broo,,, im just as surprised as yall that this chapter came out so early! i hope this makes up for the wait from the last one!

Reviews from Last Chapter!

WhEdgy, chapter 17: bakugou finna get his toxic ass cancelled sis sksksksk we got the RECEIPTS HUNTIE and someone bout to vibe check his ass. also! YES! I'm so glad you like the idea! I'm super excited to write it!

Littlecosma001, chapter 17: ahh! I'm so happy to hear that! I've already written a bunch of scenes that I thought would be fun and I can't wait to start properly wiring and publishing chapters for you all!

Muddy Birdy, chapter 17: Thank you for the support! It makes me super stoked to hear it!

MARI YOSHIZAWA WANTS YOUR BODY

(otherwise known as: Midoriya finally snaps and Todoroki is a closet pervert. Pass it on.)

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"Oh." she says after a few moments. "They're from Bakugou."

Distantly, she thinks she can hear a fuse in Bakugou's head shattering and Midoriya choking on blueberry pancakes.

Predictably, it is after she says this that absolute chaos erupts at her table.

This is why I shouldn't sit with my classmates, Mari thinks wearily as she watches them all begin shouting, heckling Bakugou and swatting invasive questions her way.

Mari sighs as Denki rises from his seat, grabbing Bakugou's shirt in his fist and shaking him down like a petty yakuza gang member.

"What the hell did you do to Mari?!"

However amusing it is to watch, dealing with the aftermath of Bakugou beating Denki up for threatening him is not something Mari wants to deal with.

Mari stands from her seat, preparing to knock Denki across the head for being an idiot, when Midoriya also stands from his seat. She barely acknowledges him, presuming he's going with Four Eyes to grab a teacher before this escalates into a brawl (well, less a brawl and Denki getting blown to smithereens, if Bakugou's track record is anything to go by) but he does something considerably worse.

Something that is unequivocally stupid and completely out of character for the timid green-haired boy.

There are very few moments in Mari Yoshizawa's life where she feels genuinely speechless, but truly - there are no words in the universe to describe how utterly gobsmacked the girl is to watch Midorioya punch Bakugou in the back of the head.

What a surreal thing it is to witness, seeing the spineless, quirkless Midoriya Izuku punch Bakugou Katsuki in the back of the head.

She had watched this boy take years of torment from Bakugou without batting an eye and this is what sets him off?

His breaking point, where he draws the line, is not when the blonde tells him to jump off a building, or when he burns years of his research - but instead, when he discovered he burnt the girl he's spoken to a handful of times in his life?

The girl who called him spineless and actively shuts down his attempts of friendship?

The girl who calls him a coward and mocks him whenever it fancies her?

Holy shit, Midoriya, you fucking emotional masochist, what are you doing!?

Mari hasn't ever done drugs in her life, but surely, this feeling of surrealness, this feeling of detachment from the world just from the sheer absurdity of the situation, must be what it's like to be on acid.

Yes, Mari decides, watching Bakugou whirl around in anger and tackle Midoriya to the floor, this must be a hallucination.

I need to stop this, she thinks numbly, her body still not quite having caught up to her brain.

As amusing as it is to watch her childhood friends(?) (Burdens? Enemies?)roll around on the cafeteria floor of UA, exchanging punches while the class of 1A watches on, she should probably stop this.

Thankfully, Denki had the sense to let go of Bakugou as soon as he and Midoriya began brawling, so he's watching wordlessly from the sidelines with her.

"Denki," she calls out numbly, tugging on his uniform sleeve. The blonde turns to her, questioningly, and the look on his face tells her that he certainly wasn't expecting Midoriya to start fighting the ferocious blonde, either.

At least it isn't just me freaking the fuck out right now, then.

"I need your body," she murmurs to him.

"What?"

Mari doesn't have the time to explain, so she merely looks into his eyes and possesses him, idly noting to apologise for stealing his body without warning next time she sees him.

She sees the ceiling on the UA cafeteria before her consciousness leaves her, and she finds herself inside the blonde. It's always a little jarring, getting used to the difference of height and body type when she switches, but she has no time to get comfortable.

She looks to the two boys fighting and readies herself, collecting power at her fingertips. Denki had explained to her once how he uses his quirk and summoned his electricity, so she at least somewhat knows what she's doing.

She feels electricity crackle at her fingertips as she runs towards the boys and places a hand on each of their backs.

She claps and rubs her hands together and shouts "CLEAR!" before promptly electrocuting them both.

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Let it be known that Aizawa Shouta is a simple man.

He cares little for the many complexities of life and much rather prefers the holistic, almost hermit-like way of living.

In fact, if it weren't for UA Aizawa thinks he'd be quite happy living out his days solving crimes in the shadows. But alas, things never work out so nicely.

And it's not as if Shouta doesn't like teaching - he finds it quite rewarding, actually - but sometimes he likes to relax.

Forget about his worrisome students and their woes, and spend some time in the teacher's lounge, eating his leftover pasta and petting the stray cat that often comes by the window.

Was that so much to ask for?

A mere thirty minutes of the day for the man to relax?

Apparently so.

When Tenya Iida comes rushing into the lounge, completely unannounced (already alarming as it was so unlike him) shouting that two of his students are brawling on the cafeteria floor, somehow, Shouta knows it has something to do with Mari Yoshizawa.

A teacher's instincts, perhaps, or maybe it's just the uncanny correlation between Mari Yoshizawa and trouble.

With a drawn-out sigh, he waves off his already standing coworkers with a mutter of "I'll handle it," and reluctantly follows the class president out the door.

On the way there he is informed it is Midoriya and Bakugou fighting, which makes him raise his eyebrows but overall doesn't surprise him. The two boys obviously had some unresolved tensions from middle school, and Shouta reminded himself yet again to do something about that already.

What does surprise him, however, is learning that Midoriya started the fight.

Shouta has little time to dwell on that fact as he and Tenya reach the scene. Aizawa makes it just on time to witness Kaminari Denki electrocute them both into unconsciousness.

He stands agape for a few moments, as does the rest of the UA students circled around them watching the spectacle.

Now here… Here was something Shouta was not expecting.

Kaminari stands before the two passed out boys and wipes the sweat off his forehead. Shouta's eyes scan the crowd of students watching looking for-

Ah.

He spots the obnoxious pink hair he's searching for, but Mari Yoshizawa is unconscious, a few feet away from Kaminari.

The gears start turning in Shouta's head.

He regards the uncharacteristically arrogant grin on the blonde's face and the unconscious pinkette on the ground and connects the dots.

"Yoshizawa?" he guesses, narrowing his eyes on the electric blonde.

His suspicions are confirmed when the 'Kaminari' turns to him, surprised, and gives him an entirely unapologetic grin.

"Plus Ultra," is all she offers in explanation.

Shouta sighs very deeply.

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"I'm telling you, sensei," Mari Yoshizawa begins, standing in the middle of her empty classroom. "They were already dead when I got there."

Aizawa gives her a resigned glare and runs his hands down his face with a sigh. "Unconscious, not dead," he murmurs back, seemingly correcting her just from reflex alone. "And I hate to break it to you, Yoshizawa, but I and all of your peers saw you use Kaminari's quirk on them."

"It was pretty funny to watch though, wasn't it?"

The blank stare her teacher gives her in response tells her that it was not nearly as entertaining to him then it was to her.

"Stop playing around," he tells her. He crosses his arms over and his chest and gives her an unimpressed look. "And give Kaminari his body back, already."

Mari sighs but does so anyway. "Just don't talk shit about me when I'm not here," she mutters before activating her quirk again.

By the time Mari Yoshizawa returns to her own body the cafeteria has already been emptied and the rest of her class has presumably gone to their lessons.

Or at least, that's what she assumes, until she sits up and comes face to face with none other than Todoroki Shouto.

She jumps slightly, but other than that does not let her surprise show.

"Todoroki," she begins neutrally. She pauses, trying to think of the polite way to ask what she was about, but figures she's hardly someone for mincing words anyway.

"Are you some kind of pervert?"

Mari almost feels she has to credit how stoic Endeavour's son remains, even though she knows she's taken him by surprise if the way his heterochromatic eyes widen slightly is any indicator.

He stares at her for a few moments, then, "Pardon?"

"You heard me," Mari continues. "Do you always prey on unconscious girls? Or are you merely a man of opportunity?"

"I-" he pauses, clears his throat, and makes a pitiful attempt to keep his composure. "It was nothing like that," he tells her cooly, but his red ears tell another story. Todoroki continues, "I volunteered to stay here and watch-"

"Watch me sleep?"

"-Watch over you. We thought you used your quirk and we didn't know what would happen if we moved you."

That was... oddly considerate of her classmates. In fact, it did indeed take longer to return to her body if it was moved from where she left it, but she doesn't tell Todoroki that and merely lets him continue speaking.

"We didn't want to leave you here, either, so I stayed behind to make sure nothing happened."

Mari narrows her eyes at him suspiciously. "A chivalrous pervert, then? It's not every day you see one of those."

Though she does notice Todoroki subtly bristle at her taunting again, he does not comment on that. Instead, he looks away from her. She would say he was embarrassed if she thought the boy was socially aware enough to be.

No, no he wasn't shy per se, but instead, it seemed as if he was reminiscing. Todoroki is somewhere else entirely when he replies, "It was the least I could do, for you."

Mari might've made another sniping comment about what a gentleman he was if it weren't for the strange phrasing. 'For you' implied it was personal.

"How lucky I am," she mutters sarcastically. Just for good measure, she follows that up with, "Most would kill for such a benevolent and perverted guardian angel." Then, trying to sound casual about it, she adds, "I wonder what I could have done to deserve such an act of kindness and creepiness."

Todoroki takes the bait easily enough. His black and blue eyes cut to hers. "I don't think you remember it," he begins. "We've met before."

That certainly wasn't what Mari was expecting. "We have?"

Mari might not have been the most observant person, but surely she wasn't so self-involved to forget meeting the offspring of the number two hero?

Oh. Come to think of it, it did take her almost two weeks to properly remember Denki's name, so maybe it isn't so far fetched.

Mari purses her lips and stares at him.

Todoroki nods and continues, "We never exchanged names. But you did save my life." he says, staring at her earnestly.

Mari almost laughs in his face. Now she's certain he's got her confused with someone else. Amused, she replies, "That doesn't sound like something I'd do."

Which is probably the nicest way of her saying why the hell would I care enough to save your life?

Todoroki isn't hindered by her disbelief. He continues, his voice set with steely determination and resolve. "When I was nine years old, my father and I-" Sweaty Fire Man, her mind supplies, "went shopping together. Usually, we'd get a servant to, but this time was different. We'd be getting my first training equipment."

Todoroki was training already at nine years old? She supposes that would explain how he was so powerful now.

He continues, "The press… Recognised my father. And that caused some unwanted attention…"

Mari hardly sees what this story has to do with her. And as much as she would love to tell him to spit it out already, something about the look in his eyes tells her that it's taking a lot of resolve for Todoroki to tell this story. So, she lets him continue he rambling for a few more moments.

"Soon enough a villain attacked us. They moved when Father was distracted. He… had me as a hostage."

Mari notices the pain in Todoroki's eyes as he recalls this all. She might've comforted him were she a nicer person. But she's not, so she merely keeps her mouth shut and allows him to continue, desperately ignoring the sinking feeling in her stomach.

"He had a gun to my head. None of the other heroes… They couldn't do anything." Todoroki pauses, and she watches him clench his fists in the corner of her eye. "Not even my father."

Shit.

Is she sweating? She feels like she's sweating. Suddenly this story is seemingly a lot more relevant to her and she doesn't like it. She doesn't like it at all.

"They didn't do anything. They all… just watched. But something changed. The villain… he suddenly pointed the gun at himself."

F FUCK FUCK FUCK UFKC FUCK FUCK-

Mari thinks she might throw up. Unfortunately, she knows exactly where this story is going.

She feels numb - her body isn't responding but she's gotta do something, gotta stop him, gotta stop him, gotta stop him-

(don't shoot)

"The villain shot himself. The police said it was suicide but I noticed something… A girl in the crowd… She was being scolded by her mother but she was inconsolable… She was begging for forgiveness and she said that she kill-"

Mari's body moves on autopilot. Despite the hallowed numbness she feels throughout all of her nerves she still scrambles to her feet and slams her hand down on Todoroki's mouth.

The boy seems genuinely surprised as she does so, but he doesn't move to remove her hand when she speaks next. "If you truly believe you owe me a life debt, Todoroki," she begins slowly, trying not to let her voice show how utterly terrified she felt in that moment. "Then you will never bring up that story again." She pauses and lets out a shaky exhale. "And if you do," she begins again, "Then I will ensure that it's the last thing you ever say."

Having said her piece, she moves away from the boy and gauges his reaction carefully.

He doesn't seem all that frightened by her threat but he does have a troubled look on his face as he nods and replies, "If that is what you want."

"It is." Mari says, firmly.

"Then I won't speak of it." He tells her. She's not someone who takes people's promises at face value (Mari Yoshizawa knows far better than that), but his words still reassure her. "However. Know that I won't ever forget what you have done for me, Mari Yoshizawa."

She would have considered that a threat if not for the gratitude in his eyes.

A chivalrous pervert, indeed.

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Holy fuck there was a witness

HOLY FUCK THERE WAS A WITNESS

Despite her and Todoroki's tentative agreement to not speak of the matter, Mari Yoshizawa can't help but feel sick to her stomach.

The police had stopped questioning her years ago on the murder but were the hostage to come forward and say it wasn't a suicide, then that would open up the case all over again.

And Ishikawa… She shudders to think what lengths he would go to bring the case to a jury yet again.

That cannot happen. She refuses it. If word got out, even if it was just speculation that a UA student was involved in a homicide then that would be it. Forget about not participating in the Sports Festival, she would be outlawed from every hero school in the country.

And that's with the wishful thinking that she would still be attending school, and not spending her days rotting away in juvie. She was only in holding for a week but even then… that was easily one of the worse weeks of her life.

And this time she wouldn't be able to count on Yua to bail her out. No, no, her pride simply wouldn't allow it, not to mention that she could hardly place so much trust in her runaway sister now.

Mari considers the implications of her conversations with Todoroki as she paces outside the classroom. Undoubtedly, Aizawa would be waiting for her inside, but to speak to him while she was in this state… That would be a kamikaze mission.

She continues her pacing, trying to look at the situation rationally.

Todoroki said he wouldn't tell.

(But you can't trust anyone's word, if Yua's leaving taught her anything.)

It's his word versus mine.

(Yes, but who will the public believe? The renowned son of a famous hero, or a problematic high school delinquent with a record for violence?)

He has no new evidence.

(When has that stopped a hero prosecuting a villain before, anyway?)

I can say it was an accident.

(That's a lie. And no one will believe you.)

I could get a good lawyer.

(Who would help a villain?)

I could flee the country.

(You can run, but you can never hide from the truth.)

I could get someone to help.

(You have no one.)

(You are no one.)

Mari shakes her head, this downward spiral wouldn't help her get anywhere. If I were in Todoroki's position, what would ensure my silence? She wonders.

(Blackmail.)

I don't have any blackmail on him.

(We could get some.)

How?

The idea hits her suddenly, and Mari can't help the fiendish grin on her face. Of course, it's so simple. The key to having someone protect your secret is for you to have one of theirs to hold over them.

And how does one lose their secrets? They tell their friends.

With her face set in determination, Mari makes up her mind and nods to herself.

Mari Yoshizawa would become Todoroki Shouto's friend even if it killed her.

Or him.

Whichever comes first.

She doesn't have time to ponder on this brilliant plan of hers for long, as it is at that moment that Aizawa leaves the classroom.

He pauses when his gaze reaches hers. "There you are, Yoshizawa. I was starting to think you had run away."

I seriously thought about it, teach.

She looks at him and holds her head up high. "No more running away for me, sensei." Not from Aizawa and his stupid lectures, nor from Todoroki and her secrets.

"Good," he teacher mutters, but he doesn't seem that pleased. "Follow me then," he says. "We're going to Recovery Girl's office. Someone has to explain to Bakugou what happened and I'm glad you're not shying away from the task."

Oh.

Perhaps she should be running away.

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Five minutes later Mari finds herself patiently explaining the events of lunchtime to the fried Bakugou and Midoriya.

Midoriya seems incredibly embarrassed at the reminder of him punching Bakugou, while the blonde just seems pissed off about the whole thing in general.

At Aizawa's prompting she reluctantly apologies to them about the whole electrocuting thing with all the sincerity that is to be expected from her, which is to say none at all.

Aizawa seems content enough with it anyway, and once he gets the whole recounting of it all he issues three days detention after school for all of them and then leaves, grumbling something about hermits and pasta as he goes. Bakugou leaves soon after that, picking up his school bag and not saying anything to either of them when he does.

Inevitably, that leaves Mari and Midoriya in the nurse's room by themselves, yet again.

As expected, neither of them say anything, so a tense silence falls between them.

This continues for a painful thirty seconds until Mari opens her mouth. She isn't sure what she intends to say, but imagines it was something along the lines of an awkward and insincere thanks for standing up for her.

Midoriya beats her to it, however, and speaks before. "I'm sorry, Yoshizawa-san!" he cries out, bowing his head so quickly that he almost falls off the hospital bed.

Mari stares at him for a few moments and then decides that she has no idea how Midoriya's thought process works. And she doesn't think she ever will.

He was apologising to her after she electrocuted him?

When Midoriya realises that Mari doesn't intend to say anything in response (because really, what was she meant to say to that?) he continues with his apology. "I shouldn't have reacted that way. I just… got so angry-"

That was Midoriya angry? She would have laughed at him if it didn't seem as if he was going through something of a personal breakthrough right now.

He looks at her, unnervingly green eyes peering at her so earnestly (Mari doesn't think she could ever get used to a look like that) that it throws her for a loop for a few moments.

"When you said that Bakugou burned you I was just so angry. I noticed that you started wearing gloves when you came back to school, but I didn't think that- I didn't even consider that-"

Mari can see Midoriya getting worked up again and considering the last time she did that he punched Bakugou, she decides to deescalate the situation before something happens. "Midoriya," say says softly, yet firmly. "While I do appreciate you looking out for me-" Did she? It was too bizarre a concept for her to really revel in "- It is not necessary. The burns were an accident, and it happened a long time ago."

Midoriya doesn't say anything for a few moments, instead moving his gaze to her burned hands. It feels strange to have someone staring so openly at them and Mari idly reminds herself to retrieve her gloves the next chance she gets.

A hand is placed over hers. Mari looks up, confusion clear in her face at the sudden boldness of Midoriya. "It wasn't an accident, though, was it?"

She swallows and doesn't answer him.

Thankfully, Midoriya doesn't quite have the guts to press the matter further than that, it seems. He moves his hand and looks away from her. "Anyway," he begins backtracking. "I'm sorry for making a mess of it all." He says sheepishly.

Mari blinks at him. Then a light bulb goes off in her head.

She grins at him. "Make it up to me, then."

Midoriya stares. "What?"

"You heard me. Make it up to me."

By the way Midoriya gapes at her, it is obvious he wasn't expecting her to say that.

After a few moments, he eyes her sceptically and asks, "How?"

Black, black, morally black eyes stare Midoriya Izuku down.

"Teach me how to make friends, Midoriya."

Clearly, he wasn't expecting her to say that, either.

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Extras (1)

simp (4:02pm)

mari

simp (4:02pm)

you know as well as i do

simp (4:02pm)

that i have no qualms with u using me for my hot bod

[ok boomer] is now online.

ok boomer (4:02pm)

I do?

simp (4:03pm)

Yesf

simp (4:03pm)

u do

simp (4:03pm)

so use it as you please but give me a warning next time

ok boomer (4:03pm)

I did give you a warning.

simp (4:03pm)

when?

ok boomer (4:03pm)

I turned to you and said, "Denki, I need your body."

simp (4:04pm)

i,,,, didnt think that u meant that literally,,,

ok boomer (4:04pm)

What other way could I have possibly needed your body?

simp (4:04pm)

ya know

simp (4:04pm)

carnally

ok boomer (4:06pm)

I'm going to pretend that you didn't just write that.

simp (4:06pm)

u cant deny the heart its desires forever mari

[ok boomer] changed [simp]'s name to [delusional simp]

delusional simp (4:06pm)

bruh

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omg

this chapter came out of fucking nowhere. literally, not a single thing that happened in this chapter was on the chapter online. deadass, my outline was like

- mari goes "hrr drr baku burnt me :("

- kaminari probably says some simp shit about it

- lunch bell rings, 1a yeeters themselves back to class (every1 is kinda weird around mari now tho)

- shinso and general gucci gang arrive on scene like bad pokemon trainers. "hrrr drrr u guys suck, i will beat u all"

- mari and shinso have fat chats and exchange banter

- mineta is also there (see conversation reference)

- shinso and mari hang out, do their first training session (sprinkle some cute shit in there, shinso doesn't get enough screen time)

- flash forward: the festival is upon us bitches

And the rest is censored for spoilers sake, and because I am certain if you read my chapter plans for long enough you will, indeed, have your braincells sucked™ out of you one by one. Point is, I honestly don't know where the fuck this chapter came from. But hey, I'm for it. Let Deku go Ape Shit. Broccoli gotta rage (side note: I legit forgot how to spell broccoli for a moment and googled the phase "brocolo" for it. I ashamed to admit that English is my first language and I was Dux of English in high school so this shit ain't even funny, it's just sad)

Anywho, crackhead hours aside, I've had this finished in my drafts for a few days because I'm not feeling 100% on it. I strangely feel as if the tone in this chapter is really different to the other chapters? But I'll let you guys be the judge of that.

There's not many notes for this chapter (by which I mean I don't have a four page essay prepared this time) so I'll just say my piece now and make it brief. Thank you everyone who left such lovely reviews on the last chapter or comments on ao3! I am also incredibly happy to get such good reception on the spin off idea! I've already got quite a few scenes and plot points planned, and I'm hoping to release the first chapter sometime in July! Though! As it is a fresh story I would absolutely LOVE to take any suggestions from you guys for characters in the AU! I've got most the roles for the main characters planned out, i.e. I am indulging in this fic and Monoma is now a love interest in it (he is now the figurehead student council president, very arrogant, all the gangs hate him and Tenya, his vice president, is the only one in the student council who does actual work lmao) but I'm still open to suggestions or head-cannons!

Thank you for your continued support and I hope you all have a wonderful day!

/EDIT: The gang au I spoke of in this chapter and last chapter has been posted, you can find it on my profile under the title "Tunnel Snakes Forever!"/