History Fanfic / DekuIThinkHesSomePro

* BrickJoke: In Chapter 15, Izuku finds out that Eraserhead wears kitten pajamas to sleep. Thirty-six chapters later, during their first date, Emi mentions the pajamas as part of why Shouta's rep amongst the underground heroes is not what it was. Another twenty chapters later, and Shinsou pranks Aizawa by having everybody in 1-A wear kitten pajamas for movie night.

* ForWantOfANail:
** Like in ''Mastermind'', [[UnSorcerer Izuku doesn't receive One For All]]. Unlike the former, it's because All Might decided Izuku was too reckless rather than Izuku not saving Bakugou, and Mirio Toogata, the original candidate for One For All in canon before All Might met Izuku, winds up getting it instead. And later on, when Izuku gets an implied offer to take on One For All, he turns it down after some consideration because he wants to become an inspiration for other Quirkless kids who want to become Pro-Heroes.
** Because he didn't choose him as his successor and pass on his powers, Toshinori remains opposed to Izuku pursuing his dreams and actively strives to discourage him.
** Since Izuku didn't have One For All to snap him out of it when Shinso uses his Brainwashing Quirk on him, Izuku loses the first fight of the tournament, leaving Shinso to fight Todoroki instead.
** At the end of the Sports Festival, Hound Dog calms Katsuki down by talking him through his outrage, preventing Midnight and Cementoss from following through on the 'chain him up on the podium' plan.
** In canon, Izuku only had 40 internship offers, the potential number of offers being weighed down by his Quirk's destructive results. Here, it reaches to just below 900 (making it the third-highest number of offers in his class) and most of them are from underground heroes, Izuku's pre-established reputation among underground heroes giving him a massive leg-up.
** Since Mirio has One-For-All instead of Izuku, he is the one who interns under Gran Torino while Izuku interns under Nedzu to hone his analytical skills.
** In canon, Bakugo's first internship was under Best Jeanist solely because he was the highest-ranked hero to offer one. Here he gives it more thought and realizes that interning under him would be like "trying to put a feral animal in a cage". Instead, he decides to intern under the No. 7 hero Mirko, recognizing that her style would complement his more while still interning under one of the Top 10 heroes.
** Izuku suggested Midnight that one of her cases likely had a female villain as the suspect, so she handed it off to Vlad King. [[spoiler:Vlad King ends up finding said villain and adopting her as his daughter - Himiko Toga, leading to her being on the Heroes' side during the training camp attack.]]
** [[spoiler:Said summer camp attack ends much worse for the League - whilst they manage to capture Deku, only Magne, Twice and Dabi manage to escape, and they failed to capture Ragdoll. Not to mention Deku managed to sneak a tracker with him to their hideout - and then uses his analytical skills to [[EnemyCivilWar turn the League's remaining members against All For One]], ultimately leading to his death.]]

** PlayedForLaughs when Aizawa mentions that Izuku's training entails avoiding getting caught by [[spoiler:Vlad King's adoptive daughter, Toga, whom he only met because he took on a case Midnight handed off to him due to Izuku's advice.]]

* IdiotBall: Thanks to his tunnel vision when it comes to Izuku's Quirklessness, All Might spends the entirety of the USJ assault with a firm grip on this, dismissing the very real threat that the villains pose to everyone else because hey, they have Quirks, they can defend themselves... and besides, even villains wouldn't hurt ''children'', right? He needs Shigaraki himself to spell out that yes, they intend to kill as many aspiring heroes as they can, much to his scandalized shock.

* ItsAllAboutMe: In classic Bakugo-fashion, [[InsaneTrollLogic he takes Izuku going out his way to avoid him and supposedly giving up on becoming a hero as a sign that Izuku thought he was better than him]] (prompting a beating to the point of a concussion and potentially life-threatening injuries) and that he got into U.A. on a recommendation as Izuku purposefully sabotaging his "origin story".

* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: [[{{Downplayed}} Downplayed.]] Nighteye is clearly guilt-stricken when Izuku reluctantly admits to him that he's envious of how Togata's already powerful Quirk mutated to grant him even more strength while he's been left Quirkless. While he doesn't realize that Izuku has figured out the truth behind One For All, Izuku also wasn't intending to throw any shade and mentally berates himself upon belatedly realizing that Nighteye might blame himself for recommending Mirio in the first place.

* SpiritualAntithesis: Both this fanfic and ''Mastermind'' are ForWantOfANail fanfics by the same author where Izuku Midoriya doesn’t become All Might's successor and remains [[UnSorcerer Quirkless]], so he subsequently decides to use his [[TheStrategist analysis abilities]] to make a living via contacting people online. While his co-workers are surprised to learn that he's Quirkless, they're all so impressed with the mental skills he has that they don't care about it and consider him a valuable ally and friend. There are also several people who are LockedOutOfTheLoop that automatically assume that Izuku has some kind of analysis Quirk. The difference? In ''Mastermind'', Izuku becomes [[VillainProtagonist the titular villain]] who sells plans for thefts and murders, partially to lash out at a society who [[FantasticRacism refused to give him a chance due to being Quirkless]] and partially because [[VillainousFriendship the villains he befriends]] are the only people besides his mother Inko, [[EqualOpportunityEvil who treat him with any shred of respect]]. In ''Deku'', Izuku decides that if he's not able to become a Pro-Hero without a Quirk, he might as well use his analysis skills to help out the current ones, so he reaches out to Underground Heroes with his observations on how they can improve their skills. When they finally meet Izuku in person and he proves he’s the real deal, they’re all so impressed that a middle-school student without any kind of superpower has this kind of insight that they all take him underneath their wings as an inter-agency intern and recommend him for UA's Hero Course in order for Izuku to become the first [[BadassNormal Quirkless Pro-Hero]].

* ParanoiaFuel: During Summer Camp, Izuku's training consists of finding numbered marbles while avoiding [[spoiler:Himiko Toga, who takes blood from Izuku's classmates and uses it to transform into them and ambush him]]. By the end of the first day, Izuku is completely paranoid and begs Ochako for proof that she's the real deal.

* InspirationallyDisadvantaged: Izuku is treated this way, with many characters praising him for keeping up with the rest of his classmates despite being Qurikless.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: While Izuku was a smart kid in canon, here he is nothing short of a ChildProdigy. He manages to contact a group of seasoned [[TheCowl underground heroes]] where he manages to improve their Quirk versatility and criminal-catching success rate to the point where they think he is a retired pro-hero. He's so smart that he becomes a sought-after asset among both heroes and villains (All For One in particular seeing him a threat) and the WorldsSmartestMan (or dog/rodent/bear-thing) Nedzu personally takes him under his wing for extra credit tutoring.
* AdaptationalJerkass: In-canon, [[CruelToBeKind All Might told Izuku not to get his hopes up becoming a hero without a Quirk so he would work toward a more realistic goal]]. Izuku's impulsive attempt to save Bakugo caused him to realize Izuku had been more heroic at the moment, and choose him as his successor. Here he does not change his mind. By the time he recognizes Izuku in Class 1-A, he feels as though allowing him into the U.A. Hero course was a lapse in Nedzu's judgment and that even with Izuku's impressive skills and intelligence, he would be a liability in the field compared to his peers. From the way he phrases it, it's [[FantasticRacism borderline racist]].

** In Chapter 24, when Izuku tries getting out of ruining his old middle school's reputation:

* BatDeduction: Izuku determining the existence of One For All is fairly logical. Izuku then determining that [[spoiler:One For All would allow the user to utilize previous holders' Quirks, despite none of the previous holders ever doing so,]] is enough of a stretch to make no sense at all.

** The various underground heroes are appalled by how Izuku's treated by Bakugou.

** When All Might gives his reasons why he thinks Izuku should not be in UA, all of his fellow teachers could not help but be horrified and disgusted by the Symbol of Peace. Aizawa in particular storms out of the room because he "didn't need the murder of the number one hero on his resume".

* GentleGiant: Kirihito, who runs Aizawa's favorite cat cafe, is tall enough to take orders from people on the balcony while standing on the first floor and who is also really nice.

** Hitoshi's training under Aizawa includes sparring, LeParkour, and calisthenics, all done until he drops. Though a large part of why it's so difficult is that he's rather out of shape.

* UnderestimatingBadassery: To Bakugou's annoyance, several people act as though he was bullying Uraraka during their fight rather than having to go all out to keep from losing. As strong as he is, she still almost beat him, so she's not some frail little girl.

** Sir Nighteye also gives one to All Might in the aftermath for being unmindful of his limits and for his unwillingness to look beyond Izuku's Quirklessness, finally getting through him by pointing out that, by his own actions, he is treating Izuku as if he were lesser than the others - precisely the kind of thing he's supposed to be against.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Dabi, Twice, and Magne [[spoiler:q[[EnemyCivilWar turn on All For One]] after learning he had groomed Shigaraki to be a pawn to be used against All Might.]]

* AdaptationalIntelligence: While Izuku was a smart kid in canon, here he is nothing short of a ChildProdigy. He manages to contact a group of seasoned [[TheCowl underground heroes]] where he manages to improve their Quirk versatility and criminal-catching success rate to the point where they think he is a retired pro-hero. He's so smart that he becomes a sought-after asset both among both heroes and villains (All For One in particular seeing him a threat) and the WorldsSmartestMan (or dog/rodent/bear-thing) Nedzu personally takes him under his wing for extra credit tutoring.

* AdaptationalSuperpowerChange: Downplayed. Midnight's Quirk "Somnambulist" allows her body to exude a smell that causes those exposed to it to fall unconscious, the fact that it affects men more strongly than women implying that it is a natural pheromone. In the fanfic, it is expanded to be generated by chemical compounds in her lipids that vaporize into a gas on command, a quality that her daughter Momo inherited in her own Quirk "Creation" to use her lipids as a fuel for her powers.

** Monoma challenges Izuku in the 1-A vs. 1-B one-on-one fighting. Monoma only gets to make one offensive move, and even that fails because he was trying to copy Izuku's non-existent Quirk. Izuku only needs to sweep his legs and pin him to the ground.

-->'''Dabi:''' Well that was quick.

** Izuku's first personal meeting with the underground heroes has several. The first, that he is a teenager instead of a retired pro. The second, that Izuku is Quirkless. The third, that all of his analysis are based pretty much on what the heroes send him, while the heroes thought he was actually going out to supplement the information with first-hand knowledge.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Dabi, Twice and Magne [[spoiler:q[[EnemyCivilWar turn on All For One]] after learning he had groomed Shigaraki to be a pawn to be used against All Might.]]

* FantasticRacism: Deku is constantly subjected to prejudice on account of being Quirkless.
** [[TheCape Daytime heroes]] seem to be the worst when it comes to this, as All Might has shown time and time again that he believes Izuku shouldn't be a hero because of this and among the 900 intern requests he received after the Sports Festival, almost all of them were from [[TheCowl underground heroes]].

** In-canon, Izuku only had 40 internship offers, the potential number of offers being weighed down by his Quirk's destructive results. Here, it reaches to just below 900 (making it the third-highest number of offers in his class) and most of them are from underground heroes, Izuku's pre-established reputation among underground heroes giving him a massive leg-up.

** In-canon, Bakugo's first internship was under Best Jeanist solely because he was the highest-ranked hero to offer one. Here he gives it more thought and realizes that interning under him would be like "trying to put a feral animal in a cage". Instead, he decides to intern under the No. 7 hero Mirko, recognizing that her style would complement his more while still interning under one of the Top 10 heroes.

* FreudianExcuseIsNoExcuse: When calling Toshinori out on how he's treated Izuku, Sir Nighteye suggests that the real reason he keeps disparaging his efforts is because nobody believed in ''his'' ability to become a Quirkless hero. He also makes quite clear that this doesn't excuse his behavior; if anything, it makes it more disappointing.
* FurryReminder: When fighting Stain, Nedzu has no problem in acting like the animal he looks like, growling and biting the Hero Killer.

** All Might is surprised to learn that Shigaraki has no problem in hurting or killing children.

* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:Mr. Compress, Mustard and Spinner are recruited by Nedzu shortly after being captured. They are tasked with introducing a reworked version of Stain's ideals (rebranded so it appears to come from civilians) to change Hero society for the better.]]

** Monoma gets two of these in Chapter 25 when classes 1-A and 1-B are set to fight one on one.

* ObliviousGuiltSlinging: [[{{Downplayed}} Downplayed.]] Nighteye is clearly guilt-stricken when Izuku reluctantly admits to him that he's envious of how Togata's already powerful Quirk mutated to grant him even more strength while he's been left Quirkless. While he doesn't realize that Izuku has figured out the truth behind One For All, Izuku also wasn't intending to throw any shade, and mentally berates himself upon belatedly realizing that Nighteye might blame himself for recommending Mirio in the first place.

* ParanoiaFuel: During Summer Camp, Izuku's training consists of finding numbered marbles while avoiding [[spoiler:Himiko Toga, who takes blood from Izuku's classmates and uses it to transform into them and ambush him]]. By the end of the first day, Izuku is completely paranoiac and begs Ochako for proof that she's the real deal.

* PunnyName: The Doraggo cartel deals in drugs and their name sounds like a Japanese speaker pronouncing "Drug" .

* RefusalOfTheCall: After some consideration, Izuku refuses an implied offer to be given One For All, declaring that while he might not be capable of becoming the top hero in Japan like he dreamed, he can be an inspiration for other Quirkless kids dreaming of becoming heroes themselves.

* ShutUpHannibal: After hearing Stain's MotiveRant, Izuku points out that All Might is easily the most famous hero of all with more merchandise than any other hero. If Stain really cared about heroes who don't want fame or money, he'd idolize underground heroes. In reality Stain's nothing but a deranged All Might FanBoy.

* TherapyIsForTheWeak: When Nedzu finds about Todoroki's abusive home life, he's forced to go into therapy with Hound Dog. Todoroki is afraid of such a thing reaching his father's ears since Endeavor claims that mental instability is a sign of weakness.

* PunnyName: The Doraggo cartel deals in drugs and their name sounds like "Drug" in {{Engrish}}.