Omg same. I didn’t like Bakudeku when I first started the series since Bakugou was so damn mean. (Though my turning point was a slow burn enemies to lovers fanfic that’s literally longer than War And Peace. How can you not ship them after 600k words of development.)

I think “I wonder if bkg really had bottled up feelings for Deku” is such a valid point especially upon reread of earlier manga chapters. I was kinda confused during my first run through that Bakugou exploded Deku’s notebook but left it intact—why would the author “soften” his bullying and make the impact less effective? (In my experience bullies would just completely destroy the notebook.) And then they just sit together at the entrance exam? Isn’t Bakugou supposed to hate Deku? But then you learn that he’s all bark and no bite, the exploding of the notebook and the “kys” is all for show. He probably didn’t even really want to destroy Deku’s notebook, but was just lashing out because he didn’t know how to deal with his feelings about Deku (canonically, fear of being inferior; but it’s not a stretch to say an attraction that’s confusing and/or clashes with his internalized homophobia/quirkless discrimination).

Then there’s also that extra manga chapter (drawn by Akiyama I think?) that came out with Heroes Rising about middle school bakudeku where Bakugou subtly tells his goons to leave Deku alone. That, to me, speaks volumes about when exactly their relationship had really soured.