"Hey, I have an idea," Anya grinned, and his heart flipped from the sight of it. "What if we hung out together sometimes?"

A thought occurred to him, and it took everything he had not to explode.

"L-like just… you and me?"

Damian had spent the entire summer getting himself under control.

He was very proud of it, actually. All summer, Damian had successfully managed to not talk about Anya at all, even when his mother asked about her (which was no easy feat), even when Ewen and Emile tried to ask about her (why were they asking him? Didn't they know to back off?) and even when he was lying awake at night, desperate to break his vow of silence to Becky of all people, because he had heard from Ewen that Becky and Anya went to the Spy Wars Movie Premiere (the official one! With the actors and everything!) and he was absolutely dying to know how it went.

Even more than that, he really wanted to know what she thought of it, but again, he had to get himself under control, because for ten years of his life he had been singularly affected by the enigma that was Anya Forger, and one of these days he had to fight for control over his body again so that he could actually look her in the eyes without stumbling over his words or turning into a blushing mess.

The plan: he would enter class on the first day of the new school year, and he wouldn't look at her at all. Nope. He would glide past her and sit at his usual seat at the back with Emile and Ewen and he would pay attention to the entire class and to everything that the teacher had to say, and he wouldn't make a fool of himself at all.

It was foolproof. Now to carry it out…

Damian had waited for the perfect time to finish his breakfast and go to the classroom with Emile and Ewen in tow: only a couple of minutes before the bell, so that he was sure to be the last one entering the class. At least that way he could have an entrance.

(Not that he wanted an entrance for her, obviously, just for him, because cool people made an entrance on the first day of school after an entire summer holiday.)

He had placed his satchel over his shoulder just so, had tousled his hair just so, and knew that he looked nonchalant as Ewen and Emile entered the classroom before him.

Only…

His eyes betrayed him, and on automatic his gaze meandered to her usual spot and she wasn't fucking there.

Damian kept walking to his seat, nonchalantly, even though his heart had seized up in his chest.

Why isn't she here?

It was all for nothing. Now she definitely wouldn't think that he was cool -

Oh my god Desmond get it together, he yelled at himself inside his own head. You can't be like this. You have to stop. You're being an absolute idiot and you know it.

He (very calmly) lowered himself in his seat, and began pulling out his notebook and pens from his satchel, moving to align the papers just so, and then leaned down once more so that he could reach his -

"Sorry I'm late!"

Damian bumped his head on the edge of the table, and stifled a scream.

And he couldn't help it, the bright pink of her hair just drew him in, magnetising, rendering him unable to look away and -

Oh my god what the fuck.

He stopped breathing.

Was that the same Anya Forger that pulled ugly faces at him and snuck around suspiciously? Because this Anya Forger looked nothing like her. The only explanation was that she was kidnapped and replaced…

But… no. Damian was forced to accept that something happened to Anya Forger over the summer. Something that made her hair longer and shinier, and her skin clearer, and her eyes were just as gorgeous as they had ever been and she had legs and oh shit was she looking at him?

His reaction was instant and physical. The more he stared at her, the more it felt as though his heart was trying to lurch out of his chest, and suddenly he found it so painful to breathe that he just didn't. Maybe if he held his breath forever, he wouldn't have to feel all this pain any more -

Oh god never mind, Damian screamed at himself internally once again as his lungs started to burn, and he was indeed forced to take a breath. Curse his entire body for rebelling against him so viciously.

Her eyes drew together in real concern, and in suddenly no time at all, she had made her way to her desk - no, actually walking past it to reach him -

"Sy-on boy? Are you okay?"

He couldn't take it anymore.

"Get away from me!" he hissed at her, his mind completely screaming at him. I can't stand her being so close to me! Why must I endure this torture on the first day?

And then her smile faded, and she walked away without a word, and Damian hated himself.

He made it to lunchtime without any further embarrassments, but what he hadn't quite planned for was the moment when Becky and Anya would choose their table for lunch.

And it wasn't his fault that they chose to sat at his favourite table (it had a great view of the courtyard, but was close enough to the exit in case he needed to leave in a hurry), so it was only natural that he didn't change his routine for her, and he just sat there because it was what he would have done anyway and it was nothing to do with her.

Anya looked up as Ewen, Emile and Damian joined the table for lunch, sitting on entirely the other end, but Becky ignored them. She hadn't forgotten the look on Anya's face when Damian insulted her just hours previously.

"Oh hey," Ewen turned to Anya, apparently not getting the memo from Damian's internal mind that they weren't to speak to her. "Becky told us that you went to the Spy Wars premiere. How'd it go?"

Damian should have fucking known. He should have known that they would betray him like this (even though he had not exactly told them about his new resolution).

But, dammit, he couldn't help himself. Damian swivelled to Anya, eager to hear what she had to say, and then he nearly dropped his fork in shock.

Her eyes glittered. Apparently Ewen's question to her had unlocked pure joy in her heart, and it shone through in her expression. She was like an angel, glowing in a room of mere mortals.

Damian's hand shook, and he tightened his grip, trying to hide the way that his body was now trying to betray him.

"It was amazing! Wasn't it Becky?" Anya gushed, but she didn't turn to her friend to endorse her opinion, and the words of the experience spilled from her.

It did sound amazing, Damian had to grudgingly admit. Apparently, a friend of Becky's father was a producer in the film industry, and was able to get Becky tickets to the premier for her birthday, and she insisted that Anya should be the one to come with her. Everyone knew that Becky didn't care much for Spy Wars per se, but she did like celebrities, so while Anya enjoyed the premiere and getting to see the movie before it hit cinemas, Becky had enjoyed swanning about with celebrities at the release parties.

"I even managed to get Bondman's autograph!"

Damian nearly spat out his food. "You did? No way!"

"I did," Anya grinned smugly at him, his earlier insult forgotten. "I've got it framed in my room!"

"You got to talk to James Daniels?" Ewen's mouth hung open. "I'm so jealous!"

Nobody missed the moment when Anya froze up.

"Yeah…"

Damian couldn't help himself. "What happened?"

Becky sighed and put down her knife and fork to address the boys. "Anya says that something unspeakably embarrassing happened when she went to get his autograph. She won't tell me what it was."

All eyes turned to Anya, and she sank into her chair.

"I've never felt like such an idiot! I couldn't even speak! My mouth completely dried up and all I could think of was how cool he was and I'm just another fan! Even my legs turned to jelly and I said the stupidest thing!"

"Come on Anya, what did you say?" said Becky encouragingly.

"Yeah," Emile joined in. "It can't have been that bad…"

Damian couldn't look away from Anya's reddened face, now almost as pink as her hair, but she must have felt her face flushing too because then she hid her face with both and emitted a loud, frustrated groan.

"I told him his face looks weird in 3D!"

Damian winced, along with Ewen and Emile. He had to admit, that was a stupid thing to say to anyone…

"Oh yeah, you're screwed."

"Not helpful, Emile!"

"Oh, Anya," Becky reached out and patted her friend on the back. "It's all right. I'm sure worse things have happened!"

Anya leaned her head down against the table, and muffled something along the lines of I'm the worst.

It twisted his heart to hear her say something like that, but Damian stayed silent, and instead imagined what it would be like to be the one comforting Anya. Not that he would ever be able to, given that he couldn't even function like a normal human around her.

So embarrassing.

Damian turned his eyes away from her, trying to focus instead on his food. I have to be careful and keep my distance from her. If she speaks to me I'd only make a fool of myself.

Damian didn't even know how it could get worse, but it did.

He had left lunch early, intending to go to his locker and get the materials he needed for his next class, and like always, Ewen and Emile followed him. They kept the conversation going with idle chatter while Damian brooded, and opened his locker…

… and an envelope fell out.

It was pink, and had a heart-shaped sticker on the envelope flap to keep it sealed, and Damian tried to swipe it from the floor before either of them had seen it.

In the past, he had been embarrassed by the volume of love letters that were shoved unceremoniously into his locker, at times falling out in piles right in front of him.

So embarrassing.

And yet, at the same time, his heart would always take control of his body at that very moment, filling him with a disgusting sense of hope, because what if…

Idiot, Damian chastised himself. As if that would ever happen.

So, he snatched the letter from the ground, but not before Ewen and Emile spotted it.

"Ooo another love letter? That's our Damian for you!"

"Seriously dude, how do you get so many letters? It's not fair."

"It doesn't matter," Damian said with gritted teeth. "Because it's just going straight into the bin."

He twisted his body towards the nearest designated school bin, and brought his arm back, ready to throw it - but then it was snatched out of his grasp.

By Emile, no less.

"Come on, Boss! Aren't you curious to know who sent it?"

Damian's face flamed. "Not even a little bit!"

Emile slipped his thumb beneath the flap, and snapped it open, and Damian panicked. He reached for the envelope, but Emile held it just out of reach, pushing Damian back with one hand.

"Give that back! I said I don't care!"

"But why not? You don't have to meet them, just to know-"

"I don't want to-"

"Emile, that's enough," said Ewen calmly, and he snatched the envelope back from Emile. "Don't you know Damian doesn't care about getting love letters unless it's from Anya?"

Something struck Damian, and he turned to stone.

Pure panic flooded through him. How does he know?!

"WHAT!" Damian yelled, and goddammit, he already felt the flush taking over his entire face, giving him away. "That's not true! How dare you!"

Ewen's eyes widened, as if he had only just realised the terrible mistake he had made.

"Oh, you've done it now," Emile said under his breath. "Idiot. We weren't supposed to say that!"

Damian swivelled to Emile with the most withering glare he could muster.

"You - both of you -"

They both took a simultaneous step away from him, fear in their eyes.

"You are both idiots! I don't care about getting love letters from anyone, least of all from Anya! She is the last person I would want a letter from! She is a thorn in my fucking side and has been all these years and just because I tolerate her presence at best it doesn't mean anything!"

"Uh… Boss…"

But Damian continued, ignorant to the panic in their eyes.

"I would never willingly hang out with that commoner, not in a million years!"

"Damian!"

That stopped him. The boys rarely called him by his given name, unless they were really trying to get his attention, but their panicked exclamation stopped him in his tracks.

A sniffle behind him, and a sense of dread trickled down his spine. He wished that the earth would just open up and swallow him right then and there.

He was too scared to turn around, but it was like he moved on automatic, and he couldn't breathe when he saw her.

Green eyes, hugely magnified with the volume of tears that had welled up and spilled over, staring at him like he had just slapped her. And from the awful things that he had just said, he might as well have.

Damian gaped at her, his jaw working, but no sound came out, and he couldn't think of anything to say other than oh shit.

"You're always so mean to me, Sy-on boy!" she sniffed, wiping at her eyes with the back of her hand, but it did nothing to stop the flow of tears, and all the while Damian found that he was completely frozen to the spot, unable to move in the face of her despair.

And then her sniffle turned into a sob, and his heart broke to see her cry in earnest.

"All I wanted was to be friends with you, but if it's really so awful talking to me, then why do you even bother? You think I don't notice how you can't stand being around me, that you can't even look at me? Like standing next to me is the most painful thing in the world for you?"

Every word was another arrow to his heart. This wasn't supposed to happen. He didn't mean for this to happen.

"Then FINE!" Anya wept, her voice roaring through the corridors. "If you really hate me that much then do us both a favour and leave me ALONE!"

She turned on her heel, and Damian helplessly watched her leave, feeling like the worst person in the world.

Anya really knew how to hide herself. Damian cursed to himself constantly as he scoured the entire school, searching for her, but dammit, how could one girl be so good at making herself hidden?

And it didn't help that Ewen and Emile refused to help.

"You dug yourself into this mess!" Ewen scolded him. "You have to find her and apologise to her. That's all there is to it!"

Yeah, as if it's that easy, Damian groaned. Because even if he did find her - what then? Anya had said it herself, that he couldn't even look at her, so how could talking ever be an option? Around Anya, he was a wreck. It was a fact that now even Emile and Ewen were aware of (he would never stop being embarrassed about that), but now even Anya had picked up on how utterly useless he was.

He was a fool. A stupid, useless, stupid fool.

At some point, he must have looked truly wretched, and eventually Becky took it upon herself to take pity on the young scion.

"Have you tried the rooftop conservatory?" she sighed.

Damian could only stare at her. "But why would she go up there? It's restricted."

At Becky's sardonic stare, it slowly dawned on Damian that he had overlooked a very core part of Anya's personality. Of course she wouldn't follow the same rules as everyone else…

He begrudgingly thanked her, and then made his way up the stairs one at a time, hating that every step made the knot in his chest so much worse, because the thought of actually speaking to Anya was almost as anxiety-inducing as the knowledge that he had made her cry for real…

Damian steeled himself and pushed open the door to the roof, shielding his eyes from the sun as he did so.

He had only been to the rooftop conservatory once, on an approved trip with Mr Green, who wanted his help carrying plant pots and bags of soil up there. Damian had baulked at it, scared that the bags of soil also carried worms, but he had muscled his determination and completed the task to the best of his ability. After all, he was an Imperial Scholar, an elite member of the school, and he had to act like it.

A shadow crossed his eyes. Damian hadn't been deserving of his title as Imperial Scholar as of late, with the way that he treated Anya…

She was right. He was always so mean to her, but the worst bit twas that he had never planned to be. In his imagination, Damian treated her like a princess. He knew for a fact that if he and Anya were ever something more, then he would take her on the most lavish dates, the likes of which no woman had ever seen. He would shower her with compliments every chance that he could get, making it his life's mission to make sure that Anya knew the depth of his feelings for her.

But then he would catch her eye in real life, and suddenly his self control fell apart in the worst way, and he would make a total fool of himself, time and time again. It was no wonder she thought that he hated her, with the way that he couldn't even say a kind word to her, or even look her in the eye.

If she never wanted to speak to him ever again, he would understand.

Damian took a deep breath in as he stood in front of the door to the rooftop conservatory, and took in the sight of the whole place. The sun had glinted through the panels of glass that made up the dome shape of the conservatory, and there were green plants as high and as far as he could see.

Beautiful plants, from countries that he had never yet had the opportunity to travel to, all with inscribed labels. It was as much a conservatory as it was a botanical house, and Damian wished not for the first time how lovely it would be if students were allowed up here. The rule only came into force because of a few rogue hooligans from some years prior who had smashed through the glass, and the shards fell onto the pavements below. Since that day, it was ruled that students were forbidden to be allowed in, unless they were given exemptions or permission.

Damian sweated at the thought that he didn't have permission to be up there in the first place, but he had to find Anya and if Becky thought that she was here then..

He took a tentative step forward, intending to follow the winding path before him, when he heard a sniffle. And just like that, it struck through his heart.

Damian took a few more steps and turned round the path, to see an iron bench on which Anya sat, crying. She had both of her arms around her knees, burying her face in them so that he wouldn't be able to see her tears.

I really did go too far this time… The knowledge sunk deep into his gut. I even made her cry. I'm the worst. She'll never forgive me after this.

"I know you're there, Sy-on," she sniffled.

Dammit.

Anya raised her head, and used the heel of her palm to wipe her tears away, and immediately Damian was paralysed by her glittering green eyes, magnified from her tears.

Why was it always her eyes that melted his resolve first? It was like she had always cast some kind of spell over him…

Despite the spell, Damian forced himself to move forwards, and joined her on the bench. He kept a little distance between them, and pressed his hands on his knees, wondering if he would ever be able to feel calm around her.

"Why did you bother trying to find me? I know you hate me," she whimpered, and he wanted to die. "You've always hated me."

Damian couldn't help himself.

"That's not true," he blurted, unable to look her in the eyes. "I've never hated you."

Actually, it's the opposite , he gulped. But he couldn't essay that part out loud. He would be surprised if he could ever say any of it out loud.

Maybe if he kept his gaze on his knees, he would actually be able to speak to her, like a somewhat normal person.

"You don't hate me?" came her small voice, and he automatically turned to glance at her - only to be entrapped once again by her huge, watery eyes.

His knees were weak looking at her. She was so physically affecting that Damian had to steady himself with a few more deep breaths, but he still couldn't say it. He just couldn't. It was impossible.

Then, an idea came to him.

"R-remember when you met Bondman and you turned to jelly and you said stupid things to his face?"

Anya turned red, and covered her face in humiliation.

"Why are you bringing up the most embarrassing moment of my life?! I couldn't even look him in the eye! I just blurted it out and I don't even know where it came from!"

"But you didn't mean those things, did you?" said Damian, and a shard of hope glimmered inside his chest. "It was like - your brain just shut off and then it just fell out of your mouth and you regretted it an instant later?"

Anya didn't look up, but her stillness told him that she was listening.

He bravely continued: "Was it because you hate him?"

"Of course not!" Anya protested and this time, she looked up in some mix of confusion and anger. "It's because I think he's so cool…"

Her eyes widened in understanding.

"Damian, do you-" she gasped, and new tears sprang to her eyes. "Do you think I'm cool?"

He swallowed. "The coolest," he said in a croaky voice.

Although, he knew privately that it was so much more than that. You're amazing, he wanted to tell her. You're brave and kind and pretty and I admire you so much, I treasure you, I -

"Really?!" Anya exclaimed

God, she looked so beautiful, with her wide emerald eyes that pierced through his defences completely, that Damian had to look away from her again to try to gather his thoughts and his words.

He kept his gaze away from her, staring resolutely ahead, into the variety of butterfly palm trees that created such lovely dappling on the path.

Come on Damian, you can do this.

If he didn't say something now, Damian knew that he would regret it for the rest of his life.

"I'm sorry for all those insults. I didn't mean them but I… I know that's not an excuse. I promise I'll be better from now on."

His mouth was so dry. His heart pounded in his chest, punching against his ribcage with such ferocity that he thought it would break him open on the spot. (Then maybe all of his words would pour out of him, and how embarrassing would that be…)

He tried to keep his breathing under control as he waited for her reply, knowing that the roar of his heartbeat in his ears made it so difficult to concentrate on anything else, but then it had been too long since she last spoke, and he started to panic.

Damian flicked his gaze back to her, but in the time that he had been looking away, Anya had used that as her chance to move closer, her face mere inches from his, and the sudden closeness startled him.

"Gah! Why are you so weird?!" he blurted, and then immediately facepalmed. I'm such an idiot, I can't believe I just insulted her again!

"Huh," said Anya quietly, as though she was observing him. "I really do affect you badly."

Obviously! Damian screamed inside his own mind, and he literally couldn't move. Her proximity to him meant that he could also smell the strawberry scent of her shampoo, and it destabilised him completely.

Then Anya perked up, like an idea had come to her.

"So, maybe you just have to get more used to me?"

What was she planning? "What do you mean?"

"Well if you think I'm so cool that your brain gets switched off, that's not good, right? You need to study, and be able to go to class without passing out."

"I'm not going to pass out! Don't say such embarrassing things!"

"You literally look like you're going to pass out right now."

"That's because you're so close to me!"

"Exactly."

It occurred to Damian that he might have just accidentally proved her point.

"Hey, I have an idea," Anya grinned, and his heart flipped from the sight of it. "What if we hung out together sometimes?"

A thought occurred to him, and it took everything he had not to explode.

"L-like just… you and me?"

Just that thought alone was enough to spike his heart rate completely, and already, he knew:

I'm not going to survive this.

Throughout it all, Anya watched him carefully, the corners of her mouth tipped up in a small smile.

"This Saturday," she said decisively. "Let's hang out."

There was nothing left in him, and he hung his head in defeat.

"Fine."

He was a dead mean, anyway.

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Those reading "The Seven Secrets of Starlight" will know that I am in the middle of writing some HEAVY angst right now lmaoooo... So I thought why not balance it with a short fluffy story? Plus I love writing tsundere Damian, he is so funny

Updates will be sporadic, but you can definitely count on this being fluffier than my other story lmaooo

Also, Anya's embarassing anecdote is actually based on a true story... I met charlieissocoollike a few years ago and said that exact phrase to them, cue being mortified and unable to sleep (: