Chapter Text
“Fuck!”
Not the greatest start to his morning, but to be fair, most of Bakugou’s days began and ended with him cursing out his dumbass roommate, Kirishima Eijirou, for some reason or another. On this particular morning, the swearing was due to the fact that upon opening his barely-running-came-with-the-apartment fridge, he found that his bottle of cold brew was indeed where he had left it last night, but it was now somehow empty. Normally he would’ve muttered something under his breath, and then run out to his favourite local cafe in order to get his caffeine,
(their coffee machine had been broken freshman year, after a drunk Kaminari thought he could make twice as much coffee if he hooked it up to a car battery. spoiler: it didn’t work)
but, it was just past 5AM and Kirishima knew damn well that Bakugou would have to be up early, and more in need of coffee than ever this morning. That’s why he was a little more pissed than usual. He knew it was petty, but nonetheless he trudged over to his roommate's door, eyes still fuzzy with sleep, and banged on it with all the power he could muster at such an ungodly hour.
“Wake up asshole! When I get back home, there better be a full bottle of fucking cold brew in that fridge or I swear to god I’ll make you regret drinking the last of my coffee for the rest of your sorry ass life!”
Years of practice had allowed him to perfect his threats and get them out all in one breath. It was especially useful in situations like this where he was short on time, but wanted to get the message across. All he got was an annoyed grunt in agreement, which was sadly only half satisfying, because at that moment, he realized that not only was he exhausted and unshowered, but also running late for his first day of training as a theme park attendant. It was a seasonal job, and not necessarily his first choice as a way to make money to cover rent and tuition, but it was close to his university and paid slightly above minimum wage.
Somehow, he pulled into the parking lot of Nagashima Theme Park a mere thirty minutes later. He may have run a stop sign or two, but overall he made it on time(ish) without seriously injuring anyone in the process, which he considered to be a somewhat of a miracle.
Luckily there were a few signs starting from the employee parking lot, to the main buildings, indicating where the new hires needed to go. Bakugou followed them until he came to a door marked ‘staff only’, realized that technically now that meant him, and pushed open the door, rushing inside without paying much attention to where he was going.
Bakugou had grown used to ‘expecting the unexpected’ (hanging out with people like Kaminari and Ashido would do that to you), but in swinging that door open, he definitely hadn’t expected to walk face-first right into a stranger. Whoever he had bumped into had been standing adjacent to the door, meaning he essentially walked right into their shoulder. After realizing it was indeed a living, breathing person that he had just crashed into, he quickly stepped back, finally looking up and down said person. In front of him stood a slightly taller, lean, and honestly, unfairly attractive guy. The first thing Bakugou noticed was his unusually coloured hair; red and white, split right down the middle. The next thing he saw as he finally took stock of the stranger's face, were his intelligent but guarded, heterochromatic eyes. Lastly he noticed the expression worn by the stranger, it didn’t convey annoyance, but wasn’t exactly friendly.
(curiosity maybe?)
The stranger had been eyeing him up and down as well, (Bakugou wasn’t sure how he felt about that), his stare was intense and it made him feel the need to scowl back or curse him out, but instead their eyes met, and neither said anything. The silence between the two was broken (thank god) as who Bakugou assumed to be their supervisor, cleared his throat to speak.
“We’ll start with roll call, although I do believe everyone is here since there are only ten of you. When you hear your last name, please come up one at a time to get your uniforms and name tags.”
Bakugou noted that the older man looked tired, and his tone seemed incredibly uninterested. He was actually glad. In Bakugou’s experience, an over-excited and impossibly-positive supervisor was infinitely worse and definitely more exhausting. Something also told him that it wasn’t just the early hour that made the black haired man this way, he figured he would be like this regardless of the time.
One by one, people who he assumed were in a similar position to him, college students looking for extra cash, walked up to the front of the room and grabbed a navy, long sleeved shirt which bore the logo of the theme park on the back, and their name tags. His supervisor ‘Aizawa’, as he had learned, explained that their given names were used on the name tags to ‘appear more friendly to the guests’, whatever that meant. He retained the first couple of names and faces; a short, brown haired girl named Uraraka, a muscular and well groomed guy who he thinks was called Iidya? Iida? Iida. He sort of zoned out after that, only noticing a girl go up that eerily resembled a frog. Before his name could be called, his attention was drawn back in, as the red and white haired boy from earlier went up to grab his things.
Todoroki.
Bakugou repeated the name a couple of times in his mind, committing it to memory. He told himself that it was only because he had run into him earlier, nothing more. He too went up after that, staring somewhat disapprovingly at the work shirt (long sleeves? In the summer??) Bakugo sweated a little more than the average person, leaving him to begrudgingly resign to the fact that he would be perpetually sticky and sweaty, for forty hours every week for the next couple of months. He forced himself to pay attention to what supervisor Aizawa was saying, and to stop being distracted by the quite frankly, ridiculously handsome guy next to him. Now look, Bakugou Katsuki is not straight. But he’s not exactly gay either. It’s quite simple really, if they’re attractive, he’ll fuck em’. That’s it. (not that he's had much experience but the concept still stands). He’s not one for labels, but typically falls back to ‘bi’ if he wants an easy and palatable explanation. Now, Bakugou is sure that even if he was straight, there’s no way he could ignore the alluring, two-toned coworker if he tried. That pissed him off.
Aizawa explained that it was the first of two training days, in which they would use the hours before the park opens to gain some experience without dealing with real customers.
“You will be split into two groups of five, half will come with me and start with the operation of and safety procedures regarding rides, while the other half will be led by a student like yourselves, who has been here for a couple years. The second group will learn about the front end; ticket sales, merchandise and food stalls. Any questions? No? Good. You five with me, the rest go with Togata-san.”
Bakugo happened to be a part of the five chosen to go with Aizawa, which he didn’t mind, but he did kind of mind that Todoroki was in the other group. He shook away that thought as soon as he gad it, and spent the next three hours listening to information regarding sales procedures; including but not limited to: refunds, exchanges, package deals, third party providers blah blah blah. And he did focus. Really. It’s just that Bakugou had always been a quick learner, and he found that skipping through the manuals at his own pace was a far more efficient way of learning what he needed to learn. His breaks, along with the rest of his workday, went by smoothly (no more run-ins with the weird half n’ half guy) and even though it was only a little past one when he finally got back to his apartment, he felt just about ready to collapse from exhaustion.
Unfortunately for him, he would not be going to bed early. Kirishima and Kaminari had greeted him when he walked through the door, with takeout food from his favourite Chinese restaurant. Bakugou had forgotten that it was Monday, meaning it was ‘crappy reality TV night’. Even though he would’ve liked to tell them off, he pushed back his exhaustion and tried to be at least a little nice.
“So how was your first day?” Kirishima was already grabbing plates and cutlery.
“Fine.”
“Just fine?!” It was now Kaminari’s turn to start prying. Bakugou knew that logically, they meant well, and it was quite normal for friends to inquire about each other's lives, but right now Bakugou just didn’t have the energy. Especially because everytime it was brought up, his thoughts couldn’t help but wander back to the quiet but confident stranger he had run into,
Todoroki.
~~~~
Bakugo was in hell. This ‘Togata guy’ was the exact type of superior he wanted to avoid. Loud, over excited and exuding way too much energy for 5:30 in the morning. His second day had actually started out quite a bit better than yesterday, Kirishima did in fact buy some more coffee and he managed to get to work early enough to have time to change. Unfortunately, Aizawa explained that for the second day of training, it would be more ‘hands on’.
This was how he found himself stuck with one of the most annoyingly positive and cheery people he had ever met. The only real positive in this situation, was that the group of ten, had been split into five groups of two; each pair was to work with a designated veteran employee. His partner just happened to be, drumroll please, Todoroki! Okay so maybe saying it was a ‘positive’ was a bit of a stretch. He hadn’t expected it to be awkward, and it wasn’t, but he found the other male watching him, and staring. Constantly. It wasn’t particularly off putting, but he still found it kind of distracting, especially when his own eyes involuntarily drifted back to the other trainee.
When Togata had made an especially bad pun while on their way to the food stalls, he turned to look at Todoroki reflexively, meeting his eyes directly. He was pleased to find a trace of annoyance on Todoroki’s face, with an undertone of amusement. Not much unlike his own facial expression, Bakugou thought to himself. From there things definitely felt more comfortable. Todoroki didn’t try to talk to him too much, only a few words here and there, mostly funny observations or questions. The first hour of training actually was… nice. Bakugou found that he really quite liked the bi-coloured male's bluntness. For once he didn’t feel like he was dancing on eggshells around somebody or constantly trying to guess what they really meant. It also helped that Todoroki didn’t seem to mind the swearing. Most new people he met never stuck around long enough to get to see past Bakugou’s aggressive and threatening exterior. He found himself hoping, for some reason, that would be filed away into the ‘don’t think about this ever’ box in his brain, that he kind of wanted this Todoroki guy to stick around long enough to see it.
Togata had brought them to one of the ice cream stalls after going through the basics in food safety and handling. After the blonde man who couldn’t have been more than a couple of years older than them demonstrated, he declared that Bakugou would try serving a customer first. He put on his nicest, most customer-servicey voice and took the family’s order. Bakugou rolled up his sleeves, and felt a pair of eyes other than Togata’s watching his every move. The triad moved to the ice cream case, with Togata giving small tips and words of encouragement as he prepared each ice cream cone. Since he was fairly sure that the customers are out of ear shot, he decides to finally ask,
“The fuck are you looking at?”
If Bakugou didn’t know better, he would’ve said that Todoroki was snapped out of some kind of trance. A few moments earlier, Togata had stepped out to grab more paper bowls, leaving Bakugou in charge since Todoroki hadn’t had a chance to practice yet.
“Well?”
Bakugou eyed him up and down, taking in the confusion plastered across his face. It shifted back into indifference as he spoke.
“I’m watching you scoop the ice cream.”
“Yeah, but why the fuck are you staring like that?”
Todoroki shrugged his shoulders.
“Because I'm next, and I’ve never served ice cream before?”
It came out more like a question, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Bakugou mentally reprimanded himself for skewing it into something more in his mind.
He huffed.
“Whatever.”
Bakugou’s brain lagged slightly as it processed what Todoroki had just said,
“Wait, you've never served ice cream? Like not even to yourself or friends?”
He wasn’t sure why he asked, Bakugou wasn’t the type to express interest in other people, Especially people who were practically strangers. But here he found himself wondering, what kind of life has this guy led, where he has somehow never scooped ice cream?
Todoroki shrugged at the question. Bakugou figured he should probably get used to the half-assed responses from the red and white haired male. Togata came back in, stack of paper bowls in hand. He eyed Bakugou's work.
“Looks great Katsuki-kun!” he said while patting him on the head.
Bakugou was trying very hard not to curse out his colleague, it resulted in him pretty much growling in response. His eyes met Todoroki’s, who seemed to be suppressing a laugh at the scene in front of him. Bakugou shook off his senior’s hand, and marched over to the family, handing out their order with a forced smile.
“Shouto-kun, you’re up!”
Bakugou realized he never actually looked at the other’s name tag.
Shouto. Todoroki Shouto.
Todoroki grabs the scoop, but is very clearly struggling. Instead of having smooth, sculpted, round spheres, it looked more like a bunch of sad globs of ice cream piled up into a cone.
“Looks like shit half n’ half.”
Todoroki sighs, but continues with the next one.
Togata is still trying to be positive.
“Well they’re not the most perfectly shaped scoops, but some say that beauty lies in imperfection-”
“Yeah imperfection. Not ‘completely-fucked-up-mess’.”
Todoroki exhales a bit of air through his nose, a small amused sound. The issue is that Bakugou suddenly feels his heart rate pick up at said sound. It doesn’t help when he thinks about how he was the one who caused it.
What.The.Fuck.
The rest of the first half of their shift goes by smoothly. Todoroki’s cones at least look servable, and Bakugou thinks he can serve some of the more popular flavours without having to check the labels. They get sent on lunch break at the same time, and Bakugou opts to grab his bag from the locker room first. He doesn’t bother saying anything to Todoroki.
The weather is nice and the heat is not particularly oppressive. Bakugou spotted a picnic table behind one of the store houses, and decides that he would rather eat outside than in some stuffy break room. He settles in, putting his things down and pulling out his tuna mayo Onigiri, when he hears someone behind him. He’s not the only one to opt away from the suffocating mass of new trainees who are all on lunch together.
He turns his head to see the man himself, Todoroki, somewhat distractedly making his way towards him. He’s paying attention to his phone, but snaps his eyes up to Bakugou’s as he gets closer. Bakugou rolls his eyes, and for a second, sees Todoroki hesitate. Like he’s unsure if he’s welcome. He’s not not welcome, Bakugou thinks to himself. He also hates the look on the taller man's face, it’s unsure, and he folds in on himself a little. Bakugou’s a little frustrated. At himself.
He huffs and moves his bag off of the picnic table bench, a kinder expression settling itself on his features. Todoroki takes this as an invitation to sit down, and does so. He places down his cup ramen as he settles himself in, and Bakugou raises a judgemental eyebrow at his food choice. Todoroki however, isn’t fazed, and simply starts to eat.
Bakugou has to admit; he really doesn’t mind the others' presence. Todoroki doesn’t really try and make any small talk, he just pulls out his airpods, and watches something quietly on his phone as he eats. Bakugou appreciates the silence. It’s comfortable... easy.
That’s the first thing he learns about Todoroki Shouto. He learns just how easy it is to be with him. To be around him. To talk to him. None of it feels forced, and as he’ll learn later on, he actually comes to kind of need the guy in his life.