knife_bender | MHA #2 Sunday Morning

Annie was also very asleep and utterly content to be there. It was cozy, she was being cuddled, and when everyone was awake, there was a good chance she was going to make an inspiring speech for the cause of going out to find waffles somewhere in the world. (Blame Nina.)

But for the moment, she was really very asleep, curling an arm over Diego's to just amplify the cuddles.

Kind of a perfect, peaceful Sunday, if you asked Annie.

How disgustingly domestic of them.

Five, on the other hand, had gone through what he could with radio broadcasts and figured out he had a sibling here. Which was why he'd broken in and was currently making himself coffee in Diego's meager kitchen.

Diego was a light sleeper (shocking no one considering he was a paranoid mess of a person) so of course he would hear someone in his kitchen. When the only other person who should be there was still beside him in bed he came to the conclusion that someone was breaking in.

Which was weird because he had absolutely nothing worth stealing.

He shook Annie awake with one hand while the other was reaching for a knife he predictably kept under his pillow.

While Annie was not a paranoid, light sleeper, that was not how she'd been expecting to be woken up today, and it was enough to startle her into consciousness.

And between seeing that Diego was getting his pillow knife (never giving him shit about that again) and how she could now hear that it sounded like someone was in the apartment with them, Annie was very quickly on the same page.

Her eyes flickered as she sat up carefully in bed and drew power into herself from what was around, because she wanted to be ready if the guy came charging into the bedroom - which in turn made half the appliances in the apartment buzz in response. Annie's powers meant that she was never great at the element of surprise, unfortunately.

Five made a face as the coffee maker did A Thing. All he wanted was a cup of mediocre coffee and and lay eyes on his brother so he could go back to ignoring him in favor of what he needed to get done here!

Dolores would--well, she would have scolded him for that. But she wasn't here.

Good, he was glad he and Annie were on the same page here. Diego got out of bed (not naked, you're welcome, Five) and headed towards the kitchen...

...and immediately threw a knife at the coffee maker. Because he was not above destroying his own stuff to make a dramatic entrance.

Okay, Annie (who was also not naked!) was not willing to destroy her boyfriend's stuff in order to make a dramatic entrance, but she was doing her dramatic glowing-hands-and-eyes superhero pose while also trying to insinuate herself in front of Diego, because what if this maniac had a gun?

Though it did not seem like this particular maniac had a gun.

No, this maniac immediately teleported away from the coffee maker, the other side of the room in order to casually slouch in their general direction. "Really, Diego?"

And if he had a gun, he would have used it before they woke up, thank you very much.

Diego's eyes widened in shock. His expression then settled into one of extreme annoyance.

"Where the fuck have you been?!"

Look he knew the bigger question was how and why but the first thing Diego needed was an explanation of how Five got to skip out on those extra years of child abuse. It was unfair.

"Um." Well. This was all fairly unexpected. There was a child teleporting around Diego's apartment, now, and Annie's first thought was that this must be some kind of Fandom thing. Maybe one of those possible children she'd heard about? Probably not, given that apparently these two already were acquainted?

Annie let her eyes fade, which in turn meant everything stopped buzzing, though she kept her hands up for the moment because that had not exactly sounded welcoming. "You know this kid?"

Five rolled his eyes, teleporting back over to yank the knife out of the coffee maker and drop it onto the counter top. "This kid is older than you, so a little respect would be appreciated."

Then, he teleported over to the fridge to investigate what was in there. "And to answer your question, I was in the future."

Great, now he owed Klaus five bucks. Could this day get any worse?

"Annie, this is Five," Diego said. "You don't have to give him any respect."

Especially considering he broke into the apartment and was now rifling through his fridge.

Annie was at least going to be a little more polite and lower her hands, now. "Oh." Oh, sure, it was just Diego's brother who had disappeared when they were younger. No big deal. And in spite of the absurdity of the situation - and the fact that Five had broken in - Annie couldn't help the impulse to try to salvage the situation a little and make a good impression. "Um, hi."

And now she just had more questions. Like a lot more questions.

"I thought you were all the same age?" she finally landed on.

"If you go by the year we were born, we are," Five said, making face at the lack of food before moving on to the cabinets to steal some Poptarts. "If you go by the time spent in the future, I am nearly thirty years older than him now."

He followed that little detail up with a smug look at Diego.

Yeah he was not jealous that Five was Dad's age. Gross.

"So, what, you disappear for thirty years and just randomly decide to come back and break into my apartment?" Diego said, moving closer so he could push Five out of the way of his goddamn Poptarts. "Dude, get out of my shit."

This was gonna end in a slap fight.

You know what, Annie still had a bunch of questions - like, starting with why Five was a little boy and not sixty or whatever he was claiming? But she could feel the impending slap fight, and plus this was the first of Diego's siblings she'd met, and no matter how unexpected it was, she had to try.

"It's very nice to meet you, Five." And it looked like a bad time to attempt a handshake, so she just waved, looking incredibly weirded about this whole thing despite her better efforts.

Five teleported just out of Diego's reach with the box of Poptarts, treating his brother very much like the minor annoyance that he was.

He eyed Annie for a minute, clearly taking stock of her and her place here. And then immediately dismissing her. Sorry, Annie. You got the least friendly one!

"What year is it for you?" he demanded of his brother. With a Poptart half in his mouth.

"Sorry, he's an asshole," Diego said to Annie. "He's always been like that."

He then pointed a finger at Five. "And you don't get to ask me questions, especially when you come in after sixteen years looking like you haven't hit puberty yet."

"It's 2021." Annie really wanted Five to like her, okay? Even if he was an asshole. "And...I could go?"

She wasn't moving to leave, like, at all, because she wanted to see all this play out, but she felt like she had to offer out of politeness.

"That would be ideal," Five replied brightly, lifting the other half of his Poptart in a toast. "And Dad got one thing right. Time travel is... unpredictable when done without the aid of technology."

"No, she gets to stay seeing as she's actually wanted here." Diego did get some satisfaction knowing Five had to deal with thirty-something years with the knowledge that Dad was right about something. He knew how much that sucked.

"It is 2021 here," Diego said. "But it's 2019 back home."

In the city with no name.

You know, wherever that was!

"Can I help with anything?" You know, so she'd have something to do besides just openly watch them argue? "I could heat those up," she added, gesturing to the Poptarts. With the toaster, not her hands.

The coffeemaker was clearly a lost cause, which was a shame because she would really like some coffee at a minimum to deal with this whole thing right now.

"Oh god, you're dating mom," Five realized after a moment.

Diego actually flushed a little bit. "I am not!"

Yeah, okay, maybe he should have asked Annie to leave. Too late now.

"He is not, and you're rude," Annie decided, kind of deciding that maybe she didn't need Five to like her that bad. At least for now. Plus it was kind of hard to take anything Five said seriously because he was a child (if a very articulate and old-acting child.) And also she was sort of flattered to be compared to their mom since she seemed nice!

But, like, not touching the Oedipal implications there with a ten-foot pole. "You can just eat it cold, then, never mind."

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