Disclaimer: I own nothing My Hero Academia!

An Indomitable Will

"Strength does not come from physical capacity. It comes from indomitable will."
-Mahatma Gandhi

Part I: Taking Time

Eighteen years on thePolice Force, and he'd never once taken a day off. He'd never called in a sick day or even gone on a vacation beyond what his boss required for psychological breaks after a hard case.

Detective Tsukauchi was proud of that record. He worked hard, and as a result he, and those he'd partnered with, had saved many lives. Complete strangers had contacted him to thank him for his help. For the time and energy and perseverance that he put into his work. He'd always appreciated that, although that wasn't the reason he did it, of course.

Because of this, he didn't have much time for a social life. He had Makoto, when she wasn't off galavanting around the world. And he had Toshinori, as complicated and difficult as that man could be at times.

Tsukauchi rubbed his dark eyes and shifted uncomfortably in the hard chair, tuning out the quiet monotonous beep that regularly punctuated the silence of the room.

Eighteen years… He remembered how proudly he'd told that to Toshinori about a month ago on one of their "business lunches." Tsukauchi had been in town and had suggested Toshinori meet him for brunch on a quiet Sunday when he knew UA wasn't in session. As usual, Toshinori had pounced at the invitation, immediately recommending a small café that he apparently often frequented.

Toshinori had arrived in his weaker form, as he generally did when they met. Tall and skeletally thin, he always drew a few odd looks. Still regardless of his shape, the man somehow still seemed to radiate some sort of internal energy that carried over from his stronger hero form. Toshinori had slipped in, a bit late and frazzled as usual, apologizing profusely for his tardiness and toting along some extra goodies that he wanted to share, as he often did-this time UA promotional items instead of excess gifts from Might Tower.

Tsukauchi smiled at the memory. Honestly, he'd been a little surprised at how readily All Might had agreed to his impromptu brunch suggestion. He'd assumed that now that the older man was working at UA-socializing among his peers who must by now also know his secrets-that his need for Tsukauchi's company would fade. This was All Might after all. Did he actually need the random detective he'd befriended on accident now that UA filed all of his hero paperwork for him? Now that he was surrounded by people who were more like him?

Then again, Toshinori had also seemed inexplicably excited to see him after the USJ Incident. And that introduction to Midoriya… Treating Tsukauchi as though he were the important one in the room who for some reason deserved some sort of elaborate, albeit weird, introduction. It had been surreal…

"Tsukauchi Naomasa, my best friend on the Police Force. He's legit. I trust him."

Tsukauchi shook his head, a humorless smile playing at his lips. I'm your only friend on the Police Force, All Might. We don't generally become friends with the heroes. It makes professional lines get blurry. And honestly, you're one of the few heroes I know who seems to value the police beyond being some sort of clean-up crew…

He rubbed his tired eyes again. This room was too white, the electric lights so bright that they hurt his eyes. The quiet background beep was eating away at his frayed nerves. Irrationally he wished it would just stop.

Then his mind belatedly processed the implication of that wish and he was almost sick.

Detective Tsukauchi was not a superstitious person, but for one terrifying moment, he almost felt like his wish might have power. That the beeping might stop now that he'd willed it to do so-as though his desires were somehow what was powering it in the first place-and he instinctively dreaded the horrifying consequences of his one selfish thought.

This was what two days of crappy coffee and no sleep had done to him. He sipped the cold drink and made a face. It was pretty bad when it was hot. It was barely palatable cold. His already queasy stomach did a flip-flop.

His mind drifted back to that brunch with All Might at his little café.

"You've been a detective for fifteen years?" Toshinori had smiled, picking at the single meat bun in front of him-his entire meal. "Congratulations on the anniversary. You must have been pretty young when you were hired."

Tsukauchi had nodded. "Youngest in my class. I was hired into the Force straight out of high school. They thought I had potential and bumped me up to detective pretty quickly. I try not to let them down."

Toshinori had smiled that odd, toothy grin of his. "No worries about that. You're the real deal."

Tsukauchi had laughed, embarrassed. Even in his real form, All Might managed to have that larger-than-life quality to him, although part of that may simply have been because Tsukauchi knew who he was actually talking to, and he deeply respected the man. In fact-although he'd never admit it out loud-he was a pretty big fan of All Might, himself. Tsukauchi knew their friendship was really more of a business meets social awkwardness and boredom than anything else, but he still enjoyed the meetings. Neither of them, it turned out, had a lot of practice actually having casual conversations, so often their meetings wound up being jarring combinations of work talk intermixed with personal issues and occasional outbursts of frustration. This particular brunch had been a mixture of pretty much everything.

"I just do my job," Tsukauchi had commented, sipping his coffee.

"You do it well. I really appreciate that you're keeping me in the loop with your USJ investigations." He'd held up his hand before Tsukauchi had been able to protest. "I know you're supposed to work with local hero agencies and that isn't any special treatment. But I'm not local technically, even if I do work here. My agency is in Minato. By all rights, you don't have to tell me anything. We both know that. So, please let me thank you."

Tsukauchi had just laughed uncomfortably at the gratitude and quickly changed the subject. "So, my boss keeps telling me I should use some of my stored vacation time to celebrate my fifteen year anniversary. Go on a trip or something." He'd shaken his head at the ridiculousness of it all.

Toshinori somehow didn't recognize how wasteful the idea was, because immediately he'd burst out, "That's a great idea! Where were you thinking? I can recommend a few places near Kyoto if you're interested. I was there pretty recently and can get you a good rate." He took a thoughtful sip of his tea before adding, "Or if you want to travel internationally, I could touch base with an old college buddy of mine and see if he could pull some strings. I know there's some kind of I-Island Expo coming up if you can wait a bit. I could even take some time off and join you. Show you around. We could probably catch a baseball game…"

Tsukauchi had smiled at that. "Thanks for the offer. I appreciate it. But I'm not taking the time off."

"What? Why? It could be fun!"

To Tsukauchi's surprise, the lanky man had actually looked disappointed. So he gently added, "Well, first of all, I'm too busy. We still have this USJ situation to deal with. This mysterious League of Villains. Work comes first. You of all people know that, Toshinori."

Toshinori had gone quiet for a moment after that before stating gently in an oddly serious, almost fatherly voice. "Tsukauchi, don't use me as a model. You need rest or you'll wear yourself too thin and start making mistakes."

"What are you so worried will happen?"

"I'm concerned you'll turn out like me." The man's shadowed eyes were alarmingly serious. "Trust me. Take a break."

That I'll turn out like him? What's that supposed to mean? "I'll consider it," was all Tsukauchi would promise.

He hadn't actually considered taking a break, of course. Not seriously, anyway, until two days ago when All Might-the invincible Beacon of Hope-had won his last battle. What everyone saw televised had been the indomitable spirit of a man who couldn't be broken, even when his body had been worn down to nothing.

But the public hadn't seen what had happened as soon as the cameras had stopped rolling. Only a handful of bystanders and reporters, as well as several wounded heroes saw the aftermath when All Might's body finally gave out, and he'd collapsed to the rubble.

In fact, the only reason Tsukauchi even knew was because Gran Torino had contacted him. All Might had been rushed to the hospital. He'd wound up in the ICU in critical condition. Eight hours later, after he'd stabilized and had undergone emergency surgery, he'd been moved to a room that allowed limited visitors, but still hadn't woken up.

Tsukauchi had come to the hospital unable to just wait at home for news. He knew he wouldn't be allowed in to see him. To the detective's surprise, he was. Toshinori had apparently planned for the worst, and, since he had no actual family, had on file a short list of people to be contacted and allowed entry should something like this ever happen. Gran Torino was on that list. Inexplicably so was Detective Tsukauchi.

The steady beeping of the nearby heart monitor continued its endless staccato.

He forced himself to look at his best friend-My best friend in the hero agencies-lying still as death in the hospital bed. For once All Might's vibrant personality couldn't shine through the man's words and actions, blinding Tsukauchi to his physical health. Pale as the sheets he was on, his closed eyes seemed sunken in his painfully thin face, framed with a mass of blond hair. He was terribly frail and weak looking, bandaged and on oxygen, hooked up to an IV, a heart monitor, a catheter, feeding tubes, and who knew what else.

Eighteen Years… And it took this for me to take a couple of days off of work.

Author's Note: Thank you so much for reading. I appreciate it. Please drop a comment if you enjoyed the work! And if you didn't, please leave constructive criticism, so I can continue to improve my craft.

Also, just as a note, I took creative licence. I've not completed the anime, but am past this point. I've not gotten to this point in the manga yet, so things may be off. Also, I know we weren't told that All Might was in this bad of shape after fighting All for One in Kamino, but after seeing that fight and knowing what it did last time (and taking into consideration Toshinori's diminishing health), I felt this was reasonable. I guessed at Tsukauchi's time as a police officer/ detective. I also just decided that All Might was in the hospital for more than a day or two. I feel like less time might have been implied in the anime, I'm just taking some creative liberties. :)

Finally, thank you to lolo popoki for her beta work!

Sincerely,
Sirius:D