Between us

Katsuki Bakugo p.o.v

Leaning back in my seat, I put my feet up on my desk. My gaze shifted to the ceiling as I proceeded to tune out the idiot with the glasses and engines on his legs.

What's his name? Eita? Eada? Who cares.

He was spouting some bullshit about respecting school property, as if he hasn't seen me do this every day since we got to this place. I closed my eyes and put my hands behind my head, awaiting our secondary teacher, All Might. I checked the time on my phone in my pocket, noting that there were still a few minutes before next period started. The classroom was filled with soft chatter from the people who got back from lunch early.

But wait. If the glasses geek was here...

My eyes slowly opened as I threw a careless glance over my shoulder, checking the seat behind me.

Empty.

Thoughsoon after the door to the classroom slid open, in walking the gravity chick and the very bane of my existence. Deku. That nerd. My eyes narrowed upon seeing them walk closer as he reconvened with his other loser friend, watching him spout some excuse as to why they arrived late. Afterwards I closed my eyes again, quickly reminding myself of a more important aspect of my life.

Izuku Midoriya p.o.v

"Uraraka, let's hurry! I think Iida is waiting for us still." I called out to the brunette slightly behind me.

"Y-Yeah sorry. It was my fault after all... I just got you caught up in what I was doing." She apologized as she and I sprinted down the hallway towards our classroom. I smiled reassuringly and replied as we approached 1-A.

"Not at all! I'm glad you brought me along to help save the cat. And we managed to pull it off safely so there's no problem." I gave her a thumbs up and she smiled and nodded, out of breath and panting we reached the door to our homeroom on time.

Iida was too far ahead so we just let him go on to the classroom. He should be in here waiti...

I tensed up a bit. As soon as I had opened the door I could feel eyes on me. I did a quick look around to see that almost everyone was just chatting amongst themselves. Though, it wasn't too hard to find who's gaze was boring into me...he wasn't exactly trying to hide it.

Kacchan...what does he want?

I could feel his glare become more intense as I walked in and Iida made his way over to me. I wouldn't make eye contact though, that would be like asking him to yell in my face.

"Midoriya, Uraraka, I was quite surprised when I realized you were not with me in the lunch rush. Did something happen?" Iida asked in confusion.

I didn't do anything that would piss him off... why would he be glaring at me. Then again, when is he not?

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I hadn't registered Iida's question, flinching when a hand touched my shoulder. It was Kaminari.

"Hey~ Earth to Midoriya? You there, buddy?" The blond asked, probably having noticed how I spaced out.

"A-Ah yeah! I'm here...Uraraka just saw a stray cat. She couldn't reach him to use her zero gravity so she asked me to help, haha. I'll go to my seat now." I watched them all look at each other with an amused expression at my stuttering response before laughing a bit and brushing it off. I sat down at my desk, realizing that the piercing eyes were no longer on me. Sneaking a glance at the seat in front, I could see Kacchan with his eyes shut and facing the ceiling. I let out a sigh of relief before immediately being startled again by a familiar boisterous laugh.

"AHAHAHA! Class 1-A, prepare yourselves!" A voice belonging to none other than All Might boomed as he zipped in through the door and pointed in our direction. "Today we will be doing something not necessarily exciting... but nonetheless important experience-wise for a hero!"

The class stared at the muscular blond man with perplexed expressions, murmuring to themselves and calling out.

"What part of being a hero isn't exciting?"

"Getting hurt isn't..."

"But that's to be expected!"

"Are you gonna make us clean up garbage or something?"

All Might's never wavering smile seemed to twitch at that. "Uh no... though it is not entirely out of the question."

"Just tell us what the hell it is already." Kacchan growled and shoved his hands in his pockets, eliciting a hearty laugh from the number one hero.

"Young Bakugo! So excited to begin, I see. Alright I won't tease you any longer. Your task for today is... finding a part time job!"

I raised my hand as the class let out a collective groan. "Do you mean like the internships we did before?"

"Not quite, Midoriya. Those internships were part of hero training. But this falls more under the category of training how you react among everyday people! You'll have to balance your time as well because you still have to attend regular classes. As well as interact with people in a polite manner... some could use the training more than others." All Might mumbled quietly at the end and gave Kacchan a thumbs up, earning him a "tch" in response.

"That's so fucking stupid... we're heroes, why would we wanna have some mundane side job? Besides, by the time I'm outta here I'll be rolling in dough as the highest paid hero!"

All Might merely laughed again and began to walk out, "Well you'd better get serious about it because we'll be monitoring your progress! If you want to be a hero you've got to interact nicely with people. Balance your time. And maintain your job status. It will be graded! I'm dismissing you all early so you can go on the hunt! Farewell!"

"Agghhh..." I nervously ran a hand through my hair. "How am I going to balance school, training to master my quirk, and a job all at the same time? No... No, I can do it. This is just for a moral lesson and less about the money anyway. It's only a trial period so I can do it!" I reassured myself and stared down at my hand which I had clenched tightly into a fist.

"Hey. SHUT UP, ya damn nerd! It's irritating when you sit behind me and mumble to yourself like an idiot!"

Immediately I tensed up and pushed my chair back from the angry blond before me, expecting an argument. Although, before I could even get a word out he got up and kicked his chair back in, and silently stormed out. My body lowered its defenses soon after as everyone stood and discussed what kind of jobs they would try for. I stood up as well and grabbed my stuff as Uraraka and Iida approached me.

"Deku, do you have a place in mind?" The brunette girl asked, her large brown eyes gleaming with curiosity. I shook my head and replied, redirecting the question. "What about you guys?"

Iida adjusted the glasses on his nose, "Hmm. I'm not sure…. but certainly nowhere near the school that any of these hooligans may run into me."

"Good point." I uttered with a nervous smile as I hadn't thought of that. I could just imagine the level of bullying that would occur if we had some embarrassing job and someone from school found out...

"Well I was thinking maybe somewhere with animals... like today with the cat... it made me want to help them out." Uraraka chimed in with a determined expression on her face. I agreed that it would be a great idea as we all walked out of the school, separating from them soon after and beginning my journey home with a lot to consider.

I walked briskly around the city looking for any stores that had "now hiring" displayed on their front windows. I found a few, but a lot of them required prior experience that I had none of.

"Man, this is harder than I thought it'd be..." I murmured and hung my head as I was nearing my own street. I grimaced at the idea of making the walk of shame to my house without finding a prospective job.

Though maybe I could ask my mom if she knows of any good places.

As I was thinking that I lifted my head to look around at stores, a little kid's laughter catching my attention as she was excitedly pulling her father somewhere.

"C'mon dad! The hero café! I wanna go...please~ they're having a grand opening! Let's go!" The small girl pleaded and tugged on the older man's jacket.

Hero café? Is that like some kind of cosplay shop? I've never heard of it... but there are places that have similar themes.

I glanced down at my phone and searched for the place, finding that it was not too far from my neighborhood. I figured it could be worth checking out and so I quickly put it in my gps and walked a good distance to the small hole-in-the-wall restaurant. On its windows were brightly colored images of various heroes as well as a 'grand opening' sign. 'The Hero Café' was written in white letters on the awning above, but I saw nothing indicating that they needed workers. Despite that, I entered, feeling drawn in by the striped rainbow colors as the inside was similarly decorated, though in a more modest fashion. The place seemed to have only just opened its doors, occupied with just a few excited kids and tourists. I looked around until I found the front desk and introduced myself to the girl at the cash register.

"Um hi, would you be hiring by any chance?" I asked, followed by a nervous laugh. The girl at the register popped her gum before speaking to me. "No... but maybe you can convince the owner to hire you. Weird, you aren't the first to ask either... she should be in the back interviewing another kid. Go right ahead."

"Oh thanks." I bowed my head in acknowledgement for letting me in and walked down a hallway to an 'employee only' room.

Someone else is already applying? This place is so brand new... but it's small so I didn't think it would be this popular. Wonder what the other applicant is like... based on whether they're a hardworking and easy to get along with person... this job would be a breeze!

I knocked before pushing open the door and introducing myself.

"Hello, my name is-"

"DEKU?!" An incredulous yet annoyed shout came from none other than Kacchan who was sitting at an empty table with what I assume was an application in his hands. "The fuck are you doing here?!"

Hell. This place was going to be hell.