Chapter Text
It was funny, in a way, that he occupied so much of his thoughts and he couldn’t even remember how they met. Wasn’t that that sort of thing people reminisce about? The first glimpse of them? The first smile, first laugh, first conversation? Admiring from afar, not being able to look away even though you knew you were staring?
* * *
It had been chaos when he had first started working there. For some, still unknown, reason the then head manager of his department had hired way too many people for the season. The place had swum with temporary workers, mostly high school and university students trying to earn some money before the school year started again. There had been barely enough regular employees to teach them anything, so they had taught themselves, only asking for help with things they had had no way of knowing.
He remembered meeting Ryuko his very first day there. She was the manager responsible for his section at work. She was … nice. A good chunk of the employees, a group, as he later found out, which includes him as well, disliked her for being too by the book, sticking to rules when it was obviously unnecessary. It made her easy to understand though, easy to predict. Qualities he came to value as calm for his uneasy mind, however boring the person possessing them seemed to be.
He vaguely remembered working with Torino that first month, a man you quite literally had to catch if you needed anything from him. He always run away if he saw anybody coming towards him with anything.
Then there was Keigo. He had become aware of her sometime in early September and she had instantly come to be his favourite person to talk to. Or listen to, to be precise. She was the kind of person who would answer your question and then add a fact or two of her own.
And he was nothing but curious.
Sometimes it was the only thing he was sure about himself. The things he was and the things he wanted to be changed through the years, changed from day to day, but at his core curiosity remained. Sometimes it was the only thing that kept him going, that kept him alive.
He liked knowing things, from theoretical and practical information to fun facts and, naturally, gossip. He had developed a few gossiping threads, mostly within his own department but he tried to be relatively friendly with everyone at the place, gathering data whenever and wherever he could.
The biggest chatterbox, by far, was Kaminari.
They had met on a night shift in early autumn. The crew for the night had been hanging out in their office, discussing their tasks for the shift and just joking around when he had noticed the blond hair in the back. The younger man had looked rather awkward standing by himself with a shy smile on his face so he had decided to approach silently, make him more at ease, maybe strike up a conversation, if it was welcome. But then –
“Wasn’t Yui supposed to be here today too?” Golden eyes had met his and for some reason he had felt relieved.
“Yeah, I’ve – I’ve heard she’s on sick leave. Yay, more work for us,” he had tried jokingly.
“Oh hurray! Just what I was hoping for tonight. More work!” The blond had laughed and he hadn’t been able to help himself but to join him.
“I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced before. I’m Izuku,” he had held his hand out but surprisingly it had been swatted away.
“Sorry,” the blond had said with a sheepish smile. “I don’t really do hand shakes. I’m Denki.” Two fists had met and that had been it.
They didn’t work the same shift very often but when they did they could spend hours talking about everyone they knew, exchanging information about every one of their coworkers. They never neglected their responsibilities, they were just good at multitasking.
He later found out that Denki had a similar problem, diagnosed with ADHD when he was a kid but his relatives never took kindly to his behaviour, even with the opinion and advice from professionals. It made Izuku upset to learn that his new friend’s quiet demeanour wasn’t due shyness or simple introversion but came from an effort to repress all that energy. A habit formed by punishment, unlike his own, which was a result of growing up with anxiety. He vowed to himself to discreetly help his younger friend to let go of these restrictions and try to make him as comfortable with himself as he could manage.
With time they started to hang out together outside of work. It turned out they both liked to find entertainment in everything they did. To them, even the most mundane job didn’t have to be boring and everything could be fun. It didn’t really matter how smart they were individually, whenever they got together there wasn’t more than a single braincell between them. The worst of it was that whatever crazy idea they came up with, it tended to work, in some odds defying way.
Katsuki, Izuku’s childhood friend and current roommate, often wandered out into their living room to observe the two on the pretext of making fun of them, but Izuku knew he was genuinely trying to figure out their methods.
“Why do you put up with this nonsense?” Bakugou asked him one evening, while they were cleaning up the dishes. Denki had been over, intended to stay for dinner but got a call from his parents in the middle of the meal and had to leave, with hundreds apologies on his lips.
“It’s not nonsense if it works,” Izuku gave him a pointed look. “Besides, it’s fun to be silly. You should try it sometimes.” A quite grunt was all he received in response. It was okay though because Izuku knew he understood.
They had been through a lot together. Whatever their relationship was at the time, friends, rivals, brothers, they were inseparable since kindergarten. They knew everything about each other, from the best to the worst.
“Sooo, I’ve been thinking – “ he tried but was quickly cut off.
“Don’t say it.”
“Oh, please. Like you haven’t been considering the same with Mina. We both know it could be good for him.”
Katsuki was leaning on the kitchen counter, arms crossed in front of his chest with a slightly irritated frown on his face. He kept quiet for few minutes, battling with himself and Izuku understood it wasn’t a matter of if he wanted to help their friends but if he could put up with two such chaotic characters under one roof. “Have you talked to him about it?”
He shook his head. “Not before you agreed.”
“Yeah, well, if we’re gonna do this we gotta decide soon. Our lease is up in two months and if we’re not staying here we have to – “
“I know, I’ve already did some res – “
“Of course.” With a deep sigh he pushed himself off of the counter and started walking towards his room. “Just send me the links.”
“Thank you Kacchan!” Izuku shouted after his friend, trying to contain his excitement but the blond only waved his hand over his shoulder dismissively and with a lazy yeah, yeah he was gone for the night.
* * *
He liked his job, he really did but Kyodakon’s bullshit policy of being employed by the store not the department itself was just that: utter bullshit. His direct boss, for better or for worse, was Nedzu – the head manager of Y department. He had the power to fire people and he decided on the work they were doing, which section you belonged at. And despite Enji being the boss of the place and everyone having to directly or indirectly answer to him, those simply weren’t his decisions. He could suggest, demand even, in extreme cases, but the final say always belonged to Nedzu.
He supposed they ought to be so lucky it was Enji now. That idiot Toshinori before him had only been interested in appearances, hadn’t been interested in the how, or more accurately how the fuck, as long as things had turned out the way he wanted them to. At least Enji was more practical, more hands on and Izuku guessed most of them thought that stick up his ass could be forgiven for that, even if his help limited to F so far.
Izuku didn’t mind helping out V every once in a while, or any other department for that matter, they were a team after all, but at that point everyone had to be against them. They just borrowed and borrowed and borrowed people from all over like they didn’t have their own responsibilities to take care of. With every trip to V his tasks piled up, more and more things were left undone and there wasn’t anyone to pick up the slack because there simply weren’t enough employees. And Izuku was being borrowed a lot recently. He wasn’t the only one so he couldn’t be bitter about it when everyone dealt with the same problem.
He just felt like he was on a war path every time he even came across one of the Vs. A growing silent hostility, so far restricted to passive aggressiveness born out of everyone’s frustration. Apparently company policy beats all the bosses.
Not even Hitoshi or Mei could ease his annoyance and they were the only good thing about V, they were his friends and it wasn’t their fault but they weren’t there right now.
He looked down at the just completed order summary and huffed irritated. Fuck it, he was going on a break. It was late enough anyway. He did a quick survey of his surroundings but couldn’t see any familiar faces (familiar meaning people he wanted to talk to, everyone was more or less familiar by then) and left the back storage for the main floor. It took him a few minutes of looking around before he spotted Ochaco.
She was taking something out of one of the freezers. Good, she wasn’t paying attention. He started walking her way, trying to avoid drawing any attention to himself. His steps more silent as he approached until he was right in front of her.
“Yo!” He greeted, slamming both of his hands on top of the freezer.
“Oh my god!” Ochaco jumped dropping the bag of frozen … he leaned over the freezer to get a better look. Pineapple? “Stop sneaking up on me!” She put one hand on her chest, probably to calm her racing heart, and started to hit him playfully with the other. “And stop scaring me like that!”
“Alright, alright! I’m sorry,” he couldn’t contain his amusement anymore. He weakly tried to defend himself but his stomach started to hurt from laughing and he needed to take a couple of steps back to calm down. “I’m sorry, I’ll try to behave.”
“Young man, I swear – “ Despite the threats there was fondness in her voice.
“Okay, okay,” Izuku held out his hands in defeat. “I promise I’ll go out of my way to try and not scare you anymore. Emphasis on you, of course,” he said the last part with a grin.
“Of course.” She might not have appreciated being frightened but she very much not minded watching others falling for Izuku’s antics. She even helped him and Kaminari pull some pranks every now and then.
“How’s it going over here?” He went around the freezer, picked up the forgotten pineapple and threw it in her cart.
“Don’t even start. Have you seen what’s going on in Y? And we’re still stuck here.”
“Yeah… Wanna go for a smoke?” Izuku wasn’t really a smoker. He definitely wasn’t addicted and not not addicted like people often say they weren’t. He could go months, years even without smoking a single cigarette. In his case it was genuinely a matter of choice. And he liked it occasionally. Liked how the smoke filled his chest, let him feel his lungs in a way even taking deep breaths of fresh air didn’t always allow to get that satisfying sense of fullness. Made him feel alive, to certain extent.
“What time is it?” Ochaco checked her watch. “Shit, I haven’t had my break yet.”
“Me neither. Come on, if we don’t go now we’ll skip it or stay too long again and then Ryuko’s gonna have words with us. Again.” He wasn’t really scared of Ryuko or particularly minded sitting through the lectures on clocking in and out of work on time. He tried his best to do so. He just couldn’t be bothered with her these days.
“Yeah. Just gimme a minute to take it out back.”
“Want some help?” He asked his already retreating friend.
“Nah, I’ll be right back.”
Ochaco and him made an unlikely pair of friends. She was a forty five mother of three. She was a simple person, really. Not stupid, just normal. Sometimes he thought she was the most normal person among them. She was there to do her job as best as she could, kept a good or neutral relationship with everybody and steered clear of any drama even if it somehow involved her. He did manage to rope her into some gossiping, they shared any news with each other as soon as they could talk at least semi privately. She could be a bit insecure though.
“I’m gonna ask Kaminari to move in with us,” he announced as they settled in their usual seats in the smoking room.
It wasn’t a big place, a few tables with chairs and a trash can. The walls and ceiling were yellow after years of soaking in the smoke and the space always looked downright foggy. Even the permanently open window didn’t help in clearing out the pollution.
“Oh? I didn’t know you guys are these close,” Ochaco said, taking out her cigarettes. She offered one to him but he wasn’t in the mood.
“I mean, I don’t know,” he shrugged. “He’s my friend and I just want to help him out if I can but ultimately it’s up to him.”
“That’s kind of you. You’re a good guy, Izuku.” She send him a gentle smile that soften her features even more.
“You still say that after all these heart attacks I gave you?” He teased and only received a puff of smoke in his face as an answer. A chuckle escaped him but his smile quickly fell away. He never considered himself a good person. Sure, there was a lot he was willing to do for the people he cared about but the rest … maybe it wasn’t the time for thinking about such things. “I’m weirdly nervous though.”
“That’s understandable. It’s a big thing you’re doing.” A bit of comfortable silence fell over them. If he had to describe people in colours she would be white. Like fresh snow, crispy and cold. Soothing. He never felt awkward around her. She was just easy. Everything seemed easy when he was with her, all his anxieties and nerves fell to the background if they didn’t outright disappear. He was also fairly certain she wasn’t aware of her calming effects on him. “So when are you asking him?” She finally spoke again.
“He’s got the morning shift so I’m going to try to catch him before we clock out. Can you wait for me? It shouldn’t take long.”
“Sure. I’m gonna head to the office before we leave anyway so we can go together.”
* * *
Five fifty three in the morning had them power walking back to their office.
“I told you not to take that last order,” he half yelled over his shoulder. Izuku wasn’t really angry with his friend, his irritation directed solely at V. “They always fucking to that,” he mumbled, turning his head back to look where he was going.
“Oi, come off me! How was I supposed to know?” She was almost running behind him, her short legs not being able to keep up with the fast pace. “Besides, you could have just let me finish it. You didn’t have to help me.”
He slowed down as they were nearing the office, letting her catch up. “You know I wouldn’t leave you there alone,” he lowered his voice as they entered. “I’m not upset with you anyway. Just remember that they always play dirty.”
There were already a few people inside, either during or awaiting their morning debrief. He pushed past Ibara and Koji, presumably discussing football again, way to close to the entrance. He didn’t pay them much attention apart from shooting a quick hello and a smile. His focus already on the blond standing next to the first desk.
Their office wasn’t particularly spacious. The whole room was digital C shaped, a ridiculous design if you asked him. The door wasn’t even at the middle of the ‘bottom’ wall but off centre to the right. In front of the door stood four storage cabinets containing cleaning supplies, work aids such as gloves, pens, box cutters and scissors, first aid kit and the most important one holding coffee, tea and snacks.
The opposite corner was the only spot giving the room any kind of illusion of openness. There was a table with a few chairs and a water dispenser right behind them. They usually used it for smaller meetings and unofficial breaks. That common area was partially separated from the rest of the room by another, smaller cabinet with spare paper and ink and the office printer on top of it. Behind it was the first in a row of three desks located along the ‘middle’ wall.
Every employee could use whichever desk they wanted to or usually whichever was unoccupied at the moment but everyone knew the first one belonged to Nedzu, second was Ryuko, third was Hizashi. The fourth desk was situated at the ‘top’, somewhat hidden by the wall. Shouta’s desk. There was a tiny bit of free space right next to it, particularly good if you needed a minute to yourself.
The walls were decorated with cork and white boards with all sorts of documents and remainders pinned to them.
He walked up to Kaminari, stopping on his left, his right side already occupied by Kendo. Unusually at the first desk was Shouta, discussing something with Shindo who was sitting next to him. He took a second to stare at the older man before hooking an arm on Denki’s neck and trying for a whisper. “Hey, can I talk to you for a minute?”
Judging by his younger friend’s startled reaction he must have been spacing out again. “Sure,” he nodded.
They begun to turn around when a deep voice stopped them, causing Izuku to look back, his hand falling from the blond’s shoulder.
“Is it work related?” Shouta asked. That man was like a bloodhound for slacking off. Gods only knew how he did it but he could sniff out anything irrelevant to work, especially if he was in a bad mood. You could take a second to check your phone and suddenly he would appear behind you, ready to scold you. So, he could be strict, sure but first shifts were notoriously stressful for everybody. He could be a lot of fun too, although majority would disagree with him on that.
“Nooo.” A but hanging between them but both of them knew an actual explanation wouldn’t come.
“And for some reason it can’t wait?”
“If it could it would.” Izuku shrugged. “Good morning, by the way, what are you doing so close to people?” He teased, “who let you out of your corner?”
“Have you ever considered showing your elders some respect?” Shouta rotated his chair to face him fully. “Besides, you’re saying it like I’m banished.”
“I respect you enough to bother you,” he winked but the older man just shook his head in exasperation. “And it would be more like self banishment. Didn’t you jump at the first opportunity to claim that desk for yourself?”
“Don’t you have somewhere else to be, problem child?”
“You keep calling me that but I feel like I solve a lot of problems around here.” He held out his hands in protest.
“It doesn’t count if you also create problems on purpose.” Shouta stood up and put his hands on Izuku’s shoulders, easily turning him around. “Now, don’t you have a supposedly very important meeting to attend to?”
“Touche.” He let himself being pushed for a couple of steps before retaking agency of his movement again. “In fact I do. Farewell to you and try not to miss me too much.” He skipped out of the office before he could be smacked on his head, grabbing Kaminari along the way.
“So, what’s up?” The blond asked once they were outside.
“Okay, well, the thing is, we – Katsuki and I, we’ve been talking.” He was suddenly stressed again.
“Yeah?” His nervousness must have been showing on his face because his friend was also looking a bit unsure of himself.
“You’re welcome to say no, of course and Kachan agreed and you wouldn’t be the only one, Mina would join us, she’s Kachan’s friend, now to think about it it’s weird you’ve never met – “
“Stop. Stop, I don’t understand.” Kaminari seemed even more lost.
Izuku took a deep breath. “Would you like to move in with us?”
“Oh, for a second I thought you were going to say I can’t come over anymore …” he trailed off with relief.
“What? No! Of course not!” Did they ever give him an impression they didn’t want him around anymore? Izuku quickly tried to think of any recent situations that could lead him to this conclusion but couldn’t remember anything. Katsuki could be temperamental, sure, but Izuku knew he liked his friends just fine, otherwise he would have thrown a tantrum a long time ago, demanding them gone from their flat.
“Wait, you want me to move in with you?” Kaminari asked with disbelief in his voice.
“Yeah, like, there’s not much space right now but our lease is up in couple of months and we can find some place new to rent. Somewhere bigger – if you don’t want to, it’s fine. It was only a suggestion – “
“I’d love to.”
“Yeah?”
Denki only nodded, a small smile on his lips that only made Izuku grin in response.
“That’s great.” He looked down on his phone to check the time. Shit, it was already quarter past six. “Look, I – I gotta go now but could you come over later? We could talk details and look at some places.”
“Yeah, sure. See you later.”
With one last look at the blond he turned around and hurried upstairs.