Supernova

Chapter Ninety Six - Invincible Object vs Unstoppable Hero

I was lulled into a warm sense of security. My life still sucked, yeah, but there was a glimmer of hope, and better than that, a deadline, so I felt as if I was cruising towards a little victory.

Until some sabotaging, backstabbing little shit marched up to my dad's door, trying to play hero.

I'd been in the lounge with Elias, post couples yoga, which he was still all insistent on, lying on the couch. I could hear him stroking my head and playing with my hair. I was half pretending to be asleep, half actually trying to be.

When I heard footsteps, two sets, approaching the lounge from the hallway, I closed my eyes and doubled down on my façade. With the pace that my dad and Amy were approaching, I figured this didn't mean anything good, and hoped that if they found us trapped in a soft lovers' moment, they'd fuck off and leave us alone.

I was wrong.

I knew something was wrong from the second I heard the door slide open. It was a bit too fast, a bit too heavy handed. I opened my eyes as if the sound had startled me awake. There in the doorway stood Heir Stronghold in all his sinister glory, and even though he was smiling, there was an unmistakable disapproving coldness to it. He did not step inside the room. I pulled myself to sitting.

"You two have a visitor," he told us.

"Oh?" I asked.

"How splendid," Elias said, genuinely sounding happy. He reached out to fix my hair. I fought the urge to swat his hand away. "If you'll give us a few moments to make ourselves presentable and have some tea prepared."

"Not that kind of visitor," Heir Stronghold said coldly. His hidden arm was pulled into himself, and as it did, it brought the visitor into view via a firm grip on the back of his neck.

Seeing Midoriya there, in that context, really made me want to puke.

I was off the couch so fucking fast, but then I remembered the formalities, the act, the game of it all, and even though I'm sure my horror was plain on my face, I figured my dad never looked at me long enough to distinguish it from surprise.

"Midoriya!" Elias said, excitedly and pleasantly. "To what do we owe the pleasure?"

"I, uh, well, uh," he started, before trailing off.

"What are you doing here, Midoriya?" I asked him. My voice was cold, but given the expression on my dad's face, I figured it was more than appropriate.

My dad released his neck and gave him a shove into the door before standing in the doorway to effectively block it. I was still watching Midoriya, who seemed like he was trying spectacularly hard to hide how nervous he was as he faced the two of us, waiting for words that never came.

"Izuku here requested an audience with me, which I thought was quite odd, all things considered." Heir Stronghold gave Midoriya a pointed look, which to his credit, he met, despite the fact that anyone else would be damn near ready to die. "And imagine my surprise when the purpose of this meeting was to petition that I have my daughter marry him instead."

"What?" The word fell out of my mouth, half shocked, half livid. What the fuck was he thinking? What the fuck was wrong with him?

Elias stepped towards me, his grip finding my arm. I clutched him back, committing to the act I was trying to portray. "Is this true?"

Out of all the non-Elias things I'd heard him say over the past little while, this was undoubtedly the most out of character. He sounded genuinely surprised and worse than that, horribly hurt. And when I looked up at his face, it mirrored it. If I ever had any fleeting doubts that this was all just Elias-Elias lying through his teeth and being a manipulative dick, they were shattered in this moment. Real Elias wouldn't have cared. He wouldn't have been shaken. He never was. It would have amused him, if nothing else. He loved a challenge, and he loved to win.