Work Text:
Katsuki adjusts his hearing aids carefully before he hits play on his downloaded stream. Mindfuck's starting intro fills his ears and immediately Katsuki relaxes a little bit, the familiar tune enough to drain some of that tension out of his shoulders.
Mindfuck is a somewhat popular vtuber—model and brand and all—but his streams are basically always just him going on about what new issue he stumbled upon in his daily life and so they are practically podcasts.
They are definitely the perfect thing to listen to while Katsuki has to go run some errands and somehow his chores always fly by easier when Mindfuck's deep voice fills his ears.
And it's just the same today. It feels as if time flew by and Katsuki managed to cross everything off his list, which means it's time for his coffee now.
His feet carry him the familiar path to ErasureCoffee, a café that appears unassuming but stocks some of the best blends of coffee Katsuki has ever tasted, which ensured his repeated comebacks.
By now he's definitely a regular there, getting his coffee in that particular shop at least five times a week, if not more often, and stepping into the café almost feels like a brief reprise from his every-day life.
At least until he spots a new face behind the counter.
Katsuki's mood immediately drops because someone new means he'll have to pause Mindfuck's stream, has to actually say his order out loud, instead of simply stepping up to the counter and having Aizawa or Yamada nod at him before they start preparing his order and Katsuki hates it.
Today was supposed to be a good day—not one where he has to interact with someone.
Still, turning around and leaving without his coffee is absolutely not an option so he digs out his phone, stops the stream and then steps up to the counter.
"Welcome to ErasureCoffee, what can I get you today?" the new guy behind the counter asks him and for a moment Katsuki draws a complete blank.
Because that was Mindfuck's voice.
Katsuki is sure of it; he just listened to the guy ramble for something over two hours after all and Katsuki has hundreds of hours of listening to his streams under his belt so of course he recognises that voice.
There's no mistaking it.
"Eh, hello? Are you going to order something or are you just going to stand there, looking pretty?" Mindfuck asks him and Katsuki reacts on instinct which means he glares at him and then blurts out "You shut the fuck up."
Mindfuck—Shinsou, a quick glance at his name plate reveals—blinks at him before his expression darkens.
"Sir, if you continue to be rude, I'll have to ask you to leave."
"This can't be happening," Katsuki mutters, the situation finally hitting him, because that's Mindfuck, manning the counter in his favourite coffee shop and this cannot be happening. "You can't be here."
At that Shinsou curiously tilts his head.
"I'm sorry but—who are you? Have we met?"
"That, dearest son of mine, is sweet, spicy, loud Bakugo," Yamada says, appearing behind Hitoshi and throwing an arm around his shoulder.
"Who happens to be one of our best regulars," Aizawa adds, with a warning look at Shinsou who immediately raises his hands in defeat.
"Alright, alright, geez, I get it, not angering the rude customer who just told me to shut the fuck up," he grumbles, which of course means that both Aizawa and Yamada turn to look at Bakugo.
"We know he's quite the handful, but please excuse his behaviour," Aizawa then says in his most dead-pan voice, closely followed by an indignant "Hey, I didn't even do anything" from Shinsou and Bakugo doesn't know what to do at all.
He has half a mind to simply turn around and get the hell out of here but then he notices that Yamada has already started on his usual order and letting a good coffee go to waste is just not something Katsuki wants to do.
"He's fine," he mutters out when Aizawa continues to stare at him expectantly and it seems he just waited for that confirmation because he immediately turns around and vanishes into the back again.
Yamada puts his coffee down on the counter as soon as it's finished and then follows after his husband without a word, leaving Shinsou to figure out what to charge him for that very custom made coffee and Katsuki might be an asshole, but he's not going to let him flounder over something he simply cannot get right.
So he tells Shinsou the amount he's usually charged, who types it into the machine with a little acknowledging nod. Katsuki pays and gets his coffee and then he hovers awkwardly at the counter, because it doesn't feel right to just leave like that, not with the impression he just made.
A quick glance around the coffee shop reveals that there are only two other customers at the moment who are deep into a conversation, so Katsuki turns back around to Shinsou.
"Listen," he starts to get his attention and Shinsou turns around to him with one raised eyebrow.
"Yeah? You gonna apologise?" he almost dares him and it's still strange to hear that voice in real life and not coming out of his hearing aids.
"Explain myself, more like," Katsuki grumbles out though after a sigh, he figures he really does have to apologise, too. "And apologise, yeah. I'm sorry. I just—I know who you are," he then says and it feels absolutely fucking stupid to say it out loud and going by the amused sparkle in Shinsou's eyes it isn't any better hearing it.
"And who am I?" he asks, leaning over the counter and fuck, Katsuki really didn't need to know that his eyes were that pretty up close.
Or his everything, really.
"You're Mindfuck," he blurts out, and Katsuki still can't believe that this is real.
Fuck, he once spent an almost obscene amount of money on a virtual meet and greet with the guy he then chickened out of in the last second and to think that he's now standing right there in front of Katsuki, as a real person and not just his vtuber self is kind of messing with him.
Shinsou's face immediately falls as he moves back from the counter.
"Who?" he tries to play it off but Katsuki is not mistaking that voice and he's a regular here—it's unfair if he keeps that to himself, especially because Mindfuck does talk a little bit about his private life every now and then, so Katsuki knows things about him.
"I'm not trying to do anything or make it public or anything," Katsuki rushes out. "I'm a regular here, you heard your parents, and if you work here now then it just—it feels unfair to not let you know that I know," he awkwardly explains and then winces.
This is the worst day of his life, hands down, and he probably can never come back here again now.
Shinsou regards him for a few moments longer before he slouches where he stands.
"You're good," he sighs out as he rubs a hand over his face. "You're not the first one who figured it out and you won't be the last, just—please don't make it public in any way. I know I'm not that big but there are a few crazy fans and I'd really rather not have them camp out in my parents' shop."
It's ridiculous, because Mindfuck is absolutely that big in the right circles, but Katsuki bites back those words and simply nods.
"Alright, thanks," Shinsou says, almost as awkwardly as Katsuki feels. "I guess I'll see you around then?"
"Sure," Katsuki presses out and then promptly turns around on his heels and flees the scene.
Halfway home he remembers to start the stream again, but hearing Mindfuck's voice feels wrong now that Katsuki has a face to him, a real face, and so he switches over to his music.
He just hopes that he'll get used to it quickly, because he likes listening to Mindfuck's streams.
It would be a shame if he couldn't anymore.
~*~*~
Katsuki doesn't get used to it. He keeps seeing Shinsou when he hears Mindfuck talk and it makes interacting with him in the coffee shop awkward in a away Katsuki hates, so he drops the Mindfuck streams completely.
He can always find something else to listen to, but he cannot find another coffee shop that gets his order exactly right.
And he also cannot find another coffee shop that has Shinsou in it, who keeps standing behind the counter, who clearly keeps waiting for Katsuki to blackmail him with his knowledge or something but who also just as clearly can't get out of his own skin, because he keeps snarking at Katsuki.
Who snarks right back because that's just who he is, too and soon enough it's not even the coffee Katsuki comes in for.
It's for his daily banter with Shinsou and isn't that terrifying?
To know that he's looking forward to seeing the stupid fucker more than getting his coffee and Katsuki knows he's royally fucked the first time he makes Shinsou laugh so hard he bends over and has to hold on to the counter so he doesn't fall.
He definitely has a crush and it's not good. Not good at all.
~*~*~
Katsuki figured he fucked up somehow when he steps into the café and Shinsou only glares at him.
"You good?" Katsuki asks when Shinsou gets started on his coffee without so much as a word but he doesn't get an answer, he only gets another glare and something that could be classified as a pout. "Did I do something?" Katsuki wants to know, wrecking his brain to figure out if he did or said something stupid the last time he came in.
"You sure as fuck didn't," Shinsou snaps out and then slams his coffee down before he vanishes into the back.
It's barely a moment later when Yamada stumbles out, clearly being shoved out here against his will and Katsuki frowns even harder.
"What's up with him?" he asks Yamada, because surely the guy has an answer but Yamada only sighs and leans against the counter.
"Listen, Bakugo, when someone tells you to do something, you normally just do it, especially when it's as obvious as this," Yamada says, as if that makes any sense at all, and Bakugo turns his frown into a full on glare.
"The fuck is that supposed to mean?" he demands to know but Yamada only lets out a forlorn little sigh.
"It means," Aizawa chimes in as he steps up to the counter, putting a piece of paper down in front of Katsuki. "That maybe you have some catching up to do."
"Catching up?"
"You're not watching his streams anymore, are you?" Aizawa asks and Yamada's head flies around to him so fast his hair whips behind him.
"You're not?" he almost yells out and Katsuki winces.
"Felt wrong somehow," he admits, rubbing the back of his neck. "I kind of know him now, so—"
"You have some catching up to do," Aizawa says again and pushes the paper closer to Katsuki. "Maybe take these as starting points."
Katsuki takes the paper, which is filled with dates and times and it doesn't take a genius to figure out that those are time-stamps to Mindfuck's streams.
"Hitoshi will be here until closing time today," Aizawa calls after him when Katsuki leaves and he files that bit of information away, unsure yet why he would need it.
He definitely does not rush home.
~*~*~
Shinsou keeps talking about him.
He of course doesn't mention Katsuki's name or anything but he did let it slip that he's helping out at some short of shop these days and that he met his 'angel' there.
Katsuki keeps going through all the time-stamps Aizawa gave him and it's always about him. The first day he came in. The first day Shinsou got his order right. The day Katsuki made him laugh so hard he cried.
And—he sounds fond.
He sounds so unbearably fond that Katsuki's face heats up just listening to him and it only gets worse the further down on the list he gets.
Katsuki is almost afraid to listen to the last one on it but of course he hits play eventually.
It's another segment of Shinsou recounting their interaction that day and Katsuki damn well remembers it because it was only three days ago and the last time he interacted with Shinsou since he went to visit his parents for the weekend.
Katsuki tunes back into the stream just on time to hear Shinsou says "You know, angel, you could just ask. You could just come up to the counter and say 'Mindfuck, go out with me' and it would be totally fine."
There's a small pause when Shinsou clearly reads a few comments and then he sighs.
"Listen, guys, I can't be the one to ask. He knows who I am, he's probably here right now and that just. I don't know. It doesn't feel right. He has to ask. You hear that, angel, it's gotta be you."
Katsuki's heart stumbles in his chest at that, because it's so very obvious what Shinsou wants him to do but also—what the actual fuck?
He's glad that Aizawa told him that Shinsou will be in the store until closing time, because he just about makes it, rushing back to the shop like he is and he absolutely cannot stand the wide grin Yamada sends him before he hurries into the back.
Aizawa gives him a thumbs up, which probably means he has their blessing or whatever and Katsuki doesn't at all wait impatiently for Shinsou to make his appearance.
"What do you want here again?" Shinsou asks him, clearly still mad that Katsuki didn’t took his advise to heart and Katsuki motions for him to join him at the corner table.
He's not about to do this in public or where Shinsou's parents can hear.
"You're an idiot," Katsuki says with feeling once Shinsou is seated and it earns him a glare, but Katsuki barely even registers it. "The very first time we met you talked about crazy fans. You think I wanna come off as a crazy fan? Asking you out after I already admitted to knowing who you are and watching your streams? I think the fuck not."
Shinsou opens his mouth as if he wants to argue but Katsuki silences him with a look.
"And," he goes on, "this might be you parents' coffee shop but you're really only a service worker here and you simply do not ask those out while they are on shift because that just puts them into an uncomfortable position. So, if anyone has to ask anyone out, it has to be you."
"So you do keep up with my streams," Shinsou says, but there's a faint blush on his cheeks.
"I don't. I couldn't—Aizawa gave me some pointers," Katsuki admits and Shinsou groans.
"Oh my gods, I can't believe my dads listened to me gushing over you, that's so embarrassing."
"What's embarrassing is that you clearly don't have the guts to ask me out yourself," Katsuki shoots right back because Shinsou still hasn't asked him and his stomach totally doesn't flip when Shinsou fixes him with an intense stare.
"Angel, go out with me," Shinsou says, almost without hesitation and Katsuki slumps in his chair.
"Fuck yeah," he breathes out because there's nothing more he would like to do actually.
Except maybe die, when Aizawa starts to clap and Yamada lets out a few celebratory yells, but going by the pained groan Shinsou lets out, he's on the same page about that.
"Maybe lets have our first date somewhere where your parents aren't around," Katsuki suggests and Shinsou nods so hard his hair flies around.
"Deal."
(Katsuki does get back into listening to Mindfuck's streams, but no stream in the world is ever going to beat having Hitoshi talk to him in person.)