MHA #2 | Saturday Evening

[knife_bender]

Diego's usual Tuesday evenings were nothing glamorous. He was almost always alone (Five puttering around the guest room didn't count), and he fell into a sort of routine on the days Annie was in New York working. He'd work out, come home, shower, make a sandwich for dinner and then settle down with a book or TV until he felt like going to sleep.

Tonight was no different. He was currently post-sandwich, and well on his way to picking a channel to veg out to.

[3 for 3 today. For the girl!]

Comments

[knife_bender]

"And you are very good with those superpowers," he said, putting one of his arms around her shoulders. "Not to mention the fact you're the hottest and most charming of The Seven."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'm the most likeable," Annie corrected modestly. "I think Maeve's the hot one."

Though he was of course very welcome to disagree on that point, biases be damned.

[knife_bender]

"I mean, I'm not gonna say Maeve's not hot," Diego said, because he had eyes. "But you are way hotter."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I like that it doesn't bother you," Annie offered with a slightly-shy smile. "Some guys might get, like, all caveman-y about their girlfriend getting the kind of attention I get."

Annie was pretty over it, herself, but it was a lot better now that she was in the cape pretty much full-time. Less catcalling, anyway.

[knife_bender]

"I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm a pretty secure guy." Well. When it came to some things. Annie made it extremely obvious that she was into him, so that helped boost his confidence.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I have noticed. It's ones of your hottest qualities," Annie told him, proving all of that narrative right by leaning up to kiss him again. And the scant few areas where he did seem to lack confidence tended to tug right on Annie's heartstrings, and make her want to bolster that security in himself even more.

(And someday, she might finally be exposed to his stutter and all that went along with it, and would likely go into some kind of protective rage.)

[knife_bender]

Diego was proud of how long he had been able to keep that under wraps. He didn't even like to look at that as a part of himself, so he felt better knowing he was so improved that he hadn't made any noticeable slip ups around Annie.

"I don't think you'd get jealous over me either," Diego murmured. "I'd like to think I'm pretty blatant about how nuts I am over you."

What with the marriage and kids thing together being pretty much settled before they even dated for a year.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Yeah. I love it," Annie told him with a fond smile, reaching up to lightly feather her fingertips through his hair. "I have zero worries about you, ever, at all." And considering her history, it was really nice to have that kind of unwavering loyalty.

A pause, and then, "But I also think you'd probably find it hot if I knocked out some chick I thought was hitting on you. Like, in the moment." Like, just to put that out there. It wasn't necessarily healthy, or even likely to come up -- they lived on a small island where pretty much everyone they knew was well aware of how they felt about each other -- but knowing what made him tick was also part of what was so great about being so into each other.

[knife_bender]

"I mean, yeah, I wouldn't be opposed." He'd be very much into that, actually. "But you know I like watching you punch just about anybody."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"This just reinforces my idea that we need a punching outing together soon," Annie decided. "I don't think I can be Starlight for it if we go to my universe, but that's not, like, the end of the world."

Kind of a bummer for him, since she knew he liked the outfit. But there were other appealing crimefighting outfits out there that were less instantly recognizable.

[knife_bender]

"You could always dress up like me." So they both could be confused for burglars.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Better to be confused for a burglar than accurately recognized as America's Super-Sweetheart, at least?

"That's a fun idea," Annie mused. "And a mask would help with the recognition thing." Honestly, probably even better than her messy-bun-and-sunglasses thing did. "And like, no one would expect Starlight to wear black leather."

Which also kind of made it fun for her. Like actually being someone kind of new for once.

[knife_bender]

"Are you trying to make me think about you in black leather?" Diego teased, leaning in to kiss her again.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie smiled into the kiss, pulling back just enough to murmur, "Is it working?"

Hey, she had to go through life seeing him in black leather on the regular. Only fair.

[knife_bender]

"Yes," he said, smiling. "And you look great in it."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Then I should probably bring you shopping with me to pick out this leather, eventually," Annie replied, leaning in to kiss his smile.

Sure, that wouldn't lead to fitting room sex or anything.

[knife_bender]

"I mean, I am kind of an expert on it," he murmured, bumping his nose against hers.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Exactly. So you'll know what to look for," Annie agreed, sliding an arm around his midsection. "I'm still kind of new to leather."

As in, the vast majority of her experience with leather was admiring other people (Diego, Maeve) wearing it.

[knife_bender]

"Can't be that new," he said. "Didn't even have a rebellious leather jacket?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh yeah, because I did a whole lot of rebelling before, like...last year," Annie replied, arching a brow. "I used to have probably-leather cowgirl boots as part of my uniform? But that was when I was really little."

And after a certain point, white cowgirl boots just became impractical as part of a working superhero uniform.

[knife_bender]

"I think I vaguely recall some little boots being involved when you were tiny," he said with a grin. "Of course I was also pretty focused on making sure you didn't get donut all over my furniture..."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"And trying to get me to say bad words and then threatening me with arrest," Annie added, tsking and shaking her head. "Such a bad influence."

[knife_bender]

"Well how else was I supposed to amuse myself when you're a kid?" he asked. He wasn't the storytelling and tea party type!

[defenderofdesmoines]

God, but picture that.

"By doing kid stuff," Annie replied, amused. "Are we going to have little foul-mouthed twins eventually thanks to you?"

Honestly, that sounded sort of cute, here in the distant past when they weren't really her little responsibilities yet.

[knife_bender]

"Honestly, that'll probably be Klaus' fault more than mine." Of course he couldn't imagine a future where they'd be raising the twins without his family around.