Chapter Text
It began with Naomasa Tsukauchi knocking on his door around five o’clock at noon, still dressed from an oddly early end from work and a plastic bag filled with two bento boxes in hand.
This was a habit reminiscent of the beginnings of their friendship decades ago when the detective was first assigned to his first major case alongside the new, fresh-off-the-boat from the United States pro-hero, All Might. Coming over to each other’s abode for a simple dinner the two would go over documents and recordings in hopes to gain a step closer to completion. But nowadays, with the retirement of Japan’s Symbol of Hope and the eerie drop in crime rates in the recent weeks, the habit had quickly become a gesture of close companionship for both Yagi and Tsukauchi.
Initially, the detective-of-a-friend grinned upon the opening of the door, although quickly morphed into a look of exasperation at the other.
“You should be resting,” substituted the hello that was expected. “You look more worn out than I am, and I just came back from overtime.”
That, and pursed lips at the sight of the blonde’s tousled bed hair, sunken eyes and ink tainted fingers from what Tsukauchi was hopeful was a relaxing round of sudoku and not the evident mountain pile of papers in the background of Yagi’s coffee table.
But Yagi merely smiled brightly albeit tiredly, hand paused mid-air in a wave. “Don’t mind me. Come on in.”
Yagi knew he didn’t look his best. Still donning his nightshirt (a ratty white t-shirt, now oversized due to his current lankiness), coffee-stained sweatpants and bags under his eyes (more prominent than usual). It was funny how he couldn’t bring himself to be bothered with his appearance – putting aside the only presence in sight, he was no longer All Might: in which the golden, upbeat, and comforting appearance was something to be kept in and for the public eye.
He was just Yagi Toshinori these days.
“Isn’t it summer vacation for UA?” Tsukauchi asked. “I’d thought you’d be free from work.”
“It is. For the students, that is,” Yagi replied, trailing behind Tsukauchi, who entered the living room after toeing off his boots to make himself comfortable on the couch. The detective took one look at the mess of papers on the table and winced before moving to stack them somewhat neatly to the side. “But for a teacher, well, not so much.”
This was met with a frown. “Truly, Yagi. It’s only been a week. Surely you don’t need all of these done so soon.”
Yagi hesitated.
Of course, he knew what summer break entails for UA for both students and teachers. A month-worth of unwinding from the demands of both academia and strict hero training for the students – and bless them, especially the class 1-A students, for Yagi knew how much they’ve all been through in the short span of their school year – while teachers, specifically, were given the time off to spend accordingly to their needs, mostly to focus on their respective hero work. Well, at least for those who still had active hero work to accomplish. Other than that, it was a rare opportunity for many to slow down and simply enjoy the summer heat.
But see, the thing is, Yagi had always had issues with slowing down.
Growing up, he’d always been quite the antsy person, having too much energy and enthusiasm for him to know how to deal with other than pouring it out through rigorous training. With One for All thrumming in his veins, he had set his mind straight on pursuing heroism and dedicating every second of his livelihood to achieving it.
And when seconds turned to minutes turned to days, weeks, months and years, time flew by so fast and so existed All Might.
There wasn’t much memory he could recall that had no relation to the becoming and being All Might, Symbol of Peace – he lived a life for that sole purpose of helping others, sparing not a second for himself but for those in need. All Might was a necessity for society during his prime years. Involved in high-stakes cases, always on-call for any sudden emergencies, mountain piles of paperwork and public appearances to be made for conferences and conventions – the list of responsibilities went on for the pro-hero, the weight of it all never leaving room to breathe. Adding on to the looming threat of All for One, All Might could not afford any weaknesses in order to prevail justice and security for Japan and possibly, the world.
Which was why living each day had to be fast in fear of losing time to act and do good, in fear of a second untouched possibly leading to an innocent life lost.
All Might lived life as fast as he could, the spontaneity of life spurring his heroic purpose. That was all he ever knew.
Yagi Toshinori knew nothing beyond what life could offer him now.
Suddenly he had too much free time on his hands than he knew what do to with. Suddenly there were all these opportunities and options in life now available to him than he could imagine, either due to a lack of time or a lack of thought on the mere idea of it back in the past. But now there was so much to think about! And with it, so much time. Too much, he thought.
What should he eat for lunch? Now he had the time to look around him, to weigh his choices. No longer did he have to order takeout or rush to the nearest convenience store to get a microwaveable meal – he could cook, technically. Dedicate time to do groceries, pack his fridge, lay out the ingredients and start cooking. Or perhaps, what was he to do after? Perhaps watch TV? He didn’t have any hobbies he was into, never having the time to experience different activities to build an affinity for them. He could start a hobby. But what? Where? And when?
He’d rather not think about it, in all honesty. The thought itself unsettled him.
And so, he drowned himself in the familiarity of a busy, fast-paced life as it was before his current retirement. Whether it be training young Midoriya, grading his students’ schoolwork, involving himself in any available cases with the police, dealing with paperwork from his hero agency – anything to take himself away from having to spend time for his own benefit.
“I still have much more to do,” Yagi chose to reply. “These are only the theoretical exams I have to grade. There are still lesson plans I have to go over for the next semester, and then reviewing intern applications for the agency, not to mention a conference I have to prepare a speech for –“
“Yagi,” his friend interjected. “Breathe for a second. Do you really need to work on them now? Most of the things you’re telling me, I imagine, can be done any time in the span of the summer. Aren’t I here so we can catch up?”
A pause. Tsukauchi, in the meantime, stood to heat up both bentos.
“You’re right,” Yagi admitted, rubbing the back of his neck and realising the soreness of having been so focused on working prior to the detective’s arrival. “But Tsukauchi, you know how I feel. I can’t simply let it pile up. You’d know well how I don’t like wasting my time.”
“But that’s the thing! You’re not wasting any time. You have time.” The microwave made a noise. Tsukauchi switches out one box for another. “You ought to take it easy, you know? Nothing will be lost if you push your work till next week or so, at least. Are any of them urgent?”
“Well –“
“They aren’t, I bet. You know you can’t lie to me, Yagi.”
He really couldn’t, he knew this. Tsukauchi returned to the couch, both meals now warm, and passed one to Yagi before taking a seat for himself. Yagi sighed – defeated by his friend’s words and opted to start eating.
“You’re one to say. You’re equally busy, pulling overtime hours as well.”
“Now that’s different. High-profile cases don’t occur every night,” Tsukauchi said. “And it’s pretty much a closed case already. We caught the villain; the court’s due tomorrow noon and the witnesses are safely guarded.”
“That’s good to hear.” Yagi took a deep-fried asparagus and popped it in his mouth. “So, what do you plan to do after? Aren’t there more cases to solve?”
“Nothing major, at the very least. Which is why I got off work earlier today.” Rice pinched between chopsticks, Tsukauchi took a bite before answering. “My cat’s due for a vet visit in a few days. That, and there’s this crime series I’ve been meaning to watch recently. A few co-workers of mine got quite heated in talking about it, so I thought I might as well see what the fuss is all about. Been a while since I’ve binged shows and all.”
“Ah,” Yagi found himself reacting, a chuckle close to escaping. “But I vaguely recall you saying how you disliked watching those over-the-top crime shows. Unrealistic, did you say?”
“They are! Still can’t quite believe I used to enjoy them so much as a kid. But for this, I’ll make an exception. You know how I love to play critic for these things. Makes for good comedy,” Tsukauchi scraped the remaining salad pieces from his plate before adding, with thought, “Perhaps you should start watching it – see if you have a liking for crime shows.”
“I’ll pass.” The neat stack of papers on the table aside from their now empty bento boxes immediately grasped Yagi’s attention, the desire to simply jump back to familiar work tugging at his mind. He had to turn his eyes back to Tsukauchi, who followed his stare at the papers and shook his head. He didn’t need to vocalise what was running through his head: the uncertainty and contradictions of the passing of time in Yagi’s eyes.
“Yagi,” the detective began, “You know there’s nothing wrong with taking it easy now. Japan can rest easy with All Might’s retirement, and you know that.”
You have time, was the implication he knew hid behind his friend’s words.
“It’s not that easy,” the blonde argued. “I know time has been eating away at me the minute I sustained my injury. The chase to do whatever I could before it all came to an end was my every breath, Tsukauchi. And now people are telling me the chase is over, that I can simply sit back and rest and heal. But I’ve healed and suddenly everything seems so undemanding and unrushed. I don’t know how to adapt to it.”
“It’s not difficult if you try, Yagi.”
This conversation was one that was repetitive between the two. Tsukauchi, bless his heart, and his constant attempts to urge Yagi to use his time in ways he was never able to in his pro-hero career - and Yagi, bless him too, a man so in belief of being a shell of someone great and undeserving of a peaceful, leisurely civilian lifestyle.
But the detective did not cease his attempts, willing to be just as equally stubborn as the tall, blonde man he called his friend.
The detective sighed. “One of these days, I’ll drag you out for a bit of fun and you can’t say no.”
“Sure you will.” Yagi entertained, followed by a shrug, confident his stubbornness will eventually defeat that of his friend.
And yet, one night, in an effort to pull him away from continuing to drown himself in unnecessary work, Tsukauchi took him aside to a club.
It had taken the detective a lot of persuasions and a week prior of booking a proper day so the two friends could go out for the night. Yagi was, of course, uncertain about the entire idea. Insisting he shouldn’t, truly, he’d rather force himself to go through a given list of shows Tsukauchi wanted him to watch in his unfortunately spare time (and even the thought of the alternative is dreadful although mild in comparison).
But a small part of him felt bad for the consistent dodging of any of Tsukauchi’s prior invitations. Seeing how insistent the man was in getting him out of the house was quite admirable, perhaps, to have someone care so much of him to deal with his low enthusiasm – the least he could do is agree to something once.
They had walked for quite some time, the nightclub a few blocks down where Yagi lived, to his surprise. An outwardly high-end place, presented in the building’s subtle class, draped with pretty lights and vines on its walls.
He was even made to dress nice. Yagi had come wearing a clean pressed collared shirt of burgundy shade and slim slacks. He was surprised to find the set of clothes amidst the rest of his usual work outfits in his closet. While he would dress for comfort on the daily with the tendency to make himself seemingly small under baggy clothes, tonight he wears his attire well on him. A small fire of confidence lit in his chest upon seeing his reflection, so unused to dressing suitably for his own sake rather than to maintain a proper and acceptable public appearance. It was as if he had forgotten how it felt to look good in his own eyes rather than for others.
He wasn’t quite sure if he found himself liking the change.
With Tsukauchi leading him inside to the bar, Yagi watched his friend offer a friendly nod to the bouncer before easily manoeuvring them towards the bar counter. It was a seemingly good night – the lights were more decorative and tasteful than it was blinding, suitable for the comfortable atmosphere for several of the club’s patrons scattered within their own circles. Some faces were more familiar than others, he realised – several pro-heroes and sidekicks, one or two retired– but no one gave him a second glance other than one or two nods of acknowledgement as Tsukauchi tugged him to sit.
“A martini to start,” the detective ordered. “And a beer for you?”
“Whiskey, straight,” was his immediate reply. “I’ll need it if I’m going to get through this tonight.”