Mha Friendships - Tumblr Posts
Eri’s princess’ guard
That was kinda uncool, Mirio. Especially coming from a senpai. Just look at this pained, fake laugh.
Inappropriate introduction of Monoma from Mirio aside, I like Monoma’s interactions with Eri because we get to see more of his character beyond its flanderization. During the sports fest, Monoma was quickly established as being a very observant and intelligent person... and then those traits got banned to the backseat in favour of his obsessive rivalry with 1-A.
Personally, I'm not too bothered by that shtick: I read someone's interpretation about how Monoma's "hate" of class 1-A, is just his love for 1-B that comes out in the most annoying way - but it's a pity, that the majority of his appearances got boiled down to mainly that.
However, Monoma has also been shown to be quite sensitive and considerate of other people’s feelings:
He elbowed Aizawa - a teacher who's well-known to be strict - when the latter phrased something in a very blunt manner, which might have made Eri sad. He's specifically the one who looked after Eri during the almost riot at UA's emergency shelters. Just like the rest of UA’s students, Monoma is a capable hero-in-training, and a good kid at heart.
Being around Eri gives him opportunities for his dramatics to find a more positive outlet, and to show a gentlemanly side worthy of his design.
Eri Claus' cuteness making people skedaddle over to her.
I found it very cute how Tokoyami’s eyes lit up, when Eri appeared at 1-A's Christmas party. There were five 1-A kids who came over to the door to greet Eri: Deku, Uraraka, Asui, Kirishima - all who were involved in the Shie Hassaikai raid - and Tokoyami.
I can see 1-A's resident emo-kid having a soft spot for children in general. But to me, his reaction here seemed almost like he and Eri had met each other before.
Ojiro, it's fine, really! Tokoyami will tell you that Eri's worthy of the sword's power.
Which makes me wonder about their first interactions: Eri is a very kind girl but she’s also a young child who was traumatized by thugs, who constantly wore plaque masks around her. On the other hand, the novels have shown Tokoyami to be a hit with another little girl, who got lost at the amusement park.
Tokoyami talks and carries himself like the plus ultra chunnibyou, but similar to Monoma, I can see his dramatic language being popular with young children. Tokoyami's also very kind and usually on the more patient side. I imagine he and Eri would've approached each other tentatively but became fast friends.
Tell me this isn't cute af.
To Eri, Deku and Mirio are her personal heroes and older brothers. But Monoma and Tokoyami are her fairytale prince and dark knight respectively.
...
And now I wonder about interactions between Monoma and Tokoyami. Monoma's 1-B vs 1-A shtick aside, I feel like those two might get along with each other well.
The girls of class 1-A
The pairs Uraraka and Asui, Yaoyorozu and Jirou, Ashido and Hagakure may be closest to each other each, but all of the girls get along with each other very well.
Yaoyorozu seems to be the most outwardly protective: She told the other kids to back off, when it seemed like Jirou might get pressured into singing at the cultural festival, without the latter wanting to. She also told the other girls off, when they were pressing Ochako about her crush.
Jirou displays similar protectiveness:
In Movie 1, she and Yaoyorozu gave poor Deku a bit of attitude, because Ochako felt distressed when they saw Deku with Melissa together. Yaoyaorozu and Jirou have also each hugged and comforted a crying Mina in separate instances (or because Hagakure does a shody job at comforting people? Jk jk).
Mina seems to be the heart of the 1-A girls and the most sensitive to all the crap that the kids have went through.
Mina’s hero training
Fanon often depicts Ashido with the Bakusquad (which personally, I think of as more of a Kirisquad). But aside from her bond with Kirishima, she doesn’t have many scenes with the rest of Bakusquad: She failed her practical exam with Kaminari, got herself invited by Sero to the boys’ room at camp, and tried to get Bakugou into Christmas gear…
His arms did end up inside the sleeves, so he did end up giving into peer pressure.
Horikoshi gave us one throwaway comment, that Ashido had Bakugou (and Todoroki) helping her with her new technique, in preparation for the final battle. I would have wanted to actually see that. I also headcanon an older brother younger sister dynamic between Ashido and Bakugou, because Bakugou could really need every single chill person, who’s willing to befriend him. And while Ashido already had her “great moment” in the war, more scenes of female characters receiving productive training would have been very welcome.
Imagine if she had more scenes training and fighting alongside the Bakusquad? Imagine acid-soaked tape that transports delayed electric shocks?
To have: Jammingwhey’s social intelligence
"...whaddaya doin', dunce-face?"
Horikoshi referred to Kirishima and Kaminari as class 1-A’s emotional cores. Out of the two of them, Kaminari flies more under the radar, due to lesser screentime.
How does Kaminari function as one of 1-A’s emotional cores?
Let’s start with a perhaps more unconventional example:
“Flaming crap mixed with garbage” is still one of the more creative insults that appeared in MHA. Alongside Asui, Kaminari took over the quite important job of making the shifting power dynamics between Deku and Bakugou visible:
Bakugou's unrestrained violence against Deku during 1-A's first team assignment, was enough to make the class lose respect for him.
While Bakugou is undoubtedly talented and powerful, he was also blind to the fact, that he was only a big fish in a small pond.
At UA, everyone used to be in the top of their middle schools. Some, e.g., Iida, came from much better schools than Bakugou himself.
Meaning, Bakugou had no reason to prance around the way he did - and it was at UA, where he got served his first humble pie ever: Firstly, Deku fighting back. Secondly, a show of Todoroki's power. Lastly, a very sober but cutting assessment of himself by Yaoyorozu.
In contrast to the kids at his old school - and aside from a traumatized Deku - neither Kaminari nor the rest of 1-A are afraid of Bakugou. Kaminari snarking at Bakugou is him letting Bakugou know that.
To repeat: At UA, everyone used to be in the top of their former schools.
I just feel taken back a bit, whenever fanon depicts Kaminari and Ashido as being dumber than bricks. The two of them are the academically lowest ranking students in class 1-A, of UA. Characterizing them as being overall stupid, is like saying the academically lowest ranking freshman at Harvard University is generally stupid.
Don’t get me wrong: At elite schools, there are many intelligent people - and plenty more dumb people, just like anywhere else.
But everyone who gets into the school, must've been smart and talented enough, in order to beat out the dozens of other applicants for one of the coveted spots.
Considering how real-life schools in Japan work, Kaminari too, was most likely in the top of his middle school: He casually references Hemingway, like he reads his stuff for fun... Which actually might be the case, because I don’t think that American author is commonly part of the curriculum in Japanese highschools.
Furthermore, Bakugou (ranked 3rd in the midterms) and Monoma (rated with a 5/5 in intelligence in the official data book) have canonically failed exams before.
In short: Just by themselves, academic scores don't mean jack shit, if you want to have an accurate picture of someone's intelligence and capabilities - not to mention, potential.
Whiny wannabe edge-lord Shinsou should be grateful that there are generously kind people like Kaminari. I wouldn't have the ducking patience.
Aside from letting a peer know that their crappy behaviour is unwelcomed, and next to the example above, Kaminari’s social intelligence also shines in other moments.
The light novels lampshade that trait at least twice:
When he makes sure to include Kouda, making room for the latter to voice his thoughts if he wishes too.
Another of the stories, narrates something along the lines of, ~he [Bakugou] had the feeling, that as long as Kaminari existed, Bakugou would never be alone.~
Kouda is one of the minor 1-A students. As such, he's often forgotten by the audience. But in-universe? They may not be close, but Kaminari Denki will never let anyone feel left out.
Even 1-A's snappy Pomeranian ends up appreciating him.
I mean, it starts with Kaminari running after Kirishima, who was following Bakugou. After a while, Kirishima and Kaminari trailed after Bakugou together. Since then, Bakugou has dragged Kaminari with him, and told the latter to "leave the rescue to the extras!" Thus, explicitly excluding Kaminari from 'those extras.'
And why wouldn’t you keep a good grip on such an awesome friend?
and have not: Jammingwhey's darkness
Kaminari has been portrayed as a light-hearted character, but I think there were a lot of interesting - and unfortunately lost - opportunities to explore the darker corners of his mind, similarly to what we got with Kirishima. We know that they exist, because we were shown a bit of his feelings of inadequacy, before he got his pointer shooter, and a bit of his fears, when we got the short ship scene between him and Jirou during the PLW. I appreciated those moments, but I would have liked to see much more of that.
Apparently, Kaminari seems to take a lot of comfort in Ojiro’s tail. According to BNHA’s wiki, he also confides in Ojiro himself. It isn’t known, what exactly he confides to Ojiro about. But apparently, Kaminari has some stuff to confide about...
For example, I was fine with Aoyama being the UA traitor. To me, that plotline did feel coherent. However, I’m also intrigued by fanon’s musings about Kaminari as the traitor. Especially the idea of Kaminari injuring Kirishima while fleeing, after he's accidently discovered by the latter. Juat imagine the potential of that drama! The KiriBakuKami trio being broken up! Bakugou feeling enraged and hurt! Jirou feeling hurt and enraged! The fallout of demoralization and emotional pain for all of 1-A!
Imagine a similar expression when !traitor Kaminari gets caught red-handed. And electrocutes one of his closest friends in order to escape.
I expected, then hoped for Kaminari' promotion to temporary main cast, similar to what Kirishima got during the Shie Hassaikai arc. Unfortunately, that hope remains unfulfilled.
...
I won’t get into the potential of his quirk because I’m not very well-versed in quirk-technicalities.
I do find this hypothesis from other fans convincing: At some point, Horikoshi noticed that the power potential of Kaminari’s quirk was too OP - which at some parts, could have broken the story. In order to prevent that, Kaminari never received any extended major screentime. In turn, we got deprived of Kaminari-focused character development.
Everyone, say "thank you, animators!" - A rare instance of Kaminari looking badass.
At the very least, I would have liked to know Kaminari’s motivations for going through rigorous training in order to become a professional hero. As far as I remember, we never learned about them.
1-A’s most popular guys
Horikoshi having Ashido and Hagakure commenting on Todoroki’s looks might mean that Todoroki is Class-1A’s resident pretty boy (which he is).
Horikoshi having Camie and grown women (…why, Horikoshi?) like Pixie Bob and Mount Lady flirting with Todoroki might mean that he’s desirable to a wide array of women.
Horikoshi having Yaoyorozu and Todoroki character shilling each other in the most obnoxious manner, could be interpreted as Yaoyorozu having the hots for Todoroki.
But he's not one of the girls' two most liked male classmates.
Kirishima is.
While Hagakure doesn't appreciate his taste for interior design, Asui appreciates him for his kindness and empathy, Yaoyorozu appreciates him for yelling at Mineta for perving on her, and Jirou appreciates him for his open admiration of her talents, even though she’s feeling a bit embarrassed about them. Not to mention, Ashido and him have their special bond anyway.
Kirishima’s basically a buff human German Shepherd - what’s not to love about him?
And the other most well-liked boy in 1-A?
It’s Shouji.
Chill but simultaneously, very considerate Shouji.
You know how you're often compared to that cousin? After the provisional license exam, every single time any of the 1-A boys got on Jirou’s nerves, they got to hear from her how comforting he was to Asui, how gentlemanly he behaved towards Yaoyorozu, and how calming his presence was to them, when they were all stressed out... and so on and forth.
Good perceptive boy Shouji. Fy Mineta.
It may sound like a cliché, but Shouji's the girls' gentle giant. He's their sweet, little-big brother and reliable protector. None of the 1-A girls have ever thought of Shouji as looking scary or hideous before.
I’m not saying that the girls want to climb them like a tree. But out of all of their male classmates, Kirishima and Shouji are the most beloved. And all of the girls have had - romantically or platonically - crushes on one (or even both) at least once.
Shouto and his adoptive sisters, part 1
I headcanon that Todoroki is especially protective of Uraraka (e.g. in Movie 1 he intentionally placed himself right in front of her) and Asui, because they remind him of his sister, who is both cheerful and caring, and to whom he couldn’t be close to in the past. Despite being the youngest Todoroki sibling, and the one who received the brunt of their father’s abuse, I think Shouto might still feel partly responsible for the distance between him and his siblings.
It seems like Todoroki joined Deku & co for lunch regularly, right after the back-alley trio returned from Hosu. I headcanon - especially since I've watched their background shenanigans in the BNHA stage plays (the plays are hilarious, go look them up on yt!) - that Uraraka started to uraraka-handle Todoroki around the place, just like she has been doing with Deku and Iida since the start.
And no, their friendship doesn’t consist of Todoroki buying her expensive shit with his father’s credit card. Todoroki was someone who rejected his father’s instructions for years, even though it would have benefitted his hero training greatly (makes 100 % sense from the emotional angle, and 0 % sense from a sheer utilitarian angle). I headcanon that he also refuses to ask his father for money for anything. Fuyumi took care of that, otherwise Todoroki might have just walked around in clothes that he's grown out of, just because he didn't want to ask the old man for anything.
I also don’t think that Uraraka would accept huge amounts of money/monetary gifts from her friends, no matter her own financial circumstances. Even - or rather especially - if she'd thought that Todoroki's spending his father's money on her to piss of the latter. I think Uraraka would have an outlook like, “Don’t do things mainly to oppose someone. Do things for yourself!” which redirects Todoroki’s actions away from his father but turns his focus towards himself.
Uraraka would grab Todoroki and their friends, and they would go to the nearest playground. Each of them teaches Todoroki how to play their favourite (and entirely free of costs) childhood games. The games he wasn’t allowed to play, when he was younger.
He will catch up on them now. Together with his friends.
...
In my mind, this was canon:
For sure, Uraraka's first impression of Todoroki is of him being an awkward oddball... which I headcanon is one of the reasons why she went out of her way to befriend him.
Shouto and his adoptive sisters, part 2
Would have loved to see an actual team-up between these two: The guy who thought his quirk works best without teammates around him, and the girl known for being one of the most versatile battle comrades you can have.
Asui is the older sister to two younger siblings. I headcanon that she talks to Todoroki like how she talks to them: Encouragingly and patiently, without any condescencion.
They got closer after Asui cried in front of him and the other kids, who sneaked away to Kamino. Todoroki was reeeally sleepy, but he still felt bad about having partly caused her distress, so he tried to talk to her more afterwards.
When the weather turns cold, Todoroki and Asui often end up sitting close to each other: First on the school bus, then anywhere else. Todoroki gets some comfort out of seeing how his fire side, which he had rejected for so long, can be helpful to others even outside of combat - be it to keep Dark Shadow obedient to Tokoyami, or to keep Asui from involuntary hibernation.
Headcanon: Todoroki intentionally chose the spot in front of Asui and Uraraka. He wanted Deku and Iida to join them but before they could, Aoyama and the other girls placed themselves around 1-A's pretty boy.
I saw a fan comic once, in which Asui brought Todoroki a cup of tea and he accidently refers to her as “nee-san”. I headcanon that this has happened more than once. Todoroki’s cheeks turned rosy the first couple of times. Then Asui asked that he call her “Tsu-chan”, and he felt even more embarrassed by that.
As such, Asui remains “Asui” when they are with others. She doesn't correct him, because when she’s alone with Todoroki-chan, she gets to hear “Tsu-nee-san.” Todoroki ends up calling her that nonchalantly. They also ignor that he's actually a month older than her. Considering how he doesn’t use honorifics with any of his other classmates, Asui feels rather special.
Todoroki really does emit youngest child vibes sometimes.
It seems like, barring Deku and Bakugou, most of Todoroki’s classmates didn't know anything about his family drama, until Dabi broadcasted it to the whole nation.
For example, I’m don't think Iida ever picked up on anything prior to Dabi’s dance. He's probably Todoroki’s closest friend (alongside Deku), and he cares a lot. But Iida also tends to be blind to emotional undercurrents. In one of the light novels, he accidentally pisses Todoroki off by telling him off for how he refers to his father. When he visited Todoroki in his room on Troy, he also made a well-meaning but misplaced comparison between their families.
However, a few of them did take notice of Todoroki’s complicated family life, e.g. Kirishima (Todoroki didn't hide much in BNHA's supplementary works). I headcanon that Uraraka and Asui were also among those, who at least picked up on the fact that Todoroki had grown up in a very strict environment. Thus, they tried extra hard to include him in their conversations and activities. This might have contributed to Todoroki warming up to the rest of the class much faster than he might have done otherwise.
Shouto and Fumikage: Cold Hams of 1-A
Tokoyami and Todoroki chillin' in the middle of rubble.
In one OVA Todoroki indirectly refers to the relationship between himself and Tokoyami as “friends”. It may not mean anything deeper than them being classmates, who care about each other’s well-being, but I like to headcanon that they do spend time with each other outside of class - be it in smaller than class-sized gatherings, or even one-on-one hangouts.
A closer look at this dynamic would have been great, because these two angsty drama kings have solid comedic potential together.
They would just repeat one sentence to each other over and over again. No one knows why they're doing this. It drives the rest of 1-A crazy.
Remember Tokoyami’s overdramatic declaration of leaving it in Todoroki's hands to make-up for Tokoyami's own loss against class B? And Todoroki’s confused, almost annoyed, “Why are you telling ME this?”
In the gag comics, Dark Shadow also takes on the form of a little girl. Apparently, on Dark Shadow's "list of likes", Todoroki ranks only second to Tokoyami himself, and she ends up "stalking" Todoroki for a bit. Todoroki doesn't mind this, and even seems to enjoy her company.
In short: We needed more interaction between Todoroki and Tokoyami.
I headcanon, that their comedy duo stage name would be "Cold Hams" - courtesy of Kaminari.
Otherwise Tokoyami would have named them "The Laughing Mad." Which would've still been better than Todoroki's suggestion: "TodoToko."
Why Tapeman is an awesome guy and a great hero
Class 1A-kids: "Sero is an obviously great influence on Todoroki and has a free pass to sass him for the rest of their lives."
I agree.
Seroroki is one of the more popular background friendships in 1-A, as it's heartwarming to see socially stunted Todoroki making friends.
However, it should also be popular, because their friendship is proof of what a cool guy Sero is:
Your standoffish, rudish classmate encased you in hundreds of meters of ice, just to unload anger, that had nothing to do with you.
In a world where impressing the crowd is almost essential if you want to make it as a hero, this turns you into a tagline, that will follow you.
You hold absolutely no grudge, you even befriend the guy = You heart is huge and open.
You also make it your duty to tape up the class pervert, in order to keep him from sexually harassing others = Your head is screwed on right.
...
Sero's skills don't fall into the same category of huge offensive fire power houses, like the New B3 have. But he's just as versatile as Asui, who is often held up as a great example.
My favourite examples of Sero's versatility are his team-ups with Uraraka: The two of them working together with Deku during the license exam, and then with Mineta during Movie 2, was really entertaining to watch.
One of my favourite music moments: "All Might with U. A. students" playing in 3x17. The notes were timed perfectly with Sero zooming across and Uraraka following up.
During the joint training with 1-B, praise was heaped upon Bakugou for doing the absolute minimum for team work to be possible.
Sero demonstrated quick and shrewd thinking. He should have deserved some of that praise for his observational and tactical skills.
Sero’s a great asset to have almost in any kind of team, or in any kind of environment. And definitely in any friend group.
Tapeman: Always ready to catch you!
The parents of class 1-A, and their favourite kids
Parenting is hard: Trying to keep their stupid impulsive kids from getting themselves killed.
Let's be real, while I can see parents usually loving all of their children equally, most don't like their children equally.
Iida and Yaoyorozu’s mutual favourite child is without question, Asui. She’s the kid who helps out with the other children the most, courtesy of being an older sister within her own family. Iida also listens to Tsu-chan-kun, whenever she tells/signals him smt like: ~Dad, it’s okay. The others aren’t toddlers anymore, they should do/know/learn it by themselves. ~
And Yaoyorozu always worries about her, whenever the weather turns cold - the memory of Asui collapsing in that frozen room during the license exam, remains fresh in her mind.
Parenting is hard: Both are parents, who would be tearing up themselves, when they see one of their kids being in pain.
Iida has another favorite child: Tokoyami-kun.
Class Dad went from telling his goth son off for sitting on, instead of at, the latter's school desk, to being in awe of him, telling him how he's "so wise" (ty, Michael J. Tatum for the awesome line delivery).
A couple of outings with Class Dad.
Not to mention, Class Dad internally praising Fumikage for being the only one out of his boys, who has proper sleeping manners. The light novels have a few stories in which Iida and Tokoyami are hanging out, and mainly interacting with each other within smaller groups (I think Iida might have been vocal with his praise, when Tokoyami “saved” a little girl from getting lost in the amusement park).
I don’t think there are many kids in 1-A (I can only think of two. Guess who?) who wouldn’t be able to hold some kind of at least semi-enjoyable conversation with any of their classmates, at any given time. However, I wouldn’t have expected Iida and Tokoyami to spent a noticeable amount of their very limited leisure time with each other. I found that dynamic to be a sweet little surprise.
Parenting is hard: ... but Iida definitely enjoys his role to a certain extent.
Yaoyorozu also has another favourite child. Although I picture it more as a favourite younger brother: Kaminari-san.
I might expand on this some other time.
Parenting is hard: The class reps totally deserve a vacation away from their children... but then they wouldn't be able to relax, because they would be away from them.
Sometimes, at the end of a long day, choke-full of classes, hero training, and whatever trouble 1-A members have managed to get themselves into, Yaoyorozu makes a large pot of tea to bring over Iida, who has already spread out markers and sheets of paper over the large table in the dorm's common room.
Class rep positions may not mean much in a lot of places in our real-life world, but UA is not a normal environment. Since moving into the dorms, Iida and Yaoyorozu’s (admittedly, many of them self-imposed) responsibilities have only been increasing.
Thankfully, there is a lot of trust and appreciation for each other between 1-A's co-parents class reps.
Which makes it easy to sit down and work out an elaborate plan of action for illnesses in their home, together.
Because having this many kids in such close living quarters, means being guaranteed an in-house germ factory when flu season inevitably arrives.
...
Where are the class 1-A during COVID quarantine fics? Gimme pls.
Iidachako friendship
Iidachako is a friendship that I like a lot. I understand why the New B3 overtook precedence over the original trio story-wise, but I would have loved to see more the original trio - and also more Iidachako.
Partly because more media portrayals of positive, platonic, and close friendships between guys and girls are always welcome, and mainly because I really liked their dynamic specifically.
In my opinion, Horikoshi could have easily included Uraraka in the Hosu incident.
... WHY DIDN'T YOU, HORIKOSHI?!!
Uraraka could've been there for Iida, just like how Deku had been. I don't think that her being there would have taken anything away from Todoroki bonding with the other two boys. In fact, he could have bonded with her too.
It would have been also interesting to see Uraraka dealing with the inner turmoil of facing a zealot who is so against heroes receiving renumeration for their work.
Class 1-A band
One last band reunion... before they're all shipped of to war.
I have wondered about this group’s dynamic:
Kaminari, Jirou, and Yaoyorozu first established a bond through surviving USJ together.
After that, Yaoyorozu and Jirou are often seen together, and the two of them might be each others closest friend in 1-A.
But Kaminari is probably the only one, who's friends with all of the band members:
I don't think I need to elaborate much on Kaminari and his electric bond with Jirou. Semi-canon shipping aside though, they're definitely friends.
Same with Bakugou. To him, Kaminari's probably the second real friend that he made in his life. (Or rather, Kaminari made himself Bakugou's second real friend.)
Tokoyami and Kaminari apparently got closer to each other through the band. Tokoyami's thoughts during Kaminari's big (that should've could've been more elaborated on) badass scene during the Gunga Mountain raid, outright stated, that he views the latter as a very good friend.
In one of my previous posts, I headcanon that Kaminari is one of Class Mom's favourite children. Canonically, Kaminari and Yaoyorozu are actually depicted as laughing with each other in the background more than a few times. I find KamiMomo to be an underrated background friendship, as I can see them being good for each other: Both are sensitive souls and often try to encourage others.
Kaminari also was the one, who immediately interupted Yaoyorozu, when she attempted to give 1-A and 1-B the "you are not obligated to fight against a lethal opponent with me" - speech. He instead assured Yaoyorozu that she would not face off against Gigantomachia alone.
But the rest of them? Aren't really close to each other.
...
Let's move from the most easy-going to the most difficult 1-A band member. In contrast to Kaminari, I feel like Jirou, Yaoyorozu, and Tokoyami would have a more “normal” reaction to the snappy Pomeranian.
As in, backing away and leaving it tf alone.
Because most people can't/ don't want to put up with unwarranted anger and disrespect repeatedly – understandable, especially if there's little to no positive feedback ever.
After the cultural festival arc, Bakugou and Jirou were put into the same team during the joint training arc. In which they were not shown to interact in any manner, that could be interpreted as significant to the relationship between them. No, I don’t count Bakugou saving Jirou by stepping on her, as a sign for a budding friendship.
I headcanon that Bakugou feels slightly uneasy around Yaoyorozu, ever since her assessment of him at the start of the school year. I don’t think that he held a grudge against her for that. But Bakugou is a very proud individual, even after his extensive character development. Having someone - especially someone who’s not a senior but a peer - rip apart that superior self-image he had of himself with such laser-sharp accuracy and soberness, seemed to have been… kinda traumatic to Bakugou and his gargantuan ego. I feel like he would subconsciously avoid being alone with Yaoyorozu. As in, if they happen to find themselves alone with each other in the common areas of their dorms, he will try to leave quickly.
Beyond each other's battle prowess, I don’t see Bakugou and Tokoyami having much respect for each other. Or to put it more mildly: Neither of them has patience for the other's antics.
Tokoyami is not amused. Funnily enough, in the gag comics, Dark Shadow - in the form of a little girl - made a ranking list of who/what she likes the most: Apparently, Bakugou ranks third, just behind Tokoyami himself, and Todoroki.
In short: Kaminari gels with everyone. Bakugou gels with no one... except those, who just blend out the majority of his verbal abuse.
No surprises here.
What about TokoJirou?
These two don't interact a whole lot, but the drama CDs gave us Tokoyami accompanying Jirou to a haunted house alone (Kaminari chickened out). It includes Jirou asking to hold onto the hem of Tokoyami's uniform and him reassuring her fears. (It's all very cute, go look it up on yt!)
Main media-wise, Tokoyami and Jirou had a moment of joint badassery during the final war. From that sole interaction, I’d say his dramatics and her snark go well with each other - be it directed towards each other, or united against the big bad.
Aside from that, we haven’t gotten much of Tokoyami and Jirou together, unfortunately. However, I believe they get along well. Based on the drama CD, it could even be inferred that they are friends, and most of their friendship just never made it on-screen.
What about TokoMomo?
We know that Yaoyorozu's self-confidence took a critical hit, after she lost against Tokoyami in the sports fest at lightening speed. She seemed to have been very shocked about how the match play out. We could assume, that she had been relatively self-confident previously. But we actually don't know, if it used to be more stable. And while Yaoyorozu's match with Todoroki against Aizawa gave her back some self-confidence; from then on, we're privy to more of her thoughts - most of them centered around self-doubt.
So either she'd never encountered a roadblock before losing against Tokoyami, and their match was to her, what her own assessment of Bakugou was to the latter. Or, Yaoyorozu has always been prone to second-guess herself a lot after encountering setbacks.
While he probably didn't pay half as much mind to his quick victory against Yaoyorozu as she did, we know that Tokoyami can be quite observant. I would have find his thoughts about their match, as well as the resulting consequences for Yaoyorozu's self-confidence, interesting.
How would these two interact, if they were to be alone with each other? How could they become closer friends?
During the festival, Tokoyami called Yaoyorozu "Yaomomo", using the affectionate nickname given to her by their classmates. Albeit not close, this might suggest a warm relationship between them.
Tangent: In contrast, Tokoyami still uses "Asui" instead of "Tsu-chan", despite Asui calling him "Tokoyami-chan". On the other hand, "Yaomomo" doesn't sound as intimate as "Tsu-chan". Thus Tokoyami might feel more comfortable using one nickname, but not the other. - Tangent end.
1-A’s most popular girl
Horikoshi may have put an underaged girl into the most inappropriate “hero costume” in BNHA and gotten her tons of... admirers in real-life. Uwabami’s commercial may have gotten Yaoyorozu legions of fans in-universe. But the most popular girl within class 1-A?
This one.
Jirou’s the female classmate who has been seen interacting with the most of 1-A guys: According to the BNHA wiki, if you pay attention to the background events, Jirou is seen talking and chilling with each, Sero, Ojiro, Satou and Kouda, quite often.
Admittedly, all these guys easy to get along with in general. All of them are also who Bakugou would refer to as extras... but they still count!
I still stand by my previous post about how - except for MomoJirou and KaminarixEveryone - the band members aren't really friends with each other. However, to Bakugou and Tokoyami, two of 1-A’s moodiest kids, Jirou is probably still the female classmate each of them is closest to (well, Ashido might have the same degree of closeness to Bakugou that Jirou has).
Tokoyami's surprised and Bakugou has one of his many grumpy gremlin expressions on. However, both boys don't seem to be in a hurry to escape from her hold.
At the very least, Jirou is comfortable with manhandling these two.
And we all know, how Kaminari feels towards Jirou.
Or at least Tokoyami does.
And now I headcanon Tokoyami as being that person, who's usually the first one to be aware of who's crushing on who.
Eijirou's POV on the dynamic between Bakugou and Midoriya
Kirishima and Deku share quite a few significant characteristics: Both of them are among the sweetest kids in 1-A. Humble about themselves, but very open about their admiration for others. There is little doubt, that they also hold strong admiration for each other. Along with Uraraka and Asui, the two boys had to keep their involvement in the Shie Hassaikai raid a secret from the rest of their class for weeks. They prepared for the operation together, and went into the raid together.
However, I’m not sure where to place Midoriya from Kirishima's POV regarding their biggest commonality: Each of them has a significant personal tie to Bakugou, but very different ones.
Bakugou haters and apologists alike, have argued about class 1-A’s hypothetical reactions towards the true extent of Bakugou’s bullying of Deku (as well as whether those hypothetical reactions would be warranted or not) to death. I have no desire to get into that.
Nevertheless, I have wondered about Kirishima’s thoughts behind his canonical reaction towards Midoriya and Bakugou's interactions. Or more precisely, his lack of reaction throughout the series.
To contrast: There's one scene where Uraraka confronts Bakugou and point-blank asks him, why he treats Deku like dirt. I see this as a very brave act from Uraraka. Not because of who and how Bakugou is (crass at best, violent at worst, let’s not sugarcoat this), because I don’t think that he would have had physically attacked her for that, but because of the cultural context of Japan. It is very frowned upon to “meddle” in what people perceive to be others’ private business.
However, while I do share the opinion, that their relationship to each other is mainly Deku and Bakugou’s private business, I would not classify Uraraka confronting Bakugou with the negative connotations of meddling:
By being so openly hostile to Deku, Bakugou had already broken the social rule of keeping your private business, well, private, and not imposing your issues on others. His degree of unrestrained hostility towards Deku could have (or has it canonically?) very well disturb the entire group’s hero training overall.
In the present, Deku is Uraraka’s friend. And their mutual classmate is presently treating him like shit.
In my eyes, those two facts are reasons enough, for Uraraka to at least ask Bakugou a few questions.
One would think that those would be reason enough for Kirishima to confront Bakugou too. So why has neither he, nor any of the other 1-A kids done anything of significance in that direction?
Uraraka confronted Bakugou, and asked questions. To which he logically would have had to either be able to justify himself somehow, or cease his aggression towards Deku immediately. Naturally at that point, Bakugou does neither. He just leaves huffing and puffing. But people have to ask others such question, and not just as a throwaway remark (a half-hearted "Bakugou, calm down" doesn't count), to signal, that their treatment of others is not acceptable. Afterall, continuous disapproval can influence people to change their behaviour.
Even if one may interject that Kirishima is closer to Bakugou, than he is to Midoriya... that would only be more of an argument for Kirishima to intervene, as he has more emotional leverage over Bakugou than e.g. Uraraka.
And even with everything else aside, based on Kirishima’s overall characterization, one would have thought, that he would never be okay with his friend attacking another classmate repeatedly for no discernible legitimate reason.
The only tentative possible reason I could come up with, for why Kirishima never intervened here, is that to him, Midoriya had never seemed less capable than Bakugou from the very first day they all started at UA together. As in, Kirishima had never perceived any power disparity between Midoriya and Bakugou.
...
However, Kirishima and the rest of 1-A did witness, what Bakugou did to Deku during their first class assignment (All Might deserves criticsm for not interrupting that fight. He truly was a bad teacher... still isn't a good one). Even after that incident, Bakugou’s verbal aggression towards Deku still continued on for a while.
While Kirishima may not be emotionally intelligent to same degree that e.g. someone like Kaminari is implied to be, Kirishima is still sensitive to his peers’ feelings (see his reaction towards Tsu-chan's sadness after Kamino).
Furthermore, one must simply be blind and deaf to have missed Bakugou’s belligerency towards Deku - that lasted at least until they had beaten the crap out of each other and got grounded together.
As such, it can be safely inferred, that Kirishima (and the rest of 1-A) noticed that Deku and Bakugou had bad history with each other - and that the animosity came one-sidedly from Bakugou.
Either way. If I witnessed a peer being repeatedly put down by another, I would firmly and repeatedly tell the latter to knock it off, stfu, and get himself a therapist for his anger issues...
...
What did Kirishima see, when he looked at Midoriya, and everytime he witnessed how he was treated by Bakugou?
How did Kirishima justify it to himself, to not try harder to get his bestie to stop being a total dick to another friend/ a classmate?
After Bakugou apologized to Deku in front of all of 1-A, did Kirishima and the rest of the class ever wonder, what exact actions warranted such a gesture from someone as proud as Bakugou?
Who got Bakugou to wear a tie?
My money's on Iida.
I headcanon that Bakugou didn't wear it, because Iida wore him down. The latter only asked him once.
But Four-eyes looked like the embodiment of "worried sick," when he explained that their class should present themselves as responsible and united in front of the principal.
So Katsuki wore the damn tie, just to give Four-eyes a modicum of peace of mind: The feeling of being able to control, or rather to influence, things, people, outcomes... hopefully, a dear friend, who lost his way home.
Why Red Riot is the best fan friend one may have
I was slightly surprised: The night before the Final War began, Iida, Bakugou and Kirishima were hanging out in Todoroki’s room at Troy.
Iida has been one of Todoroki's closest friends since Hosu. Bakugou has gotten closer to Todoroki through attending the remedial course and then working with him under Endeavor together. And getting involved in their family's mess by extension.
Kirishima has admired Todoroki’s skills openly, and the latter’s readiness to go rescue Bakugou in Kamino, has most definitely only elevated Todoroki’s character in Kirishima’s eyes. On his part, Todoroki probably views Kirishima as very dependable. He most likely appreciates the latter's unreserved kindness and openness a lot as well.
D'you still remember how Early-roki brushed of Kirishima's hand during the sports fest? One season later, and he has learned the value of a calming shoulder pat.
These two trust each other, and I certainly enjoyed their teamwork in Movie 2.
Having mentioned Kamino and Movie 2, we don’t have much other significant interactions between Kirishima and Todoroki however.
Still, Kirishima's there...
But why was I even surprised? Because ofc Kirishima would be there:
These snippets are from the TUM manga's. Kirishima doesn't need the full picture. His friend seems regretful and sad. So without making a big deal out of what used to be before, Kirishima's is going to try to do something about that now.
Kirishima was also among those who showed up in Shouto's hospital room after the PLW, when the Todoroki's got swarmed by the press.
He is one of 1-A's emotional cores, always first in line to support his friends, no matter their exact degree of closeness.
Todoroki will have to face his own brother in their all-out war. Of course, Kirishima would come running to offer emotional support to his friend.
Instead of, idk be with his own family, before all of them go into what is essentially war. On the other hand, it’s anime. Where families play no role, if they are irrelevant to the main plot.
Picture this: After they all become pro heroes, Kirishima would show up to as many events of his former classmates, as he could possibly fit into his schedule. His own fansites are full of Red Riot sightings at Chargebolt's handshake events, Shouto's soba eating contests, 1-A band reunions etc. Kirishima would probably be only second to Deku, in regards of how ham he goes on his friends' merch.
What I mean to say is: TodoKiri is one of the underrated relaxed background friendships, and everyone needs a Red Riot in their lives.
Saying their goodbyes: Ochako
“Ochako!”
The girl turned around. “Mom. Dad.”
Her mother had already grabbed onto the strap on Ochako's shoulder to adjust it. "Do you have everything? Have you double-checked the seams of your bagpack? Oh, I knew, we should have gotten you a new one!"
Ochako squeezed her mother's hand. "Mom, I've got everything! My backpack is perfectly fine! I'll be fine! Don't worry."
She risked a glance at her father, hoping for assistance - and promptly regretted her last sentence.
How stupid of her.
Daddy's kind smile was straining around the corner of his lips. His usual eyebags, courtesy from overwork, were even darker than usually.
Ochako looked back at her mother.
Mom's small, calloused hands were knitted together. As were the same fine eyebrows that Ochako had inherited from her.
Ochako felt the familiar waves of guilt and powerlessness lapping at her. How could she say such empty words, like "I'll be fine" and "Don't worry" to her parents? Why couldn't she come up with something better to reassure them?
It used to be easi-
No, scratch that. It never had been easy.
Ochako knew that she had changed a lot since starting at UA. But while she has come to love her class, the time she had spent around them might have made herself more transparent.
She had worried about that a lot, especially since the other girls' have picked up on her feelings for Deku.
Secretly, Ochako sometimes wished that those feelings would be out in the open, so that Deku would address them. Not even to reciprocate them. Just so that she wouldn't have to deal with those emotions all alone for once.
The image of a crying girl with pigtails flitted across her mind.
It was not unlike to how Ochako felt, whenever her parents' issues had seeped through to her...
She pushed those thoughts down.
Her parents have done their best. And in this war, there really wasn't much that they could do. But she herself, might be able to do something.
In that moment, a flash of deep sea green from the corner of her eye, caught her attention.
Despite the two small pair of arms that were slung around Tsuyu-chan's neck, she still found time to raise a questioning eyebrow at her friend.
Ochako nodded and smiled. Then she turned back to her parents. She gave her mother's palm another squeeze, and took one of her father's into her other hand.
"It's gonna be alright. I can do it. We can do it."
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 almost crushed his gaming controller in his palms, while he groaned.
Not too long ago, Sparky almost choked on himself because he was laughing, while jumping up and down with another controller in his outstretched hands.
Not too long ago, Soy-sauce Face almost fell off their equally ridiculously humongous couch, when he leaned 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 screeched 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 some peace and quiet.
But his once buzzling home felt... dead.
And 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 bristled and shook his head, hoping to rid his hair of some of that glitter trash. These idiots are annoying.
But before he could fire off a string of curses, a heavy arm that was flung around his shoulders stopped him.
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 their beds soon. But we really wanted to do at least this much. Please don't go off, 'kay?"
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 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 all of 1-A had finally gotten their Provisional Hero licenses.
"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 shove it!
But before Katsuki could voice those thoughts out loud, his attention got caught by a pair of bespectacled eyes that were watching all of them with a tired, but soft expression.
Katsuki rolled his eyes. That sight was annoying.
Using the inane fruit discussion that had broken out between his classmates, he marched 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 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 a mental note to enforce some Bakugou-celebration in return.
! 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.