Darkside (BkDK)

~~** Change is inevitable. **~~

Everyone returned back to the dorms three days ago and classes would be resuming for the end of the term in the morning. There was only a month left before UA's 'Star Class' would be in their third year and everyone was both excited and nervous for end of year exams now that all 20 of them were fully accounted for, even if they were not all exactly together.

As everybody settled in for the night, one over the top fanboy decorated room on the fourth floor of Heights Alliance stood empty. The student assigned to the unoccupied room was present on campus and still enrolled in the school's prestigious Hero program, but he would not be back to the dorms with his friends for some time. Deku would be staying in the teacher dorms until the resident therapist Hound Dog decided he was ready to rejoin his classmates.

The unusual arrangement was something of a compromise with the boy's mother after locating him and bringing him back. Inko had at first insisted he take time off from school altogether. She wanted him to wait until third term began and have him repeat year two, effectively being held back a year from his classmates. The boy himself seemed relatively complacent either way and repeatedly insisted he was no longer worthy of a space in the Hero course at all.

It took some convincing from one rather linguistically gifted mouse but in the end Inko agreed to let Izuku remain at UA and advance along with his class. In the end, the loving mother couldn't let her baby boy give up on his lifelong dream. Especially not due to factors outside of his control. None of this was the freckled teen's fault, she wouldn't let him think otherwise. Not even to protect him. So she agreed. As long as he was closely monitored and called her nightly she would entrust her only child to the Heros he trusted so implicitly. Even if he himself had doubts about his future now, no one around him shared in his uncertainty.

The residual effects of Darkside's quirk seemed to be just as Inui predicted. The attack left the green-eyed teen with deeply seeded psychological impact. Growing up without a quirk laid the groundwork for the youth to be doubtful of his own abilities and Kaede's power fed on his fear of not being worthy of OFA. Before encountering the devious woman he was one of the most determined of UA's students and everyone was hell-bent on helping him find that fire once more.

Spending the nine years between when he was first told he would be quirkless sitting in his mothers lap in the cold doctor's office and when he met All Might were long. The last year of middle school training every day to strengthen his weak body was like torture but the hope that came with it was worth every minute. Every blister. Every pulled muscle. Every sleepless night.

When he first encountered his idol the exchange had done anything but inspire the greenette. Being told directly by the Hero you spent your whole life looking up to that you would never be able to live your dream might be enough to break even the most hardened person's resolve. Then to find the boy you've grown up with and admired since before you could even walk being attacked and almost killed by the same sludge Villain that had already tried to attack you earlier that day? Who wouldn't be changed by that kind of fate?

Once he went through the unforgettable exchange of power between himself and Japan's Symbol of Peace, Midoriya started to truly believe he might one day reach his goal. At the time, he never imagined even the possibility that he would be able to do it alongside his one time childhood soulmate.

Yes, Deku considered Kacchan his soulmate when they were only brats. Not in a romantic sense but in a forever companion kind of way. There simply was no tomorrow for Izuku without the blonde in it. Then one day it changed. They both turned four and Katsuki gained the ability to set off explosions using the unique quality of the nitro sweat he secreted in his palms. The ruby-eyed boy had always possessed a more abrasive personality but despite his non-congenial nature there was something about him that others often gravitated to. They still do.

Given the nature of his parents it wasn't altogether surprising when the child had difficulty expressing himself emotionally. A short-tempered expressive mother and a repressed introverted father made for some mildly unhealthy role models in that regard.

In grade school the fiery blonde had slowly begun to ignore his green haired companion in favor of other friends as the years went on. Izuku would be left out of treks through the woods or play dates at the park and eventually the greenette was more like a shadow following along behind his larger than life friend. Occasionally he would gain the blonde's attention as Kacchan threw in new insults for his useless companion.

When the boys turned twelve and started attending middle school together, that was when the fiery boy really seemed to change towards his freckled ex-friend. The moniker of Deku had long since been established by then, but the truly unkind treatment was never present in their younger years. After a full year of rapidly escalating bullying had gone by, the second year of middle school began and Izuku formed a theory regarding his former friend's increasingly volatile behavior after one particular science class.

The blonde was beginning to show signs of being perpetually deeply angry. It was an anger that seemed to be triggered by the smallest things, but only if they were done by the greenette. Sure, other students received terse responses and harsh comments but none other than Izuku were the target of consistent borderline rage. After learning why nitroglycerine was used in medicine for certain heart conditions the astute freckled youth concluded that his ex-friends' increasingly explosive episodes were something of an unconscious reaction to his own quirk.

Supposing that the crimson-eyed boy's own subconscious was intentionally raising his blood pressure periodically to offset the effects of his nitro sweat made being the subject of his outbursts somewhat tolerable. Midoriya concluded that the secretly emotionally fragile male would not respond well to the working theory regarding his moods and thus chose to keep his hypothesis to himself.

By the last year of middle school the anger Katsuki would express towards his childhood companion began to take the form of yelling and explosive outbursts vs the more subdued mean comments and shoved shoulders. Not that telling the emerald-eyed youth to take a swan dive wasn't just as hurtful.

Halfway through their first year at UA, after the LOV kidnapping, the curly haired youth formed a new theory about Bakugo's yelling. What if Kacchan was damaging his own hearing with his quirk? That would explain why he was often far louder than needed and would respond to others with a crass 'hah' with increasing frequency.

Of course all these ideas were somewhat derailed by the realization of the temperamental teen's long suppressed feelings for his one time best friend. Perhaps all three factors were true? Either way, it no longer mattered.

Deku wasn't fit to be a Hero anymore, let alone a partner or a boyfriend.

Sitting alone in his new supposedly temporary room, Izuku reassured his mother for the hundredth time that he would not disappear again and that he would be following any and all instruction from Mr. Inui including any medications. Mrs. Midoriya wasn't really the kind of parent to yell or spank but when Aizawa brought her son back to her a few days ago and explained what had been happening she lost it. Deku was half sure she had been taking lessons from his ex the way she went off on him, but he couldn't really blame her.

After all, he was a poor excuse for a son. She was a wonderful and caring mother, and how did he repay all the years she had loved and cared for him? By running away from home without a word. Hizashi would be back in Japan as soon as his agency was able to track down Igishi and to be honest, for the first time ever, the younger greenette was hoping to NOT see his father. He would give anything to not see the disappointment on his parents' faces.

If only I'd left Japan from the start. Damn it. I couldn't even run away from home right. I'm truly a waste of All Might's quirk. I wish he'd just give it to Mirio or Kacchan already. A soft knock on the door pulled the recently returned student out of his reverie but he couldn't bring himself to answer. Instead, he sat near frozen staring at the blank white painted wood.

After nearly five minutes and several more soft knocks he heard the voice of Present Mic, because how could anyone not hear that man? "Little listener, you remember what Shota and Ryo told you? No visiting yet, ya dig? We know you miss him but he needs time to heal, and so do you. No, that was NOT a question."