Chapter Text
“Okay class!” their art teacher announced “Today’s activity is drawing portraits. So, pull out your sketchbooks and pick a partner to draw! You have 30 minutes.”
Anya slumped in her chair, why couldn’t they draw whatever they wanted? She would much rather draw her family, or Bondman. She lazily pulled out her math notebook, at this point it had more doodles and sketches than her sketchbook so it might as well be a sketchbook. Anya scanned the classroom for someone to draw when Becky tapped her shoulder. “Anya! Lets draw each other and then hang the portraits in our rooms!” Anya almost agreed to the idea when a better idea came to her head.
Anya would draw Damian
Damian would like to hang the portrait in his room
Anya would sign the portrait so she owns all the copy-writes (whatever that was)
Damian would have to invite her to his house in exchange for the portrait
Anya smiled proudly at her masterplan. “Sorry Becky, I wanna draw Sy-on boy”
Becky hugged Anya as she squealed “Anyaaa! That’s sooooo romantic!!!”
Anya took her sketchbook (math notebook) and her bondman-themed pencil case and walked towards Damian “Hey Sy-on boy!”
Damian had just pulled out his sketchbook from his backpack “What do you want?”
‘Please ask if we could be partners please ask if we could be partners’
“Can we partners?”
“sure, but only because Emile and Ewen are bad at drawing!” He said as he turned his chair towards her and started drawing. Anya took a nearby chair and started sketching.
With calculated fine strokes, Anya finished Damian’s head and moved to sketch his hair, which was her favorite part about him. She made sure to capture every curve and make his hair slightly more fluffy. She paused to study his face more, and she noticed his strokes seemed fine and short, maybe he was almost done?
‘Ugh! The proportions are all wrong!’
Damian grabbed his eraser and noticed Anya staring at him. “What?” he grumbled.
“I’m studying your face”
Damian quickly got back to his sketchbook and started erasing furiously.
Anya started drawing his eyes and his long eyelashes. When she was done, she didn’t like them because he looked a little sad. She tried to recall the last time Damian was smiling but she couldn’t, so she decided to ask him!
“hey Sy-on boy”
Damian peeked from behind his sketchbook, irritated “what? You’re annoying”
“Can you smile for a bit? I wanna draw you smiling”
The tips of his ears turned bright red “Finish your drawing already!” he half-yelled at her “mine is almost done”.
Anya got back to work. She was bummed because Damian rejected her request, she liked it better when Damian was smiling, he was always grumpy.
Anya started to think about Damian’s drawing, she knows he is good at art, so it’s guaranteed to turn out great. She already knows where she’s going to hang it, right above her bed! A smile crept into her lips. Eager to see Damian’s finished product, she almost forgot this was all for the sake of getting into his house.
Anya took another look at Damian study his features, when she noticed that he barely looked at her since he started. He must have impressive memory, he was an A+ student after all, just a few Stella Stars away from becoming an imperial scholar.
“You know I’m your reference, right?”
“yeah” Damian answered from behind his sketchbook
“You have to look at me then” she reached her arm and tried to snatch the book out of his hands, but he held it close to his chest before she could.
“I-I’m looking! I have good memory that’s all!”
Anya just shrugged it off and grabbed the red pencil from her case to color Damian’s cheeks and ears.
Anya took a final look at her finished drawing
Fluffy hair: check
Long eyelashes: check
A smile: check? His lips were twitched upwards ever so slightly
Red cheeks: check
It looked good. Anya was really proud of herself, all those years of doodling during classes definitely improved her artistic abilities by a lot.
“I’m done!” she announced to Damian, who looked like he was putting his final touches. But he looked like he was using a lot of orange? Anya looked at herself, nothing in her was orange.
“Just a few seconds”
Anya decided she would sign her masterpiece while Damian was finishing his. She signed “Anya <3” at the bottom right corner of the paper and tore it out of the sketchbook to give it to Damian.
“Done!” Damian announced as he smiled at his work
“Show me!” Anya jumped out of her chair to look at the portrait Damian drew of her, only for her smile to drop immediately.
It was a giant shrimp of pink hair wearing a school uniform.
Damian laughed and Emile and Ewin joined in.
“Shrimp” Damian said as he shoved his paper into her face.
“Good one Boss-man!”
Anya just stood there, shocked and embarrassed. She was used to Damian mocking her and calling her names, but she was genuinely excited to get a portrait of herself. She felt like a hand was squeezing her heart. Her lips trembled and she felt tears threatening to spill.
Damian noticed and realized that maybe he had gone a bit too far, suddenly the ‘portrait’ wasn’t funny anymore. “Anya… I’m sor-”
Anya crumpled the drawing she worked so hard on into a ball and threw it on Damian’s face and ran out of class. Damian just sat there, disgusted with himself. He picked up the paper Anya threw at him and opened it. Her art was… amazing. She clearly put serious effort into it, and she even signed it with a heart. He buried his face in his hands.
‘Why am I like this? I don’t deserve her’
He really wanted to make it for her, but he doubted she would want to see him ever again.