The next day, Danny awoke to something pushing on his shoulder. His eyes fluttered open and he saw Aizawa hovering over him. He still felt dizzy and it took a moment for last night's events to come back to him.

"Sorry, kid, but I'm not about to let you sleep the whole day away." Aizawa said, pulling back his hand.

Danny groaned and sat up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "Whatimizit?" he mumbled.

"Almost noon. Come on. We'll go grab lunch and get some fresh air." Aizawa stood and strode off to his own room.

Danny sighed, stretched his arms over his head and wilted against his pillow. The couch felt so unusually comfortable. That whole, sleeping the day away idea didn't sound to him like that bad of an option. A few more minutes wouldn't hurt. He let himself shimmy back under the blanket and was just beginning to drift back into an unconscious fog.

"Don't go back to sleep!" Aizawa shouted from the other room.

Danny's eyes shot open and he groaned. "Fiiiiiiine!"

He swung his legs out from the warmth of the covers and forced himself to stand. He swayed a bit, lifting a hand to his head, but managed to keep his balance. Likely the after effects of the thing with the ghost girl the night before, though he didn't expect it to linger this long. Still, he was already feeling better than he had the first time he woke, so he decided it was nothing to be too concerned about. Sluggishly, he rummaged through a bag of clothes on the floor, picked out something that at least looked more presentable than the wrinkled mess he'd fallen asleep in, and trudged his way into the guest bathroom.

A quick shower and some much needed preening later, Danny came striding into the living room. The dizziness from earlier was already fading. Admittedly, getting nice and clean was more refreshing than he'd expected it to be. He'd gotten so used to only showering to get the sweat, dust and ectoplasm off that he hadn't really thought about needing to since he hadn't been in any 'real fights' lately. His hair certainly looked happy with the decision at least. The space shirt he'd picked out from the mall fit comfortably, though the pants felt a bit tight around his ankles. Still, not a bad getup to say the least. Sam would have approved of the dark colors overall.

A pang of longing squeezed at his heart and made him pause.

He missed her. He missed all of them. One by one, thoughts of his friends and family began to surface in his mind. Longing turned to worry and a lump started to form at the back of his throat. No. He couldn't afford to lose his cool now. He pushed it back, forcing the emotions down along with all the memories and concerns and tried to focus on the present.

Getting the portal gun back was key. Protocol or not, waiting for this world's government or whoever it was to make a decision, was time wasted. He needed to get home and he needed to do so quickly. Once he had a plan and an opportunity, all these worries and concerns would be a thing of the past.

"Ready to go?" Aizawa called from the other room.

"Yeah, just let me grab my phone real quick." Danny composed himself and swept out of the bathroom. He quickly pocketed his new phone, unable to shake the feeling that he was forgetting something. It still felt wrong, leaving the house without a Fenton Thermos… but it wouldn't last. He just had to keep this up for a little longer. Just a little longer.

The pair exited the apartment and made their way from the quiet residential area, towards the hustle and bustle a few blocks down the road. They passed by the cafe from the day before and continued on at a reasonable pace. Danny found his eyes wandering to the various signs and storefronts, trying to guess at what they sold. Occasionally he snickered at an odd cartoon mascot or found himself completely confused, but for the most part, it just seemed like a bunch of restaurants.

"Have you ever had gyudon?" Aizawa asked.

"Uhh… what?"

"Gyudon. It translates to beef bowl, though there's more to it than just beef." Aizawa explained. "It's a common fast food here."

Danny shrugged. "I'd be cool with trying it out."

Aizawa nodded and led them to a store with a bright orange sign. Inside the pair were quickly seated and Danny let Aizawa order for him once again. It had worked out pleasantly enough the last time, after all. When his plate was placed in front of him however, he couldn't help but look a little quizzically and the wrinkly, brown mess hiding under a garnish of pink ginger. Aizawa was already digging in while Danny hesitantly poked at his food with his chopsticks.

"Don't be rude." Aizawa said. "Just try it."

Danny did as he was told, intentionally picking a smaller piece of shriveled meat to taste. Of course, like the day before, the food ended up being quite good, much to his surprise. Whatever seasonings they used really gave the meat a lot of flavor. In no time, Danny was eagerly scarfing down the entire dish with gusto. Even if this trip had been an unplanned and unwanted affair, at least the food was good. Aizawa smiled and sipped at his tea.

"Ok, so," Danny spoke between bites, "what kind of desserts do you guys have here?"

"You're gonna burn through my entire paycheck at this rate, kid." Aizawa said, though his tone was hardly accusatory. "If you really want something sweet, there's a French shop a couple blocks over that has some decent pastries and such. Their espresso isn't bad either."

"Not very familiar with French food, though I do like their fries." Danny said.

Danny was fairly certain Aizawa was having to hold back from rolling his eyes at that. Danny just grinned and finished off the last few bites of his food. They ended up forgoing the French stop and instead headed down the road to a park. The trees shaded a simple path that wound through the green, summer grass and the sound of a fountain up ahead could be heard easily, since there weren't very many people around. Danny was surprised at first, since Aizawa didn't exactly seem like the type to go for a leisurely stroll in broad daylight, but his intentions didn't take long to make themselves known. Not even halfway into the park, a chubby, calico cat padded out from under a bench and eagerly nuzzled up against Aizawa's leg.

"You sure you quirk doesn't have anything to do with attracting cats?" Danny asked. "No catnip sweat or radiating cat-friendly energy or whatever? 'Cause this is getting a little creepy at this point."

Aizawa leaned down and scratched behind the cat's ears for a moment before speaking. "I've lived in this part of town for a long time. Most of the local cats have visited my porch for food or know by now that I'm a friendly face." He pulled one hand out of his pocket and held out a couple dry kibbles to the stray.

"More like they know you always keep food on you." Danny deadpanned.

"Only when I'm off the clock." Aizawa corrected. He gave the cat a final, affectionate pat and continued down the path. "So I take it you don't have any pets back home then?"

"What, because I think it's weird to keep pet food on hand? Pretty sure that's weird in most circles, to be honest."

"No. You just don't seem all that interested in animals in general." Aizawa explained. "Hard to imagine someone being raised around a family pet and still being so stand-off-ish around them."

Danny shrugged. "No. Well… Ok, technically no, since he's not really mine. Plus he's a ghost dog so… yeah. But, like I said before, I just really don't like cats. Hard to wanna be affectionate towards something when you're used to seeing it lounging in the lap of an egocentric nut-job who regularly fluctuates between wanting to kill you and wanting to own you." The words were out of his mouth before he could really stop them. He winced and kept his eyes glued to the sidewalk, hoping Aizawa wouldn't comment on it.

"So, animals can become ghosts too then?" the older man asked.

"Yeah, I guess." Danny said, relaxing a bit. "Cujo was originally a guard dog for this lab outside of town, but when they upgraded to a more technological security system… well… they didn't need the dogs anymore." Danny paused, but Aizawa didn't speak so he kept going, eager to bury the other half of his earlier confession. "His spirit was obsessed with getting back an old dog doy that was still stored at the lab and since my parent's portal was already up and running he had plenty of access to enough energy to become a true ghost and start haunting the place. Took almost a week for my friends and I to figure out what he wanted, but even after he got his toy back he still stuck around." A little smile pulled at the corner of Danny's lips. "Sam thinks that he got attached to me and didn't want to leave me behind. So… yeah. Technically not my dog, but no one else is gonna take care of him… not that they could really. He's not too fond of strangers."

Aizawa nodded and led them out of the other side of the park. "Are you worried about him?"

"Who, Cujo? Nah!" Danny said, waving a hand through the air. "He's a ghost, it's not like he needs to be let out or fed. Besides, he isn't around all the time. Most of the time he's off in the Ghost Zone doing… whatever the heck is he does. I usually see him every other week or so, once he's dug his way out and has started bothering the locals. Barking at the mailman. Chasing cats up trees. You know, normal dog stuff… though I'm pretty sure normal dogs can't fly and turn invisible."

"You've never tried to train him?" Aizawa asked.

"Well I mean, he's already trained actually. Like I said, he was a guard dog originally, but now he's a ghost. All emotion and raw energy." Danny sighed. "Whether it's people or animals or whatever the heck else ends up in the Ghost Zone, all ghosts have a certain uncontrollable energy about them. Most have some sort of obsession, but aside from that they all tend to act based on what they want at any given moment." he shrugged. "Cujo's no different. He may be trained to do one thing, but if he wants to do something else, then he'll do that instead. I'm just really lucky that more often than not, he wants to do what I tell him and get a belly rub instead of the other things his dog brain is thinking about."

"I see." Aizawa said, looking over at Danny for a moment. "And you're not worried that he'll get out of hand while you're away?"

Danny's frowned. "It's not like I'm going to be here long. And besides, Sam and Tucker know how to handle him."

Aizawa nodded. "Allies in your ghost hunting duties?"

"Friends." Danny said, curtly. Before the conversation could be allowed to venture further into this topic, Danny made a point to pull out the phone Present Mic had given him. "Hey, do you think we could drop by the Police Station today and ask how things are going with my case?"

"We've been over this. They said an agent would call once your device has been cleared." Aizawa said, his tone returning to its usual, sternness.

"It can't hurt to just drop by and ask." Danny suggested.

"I'm not going to waste the police's time because you're being impatient."

"Look, I just want-"

"I know what you want and you are going to have to wait." Aizawa said, turning to face Danny completely. "There's more going on here than just you trying to get back home. The police cannot put their other investigations on hold for you and I will not, in good faith, tell them that they should do so. You made a point to say that you thought your friends could handle one of the common ghost issues you are used to dealing with back home. Were you speaking honestly?"

"Yeah, but-"

"Then you need to let this situation run its course." Aizawa said. "You likely won't have to wait much longer, but you need to be patient regardless."

Danny glared up at Aizawa, fists clenched at his sides. Aizawa just stared right back, never taking those dark eyes off of Danny.

"We should head back to the apartment." he said after a few seconds, though he made no move to turn his back on Danny.

Danny let out a breath and forced himself to relax, though his hands remained curled into loose fists. "Fine." he hissed, taking the initiative and starting in the direction they'd been heading.

Aizawa kept pace right alongside him, subtly leading them back towards the apartment buildings. Danny could almost feel the guy's eyes burning a hole into the back of his skull. He knew he wasn't going to say 'yes' to the idea. Why'd he even have to bring it up in the first place? All it did was make Aizawa suspicious of him. No doubt any good will he'd managed to garner was just stripped away. Ugh! This was starting to give him a headache. One minute he felt like he could just chill and talk to Aizawa, the next he felt like he had to watch every word that came out of his mouth. Then again… that little comment about his friends wasn't the first time he'd used Danny's own words against him. Great. Note to self, stop giving your jailer material to be used against you.

Danny sighed.

This was going to be a rough few days, he just knew it.

The rest of the day passed by without any further incidents. Danny managed to calm down by the time they'd made it back to the apartment and ended up spending most of the afternoon fiddling with the phone. Just getting comfortable with the interface was enough of a struggle, much less navigating the websites and apps themselves.

Aizawa didn't let Danny out of his sight for most of the day, lurking in the kitchen or lounging on the back porch. Always keeping the teen in his line of sight. Danny rarely caught him watching, but the intent was clear. He wasn't trusted and he wasn't going to be left alone any time soon.

The next day started much the same way, though thankfully without the headache to accompany the rude awakening. Danny could instantly feel the difference in his energy levels and was glad to feel back to normal again. Still, it gave him second thoughts about breaking into the station to get the portal gun. If he was this tired out by just sharing his ghost energy with another spirit, then there was no telling how drained he would be by using his powers in earnest. He'd have to be careful how much power he used for sure. Nothing big or flashy. Just the basic abilities needed to get in, get the gun and get out.

Of course, none of that mattered if he couldn't get away from his keeper.

"I can't keep taking you out to eat every day." Aizawa said as Danny exited the bathroom, still running a hand through his bedhead. "So, you're coming with me to go get some groceries today. 'Bout time I stocked the pantry anyways." A sour face was firmly settled onto the older man's features.

"Yeah, if you're so opposed to eating at restaurants to begin with, why aren't you better stocked?" Danny asked.

Aizawa's eyes narrowed, though not at Danny directly. "Grocery shopping is hardly a favorite activity. Although with your incident and my involvement having been in the news lately, I'm not exactly keen on being in public any more than I have to be."

Danny's brow furrowed. "I mean, it's not like you've been stopped on the street so far. I don't even think anyone noticed us while we were out yesterday."

"Walking around the streets is one thing." Aizawa said, grabbing his keys and heading for the door. "Strolling down aisles in a cooped up building is another."

"Well, can't you have groceries delivered?"

"Not worth the money when I can just as easily do it myself." The pair stepped out of the apartment and Danny waited for Aizawa to lock up. "Besides, with any luck I'm just blowing this whole thing out of proportion and this trip will go off without a hitch."

"How lucky are you as a general rule?" Danny asked.

"Not very."

Sure enough, they'd only made it halfway down the produce aisle before Danny noticed a couple pointing at them and whispering to each other. He did his best to ignore them, but they were just the first. One guy even had the boldness to walk up and ask Aizawa something. Danny hadn't a clue what he said, but Aizawa's curt response and no-nonsense glare had the guy mumbling what Danny thought had to be an apology and quickly returning to his own cart.

Even if Danny found the interaction and Aizawa's ability to keep unwanted passersby at a distance, he could tell the trip was growing more and more stressful for the older man as they continued. Danny tried to help where he could, but not being able to read the labels and not really knowing what was needed to begin with left his options slim to none. Not to mention the looks they garnered when Danny started speaking in english. So, the teen resigned himself to keeping quiet and just following along while Aizawa grew more and more agitated by the curious locals. They managed to get three days worth of essentials and trudge up to the checkout without any real incident occurring though so that was a plus.

A little rack of keychains caught Danny's attention while they were waiting in the checkout line. He absently looked over them, chuckling at some of the more ridiculous looking designs. Cartoon mascots or heroes with crazy quirks he couldn't be sure, but the overgrown limbs and wacky faces were certainly amusing to say the very least. He turned the rack and his smile faltered. Among the rows of simple, plastic key chains, was a green, blobby shape with little black beads for eyes and a painted "O" for a mouth.

It wasn't exactly like the logo his dad so loved to stick onto everything Fenton Works made, but the similarity was startling to say the least. Danny could recall very distinctly when his dad had first come up with the design. He'd been doodling little ghosts for weeks and even let Danny help out once he'd finished his chores. Danny couldn't have been more than six at the time. He could clearly recall being so proud that his dad let him color in the ghost designs and he stayed inside the lines the entire time. When Jack finally settled on a design he and Danny excitedly started trying to draw it on everything, though they both quickly realized that neither of them were too good at redrawing the design exactly the same each time. Mom, of course, came to the rescue, uploading the drawing into their old computer and printing it back out onto sticker paper. She very quickly regretted the decision, because Jack and Danny spent the next four hours slapping little ghost stickers on anything and everything in the house. Maddie had to instate a rule that the 'logo' could only be put on Fenton Works creations and only one per invention. That was Danny's favorite part of helping his parents in the lab when he was little. Eventually dad had upgraded the design a bit and had some more official looking decals made and shipped in various sizes, which were the ones so lovingly emblazoned on the latest Fenton tech.

Even before the incident it had been years since Danny had taken an interest in his parent's work. Things had changed so much since then. After the accident, even moreso. A part of him wished he could go back to that happier time. When ghost attacks and worrying about his own life wasn't even a consideration, much less a daily occurrence. When his parents work involved putting stickers on machines that didn't work, instead of designing machines that could rip him to pieces.

"Danny."

Danny blinked and looked up. Aizawa was watching him as the cashier rang up the last few items they'd collected. His face was a mask of neutrality, though his eyes didn't waver. No telling how long Danny had been standing there staring at a cheap key chain like an idiot.

"Something wrong?" Aizawa asked, nodding at the key chain in Danny's hand. When had he picked it up…?

"Oh… no. Sorry." Danny said. His voice hitched and he silently cursed himself for letting his mind wander again. He cleared his throat and quickly put the chain back on its hook. "Just looked familiar, that's all." He obediently strode back over to Aizawa's side, avoiding meeting his gaze. No doubt Aizawa noticed. He noticed everything.

Thankfully though, he chose not to comment on it.

Instead he paid and led them out of the store, handing over half the bags for Danny to carry. They trudged back to the apartment in silence as Danny fought to wrestle back control of his thoughts from his emotions. He was not going to break just because of some stupid key chain and he certainly wasn't going to lose his cool in front of Aizawa. He was fine. Everything was going to be fine. He had a plan. He was going to get back home in no time. Nothing to worry about. He'd only been gone for… what… four days? The world wasn't going to end just because he took a vacation for a few days. Yeah… yeah that was a good way to think of it. Just a short vacation. One week, tops. He could relax here in Japan and then go back home and everything would be fine.

He sniffed and rubbed the back of his hand across his nose, mentally pushing his emotions back into the corner of his mind. A corner that was quickly growing more and more crowded the longer he was away. That was okay though. He could handle this. It was only temporary.

"How does roasted vegetables and rice sound?" Aizawa asked as they made their way up the stairs.

Danny shrugged. "Fine by me." he said, glad that his voice didn't crack this time.

"Why don't you give me a hand with cooking tonight." It was more of a statement than a question, but Aizawa still waited for an answer as he unlocked the door.

"Yeah, sure. Guess it's the least I can do since you're letting me stay at your place, after all."

Aizawa nodded and led them inside. They quickly put away the food they didn't need and Danny was tasked with cleaning and chopping vegetables.

"Really?" he asked. "You're giving the untrustworthy, potential criminal a knife?"

Aizawa looked over his shoulder at Danny and smirked. "I'm not too concerned." He held out a big, chopping knife and Danny took it hesitantly. Almost immediately Aizawa's hand was on his, tightening his grip. "It's not gonna burn you, kid. You need to have a good grip on the handle or it'll slip. The last thing you want is a knife clattering around and falling on your foot or worse." He let go and Danny made a point to keep a tighter hold on the handle.

"You sure you don't wanna be in charge of this part?" he asked, turning back to the cutting board and carrots.

"You really think chopping vegetables is too difficult for you?" Aizawa asked. He was measuring out cups of rice and pouring them into a strainer in the sink.

"The chopping part isn't my main concern, though I'm not exactly used to being on this end of a knife." he said, carefully starting to cut the carrot into less-than-even chunks. "I just have a reputation for 'dropping' things back home."

"Like the lentils from the other day?" he asked, thankfully not commenting on the 'wrong end of a knife' thing.

Danny felt his cheeks warm. "Yeah... yeah that's it. It doesn't happen as much anymore, but when I first got my powers my hands would turn intangible at the worst times. I ended up 'dropping' so many of the school's glass beakers and tubes that I'm officially not allowed near any glass objects."

Aizawa nodded. "Most likely a stress response. You were worried about waking me up the other day while you were rummaging around for food, right?"

Danny had to think about it for a moment before answering. "Yeah… yeah I guess so. Huh. Never really thought of it like that."

Aizawa shrugged and went about rinsing the rice. "It's not at all uncommon for quirks to be harder to control when a person is upset or stressed. As someone with a non-combative quirk, it helps to be aware of these kinds of… irregularities."

"You mean weaknesses?" Danny corrected.

"I wasn't going to say that."

"It's accurate though." Danny said. "I used to have almost zero control over whether or not I could stay in my ghost form and I got by ass kicked repeatedly for it. So I made a point to work on it and get better control over morphing between forms." he shrugged, scooping up the carrot bits into a bowl and grabbing some broccoli crowns. "The intangibility thing just kind of went away on its own for the most part, so I never really tried to correct it."

"And there's your first mistake." Aizawa said, pouring the rice into the cooker. "You have to find the root of your quirk's weakness and put in the effort to combat that. Otherwise it's going to crop up again when you least expect it."

"Like with the lentils."

"Exactly." Aizawa closed the lid on the rice cooker and turned to see how Danny's vegetable chopping was coming along. He picked a rather lopsided, large chunk of carrot out of the bowl and raised a silent, questioning brow at the teen.

"Like I said, I don't usually help out with things like this." Danny said.

Aizawa shrugged and dropped the carrot chunk back into the bowl. "It's still edible. No harm done. You're going at a snail's pace, though." He retrieved another cutting board from a drawer and deftly grabbed a knife, a twin to the blade Danny had, from the block on the countertop. Danny watched as he made quick work of a zucchini, making thin, rectangular slices and dropped them into the bowl.

"Do I want to know where you got so good with a knife?" Danny asked.

Aizawa chuckled. "My mom cooked most of our meals when I was growing up. She always enlisted me or my sibling's help in the kitchen. Said we needed to know how to take care of ourselves and cook our own food."

"Oh…"

"Not the answer you were expecting?" Aizawa asked.

"I mean, you've got the whole ninja-jumpsuit-look already." Danny defended. "Kinda figured you'd be skilled at hand-to-hand combat and fighting with knives and ninja stars and stuff."

Aizawa's hands stilled and he closed his eyes, like he was trying to process what Danny had just said. Then he let out a breath and went back to work. "While I do know how to use Shuriken and small blades in a battle, that's hardly relevant to being able to use a kitchen knife to cook with."

Danny gave a sheepish smile. "I guess that's fair."

With the two of them working together they managed to finish making lunch without issue or injury. After they ate and packed away the leftovers Danny plopped down onto the couch and spent the next few hours messing with the phone again. It still didn't feel right to call it his, since he planned on leaving it here when he left. Still, he was very glad to have it so that he could pass the time. It'd be significantly easier to use if he didn't have to keep using the translation program on it, but he really didn't see the point in learning Japanese. He doubted his family would want to take a trip to Japan, much less be able to afford it.

Aizawa ended up grabbing his laptop and working at the kitchen table for most of the afternoon. On what, Danny didn't know but he seemed just as engrossed in his work as Danny was in trying to shoot the aliens on the screen with what looked like fish. Before Danny knew it, the sun had set and a quite 'mew' sounded from the back porch, breaking the pair out of their thoughts. Aizawa went through his usual routine, feeding the strays and Danny even managed to pet one without getting scratched. He was pleasantly surprised at that, honestly. He wasn't about to go home and get a kitten himself, but he was starting to see the appeal, if nothing else.

They finished off the leftovers from earlier for dinner while watching another one of those game shows on TV. This one seemed to be more trivia based, yet the sudden cuts to contestants falling through the floor into a vat of white goop, made Danny laugh all the same. Aizawa cleaned up the mess from dinner and, just like the last few nights, vanished into his room with a 'good night'.

This time, however, Danny found it much harder to fall asleep. He wasn't exhausted from medical tests or excessive use of his powers. He wasn't really tired at all, honestly. So he ended up tossing and turning on the couch-bed late into the night. Left to his own thoughts, his mind began to drift home and the lump from earlier settled back in his throat. He'd be home soon. He knew he would. But it still hurt to be so far away and not know for sure if everything and everyone was safe. He knew he'd regret letting his mind wander, but he let it happen all the same. He let the worry and fear seep into his skin and curled up quietly under the covers. No one was there to see his facade crack and if he kept quiet, no one would have to know.

Sleep finally took hold of him late into the night, bringing with it bittersweet memories and a growing discomfort. This was not going to be an easy night to get through.