shinso is a simp now too im sorry
Reviews from the Last Chapter!
WhEdgy, chapter 18: deku finna go ape shit. this boy is in his teenage rebel years so damn it let him have a smack down with bakugou if he wants to. hell, i want to have a smack down with bakugou-
WhEdgy, chapter 18: lmfaooo im sorry WhEdgy it had to be done! i gotta keep y'all hooked by revealing backstories when you least expect it! you can rest easy for this chapter at least, it's more fluffy filler than the last update, for sure
Emocean, chapter 18: I think I get what you mean. I always used ao3 first because I got into fanfiction quite late (and even then I used to use *shudders* Wattpad) but the site is really growing on me! anywho, i'm glad you like the chapter! thank you for your support on both versions of the story ˙˚ʚ(´◡`)ɞ˚˙
Alora Lawson, chapter 10: bahahah! it makes me really happy to know that i made you laugh! i'm glad you enjoyed it!
MARI YOSHIZAWA WANTS A NORMAL WEEKEND
(Which, she is beginning to realise, is near impossible with friends like these.)
.
.
.
While her classmates spend the two weeks before the UA Sports Festival training their bodies, Mari Yoshizawa engages in her own rigorous training program of the mind.
And by that, she means that she spent the weekend searching "how to make friends" on the internet for her fiendish blackmail plans for Todoroki.
After her brief conversation with Deku in the Recovery Girl's office, the green-haired boy excitedly agreed to help her. With great reluctance, Mari gave him her phone number so they could stay in touch.
Deku had already sent her numerous links to articles and youtube videos while she rode the train home that day. With each link came an emoji of All Might smiling and a "Plus Ultra" gif that had Mari scowling at her screen.
It was at that point she began to doubt her decision for enlisting his help, but really, there was no one else she could turn to. Her only other friends were Shinso and Denki, but there was no way in hell she was going to ask them. Shinso was just as antisocial as she was and if she asked Denki for help then she'd never hear the end of it.
Which left her with Deku. Cowardly, spineless Deku who managed to befriend most of 1A within the first school day.
There was something oddly magnetic about the boy's nervous disposition that made you want to be near him, and protect him - of course, Mari never felt this way, but seeing Deku become increasingly more confident in himself was almost endearing, in a weird kind of way.
But she would be the last one to admit that. The agreement she and Deku had was one of necessity and convenience - nothing more.
After she returned home that day she idly scrolled through the articles and videos, noting with annoyance that they were primarily based for children.
Things such as sharing your favourite toys wasn't really a viable option for Mari in high school. And besides, she'd rather die than share her favourite Tom Nook plushie with anyone else, friend or otherwise.
There were some things in there that were applicable to all ages but it was all too vague to really work for her. The advice mainly consisted of Making Yourself More Approachable or Finding Common Interests.
The first one was just ridiculous because Mari Yoshizawa was the most approachable person on the face of the Earth, but the second one had some merit to it. After all, she only befriended Denki because of a shared interest in video games (as well as the blonde's stubbornness) and she befriended Shinso for the shared interest of UA.
With this in mind, Mari decides the next step in her diabolical plans of friendship and mayhem would be to find out all of Todoroki's interests.
Which, she finds out, is so much harder than it sounds.
.
.
.
Todoroki Shoto wasn't exactly an open person.
He was a man of few words and even fewer interests, apparently.
Considering the boy was something of a celebrity, Mari begins her research on the internet. A quick hero wiki search reveals that he has three older siblings (Mari pities him, she's only got the one and Yua still manages to always drive her up the fucking wall) and most of the time he is seen training in the Todoroki Family courtyard.
And that was about it.
Despite being in the public eye, he was never seen going out with friends or slacking off at a Karaoke booth, he was almost always holed away in his family's home training. His father denied all interviews on his behalf and browsing through the latest news articles only gives her generic stories like "Number #2 Hero's Son Follows His Footsteps at UA!"
Annoyed, Mari decides to dig a little deeper. She begins to go through obscure blog posts and anti-hero Reddit forums to see what she can dig up. It's harder to find relevant or accurate information (one post claimed they saw Todoroki outside the same Soba stand four days in a row, ridiculous) as most of the forums she looked at are dominated by Hero Killer propaganda.
Mari's eyebrows shoot up as she sees the sheer amount of support Stain has amassed over the past month. She was hardly one of those people who went around going "I liked *blank* before it was cool!" but she can still remember voicing support online for Stain and getting thrashed for it not all that long ago.
It was nice to see more people supporting him. Of course, Stain wasn't the greatest political icon for ending hero-villain discrimination, but he certainly had the spirit.
After going into a rabbit-hole of Stain posts for an hour or so, Mari finally begins finding something of sustenance for Todoroki. She finds a thread dedicated to posts and stories Endeavour had supposedly censored from the media, paying off reporters and broadcasters to not publish them. The first story she sees involves Todoroki defending her at UA, which she reads with wry amusement. Luckily, none of the reporters had the audacity to post any photos of her face, so Mari is reduced to an anonymous "pink-haired thug"which she finds fitting.
The next story is a theory about Todoroki and Endeavour's black eye which makes her laugh and has her commenting that she 'had it on good authority' that Todoroki punched him.
The next one isn't nearly as… amusing. This story is much older, and the photo that accompanies it makes her sick to look at. It brings back horrible memories, and things Mari resolutely decides not to think about.
The article is on the Shinjuku Shopping Centre Incident that happened nine years ago, in which a young Todoroki is taken hostage by a villain before his captor ultimately ends up shooting himself. Reading through, it becomes abundantly clear that what Todoroki told her earlier that day was true, and that she was the one who saved his life, all those years ago.
But the thought brings her no comfort.
She shakes her head from her spiralling thoughts and moves to the next story.
This one has to do with Todoroki's mother, which she realises she's seen nothing about in the news or heroes wiki. It's a conspiracy theory more than anything, filled with plot holes and what-ifs. The post is made on a throw-away account and is obscure enough that there is almost no discussion and debate in the comments.
The poster claims to have done a "scientific" analysis on the scar Todoroki has, which has always been written off as a training accident in the media. It says that the way the scar tissue forms and it's colouring would not be from a flame quirk, and especially not Endeavour's flames which Todoroki would have inherited, which the poster cross-references with defeated villains who had faced the pro-hero.
The scar-theory ends there, asking the commenters what their personal theories were, and the poster instead goes to a different question - Where is Rei Todoroki?
Apparently, Rei had not been seen by the cameras in the past few years, despite making (seemingly reluctant) appearances in the public before as Endeavour's partner at hero events.
When asked, Endeavour brushed it off either by saying "no further comments" or claiming she was busy at home taking care of their family.
It was all very strange but hardly something she could use against him with so little evidence, and nothing she could befriend him with.
Now that Reddit and Tumblr had failed her, Mari would have to swallow her pride and bring out the big guns.
ok boomer (7:32pm)
I need your help.
[delusional simp] is now online.
delusional simp (7:32pm)
ohoho~
delusional simp (7:32pm)
what is this?
delusional simp (7:32pm)
the oh so powerful mari yoshizawa is asking for kaminari denki for help!
delusional simp (7:32pm)
oh how the mighty have fallen!
ok boomer (7:33pm)
Nevermind.
ok boomer (7:33pm)
I'm going to go ask Shinso.
delusional simp (7:33pm)
WAIT WAITI WAIT WAIT
delusional simp (7:33pm)
ILL HELP ILL HELP DONT GO
ok boomer (7:33pm)
That was a quick change in attitude.
delusional simp (7:34pm)
srry i got excited
delusional simp (7:34pm)
u never ask me for help!
ok boomer (7:34pm)
For good reason, too.
delusional simp (7:34pm)
bruh
delusional simp (7:34pm)
but cmon! what u need help with!
delusional simp (7:35pm)
i bet i can guess
ok boomer (7:35pm)
If your guess has the words "carnal" or "desire" in it, then I will block you.
delusional simp (7:35pm)
i retract my guess
ok boomer (7:36pm)
Good.
ok boomer (7:36pm)
I need your help in finding out information on one of our classmates.
delusional simp (7:36pm)
omg
delusional simp (7:36pm)
im scared to ask but,,,
delusional simp (7:36pm)
who and why?
ok boomer (7:37pm)
Todoroki.
ok boomer (7:37pm)
I'm interested in him.
delusional simp (7:37pm)
aassuhfhdiisfifwieaufhizojfzojxzijzsfeui
ok boomer (7:37pm)
Denki?
[delusional simp] is now offline
Mari stares at her phone screen, wondering if Kaminari had a stroke when the screen lights up the Denki's self-appointed contact photo appears on the screen. Furrowing her eyebrows together, Mari swipes the answer button to take the call.
"What?"
Mari regrets asking, as the second the word leaves her mouth Denki begins shouting. "You can't date Todoroki, you just can't, Mari-chan!"
Mari moves her phone away from her ear to accommodate for the blonde's volume and blinks.
"What?" she asks again, as that is all she can say.
Denki continues his blabbering, growing even more (dare she say) hysterical with each line. "If you guys have kids together then they'll be too socially awkward to function in society! You two are just as bad as each other! Imagine what would happen when you combine!"
Idly, she notes that Denki does have a point. Anyone she and Todoroki would raise is sure to grow up as a shut-in. But that's beside the point.
"Kids? Dating? What are you talking about?"
"You said you wanted to ask Todoroki out! I'm telling you, it's a bad idea! And you promised me a date already so he better get in line!"
She was used to the nonsense Denki usually talks her ear off about but now she well and truly has no idea what the fuck he's on about.
"When did I say that?"
"You said you were interested in him!" Denki shouts as if that explained anything.
Mari blinks again. He's referring to their texts, obviously, but that still doesn't explain where this notion of dating came into play.
"I am interested in him." She confirms (she hears Denki shouting at this in response) before adding, "That doesn't mean I want to date him or become the mother to his children, though."
Which was just… no.
Mari had enough trouble befriending someone for the first time, she can only imagine what a hassle dating another person would be like.
The line is quiet for a few moments. Then, quietly, Denki says, "Do you promise?"
"What."
"That you won't date him?"
Once again, Mari can only reply with an eloquent, "What."
"Come on, Mari-chan! You really had me worried there! I know Todoroki ain't as cool as me-"
"You're not cool."
"But you gotta admit he's kind of a lady killer!"
Mari sighs very heavily and rubs her forehead. "Denki," she begins tiredly. "Please stop talking."
There's a small noise of protest before the line goes silent again. Mari continues, "There's nothing between Todoroki and I. I just want to become his friend."
There's a pause. Then, hesitantly, "Really?"
Mari sighs and suppresses the urge to roll her eyes. "Really." she tells him.
Then she hears an excited gasp on the line followed quickly by, "Does this mean you listened to what I said today at lunch? About being closer to our classmates!?"
Mari thinks about it for a moment and decides agreeing with him would be easier to explain then the whole "befriending for blackmail purposes only" reason.
"Sure," she replies.
"Yosh! This is so exciting!" Says Denki in return. "I'll bring Kirishima by on Monday then! He's super cool, you'll like him! I'll get Sero to join us on Tuesday, too! And I'm thinking Tsu and Mina on Wednesday!"
Oh no.
Mari realises with a cold sweat running down her neck that she has just made a grave mistake.
Denki continues, paying little attention to how deathly quiet Mari has gotten on the other line. "Trust me, Mari-chan! By the time I'm done with you, everyone at UA will want to be your friend!"
I've fucked up.
.
.
.
"Your directions were horrible and I hope you die in a fire."
Mari Yoshizawa blinks as she answers the front door. It's a sunny Saturday afternoon when Shinso Hitoshi appears at her home, looking less than pleased to see her.
"Well, you're here, aren't you?" she retorts with a huff. "That must be worth something."
Shinso offers her a half-hearted glare. "I had to get directions from one of your neighbours," he seethes. "You have a very friendly next-door neighbour who I now want to punch in the mouth."
And at this Mari can't help but snicker which makes Shinso scowl at her more. After a moment he sighs and adjusts the duffle bag on his shoulder. "Well?" He begins. "Aren't you going to invite me in?"
Ah, right. Mari didn't have people over often… or really, ever, but she supposes a good host would probably let their guest into the house at one point.
Mari coughs into her hand awkwardly and opens the door for him. Shinso lazily strolls in, looking around her house with curiosity. The Yoshizawa's didn't have a huge house exactly, but Mari never found any issues growing up in it. It seemed perfectly average to her.
So what Shinso was noticing… was probably the lack of life.
No pictures on the walls or drawings in the fridge. No cozy knit-knacks or souvenirs from family trips. Anything that could imply the house was lived in was removed when Yua left. Mari didn't question it, but she supposes in the eyes of others it might seem… weird.
She stands awkwardly at the front entrance as Shinso looks around. After a moment, he chucks his duffle bag on the couch with a large thud and turns to her. "Your house is way too normal, Yoshizawa."
Mari blinks. Was that meant to be a bad thing?
Shinso continues before she can say anything else. "I was expecting something more… Evil, I guess?"
Mari blinks again and then finds herself holding back laughter. "The Evil Lair is downstairs, I'll have you know."
Shinso snorts at her and opens the bag he brought with him. He begins bringing out various training equipment - shin guards, arm and leg weights, sparring helmets - which makes Mari raise an eyebrow at him.
To her surprise Shinso actually seems sheepish about it, rubbing his neck as he tells her he's never trained with anyone before and didn't know what equipment was best to bring - consequently, bringing it all.
No wonder Shinso was so pissed about the directions. Mari would be just about ready to commit arson if someone made her carry that many weights in the wrong direction on a hot day.
She still doesn't apologise for it, but she does grab the equipment and help him bring it to the backyard, where they would be for most of the day.
After the momentary awkwardness at the front door, the rest of the afternoon goes (surprisingly) well. Her and Shinso put on the weights and she begins going through with him the warm-up exercises and stretches they went through during the week.
Mari laughs at Shinso when he can't touch his toes, but he more than makes up for it by 'accidentally' knocking her over while they were doing balance maneuvers.
After that, Shinso produces a speaker from his bag and begins to play, what he described as, "the perfect workout playlist". The music was surprisingly upbeat for Shinso's taste, and even though Mari knew none of the songs whatsoever, it still did an admittedly good job in hyping her up for training.
After that they began to go into light sparring, no quirks allowed. Shinso was stronger and faster than her, and she kicked him in the shin when she noticed he was going easy on her. Mari struggled for a while, but after an hour or so she began to match Shinso in speed and cunning through sheer willpower alone.
They didn't talk much during the exercises, which, Mari notes with amusement, is probably why it was going so well.
She would be the last one to admit it, but she was more than a little worried about having a schoolmate over at her house for the first time. She expected them to be sitting awkwardly at two ends of the couch, struggling to make basic conversation - but this? This was easy.
Mari liked fighting. She wasn't exactly good at it, but she still liked it. Fighting was easy. No subtleties or social norms were needed for fighting. Mari didn't have to worry about what to say or what to do with her hands - she just had to block punches and hit hard. It was simple.
Mari thinks she'd rather beat up her friends than talk to them any day.
She goes over some rescue exercises with Shinso and a few scenarios that she vaguely recalls in class. This goes on for a few more hours before the sun begins to make its descent and her purple-haired teammate is bathed in the golden rays on the sunset.
The oranges and red lights look quite pretty against his purple hair, but Mari would rather take one of Shinso's stomach punches again then admit to that.
After a particularly brutal and strenuous back-and-forth spar, Mari lies on the grass of her backyard, breathing heavily.
Sweats coats her like a second layer of skin, and pink hair sticks to her face under the fading sun. Her legs and arms ache like a bitch but there's something else there - a feeling of pride, or maybe accomplishment, at having matched against Shinso so well.
The music is turned off and Shinso's smug face appears before her. "Don't work out much, do you, Yoshizawa?"
Despite her heavy pants and aching muscles, Mari still lifts her leg to kick Shinso's foot. He lets out a puff of air in a not-quite-a-laugh-but-i'm-amused kind of way and easily dodges it.
"If you don't get it together, you're not gonna make it past round one in the festival."
Mari doesn't reply for a few moments, hot shame rushing over her as she recalls Aizawa's words.
If Shinso notices her drop in morale, then he doesn't comment on it as he goes to sit down next to her. From her angle, she's able to see that he's sweating like a pig, too, but is desperately trying to act like his normal unbothered self.
"I'm not going to be in the first round, anyway," she says after a moment, still trying to catch her breath.
Shinso raises an eyebrow at this and follows up with, "I know that I'm gonna kick your ass within the first five minutes, but you should at least give it a chance."
Mari gives him a dubious look. How arrogant. Is this how she sounds to others?
"I'm banned from joining." She says finally, causing the relaxing Shinso to sit back up and stare at her incredulously.
"You're banned?"
Mari nods.
"What the hell, Yoshizawa?" Shinso asks. "How did you get banned from the biggest event in the country?"
Mari attempts a shrug from her laying down position. "I think my teacher is out to get me," she settles on, unable to tell him the real reason.
(Saying that it was because "I wasn't good enough" or because "I wasn't heroic enough" was harder than Mari cares to admit.)
Shinso stares at her, and if the way his eyes narrow is anything to go by, then it is clear he does not believe any of the bullshit coming out of her mouth.
"Is it because of the guy you shot?" he asks and Mari can't help but grimace.
Judging by the smug look on his face, Shinso knows he's right.
There's a pause and then Shinso goes to lie down on the grass with her. Neither of the UA students say anything for a moment, until - "So what are you gonna do about it?" Shinso asks her.
Huh?
What kind of question was that?
"What would I do about it?" retorts Mari with a mocking snicker.
"I don't know," Shinso admits. He follows that with, "But you're Mari Yoshizawa. You always do something about it."
Mari opens her mouth to remind him that they've only known each other for a week and that who was he to think he knew what Mari Yoshizawa does and does not do.
But then it occurs to her that he does have a point.
She always does something. Usually something stupid, but…
Mari Yoshizawa wasn't someone who took things without a fight.
And she refuses to let anyone think otherwise.
Mari sits up and looks down at him. "You're right," she admits (she notes with amusement that Shinso seems surprised to hear those words coming from her of all people). She gives him a devious grin. "I'm gonna do something. Something… bad." she decides on. Then with a nod of her head, she adds, "Yes... Something that will teach the UA Faculty a lesson for trying to go against me."
Though Shinso does seem mildly concerned, he shrugs and says, "Yep. That's just about what I was expecting."
Mari's mind begins whirling with ideas, but Shinso breaks her train of thought before she can get far. "I'm gonna grab a glass of water," he tells her as he moves to get up. Mari prepares to follow him but he waves her off. "No, you continue your… scheming. I can get it myself."
Mari nods and pays little thought to him as he leaves.
.
.
.
Shinso returns after about a minute, face whiter than usual and notably, without water.
She pauses and gives him a curious stare. His eyes meet hers, and with a monotone voice he tells her, "There's a woman in your pantry."
Mari stares at him for a few moments. Then, "What?"
Shinso, with a thousand-yard stare, merely repeats himself. "There's a woman in your pantry."
Which definitely did not make it any clearer. Her mother would be the only person he could possibly be talking about, and she wouldn't be home until much later -
Oh.
Oh no. There was another culprit, but surely even she wouldn't be that stupid.
(No, she would be, Mari decides.)
With a heavy sigh, Mari stands up and makes her way to the kitchen. Shinso hesitantly trails after her.
She opens her pantry -
"Mari-tan!"
- And promptly slams it shut.
"It was a mouse," she tells Shinso with a deadpan. Before the purple-haired boy can say anything in response, the door is opened again and two arms are grabbing her from behind in a hug.
"Mari-tan! I missed you!"
Mari lets out a sigh. "I didn't miss you," she says ignoring the way Shinso was burning holes into her with his alarmed stare.
Yua lets out a whine and grabs her tighter. "Ah, Mari-tan! If you keep acting so coldly, I'll cry."
"Then cry."
"Um," Shinso begins after a moment. "Yoshizawa, what the fuck is happening here?"
Mari opens her mouth to answer, but Yua beats her to it. "You'll have to specify which Yoshizawa you're referring too, little boy-"
Though Shinso does seem disturbed at being referred to as a "little boy" at 15, he moves past it, instead repeating, "Which Yoshizawa?" His eyebrows furrow before it seems to click and he continues, "Yoshizawa, this is your-"
"-Sister." Mari finishes with a mournful sigh.
Yua releases one hand off Mari and offers it to Shinso. "Yua Yoshizawa, big sister of Mari-tan! ❤" Yua's tail moves back and forth excitedly behind her.
Shinso stares at her outstretched hand for a moment, before he looks back up to Mari. "The one that drugged and kidnapped you?"
Ah. She forgot she told Shinso that. "The one and only," she affirms.
Shinso looks back up to Yua. "I thought you were missing," he says.
"So did I," Mari remarks.
Yua gives them both a strained smile. "Well, I'm back now, aren't I?"
"Yes, back in our pantry. " Mari says. "What's with that, by the way? Were the weird notes not enough?"
Yua huffs. "I saw that you had a boy over," she begins, and Mari pretends not to notice the way she moves her eyebrows suggestively at this. "And I didn't want to interrupt anything, so I tried to make myself scarce."
Mari definitely doesn't believe that and judging by Shinso's face, he doesn't either. "You grabbed my hand as I was getting a glass of water," he says flatly.
"She touched you?" Mari asks, feeling anger boil within her. "Yua, I swear to God you better have not-"
"I didn't use my quirk on him," Yua says defensively, already guessing where Mari was going. She almost seems hurt by the accusation, but it doesn't matter either way to Mari. Yua continues, "I was just… curious, is all. This is the first time you've brought someone home, let alone a boy!"
Mari's cheeks go red - whether from anger or embarrassment, it's hard to tell before she pushes Yua off of her and back into the pantry. "That's enough out of you! You - you go back in the pantry, damn it, I'll deal with you later!"
Despite her protests, Yua does indeed go back into the pantry which leaves just her and Shinso in the kitchen by themselves. "I'm-" she begins, but can't quite bring herself to apologise to him. "I'm going to start packing up the equipment."
And then, with her face still burning red, she briskly walks back to the backyard. After a moment of surprise, Shinso goes to follow her. Wordlessly, he helps her put away the equipment as well.
They remain silent as they work, but it hardly matters in the end as Mari's mind is somewhere else entirely. She's thinking about why Yua had shown up so suddenly again and how she could act like she did before, playing the role of the goofy, airheaded and doting sister like it was nothing. Like what happened was nothing. Like Mari was nothing.
She's only brought out of her thoughts when Shinso places a hand on her shoulder. "You're thinking too much," he tells her. He grabs the weight she held in her hand and brings it to the duffle bag by the door - when had he moved it from the couch?
Mari goes to pick up another piece of equipment, only to realise Shinso's already cleaned up everything. He slings the bag over his shoulder and gives Mari an expectant look.
Mari blinks and then she goes to bring him to the front door, sparing a suspicious glance at the pantry door as she passes through the living room.
Once they stand in the entrance again, she expects Shinso to offer her a haphazard goodbye and disappear, but he doesn't. He lingers in the entryway for a moment, seemingly debating something, before he speaks. "Look," he starts. "I don't know what's going on between you and your weird sister, but you have got to stop stressing about it."
Mari blinks at him. It was hardly what she was expecting him to say after that ordeal.
Shinso takes her stunned silence as a sign to continue. "I don't know a lot of things about you, actually. But that's alright. What I do know about you either deeply concerns me or amuses me. Sometimes both."
Mari stares at him. Where, exactly, was Shinso going with this?
Almost as if he could hear what she was thinking, he clears his throat and starts speaking again. "Anyway, the point is," he takes a deep breath. "You're a… good friend. So you should stop worrying about the things that go wrong and instead focus on the things that go right."
A good friend? Her?
It was strange enough to be someone's friend but to be described as a "good friend" was something else entirely.
"So, yeah. That's what I wanted to say," he finishes, awkwardly clapping his hands together. "And by the way," he adds. "Whatever you do at the sports festival, just keep me out of it. Preferably take down some of those hero students, too, while you do it. They're tough competition."
Mari might've laughed were she still not so stunned at being called a good friend.
"See you at school, Yoshizawa."
With that, Shinso turns around and leaves, heavy duffle bag clinking as he walks.
Mari stands at her doorway for a few moments, still trying to comprehend what exactly had happened there.
"He's whipped," a voice comes from behind her. Mari is unsurprised to see Yua standing over her, grinning deviously. "Now what's this about a Sports Festival, Mari-tan?"
Mari is too happy to care about her sister's eavesdropping at that moment.
You're a good friend, too, Hitoshi.
.
.
.
remember when i thought we'd have the sports festival done in, like, chapter 15? yeah me neither
seriously though, 50K words in and this bitch ain't even kissed anyone smh. who knew i could waffle so much. but anyway, I'm sorry for the long wait for this chapter, i don't know why, but i really struggled to write it. I've also been cheating on this fic with my side hoe (╥_╥) I started a new KHR SI/OC that's been in my mind for a while, and then I wrote about 15k for it because I couldn't stop! But anywho! New chapter!
next chapter you can expect some more mineta and todoroki and, if i follow my chapter plans for once in this miserable life of mine, should have some sports festival anarchy! thank you guys, so, so much for your support last chapter! and without further ado, here are the author notes for chapter 19!
1) My H/C is that Midoriya was a lot like Mari when he was young, in the sense that he wanted to have friends but struggled to get people to like him. So, in between bookmarks of All Might Fights on youtube, he probably has a lot of sites on "how to make friends" that he used when he was young, which he passed on to Mari, hoping they could help her like they did for him.
Also, Midoriya TOTALLY is the kind of person to send lots of gifs, and almost all of them are of Pro-heroes. Shinso, undoubtedly, is the kind of guy to send cat gifs or edgy TV screenshots. While Denki probably just sends obscure memes like "me and the boys looking for beans at 2am".
2) Mari's most prized possession is an animal crossing plushie of Tom Nook that is signed by one of the game developers. This is, admittedly, inspired from real life - as one of my most prized possessions is an Overwatch body pillow signed by the voice actor of the character. It will be my family heirloom, mark my words!
3) Denki's contact picture on Mari's phone is probably a really cheesy photo of him winking at the camera. On Denki's phone, Mari's icon is a picture of a busty anime girl, because Mari refuses to have her picture taken and Denki is a fuckin nerd.
4) Nobody:
Not a single soul:
Denki this entire chapter: 👉👈
4) Oh hoh! Do not fear! I know Mari says that she could never imagine dating anyone, but it will indeed happen! Mari also thought she'd never go to hero school or befriend anyone, but here we are! Mari's just a really closed-off person, so it might take a while for her to open up to the idea of dating, but I'll still try not to make this fanfic TOO slow burn heh
5) Shinso finally gets some more screentime! I love him, I really do, I just don't get enough chances to show him and Mari's friendship developing which deeply saddens me （πーπ）im sorry, my neglected purple boy.
6) bruh. shinso. my man. what r u doing. don't enable mari's bad behaviour! who knows what she'll do at the festival now! smh... but fr fr, don't worry guys, anything she does won't be nearly as bad as the reporters or USJ (I think...)
Also, it just occurred to me that like,,,, these past 19 chapters have only been like... a week or two in BNHA time. Wild. By the time I finish this fic it's gonna be a fucking novel.
7) yua and mari scheming together cannot mean anything good for UA. Rip Aizawa's peaceful teaching career.
8) this doesn't really involve the chapter, but i got a few pms about these questions, so I'll answer them here.
- Someone asked what I do to get inspired to write, and tbh it's pretty much random whenever i get my inspiration bouts. Though, personally, listening to music or reading other people's writing tends to help. For this fic, I have a playlist that I specifically listen to for Mari's character (which can be found in my profile bio) and if you are having trouble writing, I also sometimes post writing resources that I've used or seem helpful on my Tumblr, where you can find me under the username boob-lube. Scroll past the memes and you should be able to find some things on writing dialogue or convincing characters, or writing prompts, etc.
- Someone asked me what other fanfictions I like! There's a long list of them, but anything in my favourites i whole-heartedly recommend! I also have lots on my ao3 profile that I think are just *chefs kiss*. You can find that under the username ScreamingPlants
9) I finally posted that gang au that I talked about a couple chapters ago, I only have the prologue up right now, which is a little dry, but has a lot of necessary backstory. So far the fic is also a lot darker than I intended, but it should get lighter from here out. It can be found in my profile under the name "Tunnel Snakes Forever!" I hope to get out the next chapter for it soon!
And thats about it! I hope you guys like the chapter and thank you so so much for your support!