idk why the bkdk fandom have so many horror stories but omg keep them coming i'm having the time of my life 😭
this was inspired by this bkdk thriller/romance fanfic by this person on x ( ˶ˆᗜˆ˵ )
the story is about paleontology student Izuku, who is being hunted by a supernatural entity and Bakugo is lowkey just there lmao, he had the option to opt out of Izuku's mess but he decided to plus ultra his way into it anyways, he's so uncasual about Izuku in this fic is so funny like boy you're signing yourself up to fight the clay devil get a grip 😭
Last piece that I made for the dkbk event on x, this time for Succulynt 's fic Mirrored and Reversed that was inspired by slay the princess tho you don't need to know anything about the game to read this ( ˶ˆᗜˆ˵ )
more illustrations ralated to the dkbk fantasy au that were made for a dkbk event on x, if you're interested you can find the fic here, also the author is bakuisnumberone on x („• ֊ •„)੭
This is an illustration that I made in collaboration with bakuisnumberone for his dkbk fantasy au, if anyone is interested in reading the fic heres the link.
this fic and art were part of a dkbk event on x so if you'd like to read more dkbk fanfics you could look here.
How to recover fic deleted from AO3 that’s NOT on the Wayback machine
Sharing this because I just found out about this and it blew my mind.
The short version of it is: The Wayback Machine is not the only backup/archive of AO3 content out there. It’s just the most user-friendly and immediately browsable.
THIS database on Archive.org contains most AO3 fics as text files, including plenty that are not Waybacked: https://archive.org/details/AO3_final_location
What you’ll need: A browser for .sqlite3 files such as DB Browser for SQLite, an archive manager (e.g. WinRar or 7zip), good internet download speeds, and potentially a LOT of free GBs in storage space.
Not needed but heavily recommended: A download manager such as HTTP Downloader (so you don’t lose the entire download the second your internet stutters).
1. Click here to get to the archive’s files. It’s going to look something like this:
ao3_current.sqlite3 and ao3_old_files.sqlite3 are metadata files. The .zip files contain fic, most of them in simple .txt format. The metadata files tell you which fic is in which zip.
The “current” metadata file is recent backups. The “old” metadata file seems to be fics archived until 2020ish.
2. First, download either ao3_current.sqlite3 or ao3_old_files.sqlite3. Now launch DB Browser for SQlite, then File > Open Database Read-Only > open the sqlite3 file. Now click on the Browse Data tab.
3. It’s going to look like this.
4. The “Filter in any column” field can be used for keyword searches in, well, any column of this table. Be warned, it takes a while to update, give it time, it’s indexing.
5. Here I searched for all fic which gets a hit for the “Avengers” keyword (usually fandom). You can also search for a specific title, author, description, etc.
Let’s try to locate the first fic on the list. Click on the field on the left - row 1, column 1.
On the right you’ll see the full content of that cell. The most important thing here is the start - ao3_01. This means that the fic is located in ao3_old_files_part01.zip.
6. Download ao3_old_files_part01.zip and open it with your archive manager. It’s 5.5 GB. This will take some time.
7. There are multiple ways to find the fic within the zip file. Probably the easiest way is to use your archive manager’s search/find function to locate the fic by keyword - author is a good bet here, or title if it’s unique enough - and extract that. This way you don’t have to extract the entire archive. Be sure to add a wildcard operator (*) on either side of the keyword.
8. Extract the file and you’re done. Note: It will probably be in .txt format, and might be in one giant block of text. Just select-all and paste it to a proper word processor to restore the paragraph formatting.
+ I suppose if you’ve got like a free TB of space you could just skip the metadata step and download all the zip files and unzip them and use a command line search tool for keywords, too. This will work with keywords like title, author and fandom that are part of the file title. The metadata file just contains additional info, like character fields, description, etc.
This isn’t a perfect remedy, there are still fics that got deleted before they could get archived here. But it seems more complete than the stuff on the Wayback Machine on average.
Everything after file= is the fic’s unique file path. Remember the file path for a fic we looked up earlier by checking the metadata file? Replace everything in the URL after file= with the path you got from the cell in Step 5 and hit enter. It will now take you to the file of the fic you were looking for.
[Description: a looping bouncy animation of grace and Rocky from project hail mary. Grace throws himself onto rocky for a hug, smiling and nuzzling his face to the top of Rocky's xenonite covered carapace. Rocky brings a claw up to ruffle Grace's hair and grace throws himself even more on top of rocky, rocky wrapping his arms around grace. End description.]
The funniest part of bnha is that Katsuki never thought he and Izuku would even be in the same school, but by the will of destiny they got consecutive numbers and will now sit next to each other forever (not literally but y'know)
Little vampire Bakugou who's a biter as a kid, can't be trusted around humans at that age. He wouldn't suck them dry, just wants to bite, but there's always the threat of turning them. And little werewolf Midoriya who can't be turned and heals fast, and he likes to roughhouse. Then bratty little kid Bakugou gets away from his parents and he stumbles across wolf pup Midoriya playing near the woods and they get all worked up and fight and Bakugou bites him. It's not like he can really sink his teeth into him, his fangs are still growing and only leave little teeny pinpricks, but Midoriya is once a crybaby always a crybaby, and starts bawling, and Bakugou gets that twisted feeling in his gut he always does when he bites someone, doesn't know what it is or how to deal with it so he gets mad normally. Bakugou tries to cover up the wound before his parents see and he gets in trouble again, but he watches amazed to see the wound stitch itself together, and Midoriya is just sitting there looking at him with round, glistening puppy dog eyes and Bakugou almost wants to push him over, he made such a fuss over nothing! And then he bites him again. And the second little baby Midoriya realizes that Bakugou is basically teething and needs something to chew on, he immediately becomes his friend/chew toy and never complains again whenever he bites him.
Obviously Bakugou grows out of it as they get older and learns to control himself. But then he develops a new type of hunger, one that makes him want to break the skin and taste the pulse beneath. It's hard to get by on just weekly hunts with his family, especially after his first kill, the blood on his chin still warm as he licks it.
This craving, too, Midoriya helps him with, when he realizes what Bakugou is struggling to hold back. This time, when Bakugou sinks his teeth into his offered flesh, and he winces to feel more than a pinch, they hold each other's gaze, and Midoriya holds his breath as the blood drains from him. Werewolves are healthy, strong and vibrant individuals, resilient, near impossible to kill by wounding; he has no fear at the possibility of dying from blood loss. So then, why does he feel this churning inside of him to see his best friend pulling away with his own blood staining his lips? He wondered if Bakugou still felt guilty to bite him. But he didn't look guilty, not with how his crimson eyes held on him, intent, like he was prey. Midoriya didn't feel like prey, though, not at all.
It wasn't even close to being the last time Midoriya let Bakugou drink from him. Crazy little teenagers in love and they don't know it, don't know how to say it. Instead, whenever Bakugou was needy, he'd go to Midoriya. And Midoriya, seeing his needy Kacchan, would roll up his sleeve and let him feed, watching him lick off whatever excess spilled down his forearm.
They hadn't known when they were kids that there was a feud between vampires and werewolves, and they were supposed to hate each other. And when they were old enough to know, they were too enmeshed in each other to care. But because of that animosity and distance between their species, they had no idea just what they were doing to each other - Bakugou's transformative bite, and Midoriya's vitality flowing through his veins. They were making each other more powerful than a singular werewolf or vampire had any right being. Power that was bound to draw attention.
But to them, they didn't even care about that. All they wanted at that age, emotionally stunted as they were, was to be near each other. Be apart of each other. It's hard for them to admit at this point that what they really want is as much of the other as they can get. But for now, it's secretive biting and blood sucking and meaningful gazes in the dark. Maybe one day their shared hunger will finally be satiated...
All right, listen. It’s pretty damn funny that two weeks ago I posted all like, “oh I don’t really comment chapter-by-chapter, I’m waiting to see what happens next,” but this one broke me.
This chapter was everything I wanted for bkdk, and it’s so much more tender than I ever dreamed it could be.
This post is not going to be like most of my posts, because I am a flood of emotion. If you’re wanting some detailed, well-researched analysis of this scene, that ain’t coming for a while.
I don’t have some kind of comparative linguistics to show you. I just have my visceral reactions as someone who speaks Japanese and has absorbed Japanese media for many years. I have shared my heart with others in Japanese, I’ve sputtered out words between sobs and felt the many kinds of comfort different people try to offer. I have comforted others who let themselves be vulnerable with me.
In all these moments, just as in English, I wondered if my words and feelings reached them. Each time, I felt the warmth of connection when they looked at me, and I decided that they knew I did my best. They accepted me, even if it wasn’t perfect.
I’m gonna tell you the truth, and I wouldn’t normally say this so directly, but it matters to me: the fan translation for this specific scene is not good. The tone is wildly off in some ways and it outright omits a number of very important words.
The official translation gets so much of it right.
But that’s not really what I want to talk about right now. I want to talk about how people are reading this scene.
I have seen a ton of, frankly, oblivious interpretations of Izuku’s side of things.
Listen to me. Izuku is not making fun of Katsuki for crying, he is not telling Katsuki that crying isn’t like him, that isn’t in the text at all. He is not rejecting Katsuki’s feelings, or belittling them, or ignoring them, or any of that.
Izuku has seen Katsuki cry in-canon a number of times, but every time it was over his own personal failures, and the frustration, anger, guilt, and grief associated with them. We see it in the aftermath of Deku vs. Kacchan 1. We see it during Deku vs. Kacchan 2.
Izuku is shocked to see Kacchan cry because this is the first time he has cried for Izuku.
When Katsuki apologized in 322, he looked Izuku in the eye and told him his feelings with conviction and poise. He was gentle and vulnerable, but strong, because he was asking Izuku to trust them and rely on them. To come back with them and believe in them, like they believe in Izuku. He bowed his head to show his remorse. He caught Izuku when he fell, and he accepted Izuku’s own apology.
He embodied dignity, sincerity, and strength of character. He was a true hero.
This?
This is the raw, honest sorrow of a young boy. It is a tender, earnest, unguarded display of how much Izuku means to him.
These are the tears you shed for someone you cherish. These are tears for when you think you are losing something you can’t live without. Because Katsuki isn’t just crying for the loss of Izuku’s dream—it’s their dream, the future they dreamt up together as kids.
Izuku is almost pathologically incapable of understanding how other people see him and feel about him, but this is unmistakable. He is stunned because there is no other explanation.
There is unmitigated heartache and longing at the core of Katsuki saying, “I just thought somehow we would be together like this, competing and chasing after each other, forever.”
And Izuku is reeling, but so, so touched, and filled with fondness. Look at how his shock shifts to this overwhelmed, affectionate smile.
He’s right—this isn’t the usual Katsuki, and that is precisely why it means so much. We as the audience have been privy to Katsuki’s feelings, but until now Izuku himself has never really grasped the depth of them. This is all the tenderness Katsuki has kept locked up inside, and he is letting Izuku see it for the first time.
To see Kacchan—strong, fierce, and absolutely unstoppable—shed these innocent, helpless tears for him and tell him through sobs that he wanted things to stay this way forever, I can’t blame him for being blown away.
I think Izuku expected Katsuki to be shocked and a little sad that he gave up OFA, both for Izuku’s sake and because it is the legacy of their hero. Before Katsuki even starts crying, Izuku has this small smile on his face, like he was ready to reassure him that he had made peace with his own choice.
But he clearly didn’t expect for Katsuki to weep openly in front of him about it or to confess to wanting him by his side. Izuku had so enjoyed just being allowed near Katsuki, allowed in his life at all—to think that Katsuki could want the same and want it this much, to the point that he worries that things would change, that Izuku would abandon him or deny him? How could that ever be?
In what world could Izuku ever stop chasing Kacchan?
Izuku is a bit of an idiot. He has always thought that Katsuki understood how much he cared for and admired him—that’s why he is so shocked during DvK2 to hear that Katsuki thought he looked down on him for years. Izuku thought Katsuki understood his feelings and simply rejected them.
The way he loves Kacchan is natural and unquestionable. Even now, he can’t understand how Katsuki doesn’t know. It’s baffling to him.
But he still accepts Katsuki’s vulnerability and responds to the intimacy.
This is such an affectionate, loving thing to say. Izuku is being so sweet. I cannot convey to you strongly enough how Izuku telling Katsuki, “C’mon, stop it, this isn’t like you!” reaffirms their closeness.
If Izuku had not said this line and instead skipped straight to this nervous, awkward little attempt at comfort here:
It would have read as so much more distant.
With his tears and his confession, Katsuki pleads with Izuku to not leave him. To be with him always.
And in response, Izuku unabashedly stakes his claim on their bond by being bold enough to affectionately scold him and even assert authority on what kind of person Katsuki is. Remember these?
Chapters 202 and 319
This is such a staple in Japanese media for showing close bonds. Your loved ones know you. They tease you. They scold you. They have that right. You gave it to them.
The people you love cheer you up by reminding you that you’re strong and brave and that even if things feel hopeless and like you can’t go on, that they know you can. Everything will be okay, and they know so because they’ll be right there with you. Of course they’ll be there.
Symbolically, throughout the series, Izuku’s response to Katsuki trying to be closer to him has always been: “Of course.”
He has always accepted Katsuki as much as he is able to, as much as he had awareness for. He is wildly lacking in self-awareness, so it’s certainly not perfect, but by god does he try.
What Izuku is really saying is a mixture of “Really? You want that, too?” and “Don’t be silly!”
One part is him being shocked and touched; the other is him being absolutely certain of his own heart, and showing it as best he can.
He does get flustered and self-conscious, though—because it’s overwhelming to see Kacchan this way, and this is kind of new territory for them. So he switches tactics to reassure Kacchan about how things are now, and make sure he doesn’t feel embarrassed about this outburst. He still has the embers, so it’s okay for now. And their bodies are weak, so of course their heads will be in a bad place too, it’s easy to get low spirits. Of course Katsuki would be feeling vulnerable. It’s normal.
He gives Katsuki so many things here. He gives him as much as he can.
Izuku doesn’t know how long he’ll have the embers for and, frankly, he doesn’t have any guarantee that he will be able to satisfy this longing of Katsuki’s after he loses them. This, too, is a staple of promises in Japanese media: “I don’t know if I can satisfy you, but I want to try. I hope you can accept me.”
Things will be different—the future is always uncertain, now more than ever for their world. But what will never change is what they feel in their hearts.
After this scene, I honestly don’t care if we get something other people see as “bkdk canon.”
What Katsuki says is as good as a confession to me. What Izuku says in return is genuine and pure. This is a messy pair of teenage boys figuring out how to reach each other with words, when they have always been so damn bad at it. This is the two of them both reaching a new point of intimacy and reaffirming everything that came before.
I don’t think the fandom explores Deku looking down on Katsuki enough
Because there’s a very small kernel of truth to it, buried under all of Izuku’s admiration and care
While Katsuki was panicking over the fact that he could see all of Deku’s potential and true heroic nature
Deku was seeing Katsuki’s ego, arrogance, and temper for what they were, flaws, the way no one pre UA was really willing to.
He recognized them as unheroic
On top of that Deku saw him as human enough to reach a hand out to, someone that could be challenged, stood up to and called out.
Also Deku does low key think Kacchan’s arrogance makes him an idiot, and he’s not wrong.
Deku got mad at Katsuki for telling him to take a dive because it would ruin Katsuki's chance to be a hero, and because it was cruel and unheroic.
He knew that Katsuki's would favor his left as much as he knew Katsuki's anger and arrogance would make him predicable and foolish, and used it all against him in DvsK1. He also call's Katsuki an idiot for not seeing the situation for what it was.
Deku seeing Katsuki as someone worth striving to keep up with, that doing so would drive him to being a better hero, because to him Katsuki has already achieved hero status.
Deku knows Katsuki’s weaknesses and how to play them, how and when to bet against them.
He knew it was important to their relationship that he give Katsuki and explanation of his quirk immediately after defeating him, so important he'd risk telling All Might's secret
Deku knows that he could focus on fighting Shoto in the Cavalry Battle battle because Katsuki got his pride hurt by Monoma
Blinded by a need to save Katsuki Deku doesn't consider Katsuki's ego when the camp attacks
Later he's extra cautious and has Kirishima take Katsuki's hand in Kamino
Deku breaks curfew to engage in a fight he doesn't want because he knows that Katsuki is tearing himself apart and imploding on himself and that no one else can accept and understand the way Katsuki's feeling
Everyone else believes that Katsuki is too strong to need help, that he can do the impossible task of saving himself from himself without any support
Deku for like half the series bets against Katsuki's self destructive ego and is so right to do so. Deku this never stops or dilutes his belief that Kacchan's amazing, him having faults doesn't tarnish that for him.
The duality and nuance isn't something other people readily accept and see, so to most people Deku seems like an obsessive push over blinded by admiration, and Katsuki see's him as a threat who can see all his weakness and faults like they're written on his soul in neon flashing lights.
Deku is both things though, he thinks Katsuki is so amazing his faults are worth overlooking, he also fully recognizes Katsuki as the very human idiot he is.
I think he even bet on Katsuki not coming to look for him when he left UA, he knew Katsuki was the only one who knew him and his circumstances well enough to track him down, the only one who could convince him to come back. He just didn’t think he’d ever do it
I’m afraid some of ya’ll just don’t have the freak gene that lets you enjoy ACTUAL enemies to lovers. Ya’ll think that trope is just like coworkers fighting over a promotion or smth like no give me people that have tried to maim and kill one another or give me nothing
I think in the end What makes Bakugo’s apology so important and meaningful is that it’s not self-serving in the slightest.
many people when they’ve done something wrong apologize because they don’t want to be forced to carry the guilt of it throughout their whole lives. You apologize more to ease your own guilt than for the person actually Apologizing to.
Here, I feel this is not the case at all. The apology is 100% about the person he’s directing it to, if that makes sense.
When he goes over to apologize to Izuku, in the beginning of chapter 322 he says: “stop trying to win this by yourself” then he technically acknowledges that he’s been a similar place before—by saying that his whole life he had looked down on him, he’d tried to win without him, but always felt like Izuku was ahead of him
What also really stands out to me is that although this apology doesn’t follow the 5 basic principles for an apology it’s still fucking amazing because It doesn’t end with a forgive me. and he admitts it himself, “Saying this out loud doesn’t change a thing, but it’s how I feel,” and he follows it up by using Izuku’s proper name, which alone holds so much weight. No demeaning, no yelling, just an acknowledgment of everything, and that he fucked up.
I saw a bunch of people who either didnt seem to get this after watching through the show, or didn’t care. Plenty of people that were bullied and projected onto deku. (Not to say he can’t be your favorite! But there’s a line where he begins and you end.) I remember well that they said things along the lines of “Oh! But he’s just trying to escape responsibility” OR “SO, he regrets it NOW deku’s strong”
But I really think it’s never been about that.
Bakugo realized he still had a duty to tell him something, and that’s really how it’s phrased, A duty. He began to see it as such when he lost him really for the first time. “there’s still some things I’ve gotta tell you!” “There’s something I need to say to you.” Etc. Even if deku doesn’t want to speak to him again there is something he MUST do, that deku MUST hear.
Even if they grow apart, Izuku never forgives him, that doesn’t matter to him. For Bakugo, his own personal feelings aren’t even part of the equation. This is made even clearer and hammered in by the second theme in this scene.
Discomfort.
It makes Bakugo uncomfortable that Izuku is and always has been so self sacrificing. Rain makes Bakugo uncomfortable, apologizing is totally out of his comfort zone, admitting when you’ve done something wrong is uncomfortable
This whole scene is telling us that Katsuki thinks Izuku is worth the discomfort.
In a way this is also the chapter he begins to mimic some of Izuku’s behavior subconsciously, but he still keeps a very “Dynamight” heart to it all—
because he’s willing to be rejected, willing to fight him, willing to put aside his pride--
But not willing to let him continue to destroy himself.
And THAT dear friend is what I would define as love, plain and simple—but what do I know!
Katsuki literally goes from "I'm amazing I'm the best" to "I'm weak and everyone knows it. I ended All Might" to "don't try to win this on your own" to "gotta win right Izuku?"
I've never seen a character with a more complete story arc. From a superiority complex to an inferiority complex to learning to rely on others to becoming someone who can be relied on.
*smacks forehead* it's like poetry to me
And I could pull up DIRECT in-text citations for everything I just wrote.
Hori did you know the WHOLE TIME or did you just realize at some point that you had accidentally created the perfect deuteragonist??
And the way Kacchan's arc is almost an inverse of Deku's:
When we meet them, Katsuki is fawned over by everyone and Izuku is alone. But from the moment they start at UA, suddenly Izuku is the one everyone immediately likes and Katsuki is the one who people avoid (seriously, rewatch the first season if you don't believe me, even Kirishima calls him out until the USJ incident.)
Izuku always moves to save people. It's what makes Katsuki so insecure. From reaching his hand out in the river to being a quirkless kid trying to fight the sludge villain when all the pro's are too scared. Izuku is the definition of heroic. Katsuki has all of the power and skill, but Izuku is the one who always acts like a real hero, and Katsuki is scared that Izuku looks at him and thinks he doesn't measure up. It reinforces his need to try to win every battle by himself. Day 1 at UA he separates from Iida to hunt Deku down and prove to everyone that he's the strongest. But it doesn't work. He loses, and also realizes everyone around him might be just as strong.
Meanwhile, from the start of UA Izuku relies on so many people and they rely on him and he KNOWS it. (He got his quirk from all might, he trusts Uraraka in their first hero training class, he relies on Tsu and Mineta during the USJ incident, he can't get through the calvary battle in the sports festival without his team, he's too injured after his fight with Muscular so Shoji has to carry him, Kacchan wouldn't reach out his hand to him at Kamino so he needs Kirishima to do it, he can't beat Overhaul without Mirio and Nighteye and Eri)
And over the course of the story we see Izuku isolate himself more and more as the responsibilities of holding OFA begin to weigh on him, while Katsuki learns to open up. And things really flip during the cultural festival arc! Katsuki feels immense guilt over Kamino still (and being the reason all the students move into the dorms) BUT he joins the band anyways, and he joins his classmates in doing something for the rest of the school- he's learning to rely on others. MEANWHILE Izuku fights Gentle and does everything he can to keep Eri and Mirio and his classmates smiling, but he does it alone. He can't get help because then the festival will be shut down.
Katsuki has to do remedial coursework to get his hero license, and he's learning the importance of reaching people's hearts, something that comes so naturally to Izuku he barely thinks about it.
Then at Jaku Izuku realizes him being near civilians puts everyone in danger and he goes off by himself again, but Katsuki follows him to help. THEN Katsuki gets stabbed ("Don't try to win this on your own!") for Izuku and Izuku literally runs away from everybody to protect them from AFO. The story has been reinforcing to Izuku that he's a danger to others, that they can rely on him but at a distance, it's safer. That having One For All means he's the only one who can beat Shigaraki and AFO, until-
Izuku is the one who thinks that the others can't keep up. But Kacchan is the one with Class A reaching out to Izuku, Kacchan is the one who lets Iida be the one to catch him, Kacchan has learned to count on others and use team work to save to win.
Even though Izuku comes back to UA and sees that they're all stronger together, and is able to reach out to Aoyama during the traitor reveal, he is still the lynchpin in the plan to defeat ShigAFO. It's still his burden to bear.
And then in the war arc Katsuki is the one in the Coffin in the Sky. Katsuki is the one holding back Shigaraki, with his older classmates and mentors relying on him. And Izuku isn't there because he was kidnapped! Until Izuku gets to them Katsuki is the one who is relied on. (And look at him thanking Edgeshot for saving him for further confirmation he can now graciously accept the help of others).
In his fight against All For One Katsuki literally shouts that its [everyone's] story. And Izuku is also able to rely on others again as he is propelled forward by his entire class to win! They can't do it on their own! They are stronger as a class!
BUT Izuku didn't save Tenko. All Might reassures him that he was saved in his last moments, but he still died (...unless?). His friends were hurt because he was late. He lost his quirk. He's literally back where he began. Except what's different this time? Kacchan has finally accepted Izuku and himself. He wants to be competing and chasing after each other for the rest of their lives. Katsuki leaves the hospital early so they can all be together for the first day of their second year.
Katsuki is going to make damn sure Izuku doesn't feel like he needs to be alone again. And their development hasn't been quite as linear as I made it out to be! That's what's really amazing. It's only with literally ten years of hindsight that you can see the sum total of all the changes they've gone through! And are still going through!
