes would burn out from the overall jovial nature of the place by the end of the week.

After being given his apron, shirt, badge, and work schedule, Spencer was finally allowed to leave. Those employees were just too enthusiastic to have such an 'esteemed' barista now working with them. Maybe they all really just wanted to dump the work on him.

He tried not to let that thought get to him as he stepped around the front counter and went to go back home. At the same time as he went to go reach for the door, a guy with jet black hair opened it for him from the outside, giving him the slyest of smiles and held it open.

"…uh, thanks." Spencer said, looking at the guy with a confused expression. The male nodded his head. "Anything for a cute bro like you." He said, watching Spencer as he stepped past him. Spencer stared back at him as he went to walk away, and when he finally decided to just turn his head and go home, he swore he saw the man wink at him.

-o-

Spencer had retreated home quicker than he ever had before for any reason, just because he was slightly disturbed by the fact that man had been staring at him so much. He did not look forward to having to work if that guy went to the Mocha Loca.

He still had a few hours before his parents would get home so he messed around with a few of his zombie make ups and contemplated new plots for his films but all the while he couldn't get the thought of that man out of his mind. For some reason, the guy was familiar but he couldn't put his finger on it when it came to exactly where from, like the guy was a ghost of a celebrity or something.

It was kind of disturbing really. He'd have to text Shanilla about it later since the girl was so knowledgeable.

Eventually Spencer's mother came home, a grin on her face as she came upstairs to see her son playing around with his movie making things and his work uniform set in the corner near the door. "So, they really like your coffee, huh Spencer?" She said enthusiastically and the boy glanced up towards his mother skeptically. She was really happy and it was getting to be scary.

"Uh, yeah?" He responded, pushing away from his desk on his rolling chair. Jane only continued her creepy smile. "Did anything else happen today?" She asked, maybe hoping for something more but Spencer could never really be sure.

He gave her another incredulous look. "Uh, sort of?" He replied blatantly.

"Sort of? What kind of sort of?" She asked, inching closer with each second. Yup, his mother had to be possessed by some excited demon of sorts. Maybe that'd make a good movie.

Spencer scooted back slightly in his chair, staring at her with wide eyes. "A guy held a door open for me?" He said, hoping it didn't get any more questions but he should have guessed his mother would launch into a long conversation because of such a thing.

"Really? Was he cute? He wasn't a creep was he? No, creeps don't hang around the Mocha Loca. But was he handsome?" She interrogated, absolutely beaming.

During high school, Spencer had quickly found out he was not straight and his parents had handled it quite well. Especially Jane, she was the most supportive of the bunch and either way, they always had Jessica for the grandkids they always wanted and who said adoption was bad? The two parents wanted their kids to be happy.

So, needless to say, she'd been the one to sit down with Spencer after he'd gone on his first date with Shanilla only to find out he really didn't like girls. She'd helped him come to the conclusion and had been very understanding. But there had to be something Jane loved about homosexuals because she was way too excited whenever she heard anything about Spencer having anything remotely close to an interaction with another male.

It had always been one of the reasons Spencer didn't try and date in high school. Sure, the ridicule and everything was also bad but if he had someone to suffer through that with then he wouldn't care. It was his mother's obsession with his intimate life.

"Mom, calm down. He just held the door for me." Spencer responded, a frown on his face. Jane only continued to dispute him, rambling off questions about her son's kind company at the coffee shop. She was only stopped when Hugh entered the room looking for Jane.

When she saw the look on his wife's face he understood the situation and knew his son's privacy needed to be preserved. "Jane, honey! How was your day? You called and told me Spencer got a job?" He said, raising his voice slightly to get her attention.

Spencer let loose a sigh of relief at his father's actions and mouthed a curt 'thank you' towards him. "Yes! He did! Spencer got a job at the Mocha Loca! He's starting there tomorrow!" She grinned, clasping her hands together excitedly as she turned towards her husband.

Hugh shot her an interested look before smiling at Spencer. "So your barista skills finally paid off right?" The man said happily and Spencer shrugged. It wasn't one of Spencer's best talents. He had other things he was good at, like directing.

"I'm glad for you, son." Hugh stated before looking towards Jane. "No how about some dinner? I'm starving!" The male said with the same enthusiasm Jane had been utilizing before and soon they were arguing about what food to get and Spencer was only shaking his head with a smile.

-o-

They settled for some Chinese takeout, and when it arrived, Spencer took his plate upstairs to his room with the notion of Skyping his friends. He'd have to tell Shanilla and Rajeev about the day's events.

As he was slurping down noodles from his plate he watched as the video he'd set up with Shanilla popped to life. It'd be easier to talk face to face and his webcam was his love. "Hey, Nilla." He smiled through his food and the girl shot him an odd look before nodding. "Hello Spencer. So you wanted to talk?" She smiled, obviously still warm to Spencer.

While they had never achieved any romantic endeavors aside from the one date gone wrong, Shanilla still adored Spencer and often treated him like a brother. "Yeah, I got a job." Spencer said, dishing out more fried rice from the take out box sitting on his desk.

Shanilla beamed just as his mother had. "Really? Is it a directing job?" She asked, hopeful for her friend's dreams.

Spencer shook his head. "I'm a new barista at the Mocha Loca. You know, that A-lister coffee shop that always has those weird theme weeks at the end of the month?" He said, swiveling his chair to face his webcam again.

"That's surprising. Your mom roped you into it right?" Shanilla asked with a knowing smile and Spencer nodded his head. "Well, you'll get to meet some pretty famous people there. I don't know what it is about that place that attracts actors and pop stars but they love it." She continued, seeing as Spencer was gobbling down food like a homeless man.

Spencer shrugged his noncommittal shrug as usual. "Maybe it's the fact the dress up the employees in odd outfits during theme week. Or the Mariachi band." He replied, gesturing towards her with a fork. "How are you doing? College beating you up? I know Rajeev's been getting bad grades."

Shanilla laughed. "He's been partying too much. Still pining after Lolo though. I heard she's going to become an actress or a model if she can."

Spencer frowned at that. "He sure does confuse me. But either way, I was asking about you. How's the science?" He interjected, trying to turn the conversation back to being about her. Shanilla rarely ever got to talk about herself and Spencer made it his goal to give her that privilege.

She gave him her same frustrated but complying look and sighed. "It's going good. I've been thinking of a few things to study and my grades are high, but you'd say that's normal. I have to help Rajeev with his homework all the time though and that is still the most annoying task in the world." She admitted in an exasperated tone.

Spencer smirked. "He doesn't take the time to learn anything anyway. I wish you guys could have come back for the summer but I guess taking extra classes is a good thing.""

The girl nodded her head, glancing around her dorm. "I think I might have to go, Spencer. Rajeev said he would be back by now and you know what that implies…" She muttered sadly with a mix of worry. Spencer nodded her head. "That's fine. Go make sure he's not in a ditch for me. I've got to do some shit anyway." He said, waving goodbye to her before disconnecting the webcam just about the same time she reached to do so herself.

Spencer frowned the moment his screen was no longer dominated by his friend's face. He loved talking to Shanilla, and sadly enough he didn't get to talk with her about that guy who held the door for him. Trying to put the thought aside, Spencer piled his food materials onto the one paper plate and dumped it in his trashcan with the mental note to take out the trash.

Then, gracelessly, he dumped himself on his bed and fell asleep above the sheets with his mind trying to figure out who that man had been.

Since I have a lot of projects going on and I'm trying to finish things left and right, this definitely won't update as often as my other stories like the When Monsters series. (though you have to be in the ROTG fandom to know that). It'll be semi-weekly at best? Maybe some speedrounds sometimes where I vomit chapters left and right. Depends on the time and the mood. :) But I'll update pretty often.