MHA #2 | Wednesday Evening

[knife_bender]

It wasn't often that Diego spoke to Pogo, less often that Pogo called him, so when his phone rang that evening he knew that it was probably important.

And it was.

"He what?" Diego asked. "That's not--I just saw him."

...

"What do you mean he hasn't left the house in---oh." It all made sense now, why his father had visited last weekend. It was easy to brush off as a coincidence at the time since he hadn't known he was dead. Now...

"When's the funeral?" he asked. "Okay. Okay, I'll be there."

Diego hung up a few moments later and immediately shot off a text to Five. This was news best told in person.

[For a few!]

Comments

[knife_bender]

"You're the best," he said with a smile. "I like to think we can make it a couple hours no problem but..."

Well, he wasn't much of an optimist.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Funerals also did not seem to be the Hargreeves' strong suit, just overall.

"I'm sure we can," Annie assured him confidently. "It'll be over so fast, you won't even realize it." Though maybe everyone had chilled in the last twelve years. Annie wouldn't mind at all if they ended up staying longer and she got to know them a little. (She was going to have to work on her preconceptions, though. She was nursing something of a grudge against Vanya, already, without ever having met her.)

A thought occurred to her. "Oh, shit, Five's going to be a surprise, isn't he?"

[knife_bender]

"Oh, definitely," Diego said. "And I am absolutely not warning them about it."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Well. Paradoxes or whatever, right?" Annie pointed out, shrugging. ('Paradoxes' was becoming such a convenient excuse. It was almost as good as Steve's 'classified' thing.) "You probably shouldn't warn them."

Even if she suspected it had much more to do with how surprised Diego had been and ensuring his brothers and sisters were just as shocked by Five's reappearance and subsequent...Fiveness.

[knife_bender]

"Exactly." No, it was for the shock factor, completely. "Before you ask, I am not wearing a suit to this thing."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You can wear whatever you want," Annie assured him. "If you want to wear sweatpants, I'm not going to say anything except for how great you look in them."

Honestly, it seemed super unlikely to her that he'd even pack anything but black clothes, anyway. He barely owned any.

[knife_bender]

"I mean, sweatpants do make my ass look good." It was just a fact.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You're not going to narrow down what to wear that way," Annie teased gently, her smile widening a little as she leaned up to give him a light kiss.

Hey, distraction through flirting was definitely a way she could specifically help here. (It was also how Annie herself dealt with stress and grief, see also: pretty much the entire spring.)

[knife_bender]

Safe to say that Diego appreciated that approach to dealing with stress and grief. He kissed Annie back, lingering there for a moment. "I love you so much."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I love you too," Annie said softly, kissing him again. "So much. I'm here for all of it, okay? Anything."

Flirting, sex, holding a punching bag, fake emergencies, distracting his siblings -- anything.

(Maybe even talking about how fine he actually was at some point, even, but Annie wasn't holding her breath there.)

[knife_bender]

Diego leaned into give her another kiss. "The fact that you're willing to meet all of my siblings at once is proof enough that you're here for all of it."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I've been willing," Annie pointed out softly. "It just took -- this for it to happen."

Something of a blessing in disguise, really. At least, Annie was going to frame it that way. (The 'in disguise' part was something she was working on acknowledging, too, no matter how much she had personally disliked Sir Reginald.)

[knife_bender]

"Honestly, I think this is the only thing that could get us all in the same room," he admitted.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Really?" That made her kind of sad, really. She'd like to think something happier might have brought them back together, too. "Well. People change. Maybe -- it might go okay?"

Maybe everyone had matured. Maybe they'd even all missed each other. Or they might all just devolve to acting like how they had when they were kids once the siblings were back together, who could say.

[knife_bender]

"Maybe," he said, even if he didn't really believe it. "Of course they might be the same, just taller."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Like how you're exactly the same you were at seventeen, just taller?" Annie asked, tempering the question -- because she knew full well she was being a little bit of a smartass, but her point stood -- by reaching up to lightly trace her fingers along his neck, gentle and comforting. "Maybe."

[knife_bender]

"Five and Klaus are pretty much the same," Diego pointed out. "Actually, Five is worse."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"But not taller," Annie pointed out with a little smile. "I didn't realize Klaus' sticky fingers went back that far."

That just made her feel even worse for teenage Klaus than she already had, actually.

(Also, mental note: do not bring any cash to this funeral.)

[knife_bender]

"Klaus has always been weird," he said. "In advance, don't give him money and don't let him take you to a secondary location."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"No worries there," Annie assured him. "You said he can't drive, anyway."

But Annie could, and Annie was extremely susceptible to sob stories, so this warning wasn't exactly going to waste here.

[knife_bender]

"Yeah, that's how he sucks you in," Diego said. "He tells you he can't drive, you offer to take him somewhere, and then he never leaves your car."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"How about if Klaus asks me for anything, I run it by you first?" Annie offered, thinking that was a good approach. "Anything else I should keep in mind? I mean, I've been hearing about them all for...like, almost a year."

So it also kind of made her a little nervous? Though between the funeral and trying to run interference for Diego, she figured she'd probably be too busy to be all that nervous once she was there.

[knife_bender]

He thought about it for a moment. "Not really. I mean, you're used to Five. Everyone else has great manners compared to him."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That's what I've always figured!" And then things got a little more complicated when you factored in the hurt feelings Vanya had caused, and how things were probably going to inevitably be sort of snippy with Luther, but Annie had always figured no one could be worse than Five. "And you know, maybe he'll even be on good behavior for the occasion."

[knife_bender]

"I wouldn't go that far," Diego said, smiling slightly. "I don't think it's possible."