Thank you all so much for the lovely reviews last chapter💕😭 I know it was a long wait for the fluff but I hope it was worth it! I'm gonna double down on the fluff today so: Warning. This chapter is sickeningly sweet. Enjoy 😘

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They stayed like that for a while, with Damian sitting against the wall while Anya draped herself between his legs and against his chest, secure and nestled in his arms. The top of her hair tickled his chin, but he didn't mind, didn't move, because she was there, in his arms, and that was the only thing that he cared about. They only thing that he had wanted for so, so long, and he was not about to let her go any time soon.

Exhaustion dragged at his eyes, but Damian kept his face in her neck, completely content to wait for his heart and breathing rate to quieten in that calm moment that they shared together. In, out, inhale, exhale, every breath was saturated with strawberry and mint, and the heat of her burned into his body, into his skin. His cheeks were sticky from saltwater, and so were hers, but neither felt the need to wipe them away.

Fabric rustled as Anya shifted her body to look up at him with adoring eyes, slightly puffy from crying before, and Damian's breath caught in his throat. He released a gentle hand from her back, and caressed her face, stroking her cheek with such tenderness that she melted into him all over again, releasing a delectably soft sigh that made his insides flutter and his heartbeat dance. She didn't move her palm from his chest, no doubt feeling the way that his body responded to her completely unbidden.

It wasn't fair, how his body reacted without his permission, just from her intoxicating smell, the delicious weight of her body on his, the forbidden beauty of her eyes and how she paralysed him, energised him, tantalised him - impossibly all at once. He could get lost in the forest that was her eyes. How many different ways could an emerald shine? How many clusters of frondescent trees could create that magnificent colour?

His heart skipped a beat when he accidentally brushed his thumb over her rosebud lips. He hadn't noticed that his hand had slipped that far down, and he worried that Anya would pull away from him, tell him that it was too much, but she didn't do either of those things. Her breath was hot on his skin, and she slowly slid her hand up from his chest, to the back of his scorching neck.

Kiss me.

Her lips didn't move, and yet her voice echoed in his mind, fresh and melodic like windchimes brushed by a spring breeze, but his stuttering heart betrayed his nerves. Her eyes were too beautiful, too immobilising, and the same fear rose in him from before.

He squashed it down.

"Close your eyes," he said in a low voice, sounding much more confident than he felt, and she did, tilting her face up to his expectantly.

He didn't know if he would ever stop being afraid, but he mustered the tattered remains of his courage, and leaned down. It was only a kiss. They had kissed before. It was fine, he would be fine. There was nothing to worry about. It was just a kiss with the love of his life.

Before he could succumb to his ever-present anxiety, Damian was already a breath away from her face, and his lips brushed hers so, so gently, like the tranquil touch of dawn's light. His skin tingled from the subtle contact, and to his relief, Anya didn't pull away, but instead took that as her cue to lean in, to signal to him that she wanted this just as much as he did.

It was soft, and slow, and beautiful. His eyes closed naturally to follow hers, and he maintained a steady pressure, learning her lips by feel alone. He wanted to savour every breath, every sigh, every movement, and lose himself completely in the moment.

Beyond the walls of the gym storage room, the first signs of winter showed, through the frost glistening on the grass to the chill in the air, but as far as Damian and Anya were concerned, even the inevitable reach of winter could not touch them. Inside the secret garden that belonged to only them, the season thawed, and the promise of renewal, of rebirth, glimmered like dewdrops around them.

Damian couldn't count how many times he had thought of kissing her, thought of his hands in her hair, on her waist, holding her close to him, but every aspect surpassed his imagination - and even better, he was ready this time. While their first kiss was exhilarating, and in many ways completely terrifying, this one was rejuvenating, a remedy for them both to heal from their heartache. As daffodils burst through the frost of winter, as sunshine splits the rainclouds, their kiss awakened a new hope so verdant, that from it bloomed a second chance, a fresh start.

"Classes have started already," she whispered in between kisses, but she didn't pull away, didn't stop, and Damian got the sense that they both had the same priority at that moment - and it wasn't their education. (And, if they were both being honest, saying that the next class had "started" was a colossal understatement.)

"I know," Damian murmured back, and returned to her lips hungrily. After a lifetime of longing, letting her kiss go was the last thing he wanted.

He could have laughed. Never in a million years did Damian ever think that at some point in his life, he would skip class in favour of kissing Anya Forger in the gym storage room. It was scandalous. It was so unlike him. It was amazing.

"We should probably…" she sighed into him, and although there was only one mind-reader in the room, both of them knew that her attempts at not getting into trouble were half-hearted at best.

"Mmm, probably," he agreed just as half-heartedly, just when he had paused to take a breath, but he soon returned to her lips, eager to taste as much of her as possible while he could.

His hand rested against the back of her head, holding her up to kiss him, and he longed to tangle his fingers through her hair, but her ponytail held him back.

Unless…

Anya saw his thought before he pulled away from kissing her, and she smiled shyly, blush rising in her cheeks.

His touch brushed her neck and she shivered, turning her head slightly to the side to give him better access. Slowly, gently, Damian untied the hair that was gathered into such a beautiful ponytail, and he watched, fascinated, as he let her hair tumble with a soft swish, rustling like cherry blossom petals in the wind. Lustrous and beautiful, he couldn't take his eyes off her. With a trembling hand, Damian tentatively pushed away a section of hair that had fallen in front of her face, revealing the jewels that were her eyes.

His hand lingered by her ear, mesmerised by her warm smile. He never dared to dream that she could look at him so tenderly, with so much love that he feared he would burst.

"Anya," he breathed. "You're so…"

He kissed her before he could finish the sentence, and finally, he could thread his fingers through her hair as he kissed her, feeling the softness of her, trying to absorb as much as he could, trying to memorise as much of the moment as physically possible so that he could imprint this memory into his mind forever.

I love you, his heart sang. I love you so much.

If she had heard his thoughts, Damian wouldn't have minded at all. He wanted her to hear them. If it meant that she knew how much he loved her, how much space she took up in his heart and mind, he would let her in, eternally.

Anya kissed back, hard, and a little sound escaped from her throat that sent his mind spinning. She shouldn't have done that. It only reminded him that he finally had her in his arms, that he could finally have her all to himself and that he definitely wanted the moment to last forever. Anya pulled on his neck, pulling herself up towards him, moving to kneel between his legs so that her face was above his, and her pink hair flowed around her like a waterfall. For a moment, her boldness stole his breath away, but it wasn't long before he pulled her to him in an equally bold move, sinking his fingertips into her thighs.

Anya twitched against him and for a long second Damian thought that he had overstepped, that he had done something wrong -

"Someone's coming," she gasped, "quickly!"

Oh, shit.

Damian didn't say a word as she dragged him to the space behind the mats, rolling over him in the process, and both bodies tumbled painfully to the floor.

Damian cried out but she pressed her hand over his mouth, stifling all sound. Both flattened themselves tightly into the space, and if Damian thought his heart was already beating fast from kissing her, his pulse now hammered in his ears.

Damian gritted his teeth. They could not get caught. Not only would they both get into huge trouble, but Anya was already on her seventh bolt. She would be expelled, no doubt about it. He didn't even want to think about what would happen after that. Without thinking, he snaked his arm over her shoulder, and pulled her beneath the sightline just as the door creaked open, and light spilled across the floor next to them. At the last second, Anya pulled her shoes back too, before the light hit her, so that they were both tucked into the pocket of shadow behind the mats.

Both Anya and Damian barely breathed as they waited for the shadows to pass. Fire spread through their lungs, and Damian was sure that he was about to burst. Although the mats were closer to the back of the storage room, Damian prayed that whoever was at the door would pass quickly, so that both of them could get out alive.

"I swear Becky said she saw them go in here before," said a voice that they both recognised. "Let's check back at the library again."

Anya's eyes widened, and she covered her hand over her laugh, moving her other hand from Damian's mouth to weave her fingers with his.

And the door closed, taking the light with it, until shadow shrouded them once more.

"Our friends are looking for us," she whispered, and then she let out an adorable giggle.

"Sounds like it," he exhaled with a weary laugh. It felt like he had just narrowly escaped going into cardiac arrest. He would have to apologise to Emile and Ewen later for disappearing on them, but exhilaration flooded through him once again as he decided that he didn't regret it a single bit. "You didn't know it was them?" he raised his eyebrow at her.

Anya playfully batted him on the arm. "I was distracted!"

At her indignant expression, he couldn't help but grin.

With the coast now clear, Damian pulled Anya to her feet. He was pretty sure that the bell marking the end of the school day had rung some time ago, so he was in no hurry to let her go.

Anya seemed to follow the same train of thought, because a sly grin spread across her face, and she grabbed the front of his shirt, forcing him to lean down to her, and she locked her fingers around the back of his neck.

"One more," she murmured, as their lips crashed together once again.

Damian's arms were around her instantly, crushing her to him, and in a wild moment of delirium, he lifted her from her feet.

"Damian!" Anya laughed, just as giddy as he was. "Put me down!"

Laughter bubbled from his chest, more than he ever thought was possible, but the sudden momentum made him unsteady on his feet, and he staggered forwards, away from the mats and towards the basketball cart.

"Shit!" Damian hissed aloud, just as Anya reached back and held herself against the edge of the cart, but her waist slipped from his grip, and her feet slipped as she went down.

Anya managed to steady herself using the bars of the cart, but not before accidentally swiping her hand across the latch, releasing an avalanche of basketballs behind them, their cacophonous bouncing echoing around the room.

Of course it would get worse.

"For fuck's sake," Damian groaned, but when he made eye contact with Anya, they broke out into uncontrollable giggles, slowly rising in hysterics before Damian was fully leaning against Anya, his palms gripping the handles of the cart on either side of her, while she tried to keep herself upright by gripping the front of his shirt.

The door opened once again, and light flooded over them.

"Found you, lovebirds!" Becky called out to them both, before she turned to someone out of sight and called: "Hey! I told you two they'd be in here!"

Damian reflexively jumped back from Anya, face flaming at having been caught, but it was too late. Anya hadn't released her grip from the fabric of his shirt, and when he jumped back, he accidentally dragged her forward, and the unsteady momentum made them both topple to the ground.

"Bossman!" Emile's voice reached them before he did. "We thought something had happened -"

And then he barrelled through the door, pushing Becky and a few stray basketballs aside, and his eyes widened at the sight before him. "Oh."

Ewen joined them. "Have you guys seriously been hiding out here since P.E.?" he exclaimed, before also seeing the same thing that Emile and Becky did. "Ohhh."

"They have!" Becky squealed. "They've been kissing!"

Emile and Ewen whirled to Damian, looking for confirmation. "Bossman? For real?"

"Er…" Damian gulped, still as a deer in headlights, and entirely conscious that Anya was lying on top of him on the floor of the fucking gym storage room.

A warm hand linked through his, and Damian glanced up, surprised to see Anya holding his hand, and grinning down at him with sparkling eyes. "We did! It was great!"

"Anya!" Damian yelped, and he just knew he was blushing hard, like an idiot.

"I can't believe it!" Ewen gasped, at the same time that Emile whooped, and Becky punched the air with a victorious cheer: "Yesss!"

Finally, Anya helped Damian back up - but their state of dress did not escape Becky's notice. "You're still in your P.E. kit? Don't tell me you've been in here kissing the whole time!"

Anya tightened her grip on his hand, joy seeping out of her. "We were!"

"Anya!" Damian flushed, but he didn't have the heart to be mad at her. Not really. Especially because her excitement about being together was just so damn cute. So, when she used his hand to tug herself closer, and nuzzled into his arm with the enthusiasm of a puppy, he had no choice really, but to wrap his arm around her waist, and tuck her closer to him. He swore his entire body was on fire.

"You guys are so cute," Becky squealed once more, before ushering Emile and Ewen back out of the room. "We covered for you in class, but you'd better move before the after-school clubs get here!"

She winked at them both with a cheeky wave. "Ciao!" she called, and then she was gone.

Thankfully, they emerged from the experience unscathed, and much more buoyant than they had been in a long time. Damian watched Anya walk back to her father's car, and she gave him a small wave before turning away and getting in.

He waved back dumbfoundedly. By then it was too late for her to see it, but he didn't mind. He watched as Dr Forger drove the car away, and he stood there for a moment, running over everything that had just happened.

Anya confessed to him. She actually confessed to him. And asked him to be her boyfriend. And then they kissed. And then kissed some more.

Heat rose in his face as he remembered it. How was it that they had kissed at least twice in the space of two days, and then only three days since accidentally confessing to her, they were now officially together?

He still couldn't believe it. Anya Forger was his girlfriend. For real. They were boyfriend-girlfriend. Girlfriend-boyfriend. Whatever.

It was real.

Damian walked in a daze back to the Cecile Hall dorms, his mind completely in the clouds, and his heart singing with barely-restrained joy.