Darkside (BkDK)

~~** I'm a nerd not a dork. Get it right. **~~

The day his pediatrician told him he was likely to never manifest a quirk, Izuku Midoriya's aspiring hero's heart broke. At only four years old he saw all his hopes shatter and fall to the ground. Later that evening the tiny desperate boy sat in front of his computer watching his favorite All Might clip and turned to his mother for reassurance. Little did he know, the woman who loved him more than anyone was just as broken as he was. At that moment, watching the tears stream down his freckled face, she couldn't offer her boy pretty lies or hollow platitudes. Right then, she was hurting almost as much as he was. Her moment of despair as she succumbed to their mutual heartbreak would prove to be her biggest regret as a mother.

At that moment, when her baby boy needed her unwavering reassurance the very most: she failed. She would spend years being slightly overprotective and somewhat indulgent to make up for it but what neither she nor her son knew was that the damage was already done. From that day onward, the curly haired youth developed something of an inferiority complex that had never been there before. His doctor had taken away his dreams and his mother's inadvertent sorrow had crushed any crumbs of a lingering hope the balding flippant man left intact.

While the younger greenette would remain smiling and sunshine on the outside for his mother's sake: he cried himself to sleep in silence most nights. He would hug his mother and thank her for breakfast before heading to primary school where he was increasingly ignored and scorned by his best friend and isolated by the other kids. In middle school he would often not sleep well due to the stress of the bullying he was sure he managed to conceal from his soft mother. He was convinced he hid the scorch marked clothes and mounting bruises from her caring eye. He didn't want to bother her with his troubles. He kind of deserved them anyway since he was too weak to defend himself.

When he initially applied to UA he genuinely never considered the possibility that he might actually be accepted. It was more to try and prove Kacchan wrong than it was confidence. The blonde's harsh words in their earlier years had a far deeper impact than the red-eyed youth ever knew. On the surface the explosive boy's words were just that: words. However, to Izuku those words cut like glass. He never truly knew why, believing it to be that the two were once close. Though he'd had a revelation of sorts the last few weeks. Now he knew it was because of his, at the time, undiscovered personal feelings for the feisty boy he grew up with.

If any other person he knew, possibly excluding his parents, had told him to take a swan dive off the roof he could have easily ignored it. He might have even tried to understand what made that person so volatile in the first place, but the fact that his unrealized crush was the one to say it made it feel like a physical blow to the face. He never told Kacchan that he went up to the roof that day and found a way around the safety fence so he would be able to do as his no-longer-friend suggested. He'd stood at the ledge for almost ten minutes gathering his courage to jump when his mother called and stopped him. She of course didn't know it but seeing her name on his caller ID halted him in his plans. How could he do that to her?

According to Midnight, it seemed Darkside's quirk gripped onto his self-doubt and magnified it. Since the quirk amplifies the victim's innermost fear, having a darker mindset related to that fear supercharged the villainous power. Routine visits with the somnambulist quirk holder as well as the school's least friendly looking teacher had him realizing those feelings he'd been having over the last several months were not reality.

Now, as he stood in front of all his classmates and their genuine happiness at his return to the dorms he could confidently and truthfully declare that he COULD be a Hero. Not only that: he could definitely be number one some day. His quirk would not act out in his sleep nor any other time if he was vigilant of any changes he felt. Black Whip likely would not have caused him any issues had he heeded its warnings, but he was willing to cut himself some slack on that seeing as the manifestation was completely unknown to his mentor.

How could All Might be expected to warn him against something he had no idea would happen?

Everyone noticed over the last few months just how integral their Broccoli Lord was to their group dynamic. Deku was the glue that kept them all together and his absence was sorely noticed. Admittedly some were more affected by his absence than others, but none could claim to have not missed him.

A sudden sensation of a warm palm on his damp cheek brought the greenette out of his thoughts as his emerald eyes opened to see concerned red irises. Despite the smile on his freckled face he knew the blonde would be worried until reassured so reaching up he placed his own scared hand over the other before answering the unasked question. "Happy tears Kacchan."

An affirmative grunt passed the marginally taller teen's throat before he severed the contact and shoved his fists deep in his pockets. Midoriya was not the only one who made some unexpected insights in his therapy sessions since rejoining UA. Bakugo made a few realizations himself. The first of which was that he was actually quite reliant on the Nerd. Unconsciously and without meaning too, Katsuki had completely tied his success as a future Hero as well as his happiness to Izuku.

Without Deku there was no point to becoming the best or even continuing on the path to becoming a Hero at all. When he was young his goal was to be the new Number One just like All Might but somewhere along the line his goal changed and he didn't even notice. He still wanted to be a strong and successful Hero but now it was so that he could support the greenette and stay by his side. As he grew stronger so did the Nerd. Without Deku's growth Dynamight had no drive to change or improve.

Hound Dog had asked him in one of their early sessions what he would do if the two DIDN"T become the 'Wonder Duo' but instead worked separately as Pros. It took him almost two weeks to answer that question and that in itself said something rather striking. According to Xanax and the Mutt it wasn't mentally healthy for him to base his whole future on somebody else's success. He could maybe kind of see their point. That was probably the main reason he had been looking into switching agencies in year three.

It was only about six in the evening, so everyone had a few hours yet to hang out and welcome the greenette back allowing the celebration to go on for a few hours. A very interesting albeit unsuccessful game of charades was attempted, cake and yakimeshi were eaten with gusto, and laughter shook the walls. Around nine Iida declared it time to end the evening in favor of everyone having adequate rest for the morning and as much fun as everyone was having most agreed.

After cleaning up everyone made their way to their own room with the exception of the four helping Midoriya carry the boxes he had nearly forgotten by the door. Iida, Uraraka, and Todoroki all gave the freckled boy a hug or a firm handshake before heading to bed once they had completed their delivery leaving only Bakugo to help him sort through the possessions. The pair silently unloaded the five boxes and after an hour the curly haired teen was completely moved back in.

"Thank you Kacchan! You can head to bed if you want, I'm just gonna pack away a few of these things before I lay down. I think it's time." Gesturing to the many All Might figures on his shelves the freckled youth smiled. It was time to think about himself as a Pro and not idolize his mentor quite so much.

"I don't mind helping Nerd. Besides, you suck at packing anyway. Can't have you breaking your toys." Smirking, the blonde began wrapping a rare silver age figure in the safety wrap his companion had pulled from a box under the bed.

"Action figures Kacchan. Not Toys."

"You just keep telling yourself that Deku." Bumping shoulders with the emerald-eyed boy, the blonde then wrapped his arms around the only slightly shorter male's slim waist. Izuku was no longer skin and bones and had managed to put back on quite a bit of muscle. If Katsuki was being honest it was hot.

Lowering his arms from the poster he was reaching for, Izuku rested his hands over the slightly smaller ones of his companion as he gathered his thoughts. "It's so hard. Sometimes I think it's harder than dealing with Darkside. How am I supposed to be so close to you but not WITH you Kacchan?"

The shorter tempered youth took Deku's face in both his hands before closing the distance between them in a chaste kiss. As he pulled away just far enough to press their foreheads together he gathered the courage to tell the inheritor of One for All what he'd been looking into for weeks. "I'm not going back to Might Tower."