Love Deeper than the Ocean | IzuOcha Mermaid AU

Chapter 12 | Park

Izuku's Pov.

  "So... Where are we going?" he wondered, almost tripping over a rock that was in his way. He was happy that Ochaco gave him 'shoes'. It saved his feet a lot of pain. But his ears... They almost couldn't take it! Why was it so much louder on land? And brighter?

  "We're going to the park. I think there are a lot of things I'll have to explain to you, but it isn't that crowded and you might like it," Ochaco told him. How did she make up her mind that quickly? He was wracking his brain to think of going to the kelp forest and she easily decided where to go first.

  "What are we walking on?" he whispered to her so that the other humans didn't hear. It was way more packed with humans than he realized! Why were there so many!? 

  "It's called the boardwalk and we're walking on wood," she murmured back. "It comes from trees. Anyway, the boardwalk is filled with shops where you can get food or go to an arcade."

  "What's a tree and what's an arcade?" he wondered, nearly tripping over his own foot. 

  "I'll explain once we get to a less crowded place," she told him. 

  She entwined her fingers with his and lead him along, making his face turn red. 

  "Ochaco!" a feminine voice called in the distance. 

  "Mina! Oh no! We need to run!" she started walking really fast to the point it didn't really feel like walking anymore. He assumed they were 'run-ing'? That should've been what it was because Ochaco said 'run'.

  Izuku was trying to keep up, but it was pretty hard to run! He barely learned to walk a few hours ago and now they were run-ing through a crowd!? What was up with that?

  He nearly fell at least ten times. 

  "I think we're safe here," Ochaco was panting and so was he. 

  "Who was that?" he wondered. 

  "It was Mina. She would've walked over to us if we didn't run," Ochaco explained. 

  Mina was someone Ochaco talked to often. Or at least, from what he could tell. 

  "Why is that a problem..?" Izuku questioned.

  "Because I'm a big shipper!" a girl hung down from a whatever you call it! 

  Izuku fell backward in surprise. That was really loud...

  "How did you even get here?" Ochaco asked her friend(?), "Y'know what? I'm not even going to question it..."

  "So is this your stalker Izuku?" she jumped down from the tree and pointed at him.

  "Why is that the first thing everyone says about me?" Izuku looked at Ochaco. 

  "I'm sorry! I told you that it slipped!" she apologized.

  "And you guys are dating, right?" Mina wanted to clarify. Although, she did have a mischievous grin. 

  "N-No! W-Why does everyone always ask that too?" Izuku felt heat rise to his cheeks. They definitely weren't each other's mates!

  "I-I don't know! All of my friends think we're together for some reason and I don't know why!" her voice seemed a little panicked. 

  "I don't know, you just seem like you're dating," Mina shrugged, "Also you have matching necklaces! It's adorable!"

  "This is why I was avoiding you..." Ochaco sighed, "Anyway, Izuku gave me the necklace."

  "I'll leave you guys so you can enjoy your date without me being directly next to you," Mina started walking away.

  "We're not on a date!" they shouted in unison. 

Ochaco's Pov. 

  Mina needed to stop doing that... Of course, Izuku made her heart race and her face turn red and she was always happy near him, but that didn't mean she had a crush on him! No... That was basically the definition of a crush...

  "So... Is this the park?" Izuku didn't get up from the ground. Well, he was probably exhausted from walking around so much... 

  And besides, going to the park was much better than staying at the boardwalk... She didn't know how Izuku would react to the fishing boats coming in.

  She looked into his eyes and realized they were narrow slits. At least, more than before. It was kind of like a cat's narrowed eyes. Since they were in the shade, they were starting to turn back to normal. 

  "Yeah!" she nodded.

  "And what is this..?" he stroked the green strands on the ground. They were soft to touch despite looking sharp and pointy. It seemed Izuku realized that almost immediately.

  "Grass. It's what I was telling you earlier," she explained, "And this is a tree."

  Ochaco pointed at the thing Mina hung down from moments ago. 

  "Wait... How did they make the wood we were walking from out of this tree?" Izuku questioned. 

  "Don't ask me," she shrugged, "I just know that they make wood out of trees."

  A dog was loose and was running toward them, barking. It was a little brown dog. Its fur was fluffy and curly with droopy ears. 

  "Ruff! Ruff!" it barked. Its tongue hung from its mouth and its tail wagged back and forth.

  "Agh!" Izuku jumped back, getting close to the tree until his back bumped it. His face was full of fear, "What the heck is that!?"

  "Sorry!" a man ran toward them a few moments later. "She escaped her leash..."

  "It's okay!" Ochaco smiled at him, "Can I pet her?"

  "Yeah, she's really friendly," he agreed. 

  She stroked the dog's soft fur. 

  "And now you're petting the dog too," she took Izuku's hand and placed it on the dog. He seemed to calm after realizing it was harmless. 

  The dog jumped up on top of him and started licking his face. 

  Izuku laughed. She was happy he was growing accustomed to her world. 

  Then the owner took the leash off the ground and left.

  "Payback!" she pointed at Izuku, "You made me pet a shark and so you had to pet a dog."

  "It was really soft," he smiled, "But also got this sticky liquid all over me..."

  He used the bottom of his shirt to wipe off the dog's slobber. 

  "Dogs can do that," she giggled. "Do you want to rest here or go somewhere else?"

  "Sure. At least, if you think that's best," Izuku gave her a smile. "I can't believe there are so many things on land I didn't know about..."

  "People know more about the ocean than you do about land because we've explored your world a lot more than you've explored ours," Ochaco explained, "I'm so glad you came here though..."

  "Me too," a wind passed them and he opened his eyes, "What was that?"

  "What do you mean?" she asked. 

  "The cold force that pushed from that way," he pointed to his left. "You might think I'm crazy, but I'm pretty sure it was invisible."

  "Do you mean the wind..?" she asked as a breeze drifted by them.

  "What's this right now? Is it wind?" Izuku seemed to be trying to get away from it.

  "Yeah, it's wind," she nodded her head. "It's not going to hurt you."

  "That's good..." he sighed, relaxing. "It's like a... Current kind of..?"

  There were a lot of things she would have to explain to him, but she would tell him everything he wanted to know and more.