Work Text:
Izuku has always loved the beach.
The feel of the hot sand between his toes, the rush and crash of the waves, the breeze caressing his freckled cheeks. Some of his fondest memories, most even, are of the beach.
Which is why when he’d stumbled upon the absolute wreck of a beach that was Dagobah it was a sight he simply couldn’t ignore.
It is an unpalatable mess, something that sorely needs worked on. The trash heaped everywhere, slowly eroding away into the ocean…it has to be fixed. There isn’t anything for a beachgoer to enjoy, and the trash has to be damaging the local fish population.
It is likely why the local mermaid population has been so nonexistent as well, the pollution has to seem obscene to them.
Izuku will change that.
Even if it is only him, and it takes half his life or more, he will make it better for everyone. It is what heroes do after all.
Making a plan with his Mom, he gets started on his work. Izuku has no idea how much his life is going to change from this one ripple.
Time passes slowly, like watching sand in an hourglass. If Izuku were to try and measure his progress day by day it would seem like he’s barely doing anything at all.
So he stops measuring.
He focuses on the area right in front of him and tries not to let it get to his head as the clean spot slowly starts to spread outward.
He doesn’t want to get disheartened by trying to accomplish too much too fast and predictably failing miserably as a result. He's simply taking it one day, one step at a time.
In any case, it seems a far more accurate metric to judge his progress by how many times a day he’d overworked himself to puking. The dwindling number as the days go by is a far more pleasant benchmark to work towards.
Izuku dumps the last couple trash bags of the day into the dumpster and stretches.
Man it feels good to really be doing something.
He turns towards the horizon, watching with misty eyes as the setting sun paints the sky as well as the visible bits of water below. He’s done a lot but he still has a long way to go.
He turns to leave, already dreaming of his shower awaiting him when a sound suddenly reaches his ears.
It’s… it sounds like a song of some kind though Izuku can’t make out any lyrics. It’s beautiful though and Izuku stands there for a little bit longer simply listening and enjoying and at some point even humming along.
He sighs in disappointment when it ends, but figures whoever was singing got tired or needed to go home much like Izuku himself does. His mom will worry if he is out any later, and he hates to cause her any stress.
With one last lingering look at the ocean before him, he turns and begins the trek back home.
Perhaps the singer will be there again in the future when he’s working.
For the next couple days the singing accompanies his work and though Izuku doesn’t really stop to listen much considering his already tight, if self imposed schedule he does find himself enjoying it.
Maybe he should invest in earphones or something, music is truly adding to the ambience and enjoyment of the task at hand. For now though he is content with what he has.
On the fourth day it suddenly occurs to him that it’s actually kind of weird. Singing that only starts when Izuku arrives and keeps going without pause for as long as he’s there? If it truly is someone trying to cheer him on, why haven’t they approached in person yet? And if it isn't about Izuku cleaning the beach at all, then surely that makes it even stranger.
Who would choose this specific trash covered beach (cleaner by the day that it is getting) and these specific hours to simply sit somewhere Izuku can’t see and sing?
Izuku’s curiosity finally gets the best of him, the mystery itching at him in a way he suddenly can’t ignore.
Abandoning the cleaning for now, he sets out towards the voice to finally investigate once and for all.
The singing gets steadily more enthusiastic as he draws nearer to it. Oddly enough his path is taking him to the run down dock in an area he hasn’t gotten to cleaning yet. No one is visibly present, yet the song swells with enthusiasm as Izuku starts to near.
Who is singing?
Izuku wonders if it could be a quirk, or some sort of musical box someone left. But that wouldn’t make sense for the fact the pitch and everything is changing, and it only starts after he arrives. Whoever the singer is though, they are either invisible or not on the dock at all.
It creaks ominously as he walks out onto it, the shifting movement taking a moment to adjust to. Picking his way around the detritus abandoned on the dock he makes his way to the end towards where the song is coming from.
His first impression is purple. Such a pretty shade. His brain short circuits after a moment when he realizes exactly what he is looking at.
Siren.
Izuku just stares blankly as the siren continues singing.
It looks over its shoulder at him and smirks, one hand slowly lifting out of the water and reaching for Izuku with glistening webbed fingers.
Izuku’s brow furrows in confusion. Does it want Izuku to give it something?
Oh. Maybe this is its home and Izuku needs to pay tribute for all the songs?
He pays quickly at himself, at last locating something in his pants pocket.
“Here you go,” he grins, dropping the pen into the siren's open palm.
Now it’s the siren’s turn to furrow its brow in confusion.
They stare at the pen, then up at him once more with the purplest eyes Izuku has ever seen. The frown deepens as they open their mouth and begin to sing more insistently. It is pretty and all, but maybe the pen wasn’t enough.
“Do you need more? I don’t have much with me but I could bring something else tomorrow to give you as tribute for using your space and hearing your lovely songs,” he tells the siren seriously.
The song cuts off abruptly once more as the siren stares at him in what appears to be bafflement. They frown down at the pen they are holding once more before turning an accusing gaze back up at him.
“You’re serious?” they say, voice still melodic and lovely even when simply speaking.
“...yes? I’ve been really enjoying the songs but I don’t know the customs for how to pay you back for singing for me.”
“...”
“Is that wrong? Is there something you’d prefer? I could bring food if you told me what you’d like. I’ve seen reef mermaids from a distance but I’ve never met anyone so I don’t really know much, and I’ve never seen or met a siren before…” Izuku cuts off his rambling before it can really get going.
“Obviously,” the siren says dryly.
“My name is Izuku.”
“...Hitoshi. I am called Hitoshi.”
Izuku beams. “It’s so nice to finally meet you!”
Hitoshi doesn’t respond to that, merely leaping backwards off the dock and vanishing beneath the waves but Izuku knows the siren agrees.
After all, Hitoshi had taken Izuku’s pen with him.
It becomes something of a staple as time goes by.
Izuku cleans the beach.
Hitoshi sings, getting louder and more insistent the longer Izuku continues ignoring him.
Izuku will finally break for food, walking up to the dock and placing his daily offering in Hitoshi’s outstretched hand.
The siren always shoots him a displeased look but never returns the tribute, something Izuku always counts as a win.
Today Hitoshi is sat up on the dock, their long siren tail flicking lazily in the water. Izuku plops himself down beside them, sitting crisscrossed on the dock because as much as he’d love to kick his feet in the ocean, Dagobah still has a long way to go till he’d willingly go in there.
Hitoshi sings as usual, though it seems almost lackluster and disinterested today. Izuku opens his bento, separates his chopsticks and carefully drops a single piece of sushi into Hitoshi’s hand.
The siren flinches, reflexively flinging the sushi away where a more adventurous mermaid catches and eats it.
“The fuck was that?” Hitoshi snarls, their lip curling from their mouth to reveal sharp almost sharklike teeth.
Izuku blinks. “Sushi,” he says, gazing forlorn at the first ever tribute Hitoshi had thrown away. “It was sushi.”
He gasps suddenly, looking up at Hitoshi with eyes wide with horror. “Oh no! Do you not eat fish!?”
Hitoshi stares at him blankly. “…among other things…”
Izuku waits for him to continue and eventually Hitoshi does.
“It was… slimier than I was expecting.”
Huh. That… makes sense. It’s not exactly the elaboration Izuku was hoping for but he’ll take it.
“So uh… you want another one?”
Hitoshi gapes at him but Izuku is undeterred. He snags another piece with his chopsticks and since Hitoshi said it was slimy he opts to offer it directly to the siren’s mouth.
The look Hitoshi gives him is so affronted Izuku almost laughs, before they hiss and launch off the dock back into the water.
Izuku valiantly holds in the giggles for several minutes, but is overtaken by laughter. He’s sure Hitoshi would be horribly offended by the comparison, but they had looked so much like a disgruntled cat in that moment.
He hopes they aren’t so offended they don’t come back, but he leaves the beach that day plotting to figure out a treat the siren would actually like.
A little bit of research might help in that regard…
“...you want to eat me don’t you? Not the fish.” Izuku sits cross legged on the dock admiring the siren where they sit with their tail draped across the dock, dangling end off the far side.
“Finally looked up the habits of sirens, did you?” Hitoshi looks like they can’t decide whether they expect Izuku to run screaming or not.
Silly siren, Izuku wouldn’t be sitting here if he was afraid. They are friends now, right?
“It’s because my hair looks like seaweed isn’t it?”
Hitoshi falls off the dock.
Izuku yelps and leaps forward but doesn’t even get close before Hitoshi is back, glaring up at him harshly.
The silence stretches as Izuku sits frozen, hand still partly outstretched towards his freshly wet friend.
“Are you… okay?” he asks.
Hitoshi hisses and then immediately starts singing, the voice and melody as beautiful as before, if with a faster tempo than usual, almost like Hitoshi is trying to rush through it.
Izuku simply beams at them, glad that he’s been so easily forgiven, as he closes her eyes and hums along.
Hitoshi falls off the dock again.
Thai time Izuku makes it to the edge and can peer down at the waters as they slowly come back up.
“Y-You!” Hitoshi splutters, slapping at the water so that it surges up and drenches Izuku from head to toe. “You shouldn’t be able to hear that!”
“Ummm… sorry?”
Hitoshi scoffs and glares. “You’re not attracted to me at all are you?”
“Wh-Wha—?” Izuku flinches back, already flushing brightly. “I mean— I don’t really— do that?” he finishes lamely.
Hitoshi rolls their eyes. “Yeah I got that.”
They turn to swim away and Izuku quickly yelps out a semi desperate, “wait!”
Hitoshi stills but doesn’t turn.
“Does this mean you don’t want your tribute today? I brought tuna!”
Hitoshi sighs, a full body, deeply felt sigh, and slowly they return to the dock.
Izuku grins in relief, waiting for them to climb back up before offering the tuna with a flourish.
Hitoshi continues to glare, but they do accept the offering and Izuku counts it as a win.