moving up

Chapter 4

Izuku continues his training in each department that the store has over the next couple days, and into the next week, getting a good feel for every area of the store. He gets to meet a lot of people, and determine what he feels like he's best at, though for now they say that he's just going to fill in what areas help is needed in, until further notice.

Things are going well at his job, but he is, naturally, more focused on the interactions that he has with Katsuki now. Despite being in a different setting, they fall into familiar rhythms of teasing and bickering, with Katsuki always speaking with a little more venom, which somehow only makes Izuku feel more comfortable with him. He's the same as ever, of course.

And Izuku still has as much of a crush on him as ever, and he doesn't know when he's going to be able to escape that. After all these years, he'd kind of hoped that he'd go to work with Katsuki and discover it was all in his head, that he'd imagined him as much more amazing in the past, and that absence had kept up that illusion, but, unfortunately, he is just as head over heels for Katsuki as he was before.

But Katsuki isn't the only one that gets his pulse a little higher than usual at work. Whenever he works a shift that overlaps with one of Ochako's, she is always so happy to see him, and he is always reminded of just how cute she is. She's nothing like Katsuki, and it's kind of strange that he's starting to develop a crush on her as well, all things considered.

Really, he knows that thinking about her like that is no better than thinking about Katsuki like that, or perhaps worse, even. He has history with Katsuki, at least, but he's only just met Ochako as a coworker, and even if she is cute, and nice to him, and makes him feel good, that's no reason for him to get so excited whenever they work together. A coworker is a coworker.

And, if he's being completely honest with himself, having two crushes at once is enough of a disaster on it's own. The only thing to do about either is to ignore them, and try to act like everything is normal whenever he has to work with Katsuki or Ochako.

~X~

His first day in the stockroom, the supervisor, Kyoka, partners him with someone named Fumikage to teach him all the basics. Izuku sticks close by the other man, emulating the way he opens boxes, asking him where to put things, and asking any other questions that come to mind. He hasn't been able to take notes like he could his first day on register, but he tries to commit things to memory nonetheless.

"A lot of it is memorization that will come later," Fumikage says. "There are a lot of minor steps you won't really get until you get them, if that makes sense."

"Just ask as many questions as you need to. I'd rather you bug me than screw up my system, alright?" Kyoka adds.

"What she said," he says with a nod. "But at least try to watch closely so you don't have too many questions."

Both of them come across as somewhat abrasive, in different ways, but even so, they do what they can to be helpful, and Izuku likes both of them. When he gets the hang of things and can work alongside Fumikage, the two talk a bit more about the store, and a tall man named Mezo joins in from time to time, seeming to be fairly good friends with Fumikage.

All in all, Izuku likes it in the stockroom a lot.

~X~

The sales floor is nice too, and, while it isn't as relaxed as stock, it still has less pressure than the register. One evening, he's paired with Minoru, a sales floor associate who gives a sigh of relief and says, "If I've got you here then I don't need to call someone else over to help me reach the higher shelves."

It's true that he's on the shorter side, and Izuku laughs and says, "Well, I know I can manage that, so you can count on me!"

"Oh, please, everyone knows you're already great at this job and you just started," Minoru replies. "Katsuki won't shut up about it, even if he says it in that Katsuki way, you know. He wouldn't talk about you and not complain if you sucked."

"He talks about me a lot?" he can't help but ask, the other man snorts.

"Jeez, obvious crush, much? I didn't know you were into dudes."

He can feel his face going red as he stammers, "B-both, actually, b-but I wouldn't say that I...you know..."

"Whatever," says Minoru, rolling his eyes. "I'm all about girls, you know? I mean, you do you, this is a judgment free workplace or whatever, but, like, you've met Momo, right? God , what I wouldn't give...and don't get me started on Tsuyu! She was here just before you came in, I should have introduced you...oh, and there's Ochako, Kyoka...Mina and Toru...that girl that works next door that Hanta is totally into..."

Izuku soon discovers that when Minoru gets like this, all he can do is smile and nod, but the other man seems to appreciate him listening either way.

~X~

As far as easy jobs in the store go, the fitting room is by far and away the easiest. The day that he gets partnered with a man named Denki, Izuku is told as much.

"Seriously, we just stand here all day," he says. "I mean, sometimes the stock team gives us things to do, and we gotta count the clothes before customers try them on, but other than that? Nothing. Easiest job in the whole store."

"That sounds nice," Izuku agrees.

"Yeah, I feel so bad for Eijiro being stuck up front. Have you met him yet? He's the supervisor for all the cashiers."

"I've seen him, but we haven't talked or anything."

"He's pretty cool," Denki says with a nod. "He should be working today, so you should introduce yourself to him. If you end up on register a lot, you'll have to get to know him anyway, since he's basically the boss."

"What's the difference between a supervisor and a manager?"

"Well, technically they're all the same thing except Aizawa, cos he's the store manager," he explains, "but Katsuki, Tenya, and Shoto are all supervisors over specific departments, and are allowed to carry the keys to the store and open and close without Aizawa around. Kyoka and Eijiro just have the stockroom and the registers, and they don't get paid as much. Not that we're supposed to know how much anyone gets paid, I just know them both pretty well."

Izuku nods as he follows along, glad that, since the fitting room job is so easy, he can still learn something while he's back here. He doesn't know why he's so interested in the hierarchy of the store; perhaps someday he might be interested in moving up, when he's been here longer. Though it would be strange to work a position alongside Katsuki, given his feelings.

Okay, he's really got to get those under control.