This story was suggested by Shitpost Incarnate on the IzuOcha Discord!
I do not own My Hero Academia
Enjoy!

Every Monday, without exception, Midoriya Izuku would wake up at five in the morning, shower, and eat breakfast before five-thirty, which is when the ingredients would arrive, it was a small sacrifice compared to the quality of the arriving product. These ingredients were the best around, and Izuku's mother had driven a hard bargain for them to be delivered every day. Now that he had taken over, it was his responsibility to receive them early in the morning, or they would end up someplace else, and he would have nothing for the rest of the week unless he paid extra for them to come around again the next day.

When they arrived, he would pay the delivery people, telling them to come back again the following week. It was a tough job getting all of the different bags of yeast, flour, sugar, salt, and butter inside, but his mom had been able to do it, so he had to do it as well. He would then bring all of the ingredients together at the appropriate temperature of anywhere between sixty-five and eighty degrees Fahrenheit. He ended up with many large pieces of dough that he would then need to knead. This step, he did it caringly, as if he were touching a child. His mother had always told him to knead the dough gently, as it would increase the quality and taste of the bread, neither of them knew why, but it seemed to work, so they just kept doing it.

After that, he would put the kneaded balls of dough in buttered bowls, he had preferred to use butter instead of oil, he claimed it had better taste that way, but it was actually the overall way he made the bread that had made the taste better, he just did every step caringly, putting one-hundred percent of himself into it. Then he placed a plastic sheet over each individual ball of dough and let the dough rise thanks to the yeast.

This would take about an hour, so he had time to start making coffee. He'd make it in large amounts, as he thought the people who came early in the morning would appreciate a hot cup before they started their day. His mother hadn't done this, he had started to do this on his own when he first started working there alone, back when his mother fell ill. He would look at the faces of the people coming in early in the morning, most of them looked like they could use a cup, so he started serving it completely free with every bread purchase.

When he was done, the hour had already gone by, he went back to the dough and knead it a few more times before letting it rise again. Thirty minutes would go by before it was all ready to be put in the oven. He set aside a third or so of the dough so that he could sell it later. He would probably sell it right then if he baked it, but decided to leave some for the people who couldn't go in the morning. He would put the other two-thirds of dough in different groups because they wouldn't fit all at once in the oven, he left every batch there for fifteen minutes before it reached its desired color, a golden-brown crust that Izuku adored to look at for some reason. He took it out and placed the next batch into the oven, putting the already-done bread into baskets on his store's shelves.

It was at this time when the store's first customers would be coming in, around seven thirty. He would greet them all with a smile and would offer them his recently baked bread, serving a cup of coffee to those who looked that they needed it. His bread would be completely sold out in the next three hours, and he often had customers waiting for the next batch to be ready and able to be sold. During this time, Izuku would chat with whoever was there, drinking a cup of coffee with them or simply talking about life. It was because of this experience that his bakery was the most popular around, and people loved the bread as much as the owner, the way Izuku made it gave it an amazing taste. When he was asked about how he made the bread, how it turned out to be so good, he would simply reply:

"I do it just how my mom taught me to."

Most of the older customers had known Izuku's mother, most of them had thought that the bakery would close after what had happened to her, but her son, who was sixteen at the time, refused to let the place close, so he took it upon itself to continue its service. When Izuku had first taken over, it was a little bit shaky. The boy would stutter when talking to customers and would sometimes burn the bread because of his inexperience. He was forced to not apply for a high school, but he didn't care, he had to keep the place alive, no matter what it took. And now, three years later, he still had it going.

The place itself was nothing fancy, it was a small store on the first floor of Izuku's two-floored house, it had multiple shelves in which the bread was displayed, even if they were empty for most of the day. To the far wall opposite to the entrance, rested Izuku's seat along the register, where people would pay for the bread, and in the middle, there was a table and a couple of chairs where his customers would sit as they waited. The second floor of the house wasn't anything fancy as well, it consisted of Izuku's bedroom, a bathroom, a small living room, and a guest room that he rarely used.

After a while, at around one in the afternoon, the store would have no bread left and customers would stop coming in, so Izuku would close and go out on a run, followed by some training at a park close by, where there were some public work-out spots. He would do this for two or three hours every day, depending on how tired he was. He would then go back home and tend to the store, counting the money made in the day and looking out for anyone coming in. He would make the rest of the bread, it wasn't as much as he made in the morning, but it was for the people coming back home or who had simply missed the bread made earlier. This bread sold much more slowly, his last pieces being sold at around eight in the afternoon, where Izuku would close shop until the next day.

He fell asleep at around ten, sleeping soundly until it was time to get up again, this time a little later since there were no ingredients to be received. He also took weekends off but made as much bread as he possibly could on Friday, just so his customers had more for the weekend.

It was a regular Thursday then, Izuku had just sold the last portion of bread in the morning and was closing the shop earlier than usual so he could go for a run.

"Wait!" He heard a voice call, he looked at the source and saw a girl with brown hair desperately running towards him, stopping a few feet before him.

"A-Are you closed?" She said between breaths, slightly disappointed.

"I'm afraid so Miss, but come back in a few hours! I'll bake more bread in the afternoon!" He smiled at her but felt guilty that he had closed right as she came running.

"Dang it..." She said, "Some friends recommended this place but told me that it all sold out quickly, and I just wanted to buy some before work..."

"Sorry about that..." Izuku said, bowing his head in apology, "But come back after work! I'll definitely have some for you."

"Really?!" Ochaco exclaimed, looking up at Izuku, "That'd be great!"

"I promise," Izuku smiled, "Do you want a cup of coffee before you leave? I think I still have some."

"I'd love to." The girl smiled at him, making his cheeks turn slightly red.

They went inside and the girl sat down in a chair by the table, looking around the store with curiosity. Izuku went to the kitchen and came back out with a cup of coffee for his guest.

"It's a nice place," She complimented.

"Thanks," He responded happily, "My mom got it when my father left, and she opened up the shop."

She wanted to ask but stopped herself before she did so, it would be rude of her to pry into his business.

"Are you the owner?" She asked, surprised at how young he looked, she could bet he was about as old as she was.

"My mom used to be," He explained, she swore she saw his smile fade a little, "But then something happened right before I entered high school, and I've been the owner for three years now."

She juggled the numbers in her head and discovered that he was, in fact, as old as she was, nineteen.

"Oh, sorry! Where are my manners," He suddenly said, "My name is Midoriya Izuku! It's a pleasure to meet you!"

"I'm Uraraka Ochaco, the pleasure is mine." She responded as they shook hands.

"What do you do for a living? If you don't mind me asking, of course."

"Not at all!" She waved her hand in front of her, in a dismissing gesture, "I'm a sidekick at a Hero Office nearby!"

Izuku's mouth grew wide, even if he was older, he still admired heroes and subconsciously, still wanted to be one. She noticed his surprise and asked,

"Is there something wrong?"

"N-Nothing!" He quickly responded, "I just think it's really cool!"

She smiled at the comment, it sounded like he really liked heroes at one point.

"I wanted to be one when I was a kid but..." He struggled to find the words for what he wanted to say, Ochaco looked at him, puzzled.

"My doctor told me I was quirkless, and I still wanted to be a hero, but then the person I admired the most told me I couldn't be one, so the truth hit me, and I've worked here ever since my mom stopped, so I didn't even get a chance to try the hero programme at any high school."

His sudden revelation shocked her, she hadn't seen it coming at all, she wanted to say something to the poor boy, but couldn't find anything to say. Izuku noticed her change and quickly smiled again,

"It's fine! I love this job more than you think." He scratched the back of his head, embarrassed that he had revealed that much about himself.

She was about to say something when her phone started ringing. Thirteen, her boss, had texted her, telling her to go back immediately, as he needed her help.

"I'm sorry! I have to go, I'll definitely come by later!" She waved as she got up, leaving the store.

Izuku stood by the door for a full minute, then went out and continued his routine.

It was getting late, it was almost closing time, but he refused to close, he would wait for her and give her the bread she wanted. He didn't know why, but he felt like he needed to. His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on the door.

"Come in!" He said as he got up from his chair, walking over to the door. The door opened and Ochaco stood there, she had a pink jacket on and a black top underneath,

"Hey!" She said, "Thank god you're not closed." He smiled as he stepped aside to let her in.

"I knew you would come, and I thought you'd be disappointed if you had to wait another day."

Ochaco came in and Izuku walked over to the kitchen.

"Make yourself comfortable!" He said as he went into the adjacent room and started to bake the bread, "I wanted to bake it now so that it'd be warm, can you wait fifteen minutes?"

"Sure!" She responded, sitting down in a nearby chair. As she sat down she realized just how exhausted she was. She had overworked herself today again, Thirteen actually gave her the day off tomorrow, suggesting that she went to sleep as soon as she went home, but she couldn't do that, she wanted to drop by. The nice smell coming from the kitchen filled with the warmth from the store made Ochaco fall asleep before she knew it.

The fifteen minutes went by and Izuku went back into the store with a brown paper bag in his hands, inside it was the bread he had set aside earlier. He was surprised when he saw Ochaco completely asleep in her chair, but her chair was slowly rising from the ground. He panicked for a moment before grabbing one of the chairs legs and setting it back down into the ground, it only started to rise up again, no matter what Izuku tried.

"Hey, you alright?" He shook Ochaco awake, startling her for a bit.

"Wh-Where am I?" She asked, not fully aware.

"You fell asleep and soon after, my chair was floating in the air."

"Ooh!" She said, realizing how close Izuku was to her, he had both his arms holding on to the chair support, and was leaning over it to weigh it down even more, "Sorry about that!" She quickly got up, a small blush formed on her cheeks. She pressed both of her hands together before saying: "Release!" Which made the chair weigh something again.

Izuku clapped in admiration and then proceeded to give her the bag,

"Here, just baked!" He said, proud of his own work.

"Thanks!" She reached for it and took it, "How much do I owe you?"

"Don't worry about that!" He said, "It's on the house this time."

I huge smile grew on her face as he told her this.

"R-Really?! Thank you so much!"

"It's nothing," He said, waving his hand in a dismissive gesture, "Now, you look really tired, you should go back home and rest."

"Okay," She smiled at him, "Thank you!" She walked out and left, Izuku looked at her while she did, and continued looking outside long after she was out of sight.

Ochaco opened the bag, it smelled delicious, not being able to control herself, she took out a piece and tasted it.

"It's sho good!" She said with her mouth full as she reached her apartment. And that had sealed it, she was determined to go back for more.

Izuku went past his guest room but stopped at the entrance. He opened the door and said softly,

"Goodnight mom." He did it every night but never had he heard an answer.

He went to his room and got inside the bed, looking at his clock before turning the light off.

'2:07 AM' It read.

'Tomorrow's gonna be a hard morning...' He thought before drifting to sleep.

A.N: Hey everyone! I just really wanted to post this today, there will most likely be more chapters coming, so be on the lookout for those! And as always, comments/criticisms/reviews are appreciated! And I also edited the end thanks to a reviewer! You know who you are, thank you!