Chapter 4: Crashing Waves I

The cold and grey interrogation room was still as hazel eyes looked into emerald ones. May Parker stood by the doorway as Peter sat in his metal chair by the interrogation table.

"Hey, Pete…" The woman said softly, quickly moving to stand next to the boy and enveloping him in an embrace.

"Hi, May…" He said back, melting into the hug as he rested his head on the taller woman's shoulder.

He didn't know why but any anger he guessed May would have shown just wasn't there, she seemed more like a mother trying to comfort her son.

Peter guessed that was for the better, he had a long night.

"You alright?" She asked, running a hand through his hair in a soothing manner.

"Yeah, just tired. You're not mad?"

May pulled back and scoffed, an incredulous look behind her glasses.

"What? No! I know things have been… hard recently, without Ben around." Peter winced at the mention, May squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. "And harder on you since you got your quirk a couple months back, but I know that you did what you did because you meant well and wanted to do what you thought was right."

Hearing those words brought out emotions Peter didn't know he was feeling, it was a mixture of happiness, relief, sadness, and pure exhaustion. As he sunk into his aunt's shoulders and let his tears fall, she simply hugged him tighter.

"I can't blame you for being like him, Peter." She said quietly, Peter hugged her tighter.

"I-I miss him, may… I really miss him…" He choked out, continuing his quiet sobs.

"I know… Hey, let's go home, alright? You need rest." She told him, stroking his back as Peter pulled back and wiped the tears with his sleeves.

"Yeah, I'd like that…"

He was just so tired.

He just wanted to go to bed.

It's been such a long night.

...

The sounds of crushing metal, seagulls, and waves crashing onto the sandy shores filled the morning air, Peter wiped the sweat off his brow as he readjusted the scarf he wore.

The boy had come to the beach with black pants, the sneakers that let him use his quirk, black gloves May had made him, the same hoodie he wore as part of his vigilante costume over a long-sleeved black shirt, along with a red scarf.

A cool breeze flew through the beach, the boy shivering and rubbing his gloved hands together for warmth.

He hated the cold.

Picking up a small fridge, Peter used his strength to crush it into a compact cube, throwing it into a pile of random appliances that were also crushed.

Who knew community service would be so repetitive?

It was October 17th, two whole months since Peter's talk with Nezu, he had found himself with a lot more time in his hands since he had been switched to online school due to 'his past actions possibly hurting Aldera's reputation.'

Crazy how they didn't say that when that green-haired kid got bullied every day.

For the first few days, Peter had struggled to figure out exactly how he could get those 400 community service hours, so he, you know, didn't go to jail and all.

He had tried to sign up at places like random orphanages or homeless shelters, but the only ones near had apparently been shouted out by Best Jeanist, making them have so many volunteers they couldn't accept any more.

Which was so stupid, how could you have too many volunteers?

After he had done some digging and walking around, he had finally found a good place a week after his arrest.

Dagobah beach.

Musutafu's very own natural beauty turned dump.

Apparently, the sea currents had been leading thrown away trash onto the shore for the past couple of years, and it had gotten so bad by the time when people had started to notice that everyone just gave up on even trying to clean it up.

That's where Peter came in.

Aizawa had agreed to him getting the hours in by cleaning the beach and giving it back to the community, so that's what Peter has been doing for the last two months.

He's been going from left to right, crushing things like fridges, cars, washing machines, and anything in between, then carrying it all the way to the collection zone at the other end of the beach along with things like the trash he had bagged up.

By his count, he must be at around 360 hours since he's been doing this for six hours a day, every day for two months.

The sad thing was that he had just finished up 1/3 of the beach.

Eh, at least it gave him something to pass the time.

Weirdly enough, Peter had kind of begun to enjoy his time cleaning the beach up. It ended up giving him that feeling of being useful and helping out he had lost when his vigilante patrols went out the window.

By this time, Peter had kind of depended on that feeling to keep him going, it gave him a reason to keep going forward and keep doing what he did.

It was like a small high, you know? Just filled him with pride and accomplishment.

Peter ran a hand through his hair as he grabbed as many cubes he made into his arms and began making his way toward the collection zone, thanking his quirk for giving him a better sense of balance, so he didn't drop any of the things he was carrying.

As he walked, he let the sounds of the ocean soothe him slightly, being alone on a beach always let his thoughts run rampant, and the noise helped to keep him focused.

With a sigh, he let the trash fall out of his arms and into the five square foot outline that was the collection zone, he placed them into a semi-neat pile and began his journey back to the rest of the trash.

At least it gave him a bit of a workout.

The boy walked on the sands, hands in his pockets before he paused, the familiar light buzzing of his spider-sense in the back of his skull.

It was the type of buzzing that told him someone was near instead of alerting him to actual danger.

"Excuse me, young man?" A voice called; it sounded sure of itself and wise for some reason.

It was safe to say what he saw when he turned around didn't seem like it would have that type of voice.

A few feet away from him, standing in the sand, was a skeletal-looking man with shaggy blonde hair that had two bangs that hung over his forehead, an angular face, along with sunken blue eyes. He wore an All Might T-shirt with the word 'SMASH!' on it in bold letters along with cargo pants and a beige coat, they hung off of his body and were many sizes too big.

Even though he looked incredibly creepy, he gave a small and crooked smile that radiated comfort and warmth.

"Yeah? What's up?" Peter greeted back, giving a small smile.

"I tend to pass by this beach every now and then since I moved to the city a couple of months ago, and I couldn't help but notice someone has been cleaning it lately, was that you?"

"Yeah! I've been doing it for the past two months, I plan on having it all cleaned up in four months or so!" Peter responded, the man instantly lit up.

"Why, that is incredible! Truly a heroic thing to do, giving back to the community! Tell me, what is your name?" The man asked, giving a hearty chuckle.

"Peter Parker."

The skinny man smiled and nodded, his sunken eyes seeming to brighten up. "Toshinori Yagi, it's a pleasure to meet you, young Parker."

The two continued in light conversation, Peter actually enjoying Yagi's company more than he thought he would.

He just gave off some sort of All Might-like vibe, you know? Just kinda calmed you down even if you already were calm.

As they talked, Yagi decided to ask a question that seemed to have been on his mind since the start of their encounter.

"Young Parker, if I may, why are you cleaning this beach? It seems rather strange for someone as young as you to do something like this." Yagi asked, hands laced together as he sat next to Peter on the sands.

Internally, Peter had started to panic.

A part of him was reluctant to just give away the fact that he was a vigilante at one point, yet the other had a weird amount of trust in the man he had just met.

As if he already knew him.

Ultimately, that part of Peter won out.

"I, uh, got arrested on vigilantism two months ago, community service was part of the deal to keep me out of jail." Yagi wore a shocked expression, he seemed to want to say something, but Peter continued.

"You know a vigilante called 'Spider-Man'? Dude in a hoodie swinging around?" Peter asked, Yagi nodded and listened attentively. "Yeah, that's me. But don't get the idea I'm only cleaning this beach cause I'm being forced to or anything!" The boy laughed, Yagi adopted a thoughtful expression.

"Well, what is the real reason you are cleaning it?"

"After I got caught, my life lost that feeling of accomplishment and satisfaction when I helped someone, you know? It kinda kept me doing what I did, so I guess this is a way to get the feeling I'm being helpful back, even if I don't get to see the people I help."

The blonde thought about it for a moment before he chuckled and gave a soft smile, his mouth opened to speak but was cut off by his phone buzzing.

He pulled out the device and opened it up to see that he had received a message, as he started to get up to leave, Peter couldn't help but notice who had texted him.

Nezu.

That… didn't make sense.

"Uh, Yagi?"

"Yes, young Parker?"

"Sorry I looked at your phone and all, but how do you know Nezu?" He asked, he watched as Yagi froze on the spot.

"W-Well, he has offered me a job at UA, and we've been talking about the details. How do you know him?" Peter raised an eyebrow at how he changed the subject quickly.

"He was the one to offer to get the charges dropped after I was caught, Eraserhead brought me in, and he was there to talk to me. Told me I had to attend UA and do community service, so I didn't get convicted."

Yagi's eyes went wide. "He did? That's… quite strange of him."

"Yeah, I guess. What are you gonna teach?" Peter asked, also standing up from the sand and wiping it off of his palms.

The man froze once again as he began to enter a small panic before composing himself.

"H-Heroics. He wants me to teach 1st years, but it might have to wait until after next school year."

"Woah, really? That's super cool! I didn't know you were a hero, what's your hero name?"

Peter watched as he froze once again, this guy was acting kinda weird, wasn't he?

"Wait, are you an underground hero like Eraserhead? You don't have to tell me your name if you are, they like secrecy and all." Peter added, Yagi seemed to visibly calm down.

"Y-Yes! I am an underground hero! I am sorry, young Parker, but I must be going now. I look forward to seeing you clean this beach."

With that, the man gave a small smile and a wave before walking away. Peter simply watched him leave as he tried to answer his own questions in his mind.

That was weird.

Also, why did he seem… familiar?

Maybe he saw him on TV or something.