Chapter Text
“Thank you! Come again!!” Denki called after the last customer of the lunch rush as they left the diner.
Slouching over the bar, Denki let out a dramatic sigh as Mina swept by the now empty table, taking the dirty dishes and napkins with her. It was almost 4:00pm, which gave them about an hour of downtime until the first of the dinner rush usually started to make their appearance. Hanta, the dishwasher, would undoubtedly spend this time catching up on the piles of cutlery and dishes that had piled up during the rush, while Denki and Mina attempted to get a little snack out of Bakugou, the line cook (this never worked, and almost always ended in them getting yelled at, but they tried again everyday nonetheless). Today, the diner was staffed almost entirely by the teenaged employees, save for Mr. Toyomitsu, the owner, who was currently in the kitchen with Bakugou.
Fat Gum’s Diner was one of the most popular spots in Salty Banks, and getting a job there was what most teenagers in the area dreamed of. The town itself was tiny, with one high school, three gas stations, a sheriff's office/fire department, a church, a park, and a small shopping center. Their small town in rural Georgia wasn’t Denki’s idea of exciting, but he only had two more years of high school left until he was free to explore the world.
Denki once again sighed into the fries he was eating behind the bar, wishing that, for once in his life, something new would happen.
Ding!
The bell above the door startled Denki, as he quickly pushed his fries behind one of the menus that stood up on the bar and smiled brightly at the door.
“Welcome to Fat Gum’s, please take a seat-” he cut himself off, seeing a new face. The boy looked around his age, maybe slightly older, with wild purple hair and matching purple eyes with heavy eye bags beneath them. He was tall, lean, but not skinny, wearing a black t-shirt and baggy black jeans, clearly not used to the Georgian heat.
“... anywhere.”
Behind the new mystery boy, was sheriff Aizawa, which was probably the only reason Denki didn’t immediately run up to introduce himself. The sheriff had started off as a beat cop in his neighborhood, and was pretty consistently annoyed by Denki’s crazy stunts and acts of petty vandalism. He did his best to steer clear of the grumpy man, usually having Mina take his order when he came in, but today his curiosity was winning out. He ran up to Mina before she could approach the table with menus and waters.
“Let me take this one! You look like you need a break,” he smiled, taking the menus out of her hands gently, and allowing her to slide the tray of waters into his hand. She squinted at him.
“Okay…” she said, suspicion lacing her words. Shrugging, she slipped back behind the bar, bright pink curls bouncing as she went.
Denki took a deep breath before putting on his most charming customer service smile and approaching the pair. As he got closer, the resemblance between the two became uncanny. Both had bags under their eyes and bored expressions on their faces,
“Howdy Sheriff, what can I get for y’all?” Denki asked, playing into his natural southern charm, as he smoothly placed menus and waters in front of them. He tried to keep his questions directed at the sheriff, but he kept sneaking glances at the new face that currently watched him with a bored expression. He was actually kind of handsome, now that Denki was getting a good look at him. He seemed aloof in a sort of effortlessly cool way that only certain people could pull off, not to mention the sort of goth look he had going on. More alternative styles were sparse around here, so seeing someone with a wildly different look was more intriguing than anything to Denki.
“Kaminari,” Sheriff Aizawa deadpanned in his distinctively not-southern accent, clearly not used to seeing Denki taking his order and using his impressive detective skills to deduce it had something to do with his mysterious guest. He clearly hadn't gotten over whatever grudge he’d been holding over Denki since he was like, seven, but whatever.
“Sheriff,” Denki responded sweetly, resisting the urge to glance at the boy that was slowly consuming all of his thoughts.
“A black coffee and the chicken fried steak. And a slice of blueberry pie,” the sheriff said, leaning back in his chair as he realized that he wasn't soon getting rid of Denki. The waiter smiled as he jotted down the order and glanced at the purple-haired boy to his right.
“And for you?” he asked, smiling as brightly as he could manage without potentially scaring off the other boy. He looked a bit nervous, fidgeting with the menu in his hands and seemingly speed-reading his way through the menu. Oh, Denki thought suddenly, This is his first time here, he probably has no idea what to get!
“The burger is pretty good, if you're having trouble deciding,” he said slyly, winking at the boy in front of him, who flushed at being caught. He hid behind his menu a little bit, which was endlessly endearing to Denki. Their little moment was cut short as Aizawa cleared his throat.
“Hitoshi, if you need some time to decide, I’m sure Kaminari wouldn't mind coming back in a couple minutes,” Aizawa assured the boy across from him, Hitoshi, who seemed to panic at the suggestion, even as Denki nodded in agreement.
“Um, no it’s okay, I’ll just have an iced coffee and a uhh, the uh, caesar salad. No chicken. Please,” Hitoshi mumbled, clearly not wanting to make any extra trouble for Denki, which was extremely sweet of him, though Denki wouldn’t have minded in the slightest. After writing down the order, he smiled as he took their menus, only slightly disappointed that his burger recommendation hadn’t been taken. On the way back to the bar he considered the boy’s accent. It was similar to Aizawa’s (they both said the word “coffee” funny), but had some slight differences that he couldn't quite put his finger on.
Denki quickly shouted the order to Bakugou, who cussed him out for his troubles, and sidled up next to Mina.
“So… Who do you think the new guy is?” he said casually, as Mina scrolled on her phone. She shrugged, not looking up from whatever TikTok had captured her attention. Denki sighed dramatically as he moved to the window into the kitchen to bother Bakugou instead.
Before he had the chance, Mr. Toyomitsu handed him the drinks. A hot coffee, black, in one of the diner’s mugs with the logo almost completely peeled off due to its hundreds of washes, and an iced coffee (literally just black coffee and ice) in one of the diner’s gaudy, red, plastic cups. On the tray was a little saucer of milk for the iced coffee, and a few sugar packets. Denki immediately brought the drinks over to the pair, who stood out wildly against the brightly colored diner.
“Your black coffee, with some sweeteners just in case, and your iced coffee and some milk!” Denki said, placing the drinks in front of the two men and watching Hitoshi’s face wrinkle in confusion. He didn’t say anything, but squinted at the cup in front of him, which was clearly not what he had expected.
“Is everything alright? I can get you something different if you'd like?” Denki worried over the boy’s situation, as he was clearly unhappy with his drink. Hitoshi blushed once again, clearly unused to all the attention he was getting. As he began to mumble out some sort of explanation or apology, Aizawa snorted.
“I made the same mistake when I got here, kid, don’t worry. They don't really do lattes at diners, but they have them at the cafe downtown,” he chuckled, bringing the mug of black coffee to his lips, “If you want something different, order something else.” The explanation seemed to calm Hitoshi down, though Denki wasn’t sure how he’d managed to mix up regular old iced coffee with a fancy ass latte. The suggestion that he order something else, however, seemed to stress him out, as his eyes got wide and he quickly grabbed the glass from the table.
“No- no this is fine! I’m totally good with this, don't worry!” he assured, quick to bring the cup to his mouth and take a sip. For a second, his face scrunched up in distaste, before he schooled his face into a more neutral expression. “Yeah, it's amazing…” he said weakly, convincing no one.
“It’s alright man, I can bring you a soda or a juice if that's your preference. Oh, our milkshakes are incredible!” Denki pushed, seeing how much he obviously hated his drink. The rest of the place was empty anyway, so it wasn’t like there was anything else he could be doing. Certainly nothing more interesting than talking to the new goth guy with the mysterious accent.
“No really, it’s-”
“Get him a milkshake. Vanilla,” Aizawa cut in, ignoring the sputtering boy across from him. Denki smiled, nodding and shooting another wink at Hitoshi, before running off to the kitchen to let Bakugou know.
Denki brought the milkshake out with their food a couple minutes later, and left them to eat and chat a bit, moving to join Mina behind the bar again. This time, she was more alert, clearly bored by her endless scrolling. “Denks, who’s the guy with the Sheriff?” she asked, peering around him to try and get a better look. She seemed extremely curious about his unique style and similarly dreary demeanor.
“No idea. He seems cool, though. Hope he’s not just in town for the weekend,” he mused, bringing a, now cold, fry to his mouth. As he chewed, he considered the likelihood of someone visiting this nowhere town ‘just for the weekend.’ They’d seen their fair share of families on road trips and the odd family visit, but most people here visited their family out of town, especially someone like Aizawa, who’d moved from somewhere undoubtedly much more interesting.
Seemingly having been listening to the two quietly gossip about the status of this purple-haired mystery boy, Mr. Toyomitsu appeared from the kitchen. He was a large man, muscular with a healthy layer of fat over his entire body. He had a sweet face with an almost permanent grin, which just added to his squishy look. He had a way of making anyone feel welcome, and used it to foster the warm and cozy environment he’d created in Fat Gum’s diner.
“Ah, the Sheriff mentioned he’d have a visitor soon… I wonder if this is him,” he mumbled, bringing an extra slice of blueberry pie as he walked around the bar, “I’m gonna go introduce myself.”
Denki and Mina followed him with wet towels, quickly splitting up to pretend to clean nearby tables in order to better eavesdrop on the conversation.
“Sheriff! Welcome back, I hope your meal was to your standards. And who’s your guest?”
“Hello Taishiro, it was incredible, per usual. This is my nephew, Hitoshi Shinsou. He’ll be staying with me for a little while,” Aizawa explained, taking a bite of his blueberry pie.
“Wonderful! So nice to meet you, Mr. Shinsou! Here, have a slice of blueberry pie, on the house,” He smiled, offering the dessert to the new face. Hitoshi seemed surprised by the random act of hospitality, clearly not used to free desserts wherever he came from.
“Oh, thank you so much. That's… really nice,” he smiled shyly.
“Don’t mention it. I just hope it encourages you to come back here more often,” Mr. Toyomitsu winked, waving his hands in a dismissive gesture, “Well, I hope you enjoy your dessert! I hope to see you again soon.” With that, he turned around and made his way back to the kitchen, playfully flicking Denki and Mina on the back of the ear when he passed them. They both yelped, catching the Sheriff’s attention, who sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.
The rest of the day proceeded as usual, after the Sheriff and his nephew left the diner. The dinner rush wasn’t too overwhelming that day, but Denki couldn’t tear his thoughts away from Hitoshi Shinsou. Why was he staying with Sheriff Aizawa? Where was he from? Was he going to start school here? Would he be in Denki’s classes? What was his favorite color? Denki’s mind swirled with question after question about Hitoshi and his life, his situation, just any question he could possibly think of. There was just something about him that made Denki want to know everything he could about him.
As he walked home from the diner, saying goodbye to Mina as they went their separate ways, he couldn't help but continue to wonder about the purple-haired boy.
“Hey! I’m home!” Denki called, as he locked the door behind him. He was greeted by the sound of high-pitched screaming and two sets of tiny footsteps racing through the house. Tripping over each other to get to him first, his two little sisters tore down the stairs in an attempt to reach him first.
“Denki!!” they screeched, pushing each other over to wrap their arms around his legs. His seven year old little sisters, Kimora and Kiera, were identical in all ways but one. Kimora had bright blonde hair, similar to Denki’s, while Kiera had pitch black hair. They had similar haircuts, but Kimora preferred hers braided down her back, while Kiera usually kept hers loose, which often led to excess tangles. The two gazed up at him with matching cat-like, golden eyes.
“Hey pipsqueaks, how was your day today? You go to the park?” he asked, messing with their hair slightly. He listened quietly as they rambled about their very exciting day, following him throughout the house as he put down his bag and started making dinner for them and their mom, whenever she’d get off her shift at the local clinic. He started to boil a pot of water for pasta and got out a saucepan to start on a simple meat sauce.
He sat his sisters on the counter, humming occasionally as they continued to ramble about their day. They'd gone to the library, the local park (where they’d seen Emiko, Sero’s little sister), and then waited at home for Denki while their mom went to work. She’d be working until around 3am, so Denki made sure to make enough food to leave her some in the fridge. Once he sat down at the table with his sisters, steaming bowls of bow tie pasta with meat sauce in front of each of them.
Denki joined their hands in prayer, bowing his head and closing his eyes. “Thank you God, for gracing our table with this food and our hearts with your love. Thank you God for our health and for all the fun things the girls got to do today. Amen.” Releasing his sisters’ hands, he picked up his fork and began to eat, watching his sisters scarf down the meal like animals. He smiled around a mouthful of pasta, fondness overwhelming him as he watched his adorable little sisters eat, sauce covering their faces and tiny hands.
He thought back to the boy from the diner, and hoped that he was having a nice time at dinner as well. Even if he was stuck with the Sheriff.
After dinner, Denki ran a bath and sent Kimora to start bathing, while he sat down and began to untangle Kiera’s hair. He began to hum softly as he ran the brush through her hair, picking out the occasional stick or leaf left over from her exciting time at the park. The meditative process of brushing and braiding her hair for bed calmed Denki down, allowing him to push down the stress of the dinner rush and plan the lunch he’d make for his sisters to take to school tomorrow.
Once Kimora had gotten out of the bath and Kiera’s hair was ready for bed, he sent Kimora to put on her pajamas and ran another bath for Kiera. Once they were both all clean and he’d re-braided Kimora’s hair, he read them a story about a princess and her picky sleeping habits, before tucking them in and kissing each of them on the forehead. As he flipped off the lights in their bedroom, he glanced back, smiling at his little sisters who were already sleeping so peacefully, and went downstairs to get started on their lunches for tomorrow, leaving the door open a crack.