Work Text:
Todoroki's morning routine starts with half-consciously searching for his mobile phone while in bed and launching the email app. Considering he gets about 72 unread emails on average by dawn, it is no surprise that long into his morning he is still busy answering them. Hence, here he is once again, eyes glued to his phone, trying to parse the service-level agreement forwarded to him by the professional services' senior director.
The redhead who is always at the cash at 7:30 am, which is when Todoroki arrives at the coffeehouse, chirps happily—too happily in fact for 7:30 am: “The usual?”
Todoroki nods in affirmation and switches to the store's app on his phone, finally giving a 3 second break to his already tired eyes. Once the beep is heard, informing them that payment has been made, he swipes the screen back to the email application and pads quickly towards the counter to the right to wait for his coffee: a medium latte with skim milk and a single pump of hazelnut syrup.
Advantage of always visiting the same shop, at the same hour, is that he doesn't have to repeat the order, which he finds to be rather long, and his name. Though overhearing others' orders, especially those with even temperature specifications, perhaps his is not too complicated. He does not think his name is too complicated either, nor does he expect them to write them in kanji, or something, but as always, when he receives the cup, the name written is completely different.
Of course.
In addition to the interesting name of “Tofudo”—what is that? The way of the tofu?—for the first time, today, there is a little drawing right below his name that suspiciously resembles a penis. Todoroki is already three steps away to his way out when he realises this colourful extra and glances back towards the counter, only to find the usual ash-blond barista to be looking back at him with a smirk while working seamlessly. Todoroki is unsure what to be more surprised at; the fact that not only is name is again misspelt—with quite a creativity—and the rudeness has reached a new, childish level, or that the barista who looks more like a delinquent has amazing hand coordination to be able to work with a tool as dangerous as an espresso machine while looking elsewhere just to be a jerk. His phone vibrates in his hand to pull him back to the real world then, notifying that he is only 15 minutes away from the daily synch-up meeting. He still hasn't read the teams' reports for it yet, though, so he hurries out, coffee and the mysteriously immature barista forgotten for the moment.
It is later, right after the said synch-up meeting, that Iida comes after him and advises him that there's a penis drawn on his cup. He is aware. He probably should've finished his drink but it took forever to finish as he was too busy IM'ing with his superior.
He sighs.
“Also,” Iida says, curious, “what is tofudo exactly? Is it a nickname?”
“Dude... you didn't...” Kirishima frowns at Bakugou during their break but Bakugou simply shrugs.
“He deserves it.”
“Why would he deserve it?! He didn't do anything wrong.”
“He's fucking rude!” Bakugou says with such gravity and absence of self-awareness that Kirishima is left speechless.
Todoroki is running 10 minutes later than usual because he did not hear his first two alarms, because he worked till 2 am the night before, because he has a large international project to negotiate the privacy clauses of, because somewhere along the way he has become a workaholic despite incessant warnings by Izuku. Oh, and he woke up to 87 unread emails that morning.
This is why he does not immediately realise that it is not the ever cheerful redhead barista but the blond arsehole at the cash. When nobody helpfully asks “The usual?” he lifts his head from the shiny screen of his smart phone to find the said arsehole glaring holes at his skull.
“Your order?” The arsehole says—no, rather spits out every syllable of, and Todoroki is confused and frustrated and more than a little angry.
“The usual.”
“Which is?” The arsehole asks, as if purposely trying to make Todoroki angry, considering he has been making the same coffee every weekday morning for Todoroki for over 6 months now. Never mind, in fact, as Todoroki regards this person properly, it is not 'as if'; he is definitely trying to make Todoroki angry. Normally, it wouldn't be possible as easily, but it has been an awful 24 hours and this cheeky cherry on top is just grating on Todoroki's nerves.
“Medium latte with skim milk and a pump of hazelnut syrup.”
“Cool, that'll be 570 yen.” The arsehole says with a grin and Todoroki is certainly unamused as he pays with the app.
In that one second, Todoroki also catches the sight of this offensive person's ID tag, “Bakugou” it says. 'Explosive Strength'? 'Explosive Number'? Todoroki isn't sure how that name is written but he is instinctively sure it is 'explosive' something.
As he waits for his drink, longer than usual as one man—Mr Horrible Bakugou—seems to be handling both the cash and the counter, he goes through a dozen more emails and replies to two meeting invites. He also sends the finalised report on the privacy clauses of the BMW project that covers three continents and tens of countries. Then his name is read aloud... or what he thinks his name is supposed to be...
“Toppoki!”
Todoroki sighs and takes a second to glare at the barista. The first time he is doing that—even though he is now 14 minutes late. There is a shit-eating grin on the person's face as he gets on with preparing more drinks with the swiftness that suggest he was born to brew delicious caffeinated drinks.
“My name,” Todoroki says as he grabs the paper cup, “is Todoroki.”
Bakugou smirks to himself, not even bothering to face Todoroki, still busy at the espresso machine; “I know.”
Todoroki should shout and demand respect, maybe, but it is not in his character to shout and he has never bothered much about what others' think of him. Also, he is now 15 minutes late. One more minute and he will be in actual risk of missing a presentation. So he leaves it there, giving only a loud sigh as a response.
“There's... again—ehm—a genitalia drawn on your cup.” Iida helpfully messages him five minutes into their project kick-off presentation, so Todoroki turns his cup to face the other way. The new penis drawn on his cup features one of the balls shaded in black, likely as a reference to his peculiar hair style. Todoroki sighs.
Yaoyorozu pauses her explanation of the project timeline, to ask, “Is there something you'd like to add Todoroki-san?”
“No,” Todoroki replies. Not to this particular conversation, he doesn't.
When the strange pattern of his name being constantly misspelt started, at first he thought it was the redhead at the cash since normally it is that person of the staff who writes the names on the cup. He had found it odd too, since the person did not seem or sound like someone who would perform such petty teasing. Then he realised, paying attention to how the process went one morning, the person at the cash, likely due to Todoroki being a regular by now, didn't even write his name on the cup, but just the order... But when he received the cup at the end, there was a 'name' on it—if one could call the word scribbled a 'name'. Apparently, it was the barista who stubbornly continued this crude trend and Todoroki just shrugged over it; at the beginning, half the time he didn't even check what was being written on the cup. Eventually, as the 'name' on his cup started becoming even more ridiculous, it became a little habit to check it on his way out. In honesty, he did not care much for it; neither particularly insulted nor bothered. More, instead, he found it just... an absurd joke to start the day with, or so.
And thus, once his nerves are calmed and the news of BMW project being signed with full agreement on the revised clauses arrives, Todoroki thinks, being called 'toppoki' isn't the end of the world.
He actually likes Korean food.
It is a National Holiday.
Yet here he is at the coffeehouse, at the same ungodly hour of the morning as always, because he has teleconferences to do with staff from overseas branches. Wonderful.
“Oh no... you're working today?” The bright redhead asks and Todoroki decides to check his name tag—Kirishima—Is the ki of Fire character? If so, the parents must have been equally cheerful people, Todoroki muses.
“Yes, unfortunately.”
“Man... that sucks. The usual?”
“Yes, please.”
At least he has a bit of time to not hurry this morning and has waken up to only 31 unread emails, all of which he has already went through. So, for the first time, he is not looking at his phone as he walks to the counter, taking in the sounds of the peaceful morning and almost-empty coffeehouse.
The general silence is also how he hears the redhead—Kirishima—whisper to the arsehole—Bakugou—to “please don't do it... this time at least” and get verbally slapped with a “fuck off”. So Bakugou is generally potty mouthed. Makes sense.
Now that he considers the man, he does have the word 'angry' etched all over his features. He couldn't be older than Todoroki yet there's a slight wrinkle between his eyebrows suggesting that he furrows them way too often. Even when working peacefully and with no hurry, there's a little scowl of sorts on his lips; Todoroki is sure that during rush hours he must frown deeply as if he's in hell—not that Todoroki would blame him in that case. Otherwise, his skin is plump and clear, beautiful with a healthy glow. His eyebrows are naturally nicely shaped and overall, his facial features quite handsome. If only he smiled and did not behave like an arsehole, he could even be attractive, Todoroki thinks, especially when he realises how fit and lean with muscle rest of the man is.
“Tokidoki.” potentially-attractive man says as he puts the cup on the counter and crosses his arms, looking square at Todoroki, as if daring him to correct or complain.
“It's...” Todoroki says, securing a lid over his cup, “not as creative as I had hoped.”
“What?!”
“What?”
He is being regarded as if he is an alien.
“You...” the barista says, puzzlement leaking off his face, “you're not mad?”
“No?”
“Why the fuck not?!”
“Should I be...?”
“The fuck! Of course you should be...”
“I don't know... Toppoki was a cute one.”
“Cu—cute? Do you even have a brain?”
“Now, this is rather rude but yes, I do.”
Bakugou rolls his eyes and moves towards the cash to get the new cup placed there for him, a pretty girl now waiting near Todoroki for her drink. Todoroki is kind of curious, morbidly so, as Bakugou seems almost shaken by the fact that he is not upset at the misspelling-teasing-game or whatever it is he has been playing.
Todoroki is about to leave it at that but then he realises that there is no penis drawn on his cup.
“There's no penis on my cup...” he comments and the young woman near him gives a strange, suspicious look. Bakugou lifts his head to glare at Todoroki.
“Next time I'll sure to serve two then.”
“Increasing the quantity? That's boring. Some creativity on that front would be nice too.” Todoroki smiles, just to see if he can rile the Mr. Foul Mouth, and to his unfathomable glee, he can. Bakugou glares at him harder.
“Fuck off.”
“Have nice day yourself too.” He nods, as he starts to leave, and can hear Kirishima chiding Bakugou about language. His mood stays up until he reaches the office and starts preparing for his meetings.
Russian data protection laws are very good at spoiling one's mood.
“Todoroki!”
Hearing this name, Todoroki looks around to find Izuku waving at him with a smile, standing at the end of the long line of professionals grudgingly waiting for their morning coffee.
“Good morning. You're early...”
“Ah...” Izuku grimaces. “We had an outage early this morning...”
“Really?”
“Yeah... been up since 4 am.” Izuku pouts a little.
“That's rough.”
“Well... it's work. Nothing one can do… I didn't know you came to this shop.”
“It is close to work and their blends are very good.”
“I know right! Actually, owner is mother of a childhood friend of mine.” Izuku beams, despite the dark circles around his eyes. “You should try their shortbread cookies—so good!”
“That sounds nice... Maybe I'll try one.”
“Yeah, I always get one. Kirishima—ah another friend of mine who works here, bakes them. So it's in-house!”
“Kirishima? The cheerful redhead at the cash?”
“Ah, yeah, you know him?”
“Well, he is always at the cash on weekdays at this hour. Him and the arsehole blond.”
“Ha? Kacchan?”
“Kacchan?”
“Well... it's just a nickname from when we were kids. So he comes for the morning shifts huh? Even though he hates mornings.”
“How is he in serving industry in itself is a mystery.”
Izuku softly chuckles; “Not exactly, actually. Ah... he's actually the friend whose mother owns the shop.”
“He... is your friend?”
“Yes. Kind of. It is... complicated.”
“Somehow I'm not surprised.”
“He's been mean to you? Or... maybe that's a stupid question to ask.”
“It is.”
“He is just... he has a temper. He also doesn't really know how to not be rude. And he cannot handle socialising at all... But he's actually nice too.”
“He is interesting but nice? That's a bit hard to believe.”
“Yeah... I see how that may seem but like, the only reason he even does shifts here despite being so busy at uni is because his mum kind of got hospitalised early this year and so now she can't manage the shop as much.”
“Hmm... is that so...”
“Yeah. He has been coming daily to help. Even though they fight like cats and dogs...”
“You said university? I thought he was around our age.”
“He is. He just started doing his PhD.”
“He is doing a PhD?”
“Yes? In Chemical Engineering.”
“I don't know whether I should be shocked or not at all.”
“He's super serious about his studies you know. He's super smart too. He's really cool actually if he didn't curse like once every three words and managed to have small talk.”
Todoroki smiles at Izuku's summary as Izuku takes his turn to order, greeting Kirishima who looks especially happy to see him.
“I can't believe my eyes... you are here. And it is not even 9 am yet.”
“I know...”
“You sound tired? And what would you like?”
“Um... maybe a vanilla latte? Large. I've been working since 4 am...”
“Jeez...man, take care. Don't work yourself to death. Also you want an extra shot?”
“I don't know, wouldn't it be too bitter?”
“We'll just add more syrup, no problem.”
“Great two fucking nerds at once. I knew this was a cursed morning.” Bakugou's remark isn't even murmured or anything, and while Todoroki cannot make out his face thanks to the large espresso machine blocking, he is certain there's a deep scowl.
“Good morning to you to Kacchan...” Izuku sighs and turns to Todoroki quickly, “He doesn't really mean it.”
“I do mean it.” is Bakugou's sincere note while Kirishima rolls his eye, visibly 'done' with Bakugou's mood.
“Same old same for you Todoroki-san?”
“Yeah.”
“So you two know each other?” Kirishima asks curiously as Todoroki pays for his drink.
“We work in the same company. Got in around the same time too, though in different departments.” Izuku answers in his stead.
“Wow, that's cool. So you're in software business too Todoroki-san?”
“I do legal.”
“Aha. Had to know only a lawyer could be this much of an asshat.” Bakugou chips in, as if he was invited to the conversation, as Kirishima smiles apologetically to the old uncle who is ordering at the moment and most certainly heard Bakugou's vulgar comment.
“Are you a lawyer too, then?” Todoroki asks Bakugou with a straight face and Izuku coughs, likely having just choked on his own spit.
Bakugou completely ignores the jab and instead slides Izuku's order: “Here's the kiddo drink with an extra shot.” On the cup in large letters, it reads 'dumbass'. Todoroki sighs—he finds that he sighs a lot more around Bakugou than ever in his life.
“So I'm not special in this regard of loving nicknames.”
“What?” Izuku is clearly confused whereas Bakugou gives a loud 'tch' as his comment on the matter.
“He likes to write weird or crude things on my cups too.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. Apparently I am rude. He also draws penises.”
“Peni—Kacchan what the hell.”
While Izuku is busy being disturbed at revelation, Todoroki awaits his own cup, which comes with the name, 'Dodon'.
“You're really losing your creative touch...” Todoroki laments and Bakugou gives him the finger, much to the shock of the elderly man and Izuku. Todoroki thinks it's cute. In a morbid way. He cannot help but soft huff of a giggle to escape his lips.
“You—you shouldn't treat your customers—“ Izuku starts but Todoroki pats his shoulder.
“No need to get angry over this, let's go. Have a nice day, Kacchan.”
And he doesn't look back as he turns to exit but he doesn't have to, to know that Kacchan is flipping the bird at him again.
Izuku texts him three hours later on LINE, asking him to kindly never refer to Bakugou as 'Kacchan'. “He's threatened me 11 times already.” Izuku explains, and as much as Todoroki does not want to forfeit from the cutesy name, he promises to do so just to keep his friend safe.
August 8th.
Todoroki glares at the date on the calendar as if it is a disgusting stain. Whole week, he has been walking on eggshells and when he finally received a call from his sister last night, asking to come over for dinner the next day, his pent up stress exploded into a sea of bitterness. Still, he agreed, not only because he did not want to hurt his sister's feelings, but also because him not attending would cause a greater drama than him attending. Knowing the sorts of questions he will be bombarded with on the occasion of their dictator of a father's birthday, Todoroki cannot help but already feel attacked on a molecular level.
“Oh? Something bad came up?”
He blinks and looks at Kirishima, who is looking back with concern.
“No... just getting ready for a busy day,” he replies, surprised that it showed on his face. Things rarely show on his face and this is yet another testament to just how much this looming family gathering has soured his mood.
“Ouch. Good luck!”
“Thanks. It'll be the usual.”
“Yup,” Kirishima smiles and scribbles something on the cup before sliding it to the other side. Bakugou glares at Kirishima as soon as he grabs the cup, and then Kirishima glares back. This glaring contest ends in two seconds as Kirishima has to process the order of the next customer in line.
“I hate August.” Bakugou says out of blue.
“It's the worst month.” Todoroki agrees.
“Hot as hell.”
“Yes... and full of unsavoury occasions.”
“Yeah like that big fireworks festival that fucks of the traffic every freaking year.”
Todoroki hums, not exactly the example that had come up in his mind but also a valid one; he does like festivals, but that particular one is so crowded, he is not sure how people manage to enjoy it. Also, he realises, he is actually talking about something that is not solely composed of direct insults with Bakugou of all people.
“What's your name?” he asks, equally out of blue as their conversation in itself.
“Ha? Can't you read Mr. Lawyer?”
Bakugou points to the name tag as he places the drink on the counter.
“I meant the full name...” Todoroki explains, grabbing a lid from the stack.
Bakugou raises an eyebrow, half challenging, half doubtful.
“What is it to you?”
“Nothing... just curious.” Todoroki shrugs and takes a sip—the coffee tastes perfect, as always. His phone beeps and it draws a whisper of “damn” from him; fifteen minutes to his next meeting. “Anyway, got to run. Have a nice day.” He nods but before he leaves, Bakugou who has already finished making the drink for the next person says, in a voice not so loud but neither a whisper, “It's Katsuki”.
He could've asked Izuku, Todoroki remembers later, while having lunch.
Meeting with the father dearest goes as horrible as he imagined, including more than a few hostile remarks and the good old, “when you are going to stop wasting your time elsewhere and come to work for me?” question, which he answers as, not in this universe or timeline, but not exactly in those words.
It is 9:21 pm when he leaves and albeit the night being not so late, he is exhausted. Emotional toil is just as consuming as physical. Unfortunately for him, he still has to make a trip back to the office, having left his laptop there instead of carrying it to the family house. The past Todoroki has not fully accounted how drained the current Todoroki would be and thus dying to just reach home and hide under the blankets. Shame on your lack of foresight past Todoroki.
By the time he has commuted back to the office and got his laptop back, it is already past 10 pm, yet he finds the coffeeshop nearby work still open. From the looks of it, only Bakugou is working at the shift, given how few patrons are there, it makes sense. Normally, Todoroki doesn't drink coffee past afternoon, but he is slightly depressed and a mild headache is coming up. Also, he doesn't have work the next day. Thus, he finds satisfactory rationale for giving in to the strange urge he is feeling to drop by, and does so. Despite the chime of the door, Bakugou Katsuki, who is standing with a book in hand leaning on the large refrigerator, does not move an inch.
Todoroki clears his throat once he reaches the cash and Bakugou lifts his eyes off the book only then.
“I Am A Legend? You've got surprisingly good taste.”
“The fuck is that supposed to mean? I look too rough to be able to read?”
“No, the stereotype I was referring was 'engineers don't read' one, actually, not the delinquents one.”
“Engineers?”
“Izuku told me?”
“Shitty gossip. Also, fuck all the stereotypes.” Bakugou carefully earmarks the page he was at, which is quite near the end; it seems he is almost done with the book.
“It's a good book,” Todoroki starts to move away from dangerous waters, “I am not too interested in sci-fi, but I had liked this one.”
“Yeah, fucking Deku was screwing my brains over it. He really liked it too apparently.”
“Deku?”
“Izuku the Nerdy Jerk?”
“Oh. He calls you something so cute and you call him... Deku?”
“So what?”
“Nothing, that just... seems to summarise you two's relationship rather well. I didn't even know they had a Japanese translation... I had read it back in high school for English class.”
Bakugou doesn't even ask him what he wants to order as he moves towards the espresso machine and starts making something, rolling his eyes at Todoroki's attempt at conversation. So, Todoroki tries again, himself padding over to the counter side to be able to face Bakugou. He is not a talkative person by nature, but something about Bakugou always triggers him to talk more than usual.
“It has a film adaptation too... which I wouldn't recommend.”
“Hmm... the one with Will Smith? I like Will Smith.”
“It is not the cast but the story. They completely change it, including the ending, and try to make it a feels-good type of thing.”
“Isn't that... the opposite of the story?”
“Exactly. Which is why it sucks—are you... are you making latte art?”
Bakugou smirks; “Yup, drawing your pretty little face.”
Todoroki is inclined to ask whether or not Bakugou actually finds his face pretty but the fact that Bakugou is smirking means he is going to follow up with a crude joke.
“You... are not drawing a penis on my coffee, are you?”
Bakugou laughs, mischievous and arrogant, like a child who is conning his parents to get him a second scoop of ice cream. “I was just drawing your persona,” he answers, putting forth the cup which of course features a genitalia caricature in foam.
“This is quite detailed... for latte art.” Todoroki appreciates Bakugou's talent. “So... my persona is a penis?”
“You're a dick,” Bakugou says, in English, as if to tell Todoroki that he is just as academically excellent as Todoroki though Todoroki did not think it needed to be voiced.
It is ridiculous and yet it entertains Todoroki endlessly. Perhaps he has a strange sense of humour.
“You know,” he says, taking the cup and licking the foamy-penis into nothing with the tip of his tongue, “if you keep drawing penises for me like this, I will start getting suspicious...”
This is ridiculous too, he knows, but he cannot help it; something about Bakugou just urges him to be a little ridiculous too. And he expects Bakugou to go all curses but instead, Bakugou is silent and when he glances, he finds Bakugou visibly perplexed, without a scowl but instead a surprised gap between his lips and his ears are going red. Before he thinks over his words, Todoroki blurts out, “Oh, you're being cute again.”
That seems to pull Bakugou out of his stupor and he frowns immediately, crossing his arms over his chest and stepping closer as if to tower over Todoroki despite the fact that Todoroki is clearly a couple centimetres taller.
“Are you fucking flirting with me?”
The words are almost spit out and Todoroki is caught unready. He has never thought it that way—in fact, he has never even asked himself why Bakugou's horrible sense of humour doesn't turn him off, or why he hasn't yet complained to management—the mother?—of Bakugou's obnoxious attitude, or why he seems to find Bakugou's rudeness weirdly hilarious and even cute. 'Cute'—he realises, is something he has called Bakugou repeatedly as, either within the confines of his mind or aloud, and how much even now his eyes are checking out the beautiful muscle structure exposed for all too see thanks to the way Bakugou is crossing his arms while wearing a tank top.
“Now that I think... that might be the case.”
His answer is met with rage.
“Get out.”
“What?”
“Get out now or I'll personally kick your ass out.”
Todoroki has had his fair share of misunderstandings, so before he does follow on Bakugou's ultimatum—because he does not want to come across as an irritating stalker or something—he explains, “Wait. I mean, you are very interesting, smart, and good-looking and I likely started flirting with you without even consciously realising it but I do think, again, that you are very interesting, smart, and good-looking, albeit with the shortest fuse I've ever witnessed. So, I would like to get to know you better, if you don't mind.”
Bakugou closes his eyes and inhales, loudly—Todoroki wonders if he should leave now, because as much as this may be an anger control routine it could also be a get-ready-to-attack one for Bakugou. Surely, Todoroki himself is a sixth dan black belt in judo, but the last thing he wants is to literally spar with the guy he just confessed he is interested in.
“We close at 11 pm,” Bakugou breaks the silence, his eyes still closed. “And I have to wake up at the asscrack of dawn tomorrow so I like to start wrapping up by 10:30 pm and by 11:00 I'm all done and can get out asap. So, you have about 10 minutes—got to get yourself out in 10.”
“Okay,” Todoroki nods.
“Good,” Bakugou finally opens his eyes and clears his throat—his ears are still red and Todoroki would very much like to call him 'cute' but swallows the word and asks instead; “Do you do any sports?”
Bakugou Katsuki goes to gym twice a week and taekwondo once. He also likes kickboxing now and then.
In 15 minutes of chit-chat, Todoroki actually learns a lot about Bakugou, who seems to use anger as a way of veiling just how terribly awkward at socialising he is. It is endearing.
Apparently, Bakugou chose Chemical Engineering as his major only because he “liked seeing things explode” since childhood. After graduation, he briefly tried being a salaryman at a large pharmaceutical company only to curse his boss to hell and back within three weeks and being fired, as a result. This is why he continues at university, somehow his professor is able to bear him, likely because, according to Bakugou, “he is even worse an arsehole, just of a different kind”. Bakugou is merely a few months younger than him, likes any and every food that's spicy, and is pretty much a genius of sorts.
What is also impossible to not recognise is how much of a perfectionist Bakugou is; from the way he prepares a cup of coffee to the way he mops the floors, every movement calculated and swift, no detail left unattended. His mother opened the shop back when he was in middle school and that's around when he first started helping out... Todoroki can imagine a furious little Bakugou glaring at the big, shiny espresso machine, making drinks one after another, days on end, trying to perfect his skill.
Also: his first name is written with the character meaning 'victory' and Todoroki thinks it is quite fitting.
Kirishima seems to know every regular customer's name and order, scribbling little things on the cups. He draws a cute smiley face for the girl right before Todoroki.
“You're happy today,” Todoroki observes, Kirishima grins, leaning forward conspiratorially:
“Katsuki is in a good mood today.”
Todoroki is not sure what that entails or why it makes Kirishima so happy, but unfortunately for Kirishima, Bakugou has unbelievably good ears and throws a balled up paper tissue right at the side of his head.
Another fact about Bakugou, Todoroki takes a note in his mind: he hears really well.
He pays, thanks Kirishima, and moves towards the counter, where Bakugou is busy preparing the drinks of the customers before Todoroki.
“So you're in a good mood today?”
“Not any longer now that you're here.”
“You hurt me Bakugou.”
At that he receives a glance, as if Bakugou is checking whether or not Todoroki said it for real.
“That was a joke...” Bakugou decides and turns back to his work.
“Yes. I am told it can be hard to deduce when I'm joking.”
“Yeah but then that makes you funnier.”
“Maybe. Though sometimes I get people angry without intending to. But then with you it's not a problem since you're always angry anyway.”
“Erika.” Bakugou says in a louder voice and pushes forth the drink, a cute girl taking the cup and Todoroki observes that there's no offensive picture anywhere on the cup—or the foam.
“So you're really not a jerk to everyone?”
“I am, but not at work. Otherwise mum would skin me alive.”
“Ouch. Your mum has a bad temper?”
“People say I inherited mine from her.”
“God... do you guys have house insurance?”
“Thanks for your concern over property damage, Mr. Lawyer.” Bakugou chuckles as he calls for the next person, again a name that sounds accurate and no penis signs around.
“I must really be special, huh?”
“Don't get your hopes up. I do shit to piss off all the asshats.”
“And I am an asshat for what? Being quiet and understanding?”
“For always gluing your face to the screen of your phone and never once saying 'thank you' to the hard working staff.”
“Hmm... good point. Sorry about that, I tend to be super busy in the mornings so I have not realised. I'll be careful from now on.”
Bakugou's hands pause for a split second, disrupting his perfect rhythm but he soon goes back to it, shrugging then sliding Todoroki's drink.
“As long as you get it... Strawberry Shouto Cake.”
Todoroki blinks at the nickname then smiles, a bit stupidly, but he cannot help it. There's no way Bakugou would know that his older sister used to call him as such when they were tiny, but being called it again, is rather uplifting, if silly and embarrassing.
“Jeez...” he closes a lid over the leaf-patterned foam, “you're too cute. So early in the morning too.”
“The—the hell. Stop with the cute thing. You're such a weirdo.” is Bakugou's automatic-gun-fire reply as he is already done with the next drink which was a straight double shot. The businessman who takes it doesn't even glance at the either of them, which is good, because Todoroki is probably blushing and Bakugou's ears are red again.
“But you are cute.” Todoroki insists, wondering if he could make Bakugou flush even further than ears.
“Stop fucking with me and go away already. Don't you have a job?!”
“I do. But I came 5 minutes earlier in case we had the opportunity to chat...” Todoroki explains after a sip—the coffee Bakugou made, as always, is wonderfully tasty.
Bakugou sighs and scratches his unruly mess of a hair. “Yeah, I think 5 minutes is already up. So scram.”
“Are you always this shy or can I interpret this to mean that you like me?”
“Todoroki, I swear, I will seriously dump a hot coffee on you, lawsuits be damned.”
“Okay okay,” he resigns for the day; Todoroki knows when to push and when to pull and the way Bakugou has said his name—actual name, for once—is a sweet song to his ears even if Bakugou's voice is all rough and tired.
“Have a nice day.”
To his surprise, he does get a “you too”, in return, and the little penis drawn near the bottom of his cup has strawberries in the place of testicles.
“My man!” Kirishima yells full of joy, literally jumping on Bakugou's back as he's about to enter the break room and with no awareness of how much he weighs. “Katsuki!”
“The hell is wrong with you Eiji—you're gonna break my back.”
“You did it! I don't know how but you did it! You got the icy aloof salaryman to notice you!”
“Shut. The. Fuck. Up.”
“Whoa,” Kaminari pops out of nowhere—more likely from behind the open fridge door, the sneaky food stealer he is—“the one that works in the same company as Izuku? You were talking about the other day?”
“Yep. My man Bakugou here managed to steal his heart, can you believe it? I really had my doubts about 'I will insistently glare at you and verbally abuse your guts at every chance' to work as a flirting technique but who knew...”
“May be that quiet guy is secretly a masochist? You know, quiet ones are always the kinkiest.”
“I will fucking kill you both.” Bakugou warns as he takes out the lunch box he prepared in the morning from his bag, thankfully not ransacked by Kaminari because, despite his bravado, Bakugou is too young and full of potential to actually go to jail for homicide, yet.
“I think it's the opposite...” Kirishima mumbles thoughtfully, making an exaggerated 'thinking' pose with his hand under his chin.
“Oh oh I like this,” Kaminari blabs between bites of what is definitely Sero's sandwich.
Bakugou groans loudly but his friends, too used to his true bursts of fury versus mundane ones of show, don't even seem to care. He is in for a ride—all their friend group will likely hear about this disgusting crush of his and of all people Deku too...
“Bet that quiet guy is into like bondage and stuff.” Kaminari pipes up and Bakugou chokes on a piece of salty tamagoyaki.