maybe | hitoshi shinsou x reader

omake #1: lunchtime rush

Bean Town is busy, more so than usual. Bustling even, and it's stretching you a little thin.

"Here you go, sir," you tell the pink-haired lizard-man as you set his coffee and panini down in front of him. You're already on your way to grab another order before he can say thank you. That is, until you're stopped by a familiar voice. A very loud, familiar voice.

"Oh, [l/n]-san!"

You turn around and find that Present Mic—or should it be Yamada Hizashi, since he's out of his hero costume?—has just walked through Bean Town's doors, accompanied by a tired Aizawa.

"Sensei!" you exclaim. He's never been here before, at least, not as far as you know. In fact, none of U.A.'s teachers have come to Bean Town before, despite its relative proximity.

You honestly would've liked to have kept it that way; this is all the awkwardness of seeing a teacher outside of school, except even weirder, because they're seeing you at work, as opposed to the reverse. Eugh.

"I didn't know you had a job! How cool and responsible!" Present Mic isn't as loud outside of class, for which you're thankful. He seems mellower, almost—though mellower for him is still pretty dang loud for everyone else. Maybe it's because instead of wearing his normal orange sunglasses, he's got on black prescription frames.

"Ah, how kind of you to say!" You smile. Weird or not, it's good to see him; his cheer is infectious, and somehow manages to cut through the haze of lunch rush.

"Don't let it affect your studies, kid," Aizawa says, though not unkindly. Likely, he's worried for you. Being overworked is pretty typical of high school students in Japan after all, even before you factor in things like jobs and extracurriculars.

"I won't, sensei!" You nod decisively. At the very least, your grades haven't dropped yet, and Karage's happy to let you work on school work in between customers, at times peppering in suggestions of his own on what exactly you should write down (though the helpfulness of such suggestions is debatable). Shinsou helps too, but between the two of you it's more likely you'll become distracted with something else. While he's a pretty good student, you're not exactly a good influence.

The two of them part with a wave to claim a table for themselves. A smart move, as the seating area is filling up quick. For every customer that leaves, it seems as though two more arrive, and even though no one's been especially rude, you still feel up to your neck in stress and annoyance.

"Your food, sir! Have a nice day!" you say to a man with burns littering the lower half of his face and some of his arms, messy black hair covering all but the slightest hints of his striking blue eyes. When he grunts his thanks, you've already turned to move on, grabbing new orders and balancing them so precariously in your arms you almost topple over.

"Order for..." It's kind of hard to read the name scrawled on the label of this drink. Yakitako's the one working register today, and their handwriting has always been bad, but it always gets worse when there's a rush. "Order for Tobita!" you call out, less than confident.

"Aha!" says a man with white hair and pale blue eyes as he walks up to the counter. His mustache is perfectly manicured, like something you might see in a cartoon. "Thank you very much, my dear." He takes the drink from your grasp with a slight bow, though it feels more theatrical than polite, and sips it on his way out the door.

"Ah." Most customers aren't so...interesting. "You, too," you say, but he's long since gone.

On and on it goes. No one is quite so dramatic as that Tobita guy, but it's hard to get caught up on any one customer in particular when there are so many of them. That blonde girl who likes to put her hair in messy buns stops by, but she doesn't buy anything, just kind of lingers in the corner of the store and smiles at you. It's a bit uncomfortable, but in all honesty you've experienced creepier; some customers just don't know what boundaries are. Blech. Sometimes, though...sometimes people are just flat-out strange.

"Aw man, you mean--" the man speaking is blonde, has a scar cutting down the middle of his forehead, and is obviously an adult, early thirties maybe--but somehow he makes that lip wobble seem so pathetic. "You mean I can't get a free sandwich? But I brought my coupon and everything."

You're working register right now as Yakitako takes their break. "Sir, this is just a piece of paper that you wrote the words 'free sandwich' on." The paper itself is so eye-searingly pink it nearly burns. Stifling the urge to sigh is getting trickier with every passing second.

"Wh--what?" He honestly looks caught off guard, like he's surprised you called him out on it, or that you even noticed. "For real? That's--that's so crazy." He laughs nervously, patting down the pockets of his pants like he's looking for something. "Could've sworn I had it some--"

"What's going on here?" Karage says, coming up behind you arms crossed and face stormy. His arrival nearly makes you flinch; you hadn't heard him at all. "Is there a problem--oh!" Karage's entire demeanor suddenly changes, shoulders relaxing and grin spreading on his face. "Jin! It's been a while!"

The customer has a similar change in attitude. "Ijii! You still run this place? Wow!"

Karage laughs. "My nephew told me it looked like someone was bothering my favorite employee, and it winds up being you, ya bastard! How have you been?"

Then the two of them get sucked into a conversation that's full of uproarious laughter, and you wind up having to work around them, Karage leaning over your shoulder to talk to Jin as you take orders and write down names. He's not exactly paying much attention, but having your boss shadow you at work makes you sweat. You don't know how long they end up speaking for, but Jin apparently winds up getting sent on his way with a free sandwich anyway, so you suppose he got what he came for.

By the time the end of your shift rolls around, you're exhausted. It's only four pm, but with how heavy your body feels it'd be easy to convince you it was four am. Shinsou gets off at four too, and you can tell he feels similarly as you both gather your things from the back room. The bags under his eyes seem to have multiplied.

"See you tomorrow?" you ask a bit rhetorically. The two of you are working the same shift the next day, after all, even if your sore feet protest at the thought.

"Ugh," Shinsou says, but it means yes. You bump into his shoulder as you pass in goodbye and he gives a little wave.

--

A/N: just a small little day in the life of what working at bean town is like, along with some familiar faces thrown in here and there. i hope everyone's recognizable enough!!