a/n: So, I'm going to upload this story on wattpad and ao3 on tuesday, and I'm using this site as a test run for the story. I'm still gonna upload on here as well, but I just couldn't wait until tuesday XD

Come and talk to me on discord!

discord. gg/ EBMwQQ38gJ

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"Oi Toga! How's the situation with your shore girl?"

It was a particularly sweltering day, even though the autumn season was just beginning. This meant that the crew of the _ was doing absolutely nothing productive (although it should be noted that they didn't do much on a normal day anyway). Himiko Toga, the girl in question, was floating idly in the ocean with two other crewmates - Magne and Spinner - in order to stay cool. Excessive heat wasn't good for a Selkie's skin, you see. Spinner was a dragon, not a selkie, but he enjoyed swimming just as much as the two selkies in the water. The one selkie that was absent from the water was Tomura Shigaraki, but neither Himiko or Magne were going to pester him about self care. Jin, the crew's resident ghost, was doing his best impression of what could be considered swimming, which was more him floating in circles in the air in order to entertain himself.

The rest of the crew had wedged themselves into the small dilapidated boat with Shigaraki. It was easier to speak to someone in the water from the boat as opposed to from the deck of the ship. The boat was used to row themselves ashore when they needed to, as they would get stuck in the sand if they tried to get that close to shore with their ship.

Himiko raised her head to look at Compress - the resident musician and entertainer - who had asked the question, when Jin (or Twice, as they sometimes jokingly called him) spoke from above her:

"Yeah, how is your shore girl - " he stopped abruptly and turned his head to the side. "- not that we care."

The sudden self-contradiction didn't phase any of them. Jin had lived his life as a hypocrite, and was thus forced to contradict everything he said in the afterlife, which was what had earned him the moniker Twice.

At this point in their friendship, Himiko mostly tuned out the second half of what he said. He never meant it, anyway.

The blonde girl pouted theatrically at Compress.

"Why don't you ever call me by my first name, Atsuhiro? We've been friends for so long now, afterall!"

The use of his own first name didn't particularly surprise Compress, though the rest of them tended to call him by his nickname most of the time.

"Just answer the question, Himiko, we're all dying to know," Shigaraki said from his spot on one of the boat's benches. His voice was laced with sarcasm, but no one in the crew bought his careless demeanor for a second. They all knew he was just as intrigued as everyone else.

It was the only topic that Himiko had talked about for weeks, afterall. The girl grinned wide, showing off her sharp teeth.

"If you must know - " Himiko paused for dramatic effect. It wasn't any fun to just give them what they wanted right off the bat, and she was quite enjoying drawing out the suspense.

"Himiko, I swear to whatever forces there may be in the universe if you don't just spill what you clearly want to tell us anyway, I will proceed to tie weights around my ankles and step off of this boat." Dabi's tricorn hat fell off of his head as he sat up from where he had been laying in the bottom of said boat.

"No need to be so dramatic!" She paused again, and had to hold off her laughter as Dabi raised an eyebrow at her. "Fine, fine. It's going really well! When I gave her the first present, she smiled and laughed, so I think that she enjoyed it!"

"What did you get her? She probably doesn't deserve anything!"

"Oh I'm sure it was a very thoughtful gift!"

"Maybe it was a gorgeous shell! Oh I just know I would positively swoon if someone gifted me a pretty seashell!"

"Magne, we literally live on the ocean. You, personally, can dive to the ocean floor anytime that you want. Why would a shell be a considerably thoughtful gift when you have access to them at all times?

"That's not the point, Shigaraki, and you know it!"

"Wha - "

"A fish. I got her a dead fish!"

Shigaraki and Magne, along with the rest of the crew, stopped abruptly. It was almost comical, how shocked their faces were.

"A - fish?"

Dabi was sitting up fully now, and he had his arms slung over the side of the boat. His expression was a mix of confusion and amusement.

"A-and you said that she laughed? At the fish?" Himiko nodded at the question. Compress wiped a hand down his face in order to gather his thoughts. "Where exactly did you leave this fish for her?"

Himiko decided that she was done with swimming for now. She clutched her selkie skin - a cape that came down to her hips and was made of a water repellent, leather-esque material - around her as she climbed into the boat with the other four crew members.

"Oh, I left it on her windowsill while she slept. You wouldn't believe how difficult it was to open her shutters. I had to break the lock to even get inside!"

"You fucking - what?" Dabi said, breaking out into hysterical laughter that nearly sent him toppling over into the water.

Shigaraki, too, broke out in shocked laughter along with Jin. The rest of the crew just watched on in stunned silence.

"Didn't you hear me? I said I - "

"Yes, yes, Himiko, we heard you."

At this point Dabi's laughter could be described as more of a wheezing cough than anything else.

"That's - oh god give me a minute - " everyone waited while Dabi caught his breath enough to speak. "That's certainly one way to embrace the pirate spirit," the sarcasm was evident in his voice. "breaking and entering and whatnot, but you know that girls don't normally like waking up to find their locks broken and a dead fish on their windowsill, right?"

Himiko frowned. Her shore girl must have loved it! She laughed, afterall, and she didn't even bother to replace her window lock! How could she have hated Himiko's gift?

"And just what would you know about what girls like?" Shigaraki asked.

"I had a sister at one point, Crusty, I have at least a little bit of a clue. Besides, if I was in Himiko's girl's position, I think that even I would at least be a tad concerned as to how my window lock got broken."

Himiko remembered something.

"You're wrong Dabi! She must like my gift because she always takes it, and I see her cooking it with her friends," Himiko assumed that the two green haired people her shore girl spent time with must be her friends.

"That doesn't mean that she likes finding your dead fish in her window. Maybe she's just a 'waste not want not' kinda gal?" Spinner piped up from the water.

"But - but I've been doing this for weeks!"

Dabi sighed.

"Listen, kid," He moved to sit beside her. "Most girls - not all, but most - like pretty, thoughtful gifts. The fish, although there's many things wrong with the fish situation, are not personal enough gifts. You want to get her something that she won't share with her friends. Something, uh, sparkly I guess?"

"Magne mentioned something about shells earlier! What about that?!"

Himiko's pout deepened. "But shells wash up on the beach all the time! It isn't special enough"

"Dead fish wash up on shore all the time, too, and yet that's what you went with the first time."

Her pout turned into a scowl. "The fish on the beach are all rotten and gross, Shigaraki. The ones I got her were freshly killed." She crossed her arms.

"We're getting off topic! What about - "

Magne cut off whatever Dabi was about to say with her own interjection.

"Everyone shut up and listen to me, I have the perfect idea. Himiko, dear, come with me."