It Takes Time

15

Aizawa hadn't really anticipated how exhausting and draining it would be to have Y/N stay with him. He didn't mind it, of course, but he had to admit that he hadn't even been prepared for someone else to live with him. He found that his irregular sleep schedule was kind of getting in the way of them both getting enough sleep. His diet was improving, however, because Y/N insisted on cooking fresh meals.

The real thing that was draining his energy was constantly having to watch out for Y/N's husband and making sure that she was safe and that they weren't being followed around. And adding to that, Y/N often had panic attacks and was anxious. It took a lot of energy to take car of her then, to calm her down, to be there for her. Aizawa was happy to do all that, of course, but it did add to all the other things he was busy with.

But at least, Y/N seemed to get a bit of confidence back. She had taken the week off work and was staying at Aizawa's place, reading and relaxing. She needed to recover from that beating she had gotten, after all. Aizawa was a little worried about her being all alone, while he was at work, but he couldn't really take time off. He had told her to call him or text him if anything was wrong, but it seemed like things had been quiet.

One evening, she mentioned that her husband might have seen her in the window, but she wasn't sure about it. She had been standing there, just looking outside when she saw him. She had no idea whether he had seen her or not, but judging from the relative silence from him, he might not have noticed her. It still had Aizawa worried, though. What if he was only silent because he was planning something?

He knew that Y/N's husband was unpredictable. He had been stalking out the house for a while now, Aizawa was sure of that. He never seemed to show up when Aizawa was around, but Y/N had mentioned that he had been around two or three times while he was at work. He hadn't really done anything, apparently, he had just been standing there, watching the house – which was terrifying enough.

Aizawa felt terribly guilty about being out of the house. He didn't like leaving Y/N alone, because he'd never know whether her husband would try and get into the apartment or whether he would harass her any other way. He'd never know how he would find her when he got home – whether she would be okay or whether she would be in tears or whether she would be contemplating going back to him.

Aizawa wished he could be there for her more. He wished he could take care of her properly, that he could make sure she was okay. But maybe it was better this way – after all, he didn't want to hover over her and suffocate her, like her husband had done. Maybe it was good for her to have some sort of autonomy back, even if it only extended to his apartment. Technically, she could go anywhere she wanted, but Aizawa had advised her to stay inside for her own safety. If her husband was waiting around outside the apartment, she might be in danger. She'd definitely get harassed by him in some form.

But in the end, she could do whatever she wanted, even if she wasn't really aware of that yet. She had lived years under all this conditioning that she had to be careful what she did and that she had to watch her every step that it seemed like she was almost scared to make her own decisions. It would probably be a long process until she was back to normal – confident and independent. It was another thing Aizawa was worried about – he didn't want her to become independent from her husband just to be dependent on him. That wasn't the point of all this. But it was difficult to stick to certain limits, especially because he had gotten his feelings involved. It just made everything more difficult.

Especially when he came home one evening and Y/N was sitting at the table, looking over a piece of paper and then looking up at him, her face showing confusion and maybe some sort of hope. He wasn't really sure. What he was sure of was that something had happened and that she wasn't being herself.