Love Deeper than the Ocean | IzuOcha Mermaid AU

Chapter 14 | Ochaco's Friends

Izuku's Pov.

  Here he was.

  Sitting in a room.

  Full of girls.

  He was freaking out.

  "Izuku, are you okay?" Ochaco asked.

  "Y-Yeah, I'm fine," he nodded his head, feeling pressured under the stares of Ochaco's friends. Not all of them were bad though! Most of them were curious besides Momo, who already knew him. Mina and Toru's eyes sparkled with curiosity and mischief while Jiro stared at him with cold eyes. At least Momo and Ochaco were definitely on his side. 

  "So Midoriya," Jiro started, "You were stalking my friend. For how long?"

  He didn't want to answer that... Of course... He had been watching her pretty much since he got here... But if he even said that would she get defensive and tell Ochaco not to come near him? What if he never saw her again? He would never tell her how he has feelings for her... 

  And plus... They were all humans and only two of them knew his secret! What if they found out somehow? What if the spell backfired and they watched him grow a tail right then and there!?

  "Jiro, stop making our guest feel unwelcome," it seemed Momo was pretending she didn't know him well in case things backfired on her she would be able to slip out of the situation. But maybe that was best. "Izuku is a pleasant person. I already met him and I can tell he's trustworthy."

  "You're sure about that Momo?" Jiro threw a suspicious glance at the raven-haired girl.

  "Yes," she nodded.

  "I also talked to him a bit," Mina remembered, "Izuku's really jumpy. Anyway, I didn't talk to them for too long because I didn't want to interrupt their date."

  "We weren't on a date!" they shouted in unison. 

  "But really... You left us to meet someone who stalked you?" Jiro went on. "Is he pressuring you or something?"

  "No!" Ochaco shook her head. "I truly like to talk and hang out with him."

  He felt his face heat up at her words. It made him feel warm and fuzzy as well as flustered. He was glad to hear that.

  "I guess I can't argue with that..." Jiro sighed, but then turned to glare at him. "But if you ever do anything to hurt her, I'll drag you out to the ocean and drown you myself."

  He wanted to say that she couldn't do that because of the whole being a siren thing, but kept quiet and nodded.

  "I-I'm s-so happy t-to meet y-you all!" he realized how shaky he was. His voice was trembling and so was his body. Maybe he was more nervous than he thought...

  "Nice to meet you too!" Mina clapped her hands together, scaring the life out of him. 

  "I'm always happy to meet new people and make new friends!" Toru smiled at him. 

  "My name is Tsuyu Asui, but call me Tsu," the girl with the green hair properly introduced herself. 

  "You can call me Jiro..." the short-haired girl grumbled. 

Ochaco's Pov.

  'He's been trembling ever since we got here...'

  Izuku was still shaking a lot. She felt bad for dragging him into this... Maybe she could've cut their time together short instead...

  After they introduced each other, she realized that Izuku had a family to get home to! Even if he was only starting to get calm, he probably needed to go back to his house!

  "Maybe it's time for Izuku to go back to his house," Ochaco stared into Izuku's eyes knowingly. "It's getting late."

  "We can have a sleepover! All he needs to do is call his parents-"

  She noticed Izuku stiffen at the word "parents" but he still cut Mina off.

  "No, Ochaco's right. I need to get back," Izuku told them. "It was nice meeting you all."

  "I'll walk with you," Ochaco volunteered. It wasn't safe for him to be by himself. Especially at night.

  He nodded and they left shortly after. 

  "So what did you think of my friends?" Ochaco wondered as she shut the door behind her. They continued walking.

  "They're... Interesting," Izuku said after a moment. "Mina and Toru seem energetic. Tsu is calm. Jiro is... Protective of her friends... And kind of scary..."

  "Hehe... Sorry about that," Ochaco rubbed the back of her head. "Jiro just wants the best for us. That's all."

  "I understand. Especially after you blurted out that I was a stalker," Izuku commented.

  "I told you that slipped..." Ochaco trailed off. "I'm sorry."

  "It's okay. I mean... It wasn't a lie," Izuku tried to cheer her up. 

  There weren't any lights near the rocks, and it was extremely dark. She was nervous she was going to trip and crack her head open...

  "Ochaco look out!" Izuku put his hands on the sides of her shoulders, stopping her from walking.

  She felt her cheeks heat up at his touch. 

  "You were about to walk into a rock. You should be more careful," he lectured her. 

  "Can you see?" she asked. 

  "Yeah. Can't you?" he wondered. 

  "No... It's pitch black..." Ochaco trailed off. She looked into his eyes and realized that they were more reflective than usual. Also... They were widened kind of like a kitten's and it was adorable.

  "Maybe I should've left by myself..." Izuku sounded guilty. "I didn't realize that you couldn't see in the dark..."

  "You can see through this? That's amazing!" she exclaimed. 

  "I can't see as well as the midnight-zone sirens. They can see really well," he told her. 

  "What does that mean?" she questioned.

  "Midnight zone is a layer in the water kind of. It's the darkest one. There's the sunlight zone, where I live, the twilight zone, which is in a trench near here, and the midnight zone. That's the deepest and it doesn't have much light. The sirens there are able to handle all that water pressure. It's amazing!" Izuku went on. "Oh... Sorry I rambled..."

  "It's okay," she assured him. "But I should be going back now... See you here tomorrow!"