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Chapter 26
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Y/N fixed the black skirt that stuck to her skin and was much shorter than she was a fan of as she stared into the bathroom mirror of All Might's. She wrinkled her nose at her reflection. The uniform for All Might's was more revealing than she was accustomed. A black skirt that barely reached a few inches below her thighs, and a dark maroonish, purplish, uniform that made her complexion and curves stand out more than usual.
As she braided her hair back, she couldn't help but remember Shoto and his shiny black car from the two nights before. She'd been expecting something of the sorts—Shoto had money after all. That was besides the point though. All the drive to her apartment he was quiet, and it was a different quiet than what she was accustomed to. He was a good driver, but even though his eyes were on the road, his mind seemed to be somewhere else.
"I was thinking," Y/N had said, trying to get his attention. "Maybe you could just pick me up from All Might's, the new establishment, and I could take the bus there."
Shoto had glanced over at her, but she wasn't able to read his face too well in the darkness of his car. "I don't think that's best."
"I'm pretty sure your classes run later than mine," Y/N had explained. "I can't make you start missing them just to take me to work."
"I can manage around it," Shoto had countered as he made a right turn.
"I don't think so," Y/N had said. "There is no way around it. I can take the bus to work, you know my location and I'll even send you the address of the establishment through text, that way you don't have to miss any classes."
Shoto had hesitated. "Y/N."
"Shoto," she had mocked. "You can't start missing your classes and getting behind on assignments. This is the best option."
Shoto had sighed. He sounded so tired. "Okay."
Y/N had bit her lip. "I would also appreciate if you dropped me by the bus stop instead of infront of my apartment."
"No," he had answered straight away. "So much can happen in such little time."
"I'm not sure what exactly is going on, Shoto." Y/N had started. "But I know you can't spend all your time with me. You have a life and things to do, and I also don't want to worry my father." Y/N cringed as the word 'father' rolled off her tongue. "He doesn't like me being out late with boys and if he sees you dropping me off after work, it'll make him start asking questions and as of right now I don't have answers and neither do you."
Shoto clenched the steering wheel slightly.
"Please, Shoto." Y/N pressed on. "I don't want to be baggage that holds you back. I'll be careful, and make sure to let you know every single move I make."
"You're not baggage," Shoto had countered but sighed. "Fine. But you have to promise me to be careful."
Y/N had beamed at him as his face shinned under a passerby cars headlights. She reached for his free hand and grabbed his pinky. Shoto seemed surprised for a second, but then relaxed.
"Promise," she had hooked their pinkies. Shoto had begrudgingly complied, but she did see a whisper of a smile on his face as they made it to a red light.
Afterwards, Shoto had dropped her off at her bus stop. Well, until Y/N reassured him for the umpteeth time that she would be fine and he'd made sure to wait there until she messaged him letting him know she was inside her apartment. Y/N had practically ran inside her house. She wasn't at all bothered by Shoto being worried about her. She was more worried about Chisaki showing up early and catching them in action.
Chisaki did come in Wednesday night after she'd visited Rei, but he'd gone straight to sleep and didn't ask Y/N anything else—thankfully. He'd also gone to work bright and early that morning, so she hadn't seen him since he came back. He hadn't even asked for updates about Rei. Which they weren't much. After their last meeting, Rei has been a little more open, but hadn't given her any useful information.
Y/N also managed to fix her phone problem so Shoto didn't worry or run the risk of discovering her visits at the hospital. She simply left her phone at home, even if she had to take a trip there and a trip to the hospital afterwards, it was worth it. She needed things to run smoothly. So, if Shoto checked her location, he'd think she was at home.
After school had ended, and Shoto had made sure her location was still shared with him during calculus class, she'd taken the long one hour trip on the bus to All Might's. It had been boring to say the least.
Y/N bit her lip as she curled her braid back into a bun and finished reminiscing about the previous days thoughts. She hoped everything with Shoto would resolve itself. She didn't like that dark ominous look he'd been carrying on his face. It was like he was a different person entirely.
"Are you ready, Y/N? Do you need me to help you with that?" Emi Fukukado, the co-manager of All Might's and Mr. Toshinori's friend called out as she peeked in from the corner of the bathroom entrance.
"Ms. Fukukado!" Y/N squeaked. Had she been taking too long in the bathroom getting ready? Y/N fumbled with her hair. "Um, no. It's okay."
"I told you to just call me Emi or Joke!" she giggled as she watched Y/N's bun come undone. "Here, let me help you."
Y/N couldn't help but admire Emi as she fixed her bun. When Y/N had showed up at the address Mr. Toshinori had given her for the new establishment she hadn't been surprised at all by the name—what had surprised her had been how ginormous it was. She could understand why Mr. Toshinori wanted someone to help Emi out.
"You have real lovely hair," Emi said as as she used bobby pins to hold baby hairs back. "You're really pretty."
Y/N smiled gratefully, but compared to Emi, she felt like a opaque light bulb. When she'd walked into to All Might's she automatically knew who was in charge. Sure, Emi has been laughing way too hard about something, but she radiated power and authority. She'd been wearing the same work uniform as Y/N had, but she seemed to make it work better. Her seafoam green hair had been up in a braided bun, and even though her dark green eyes were all smiles, they reflected a seriousness that only came with a long time in the food chain industry.
"Mr. Toshinori spoke great things about you," Emi commented as she smoothed down Y/N's hair. "Done."
"Thank you," Y/N liked her beaded bun. She turned to her. "I will do everything I can to be of assistance to you."
Emi beamed at her. She had a big smile. "I'm glad to hear it. I'll have you help me run a few private rooms tonight, but for right now I mostly need to get you sorted with a lot of the paperwork."
"You really want me to help with paperwork and money?" Y/N asked curiously. "I'm a beginner and don't know much."
Emi laughed and patted her shoulder. "That's fine! We all start as beginners. You aren't expected to know everything right off the bat! Now let's go. We have a lot to do."
Y/N felt reassured and the anxiety that had been lingering on her lessened as she followed Emi out of the bathroom. She'd been worried about having to know what to do. She didn't actually expect to be handling such important things. She'd believed Mr. Toshinori had meant spending more time at the register or helping close the restaurant more—she wasn't expecting to work in the office.
"Hey, Sero!" Emi called out as she saw a boy with black hair and black eyes walk out of the men's bathroom. Y/N only guessed he was part of the staff since he was wearing the restaurants uniform. "Your zipper is down!"
"What?" The boy immediately looked down, but when he realized his pants didn't have a zipper he looked up with deflated eyes. "Ms. Joke, you really need to come up with better ones."
Emi started cackling and Y/N couldn't help but crack a grin. Emi really was something else.
Throughout most of the day, Y/N was in charge back stock and inventory. She hadn't really stepped out into the floor, but it didn't take much time for it to take her breath away. Apparently, All Might's was a fancier restaurant where people didn't come in for just a drink or a small bite. It was more for business dinners and serious meetings.
All Might's was rather classier and more elegant than any of the restaurants she'd been at before. It had a darker and more subtle decor. The tables were a little farther apart, giving the guest more privacy. At the same time, All Might's had private dinner rooms that were towards the back of the restaurant. It was designed for business meetings or private occasions. Which Y/N understood. When Mr. Toshinori has said it was a town over, she'd expected a small shop in the middle of nowhere, but All Might's was in the middle of three big cities, which meant it was rather convenient for people to meet there.
Y/N took her fifteen minute break in the backroom. It was rather filled with people and random chatter. Y/N wasn't very good with starting conversations or making new friends, so she settled with the table that had less people.
"Excuse me," she'd mumbled. "Is anyone sitting here?"
"No, you're fine. N-not fine, fine. I'm not saying…" he trailed off when he saw Y/N's confused stare. For some odd reason his face was rather red. "You're welcome to sit."
"Thank you," Y/N smiled at him and her eyes widened when she recognized him to be the boy from earlier.
"Oh," she pointed at him without thinking. "You're the zipper guy from earlier!"
His ears flushed strawberry pink. "Damn you, Ms. Joke." He harshly whispered under his breath. "I'm Sero Hanta. You can just call me Sero."
Y/N smiled at him. "I'm Y/N. Please, just call me Y/N."
"I take it you just started today?" Sero inquired as he played with the end of his chips wrapper.
Y/N scratched the back of her neck. "Yes. Ms. Joke has me working a few back stock, but it's been rather nice so far."
Sero nodded, but he was rather fidgety. "I've been working since the grand opening, which was about three weeks ago." He turned to her. "If you need help with anything, just let me know."
Y/N gave him a grateful smile. "I really appreciate it. Thank you."
Sero turned away, but nodded. He really was strange. Y/N took it as her chance to check her phone. She smiled when she saw a picture Uraraka had sent her. It was of Iida, Kaminari, Midoriya, Shoto and herself. It looked like they'd gone to One For All's to study again. Y/N couldn't help but stare at Shoto's face longer than the others. He looked extremely bored, and he was caught drinking from his coffee cup. She bit her lip to keep from smiling. He looked so cute. She decided to save the image.
To: Uraraka
07:55: I'm glad everyone's keeping Kaminari company.
Y/N smiled when she received an instant reply back.
From: Uraraka
07:55: If we don't, he'll get all sad. Also, I'm sending you a gift.
Y/N scrunched her eyebrows at her text. She received another message with an attachment in it. She opened it. Y/N almost dropped her phone when she saw what it was. It was a picture of Shoto smiling softly as he looked to the side. Y/N wasn't sure what he was looking at, but by the sight of it, Shoto was rather fond of it. He was wearing a royal blue turtleneck as his hands wrapped around a cup of coffee. His eyes were dainty and his cheeks had a small dust of pink on them. He looked like he was no longer being bothered by something.
Y/N opened and closed her mouth. She felt her cheeks blush red.
To: Uraraka
07:57: URARAKA!
From: Uraraka
07:57 Y/N! Calm down. It's a gift. Keep it close. That soft expression doesn't happen everyday ;)
To: Uraraka
07:58: you're really trying to turn me into a pervert
From: Uraraka
07:58: I can send Todoroki a picture of you if you want
To: Uraraka
07:59: Don't you dare
From: Uraraka
07:59: 3 3 3
Y/N shook her head and stopped herself from grinning. Uraraka was going to cause her to get a heart attack. Y/N's finger lingered over Shoto's face. Could she really keep a picture of him? Wouldn't that be too weird? They were just friends after all. But friends kept pictures of each other. She sighed when she closed the message app. That was too creepy and it felt wrong for her to keep a picture of Shoto without asking him.
"Are you okay?" Y/N almost jumped. She'd forgotten Sero was sitting right beside her.
"Yes," she squeaked. "Why?"
"You turned all red for a second," he pointed out.
"I'm fine." Y/N gave him a tight smile. She could feel her heart beating out of her chest. How could a picture have so much affect on her? "I'm going to go to the bathroom. I'll be right back."
Y/N excused herself and pocketed her phone once again. She smiled at passing coworkers, but she needed to splash some cold water on to her hot cheeks. Uraraka was going to pay for her little stunt later, but Y/N couldn't help but be grateful to have such a great friend like her. Only Uraraka would try to sneak a picture of Shoto, and take it so well.
Y/N was so deep in her thoughts she track of where and how she was walking that she ran smack hard into someone else that it knocked her down.
"Ah," Y/N looked up and mustered the most apologetic face she could. "I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention…"
It wasn't the fact that he was tall, lean from the looks of it, or the scar on his hands, or the way a black mask covered his chin and mouth; It was his turquoise eyes and their piercing gaze that made her breath catch and her hands turn cold. His black hair extenuated his sharp features. A wave of something hit her by simply looking at him. His ears had piercings on either side, and he didn't look much older than his early twenties. Y/N had to admit he was ruggedly handsome.
"It was my fault," his dark voice sent shivers down her spine. He leaned forward and offered her his hand. "I should've paid more attention as well."
Y/N took his hand and they were surprisingly hot against her cold ones. He helped her get up and Y/N dusted herself.
"Thank you," she gave him a smile. "I'll try to be more careful."
He gave her and odd once over that had Y/N squirming under his gaze. "I take it you work here?"
"Y-Yes." Y/N squeaked.
"Y/N." He read her name tag slowly, although it sounded muffled due to his face mask. "I'm supposed to meet someone here. Could you take me to them?"
Y/N knew she was on her break, but she did just bump into him for being careless...and she was too scared of saying no. "Of course, do you know what table? Or room? Or if I could get a name?"
"It's one of the private dining rooms. Number five." he answered.
"Of course, follow me." Y/N pointed at the direction where the room was located at. As she walked, she couldn't help but notice his attire. He wore a dark hoodie and jeans. He didn't look like the type of person who would normally wonder into an establishment like All Might's. He gave off a sort of rebellious vibe. She wondered if he was some important business man's son.
Y/N stopped in front of dining room number five. "This is it."
"I appreciate your help," he said as he stepped closer. She felt so small looking up at him. He looked at her name tag once more. "I'll ask for you next time I come around. See you, sweetheart."
Y/N could've sworn he was smirking under his black mask.