Supernova

Chapter Thirty Five - Stronghold Safety Committee

I didn't understand this sensation, this warmth. It was calming, the same way it had been in the shower and the entire night that followed, filling my body with a very foreign type of silence. I was calm to sit there, in the common space, with people I suddenly found calling some of my closest friends in my mind, all of whom who'd seen me cry quite a few times over the past little while, feeling entirely indifferent about it. The whispers too, were full of knowing and brags about finally and told you so and I surprised even myself by how little I wanted to lift myself and rip every tongue that dare to speak of me from the mouth it lay in, because that meant having to lift myself from the armchair that we were sharing.

It was so calming, in fact, to press my cheek into the warmth, to focus on the sensation skimming over the skin cells he wasn't even touching directly like a bird over a lake, that I closed my eyes for brief moments, for small vacations of feeling, wondering if this was what life was like for everyone else. I loved this calm. I wanted to sink into it and live there. I wasn't even horrified by that thought. I welcomed it, danced with it, twirled around with it and moved through the images of what that might be like. There might come a day where my hand could be encompassed in warmth as we walked some chilly street, the words autumn and winter finally meaning something sensory to me rather than visual, and I'd borrow a jacket from him like in those old movies, because I'd actually need to it calm the shivering that my body was capable of.  I was so caught up in it, that when Elias and Demon rounded the corner into the common space, they'd made it quite a few steps before I recognized who they were, and a few more before I remembered that this was a trespass I was supposed to be annoyed by.

"Would you look at the both of you," Elias beamed, placing his gloved hand over his heart.

"Gross," Demon scolded, his face crumpling in disgust. Even though his eyes were silent, there was something judgemental and harsh in them.

"You can't be in here," I told them. I meant for it to be equally harsh, but it came out calmly factual.

"I understand this is a breach of contract," Elias told me back, his smile and hand remaining in place. "But I'm hoping, under the circumstances, you'll make an exception."

"Breaches of Stronghold contracts are punishable by death," I told him, semi-honestly. It was the regular clause, but the person who issued the contract could offer leniency if they so chose. Elias knew this, of course. "No exceptions."

I heard Midoriya gasp from somewhere across the room. I ignored it. I'd smooth things over with him later. Elias smiled wider, his eyes deeply amused. "I'm aware. If you'll be so kind to postpone my execution until Monday, I'd greatly appreciate it. I'd like a few days to say my goodbyes and get my house in order."

"Fuck you and your prissy kid contracts, Novie," Demon said, rid of any fear. Fair enough. He, who had not signed or returned his work study contract, and likely never would, had the liberty to.

Defeated, I sighed. "What do you want?"

Elias lifted his gloved hand and patted the box that Demon was holding. It took me off guard as I realized yes, he was holding a box of thick black cardboard across his chest. "We brought you a gift."

"I don't want it," I told them.

"You don't have a choice." Demon's voice was solid. "Take me to your room."

"Tch."

"Fuck that," I scoffed back, my annoyance fighting the calm in my body and rising through my chest, filling it with that black silence my body was normally encased in as I moved my way through the world by my lonesome.

"Some of it goes in the fridge, and some of it doesn't," Demon scoffed back, his voice low and unforgiving. "I know you don't know the difference."

Oh.