Rooftop Observations

Chapter 8

Once Izuku made it back to Nezu's office he slouched in his chair, crossed his arms and pouted.

"That was horrible and mean" He complained. Well, he would have done all that if he was back home and complaining to Aizawa. But he wasn't so instead he came back in and sat down in his chair nicely and took the offered tea gratefully while he waited for Nezu to stop staring at him again, and his patience paid off. Kind of.

"Fasaniating." Nezu said quietly. Izuku looked at him confused.

"What's Facinating?" He asked carefully. Nezu smiled creeply at him. Izuku idly wondered if he could teach him that, or was it a Nezu only thing.

"Your result to the test of course!" Nezu replied happily. Izuku was confused.

"You've marked it already?" He asked. Nezu laughed and shook his head.

"No the other test." Nezu said. Now Izuku was even more confused. What other test? Unless he meant. No. It couldn't be. But this is Nezu so it's highly likely.

"Was... was that errand a test?" He asked slowly. Nezu nodded delighted.

"It was!" He exclaimed. "It was a test to see what you do when provided with a seemingly impossible task. While you were doing the written test, I went around some of the staff and gave them some instructions. Recovery Girl was to only give you a map to the teachers lounge. She actually knows her way around the entire school, it's a necessity for her job after all. You weren't meant to run into Hizashi-kun at the teachers lounge. I had Snipe sensei ready to open the door had you knocked. But Hizashi-kun found you instead. I'm not sure how he knew to ask to look at the packet but it could have just been Hizashi-kun's personality. I thought being taken straight there would be too easy and I know about their horrible direction giving skills so I told Ectoplasme to leave his class with no explanation, which caused them to break into chaos, which made the student come and find you two. Aizawa-kun also wasn't meant to be a part of this, but him having to go back to class just as you two made it to the wing was well timed." Nezu explained. Izuku felt stupid for not realising earlier that it was a test.

"What did it tell you?" He asked carefully. Nezu chuckled

"It told me that you don't give up easily, and honest. You didn't let Hizashi-kun look at the papers that weren't for him, which was very honourable. With your background, saying no to an authority figure such as a parent would have been harder than saying no to someone who had next to no effect on your future, right?" Nezu asked. Izuku nodded slightly. Had it had been someone else, he feels like he wouldn't have felt as panicked at saying no. Nezu hummed and continued. "It also told me how you act under pressure. You stay calm and collected," Izuku fought back a scoff at that. Calm and collected? Nah he was very stressed and depressed. "And you don't get frustrated and give up." Were they talking about the same activity? When he ran into Aizawa, Izuku was very ready to give up. He started whining for goodness sake. All because he couldn't find a wing in the building. And then he had to make his way back. That nearly got him. When he passed the teachers lounge he nearly went in to hide under Aizawa's desk until the day was over and he could go home. But he knew Nezu was waiting for him to come back, and so he forged on. Izuku was a bit miffed to find out there was a lot shorter root to the support wing than what he had taken. Had he taken that one, he would have made it in the 30 minutes before Power Loader left the class room. Didn't get frustrated his ass. He was very frustrated.

---

Nezu watched with amusement as Midoriya took in his comments from the latest tests. He was being truthful when he said the kit didn't get frustrated and give up. Yes, he got frustrated but he didn't give up, and that was the key. Everyone gets frustrated, hell even he gets frustrated when the pieces of the puzzle don't snap together nicely, but the difference between Izuku and himself and say Endeavor, is that if Endeavour's puzzle doesn't go together nicely, he throws in the towel and throws a hissy fit. Midoriya however got frustrated, took a moment to collect himself, and then carried on. And now he looks like an angry kitten who hasn't been given any cream. Nezu decided to take pity on the tired child and give him another task, this time one he would enjoy.