Chapter Text
The bell ringed, and Midoriya looked up as he poured a fresh blend of coffee beans into the coffee maker.
"Shouta! Hizashi!" Midoriya grinned, pointing at a quiet corner of the cafe as he let the coffee machine heat up the next batch of coffee beans, "The usual?"
Aizawa just gave a nod in return, as Yamada waved at the young owner of the cafe. "Yup! Thanks a lot, listener!"
No one suspected that Yamada was actually Present Mic. In his casual outfit, his long blonde hair tied into a bun and without his signature orange tinted glasses and directional speaker, most occupants thought that the blonde cafe regular was just a huge fan of Present Mic and adopted the Voice Hero's style of speaking. In fact, most heroes in casual wear weren't widely recognised, so no one bothered them when they sat down to enjoy their beverages.
It didn't take too long for Midoriya to serve up their orders, given that for the past year or so, Aizawa and Yamada came at a very set time, and Midoriya had already pre-made their drinks a few seconds before they arrived.
Aizawa had a black coffee with a teaspoon of sugar, while Yamda had an iced frappuccino.
Much to the two hero's surprise, both cups of coffee came with a cat shaped cookie on the side.
Before either of the heroes could say anything, Midoriya shot them a cheeky grin, "New recipe, on the house. Eri loves them."
"You already give us a ton of discounts." Aizawa sighed, "I don't think that's how you're supposed to do business."
Midoriya merely rolled his eyes at him, "Yeah, yeah, Mister Grouchy. Never thought you'd be one to complain about free food."
"It's illogical." Aizawa grumbled, taking a sip of his coffee.
Midoriya merely shrugged, "My shop, I do what I want. Also, is Nemuri stopping over later? She usually joins you on Mondays."
"Yeah, one of the students held her up. She should be here soon." Aizawa replied, hesitantly taking a bite out of the cookie. "Vanilla?"
"Yeah. Hizashi's cookie is mango. You guys like those flavours, don't you?" Midoriya grinned, as a child with white hair and a small horn ran out from behind the counter to climb onto the chair beside Aizawa.
"Eri! How are you doing?" Yamada smiled, reaching out to ruffle Eri's messy hair.
"I'm good, Mister Yamada." Eri gave a small smile, before she took out a small piece of paper. "I... uh... like your radio show... and Zu-nii told me you're... uh... him... may I... have your autograph?"
Midoriya laughed as Yamada clasped his hands in happiness that he had a fan, before rambling on and on as he gave Eri his autograph. The bell chimed, and Midoriya headed back to the counter to cater to the next customer, who happened to be Bakugou Masaru.
"She texted, she's arriving soon. Where's Kota, by the way? He's usually down here with Eri." Aizawa asked, as he pulled out a stack of paperwork to go through. There was plently of space between the tables, so there was no reason for anyone to go near anyone elses table, and even if someone did so, Aizawa was usually sharp enough to hide his worksheets. He was the only one with that problem, since other subjects like Literature and English were pretty normal subjects, and unlike other hero schools, UA did not have a habit of sticking their logo on their worksheets.
Midoriya quickly served Masaru his mocha, and the brown haired man thanked him.
"The Pussycats took him for an outing." Midoriya shrugged, as he went past the teacher's table again with a green tea mocha, along with a chocolate cat cookie, placing it on their table, "They promised to bring him back before five."
Almost right on cue, the door swung open, revealing Kayama in an oversized turtleneck and knee-length shorts.
"Yo! Izu!" Kayama grinned, waving, as she plopped down beside Yamada, "Oh, you already made my drink? How sweet! And.. Oh my gosh, this treat is adorable!"
Eri just sat up straighter and smiled, "I helped decorate it!"
Aizawa just sighed as he watched the horned girl smile as Kayama took a bite out of the cookie, complimenting the younger for her artistic talent. Eri was a recent addition to the Midoriya family, having popped up out of nowhere a couple of months ago, the day after the entire organisation called the Eight Precepts of Death were all somehow taken down by an unknown person and arrested.
Kota, on the other hand, knew about Midoriya two years back, when Sosaki tried to connect with him while she was on leave, and visited the cafe that had somehow gotten Aizawa's stamp of approval. Aizawa was super picky with his coffee, and to find one shop that even he was content with was a surprise in itself.
It was another surprise to find a twelve year old in charge of the cafe. And another surprise to find that the ridiculously young owner was quirkless. Kota hated the usage of quirks, and he somehow found good company in the quirkless youth. Sosaki did leave Midoriya to babysit Kota sometimes, seeing their busy rescue schedule and the fact that Kota had opened up to Midoriya a lot more in a span of a few weeks than they had in a year.
Not to mention that after Kota had opened up to Midoriya about his parents death at the hands of Muscular, the very same villain was arrested after he was found a week later, electrocuted and hanging from a roof in an abandoned warehouse. And after a particularly bad villain ambush that resulted in all the Pussycats being hospitalized, Kota became a permanent resident at Midoriya's cafe.
No one knew how Midoriya managed to set up a cafe on his own, but Midoriya did mention once or twice that someone had supported him, so no one questioned him any further.
Midoriya's cafe was a hotspot for both heroes and villains alike, though Midoriya did have his fair share of civillians who liked to pop in for coffee and pastries. There was a strict "no violence" rule that Midoriya enforced, but he had no problems with brawls taking place right at his doorstep. Given that Midoriya had called UA several times to take care of villains before, given the cafe's close proximity to the school, the teachers had given Midoriya their private phone numbers and schedules to ring them up whenever he needed their assistance.
Plus, Midoriya had the knack for calling the hero who was best suited for the criminal in question, whether it be quirk-wise, skill-wise or just experience in that particular type of takedown.
"So, quick question, Shouta. Why are you still in school when you literally expelled your entire class?" Midoriya asked, "You came pretty much every day despite not having to teach anyone this year. Pretty sure you'd like nothing more than to lounge at home and sleep."
"Paperwork, and this annoying blond cockatoo won't let me. He'd burst my eardrums if I tried." Aizawa grumbled, as Kayama laughed and smacked him in the back.
"Oh, yeah, Izuku, you think we can pre-order a huge batch of coffee and snacks for tomorrow?" Kayama asked.
"Yeah, entrance exams, right?" Midoriya nodded, "Got it. Send me a compiled list later and I'll get it all ready for you when you pop in here in the mornings."
"Gotcha. We'll come in at around nine for the pickup. Sounds good?"
"Yep!" Midoriya grinned. Despite not having to write down the order, none of the heroes doubted Midoriya's mental capacity. The kid was smart, and Aizawa did get curious once and ask about Midoriya's studies. Apparently, the child had completed a middle school online course when he was ten, and finished high school courses when he was twelve, so really, the kid wasn't as naive and dumb as his age and appearance might say.
Plus, Midoriya had top notch analysis skills for a casual analyst, so Aizawa and the other teachers did ask him for help on certain villains just to get his opinion on things. Midoriya knew how to keep a secret, and that's an understatement considering just how many secrets from various heroes that frequented his cafe held.
The heroes that worked at UA weren't the only regulars of Midoriya's cafe either. The Pussycats stopped by every now and then, while Masaru visited almost every other day. Tsukauchi and a man called Yagi visited twice a month to talk about stuff, while Hawks liked to pop in every once in a while for quick takeaways.
"So, you ready for the imminent lessons in about two months, Shouta?" Midoriya grinned cheekily, as Eri hopped off her chair to greet Bakugou, who was at the door.
"No." Was the gruff reply from the Erasure hero.
"Kacchan!" Eri grinned, as Bakugou smirked at the horned girl and bent down to ruffle her hair. "Sup Eri, Deku."
"Sandwich, right, Kacchan?" Midoriya waved, as he excused himself from the teachers table to go make Bakugou's order. Bakugou just nodded and lifted Eri up to sit next to him by the counter, nodding at his father in acknowledgement. The older waved, before he turned back to his tablet.
Bakugou often stopped by for food, and Midoriya did get his help on a regular basis to help babysit Kota and Eri whenever he needed to go out for something, so Bakugou ended up getting free food in exhange for taking care of the two kids.
Bakugou had always made fun of Midoriya for being quirkless when they were younger, though Midoriya knew the blonde didn't really mean it and was just trying to fit in, given that the swearing and attitude he picked up from Mitsuki, and his explosive, destructive quirk had made him appear villainous to the other kids and caretakers.
Then, Midoriya had disappeared for a long while, and the next time he had seen Midoriya, the green haired boy was suddenly a lot more confident and sure of himself, and had awesome analysis skills to boot, and they had made up. Midoriya didn't want to talk about Inko, though, so Bakugou did stop prying.
Midoriya was still trying to fix Bakugou's attitude, but he still didn't manage to stop him from swearing like his life depends on it. At least, Midoriya did get him to stop swearing around Kota and Eri after the quirkless boy flipped his shit the first time it happened.
"So, you ready for the entrance exams tomorrow?" Midoriya smiled, and Bakugou grinned, "Yep! I'll ace the written paper and blast through the practical."
"Yeah yeah, just don't get so excited thar you accidentally blow your pen up." Midoriya smirked, passing Bakugou his sandwich.
"That was an accident and I was sick that day." Bakugou snorted, just as the door opened again.
"Bakugou? You're still hanging out with that worthless Deku?" Tsubasa spat. "He's quirkless and useless! So uncool!"
Bakugou's palms sparked with mini explosions, and the other patrons looked up from their meals to stare at the trouble makers.
Kayama was about to get up to speak up for Midoriya when Aizawa pulled her back, seeing the signature cheeky smile forming on Midoriya's face.
"What, you jealous that little old quirkless me is capable of running a business and providing for myself while you're still stuck with multiplication?" Midoriya smirked, tilting his head upwards slightly as he gazed at Tsubasa and his little group of friends.
"This is a cafe. You don't like me, fine. I can deal with that. But if you don't stop bothering other people, you're not going to like what I will do next."
Midoriya didn't look particularly threatening, but the heroes knew exactly what Midoriya was capable of. This was quirk discrimination, and Midoriya could ruin their lives forever by putting this on their records. Even if Midoriya was way too nice and forgiving to do so, the notion that he could potentially do it would scare anyone.
"Tch. Fine. You're not worth it." Tsubasa scowled, as he made his way out of the cafe with the rest of his friends.
"Why didn't you just let me blast em?" Bakugou grumbled, as he finished up his sandwich grouchily.
"As much as I would like you to blast them, I like you better out of jail with a clean record." Midoriya laughed, pushing a plate of cookies at Bakugou, "Sugar free. I know how much you value your silly diet. You do need a bit more calcium though, your arms need to be stronger to handle your powerful explosions so I added some milk in the recipe."
Bakugou just laughed, and swiftly grabbed a cookie, munching on it. "Pity you're not applying though. You could get into General Education. Then again you have two brats to take care of and a cafe to run."
"I'm not a brat." Eri huffed, and Bakugou just tousled her hair in response. "Yeah, you're a unicorn. How's your online courses going?"
"Good!" She chirped, "Full marks!"
"Oh, yeah." Bakugou fished out a red hat with two gleaming horns, "Didn't Kota want a hat like this to match Eri? He used to run around with two paper cones stuck on his cap. Found it in a shop on the way home, figured he'd want it."
"Yeah. He'd love that. Thanks, Kacchan." Midoriya grinned, taking the hat from Bakugou and placing it on the counter, "I'll pass it to him when he comes back."
"Whatever, it's not like I care." Bakugou snorted.
"You care. A lot. You're just too stubborn to show it."
Midoriya was promptly smacked lightly on the head by Bakugou, who just glowered at him childishly.
"No! Don't hit Zu-nii!" Eri whined, tugging at Bakugou's arm weakly, "Bad Kacchan."