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

[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.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Well, considering that Annie couldn't see a future where they even got engaged without finding his siblings first, that seemed like a foregone conclusion to her, too.

"Klaus seems like the type to teach the kids whole phrases or questions to ask that we won't want to answer," Annie replied, narrowing her eyes a little. "Like, swears seem like a start."

[knife_bender]

"That's a very good point," he said. "And Five wouldn't be much better."

But he might give them old man candy, when Annie wasn't doing it herself.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I literally do not trust Five with our plants," Annie replied, gesturing to said plants. "So yeah, no surprises there. I wonder if they'll come visit again. Maybe they'll be little next time, like everyone else's kids."

She'd kind of liked being able to talk to them like adults, though. It kind of made it less weird, in a way? (And also probably more weird, in a way.)

[knife_bender]

"You want two little kids around before we're ready for them?" Diego asked. "You're a brave woman."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I don't know if 'want' is the word," Annie replied, making a little show of looking alarmed. "I'm just speculating. I think we were the only ones with teenagers, before."

And again, everyone else seemed like they'd kind of had a time of it with their little ones.

[knife_bender]

"Was Five's kid a teenager?" It was kind of hard to tell.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Tim doesn't count," Annie decided, frowning. "Because like...who knows. I think he seemed younger than the twins, but -- I don't know? That was so weird."

And had really only just raised, like, a lot of questions. Like a lot of them.