Hidden and Silent (SpyxFamily)

Ch. 16: Part Five

       When the birds were chirping and the curtains held back sunlight instead of moonlight, Demetrius was awoken by the entirely unpleasant weight of someone's foot on his face. An eye blinked open, wondering how Anya had somehow turned completely around to try and take out one of Demetrius' eyeballs. Displeased, two of his fingers lifted it away and dropped it to the side.

She didn't wake up.

"Oh, good morning." Twilight said quietly from the dining room table that was spread with papers and adorned with a coffee mug.

". . .Yeah. . ." Demetrius mumbled, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes as he propped himself up on an elbow.

Anya's body shifted and she still didn't wake.

"What happened?" Twilight asked.

Demetrius shrugged, moving Anya off of him as he dragged his legs out from under the dog, and—

. . .

When did the dog get here?

Demetrius sat on the edge of the couch. "Said she had a nightmare." He said grumpily, finding and holding a patch of drool on his shirt away from his chest.

Never. Again.

Twilight saw it and snorted into his mug.

Demetrius deadpanned and glared at him.

"Good morning, boys." Yor emerged from the hallway with a yawn and automatically went to Anya when she noticed her on the sofa. She bent down, holding her hair out of her face, and kissed her on the forehead. "Good morning, Anya." She whispered.

Anya didn't wake.

"Loid, should I make breakfast this morning?" She said going to the kitchen when she saw Loid was busy with other things.

"No!" He said, shooting up from the table, wide-eyed. "I-I mean. No, it's fine." He quickly gathered himself and stepped away from the table before Yor could get too far into the kitchen. "I just got caught up with something. I'll make it now." He assured her and casually followed her inside, though he very much wanted to run and guide Yor out of it.

"It's alright, Loid. I don't mind." Demetrius heard Yor say. "You're busy aren't you?"

"No, no, no, not at all! Why don't you make some tea while I make breakfast?"

". . .Alright. . ."

As the Forgers went about preparing breakfast and tea, Demetrius got changed and readied for school. When the kettle whistled and Yor left the tea to steep, she returned to the dining table and cleared away Loid's mess of papers.

"Oh." She halted at a small stack of envelopes. "Loid, have you looked at the mail yet?"

"Hm? No, I don't think so." He called back.

Demetrius sifted through his schoolbag, recalling which classes he had today and which books he needed. He dug around the bottom for his pencil case, making sure it was there, and pulled out a worksheet he had finished last night.

As he gave it a quick look over, his thoughts were somehow drawn back to a couple days ago when he took his brother kite flying.

Demetrius hadn't seen him since then. If he was being honest with himself, he wasn't sure if he was ready just yet. Damian seemed to have accepted Demetrius fairly well by the end of the afternoon, but Demetrius couldn't help the uneasy nerves every time he remembered it.

Anya was right to be angry with him. Demetrius had accidentally outed himself, and in turn, outed her. Anya may not be his favourite person, but it was just as scary for her that their secret might be exposed. How scary it was to even hold it.

'Deme—'

Demetrius startled, blinking at the worksheet he had forgotten he was holding, as a single, unfinished thought rang in Yor's head like a car screeching to a halt. It was a spark of surprise jumping out at her and Demetrius shivered with goosebumps.

Dread. Cold, icy fear wrapped him tight in a blanket as he understood what she had reacted to.

Slowly, as if his body was physically unable to move faster, Demetrius turned to look at the woman who had halted by the dining table.

She held an envelope.