It Takes Time

23

Aizawa was taking his time with talking to the police. And talking to the police for him meant talking to Tsukauchi. Whenever something was happening where Aizawa had to deal with the police, he went to Tsukauchi. He knew him well enough from his hero work, and he didn't really trust anyone else enough to tell them all about his business. Tsukauchi was alright, though Aizawa was still a little apprehensive about telling anyone about the whole thing with Y/N. He wasn't even sure whether they'd take it seriously.

But thankfully, Tsukauchi was listening to the whole story, and he didn't make any comments about it. He just noted down the address and the times of the calls and promised to follow up with Y/N's husband. Aizawa doubted that just having a stern talk with him would do any good, but maybe it would be different if the message came from the police. He didn't want to get his hopes up, either way.

They came and reported back to him within the week, but they didn't really have that much to say. All they said was that Y/N's husband had denied being behind the calls and that there was nothing else they could do without any definitive proof. Aizawa had expected something like that, but he still felt a little disappointed about them not getting anything out of him. By now, he was convinced that it was him.

But them not finding anything didn't mean that the calls stopped. They continued, but Aizawa noticed that they had become a little less frequent. Maybe, if he waited long enough, whoever was calling him would lose interest and find something else to do. He wondered just how long that was going to take, because he was getting sick and tired of this constant harassment. It was nothing but annoying by now.

And of course, he still wondered what might have happened to Y/N. He wondered whether she was okay, whether she was still living with her husband or whether she might have separated from him after all. He wondered whether she had found a new job or whether she was just staying at home, not allowed to get another job. And he wondered about all the things that might have been – if he had said something to her sooner, if he had never confessed to her at all, if she was still working at U.A.

Of course, he had asked Tsukauchi whether they had seen her when they went to talk to her husband, whether she had been there and whether she seemed to be okay, but apparently, they had only spoken to her husband and had found absolutely no trace of Y/N anywhere near the house. And they couldn't go in without a warrant, of course. And for a warrant they needed more solid proof than Aizawa's suspicion.

He could see that Tsukauchi was worried he might be losing it completely. The way he looked at him, the way he was suggesting that he should maybe take some time off, the comment that he didn't look well, that he needed to get some more rest and take better care of himself. Aizawa knew that Tsukauchi was probably thinking that he was going completely insane. And Aizawa wasn't really sure anymore how sane he was.

Maybe Tsukauchi was right. Maybe he was losing the plot. Maybe he had just imagined all those things that happened. There were days when he wondered whether he had just imagined Y/N ever working at U.A. Whether he might have read too much into anything she had said or done. But he had seen the bruises on her face. She had been living with him for a few weeks, before going back to her husband, hadn't she? He checked the guest room more than once, and it was always the same way she left it.

The bed wasn't made, and she had left the clothes he had let her borrow on the bed, folded up neatly. He wasn't going insane. He knew that. It was just hard to continue believing his own brain. Maybe taking some time off work was a good idea. Maybe he could get some sleep and sort out what had happened in his head. A week or something, just him in his own apartment, no drinking, nothing.

He would have to talk to the principal about that. Of course, Nezu wasn't going to say no, but Aizawa felt like that would mean admitting defeat and he didn't want to do that. It was about the last thing he wanted. Maybe he could just power through this. Work more, think less. He knew that was a terrible idea. He wasn't really in the best place to make decisions about his health right now and he knew that.