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Yor watched Loid get dressed with a slight feeling of disappointment. Sure, Loid always looked good in that green suit of his. Really good. But if he was getting in that suit this late at night, it meant he had gotten an urgent call from the hospital.
Yor wasn’t mad at him for accepting the call, not at all! She knew Loid’s job involved helping people (even in ways that seemed excessive… concussive therapy was such a strange practice), and Yor would be lying if she said she wasn’t proud of how cavalier her faux husband was with setting his needs aside for others, but Yor was hoping to get to spend a quiet night with him and Anya in peace. It was the first night all week that Yor had that wasn’t bogged down with work from The Garden, and Loid thought his schedule was clear too.
Apparently not.
They had been having dinner when the phone rang. Her husband had answered it and accepted as dutifully as ever, simply replying “understood” to whoever was on the other end before leaving to get dressed, though he insisted that Yor and Anya finish eating as he got ready. Yor had asked him what happened, and apparently one of his much more troublesome patients was lashing out at others again, so Loid needed to get there within the hour to put his patient at ease and get to the bottom of things.
Yor cringed at the thought. Nearly every time Loid had to leave like this with violent patients, he came home with bruises or gashes marring his features. Yor knew deep down that these were just patients in need of help, that they couldn’t control themselves and meant no real harm. But Yor couldn’t help imagining thugs or mercenaries striking her gentle and caring (fake) husband with crowbars and bats and whatever else wretched scum used. Yor wanted to find whoever did this and rip their throats out for ever laying a finger on her man.
Her what?
Yor shook her head and put that thought aside for now. She timidly walked into Loid’s room as he finished putting on his gloves. “I know they need you there tonight, but… couldn’t they ask someone else to do it? Anyone else to do it?”
Loid turned towards her, and she couldn’t quite read whatever he was thinking. It almost looked like he wanted to tell her something he was holding in before, but stopped himself at the last minute. “Budget cuts have been hurting the psychiatry ward pretty badly. I’m one of the few psychiatrists left that’s still on the payroll,” Loid stated with a hint of melancholy in his voice. “I’m sorry about tonight. I know that doesn’t make up for it, but—“
“I didn’t mean it like that! I know what you do is important, and it makes the world a better place,” Yor didn’t mean to cut him off, but she would rather not make it about dinner. “It’s just… every time one of your patients gets like this, they hurt you. And… and I don’t want that for you anymore. Can’t someone else take the hit for once? What if something happens to you this time and…” Yor didn’t mean for her eyes to sting like this, but she was afraid. Really afraid. “… I don’t know what I would do if you didn’t come home tonight. I just need your word that you’ll be safe. Okay?”
Darn it all, she was being selfish. She was talking about Loid’s safety, but Yor had made it all about herself. She should have talked about Anya, not her. Anya was his daughter. What would happen to that little girl if her Papa got hurt and couldn’t walk it off like he always did. Yor wasn’t even her real mother, how could she provide what would be missing if Loid was gone? But Yor hadn’t mentioned that, she’d mentioned how she’d feel if Loid was gone. Feelings shouldn’t matter in this arrangement anyway, why did she—?
Yor felt a thin pair of lips press against her forehead. She looked up and saw those sky-blue eyes stare back at her softly. “I’ll be safe this time, Yor. I promise. I’ll be home past Anya’s bedtime, but I’ll make it back home without a scratch on me this time. I’m never leaving my girls alone, you have my word.”
The sting in Yor’s eyes left her as a pink blush consumed her entire being. Loid looked like classical paintings of handsome heroes saving their fair maidens from ferocious beasts, and suddenly, his sharp chin or half-open eyes became impossible to look away from. And now there were several other selfish thoughts that polluted Yor’s mind. Of her leaving only the dimmest lights on after putting Anya to bed. Of waiting for Loid in her most evocative nightgown with a bottle of champagne and a bowl of fruit next to her as she beckoned Loid to come to bed with her and—
“Mama and Papa are flirting!”
“NO, WE ARE NOT!!!” The answer rang out of Yor and Loid in unison as Anya scampered off with a giggle. That girl would be the death of them both, even if she happened to be right this time. The pink dust on Yor’s face was now a deep fuchsia, and any thoughts of seducing her fake husband were put on the back burner. She was going to have a talk with Anya about inappropriate remarks regarding her and Loid.
Loid must have seen her peeved expression because he let out a small chuckle. “Don’t pay her any mind, Yor. Anya is still just a child, she doesn’t quite understand our arrangement yet.” He looked down at his watch and noted the time. “I’m sorry, Yor, but I’ve gotta get going! Can’t keep that patient waiting much longer.”
Loid started for the front door, but Yor caught him by the arm before he could go. “Wait a second!” Yor turned him around in her arms and gave his neck tie a small tug, making sure that it was properly fitted to his collar and adjusted to be right down the middle. “Perfect. Sorry, just had to fix that really quick.”
Loid gave her a soft look that took Yor by surprise, but not nearly as surprised as when Loid took the hand Yor had around the knot of his tie and gave her hand a chaste kiss goodbye. “Thank you, Yor. I’ll see you later tonight,” he said breathlessly as he walked out the door, and Yor could have sworn she saw the lightest dust of pink on his cheeks just as the door closed.
She didn’t need a mirror to know that her face was as red as her eyes and sweater.
No. She was not flustered by Loid’s sweet gesture. Loid was just a gentleman like that. It was nothing to be flustered over. Yes. It was perfectly normal for Yor’s brain to factory reset itself. She did it all the time when Loid did something like this. It was a completely natural reaction to this. Just because you don’t do it doesn’t make it suddenly “weird” or “kind of excessive since he’s your husband” or whatever her friends would say.
Anya could only hear TV static coming from her Mama’s head, and she knew exactly how to mess with her Mama and get the ball rolling on making this a forever family.
Out of the corner of her eye, Yor saw Anya scamper off before coming back into view… doing the waltz with her stuffed penguin?
Anya danced with Agent Penguinman the way she imagined her Papa and Mama dancing at their wedding. She looked back at her Mama, but realized that she wasn’t quite getting the memo. Anya would have to bust out the old reliable!
“Mama and Papa sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!~”
“Miss Anya!!” Yor cried out in dismay!
“First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Anya’s baby sister in the baby carriage!!~”
“MISS ANYA!!!” Yor raced after her young ward with a fury she normally reserved for a target on the run!
Anya giggled and cackled like she’d just caught her Mama with her blouse open, and she quickly ducked behind her trusty hound, the always-aloof Bond, and she prepared to use him as a meat shield in case her Mama decided to go full stabby stabby!
Anya knew her Mama would never lay a hand on her, but she was playing with fire just now, and she had seen firsthand what her Mama did to the bad guys.
“Oh, you think you’re cute, don’t you?!” Yor said as she tried ducking around the giant cotton ball to get a hold of her (fake) daughter!
“Anya’s been told that she’s very cute!” Anya hollered! “In fact, Mama and Papa tell her she’s a-door-a-bell every single day!!”
Yor stopped her rampage to take in what Anya had just said. Well, it’s true that Anya was adorable, but just the way she said it—Yor couldn’t help letting out a laugh. Anya had gotten her so riled up, but the little girl really was as cute as a button. Eventually, her laughter died down, and she looked back to the pink-haired girl and knew that she was right.
“I think your Mama and Papa are onto something, Miss Anya,” Yor relented as she kneeled to Anya and Bond’s eye level. “Still, you shouldn’t be talking about me and your father that way. You know we’re not really like that.”
Anya deflated at her Mama’s words. Anya was an Esper. She knew everything her Mama and Papa were thinking. Why did they lie to themselves and each other and Anya so much, when Anya didn’t even need to be an Esper to know what was going on between them? “Okay, Mama…”
Yor let out a small exhale. Anya was six years old (as far as she knew), of course she’d want her father to fall in love with her surrogate mother and make them all one big happy family. From what Loid had told her, Anya couldn’t even remember her birth mother. Loid had kept zero pictures of his late wife, and as much time as Yor had spent for most of her childhood alone taking care of Yuri, at least she could remember her mother. At least she still had pictures to remember what she looked like. Poor Anya didn’t have any of those things. And she had to be reminded time and again that Yor wasn’t her real mother. That her marriage with Anya’s father was one of convenience, not love. That none of it was real, and Anya had to keep lying about it to her friends and her teachers to keep up the ruse of normality between them for Yor’s benefit.
Yor shouldn’t have been so hard on the little girl for just embarrassing her. Maybe… maybe she should let Anya think that it’s real for once. Just for a little while.
And then, a fantastic idea struck Yor like a bolt of lightning!
“Say, why don’t you and I have a girls' night together! Just the two of us! And, well, Bond too, but mainly you and me,” Yor proposed with a smile.
Almost immediately, Anya’s face lit up, and Yor could see stars forming in her eyes! “You really mean it, Mama?” Yor couldn’t help but beam at Anya’s enthusiasm, and she nodded happily as Anya started dancing in place. “Me and Mama are gonna have the best night ever!”
Any feelings of angst were long gone, and Yor couldn’t help but catch Anya’s contagious excitement in her heart. “Yes, we are, sweetie! What would you like to do first?”
Anya scrunched her face and tapped her foot as she racked her head with ideas. Anya could feel the gears turning in her head, and she tried her best to remember what all Becky had told her about what slumber parties were like (she wanted to go to the ones Becky threw, but her Papa didn't think she was old enough to go to them quite yet).
Yor couldn’t help giggling at the display. Anya must have picked up half her mannerisms from the cartoons she watched so religiously. There was no denying it, really. Anya was a-door-a-bell!
Suddenly, Anya figured out exactly what to do next. “Ooh! Anya and Mama could build a pillow fort together!”
“That sounds like plenty of fun, sweetie! If you run and get your pillows, I’ll run and grab mine, and we can build it on the couch together!” Yor’s plan gained her a resounding thumb’s up from Anya, and the two set about their plans briskly, with Bond tagging along to grab Anya’s other pillow when the little girl could only grab one at a time.
Yor stared at her handiwork with a great sense of satisfaction. At a rapid pace, the three had managed to rearrange the couch cushions and pillows and drape one of the spare sheets over it to make a most enviable slumber party fortress. Anya and Bond had already slunk inside of it, with Anya firmly planted on top of the Great Pyrenees and using him as a living mattress.
Yor had never actually been to a slumber party before, either. With how busy she was as a child providing for Yuri and herself, she never really had the time for friends as a little girl. Plus, with just how freakishly strong she was, and how little self-control she had back then, she tended to maim any would-be friends on accident before they even got the chance to know her.
“Mama, hop in here with Anya and Bond!” Anya called out from inside her slumber castle. Yor’s heart warmed at Anya’s demand to hang out under the monument of their mother-daughter relationship. She relented, and moseyed her way past Bond and into a comfortable spot next to him and Anya. She looked back at the little girl and knew that this night was already perfect.
“You did a fantastic job overseeing the construction of this pillow fort, sweetheart!” Yor commended the little girl, and Bond’s tail wagged in agreement.
“You did great too, Mama! We make a super cool, awesome team! Anya and Mama, building pillow forts and kicking bad guy butt!” Anya declared with a raised fist.
“Kicking what, Anya?” Yor asked for clarification.
“Um, nothing!” Anya deflected as she realized that she had said too much. “Let’s do something else too! What does Mama do with her friends for girls’ night?”
Yor thought back to her girls’ nights with Camilla, Millie, and Sharon, and knew immediately that Anya wouldn’t be old enough for any of that. The drinking, the gossiping, the way the others congratulated Yor for catching such a stud. Yor’s body was heating up at the thought.
“Mama? Are you okay?” Anya poked Yor on the cheek and Yor recoiled as she came back from her mindscape. Anya didn’t need to hear about any of that. Quickly, Yor regained her composure and thought of a much better substitute. “Why don’t we have some fun with… um… makeup!” Yor did her best to rebound quickly, and Anya lit back up with excitement.
“Oooh, Anya wants to look as pretty as Mama does!” Anya stated it like it was a scientific fact of the cosmos that her Mama was pretty, and Yor couldn’t help being endeared to Anya’s words. No matter how weird or out of her element Yor felt at times, Anya made her feel like she was home.
Anya crawled off Bond and out of the pillow fort in a hurry. She swung her arms from pointing at Yor to pointing at the bedroom hallway. Yor giggled at the little girl’s animated gestures and followed suit. Moving into her room, she pulled out her makeup supplies and marched into Anya’s room.
Anya’s vanity was short enough for the little girl to sit on her chair and look into it with no issue, but Yor had to bend down to look in it. Staring back at her were those bright-green eyes that she’d come to soften at every time they stared back at her. Anya was practically bouncing in her seat with anticipation. “I’m ready, Mama!”
Yor giggled at the little girl, but she had to lay down her commandments first before she began. “Alright, but you have to be very still, and you have to shut your eyes as tightly as you can whenever I say so. Mama doesn’t want any of this getting in those beautiful green eyes, okay?”
Yor paused as she realized how she’d addressed herself. Mama. Anya’s Mama. Sure, she’d called herself Anya’s mother plenty of times before, but not her Mama. That felt like a title only Anya ever gave her. But Yor remembered an incident after Anya had officially been accepted into Eden. She and Anya were alone, and they’d just gotten Anya’s new uniform when some delinquents tried to hold her baby girl ransom for cash. They thought Yor was some random maid who would let them lay a finger on her little angel with impunity. Yor had put the fear of god in them for that mistake, and she had declared for Heaven, Hell, and Earth to hear—
I AM THAT GIRL’S MOTHER, DO YOU HEAR ME?!?!?
And they had better remember it well. Anya certainly remembered, at least. She nodded enthusiastically, and her bouncing halted as she did her best to turn to marble for her Mama to sculpt with. Yor swelled with pride as she applied just the faintest bit of makeup to the little girl. Her little girl. No one would second-guess her claim ever again, so why should she question it herself?
Anya was already lovely in Yor’s eyes, so she refused to put any more than the barest traces of makeup on her. Just a tiny bit of blush on Anya’s cheeks, some candy pink lip gloss on Anya’s lips, and the faintest bit of penciling on her eyebrows. Anya asked for Yor to put some mascara on her, but even with how obedient Anya had been up to that point, Yor couldn’t risk the chance of Anya getting it in her eyes. Maybe when she was older, Yor would teach her how to apply makeup more thoroughly, but this was more than enough for now.
“What do you think, Anya?” Yor asked with the faintest bit of hesitancy as Anya inspected in work in the mirror.
“Anya looks like a princess!!!” Her daughter shouted with joy, jumping out of her seat to wrap her arms around Yor’s neck. Yor pulled the little girl into herself and gave her bundle of pink hair a kiss.
Anya, being Anya, insisted that she give Yor a similar makeover. Yor eventually relented and sat down short enough to let her daughter have full access to her face. When she looked in Anya’s mirror, she saw… her best approximation of a harlequin.
“What does Mama think???” Anya asked with anticipation!
Yor was ABSOLUTELY NOT telling her daughter what she thought. Say something nice, say something nice, say anything at all nice—!
“It’s lovely, Anya! It’s so… bold!” Yor complimented Anya’s handiwork, but when she looked back at the little girl, she knew her answer wasn’t convincing enough.
“You’re just saying that to be nice, Mama… it looks terrible,” Anya said meekly. Yor wanted to step into oncoming traffic then and there, but instead she scooped Anya into her arms and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“No, no, sweetie, don’t be so hard on yourself! You don’t have much experience with makeup, that’s not your fault at all. You’ll learn how to do it as you get older!” Yor comforted her little girl as best she could, but Anya didn’t want to look at her. Yor decided to pull out the big guns and confided in the little girl, saying “you know, when I first tried putting on makeup, I was twice your age. And when I did, I think you would have laughed at it, sweetie.”
“Mama’s just saying that to make Anya not feel bad—!”
“Not at all! Trust me, I looked like a clown mixed with a gargoyle,” Yor admitted. “All the girls in my hometown pointed at me and laughed, laughed, laughed. It was dreadful. Trust me, Anya, this is far better than that. And I was 11 at the time! You’re only 6! You have plenty of time to learn how to do makeup. And the truth is, you won’t need to know for a long, long time. This was just for fun, honey,” Yor turned Anya in her hands to look at her.
“You really mean that, Mama?”
“Of course I do, sweetie,” Yor affirmed with another kiss on Anya’s cheek. “And you know who else knows that?”
Anya giggled with anticipation. “No, who?”
“The TICKLE MONSTER!!!” Yor cried out as she began to gently tickle Anya’s ribs, the little girl squealing and laughing in her arms. Yor tickled the little girl and smiled at Anya’s frantic, youthful laughter. After just a minute, Yor relinquished her tickle onslaught, though Anya continued to giggle in her arms.
After settling down, the mother-daughter duo cleaned off their makeup (Anya wanted to keep hers on, but Yor was adamant that she take it off so that she wouldn’t smear it on anything), and Anya insisted that her Mama return the pair to the pillow fort to watch cartoons. It was well past the hour that Loid normally forbade Anya from watching cartoons past, but Yor couldn’t say no to that face. Instead, she gingerly lifted Anya into her arms and carried her into the living room. After assuming their post in the slumber party castle, the pair turned on the television and flicked it to Anya’s favorite channel.
The hours went by in a blur as the pair watched Anya’s silly cartoons and chit-chatted and laughed by all sorts of things. It was well past Anya’s normal bedtime, but Yor couldn’t find it in her to bring the night to a proper conclusion and send Anya to bed. Instead, they carried on like they had before, and it was as fun as ever.
Tonight, Anya’s favorite channel played a Spy Wars special she hadn’t seen before: Bondman vs. The Bush Viper. The Bush Viper was a seductive femme fatale who wielded fang-shaped knives, and she had discovered Bondman’s true identity after the two fell in love. The princess that Bondman usually loved went unmentioned, as this conflict between love and war held Bondman at an impasse. Would he do his duty as a spy and defeat her, or follow his heart and help the hit-woman walk away from her life of crime?
It took everything in Anya’s tiny body not to laugh at just how much this special reminded her of Papa and Mama.
Yor, meanwhile, was anything but amused. The Bush Viper fell for a secret agent's charms that easily? How unprofessional. Yor would never let herself get so compromised by a spy. She couldn’t imagine trying to explain to the Shopkeeper that her heart belonged to some man of mystery who worked for the enemy. That would be ridiculous.
Anya snickered next to her, even though the TV special hadn’t had a joke in some time. She must have been laughing at the absurdity of it all. “It is quite silly, isn’t it, Anya?”
“Yeah, it SURE is, Mama,” Anya replied with a snort.
Yor wasn’t sure what Anya found to be so amusing, but she paid it little mind.
For some unknown reason, Yor reminisced about the time Loid was convinced to pretend to be “Loidman” to celebrate Anya’s enrollment at Eden. Now that was a spy Yor could see herself being seduced by.
Not that she would be or anything. At least, she hoped she wouldn’t. She had gotten drunk that night, so hopefully she didn’t say or do anything stupid.
Anya could see her Mama reminiscing over Papa, but she noticed that the way she thought of Papa… didn’t quite look like Papa. At least not how Anya saw him. Kind of like how…
“Hey, Mama? Anya has a question,” Anya let out unexpectedly.
“Oh? Well then, ask away, sweetie!” Yor reassured the little girl.
Anya hesitated, and Yor grew a tiny bit anxious. Eventually, Anya let her question fall out of her mouth unceremoniously. “Do you think I’m pretty?”
“I think you’re beautiful, Anya!” Yor had none of that hesitation in her answer. Anya was a lovely little girl, and her adorable features reminded Yor of springtime. But Anya still looked troubled, so Yor prodded with “is there something on your mind, sweetie?”
“It’s just… you know Sy-On Boy, right, Mama?”
“Oh, Damian? Of course! That’s… Melinda’s boy, right?” Yor shuddered slightly at the memory of that woman. She and Yor were supposedly friends, but the way she spoke about her son was… haunting.
Anya quietly played with the pillow next to her as she gathered the strength to finish her thought. Eventually, Anya let out a sigh and muttered, “he thinks I’m pretty” under her breath.
“Oh!! Did he now? That’s so sweet of him to say, honey!” Yor was fairly taken aback by Anya’s confession, but she wasn’t too surprised when she thought about it. Anya was a lovely little girl, so having a boy who had a crush on her wasn’t hard to believe. Plus, she knew that Anya wanted to be good friends with Damian. It sounded like it should be great for Anya, but… something was amiss. “Anya, is Damian mean to you?”
“No, Mama! Sy-On Boy is nice to me!… Sort of… it’s complicated. It’s not about that, it’s just…”
Anya remembered the way that she looked in Damian’s eyes. The giant green eyes that sparkled in the sunlight, the perfect hair that flowed in the wind with no knots to be seen, the perfect face that always looked normal and pretty all the time. Anya wasn’t any of that. Anya hadn’t seen that whenever she looked in the mirror.
Anya buried her face in her knees and whispered, “I don’t see what he sees.”
Oh. Oh no. Anya was too young for this. She was far too young to be feeling self-conscious about her appearance. Were other children at Eden making fun of her? Did Yor and Loid not tell her enough how lovely she looked? Where was all of this coming from?
Wordlessly, Yor lifted Anya’s chin to look at her, and she saw green eyes turning glassy and tears forming in the corners of her eyes. “Oh, Anya… you’re far too young to be worried about how you look. You look beautiful and young and so full of life and happiness. Have any of your classmates been bullying you? Please tell me what’s going on, sweetie.”
Anya took a big sniff through her now runny nose as she told her Mama the truth. “It’s not anyone being mean, Mama. I just don’t see it. I just… I’m not as pretty as he thinks I am.” And just like that, the dam broke. Tears poured down Anya’s face, and Yor could do nothing but pull Anya into a tight embrace as her baby cried into her shoulder.
It hit Yor like a metric tonne of bricks. Hearing that you were pretty from your family was one thing, but this was the first time someone Anya might be attracted to had called her pretty, and Anya didn’t know what Damian had meant by it. Yor would have to explain this all to her and try to make it make sense.
“Sometimes, Anya, people are attracted to us in all sorts of ways, and they find all of us attractive. Maybe you don’t see yourself as pretty, but Damian wasn’t lying to you. Your Papa and I weren’t lying to you. You might not be able to see it, but you are beautiful, sweetie. It might not be in the way that you expect, or the way the world tells you to be, but you are beautiful because you are you, Anya.”
Anya’s sobs stifled, and then finally subsided as she pulled back and looked Yor in the eye. “How does that work, Mama?”
Yor pursed her lips as she tried to think of how to say it. “It’s like… sometimes, people think other people are beautiful the way we think a sunset is beautiful. It looks lovely, and we think someone else looks lovely too. Sometimes, people think other people are beautiful because of… personal needs. They want to hug them or kiss them or feel what their hair feels like. And sometimes, people think other people are beautiful because of who they are on the inside. They want to get to know them, they want to get close to them personally, and they want to love them and be loved by them. You and Damian are far too young for the second kind, but Damian might think you’re pretty the way he thinks a sunset is pretty, or because he likes you as you are. And either way, I think he’s right to like you that way. You’re as cute as a button, and you have such a way of just being you, Anya. I wouldn’t change the way you look or the way you act for the world.”
Yor could see the gears turning in Anya’s head. She was so close to understanding it… and finally something clicked!
“Oh! Just like you and Papa!” Okay, maybe not quite.
Yor tried to be more gentle with her correction than she had been before. “Um… close, Anya, but—“
“Papa can’t keep his eyes off you!” Anya declared triumphantly.
“Wait, what?!” Yor was now reeling from Anya’s statement. “Anya, you shouldn’t put words in your father’s mouth like that!”
But Anya knew what she was talking about! She couldn’t just come out and say that she could read Papa’s mind, but it couldn’t have been THAT much of a secret, right? “Anya isn’t doing that at all! Papa loves looking at you! He loves looking at your eyes and your hair and your face and all the outfits and dresses you wear and your back—!”
“My back?!?” Yor suddenly became very self-conscious. Her red sweater had an open back, and Yor had always been comfortable wearing it, but she didn’t mean to be drawing Loid’s eye so… provocatively!
“Yeah, Papa loves your back! He wants to run his hand all over it and kiss it and put his hands in the big hole to feel around in it!” Anya didn’t get why her Papa thought about doing that so much, but he thought about it at least twice a day, and Anya figured that it was a grown-up thing.
Yor found herself sputtering and gasping for air at what she was hearing. How could Anya just keep saying these things so casually?? Had Loid discussed this with her before??? Anya was far too young to be implying any of what she just said!! “Anya, does your father actually—?!”
“He doesn’t say it, but he doesn’t have to! Anya just can tell by watching him,” the little girl made it sound like what she decreed had been divinely ordained.
To Anya, she practically was! Her Papa and Mama had been driving her up the wall with how much they thought about each other. “Papa stares at your back every chance he gets!”
Yor found herself at a loss for words. Okay, so maybe Loid found her a little attractive on an aesthetic and… sexual level. That didn’t mean he cared about Yor on a romantic level, right?
“Papa loves Mama for who she is, too!” Anya interrupted her train of thought. “Papa might never admit it, but he loves how big Mama's heart is, and how much you care about Anya and Papa, and just how genuine you are!” Anya shouted at the top of her lungs.
That last part… gave Yor pause. Genuine? Yor couldn’t be any less genuine in her dealings with the Forgers. She never once told them about her real work as an assassin, and she made up a thousand little falsehoods to cover her tracks. If Loid found honesty attractive, he would be repulsed by Yor if he knew even a fraction of the truth.
Anya could hear her Mama doubting what Anya was saying. She furrowed her eyebrows and glared back at the family matriarch with a deep scowl. “You don’t believe me, do you, Mama?”
“I… look, your father and I set up this arrangement for our convenience, not for romance. I’m sorry, sweetheart, but you’re completely misunderstanding our entire—“
“Anya can prove it!” Anya shouted in defiance. Yor didn’t want to be hurtful to the little girl, so she simply raised an eyebrow and let Anya continue. “Papa loves Mama as she is! Papa told Mama to just be herself, and that I’d be happier if you smiled, right? And what did you say, Mama?”
“I…” Yor didn’t know how to respond to that one. Anya wasn’t there at all for that exchange, how could she have known about this? Loid actually told her about it, didn’t he? “… I told your father I was really glad I married him.”
Anya nodded fiercely, feeling like she’d just won the argument then and there. Looking back at her Mama, though, she could tell that she wasn’t 100% convinced yet, so Anya pressed on!
“That’s right! And Papa thinks about that moment all the time!! It’s like it’s on loop in his head!” Anya insisted fervently. “And what about the time Papa spoiled you for a full day because he thought you were mad at him! Papa went out of his way to make you feel super special, and you can’t tell Anya that it didn’t mean anything to you, Mama!”
Anya knew that her Mama had been shot in the butt and couldn’t enjoy the date, but the way that she’d told her Papa how touching the day was despite that was so genuine and beautiful that it played in her Papa’s head all the time. Like a song that wormed into his ear!
Yor couldn’t deny Anya’s indictment. She had been in extreme pain all day before and during the date, and Loid had done everything to make Yor feel better without knowing about the rather… embarrassing injury. Yor had been touched by it, and she gladly went on every date Loid asked her to from then on. She loved her outings with the whole family, but Loid had such a talent for making her feel special when it was just the two of them.
Anya smirked with the same cocky grin that she usually gave Sy-On Boy. She heard the gears turning in her Mama’s head, and she knew what was happening: Anya had won.
Before Yor knew it, she was reminiscing about countless moments when Loid had let his guard down and told Yor exactly what she needed to hear.
He’d told her she had worked so hard and that he could never ask of her any greater contribution than she had already given him.
He had assured her that he wasn’t interested in his coworker and wanted Yor to continue to be Anya’s mother because of how strong she was on the inside.
He had carried her home when she fell asleep after… everything that happened onboard the Princess Lorelei.
He even encouraged her to make new friends and branch out from their small household.
Loid might not always be forward about what he wanted, but when push came to shove, he always made sure that Yor knew how special she was to him.
Huh… Anya might have been onto something.
“Not to mention, Papa really likes how strong Mama is!” Anya added oh so helpfully, and Yor could feel her blush coming on.
“That’s very sweet of you to say, Anya, but I’m sure he doesn’t—“
“And I mean REALLY likes it!!”
“Okay, Anya, you don’t need to—!”
“Papa saw what Mama did in her tennis match against that mean white-haired lady, and he went AWOOGA!!!”
“ANYA FORGER, THAT IS SLANDEROUS!!!” Yor shouted back in protest, but it was too late! Her face had turned a deep, deep crimson, and Anya wasn’t paying her any mind as she laughed and laughed and laughed at her Mama’s embarrassment.
Yor wanted to be mad at Anya so badly. But the truth was that her words excited Yor more than anything. Loid… liked that she was that strong? He wasn’t intimidated by her or think it was unbecoming of a housewife to be so strong? And according to Anya, he found it outright desirable. Yor’s jealous display of ownership over Loid against his coworker, Fiona, had been… maybe not her most flattering moment, but apparently her jealousy paid off.
“Does Mama get it now?” Anya asked innocently. Yor couldn’t help but blush as she nodded in affirmation. “Good! Anya understands what Mama meant too, thank you for explaining it to me.”
Yor felt a small smile adorn her face. “Anything for you… my daughter.”
Anya went wide-eyed at that, and Yor panicked for a moment, thinking she might have overstepped her boundaries, but Anya quickly wrapped herself around Yor’s neck and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. She hugged her Mama tighter and tighter, and Yor did her best to tighten her hug without squeezing too hard.
“I love you, Mama!” Anya shouted into her Mama’s shoulder like she needed to say that more than anything else she’d ever said in her brief life up to now.
“I love you too, Anya. So, so much,” Yor affirmed into Anya’s pink head of hair.
The two Forgers held each other for what felt like centuries, but eventually Anya readjusted herself in her mother’s arms and turned Yor’s lap into her own little throne as they continued to watch cartoons together.
“Hang on… when did I say I was interested in your father? For all we know, it could be a one-sided romance, y’know,” Yor jokingly teased.
Anya turned back to face Yor and gave her the most deadpan expression that Yor had ever seen on Anya’s face. “Mama is absolutely hopeless over Papa.”
“Am I that obvious?!?” Yor cried out in indignation!
“Mama’s so obvious that it hurts Anya!” Anya shouted back. “Papa just doesn’t know because he’s a big dummy!”
Yor should’ve corrected Anya for talking about her Papa in such a way, but with just how accurately Anya had deconstructed Yor’s own denial, she decided not to press the subject any further for the night.
Yor and Anya spent the rest of their night talking about everything and nothing at all. Anya eventually drifted to sleep, and Yor tucked her into the pillow fort gently. She’d let Anya enjoy their handiwork for the night, and she’d make sure that Loid wouldn’t disturb her and tell her to go to her bed.
Speaking of Loid… Yor readied herself. She perched herself at the counter near the door for when Loid came in. She and her husband had a lot to discuss.
Far later than anticipated, Loid finally entered the apartment at the stroke of midnight, and Yor’s heart fluttered at the way he lit up as he spotted her. Yor greeted him with a hushed, “welcome home, Loid.”
“You didn’t have to stay up for me, Yor. It’s really sweet of you, but you didn’t need to,” Loid did his best to reassure her as he took off his hat and gloves oh so neatly.
“I wanted to make sure you kept your promise to me,” Yor whispered back with a blush. Sure enough, Loid didn’t have so much as a wrinkle on his suit out of place from normal, and Yor let out a sigh of relief. “I put your dinner in the fridge, so you should be able to heat it up just fine.”
“Thank you, Yor, that means a lot…” Loid paused as he looked past Yor at the pillow fort in the living room. “Um, where did that come from?”
“Oh! Anya and I had a girls’ night for just the two of us, and that was one of the first things we did.” Yor followed closely behind as Loid went to inspect her handiwork… and she noticed the way his features softened when he found their daughter wrapped up in the middle of it.
“Well, it looks like Anya had a wonderful time,” Loid whispered softly. He looked back at Yor, and Yor’s resolve strengthened. She had to say something about what she had learned.
“Anya and I talked about so many things… how often do you talk to her about me?” Yor broached the topic delicately.
All at once, Yor saw Loid’s body stiffen. It reminded her of the look Bond would give her when she caught him digging through the garbage. Caught red-handed. “Um, I don’t try to gossip or anything. What all did Anya say?”
Yor couldn’t contain the sweet giggle that bubbled up from within her. She got up from her position at the counter and stepped closer to Loid, feeling her cheeks blushing despite her newfound confidence. “Nothing bad, don’t worry. But from how she sounded, you’re quite the sweet-talker when I’m not around.”
“I—um, I—Y’know, Anya says the darnedest things sometimes, doesn’t she?” Loid sputtered like a locomotive, and Yor could see the faintest outline of steam coming off him. It was cute how embarrassed he was getting.
“She does. I just thought I’d say thank you for being so sweet,” Yor clarified. Before Loid could deflect or rebuttal or question, Yor grabbed her husband by the neck tie and yanked him down into a deep kiss. At first, Loid froze at the sudden gesture, but before long, he reciprocated in kind, and Yor felt the blond psychiatrist run his now bare hands along the small of her back as he pulled her closer, their bodies squishing together as they wrapped themselves in each other and kissed each other hungrily.
Eventually, Yor broke away the kiss, gasping in precious air that she had forfeited to see just how passionate her husband truly was. Loid’s hands felt up her back ever so gently as he held her in place close to them, breathing in the same oxygen as hot breaths tickled each other’s faces.
Yor could see sky-blue eyes practically glow in the dark as they inspected her. Loid was taking in her entire being, savoring what was his. Yor blushed and broke eye contact for just long enough to say, “we probably shouldn’t get too out of hand tonight. Anya is right over there,” she indicated with a nod towards the living room.
“Right, right… sorry, I just realized how handsy I’ve been,” Loid apologized as he let go of Yor, ceasing the gentle strokes he was giving to her exposed back.
“Don’t be, I… I really liked it,” Yor confessed meekly. “If you wanted… tomorrow, after Anya goes to school… I could call in sick if you’d like.”
She looked back towards Loid and saw a bright shade of scarlet take the place of his usually pale features. There was her answer.
“Good. Besides, I’ll have a doctor attending to my needs, won’t I?” Yor let out one last flirt before giving Loid a quick peck on the chin and sauntering back to her room. It didn’t take much intuition to sense that a pair of eyes were studying her figure as she departed for the night. Turning her neck and shoulders alone let her back still face Loid as she gingerly waved to him and whispered, “goodnight, Loid.” Satisfied that her work was finished, Yor finished her trek to her room and lied down for the night.
She and Loid were going to have a long conversation tomorrow morning. Yor could barely contain her excitement.