susagnon

[susagnon]

Post-UA

Team Dabohaze, “grown-up”

I headcanon that as adults, the remedial course-squad gets together for drinks every now and then.

The first time they got really shitfaced together, Yoarashi and Bakugou almost destroyed the entire izakaya, while Utsushimi live-streamed the whole chaos on social media... until the chat pointed out to her, that in the background, a sleepy-drunk Todoroki was about to get carried off by rabid fangirls.

Picture this, but without kids and with alcohol instead.

Naturally, both Yoarashi and Bakugou went into high gear to save their group’s damsel in distress.

Naturally, they went completely overboard trying to do so.

The izakaya ended up going from almost, to being completely destroyed. It was a PR-nightmare for all of their agencies, and Bakugou swore, to never go out with any of them ever again...

...

The whole group went out together a month later. On the opposite side of the city, because no establishment in the wider vicinity of where their first drinking location used to be, would let them in.

But since their first outing with alcohol, one of them always remains sober, to keep an eye on things...

Headcanon: That one time, when Utsushimi was their designated sober babysitter. Naturally, she took full advantage of it. Yoarashi wore the same white ensemble, but with a bright purple shirt and a huge smile.

[susagnon]

Salvaging trash: A role model for Minoru?

I theorized whether Mineta would benefit from having a positive male role model. Someone whom he respects enough, to learn from how to respect other humans.

Obviously girls' and women's reactions to his actions should be more than enough for Mineta to rethink his behaviour.

But just like in real life, unfortunately that's often not the case.

...

To preface:

Pervy loser as a trope is not funny to me at all, but as long as its clear that this behaviour is specifically the reason, why he’s a loser, and as long as other characters step in to keep the character from doing worse, I'm "ok" with it.

As in, I dislike it, but I’m feeling mostly detached from Mineta’s portrayal. I’ll just fast forward those scenes, if they annoy me too much.

Personally, I’m not one for the whole “expel Mineta, and substitute him with Shinso” (especially, since I don’t find Shinso very likable or interesting himself): I would have appreciated Mineta going through a small arc of self-directed character development regarding his view of girls. Instead Horikoshi’s shortcutted that, by having Mineta being forced into A Orange Clockwork-experience.

That wasn't to be - slightly disappointing but not surprising.

What I’m NOT okay with, is the framing of “boys will be boys”:

I fucking hate that Horikoshi had Mandalay remarking on Mineta’s inappropriate behaviour at the camp with smt like ~unsurprising, with a class full of teenage boys. ~

No. Just no.

That kind of behaviour should feel surprising, and not be treated as normal.

And it actually wasn't.

...well, it wasn't treated as normal by the kids:

Were most of the boys curious about the other side of the onsen? Likely.

But not a single one of them encouraged or participated in Mineta’s peeping attempt. In fact, many different guys in 1-A have verbalized their displeasure with Mineta’s “comedic” perverseness in different instances. Some more, some less, but more than one of them did.

"Boys will be boys"- way of thinking, really needs to die. Die! DIE!!!

It feels especially insulting since a male author has a female AND grown character reinforce this perspective.

Preface end.

Mineta has shown a caring side:

Expressed his deep affection for Deku during Class 1-A v. Deku;

Cried tears of happiness, when Bakugou finally woke up in the hospital after the PLW and tried his best to prevent the latter from getting out of bed and hurting himself in the process;

Felt very remorseful about some of his previous comments, after Shouji confides his own experiences with discrimination to the class, and expressed that remorse directly to the person whom he wronged;

Provokes AFO to divert his attention from Tokoyami, and then offers up his own quirk... all in hope that Dark Shadow wouldn’t get taken away from Tokoyami.

What do the recipient of Mineta's care have in common?

They're male.

My brain: If one cares about a person/group, one would be more inclined to listen to them than if they didn't care about that person/group. However...

Out of the 1-A guys, Iida might have been probably the most vocal about his disapproval of Mineta's inappropriate behaviour towards girls, and has tried to lecture Mineta into being a better person on multiple occasions.

Other characters that I remember as having interferred more intensely are Kirishima and Sero.

But none of them were successful in discouraging Mineta from harassing others in the longterm.

It's not a matter of general respect either.

Shouji and Deku, two of the guys Mineta does respect, and cares about, have told the latter to knock it off, to no avail. Admittedly, their attempts (especially Deku's) were more mild-mannered, compared to e.g. Iida.

My second theory is, that while Mineta cares about Deku and Shouji in general, he might not put much stock into their opinion about how to treat girls.

My third theory is, that those interferences were in fact, probably not intense enough for Mineta.

Putting this all together, for a role model to have an effect on Mineta they must

Have his overall respect,

make their disapproval of sexual harassment very clear, sternly, and repeatedly,

and ideally, someone, who is "good with girls".

... so probably no guy from 1-A.

E.g., while Todoroki is considered a bishonen in-universe, he's coasting entirely on his outward appearance here. Characterwise, he's more of an awkward duck. He's also not among those who have ever voiced displeasure at Mineta's antics.

Would Mirio work as a role model on Mineta’s hypothetical goal of how to become a better human being?

Honestly, I feel like a direct, but less wordy type than Iida might work.

For example, someone like Kota.

Yes, the no-nonsense kid, who destroyed Mineta with just one sentence, might work...

If only he were an older hero course student.

[susagnon]

Fumikage and Mina

In Movie 2, rare pair TokoMina formed a battle duo to fight off the main villain's second-in-command. Seeing Ashido get injured, made Tokoyami go berserk and gave him the necessary push to defeat their opponent, similarly to when Shouji got injured at summer camp. Evidently, Tokoyami is a very kind guy who cherishes all of his classmates, but for some reasons, I really liked seeing those two team-up.

In true 1-A fashion, I headcanon that Tokoyami probably went plus-ultra on the self-blame regarding Ashido's injuries. Until she told him to cut it out, with the same firm but understanding manner, just like how she did for Kirishima in middle school.

They definitely gained a new level of appreciation for each other after that battle.

In everyday life, their vibes are pretty much that of polar opposites, but I think that Tokoyami (just like the rest of the fandom) found “Alien Queen” to be a far superior hero name than “Pinky.”

I headcanon that one day, he told her that, just like how darkness can come in many different shades, if Ashido wants, her “Alien Queen” can mean something entirely different from an evil monster of a B-tier horror flick (a movie that wasn’t even remotely scary, in his opinion).

“Aw, Tokoyamiiiii!” Ashido glomps him. And then proceedes to invite herself, as well as a couple of their classmates, into his room.

Again.

He really just... remained on the floor at least a for a bit. What a drama king.

“You fiends! Have you no respect for other people's private space?!",

Tokoyami's Class-Dad-impression has just as much effect as the original: None.

However, Angry-yami gets placated quickly. Because this time around, Ashido has him show their classmates what truly scary storytelling is.

[susagnon]

Team "Dabohaze no fun"

I headcanon that the remedial course-squad will end up being frien…-dish (guess who’s making it difficult to simply label them as “friends”?) with each other.

Half-way through the course, Todoroki explicitly refers to Bakugou as a friend; and almost right afterwards they both (plus Deku) basically spent 24/7 around each other as Endeavor's interns: Normally most people would become friends... Bakugou just happens to be a ducking drama-queen special kid.

I imagine that Todoroki accepted Utsushimi as a friend fairly quickly - her flirting just went right over his head. On her part, I don’t think that she was too romantically invested in him anyways. I headcanon that after Utsushimi noticed how this pretty boy was not only totally clueless regarding romance, but so many more important topics, she took it upon herself to become his pop-culture tutor.

Now, every once in a while, Todoroki uses slang that even Kaminari can��t decipher ("Slangy-roki" must be among Bakugou's most disliked iterations of Todoroki). He and Utsushimi also exchange cat gifs frequently.

Overall, it seems like Todoroki considers other people his friends fairly quickly, as long as they’re not nasty (as in, insanely nasty. Afterall, he called Bakugou his friend).

I feel like the only person Todoroki has ever seemed reluctant to befriend, is Inasa. Inasa’s type of too much, has been just a bit too much for Todoroki. Furthermore being compared to, and then judged as being just the same as his father, was something that left a bitter taste in Todoroki's mouth.

However, if Inasa can eases up on trying to force the friendship and Todoroki can experience him being dependable and capable ally on the battlefield, there should be potential for them to become friends.

I imagine that Utsushimi gained points with Bakugou when she did the Glamour-roki illusion – just to promptly lose them, AND more, when she did a "Moe-baku" illusion the next day.

Headcanon: Bakugou being mean to Todoroki, and Yoarashi comforting the latter.

Bakugou finds Inasa to be a ducking drama-queen. Todoroki deadpans, that Bakugou is in no position to say such things. Bakugou threatens to blow Todoroki up. Yoarashi gets in between to defend his new reluctant friend.

My point is, out of the four of them, Utsushimi is the only one who’s not a drama-queen but simply a queen.

[susagnon]

Kouji is 1-A's makeshift mental health care coordinator

As it apparently didn't occur to anyone (neither "Dadzawa", nor "Dadmight", nor any other adult), that these kids miiight just need benefit from getting some dedicated mental health care...

1-A's mental health care provider are the animals that Kouda asks for help for this specific purpose.

He actually puts a lot of thought into, which of his animal friends he pairs up with which of his classmates.

It all started, after the first work-studies students returned from the Shie Hassaikai-raid.

Kouda, like the rest of 1-A, didn't learn any more details about what exactly had went down, as Asui and the others remained under their gag orders. But it was clear enough to them, that the mission had been hard on everyone involved.

In the weeks that follow, Kouda often sends Yuwai up to Uraraka's room. Some evenings, the pet bunny also thumps against Asui's door, until she opens for him.

When Kaminari quietly bemoans, that he can't get a good night's rest because Kirishima had started to drop weights in the middle of the night, Kouda asks a porcupine to visit the latter the very same evening, and hopes that his classmate will understand.

The next morning, Kirishima shoots him a discreet thumbs-up from the other side of the gym. Much more importany, Kouda also receives a toothy and bright-eyed smile. This lets him know that he did the right thing.

Therefore, while Kouda does fidget a little bit, when he asks Midoriya to accompany him to the small sheep pen on their school grounds - after he caught the latter practicing kicks for more than three hours straight - he manages to voice his request clearly and loud enough.

All in all, Kouda's peers appreciate him for his efforts in providing comfort very much.

Prior to all of this, however, there was one incident in which one 1-A member might have ended up requiring one or two extra therapy sessions, because of one of their mental health support animals:

In one of the light novels, Bakugou chases after Yuwei when the latter escaped from his cage in Kouda's room... and accidently follows the bunny into Mineta’s den of hell.

I headcanon that when Bakugou's screams echoed down to their common rooms, Deku sprang to his feet so quickly that he accidently threw over the stool that he had been using. He thought that his rival was gearing up for a fight. Seriously, Deku could have sworn, that Kacchan sounded even more enraged than he did during their recent nighttime smackdown!

When Bakugou thundered downstairs, the whole class had to work together in order to prevent their explosive classmate from throwing away his dream of becoming the number one hero... just to follow his new dream of becoming Mineta Minoru's killer instead.

Sero almost ran out of tape, because he also had to keep Bakugou from looking for brain bleach on the Darknet afterwards.

As a result, Bakugou - and by extension the rest of the class - received an impromptu lecture from their Class Reps, about how illegal and unsafe such an act would be.

Kouda was just about to go and get Yuwai to help with calming down their still fuming classmate... before he remembered that it was kinda the bunny's fault that Bakugou ended up like this, in the first place.

He still feels very apologetic about that whole incident. None of 1-A - except for unfortunate Bakugou - has ever stepped a toe into Mineta's room... but all of them knew their resident degenerate too well by now.

There is a wonderful fanfic, “Lesson Plan: Expertise Swap and New Skills Acquisition” by Cyberneticstar on Ao3, in which 1-A has to team up with classmates whom they usually have little interactions with... and poor, gentle Kouda gets paired up with Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight.

[susagnon]

Is it possible (JoL is a sci-fi fantasy in an alternate timeline, so probably yes?) that Sizhe was elevated to dizi, while his mother still remains a side-wife/concubine formally? I agree that normally a family of Madam Liu's standing probably wouldn't have accepted her to be married into another family a a concubine. But perhaps they struck an explicit agreement with Fan Jian, that Liu Ruyu's children would be considered "main" children, no matter her own formal status (perhaps Sizhe wasn't even elevated, but recorded as dizi from the get-go)? As Ruoruo's mother has passed away before Liu Ruyu entered the Fan clan, perhaps the Liu family thought that aside from formal recognition, Ruyu would be treated as the matriarch anyways, ... Which seems to be the case, for the most part.

I've also read somewhere (reddit?) that one of the reasons Fan Jian didn't elevate Liu Ruyu, was to avoid giving her to much formal authority over a young Ruoruo, in case Ruyu followed the evil stepmom trope. Aka a safety measure for his eldest daughter, born to his deceased, first wife. E.g., if Fan Jian died, Ruyu can't just marry off Ruoruo to anyone at her own will.

If that's the case, I applaud Fan Jian. Obviously you shouldn't bring someone that you mistrust into your family. But in these settings, you usually get to know your spouse after stepping in front of the alter with them.

And if I had children from previous relationships, I wouldn't take my chances in any way, as my children's safety would always be paramount to ettiquette, or anyone's pride.

I noticed that Fan Sizhe’s mother was standing off to the side while they were approaching Fan Jian to make their wedding vows, and I wondered if Fan Xian was going to let it go.

I love that he didn’t. I love that he said she should take the empty seat that is meant for the legal wife, and that she did. And that Fan Xian and Wan'er bow to both of them. (I wonder what Fan Xian would have done if it had been possible for Wu Zhu to be present.)

And I adore that I was so wrong about this particular wedding in cdrama, and they got to have this!

And later, when they exchange rings under the stars. That was like a private wedding for just them and it was perfect.

[susagnon]

14DaysofMHA - Day 13 (August 4th): Future, Growth, Change, Evolution

Fumikage and his 1-B friends

People were quite hard on Komori for the way she took Tokoyami out during 1-A and 1-B’s joint training.

Even though, she apologized to him right afterwards.

Even though, she evidently knew that her technique could be reversed by Recovery Girl easily, without any lasting aftereffects.

Even though, Tokoyami himself mustn't have minded it too much, considering he and Komori are shown talking and hanging out with each other, when 1-B visits 1-A’s dorm, the very same evening.

Whatever.

...

Komori is implied to be a Hawks-fangirl. I saw a fancomic somewhere depicting her asking Tokoyami for Hawks’ autograph.

I headcanon that Tokoyami did her one better: He had the winged hero call her on her birthday. Ever since then, Tokoyami's been Komori’s favourite from class 1-A.

I also headcanon that as young pro-heroes, Tokoyami and Komori's agencies are located very closeby. Thus, they meet up with each other for lunch regularly. After a while, they encounter Kuroiro who happens to have lunch at the same place and time, that they do...

This happens again. And again. And again.

Even though Komori is such a foodie, that her and Tokoyami don't have a regular lunch spot.

Even though Kuroiro's agency is nevertheless usually located on the opposite side of the town.

When those coincidences reach a frequency of almost every single time that Tokoyami and Komori meet up, Tokoyami’s annoyance also hits the roof.

While Komori is in the restroom, Tokoyami makes it clear to Kuroiro that there's no rivalry between himself and the latter regarding their friend. And that the latter should take a page out of Red Riot's book and man up, and put his feelings out into the light for once!

After that conversation, Tokoyami and Komori have their chill lunch breaks back. But occasionally they intentionally meet up with Kuroiro. Every now and then, Komori does have to stop Kuroiro from getting on Tokoyami’s nerves, but for the most part, everyone gets along with each other well.

How I picture Komori and Kuroiro's matchmaking through Tokoyami (and Dark Shadow) went.

I don’t think it’s common in Japan to have friends doing this, but I can see Komori having Tokoyami officiating her and Kuroiro’s wedding.

Or mc-ing it, that might be more common. I can picture Tokoyami harbouring a romantic side. He already has the flowery language down - he would do a good job.

And Dark Shadow would keep him from getting too longwinded.

[susagnon]

To me, these characters are not really in any particular order.

Especially since I do like more characters than these, e.g. Deku.

Alas, the generator only allowed five highlights...

So, I guess, the first three are those characters that I found myself relating to the most often.

While the last two feral kids are among those, that I enjoyed watching the most.

Create your own here.

[susagnon]

14DaysofMHA - Day 11 (August 2nd): Symbol (of), Name

What's in the names, GEMGD?

According to fanon, his deity, Great Explosion Murder God Dynamight uses someone's name if he respects them, and a nickname if he doesn't.

Examples that are often cited, are either Bakugou calling Uraraka by her name instead of "Pink cheeks" during their sports fest match, or him calling Deku "Izuku" during his apology to the latter.

Only, it's not as clear-cut.

Bakugou refers to his bestie as both, "Stupid Hair" and "Kirishima" - without one displacing the other.

Bakugou refers to his... frenemy (?) as both, "Icyhot" and "Todoroki" - also without one displacing the other.

Instead of "real name = respect, and not-real-name = no respect", it seems more like Bakugou uses nicknames per default and switches to their actual names, whenever a serious moment calls for it.

One more minor example:

During the second movie, he yelled out Sero’s name in worry for the latter, and everyone awed about how much he cares about his friend Sero.

But I'm not so sure.

As in, I don't think it's an indicator about anything special about their relationship, not that Sero isn't his good friend (...although. Is he?) or that Bakugou doesn't care.

I just can't remember any other instance of Bakugou using Sero's name. I believe it was simply to show Bakugou's worry and horror about a comrade saving him, and then getting hit in the head for that.

I can easily imagine, that if it had been Mineta who had done the Bakugou-saving and gotten punished for it, Bakugou would have yelled out "MINETAAA!!!" instead of "LITTLE SHI RUNT!!!"

...

There's only one instance, where Bakugou evidently tried to change how he refers to someone intentionally, and only one other instance, where Bakugou apparently made a permanent change.

Firstly, with Deku:

After making his apology to Deku, Bakugou tried to switch to "Izuku" permanently - he almost got constipated while trying to do, which was lampshaded by Deku himself.

Now, Bakugou does refer to Deku as "Izuku" in his mind. But for the most part, he resorts to the nickname that he had given him in mean spirit - it's just that Deku has changed its meaning.

Secondly, with Iida:

When 1-A launched Iida at a runaway-Deku, Bakugou calls Iida "Prez" for the first time, instead of the previously established "Four-eyes".

(I don't count Uraraka, because I don't remember him ever calling her by anything after the sports fest ever again.)

Apparently Bakugou never switched back, because (spoiler alert!) by chapter 428, he still calls Iida "Prez" instead of "Four-eyes".

By the "real name = respect, not-real-name = no respect"-philosophy, Bakugou doesn't respect anyone, as he doesn't call anyone by their actual name consistently - which I don't think, is the case.

By that philosophy, Bakugou switching from "Four-eyes" to "Prez" permanently has no significance at all - which I don't think, is the case.

E.g., I'd argue that Bakugou has held Deku in high regard, at latest, when he witnessed how the latter struggled against Shigaraki during the PLW.

I don't remember when, but Bakugou has also called Todoroki by his name, long before the latter "defeated" Dabi at the beginning of the Final War.

...

What I actually mean to say is:

I don't think Bakugou started the whole nickname thing to insult people on purpose (aside from Deku ofc). He was just too busy being up his own ass, that he didn't care to remember anything about anyone else - including smt as basic and simultaneously important as their names.

However, just because Bakugou apparently continues to use nicknames, doesn't mean that he doesn't respect the person in question.

I actually would like for him to continue to keep using nicknames. It's fun to think of how Bakugou (consciously or subconsciously) modifies nicknames, when he's updating his impressions about certain people.

E.g., For some reason, I just find the limited interactions that he and Asui had with each other quite fun:

In the episode “Bakugou: Rising”, we can observe how in the background, Asui and Uraraka (and Sero?) are hounding Bakugou after he repeatedly blew Deku up for fun training. When the other two get distracted, Asui just keeps going.

Horikoshi’s sketches of these two with each other: One, of Asui finding Bakugou sitting in a box in the rain like an abandoned puppy. Two, of Bakugou getting splashed with water by Asui, and him... simply taking it?!

The thoughtbunny:

Asui has potential as a Bakugou-wrangler.

Imagine both of them doing a team-up mission together, and Bakugou finally experiencing the versatility and value of "Frog-face" first-hand.

What would Bakugou call Asui afterwards?

[susagnon]

14DaysofMHA - Day 6 (July 28th): Minor Character

I wanted to see more 1-A shenanigans with 1-B

We deserved more bonding time with them.

Class 1-B are good and kind kids - including my favorite 1-B brat, Monoma Neito. (With the current season, no one can deny his heroism anymore.)

The KiriTetsu bromance that we got to see, was quite sweet. As the other potential background friendships between 1-A and 1-B could been: MomoKendo, TokoKomo... Not to mention the crushes: YaoWase, TsuyuTsubu...

...

Horikoshi, I empathise with the desire to finish a decade long work, and to finally move on with your life.

However.

Would it have been that bad, if you had utilised the full three years of japanese highschool to tell your story in a slightly more realistic timeframe, instead of cramming all that trauma and character development into one single school year?

Would it have been that bad, if you had given those lovable characters that you've birthed, the chance to connect more with your audience and each other?

Some uncultured (jkjk) fans might have liked to label everything that wasn't 'My Hero Smackdown', as filler.

But personally, I will mourn the lack of "slice of life"-scenes (aka. the unshown, unseen character and relationship developments outside of the action scenes, that are necessary to feel organic and more believable) in 'My Hero Academia' for a while.

...

Obviously Horikoshi can do whatever he pleases with the world that he created. Still, I'm praying that he didn't rush through the story at such neck breaking speed, just to do the MHA equivalent to Boruto next. I believe that would break many fans' hearts.

[susagnon]

14DaysofMHA - Day 2 (July 24th): UA Academy, Education

I wanted to see more of academia in 'My Hero Academia'

More in-class scenes.

More discussing their lessons (and other things) during lunch breaks.

More practical classes in more varied group constellations.

Even though, UA's hero students are excluded from extracurricular clubs: More school activities in more varied group constellations.

More unpaid labour disguised as practical learning excursions/trips.

More survival training disguised as recreational camping.

Just more.

[susagnon]

14DaysofMHA - Day 1 (July 23rd): Family, Home, House

I wanted to see more of 1-A's dorm life

Their flatscreen is huge. I would've liked to see them having movie nights in front of it.

Their dining area is huge. I would've liked to see them sharing more meals together.

More dorm parties. Be it to celebrate significant mile stones in their budding careers, or simply seasonal changes.

In general, more of them eating and cooking together.

I would've enjoyed seeing more of 1-A taking care of mundane everyday life tasks, e.g., doing grocery shopping together.

I would've loved to see these kids deep cleaning their dorm together.

More of taking care of each others, in simple, small ways. Like saving someone from bad hygiene or potentially catching a cold, when they're too depressed or exhausted to do those for themselves.

Simply more of 1-A's daily life as normal kids at a boarding school.

("That's an oxymoron. " - a friend of mine, who went to boarding school.)

Yes, Deku.

Yes.

We really could've spent more time on those things:

Horikoshi really should've spent more time on developing his found family theme with all the mundane everyday stuff, that actually turns a house into a home.

It would not have been just okay.

It would have been awesome.

[susagnon]

“I don’t know what my goals are, no. Thanks for asking.”

[susagnon]

14DaysofMHA - Day 1 (July 23rd): Family, Home, House

How a school class became home to a traumatized boy

Todoroki's path to gaining friends and a place he could comfortably call home, essentially started like this:

Todoroki: I have to win. Therefore, I will defeat you! Deku: … aight. Let’s give it our all! But, uhm, my friends wanted to get donuts afterwards... Do you want to join us, after we're done with beating each other up? Todoroki: … aight. Actually, I never had donuts before. Deku & friends: *les collective gasps* And then they took Todoroki to the donut place right away.

Headcanon: This ED occured a couple of weeks after Hosu. The kids wanted to cheer up their Class Prez, so one of them suggested a small outing to get donuts.

Unlike the typical stock-shonen rival-to-friends-trope, Deku & friends didn't had to drag a kicking and screaming Shouto into their midst (there’s another character for that. Who, ironically, ends up getting dragged around by Todoroki in the third movie).

Basically, Deku & friends pointed into the direction they were heading towards, with an encouraging look... and Todoroki gave an affirmative nod, and trailed after them immediately.

BNHA felt like such a breeze of fresh air, because Horikoshi did have good moments of utilizing and subverting common tropes at the same time.

And thank god, because...

My word.

Sero lampshading how much edgelord Shinsou reminded him of Earlyroki, is more than enough reason to be grateful to Deku and the rest of 1-A.

Thanks to them, we got this instead:

Thank you Deku, for reaching out to a rude, sad kid.

Thank you, 1-A, for following Deku's example without any hesitation, and giving that lonely, socially-awkward kid a safe space to grow.

And thank you, Todoroki, for taking their hands, even though you've only had a very rough reference framework for positive interpersonal relationships.

[susagnon]

! SPOILERS BELOW !

.

.

.

I can't.

Bakugou and Todoroki are hiding behind Iida.

And Kacchan is telling on students to School Class Prez.

Remember this delinquent and this stick-up-the-butt:

Bakugou and Iida certainly still exhibit clear traits of those. But they are not mainly those anymore.

They have become GEMDD and Ingenium, and they will continue to work hard to remain worthy of those names.

They have truly become Kacchan and Class Dad Prez.

...

Bakugou can be swayed by some people (e.g., hard power: Deku & Todo, soft power: Kiri & Kami), but those people still defer to him most of the time. Within those dynamics, Bakugou kinda takes the role of the mean, prickly older brother, while the others are the admiring younger brothers instead.

(Except for Todoroki. Todoroki has the vibe of the sassy fraternal twin. Over whom Bakugou tries to lord over that he's ten minutes older - even when both of them will be old grandpas in their eighties... not that Todoroki ever cares.)

I have an unfinished meta lying around for another MHA character, about guys benefitting from having a positive older brother figure in their lives.

It could be nice for Bakugou (and Iida) to have something like that between them.

Katsuki's 17th birthday

Katsuki dragged his feet towards the steps that lead up to 1-A's dorm.

There was a pounding in his left shoulder. Still less annoying than the twist in his lower abdomen, anytime he made sudden movements.

No wonder.

It has been all but a few weeks, since that cackling-crackhead had ran him through with those freaky spikes.

But every single one of Katsuki's peers who had been admitted to the hospital with him, had picked training back up immediately after their release. There was neither enough manpower, nor enough time for anybody to rest like they were supposed to.

This morning again, 1-A had quietly made their way to the training grounds, before even just a hint of yellow had shown itself on the horizon.

Katsuki's class had spent all morning and noon running through combat exercises - all of them, the ones usually more focused on rescue and reconnaissance included.

None of them knew, what they would soon be up against. But the PLW had taught them that there might come a moment, where every single one of them would be needed at the front-most lines.

No one complained, not even Sparky or the runt, when they sweated and struggled straight through lunch time. It was only thanks to Awase and Shitty Hair's twin, who turned up to usher them towards the cafeteria - apparently at 1-B's Class Rep's behest - that 1-A managed to get something into their stomach, before it got closed until dinner time.

After their belated lunch, 1-A had ventured outside UA's barriers on their first authorized Deku-hunt. When they returned, unsuccessful and frustrated, Katsuki had trodded over to his parents’ temporary quarters. The hag had demanded that he have dinner with his family today. Katsuki only went because he had missed his parents, and his mom always made his favourite spicy curry for his birthday wanted to shut up her yapping.

With flavourful curry warming his stomach, and his soft bed on his mind, Katsuki pushed the frontdoor open.

The entrance hall was dark and quiet.

No surprise here either.

These days, when class 1-A arrived home after a day full of physical exercise and working as substitute volunteer heroes, nobody had energy left for anything else, beyond cleaning themselves up and dragging themselves upstairs to their beds.

Katsuki frowned.

Not too long ago, in front of their ridiculously oversized TV screen, Shitty Hair used to almost crush his gaming controller in his palms, while groaning.

Not too long ago, Sparky used to almost choke on himself, because he was laughing, while he was jumping up and down with another controller in his outstretched hands.

Not too long ago, Soy-sauce Face used to almost fall off their equally ridiculously humongous couch, when he attempted to lean over multiple of their classmates, to explain to Icy-hot whatever was happening on the manga pages, that the latter had held out towards him.

Not too long ago, in the kitchen, the tea kettle used to screech for way too long, because Ponytail got caught up with scolding Raccoon Eyes, for whatever the latter had said, that had made Round Cheeks squeal like a guinea pig and circle the lights over their dining area.

Not too long ago, at one of the many tables, Four-Eyes and Dek...

Katsuki closed his eyes and allowed himself a small sigh.

It had been a long day. He should feel glad about the peace and quiet. But his once buzzling home felt... dead. It wasn't supposed to be like th-

“HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

For a split-second, the flooding lights felt blinding, and Katsuki recoiled slightly from the popping sound of those ridiculous confetti poppers.

Suddenly, he remembered one of the video recording that his old man had taken of him many years ago: His five-year-old self had just managed to activate his explosions on purpose for the first time... and then he had promptly fallen over, because the impact of his own quirk had startled him.

Katsuki ran a hand over his head grumbingly, hoping to rid it of some of that glitter trash. These idiots are annoying.

Before Katsuki could fire off a string of curses, he was stopped by a heavy arm that got flung around his shoulders.

Shitty Hair murmured into his ear, “Hey, I know you don't like fuss, but Iida insisted. He said that people should know, when other's are grateful for their existence. Don't worry. Everyone is feeling rather dead on their feet, and will want to head to bed soon. But all of us really wanted to do at least this much. Please don't be mad."

Katsuki scowled. That reasoning was annoying.

Raccoon Eyes saved him from having to reply to Shitty Hair, "Bakugou, look! Satou made this just for you!"

And looking he did, because that beauty deserved to be looked at. The cake was just as massive as the one, that Satou had made for him and Icy-hot, when finally, the whole of 1-A had passed their Provisional License exam.

"Huh? What are chili peppers doing there?! Hey Satou, are those made from sugar, or actually real ones? I thought we would have some fruit cake!"

"Technically, Kaminari-san, chili peppers are fruit. They have the same prop..."

God, Ponytail should save it! If Dunce Face couldn't appreciate Katsuki's birthday cake, then he should just shove it!

But before Katsuki could voice those thoughts out loud, his attention got caught by a pair of bespectacled eyes, that was watching all of them with a tired, but soft expression.

Katsuki rolled his eyes. That sight was annoying.

But he used the inane fruit discussion that had broken out between his classmates, to march over to Four-eyes, “Hey. Thanks... Prez.”

It was only fair. Four-eyes was the only one of these idiots, who had taken his chosen hero name seriously.

To his credit, Four-eyed Prez seemed surprised but caught himself, before Katsuki felt itchy again. With an easy smile, Prez simply said, “You’re very welcome, Bakugou-kun.” Then he turned to the other idiots to lecture them about washing their hands and sitting down, before stuffing their face with cake, and...

"WHAT THE CRAP??! THOSE ARE TWO SLICES, DUNCE FACE!! GET YOUR OWN DAMN BIRTHDAY CAKE!!!

...

I like the subtle changes in between these two classmates. I think that over time, Iida gets better with knowing when to give, and when to hold back with his input. On his part, Bakugou also shows some improvements in regards to not dismissing what other people tell him right away, and to actually give some of them his consideration.

The BNHA school briefs have a story about Iida's birthday, in which Bakugou actively tried to prevent 1-A's surprise for their Class Rep from failing - even though he still opted out of celebrating with them himself.

I headcanon, that Iida made himself a mental note to enforce some Bakugou-celebration in return.

[susagnon]

... being child soldiers sucks, even if you chose that path for yourself. Being family to such determined children, must probably suck not any less.

Saying their goodbyes: Shouto, Katsuki

Shouto

Nee-san spoke first, “Please be careful, Shouto. I... I’m so sorry for being such a useless older sister. I wish, I cou-"

"I will. And you're not useless." That felt insufficient. Shouto tried moving his hand over his sister's head, like he had seen Asui doing with some of their classmates when they got upset. "Please teach me how to make soba properly, when I get back."

At this, Fuyumi's eyes turned watery.

Shouto faltered. Then he froze.

Natsu-nii had pulled him into a hug.

Perhaps not wanting their sister and mother to hear, Natsu-nii said into his ear: “Punch him in the face. Pummel his ass." And with an even lower voice, his brother whispered: "And if there's any possibility… please drag him home.”

Shouto flailed. Then he remembered what he did, when okaa-san had asked for his permission to hug him during one of his first visits, and put his hands lightly on Natsu-nii's back. For few seconds, his fingers gripped his older brother's sweater tightly.

Shouto turned to their mother. She had lagged behind his siblings slightly.

He knew that the loss of Touya-nii back then, had completely shattered whatever small parts of their mother had been left, that hadn't already been broken by their father. But Touya-nii had killed so many people. And his flames were so strong, surpassing those of Endeavor's.

Shouto didn't know what to say to his mother. But he had to say something, so he settled on, "Okaa-san, I won’t let our family hurt any more people. I promise.”

“I know. I’m sor…” His mother stopped. Instead, she reached out to wrap his left hand between her own smaller ones. “Thank you, Shouto. I’m grateful for having you.”

Shouto swallowed hard. His hand stayed in between his mother's palms, until the heroes were signaled to move out.

Katsuki

“You will win.”

“What do you take me for?! Of course I will!”

For that, the hag decked him over the head.

Katsuki was about to let his mother know, that she hit like a ninety-year old. But before he could, his old man caught his gaze. Something in his father's eyes made Katsuki close his mouth again.

With her hands on her hips and her chin tilted up, his mother said: “Absolute victory. That's what you've always spouted. And absolute victory requires making it back. Preferably, in one piece. Although I don't expect that - no, I'm not underestimating you. But I'm also not an idiot. And neither are you."

At this, Katsuki averted his eyes. The hero students involvement in the PLW was still kept secret from the public. Aside from Icyhot, none of the students who got hospitalized had been allowed visits from their families.

Katsuki knew from his old man, that his mother had stood in front of the hospital every single day, until they learned that their son had been released and escorted back to his dorm.

During phone calls, he had tried to downplay his injuries. It wasn't because he agreed with the Commission's dumbass decisions.

It had been futile anyways. Katsuki saw from the expression of his mother's face, when she first laid eyes on him after UA's emergency shelters went into effect, that she had guessed the severity of his injuries right away.

His mother combed her hand slowly through his hair. Katsuki fought against the urge to tilt his head towards her.

"So. I expect an absolute victory, where as much of you makes it back as needed... to take the decking that you’ll get for being disrespectful to your mother. Got it?”

“…yeah, yeah. Just watch me.”

The hag gave his hair a slight pull.

And so, Katsuki's schoolmates, teachers, and anyone else in their vincity, got subjected to an encore of the Bakugou-screamo-musical, until it was time for the son to leave.

[susagnon]

Me right now:

... or so I wish.

I wish I was this intelligent.

And this cute.

And this filthy rich. Especially this filthy rich.

Well, I got the tea consumption down.

As well as some of the insanity.

...

In case you didn't see the bio: Whatever I'm posting about, this is not a spoiler-free blog. Other than that:

Welcome. I hope you have fun while browsing some of my captured thoughtbunnies!

My BNHA scribblings