F R A I L

7 - Aizawa

You know the preacher like the cold 
He knows I'm gonna stay

Usually, Aizawa enjoyed training lessons, because it meant that he could just lean back and do nothing. Well, except making sure that none of his students hurt themselves, but apart from that training lessons were really easy-going, especially if he still had papers to grade or if he had one of his sleepless nights again. He could save some of his mental energy for after hours on those days.

Today was one of the days after a particularly sleepless night. Aizawa hadn't really been able to fall asleep. He kept lying awake, because he couldn't get comfortable for some reason - some old scars were starting to hurt again, his skin felt itchy, something was off all the time. And then he started thinking and thinking and thinking and his mind wandered along a downward spiral until he was lying in bed just wanting to die. Those kinds of days happened.

They didn't happen a lot anymore, but they weren't completely a thing of the past, unfortunately. Aizawa had learned to just wait it out, no matter how awful he felt and how draining it was. He didn't really consider dying an option (although taking big risks definitely seemed to be an option to him), so he would just have to struggle through life until it all happened naturally.

Either way, he was grateful that he could just sit back and make sure the kids didn't hurt themselves while training. If he had to move or give a lesson or anything like that he'd probably die. And the thing was - it was the start of a new school year. Everyone was only slowly getting back into the groove of things, so no one was really going fully for it just yet. Except Bakugou, of course, but Aizawa had decided just not to care if that idiot hurt himself this year.

Bakugou had a good quirk and he was incredibly strong and good at using it, but sometimes his brains lagged behind his strength a little and he was a bit too hot-tempered. It led him to making mistakes and that was absolutely no good. Still, he was getting better at reining in his temper and thinking before acting. He wasn't great at it, but he was getting there. Aizawa just hoped he'd get there before he finished the hero course, otherwise he might just die early during a mission, because he hadn't been careful enough and no one - absolutely no one - wanted that.

Aizawa let his eyes wander over the rest of the students. Uraraka had gotten pretty good at her martial arts - not the path Aizawa would have thought she would take, but she seemed determined and disciplined enough for it. And she was turning into a well-rounded hero with a variety of skills, which was always good. Midoriya was managing to use his quirk without breaking bones, too.

All in all, Aizawa could be proud of his students. And he really was proud of them. This class had been through a lot during the last year, but they had all grown through their challenges and they had all survived and Aizawa couldn't really ask for more. He really just wanted them to stay alive and find their way in this big, confusing world. That was all he could ask for.

He glanced over at Shinsou who was practising with the binding cloth, swinging through the training environment and manoeuvring himself into hidden places. He had gotten pretty good and Aizawa suspected that he had practised a lot during the break. Aizawa had tried telling himself not to get too attached to Shinsou, but seeing him use the binding cloth all on his own and getting better and better did tug at his heartstrings just a little. It was nice to see someone carrying on this technique and getting good at it, even putting his own twist to it. It was nice seeing all the hard work Shinsou and he had put into training last year was paying off.

He hoped that Shinsou would keep his training up, even outside of school. Aizawa knew all too well how easy it was for Shinsou to become unmotivated. He had nearly lost motivation during training last year several times. If he didn't make sure he kept up with everyone, he'd fall behind immediately and he might lose his place in the hero course. And Aizawa was determined not to let that happen, because it wasn't only Shinsou who had worked hard to get him here.