Love Deeper than the Ocean | IzuOcha Mermaid AU

Chapter 15 | Mr. I-have-perfect-eyesight

Ochaco's Pov. 

  Ochaco was out in the ocean, sitting on her board. She was on lifeguard duty.       

  She glanced out to the open sea. She spotted a familiar face in the dark blue waves. Green hair, emerald eyes, face dotted with freckles. 

  She waved at Izuku slightly, knowing he would see but others hopefully wouldn't catch it. The brunette tapped on her conch until it started glowing.

  Ochaco saw his face turn red and then he dove under the waves. Then a hand stuck out of it, waving back. 

  "If you're going to stalk me, stop being so obvious," she spoke softly so no one else could hear her speak. 

  "I-I'm not stalking you," his hand disappeared from her sighed. "I'm making sure Kacchan doesn't do anything to you now that you know about him... And stuff..."

  "Uh-huh, sure," she shook her head slightly, looking back at the water. "You need to stop coming so close to land y'know. There are a lot of people."

  "No one's spotted me yet though..." he assumed. That reason was a disaster waiting to happen. "And besides, I'm watching all the humans so that I can learn how to act more like one."

  "Sure," Ochaco didn't really believe that he was watching everyone. She was pretty sure he was watching only her. 

  "Anyway, do you want to come to the ocean again today? I still have potion left over from last time," Izuku asked. He sounded really hopeful... How could she say no to that?

  "Later today would be okay," she told him. "Also... I wanted to ask you about last night..."

  "What about it?" Izuku pondered. 

  "It's just... You acted kind of strange after Mina was mentioning your parents... And that might just be because you want to keep your secret, but I just want to make sure everything's okay," Ochaco told him. 

  "I can tell you later. For now, let's talk about something else," Izuku dodged the subject. 

  "Okay... Then why do you continue to watch me even though I meet by the rocks you every day?" she wondered.

  "I- Um... No comment?" he responded, poking his head out of the water just so she could see his eyes. He was too far away for her to tell what his facial expression was. It seemed he didn't want to talk about anything.

  "Alright," she sighed. "If you're here, could you make sure no one's drowning?" 

  "Okay!" Izuku's head sprung out of the water and she could see that he nodded. 

  "I'm glad you gave me this conch shell," she smiled even though he probably didn't see it. "I like being able to talk to you whenever I want."

  Her mind looped back to what Momo said. It echoed in her head a few times.

  "Sirens get conches when they're born and someday they find the matching one when they fall in love for the first time. It's so they can always keep their lover close to their heart"

  Ochaco still didn't understand why he gave this conch to her... Wasn't it special to him? Why didn't he give this to someone he loved? She wished that he felt the same about her and she did about him... But it seemed that he already fell in love with someone... Probably a gorgeous siren with a beautiful voice. That siren was so lucky to have someone like Izuku fall head over heels for them... And anyway, it would never work for a siren and a human to be together.

Izuku's Pov.

  Ochaco's head was tilted so she was looking down. Her eyes sparkled with sadness. Why was she distressed? What was bothering her? He wanted to be right there so he could cheer her up and put a smile on her face.

  "You look sad. Are you okay?" he asked. 

  She seemed to snap out of her trance. Ochaco's head shot up to look at him again.

  "Yeah," he could see her nod. "Wait, you can see my face from all the way over there?"

  How did she expect him to watch her if he couldn't even see her face from where he was? Did humans have bad eyesight? Or maybe just bad eyesight compared to sirens. 

  "Of course," he said. "Can't you?"

  "I can see your face, but I can't see if you're smiling, frowning etcetera," Ochaco explained. 

  Wow. Humans really did have bad eyesight.

  "No wonder you nearly bumped into the rock last night," Izuku spoke. "You can't even see my face from there."

  "I'm sorry I can't see as well as you Mr. I-have-perfect-eyesight-because-I'm-a-siren," Ochaco huffed, crossing her arms. 

  "I didn't mean it like that! Sorry!" he apologized quickly. He was just stating what happened... He didn't mean to offend her. 

  "I'm not mad," she shook her head. "There's no need to apologize."

  Izuku sighed in relief. He didn't want her to be upset. 

  "That's good. I don't like to see you sad," he realized what he said and felt his cheeks flush. Was that weird to say? 

  She didn't answer but smiled at him. 

  His heart fluttered and his face turned red. He was too in love with her! Why did he have to fall head over heels for a human?

  Giving her his matching conch was already a sign of affection... What if she found out that he was in love? That wouldn't only break make the conches shatter, it would also ruin their friendship! Conches shattered if the siren- or in his case, human- rejects your love, the shell would be broken and you would no longer be able to communicate through that conch with that siren. Usually, it was a way of asking someone to be your mate, but she wouldn't be able to tell. Ochaco was a human and she didn't know siren traditions.

  Izuku knew he made the right choice giving this conch to her.

  "Izuku you're muttering," she told him. How much did she hear!? "Don't worry, I didn't hear any of it."

  "Sorry... I really need to work on that habit..." he apologized. "I'll stop talking to you for now so humans will stop giving you weird stares. Bye!"

  He tapped the shell until it stopped glowing. 

  Although it wasn't goodbye because he was still there, he didn't want Ochaco to seem weird to the other humans. In his world, if you were talking to yourself but had a conch necklace or jewelry with a conch, it was considered normal because you were talking to someone (most commonly your lover). He assumed it wasn't normal for the humans to be doing this however it was okay for them to talk to themselves when they had a smooth-looking rectangular item pressed to the side of their face. Humans could be quite strange.