Izuku stood behind the bar, nervously fidgeting as Mr. Sasakura and himself waited for Ochako and her friends to arrive. Nezu had contacted Mr. Sasakura earlier and told him what to expect, so Izuku had been spending the last afternoon with a steadily building sense of dread. He hadn't had to interact with groups of people since his days in the Police and QSU. It was made worse by the fact that not only would Ochako be present, but her close friends would be as well. Izuku knew perfectly well who those friends were, almost all of the students in Ochako's generation had made names for themselves during the war and it was hard to find anyone who didn't know the names of people like Creati, Pinky, or Froppy. Earphone Jack and Uravity on the other hand were much less well known, neither of them was reported in any news articles relating to the war, but while Uravity was well known among the more rescue-oriented heroes, Earphone Jack was practically invisible by comparison. Some forums even suggested that she had quit hero work altogether and was instead preparing for a breakout into the music scene. She had released a few songs under the radar, and they were quite good. The prospect of not only dealing with a group of people, but a group of some of the best heroes in the country in addition to Ochako was making him quite possibly the most nervous he had ever been before.
"Relax Izuku, all you need to know is just do your job and let yourself adjust to the situation when it arrives. I'll try to answer questions they might have, so you focus on serving them drinks and relaxing." Said Mr. Sasakura smiling over to Izuku who was practically shaking with nerves.
Izuku closed his eyes and took a few steadying breaths. After he had managed to get his shaking under control he opened his eyes and smiled back at Mr. Sasakura.
"Yes sir!" he said confidently.
Another few minutes passed, where Izuku occupied himself by checking the bottles for any that needed dedusting, helping to calm his nerves when he heard the door open. He looked over to see Mina Kirishima, walk through the door with a broad smile on her face, shortly followed by Momo Yaoyorozu, Tsuyu Asui, Kyoka Jiro, and finally Ochako. Izuku could see Mrs. Kirishima open her mouth to say something, only to have her eyes go wide when she saw the interior of the bar of itself. The party's eyes roved over the walls, obviously shocked at the sight. This sort of reaction was normal for people's first time entering the bar, after all, not many people expected to walk into a miniature museum when they entered a bar. He caught Ochako's eye as she walked in last and she gave him a sheepish smile.
"Wow... this is incredible... where did all this stuff come from..." breathed out Mrs. Kirishima as she just walked around and examined the items displayed.
"I come from a line of archeologists and historians, this is the result of several generations worth of labor in those fields. Some they found out on business expeditions, some were bought, others were given to us for safekeeping. When my parents died, everything was left to me. So I donated most of what was in storage and used many of the smaller pieces to furnish and decorate my bar. A blend of my parent's passion for history, and my own passion for bartending." said Mr. Sasakura from behind the bar.
The party turned to look at him, bearing slightly embarrassed looks on their faces.
"Mr. Sasakura, these are my friends, Mina Kirishima, Tsuyu Asui, Momo Yoyorozu, and Kyoka Jiro. I hope it's alright that I brought them here, Mr. Nezu said it would be alright." said Ochako, introducing her friends and giving Mr. Sasakura an apologetic look.
"Think nothing of it Ms. Uraraka, Nezu informed me that you would be bringing friends. If I had any problems with it then your friends wouldn't have been able to enter this establishment. Ah, but where are my manners, welcome to the Invisible Glass! My name is Ryū Sasakura and this is my employee Izuku Midoriya," said Mr. Sasakura gesturing to Izuku. "And feel free to look around at your leisure, I like seeing people enjoying the labors of my ancestors, it really is very fascinating."
Every eye turned to look at Izuku, and Izuku felt himself flush a little at the attention and he shifted uncomfortably, but his bartender training kicked in and he straightened his back and smiled at them.
"Welcome. If there is anything you need, feel free to ask," he said automatically. He was Grateful for Mr. Sasakura's rigorous training.
"Take a seat anywhere you like, though one of the tables might be better suited for a party of your size." Said Mr. Sasakura, still smiling.
At the suggestion, the group turned and chose a table, and sat down. While they did so, Izuku came out from behind the bar and approached their table.
"Do any of you have any drinks in mind already or would you prefer a minute or two?" asked Izuku, looking around at each of them in turn.
"You should use your own judgment to decide what everyone gets as you did with me." Ochako cut in before anyone could say anything.
Izuku looked around at the others, "Is that all right with everyone?" asked Izuku.
"If that is what Ochako recommends, then I look forward to seeing what you make." Said Momo brightly.
The others gave similar notices of assent and Izuku went back to converse with Mr. Sasakura. As he turned and headed back, he got a distinct impression that he was being watched. When he got back to the bar he cast a surreptitious glance over to the table. He could tell immediately that Mina Kirishima was staring at him with a slight frown, but she turned back to her friends when Kyoka Jiro asked her something.
Only mildly disturbed he started discussing with Mr. Sasakura what kind of drinks he had in mind to serve. Mr. Sasakura got to work on mixing Momo Yaoyorozu's and Mina Ashido's drinks, while Izuku focused on Tsuyu Asui's, Kyoka Jiro's, and Uraraka's drinks. Izuku had to head into the back to get a few bottles that they didn't have on hand, but apart from that it only took a few minutes for the two bartenders to mix the drinks.
Izuku expertly placed the drinks on a small tray and with practiced ease carried the tray over the table. The group stopped chatting when he arrived and he quickly distributed the drinks to everyone.
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Ochako watched as Izuku distributed the drinks to everyone with a speed that spoke of long practice and excellent coordination. The liquid inside the glasses barely moved as he passed them out. Ochako received an orange drink in a tall glass with half of it consisting of foam on top, Mina received a purple drink with a sprig of lavender in it, Jiro got a cola-colored drink with a lime wedge, Momo was passed a beautiful light honey-colored drink with an orange peel in it, while Tsu was given a drink that looked like orange juice but with mint leaves and crushed ice. Each of them thanking Izuku as he did.
"Enjoy," said Izuku, a hopeful expression on his face. Ochako was immediately reminded of a puppy and she could imagine a dog's tail wagging back and forth in anticipation. The mental image almost made her laugh, but she managed to contain it a grin.
Everyone took ahold of their drinks and Mina raised her glass and said, "To a job well done and future jobs well done!" she said with a broad grin.
With that, they all took a sip and a moment later they all marveled at the tastes.
"This is amazing!" said Mina with a surprised expression on her face. "What is it?" she asked looking up at Izuku.
"It's called a violet fizz, it's a spin-off of the popular gin fizz, using crème of lavender and club soda to give it the lavender-like taste, purple color, and extra fizz. Though I added a little extra gin to it," he replied.
Mina looked back to her drink and took another sip, savoring the taste this time. Before long everyone had asked Izuku the same question.
"I gave Ms. Yaoyorozu a drink called Bijou, meaning "jewel" in French. It dates back to the 1800s and while it's not particularly popular here in Japan it's a fine drink using dry gin and orange bitters as the key elements," he said to Momo, who looked at the drink with slight surprise.
"For Ms. Jiro I made a much more niche drink called Joan Jett, using freshly squeezed lime, rum, and cola. It's named after the Rock n' Roll artist from the 1980s." said Izuku looking at Jiro who, Ochako saw, had a look of shock on her face.
Izuku then turned his attention to Tsu, "Ms. Asui's drink is called Class Act, a more exotic drink using pineapple juice, coconut rum, a splash of southern comfort, advocaat liqueur, and topped with mint leaves."
"You've done an excellent job, ribbit," said Tsu, taking another drink of the Class Act.
Finally, Izuku turned to Ochako and she felt herself flush just slightly. "Yours is called Moonwalk, it was the first thing drunk by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin upon returning to earth from the first moonwalk. It uses grapefruit juice, orange liqueur, a few drops of rose water, and champagne." He said smiling.
Once more Izuku had chosen a drink that appealed to her love of space. She had watched the moonwalk several times over the years, and it was always an awe-inspiring sight.
"I am impressed with how well you have curated your choice of cocktails to each one of us. How did you know so much about us to be able to do so?" Asked Momo curiously.
"I'm an avid fan of heroes and I love examining and writing about quirks. I saw all of you during the sport festival years ago and made short profiles for everyone in your class. Including those of other classes of course. Though it was mostly your class that stood out during the war and I've been slowly building upon those profiles over the years since. When I started working as a bartender here, I also started researching cocktails that would thematically fit everyone I had sufficient profiles for. Ms. Jiro's was a bit more difficult to build as she wasn't that active during the war, but I had listened to a couple of the songs she had quietly released over the years and after some research, I figured she likely admired some of the early female rock n' roll artists of the 1970-1990s. Joan Jett seemed to fit best and I coincidentally discovered that there was a cocktail named after her." Said Izuku, slowly increasing the speed at which he was talking and before long had started on a stream of rapid-fire information that none of them could follow.
"Izuku, could you come over here for a moment," called Mr. Sasakura from the bar.
That seemed to snap Izuku out of his trance, and after going red with embarrassment hurried back over to the bar.
"I told you he was really into heroes and quirks." Said Ochako to the group at large, taking another sip of the Moonwalk.
"Yes, but I guess I did not appreciate the depths at which he pursued his hobby. His ability to gather information is formidable for a single individual." Said Momo, a thoughtful look on her face as she took another sip.
"It's almost scary how accurate he was, Joan Jett is one of my favorite classic Rock n' Roll artists of the age before quirks." Said Jiro, clearly a bit unnerved at it all.
"Did anyone get the feeling like we've seen him before? I got a serious sense of deja-vu when I saw him." Said Mina, with a look of concentration on her face as she struggled to recall what it was that had prompted the bout of deja-vu.
"I haven't," said Jiro looking up from her drink, a look of interest on her face.
"I can not say I have either." Said Momo, now looking at Mina.
"I might have seen about the town once or two, not that I can recall any instances though." Said Tsu with a finger at the corner of her mouth, a classic sign that she was thinking.
"I know the feeling your you're talking about though. I think you're just mistaking him with someone else, or you think you might have seen him when its just the faces of people in your memory just mixing together. I get random bouts of deja-vu when walking the streets once in a while because it just takes me back to the days when we were patrolling city streets during the war. People's faces just start to mix together eventually, especially when everyone has a perpetual look of worry on their faces everywhere you go." Said Momo.
"That must be it then. I've definitely never met him before and I can't think of any specific moments where I met someone with his kind of hair or nervousness." Said Mina nodding at Momo's suggestion and taking another drink.
"That aside though..." continued Mina, now with a devious smile stretching across her face. "He really is quite the catch Ochako."
Only years of having dealt with Mina enabled Ochako to take the jab without spilling her drink, which she was in the middle of drinking. She carefully set the glass down and glared at her pink-skinned friend.
"I have no intentions of pursuing any romantic relationships at the moment Mina, not with Izuku or anyone else. INCLUDING Bakugo." She said, tacking on the Bakugo bit at the end with emphasis. Mina had tried more than once to get them to hook up, but neither Ochako nor Bakugo had any interest in dating the other. Their friendship was that of siblings, a connection forged on the battlefield. Not to mention that outside of Tsu, he knew the most about her time with the Angel Project and the truth about the QUEESS.
Just then there was the sound of shattering glass and the whole bar turned to look at the noise. At the sounds, however, Ochako had half risen out of her chair, already getting her quirk ready for a fight, when she noticed Izuku, who had apparently just dropped a glass of some kind nearby. The sound had caused her to flashback to the ambush at the mansion, she had been a little tense since then.
"Izuku! Are you all right?" Said Mr. Sasakura walking over to Izuku and helping him pick up the pieces and examining his hands for injury.
"No sir, I'm fine, my hand just slipped is all. Must still be damp from cleaning the shaker." Said Izuku giving a nervous laugh as he picked up the pieces with Mr. Sasakura and putting them in a dishcloth, before dumping them into a trash can.
Ochako and her friends turned back to their conversation after that. "Well I got that feeling deja-vu," said Ochako looking to Mina, a smile on her face.
Mina just rolled her eyes.
"Mina does make a point though, you should talk to him more, get his number, and get to know him more. You mentioned how alike he was to you, so making friends with him wouldn't be too bad, ribbit." Said Tsu.
Ochako shifted uncomfortably in her seat, whenever Tsu got serious like this it always made her feel like a student again. Which she supposed was a good thing considering Tsu was training to be a heroics teacher.
"I'll... try before we leave to get his number." Said Ochako, mildly embarrassed.
That seemed to be good enough for Tsu who went back to her drink. Just then Izuku returned to their table.
"Is there anything else I can do for you all?" he asked, looking around the table.
"You can join us for a drink!" Said Mina, flashing Izuku a grin.
"I'm afraid I can't do that while I'm working." Said Izuku declining the invitation.
Mina pouted and then shouted over Izuku's shoulder, "Hey, Mr. Sasakura, mind if we borrow Midoriya for a bit?" She asked Mr. Sasakura.
Mr. Sasakura looked up at her and with a faint smile answered, "Feel free, I doubt we'll be getting any other customers tonight anyways. Consider your shift over Izuku." he said, his half-moon spectacles flashing in the light.
Mina's grin was so large that one might have thought she'd broken something. While Izuku's had transformed into a mix of shock and horror at having been so casually thrown to the wolf.
"Mina! You can't just do that! Midoriya, I apologize for her brazen attitude. Mr. Sasakura please don't feel like you have to entertain her irrational demands since we are customers." apologized Momo, standing up and giving both Izuku and Mr. Sasakura bows.
"It's quite all right, I don't mind. The bar usually only gets somewhere between zero to six people a night and the bar only really needs one employee at any given time; So I assure you it's no trouble. Feel free to have fun with them Izuku." Replied Mr. Sasakura with a smile and jovial attitude.
"Fantastic! Sit down over there by Ochako, Midoriya!" Said Mina, getting up from her seat and stealing a chair from a nearby table, and placing next to Ochako's. Who she noticed, was distinctly red, as was Midoriya.
"Oh, they are definitely smitten with each other." Thought Mina, laughing hysterically in her mind at the obvious signs.
When Izuku sat in the chair next to Ochako, he couldn't help but glance over to Ochako who looked about as red as he felt. "She really is very pretty," he thought.
He shook his head to clear it of the errant thought, before turning to look at Mrs. Kirishima.
"You mentioned you had a hobby about examing heroes and quirks, if you were building profiles of heroes all the way back when the sports festival was still around, you must have been doing it for a long time now." Said Jiro.
"I've been doing it since middle school," he replied.
"Did you ever try to become a hero yourself?" asked Momo.
Izuku's expression fell, "No, I would have liked to be one, but my application to take the test wouldn't have even gotten through. I'm quirkless, so I'm barred from putting in an application, to begin with." he said with a clear sense of resignation in his voice.
There was a long silence following that, where the girls all gave each other awkward looks. Ochako felt a bit guilty for not informing them that Izuku was quirkless earlier, but at the same time, it wasn't her place to tell them.
"You don't need to worry about it, it was a long time ago and it doesn't bother me anymore," said Izuku, noticing the uncomfortable atmosphere that had settled over the table.
"Well... uh... how long have you been a bartender?" asked Mina, trying to change the atmosphere.
"I've been doing this for about a year and a half now. Since the war ended really. I kinda just bounced around from job to job before that." he said with an awkward smile.
"Like what?" asked Mina, curious now at learning more about him.
"Some menial labor kind of stuff, but with the war and everything going on, I took some martial arts classes. I know CQC and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, basic self-defense training kind of stuff."
"You must be fairly skilled then," said Momo.
"I still have a lot to learn, my teachers and an old friend of mine are much better than me," said Izuku scratching the back of his head, a sheepish expression on his face.
"If Kirishima were here, he'd want to spar with you," said Mina a faint smile, a distant look on her face as she imagined Kirishima asking Izuku for a sparring match. She giggled at the idea.
It was then that Mr. Sasakura showed up with more drinks for everyone, and the conversation turned to more mundane topics. They all greatly enjoyed talking to Izuku about anything and everything. Their friend group was pretty well restricted due to the war, and it was refreshing to talk to civilians about things like movies, the town gossip, or really anything else.
Despite their insistence on Ochako getting out and mingling with other people, the truth of the matter was that they were all starved for fresh social interaction. The main difference lay in the fact that Ochako struggled to converse with people outside of a hero context and her therapist had recommended her to try and be more social. Ochako knew her friends had her best interests in mind, and she appreciated it, but at times they could be just a bit too mothering.
By the time Momo checked her phone, they had all had a decent amount to drink. Even Mina was looking a little tipsy.
"Well, I think it's time we head back home. The boys will start getting antsy if we stay out too long." Said Momo. She had a slight permanent flush to her face and had started to drop her formal way of speaking.
Mina stood up and gave a stretch, and started to say "When I get to the apartment I'm going to grab Kirishima an-"
"Don't finish that sentence." interrupted Jiro, pointing an ear jack at her friend threateningly.
"Uhhh... right." Said Mina glancing at Izuku and going bright magenta, rather than red due to her pink skin.
Izuku just looked on in confusion but shrugged it off. "Must be an inside joke" he thought.
"Well anyway, since we're all friends now, how bout we all exchange numbers with Izuku?" continued Mina, changing the subject.
It was Izuku's turn to go red this time, he hadn't exchanged his current with anyone, outside of Mr. Sasakura. Let alone five women, one of which was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in his life.
"I... Uh, um, I... guess?" he said, fumbling over his words as he tried to process the most recent development.
"Great!" Said, Mina pulling out her phone. The next minute was just them exchanging numbers, they even got Mr. Sasakura's number in case they ever needed to contact him about anything.
They made their way to the door when Mr. Sasakura spoke from behind the bar.
"Izuku, why don't walk them home for a bit? A man shouldn't let such lovely ladies walk all the way home alone. Even if each lady could likely flatten the entire neighborhood singlehandedly." Said Mr. Sasakura, not quite able to stop himself from smiling at the end.
"What a lovely idea!" Said Mina, slapping Izuku on the back, smiling broadly.
If exchanging numbers had been shocking, then this suggestion felt him speechless. He could only stare at Mr. Sasakura waving goodbye as Mina all but dragged him out of the bar.
They walked down the street for a while before eventually, the group split up. Tsu, Mina, Jiro, and Momo would all be heading north to the apartment complex they were staying at, while Izuku would escort Ochako to her apartment to the northeast. They said they're goodbyes and split to go to their own destinations.
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The group of 4 that headed north ran into no trouble. Arriving at the apartment complex Jiro decided to go on ahead of them and check on Denki, leaving the other three in the lobby. The three of them didn't move for a few moments, waiting and listening. Eventually, they heard the distant sound of a heavy steel door clanging shut, then silence.
The three of them sat down in chairs in the lobby and all exchanged knowing looks.
"So... you all noticed too?" said Mina, uncharacteristically serious.
The other two nodded.
"He's strong, really strong," said Tsu quietly, a rare look of worry on her face. She may not show emotion often, but Ochako was one topic that could always generate a reaction from her.
"No openings, whether it was just standing, sitting, or serving us drinks, he didn't have blind spots." Said Momo, a deep frown on her face as she replayed the night's events in her mind.
"When I slapped him on the back it was like slapping solid iron. He's fucking jacked to hell and back. He might even be on par with Kirishima in terms of sheer muscle mass. He's not as large as Kirishima of course, but he's a solid mass of condensed muscle. There's no way he just did menial labor and martial arts classes." Said Mina.
"And the Deja-vu?" asked Tsu.
"I still can't place him. I KNOW I've seen him before, but I just can't remember where. I'm positive though that it wasn't during the war." she said, crossing her arms and slumping in the armchair.
"I think we can at least say that he isn't dangerous, at least not to any of us. He does genuinely appear to be a normal nice guy, with little to no experience in dealing with the opposite sex." Said Momo, putting her chin in one hand as she closed her eyes in thought.
"I think we can also believe what Ochako told us about his past as well. Ochako seemed convinced of his story and his apparently breaking down at the cemetery seems plausible given what I saw today." Said Tsu.
"You thought he might have been a spy?" asked Mina.
"At first maybe, Ochako would have been in a vulnerable emotional state at the cemetery and a sufficiently skilled liar might have been able to trick her in buying a story." Said Tsu nodding.
"I didn't get the impression he was lying at the bar either. Apart from not telling us what he really did before being a bartender, I think he's as genuine as he appeared." Said Momo.
"So we just leave things as is? Let Ochako and Izuku stay in contact? Let things develop as they will?" Asked Mina, looking at the other two.
They nodded and with that, Mina stood up from the chair and gave a stretch.
"Well, if there isn't anything else to say then I'm going to test Kirishima's quirk." Said Mina, almost salivating.
Momo went bright red and covered her face with her hands, while Tsu went pink, not nearly as embarrassed as Momo was. So, they followed behind Mina as she practically skipped up the stairs. As they followed her, both Momo's and Tsu's thoughts were going along similar lines.
"Thank goodness their room is across from everyone else's."