Chapter Text
Hinata was bouncing with excitement. He had just turned 15, which means he can start working. The conversation happened ages ago when he asked his mother if he could have money for a new manga, to which she replied: “You already have enough, when you get your own money you can buy whatever you like.”
So now that he’s settled in high school (finally done with those entry exams in middle school, thank god) he can work to his heart’s content so that he can have finally have his long (count it: one year) awaited financial freedom.
He was happy to let his mother take a picture of him before he left. The uniform was all black, red arches in the corner of his too loose polo. He opted for a visor instead of a hat, not wanting to flatten his bright orange locks. The pants they gave him at orientation were too long, and rolling them to his ankles made them look bulky, but they said any black pants would do, so he did.
He smiled bright, a smile he practiced in the mirror for weeks, teeth shown off. He hugged his mother goodbye, gave his sister a pat on the head, and left. He bounced down the street, singing a tunic melody to “get himself in the mindset”. It wasn’t until he was able to see golden arches high in the sky that he got nervous.
He rushed in, pushing the double glass doors open and slipped into the bathroom unnoticed and exiled his nerves. He washed up, made himself look like he wasn’t about to die, and walked out…only to turn right around and repeat the process. But then he was good. He was fine, he would get over this.
Once calmed (done by thinking about the endless amount of manga he could buy with his first paycheck), he walked into the lobby. There were no other employees around except in the visible part of the back. A few orders on the screen indicated that they were a bit busy, but there was a man who stood in the center, watching them all. Must be the manager, Hinata thought.
“Um, Mr. Manager?” he called, cursing himself for his bad memory. They told him at orientation who he was—mainly recognizable by the scarf-like tie around his neck and fashionable polo. No response, the noises of the grills and fryers might be too loud. Hinata crossed the threshold, instantly thanking his mother for reminding him to get non-slip shoes. The ground was brown and tiled, although it looked clean, it was covered in grease droplets. Nothing that could be done about that—just a part of the job.
He hesitantly tapped the manager on his shoulder. The man turned around and looked down, meeting Hinata’s gaze. “Oh, sorry kid. You can’t be back here, it's a little dangerous for kids. Need help finding a parent?”
Hinata’s eyes widened, eyelashes nearly touching his brows and he parted his lips in a sigh. Damn his size. Although disappointed and saddened by his disposition, he still stayed true to himself. He straightened his spine, rolled his shoulders back, and loudly stood with his hands fisted to his sides. “I’m Hinata Shoyo, and today’s my first day!” he announced with a sparkle in his eye.
“Oh!” the manager reacted, a hint of shock in his voice. “I am so sorry!”
“Nice going, Daichi,” the silver haired man snickered beside him, elbowing him as he put a Big Mac in the brown paper bag he was holding.
The manager—Daichi—passed the other a stare before smiling at Hinata. “I’m Daichi! I’m the closing manager, so I’m here basically every night! We’re super excited to have you! Follow me!”
Daichi led them through a narrow walkway, a long silver table to his left and a set of grills to his right.
“Coming through!” a loud voice called, carrying a heavy box in his hands.
Daichi grabbed Hinata’s elbow, pulling him into a cranny in front of the oven to allow the man through. The man was similar in height to Daichi, but bald. Hinata held back his question as to why—he looked pretty young. Baldie (as Hinata has dubbed him) zoomed past them in a fast walk, opening a door with his foot and placing the box inside. He slipped on blue gloves, then opened a drawer and quickly placed frozen meat onto the grills in three seconds.
“Woah!” Hinata exclaimed, pointing at him. “That was so fast! You were like: zoom! and wa-chow!”
The man smiled widely at him, pointing his thumb at himself. “You just witnessed the best grill master in action, little man! No one can top my skills!”
Hinata excitedly balled his hands into first, pulling them close to his body. “Teach me! Teach me!” He bounced on the balls of his feet.
“For sure! Come on—”
Hinata took a step, but a hand grabbing the back of his uniform stopped him. “He’s 15, Tanaka! Don’t put any ideas in his head!”
“Awe damn. Maybe next year!”
Hinata turned to Daichi. “Why can’t I learn grill?” a slight pout in his voice.
Daichi led him around the corner; there was a person doing dishes at the sink. Past that, there was a room with a fridge and table. “You have to be 16 to learn the kitchen, laws say it's too dangerous for anyone younger, but you’ll have just as much action up front.” He stopped in the middle of the room. “This is the crew room! Make yourself comfortable here. Everything in here is for you to use. Your shift starts at four, so I’ll be back then to go over some books and show you around.”
“Thank you, Mr. Manager!”
“Please call me Daichi. ‘Mr.’ makes me sound old.”
“Oh…how old are you? I thought you were a dad.”
Daichi choked on his spit, Hinata’s words hitting him like a gut punch. A light laugh entered the room. It was the silver haired man again. “He’s not a dad, but he sure acts like one!” He patted Daichi on the back, he leaned in for a quiet talk, but Hinata was able to pick up on it. “Did you schedule two Day One’s today by accident? I have—”
Behind him was a familiar tall, scary looking guy—his lips in a line but eyebrows burrowed in a space between confusion and anger. They both noticed each other at the same time. “You!” Hinata and Kageyama pointed at each other accusingly.
“Why are you here?!” Kageyama aggressively asked.
“I work here!” Hinata replied. “Why are you here?!”
“I work here, you idiot!”
Daichi and Suga stopped their conversation and looked at the two boys, taken back by their clear dislikes of each other. Never had they seen first impressions go so wrong.
Daichi stepped between the two, extending his arms and the distance between them, effectively silencing them. “You both work here! What is this fighting about?”
“He spilled water all over my pants at orientation!” Kageyama accused.
“Yeah? Well you breathe so loud that I could barely hear!” Hinata tossed back.
Daichi glared at them. “I don’t quite understand what this is about, but I’m not choosing one or another, so if you can’t get along I’ll fire you both. Got it?”
They turned to each other, both trying to pick a fight, but neither willing to start it. They both needed the job. “Yes, Daichi,” they simultaneously replied.
“Good, I’ll be back shortly.” He turned and walked out with the other man.
“Good job getting them under control, Dad-chi.”
“I’m only 18,” he muttered.
“Out of all the stores you had to pick this one?” Kageyama growled.
Hinata nodded. “It’s the one closest to home, so deal with it.”
“Well I need this money, so keep out of my way.”
Daichi returned like he said he would, two pens and a few books in his hand. He started off with introducing himself, where Hinata and Kageyama learned that he was still in high school, even the same one as them, and is working to pay for his college. He then moved on to food safety, which both of them had the concepts right, but failed their pretend test—which was fine as long as they followed the procedures (“I still scored higher than you, Tangerine.” “You cheated!”); then they moved onto fire safety, where they argued over who could get out of the building the fastest (“I’m like twice your size! I’ll outrun you for sure!” “Yeah? Well I’ll just jump over you and leave you in the dust!”); then uniform policy, where they argued who looked the best (“Your clothes are so oversized that you look like a damn toddler!” “At least mine don’t give me a five-head, five-head!”). Daichi was quick to shut down all their disputes.
Then was the fun part, the part where Hinata noticed his bouncing leg in anticipation: The Grand Tour. Daichi recapped the crew room, pointing out announcements on the mirror and the coat racks. Then they went to the sink area, the man previously there, gone. Then the Manager’s Office, where he made it very clear to never go in; however the intrusive thoughts were appealing. Then the basement, where they learned of a ghost haunting the restaurant. Then back upstairs, back towards the grill. They stayed on the outside and greeted Tanaka.
“Over there is Tanaka,” Daichi started. “He works the grill and is pretty damn good at it. He cooks all the meat. Say hi, Tanaka! This is Kageyama and Hinata!”
“Hey! Come to your Senpai if you have any questions!”
Daichi rolled his eyes and moved to the other side of the table, again staying aside so that they could watch them work. “This is our assembly line, if you touch the table, it's hot. This is where we make the food. The one with the headset on at the start of the line, looking at the screen,” the man was tall. Very tall. His goatee made him look very mature, and his vibe was frightening, “is Asahi.”
Hearing his name, Asahi turned. He moved almost shyly, keeping his shoulders close to his body and only twisting his upper half. He gave them a small wave, “Hello.” He looked back at the screen. “2 burritos, Tanaka!” he called.
“Got it!”
“Asahi is the Initiator, he starts all of the sandwiches. He’s an ace in the kitchen and is a power house, definitely our strongest in the kitchen. Next to him on the line is Ennoshita.”
“Hi!” Ennoshita waved as he wrapped a cheeseburger.
“He’s the Assembler and is in charge of the kitchen. He’s closest to upfront, which means he’s the main source of communication between the two. If they’re down product or missing a sandwich, he’s the first to know and the first to tell everyone.” He pointed to the next guy, an average looking dude. “That’s Narita, he’s our Fry Guy—drops fries and products. He has to listen to both the kitchen and upfront for what they need. You’ll see him more than hear him.”
Daichi turned around, leading them down another hallway. “Prep table…cooler…freezer—don't go in there, too young…and here is Kinoshita!”
“Hey,” all three said at the same time.
“Kinoshita is our cashier, but in his down time he also does the dishes. He’s pretty fast at them too.”
They moved back towards the fryers and scooted past Asahi, Narita, and Ennoshita to the front. He stopped where Hinata saw him standing when they first met. “This is the drive thru, obviously. It looks like a lot, but it works like a well oiled machine. We’ll start with Suga—”
“Daichi!” he cheered. “You’ve been gone for so long! We nearly died!”
“You guys were fine.”
“We were, but we missed our dear manager!” Suga joked, throwing an arm around his shoulders. “I’m the Runner! I look at the orders and put them in bags.”
Daichi nodded. “He makes it sound simple, but Suga is our control tower. He has to communicate with the kitchen what he needs for his orders, and also make sure that orders are being rang in correctly, and handed out correctly. Pretty smart and amazing if you ask me.” Hinata didn’t miss the awe in his voice.
“You flatter me,” Suga said with a smile, only looking at Daichi. Daichi’s intenseness and seriousness quickly faded away. He smiled back, relaxing his shoulders and taking a breath. “You need to finish your tour,” Suga reminded him with a smirk.
Kageyama pointed at Suga. “I’m going to learn that.”
“You wanna learn how to run?” Suga asked with a small giggle. “You’ll have to wait a little bit, running is the last thing everyone in Service learns since it’s the most intense, but I'll be happy to teach ya!”
“Then I’ll learn it tomorrow, teach me everything today. I want to be the best at that.”
Hinata shivered at his intensity. “Geez! You’re scary!”
“Good.”
Daichi clapped his hands together, drawing all their attention to him. “We can all learn everything when the time comes. I’ll make sure of it.” He pointed over to a sliding window. “That is our Presenting Window. Noya should be around here…”
“Over here, Daichi!” Hinata assumed Noya yelled on the opposite side of the drive thru. He was holding a cup in his hand and placing oreos in it.
“That’s Nishinoya, but everyone calls him Noya. He’s our presenter and hands out orders. When the Order Takers can’t make drinks and ice cream, he has to.”
“It’s seriously the best position!” Noya happily replied, shoving the spoon into the machine and turning it on. He kept talking, but the vibrations from the mixer hushed him.
Daichi turned, gesturing towards the two screens perpendicular to each other. There were two boys in front of them, both tall and looked to be around their age. “Those two are Yamaguchi and Tsukishima. They started almost a month ago and picked up order taking right away. One of you will learn with Tsukishima and the other will go in the back window with Kinoshita and cash…who’s good at math?”
Hinata and Kageyama stared back, motionless. “Great,” Daichi sighed. “Hinata can go back there today. Kageyama, you’re with Tsukishima.” He reached behind him and pulled out two headsets. “They look really complicated but they’re not, just make sure you’re on the right lane. You’ll both be set to Lane 1, you know because it’s green, Lane 2 is red. Hit the top button to talk, but be careful because your mic is on the entire time. Just don’t…say anything dumb. Got it?”
“Ready, Manager sir!” Hinata saluted and ran to the back.
Kageyama struggled to get the headset on. Whoever wore it last had a really small head (it was Noya) and he couldn’t get it to loosen up.
“You just pull it out,” the blonde one scoffed. “It’s pretty self explanatory. It doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.”
“Shut it, four eyes,” Kageyama grumbled, successfully putting it on.
“I don’t want to train you, and I don’t get paid to, so just stand there and listen, otherwise you’ll screw us all up.” The headset vibrated his head, making Kageyama jump. Four eyes tapped the top. “Welcome to McDonald’s, will you be using your app today? No? Okay, what can I get for you?” It was like a 180, his voice raised an octave and he sounded nice? This guy could be nice?
Kageyama thought it was weird to hear him in his ear and in person, but sitting there and doing nothing was even worse. He tried to do anything, even reaching under to hit the screen because he knew where the cheeseburger button was, but the other swatted him away. “At least let me do something!” he complained in frustration after five orders. The blonde gave him a death stare, hitting his headset again. “They just heard you!”
“Well now they just heard you saying that they just heard me!”
“I muted it, dumbass! Just watch for now and memorize the menu. You can’t do anything else until you know where all the buttons are!”
Hinata was not having the same issues, but he was still issuing. Kinoshita let him jump in right away, doing a brief crash course as they went. “You just ask them if it’s their order and then put in whatever they gave you. The thingy does the math for you, you just have to give back change.”
It seemed simple enough, but Hinata has already hit the wrong order at least three times (but Kinoshita showed him how to swap them) and has almost given back the wrong change five if it wasn’t for Kinoshita counting it with him. Hinata thought he was a good trainer, always keeping a watchful eye over him and letting him learn. “You’re really good at this!”
“I mean, it’s not rocket science.” Kinoshita scratched the back of his head. “But, you’ll get good at it too, just make sure you double count the change and soon enough it’ll be natural.”
By the end of their shifts, Kageyama and Hinata were exhausted. Their heels hurt, pleading for a break; their hair was sticking to their hats, in desperate need for a wash; and their body was plagued with all different smells of onions, fries, and grease despite not being anywhere near them. But, Hinata enjoyed himself. He talked with Kinnoshita extensively in their one on one time in the back window and laughed tons. Kageyama was still annoyed at Tsukishima (he only knew because Yamaguchi wouldn’t stop calling his name after every order) for just making him just stand there and watch, except for that one time he was “allowed” to hit the buttons so that Tskushima could make a shake. It was a simple order of “One of those uh, whatchama call them…y’know the uh, the Whoppers.” “You mean the Big Mac,” Tskuishima dead panned from the shake machine, headset still live. “Yeah! One of those, I would like one of those!”).
Daichi showed them how to clock out and check their schedule for the next time they worked—both had the same training schedule and would spend every shift together. Hinata made sure to say bye to everyone (to which he startled Asahi because he “snuck up” on him) while Kageyama just nodded to those (Daichi, Ennoshita, and Noya) who said bye to him.
At the end of the night, when all the closers were done, clocked out, and left to go do whatever they did after work, Suga walked into the Manager’s office where Daichi was still counting the last drawer. “Still counting?”
Daichi stayed silent for a minute, the dinging of quarters landing in the drawer as he counted them in groups of four filled the room. Once he counted the last ones, he put 7.25 into the calculator and turned to face Suga. “Just running a bit behind tonight, had to fill out how the new hires did on their first day. Would you mind counting the Change Bank?”
Suga tsked. “Naughty, Daichi! Only managers can touch the safe!” he teased, putting in the passcode and opening it. “First impressions of them?”
“I mean, they’re two 15 year olds who want to work. McDonald’s is marketed to be the best first job so it’s not like it’s a surprise. They’ll probably be like every other 15 year old. We’ll be lucky if they stay until they graduate, but they might find a higher paying job when they turn 16.”
Suga finished counting the ones before crouching down in front of the safe door. “Hm, something different about those two, though. Hinata is way more enthusiastic than anyone should be and Kageyama is so competitive even though he doesn’t know a damn thing.”
Daichi laughed. “I was hoping Tsukishima would put him in his place, but that only seemed to aggravate him more. I was worried he wouldn’t come back tomorrow, but I heard him grumbling about how he was going to be a better order taker.”
“1500 exactly,” Suga said standing. “I’ll have to ask Takeda how they were at orientation. They probably had a fun day,” he joked.
“Hm, back drawer’s a little short, but that’s expected on everyone’s first day. I just have the deposit and I’m done,” Daichi said. “Those two are quite a pair…you bike here tonight?”
Suga shook his head. “Walked tonight, it was nice out this afternoon. I slept in and didn’t have time to go outside.”
Daichi grabbed his jacket, throwing it over his shoulder and holding up his keys from the pocket. “Got my Dad’s truck tonight, need a ride home?”
The silver laughed. “Weren’t you saying how you had to sign off that you wouldn’t spend any time with employees outside of work, Mr. Manager Sawamura?”
“It’s different,” he mumbled, opening the door for the other and locking it behind him.
“Is it now?”
“It is, we’re in the same class, and we were friends before we started. They knew that when they made me manager. Come on now, I want to stop and get something from the gas station.”
“Ooh! Will you get me a meat bun?”
“Only if it makes you quiet!” That earned him a chop to the side. “Hey!”