Chapter Text
It had been close to a year into Strix. Close to a year of this fake family. Close to a year of Yor living with them. Close to a year since he’d adopted Anya.
A whole year.
“Anya! Get up!” He stood in the doorway of Anya’s room, white t-shirt with sweats on and a mangled head of hair. He held a cup of coffee and simply groaned into it as he heard a similar muffled one come from her bed.
Being a year deep into a cover like this, Twilight had long since dropped the formalities. Being “ideal father and husband” at every moment was draining, even for the best spy in the world. It wasn’t that he was agitated all the time, but rather he had simply allowed himself to be more real with his reactions. This moment was a common example of that.
Rolling his eyes, he walked up to her bed and pulled her bedsheets off.
“Do I need to remind you that you have school today?” he asked, taking a sip. On the bed laid his daughter fake daughter, rolled up in a ball, complaining about being woken up.
“S’too early Papa.”
“It really isn’t,” he looked at the clock in her room as he took another sip, “It’s only 8.”
“But it’s summer!”
“Yes, hence why it’s called summer school.”
At this point she was wide awake, fully ready to get into a spat with her father.
“Summer school should be illegal! Kids like Anya should be playing!”
He gave an exasperated, if fond, smile. “Well maybe you shouldn’t have failed mathematics. Again.”
She looked at him with wide eyes, face full of betrayal.
“Papa!”
He took another sip, his eyes staring back with zero regret.
“What?”
She gave him an indignant glare.
“Mama!” she yelled, flailing her arms like the 6 year old she was.
He heard the soft footsteps of his wife fake wife approach, slow and steady. He chuckled to himself. A year ago, she probably would’ve rushed over immediately, concern written across her face. But now? She too had grown used to Anya’s antics.
“Yes Peanut?” Yor now stood in the doorway where he once was, her own cup of tea held in her hands.
“Papa is being mean! He said I failed math twice,” Anya said accusingly.
Yor looked at Loid Twilight, amusement etched in her smile but genuine curiosity in her eyes.
“Is this true Loid?”
“I’m not denying it,” he took another sip, “Am I wrong though?”
Yor’s eyes crinkled upwards, a laugh being stifled. She stepped inside Anya’s room.
“Well Peanut, is your Papa wrong?”
Anya’s face blanched, clearly shocked at the apparent betrayal from her own mother.
“I-I…no,” she conceded. This time, both Twilight and Yor giggled. Yor gave her cup of tea to him to hold and sat down on her bed.
“Anya, your Papa, bless his heart, sometimes says things bluntly,” she looked at him with a knowing look. Twilight simply took another sip and shrugged. “But he only wants what’s best for you. Eden is offering an amazing opportunity for students to make up for where they are falling short. Your father recognizes that and is simply trying to help you.”
It was moments like this where he couldn’t help but feel that Yor was a genuine godsend, that no other woman could have possibly filled the role of mother and wife. He watched as Anya’s face grew resigned, clearly having lost the battle. He gave a fond sigh and ruffled her head.
“If you get up now, you’ll still have time to get ready and play with Bond for a little.” Her face brightened at the prospect of playing with their resident mutt.
Coincidentally, said canine walked into the room at the mention of his name. Having already gone on his walk, he trotted leisurely, nuzzling his head into the legs of both his matriarch and patriarch before laying his head on Anya’s bed. Anya giggled and began to pet his head. Twilight then nudged Bond away and finally got Anya out of her bed, getting her day started.
He handed Yor her tea back and they both laughed at the increasingly familiar scenario they had witnessed. They would then go and eat breakfast, which as of late had become more of a combined effort between him and Yor. Afterwards, they would all get ready for their respective days and prepare to leave their apartment.
By all means, it was an incredibly normal day. And for a spy such as himself, normal is not — well it’s not normal.
But sometimes, normal wasn’t all that bad.
“Loid! Have you seen my work vest?” yelled Yor from her room.
“I’m pretty sure it’s the laundry room! You wouldn’t happen to know where my work coat is, would you?” he replied.
“Mama dried it with the rest of the whites last night!” Anya answered from her room.
In a chaotic yet fluid fashion, the Forgers found themselves seamlessly navigating their morning around each other, handing each other their belongings and reminding the other of what they needed. If one were to ask Twilight, he’d say that they indeed looked like the perfect family.
“Are we ready to go?”
“Yes sir!”
“I’m ready, Loid!”
He turned to see his girls saluting him. Chuckling to himself, he saluted them back.
“Well then, Agents. Off we go.”
In a flurry of giggles and laughs, they left their familiar apartment and made their way to the familiar location of Anya’s bus stop. After giving him one last salute, Anya playfully ran up the stairs into the bus and they watched as it went off, before they started to walk towards their places of work. Technically, Berlint General Hospital was in the opposite direction, but Twilight enjoyed the extra time with her needed to meet up with Franky about a side mission, so it worked out either way.
They walked at a fairly leisurely pace, neither of them in a rush to get to work.
“She’s always so full of energy,” Yor mused.
“Yes she is,” he replied with exasperation.
Yor brought her hand up to cover a giggle. Twilight couldn’t fight the light feeling in his heart nor the awkward smile that grew on his face.
“Yuri wasn’t all that different. He was always bounding around the house, always ready to regale me with some new story or fact,” she said with a fond smile. “I admit, sometimes it did get on my nerves, but I’ve found myself missing it as he grew up.”
Twilight recalled the numerous encounters he had with the SSS agent. “Full of energy” was perhaps the best way to describe the overgrown gremlin. Yor must have caught on to his thoughts from the way his face looked. But, in all fairness, it wasn’t like he was trying to hide it either.
“Well…I guess it would be more accurate to say that I missed it when he was still young,” she chuckled. “Once she’s older, you’re only going to ask where all the time went.”
Where did the time go?
Would he even have the chance to ask such a question? Would he even have the chance to watch her grow old?
Before his mind had the chance to go down that rabbit hole, Yor’s voice broke through with a question.
“Loid, when is Anya’s birthday?”
He felt his brain shut off.
“Her birthday?” he dumbly asked.
“Y-Yes. Her birthday,” she repeated. “It’s been almost a year since I started living with you two. We haven’t celebrated it since then, so I assume it has to be coming up soon, right?”
Her…birthday.
Twilight was WISE’s greatest agent. A master of disguise. A living, breathing encyclopedia of information. He once had to memorize the entire guest list for a party of over 1500 people for a mission. He once had to learn how to cook the entire menu of a restaurant. Forgetting was not something Twilight did.
…
He had forgotten that Anya had a birthday.
Of all the dates that were crammed in his mind, from important ambassador meetings to his own meet ups with his Handler, one would think that the birthday of his daughter fake daughter would still take some sort of precedence. But…it hadn’t.
He wracked his brain for the date, being assured that it did exist. He thought back to when he first adopted her from that evil, abusive rundown orphanage. He recalled the file he and Franky had tracked down on her. She had been in three different homes before he found her (he never did figure out why they kicked her out). And that reminded him of the fact she lacked a birth certificate. He had assumed that the orphanage lost it, virtually rendering her a ghost, which had worked out in his favor (although it never made sense why she had no form of legal identity). Because of that, they had had to make up a birthday which was-
“July 15th.”
“Huh?”
“O-Oh, um, her birthday. It’s July 15th. Sorry, I guess with the death of her (not real) mother and getting more busy at work, it just slipped my mind. In all honesty, we…didn’t really celebrate it last year.”
Yor’s eyes widen. “Oh no, that’s terrible!”
Twilight felt himself grimace. Certain lies had become increasingly unappealing to him, especially ones that involved Anya and their fake past. He supposed it served him well at this moment, however, as this would be something that “Loid” would be ashamed of.
“We should do something extra special this year!” Twilight looked up to Yor in surprise.
“Extra special?”
“Yes! Anya definitely deserves to have an extra special birthday this year. With losing her mother, not celebrating last year, as well as getting into Eden for her mother’s sake, don’t you think she deserves that?”
Twilight knew that Yor wasn’t trying to say anything about him, or well, about ‘Loid’. However, it didn’t stop him from feeling as if a knife had been stabbed into his kidney, twisted with cruel vigor, and then sprinkled with the most distilled alcohol man could find. Because Yor was right. Anya did deserve it. Quite frankly, Anya deserved better in almost every regard. She deserved to have lived in a normal home, to have normal birthdays, to have a normal father and mother.
Well, he supposed she did have a normal mother, even if it was under decidedly unnormal circumstances.
He looked Yor in her eyes, soft and endearingly pleading. “Yes, she does deserve that much, Yor.” Her eyes went from pleading to determined.
“Alright!” she exclaimed. Twilight could’ve sworn he saw the gears turning in her head as she clearly began to ruminate on what they should do. Was that how he looked when he was thinking? No wonder Anya always seemed to know when he was in thought. Although, he would assume that he didn’t look nearly as cute determined as she did. He laughed and gently bid her farewell as they parted ways.
Eventually he found his way to Franky’s cigar stand.
“Well, look who’s here? Taking a break from playing house?”
Twilight looked at the scruffy-haired man. To think that after all these years, Franky alone remained the one constant in his life. It was a thought that he, at times, wanted to forget. He walked up to the counter, leaned down onto it, and held out his hand.
“Do you have the dossier?”
Franky scoffed. “Come on man. Not even a ‘good morning’?” he commented, handing Twilight a manila folder.
Twilight took it in hand and opened it. Taking a look at the first few pages, he responded, “When have I ever exchanged pleasantries with you?”
“Admittedly not often, but it doesn’t hurt to do it once in a while. It gets boring here, you know?”
“You seriously think we have anything of note to talk about?”
“You’re seriously telling me that you don’t have any spy stuff going on that you could mention?”
“I’d personally classify that under work-talk, not pleasantries.”
“Hey, don’t get semantical with me!”
Twilight felt himself smirk. “I think you mean ‘semantic’.”
Giving a quick glance to the informant, he saw him huff angrily before lighting a cigar and taking a long drag of smoke.
“What’s the file for anyways?”
Twilight flipped to a new page, eyes refocused on the dossier. “We received some tips about an experimentation lab. Nothing necessarily of note was found, but we wanted to cross reference it with information about Project Apple.”
Franky let out a puff of smoke. “That was the dog one, right? Where the mutt—uh, Bond—came from?”
“Yes, that one,” Twilight responded curtly. Despite trying to focus on the files, he found his mind drifting towards his and Yor’s conversation.
“Anya’s birthday, the one we made up, is on the 15th. Yor wants to do something…special for her, so you should expect an invitation coming your way soon.”
Twilight saw Franky’s eyebrow rise. “A ‘special’ birthday party? What’s so special about it?”
“I’m not quite sure. Truthfully, Yor seemed like she wanted to handle it.”
Franky took another drag from his cigar. “Huh, interesting. Honestly, that’s probably for the best.”
Twilight turned his head to look at the informant. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Franky raised his hands in protest. “Hey, I didn’t mean anything by it! It’s just…I don’t know how you of all people could find a way to make this special. At least, not when you’ve done so much crap for the little twerp. Remember the castle?”
He felt the heat rise in his ears at that memory. Handler had absolutely chewed him out for that one.
But, in all fairness, Franky had a point. What could he do for Anya that he hasn’t already done? Once, he had hunted a special type of cocoa just for her. Another time, he had even produced an entire episode of Bondman just so she could (unsuccessfully) learn math.
“Admit it, Twilight. You spoil that kid crazy. Oh come on! Don’t look at me like that. You know I’m right.”
He hadn’t realized he was glaring at the short man until he mentioned it. “I-I…I do not spoil her. I simply…do what I can to be the ideal father.”
“Ideal? Dude. No normal dad does as much as you do for her. They don’t even compare.”
There it was again. That word, normal.
“What are you trying to say? That I’m failing at my mission?”
Franky waved his hand in dismissal. “No, no. I’m just saying that if you guys want to make this birthday party special, then it probably should be Yor who figures that one out. You’ve just set the bar way too high.”
“And that’s not normal?”
“No, not at all. But then again, why would you ever expect to be able to provide her something normal?”
Twilight couldn’t help but take issue with that. “Because it’s what the mission asks of me.”
“I get that. I really do. But how in the world can people like us give someone like her normal things? When we’re decidedly…not normal?” Franky took a long drag from his cigar. “Listen, I'm only saying this as pure observation. Not trying to comment on whatever stupid mission that agency of yours has you doing.”
But that didn’t matter. Because, once again, he was right. It was foolish of Twilight to think he could provide normalcy to Anya. To Yor. When had he begun to think that ‘normal’ would become…well their normal.
“Do they not deserve to be given normal things?” he said as little more than a whisper, a rare vulnerable thought leaking out.
Franky paused, taking a long look at Twilight. “I mean, yeah. They do. I think everyone deserves that. But not everyone gets to have that.”
Twilight lifted his eyes to meet his friend colleague. He simply gave a nod in response and took the dossier in hand. “Thank you for the files. See you around,” he said as he walked away.
“Hey!” he heard Franky call out. Turning around, he looked at the informant one last time. “Don’t let your mind go down that train of thought. People like us can’t do that.”
Twilight decided to not respond to that as he finally walked away.
The day of the birthday party was finally upon them.
Apparently Yor also had a hard time deciding how exactly to make this birthday ‘special’. Eventually, they landed on the idea of inviting as many of Anya’s friends that they could to come to the party. Which meant close to a dozen first graders, their parents, a couple of teachers and their spouses, along with the Sigmunds, Yor’s coworkers, Yuri, Franky, and Fiona. Somehow, Yor had even gotten into contact with Sylvia, his Handler. Or perhaps Sylvia got into contact with her (he didn’t know what was worse).
They had given their best shot at hiding it, which might as well have been a metaphorical bullseye. Yet, somehow, it seemed as if Anya was aware of what they were planning, if the not-so-subtle requests for her birthday party were anything to go by. He truly had no idea how perceptive children could really be.
“Bye-bye Mama! Bye-bye Papa! Anya cannot wait to return to her ‘normal’ house to do ‘normal’ things,” his little gremlin of a daughter called out as she hopped onto the bus.
He groaned. “What was it, a day?”
“Before she figured it out? I think so,” Yor giggled.
“I don’t know what you find so funny. It stops being a surprise party when the surprisee knows they’re being surprised.”
“Oh come now, Loid. We both know it’s more about what’s at the party and who’s coming. This will be the first birthday she’ll have friends and family at.”
Twilight sighed fondly. She wasn’t wrong, to be honest. They had decided to go as all out as they could, going as far as renting a venue (not a castle) and different entertainers and caterers. Truthfully, he didn’t know how much Anya would appreciate it in the moment, but Yor had assured him that it was one of those things the children will come around to when they get older. He hoped he could see her be right that she was right.
“Have you picked out a present yet?” she asked him. He looked at her with a fake smile.
“I actually have.”
He was lying.
“Oh! That’s good, then. You’ll be glad to know I also got a great gift for her!”
She definitely wasn’t lying.
“That’s great to hear, Yor. I’m excited to see what it is!”
Twilight internally grimaced. Once they figured out that Anya knew, they both agreed to independently find gifts for their little girl. An extra precaution taken to at least maintain some level of surprise in this party. However, he was beginning to regret that decision.
His conversation with Franky had stuck with him. As much as he hated to admit it, the informant was correct. How in the world could he make this birthday special when he’s already done so much. How can one go higher than the mountain peak? It had left him scrambling to figure out what to even give her. And it had his pride so hurt that he had to lie to Yor about it.
He was thinking about it as they went their separate ways.
He was thinking about it while he was perfectly executing the mission he was tasked with. That bullet graze was simply a lucky shot.
And he was still thinking about it as he was walking towards the event venue. It was a good thing that Yor insisted that she could handle the setup. She had said that he should focus on his ‘patients’, which he couldn’t help but feel bad about at the time, but now it was proving to be a convenient set of extra time.
He didn’t know why he was blanking so hard on this gift idea. He was Twilight. The man with a million plans. Give him one starting scenario, and he could easily figure out a 1000 different outcomes within a couple of minutes. Finding one gift should not be this difficult.
As he walked, he found himself passing by a children’s toy store. He deigned to look at it just because of his current predicament, but that didn’t mean he felt good about doing it. Simply getting a random toy was so…simple. Far too simple. And just truly lacked thought, especially for such an occasion as this.
Stepping inside the building, he began to peruse the aisles, if only to get some kind of idea of what to get for Anya. He found himself surprised at the variety of items here. Toys ranged from smaller than his palm to larger than Bond. Some clearly cheap and crudely made, but others evident of the love and care being put in. Some made of plastic, others metallic in make, and still some made of rubber. He had never had any reason to enter such a place. If Anya wanted something, he typically had it custom made from one of their connections. That way it met the specific need he required. So that it could fulfill its purpose.
As long as it meant that she could be appeased and would be motivated to keep working hard, then he was always willing to give her what she wanted. It was for the mission.
As he looked around, he saw a familiar figure in the corner of his eye.
Bondman. That silly little spy cartoon that Anya absolutely adored. He still couldn’t understand why she loved it so much. It wasn’t even close to being accurate!
Yet she still loved it. She watched every new episode, every TV special. She even made him get the comics, which he had admittedly been fine with since it was at least some kind of reading material.
He took the figurine in his hand. It actually seemed to be a special edition based on the most recent movie that was released. Anya had been begging them to go watch it, but they had been having trouble finding the time to actually see it.
She would love this.
She would love this.
And that’s when it hit him.
Franky had been right. Twilight had never provided anything normal to Anya. Yes, normal fathers couldn’t just rent out an entire castle and suddenly hire hundreds of volunteers to play make believe. They couldn’t just make an entire new episode of Bondman. Most don’t even let their kid adopt a random dog off the street.
But it was equally true that normal fathers simply gave things to their daughters simply because they wanted them. Not because they had some kind of ulterior motive. Not because it served to motivate them to do something else. It was always simply because they wanted it. And a good father desires to give his children good gifts.
With Anya, it was for the mission.
The castle? Because she had gotten into Eden.
Bond? Because she had threatened to leave school.
The Bondman episode? Just so she could do better in school.
He wouldn’t deny that he spoiled her. That he probably was wrapped around her finger. But he had to actually ask himself: had he ever gotten her something just because she wanted it, no strings attached?
He thought back to his own father. Of how the one time he had ever given [REDACTED] money was because his father thought he was getting a textbook to study. His father, whether he loved [REDACTED] or not, had always done things only because they served a purpose. He had hated his father for that.
And here he was, doing the exact same thing.
He couldn’t think of a gift because he had never gotten any person a gift simply for the sake of it.
Because, at the end of the day, he wasn’t normal. He couldn’t think like a normal person because his priorities, his agendas, his goals in life, they weren’t normal. No normal person should ever have to carry the weight of two whole countries on their back.
Everything he did was for the mission. For the sake of world peace. For the sake of his two girls.
He gripped the figurine harder than he probably should have. It had been a year of this new life with his pretend family. He had gotten so used to things, so used to the routine, that things had started feeling normal. But Franky was right; he could never give normal to Yor and Anya. If anything, him entering their worlds was halting any normalcy they could have.
But now, they were stuck here. He couldn’t just up and leave them at this moment. He didn’t know if he ever could. And they deserved normal. Anya needed normal. He had to give as much normal as he could to her.
He took the figurine in hand as well as the special edition Princess Honey figurine from the same movie. He went up to the cashier and paid for them, putting them in a birthday themed bag he also bought. He would’ve ideally liked to wrap it, but alas, his stalling had eventually bit him in the butt.
He took a look at his wristwatch and saw that he was running late. Immediately, he made a mad dash towards the venue, berating himself for introspecting too much. After 10 minutes of running maybe a little too fast, he reached the event venue, panting and sweating. He could hear the light thump of music and the squeals of the school-age children. Brushing off anything on his signature green suit and as much sweat off from his face, he finally walked into his own daughter’s birthday party.
He was met with the unmuffled screams of Anya and her friends as they cheered on the magician they had paid for the party. Anya was especially engaged with it, her face very captivated by the illusions, although the fact it was her party probably played a part in her excitement.
He looked around and saw the faces of the many people they had invited. There was Master Henderson, Mr. Green, and even Mr. Austin, his former patient. They were currently conversing with Martha Marriot, who was interestingly not with Becky Blackbell’s own parents. They themselves were conversing with Emile, Ewen, and Damian’s retainers, as well as the parents of Freddy and Connie, some of Anya’s new friends. Across from them was a group that even he cringed at seeing, which consisted of Franky, Fiona, Yuri, Handler, and a magenta-haired woman he had to assume was Yuri’s plus one. They seemed to be amiable, but he could feel Franky’s nervousness even from here. He had been surprised to see Yor not with them until he saw that she had been instead talking with Melinda Desmond and her coworkers.
He gave his greetings to each of the guests, but hurriedly made his way to his wife fake wife.
“Yor! I am so sorry for being late!”
Yor, surprised at hearing his voice, quickly turned around and smiled at him. “Loid! Please don’t worry! I’m sure you came as soon as you could. Plus, you’re not even that late, the party basically just started.”
“Jeez Yor, it’s fine to be a little mad at the guy! Late to his own kid’s party,” replied the ever blunt Camilla.
“Hey! At least they threw their kid a party. I doubt my husband would cough up the money to do that,” said Sharon.
“Oh don’t listen to them, Loid. Yor’s not wrong, the party only really got lively just a bit ago. You haven’t missed much,” assured Millie.
“Yes, Mr. Forger. I myself only arrived just ten minutes ago. Please don’t feel too bad,” added Melinda. Loid flashed a smile to her.
“Thank you so much, Mrs. Desmond. Yor, have we done the gift opening yet?”
Yor shook her head. “That was actually the next program! We were just waiting for you to arrive.”
She excused herself from the group, going to get the gifts prepared. Melinda then excused herself as well and walked over to the other parents and retainers.
“You’re late, Loidy!” Twilight had to physically suppress an eyeroll.
“Yeah, I’m actually with the loud idiot on this one. Can’t believe the kid's dad wasn’t on time,” responded Franky. He turned around to see the group of SSS and WISE agents approaching him. What had his life come to?
“Sorry everyone, patient work ran a lot later than usual.”
“Doctor Forger, you know that if you ever need someone to help you with anything, I am here,” said Fiona.
He heard Handler chuckle. “Quite the dedicated secretary you have here, Loid.”
“Yes, Sylvia. Fiona is the best around. Don’t know what I’d do without her,” he replied. He didn’t have to look to know that Fiona had begun to glare very hard at him. How is that a compliment like that could offend her!? She was truly an intense agent.
“This is quite the lovely party you’ve thrown here Mr. Forger. Thank you for letting me come!” said the magenta-haired lady.
“Oh thank you! Sorry, I don’t believe we’ve met before.”
She held out her hand. “Oh, that’s my bad! My name is Chloe, I’m Yuri’s friend. He asked Yor if I could come along.”
Twilight couldn’t stop himself from looking at Yuri questioningly. The bonafide siscon had brought another woman to his sister’s daughter’s birthday party? Perhaps he would step outside and finally see pigs flying.
“Y-Yor heard I made a new friend and begged me to bring her! T-That’s all, Loi-Loi.”
Twilight looked back at Chloe and smiled. “Well, I for one am glad you could make it. All of you. I’m sure Anya will look back at this and have a great memory to cherish.”
They all smiled to various degrees, except for Franky, who simply gave him a raised eyebrow.
“So what’d you get for the kid, Loid?” asked Franky.
“I’m afraid I can’t disclose that. It would ruin the surprise, especially given how….perceptive Anya can be.”
He felt Franky place his hand on his back and walk them away from the group.
“That’s all good. You can tell just me. I need to ask you something anyways.”
Twilight gave him a confused look as they got far enough away from the rest of the party.
“Is this really about the gift?”
“No! Well…a little maybe. But mainly no!”
“Then what is it?"
“What the heck even is this guest list, Twilight!” he hissed.
He raised his hands in protest. “Truthfully, I’ve been fairly hands off on this party. Yor handled most of it.”
Twilight thought he heard Franky grumble something about husbands. “And you didn’t think to tell her to not invite your coworkers!”
“She was insistent that I also have my ‘friends’ come to the party, since she was inviting Yuri and I guess now Chloe.”
“Even though those ‘friends’ want nothing to do with the SSS agents standing not 10 feet away from us?”
“Like I said, she was insistent. It was….hard to say no.” Franky glared at him. “To be fair, you could’ve said no as well.”
“I-well…..it’s just…” Twilight raised an eyebrow.
“It’s hard to say no to her,” Franky finished with a sigh.
They both looked at the scene of Yor trying to calm the kids down as the magician tried to finish his act.
“You really think this is worth the risk?”
“No more than Yuri showing up on a random Tuesday. At least this is a…normal event that people go to.” Then they remained silent for a moment.
“You really think the kid is going to look at this fondly?” Twilight froze for a second.
“I…I hope she can.”
“I know I told you this before, but I mean it, Twilight. Be careful.”
“I am being careful!” he snapped back hushed.
“Don’t get mad at me, dude. I’m just giving you a reminder,” Franky sighed. “What’s in the bag anyways.”
Twilight looked at the gift bag. “It’s a set of figurines from the new Bondman movie.”
“Really? That’s what you decided on? A bunch of toys?”
“It’s something she’d really want! And it’s a normal gift for a child such as herself. A normal gift she deserves,” he replied, saying the last as little more than a whisper.
Before Franky could respond, they heard Yor call out, “Alright everyone! It’s time for the gift opening!”
They both looked over to Yor, who was now corralling the children. She motioned for Anya to come forward and then looked at him. She gave him a smile.
“What are you doing over there, Loid? I think it’s only natural for her parents to be the first to give her gifts, right?”
With a slight push from Franky, Loid Twilight stepped forward and made his way to Yor and Anya, gift bag in hand. Once he reached them, he saw that Yor had a beautifully wrapped box in her hand, her own gift for Anya. They were standing around a table full of various gifts from the other families, Anya sitting on a chair to make it easy for her to reach and unwrap them.
“Anya is very excited to see what the surprise gifts Mama and Papa got for her are!” said Anya. They both chuckled at her lack of subtlety.
“How does she find out?” he asked Yor.
“I wish I knew,” she chuckled back. “C-Can I give my gift first?”
Twilight was a little hesitant, to be honest. Given Franky’s comment, he didn’t know if his gift could match the level of thought and care he knew Yor had put into hers. But, as was becoming increasingly obvious, it was very hard to say no to her.
“Of course, Yor. I’m excited to see what you have prepared,” he replied. With nervous excitement, Yor handed her gift to Anya.
“H-Here you go Anya. I-It probably isn’t much, but I hope you like it!.”
Anya smiled at Yor and replied, “I already love it, Mama. Any gift from you is the best!”
“How about you actually open it, Anya?” he said with fond exasperation.
Anya frantically nodded before absolutely ripping into the wrapping paper. He almost cringed at how feral she must’ve looked. But he also found himself feeling fond, her unique Anya-ness shining as bright as ever. Once the box was reachable, she opened it up to reveal a beautiful, flowy sundress. Anya took hold of it and held it by the shoulder straps to show it off for everyone else. It was a soft pink, nicely matching her hair, with a frilly bottom half. By all means, it was a beautiful dress.
“It’s so pretty Mama!”
“Y-You really think so Anya?”
Without realizing, he reached out his hand to touch Yor’s forearm. “It is Yor. It really is.” He saw tears begin to form in Yor’s eyes.
“Oh, that’s so good to hear,” she sighed.
“Where’d you get it from, dear?” he heard Melinda ask.
“O-Oh, well, I actually made it.”
Twilight felt his head snap towards Yor. “You…made that?”
“Yes! It’s why I blocked off my ro—I mean the guest room. I couldn’t have Anya randomly wandering in and seeing it before today.”
Twilight looked at the dress again. It was already a beautiful dress, but to know Yor had made it added a whole new layer of beauty. And potential shame in his own gift.
“Holy crap, Yor! There’s no way. It’s so pretty, girl!” sputtered Camilla, echoing the thoughts of everyone else in the room. Murmurs of agreement filled the space, causing a bright red blush to grow on Yor’s face.
Anya beamed at Yor. “Mama made my very own dress! Anya is so lucky to have a strong and cape-pa-bill mother. It’s the best gift ever!”
“Capable, Anya,” he corrected absentmindedly. “Is there a reason why you made it, Yor?”
Yor fiddled with her fingers, embarrassment far from fading. “It’s a tradition in Nielsburg for mothers to make their young daughters dresses. M-My own mother made one for me just before the, um, the war.” She looked at Anya with soft eyes.
“I just thought, what could be more special than continuing that tradition with my own daughter.” Anya’s face lit up with happiness and charged into Yor’s leg to give a great hug.
“Thank you, Mama!” Twilight gripped his own bag. What could be more special?
“Loid? It’s your turn now.” He looked up to see an expectant Anya and Yor.
“O-Oh, um, well, it’s…it’s nothing that special Anya,” he said. He looked at Anya, her piercing eyes which seemed to always know what was going on in his head. He wondered if he would ever learn why it felt like that. “I tried, but…I fear I may have set a high bar in terms of gifts for you. But, I hope you still like it.” He handed her the bag, which she practically snatched from him.
Anya quickly dug into the bag, rushing to take out the papers in it. Once they were out of the way, she hurriedly grabbed the boxes that held the figurines and proudly showed them to the crowd.
“BONDMAN! PRINCESS HONEY!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. It was so loud that he and Yor had to cover their ears. “Papa! This is from the new movie, right?”
Twilight, with a confused look, replied, “Well, yes it is Anya. Do you like it?”
“Anya loves it, Papa! This is the best-est gift ever!” He felt her charge into his own leg as she tightly hugged it. He looked at Yor.
“It’s…just a bunch of toys. How can…how can they be better than Yor’s?” He felt Yor’s soft touch on his own forearms.
“Well, it’s hard to beat a child’s desire for toys. Especially from their favorite TV show,” she chuckled.
“I-I couldn’t have put nearly as much thought into this as you did!”
“But you don’t always need to Loid. You know Anya like the back of your hand. It may have been an easy decision, but it’s because you know her so well.”
“Yeah! Papa knows Anya the best! Thank you!” Anya exclaimed.
He couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re going to appreciate Yor’s gift far more in the future, I can guarantee that.”
“But she also needs gifts that she’ll appreciate right now. She needs both. And it’s a good thing that she has parents who can do one and the other,” Yor replied.
He smiled wistfully, looking at his smiling daughter. Yor was right. Anya was still just a child. The simple was sometimes more than enough. As long as she knew and felt that she was loved cared for.
He knelt down, meeting her at eye level. “Did you like both gifts, Anya?” She responded with emphatic nods. Then, another thought came. “Say, how about we go watch that movie this weekend?”
Anya’s eyes lit up. “Really, Papa?” she asked. Then her eyes went sad. “Papa’s not going to make Anya study more so we can watch it, will he?”
He felt a pang of pain in his heart. After all this time, she had come to believe that his gifts were on the condition of her success. And how could he blame her when it wasn’t far from the truth.
In truth, normal children deserved to be doted on, to be loved without condition, oftentimes in the form of gifts. That was one thing he had learned in his time on earth, even from his own childhood. He wondered what it would’ve been like if his own father had treated him normally.
Because, despite what others might think of the great spy Twilight, he did want to live normally. He wanted to give gifts and even to be given gifts, no strings attached. He’d like to live without the weight of the world on his shoulders, to even have a family to come home to. But he couldn’t, not when doing so would endanger world peace.
But these two? Even if it was all fake, they deserved to be treated normally. So he would do his best to give them normal.
“No Anya, you can study normally this week. I just…want to treat you is all.”
She smiled brightly before wrapping her tiny arms around his neck and pulling him into a hug. He felt Yor kneel down as well and pat her hand on Anya’s head.
“I love you Papa! You’re the bestest Papa in the whole wide world.”
He heard Yor chuckle, which caused him to laugh and hug his little girl back. He didn’t know when this would all come to an end. He didn’t even know how it would end. But he would give his all to do right by them.
“I certainly try, Anya. I certainly try.”