Fanfic / Sleeper Hit AU

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Midoriya Izuku may have been Quirkless, but he wasn't about to let that get in the way of his dreams. Through hard work and determination, he managed to pass U.A.'s Entrance Exam and make it into the Hero Course... only for Aizawa to expel him after he placed last in his Quirk Assessment Test.

Four years later, Class 1-A gathers to watch the announcement of the first Hero Rankings since their debut. Among those who made the list is Sleeper Hit, the first Quirkless Pro Hero, who gives an interview afterwards. When he reveals how he was expelled from U.A. on his first day, everyone is stunned to realize he's their former classmate...especially Ochako, who's determined to reconnect with the boy who saved her from the Zero Pointer.

The Sleeper Hit AU consists of several stories:

• Sleeper Hit: Follows the fallout of the titular hero's interview and Ochako's efforts to reach out to him.
• Imposter: Centers on Hagakure Tooru realizing the full implications of her teacher's actions and grappling with the insecurities and doubts that spark.
• Wasted Potential: Focuses on Todoroki Shouto/Promise encountering Midoriya/Sleeper Hit on the field, and the latter's realization about why the Frostbite Hero seems to struggle with his Quirk at times.
• Hindsight is a Harsh Mistress: Imari Tengo, Midoriya's long-fingered classmate and former bully from junior high, crosses paths with him again.
• The Speedster Plays Catch-Up: Iida Tenya wakes up from his coma.

This fanfiction series contains examples of:

• Actually Pretty Funny: Ochako and the others' reaction to Izuku's Bait-and-Switch Comment telling her that he still doesn't forgive her - because there's nothing to forgive.
• Adaptational Jerkass:
  • As harsh and manipulative as Aizawa is in canon at times, it's difficult to imagine him doing something as callous and underhanded as expelling a student who passed the exam with flying colours despite disadvantages, under false pretenses, solely to make room for someone who didn't. It's Downplayed compared to a lot of similar stories, in that he's not unrepentant about his actions even before he sees the consequences play out.
  • Wasted Potential leans into the worst interpretations of Endeavor as a pro-hero, with Izuku describing him as reckless and completely unconcerned about collateral damage (which really isn't supported in canon given his initial #2 ranking), and indicates that he never got better after what happened to All Might.
• All for Nothing:
  • After everything he did to prepare himself and pass U.A.'s Entrance Exam, Midoriya got expelled on his very first day for failing to pass Aizawa's assessment, with his teacher declaring that he simply lacked the potential required to make it there. This sent Izuku into a Heroic BSoD that was only worsened by Uraraka calling him 'Deku', creating his Jade-Colored Glasses.
  • Aizawa justified his decision to expel Izuku by telling himself that Midoriya wouldn't be able to make it as a Pro Hero and that he needed to ensure there was room in his class for Shinsou once he proved himself worthy of the Hero Course. Midoriya goes Pro anyway, though Aizawa's actions made him much more cynical and distrusting, while there's plenty of "extra room" by the time Shinsou's able to enter the Hero Course thanks to Mineta and Asui getting murdered by the League. Aizawa himself recognises this when Shinsou gets him to admit that he expelled Midoriya for his sake, mentally adding, "Not that it mattered much after USJ.".
  • Izuku fears that if he exposed Katsuki/King Nitro as his long-time abuser, it will render everything All Might and his fellow Pros did at Kamino to save him irrelevant, convincing the public that he wasn't worthy of being saved. He still frets about this after Bakugou loses his license.
• Ambiguous Situation: The fate of Iida Tenya is not specified in the original story; while he is no longer part of Class 1-A, the exact circumstances are never revealed, leaving the results of their confrontation with Stain unclear. The fifth installment reveals that the fight left Tenya comatose, waking up four years later.
• Anachronic Order: In addition to the frequent flashbacks to the characters' school days, Shinsou's scenes in Chapter 2 and 3 take place the night before Uravity and Alien Queen's first attempt to reconnect with Sleeper Hit. This likely caused some confusion which the author clarified in the notes on Chapter 4.
• And Another Thing...: After his argument with Uravity, Sleeper Hit is about to leave to file his report on the Lizard Gang, but turns around and decides to tell Alien Queen that he doesn't blame her for his expulsion.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • After learning that Aizawa rigged the results of his test in order to create a spot in his class for Shinsou while retaining Hagakure, Shinsou blows past his teacher's self-justifications this way:
    Shinsou: If I'd passed the exam, and there was another Gen Ed student with a quirk you thought was more useful than mine... would you have expelled me too?
    Aizawa: ...I don't know.
  • Inko gently challenges her son's dismissal of his former classmates with a one-two punch:
    Inko: Do you really think I only started supporting you because you proved me wrong?
    Izuku: Of course not! I'd never... I mean, even after I met Mei, you were my biggest supporter through most of my time there.
    Inko: So why don't you give that girl the same chance?
  • Earlier in the same conversation, she asks if he really thinks every student from the "Hell class" was no better than Bakugou, and Izuku has to admit that Red Riot was alright.
  • Izuku cuts straight to the heart of Tenya's issues by asking why he wants to be a hero, getting him to admit that ultimately, he wants to try and atone for his mistakes.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Sleeper Hit is known as the Analytic Hero for good reason. During battles, his mind is running several miles a minute, and he also figured out the secret of One For All without being let into the loop.
• Badass Normal: His Quirklessness may have complicated matters, but mostly in the sense of dealing with others shutting doors in his face. This hasn't stopped Midoriya from going Pro.
• Bland-Name Product: At one point, Izuku eats at a WcDonalds, an obvious alteration of McDonald's. Later on, he also mentions Quesadilla Bell, a riff on Taco Bell.
• Broken Pedestal:
  • Shinsou's regard for his teacher and mentor takes a massive hit after learning that part of the reason he expelled Midoriya was to ensure that there was space in his class for his protégé. Especially after learning Aizawa rigged the results since Midoriya did not in fact place last.
  • Katsuki's fellow members of the Hell Class are disgusted to learn about his bullying. The news hits Eijirou and Mina especially hard due to their own experiences with such matters, and their involvement in rescuing him at Kamino.
  • Tenya is shocked upon learning that Aizawa deliberately sabotaged Izuku so he could expel him, struggling to reconcile that Awful Truth with the teacher he thought he knew.
  • Izuku's respect for UA as a whole was destroyed by how he was treated on his first day, leading him to feel like he had dodged a bullet by going to Hamada. As he told Mei, "If they let bullies like Bakugou in, then it can’t be that great." For what it's worth, Aizawa later assures him that if Bakugou's bullying had been in his records, UA never would have let him into the entrance exam.
• Butterfly of Doom: Discussed a few times, as characters reflect on the consequences of Aizawa's actions:
  • Aizawa himself is shown to have regretted what happened at the USJ, indicating that he always suspected things could have played out differently if Izuku had been there, and now that he knows what he does about Sleeper Hit's capabilities, is almost certain they would have:
    Aizawa: Sleeper Hit arrested 17 criminals in one fell swoop that day. And a lot of them had pretty strong Quirks. He knows how to deal with crowds, and he knows how to work around Quirks. He’s not the Analytic Hero for nothing. How many times in that first semester did my class have to deal with a large number of villains?
    Nedzu: Quite a few times.
    Aizawa: But the USJ incident specifically. During that exercise, we were one student short. I know it’s pointless to dwell on what could have been. But part of me knows that if I hadn’t expelled Midoriya, if he had been there for that exercise… then maybe Asui and Mineta would still be alive. So I cannot, in good conscience, remain here at UA.
  • When Aizawa brings this up with Izuku, he admits that he can relate to dwelling on "what-ifs", as he spent the last four years consumed by an unhealthy grudge against Class 1A and never befriended most of his Hamada classmates. "So many opportunities, wasted…”
  • Shinsou (while also acknowledging that it's pointless and unhealthy) wonders to himself about what it would have been like if he'd had the chance to study alongside Izuku. "Maybe he of all people might’ve seen me for who I was."
  • In Impostor, Hagakure reflects on how close she could have come to being expelled if Aizawa hadn't decided to cheat in her favour, or if he hadn't had an easy target in Izuku at the time: "If Midoriya’s spot had gone to, I dunno, Kendou from Class B, then I would’ve been on the chopping block."
• Bystander Syndrome: None of Class 1A spoke up when Izuku was expelled; Ochako wanted to do so, but could already tell that Aizawa wouldn't be as approachable as Present Mic. When Izuku calls out Kirishima for only claiming to disagree with Aizawa's decision now that he's proven him wrong, Kirishima can't argue the point. Iida also recalls that he never questioned the decision despite the respect he'd gained for Izuku at the entrance exam, something he really comes to regret after learning the truth about Aizawa sabotaging him.
• The Cameo: Hamada principal Ribaru Sutano, whose name and description matches that of Stan Lieber.
• Crossover: Downplayed. Midoriya wound up attending the Hamada Institute, a Support-centric school founded by the Neuronic Hero Macro Six, aka Hamada Hiro. Wasabi also makes an appearance as the Slice-n-Dice Hero, who mentored Izuku and Mei during their second-year apprenticeships.
• Cynicism Catalyst: Getting unceremoniously expelled from U.A. on his very first day, casually outed as Quirkless, and having the girl he saved during the Entrance Exam call him 'Deku' all worked together to convince Midoriya that U.A. was a toxic environment and that everyone there was just as bad as Bakugou. Even getting into Hamada didn't help much, as despite being assured about the school's anti-discrimination policy and the reasons behind it, Izuku was never willing to approach the support students for help with his gear, believing they'd be just as biased as what he assumed those at UA would be like (an assumption that was itself proven wrong when he met Mei).
• Death by Adaptation: Asui, Mineta, and Yagi are no longer around by the time the story begins. All For One was originally said to be incarcerated same as in canon, but is later stated to have died as a result of that battle.
• Deconstruction Fic:
  • Of the invoked Dad Might and Dadzawa concepts. Without the incident with the Sludge Villain, Toshinori lacks any real investment in Izuku and does nothing to help or encourage him beyond a single sympathetic glance after he's expelled. Aizawa, meanwhile, is invested — in Shinsou, and sees nothing wrong with crushing Midoriya's dreams in order to make room for his protégé.
  • Also deconstructs how Bakugou's bullying is treated as just part of his role as Midoriya's rival. Instead of going through slow Character Development on his own, Bakugou grows more set in his ways, so when he finally does get challenged directly, he's completely unable to handle it and doubles down.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: When Ochako first tries to apologize to Izuku for calling him Deku when he was expelled, she explains that she only thought that was his name because Bakugo called him that and she thought it sounded ‘cute’. This only prompts Izuku to refuse to believe her and reject her apology again.
• Dream-Crushing Handicap: Aizawa sees Midoriya's Quirklessness as such, which is part of his self-justification for booting him out of U.A.
• Enemy Eats Your Lunch: During "Hindsight is a Harsh Mistress", a villain named Zeitgeist takes a WcDonalds hostage and steals some of the civilians' drinks for himself. It's later revealed that he's made a clone army of himself with a time travel Quirk, and is using the drinks to keep himself fueled because the oldest clones have been awake for 20 hours straight or so.
• Enhance Button: Mei has invented a baby to do this the same way crime shows do it, demonstrating it on a video of Todoroki and Monoma's Sports Festival match. This helps Izuku notice that Monoma had started to create a fireball with Todoroki's borrowed Quirk just before Todoroki overwhelmed him with his ice.
• Entitled Bastard: Bakugou. By the time Sleeper Hit begins, he has grown so thoroughly convinced that he deserves to be the best that he throws a hissy fit over placing #38 in his very first Hero Ranking, insisting that he should have been in the Top 20 at least.^note Keep in mind that the rankings in canon officially go over 400 and it's implied to extend into the thousands, so a hero reaching the top 100 in their first year active is monumental. To say nothing of his reaction to placing seven spots beneath the Quirkless Sleeper Hit, long before finding out just who he is...
• Even Evil Has Standards: Epicenter is legitimately appalled both by Shoto's (Pre Heel Realization) Jerkass attitude and Fantastic Ableism towards Sleeper Hit.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Shinsou may have wanted to move into the Hero Course. However, when he realizes that Aizawa tampered with the scores to kick Izuku out to make room for him ^note  And keep Hagakure, who had a Quirk while Izuku never got One For All , he loses respect for his teacher, telling him by doing that, he took away another student’s chances, and one who had struggled at least as much as he did.
  • For all of his bitterness and negative assumptions about UA and Class 1A especially, Izuku does not blame Ashido for triggering Aizawa's expulsion threat, and makes a point of telling her that despite having no desire to befriend her or Uraraka at that point. It's possible that he's already starting to rethink his impression of her only seeing heroics as a game, and that her apology did mean more to him than he let on.
  • Played for laughs when Izuku asks Aizawa to not look like a hobo when he and Eri come to his wedding, and Aizawa assures him that even he has standards.
• Fantastic Ableism:
  • Aizawa's expulsion wasn't "rational" even by his own logic. Izuku didn't place last; he outperformed Hagakure. Aizawa expelled Izuku because Aizawa had already decided to expel someone for Shinsou's sake and he valued Hagakure's quirk more than Izuku's entire person.
  • Izuku's efforts to get into another school are initially met with rejections from Shiketsu, Ketsubutsu and others claiming that "to make a transfer partway into the semester after having been expelled would be a bureaucratic nightmare". Izuku and Inko translate this as, "We don’t want a Quirkless reject to take up space." This suspicion is backed up by Nedzu mentioning that several other students expelled from UA for similar reasons had no such trouble getting into other hero schools.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Literally between Izuku and Shouto. Despite initial hostilities, once Shouto accepts that he can't keep handicapping himself in combat out of spite, he works with Izuku to capture Epicenter, apologises for his earlier remarks and the two walk off agreeing to swap stories about Bakugou and Endeavor.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: After spending several years in a coma, Tenya grapples with feeling out of place, able to see how so many of his peers have grown and matured over time while he missed out on all of it.
• Flashback B-Plot: The Speedster Plays Catch-Up alternates between scenes in the present day and Flashbacks to key events in Tenya's past. Namely involving his time at U.A., and what led to him playing catch-up in the first place.
• Foil:
  • Aizawa and Bakugou both wronged Midoriya due to their personal biases. While Aizawa came to regret his decision long before getting called out, Bakugou remained convinced that he was right all along, and takes being challenged poorly.
  • The side-story Hindsight is a Harsh Mistress reveals what became of Imari, one of Katsuki's former followers. Unlike Bakugou, he was unable to go Pro, ending up in retail where his long fingers proved useful. Both were motivated by feelings of inferiority, but Imari came to regret his behavior and reformed all on his own, while Bakugou doubled down.
• Foreshadowing: At the start of the story, the narration refers to the seventeen members of the former Class 1-A, hinting at how Midoriya is not the only student who's no longer considered to be part of their class, for... various reasons. What's more, all seventeen of them are namechecked in passing in the scene if not actually given dialogue, thus hinting at which ones are missing and why.
• Forgiven, but Not Forgotten: By the end of the main story, Izuku has forgiven Aizawa for expelling him under false pretenses and gone so far as to invite him (or more accurately Eri) to his wedding to Mei, but he's still just petty enough to assign him to a seat next to Ms Joke.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse:
  • Katsuki is the only one who believes that his Inferiority Superiority Complex justifies the way he treated Izuku. Everybody else is disgusted and Disappointed by the Motive.
  • Izuku also rebukes Shouto after realizing that he's been holding back so much of his power, stubbornly refusing to use it even when fire would come in handy, placing his promise to himself above his sworn duty to protect others.
  • Aizawa tries to justify his actions by claiming he only wanted to help Shinsou get into the hero course and that Izuku’s handicap would never allow him to be a hero. However, Shinsou reminds him that Izuku rightfully earned his spot by passing the entrance exam, and by sabotaging him, Aizawa destroyed his future at U.A. simply because he thought he had no hope due to his Quirkless nature, also serving as a call-out for him massively favouring those with Quirks he deemed to be ‘useful’. And while Aizawa did send a letter of recommendation to the Hamada Institute, Shinsou coldly counters with the fact that it ultimately shows that Aizawa always thought Izuku was good enough to be a hero student, Aizawa just didn't want Izuku to be his.
  • Fully acknowledged by Imari when he gives his apology, explaining that he went along with Bakugou bullying Izuku to avoid being picked on for his own lame quirk. "I was messed up, I should never have done any of that to you. I was so focused on not being at the very bottom I didn’t realize how badly I was hurting the person I thought was below me, the person I should’ve known to stand beside."
• Friendly Address Privileges: For all that Katsuki seems to blow off Eijirou calling him 'Bakubro', he's surprised when he drops the nickname and reverts to a strict Last-Name Basis.
• Go Through Me: During their confrontation on the beach, Ochako, Mina, Eijirou and Momo all step up to protect Izuku from Bakugou, until Izuku declares that This Is Something He's Got to Do Himself. The four initially agree to this, but when Bakugou goes overboard with one of his gauntlets, Eijirou steps in to take the hit while Ochako gets Izuku out of the way with her quirk.
• Graceful Loser: Epicenter in Wasted Potential, who admits after being captured that she wanted a good fight and can't blame them for delivering.
• Hanlon's Razor: Izuku's arc involves him learning that he shouldn't have been so quick to assume the worst of Uraraka when she tried to talk to him after his expulsion. As he puts it, "Bakugou has that tone of voice no matter what he says, so it’s hard to tell when he’s insulting someone and when he’s talking normally. So I guess I can’t blame you for not realizing it was an insult."
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Zig-Zagged. All of Izuku's efforts hit a brick wall at U.A. thanks to Aizawa; however, he was able to find recognition elsewhere. The fact that he worked so hard also enables Shinsou to poke holes in Aizawa's defense of his actions, as he realizes that Midoriya likely scored higher on the fitness test than Hagakure.
• Heel–Face Brainwashing: Implied. Bakugou submits himself to anger management classes and community service, but this is right after Shinsou forced him to "go home and rethink [his] life".
• Heroic BSoD: "Impostor" centers on Hagakure falling into one after it comes out that Aizawa rigged the test to justify expelling Izuku, and if he had not done so it would have been her head on the chopping block.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Katsuki's decision to crash the meeting at Dagobah Beach and confront Izuku costs him the respect of Eijirou and the other classmates present, along with his Hero License thanks to the whole thing being caught on camera.
• Honorary True Companion: The "Sleeper Hit Friendship Squad" (Uraraka, Ashido, Kirishima, Yaoyorozu and eventually Shinsou) are essentially aiming to make Sleeper Hit one for the rest of the Hell Class. Midoriya gradually becomes more receptive to the idea of befriending them at least, and by the end of the Beach Brawl and Aizawa's apology to him, he's pretty much become one of them, even taking opportunities to meet the rest of the class over the next few weeks.
  Ochako: Even if he was only our classmate for one day, he was still our classmate.
• Humble Hero: Kirishima exhibits this pretty well in his meeting with Izuku. Despite being the highest ranked out of the Hell Class at #18, he makes it clear that he genuinely respects Izuku for his success as a Quirkless pro-hero and sympathises with what he had to go through to get there. It's here that Izuku starts to rethink his preconceptions of the class, and his later meeting on the beach with Uraraka, Ashido and Yaoyorozu goes a lot better than it might have as a result, with Izuku quickly seeing that Yaoyorozu (who ranked #20) is also much more humble than he had built her up to be.
• Humiliation Conga: Not only does Aizawa expel him on his very first day, but he also outs Izuku as Quirkless in a brief but brutal speech about refusing to give him any special treatment for it.
• Hypocrite: For all that Aizawa espouses about rationality and logic, he still sabotaged the Physical Assessment scores so his sole Quirkless student would have the lowest score, giving him an excuse to expel the boy and make room for someone Aizawa wanted in the class. He acknowledges this in his apology to Izuku on the beach.
• Hypocrite Has a Point: Aizawa claims to have believed the Hamada institute would be a more suitable learning environment for Izuku, hence why he sent them a recommendation for him, and given everything we learn about Hamada's anti-discrimination policies, he wasn't exactly incorrect, even if this does nothing to change the fact that he was the one who actively discriminated against him at UA and tampered with his own test to do it.
• Ignored Epiphany:
  • Zig-Zagged with Aizawa. Though he came to regret expelling Midoriya long before Sleeper Hit gave that fateful interview, he still lies to Shinsou and attempts to convince him that he wasn't completely misguided by bringing up the test result. Shinsou sees through it immediately.
  • Bakugou's sincerely stunned by Kirishima rebuking him, wavering before redirecting his rage back towards Midoriya. Subverted by the later revelation that he's started therapy after getting cut out of Kirishima's life.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: When expelling Izuku, Aizawa says "I’m holding you to the same standards as all my other students. And you’ve failed to meet them.” Almost immediately afterwards the scene switches to Aizawa's perspective, where it turns out he altered the results of the test to have an excuse to kick Izuku out since he valued Hagakure's Quirk more than Izuku's raw talent.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Being Quirkless doesn't stop Midoriya from saving Ochako from the Zero Pointer. Instead of destroying the machine, he uses his grappling hook and leverage to free her from the rubble enough to use her quirk to get the rest of the way out, as well as save him from a fall just like how she does in canon.
  • Despite being expelled from U.A., Izuku still wound up working with Hatsume Mei courtesy of her connection with Wasabi.
  • Ochako and Tenya still became friends, and their first Heroics lesson still involved Katsuki, though the teams were different — Ochako joined Tenya on the Villains side while Katsuki and Jirou were Heroes. Katsuki also still demonstrated his gauntlets, with incredibly destructive results.
  • Shinsou still started out in General Studies and still used his powers to brainwash Ojiro into helping him.
  • Katsuki still wound up forcibly restrained during the awards ceremony for the first Sports Festival, though here, it was because it was the only way of keeping him from throttling Shinsou.
  • Bakugou was still kidnapped by the League, and several of his classmates still risked themselves in an effort to save him. This incident also led to Midoriya opting to stay silent about the abuse he suffered at his hands.
  • Izuku still attended the same Provisional License Exam as Class 1A, though he indicates that he went out of his way to avoid them and only Bakugou even briefly saw him.
  • Katsuki still failed the Provisional License Exam the first time he took it.
  • During their confrontation at the beach, Katsuki gleefully uses his gauntlets in much the same way he did in Canon.
  • Izuku is still the one who convinces Todoroki to start using the fire part of his Quirk.
• In-Series Nickname: The former Class 1-A is widely known as 'U.A.'s Hell Class', due to the various horrors and hardships they endured during their time there.
• Innocently Insensitive:
  • As in Canon, Ochako mistook 'Deku' as Izuku's name, leading to disastrous results.
  • She ends up falling victim to this again when she first tries to apologize, explaining that she only thought that because Bakugo called him that and that she thought it was ‘cute’. This only prompts Izuku to reject her apology, thinking she doesn’t really mean it.
  • Mei is at her worst in the flashback to her meeting with Izuku, when she tells him she's thrilled to have a quirkless student to design her babies around: “You’re like the baseline for the entire human race!”. Izuku at first accepts it - "Well at least she doesn’t think I’m useless…" - but later calls her out on only seeing him as a walking advertisement. Mei is immediately remorseful about coming off that way, and as such makes a lot of effort to improve how she treats people over the next few years.
• Internal Reveal:
  • The story opens with Sleeper Hit revealing how he was expelled from U.A. on his first day, allowing his former classmates to make that connection, along with the rest of the public reacting to the news.
  • Shinsou immediately sees through Aizawa's lie about the quirk assessment test and calls him out on fudging Hagakure's score. Aizawa later owns up to this to Izuku, with Kirishima, Uraraka, Yaoyorozu and Ashido present, while Hagakure, Ojiro and Iida find out in later stories.
  • Katsuki himself reveals while confronting Izuku that he dared him to 'take a swan dive off the roof'.
  • The Speedster Plays Catch-Up is naturally filled with these, as Tenya is filled in on everything he missed while spending the last four years in a coma.
• Invisible Streaker: Not anymore. Hagakure eventually managed to get a real costume that would work with her invisibility, thanks to some input from Mirio, who has similar problems with his own Quirk. She feels she still owes him for that.
• Irony: One of Aizawa's main motivations behind booting Midoriya out was to secure space in his class for Shinsou once he proved himself worthy of the Hero Course. By the time the Sports Festival rolled around, another vacancy had opened up courtesy of Asui and Mineta's deaths, rendering the expulsion entirely unnecessary and leaving him saddled with regrets.
• It's All About Me: Bakugou remains thoroughly convinced that Midoriya only ever wanted to become a Pro Hero in order to 'show him up' and destroy Katsuki's own dreams. No amount of evidence to the contrary can convince him otherwise.
• It's All My Fault:
  • After the USJ incident, Aizawa was quick to blame himself because he believed it would have played out differently if Midoriya had been there, a feeling cemented after Sleeper Hit makes his debut.
  • When she meets him again, Ashido apologises to Sleeper Hit for (she thinks) inspiring Aizawa to add the expulsion threat by commenting that the test looked like fun. Despite his general bitterness toward the class (with later stories confirming that he did make assumptions about Alien Queen) and how he'd just treated Uraraka, Izuku tells Ashido he doesn't hold it against her, pointing out that, "They would’ve found an excuse regardless."
  • Ochako's reaction when she realises that by accidentally insulting Izuku, she likely stopped him from trying to make friends at Hamada.
• Jerkass Ball: Todoroki is at his worst in Wasted Potential, treating Sleeper Hit with a complete lack of professional courtesy to the point of telling him that a demonstrably ineffectual quirk is still better than not having one at all. Even the villain, Epicenter, calls him out on this: "You know, you really need to be nicer to your coworkers. You never know when you’ll need them to have your back!" Thankfully he gets better when Sleeper Hit's words get through to him, and he apologises for everything after they capture Epicenter.
• Jerkass Realisation:
  • After talking to his mother and Kirishima, Izuku realises he was wrong to assume the worst of Uraraka, both four years ago and during their reunion earlier that day. He also reflects on some unspecified "nasty" preconceptions he had about Yaoyorozu and her family, and is about to apologise to her before being interrupted. Later stories reveal that he's had to re-examine his first impressions about most of the "Hell Class":
    He was utterly ashamed to have ever thought that Uraraka was a passive-aggressive bully, that Ashido only saw heroics as a game, that Kirishima was a yes-man for Bakugou, that Yaoyorozu only made it into UA by throwing around her wealth and probably her something else, that Shinsou…
    ...actually he never had an issue with Shinsou.
  • Downplayed case with Mei in her first meeting with Izuku. When Izuku rants about his treatment at UA on his first day, he states that, "even you only see me as a walking advertisement for your babies!” Mei is hit hard to realise that this is how she came across to him, and resolves to help him go far as a Pro-Hero whether he likes it or not.
  • Also Downplayed with Shinsou, who reflects on his bitter attitude to the entrance exam and his smugness about his success in the first Sports Festival and notes that everything he's learned about Sleeper Hit has been "awfully humbling, to say the least".
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • U.A. gets publicly crucified for their treatment of Izuku and is forced to shape up their treatment of those with poor or no Quirks.
  • Bakugou brutally pays for his bullying and violence when Aizawa records him assaulting and using lethal force against him, leading to him losing his Hero License.
    "Izuku had to admit, all the abuse he'd endured at Bakugou's hands might have been worth it just to see the blood completely drain from Bakugou's face."
  • Aizawa has his teaching license revoked and is put on probation for rigging the test to kick Izuku out. While he did technically have the right to expel students at his unilateral discretion, sabotage went beyond the pale.
• Loophole Abuse: Unintentional example. Tenya's surprised to learn that he was never expelled from U.A.; Aizawa intended to wait and only make it official once he woke up. However, with Aizawa no longer working as a teacher, the point seems to be moot.
• Mama Bear: As much as she worried about her son's chosen career path, Inko was furious when U.A. kicked him out and threw all her support behind him as they searched for another school that would take him in.
• Meaningful Echo: Shigaraki told Bakugou that he was more like a villain than a hero. After seeing firsthand the way he treats Midoriya, Kirishima repeats those words, adding "He was right all along."
• Meaningful Name:
  • Midoriya becomes invoked Sleeper Hit, referencing how he was dismissed and derided simply for being Quirkless, yet became a Pro impressive enough that he broke into the Top 50 of the Hero Rankings upon his official debut.
  • Bakugou named himself King Nitro, showing how little he's changed since childhood...that indeed, his ego burns as brightly as ever.
  • Shouto became Promise, the Frostbite Hero, emphasizing how he swore never to use his father's flames.
• Mistaken for Name: Ochako calls Izuku "Deku" because she heard Bakugo call him that, not knowing the meaning of said nickname (Bakugo calls Izuku "Deku" as a jab toward Izuku's Quirklessness). She ends up being Izuku's Cynicism Catalyst. Her trying to apologize for the mistake after he's gone Pro gets coldly rejected (not helped by her explaining she thought the nickname sounded "cute").
• Mood Whiplash: Chapter 4 seems to end on an optimistic note with Izuku letting go of his grudges and genuinely looking forward to potentially befriending the classmates who've reached out to him. Cue Bakugou's arrival: "DEKU!!!"
• Motivational Lie: Averted; Aizawa's threat of kicking the lowest-scoring student out was very real.
• Motive Rant: Katsuki launches into one on the beach:
  Bakugou: Of f***ing course I did! Because if he didn't break, if I'm weaker than Deku, then what does that make me?! Ever since Kamino, people have been looking down on me, pitying me, blaming me... I have to be the strongest! And after all I've been through, Deku still came out on top!
• My Greatest Failure: Even before Sleeper Hit gave that revealing interview, Aizawa had come to regret expelling Midoriya, believing that it would have been better to keep him around. He also suspected that if he had been present, the USJ incident might not have ended with the deaths of Asui and Mineta. He even tells Nedzu this was the worst miscalculation of his career.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Ochako had a minor case of this after she tried to look up Izuku (or rather, Deku Midoriya) on the internet so she could thank him, only to find out what the word ‘Deku’ meant. This feeling gets worse when she starts to guess (correctly) that Izuku would have been more closed off at his next school thanks to her.
• My God, You Are Serious!:
  • Yaoyorozu's reaction in the flashback where Aizawa expels Izuku, a nod to the fact that she was the only one who assumed he wasn't serious in the canon scene.
  • Izuku's reaction when Bakugou repeats his suicide dare in all seriousness: "You don’t mean to tell me you actually meant it?"
• Never My Fault:
  • Upon realizing that Izuku didn't stop pursuing his dreams after being booted out of U.A., Katsuki recalls seeing someone who looked like him at the Provisional License Exam... and promptly blames him for the fact that he failed.
  • He also immediately blames Izuku for Kirishima turning against him after seeing him in full Rage Mode.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero!: The reason Bakugo's team (playing Heroes) loses in the Battle Trials is because, when facing Iida and Ochako (playing Villains), he uses his gauntlet at full power; besides badly injuring them both, Bakugo also blasts the fake bomb. As Recovery Girl points out, if this situation had been real (with a nuclear bomb involved), Bakugo's actions would have condemned the whole city.
• Noble Bigot: While his main motivation was to make room for his protege in the Hero Course, Aizawa still lied about the results of the physical assessment specifically so he could expel the Quirkless Izuku rather than Hagakure who scored lower but had what he saw as a valuable Quirk.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Mei's demonstration during the second Sports Festival apparently involved the atomization of some bleachers. Kirishima notes that she still needs to repay U.A. for that.
  • Midnight's reaction to learning about Aizawa's actions. All he says on the matter is a question posed to another:
    Aizawa: You ever been on the receiving end of Midnight's whip when she's not playing around?
• "Not So Different" Remark:
  • Shigaraki repeatedly attempted to convince Bakugou that he wasn't all that different from the villains he supposedly stood against. Kirishima admits that Shigaraki was right after seeing how Bakugou treats Midoriya.
  • When Shinsou confronts Aizawa about his deception, he draws this comparison between himself and Midoriya, making the point that Aizawa chose to help one underdog by screwing over another.
    Shinsou: Sleeper Hit was in the same boat as me. Told all his life that he couldn't be a hero. For different reasons, admittedly, but still.
• Oh, Crap!: Ochako reacts this way after Yaoyorozu points out that Bakugou is wearing his hero costume while confronting them.
• Offended by an Inferior's Success: Bakugo is not happy to learn that a Quirkless hero is not only ranked higher than him but is also Izuku, his former punching bag. Bakugo is so angry that he wishes that Izuku took his suggestion to jump off a building seriously.
• One Hero, Hold the Weaksauce: As Midoriya points out, Kirishima is much better suited to being the inheritor of One for All than he would've been due to how his own quirk complements it. One for All's self-destructive power is easier to manage with a quirk like Hardening to mitigate the backlash and prevent his limbs from shattering.
• OOC Is Serious Business:
  • Ashido is noticeably affected by what she thinks was her role in Izuku's expulsion, something that Uraraka picks up on as early as their first day together, and it's still shown to affect her when she recognises Sleeper Hit in his interview.
    She didn’t say a word. Neither did Ashido, who was uncharacteristically quiet the entire walk back to the locker room. From what little Ochako had seen of her, the acid girl was a social butterfly, but she was silent.
  • Similarly, Hagakure is normally so talkative and outgoing to seem "visible" that Ojiro quickly picks up on how upset she is in the wake of finding out the truth about the rigged test.
  • By extension, Ms Joke's noticeable disgust about Aizawa's actions comes as a surprise to Hagakure before she finds out the context.
• Playing the Victim Card: Bakugou of all people does this, insisting that everything Midoriya has done was out of spite, trying to sabotage Bakugou's dreams rather than simply pursuing his own. Because everything naturally revolves around HIM, after all.
• Plot Parallel:
  • After learning/figuring out that Aizawa rigged his Quirk Assessment Test to their benefit, both Shinsou and Hagakure are left with a sour taste in their mouths, questioning whether they truly earned or deserved their place in his class. Ojirou also compares Hagakure's guilty conscience to the way he felt after Shinsou hypnotized him and led their team to victory.
  • The first time that Ochako approaches Midoriya hoping to apologize, the attempt gets rejected outright, and he coldly accuses her of only caring about him now that he's a Pro. The same thing happens to Imari with the exact same reasoning, drawing a parallel between how each reacts to the rejection.
• Point of Divergence:
  • Since the incident with the Sludge Villian never happened, Toshinori never approached Midoriya and offered him One For All. The Quirk instead eventually went to Kirishima instead.
  • Kirishima's Quirk helped him avoid seriously breaking his body while training with One For All, as he reflexively hardened in response to the pain.
  • Midoriya's expulsion reinforced Bakugou's beliefs that he was naturally superior to his Quirkless former friend, as well as the notion that he'd only gotten into U.A. by 'cheating'. Since his delusions were never seriously challenged or broken, he never grew out of them, and the discovery that Izuku didn't give up on going Pro hits him even harder, causing him to spiral completely out of control.
  • Aizawa was already acquainted with Shinsou before holding that fateful test, which informed his decision to follow through on his threat of expulsion.
  • Izuku's absence from Class 1-A led to several key events having worse outcomes. The League's assault on the USJ resulted in two casualties, and Tenya's vengeful pursuit of Stain ended with him in a coma for four years.
  • The Sports Festival had a different top three roster: Todoroki placed first, Shinsou second, and Bakugou third.
  • The Kamino Incident left Toshinori fatally wounded, and he passed on his Quirk to Kirishima on his deathbed. But since One For All hadn't been passed on yet, Toshinori was in better shape going into that battle, apparently wounding All For One fatally in turn.
  • Without the influence of somebody like Izuku around, Shouto continued using his ice side exclusively and debuted as the Frostbite Hero Promise.
  • Due to the surrounding circumstances, Ochako calling Izuku 'Deku' did not lead to him reclaiming it as his hero name, as she only reinforced the insult's painfulness.
• Polite Villains, Rude Heroes: In Wasted Potential, Epicenter may be an unrepentant criminal responsible for a prison break and a lot of other destruction, but she's notably far more respectful of Sleeper Hit's capabilities than Todoroki, who dismissively tells him to go and direct traffic or something. What's worse is that Todoroki watched the hero rankings and the Sleeper Hit interview, meaning he's well aware of his history and how close the two were: #27 and #31 respectively. He does apologise for this after the fight.
• Poor Communication Kills: Thanks to Ochako calling him by the same insulting nickname Bakugou used right after he was outed as Quirkless, Midoriya believes that she knew what it meant. And the timing of her efforts to reach back out to him leaves him convinced that she and the rest of Class 1-A are hoping to use him to climb the rankings.
• Post-Support Regret: Kirishima and Ashido are both dismayed to learn that Bakugou was at least as bad or likely worse than the bullies who targeted them in middle school, especially since they both almost torpedoed their hero careers by rescuing him from the League of Villains. Kirishima later tells Bakugou that Shigaraki was right to see him as a more of a villain than a hero.
• Punch a Wall: Ashido's reaction when she learns about Bakugou's track record of bullying, almost damaging a wall in Yaoyorozu's mansion.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Sleeper Hit gives Shouto a particularly cutting one after laying out why his refusal to use his fire is petty and selfish: “For the longest time, I thought the Hero Course at UA was full of arrogant, self-important fakes. And you know what? I guess I was right about at least one of you."
• Reformed Bully: Imari Tengo, one of Izuku's former classmates and a member of Katsuki's personal squad, has since come to regret his behavior towards him without any outside impetus.
• Rejected Apology:
  • Ochako's first attempt to reconnect with Midoriya goes very poorly, as he doubts that she's even remotely sincere. When he meets her again after some reflection, he admits he shouldn't have assumed the worst, and tells her there's nothing to forgive.
  • After learning the full truth of Aizawa's motivations for expelling him, Izuku admits that he's not ready to forgive him yet. He does by the time he invites him to his wedding to Mei a month later (which is mainly because he wants Eri to be their flower girl), however, saying that he's recognised that holding grudges is exhausting.
  • When Imari gets a chance to try and apologize to Midoriya after a chance meeting, he immediately rejects him, assuming that he's only apologizing because of Midoriya's newfound status as Sleeper Hit. Again, he changes his mind when he meets him again following the beach brawl, recognising that Imari has grown up more than Bakugou did, and reiterates that he doesn't want to hold grudges anymore.
• The Resenter:
  • Midoriya's natural grudge against Aizawa bleeds into his perception of U.A. and Hero Culture as a whole, making him regard everyone connected to the school with disdain. It takes time and individual effort to help him work past those initial presumptions.
  • Downplayed regarding Kirishima. When the pair get a chance to talk things out privately, Midoriya admits that he did resent how his Quirk 'mutated' after figuring out the secret of One For All, but by the time they meet, he's long since worked through it, having realized that such a powerful Quirk would have wreaked havoc on his unprepared body, while Kirishima's hardening was tailor-made to help him avoid serious injury.
• Restrained Revenge: Just because Izuku has forgiven Aizawa doesn't mean he's above a little petty revenge like seating him next to Ms. Joke at his wedding.
• The Reveal: In the flashback to Izuku's meeting with the principal at Hamada, he mentions that he had been planning to contact him before receiving his application, having been sent a video of Izuku's UA entrance exam from a faculty member who wished to remain anonymous. Two chapters later, Aizawa reveals to Shinsou that this was his doing.
• Right Behind Me: Kirishima visits Mei at her lab to ask her about her history with Sleeper Hit. When she tells him that Izuku and Bakugou used to be childhood friends, he asks what happened between them. Izuku interrupts from behind him: "He got his Quirk and I didn’t."
• The Scapegoat:
  • Played With. While Nedzu freely admits the part he played in enabling the situation and doesn't intend to throw Aizawa under the bus, Aizawa still resigns from U.A. and gives up his teaching license.
  • There are still those who blame Bakugou for the Kamino Incident, feeling that All Might and his fellow Pros should not have tried saving them.
• Screw the Rules, I Make Them!: Technically, Hagakure scored lower than Midoriya during their assessment. But Aizawa wanted to keep her around because of her Quirk, so he fudged the results in her favor.
• Self-Serving Memory: Sleeper Hit's description of himself in the interview ("I've been told I’m kinda plain looking, and I don’t stand out much.") implies that he's remembering how Ochako described him in the video where she tried to give Izuku some of her points after the entrance exam (and Ochako's thoughts during the flashback to their first day confirm that this conversation with Present Mic did happen), but that he's blocked out that act of generosity to fit his impression of her as an Ungrateful Bitch. It's also shown in the flashback to the aftermath of his expulsion: Izuku convinces himself that the class had turned on him when they found out he was quirkless, even though he had no interaction with them afterward aside from Ochako and by all appearances the class were more shocked by Aizawa following through on his threat than anything else, while some such as Mina and Tooru are shown to have felt guilty about their roles in him being forced out.
• A Shared Suffering:
  • Shinsou is quick to empathise with Sleeper Hit, because they were both told growing up that they could never become a hero.
  • After Kirishima learns about Izuku and Bakugou's history, he opens up to Izuku about his and Ashido's own history of being bullied and the reason they chose to become heroes. This, combined with him expressing Post-Support Regret about not seeing Bakugou for what he was, leads Izuku to rethink his impressions of Kirishima and Ashido.
• Shoot the Dog: Aizawa frames his decision to sabotage Izuku this way: "After all, he was an Underground Hero, and people like him had to do questionable things to save lives. And that was exactly what he was doing today." When he eventually realises that this decision may have indirectly got two of his students killed, the irony is not lost on him, leading him to resign from UA.
• Shout-Out:
  • When Mei hears Izuku refers to himself as a 'Quirkless Deku', she initially thinks that he's comparing himself to a Deku Scrub.
  • Apparently Mei's ringtone for her personal phone is Yamcha's cat food jingle.
  • A double case when Shinso mind controls Bakugou to break up his fight with Izuku. "Are you ever not going to fall for that? Oh well. Go home and rethink your life."
• Suicide Dare: Bakugou reveals that he hadn't really meant it when he suggested that Midoriya kill himself back then. Unfortunately, his sense of entitlement has grown over the intervening years to the point that when he brings it back up, he sincerely wishes that Izuku had taken his advice.
• Superpower Lottery: To those unaware of One For All, Kirishima appears to have won it, due to his Quirk 'mutating' after the Kamino Incident to provide more strength.
• Survivor Guilt: In a non-fatal example, Hagakure recalls that she had felt a mix of guilt at watching Izuku walk away dejectedly after his expulsion and relief at narrowly making the cut, since she knew that Aizawa hadn't been bluffing. Once she learns the truth about the test, this guilt comes back considerably worse, even in spite of the fact that Izuku had found his own success.
  Hagakure: I just haven’t been able to concentrate on hero work, I keep feeling like I’m not good enough. Like I’m taking the place of someone who deserves it more. [Ojiro opens his mouth to object] I know I’m not. I know Midoriya landed on his feet, but...
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Sleeper Hit immediately recognises Uravity when she contacts him to respond to a villain attack, but manages to rein in his venom and work with her and Alien Queen until after the villains have been captured. After he does let loose his resentment at her, Ochako thinks, "Looking back, it’s a miracle he stayed so professional during the fight."
• Turn the Other Cheek:
  • Downplayed. Izuku struggles to get over his anger at UA at first, but ultimately forgives most of his would-be classmates (or more accurately recognises that there was nothing to forgive in the first place), Aizawa, and one of his middle school bullies after they all apologize. Bakugou remains unrepentant and is given no such courtesy.
  • Played straight in Wasted Potential: Shouto is surprised when Sleeper Hit immediately accepts his apology for his earlier attitude and what he said about his Quirklessness, but Izuku just points out that it's more of an apology than he ever got from Bakugou.
• Ungrateful Bastard:
  • Midoriya mistakenly sees Ochako as one after she calls him 'Deku', despite him saving her life at the Entrance Exam.
  • Conversely, Izuku himself comes across as this upon closer examination. Despite accusing Uravity and Alien Queen of forgetting all about him after that first day until he outranked them, he himself never acknowledges that Ochako saved him moments after he saved her (as was eventually confirmed in flashbacks), nor does he seem to remember Ochako standing up for him after the Exam (which may or may not have been included in his acceptance letter as it was in canon). It doesn't help that this accusation comes right after Uravity had saved him from another potentially nasty fall in their fight with the Lizard Gang. Thankfully he does get better once he realises he should have given her the benefit of the doubt about calling him "Deku".
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Ochako calling him 'Deku' left Izuku convinced that all of Class 1-A were cut from the same cloth as Bakugou, triggering his slide into cynicism and guarded isolation.
• Villainous Breakdown: Bakugou spends the entirety of Sleeper Hit spiraling increasingly out of control after learning that Midoriya wasn't broken by his expulsion, and in fact went on to become a Pro anyway... one who ranked higher than him in their debut.
• Wham Line:
  • In universe, Sleeper Hit reveals his identity to the Hell Class and possibly Aizawa with this line in his interview: "You see… I was expelled the first day because I didn’t have a quirk that would help me throw a baseball."
  • In the flashback to the aftermath of the quirk assessment test, Aizawa's thoughts reveal just how underhanded his decision was:
    It’s only logical to let someone more well-equipped take his place. Better to crush his dreams now than to let harsh reality kick his face in later on down the line. Even if it means fudging Hagakure’s score a little.
  • During the final chapter of Sleeper Hit, Katsuki's declaration that "And we'd all be better off if you'd just taken my advice and thrown yourself off the roof!" hits everyone present like a truck.
• What the Hell, Hero?:
  • Nobody is happy with Aizawa after Sleeper Hit's interview, and it only gets worse whenever anyone learns about the deeper details of his decision.
  • Kirishima, Ashido, and Bakugou's other peers are also disgusted to learn the extent of his bullying, especially when he doubles down and refuses to admit that he did anything wrong.
• What You Are in the Dark: Played With. After expelling Midoriya, Aizawa decided to secretly endorse his bid to enter another school. As far as Shinsou is concerned, it doesn't make up for his public actions. Instead, it just highlights Aizawa's hypocrisy in expelling a student for selfish reasons while secretly thinking that the student was good enough for others to teach.
• Yank the Dog's Chain: After everything he went through in order to make it into U.A., Izuku doesn't even get to spend a full day there before getting expelled, with his temporary teacher utterly humiliating him in front of his would-be classmates.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: When Hagakure opens up to Ojiro about what she's learned about the rigged test and her feelings of Impostor Syndrome, Ojiro does his best to reassure her, telling her that she's earned her place and that she's continued to prove it with the warehouse raid yesterday.