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Walking into the quaint little cafe, the jingle of a bell announcing him, Hitoshi was hit by the smell of sweets and herbal tea. Warm colors of pastel greens, soft oranges, and comforting browns filled his vision. It was a complete contrast to the whipping cold outside. A puff of green locks peaked up from the notebook he was writing in behind the counter.
"Hello, welcome to Midori Moya cafe! How can I- oh, it's you." His awkwardly forced customer service smile faded into something more tender and genuine. The name tag on his apron was covered in small hero stickers and brightly colored drawings, ‘IZUKU’ was written in a sloppy font, something in between cursive and print.
"You act like you aren't happy to see me." Hitoshi tightened a hand around his backpack strap, a smug grin stretching itself across his face. Izuku moved a hand to the back of his neck, a gentle blush flushing along his cheeks. "It's not that I'm n-not happy to see you! It's just, I already know what you want."
A large ragamuffin cat brushed against Hitoshi's leg, begging for his attention with her loud purrs. Squatting down and scratching a clipped ear, he looked back up at the barista.
"Is that a bad thing? Misty here doesn't think so."
Izuku’s eyes widen as he waves his hands nervously in front of him. "Of c-course not! J-just a little ironic… but not in a bad way! L-like it's k-kind of funny, not that you're a joke-." It was always cute to watch him get flustered over the little sarcastic comments Hitoshi made but he rather have him conscious and breathing than knocked out from lack of air. Standing upright, he set his hands gently on the counter. "I get ya coffee bean, take a breath.”
As if a fish was getting water for the first time, Izuku took a large gulp of air. Hitoshi followed as an example but in a much more relaxed way.
"Better?"
Turning away from the counter, Izuku began to prepare the young man's soup. "Better."
This sweet routine had been started just a month ago and the two had quickly grown to love it.
It all started with Hitoshi's father allowing class 1-A to take a small trip to a cafe near the school.
The rowdy bunch had traumatized the poor green barista with all their orders and volume. Hitoshi hadn't even realized there was a cat to be found until most of the class had walked back to the school. She had appeared in the booth in front of him, meowing obnoxiously for a lick of his attention. He knew class 1-A were troublemakers but he didn’t expect Bakugou to be dragged out by Kirishima after he attacked the poor guy before he left.
Hitoshi had been the last one to leave and got a front-row seat to Izuku having an absolute meltdown behind the counter when he went to pay. (Something about explosions and a Kacchan?) He wasn't the best at comforting or emotions in general but his dad would be pissed if he just left, so he tried to help the best he could to try and calm him down from over the counter.
To try and make the situation less awkward, Hitoshi ordered the soup of the day. He didn't even like soup but it seemed easy enough to put together and give him a reason to stay.
It was a thick butternut squash, smooth, simple, and came with a side of bread shaped like a cat's head. Now, when he read that all food here was “homemade”, he didn't believe it. Tons of shops say fresh or homemade just for it to come out of a frozen storage bag, but this… he could taste exact flavors and spices. It gave him a feeling of home, even when he knew there wasn’t a chance that any of his family had ever cooked anything like this. Not even LunchRush could compete with how good it tasted.
In fact, it was so good that he now comes every Friday at 6:46 pm on the dot.
Sitting down at his unofficial booth, Misty padded over to join him like she was royalty among peasants. "So what's the soup today? I'm guessing something… brothy?"
He could see him move around the kitchen from a small window, flashes of green hair popping in and out of view. "Close! I-My mom made something… new? It's a sweet soup, it's almost like a dessert." Coming out of the kitchen with a towel thrown over his shoulder and a tray in his hand, he made his way to the table.
Placing an off-white bowl in front of him, the contents made him extremely interested. The liquid was a soft orange color and smelled faintly of mango and coconut. He could see orange squares and white circles float around on the surface.
With a small bow and a spin of his heel, Izuku moved back behind the counter, sticking his face in a book. Hitoshi watched him for a second, almost entranced by how deep in concentration he was. Not wanting to seem like a creep, he turned (most of) his attention to the food.
Slamming his hands on the counter, Izuku's head shot up. "Wait, you aren't allergic to anything right!?"
Hitoshi was already two spoonful's deep before realizing he had been asked a question. Mouth full, he gave a small shake of his head making Izuku sigh in relief. His posture slouched and reverted to its normal state of twitchy and jumpy. "Oh good. Once you're finished, mind giving some feedback? I'd love to hear your thoughts… and give them to my mom of course!"
—-
The "soup" was delicious.
It was milky and tasted almost like ice cream but not as thick. There were small chunks of mango jelly and tapioca pearls that paired so well with the sweet custard-like liquid.
Izuku had taken his bowl and given the cat a small boop on the nose before turning to Hitoshi. ‘God he looks so cute like this.’ The sunset had slipped it's way in through the large glass windows and covered the bridge of Izuku's nose in a perfect light of orange. "Thank you."
The bright smile he gave truly completed the sunshine look he had going on.
"You're welcome! Anything else I can get you?" Izuku asked, head tilting ever so gently.
"Aside from this recipe, your number would be pretty nice." If Hitoshi was destined to die in a cafe booth, at least his last view would be nice, last words not so much.
'Oh my lord, why did I say that?!' Panic began to soar through his mind when Izuku just stared at him with a blank look. Who the hell even uses pickup lines like that anymore??
They just stared at each other for a few minutes, Izuku standing there with the tray of dirty dishes and a cat batting her paw against Hitoshi’s bag.
‘Ding!’
Izuku opened his mouth to say something but stopped himself when a new customer made their way into the shop. Biting his tongue, Izuku took the tray to the counter and began helping the guest. Hitoshi could only stare down at the space in front of him in shame, too trapped in his mini-existential crisis to care that misty had made her new home in his bag.
He could hear the barista start some machines and listened to his voice fade in and out, but then the sound of footsteps got oddly close to his table. “Here's your bill, see you next time!”
Izuku laid two thin slips of paper in front of him and was already back behind the counter before he could thank him or maybe apologize for being so stupid.
The bill was normal, nothing new or unexpected aside from the fact it was paid for already. (He was really going to have to tell him that wasn't the ideal way to run a business.) The second was the recipe “Midoriya secrets” which had been crossed out and replaced with “Izuku’s secret”. It was handwritten in messy font and dark green glitter pen. The messiness was less from speed and more from the care put into it, making sure to get every letter legible and each measurement exact.
He could see some ink bleed through on the back, so he flipped it over only to be surprised by a new color of glitter pen. It was a deep purple, darker than his hair but still a close resemblance.
“ Xxx-xxx-xxxx
Maybe I can make a soup as hot as you next time ;)”