"You're late, Bakugo."

Katsuki waved off his manager as he bypassed the counter to head back into the staff only area to change into his uniform. It was 5:55 AM and the last thing Katsuki cared about was a scolding from Iida Tenya and his high punctuality standards. As long as he was on the service line by 6 AM what did it matter what time he rolled into the coffee shop?

Not bothering to fight an oncoming yawn, Katsuki dressed unceremoniously for work. Why did he agree to take the morning shifts again? Katsuki had never been a morning person and waking up before the sun was hell on earth. He needed the extra shifts, though, and the mornings brought in more customers who were tired and generous with their tips.

"Morning, Bakugo!" The staff room door swung open to reveal an all too chipper Kirishima Eijiro. Eijiro's overly cheerful mood only soured Katsuki's even more. How can someone be so awake before 10 AM? "Didn't think you would actually agree to take the first shift," Eijrio swung an arm over Katsuki's shoulders. "You must really want the new Pro Hero Fighter X game."

Shrugging off Eijiro's arm, Katsuki finished wrapping his apron around his waist. "It's too fucking early for your cheer, shitty hair." Eijiro just laughed-too damn loud for 6 AM-before stepping aside to let Katsuki led them out the door towards the front. Eijiro never took anything Katsuki said seriously, especially if it was before his normal shift of 11AM. The blond was always nastier to people before noon, but it was always just hot air.

"Bakugo you're on the line with Kaminari-san," Tenya said as soon as he spotted the two boys approach from the back. "Kirishima-san, back on register." Both answered in the affirmative before begrudgingly taking their stations. It wasn't too long after that a small rush of people started to filter into the shop.

Thankfully, the small coffee shop was situated on a moderately busy street with quite a few businesses surrounding it. A college, a high school, and a nearby community park also helped to keep business flowing within the shop at all hours. The only real competition was a chain store further down the street and a longer walk away from the schools and park. Grated, this meant a good portion of the white-collar working customers went to the competition but the little shop Katsuki worked at had longevity on its side. The coffee shop-Yuuei Brews-had been around for nearly 50 years at this point, so it was hard pressed to find a person on the street who hadn't tried the shop's signature coffee by this point.

Katsuki breathed a small sigh as he realized the morning rush wouldn't dissipate for a while yet. It was a Wednesday morning, after all; the second busiest day of the week after Mondays. He had futilely hoped that he could take his break earlier and sneak in a nap. "Medium caramel frappuccino with extras," Eijiro called to Katsuki and passed him a slip with the full order details. Katsuki pinned it to the espresso machine next to the other orders in the queue.

'Extra sweetener, extra caramel, two extra shots of espresso, AND two pumps of chocolate drizzle? This person sees diabetes as a life goal.' Katsuki grimaced as he prepared the order. He just didn't understand how some people could drink so much sugar.

"Yo, Bakugo!" Kaminari Denki practically ran into Katsuki in attempt to snatch the current order from him. "Gimmie that one, dude, I'll handle it!"

Katsuki grunted from the invasion of his space, extending the cup away from Denki as he reached for it. "What the fuck? Hell no! Why would I give you this, you have your own orders to finish!"

"Aw, come on, man!" Denki whined as he not so subtly tried to reach for the cup as Katsuki expertly played keep-away. "I need to hand that one out! That's the hot chick's order! I always fill her order!"

"Like I give a shit!" Katsuki hissed as he shoved Denki back towards his area of the station. "Now hurry it up, we got people waiting!" Denki pouted and muttered something distinctly like 'cock blocker' under his breath, which Katsuki deliberately chose to ignore. He placed the lid on the overly sugary drink once he finished preparing it and glanced at the order name before taking it to the pick up counter. "Caramel frap for Uraraka?"

A tiny woman pushed her way to the front of the crowd surrounding the counter, her shoulder-length brown hair catching Katsuki's eye. Her adorable powder pink skirt and gray off the shoulder blouse being the next thing that alarmed him to her presence. "That's me!" Her rather cheerful voice didn't shock Katsuki in the slightest. It fit her. She took her drink from him and gave him a small smile before thanking him and heading to one of the small tables on the other end of the shop. Katsuki's eye followed her all the while.

"I swear, she gives me life!" Denki popped up next to Katsuki and swooned as he watched Uraraka as she sat down. "Only reason the morning shift is worth it, my dude. Be grateful, because I usually hand her her coffee!" Katsuki rolled his eyes before shoving Denki aside and heading back to the espresso machine to work on the next order. Denki's girl-obsessed ways were always a thorn in Katsuki's side. The ogling always interfered with everyone's work flow and efficiency would always suffer for it and one thing Katsuki hated most was having to redo orders while dealing with contrite customers.

The rest of the day went on rather uneventfully, the usual joking and work silliness aside. Although, Katsuki couldn't help but notice the woman in the pink skirt hadn't moved from her table for quite a few hours now. Was she a freelancer? Loiterer? Maybe stood up for a date? Shaking that train of thought out of his head, Katsuki continued with cleaning up his station for the afternoon shift.

"Bakugo," Tenya called from the staff room, "Take over cleaning the front. Kaminari is clocking out." Nodding to let Tenya know he heard, Katsuki headed to the back closet to grab some wash rags and a broom. Placing the broom against the counter, he began bussing tables as customers left them. If he kept the brunette woman in the peripheral of his vision, no one was none the wiser.

After a few minutes, though, Katsuki foresaw a disaster in the making in the form of Denki. The idiot blond had changed out of his uniform and was awkwardly making his way over to the woman in pink. 'This is gonna be interesting. How bad is this dumbass gonna crash and burn?'

Denki tapped on the woman's shoulder, startling the poor girl out of whatever workflow she had going on her tablet. She took out her earbuds rather hesitantly and Katsuki inwardly grimaced. Strike one: never interrupt someone who obviously doesn't want to be disturbed. Seemingly without permission, Denki dropped himself into the seat next to her and the woman subtly leaned away from him. Strike two: never invade space without consent.

Katsuki, feeling sorry for the poor woman, put down his rag and prepared to head over to extract Denki from the woman's presence. Before he could, though, the shop's front door chimed and Katsuki saw the woman's body language change at the sight of the new arrival.

"Deku! You're late!" Katsuki held back a chuckle at how desperate the woman sounded. Denki had no idea about this woman's disinterest, did he?

"Sorry Uraraka-san," the green haired man-Deku-said as he greeted her with a hand on her shoulder as he slid into the seat next to her opposite Denki. "Yagi-san and Aizawa-san wanted to go over the last round of reviews before this afternoon's meeting." Finally noticing Denki, Deku gave him an awkward smile. "Hello? Are you a friend of Uraraka-san's?"

Katsuki took that as his cue to intercept. He rushed over to the table and dragged Denki out of his chair by the back of his shirt collar. "Hell no, he's not. This idiot was just leaving." Ignoring Deku and the woman's reactions, Katsuki shoved Denki towards the shop entrance.

"What the hell, Bakugo!?" Denki maneuvered himself out of Katsuki's grip and turned to glare at him. "I was working my charm!"

Katsuki snorted, "You were working your way to a restraining order, dumbass. Besides, you just saw...she's got a boyfriend!"

Denki pouted, obviously in denial. "We don't know that! He could just be a co-worker...or friend...or maybe a cousin?"

"With how handsy he was? Get your head out of your ass," Katsuki hissed. "Be thankful it was me who hauled your ass out of there and not fucking Iida." The color drained from Denki's face in horror. "Exactly. Now go home and learn how to read fucking body language." Ending the conversation with that, Katsuki shoved Denki out the door and turned to return to bussing tables.

The woman and her green haired companion chatted for a bit longer while Katsuki tuned them out as he continued his work. Thirty minutes or so later, when he had moved on to sweeping, the two had rose from their seats to leave. Deku had gone on ahead while the woman-Uraraka, Katsuki remembered-lingered behind in thought. As if she made up her mind, she walked over to Katsuki with a determined look on her face.

"Thanks," she said abruptly once she stopped in front of him. "For earlier, I mean. I don't know how I would've explained such an awkward situation to Deku."

Katsuki waved off her thanks, "that idiot had it coming. He apparently has been eyeing you for a while."

"Yeah...I know." She looked away rather frustrated. "I've been rebuking him for months. I didn't think he'd actually approach me like that."

"Yeah, well, at least now he's gotten the message and your boyfriend is none the wiser." Katsuki rested both of his hands on the top of his broom and rested his weight forward, letting the broom support him. "He seems like the flighty type when it comes to other dudes."

Blood rushed to Uraraka's cheeks as she shook her head in the negative. "Oh no, no! Deku isn't my...we just…" Katsuki smirked at her and couldn't help but call this tiny woman anything but cute. "Ah...he's an old friend and technically my boss. We've never crossed that line."

Unable to resist the urge to tease, Katsuki leaned in towards her a tad as his smirk widened. "Sounds like you wanna cross that line, though." As her face got redder, so did Katsuki's desire to tease her. "You could do worse than that flighty kid, though, I gotta admit."

Uraraka snorted a small laugh, "you mean like your friend from earlier?" Katsuki's eyebrow rose at that. "No offense to him, but I'm definitely not interested. I like guys with a little more fire to them."

"And flighty freckled Deku has fire?" Katsuki snickered, "could have fooled me with how timid he was rolling up in here."

Uraraka gasped in offense. "For your information, Deku is very passionate! He's one of the top associates in my firm and he fought tooth and nail for it!"

Holding his hands up slightly in fake defense, Katsuki's smirk didn't falter. "Whatever you say, round face. I'll take your word for it."

"Round face!?" Uraraka definitely looked rankled by that nickname. "Are you calling me fat!? You have a lot of nerve to insult a stranger! And here I thought you were nice!"

Katsuki waved off her offense, "I didn't call you fat, so calm your tits. I just call it like I see it. You got that baby-face thing going on." Giving her a quick once over, his smirk turned slightly predatory. "Besides, nothing wrong with curves. Definitely gets a man to stop and appreciate."

Eyes widening in shock, Uraraka crossed her arms. "You...you're no better than your friend! I should have known!" Turning on her heel, Uraraka began to storm her way out of the shop.

Katsuki shrugged as he watched her leave. "Never said I was a saint. I just don't think you should settle if you got a body like that." Uraraka paused her step and turned to him with a scowl on her face. Katsuki took that as his cue to continue. "If that Deku dude don't see the catch that you seem to be, then you got every right to move on. Why settle for that brat when you got the world to pick from?"

Uraraka's scowl didn't let up; she just stared, sizing Katsuki up. After a beat, she turned away from him and continued her way out of the shop without so much as a goodbye. Katsuki watched her until she left, then straightened his posture and continued his work. The morning shifts were definitely interesting.

OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO

"Yo, Bakugo!" Eijiro greeted Katsuki as the blond took his spot at the register. "Why didn't you tell me you talked to the hot chick yesterday that Kaminari's been eyeing?"

"Good fucking morning, shitty hair," Katsuki ignored the question, "it's still too early for your damn cheer."

Eijiro just laughed and patted Katsuki on the shoulder, "honestly it's about time Kaminari got what was coming to him. He was practically harassing the girl every morning she comes in." He wiped off his apron out of habit before doing mental inventory checks as he continued. "She seems nice, so I'm glad you and her boyfriend put a stop to it."

"Apparently he's not her boyfriend," Katsuki deadpanned, "she just hated dumbass Kaminari."

Eijiro howled in laughter at that. "What the heck!? That's perfect! Dude was so lame and creepy that he pushed her away! He can't even use the 'she had a boyfriend' excuse!" Katsuki snickered, Eijiro's laugh being rather contagious. The two were so lost in their amusement that they didn't hear the front door open, letting in another coffee-deprived customer.

"Aw, I want to be in on the joke!" The feminine voice stopped both boys in their tracks. Finally paying attention to their surroundings, they noticed Uraraka was standing at the counter with a smile on her face that was so sweet it was bordering on malicious. Eijiro coughed into his hand to regain his composure, while Katuski's smirk never let up.

"Sorry about that, miss." Eijiro turned towards her, his work façade in full swing. "Uh...how can we help you?"

"Just my usual caramel frap," She said all too sweetly before pointing at Katsuki rather aggressively. The blond jumped a bit in shock, his smirk falling at the accusing finger. "And I'd like a moment of his time."

"Ha?" Katsuki was confused beyond reason. Why would Uraraka want to talk to him? After how she stormed off yesterday, he expected her to avoid him like the plague for the rest of the week. "What the fuck for, round face? I'm working!"

Eijiro blinked looking between the two. Oh, something definitely had happened yesterday and Eijiro was loving this development. If only Kaminari was scheduled today! Ringing up Uraraka's order, he then proceeded to shove Katsuki out from behind the counter. "If you can beat the smugness off of him, the drink is on me." She giggled a bit at that, thanking Eijiro as she waited for Katsuki to round the counter towards her.

The blond was scowling the entire time, even after she got her drink and led them to one of the small tables in the corner. "I wanted to say sorry." Ok, Katsuki wasn't expecting an apology, that's for sure. "I made some rude assumptions about you, especially after you helped me get rid of your stalker-friend-"

"First, he ain't my friend." Katsuki sneered. "Second, why the fuck are you apologizing? If you didn't notice, I was hitting on you." The deadpan look Uraraka gave him would have sent chills down the spine of stronger men. It was a look that said "no shit, now shut up" without any verbiage necessary. The word 'spitfire' described this woman perfectly, if Katsuki had any say in it.

"Believe me, I noticed," she replied flatly. "Completely inappropriate and downright invasive as well. I could tell you have about as much experience with women as your stalker-friend does." Katsuki opened his mouth to retort, but she interrupted him before he could speak. "But you have some semblance of social skills, unlike him. And...you weren't wrong about some of the things you said yesterday."

That caught Katsuki by surprise. What had he told her that she found so enlightening?

She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair. "Deku is...not exactly date worthy. He's nice, a workaholic, and rather dependable. But he's…" Her lips formed into a tight line, trying to find the right word. "...tame. He isn't the kind to pull off overly romantic gestures without pushing, and he's so...dense!"

"I take it you tried to ask him out yesterday?"

"Yes, and his response? 'Why? We see each other at work and at lunch all the time.' I got the brush off so hard, I still can't look him in the face!" Uraraka groaned. She sank into her chair and took a sip of her overly sweet coffee, "I was so far off his radar it's laughable."

Katsuki just shrugged, expecting that outcome based off what he found out the day before. Sounds like it was the final nail in the coffin for her, though. "But it also reminded me about what you said," Uraraka continued, "about moving on. I chased behind him for so long..I forgot my own worth." She sat up straighter and leaned on the table, a smirk on her face. "I had one of those 'I'm too good to deal with this' moments, you know?"

"Those are daily occurrences for me," Katsuki chuckled, "have you seen the bullshit I deal with?"

"I heard that, you jackass!" Eijiro yelled from behind the counter.

"Mind your own business, dumbass!" Katsuki yelled back. The peels of laughter coming from Uraraka had both boys turning their attention back to her. Katsuki couldn't help but think of how good the sound was to his ears. He definitely saw why Denki and Eijiro found her so attractive. She was like a breath of fresh air in this testosterone filled shop. Hell, he could see her lighting up any room she walked into. Not that those thoughts showed on his face...Eijiro wouldn't stop the teasing if they did. That didn't mean he couldn't enjoy the presence of the woman in front him as jaunty as possible, of course.

"Go on a date with me."

Shit.

The shocked look on Uraraka's face proved he for sure said that out loud. The thought had vaguely crossed his mind, but apparently his tongue took it upon itself to vocalize it without consent. Too late to take it back, though, so Katsuki rode the train to end. "This Saturday. Go out with me."

Uraraka's mouth gaped open and closed so much, he expected her to start hyperventilating. She seemed to compose herself after a moment or two, thankfully, keeping Katsuki's torture from drawing itself out further. She contemplated him for a moment longer. "...ok."

Eijiro's screech of excitement broke the tension of the moment, and Katsuki's brain began to work once more. "Ok." Pulling out their phones, the two exchanged contact information while trying to avoid how awkward and abrupt the situation turned out to be. Katsuki couldn't say he regretted it, though, especially after seeing out straightforward and entertaining the woman in front of him was. The two stood up from the table, but Katsuki couldn't help but put his foot in his mouth one last time. "Why?"

The brunette caught on to his meaning and smiled. "You listened to me complain, and despite how rude you are...I can tell you mean well." She picked up her coffee and lifted it to her lips to hide her smirk. "Plus, I'd like to see if the rest of the world pales in comparison to you." With a snicker a promise to call her later, Katsuki walked her out of the shop. If the excited churn of his stomach was anything to go by, Katsuki was in for a fun time come Saturday.

"Damn, dude...Kaminari is gonna be pissed at you."

Katsuki let out a quick guffaw at the thought of Denki's frustration at him dating Uraraka. "Fucking worth it!"