I’m not saying it’s right or okay for what Bakugou did to Deku. Not at all. But. Their relationship has improved with Bakugou apologizing.
In the anime, Bakugou clearly is angry all the time. But with a careful eye, you can see not everything he shows is hatred, he just believes it is. Emotional immaturity.
Deku is emotionally… also immature but better than Bakugou slightly. Bakugou admits in the manga, that he was jealous of Deku for being quirkless and still determined to be a hero. That he was starting to move without Bakugou in the lead.
When Bakugou “thanks” Deku for saving him from the slime villain, you can tell he’s struggling with his pride and trying to act tough. Because really, he did feel bad. Not just because Deku, a quirkless no one just saved the great and powerful Bakugou Katsuki. But also, he did it and didn’t rub it in his face. He risked his life to save him in a situation that Bakugou probably knew he couldn’t make it out himself in. If it wasn’t for Deku, he could have died.
As the story continues from there, you start to see more emotions from Bakugou as he tries to face that quirkless, weak, Deku is now independent and strong Deku. He was straying from Bakugou’s shadow. That was making him panic.
He realized he no longer has complete control. After the kidnapping, Bakugou saw Deku, destroyed from fighting with Muscular, still attempting to save him. And by his expression, you could tell, he hoped Deku would make it in time.
Slowly through the story, Bakugou is seeing Deku grow into an independent person, which makes him feel behind. When the two fought, he told of how he was struggling. All Might’s relationship with Deku, the sudden quirk, it all just was rubbing him the wrong way.
But when he found out the truth, he calmed a bit. Not completely, but a little better. He no longer had emotional breakdowns from him. Instead, he tried to aim high than Deku and took it as strength for a challenge.
Bakugou eventually apologized to Deku in order for Rogue Deku to come back to UA and stop hurting himself. But he did mean it. And he started to help Deku train. All Might even asked him if this was his way of regaining Izuku’s trust after the bullying, his way of atoning. Which, he confirmed. Knowing he feels bad, recognizes the mistake, and is trying to fix it is already showing major growth. The way he was watching Izuku train in that scene tells me he really struggles with that fact.
Then, when the war arc is started, and Bakugou dies, the entire chapter he never said “Deku” he said “Izuku” and no matter what, the whole chapter was saying good things about him. While he was fighting to the death, he couldn’t help but admire Izuku. That’s where he got his strength. Then the last remark about the game card that he wanted All Might to sign, he got with Izuku when they were still friends. And maybe, that had always been something he kept of Deku. When he started bullying him, I believe he still held the memories with him in a good way.
There’s a theory of him being mean to Deku because of him trying to protect the “weaker” person. And he got mad because Deku wasn’t accepting it.
Also of him being jealous of his friendliness so he tried to keep people away from him, keep him under his control.
And though Izuku said the name Deku was given as an insult, maybe it wasn’t a clear message. For instance, he actually thought of Deku as a compliment but turned it around using word play to make it sound like he was useless. Plus, he names all his friends degrading nicknames. Shitty Hair, Dunce Face, Raccoon Eyes, etc. So the fact he gave Izuku a name that was degrading might also be his way of saying they were friends. In his own way.
There’s a lot of reading in between the lines with those two. We don’t actually know if being diagnosed quirkless was why Bakugou started to bully him. It could of been they had a fight, or a rumor, and the timing just matched up. We don’t know. And if the author doesn’t tell us, we’ll never know.
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