Chapter Text
Fuelled by a full night’s rest, Tsukauchi works incredibly hard and incredibly well that shift. Even Sansa comments one how much better he’s looking and doing, because apparently they were all worried he was going to collapse on the job.
He manages to wrap up two cases, one of which had been frustrating the investigators for months, and the other which was a quick open and shut case. Criminal arrests are made, warrants are granted and denied, and lost children are returned to their parents. All in all, a successful day.
“Tsukauchi.” He looks up to a cat head poking in the door. Swearing under his breath, he glances to the clock on the side and sweeps his coat off the back of his chair.
“That time already? Thanks for reminding me, Sansa.”
“No purroblem, Detective~. It’s not like you to want to get away on time.”
“I’ve been requested elsewhere by a dear friend~. I have to find a present for him before going to the meeting place, which is why I’m not staying late. ...For once.” Sansa’s whiskers twitch in amusement and a quiet purr rumbles in the back of his throat.
“It’s better than finding you slumped over your desk the next mornyan~.”
“That happened twice.”
“It should nya-t have happened the first time.” Flustered, Tsukauchi sorts out the collar of his coat before picking up his items and files. The first time his team had found him slumped over his desk the morning after his shift, they had of course reached out to his emergency contacts.
Makoto and Yagi chewed him out so hard that he took his first paid vacation.
“I’ll be in early tomorrow to start the Hanekawa case. See you then.” Sansa bids him farewell and Tsukauchi quickly loads up his stuff in the boot of his car before slipping into the driving seat with a sigh to focus his thoughts, and then drives towards the shopping district.
He knows exactly what to get his long-time friend, he just needs to find it.
Exactly 28 minutes later sees him walking out of a shop with a weighty gift bag, decorated in blue hydrangea and soft pink cherry blossoms. That’s when he spots a familiar face. A struggling familiar face.
“Midoriya! Need some help?” Despite the fact the boy can’t see around the three giant boxes in his arms, he stiffens at the sounds of calling his name. It takes him a split second to recognise and he side-steps so he can actually see the detective.
“Ah! Detective Tsukauchi-san!” Tsukauchi nods in greeting and slides the gift bag up his arm, not caring for the rope digging into his arm as he reaches out and takes the box blocking Midoriya’s view off the top.
“My car’s in the car park just over there. Need a lift back to the school?”
“Are- Are you sure? I don’t want to- to impose on you or put you out of your way…” Tsukauchi smiles in that comforting way he does to all these kids, the ones who need a little extra reassurances, who need to feel safe. After seeing how rattled Toshinori’s class - Or technically, Aizawa’s class - were after USJ, Tsukauchi treats them more like the kids they are than the pro-heroes they will be in the future.
They’re still children. They’re not aged and experienced yet.
“Or course! I’m heading that way myself. Toshinori invited me.” The switch in Midoriya’s posture and expression is impressive to see. He goes from being nervous and shrinking into himself with a forced, wobbly smile, to standing up straight and leaning into the conversation eagerly, bright genuine grin in place.
“Really?! That must mean he’s looking forwards to it~!” Laughing softly under his breath, Tsukauchi wrestles open the back door with just a couple of fingers, not wanting to sacrifice his hold on the rather heavy and very large box.
“More than you realize. I think he’s heartwarmed by the very idea that people care about and accept him, even after Kamino.” The sheer mention of Kamino has Midoriya flinch. His eyes dart around and he hums under his breath uneasily, as if unsure of what to say.
“It’s alright, Midoriya. None of that was your fault. All for One had been planning it a long time and Toshinori knew that. That’s partly why he started seeking a successor and then you caught his eye and- … Why are you looking at me like that~?”
“Guh…” Midoriya blinks rapidly, trying to push aside his shock. His jaw hangs open like he could catch flies and he closes it at an amused one-eyebrow-raised expression from the detective.
“You- You know about…”
“About All for One and One for All? Yes, yes I do. You, Gran Torino, Recovery Girl, Nezu, and I might just be the only ones that do.” With the three giant boxes in the back seat - secured by all available seatbelts - Tsukauchi tucks his own present for Yagi gently under one of the seats and opens his drivers door, gesturing for Midoriya to get into the passenger seat.
“I- I completely forgot... Sorry, it's been a rough couple of months.” Sliding into his seat uncertainly, Midoriya fiddles with the seatbelt once he’s clipped it in. The engine rumbles to life and they pull out of the car park and onto the road.
“That's alright, I didn't expect you to remember~. But if you ever need someone else to talk to, Toshinori tells me everything. He speaks about you a lot too.”
“Oh no.”
“Pfft- In a good way, Midoriya. He’s very proud of you.” Midoriya stutters, the lightest of blushes on his cheek as he look at his lap, serene.
“He is…?”
“Immensely. Anyone would think he was talking about his own kid~.” Glancing sideways, Tsukauchi cheekily grins at the boy, who only groans and places his head in both hands, fingers catching in the curls of his fringe.
“Please, not you too! Todoroki has numbered conspiracy theories about me and All Might!” At that, Tsukauchi laughs loudly, feeling the heat from Midoriya’s flustered blush even from where he’s sitting.
“Alright, alright~. Why don’t you tell me what’s in those boxes then?” Pleased for the distraction, Midoriya sits properly again.
“Cake! We were going to bake our own… But first there was a power cut on campus, then Kaminari completely fried the oven by overcharging it, and when we attempted to use Todoroki’s flames to cook it… Let’s just say Uraraka had to defy gravity to get the soot and batter off the ceiling. It went everywhere.”
“Sounds like great fun, and good friends.” Midoriya humms in agreement, then double takes at who he’s talking to. Because Tsukauchi is a detective. On the police force. And he just admitted people were using their quirks in a non-rescue situation.
“U-Uh! We- We weren’t doing it illegally! I promise! U.A permits us to use our quirks - uh, maybe not like that - but we are allowed to! I think!”
“Midoriya.” He stops rambling as Tsukauchi pulls into a junction close to the school, turning off the engine. For a second, Midoriya worries he’s going to be told off, but then he notices that Tsukauchi is smiling reassuringly.
“I’m not going to tell you off for using your quirk on premises that are meant for using your quirk. Maybe not in the dorms, and certainly not in the kitchen~... But U.A is a grey area for quirk law. All quirk usage on grounds, provided it doesn’t cause harm to the public, is at the discretion of teachers. Unless Aizawa explicitly forbid quirks in the dorms, you’re free to use them in the eyes of the law.”
“PleaseDon’tTellAizawa-Sensei.”
“... Please tell me he didn’t ban quirks-”
“No! No, he didn’t! Just… He might attempt to kill us if he finds out we blew up the oven… Again. And made the kitchen a mess. … Again.” The click of Tsukauchi’s door opening goes unheard under his laugh.
“Alright, I’ll keep your secret~. I would hope by now that I’ve proved I can.” Midoriya laughs at the teasing wink, suddenly noting where Yagi must have gotten his streak of cheekiness from. Or maybe it was the other way round, but something about Tsukauchi was so natural, Midoriya knew it was his genuine personality.
“You wouldn’t happen to know if All Might’s favourite cake flavour was a secret, would you…?”
“Absolutely not. He doesn’t stop talking about these weird American flavours whenever we meet at a cafe. Like, yellow? Yellow is apparently a flavour? They put black biscuits in cake and call it cookies and cream! It’s atrocious! Other than those… Strawberry shortcake.”
“That’s a classic, I suppose, but I was expecting more… Umm…”
“Extravagant~? Over the top?” Midoriya rubs at the back of his neck as Tsukauchi carefully pulls the boxes out, handing over the first one, then second, as tenderly as possible.
“Yeah, I guess… The bakery we ordered these from is Satou’s family, so we just went with a Red velvet tier, a lemon tier, and blue raspberry tier, with choc chips.” It’s not hard to work out the theme the kids were going with.
“An All Might cake for an All Might birthday.”
“I just hope it’s an alright cake for an All Might birthday.” Closing the car door with his knee, Tsukauchi readjusts his grip on the box he carries - gift bag hanging off his arm - and resists the urge to roll his eyes.
“Try not to worry so much. You’re his students, his kids. He’d love anything coming from your class.”
“R-Really?”
“Really really~.” Midoriya flourishes under the praise, the corners of his eyes creased as he smiles, so brightly that it could be blinding. They chat casually as they approach the U.A gates, and that’s when Tsukauchi spots Aizawa leaning against the wall, arms crossed as usual. He nods in greeting, in lieu of being able to raise a hand or bow without dropping the box.
“Problem child. What have you done this time?” The faint smirk hidden behind Aizawa’s smirk is proof that he’s joking - he can clearly see Tsukauchi is helping, and knows he’s been invited - but Midoriya can’t see it thanks to being a teenager, and therefore, shorter.
“N- No! Sensei! I wasn’t-! I didn’t-!” The poor boy starts to resemble a tomato, and Tsukauchi does roll his eyes this time.
“Don’t tease him too much, Aizawa. Just because I’ve met him frequently, doesn’t mean it always has to be for a bad reason. Right, Midoriya?”
“Mhm! R-Right!” Sighing, Aizawa shoots the detective a look that reads ‘ruin my fun? Really?’. Tsukauchi replies with a somewhat proud grin. Aizawa sighs again before swiping his card over the permission slot.
The security barrier, as invisible and holographic as it is, drops and allows them to pass. Midoriya’s student card instantly registers him as on site, whilst Aizawa passes over a guest pass for Tsukauchi.
“Yagi’s already in the grips of several brats, good luck reaching him.”
“I’m happy waiting on the sidelines until all is said and done.” Aizawa scoffs, but the warmth in his eyes gives away that he’s glad to have someone else to talk to. Hizashi and Nemuri are there too, but they’re louder and more involved with the children.
Aizawa jokes that it’s because they think like children.
But that’s what makes them wonderful teachers.
As the trio enter the Height Alliance dorms, Bakugou and Kirishima spot them immediately, having been coming down the stairs with their own little gifts for All Might. Bakugou freezes on the spot, eyes widening before they narrow into slits.
“What the fuck have you done now, Deku?” If it weren’t for the two cake boxes in his arms, Midoriya would have thrown them up with exasperation. Instead, he whines.
“Why does everyone assume I’ve done something?!”
“You’re with the police, you stupid shit!” Kirishima nudges Bakugou’s arm to chastise him for his language, before grinning sheepishly in Midoriya’s direction.
“With all due respect, you don’t exactly have the best track record… Hi, Detective Tsukauchi-san!”
“Hello, Kirishima, Bakugou.” Bakugou nods respectfully in greeting. He might not be the most gracious, but he still abides by the law and authority figures. Plus, his experience with the detective has been pleasant so far, so he’s earned a little of Bakugou’s limited trust.
“Are you here to surprise All Might-sensei for his birthday?! He’ll be super hype!!!” Tsukauchi laughs gently, toeing off his shoes and putting on some guest slippers instead.
“I’m afraid he already knows I’ll be coming~. Or at least, I hope he does. He invited me, after all!” The announcement does nothing to damper Kirishima’s spirit - not even Bakugou leaving him silently to reenter the common room - and he gives Tsukauchi a thumbs up. Very informal, but they’ve met before, so Tsukauchi doesn’t mind much.
He wouldn’t mind anyways. They’re just children.
“Still! Kitchen’s this way, if you wanna put the cake down.” Kirishima bounces off, and Midoriya shares an amused look with Tsukauchi before they both follow. Instead of entering through the common room and then walking into the open-plan kitchen, they enter through the door at the back of the kitchen, sneaking in so Yagi can’t see them from where he’s sat on the sofa.
“There you are!” Hagakure’s enthusiastic whisper is just loud enough for them to hear, and Satou stands next to her, mixing up some buttercream. Funfetti, by the looks of it. Again, in All Might colours of red, yellow, and blue. There’s a little pile of pink, purple and green sprinkles that have been carefully extracted and left off to the side.
Shinsou waves lazily from where he stands next to them, tweezers in hand. What a finicky job that must have been.
“Cutting it close, Midoriya.”
“Sorry it took so long, the main street was busier than I thought it would be. If Tsukauchi-san hadn’t given me a lift, I’d never have gotten back in time.” Satou and Hagakure seem to only just notice that the detective is in the room, and whilst Satou bows politely in greeting, Hagakure enthusiastically waves her sleeve - arm? - about.
“Hi! I’m Hagakure!”
“I remember~. You were in the landslide zone of USJ, weren’t you?” Hagakure bounces on her heels, happy to not only have been acknowledged, but also remembered. Being invisible sadly meant she was rather forgettable.
“Yup, yup! Todoroki almost froze my feet off, but that’s okay because I jumped before his ice got to me!” Midoriya places down his two boxes on the countertop, opening the lids to expose the cakes, before he takes the one from Tsukauchi to line up next to them.
“Satou, is the icing ready?”
“Hold on - Hagakure, taste test this for me.” All too happy, Hagakure pauses mid-sentence in telling Tsukauchi all about their last practical lesson, sticks her finger in the buttercream, and steals a huge glob to eat.
“Mhmm~!!! It’s so yummy!” With a satisfied nod, Satou grabs a serving spoon and splotches three gigantic blobs of icing on each cake tier. He hands Midoriya a spare palette knife, and they get to work spreading the buttercream on what will be between layers and the top.
Hagakure and Shinsou ‘help’ by swiping a little bit every now and then. On Hagakure's fourth time, Satou straight up smacks her hand away with a buttercream covered spoon.
“Ewww~! Satou, it’s in my hair! It’s in my eye!” Her complaint is good-natured and playful, prompting Satou and Midoriya to huff lightly in amusement whilst Tsukauchi runs a bit of kitchen paper under the tap to pass to her so she can wipe the buttercream off. Shinsou takes the opportunity to steal one more fingerful of buttercream and escape to the common room.
Hagakure’s exclamation also draws the attention of those in the common room. Yagi twists around on the sofa, and spotting his friend in the kitchen, gives a surprised little wave. Tsukauchi returns it with a sheepish grin. To no surprise though, Yagi’s attention quickly diverted elsewhere.
“Is that- Is that a cake?” He looks astonished at the size of it, mouth hanging wide enough to fill it a whole slice. Midoriya and Satou exchange a slightly panicked look at being discovered long before they had even finished icing the cake, but sigh in unison as they realise the gig is up.
“Happy birthday, All Might!”
“Happy Birthday, Sensei.” The cake slopes messily, the buttercream all over the place and funfetti sprinkles dripping from the top to the platter the cake lay on. The top tier even starts to slide off as they carry it through and Hagakure quickly pushes it back.
As soon as they step from kitchen to common room, Bakugou lets off a party popper and that signals for the students to start singing happy birthday to All Might, some of them actually singing, others caterwauling, and a couple mumbling.
Red triangular party hat in place, Yagi looks around at all 20 of his students, laying a hand over his heart at how warmed he is, how loved he feels by their unwavering trust and dedication.
He’s so, so glad he became a teacher. Even if he’d found Midoriya months before he started and therefore didn’t need to teach after that, he wouldn’t change it for the world.
These children had become like his own.
Midoriya and Satou carefully put the cake on the table, but… Whenever Midoriya’s involved, something’s bound to go wrong. He stubs his toe on one of the legs, jolting the whole table, and the cake self-destructs. The top tier - the red velvet - flops to the floor with a hearty ‘SHLAP’, buttercream splattering everywhere. The middle tier of blue proceeds to elegantly slip from the lemon layer to rest atop the red one, smearing buttercream down the side of the table.
And where did the buttercream from the red tiers fall go?
Why, only all over the sofa and those sitting on it.
Kaminari and Mina screech in equal amounts of delight and surprise, whilst Uraraka tries to hold back a laugh at the buttercream over her face like a lightning bolt, squeezing her eyes shut to keep it from getting in them.
Iida goes stock still, like he’s still processing what happened, whilst Sero and Todoroki both make tiny sounds of surprise. Yagi, on the other hand…
His shoulders shake. He hunches in on himself. And then, he joins Kaminari and Mina in their jubilant laughter. The joyful glee is catching, spreading all around the room except for Midoriya who clutches at his foot in embarrassment, Aizawa, who sighs with disappointment, and-
“DEKUUUUU!!!!!” Absolute silence. With a great feeling of dread, Midoriya looks up slowly. Somehow, defying the very laws of physics, the buttercream had managed to reach behind the sofa, catching onto one person standing there.
Bakugou’s palms spark, a glob of buttercream dripping from his fringe with comical timing. There’s a muffled ‘pfft!’. A snort. And then Kirishima laughs, clutching at his belly and leaning on the back of the sofa.
“I can’t believe it got you!!! Ahahaha! That’s great! It suits you, Blasty~!” Bakugou’s eyes slid over to Kirishima. His hand stops sparking and he wipes it down his own face, gathering up the buttercream. A handful of buttercream and funfetti sprinkles is shoved into Kirishima’s face, and then Bakugou’s laughing, followed by the rest of the class as Kirishima grins and tries to return the favour.
“Food fight!!!” No sooner has Kaminari shouted those words than Jirou grabs a chunk of cake from the floor and pushes it into his face from behind. Uraraka follows in her steps and kindly covers Iida in buttercream.
“U- Uraraka, this is most inappropriate! You shouldn’t-! Mhmfph!”
“Am I doing this right?” Todoroki looks to Uraraka for approval, hands still posed above Iida’s head where he’s just dropped a large chunk of crumbling cake. Uraraka can only laugh so hard she wheezes, nodding. Even Kouda looks like he’s trying not to laugh.
The common room, in such little time, has turned into a warzone. It’s every person for themselves, and cake and buttercream are going everywhere. Shouji has the advantage of multiple hands, so he’s probably ‘winning’, if there truly is a winner in these shenanigans.
Aizawa sighs and pinches the bridge of his nose, quickly stepping out of the way of some misdirected cake.
He can only watch as the room descends into chaos. A fun kind of chaos, but still chaos. His students are coated in buttercream, sprinkles, and cake crumbs. Their clothes are going to need excessive washing.
When buttercream literally hits the ceiling fan, that’s when he decides enough is enough.
“Stop right there. If you don’t all settle back down in exactly two minutes, I’ll start grounding you. As for you 4-” He points explicitly at Hizashi, Nemuri, Yagi, and Tsukauchi -
“You should know better.” The four adults in trouble glance at each other with great amusement, Hizashi grinning as he lets Tokoyami out of a headlock, having ruffled cake deep into his feathers, Nemuri’s cheeks puffed out and lips tightly pressed together as she tries to stop herself laughing, Aoyama on one side smearing cake into her cheek and Uraraka on the other getting cake put down the back of her shirt.
Yagi and Tsukauchi face off against each other, hands full of cake and smiling sheepishly at Aizawa before they look at each other and snicker in unison. It’s hard not to be in great spirits.
“Just- Just sit down. Problem child, why haven’t you moved?”
“I think I broke my toe…”
“... Always a bone. Always a bone!” Their teachers exasperation sparks a few snickers here and there, whilst Midoriya tries to somehow disappear into the floor. Aizawa glances around and makes sure everyone has sat back down, and Iida kindly sacrifices his place on the sofa so Tsukauchi can sit next to Yagi.
Or maybe he just doesn’t trust Uraraka whilst there’s still cake at her feet.
“Whilst we wait for Recovery Girl, you lawless sproglets may as well give All Might his birthday gifts.” The children disperse like wildfire to retrieve the presents they’ve placed around the room, a couple of them victims of the Great Cake War.
Tsukauchi was lucky enough to have left his in the kitchen, and Hagakure brings it to him since she remembered where it was.
“Ah, thank you.”
“No problem~! I hid mine in one of the cupboards too.” She leans in to stage whisper;
“We kinda expected something when Midoriya, Bakugou, and cake were all gonna be in the same room.”
“Hey! The fuck you talkin’ about?!” Hagakure doesn’t have to stand up for herself as Tsuyu clears her throat and gestures around the room at the mess.
“Self-explanatory, kero.”
“... Blame Deku. Actually, no! Blame Shitty Hair! He retaliated first!”
“Wha- Bakugou! You shoved it in my face!”
“You laughed at it landing on mine!” Aizawa can see them twitching hands towards the nearest clump of severely-thrown-about cake, and gives them a sharp glare.
“Touch that cake and I’ll remove your hands.” Both of them step back away from the cake clump, sticking their tongues out at each other. Nothing mean, just playful arguing.
“Technically.. Wouldn’t it have been Kaminari who started it? He was the one that announced ‘food fight’, after all.” Kaminari whips a betrayed look around to Ojiro, who scratches at his chin with thought.
“Dude, what did I ever do to deserve this?” Ojiro lifts his tail from around his waist to reveal a large bruise on the underside.
“You got a little too into it~.” Kaminari hurls himself into apologising all whilst Ojiro tries to reassure him that there’s no harm done. Yagi leans slightly against Tsukauchi as he watches them, with fond, fatherly eyes.
“Sometimes I wish I had the children’s energy.” Tsukauchi pokes his leg.
“I’m glad you don’t. Do you know how busy you kept me with all those incident forms? Imagine if you had the energy of a teenager.”
“You offered to do those~.”
“Only because they were required by law.”
“Oh? Well, my word is law here, and I request to know what’s in that little gift bag~.” Rolling his eyes with a soft smile of amusement, Tsukauchi passes the bag over like it’s natural. Yagi doesn’t notice him tense up, ready to flee from the sofa.
“I don’t think I recognise this bag… It smells rather nice too, and… Oh. Oh. You- NAOMASA.” With a laugh, Tsukauchi springs from the sofa, out of arms reach, but Yagi is already reaching into the bag of soap and throws scented petals at him.
“Remind you of something, dear friend~?”
“Get back here so these petals reach you!” Yagi’s face is flushed with a mixture of embarrassment and happiness. Cautiously, Yaoyorozu picks up one of the petals an sniffs it.
“Rose and violet with a hint of lavender? I don’t understand the strong reaction…” Tsukauchi partially hides himself behind Hizashi, the teacher rocking on his heels and not minding being used a shield against petals. Aizawa, much to the classes surprise, barks out a short, sharp laugh.
“From the trigger case, Tsukauchi?” The detective nods with a grin.
“If I had to walk around smelling like flowers, so do you, Toshinori~. I waited years for this moment, so you’re not going to disappoint me, are you?” Yagi’s eyebrow twitches, trying to decide between laughing and pretend-scowling. He settles on pointing instead.
“You’re too cheeky for your own good, Naomasa.”
“And you’re going to smell wonderful for the next, oh, I’d say there’s three weeks worth of soap in there?” Yagi sinks back into his seat, but he’s pleased. He’s content, he’s happy, and he couldn’t feel more loved in this moment.
He has his students with their catching enthusiasm, his colleagues and their great level of care, and his best friend - abound with mischief. It’s too good a birthday to not have these strong, positive emotions. His fingers wrap a little tighter around the gift bag, a sprig of lavender caught between two of them.
This little bag of soap symbolises so much. It’s a throwback all the way back to shortly after he’d met Tsukauchi, back to when they were just becoming friends. It stands as a reminder of how much they’ve been through together, how they’ve come out fighting and still smiling. Of the bonds Yagi has since forged, all the people important to him, all the lives he’s saved and has yet to mentor...
It stands for everything there is to live for.
“Thank you. It’s a wonderful birthday gift.” Yagi keeps the little bag close, even as he unwraps the presents from his students and other friends. There’s so much for him to treasure, so much love for him from everyone in the room, and he couldn’t be happier.
It’s the best birthday he’s ever had.