Midoriya Izuku was a simple person. He wasn't anything special; In fact he had spent his whole life being told that he was exactly the opposite of that. When he was young, he wanted to be a hero. However, all throughout elementary and middle school, he had that idea pretty much beaten out of him by his obviously very heroic classmate, Bakugou Katsuki.

By the time that he was supposed to choose a high school, Izuku had given up on the possibility of going to U.A. and being a hero. Instead, he kept his head down and applied to a school in Okinawa. Why did he choose this school? It's simple. It was one of the only schools that would accept quirkless people. Discrimination for the win.

Izuku and his mother packed up their worldly possessions and moved to Okinawa. It was a large change, but feasible. Now, Izuku was sixteen years old and feeling guilty. It was his fault that they were in Okinawa, even if it was technically the fault of the many schools that wouldn't allow him to apply simply based on the fact that he was quirkless. As such, he was feeling like a burden. To Izuku, the only possible way that he could help their situation was getting some sort of job.

At school, he had miraculously made one friend. It completely amazed him that they would hang around him at all, but he was beginning to accept the fact that they actually wanted to hang around him with no ulterior motives.

Yoshimura Nagisa was not a simple person. They had to deal with a pair of abusive parents everyday, with no guarantee that they could escape anytime soon. The only time that they could get away, if only for a moment, was with Izuku. He managed to make them feel like there was a reason to live. He made them feel like they were living, not just surviving.

And now Izuku needed their help. Nagisa watched them stumble around school, on his phone and searching for a job. They knew that his mother didn't feel the same way as her son, instead wanting him to have a normal childhood, but the idea that he was a burden was so firmly rooted in their friend's brain that they couldn't do anything to stop it. Instead, they could only try to help.

They finally confronted Izuku one day after school. "Izuku," they said softly. "You can't keep doing this."

"Doing what?" Izuku questioned absentmindedly, copying something down from his phone into a notebook.

Nagisa sighed. "How about this? If you want a job so badly, why don't you come work with me? Buchou-san is fair and the job pays pretty well."

Izuku finally showed some interest. "Where do you work?"

Finally, Nagisa internally thought. "The Fallen Tree. You know, it's that coffee shop a few blocks from school?"

Izuku thought for a little bit, tapping his pencil against his wrist, before shaking his head. "Nope, but I believe you. Could I come with you today to see if they'd accept me?"

"Of course!" Nagisa exclaimed, relieved. "I'm heading there right now. You coming?"

Izuku slid his notebook into his bag. "Ready!" He offered up a smile to Nagisa and Nagisa grinned back.

They idly chatted about their day and classes on the walk over. When they arrived, Nagisa disappeared into the back room and came back with her manager.

Izuku stood off to the side, fiddling with his fingers and hoping that he wouldn't make a bad impression. A tall, broad, and frankly very intimidating man walked out through the swinging door that separated the workforce from the general people who just wanted some coffee.

"Nagisa tells me that you want a job," he said, his voice remarkably monotone.

"Y- yes," Izuku responded, stutter coming out in full force at the sight of the man.

He sighed. "Well, come on then. Why don't we check to see if you''d be a good fit." He spun on his heel and walked away, further into the shop.

Izuku meekly followed, clutching onto the strap of his bag as though his life depended on it. Screw you Nagisa, he thought. You leave me out here to die or what?

The interview process, if you could even call it that, was far different to what Izuku had thought it would be like. He wasn't dressed up in professional looking clothes and neither was his possibly future employer. He wasn't sitting behind a table with the manager asking questions to him. Instead, he was standing in a dimly lit room with a large man giving him a once over.

This isn't anything like my research, he despairingly thought.

"Name?" the name asked, phone open. It looked like he was planning on taking notes on what Izuku said on it.

Izuku scrambled to answer, forcing back his stutter. "Midoriya Izuku!"

"Age?"

"I'm sixteen, but I'll be seventeen in July."

"Quirk?"

Izuku paused, trying to build up the courage to tell the truth. Nagisa worked here. They wouldn't bring him into a situation that-

"Quirk?" The man interrupted his thought process, repeating his question with more force.

"N- none," Izuku muttered, head and eyes down.

The man typed something into his phone and Izuku chanced a look up. While the man didn't look happy persay, he didn't look angry either, so Izuku took that as a bit of a win.

"Alright," the man said after a minute. "Here are a few forms that you will need to fill out, but otherwise, welcome to your job at The Fallen Tree."

Izuku clutched the papers that he was handed to his chest, scarcely able to believe it. Had he really just gotten a job? Was it that simple?

After a quick glance, it seemed that the only thing left was a few legal forms and a note that he had to have permission from the school as well as written consent from a parent or guardian. Well, he thought. One of those will certainly be easier than the other.

He slowly walked home, texting Nagisa about the development. He didn't get an immediate response, but that was normal for them and plus, they were working.

Midoriya Inko was a kind woman. She didn't want to worry her son with anything so, when he returned home one day with a slip for her to sign stating that it was alright for him to get a job, she had to stop herself from breaking down. She hadn't known how aware her son was about their slight financial issues and he hadn't wanted him to know about them.

Despite her misgivings about the issue, she wrote and signed the note. She wasn't happy about it, but it seemed that Izuku was stubborn enough to forge her signature if she didn't sign.

Now, all that was left was for Izuku to get permission from the school, and that surprisingly enough went off without a hitch too. It seemed that as long as he kept his grades up, there would be no problems.

And that is how Izuku got his first job at The Fallen Tree.

Now that he was officially employed, he got to know the other workers and his boss a whole lot better. First of all, there was Nagisa. Izuku loved them, like a sibling, and was incredibly excited to be working with them.

And their quirk was just perfect for their job! It was called 'Balance," and basically prevented her from ever tripping or dropping anything because it was off balance, something that was very helpful in her job as a server in the establishment.

Then there was Ogawara Mizuki, whose hair was made of some sort of unidentified, rubber substance. It had no impact on her job, but it felt weird and Izuku was vaguely intrigued.

Oda Marasaki could shapeshift into a guinea pig. He and Ogawara were several years older than Nagisa and Izuku, but thankfully he certainly did not discriminate against either of them for it. He treated the pair like fellow workers and didn't underestimate them.

Shibata Akemi was a bit of an oddball. No one, not even her, knew where she had come from and she was very bouncy. Luckily for her, her quirk corresponded with her very well, as it allowed her to switch genders on a whim, which was pretty much the dream of any genderfluid person around.

Around The Fallen Tree, Izuku was beginning to notice something strange. Their boss always seemed to treat everyone better than him. At first, he had just assumed that it was because he was new, but as time went on and the behaviour continued, he began to pick up on some underlying discrimination within the man.

He would bring in treats for his employees and just so happen to not have enough for Izuku. He would assign him the late shifts, which was only barely legal for him to do mind you, and just shrug when Izuku asked why. When Izuku made a joke around him, he would simply glaree and stalk off.

And his jokes were very funny, thank you very much. Like that one time that someone came in to try to pre order something, which was not something that The Fallen Tree did, and Izuku told Akeni that "You know, giving your unborn, first born child in exchange for something is kinda like a pre order." Akemi burst out laughing, but their boss did not approve and sent Izuku on a walk through the sketchy part of town on an errand.

Other than that, Izuku's experience at The Fallen Tree was pretty good. However, there was always the occasional mishap.

One of these mishaps occurred while Izuku was out front taking orders. In walked a pink girl with horns and a red-haired boy with shark teeth dragging in someone that Izuku knew very well. Thrashing about and obviously unhappy with the situation, was Bakugou Katsuki, someone who Izuku had hoped to never see again.

Izuku eeped and dashed into the back room, where Marasaki was waiting. As a whole, the staff had agreed to call each other by their first names, but that wasn't the point right then. Izuku hurriedly explained the situation and Marasaki slowly dragged himself up, agreeing to cover the front counter.

Izuku settled into the back, taking over Marasaki's job and pouting as he did so. All he had wanted was to casually open up his soda with the can opener that was stashed up front.

There were always the occasional creeps that wandered into The Fallen Tree. Once, a man who stank of alcohol leaned over the counter and popped Izuku's personal space bubble, which was quite rude. "Are you eight miles of bike riding? Because you make me weak in the knees," the man slurred. A puff of cigarette smoke emerged from between his lips and a smirk crept over his face.

Izuku's eyes widened and he may have screeched just a little bit. "Akemi?" he called.

Akemi immediately came to his rescue. He pointed to a sign on the wall, detailed the policies of the store and said, "I'm so sorry sir, but we have a no smoking policy."

The man groaned and left.

So Izuku's time at The Fallen Tree was going fairly well, but something was bothering him. He remembered hearing Nagisa say that they were paid fairly well, but he was getting paid minimum wage!

After asking around a bit, he learned what everyone else on the staff was getting paid and it was at the very least twice as much as he was.

He did some research on the matter and brought it up next time he had a mandatory visit with his high school counselor.

"I think that I'm getting paid less than the other employees," Izuku quietly told her, partially ashamed to even admit it.

Out of all the reactions he thought he might get from the statement, he was not expecting her to laugh. "They wouldn't do that," she said, merrily writing off his concerns as mere childishness.

"But quirkless people are statistically more likely to be paid less! There's a huge wage gap and I think-"

The counselor cut him off sharply. "That's just silly, Midoriya. Obviously there's no wage gap. If quirkless people were paid less, companies would only hire them!"

Izuku wanted to speak, he really did, but everytime he opened his mouth to refute the claim, he found that the words caught in his throat and he could say nothing.

IMPORTANT AN: Due to several different reasons, my fics will no longer be updated on this site. While I won't be updating here, what does exist on this site so far will remain here. If you want to continue following any future installments to this one shot, or even check out another fic, I will continue to update all fics on Ao3 under the same name, CheshireAsh. Thank you for all your support here!