Love Deeper than the Ocean | IzuOcha Mermaid AU

Chapter 7 | Forest

Ochaco's Pov.

  "This is it. Are you ready?" Izuku held a green liquid for her to drink. It looked pretty unappetizing... The green was a sickly shade and there were a few large bubbles sitting at the top.

  "Yeah... I know... It looks pretty gross," at least Izuku agreed with her. "I'll probably have to drink or eat some weird thing to get legs."

  "Will this give me a tail?" she asked, glancing at her legs while wiggling her toes before looking back at him. 

  "No," he shook his head. "It'll just let you breathe underwater. I'm pretty sure there are other benefits too... Is it true that humans' eyes sting if they open their eyes underwater?"

  "Because of the salt," she nodded and then uncapped the solution. With her eyes closed, she drank the solution in one shot.

  It tasted gross but not as bad as she thought.

  "What now?" she wondered. "Am I going to get gills?"

  "No, just breathing underwater," Izuku told her.

  Ochaco started stripping to her bikini and then slid into the sea. 

  'I hope this works...'

  She took a breath. Water rushed into her lungs, but surprisingly, she didn't drown. She was breathing water!

  "Can you hear me?" she asked Izuku. She was asking because the world around her seemed to be muted. 

  "Yeah!" he gave her a bright smile. This was so cool! So she could hear him(probably one of those extra benefits Izuku was talking about!)... That was good!

  "Where should we go first?" she questioned.

  "Take my hand so we can swim faster," he extended his hand and she took it. 

  Suddenly, they went forward really fast at a few flicks of his tail! It was amazing!

  They were out in the sand. There were a lot of rocks, but no coral.

  "I wish I could take you to the coral reef, but they would all see you're human," Izuku told her. 

  "That's okay, I'm just glad I can be here with you," she said.

  "Me too," he stopped and twirled her around. How was it so easy for him to move in the water? It was almost as if he were moving through air! 

  "Keep a lookout for other sirens though," he warned her. "They might try to kill you if they find out you're here."

  "Wait what!?" she exclaimed.

  "Just kidding. I think?" he rubbed the back of his head. That wasn't the answer she was hoping for...

  "I'll make sure no one sees me," she assured him, "Anyway, where do you think we can go without people- I mean sirens noticing us?"

  "I could try to sneak you to my house if you want to see it since it's nearby," Izuku started, "Our neighbors aren't far, but the rocks and seaweed surrounding our house should cover you... My mom's out right now, so I could give you a quick tour and then leave... But what if she gets back home early? Then..."

  He started muttering and rambling on. This was a habit that she noticed happened frequently.

  She took his hand to save time. He noticed immediately and stopped talking. She felt blush creep up her face. 

  "Izuku, I don't know your world very well," she reminded him. "So I'll follow you wherever you think is best. All you have to do is take me there."

  "I- Um- Yeah," he nodded. "You might like the kelp forest... It should be good so that no one sees us. I just hope I won't lose you in it."

Izuku's Pov. 

  Izuku still couldn't believe this! Ochaco was with him and they were actually exploring together! It was amazing! She was amazing for agreeing to this! Having her here made him so happy...

  They finally made it to the kelp forest. It looked like a wall of plants.

  She let go of his hand and swam in it. 

  Worried that she'd get lost, he followed her in. 

  "Ochaco?" he called when he couldn't see her. Was she gone already!? He needed to find her! What if something bad happened to her!?

  He glanced around, but there was no sign of her! How did he lose her that easily!? It really was a bad idea to take her here...

  "Boo!" a voice came from behind. They wrapped their arms around his neck. 

  "Agh!" he sounded. After noticing it was only Ochaco, he calmed, but then his heart rate spiked again when he realized she was hugging him. 

  "Did you think you lost me?" she giggled. "But wow! This place is so huge! It's like a maze!"

  She let him go.

  "Yeah," he nodded. He didn't completely know what 'maze' meant, but he wasn't going to ruin the moment for Ochaco.

  Izuku spotted her matching conch around her neck. It seemed she turned it into a necklace as he had. He smiled thinking about how she liked to keep it close to her. Did that mean she liked to keep him close?

  He felt his face heat up. 

  "Are you okay Izuku?" she asked.

  "Y-Yeah I'm fine," he stuttered.

  "Ooh! What's that?" she pointed at a fish swimming nearby.

  "That's a goby," he told her. She tried to swim toward it, but by the time she approached, the fish had swum away. 

  "Agh!" she yelped when a leopard shark swam close to her. 

  "Are you afraid of the leopard shark..?" he wondered. Were humans afraid of leopard sharks? Didn't they know that sharks in general were usually harmless? 

  "Yeah! It's a shark!" Ochaco gestured toward it. 

  Laughter escaped him when he couldn't keep it in any longer.

  "So if a seagull approached you would you be like 'Agh! A seagull! It's going to hurt me!'?" Izuku couldn't stop laughing.

  "No! Not at all! They're birds!" she crossed her arms indignantly.

  "Leopard sharks are bottom feeders. They eat crabs, octopus, and some other stuff," he explained. "They don't eat humans. Where did you get that idea in the first place? Don't you swim a lot anyway?"

  "Yeah, it's just that in my world, sharks are known as predators. They scare me a lot... I've heard stories about how people are attacked by them and I'm scared, okay?" she fidgeted uncomfortably and he decided what to do next. "Stop laughing at me!"

  "Come here," he took her hand and swam over to the shark, smothering a chuckle. 

  He placed her hand on top of it she flinched but came to realize it wasn't dangerous. 

  "Huh... It really isn't going to attack me," Ochaco looked at him. 

  "Yeah. But even if another shark came to attack you, I'd protect you," he told her.

  "Really?" she smiled. 

  "Really," Izuku replied.