moving up

Chapter 1

I have no idea where I am going with this. The main ships are the main ships, but every character in the class will get a small part and shipteased a little bit, cos that's the kind of person I am, I have to do ships for everyone cos who knows? It might inspire me to expand the story and write more about the other characters.
This is gonna be a super American AU, very much Americanized stores, and everyone is gonna mostly be on a first-name basis, just to make it easier on me
Side ships are: TokoTsu, AoMina, KodaJiro, KiriKami, past KamiJiro, OjiToruSato, SeroShiozaki, ShojiMine. Chapter POVs alternate Deku, Iida, and Momo, and every chapter that is a multiple of 5 will include short side stories from Todoroki, Bakugo, Uraraka, or someone else in the store's POV.

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"Of course, thank you so much," says Izuku before hanging up with his new boss. He's just accepted a job offer at a small discount store, one that a long time friend of his recommended to him. In a few days, he will go in for orientation, and then, begin his training.

As he brings his phone down from his ear, he opens his texts to "Kacchan" and begins typing a new one. I got the job! Thank you so much for everything.

Whatever, I didn't do much.

I start later this week.

It's usually pretty quick.

Though the messages from Katsuki mostly read like he doesn't give a shit, Izuku is used to this sort of conversation. The two of them have known each other since they were infants, basically, having grown up in the same neighborhood and, though their relationship has never been simple- mostly due to Katsuki's harsh personality and Izuku's inability to take a hint when they were children- now that they are adults, and now that Katsuki has mellowed out a bit, things are at least a little less complicated.

Except for the fact that the crush Izuku has been harboring since high school (and maybe even before high school, but that was when he first realized it) likely still hasn't faded away. They don't talk as often as they used to, nor do they see each other much, but Izuku still hasn't gotten over the little flutter his heart does when he gets texts back, and when Katsuki offered to help him get a job at the store he works at, there were few explanations for how excited that made him.

But he's always known that nothing could ever actually work out between them. There is a part of him that will always think of Katsuki as someone he can't ever reach, and they've known each other for too long besides. If something were going to happen between them, surely it would have happened by now, and if Katsuki were going to notice him as anything more than a friend or a nuisance, he would have by now.

And, now that they're going to be coworkers, Izuku can't be thinking anything along those lines. He knows that it's not always uncommon for relationships to develop between coworkers, even if they are frowned upon, but with Katsuki, it's different. Katsuki is one of the managers, so there definitely couldn't be anything between them.

Not that he stood a chance to begin with.

~X~

During his orientation, Izuku is, essentially, locked in a room with a computer by his boss, and made to watch videos for a couple hours, before being sent home, so he doesn't really get to see anyone other than Aizawa, the store manager. The next day, he officially starts, and is introduced to Tenya, one of the other managers. Katsuki isn't working that day, not that he needs to concern himself with that.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," says Tenya. "If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me, or anyone else! Any questions at all, really. We'd rather you ask a million of them than have to go behind you and clean up a million mistakes."

"Alright, I'll keep that in mind," he replies, trying not to be intimidated by that last statement. Katsuki said the job wasn't that hard, so he shouldn't have anything to worry about.

First, Tenya gives him a more in-depth tour of the store, introducing him to people as he goes. The stock team is hard at work in the back, under the direction of a woman named Kyoka, and there's a woman named Toru working in the fitting room. Finally, he's brought to the register, where Tenya says that he'll be training for the rest of the day. Behind the main register is a girl with a bright smile, who looks so friendly that it's no wonder she works in customer service.

"Hi there!" she says, and her name tag reads "Ochako". "I guess you're the new hire, huh?"

"I, uh, yeah! Yeah, that's me!" he says, suddenly nervous. She's cute, incredibly cute, and it's been a while since he's had to talk directly to someone as cute as her. His thing for Katsuki is one thing, but his utter weakness in the face of cute girls is another entirely.

"Ochako, you'll be showing him the ropes up front for today," Tenya says, either completely oblivious to how overwhelmed Izuku is, or choosing to ignore it. "Izuku, I'm sure you'll learn a lot from her. She's one of our most experienced cashiers. If either of you have any questions, just radio me, alright?"

With that, he leaves them alone together, and she grins and says, "Alright, Izuku, have you ever worked on a register before?"

"A couple times, yeah," he replies, before citing his experience. She explains to them how their system works, trying to give him examples of transactions even though there aren't currently any customers, and he does his best to keep up, though she gives him a lot of information all at once.

"Is it alright if I take notes?" he finally asks, and her eyes widen.

"Notes?"

Blushing, he says, "Yeah, that, uh...that'd probably help me remember everything. Sorry, I know that must sound weird."

She giggles, before saying, "No, no, I'm sorry, I shouldn't laugh! You're just taking this really seriously and I'm not used to that. Let me see if I can find you something to write on!" After searching around a bit, she finally decides to let him use some blank receipt paper, running it through the machine and tearing it off, and handing him a pen. "Some of them don't write well on this type of paper, but that one should be fine."

She starts from the beginning and he jots down things she says, filling the piece of paper in no time at all, and again, Ochako laughs at his enthusiasm. However, there isn't anything mean to her laughter, and he soon finds himself laughing with her. All in all, it's not a bad start to his first official day.

When a customer finally shows up, he continues to take notes as he watches Ochako ring up their purchase. They give him a few odd looks, while she tries to make idle conversation with them. Just as he expected, she gives fantastic customer service, and smiles the whole time, bright, friendly, and inviting. He makes note of that, though he knows that that's something he will only get good at through practice.

"Alright, have a nice day!" she finally says, sending them on their way. She turns back to Izuku and says, "Was there anything about that that confused you?"

"No, I don't think so. I'll have to watch a couple more times, and get it memorized," he replies.

"We're pretty dead today, so it might be a while," she says with a sigh, leaning back against the counter. "Wanna hear weird stories about customers?"

The rest of his first day passes in a mix of Ochako telling him stories that leave them both laughing, and watching her run on register. Eventually, he's put on register while she watches him, and he picks up on it fairly quickly, or at least that's what she tells him. It goes by so fast that when it's time for him to clock out, it seems too soon.

The next day, he'll go back for more training, and he wonders if he'll get to see Ochako again. He's a little excited about that, and then, he wonders if he will get to see Katsuki as well, and he doesn't let himself get excited over that as well.