Loid couldn't believe his eyes. When he had thought all hope was lost, his very mission was standing in his doorway. He was so proud of Anya! So proud!
"So proud!" Anya whispered under her breath, her eyes sparkling with excitement!
Quickly snapping back to reality, Loid put on his best gesture.
"Good to see you again, Damian. Welcome to our home."
"Where's the rest of it?" The boy wondered, making Anya deadpan.
"Sy-on boy can go home now."
"Wait-!" Loid jumped.
"I'm kidding." Damian scoffed. (He wasn't kidding.) "So what do you have planned?" Damian asked, wandering into the apartment without taking his shoes off and silently judging the curtains.
"Planned?" Anya cocked her head.
"Yeah, like were we going to go to the opera or horseback riding? Oh, I see. You don't have anything planned, do you?" Damian looked disappointed, which put Anya on the spot!
"Spy Wars!"
"Huh?"
"Let's watch Spy Wars and then play make pretend! I'll be Agent M, you can be—"
"I don't play 'make pretend'. I'm six. I'm too old for that." He crossed his arms and sat on the couch. Placing some snacks on the table, Yor smiled,
"Oh you're never too old to play make pretend! Who told you that?"
"My brother." He thought.
"Nobody." He said. "I just know. It's silly and dumb. Make sense why she does it though." Anya was done with this.
"Sy-on boy can go home now."
"Why don't we go to the park!" Loid suggested with a clap of his hands. "Come on I'll go get our coats."
"And Bond! That's my dog I gave him that name."
"Bond?"
"You'd get it if you watched Spy Wars."
Surely enough, the entire Forger family plus Damian were at the park. It was a beautiful day, the dogs were running, butterflies were in the air, and the flowers bloomed across the land!
Not very exciting.
"I'm bored." Damian sighed, not appreciating the beautiful scenery.
"WHEEE!" A scream screeched past as Anya rode her dog like a steed!
"Well, what are some of your favorite pass times?" Loid asked, taking a seat on a park bench. This was a great time to probe for some intel.
"Homework."
"Oh, then, what's your favorite subject?"
"Uh…" Damian hadn't been asked that before, so he had to take a minute to respond. "I like math. Professor Enderson said I scored highest in our recent test! He didn't say me specifically, but he did say the highest scoring was a 97 and that was the score on my paper hehe!" Grinned and giggled Damian with a cross of his arms. Suddenly his smile went away as he caught himself getting excited over nothing. "I-I shouldn't be too proud of that. It's not the full one-hundred."
"No no, you should be proud of yourself!" Warmly smiled Mr. Forger. "I can see you work very hard and are a very smart young man. I can tell one day you'll do whatever you have your heart set on!"
"…"
"Damian?"
The young boy was at a complete loss for words. He was getting a lot of positive feedback, and it was a little overwhelming. He didn't even have to pry it out of Loid, he just said it! I mean, of course Damian's been doted on by crowds of butt-kissers, but this felt… different.
"Sy-on boy! Look!" Anya shouted across the field, pointing at a little stand. "Mama! Can we buy snacks?!"
"Oh! Yes! That's a great idea! Damian, would you like some snacks?"
"I don't want stale market snacks. I'd rather stay over here." Damian said, taking a seat next to Loid (a surprise for sure).
"Okay! Anya and mama will get snacks and come back!" Yelled Anya as she ran off with Yor.
Loid wasn't sure why Damian chose to stick with him rather than Anya, his classmate, but he wasn't going to bring it up. Then Damian blurted out of the blue,
"I'm also really good at P.E."
"Oh?" This kid really liked talking about himself, eh?
"I'm not as good at Bazooka Bill, but I'm definitely the best in my class!"
"Oh, Anya told me about your dodgeball class. She said you saved her life haha!" Mr. Forger joked.
Suddenly, Damian remembered how he instinctively took a dodgeball for this dumb pink girl. Simultaneously, he was reminded of the strange feelings he had about the dumb pink girl. And how he was not just talking to some guy, but to her dad. And strangely, he felt nervous about maintaining his reputation around the man. He had to fix this!
"You don't look anything like A-Anya!" Damian shouted out of nowhere.
"Ah-" Think fast, Twilight! "Anya takes after her mother more than me."
"She looks nothing like her mom either!" He pointed out the obvious, whilst pointing in the direction of Yor as well.
"Ah, you see, Yor is my second wife."
"…You have two wives?"
"No no no no- I mean, my first wife passed away when Anya was very young. And then I met Yor and I could tell she was a kindred spirit who loved Anya very much, so we decided to get married." Explained Loid. "Damian, how did your parents meet?"
"…I dunno." Sank the boy. "I don't want to bother father with silly questions like that."
"And what about your mother?" Loid asked. This was actually a huge question in contention among the Westalis spies. Or the public in general. Donovan Desmond is legally married to a woman of the name Gwendoline Desmond, but she has not appeared in the public for at least two years. But knowing the Desmond's, she could quite possibly be under wraps more than her husband.
"…I don't want to talk about mother."
Damn. Probing any further would be a bad move, and so the question will have to drop as of now.
"Sy-on boy! Anya bought peanuts!" Jovially, the little girl ran up to Damian and her dad. Immediately, Damian stood up on the bench and reeled back.
"H-Hey! Get those away from me!"
"Gasp! Does Sy-on boy hate peanuts?!" Gawked and gasped Anya.
"I'm allergic! Those could kill me!"
Uh oh. Loid knew Anya's love for peanuts. He knew that she was unlikely to give up her snacks, even for Plan B—
Without hesitation, Anya chucked the peanuts into the dog park, as far from the boy as possible. Yor and Loid couldn't believe their eyes- Anya must really want to befriend this lad!
But Anya did not look happy whatsoever.
"Sy-on boy better appreciate Anya's sacrifice." The little girl mumbled in monotone.
"It's the least you could do. Not murdering me, that is!" Damian humphed, getting Yor to agree.
"Little Desmond is right, Anya! A single peanut to an anaphylaxis victim would cause swelling, shortness of breath, and even death!" (Which can be a good tactic to take out a victim without being too much attention to oneself.)
"Gah!" Then it hit Anya, spreading a cocky grin across her face.
"Anya can do something Sy-on boy can't."
"H-Hey! That's not a skill! You have no reason to be so proud of yourself!"
"Anya can do something you can't do!" Sang Anya, with a taunting little twirl. It drove Damian crazy.
"S-Stop!"
"Aaaaanyaaa can dooo somethiiiing—"
"If I watch that dumb TV show with you will you shut up?!"
"Yay! Spy Wars!" That seemed to satisfy Anya, and left Damian with instant regret. But what was promised was promised, and he will sleep in the bed he made.
As the Forger family with their plus one went on their way back to their humble abode, a dark figure lurked. His black cloak spindled in the light breeze, as his eyes narrowed in on the little boy.
"Damian Desmond…" The mysterious figure murmured darkly, watching his every move.
"I found you."
