i was thinking some more about why i liked this panel so much and i guess a huge part of it was that the layout reminded me of the motif of deku following after bakugou. except this time, deku’s stopped dead in his tracks. and bakugou is basically like “hey what the hell are you doing? you said you were gonna surpass me so get your ass in gear”
deku following after him unnerved him for so long because he didn’t understand what deku wanted from him. he thought deku was out to get him and so he felt threatened. now that they finally communicated and cleared up things between them, bakugou can allow himself to see deku as an equal and with that, he’s accepted his role in their rivalry as someone who motivates deku to always be his best, a goal to reach
like i said before, he wants deku to get better now and he’s not gonna stand for him lagging behind. he needs deku too, after all