Spoilers for My Hero Academia Heroes Rising.
Original title: "The Mighty Heart"
Also on Archive of Our Own

This story was created due to a surprising lack of stories involving Mahoro and Katsuma, let alone ones focused on Mahoro's surprising admiration for Bakugou. So hopefully this fic can get the ball rolling in some way.

Disclaimer: I won nothing.

Contrary to what she's told Katsuma, Mahoro never hated heroes, not really. But she never cared much for them either. Her only experiences with heroes beforehand were internet articles and that old geezer, who was really more of an all-purpose handyman more than anything. Heck, the next set of heroes weren't any better when she heard they were all U.A. students instead of professionals. Nothing but newbies.

Despite that, Mahoro couldn't help becoming starry eyed for a certain self-proclaimed "next #1 hero". Bakugou, while in need of an attitude adjustment, oozed a contagious confidence for himself and his abilities, and it doesn't hurt that an explosion Quirk is cool. So Mahoro saw fit to be the one to relay the amnesiac of the epic battle he prevailed in (Altered, due to an odd request from Deku).

"And then you yelled 'DIE' and let out this HUGE explosion that blasted him away, the jerk didn't know what hit him!" Yelled Mahoro with excitement. "Oh, and Deku helped too."

Bakugou grunted, "So that's what happened to my arms, huh? Great, now I'm starting to turn into that damn nerd." He started to bend his bandaged arms, almost as if the thought of sympathizing with his classmate was more bothersome than getting the actual injuries. Although, he did already go through that (embarrassing) medical treatment, so he shouldn't be in too much pain.

Mahoro chuckled, "Well I suppose that's the sacrifice needed for a really cool show like that. The world's next best hero needs to be all flashy right?" Her amusement caused Bakugou to scoff and turn away, albeit with a small smirk.

Bakugou stood up from his sitting position and walked to the nearby freezer, "Whatever. The road to the top would be boring without any risks."

Mahoro replied quickly with excitement, "But it won't be hard for you, right Bakugou?"

Bakugou paused and stared at her for a moment, eyebrow raised. Slowly, he began to ask, "Hey brat, what's with you?"

Mahoro's eyes widened in confusion, "...Huh?" At that reaction, Bakugou sighed put a hand through his hair.

He continued, "The first time we met, you tried to trick me with a gimmicky illusion and I lashed out. Now, all of a sudden you can't leave me alone. Why aren't you trying to avoid me after I threatened you?"

Mahoro blinked before giving it some thought. Looking back on it, she had to admit that Bakugou angry was probably the scariest thing she'd ever seen (until that masked jerk tore apart her home). But then again, that was her own fault for trying to mess with him in the first place. Then she remembered why she did it the first place...

Mahoro gave her reply slowly, "None of that was really your fault. I just wanted to stop Katsuma from being a hero." Bakugou merely stared as she went on, "I kept thinking that it was too dangerous for him. His Quirk isn't very strong and there are so many dangerous villains that heroes have to fight, I was scared about what could happen to him. So, I thought if I proved that you all weren't so great, maybe he'd stop."

Bakugou blinked in thought, unbeknownst to Mahoro, Bakugou had already known this from overhearing Deku and Katsuma. Still, he found it curious that she was telling him this directly. He nodded her to continue, "So that's it, huh?"

Mahoro lowered her eyes to her feet, "I'd thought staging a villain attack would cause all of you to be scared, too nervous to fight a real villain. Yet not only did you come, but you saw through my trick like it was nothing." She then gave a nervous laugh, "I was really scared of you then, even to the point where I was the one afraid to mess with you instead."

Her eyes then turned serious as she looked up at Bakugou, "But then you later protected me and Katsuma. There was a super strong villain who hurt Deku, but you fought him on your own as soon as I called for help. You protected me and my brother when we thought it was over." She paused and gave a flustered blush, "It was really cool. You almost seemed unstoppable until he cheated with his Quirks."

Bakugou smirked and pounded his chest, "Of course I fought him! No one's stronger than me, not even some wanna-be final boss. To be greater than All Might, I'll fight every punk with an attitude and no matter the odds, I'll always win. That's what it means to be a hero!" Mahoro smiled at his confidence. Despite his tough exterior and his mastery of intimidation, Bakugou really was a great hero to Mahoro.

Bakugou opened the freezer and pulled out two popsicles, offering one to Mahoro who took it with a grin. However, before she could begin to eat it, Mahoro stared in disbelief as Bakugou takes a large bite out of his popsicle and slowly chews it, undeterred by the cold temperature. She slowly cringed at an unfortunate memory, to which Bakugou raised an eyebrow at, "The hell's with you?"

"Nothing!"

And that's that. Depending on how this goes, I might make this multiple one-shots rather than just this, but for now I'm satisfied with contributing to this character match up.