The Bond of Friendship... Forever.

"You! Yeah, the very blonde boy!" A young child of five or six runs away from his mother's grasp, her eyes rolling as she sits down on a nearby bench to supervise. "Your shirt, look! It's just like mine."

The enthusiastic child stretches out his shirt for the other kid to see, printed image of Japan's number one hero, Positive, posing in triumph. The blonde stops his absent swinging so he doesn't knock him over.

"I'm Naomasa Tsukauchi! You like heroes too?" He beams up at the mystery boy in anticipation.

"Oh, yes, I do... Yagi Toshinori." Yagi is older than this strange child that seemed to be fixated on him, being in his early teens. Didn't he have any friends his age to play with? Looking around the small neighborhood park, Yagi realizes that there are no other children around. He feels uneasy at the age difference, but it doesn't deter young Naomasa.

"Yagi-chan, are you going to be a hero when you grow up?" Yagi blinks. Chan? This kid was quite rude for being so friendly. The question soured his mood too, though it wasn't actually Naomasa's fault. It was an innocent question.

"I can't really... I'm what they call quirkless." His confession is hushed and practiced. Yagi lowers his eyes, preparing himself for sound of disgust, maybe even laughter. Who knows, kids could be cruel. What he got was silence, only the sound of the wind picking up around them. Glancing back to Naomasa, he only sees a determined smile dancing on his face.

"A policeman then! That's what I want to be." Did nothing faze him, even a painfully normal boy in an era where the odds of that was becoming less and less? "My mom says my quirk is useless for fighting. So I'll arrest the bad guys when the heroes catch them!" Naomasa punches the air for emphasis.

"What is your quirk?"

Naomasa's eyes twinkle at the chance to show it off. His own family had strict rules about him using his quirk in the house, annoyingly thorough on the boundaries of their privacy. Holding his hands out, he waited for Yagi to react.

"U-um..?" Running out of patience Naomasa takes the other boy's hands into his.

"Tell me something. A lie." The kid's smile is dazzling, and a quick peek to where his mother is sitting reveals she obviously knows what he's doing. Yagi can see her head shaking, shoulders giving him an exaggerated shrug.

"I-I-live in space?" He couldn't really think of anything when put on the spot like that, and Naomasa didn't specify it had to be a good one.

"Yup, you're lying." His head bobbed up and down in all seriousness, quite proud of his reveal. Yagi tried to hold back a laugh, but this kid was just so silly.

"That was pretty obvious." His chest shook and he winded himself. It had been a long time since he laughed like this. It was nice to have someone's kindness, even if it came from a very strange child.

"You should probably find your friends." Naomasa stared, his constant smile finally fading for a moment.

"Are you going to play with your own friends now?"

"Y-yeah, something like that." Most people were polite, but Yagi didn't have anyone who wanted to be seen around with someone who was quirkless. Naomasa frowned, his hands squeezing around Yagi's, who had already forgotten the boy was still holding them.

"You're lying." The older boy jumped in surprise at how sure Naomasa was. So his lie detection quirk was real after all. "If you don't have any... would you like to be my friend?"

His fingers trembled when he asked the question, almost as if he was afraid Yagi would reject him.

"I would love to be your friend."

~.~

Toshinori woke up from his nap on the couch, having fallen asleep at Tsukauchi's place. His neighbors made too much food again, giving it to the detective who never had the time to cook for himself. It happened far too often to be accidental, the young woman next door making it a habit to look quite nice when she brought over multiple plates of 'extras'.

Of course, Tsukauchi never paid this detail any mind. Honestly, he was quite dense when it came to romance, and so each time he invited Toshinori over to help eat the overly large portions.

Still focused on his dream of the past, he chuckled at the fond memory. It was really too bad they never met again after that day.

"Toshinori? I set the table." Tsukauchi's head pops out of the kitchen. He always insisted on eating at the tiny table wedged in the only free corner. Everything would start to pile up if he slacked, or at least that's what his friend told him when Toshinori asked one day.

The tall man pushed himself from the couch and followed, inhaling the scent of stir-fried vegetables and meat piled on top of freshly made rice. Tonight's dinner looked amazing. Toshinori sat down with a smile, still thinking about tiny Naomasa.

"Tsu, do you remember when we first met?" Tsukauchi tilts his head in thought, hand frozen in midair where he stopped mid-bite. Toshinori chuckles at the sight.

"You're talking about when I graduated from the police academy, right?" All Might had shown up to the ceremony to congratulate all the new officers, shaking all their hands and welcoming them to their noble profession.

Toshinori recognized him right away as the same Naomasa, the smile on his face hadn't changed at all. The fact he followed his dream so successfully made him happy. But of course, Naomasa wouldn't know that the quirkless teen he befriended was now the number one hero All Might. Some careful questioning later would reveal that Tsukauchi hardly remembered the day in question at all.

"Why do you ask?" He took a bite and waited patiently for an answer.

"Hm... I was just thinking you haven't aged at all. Your smile could be dated back to your childhood." Tsukauchi choked, cheeks dusting a light pink.

"You're teasing me too much." It was probably a good thing Tsu was so oblivious. Despite his modest looks, he had quite a few admirers and Toshinori was a bit too selfish to share his best friend's shy side. The comment still brought a smile to his face, one that Toshinori would always cherish.

"Sorry, my friend. It was too easy."

I am head over heels in love with Naomasa Tsukauchi's character.
I don't know why, or when exactly it hit me. But he's cute and I desperately need more content.
Hopefully more people can come to like him!