MHA #2 | Wednesday Evening

[knife_bender]

So the idea had been to go out to eat after spending time in a haunted corn maze (benefit of your anniversary being near Halloween), but by the time it was all over both Diego and Annie were too covered in dirt and straw to really be allowed into a place that wasn't Denny's.

Of course they could have had some self-restraint and not have gone so hard racing through the maze, but they wouldn't be Diego and Annie if they didn't.

That was fine. It had been a fun time, and pizza was always good. Especially when it was timed perfectly and dropped off at the apartment door just as they were getting back.

[For the person who's been his girlfriend for 365 days]

Comments

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'm almost as hard to read as you are," Annie teased, rubbing her thumb lightly along his jaw.

If asked, he'd had dirt there. In reality: any excuse for touching.

[knife_bender]

Oh no, anything but more touching.

"I am very mysterious," he said, turning his head some to kiss the palm of her hand. "Didn't you see how I was mysteriously evading those people dressed up like clowns in the maze?"

More like speedily running from them but whatever.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Well, yeah, didn't you see me trying not to swoon over all the mystery?" Annie replied, beaming up at him.

More like making heart eyes at all that speedy evasion -- much like the heart eyes she was giving him now -- but whatever.

[knife_bender]

"I must have missed it." You know, when trying to not get touched by the clowns. "I was very impressed by your ability to solve that maze, by the way. Great leadership."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That Iowa upbringing's finally paying off," Annie replied, picking a piece of straw off where it was clinging to his shoulder. "Told you I like cornfields. We should do Halloween stuff for our anniversary every year."

Aww. Every year still gave her a little surge of happiness.

"There's something very romantic about evading clowns and chainsaws," she added, finally starting to pull back a little because, like, let's not entirely forsake the pizza, here. "

[knife_bender]

"I am totally all for that," Diego said, going to grab plates for the pizza. "Next year we can go to a haunted house. Or one of those haunted prisons."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"A haunted prison?" Annie echoed, eyes wide. "I mean, that might have actual, real, angry ghosts."

Which both sounded fun and kind of legitimately scary, especially compared with their prior disco-themed haunted house experience. Annie had grown up firmly not believing in ghosts, of course, but her skepticism there had been another casualty of the year.

[knife_bender]

"You're not afraid of ghosts are you?" he teased. He already knew ghosts were real, but if Klaus could deal with them they couldn't be that bad.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, I don't know," Annie admitted, thinking about it. "How do you even fight a ghost? Can I punch them, or would my fist just go through them?"

Probably depended on the ghost, Annie.

[knife_bender]

"I don't think ghosts can hurt us. Unless they're Ben," Diego said, reaching for a slice of pizza. "But with Ben I think it was the same deal as the rest of us -- he only got more powerful because we were together."

Which was still lame.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That's still the sweetest thing," Annie said, disagreeing with that narrative entirely. "Maybe most ghosts are like Ben -- not in the adorable family-makes-us-stronger way, but in the, like, friendly ghost way." Prison ghosts probably just wanted to be visited, really. Maybe a prison-ghost penpal or two.

She paused as she got herself some pizza as well and added, "Ben was with Klaus, like, all the time, right? Like...including in that backseat when we gave him a ride?"

She'd had this realization already, but maybe Diego had not. At least Annie had already blushed herself silly over it, anyway.

[knife_bender]

"From what I understand, yeah. Since the funeral, apparently," Diego said, not embarrassed at all by what Ben may or may not have seen. "Still can't believe the jerk never told us."

Well, he could believe it, but it was still a dick move.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Well, he could afford to not be embarrassed, seeing as they were not his panties being waved around.

"Maybe he was just waiting for the right time?" Annie suggested, shrugging a shoulder. "For...like, twelve or so years."

Yeah, maybe Klaus didn't super deserve that benefit of the doubt, there, Annie.

[knife_bender]

"Or he was being a jackass," Diego said. "That must suck for Ben, going around having to watch Klaus do...Klaus stuff."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"At least he's not alone?" Annie offered. "Either of them. They're probably together now."

Not that it seemed like Klaus, like, listened to Ben-the-presumed-voice-of-reason all that often, but she did like the idea of a...buddy for Klaus, and a less-lonely afterlife for Ben.

"But yeah, Ben's probably seen some things." Annie winced exaggeratedly as she took a bite of pizza.

[knife_bender]

"Horrible, horrible things," Diego said with a fond smile. "It was pretty cool to see him. Just this blue ghostly Ben came out of Klaus' chest and then he brought out the tentacles and started kicking ass."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That must have been so surreal," Annie said sincerely, still kind of in awe over the whole thing. "Did he, like...." She debated with herself how to phrase it, and landed on, "Is he like, your age? Or does he look like he did before?"

Did ghosts age? Was that even the right term?

[knife_bender]

"He did look older," Diego said, frowning like that just occurred to him. "That's so weird."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I don't know whether that's weirder than a teenage ghost who's been, like, mentally aging along with the rest of you," Annie mused, "but I've also gotten used to a pretty new scale of weirdness over the last year."

Like, honestly, given the Five thing that almost made more sense?

[knife_bender]

"I can't believe I haven't scared you off yet with this shit," he joked.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Please, it's a mutual scale of weirdness." Annie leveled a look over at him. "I have no business being scared off by ghost brothers when I'm bringing, like, prehensile super-dicks and exploding heads to the party."

[knife_bender]

"You know what? Fair," Diego said before finishing up his first slice of pizza. "Dick thing made for a great story, though. I could never repay you for that."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"It's one of the better stories we have," Annie agreed, and that in and of itself was a great hallmark of being a longterm couple -- Annie felt totally comfortable characterizing something that had happened to Diego (really, that had happened to MM in front of Diego) as a shared story. "Up there with the hand thing and the time you threw knives at me."

Really, the only unusual thing there was that there was still only the one time that that had happened. Annie credited her own total inability to be sneaky, more than anything.

[knife_bender]

"Man, imagine what kind of crazy shit we'll get to tell stories about in a decade." Would they really be able to beat the penis story though? Probably not.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Who knew what insanity awaited them in just the coming year? Time travel. Alternate universes. Maybe something called 'herogasm.'

"Maybe we'll get really lucky and, like, our first year will just be really front-loaded," Annie suggested, absolutely doubting that. "Things on my end are pretty calm," for now, "and once we find everyone, maybe things'll be settled down on your end, too, and we can go back to, like, fighting morons in Baltimore and maybe the occasional string of Christmas lights."