Chapter Text
The next day, waking up tangled in each other felt… Surreal. The Forger family was really back together, and stronger than ever.
It was a dream come true.
Yor and Loid stumbled into the kitchen, both with small smiles on their faces, and found that Anya was already up, moving around in the kitchen and humming a song.
Loid recognized it, it was one of the few happy memories from his childhood, an old lullaby he used to hear all the time before the war, and that he'd eventually shared with Anya.
A part of him couldn't believe she still remembered that, especially considering she was actually 4 and not 6 when she was adopted.
They didn't make a noise when they entered the kitchen, yet their thoughts alone were enough to alert Anya of their presence.
She whirled around, a happy smile on her face, spatula in hand as something cooked on the pan behind her.
She grinned at them. "Good morning mama, good morning papa!"
Yor sniffed the air, catching the scent of whatever it was Anya was making, and gasped, stars in her eyes. "You're making your pancakes!"
Anya nodded enthusiastically.
"Yep! Go sit down, they'll be done soon."
They both compiled, and Loid couldn't help to remember fondly how Anya always wanted to help him in the kitchen and always made a mess instead.
"Anya makes wonderful pancakes!" Yor excitedly told him once they sat down. "She turned out to be an amazing cook, just like you!"
"Someone had to take over the cooking, mama." Anya said, emerging from the kitchen carrying a plate full of warm pancakes.
Yor pouted, but didn't answer.
Loid tried some of the pancakes, finding they were definitely quite heavenly.
Like father, like daughter. She was an amazing cook.
The next few days were an adjustment, but not a bad one. Loid got the chance to meet both his daughter and his wife all over again, and though some things had changed, some had stayed the same.
Anya was currently in college, working on getting a degree in psychology, but she still loved peanuts and liked the same pastries from the same store near their old home. Yor had actually improved with her cooking, even if Anya was way better than her, but she still liked to keep the house tidy and clean, and still loved roses.
He had to figure out some things with the Handler still, but eventually, she got him settled at a new hospital as the definitely-not-deceased psychiatrist Loid Forger. Anya was thrilled, insisting on joining him for work as soon as she could to get some first hand experience.
The Handler made sure to place him where no one would look at him twice or bother to try and investigate him. Besides, with the war having been successfully avoided and a new peace treaty being installed a few years ago, things had calmed down a lot. At least there weren't many chances of the -now almost completely disbanded- secret police looking for him still.
They eventually talked about Yor being an assassin for hire. It was wild, more so considering Twilight had heard about her many times before. But that was Twilight, and he was gone now. As far as Loid was concerned, it was actually kind of attractive how his wife was even more tough than he initially gave her credit for.
Besides, Yor had also recently decided to finally retire.
So that was that. All secrets were out in the open, including Anya's decision to join a spy agency at 16. Yor had been as terrified as Loid when she found out, but somewhat calmed down when she recalled she'd been personally training Anya in self defense for years now.
Actually, that was reassuring to Loid too. Yor had been the only person to ever beat him so effortlessly in hand-to-hand combat before, so if she'd kept on teaching Anya, then at least he knew she was trained by a professional.
No wonder her movements seemed so familiar when he first encountered her as Agent Chimera. She was moving like Yor, light as a feather, firm as a rock, and fast as lighting.
The family had a lot to think about, like how they would actually explain Loid suddenly being alive again. Twilight was the master of disguises, the man of a thousand faces, yet Anya was right. Wearing masks so often was exhausting, and dangerous. Loid did not want to become Twilight ever again.
So the option of doing so and simply introducing Loid under a fake face and a fake new name to their old friends and acquaintances was off the table immediately.
He was done wearing masks. He was Loid Forger, even if that complicated things a lot.
Maybe they could fabricate a story about Loid running off the country with a mistress…?
No, he hated that. He would never cheat on his wife. No woman could compare to her either way.
They would figure it out eventually.
The Forgers were so caught up in living their life as a family again they forgot one fundamental detail until it quite literally came knocking at their door.
Loid was sitting in the living room, calmly reading a book and relaxing like he used to on his rare days off. Anya was sitting at the dining table, a bunch of books open in front of her as she did her studying for the evening.
A part of Loid felt incredibly proud about the fact that Anya had taken to studying by herself after Loid was gone and could no longer force her to focus on her studies.
Yor was in the kitchen, fixing them all a snack before returning by Loid's side to do some reading of her own. She'd taken into reading more in the years after the mission ended, and eventually sheepishly admitted that it was partly because she found that police novels were quite useful in providing both new murder methods, and ways to keep getting away with it.
Eventually Anya sighed, leaning back on her seat tiredly. "Papa, help!" She whined.
Loid smiled internally, a hint of nostalgia hitting him as he complied and got up. "Fine, what are you stuck with?"
"I get confused with structuralism and functionalism."
"Right. Well, think of it this way: structuralism proposed a very general overview of the brain by analyzing each part separately, breaking it down into pieces and understanding each one. Functionalism opposes this idea, it's not about looking at the pieces, but rather at how they work and why they work that way. It's about understanding the process rather than skipping to just their function."
Anya nodded, thoughtful.
"So… Structuralism is about the materials you need to make a bomb, but functionalism is about how you combine them to make it?" Anya said. Loid sighed. Even after years, those analogies seemed to still work the best with helping Anya understand something.
"I guess so, yes."
"Great! What about this one though…?" Anya was about to ask him something else when a knock came at the door.
Yor emerged from the kitchen with a tray, putting it on the table next to some of Anya's textbooks.
"It's probably Miss Dorothy again." Yor sighed tiredly. Miss Dorothy was their elderly neighbor with dementia, who was always convinced their dog had eaten her cat, even if she had no cat to begin with. "I'll get it, I can walk her to her apartment."
She skipped over to the door, both Anya and Loid resuming their study session. Yor opened the door, ready to see her neighbor on the other side and yet finding someone else.
From behind a massive bouquet of red roses, Yuri peaked at Yor, grinning.
"Yor! I hope I'm not too early. I got out of work earlier and decided to come straight here."
"Too early…?"
Yuri frowned. "The monthly dinner, it's today! Did you forget?"
Yor was about to answer when Yuri's eyes drifted to the inside of the home, landing into none other than his supposed dead brother-in-law.
Yuri's grip into the bouquet slipped and it fell, some petals of roses scattering around the wooden floor as it fell with a thud.
Loid was also staring at him, and then it hit him: they hadn't even thought about what they would say to Yuri.
He was fucked. If life as a spy hadn't killed him, then his very pissed off brother-in-law would.
Yuri took a step back, pointing at Loid. "What the hell!? You're dead! Are you some sort of ghost!? Are you haunting my sister!?"
Anya groaned from her seat, whirling around to glare at Yuri.
"Uncle, not now, papa is helping me study. So unless you're planning on presenting my next test for me, shut up." She snapped at him.
Over the years, Yuri had admittedly developed even more of a soft spot for Anya. After all, she had lost her dad, and Yuri knew what that felt like, even if he could barely remember his. And she was still his niece.
So when Anya was mad at him, it was almost as bad as when Yor was mad at him.
"Sorry…"
"Hump!" Anya faced her textbooks again, a frown in her face as she hastily picked them up. "I'll go study in my room, you better not kill papa or you're officially uninvited to monthly dinners!"
And then she got up and stomped her way to her room, closing the door behind her.
Yor cleaned her throat.
"Ah, Yuri, you should come in."
"Right!" Yuri immediately obeyed, picking up the bouquet and stepping inside the place, Yor closing the door behind him.
Loid awkwardly waved at him. "Yuri, it's been a while…"
"You're dead!" Yuri repeated, pointing an accusing finger at Loid.
"Yeah… About that…"
"Yuri." Yor said, stepping in between her brother and husband. "I can't really explain it to you, but Loid was never dead! He's back now, and we're very happy together! So please, don't be too harsh on him!"
"But…"
"I know you never got along that well, but he is my husband, and I'm happy he's back!"
Yuri opened his mouth, ready to answer, but found he didn't really know what to say.
"Yuri, it's really a complicated story. But I can assure that I love Yor even more than I did before, and I thank you for being a good brother and taking care of her while I couldn't." Loid said, still from behind Yor.
Yuri looked him up and down. He still had his suspicions about him, but if Yor was asking him to not be too harsh on him, he had to comply.
Besides, there was a clear change in Yor. After Loid's supposed passing, Yuri came to realize how much he had meant to her. As much as it hurt, he made his sister happy. And in the years after he was gone, it was hard to get as much as a smile out of Yor. Over time she came back to herself a little, but there was still something missing. Some light in her eyes had gone out. Her smiles didn't quite reach her eyes.
But now she looked like the old Yor again.
The shine in her eyes was back, along with a fiery passion he'd only seen before when Yor was protecting him from bullies at school. She looked happy again for the first time in years.
And as much as he hated Loid, it was a relief to see Yor like that again.
"... Fine."
Yor smiled wide. "Are you saying you're okay with Loid being back!?"
"... I suppose so."
"Yuri! Thank you!" Yor jumped to hug him, and Yuri decided it was worth it to accept his brother-in-law again if it meant getting the old Yor and her amazing hugs back.
That's when Anya decided to come out of her room again, a pencil in hand and holding a heavy book, frowning. She didn't even look up at them, simply stood in the hallway, frowning down at the book.
"Papa, I need help with this!"
And before Yuri's eyes, he saw the change in Anya too. She happily went back to sit on the table, Loid sitting next to her as he started to break down some psychology concepts for her and turn them into examples she could better understand.
Anya had been different too since Loid left. She was way more pensive, and always looked either lost in thought or like she was about to break down crying. Eventually though, that turned into determination. She dived into her studies like she never had before, and one day out of the blue announced she planned on following her dad's career path.
Yet under that sudden drive and determination there was the same sadness he could see in Yor. It was slightly different, and more well-hidden, but still there. And right now, with her dad calmly helping her study again after years, she looked more content than ever.
Loid Forger was really quite a fundamental piece of their lives.
At some point, Yor guided Yuri to the living room, fixing him a cup of coffee so they could chat while Loid and Anya kept studying.
About an hour had passed when their next problem came almost breaking down their door. It swung open, and Franky was on the other side, proudly holding up a glass of wine.
"I'm here for monthly dinner!" he announced.
Everyone stopped what they were doing, and again, Franky stopped dead in his tracks when he noticed Loid.
"... YOU!" He pointed at him, frowning. "Why are you here!? You shouldn't be here!"
"Franky." Loid said simply as a greeting. "I'm back. I decided to… retire from my line of work."
Franky's jaw hung open.
"Retire!? You!?"
"It was about time. Family is more important."
Franky stared at him as if he'd grown a second head. Then suddenly he started sobbing.
"You… You idiot!" he said, still pointing at Loid, tears and snot running down his face.
"Franky…"
"You absolute blockhead!" Franky kept going. "I missed you!"
Loid sighed. "Sure, I missed you too."
Franky kept on sobbing, hugging the bottle of wine against his chest.
It took a while for things to calm down again, but eventually they all sat down at the table and ordered takeout.
Apparently, monthly dinner was a thing they all had decided to do after Loid was gone. One night every month they would gather at the Forger's to have dinner and chat.
It felt strangely homey to Loid, who hadn't been a part of this tradition until now.
Franky mostly spent the dinner catching Loid up with everything he'd missed while he was away.
It was a strange, yet nice family dinner.
The next problem was, as far as Loid was concerned, the worst of them all.
Damian Desmond was dating Anya.
Loid knew he'd insisted that Anya got closer to Damian, but he meant as friends!
Besides, Anya was barely 18. Damian was not going to date her, not under his watch. Not unless he was sure Damian was a good boyfriend to Anya.
So the next Friday, the boy himself showed up at their doorstep, coming to pick up Anya to get her to a party.
Yor had noticed Loid's intentions, and surprisingly enough, didn't try to talk him out of it. Quite the opposite, she seemed like she was encouraging him. The only thing she said was to not scare him too much, and to keep in mind that so far he'd been a gentleman to Anya.
So Anya was still getting ready by the time he showed up. Loid was waiting for him, and got up to open the door. He smiled at Desmond, and he felt a shiver go down his entire spine, his face turning white.
"Mr Forger…!?"
"You're here for Anya, I suppose. She's still getting ready. Why don't you wait for her in the living room?"
Damian nodded, still in a daze, and stumbled his way inside the home and into the living room couch.
His mind was going a hundred miles a minute. Wasn't Anya's dad dead!? Had he come back from the dead just to talk to him!? Was he having a nightmare!?
Loid set down a plate of cookies and tea in front of Damian, which made him jump. Loid gave him another smile.
"So, Damian. Anya says you two are dating?"
Damian swallowed hard. His throat felt dry.
"Uh, yes, sir."
"Mm, I see. I hope you have been treating Anya right."
"I have! I promise, sir."
"Good, because Damian…" Loid leaned closer to him, the unnerving kind smile still on his face. "If you ever make Anya cry, Yor and I will make sure no one ever sees you again. Trust me, we have the skills to make you disappear."
Damian went even more pale.
"I… Of course, sir! I promise that won't happen!"
"You better." Loid laid back into his seat as Anya went out of her room, Yor coming out behind her. She had been helping Anya with her hair.
Loid smiled when he saw Anya, her hair in a ponytail and an elegant black dress on. She twirled, showing off her dress.
"You look wonderful, Anya." Loid complimented her.
Anya beamed. "Thanks, papa! Damian, let's go!"
Damian got up immediately, his eyes fixed on Anya. "Yeah… let's go."
Anya could no doubt guess what Loid and Damian had been talking about, more so because of Damian's still panicked thoughts.
But right now she has a date.
So they both said their goodbyes and left.
And if Loid had decided to pick up his spy hat again for one night to make sure Damian was not doing anything to Anya, it was no one's business.