MHA #2 | Thursday Morning

[knife_bender]

Diego had been having some weird ass dreams lately. Creepy ones, really. He dreamed about his father occasionally, but usually they were flashbacks to training and Ben's funeral. But these were focused on the rare (so very rare) moments where his father had given him praise and when Diego woke up he was left with a vague feeling of wanting his father to be proud of him.

Which disturbed him even more than the nightmares, really.

He was considering just not sleeping again, so he was doubling up on the coffee this morning.

[Open]

Comments

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That would be a lot worse, probably," Annie offered, trying to be comforting (even if, yeah, she would not be shocked if this was just his mind working through some of those daddy issues that everyone knew he had.) "Though who knows, maybe Luther's off, like, dreaming of saving the world with an awesome blonde at his side."

She was just going to assume that's what Diego dreamt about, normally. Obviously.

[knife_bender]

Diego smiled slightly. "That's actually eerily close to what I actually dream about."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I kind of had a hunch," Annie replied with an answering smile. "Can I, like, help? Maybe we'll do like...tea at bedtime tonight. Soothing music. I'll give you a back massage. Maybe if we get you really calm before bed you won't dream at all."

Or he could talk about his dad and maybe that was what the dream was about, but that seemed like a harder sell. But not dreaming seemed better than not sleeping, at least?

[knife_bender]

"The back massage part does sound nice..." Mostly because he knew where it would lead to.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I somehow knew you'd like that part," Annie teased, setting her coffee aside as she went to wrap her arms around his waist. "Are you feeling okay otherwise?"

Like, maybe he had a fever? That would be an explanation.

[knife_bender]

"I guess so," he said, wrapping his arms around her. Tangling himself up in Annie always seems to make him feel better. "I just feel a little off balance, you know?"

Anger towards his father he was used to. Other feelings? Not so much.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"How do you mean?" Annie asked quietly. Her first thought had been to just agree and sympathize, but -- if Diego was actually talking about his feelings regarding his dad, she absolutely wanted to give him all the conversational room and invitation to do so.

[knife_bender]

"I don't know," he said, shaking his head. "It's just--I learned my lesson about Dad. I don't worship him anymore, and I don't like feeling like that again."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Of course not," Annie acknowledged, gently running her hand up and down his back a bit. (Mindful of knives as always, of course.) "Are you feeling weird about it being, like...a nice dream? Like, was he nice in the dream?"

Because she could see how that would be...disorienting.

[knife_bender]

"As nice as he can be, I guess," he said. "Just imagine Five being nice, but worse."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"So like, still awful, but maybe with some good intention behind the awfulness?" Annie offered, because that was how she thought of Five a lot of the time. "It sounds -- confusing to deal with, Diego, I'm sorry."

Her dreams of Stillwell had seemed positive and nice, too, but Annie hadn't thought much about it. Dreams were dreams. But her relationship with her late boss was also, admittedly, a lot less fraught than this one.

[knife_bender]

"I'll get over it," he said, leaning for a kiss. "They're just stupid dreams."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Maybe," Annie agreed, smiling into the kiss. "You know where to find me if you need anything while you get over it, though."

Like to talk. Or a back massage. Or whatever.

[knife_bender]

"I know," he said, giving her a smile. "I love you."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I love you too," Annie replied, going onto her toes to kiss him again. "You can tell because I'm actually interested in hearing about your dreams even when I'm not even in them."

Everyone knew hearing about other people's dreams was, generally, super boring. (Unless you were a fortune teller, maybe?)

[knife_bender]

He laughed. "That really is a sign of true love. I am a lucky guy."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You are," Annie noted, threading her arms up around his neck. "But I feel pretty lucky too, so it evens out."

And all teasing aside, if he suddenly started wanting to talk to her about his dreams regularly, Annie would happily sit and listen every single morning for the rest of their lives. She was that far gone.