BakuDeku

BakuDeku is the slash ship between Katsuki Bakugo and Izuku Midoriya from the My Hero Academia fandom.

Canon
Izuku and Katsuki have known each other since they were very young, but their relationship rapidly deteriorated after many complications in their childhood, including an incident where Deku helped Bakugou when he fell off a log and didn't 'need' help. Due to Bakugou's complex regarding being seen as strong, he felt Deku was looking down on him and their relationship has been strained ever since.

Interestingly enough, Izuku continues to call Katsuki by his childhood nickname, "Kacchan", with no objections.

Ever since Izuku failed to develop a Quirk, Katsuki has seen Izuku as weak and bullied him, giving him the name "Deku" (which means useless), and going as far as to suicide bait him on one known occasion. Despite their relationship becoming strained due to numerous misunderstandings, Izuku still admires him for his strong quirk, natural combat capabilities, confidence, and ability to win. Katsuki often pushed Izuku away and greatly feared his spirit, which led both of them to drift away from each other. However, after the manga’s 119th chapter, Kacchan vs Deku 2, it has been strongly foreshadowed that both of them will eventually work as a hero duo.

In season 3, when Bakugou gets kidnapped, Deku joins a team to rescue him because he feels guilty that he "couldn't reach him". He does this despite being injured himself from overexerting himself previously. While they are actually performing the rescue, Deku seems to understand how Bakugou felt about the situation and was able to construct a plan that worked perfectly.

The episode "Deku Vs. Kacchan 2" revolves around Bakugou confronting Deku about his quirk and how he got it from All Might. He then attempts to fight Deku, who refuses to resort to violence until he sees that he's "the only one who can accept Kacchan's feelings". During the battle, Izuku becomes aware of how Bakugou has felt Izuku was looking down on him. It's 'the first time the two have had an honest conversation' in a long time. The two battle for the rest of the episode, ending in Bakugou's victory and All Might interfering with them afterwards. All Might proclaims that the two have now become proper rivals after they've sorted out their feelings.

Fanon
BakuDeku is the most popular ship on the Eastern side of the fan base. In Japan, BakuDeku is widely appreciated and the most popular ship in My Hero Academia.

In the Western community, it's quite controversial. Many do enjoy this ship, however, there's a big portion of the fandom that believes BakuDeku is a ship derived from bullying and abuse and that it would be a generally toxic relationship for them both. While some argue that those times are over and that Bakugou has learned to respect Deku, others stand by the opinion that Bakugou would still mistreat Midoriya should these two be involved romantically. Even though that's the case, these people do not dislike Bakugou and are often big fans of KiriBaku.

Trivia

 * In season 2's second ending, Datte Atashi no Hero or 'Cause You're My Hero (in English), was written by LiSA. LiSA has confirmed the ending to be Izuku‘s feelings towards Katsuki, including lines like "No matter how many fools there are in this world, I'll always be by your foolish side!" and "After all, you're my hero."

Fandom
FAN FICTION

Screenshots and Gifs
KatsuDeku