Love Deeper than the Ocean | IzuOcha Mermaid AU

Chapter 9 | Spying

Ochaco's Pov. 

  She got out of the water as quietly as possible. She didn't have any shoes on, so she didn't have to worry about the noise. 

  'Wait my clothes! He'll probably find my clothes up there in a heap...'

  Now wasn't the time. It was time to spy on him now. 

  She stepped as quietly as she could, trying to hide behind rocks so that she wasn't spotted. 

  "I'm glad you finally came," a feminine voice she recognized said. But who was it? Who was meeting Todoroki?

  "Sorry... It was hard to slip away from Father," Todoroki's voice was really... Monotone and kinda stony. Not that he was heartless, it was just that his voice was intimidating. 

  "It's okay! I'm just really happy to see you," the familiar voice sounded happy. 

  "Me too. I really did miss you," Ochaco saw who Todoroki was talking to and her eyes widened in shock. It felt like time froze. "Momo."

  She pushed herself even more against the rock hoping her friend didn't see her. 

  Ochaco stumbled backward, kicking a rock in the process. This was bad. Very, very bad. 

  Instead of running all the way around, she just ran to the water closest to her. 

  "Who was there!?" she heard her friend exclaimed. 

  "Whoever it was, I think they're heading to the water, I'll cut them off and do anything that's necessary to protect our secret," those words were poetic, but she didn't hear any more as she dove into the water. 

  She tried to swim in the direction of the rocks but didn't quite get there. 

  Todoroki swam in front of her, blocking her way. His glare was scary. It felt like daggers piercing her. She couldn't move, too frozen.

  "Don't you dare touch her!" Izuku went in between them. 

  "Midoriya?" Todoroki's eyes wandered to her crush- friend. 

  "I don't know who you were meeting, but if you want to touch Ochaco, you have to go through me first," she had never seen Izuku this determined or mad before. 

  "I won't hurt your mate if that's what she is to you, but if you're just protecting her, you know I'll have to kill her," Todoroki's voice was cold and telling the truth. 

  "Don't hurt Ochaco! She's my only friend besides you!" he pleaded. There he was. The Izuku she knew. She kinda liked him more this way even though she was flattered he was getting defensive for her. 

  "I get it," Todoroki's eyes softened. Only slightly though.

  "So... Mind to tell me why you're meeting one of my best friends?" she asked.

  "No," Todoroki told her. 

  She felt a little disappointed.

  "But I suppose you can join our conversation," he conceded.

  "Yay!" she smiled. 

  Todoroki lead the way up and she took Izuku's hand so that she could keep up. 

  "Momo, I caught the spies," Todoroki informed her. "This one claims to be your best friend."

  "Ochaco?! What are you doing here!?" Momo exclaimed.

  "Izuku wanted to stalk you," she pointed at him.

  "I just wanted to see what was going on!" he put his hands up defensively. 

Izuku's Pov. 

  "Izuku wanted to stalk you," Ochaco pointed at him.

  Great. He was meeting one of her friends and the first thing that she said about him was that he was stalking them. 

  "I just wanted to see what was going on!" he put his hands up.

  "Oh!" the girl Todoroki met seemed to recognize him. He was pretty sure her name was... Momo..? Maybe that was wrong. He was pretty sure Ochaco said her name a few times. "Ochaco mentioned you once. Mina commented on her bracelet, and then she told us 'my stalker gave it to me'. So you're Izuku who she was talking to probably through a conch shell and you're her stalker. Or probably used to be. She never mentioned that you were a siren though..."

  She basically hit the target on that one. 

  "Wait, you told them I was stalking you the first time you mentioned me?" Izuku turned to her. 

  "It slipped. I'm sorry," she told him. "But it's not a lie! You actually stalked me the whole time I was here!"

  He wanted to object, but it was the truth. He couldn't really say anything. 

  "So the reason your mother could never find you was because you were stalking someone," Todoroki stated. 

  "Yes..." he mumbled.

  Ochaco got out of the water. 

  "Momo, you have got to try a potion thing that Izuku made! I was breathing underwater! It was amazing!" she told her friend. 

  "Really?" she blinked in surprise and turned to him. 

  "Yeah... It was pretty gross though," he admitted. 

  "Gross how?" she wondered. 

  "Well it was made up of seaweed and then I had to spit in it... So yeah, kind of gross," he told her. 

  "Are you two dating?" she questioned.

  'I wish...'

  "N-No!" Ochaco stuttered, "Why would you think that?"

  "Because I don't see why either of you would go through that much trouble to breathe underwater," the raven-haired handed Ochaco a towel and told her. "I was going to go swimming, but I think it would be better if we just talked."

  "Is there another way?" Izuku questioned.

  "Yes, but I think the potion would be easier," Momo started. "The other way is to cut gills with a special knife and I don't think Ochaco doesn't want a knife to go near her throat unless she wants to walk around with cuts there for a few days."

  "No..." Ochaco shook her head. 

  "Okay, there is another way, but I can't see you using it because you're only friends," she went on.

  "Spit it out," Ochaco told her friend. 

  "The other way is to kiss your partner," Momo finished. 

  "Wait... Really? It's that simple?" Ochaco wondered. She was asking productive questioned while he was dying from the mountain of blush piled on top of him. He couldn't just kiss her! And it might be an indirect kiss anyway because she was drinking his spit, but- Wait a minute they had an indirect kiss!

  "No. You have to truly love your partner," Izuku noticed she smiled at Todoroki. 

  "So... Does that mean you and Todoroki are dating then?" Ochaco asked.

  "Yes, we are," she nodded, "Oh yeah. Another drawback to the kiss method is that it wears off after thirty minutes."

  "I think I should go now," Izuku told everyone. He wasn't helping the situation, but he wasn't making it worse either. "Mom's probably worried about me."

  "Only because you stalk me," Ochaco waved goodbye and he dove underwater.