#and yuri going from ‟not caring‟ to wanting to save anya for yor was sweet

[wordswhisperinthedark]

I'm late to chp 71 but DAMIAN?!😭😭😭

[cyraniadebergerac]

So, we know that with Loid and Yor, if they hadn't met each other in mission 2, they could have been really screwed. In Yor's case, Yuri does have a point. Yor is gullible and at that point, was in a very vulnerable spot. She needed a boyfriend to lay off attention on herself and asked Loid literally because he audibly called her attractive. If that had been a guy seeking to exploit her, fully capable of the verbal abuse we see is Yor's weak spot over and over again, she would have folded into his hands easily with only the Shopkeeper (who at the very least wouldn't want to lose his premire assassin after he realizes what's going on) and/or Yuri being able to help her out of it.

Loid, meanwhile, has been willing to do whatever he deems necessary for the mission (even if some of that is him justifying his own actions to himself). If a woman came along that was single, willing to go along with the charade, and Anya seemed to like, Loid likely would have done all he could to make it work out. And even with Anya's mind-reading, she'd still need to have some understanding of the context of what the person's thinking and doing. If she didn't understand what was going on until it was too late (or had simply been a non-mind-reading child), Loid could have found himself trapped with a wife that used the knowledge of the family charade and the ignorance she could easily figure out to make him do whatever she wanted so she could have a life of control and luxury with a handsome 'husband' as her prop. And Loid would try to put up with it as much as possible since the charade has been set and he can't just switch wives out of nowhere without looking suspicious, even if that wife constantly demanded they share a room, called for breakfast in bed, constantly required apology gifts that fit her standards, and potentially dealt with a few minor bruises when upsetting her. The only time he would try to dissolve the affair would be if the wife made Anya cry or struck her.

So both really were fortunate with who they found.

Does lead to some potential au ideas though.

1.) Loid and Anya meet and help save Yor from an abusive relationship, slowly then welcoming her into their family/Loid and Anya meet Yor in the aftermath of that failed relationship with Anya feeling determined that this cool assassin shouldn't be so sad and so is another part of why she pushes Yor and Loid together, with them then helping Yor with the increased self-esteem issues along with other trauma. Yuri is especially protective in this version though and certainly knows that his sister wasn't married a month ago.

2.) Loid and Anya meet another woman (in my mind, a woman similar to Camilla) that seems to suit them both, really sweet with Anya, elegant (helping with entrance into Eden College), and is willing to do the fake marriage. Anya can't tell why the woman has such weird thoughts about Loid, but everything else about her seems really nice (maybe even cool if her thoughts make her seem like a real princess). So, she's chosen and everything gets set. When she moves in though, she insists that she and Loid really ought to share a room 'for appearance's sake'. Loid's startled by this, but then figures that she's right and manages to have his spy stuff in the now spare room which he makes into his den. Things slowly but progressively get worse and worse from there, with Anya realizing one day that 'Mama' doesn't actually care about Papa at all, and Papa's suffering but doesn't see any escape for himself. He's in trouble!

They then run into the tailor's when Yor appears one day and Anya reads her mind to find out about her being an assassin. With the troubles going on at home and since she doesn't know what else to do/likely doesn't fully grasp what an assassin does, Anya figures out where Yor lives (either from Yor's mind or from Loid's if he still had Franky steal the secretary files and so had Yor's info and recognized her) then arranges to be in the right time and place to put a special letter in Yor's mailbox, one that within, in very sloppy handwriting and no name on it to keep it anonymous, asks her to save her Papa and take care of the 'evil mama' in the house, along with a handful of pocket change for 'payment'. Yor is definitely confused, whether or not she even thinks that an obvious child might have been sending this to Thorn Princess is a bit up in the air. But, she ends up using the address on the envelope to at least check out what's going on, to find herself hearing a really bad row going on inside, causing her to breakdown the door to see Loid, obviously utterly exhausted even from where she's standing, trying to clean up a dish he dropped quickly while his wife, highly drunk, screams at him about how useless and clumsy he is, saying anything to try to get him to break but he holds on and quietly cleans, not even catching Yor watching from the door or Anya seeing this from her bedroom door. When he's done, he tries to smile towards his 'wife' as he apologizes then offers to make it up to her, but she's not having it that night and throws a dish at him, causing Loid to resignedly brace himself for a difficult night, only for Yor to step in and catch it before it can hit, standing between the two of them. Loid's for a moment frozen in shock (I didn't even notice her come in) and some horror (How did I not notice someone breaking into my house?! I'm slipping! Anya could have been kidnapped again because of my carelessness!) The woman asks what Yor is doing there, where Yor simply states that someone told her of a beloved and wonderful Papa whose wife had been hurting him. Seems like she found the right place. The woman at first laughs, stating that that's ridiculous. Little old her, hurting a tall, strong man like her husband? What a hoot! Then Anya comes in, protesting that she's a evil liar, only wanting to hurt Papa and make him do everything for her. Loid immediately panics, knowing what can happen when an abuser feels that they've been betrayed (purely from the psych books he's read, of course). Loid tries to get Anya to leave. Anya ends up frozen as the woman prepares to slap her, only to have both Loid and Yor catch this hand then end up in sync as they kick her out of the house. Loid then hugs Anya close, making sure she's okay, before finally focusing on Yor, asking about her impressive skills, which gets the self-defense answer. Yor then hurries out, though promises to meet with them later to help get the door fixed.

The woman does get taken care of (what ever method you prefer, feel free to use). Then Yor and Loid have their second meeting over replacing the door. Slowly though, Anya notices that Yor may have murder dreams, but they're not weird like the ones in former mom's head. Slowly, she helps them get together. After WISE demand he get a new wife fast, he ended up asking Yor to be it as a charade, in exchange for whatever she wants. Yor merely wants to stand by someone at Camilla's party, where he makes the speech about supporting her brother.. And so, to some scandal, they ended up in the charade. Loid kept expecting Yor to get 'bossy' after a length of time, so tried to do everything perfectly so that there's no mistake for her to get angry about. Yor's humility though and Loid's exhaustion helps him slowly to heal and not continue to see her patterns in every part of his wife. Meanwhile, while Yor's the rescuer in this au, she still suffers from her problems and the fact she can't cook at all. And Loid helps her through it. And so, the three wound up a family.

3.) A related idea. How might Loid be going off his mission dates for some of his trying to be a good husband?

Feel free to use any of it.