Chapter Text
The first time Hitoshi met Midoriya, it was at the sports festival, when Midoriya flipped him over his shoulder, basically ending all chances of him transferring to the Hero course right then and there. Hitoshi still has no idea how the midget managed to have enough luck to trip over a rock and break out of his hold. The asshole. Yes he’s a little salty.
The second time Hitoshi really meets Midoriya, it’s at his part-time job as a barista at Starbucks. Several months had passed and things had changed for the better. Aizawa had taken Hitoshi under his wing and had given him a second chance. Besides the disaster summer camp for 1-A, Aizawa had spent every week training (beating the shit out of) him. The grump had said that as long as he trained hard and showed the proper attitude, he was likely to transfer to 1-A in the near future.
After the Sports Festival Hitoshi honestly would’ve rather not seen or spoken to Midoriya if possible. The greenette had tried to track him down afterwards several times and Hitoshi had always struck up a conversation with a teacher. Whether from pity or a misplaced sense of friendliness, the heroling wanted to be friends with him. But Starbuck’s general management had decided that Hitoshi’s life wasn’t hard enough as is, and had transferred him to the Starbucks in Musutafu.
U.A. had a strict policy against part-time jobs if you were in the Hero course, so Hitoshi had tried to keep it low key to better his chances. He could probably stay relatively anonymous at this location too, but some students were bound to recognize the ‘mind control freak’ from 1-C, regardless he hadn’t been pleased to receive the news.
Needless to say, it’s surprising that Midoriya, a Hero course student, is manning the register at Hitoshi’s new location.
Nakajima, the manager for the area, had told Hitoshi to meet them at the Starbucks to show him the ropes and figure out the schedules. When he steps in, Midoriya doesn’t notice him until he’s at the register and asking for Nakajima. Midoriya’s eyes widen dramatically, clearly surprised to see him there.
“Shinsou?” Midoriya exclaims. “What are you doing here?”
Hitoshi sighed, “I’m transferring to this location, I need to see Nakajima-san about the details.” He says shortly, hopefully conveying that Midoriya is an unwelcome surprise. Unfortunately, Midoriya doesn’t notice or doesn’t care because he says “We’ll be working together?” Obviously dude. A small frown shows on Midoriya’s face, before returning to neutrality. Didn’t want to work with you either.
“Let me show you where they are.” Midoriya leads him to the back room, chattering all the way about this and that. Hitoshi was starting to get a headache.
Luckily, the door swung open, cutting him off and revealing Nakajima. They looked as tired as Hitoshi felt, seriously, their eye bags could rival his and Aizawa’s. The break room looks cozy with couches on either side of a small table. There are several floor pillows scattered randomly as well. “Come on in.” They gestured him inside the room.
“I’m sure you know, but I’m Nakajima Akira, manager for this district. I hop around so I’m not here often, but this is the main location I work at. You’ll be seeing me often.” They started. Hitoshi took a good look at them now that he knows that they’re his personal manager. Apart from the eyebags the only thing memorable was their eyes, they were hazel but had slits in them like a cat’s. Other than that, their hair was shoulder length and brown, and they wore mostly greys and blacks. About average height, maybe a little taller, seemed pretty young. Nothing much to look at. Yet he still feels a slight warning coming from his gut that says Nakajima is dangerous. They, weirdly, seem familiar to Hitoshi, though he can’t place where.
He bowed. “I’m Shinsou Hitoshi. Thank you for the opportunity Nakajima-san.” He pauses, “I have a rather personal question if you don’t mind?”
“Go ahead.”
“Midoriya referred to you with they/them pronouns…?”
“I prefer them. Is that going to be a problem?”
“Not at all.”
“Now,” They put some forms on the table and smiled up at him, “Let's get started.”
-
All in all, the work schedule is fine, not great but fine. A couple graveyard shifts on the weekends, but mostly early morning and afternoon. The only thing wrong with it is that it’s the exact same schedule as Midoriya’s. Hitoshi really, really, didn’t want to suffer through his entire job with Midoriya’s company. And apparently the feeling was mutual because on Hitoshi’s first day, when he rolled in to start opening up the shop, Midoriya’s eyes widened in surprise again, like he didn’t expect Hitoshi to keep the job. The midget stands up sharply and pulls Nakajima into the break room with a muttered, “Can I talk to you for a sec?”
Now, the break room is great, best break room he’s seen honestly, but it’s not soundproof. At all.
“Spook, you can’t keep him here.”
So Hitoshi could hear Midoriya when the guy tries to fire him , what the fuck dude???
Like, he’d figured Midoriya was a bit stuck up from being constantly praised his entire life and for being a hero student, but he didn’t think he was a complete dick? And maybe it was the three hours of sleep he’d gotten last night, or maybe it was the fact that Hitoshi was on his last fucking nerve with Broccoli Boy, but he decided it would be a wonderful idea to confront the offender head on, in front of their boss.
He slams open the door and organizes his thoughts enough to hiss out “What the absolute fuck dude? Why are you trying to get me fired? Was beating my ass in the Sport’s Festival not enough for you?” He glares at Midoriya, trying to intimidate him.
Instead all he gets is Nakajima doubling over laughing and pointing at him, “See” they say “This is why I want him. He’s got spunk, and enough trauma to back it up.”
Hitoshi is now vaguely offended and very confused, but at least they won’t fire him? Besides, it’s not like they’re wrong… Though Midoriya looks even more distressed now. He’s pulling at his hair and muttering, “You can’t- fuck,” he stops and looks nervously at Hitoshi, like he’s afraid, then steel enters his eyes and he says determinetly “You can’t do this to him!” Nakajima just laughs harder. Hitoshi is more confused.
“Too bad” Nakajima says between huffs, “I already chose him.”
Midoriya seems to realize whatever he’s trying to do is futile. “Fuck, fuck, fuck!” Midoriya looks close to crying. “Can’t you wait? At least until he’s in the hero course?” Hitoshi is really confused. “Wait on what” he finally asks.
Nakajima stops laughing, they look at Hitoshi again with assessing eyes and no answers. Once again, his gut tells him something’s wrong, and that he should get very, very far away from them. “Fine.” they say after a couple moments “But only for you ‘Zuku and afterwards, he’s fair game.” Nakajima turns away and walks out the door. He can’t tell where they went, but he’s still trying to comprehend what just happened. There were a lot of words, he understood them all separately, but together? No dice.
Midoriya has started wringing his hands and muttering, he looks like he’s closing in on himself, he doesn’t seem to be breathing, which is concerning, but hey he tried to get him fired?
Suddenly Midoriya stops. Like everything about him just stops. He straightens up, takes a deep breath and turns to Hitoshi.
“Look,” he starts, “I know you don’t like me.”
Hitoshi scoffs at that, because, yeah no shit sherlock.
“I was trying to help, and,” he holds up a hand, silencing the outrage Hitoshi was about to pour on him, “I know it doesn’t look that way but,” he sighs “I was. And I can’t tell you anything until you get into 1-A. I know it’s weird but I can’t do anything about it really. All I can say is that you should quit this job.”
Hitoshi is angry now. “Fuck that,” he spits “I need this. Do you have any idea how fucking hard it is to get a job with my quirk?”
Instead of raising his voice, Midoriya sighs again. “I thought you would say that. Welp I can’t stop you from working.” He shrugs, “I’ll explain once you become a hero student, but I really, really, can’t tell you anything for your safety. For now, let me show you where everything is.”
He still has his job? And luckily he’s talented at minding his own business. He’ll get answers eventually.
You know what, let Midoriya keep his secrets. I can work with this.
“Oh and watch out for a middle aged lady with pink eyes, she’s not allowed in the store. Last time she came in she disassembled the toilet looking for the anal beads she’d accidentally flushed.” Midoriya pauses and wrinkles his nose in disgust. “Every week she tries again on Tuesdays, for some reason, she’s still convinced that they're in there.”
And that was that.
-
As he starts working with Midoriya, Hitoshi realizes there are two sides of him. The Midoriya at school is shy, anxious, and sees the best in everyone, he’s harmless, the Midoriya outside of school is the layer underneath school-Midoriya. Not-school-Midoriya is weird. He’s simultaneously shy and confident, and he mutters so, so much . He’s more direct too, not afraid to stand up for himself. He cusses. He’s sarcastic and teasing. He’s definitely not harmless. Honestly there's not much left of school-Midoriya when his true personality shines through.
That's not to say School-Midoriya is a different person, he’s the same guy, just… watered down. School-Midoriya still has the same amount of steel, though, that's the one constant. School-Midoriya hunts him down every chance he gets, the annoying child decides he wants to be friends and Hitoshi does his best to avoid him.
When he asks about the change in personality, the green haired boy responds with “School was never great for me so I acted like people expected me to act, and now it’s mostly just a bit of a habit and it would be weird to just shift personalities.” Well that is not concerning at all Midoriya!
Once he started noticing the change in Midoriya’s personality, he started noticing other things. Like how he would flinch at loud noises or walk so quietly that you couldn’t hear him at all. Like how when a customer raised their voice at him, there was a momentary panic before the steel came back into his green eyes. And Hitoshi wasn’t dumb. He knew the signs of abuse, he saw them in the mirror everyday. It’s confusing. Someone with that quirk shouldn’t have those reactions. So he brushes it off, kids probably just jumpy.
And as much as Hitoshi really wants to deny it, Midoriya is not an asshole. Actually no. He is an asshole, but the good kind, that shares Hitoshi’s sense of humor. He’s not a dick. From the first day, he was genuinely helpful. And now that he thinks back on it, there wasn’t a single him the little green bean was truly mean to him, except trying to get him fired, which, considering the evidence, is up for review.
-
Hitoshi’s anonymity goes fast. He should have realized that U.A. was right around the corner, and high schoolers will do almost anything for caffeine.
The first person who recognizes him, surprisingly, is Bakugou. He comes in at the end of the morning shift on Hitoshi’s second day. Offers a simple “Mindfuck.” and a nod as a greeting, before telling Midoriya to get his regular. He almost spits out his drink when he sees Midoriya is preparing a strawberry frappe.
Bakugou snatches the coffee, saying “Tell anyone about this, and you’re dead Eyebags.” Before stomping out.
“Kacchan just likes sweet drinks” Midoriya offers.
Others come in too, Jirou, Kirishima, and Sero all come together, followed by Uraraka, Tokoyami, and Ashido, but Hitoshi has enough sense to subtly hide himself by then.
-
Hitoshi snaps on his third day. It’s a weekend, so they have the graveyard shift. No customers have come through in the past hour, and they’ve been doing their homework by the register. It’s at this time that the green haired boy closes his book with a snap.
“Shinsou, why don’t you like me?”
Hitoshi slowly looks up.
“Like, I know I’m pretty annoying and plain, and the personality difference is weird, but I feel like there's more than that, and I don’t understand.” His eyes start blanking like he’s dissociating. Oh no, no Hitoshi can’t handle this. Midoriya does not get to be the victim here.
“Have you considered,” he starts out slowly, anger flaring, “That you you’re in the Hero course? With some type of amazing quirk to get you there? Everything you’ve ever wanted has been handed to you on a silver platter?” Hitoshi throws his hands up “You must have been praised and rewarded all your life for that quirk! While I had to claw my way up to where I am now. I was shunned all my life for my ‘villain's quirk’. But of course not,” He was on a roll now, “what would kids like you know about kids like me?”
“Oh.”
Yeah ‘Oh.’ dickhead, ever thought about any of that?
“Yeah golden child I bet you’ve never been given up for adoption because of your quirk.” He sneered.
“Shinsou...”
A blaze of anger takes over him, “I don’t want your fucking pity.” He spits.
“I’m not fucking pitying you. I’m confused.”
I’m sorry. What?!
“How much of the Sports Festival did you see?” Midoriya questions
Hitoshi is fully enraged. The fucker is talking to him like a child. “I saw enough. Now,” he pauses narrowing his eyes “I’m leaving, and when I work with you again, you are not going to speak to me, unless it’s about coffee or granny and her anal beads. Got it?”
Hitoshi’s honesty not sure if he’s going overboard as he acidly spits out the words, but they feel good. And his vision is too filled with red to really hear his conscience saying, wow slow down there.
“Shinsou, listen for a sec-”
“Shut up!” He yells, “Don’t. Talk. To. Me. You. Got. It?”
“Fine!” Midoriya yells, he’s looking pissed too for some reason. “Got it.” The greenette turns away and Hitoshi thinks he hears a small motherfucker . He would call him on it, but he just wants to get out of there.
He takes it back, Midoriya is a bit of an ignorant dick.