Chapter Text
He introduced her to a number of new feelings, but the first was intrigue.
Well, actually, the literal first emotion he invoked in her was annoyance, but she didn’t want to dwell on that.
It was the first Thursday of December, which meant holiday music was on full blast in every establishment, including the cafe that she had been employed in for the last three years. She helped decorate the bare trees outside with twinkling string lights and stuck up pale blue snowflakes onto the windows the moment the calendar flipped past November.
Uraraka welcomed in the ‘dead on their feet’ first customers of the day- truckers who had been waiting for an open shop on their route, nurses trying to fit in a quick caffeine fix, and the occasional student hoping to get a couple extra hours of studying before the sun rose. She was happy to be what was surely their first interaction of the day.
Working at a cafe certainly wasn’t her dream job, but she found pride in helping customers start their day off right.
It was slow and eerily quiet when he came in with a scowl, glaring at the bell that jingled and notified employees of his entrance. Although, it wasn’t really necessary at this time of year. The gust of cold air accomplished the task just as well.
The freezing temperature didn’t seem to bother him, though. The blond, spiky-haired man had only a thin orange jacket over a black shirt and jogger pants that tapered tight around his ankles. The clothes weren’t particularly form fitting, but there was no doubt that he was incredibly fit. He had unbelievably broad shoulders and the most defined calves she had ever seen on a human being.
“Welcome in!” Uraraka chirped as she did for every other customer.
“Large dark roast drip.” His voice was deep and monotone as he approached the register. Not from sleepiness, but complete apathy. No greeting, no socially acceptable “please” or “thank you”. Just his sharp, red gaze staring her down.
“No problem! That’ll be 2.20.” Powering through unaffected, she tapped on the appropriate buttons on the bright screen. She deposited the cash with the exact change he placed on the counter into the register once it popped open. Then she placed the sticker the machine printed out onto a large cup and set it in the queue of drinks for Tsuyu to complete. “Thank you! It’ll be a couple of minutes before it’s done.”
“Obviously.” She slightly furrowed her eyebrows at that remark before reminding herself to be gracious towards cranky morning commuters. That was the annoyance part.
“It’ll be ready for you at the end of the counter.” She gestured and he walked over to the waiting area without any indication that he heard her.
He was grumpy and indifferent, but that wasn’t all that unusual for the early morning crowd. Maybe he just wasn’t a morning person. He was pretty in line with most other customers she’d encountered over the years. The intriguing part was what he did with the coffee once it was done.
The man swiped it off the counter without acknowledging Tsuyu, took it over to the add-ons station by the wall, and popped open the lid. He added a shake of what looked like cinnamon, another of nutmeg, and then reached in his pocket for one last ingredient.
It was a small prism filled with bright red powder. The label had a picture of peppers and Uraraka recognized it as cayenne. She had heard of spicy hot chocolate before, but spicy coffee? That was a new one. And he didn’t just add a pinch. He added a whole two shakes into his cup before snapping the lid back on and giving it a quick swirl. And to leave her even more flabbergasted, he took a sip and then proceeded to add another shake of the spice before nodding at his concoction and leaving.
The whole ordeal was so strange, she recognized him right away the next morning when he arrived at the same time, ordered the same drink, and added the same blend of spices. One dash of cinnamon, a bit of nutmeg, and three whole shakes of cayenne.
She’d had some picky customers before. They would demand an exact temperature, the perfect foam consistency, or precise quarter pumps of syrup. But none had piqued her interest like this. Who in the world would carry around a shaker full of pepper powder to add to something like coffee?
Maybe he was a new University student? He seemed to be around the same age as her so it wasn’t completely out of the question. Fall quarter was almost at an end, so it could mean that he was there early to get ready for Winter quarter. But then why would he come in for coffee so early in the morning when he didn’t have classes? Maybe he had started working nearby?
On Saturday, he came in a little later, around noon. Unlike the first two mornings, the cafe was packed with lunch time coffee sippers and pastry eaters who thought it best to spend a beautiful, winter weekend in a local, basic cafe. It wasn’t enough to punch in the orders into the machine and stick the labels on the cups, Uraraka had to write down names so that Tsuyu and Iida could get customers out the door as quickly as possible.
“Dark drip. Large.” She had the label printed before he finished saying his order.
“Could I get your name?”
“Why?” He narrowed his dark red eyes suspiciously.
“So they can call out your order.”
“... Bakugo.”
“Ba… ku… go.” She wrote out the name syllable by syllable, adding a quick drawing of a spicy pepper after it. With a flick of the wrist, she had him check it for spelling and giggled when his face scrunched up at the extra detail.
“The fuck is that?”
“A-a pepper. I noticed you add cayenne to your coffee.” Was she crossing a line?
“Looks like a turd.” He said emotionlessly, placing two dollars and two dimes on the counter before walking away.
Uraraka didn’t know whether to cry or yell at him, standing frozen with her mouth agape until the next person in line cleared their throat to get her attention. She hurriedly set down the cup and apologized, snapping back into her role.
Brushing off the initial confusion, she decided that she would do as her parents always say, kill him with kindness.
She spent a good chunk of Sunday, her usual day off, figuring out the timing to make her plan work. If he were to show up in the morning, it would be easy to get away from the register to grind the beans and start the drip before he got to the counter. But if he came around lunch time again, she may not be able to prep in time to have the drink ready for him when he paid. That meant she would need to pre grind the beans during her break to have it on hand.
It was a good thing she had thought it out already, because she almost missed her cue on Monday. Not because it was busy, it wasn’t, but because she lost focus. All day, she had been looking out for the tall man with the perpetual frown to get out of his black car and make his way inside, but it was hard, seeing as she kept dozing off during any downtime.
“You ok, Ochako?” Her dark-green haired friend and coworker asked with concern permeating every word.
“Uh-huh.” She managed to respond through a yawn. “Just tired from finishing up my paper last night.”
“When’d you go to sleep?” Tsuyu wiped down the surrounding surfaces while in conversation.
“Around 2, I think? I dunno, I kinda crashed right after printing the thing.” She groaned and rubbed her eyes with her sleeve. Yeah, staying up that late probably wasn’t the best idea when she had work at 6 in the morning.
“That can’t be good for you.” She was met with a concerned look.
“Don’t worry. It’s not a regular thing.”
“Sundays are always your homework catch-up day. By definition it’s a regular thing.”
“Yeah, but it’s not usually this bad.”
“You need to take better care of yourself, Ochako.” Ah, there it was. The mothering and the doting.
“I know, I know.”
Tsuyu looked like she was about to say more about that when she noticed someone outside. “Oh. Looks like a customer’s about to come in.” she put down the sanitizer rag and assumed her position by the espresso machine.
Through the window, Uraraka saw him, Bakugo, approaching the door with his hands shoved in his pockets. She scrambled to quickly scoop the preserved grounds into the filter sitting over a cup with his name and more carefully drawn pepper on it, which she had set up by her work station all morning, and poured hot water over it in a slow swirl. Willing it to go faster, or for him to walk slower, she hoped it would be ready in time.
The door opened with a shake of the bell.
“Hello! How are you?” She was determined to get a response from him one of these days.
But he wasn’t having it. He was already pulling the money out of his pocket and about to ramble out his order when she cut him off.
“Large drip, dark roast. It’ll be done in a jiffy!”
With an unimpressed flicker of his eyes, he wordlessly put the money on the counter and started to move to the counter where he would normally pick up his order from Tsuyu.
“Wait! I have your drink right here!” Uraraka pressed the lid on and slid a hot sleeve around the cup before offering it to him with hopeful anticipation.
But, of course, he grabbed it with zero obligation to acknowledge her kind act. Although, could it really be called kind if there was an ulterior motive?
If she were anyone else with a week’s worth of interactions with Bakugo, she wouldn’t have expected anything different. But she was Ochako Uraraka. And she was going to make him appreciate her work, damnit.
“It wouldn’t kill you to say thank you, you know.” She called out with a frown.
“Why would I need to? It’s your job.” He seemed baffled by the fact that she was talking directly to him without prompting.
“But I went out of my way to have it ready for you.” She couldn’t help but let the disappointment bleed out into her words.
“It’s not my fault you gave yourself extra work.” He mixed in his blend of spices, completely unbothered by her escalating fury.
This man was so infuriating, it made her tap into something foreign inside her. “Well, actually, it is your fault because you’re an asshole.” She countered angrily.
“Uraraka!” She jumped at Iida’s voice coming from the now open back door. His face was overly animated with a look of scandalous disbelief. “I am so sorry sir. I will be sure to remind her about how we treat customers here. Please enjoy a free drink on us, redeemable any time.” He hurried out with a voucher and stuffed it into Bakugo’s hands, who seemed disgusted by someone touching him.
Even without needing to be at the mercy of Iida’s lecture, she couldn’t believe what she had just said. That was so not part of the plan.
Iida rattled on a string of apologies as Bakugo stared him down, completely unamused.
“Uraraka,” Iida called out with furrowed brows, “the way you spoke to the customer was unacceptable. You must remember that your actions reflect upon our establishment.”
“I know, Iida. I’m so sorry. I don’t know what got into me.” Uraraka felt as though the shame would eat her up and make her combust into flames right on the spot
“I know this is not a regular occurrence for you, so I will excuse it this time. But I expect you to personally apologize.”
“Of course.” She turned around, intending to do so, and saw that he had already left. Honestly, she was surprised to see that he hadn’t stuck around to see her get reprimanded. She would’ve thought he’d enjoy that. He was seriously insufferable.
Still, she would have to reign in her emotions the next day he came in.
She didn’t have to wait all that long for her opportunity to apologize. He was back the next day around lunch again, but the 24 hours was plenty of time for her anger at him to marinate. Thinking about how smug he’d be made the fire in her stomach flare back up.
It grew even more when she saw him enter all composed, like he couldn’t care less about what happened to her. And to her amazement, it kept growing when she realized that Iida was observing her from not too far away to make sure she wouldn’t explode again.
She was a great worker! A nice person! She didn’t need to be watched over!
Uraraka put on her best customer service smile, pouring on the charm so thick, it made her voice sickly sweet. It was too bad that it didn’t translate into her eyes, which glared at him like she was trying to burn a laser through his skull. Even he noticed the difference, an eyebrow flickering up questioningly.
“Good morning, sir. How may I help you today?”
Bakugo’s nostrils flared for a half second in amusement before his face went slack like always. “What, you don’t know my order by now? You seriously expect me to tell you every time?”
It was like he knew exactly how to crank her rage up to 10,000 percent. Through grit teeth, she managed to choke out, “I assume a dark roast drip? Large? Yes?” She was absolutely seething.
He nodded almost imperceptibly. Like any other movement would be too much for him to handle.
“That’ll be 2.20.” She moved rigidly, sliding the money into her hand and dropping them in the correct slots in her register. Tsuyu, bless her, didn’t seem to be phased when she was handed a slightly crumpled cup with Bakugo’s order printed on it.
“Anything I can you with today? Sir? Perhaps a nice, flaky, buttery pastry?” By the end of her question, her hate-filled enunciation made it seem like pastries were the bane of her existence. Like they had murdered her family in cold blood and she was out for revenge.
Bakugo couldn’t take it anymore. His eye twitched before he broke out in genuine, unabated laughter. The kind that made him hunch over and clutch at his stomach. Uraraka couldn’t believe he even knew how to make a sound like that. It shocked her so much that her dark aura disappeared without a trace, leaving her wondering why she was so angry in the first place.
Collecting his breath, Bakugo wheezed out, “You look like some sort of vicious hamster.”
At that image, she could envision how ridiculous she must’ve looked. But instead of being peeved at him poking fun, it made her relieved.
“So you do have a heart.” That sobered him up quickly.
“Fuck no!”
“Yes, you do!” She bounced excitedly.
Tsuyu took that moment to hand Bakugo his dark roast coffee, giving him an effective out of the conversation he so clearly didn’t want to partake in. He quickly added in his cayenne and left the cafe.
Leaving Uraraka to wonder what she’d have to do to hear him laugh like that again.
He probably would’ve had a big laugh at her the next day. She wasn’t at work on Wednesday, though she had hoped to take on an extra shift. She was at home, curiously adding cinnamon and cayenne and nutmeg to her home brew. The liquid practically punched her in the throat and left her a coughing mess. Her frantic flailing did nothing to ease her mother’s worries when she caught the young woman wheezing in the kitchen.
Thursday marked a week since Bakugo first came into the cafe and made his spicy coffee. That day, he came in near the end of her shift, closer to 1pm.
His shoulders were hunched and he looked around shiftily, like he was worried that someone would catch him there at the cafe. Which was ridiculous because anyone with an inkling of interest in him would know he had been there every day for the last week, as far as Uraraka was aware.
When he entered and saw Uraraka at the register, his body seemed to relax and straighten out. If she didn’t know better, she might even say he looked relieved.
“Hey, Bakugo. You want your regular?”
He nodded and dug around for the money, the first time she had seen him unprepared to pay. It was slightly surprising, but also good for her because then it gave her enough time to finish his drink. She carefully counted out each shake.
“What are you doing?” He asked gruffly.
“I figured this way, you can just grab your drink and go like everyone else. It’s only fair.” She shrugged and slid the cup towards him. The first two spices were extras she pulled out from one of the cabinets towards the back of the cafe. The cayenne was acquired from her home. After the disastrous attempt to try it in her coffee yesterday, she couldn’t imagine needing it in her house anymore.
He lifted the drink to his lips cautiously, like he expected her to put something else in there more nefarious than what he had planned.
“It’s not poisonous. Just drink it!” She rolled her eyes.
After a sip, he looked at her with a strange glint in his eyes. “You actually got it right.”
“Well, yeah. One cinnamon, one nutmeg, three cayenne. I only watched you do it everyday this week. Except yesterday.”
“Do you… Not work on Wednesdays?”
“I try to pick up a shift if I can, but I’m technically scheduled off on Wednesdays.”
Bakugo shifted his feet awkwardly, like he wasn’t sure what to do with that information even though he asked for it. And without the extra task of adding in spices, there was no other reason for him to stay. He could’ve just left, but it seemed as though that thought hadn’t occurred to him.
“So… I’ll see you tomorrow?” Uraraka offered.
He nodded stiffly and held his drink up, hesitantly saying the words she had been dying to hear. “Thanks.” Then he turned on his heels and left in a hurry.
- - -
“I thought you weren’t going to get a coffee today?” Kirishima pointed out as Bakugo returned to work from his sudden trip. He left in his car a little under half an hour ago with no word about where he was going and why, just that he was on break.
“What, I’m not allowed to change my mind?” He shifted the cup in his hand to try and hide the meticulously drawn and colored pepper at the top, but it was too late. His pain in the ass friend, or whatever he was, already saw it.
“I see what’s happening here,” Kirishima teased. “Did you check in with your pepper coffee girl? I know you missed her yesterday.” He recalled how Bakugo came into work pissier than normal yesterday with a strangely absent detail on his coffee cup.
“Piss off! She’s not my girl.” Bakugo sat at his desk with a furious blush, clutching the cup close to him.
“Maybe not. But you wish she were.”