Chapter 11

(you know the drill by now.)

(Y/n) half expected him to knock on the door and apologize, at first. And damn it all, she would have accepted. She would have rushed right into his arms saying how sorry she was and how she didn't mean any of it.

But he hadn't. he'd grabbed something from his apartment and left the building. So instead, she stood up from her place on the hallway floor and continued to sob. She made her way back to her hot pot, which by now was bubbling over. The dish was ruined now, much like the only friendship she had.

God, I really screwed the pooch.

That night she decided to just forgo dinner, dumping the content of the pot into the garbage disposal. She dropped the pot back into the sink, leaving the cleanup for the next morning. Instead she took a long hot shower until the steam ran out, and then she flopped face first on her bed. "Murrrow?" she felt the weight on her bed shift as Mochi made his way to her side. She tuned to face him, clutching the big furry creature to her chest.

"Oh, Mochi. You're the only man I'll ever love." "Mao." She snuggled the cat and let the vibration of his purrs lull her to sleep.

Autumn began to wind its way down, and soon Izuku was beginning to prepare for finals. She helped him study the written as best she could, and even brought out her rusty Krav Maga lessons to spar with him a bit, though she really was no match for this kid. She was fifteen plus years out of practice, and he was studying to become a certified ass kicker.

Still, she wasn't speaking to Shouta. She would try to start a conversation out in the hall sometimes, but he would just brush past her, completely ignoring her. Sometimes she'd do the same to him. She was acting just as immature as she had been when she left home all those years ago, and she knew it, and it just made her even more angry that he knew it, too.

Another month went by, and finals were over. During a training excursion, the villains had shown up again, this time making off with one of Izuku's classmates. (Y/n) and Inko drove through the night just to pick him up from the cabin. When Izuku saw them, he rushed forward, enveloping his mom in a hug. (Y/n), being the tallest of the three of them, wrapped the both of them in her embrace, and cried into her nephew's hair.

It was a God-awful thing to think, but the only thing that ran through (Y/n)'s mind that night was thank god they took Bakugo and not Izuku. She honestly didn't know what she'd do if he'd been taken.

She didn't even look in Shouta's general direction. Uraraka came over to give her a tearful hug, which (Y/n) accepted before leading her family back to their car.

Shouta moved out of his apartment when the next semester started. As a Teacher, the school had required him to move on campus. The whole thing brought a sense of finality to their falling out.

The new neighbor was a guy named Mitsuki, and he'd tried to be friendly with her, but she just couldn't be friends with him. He was living in Shouta's apartment like it wasn't a big deal. He acted like he belonged there, but that space didn't belong to him. At least, according to (Y/n) he didn't.

Shouta wasn't the only one who moved. Izuku was living on campus as well. Inko was taking the hit pretty hard. Several nights a week now, (Y/n) would visit her sister, and they'd do things. Make dinner, binge a show, go to a karaoke bar, anything to take their minds off the fact that the most important person in both of their lives was now living somewhere they couldn't protect him.

Life went on. (Y/n) got a promotion at work, and with it, an assistant. Her name was Naomi and she was this terribly shy girl. She had such a talent for editor work, however. She could point out grammatical errors from a mile away, and she could speed read like a beast. She was hands down, the best co-worker (Y/n) had.

Then one day, out of the blue, Aizawa Shouta was back in her life, like he never even left.

Business as usual at the firm. (y/n) had left her office to scan a copy of a manuscript she was about to submit to publishing, when out of the corner of her eye, she saw something. She whipped her head in that direction to see her assistant, being cornered by a man (y/n) didn't recognize. His spikey brown hair was not a style she identified as any of her co-workers, and her assistant sure seemed rattled by him being there.

With a shaky breath, (y/n) approached. "Hey! Pincushion! Yeah, you. What the hell are you doing to my assistant?" She called, yanking Naomi behind her. The man met her piercing gaze that promised a swift kick in the ass with a calm demeanor. "Hello, Ma'am. No need to worry, I'm simply asking her where I can find one Miss (l/n)."

Naomi sensed the undertone of malice in the man's voice and began to grip the back of (y/n)'s blazer, but the adrenaline rush had, unfortunately, gotten to her boss. "Well, you found her. What the fuck do you want?" The smile he gave her after that made her whole body feel like it was on ice. He talked into his cuff, and soon, a thick goo began to cover the building. Her co-workers watched on in horror as the dark purple substance covered every window on their floor.

"Oh, from you personally? Nothing. You're just bait for Eraserhead." Naomi screamed as the man's limbs stretched and encircled (y/n) in a constricting hold. This was going on record as her third worst day of work.