"Damn 30 minute breaks always go by too fast," Bakugou said as he walked back out to the store. Approaching the self-checkouts in the middle of the store, he found Midoriya bouncing from kiosk to kiosk, frantic and looking outright terrified. "Ugh, fucking nerd." He approached the other kiosks, clearing out the errors that were preventing customers from finishing their transactions. Most of which was caused by them not leaving their groceries in the bagging area long enough for the scale to pick up on the weight. Between the two of them, they managed to clear out the lunch rush.

"I-I was doing what I could, Kacchan. You didn't exactly leave me in a good position to man this by myself," Midoriya said, surprisingly emboldened to complain to the larger, more aggressive young man.

Bakugou didn't hear any of Midoriya's whining, his attention on the hooded figure that had just disappeared down aisle 4. Leaving the new guy once again to handle self-checkout by himself, Bakugou ducked down aisle 5 and at the end, carefully peeked around the corner. A slim man in a black hoodie faced the shelves, carefully looking over the skincare items.

"You're going to need a lot more than some lotion to fix your crusty old face when I get done with you, loser. We threw your ass outta here two months ago, Shigaraki. Just don't know when to quit, do you?" Bakugou had been the one to catch him stealing last time and even though they didn't have Shigaraki arrested, it had been made clear he was no longer allowed in the store.

"Is that any way to speak to a paying customer?" Shigaraki replied, turning to face Bakugou. Scars and wrinkles littered the areas around his eyes and forehead, dark circles shadowed under his eyes. "Besides, I've learned my lesson, but my associate… Well, he may not be so fast to catch on."

Realizing that he was just meant to be a diversion, Bakugou left Shigaraki and sprinted back to the front. The old lady that only works mornings and Deku were the only ones up there while the managers were in their meeting. He found Midoriya backed up against the wall with a tall, lanky man in his face. Spiked black hair with a multitude of tattoos, scars, and piercings, they had to be someone that Shigaraki knew.

"B-but you have to scan all the items, s-sir. You can't just drop them into the bag without p-paying for them!" Midoriya said, his voice trembling.

"You just couldn't look the other way, could you, kid?" the man said as he clutched Midoriya's shoulder tightly. "It wasn't even anything important, but you want to turn it into some big hassle and I'm just not in the mood to deal with a little brat like you today."

"Hey, asshole! Get your shitty hands off him. You think you're some kind of tough guy, well how about proving it with me, right here!" Bakugou stepped up and got into the man's face, nearly matching his height, though Bakugou had the weight advantage.

"Ahh, you must be the famous Bakugou Katsuki. Tomura told me about the mouthy little spitfire that nabbed him a couple of months back. Oh well, I've got no problem taking you down a few pegs. The name's Dabi, figured you should at least know the name of the guy that's gonna kick your ass." He let Midoriya go and pushed him away as he focused his attention on the furious blonde. Midoriya scrambled away and ran towards the offices. He knew how short of a temper Bakugou had, finding Aizawa and Toshinori before he went off was a must. Finding the conference room, Midoriya burst through the door.

"Sir! There's a g-guy that tried to steal from us, he's about to fight Kacchan! We have to stop them!"

The two older men rose from their chairs simultaneously while a blonde man with a gravity-defying hairdo and pencil mustache stared at Midoriya behind darkened shades. "Was it a wrinkly-faced man with red eyes?" asked Aizawa as they met Midoriya at the door.

"N-No, he's got black hair and b-blue eyes."

"Hmm, must be someone new then, I figured Shigaraki wouldn't just let that store ban go. Alright, we'll handle this Midoriya, just stay put." The two slid past him while the other man stayed put and fiddled with the laptop in front of him. Even though he'd been told to stay in the room, Midoriya had to be sure that Kacchan would be alright. Going back onto the floor, he saw that the other man Aizawa mentioned was now standing behind the one calling himself Dabi. Bakugou hadn't backed down even with the second man's appearance.

"Ahh, Young Shigaraki, I wish I could say it's a pleasure to see you again. I'm pretty sure it was made clear that you weren't welcome here anymore. And if your friend here is threatening my employees or attempting to steal as well, we'll have to ask you both to leave." Toshinori grinned the entire time he was speaking to the two troublemakers, something that Midoriya had found encouraging somehow.

Shigaraki tapped Dabi's arm and started to walk towards the exit. "Entertaining as always, big guy. Guess we'll just have to spend our hard-earned money elsewhere." Dabi followed behind the hooded man, though he paused long enough to jump towards Bakugou in a threatening manner before leaving with a smirk on his face.

"Until next time, brat," Dabi said as he waved his hand behind him.

"Weak ass losers! Next time I'll smash that smug face in!" Bakugou's temper was reaching its limit, and with no one to vent it against, he was seething with unreleased rage and energy. Toshinori rested a hand on his shoulder, and even though he was still angry, Bakugou seemed less inclined to explode now.

"Thank you again for your diligence, Young Bakugou. That man keeps testing our patience, but don't let them succeed in making you lose your cool. I'm proud to have you around in times like this when someone needs to stand firm, but you must also know when to stand down as well. Fighting wouldn't have solved anything."

"Yeah, but it woulda made me feel better," Bakugou said as he crossed his arms defensively over his chest.

Laughing heartily, Toshinori patted his shoulder before walking over to Midoriya. "And it was very wise of you to come to get help, Young Midoriya. Putting yourself in danger is the last thing I want you or any of my employees to do here."

Aizawa, who had followed the two miscreants to the door to make sure they left, returned to where the small crowd had formed. "Alright, if we're all good here, then we should get back to our conference. I know that was a harrowing experience, Midoriya. Do you want to take a short break?"

"No, sir," Midoriya said with a quick shake of his head, "I'm fine; you don't have to worry about me." The initial fear and panic that he felt when Dabi cornered him was gone, and though still shaken, he felt more motivated to keep learning his new job.

"Alright, let us know if there are any other problems. We should be finishing up shortly." Leaving the two teenagers alone again, Bakugou stared hard at Midoriya, which brought back some of his anxiety.

"What? You told me to make sure no one stole anything! That guy didn't bother scanning half of the things he was getting." Midoriya turned away from Bakugou and pulled the bag of items that Dabi had attempted to steal away from the checkout kiosk. Holding the bag open for the blonde to see, Midoriya hung his head down to hide the tears in his eyes. "Was I supposed to let him get away with it since he was bigger and tougher than I am? Just to avoid getting attacked or hurt? What was I supposed to do, Kacchan?!"

Bakugou's eyes softened as they rolled slightly at the smaller boy's venting. His chest still felt tight from when he got back to the front to see Midoriya being threatened by that creep. Not that he'd ever admit it to the wimp out loud, but he had a moment of panic over what could have happened to Deku if he hadn't gotten there in time.

"Standing your ground like that was pretty brave. Stupid, but it was brave. Guys like that use intimidation to get what they want. Showing them that you won't let them get away with their bullshit is the best way to keep them from pulling it on you again. Most idiots will back off when you stand up to them. We've had trouble with that crinkly-faced bastard for months now, but this was the first time he's brought a friend along. You didn't do anything wrong, nerd so quit with the waterworks." Bakugou's voice was surprisingly calm considering how worked up he had been five minutes ago.

"Thanks, Kacchan. I'm gonna go wash up in the bathroom. Be right back," Midoriya said as he sniffled through his nose and gave a slight smile. As many times as he's seen the brat cry through the years, this was the first time he'd ever seen how the tears brought out the emerald shine of his eyes. Or maybe it had always been that way and he was only noticing it now.

Left alone at self-checkout, Bakugou took Dabi's bag and dropped it off at Customer Service for them to be taken back to where they belonged. Returning to the kiosks, he saw two teenage girls looking over the candy rack. Taking their time to choose one, the taller of the two picked up a king-sized KitKat bar and held it up to Bakugou's eye level.

"How much is this?"

Sighing deeply, Bakugou leaned past the girls and stared at the clearly marked sales tag a bit longer than necessary. "Sign says 2 for $4." Watching the teen squint, he could visualize the gears in her head spinning and braced himself for the inevitable display of stupidity that was sure to follow. He was not disappointed.

"Well yeah, but how much is it for just one of them?"

Slapping his hand across his eyes and slowly running it down his face, Bakugou measured his voice and tone before answering. "Look, if two of them are $4, then that would make one of them…?" He gestured with his hand, palm out towards the candy bar.

Still visibly confused and now irritated, the girl tossed the candy back into its box on the rack. "I didn't come here to do math, asshole."

"Apparently you don't do much of it at school either, princess." No sooner had the two girls walked away did Bakugou see Todoroki rushing over from the bakery.

"I heard Shigaraki tried to start trouble." Looking around, Todoroki grew more agitated, "Where's Midoriya? Is he alright?"

"Keep your panties on, the nerd's fine. Crybaby ducked into the bathroom to wash his face." It was ridiculous to Bakugou how obvious Todoroki made his interest in Midoriya. Even more absurd was how dense the nerd was to not pick up on it at all.

Walking out of the bathroom and drying his hands with paper towels, Midoriya found Todoroki facing off with Bakugou. "H-Hey Todoroki, everything okay?"

Spinning around, slight panic washed over Todoroki's face but was quickly replaced by his stoic expression. "Yeah, I just wanted to see what happened with that guy who's always stealing from us. Did he get away with anything?"

"No, he had someone with him named Dabi that tried to take items at self-checkout, but I confronted him and kept him from taking anything. It was kinda scary at first, but then Kacchan showed up and distracted him so I could get away to let Mr. Toshinori know."

Todoroki eyed Bakugou, his heterochromatic eyes narrowing with a tinge of jealousy at Midoriya's nickname and how he painted the blonde as some kind of hero. "There's nothing in this store worth risking your safety for. If they steal, the bosses can easily replace it. They can't… They can't replace you, Midoriya."

"Wow, should I give you two some time alone? This is getting embarrassing for you, Half 'n Half," Bakugou said in a mocking tone.

"And you were supposed to be training him, how could you leave him alone like that? What would you have done if they'd seriously injured Midoriya?"

Panic spread through Midoriya like wildfire as his two classmates used him as the subject for their latest argument. It wasn't unusual to see the two at odds between classes or when they were on opposing teams during gym class. But for them to be arguing over him was a different situation. "Hey guys, it all worked out just fine, no need to argue about what could have happened, okay?" Midoriya inserted himself between the two before they could take it from a verbal fight to a physical one.

"Easy for you to say, hiding behind a bunch of cookies and pastries!" Bakugou yelled over the top of Midoriya's head. "At least I showed up when he needed help instead of after it all went down. Don't try to guilt-trip me because you couldn't be the hero your boyfriend needed, jackass!"

"Bakugou!" Todoroki exclaimed, shrinking away from the two, surprised that his crush had been revealed so abruptly. And by Bakugou of all people. Cheeks burning hot, he couldn't bear to sneak a glance towards Midoriya. "I-I should go back to the bakery," Todoroki said quietly as he quickly left the front of the store.

"Todoroki, wait!" Midoriya said, unsure whether he should follow him. Turning back to Bakugou, Midoriya's eyes were wide and fierce. "How could you say something like that to him, Kacchan? That was unfair, he couldn't have known about the confrontation with those guys while he was in his department!"

Rolling his eyes, Bakugou answered, "Oh my fucking god… Are you really that dense? My rudeness was the only thing you picked up on there?" He wanted to keep going, to ridicule him for completely disregarding the fact that he had outed Todoroki's crush on the nerd. But part of him didn't want Midoriya to realize it. And after the problem with the two thieves had passed, he did feel something like concern for him. Something he didn't want Todoroki to swoop in and take away. Was it jealousy? Over fucking Deku?!

"Just… Get back to work, you still have another hour before you leave for the day," was all Bakugou decided to say.

A young lady wearing a UA University shirt approached the blonde, waving cheerfully to get his attention. "Hey! I was wondering if you guys sold individual forks?"

Staring at the airhead and questioning if UA's admission requirements included coloring pages and markers, Bakugou took a cleansing breath before answering her. "No, we don't sell individual forks here. But, if you're willing to settle for the free kind, there are plenty of those in our deli section in the back corner of the store."

Unfazed by his obvious sarcasm, the girl smiled and thanked him before skipping away towards the deli. Facepalming once again, he looked up to see Midoriya smiling at him. "What?!"

"Nothing, just thought that you handled that with just the right balance of respect and sass. It was a nice break from your usual brashness." Midoriya returned to his post at the self-checkout kiosks and watched the approaching customers ring up their items, helping when the need arose. Before he realized it, Bakugou walked over and gestured for him to pass over the handheld.

"Time to go, nerd. Don't forget to clock out the right way. I still have a couple of hours left of my shift, so I can't babysit you anymore."

Nodding his head, Midoriya gave him the device, "Sure, thanks for helping me learn so much today. And for… For the Dabi thing…" Midoriya spoke the last bit quietly, shyly looking away as he scratched the back of his neck nervously.

"Don't mention it. You working tomorrow?" Bakugou asked casually.

"Yep, 8-3 this time. Are you going to be here?"

Sighing, Bakugou replied, "Unfortunately, yes. Sounds like you'll be shadowing me again, so don't think I'll take it easy on you or anything."

"I'd never expect that from you, Kacchan. Enjoy the rest of your day, I'll see you tomorrow!" Midoriya walked away, completely oblivious to the crimson red eyes boring into his back as they watched until he disappeared into the break room.

He had just finished clocking out and had reached for the door when it was pushed from the other side. Todoroki stumbled in at the sudden change in balance, falling against Midoriya's chest as the two hit the wall opposite the door.

"Oh oops! Sorry, I didn't know you were there, umm, Todoroki," Midoriya said with a hesitant laugh. Biting his bottom lip, Todoroki gazed into Midoriya's eyes just a little longer than necessary. His hands on either side of Midoriya's head, Todoroki had implemented an accidental kabedon. Realizing it, he stepped back, blushing hard once more.

"I'm sorry, Midoriya. For just now, and for what happened earlier. I didn't really want you to find out tha-"

"It's fine, Todoroki. You don't have to apologize, I understand. Just because you couldn't help out when there was trouble, doesn't mean you're a bad person or friend. Like I said, it all worked out just fine, so let's just put it past us, okay?" Midoriya patted Todoroki's shoulder and grinned.

Breathing a deep sigh of relief, Todoroki got his nerves under control. So Midoriya hadn't picked up on his crush at all? Even after Bakugou's boyfriend remark. Maybe it was better this way. At least for now. "Yeah, let's do that. Are you working tomorrow, Midoriya?"

"Yeah, I'll be in at 8 am. If you're here too, would you like to try to have lunch at noon again? It was nice to have someone to talk to instead of staring at the walls."

Nodding enthusiastically, Todoroki twisted his mouth into a half-smile. "I'd love that. See you tomorrow." He waved goodbye to Midoriya and rested his back against the wall.

It wouldn't look that strange for him to show up on his day off just to eat lunch with Midoriya, right?

Walking out of the store, Midoriya briefly waved to Bakugou, who was berating a customer for moving their bag off of the self-checkout scale too soon. He briefly acknowledged him before returning to his rant about reading the screen. Smiling, Midoriya stepped outside, the sunlight warm against his face even as it briefly blinded him.

His first day had been quite eventful, and he looked forward to sharing it with his mom over dinner. Though, after thinking about it, he decided it best to leave out the part where he was almost assaulted by Dabi. He didn't want to wake up to another buffet tomorrow.

AN- The end of Midoriya's first day is also the end of this story. For now. Since his experiences were inspired by my real-life customer interactions, who knows when I'll find more situations to throw these three into. So we may end up seeing more from Midoriya's first job in the future. Thank you for reading!