Midoriya slipped on the brand-new white buttoned shirt and tucked it into his black slacks. Adjusting the stiff collar until it looked even, he slipped the light blue sleeveless vest on and pulled the collar over the neckline. Buttoning up the vest, the slim design and color complimented his skin tone and forest green hair.
"Izuku, I have breakfast on the table, hurry up or you won't have time to eat!" his mother Inko yelled from the kitchen. Smiling, he brushed the front of his uniform down and stuck his hands in the roomy front pockets. He was nervous about his first day at his first job but knowing he had friends that worked there already helped to ease his anxiety.
Walking into the kitchen, Midoriya was amazed at how much food his mother had managed to cook and lay out on their kitchen table. Scrambled eggs, bacon, grilled fish, miso soup, rice, sliced fruits, even fresh muffins and toast. It was like his own personal buffet.
"M-Mom, you didn't have to do all of this!"
Inko blushed slightly, "Oh honey, it's your first day, you have to make sure you get a healthy breakfast so you can have energy!" She didn't want to admit that her own nerves were on edge. Her baby boy was starting his first job, and aside from torrential tears, one of her other coping mechanisms for anxiety was to occupy herself with cooking.
"Thank you for the meal!" Midoriya said as he bowed his head and started to load his plate. His stomach was full of butterflies, which made his appetite nearly non-existent, but he couldn't let all the work his mother put into this feast of a meal go unappreciated.
"I can't believe my baby is going off to his first job. You're just growing up too fast for me, Izuku." Inko finally sat down after making sure her son had properly started eating and made her own plate. Her emotions threatened to flood over as she looked across the table and saw Midoriya as a toddler, barely able to see over the table without his booster seat. Blinking her tears away, she saw her teenager shoveling eggs into his face while watching the clock behind her every few seconds.
"It's not a race, dear, you'll never make it in to your first day if you choke on your breakfast."
"Sorry, Mom," Midoriya said, shoving the contents of his mouth to the side in order to speak clearly. Despite his lack of appetite, he'd managed to clear his plate and drain his glass of juice. Taking his dishes to the sink to rinse them, he saw the bento on the edge of the counter. "You made my lunch, too?"
"Of course I did, who knows what kind of junk food you'd pick out for yourself if I just let you get something from the store!"
"But this bento is two trays tall! I'm only going to have thirty minutes to eat, there's no way I'll be able to finish it all after such a big breakfast!"
Inko stood up from the table, finished with her meal, and joined her son at the sink. She placed the heavy bento in his hands, "Then find someone to share it with you. You said your classmates work there, so give them some of it so they can have a healthy meal as well."
"You're too good to me, Mom." Giving her a hug while holding the bento at his side, Midoriya glanced at the clock again. "Oh no! I have to get going or I'll be late! Thanks again Mom, I'll let you know how things are going when I take my break!"
And with a swift kiss to her cheek and another tight hug, Midoriya rushed over to the doorway, slid into his new black shoes, and disappeared out the front door with his voice trailing off, "love you!"
"Have a good day, sweetie, I love you too." The downpour of tears accompanied her smile as she set her mind to clearing the table. Midoriya didn't know it yet, but he was going to be coming home to a large dinner as well if Inko's stress management had anything to do with it.
Long black hair tied into a surprisingly neat ponytail, the Customer Service Manager, Aizawa, approached Bakugou.
"We got a new kid starting with us today. I want you to be the one to train him."
Staring blankly at the tired-eyed and stubbly face of his boss, Bakugou scoffed, "Tch, you really want me to be responsible for teaching some damn extra about this job?"
"Look, my options are limited at the moment, but you're the one that's been here the longest. With your attitude, I'm not even sure how that's been possible, but the fact is that if you can make it here, you could show the new guy how to survive too."
"Very uplifting speech, boss. When's he get in?" Just as Bakugou asked, a flurry of green fluff sprinted through the automatic doors. Noticing the cashier's uniform, Bakugou internally face-palmed. He knew who this nerd was from school. "Deku?! You're having me train Deku?!"
As though summoned by name, Midoriya approached the two. "H-Hello sir, I'm Izuku Midoriya, today is my first shift. Oh, hello Kacchan, I didn't know you'd be here today! Have you been enjoying the summer break?"
"Not anymore I'm not. Who decided to let a useless nerd like you work here anyway?"
"Ah, Young Midoriya, you made it in for your first day of work. I hope you have a great day! Young Bakugou, be sure to show Midoriya just what it means to be a proud member of Musutafu's best grocery store, Food Smash! Aizawa, ready for the meeting?"
The giant of a man looming over the three employees had a grin on his face from ear to ear. His deep yellow hair was slicked back with exception to the two strands that hung up, resembling bunny ears. The store manager, Toshinori, had been the one to convince Midoriya to join their team. They'd met in town, where Midoriya had been peering into the window of the local figurine and game shop admiring the latest hero figures. Finding a common interest in comics and hero memorabilia, Midoriya had lamented not being able to afford the latest All Might figurine. Toshinori offered him the job right there, feeling obliged to help a fellow hero enthusiast obtain such a treasure.
With a sigh, Aizawa nodded. "Yeah, let's get this over with. Mic is already in there, he's got his latest commercial ready for us to view. I hope he remembered to watch the volume this time. You're with Bakugou today, Midoriya. We'll be in this conference meeting most of the day. Try to only call for us if it's absolutely necessary."
"Yes sir! And thank you again for the job, Mr. Toshinori, I won't let you down!" Midoriya bowed his head as the two adults walked away to start their lengthy meeting. Bakugou watched his classmate and laughed at the thought of such a naive and clueless kid working with the public.
"Alright Deku, first thing is showing you how to get clocked in so you'll actually get paid for being here." Walking away from his register, Bakugou paused and turned back, "You gonna come with me to see this shit or not?"
"O-Oh! Yeah, I was umm, is it okay to just leave the front of the store like this? I don't see anyone else working out here." He noticed that Bakugou's register had been the only one with its numbered light turned on.
"This early in the morning most of the idiots just get a newspaper or donuts. They can handle that at the self-checkouts. Now come on, I got a long day and having you attached to my damn hip isn't gonna make it any better." Midoriya quickly got into step with Bakugou, who took them into one of the front rooms in the corner of the store. Walking in, there were two tables with chairs lined up against the wall. A fridge was tucked into the corner with a counter that housed a commercial-sized microwave. The sink was at the far right end of the counter, with the room's only trash can set next to it.
"Time clock is against this wall here. They gave you your numbers, right?"
Digging into his vest pocket, Midoriya revealed a small post-it note that had a 7-digit string of numbers written in marker. "Yep, got it right here!"
"It's barely worth explaining, but when you're clocking in, you push the In button, then enter that number. When you leave, do the same except press Out. For your meals, you press Start meal and then the number. Simple enough for you?"
"Yeah, I get it, Kacchan. Should I go ahead and..?"
"You want a paycheck, don'tcha? Any day now would be great." Bakugou rolled his eyes as Midoriya flinched before slowly typing in his employee number.
"Great, now you've officially started your day. Just throw that monster of a lunch in the fridge and get back out to the front." Bakugou left the break room, leaving Midoriya to get a closer look at the surroundings. Numerous inspirational posters lined the walls, as well as informative bulletins on current sales and other notices that were required to be on display.
The door opened once more, and just as Midoriya was about to acknowledge Bakugou's return, he realized that it was another classmate.
"Midoriya, I didn't know you worked here," said Todoroki, dressed in the same white shirt, though sporting a white bakers apron, lined at the hem with the light blue store color.
"I just started today, actually. Kacchan's training me and just showed me how to clock in."
"They're letting him train you? Man, they must be short-staffed at the front." Todoroki shook his head before meeting Midoriya's emerald eyes again. "Look, if there's anything you think he's not telling you right, just come over to the bakery and I'll see if I can help. What time is your break?"
"I think it's right at noon, but it's only thirty minutes long," Midoriya said.
Todoroki quickly touched through his phone, "Looks like my break doesn't start until 12:30 pm today, so I can at least see you in passing. Just let me know if there are any problems, okay?"
Smiling bright, Midoriya responded, "Sure thing, Todoroki!" Before either teen made their way back to the door, it swung open, revealing a behemoth of a man taking up the entire door frame.
"Shoto, I put in another request for your transfer but it keeps getting denied." The man with the fiery red crew cut and mustache stared narrowly at Todoroki. "You're better off training in the meat department. You know you'd work out better as a meat clerk than some damn pastry seller."
"I've no interest in following in your footsteps. You're wasting your time with those transfer requests because I'll never work for you in that department."
Todoroki's father, Enji, sneered at his son now, age trying to overcome years of hostility as he weighed his opinion towards his son again. "You know you'd have a better career following me in the meat department. As the manager, you know you'd be next in line for my position should I be transferred to another store."
"Still not interested. Keep playing with your meat, I'd rather sling dough than work in the same department as you."
Frustrated but knowing when to stop his attempts to recruit his son, Enji turned hard on his heel and stalked out of the break room and towards the back of the store, where he would spend the rest of his shift cutting and packaging the raw meats that were shipped into their store daily.
"So you really don't want to try to work as a meat department manager someday, Todoroki? Seems like you'd have a good career path lined up for you."
Staring off in the direction his father had recently gone, Todoroki shook his head lightly. "No. Everything else in this store just seems hectic or mundane. When I get to see Mother work on her cakes, there's something peaceful about her method. She's one of the cake decorators for the bakery. Even though we don't get paid as much as the other departments, I'd rather stay there and watch her work on her cakes than make more money viewing something far less beautiful."
"That's… Really sweet, Todoroki. Oh! I totally didn't mean to make that sound like a bakery pun! But, yeah, that's nice that you enjoy where you're working. I should probably go see where Kacchan is so I can keep training. I'll see you around!"
"Yeah, see you later Midoriya," Todoroki replied as he clipped his hair back and stretched a white hair net over his head. A brief smile showed on his face when he realized the bakery had a perfect view of the front of the store. Getting to watch his green-haired crush at work was just another reason to never want to leave his department.
AN- I've been writing down strange customer interactions at my job for months now, anticipating the chance to write a story based on them. The customers in this story are all based on real happenings, which shows you that life can be as entertaining as fiction! I hope you enjoy the story, please let me know what you think about Midoriya's first day on the job!