Cafe con Crushes {mha coffeeshop au}

Vino el Apagón, ¡Ay dios!

Iida runs inside. The shop is completely dark. "What's going on?" Sort of a dumb question. "Is everyone ok?" Less dumb. 

"All employees accounted for," Izuku calls back. 

There's a small bang, and then a flashlight turns on. Denki holds it up under his chin, giving a cheeky smile that looks sinister under the light. "Found it in the compartment under the counter. Catch." He tosses a couple out. Iida points his out at the remaining customers. There's about ten or so. 

"There's just been a blackout."

A few mumbles echo throughout the room. "Yeah, no kidding."

He ignores them. "We're gonna need you to stay calm. The lights should turn on soon, but for now, just stay where you are. If you panic, that'll make it worse. Turn on your phone's flashlight if you have one."

A few lights came on from throughout the room. He recognized a few customers. 

The girl Izuku liked. That girl that was always wearing headphones. That girl who always sat in the back like she didn't want anyone to notice her. That boy with the service animal that trailed behind him, a big fluffy golden retriever the color of his hair. That easily excitable girl with her hair in two messy buns. The manager's foster daughter, a little girl with white-blond hair. The cosplayer with those pitch black contacts that scared Bakugo out of his mind the first time he took her order. 

There were also a few non-regulars who Iida couldn't completely identify. A girl with pink hair and chunky glasses. A guy with spiky hair so black it almost looked purple who could've been his manager's son. A girl with long blue hair the framed her face. The manager's daughter was playing with her hair, though, so she was likely and babysitter.

As rude as it may seem, he hoped that this blackout didn't last so long that he would get to know them. 

Driving in a power outage is pretty unsafe, though, and most of the people in this room fell on the 18-24 age range; barely not considered teenagers, driving for less than 10 years, and at least half with no one to call if they get into an accident. Nobody here would be taking their chances on the way home.

Still, they'd be antsy if they had to stay. It was already 8 pm, and no one wanted to stay in a coffee shop all night. He didn't have plans (he never did) but Denki was going to a movie and Tsuyu had gotten a reservation for a restaurant at around 8:15. Worst of all-Kirishima had to catch a plane. 

Blackouts were proving to be remarkably good at ruining plans. 

If he was going to be honest, Iida didn't really know what to do. He had to rationalize this. 

First. Aizawa was coming to pick up his kid at closing time. In about five minutes, it would be closing time. Assuming that the blackout has slowed him down, he should still be here in about ten to fifteen minutes. He's older, he'll know what to do, and he'll call if there's a problem. 

Two. There's food leftover. Usually employees take it home, but if they need to, they can give out food. Plus, protein bars and a few fruits. Some premade drinks are leftover, bottled water and lemonade and orange juice. 

Three. Power outages can last a while, but they also can go away fast. If it's a scheduled blackout, then it should last about an hour. Even if it wasn't, blackouts do not last all night. Worst case scenario, these are adults with phones. They can walk home. 

Four. The TVs are off, and in the case of danger, phone battery should be saved. But there are books, and Denki has a deck of cards in his employee locker. 

Iida took a deep breath. Right. It was time to put that plan into action. 

Customers had been chatting, but just as he feared, they seemed a bit annoyed. "Hey!"

They looked over, thank gosh. Otherwise, he would've felt really dumb standing on the counter. 

"I don't know how long this blackout is gonna last, but just in case, it's safest to stay here. We've got charging stations normally, but for obvious reasons those aren't gonna work, so unless you have pre-charged charging stations, you should reserve your battery in case this lasts a while. We've got books and a couple decks of cards if anyone wants to use them." You know what, screw it. Those lemonades were at the end of their natural lives anyway. If he gets in trouble, he'll pay for them. Besides, he'll be able to pay it back i̶f̶ when he gets famous. "Lemonades, bakery items, and orange juices are half off." Bottled water and energy bars are a little more precious; in a 'just in case' scenario, those are what they'll need. 

Maybe half-off is a pretty good offer, or people are just starting to treat the ten-minute blackout like an emergency scenario, but everyone in the room comes over to the food fast. Denki also exits and grabs something for himself. 

"What? It's never this cheap."

Soon there's only a couple cakepops left, and a group of five starts a poker game for it. Izuku finds a couple board games, and soon there's a game of Monopoly™ (perfect when trying to cool down a situation) and a game of Jenga™ going. Iida grabs a book off the small shelf next to the couch, and sits down. 

"Good book?" 

"Huh?" He looks up to see the girl with pink hair and glasses, smiling with a novel from the same series in hand. "Oh, yeah, I kinda like it."

"I haven't read these in such a long time," she laughs, sitting down next to him. "I used to love this series when I was in high school. I guess that author finally made a new book in the series, and with the blackout, might as well read it." She opens up the book and then laughs. "Wait, I almost forgot to introduce myself! Sorry about that! I'm Mei, she/her."

"I'm Tenya Iida, he/him." He shakes her hand. 

"Nice to meet you!" She turns back to the book almost immediately, laughing occasionally and smiling at jokes. 

Iida doesn't completely pay attention to the book. Not really. He's mostly taking in the scene around him. Denki hopping around excitedly about winning the last sweets at poker, Bakugo going from king of the world to pouting angrily in just a few turns of Monopoly™ , and the dangerously teetering Jenga™ bricks. 

The power comes on after about thirty minutes later. Aizawa comes in about ten minutes later than he said he would, scooping up his daughter and telling everyone that they're welcome to go and thank you for not destroying my store. 

In thirty minutes, he's back in his apartment and it's like nothing even happened. 

He makes himself some instant ramen and sits down at the tiny dining room table, checking  his phone. No callbacks. 

But then a text from Izuku pops up. 

Great job at the coffee shop! 

Then one from Tsuyu. 

Thanks for not letting us fall into anarchy lol

And from Kirishima. 

Look what could've happened!!!!  😱😱😱 Tysm dude!!!!!!

It's an article, from the LA Times. "After a full-county forty-five minute blackout, thousands of businesses report violence from patrons stuck inside."

He scans the article quickly. That could've happened to them. They really had no real difference. 

Except, he did something to stop it. 

He puts his phone down, checking one last time. 

There's still no callbacks. 

But maybe he's going to do well anyway. 

ok so i guess there's a little more spanish than i expected but i needed good lines from 'blackout' from in the heights soooooo

otra vez. lo siento. esta historia todavía no está en español. solo por el títulos geniales.