Violet Eyes

Chapter 42

I was lying across the living room couch the next day after school. Eijirou and Katsuki were over at their place for practice, Hitoshi was taking a shower upstairs, and our moms were out of the house. I was using the alone time to encroach on the communal spaces of the house. I rarely used them now that I was avoiding my mom again. 

The living room was about as boring as I remembered it to be. I was scrolling absently through my phone, trying to fill the time before Hitoshi came back. Until I heard a knock at the door. 

My phone slipped from my hand as I turned to look at the door, a little stunned. Maybe it's just Ash or Ura, I thought, trying to rationalize. Shigaraki's dead, so it's not like he's at my front door right now. Or it's just a package, probably just a package. 

I hauled myself off the couch, taking slow steps toward the door as another knock sounded. Hitoshi was just upstairs, so I had nothing to worry about. It was fine. My hand rested against the handle as a third knock sounded. I gritted my teeth, now just annoyed with whoever was on the other side. I swung the door open. 

"What the hell do-" The words died in my throat as I came face to face with my father. 

His nose was taped up, the bruised and broken feature on full display. They had really done a number on him, goddamn. His eyes were narrowed, deep bruises residing underneath them as well. The sneer he wore is what my eyes got hooked on. He was pissed. 

"Is your mother home?" he asked, shouldering through the front door. 

I stumbled back, all of my confidence and anger evaporated from me. Why is he here? What does he want? Please, leave me alone. "N-no, she's at-" 

"Good," he cut me off, straightening his back and standing to his full height. Neither of my parents were very tall, hence why I was so goddamn short, but my father still had two inches of height on me. It wouldn't be a problem normally, I had swung at people taller than me all the time, exhibit A being Sero. It didn't matter, not with my father. My rational thinking shut off and I was suddenly a terrified seven-year-old all over again. "You're the one I needed to talk to anyway." 

"What do you... What do you need to talk to me about?" 

His scowl twisted, taking on a deranged edge. I'd seen the look before, but never from him. Shigaraki's sick smile flashed through my mind, my brain supplying the missing puzzle piece automatically. "You ruined my fucking life, turned my wife against me, forced me to abandon my home. I had to find another job just to scrape by and it's all your fault," he hissed, stepping into my space and forcing me to take slow steps back to try and regain some distance. 

"How anyone could choose you, a cracked-out slut, over me is beyond my comprehension. But your mother has always had a kind heart, probably just sees you as a responsibility she's been saddled with until you turn eighteen. She tried to ship you off, didn't she?" He let out a harsh and grating laugh as my back hit a wall. There was nowhere else to run. 

"Sh-she didn't, she said she couldn't-" My weak attempts to defend myself (or my mother, I wasn't sure which), were brushed aside. He didn't let me finish a thought before he continued his assault. 

"Is that what she said?" he asked, his eyes wide and dancing with delight. He was enjoying pushing me around and watching me crumble, he always had. "The real reason you're still here and not miles away at a boarding school is because she couldn't afford it." 

Oh. Is that the real reason? It would make sense, we can't afford much with just her income and she had seemed so dead-set on following through on the threat. Does she really want me... gone?