Chapter Text
Ochako Uraraka was currently facing the dilemma of a lifetime.
She gone to Toshinori’s Breakfast Diner everyday for years now. She had met all of its servers and even its manager on several occasions.
Her most common server had been Tenya Iida, a pleasant young man who had a bit of a habit of taking his job a bit too seriously. He was quite diligent, always priding himself in quality customer service. Within just a few weeks, he’d gotten appointed to Assistant Manager, a feat that damn near meant the world to him. Uraraka had become quick friends with him.
On the other side of that spectrum, there was Katsuki Bakugou, whom Uraraka was surprised that he managed to keep his job this long. Bakugou never missed a chance to prove just how rude he could be, showing little tolerance for the customers he served and just doing whatever it was he needed to do to get his paycheck. Uraraka thought that the manager must not be willing to give up on teaching him how to be a somewhat tolerable human being, even after all those times he got her order wrong, burnt her coffee, or “forgot” her change.
While he normally held a quiet demeanor, Shouto Todoroki was kind enough. He seemed to have a perfect sense of balance when it came to his work-not overly obsessive like Iida but nowhere near as rude as Bakugou. He however didn’t really share that balance in how he handled coffee. On numerous occasions, Todoroki has served coffee as searingly hot as the surface of the sun and has given drinks with enough ice to freeze solid if left alone. That said, they were innocent mistakes that Uraraka was willing to forgive.
Even the manager, Toshinori, wasn’t above serving his customers personally. He always seemed to have a permanent smile no matter what chaos occurred in his diner. He was quite generous, slipping little snacks to repeat customers and serving customers their exact needs. Uraraka was never one to deny a fresh chocolate chip cookie on the house. His diner had quickly become one of Japan’s most popular restaurants in record time but to him that hardly mattered as much as satisfying his customers.
But then there was him.
The newest employee that she had never seen before. A boy, probably no older than her, had meekly approached her table. He wore the trademark Diner uniform: a blue T-shirt with red and yellow design, somewhat resembling a superhero’s uniform, under a white apron with a picture of Toshinori with his classic grin giving a thumbs up. His hair was curly and had the same shade of green as his eyes. His boyish face held a shy smile as he walked. He was just on the shorter side but Uraraka could still see some well developed arm muscle that his T-shirt so graciously provided.
“W-welcome to Toshinori’s Breakfast Diner.” he did his best not to stutter. “What can I get for you today?”
It took her some time to realize that he was speaking to her. “Oh! Um…yes, just a medium coffee, black, please?”
“Coming right up!” he said, strolling over to the kitchen counter.
Uraraka never stopped staring at him.
Whatever previous thought she had in her mind had instantly just been replaced by that awkward green haired server. Catching glimpses at his smile didn’t seem to help her out of her trance.
“His name’s Midoriya.”
Her skeleton practically jumped out of her skin and did a quadruple backflip before she realized Todoroki was talking to her. “A-ah.” was all she could reply.
“Toshinori offered him a job last week when he saw him help some customers after Bakugou decided to take a longer break. Today’s his first day.” he told her.
So he’s kind too…Uraraka thought. “I-is he…” she wanted to say “single” but she stopped herself. “…nevermind.”
Midoriya returned with her order, calmly setting it on her table. “Here’s your coffee, miss.”
“Thank you.” Uraraka moved her face, attempted to hide its newly obtained shade of pink. She tried to muster what was left of her courage to face the boy again. “Hey…um, you would happen to…” she lost her nerve once more. “A-actually nevermind. It’s silly.” she muttered coyly. “Thank you for the coffee.” Midoriya kindly bowed and return to the counter.
“Hm.” Todoroki startled her once more, being so quiet that she forgot he was still beside her, probably entertained by that embarrassing mess of a conversation. He didn’t smile but something about his stoic face seemed to tell Uraraka that he knew what was going on with her.
Wordlessly, he approached where Midoriya stood. Not even trying to hide her wandering eyes, Uraraka saw Todoroki talking to the boy. She almost had a heart attack. Was he telling him about her? Was he telling him that she’s been staring directly at his face for past half hour? What if he thought she was some crazy stalker? What if he was completely creeped out by her?
Before her inner turmoil could continue, Midoriya approached her once again, his meek smile still plastered onto his perfect face. Resigning herself to her fate, Uraraka put on her bravest face and faced her kryptonite.
“Hello again.” he greeted kindly. Her facade practically shattered in seconds. Before she knew it, her face was already a tomato. “Todoroki told me that you wanted to ask me something?”
Well, it was do or die time. “Y-yes actually. Midoriya right? Are you…” Uraraka steeled herself. “free anytime this week?” The momentary silence nearly gave her an anxiety attack.
“Yes actually.” had Midoriya answered a second later, she would have passed out from asphyxiation.
“Oh! Ok well…maybe we could go get something to eat some time? I-if you want to that is!” she said a bit too quickly.
Now it was his turn to blush, suddenly finding something of interest on the floor. “S-sure.” he replied.
Uraraka died right then and there. The butterflies in her stomach had fluttered for so long that she forgot that he was still talking. “W-what?” she said returning to reality.
“Your name.” he repeated. “What’s your name?”
She returned his shy smile. “Uraraka. Ochako Uraraka.”
“Oh, well it’s nice to meet you, Uraraka.” he said with the most sincere grin.
Now she could say with certainty that she died right then and there.
Soon they were both staring at each other before another voice brought them back to earth.
“OI, DEKU!” a certain obnoxious voice. “Get off your lazy ass and help me with these goddamn customers!”
“Don’t use such obscene language, Katsuki!” Iida chided.
“O-oh sorry! Coming!” he ran over to the front counter but not before giving one last wave to Uraraka.
Kindly, she waved back, smiling goofily at her newly acquired date.
She owed Todoroki big time.