Bakusquad

Bakusquad is the friendship between Katsuki Bakugou, Mina Ashido, Denki Kaminari, Eijiro Kirishima, and Hanta Sero from the My Hero Academia fandom.

Canon
Katsuki, Mina, Denki, Eijiro, and Hanta are all students at UA High School and members of Class 1-A. Denki and Eijiro are seated beside each other in class, and this seems to be a likely reason for why they become such quick friends at the beginning of the year. Katsuki starts off the schoolyear acting as though he is above having friends, but Eijiro quickly tries to befriend him as well. The two are warped to the Ruins Zone during the USJ Attack, and Eijiro seems to really warm up to Katsuki as they fight side by side.

Mina and Eijiro attended the same middle school prior to their enrollment at UA, and while they weren't close friends they were aware of each other. Both witnessed Gigantomachia try to attack two fellow students, but only Mina had the courage to step in and do something. This was an important moment for Eijiro, who discovered his own weakness and vowed to train hard enough to join UA. He changes his hairstyle just before enrolling, and Mina is excited to see it. She comments that now they both have "horns".

The concept of the "Bakusquad" is first introduced during the Sport's Festival. Katsuki, Eijiro, Hanta, and Mina pair up as "Team Bakugou" during the Cavalry Battle. Eijiro is seen convincing Katsuki that their Quirks will work together with Katsuki as the rider and Eijiro as the front. Katsuki smiles, and agrees. It is not shown how Hanta and Mina join the team, but the four of them end up placing third in the game. Denki is a member of "Team Todoroki", which comes in fourth. All five advance to the next round of the Sport's Festival. Hanta and Denki are both eliminated in the first round of the tournament, and Mina and Eijiro are eliminated in the second round. Eijiro loses to Katsuki, who ends up defeating Shoto Todoroki in the finals and taking first place in the Sport's Festival as a whole.

Katsuki and Eijiro study together for their first term exams. Denki, Hanta, and Mina choose to get study help from Momo Yaoyorozu. While all five students pass their written tests, all but Katsuki fail their practical exams. As such, Denki, Hanta, Mina, and Eijiro (alongside Rikido Sato) are forced to take extra lessons at the summer training camp. They are all in these lessons with Shota Aizawa when the League of Villains attack the camp, looking for Katsuki. Eijiro begs to be allowed to leave and fight for their friend, but Shota and Vlad King refuse.

When Katsuki is kidnapped by the League, Eijiro takes the news especially hard. He suggests going after the League to rescue Katsuki. While Mina and Denki try and dissuade him from doing so, none of them make an actual effort to stop Eijiro from rescuing Katsuki. Eijiro, Shoto, Momo, Izuku Midoriya, and Tenya Iida eventually go after the League and successfully rescue Katsuki. Eijiro plays an important role in the rescue, as Izuku points out that he is one of the only people that Katsuki sees as an "equal".

Following Katsuki's kidnapping, the students of UA move into dorms on campus. Shota tells everyone that they'd be expelled for allowing the Bakugou Rescue Squad to perform their mission, but with All Might's retirement they need as many heroes-in-training as they can get. This sours the mood of the class, but Katsuki tries to raise everyone's spirits by pulling Denki behind a hedge and hitting him hard enough to knock him into his overloaded state. Katsuki then repays Eijiro for the expensive night vision goggles that he bought for the rescue mission. Eijiro, however, thinks that Katsuki took Denki behind the hedge to rob him of the cash. Upon moving into the dorms, the girls host a contest to see who has the best room. Mina is unimpressed with Eijiro's room, but calls Hanta's room "exotic". Katsuki sleeps through the entire contest.

During the Provisional Licensing Exam, Katsuki, Eijiro, and Denki team up. Katsuki is annoyed by the fact that the two chose to follow him. The trio soon find themselves under attack from Shiketsu student Seiji Shishikura. Seiji first attacks Eijiro, turning him into a meatball. Katsuki and Denki stand off against him, but soon Katsuki is turned into a meatball as well. However, he manages to toss a grenade towards Denki before fully succumbing to Seiji's Quirk. Denki defends Katsuki's honor, saying that he is a great hero-in-training he cares about the safety of his friends. Using Katsuki's grenade, Denki manages to save both Katsuki and Eijiro. All three of them pass the first round of the exam, alongside Mina and Hanta.

Katsuki, Eijiro, and Denki again team up during the second round of the exam. While Katsuki mouths off to the HUC members, Eijiro and Denki work diligently to rescue them. Meanwhile, Mina and Hanta both work in small groups of other 1-A students on rescue and evacuation measures. Eijiro, Denki, Mina, and Hanta all pass their Licensing Exam. Katsuki, however, fails due to his gruff attitude with the HUC members.

After his failure at the Provisional Licensing Exam, Katsuki engages Izuku in a fight after hours. They're caught by Toshinori Yagi, and Shota puts them on house arrest. Mina is shocked by their actions, Denki finds the whole thing hilarious, and Hanta refers to them as "morons". Due to their house arrest, they miss Shota explaining the upcoming opportunity to take on Work Studies. Eijiro is excited by this, and manages to get a Work Study under the BMI Hero: Fat Gum. While on patrol with Fat Gum, Eijiro takes out a group of thugs and makes his official hero debut. Upon returning to the dorms the next day, Denki is excited to show him the news of his debut online.

Following the Shie Hassaikai raid, Eijiro returns to the UA dorms and is greeted by his worried classmates. Denki tells Eijiro that he's scared of the fact that he's always getting into "crazy situations", alluding to the Bakugou Rescue Mission and now his fight against the yakuza. Hanta asks why Eijiro didn't confide in any of them about the raid, but Eijiro explains they were sworn to secrecy. Mina then checks in, telling Eijiro that she's glad to see he's okay. He replies that he's "getting there". Denki goes to check in on Katsuki, who is sitting on the couch in the common room. Denki teases him by calling him "Kacchan", then says that he must have been waiting up because he was worried about Eijiro and the rest of the Work Study students. Katsuki blows him off, then heads to bed.

For UA's School Festival, Class 1-A decides to put together a live performance dance party, inspired by Mina's hobby of dancing. Denki and Katsuki join the band, as a guitarist and drummer respectively, while Hanta and Eijiro work on the Staging Team. Mina, of course, leads the Dance Team. The performance is a huge success, and the students are able to spend the rest of their day enjoying the festival. Katsuki and Eijiro compete in an obstacle course while Hanta, Mina, and Denki cheer them on. Later, Denki and Mina attend Class 1-C's haunted house.

At the start of the winter semester, Class 1-A and Class 1-B take part in special Joint Training. The students are paired off into groups, and the classes compete against one another. Denki and Eijiro are placed on Team 1. Eijiro is quickly captured by Ibara Shiozaki and taken out of the training. Denki, however, continues fighting with his remaining teammates, eventually helping to score the first win for Class 1-A. Hanta and Katsuki are placed on Team 4. Katsuki takes the lead, which Hanta initially finds annoying. However, it quickly becomes clear that Katsuki has a good strategy and is willing to sacrifice himself for his teammates if need be. When working together, Katsuki, Hanta, and the rest of their team manage to score a perfect victory. They are praised by Shota for their teamwork.

During this time, Katsuki has been training to retake his Provisional Licensing Exam. Mina notices at one point that Katsuki is covered in bruises, and suggests that he must be taking his training very seriously. He and Shoto eventually earn their Licenses, and use them that night on the way back to the dorms to stop some petty criminals. Upon returning home, they are greeted by the rest of Class 1-A celebrating their achievements. Later, Shoto and Katsuki are interviewed for their defeat of the villains. Due to Katsuki's poor attitude during the interview, all of his answers are cut. Denki and Hanta tease him relentlessly for this.

Class 1-A celebrate Christmas together, although Katsuki acts less than festive. Mina and Denki struggle to get him to wear a Santa hat all night. During the class Secret Santa Mina receives a weight, which is likely a gift from Eijiro. After Christmas, the students begin their Work Studies. Hanta and Denki both work under the hero team "The Lurkers". Following their Work Studies, the students return to UA and show off what they learned. Mina debuts her new move, Acidman. She reveals to Eijiro that she was inspired by his Ultimate Move, Unbreakable, when creating hers. Eijiro is touched by this. Denki and Hanta show off their newfound sense of teamwork with each other.

During the Paranormal Liberation War, Eijiro, Hanta, Mina, and Denki join the Gunga Villa team. They, alongside other students from Class 1-A and Class 1-B, work to try and stop Gigantomachia from carrying the League of Villains towards the Jaku Hospital. Momo creates vials of sedatives and hands them out to each member of the team. Mina nearly manages to throw one of the sedatives into Gigantomachia's mouth, but finds herself frozen in fear when she recognizes him from her middle school days. Realizing that Mina is in trouble, Eijiro comes to her rescue. He saves her from being crushed by Gigantomachia, and manages to throw her sedative into Gigantomachia's mouth. However, the sedative doesn't work and Gigantomachia continues storming towards the Hospital. Later, Mina and Eijiro find Nemuri Kayama's deceased body and mourn her passing.

Katsuki is gravely injured in a fight against Tomura Shigaraki and taken to a hospital. Hanta is visiting the hospital when Katsuki awakes, and is glad to see just how unhinged Katsuki is acting; Hanta suggests that the anger means Katsuki is actually feeling okay. Katsuki demands to know what happened to everyone else, and Hanta reluctantly tells him that Izuku has yet to wake up. In another part of the hospital, Mina and Eijiro visit Shoto and try and console him about the revelation that Dabi is actually his brother, Toya Todoroki, long thought to be dead. Denki is staying in the hospital to recover from his injuries during the War.

Following the Paranormal Liberation War, Izuku leaves UA in an attempt to keep his classmates safe. The members of Class 1-A arrange to bring him back to campus, and work together to find Izuku and convince him to return. They all watch on as Katsuki apologizes to Izuku for the ways in which he treated him in the past. Upon their return to the UA dormitories, Eijiro, Hanta, and Denki convince Izuku to take a bath. Katsuki eventually joins them, and tells the gathered boys that they are all his rivals.

Katsuki does not refer to any of the members of the Bakusquad by their name, except for Eijiro. Katsuki instead refers to the others using mean nicknames: Hanta is "soy sauce face" (or "plain face" in the dub) and "flat face", Denki is "dunce face" or just "dunce" (as well as "sparky" in the dub), Mina is "racoon eyes", and Eijiro is "hedgehog hair" (or "stupid hair" in the dub). He also tends to refer to groups of students as "extras". Katsuki seems to consider calling someone by their real name a sign of respect; thus why he only does this with Eijiro on occasion.

Fanon
While their status as an exclusive friend-group is a fanon concept, many of their individual friendships are strongly established, making their canon-status semi-canon. In fanon interactions, the Bakusquad are shown to be an inseparable bunch who have the tendency to fall into hijinks and shenanigans of any sort. Katsuki is shown to care aggressively for his friends, becoming annoyed when they do dangerous things, but masking his concern with disdain. A popular trope used within fans is Katsuki fondly referring to the group as “his idiots”.

Denki and Hanta are seen as the goofballs of the group, thanks to their already dim-witted, smiley personalities and ridiculous jokes. Mina sometimes falls into this category as well, but is more often than not ends up as a type of “love-guru” for the others, while not being able to catch a relationship herself. Eijiro is portrayed as extremely protective of his buddies, a trait carried over from canon. He usually makes sure to keep everyone smiling, and will stop at no extent if someone tries otherwise. Katsuki is recognized as the group’s “leader”, as the name “Bakusquad” suggests. He takes on the role of mom-friend in some cases, as not to allow his friends to get hurt. The mom-friend trope is sometimes taken over by Hanta, however.

Fanon Bakusquad usually has the gang as a group of "members", and fanworks for them are often silly and shit-posting in nature. The tone of fanworks is usually light-hearted and humorous, a contrast to the more angsty side of the greater My Hero Academia fandom.

A big part of fanon Bakusquad revolves around how Katsuki really sees the other members. While in canon he's often dismissive of the, and thinks himself superior, fanon Bakusquad explores the idea of Katsuki gradually beginning to see them as equals and friends in their own right.

While in the anime/manga they are usually shown interacting one on one, Bakusquad fanon interactions tend to place them all together, with the gang meeting up for meal times, having sleepovers or movie nights, and regularly going places together.

The Bakusquad is commonly thought to be the anti-Dekusquad, another fanon friend group between Tsuyu Asui, Tenya Iida, Izuku Midoriya, Shoto Todoroki and Ochako Uraraka. There's no canon rivalry between the two groups, but the rivalry between their namesakes, Katsuki and Izuku, is enough for the fandom to support the idea. They are opposites in the tone of their friendships, as Bakusquad is loud and chaotic, and the Dekusquad is more calm and controlled.

While Bakusquad is not a romantic pairing, it is frequently accompanied by the slash ship of KiriBaku, between two of it's members. Bakusquad is often a side pairing in KiriBaku fanworks, with the squad being supportive of or even encouraging them to pursue the relationship. Other romantic pairings that often related to the Bakusquad are SeroMina, KamiMina, KamiSero, and KamiSeroMina.

On AO3, there are over 7500 works tagged as "Bakusquad". There are over 2800 works tagged with the Bakusquad relationship, and over 250 works tagged with the romantic Bakusquad relationship.

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Trivia

 * On growing occasion, Kyoka Jiro is considered a part of the BakuSquad due to the friendship she melded with Bakugou during the U.A Concert, and her previous closeness with Denki (which also occasionally occurs with Tokoyami as well). Similarly, and very rarely, Uraraka will added as well thanks to her friendship with Mina, and the popular (friendship) dynamic she is portrayed to have with Katsuki in fanon.
 * Eijiro is considered as the “founder” of the BakuSquad, as he is the one to originally reach out to, and break Katsuki out of his shell.

Variations

 * BakuKami refers to the ship between Bakugou and Kaminari
 * BakuMina refers to the ship between Bakugou and Mina
 * BakuSero refers to the ship between Bakugou and Sero
 * KamiMina refers to the ship between Kaminari and Mina
 * KamiSero refers to the ship between Kaminari and Sero
 * KiriBaku refers to the ship between Kirishima and Bakugou
 * KiriBakuKami refers to the ship between Kirishima, Bakugou and Kaminari
 * KiriBakuMina refers to the ship between Kirishima, Bakugou and Mina
 * KiriKami refers to the ship between Kirishima and Kaminari
 * KiriMina refers to the ship between Kirishima and Mina
 * KiriSero refers to the ship between Kirishima and Sero
 * SeroMina refers to the ship between Sero and Mina