The Beef needed help, and Michael hired help. That was okay, that was good. You were amazing at the job, which was also good. He was also crushing on you big time— not good.

The Beef wasn’t a formal place, well, no shit, but Michael was still very aware that it wasn’t the best look for him to very quickly become infatuated with you. In his mind, it would be temporary, a few more months, and maybe it’d stop.

Though he wasn’t too secretive. He’d been caught staring at you (rather shamelessly) multiple times by Richie, then another handful of times by Tina, then a few more times by basically everyone, so much so that it was basically everyday that he got smacked in the back of his head by someone so he’d stop staring.

The day had dragged on, and when closing time came, Michael realized that he had let everyone go home without considering that they still needed to clean up.

Well, almost everyone.

So that’s how you two ended up, long after you were done cleaning up, with a beer cracked open each, sitting down at one of the tables, laughing. He leaned to rest his elbows on his knees, grinning at you.

“Well, you see us, you see how we work— But I promise, next time, Richie’s scrubbing the floors clean while we watch.”