Chapter Text
Izuku gets his allowance and saves it all year long for merch. For his birthday and christmas, he receives merch. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
But his online rival SirMight60 keeps goading him. SirMight60 always has the newest collections, the oldest posters, the best All Might themed kitchen appliances.
When Izuku got a waffle press that presses waffles into the shape of All Might’s face, SirMight60 got one to keep in box and one to use. When Izuku finally got his hands on the rare 5 year anniversary All Might shot glasses, including the speciality silver age variant, SirMight60 has three boxes of them. When Izuku breaks into the factory building and gets the hundred out of hundred limited young age All Might blanket, number 001, SirMight60 has number 000.
All Might merchandise is expensive. The older, the rarer, the less quantity, the more it costs. Midoriya Izuku is no stranger towards paying an arm and a leg for it.
Izuku does not have the 10 year anniversary All Might poster. He would have to stop buying new releases, and it would still cost two years of his allowance. Mom already works double shifts regularly at the hospital.
Do you know who does have the 10 year anniversary All Might poster? SirMight60 does, and he makes sure that Izuku knows it. It was his profile picture for a year. His banner on the collectors forum is a picture of it, still!
So, Izuku has a plan. He WILL be getting that poster, or someone will die trying. He’d probably be the one dying, but still. He must have it. And how does Izuku get more money, you ask?
By applying to work at McDonald’s. Izuku fills out his application to McDonald’s and hits send. Gotta pay for all that All Might merch somehow, right? Good thing McDonald’s is one of the places that still hires quirkless people.
—
Izuku’s application has gone through and he was accepted, without interview. He walks through the glass doors, a beep signifying his entrance into his local McDonald’s. He approaches the side of the counter and waits, observing what’s happening. There’s one cashier manning all three registers with full lines. Someone keeps running back and forth between the two drive-thru windows, mop still in hand. There’s loud screaming and or sobbing coming from the kitchen. The person at the windows notices him, and runs over.
“Hey! You’re Mimoria, right? You applied yesterday, I’m Yamaguchi: manager. Your uniform is in the back, locker four and then get on the register!” The blue-haired woman rushes out and pushes him behind the counter, towards what he’s assuming is the direction of the locker room.
Okay, Izuku did apply but what if he wasn’t the person who applied? He knows this is McDonald’s, security isn’t exactly the best but, what if he was a villain who could control burgers or something? Also, his name is Midoriya.
Izuku scrambles to change in the bathrooms, into an all black shirt and black hat with the logo on it. He wore his black jeans here, skinny variant since that’s what the acceptance email told him to do. Looking in the mirror briefly, he notices his name tag is wrong. It says “Midmeria” instead of “Midoriya.” Shrugging, he quickly heads towards the register. The person beside him looks relieved that he’s here, and introduces themselves.
“Hey! I’m Akagi Hana, so basically you just press what they want and hit ‘send order!’ There’s an hour left of my shift so if you have any questions I can answer them!” Izuku is promptly shoved in front of register three, and begins taking orders.
“H-h-hi.” Well. That’s not what Izuku meant to say. He tries again.
“W-welcome to Midoriya I’m M-m-mcdonald’s can I t-take your order please?” Damn, Izuku forgot how nervous he gets when speaking. That sounded like he was on the verge of tears. Oh wait, he is on the verge of tears. He should’ve thought more about actually working and less about how much All Might merch he can buy when applying.
The customer looks at him strangely for a minute, due to his introduction, and then rattles off his order. “I’ll have two number 9s, a number 9 large, a number 7, two number 45s, one with cheese, and a large soda.”
And now Izuku is panicking. He doesn’t know the number combos for meals! The screen of the register doesn’t tell him either! He looks over to Akagi, trying to mentally communicate his struggle. She’s busy arguing with a woman at register one about how the ice cream machine is broken. Looks like he’s on his own here for a second. Izuku smiles at the customer.
“Uh, sir, could you please repeat that back to me? You said two number 9s and...” Izuku keeps asking the man to repeat his order, and then Izuku repeats it back to him with one item missing, or the wrong number combo. Yeah, Izuku remembered what he said the first time but he doesn’t know WHAT those are. He can’t input what he doesn’t know!
Five minutes pass of this happening. The man looks like he’s about to punch Izuku in the face. Izuku has tears running down his face. He is seconds away from a sob. Finally, Akagi notices his struggle.
“Oh, I almost forgot!” Akagi squints at his name tag. “Midmeria! Here’s a sheet showing all the combos.” She slides a paper over to him. Izuku all but throws his fist at the screen, immediately bashing down the buttons to input the combos.
“Your order will be ready in 10 minutes sir! Thank you!” Izuku literally jumps over to register two, the woman in front of him startles.
“WELCOME TO MCDONALD’S, IM MIDORIYA, CAN I HAVE YOUR ORDER PLEASE?” Izuku screams at the woman, his eyes pleading for her to reply.
“Can I get two big macs and...” Izuku spends the next hour bouncing between register three and two, while Akagi does the same with register two and one. He’s had very few errors. A couple soda mixups, bags switched, missing fries in one with random fries in another, and at one point an order from a group of teenagers that was so long the cash register froze. Akagi was pretty helpful with fixing the register. Izuku thinks he is doing pretty well for his first day.
The clock in the corner of the room chimes. It’s 6pm now. His first hour of working has now passed, and Akagi is officially off duty.
Hell begins.
Izuku is in a tug of war match with a woman, this bag is NOT hers. It’s for one of the delayed drive-thru orders! They’re sitting in the parking lot, waiting for Izuku to run out their food, and Izuku is currently trying to get a woman to let go of it. An old man waiting in line one is literally asleep. Behind him, a woman is trying to console her two crying kids who want different happy meal toys. In line three, a woman is screaming at him. Demanding to know if the ice cream machine works.
“Ma‘am, please! This bag isn’t yours! Yours is coming right up.” Izuku is pulling the bag towards him. He refuses to let go. He won’t have this.
“It has to be my order! Let go, kid!”
“It’s not yours! Please just wait!” The bag tears. Izuku feels like the world is in slow motion. Fries fly into the sky. A stray piece of salt hits his eye. Burgers unwrap and fall to the floor. The woman lets go of the bag, and Izuku is thrown into the cabinets behind him.
Izuku’s eye is burning. Tears are falling freely from that eye. Yamaguchi slides the woman’s actual order over. He lets her know he needs a remake of the drive-thru’s order.
Grabbing the bag, he faces the woman and screams “IT’S YOUR BAG, ISN’T IT?” He slams the bag into her chest. The woman glares at him. Haha, jokes on her. It’s nothing like a Kacchan glare. “I WILL BE SPEAKING TO YOUR MANAGER... MIDMERIA!” The woman slams the glass door behind her as she leaves, waking up the sleeping old man.
As peaceful as a busy McDonald’s can be, Izuku takes his order. That’s solved quickly. The ice cream machine lady got so mad she left. He gets the two crying children different toys. He runs the drive-thru order out to the car.
They roll their window down and throw a sprite at him. They speed off. Izuku now has salt in one eye and sprite all over him. Izuku walks back into the establishment. He sweeps up the fries and burgers from the torn bag.
He takes orders from all lines. Running around like a chicken with his head cut off. You get a Big Mac! You get a McChicken! You get a Filet-O-Fish! Izuku feels like that pre-quirk lady, Oprah.
This goes on for hours until finally, it’s 9pm. Walk ins are no longer an option, he locks the doors. He’s safe now. His own reflection is seen on the glass. Gazing into his own eyes, he sees lifeless eyes look back.
The sprite has dried over the hours. Yamaguchi throws a headset over his head. “You’ll be doing payment at window one, and cooking in the back! Get to it, Mikornia!”
Izuku can say he doesn’t mind drive-thru payments as much. The headset is hurts his ears a bit and it’s kinda hard to hear what people are ordering, but it’s better than manning three registers at once.
Walking into the kitchen, he introduces himself to a tall man with pink hair. The man is crying while flipping burgers. He can hear the sizzle of each tear as it falls onto the stovetop.
“Hey, I’m Nakaya Hinata. There’s a binder that tells you what to do on the counter.” Nakaya sniffles and then shrugs his shoulder in the direction of the counter. Izuku skims through it quickly. Looking at the screen above him, he realizes he needs to deep fry some fries.
Taking orders from the headset, cooking, and running to the window is hard. Izuku’s pretty sure he’s been burnt twenty times by a stray drop of grease sizzling up. Maneuvering around someone else with hot utensils and food is a challenge. He understands why Nakaya has been crying this whole time.
While making sure another round of fries don’t burn, seriously it’s like you constantly need to be making them, he runs over to the payment window. Opening it, he asks. “Cash or credit?”
A man sneers at him. “Is your ice cream machine broken?”
“Sorry sir, it is.” And those four words are how Izuku gets into a screaming match with a man insisting it’s not broken. He’s hanging halfway out the window, pointing his finger in the mans face.
The man bites his finger. Midoriya Izuku, age fourteen, Mcdonald’s employee, just had his finger bitten by a man who is at least two times his age.
After that whole... ordeal. Izuku continues his tasks robotically. Take order. Swipe card. Take cash, give change. Make fries. Wrap burger. Put in bag.
It’s now 10pm. Things are slowing down. He unmutes his headset and speaks his lines.
“Hi, welcome to Mcdonald’s, how may I help you today?” He’s greeted by silence. Not a peep comes from this person. Nothing is uttered between them. Not even a breath to be heard.
A feminine voice screams at him.
“IS THAT MY LITTLE ZUZU! MY LITTLE ZUZU IS GROWING UP!” Oh god. It’s Auntie. Izuku’s eyes dart over to the calendar. It’s a Wednesday, that’s Auntie’s cheat day. Midoriya Izuku is about to take Auntie’s McDonald’s order. He just wanted All Might merch, he didn't know it was this bad.
“GET ME A BIG MAC WITH NO PICKLES, EXTRA CHEESE. Masaru honey, what would you like?” Oh god. Uncle is with her too. Is... is Kacchan in the car? Is Izuku about to take Kacchan, Bakugou Katsuki’s, Mcdonald’s order? Is this a nightmare?
He can faintly hear uncle’s voice reply. Auntie repeats what he said into the intercom. “ADD A MCCHICKEN WITH EXTRA PICKLES, EXTRA LETTUCE. MASARU SAYS HI, ZUZU!” Izuku inputs their orders, muting his microphone to take a deep breath. Unmuting, he asks the fated question.
“Is there anything else you wou-“
“SHITRAG! WHADDYA WANT!?!” “DON’T YELL AT ME SHITTY WOMAN!” He hears a smack. “SPEAK TO YOUR MOTHER WITH RESPECT, ASSHOLE!” He hears a foot kick the seat. “I’LL DO WHAT I WANT! TEN PIECE NUGGET!”
The voices. The fucking voices. They’re ringing through his head. He really just took Kacchan’s order. Oh god. Izuku contemplates jumping through the window and making a run for it. His thoughts are interrupted by the noise of movement.
“ADD A TEN PIECE NUGGET FOR KATSUKI, YOU CAN POSION IT IF YOU WANT! AND Are drinks still a dollar?”
“Yes Auntie.”
“A large coke and two sweet unsweetened ice teas!”
“Alright, please pull around to the first window. Your total is...” Izuku replies with the total. He hears Auntie Mitsuki pull around before he sees her. The car stops with a screeching brake. Izuku turns around, and his eyes are assaulted by flashing lights. Auntie is taking pictures of him.
“Aww my little ZuZu! His first big boy job!” Izuku can barely see, but he’s knows for sure Kacchan is glaring at him. Or maybe that’s what the blinding lights are. Or maybe Izuku is finally going towards the light.
He takes their payment, and Auntie coos at him. Uncle waves, Izuku tries to smile and wave back. It comes out as more of a grimace. Haha, like that pre-quirk McDonald’s guy. His eyes are assaulted by more flashes. They pull forward.
Izuku closes the window and slides down to the floor. He can still hear the Bakugou family voices. Or maybe that’s them screaming at his manager. He just wanted All Might merch, he didn’t think McDonald’s was gonna be this bad. Why is there only one McDonald’s nearby? Is a pro hero gonna show up one day, maybe throw another sprite at Izuku? Maybe punch him in the kidney for getting their order wrong?
What if Endeavor shows up one day? Izuku is covered in far too much grease to piss him off. This place would light up like a firework. What if Kacchan comes back, and decides to explode Izuku? This whole building would come down. The last thing he sees before he dies is Kacchan’s face, glaring at him. He doesn’t wanna die smelling like fries and soda!He’d be buried under McDonald’s rubble with no All Might merchandise to show for his work.
A beep signifies another person has pulled up to the intercom. Hopefully they don’t scream like Auntie Mitsuki did. Back to the mundaneness of working the drive-thru.
The clock hits 11pm. Izuku’s shift should be finished for the night. He begins to take off his headset. Yamaguchi slides up.
“Hey! Misdoren! Sorry about this, but the late night girl quit and we really need you to stick around until Chiba can clock in at 2. You good with working overtime? Great! Thanks!”
Izuku didn’t even have time to reply. He didn’t even comprehend what was said until it was too late to dispute. Sighing, he fixes his headset and heads back into the kitchen.
Nakaya is somehow still crying. Izuku is starting to get concerned that he’ll be dehydrated at this rate. Or that the poor guy will quit and Izuku will have to face the customers with only three people. A shiver goes down his spine just from the thought. He can’t have that happening, he needs to do something!
“Hey Nakaya? I’m gonna grab a soda, would you like a drink?” Izuku looks at Nakaya. Nakaya turns towards him, slowly. So slowly, it’s ominous. He has tear stains and plenty of tears flowing to create new ones.
“A bottle of tequila.”
Izuku... doesn’t know what to do about that. Walking to the drink machine at the second window, he briefly waves to Yamaguchi and motions to the drink machine. Ah, she’s taking someone’s order.
He grabs himself a sprite with no ice, and a water with lots of ice for Nakaya. Izuku knows for a fact that it’s really hot back in the kitchen. He waits for the cups to fill up. Yamaguchi’s finished taking the customers order over the intercom.
“Now that it’s slow, what do I do?” Izuku asks her. He grabs both drinks and shoves straws through them.
“Well, you can mop the floors, clean the tables, take the trash out back. All that fun stuff!” She briskly replies back.
“Oh! I can do that. Uh.. Also, my names not ‘Midmeria.’ It’s Midoriya, sorry?” Theres really no better time to mention it, even if it sounds more like a question.
“I’ll print you a new name tag tomorrow, it’ll be waiting in your locker, kid.” He nods his head at her and leaves with a smile. Walking back to the kitchen with drinks in hand, he thinks about his coworkers. Overall, they seem pretty nice! Sure, they’re a bit overworked and rushed. Yeah, of them hasn’t called him by his actual name the entire time he’s been here. But one answered any questions he had! But also, one of them has not stopped crying or sobbing loudly his entire shift.
Speaking of sobbing, Izuku turns the corner into the kitchen and looks at Nakaya. He places the boys drink on the counter. Nakaya appears to be super grateful for it, hopefully he doesn’t abandon Izuku by quitting.
Sipping his soda, Izuku looks around for a mop. He... he really hasn’t had any formal training, huh? He’s broken so many health codes. He doesn’t even know what those health codes are! Cleaning cart found, mop in hand, bucket full, he wheels it out to the main area and begins.
He can confidently say that in twenty years when he’s well into his pro hero career, he’ll have nightmares about this place. Filled with beeps signifying a new customer has pulled up to the intercom, he’ll be feeling phantom pains of a grown man biting his finger and salt in his eye. He’ll hear their screams for McFlurries and how the ice cream machine isn’t actually broken, he’s just lazy, he should be fired. Women barking at him to speak to his manager. Kacchan’s voice ringing throughout his head with a mantra of “TEN PIECE NUGGETS, TEN PIECE NUGGETS.”
He’s finished the dining area. The color of the water is downright nasty. He stares into it. He doesn't want to empty it. The cleaning cart has window cleaner and a rag. Guess that’s what he’ll do next.
Unlocking the first door, he heads into second the entrance area. For some reason the entrances have two doors that patrons need to walk through like a quarantine. He sighs and sprays the window, rubbing his rag in circular motions.
There’s so many handprints. He kneels down, seeing as there’s thousands of child handprints all over. Izuku has never been happier that this McDonald’s doesn’t have a play place. He thinks he would’ve quit on the spot. He can handle grease burns and screaming matches, but if he had to clean a children’s ball pit? He would run away. In a few years, will the news be ‘Pro Hero Midoriya Izuku found breaking hundreds of health and safety code violations at his Mcdonald’s job,’ would his career be over from that?
He stands up and is startled by eyes looking directly at him through the glass. They’re way too close, and Izuku is just making awkwardly long prolonged eye contact with this person. Is the store getting robbed? Is Izuku gonna die on his first shift?
“OPEN THE DOOR!” Izuku was mostly joking about the robbing thing but this doesn’t look good for him.
“S-s-sorry sir! We’re closed r-right now!”
“OPEN. THE. DOOR.” The man bangs on the glass with each word.
“D-dri-drive thru is still open, sir!”
“I’LL GET IN MYSELF!” The man has taken off running around the building. Aren’t robber supposed to say what they want? Is he gonna... try to climb through the drive-thru window... Did Izuku encourage this..? He should probably stop that. He grabs the mop as he leaves.
Running towards the back, he slams the payment window shut and locked. Off to the next window, he’s too late. The man is currently trying to climb through while Yamaguchi is backed away with fear on her face.
Izuku hasn’t dropped the mop, or the window spray. He’s gonna be a hero. Heroes protect civilians, protect their coworkers. He swings the mop up and starts jabbing at the man with the handle.
“Sir! When I said the drive-thru is open, I meant for taking orders! Not to come in!” Izuku jams the handle at the mans ribs.
The man just... he just growls at him and continues trying to get in. It’s actually a bit embarrassing how bad the man is at climbing, the windows are above the ground a bit more but this is just really un-athletic. Would Izuku do any better at climbing in the window? Why would Izuku be breaking into a Mcdonald’s at 12:42am, though? Maybe if All Might was inside... Focus! There is a man trying to break in!
He jabs the man particularly hard in the ribs, and the man cries out in pain. The man is trying harder now. Izuku sprays him in the face with cleaning solution. The man slumps over in defeat. Izuku pokes at his head. The man doesn’t move. He pushes the man out of the window. A thump is heard as he drops onto the ground and begins growling.
He closes the window and locks it. The man springs up and starts banging on the window. He turns towards Yamaguchi to speak.
“Are you alright? He didn’t hurt you?” Concern bleeds heavily through Izuku’s voice.
“He didn’t, thank you kid. Do you know what he wants?” She looks him in the eyes.
Izuku admits remorsefully that he doesn’t know.
“I’ll call the police. Red button turns the sign off, just keep cleaning up. Let Nakaya know he can stop cooking and start cleaning for now.”
Izuku tells Nakaya, handing over his improvised weaponry, and sets off to empty the mop bucket. The police handcuff the man and take the employee statements. Izuku is first since he was most involved. No charges are held against him since it was in self defense.
As the clock strikes 2am, Izuku is locking the doors behind him. Off to head home. His legs feel like they weigh an extra fifty pounds. His feet ache like he’s been standing for a thousand years. He still has teeth indents on his finger. But Izuku Midoriya feels accomplished. His first McDonald’s shift is, finally, now over.