𝐋𝐈𝐀𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐍- ★彡[ᴀɴʏᴀ x ᴅᴀᴍɪᴀɴ]★彡

𝙎𝙚𝙘𝙝𝙨

After Damian ignored Anya for most of the class out of pure embarrassment, when lunchtime came around he begrudgingly snuck away from his friends to find her, making an excuse that he wanted to check something with the teacher and for them not to wait.

Anya was sitting in the classroom with her lunch in front of her, staring eagerly at the door once he entered. "You came, sy-on boy! Thank you."

"I don't see the point of this," Damian muttered, strolling over and plopping down beside her, "we could always just... talk outside of school or something."

"A date?" she took her chance on his slip of the tongue and pried further. "Well, I'd always be willing to. How about you?"

He shrugged his shoulders and cast a glance to the window. "I guess for a learning experience, it could be nice."

Anya nodded, then turned her gaze to her meal. The school provided them with lunches but seeing their choice of vegetables made her grimace. Carrots. Something about carrots was wrong. What was it exactly...? Everything seemed wrong. The texture, the flavor, and the aftertaste. Pretty much everything was a complete and utter disaster when it came to carrots.

"Do you not like carrots?" Damian asked her upon seeing her expression.

"No. I hate them."

He let out a sigh and stabbed his fork into each one of the carrots, placing them on his tray. In their place, he put a small piece of bread. "It wouldn't be good if you didn't eat anything because you're scared of the carrots the whole meal, so here."

"You're a lifesaver," Anya laughed, jovially grabbing the bread and shoving it into her mouth. "Mmm! So delicious!"

Damian let out yet another sigh and then started to eat his lunch. The light clang of his fork as it collided against the tray was the only sound in the room besides Anya's aggressive munching. He felt slightly awkward but the girl beside him caught no wind of that as she was completely indulged in her meal. Her green eyes were glittering with joy as she continued to scarf down the meal, finishing it in a matter of minutes while Damian was only halfway through his meal.

"Ah, I'm sorry," Anya frowned, "I went ahead and ate so much that I couldn't start a conversation."

"It's fine," he raised an eyebrow, slightly unused to her apologizing so easily.

"So, Damian, are you interested in anything outside of studies?"

"Not particularly."

"Do you like any foods?"

"Not particularly."

"Do you like any beverages?"

"Not particularly."

"Are you going to answer every single question with 'not particularly?'"

"Not particularly- oh, damn it." Damian bit his lips and stared at the desk. "I'm sorry, it's just that this is the first time I've so openly discussed these sort of things with you, and it's kind of sudden."

"Would you rather hold hands then?" Anya tilted her head to the side. "I wouldn't mind doing that, but you got awfully embarrassed the last time so I don't know if it would hurt your pride too much."

"NO WAY!" Damian snapped, his face turning the usual bright shade of red. "It's way too early for that! In the stages of a relationship, I read that kissing and holding hands is the fourth one! I would say we've just entered the first stage at most."

"Jeez, you're such a party pooper," Anya pouted, "I'm trying to speed up the process. Who cares if we don't follow it in chronological order? I wouldn't say that it even matters so long as the relationship remains healthy."

"Well- it matters to me," Damian muttered, "it's my first time, after all. This experimental process could be useful for my future endeavors."

"Experimental process, yada yada yada," Anya sighed, "why did you even agree to this if you weren't going to do anything?"

"D-do anything?!" he spluttered. "It's inappropriate for someone of your status to bring up something such as that to someone like me."

"Heh," the 'Forger Smile' appeared. "Hiding behind a shield of your wealth, Sy-on. I see, kekekeke. Trying to avoid confronting your hidden desires-"

"I DON'T HAVE ANY HIDDEN DESIRES!!!!!!!!!!" he snapped with a few more exclamation points than necessary. Realizing his misstep, Damian cleared his throat and turned away from her. "I don't understand why you even want to do this, anyways if it's not for the money."
"You have a very high and low self esteem," she commented.

"..."

Damian frowned and turned his head away from her, staring out the window. After a few silent moments passed, Anya came to the realization that he was pouting. Reaching out her hand to gently brush his dark emerald locks, she hummed, "There there, no need to be upset."

"I'm not a kid," he turned to face her, his eyes staring at her with a sense of maturity that she couldn't comprehend, "there's no need to comfort me as if I was one. It makes me uncomfortable."

Anya's lips parted for a moment at this rare occasion where he wasn't standoffish, then allowed her lips to form a soft smile, removing her hand from his head. "I apologize, Sy-on- er, Damian."
This was the first time Anya truly saw his beauty up close. With fair skin and well-kept hair, he held himself in a straight posture with elegance and poise. His eyelashes were long and dark, further outlining the shape of his almost lime-colored irises. She found herself speechless, unable to say anything more as she truly realized that she was sitting next to an incredibly wealthy and well-educated rich man, someone that was so far out of her reach that beginning to even attempt to grow closer to him would be almost impossible. The reality that she may inevitably fail this mission she was set on and disappoint her parents dawned upon her.

Ah. Her smile fell from her face without her noticing.

Damian's eyes slightly softened at her expression, the former indignance turning into something that was the ghost of what would normally be concern. "What?"

If Anya was younger, she would certainly be crying right now- but this wasn't the situation where crying would make anything better. His opinion of her would certainly lower if she did so, so she held them in. A thought echoed across Damian's mind, so loud that it was impossible for her to avoid.

Did she finally get tired of me?

And on top of that thought was a wash of relief.

Hi guys!

Finally got to updating again-- these two are now moody teenagers so a fair share of misunderstandings may occur. There will be no severe angst yet, do not fret. (insert the forger smile here)

Oh yeah, and I thought I should add this as well: there's not going to be any NSFW in this story. I just can't write it without it being super weird because they're actual children in the books so I apologize if that's disappointing to some. :)

Much love,

Wasabi