How were Shin and Kaito going to start dating?

After their transition from bully and victim to actual competitive rivals to "nobody understands me like you do but I still don't like you" allies in first year, they eventually embark on a tentative friendship and actually start to get on pretty well. Shin catches a big dirty crush some time in second year, but it's in the midst of all the other awful stuff that's happening to him (his quirk is basically overexpressing itself and causing him all kinds of health problems and he's too scared to ask for help but he's also convinced he's going to go nuclear and either die or hurt a lot of people) and the last time he had a crush on a school friend and revealed his feelings, he got utterly rejected and it ended up destroying the only friendship he had at the time, and he doesn't want that happening again, so he keeps it all bottled up in a cocktail of denial, repression and self-deprecation. Kaito has absolutely no idea about any of this

Kaito doesn't even realise he likes boys (he's bisexual) until third year, and suddenly a lot of things he thinks about Shin make a lot more sense. But he also doesn't want to make a move, because he values Shin's friendship a lot (something he worked very hard to cultivate) and he knows that Shin is super focused on doing well at school and he doesn't want to be a distraction. He figures it's only a few more months until they graduate, and by then he'll know for sure if this is a proper crush or a fleeting thing, and if it is real then he'll tell Shin how he feels and see what happens

Of course it's never that simple, in the big finale showdown at the end of third year (the final season of the anime lol) Kaito almost dies of his injuries, and Shin almost dies using a fusion of his quirk and a healing quirk he got from a temporary injection to save his life. Once they've both recovered they get to finally talk about their feelings; it's clear they care about each other immensely but don't know if anything romantic would work. They agree to give it a try, and if it feels weird they're still friends. Five years later they get married lmao

what were the endgame ships?

Dating by the end of high school but not necessarily endgame for life because sometimes life just doesn't work out that way, I haven't decided:

Absolutely endgame for real:

Honorable mention to Jamie and Kawaru (one sided infatuation throughout high school, doesn't work out, but they do have a messy one night stand at Shin and Kaito's wedding)

where did murph and steve first meet?

at school! Steve transferred from Hexside to Glandus at 13, when he moved to a bigger house with his mom after Mattholomule was born. He was a little nervous on his first day and because Glandus kids are savages his classmates started pulling him to pieces immediately, until Murph, resident Scary Weird Kid Don't Mess With Them They'll Fuck You Up steps in and takes him under their wing. They aren't trying to make friends, just don't want to see the poor new kid obliterated on day 1, but Steve keeps following them around like a puppy and eventually they cave and they start hanging out for real. Steve volunteers to step in and be on Murph's Grudgby team when another player is sick, and after he wins the match he gets to stay. and that's how they became friends :)

Why the name Murph

Fun fact their name was not originally Murph!! For the first 2-3 days of their existence when they were still just a vague concept floating around in my head their name was actually Max! Then I got round to drawing them and solidified more about their personality and appearance and decided to change it. There's no "deep meaning" reason for them having that name, they're actually named after a character from a TV show who was my beloved blorbo many years ago (John Murphy from The 100) because I've always liked the name and wanted to give it to an OC one day. They don't actually have much in common with John other than they both have complicated teenage years and a bit of an antihero arc, and I love them both a lot

But don't ever call Murph Murphy that's not their full name and they don't like it lmao!! only family members were ever allowed to call them Murphy

Thoughts on MHA oc x canon? (How do you feel about oc x canon in the fandom, etc)

I am a big fan and staunch defender of OC x Canon in any fandom!! I love it so much!! I was never super into it myself (but never minded it) until about a year ago when I fell down the hole and started doing it myself and honestly it's just fun. I think I still prefer OC x OC because that gives you 100% creative freedom but honestly if you pick Background Character #92 as your chosen partner it's basically the same thing. It's such a genuine expression of love for a specific character that you like them so much you hand-made your own personal blorbo just to hold hands with them. It's so sweet. Same goes for self-inserts/sonas I love you guys so much

I never did any OC x Canon for BNHA specifically because I don't have that many adult OCs and never found a canon character I was interested in pairing any of them up with!