Shouta Aizawa has inherited his parents' teahouse and is having trouble finding new staff. Y/N has quit her job and is about to end her life, when she sees the poster about the open position and decides to give life another chance.
TW: themes of sui...
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Shouta had a feeling that Y/N wouldn't be able to come back down to finish work. And he was right about it. She looked incredibly shaken up from everything, so Shouta wasn't going to bother her about work. She deserved a break anyway. When he came back to check on her just before closing up, she was asleep. She seemed to be restless, but Shouta couldn't really take the time to wake her and see if she was alright. He just hoped she'd be okay for another hour.
He had no idea what exactly it was that had her so shaken up, but Shouta was almost sure it had something to do with those two men that she had served earlier. He had seen them watching her in a weird way and he just got a really bad feeling about them. And then they had been talking to Y/N and she came back in the state she was in. Shouta knew it was their fault, he just knew.
Either way, there wasn't much he could do right now. He could only wait until it was time to lock up and then see how she was doing. He just hoped that she'd be alright until then. And he hoped that this wasn't because of him being stupid. He'd hate himself if she was this upset over him. But thinking back to how unfocussed she had been lately... it was possible it was all his fault.
Shouta sighed with relief when he could finally lock the door of the teahouse behind himself in the evening. He headed straight upstairs, ignoring the dishes that had to be washed and the paperwork that had to be done. There was time for that tomorrow, but Y/N had been up there all by herself for ages now and Shouta couldn't wait a minute longer to see whether she was okay.
Once he was in front of her room he hesitated, however. He wasn't sure exactly how to proceed from here. He didn't want to seem pushy or anything, especially in case this had nothing to do with him and was something completely different instead. Over time Shouta had gathered that Y/N's childhood was less than ideal and he knew she was struggling with something.
He took a deep breath and slowly slid the door open. The room was dark and he could see Y/N's silhouette sitting upright on her futon. Well, upright was maybe an exaggeration. She looked like she was slumped over and he could hear her breaths coming out ragged, as if she was crying.
"Y/N?" he asked quietly. There was no response except for another few ragged breaths and a sniff. She sounded like she was trying to hide the fact that she was sobbing. Shouta debated leaving her alone for a while, but... that wasn't going to work. That wasn't going to work at all. He had made the same mistake with Mariko - figured that she was probably better off dealing with everything by herself and in her own way. She wasn't better off and he realized too late.
"Y/N, can I come in?" he asked again. She was quiet for a moment before drawing a shaky breath.
"Yes." was all she said. Shouta nodded and debated whether he should turn on the light, but he figured it might be easier for her if she could hide in the dark. He stepped inside the room and closed the sliding door behind himself, before slowly walking up to Y/N's figure and sitting down beside her.
