The man who knew the fox

• Training •

I woke up around 5:30 taking a shower and getting ready, I grabbed all my necessary items into a small backpack I got while traveling to Tokyo when I was younger. I walked all the way to the gym and noticed the gym door was a simple door with a plaque, more like an apartment number than anything, made of a pale blue plastic. I also make a note that none of the rooms nearby have similar numbers, however, they're arranged, it's not by consecutive order though. Moments later, any thought of trying to figure out the building organizational system is dropped immediately. Instead, I was somewhat overwhelmed by the deceptively large room I ushered myself into, with huge foam blocks that tower over him in a layout resembling city buildings. "Parkour gym?" I ask myself.

"Amongst other things," Aizawa says scaring me to death "oh Jesus! Don't do that!" I exclaimed clutching my chest, Aizawa snickered. "We'll just be using the open space today, but the rest of the gym will be used during training tomorrow" I nod absently. "So cool," I murmur and Aizawa snorts. "Chill. It's just a gym. Anyway, you know Mr. Yamada?" He asks me "Yes?" I ask " well, he can't make it today, Sharptooth got held back at a villain fight for vigilantism, so he has to go and sort that out." I blink. "But Sharptooth isn't a vigilante?" I say raising an eyebrow "She's underground enough that the cops didn't recognize her on sight. Add in the fact she's foreign and they thought she forged her license," Aizawa explains. "It happens more often than you'd expect." He frowns at me.

By the end of my 'abridged' training session, I was already exhausted. There's something about having someone watch me that's wearing me out faster than usual. But Aizawa doesn't comment other than to occasionally fix my form, or to call for me to move to my next exercise. It's still enough for tension to build inside me, for me to start eyeing the man warily out of habit. The more I noticed I started to get sloppy with my work and Aizawa was noticing and so was I because his 'again' and 'one more time' statements were starting to become frequent. "Hey, kid," Aizawa calls suddenly and I froze in place. "Let's take a break," he says and I look up confused. I narrow my eyes in suspicion at the man and simply get a flat, unamused look in return. "Sit," Aizawa says, nodding towards one of the softer mats. Only once I had sat does he also sink down, a good two meters away. It'd maybe be an awkward gap for others, but for my rapid heartbeat, it's a relief. "We're going to do a breathing exercise," Aizawa says then, and I am too anxious to really wonder why.

Until, of course, Aizawa has calmly counted my breaths in and out for five minutes and I came back to myself enough to realize the man just prevented me from going into a full-blown panic attack. Well, I thought to myself that's utterly mortifying, I think as my cheeks begin to burn with familiar shame knowing I was calmed by a teacher and I couldn't do it myself. "Chill," Aizawa says suddenly like he can read my mind. "I can't!" I yell and I wince as I clasp my hands over my mouth, Aizawa sighs. "Kid, you're fine. I'm not going to be mad or upset with you for having a panic attack. That would be irrational and hypocritical of me" he states. "Okay," I say and keep my eyes down. "I..." I mutter and began to trail off, not sure where Aizawa wants to take this conversation. Maybe if I just say "I don't know what you want me to say," I settle on, and have Aizawa hum thoughtfully. "I don't want you to say anything you don't mean," Aizawa returns eventually.

Aizawa speaks slowly as if he's mentally chewing every word before letting them past his lips. "I don't have expectations for you to fawn over me. But I would like it if you were honest, that's not a requirement unless it's in regards to your health and safety. Those, we do require honesty about." he exclaims taking off his scarf and putting his hair into a man bun which made my cheeks burn more making my heart race more. I blink noticing he was staring at me stare at him I looked down in shame. "Listen I don't expect your immediate trust," Aizawa continues. "You've had bad experiences with other people in your life, so it's logical that you don't trust me yet. You may never trust me, but that won't change how we treat you." He said smiling. I had finally dared to look back up, and Aizawa's expression is serene, his posture loose and relaxed, with one hand tangled at the end of his capture weapon. It doesn't look like he expects to be using it, it's more like he's just fidgeting with it.

He meets my gaze levelly, coal-dark eyes soft and unassuming, and his lips quirk up in a crooked smile. "There you are," he teases gently, and my cheeks flush bright pink. "Do you feel up to continuing?" Aizawa asks I huff out a breath, and scramble to my feet. I don't justify such a dumb question with any other answer. The more I trained Aizawa and I hadn't noticed the time"Oh!" I exclaim trying to focus on the clock "Sir, It's time" I say and Aizawa smiles "It is," he confirms. As we packed our things for the day I asked him a question "what are those microphone things?" Aizawa looks up "They are highly sensitive microphones positioned in the doorway in order to pick up any distress codes." I smile "That's so cool," I murmur, and I can't help but look at the nearest doorway with a critical eye. "Are they built into the wood? If so, how do they get the sensitivity required to pick up anything? Are they quirk-enhanced? Or just really high-tech?-" I blink "That," Aizawa says interrupting me and his voice sounding slightly strained, "is something you can ask Hizashi about, but I'd say you have very good guesses." Aizawa states.

We were moving through the halls seeing all the older and more experienced trainees were looking at me with anguish I got nervous the more students walked through the hall of the gym so I was standing somewhat closer to Aizaw., I look up at him and choke as I realize the grip I have on the man's hand, releasing it immediately. "Sorry!" I say letting go. "Nope," Aizawa says dryly, shaking out his hand with a wince, "Don't apologize, that's exactly what I was trying to get you to do in the first place. Next time I'll just have to endure it," he says smiling.