Love Deeper than the Ocean | IzuOcha Mermaid AU

Chapter 6 | Talking Through a Shell

Izuku's Pov.

  His conch started to glow and he knew what was happening. Ochaco had finally decided to talk to him.

  "How's your search?" she asked him. It had been a few days since he started looking for the ingredients (although, he probably would've gotten this done faster if he hadn't watched and met Ochaco). 

  "It's going pretty well," he told her. "I still need to find a few more ingredients."

  "Wow, this is pretty loud..." she noticed. "I'll have to make sure my friends don't see me talking to a shell."

  "They can't hear me through your side," he swam around until he found something he was looking for. He harvested more seaweed and put it in a bag. "But they can still hear your voice."

  "That's amazing!" she exclaimed. "Oh, right... I have to stay quiet."

  He chuckled. She was so oblivious to how conches worked. It was adorable. No! She wasn't adorable! She was... Just unaware of how they worked.

  "Will they see the glow too?" she asked.

  "No," he answered. "I gave this to you and it's still in your possession, so no one can hear me or see it glow."

  He left to put all the gathered material back in his house.

  That was when he bumped into Kacchan.

  "Stupid Deku! Watch where you're going!" he shouted in Izuku's face. "Do I have to teach you a lesson again!?"

  "Izuku!? Who was that!? Are you okay!?" Ochaco asked, seeming concerned. He was lucky that Kacchan couldn't hear any of this...  

  "N-No Kacchan, it won't happen again I promise!" he vowed. He flinched back when his gaze met his former friend's. 

  "Tch, whatever," Kacchan bumped his shoulder hard as he swam past.

  He picked up the seaweed he dropped.

  "I feel like I've heard that voice before," Ochaco realized.

  "That's not possible..." he muttered into the conch.

  "Maybe I'm mistaken... But I think I bumped into him the other day," she went on. "Describe what he looks like."

  Izuku swam farther from the scene so that Kacchan couldn't hear him. 

  "Spiky blonde hair and red eyes. Orange tail. He's pretty intimidating," Izuku described. "But it's impossible that you saw him. You've never come down here."

  "No... I think I did see him..." she started. "Except he had human legs last time I ran into him."

  "Wait... Then he might know a way for me to explore your world!" Izuku felt a grin spread across his face. 

  "Maybe!" she replied, getting excited.

  "But for now... I have to find the rest of the ingredients to get you here. I can go on land later," he told her.

  "Of course!" she exclaimed. "I can leave now if I'm distracting you."

  "If it's alright... I want you to talk to me still... If you're not busy that it," he blush spread across his cheeks. 

  "Sure I can still talk to you," Ochaco assured him. "I'd love to."

  He felt his heart skip a beat. 

  "Thank you," he was glad he didn't have to be completely lonely. He actually had another friend but he didn't get to see him much. Shoto was the prince of this kingdom. Izuku was just a commoner. They were never able to find matching conches to talk through...

Ochaco's Pov.

  She was happy that Izuku wanted to talk to her. It had been about an hour since they started talking at this point. It felt like they were calling on a cellphone. 

  Ochaco had turned her conch into a necklace. It was inspired by Izuku's necklace to math it and it was similar to Momo's. If anyone ever asked her what it was, she could say she wanted to match her friend and not a siren. 

  "So why did that siren call you "Deku"?" she wondered. It was odd. 

  "It's kind of his nickname for me..." Izuku responded, "It means 'useless'..."

  "Really? I never would've expected that," she didn't say this in a sarcastic tone, "I thought it sounded like the word for 'You can do it!'."

  "No, but I think you just see me in a different light," Izuku told her, "You think I'm the standard siren, while in reality, I'm an outcast because of my awful voice."

  "I bet that's not true," Ochaco felt bad for him. She didn't realize he felt that way about himself.

 "Do you think that you would still fall into a trance if I sang to you through the conch?" was he really going to sing for her?! Wait a minute, did he say trance? So was it true that she might fall under a spell?

  "No," she told him. "Would you sing something for me?"

  She honestly didn't care. This was Izuku she was talking to. He wouldn't drown her. 

  "Not right now... There are a few sirens around," he replied. "But maybe later..."

  "Yay!" she cheered. Ochaco wondered what he would sound like singing. 

  "By the way, I'm almost done finding everything now. Maybe we could meet up so I could give you the solution?" he wondered. 

  "It's pretty late... I can take tomorrow off, but tonight we should probably sleep so that we're not in complete darkness," she reasoned. 

  "Sounds good! I'll let you sleep now," he allowed her. "Good night Ochaco."

  "Good night Izuku," she smiled and the conch stopped glowing, fading back to its normal color. 

  "Hah! So his name is Izuku!" Mina burst her door open. 

  She bolted upright. How long had her friends been listening!?

  "Why were you listening to my conversation?" she asked, "And how long?"

  "Long enough to tell that you're either dating him or in love with him," Mina concluded. 

  "W-We're not dating!" she stuttered. Dating Izuku? What would that even be like? Also, how would that ever work? 

  "We're getting worried Ochaco," Tsu sat down on her bed, "You're usually gone any time we're not working."

  "Yeah... It's like you don't care for us anymore!" Toru chimed in. 

  "It's not a crime to fall in love with someone..." Ochaco mumbled loud enough for them to hear, "I bet you all have boyfriends already."

  "No!" Momo said louder than needed. Everyone else just said "no" normally. Although, Jiro was blushing. 

  "But I didn't realize that you guys felt that way... What about we have a girl's night?" Ochaco suggested, "Or at least watch a movie."

  After they all agreed on a movie, they watched it. 

  She was falling asleep fast though... 

  Ochaco yawned one more time. Her eyes got heavy and sleep was consuming her fast.

  Was Izuku still collecting materials for this potion thing? Or maybe he was sleeping by now? 

  Well, she would find out the next day either way. 

  Then the brunette fell asleep.