Chapter Text
Chapter 3: “Karens, Secrets, and an Oblivious Boy. What else is new?”
The alarm blared, loud. It was 6:00 a.m. Kiri had a shift. He wanted to sleep in but if he did, he’d be late. He couldn’t be late, not today. It was only his second day, and he was the one opening the shop. “Yesterday was easy, sorta,” he thought to himself. He knew it wouldn’t always be that easy. He wondered how long that would last. Would he be met with trouble today? Would he have mean customers? What about loud kids? What would it be like?
“Only one way to find out.”
He left the house after making coffee for Bakugo, of course. Bakugo was asleep on the couch. “He looks so peaceful, so adorable -wait-” Kiri just now noticed he thought of his as friend as adorable. “I mean he IS adorable…” When had he started thinking that? Was it normal to think that about his best friend? Surely his other friends would agree Bakugo was adorable, he decided. “Or at least good looking, right?”
“Whatever.” He decided to think about that later, after work. For now, the only thing he was going to think about is working hard!
*
Kirishima arrived at work and started his second workday by unlocking the back door and walking his bike into the storage room, putting on his green apron and sweeping the floor. He decided that this was what he would do first thing every shift. He had read an article on some random website that said it was good to set routines in new environments. He didn’t know if that was true or not, but there was no harm in trying.
He was still very tired but less exhausted than he was two days ago. Something about being at his best bro’s house had made him sleep better. He always slept better at “Bakusquad” sleepovers, when their friends took turns sleeping in one another’s dorms. He slept the best when they stayed at his own dorm, or really any sleepover with Bakugo there.
“On second thought, maybe it isn’t the location.”
When he finished sweeping, he set the sign to “OPEN” and waited behind the counter for his first customer of the day. Seconds after he reached the register, a woman came in. She was a tall brunette, pale, and she looked very tired. When Kiri looked closer, he saw a small child shyly hiding behind her leg. He was very small; no older than four years old, and he wore one of those hats with a propeller that Kiri thought only existed in old cartoons. The woman ordered a latte with lots of cream and sugar, and a cake pop for her son. She was nice; her name was Mei. He put together her order and gave it to her with a smile. She smiled back, wearily. She tipped him a reasonable amount and left.
His next customer, however, was not as nice.
The bell on the door rang and Kiri looked up to see a woman in her thirties with a blonde mullet with pinstripes. She was wearing yoga pants and a beige sweater. “Hi, welcome to-”
She cut him off. “Yeah, yeah, yeah! I don’t care! Just give me a cappuccino - and fast! None of that teenage slacking!”
She was obviously annoyed, and her tone made Kiri annoyed, too. He hurried to make the drink (he was sure she’d start yelling at him if he didn’t) because he didn’t need a complaint on his second day. “HURRY UP! I HAVE AN ACTUAL JOB TO GET, TOO!!”
Kiri decided to ignore the clear insult about his job because he wanted to keep it. As he handed her her coffee he said, “Have a nice day!”
She scoffed and rolled her eyes. As she stormed out she grumbled, “Kids these days, so lazy."
Kiri knew he did everything right. Some people just find a way to make people look bad.
*
It was time to close up and head home, so Kiri swept up one last time, switched the sign to CLOSED and headed to Bakugo’s place.
“I’m backkkk,” he shouted.
“In the living room!” Bakugo shouted back. Kiri joined him. “How was work?” Bakugo asked.
“Good. Wait…HOW-” Kiri started, surprised.
“Oh, come on, ‘tutoring’?” Bakugo cut him off. “With Amajiki? He can barely handle people he’s known his whole school life, let alone a hyper extrovert like you,” his friend teased. “And you suck at lying, like you’re really bad at it.”
“I wouldn’t say I’m THAT bad at it,” Kiri responded quietly.
“Well, I would.” Bakugo said in a snarky tone. “So, how was it then?”
“It was okay, but this one lady was really rude, but some people are just like that I guess.”
Katsuki was visibly irritated by this information. After all, if there’s one thing he hated more than people who are rude for no reason, it was people who were rude for no reason to minimum wage retail workers. Despite not saying this out loud, Kirishima had picked up on his friend’s frustration. “It’s fine, I expect people like that. Honestly, I’m surprised I didn’t get a rude customer sooner,” he shrugged, but was obviously somewhat hurt by it.
*
After hanging out for a while, Kiri decided it was time to head back to the dorms. After all, it was getting dark, and he hated biking at night. So, he said goodbye to his friend and soon found himself back in his bed, if it could be classified as a bed. You’d think that a school with lots of funding could afford something that doesn’t feel like a rock.
Eventually, he fell asleep.
End of chapter 3~~~