why i ship bakudeku

trigger warnings: suicide, bullying
spoiler warnings: manga, heroes rising, deku&bakugou: rising

childhood

-bakugou and deku started off as childhood friends
-when deku found out he was quirkless, he was made fun of, and seen as inferior to bakugou
-despite all of this, deku admired bakugou for his bravery and heroism, and no matter how many times he pushed him down he always came back to him

middle school

-a lot of people claim, “bakugou bullied deku for 10 years”, which is simply not true. as shown in the spin off, deku&bakugou: rising, written by the creator kohei horikoshi, it shows bakugou and deku’s relationship in middle school
-bakugou explained in the manga (ch. 284) why he bullied deku. “that bastard...doesn’t realize how special he is. must’ve been apart of his upbringing. even now, where he’s advanced so far. it used to annoy the hell out of me...i wanted to keep a distance from him. i pushed back my own feelings of weakness that manifested within me, and i bullied him for it...”
-bakugou was extremely harsh towards deku at the end of their last year of middle school. he saw deku as a threat because he also wanted to apply to u.a., so he tried to scare him and told him to kill himself. this is inexcusable and a disgusting thing to say, so if you do not support this ship or are uncomfortable with it i completely understand because what he said was unacceptable. however, bakugou has changed and grown a lot and has worked to improve on his relationships especially with deku, so if you are willing to understand and see why we ship bakudeku, please hear us out.

middle school (cont.)

-towards the end of the school year, a villain escaped from all might and caused “the sludge incident”. the villain captured bakugou and tried taking over his body and bakugou became trapped underneath an unbearable liquid that cut off his air circulation and could not breathe because of it.
-mind you, bakugou must’ve been around 14 years old at the time, which is extremely traumatizing no matter how evil you make him out to be. no one should ever have to experience that, especially not a child.
-deku saw the sludge villain and caught a glimpse of who they had captured, which was bakugou. out of pure fear he jumped out and ran towards bakugou, in hopes to save him.
-“my body just moved on its own.” an important quote towards the story line and a parallel in the manga later on.

highschool

-when bakugou had found out deku made it into u.a., he was furious. and can you blame him? bakugou worked extremely hard to try and get into u.a., so to see someone below him, someone quirkless, get into his dream school must’ve been infuriating for him. causing him to question his self worth if someone like him could get in.
-when they first started highschool, they did not get along at all. deku still really liked bakugou and looked up to him, but bakugou didn’t understand why so he took it out on him through anger.
-at this point in their relationship, it is extremely toxic, so if you’re suggesting we would ship them at this time that is completely false. we ship them because of their development and where they are now. this is before all of that, leading up to it, so this would not be a healthy relationship at the time.

highschool (cont.)

-bakugou was confused and angry as to why deku had a quirk all of a sudden. he took this a lot deeper because he thought that deku was looking down on him this entire time and pretended to not have a quirk because he thought that he was better than him.
-bakugou really jumped to conclusions here because absolutely none of that was true, and deku felt terrible and that he needed to explain himself. by doing this, it shows deku trusts bakugou by telling him this secret. bakugou also somewhat respects deku at this point, because he keeps it a secret, respecting deku and all might’s privacy.

kamino incident

-later on in the story, during summer break class 1-a goes to a training camp. during this time it was infiltrated by the league of villains. they raised hellfire, and kidnapped bakugou in the process.
-deku reached out to bakugou, trying to save him, but he couldn’t make it in time. he cried out in fear, as he watched his childhood best friend get taken away from him right in front of his eyes.
-a few days later, deku and his friends try to rescue bakugou, and while they do, all might shows up in the process, and gets involved in the fight.
-things end up being a lot more serious then they thought. and the mastermind behind everything, the greatest villain of all time, all for one (afo). and all might uses the last of his power, and officially retires as the number one hero.

deku vs. kacchan

this fight is extremely important to their development. a lot of people say that bakugou’s intent was to kill deku which i have no idea where the fuck that came from it sounded like they just pulled it out of their ass.
-after all might had retired as the number one hero, bakugou was overwhelmed with guilt and frustration. he blamed himself for all might’s end, “why did i become the reason for all might’s end?! if i had been stronger, if i hadn’t been kidnapped by the villains, then none of that would have ever happened!”
-after hearing all of this, deku was shocked, he didn’t realize how much bakugou had been holding in. he offered to help, but that just made bakugou even more angry.
-the reason why bakugou had called deku out to fight was so that he could prove his self worth. he knew about deku’s secret, he knew that he was going to become the next symbol of peace, so to reassure himself that not all hope was lost, and to assure himself that there was a fragment of hope left, he challenged deku to see if he was actually worthy of all might’s power.

after the fight

after the fight, bakugou and deku's relationship grew a lot. they finally became proper rivals and began talking normally with each other again. after what all might had said, "if you can learn to respect each other and lift each other up...you can become the ultimate heroes. ones who save by winning, and win by saving." they started working together more and more, and took an internship with todoroki to work with endeavor. they helped each other to try to become the best heroes they could be, and so that they could bring out each others strengths.

heroes rising

heroes rising: the movie, takes place in between what would be season 5 to season 6. for a short recap, class 1-A is sent to a small island off of japan to work on their rescue service, they were left unsupervised so the work would be legit. however, villains show up and try kidnapping two children, mahoro and katsuma. it is the class' job to protect the islanders and children.

the head of the group, nine, possesses nine quirks, hence his name. he is very similar to afo and became an extreme challenge for bakugou and deku to fight against. as the battle continues, there are nearing their limit so they were left with a very difficult decision: deku had to transfer ofa to bakugou. in shock, bakugou refused at first, afraid that deku would become quirkless again, but unfortunately it was their only choice. deku reached out to bakugou and they joined hands, transferring blood i'm assuming. they both inherited ofa and defeated nine together, standing as the symbol of peace for all to see.

when the battle ended, they both fell unconscious, as rescues came to save them. the previous holders of ofa knew that bakugou wasn't the successor so it was transferred back to deku, but that doesn't change the fact that bakugou once held ofa at one point. this caused everyone to create theories that he was one of the unknown former users of ofa. not only that, but that means when bakugou and deku die, they will live in the afterlife together though ofa (ch. 194) "the users along the way get recorded in memory, as part of the power. that's what i believe. 'that sounds kinda occult.' or romantic, i'd say. so even if i die one of these days...we can always meet again within one for all. romantic, right?"

ch.274 - ch.286

deku heard about shigaraki and afo and immediately goes after him, bakugou follows him. "kacchan, why are you tagging along!? 'I'LL BLOW YOU TO HELL! BASTARD! in a situation like this, the only one who can make them understand quickly enough...IS ME!' A-AH THANKS!!!" deku is shown very flustered (blushing???) so bakugou tried to calm him down and cheer him up by telling him a joke, and said not to overwork himself.

together, they go after shigaraki, and cross paths with him, and with image he visualizes their death by disintegrating them. luckily, gran torino swoops in and saves them just in time. they see aizawa and go over to him, "THIS TIME! ITS OUR TURN TO SAVE YOU!!!!!".

things begin to progress, and shigaraki is only becoming more powerful, and deku knows that he's the only one that can stop him. deku charges after him and bakugou is shown looking angry and worried has he reaches out to deku because he knows that if he goes he is going to be in grave danger.

later it shows a flashback to when they were training and deku tried tying bakugou up with blackwhip, but was unsuccessful. the next panel shows bakugou and all might having a discussion about ofa. "as much as i hate to admit it, i have my complete trust in deku..." bakugou admits, then tells all might why he bullied him (see reference on middle school page).

flash forward to current time, deku and shigaraki are still fighting, bakugou grabs endeavor and todoroki and blasts himself upward towards deku. bakugou is shown having flashback to middle school, when he bullied him, then when they were kids, remembering every moment they've had together.

following with him thinking, "but at that moment...without thinking...my body, simply moved on its own." and then, out of nowhere, bakugou jumped out next to deku, where he is stabbed in four different places by shigaraki with the afo tendril.

finally, the most recent leaks, ch. 286, deku see's bakugou and is in complete shock. "to win alone, without friends..." bakugou said as he began to fall to the ground. deku is shown going absolutely insane as he bites down on the afo tendril with his teeth, destroying it as he yells out "cancel it!" and deku is left going feral at shigaraki.

datte atashi no hero

datte atashi no hero (cause you're my hero) is the third ending song from the anime written by LiSA. this song is about deku's feelings for bakugou, "while writing the song, LiSA imagined what it would be like if izuku midoriya were to sing his honest feelings to katsuki. in a way, this is a song dedicated to katsuki from izuku."

I can't imagine you ever giving up
But I'm sure you've had days that were empty and miserable

If you think you'll have many once-in-a-lifetime endeavors
Then I want to see those moments

Even if there's only one lifetime, there are many chances to be together
You're the strongest, giving me, with absolutely nothing, meaning in life

"Hooray! Hooray!" What's this ability you have to make me say this over and over?
Keep standing your ground and giving me courage

"Hooray! Hooray!" Even all the insignificant things are calling out
When I look at your eyes, I can run, too
I want to try carving out the best finale

'Cause you're my hero.

common arguments

"deku is straight!"

deku's sexuality has actually not yet been confirmed! infact, none of their sexualities have been confirmed. bnha already has 3 LGBT+ characters so it is not impossible for a mc to be gay! also, deku can still be attracted to women and be gay. gay is an umbrella term, so he could be bisexual! that's my headcanon, anway.

"izuocha is canon."

in my opinion, i think you're right! izuocha is extremely hinted at throughout the show, so i wouldn't be surprised if they were. i personally do not ship them because their dynamic is a bit basic for me, but if you like them you're completely valid!!

"they will never be canon."

i don't know if you knew this but, newsflash!: we know. this is a shounen after all, the chances of a gay ship becoming canon is extremely rare. i ship them purely for comfort, while yes it would be nice if they were romantically canon, but we all know that is never going to happen.

end !!

thank you everyone for reading!! this was a LOT to write, i spent about 4 hours on this? but i enjoyed it because i really love talking about them and hopefully this will help a lot of people! the point of making this wasn't "why you should ship bakudeku" or "why bakudeku is canon", it was simply made for people who do not ship them understand why we ship them. bakudeku shippers receive a lot more hate than we should but unfortunately no one is willing to listen. antis just outright call it toxic and abusive which is simply not true. if after reading this, you still have not changed your opinion on the ship, that's okay! you don't have to ship them, this was just to help others better understand the ship so they will stop leaving hateful remarks. hopefully this helped and i hope you have a great day!! :)

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