Chapter 5- Izuku gets a job

Shouta Aizawa was an intimidating man. Izuku had thought that at this point, especially after being chased down by a murderous monster, his everyday human world wouldn't seem so scary anymore. But as he sat here being stared down by the intense black eyes of Mr. Aizawa, a part of him almost wished that he was being chased by hungry yokai instead. They sat in a small office, it's cramped space stuffy and smelled a little like cats. To Izuku's right, there was a coat rack with a yellow Snuggie hung up on it. Izuku tried not to stare, almost tempted to ask about it if not for the older man's menacing presence. Behind him, on the wall, was a gold framed photograph of a younger and cleaner looking Aizawa with a blonde man beside him, arms around each other. Izuku guessed it was a wedding photo. Another thing he almost wished he could ask about.

The older man cleared his throat and leaned back into his chair, "You're hired."

"What?" Izuku gaped at him, "But you didn't interview me? You don't even know my name!"

"Well, what's your name, kid?" Aizawa asked, his tone lacking any interest. Izuku told him and the man nodded his head, then pulled open a drawer of his desk. He took out a gray polo shirt and handed it to Izuku.

"Izuku, you're hired. This is the only mandatory part of your uniform. You can wear any pants or shoes you'd like, but I'm going to demand you take off that ridiculous headband," he said, nodding at the accessory on Izuku's head, "Now get out of my office. You can meet your coworkers on the third floor, they've supposedly already started working but they can catch you up to speed quickly I'm sure."

Izuku stood up quickly, and bowed his head low, "Thank you so much, sir! I promise to work hard!"

Aizawa reached for the Snuggie and pulled it off the rack, nodding his head, "Yeah sure."

With one last "Thank you!", Izuku left and headed for the elevator. After pressing the button for the third floor, he pulled the gray polo over his head,wearing it over the white T-shirt he already had on. He reached up to remove the headband, but hesitated. Shouto seemed pretty adamant that he wear it to.. Protect himself.

"Should be fine here, anyways," Izuku muttered to himself as he stuffed the red accessory into his pocket, "I'll put it back on when I head home later."

As he entered the elevator, he noticed his hands were beginning to clam up. A new job, with new people was always a bit nerve wracking, and the realization of such made Izuku's stomach feel a little sick. But he didn't have time to fret, because as soon as the elevator doors opened, a tanned hand grabbed him and practically dragged him out.

"Hey!!" a very.. 𝘗𝘪𝘯𝘬 woman greeted loudly, wrapping her arms around his to lead him to a table and some couches, "Another newbie! Come sit with us and introduce yourself!!"

The five others all turned to look at him and Izuku quickly waved, his mouth a wobbly grin "He-Hello! I'm Izuku! It's nice to meet you!" He bowed as soon as the woman let go of him to jump on to an empty couch.

"Nice to meet you, Izuku! My name is Mina!" She said, her smile still bright and welcoming. Her skin was beautifully sunkissed, her makeup colorful but skillfully applied. She wore neon colored bracelets up her arms, and dangling from her ears were purple hoop earrings that matched her shiny sneakers. Her hair, though cut and styled similarly to Izuku's, was a bright pink and adorned with pastel hairpins.

On the couch next to her, a boy with very straight teeth and flat black hair that framed his head waved back at Izuku, "I'm Hanta!"

The others went around the room introducing themselves as well. Next to Hanta was a blonde boy named Denki. He had a black streak in his hair that resembled a lightning bolt and wore very tight black jeans that flattered his long legs nicely. On the other couch across from them, was a pretty, athletic looking girl named Itsuka that had long orange hair she wore in a side ponytail. With her sat Tetsutetsu, a muscular boy with a loud voice and steel colored hair that went down his neck. He wore thick framed metal glasses and he somehow pulled off the gray polo shirt, unlike the rest of them.

"Do you all already know each other?" Izuku asked as he sat down on the floor at the end of the table.

"Sort of!" The blonde boy replied, "Hanta and I are childhood friends and we've known Mina for a few years!"

Itsuka motioned to Tetsutetsu beside her, "And we've known each other for only about.. a month now I'd say? We were hired together."

They both took turns explaining the job duties to Izuku and the other three who were also new hires. Izuku was relieved to hear that the job would be pretty simple, albeit a little boring, and after talking as a group about the tasks that needed to be completed for the day, they split ways and went to work.

Izuku had only been working for a little over an hour when he felt someone tap on his shoulder. He finished tying up the garbage bag he was changing out, then turned to see Denki, Hanta, and Mina waiting for him; mischievous grins on their faces.

"Dude," Denki took the bag from Izuku and used his free arm to grab Izuku, "Come with us! We just found something awesome!"

"Uh, okay?" Izuku replied, hurrying after them as Hanta and Mina ran on ahead down the hall. He raised an eyebrow at their uncontainable excitement.

Denki nudged him playfully, "You've heard of Kyouka Jirou right?" He smirked.

"She's like a pop singer, I think? I don't listen to music much.." At his words, Denki's brows furrowed and his mouth twisted in distaste. Izuku coughed out a laugh, while the blonde scoffed.

"Not just a pop singer!" Denki exclaimed, throwing his hands in the air, "She's the QUEEN of pop punk! She's so talented, she can play like, 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 instrument and her voice is like an angel, and she's so hot and-"

Hanta interrupted him, "Denki's like in love with her."

"Am not!" Denki cried, his face turning crimson, "I'm just a fan of her music, that's all."

"And her face!" Mina winked, "Now hurry up you guys! If we're lucky, she's still here rehearsing!"

The four of them went to the elevator, the small room holding just enough space for each person to comfortably take a corner each. They rose up to the 5th floor, which Mina explained was a VIP only floor during concerts. It was the top floor, and had a completely different atmosphere than the rest of the stadium's floors. All the furniture was glamourous, a modern gothic elegance that made Izuku feel very out of place. Couches were made of purple velvet, the huge draped curtains were dark and shimmery, and the white lights did little to light up the black walls.

"Now you guys have to stay quiet, we can't get caught," Mina whispered and ushered them through a door.

They entered from the back of the room, from what appeared to be some kind of alternative exit. All the lights were off except for a single light center stage, helping to obscure them as they ducked down and awkwardly crawled between rows of chairs to get a better view of the young woman sitting on the stage. Her back was to them, her small body hunched over a black guitar as she strummed away at the strings in some kind of experimental melody.

While attempting to get a better look from the back of the train of crawling adults, Izuku failed to notice that they had all stopped until it was too late.

Izuku bumped into Mina, who bumped into Hanta, who bumped into Denki, who stumbled face first into the back of a chair and let out a pained "Crap!"

They all froze, holding their breaths as the woman on the stage stood up and turned, "Who's there?" She demanded, glaring into the dark. Her hands were balled into tight fists as she scanned the darkness.

Kyouka Jirou was shorter and more petite than Izuku had expected. He'd seen photos of her around work but never paid close attention to them; so it still felt like he was looking at a complete stranger for the first time.

Her hair was a dark violet color, cut short and choppy with blunt, straight bangs. She narrowed her eyes in the darkness, a little off from where they sat hiding. Her bottom lashes were long and eyes rimmed thick with eyeliner. She wore a crop top sweater that had "𝘙𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘍'𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘗𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦" written across it, washed out grey jeans with rips along the legs, black combat boots, and a simple black choker around her neck.

"I'll call security," she threatened, voice unafraid as her dark plum lips frowned in irritation.

Denki was the first to stand, hands up in mock surrender, "Woah sorry didn't know someone was in here!" He chuckled nervously.

"Idiot," Mina stood up beside him, arms crossed in front of her chest and she looked to the side with an embarrassed flush prominent on her cheeks. Hanta and Izuku stood up after her, both cautiously quiet.

Kyouka looked unimpressed and sighed, walking towards a wall to switch on the lights. The four flinched at the sudden brightness, and looked at Kyouka with guilty smiles.

"You didn't know I was here?" She asked incredulously as she marched over towards them.

Denki sheepishly grinned, "Nope! We were just coming up to clean! Ya know, doing our jobs and what not."

She stopped in front of him, her chest almost touching him and her suspicious, glaring eyes level with his collarbone, "So you weren't sneaking in here unauthorized to 𝘴𝘱𝘺 on me while I practiced?"

He was bright red at this point, eyes wide and looking up and away from her, "N-no?"

Mina smacked him on the shoulder, "Oh shut up you idiot!" She turned to Kyouka, bouncing on her toes, "Okay we are so sorry to come in like this but we are HUGE fans and just 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 wanted to see you!"

"But we'll be leaving now!" Hanta said uncomfortably as he turned towards Izuku and started pushing him towards the exit, "Sorry to intrude!"

Kyouka's eyes landed on Izuku and she stiffened. Her eyes narrowed at him, and an ominous chill ran down his spine. Something in her face showed recognition, but anger. The strange moment was fleeting, as she blinked and then looked back to Denki with a soft smile "I guess you guys are fine. I love meeting fans."

Mina cheered, and then she, Hanta, and Denki began to chat with the musician. Denki continued to make a fool of himself, twisting his words and stuttering nervously as he tried to hold the conversation. Izuku listened from the back, feeling a little anxious from the way Kyouka had first looked at him.

Kyouka patted Denki's shoulder casually, ignoring his loud intake of breath as he gasped, starstruck, "While I'd love to continue chatting, I have some errands I need to attend to. If you guys are willing, I can bring you some autographed merch I have around 6? Will you still be here by then?"

"That's when our shift ends!" Hanta smiled, and Mina squealed happily, "You'd give us merch? For 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘦!?"

Kyouka turned to walk towards the stage, unplugging the amp and gathering up her equipment, "Totally. I'm not losing any money from a few stuff I have laying around, and I love to treat my fans! You guys are the best!"

Hanta pulled his friends towards the exit again, Izuku ahead of them and waiting at the door with a polite but nervous smile. The black haired boy called out, "We'll see you at six then! Thanks for being so nice to us creeps!"

"I'm not a creep!" Denki protested and Kyouka snickered behind her hand.

They quickly closed the door behind them and Mina and Denki exploded into chatter. "She was so COOL!" Mina sobbed, clutching Denki and Hanta's shoulders on each side of her and jumping up and down.

"God damnit, I bet she does think I'm a creep!" Denki whined as they headed back towards the elevator.

Izuku chuckled at their excitement, but still felt anxious. The menacing feeling he'd gotten when Kyouka stared at him wouldn't leave his stomach, and it was making him queasy. He looked at the clock on the wall and saw that they had just over an hour and a half until their shifts ended.

𝘑𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘦𝘳.. he thought, 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘰 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘦.

…

At 5:55, the troublesome trio showed up to drag Izuku with them. They quickly helped him put away the rest of his cleaning supplies and then he followed them out to the employee parking lot behind the stadium. Izuku smiled and laughed when they did, and was sincerely happy to be included in their group, but for a reason he couldn't understand, he was feeling apprehensive about seeing Kyouka Jirou again. The four of them stood by the exit, enjoying the cool weather while they waited for the celebrity.

Hanta was complaining about a bathroom he had to clean when Mina suddenly put a hand over his mouth and shushed him, "Hottie coming up behind you Izuku! Everybody stay cool."

"Hey what's up! Do you need something?" Denki casually asked the stranger behind Izuku.

Mina leaned into Hanta's ear and whispered loudly, "He's dressed so fancy too!"

Izuku turned to look at who Denki was greeting and his mouth dropped open, "𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵𝘰?"

The fox yokai nodded at Izuku, then replying to Denki said, "I came to walk Izuku home."

Mina wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, "Izuku! You didn't tell us you have such a handsome boyfriend."

Izuku choked, turning bright red and frantically waved his hands around, "No! He's not my boyfriend! Shouto just.. we just.. He! He lives with me! We live together!"

Denki and Hanta snickered at him and Mina just nodded her head sarcastically, "Oooh I see, roommates, I see, okay then."

She started up a conversation with Shouto, asking him if his hair was natural, was he wearing two different colored contacts? Izuku wasn't listening closely, instead continuing to stare at Shouto in shock. The man wore his traditional yukata, but his fox ears and tail seemed to have vanished. Without them, he looked kind of wrong. Still handsome, but wrong.

It didn't take long for Mina to get bored of Shouto, as his responses to her questions were short and he didn't seem nearly as enthusiastic to be talking to her. When she went back to talking to her own friends, Shouto put a hand on Izuku's shoulder to turn him so they could face each other. He leaned down into his personal space and narrowed his eyes angrily at him.

"Why aren't you wearing the headband?" He hissed.

Izuku took a step back and pulled the red sweatband out of his pocket, "I wasn't allowed to while working.. Uniform policy I guess? Do you want me to put it on now?"

Shouto made a 'tsk' noise, straightening up and turning away from Izuku, "It's fine. I'm here now anyways."

"Why did you come?" Izuku smiled at him. He was excited to have someone to walk home with, even if the yokai seemed a little grumpy.

The yokai looked away, frown deepening, "Just had a bad feeling and wanted to make sure you were safe, as your familiar," he added rushed.

"Thanks," Izuku said softly, looking down at his red sneakers, "I've had a weird feeling too, oddly enough, but I'll tell you about it later."

Just then, the back door opened and Kyouka came out with a black messenger bag hung over her shoulder. She scanned their faces, and then froze when she saw Shouto standing behind Izuku. Her grip on the bag tightened and she narrowed her eyes at him.

She stood over by Mina and opened her bag, giving Shouto another wary glance, "I didn't know you'd bring someone else, so I only brought 4 things with me.. sorry."

Izuku doubted she was actually sorry based off her cold tone, but he tried to give her a reassuring smile, "Oh it's fine! Shouto doesn't care anyways, right?"

He looked at Shouto behind him and saw that the yokai had stepped even closer to Izuku, so much so that he was almost touching him. The yokai stood over Izuku almost protectively, his face carefully blank as he stared back at Kyouka, "Its fine."

Kyouka handed Mina some kind of purple material of clothing, it was folded up and wrapped in thin plastic packaging. On the top, tucked inside, was a thick paper board with golden edging that had Kyouka's signature written on it. Mina squealed and thanked her excitedly as Kyouka pulled out the same thing for Hanta and Denki, their items black. She then pulled out another black one for Izuku, and held it out expectedly for him to take from her.

He glanced up at Shouto, who was still watching Kyouka distrustfully. Izuku swallowed, and then stepped closer to Kyouka and politely thanked her for the free merch. She nodded, then told them she had to go but would be happy to see them again another time. As she walked away, she gave one last wave towards Denki and the others, and then frowned at Izuku. Her eyes flickered to Shouto once more, before she quickly hurried back inside.

Denki was already opening up the plastic, revealing a black T-shirt with Kyouka's name on it and an illustration of a pair of headphones, "Awesome! These aren't even available online yet!!"

Hanta was given the same shirt, and Izuku assumed he was too but just held on to the package under his arm. Mina opened hers to reveal a purple mini dress, the front with the same headphone illustration and stripes down the skirt. She held it in front of her body and danced around happily.

"Oh my GOD, this is going to fit perfectly! This is like the cutest thing I've ever seen in my life, I can't believe she just gave us these!!" She shrieked.

Denki gave a lovestruck sigh, "Kyouka's so cool!"

Shouto was looking away from them towards the road, obviously ready to leave, so Izuku quickly said goodbye to his new friends and promised to see them again tomorrow.

"Shift is 1-6!" Hanta reminded him with a thumbs up and signature toothy smile.

"Thanks! See you guys later!" Izuku waved as he and Shouto headed down the road together.

They started their walk without talking to each other, though Izuku was subconsciously muttering to himself the entire time. Shouto listened in silence, not quite understanding what Izuku was talking about. He tried to listen, but only caught bits and pieces.

"You mentioned you had an odd feeling earlier?" Shouto asked Izuku, interrupting his mumbling.

The green haired boy looked up at him in surprise; as if he'd forgotten Shouto was there, "Oh! Yeah! Yeah I did.. it's probably nothing.. but I just got this weird vibe from Kyouka Jirou.."

"Weird how?" Shouto asked patiently. The name Kyouka Jirou was faintly familiar in his head, but he couldn't recall why.

"She was super friendly with the others, but when she'd look at me I felt like.. I don't know, like she despised me? But that makes no sense! I'm pretty sure I didn't do anything to her.. Denki was making a complete fool of himself in front of her but she seemed fine with it, yet I swear she had a problem with 𝘮𝘦??" Izuku rambled on as Shouto nodded his head to show he was listening, "That's weird right? Cause there's no reason for her to dislike me.. I think? Is there something about me that could make a stranger hate me right away?"

Izuku looked up at Shouto in concern. His eyes were wide and almost watery, his cheeks a little pink underneath the freckles that scattered across his face. For a moment, Shouto could only stare. He wondered to himself how many freckles there were on the smaller boy's face, how they also went down his neck and under the ugly polo shirt he was wearing. Did he have freckles on his whole body? When Izuku turned his head away to focus on where he was walking, Shouto noticed the way his dark green hair bounced as he moved. He suddenly had the impulse to touch it again as he remembered how soft it had felt that morning.

"Shouto?" Izuku frowned, looking back at him again.

"Hmm?" Shouto quickly looked away, his heart racing uncomfortably fast. 𝘖𝘥𝘥.

"You didn't answer my question.." Izuku sighed, "Though I guess that's answer in itself. I guess you haven't really liked me since we met either."

The fox yokai stopped walking. Izuku thought he disliked him? "She probably doesn't hate you. I know I don't dislike you."

Izuku halted, a few steps ahead on the sidewalk, "You don't?" He tilted his head curiously, his expression unsure.

Shouto's face softened. He knew he hadn't been super welcoming to Izuku since he'd shown up at the shrine. He didn't smile, but he tried allowing his face to look more honest, tender even, "I don't. The more I'm around you, the less concerned I am for the well being of the shrine. I see that you're trying."

"I'm so glad!" Izuku's whole face lit up as he grinned in relief, then turned to keep walking. Shouto followed after, confused by the warmth he felt on his own face. He brought a cold hand up to his cheeks to cool himself down.

"I think it's best you avoid her though," Shouto said a few minutes later once he felt relatively normal again.

"You think so?" Izuku questioned, though he nodded his head in agreement, "Yeah I'll try. Though it might be hard when the others are such big fans of hers."

"Do you think she's dangerous?" Shouto asked.

The freckled boy giggled nervously, "What? No! No no no, honestly I'm probably just being a little paranoid anyways! Why?.. Do 𝘺𝘰𝘶 think she is?"

"I wouldn't know," Shouto answered honestly, "But I don't trust her. I'll come with you to work tomorrow to be sure that you're safe spending so much time there."

Izuku spun his whole body to face Shouto, his face shining gleefully, "Really!? Okay! Yeah! It'll be fun to have you there! You can even keep pretending to be human!" He laughed to himself, mouth open wide and joyful.

Shouto grimaced, looking away quickly and feeling a little blinded by the sight. There was something about Izuku that made his body freak out. He considered it to be a God thing, since he was Izuku's familiar, but he never had a reaction like this to Momo despite how godly and ethereal she actually was. Their conversation the rest of the walk home was more quiet, as Shouto mostly nodded and listened to Izuku talk about his first day at work.

…

The next day, Shouto sat alone in the lounge area of the third floor while Izuku worked. He wore casual clothing instead of his traditional clothes, as per Izuku's suggestion, to not stand out as much. Of course it didn't make much of a difference, because of his unique hair coloring. He felt out of place, sitting in an empty lounge of a place for 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘴, wearing their lame clothing as he pretended to be one. With Momo, he would have never found himself in a place like this. Things were different now, he tried to remind himself.

"The god I serve is working as a janitor," he muttered to himself, "This is humiliating.."

He laid back against the sofa, staring at the ceiling in boredom. The black jeans he wore felt tight and itchy on his legs, he wanted to go home and change back into his yukata. At least the blue button up he wore was light, and mostly comfortable. Ish.

Shouto heard the elevator ding from behind him, but he ignored it. He closed his eyes, maybe he could squeeze a nap in..

"Yo dude!" A voice he didn't recognize called out, "You feeling okay?"

Shouto turned his head towards the voice, only to look up at a blonde kid probably Izuku's age. He slightly remembered him from the evening before, and from Izuku's babbling yesterday he guessed that this guy was Denki based off of his friendly smile and basic description. Especially the lightning bolt streak in his bangs.

"I'm fine," Shouto responded, turning away.

"Just bored, huh?" Denki asked, plopping himself down casually beside Shouto on the couch.

He didn't respond, but Denki nodded his head as if he had and continued to try and chat with the yokai, "So! How long have you and Izuku known each other?"

"A few days," Shouto replied, taking a sip of tea from a coffee cup Izuku had given him on a break earlier. He held it in his left hand to keep it hot.

Denki put his legs up on the coffee table, and said in slight disbelief, "Oh really? New roommates then, huh! Hope that's going well for you! Weird though, I mean, you guys just seem so close already, so that's good, right?"

The yokai nodded his head in silence. He could feel Denki squirm in his seat, obviously uncomfortable with the one sided conversation. Shouto considered talking to him more, but then reminded himself that he didn't care if the human was comfortable or not. He continued to sip his tea while Denki started scrolling through his phone. There was a beeping noise, and then a slightly staticky voice spoke from a small radio clipped to the belt on Denki's hip.

"There's been a spill up in Kyouka Jirou's dressing room," the voice said, sounding irritated and like he'd just woken up, "She requested the 'green haired freckled kid' to come clean it. I'm going to assume she meant Izuku."

Shouto choked on his tea, sitting up fast. Denki didn't notice his coughing, too busy groaning about how "unfair" it was that she asked for Izuku. The radio beeped again and a nervous voice that Shouto definitely recognized said, "O-okay! I'll head there right away, Aizawa, sir! Which room is her dressing room again??"

Another beep, and then a long sigh, "5th floor, last room on the right. There'll be a silver star on the door so you really can't miss it."

Beep, "Thank you!" Izuku's voice squeaked.

The blonde turned to Shouto, "Totally unfair that she requested Izuku! Do you think he'd trade and I could go instead? Probably too late though.. man!"

"I'm going to go," Shouto said, ignoring Denki's comments and quickly stood up, "have to piss."

Denki snorted, "K man, have a great time."

He walked quickly to the elevator, waited much longer than he wanted to for it to open for him, and impatiently pressed the 5th floor button as soon as he was inside. It slowly moved up, way too slow for Shouto's liking. As the doors opened, he saw that the entire floor was in pitch black darkness, every light shut off. He could sense an ominous presence, one that definitely wasn't human, or friendly. His stomach filled with dread, there had to be a reason Kyouka Jirou had asked specifically for Izuku.