knife_bender | MHA #2 | Saturday Evening

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MHA #2 | Saturday Evening

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!]

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"Didn't last spring get worse by last fall?" Diego asked lightly.

"We had a whole summer in-between," Annie pointed out. A summer where she'd fallen into a hole, sure, but still. "And I feel like you and I came out on the other side of last fall pretty solid."

Even given that they'd had probably their worst fight in the middle of that. Really, two of the worst (and only) arguments they'd ever had came out of last fall.

(And also, last fall was still sort of...ongoing, really. She was a little afraid to go look at the math board and see if any progress had been made.)

Edited 2022-03-16 11:08 (UTC)

"We did," he said, kissing the top of her head. "And it's been pretty smooth since then. Missing family aside."

Because, yeah, that was always a big thing on his mind.

"We'll find them," Annie said, almost a reflex as she reached for his hand and gently rubbed a thumb along the inside of his wrist. "Are you doing okay with how long it's taking to find them?"

She had a pretty good idea of how he was doing with it -- again, a benefit of being as close as they were -- but she more just wanted to open the floor for him to talk about it, if he wanted.

Edited 2022-03-16 12:08 (UTC)

Diego huffed. "I am not okay with it at all. But it's not like I can do anything about it."

"You can talk to me about it," Annie offered softly, giving his hand a little squeeze. "This shit was hard in September." And that had been, you know. Six months back.

"I'm sure they're okay," she added, just to be reassuring (and also because she believed it, genuinely. Okay, scratch that, she was super worried about both Klaus and Vanya when she let herself really think about it, but -- they were probably okay.) "But...I dunno. It was so nice seeing you with them."

Maybe a little rocky at first, sure. But the underpinnings of a family were all there.

"I missed being around them," Diego admitted. "What if they were okay and now they're not because we took so long?"

"Five says if he does it right," Annie said, trying to keep any notes of doubt out of her voice, "no time will have passed for them at all. So...maybe? Maybe they're in a tough spot now, because it's taking awhile. But isn't that the thing about time travel? Maybe we can just catch them right where they landed."

She shifted a little closer. "Do you think you'll see them more often, once we get them back?" She was just going to speak in the assumptive there -- they would get them back. Not even a question.

Diego shrugged. "Maybe? I mean, our home is gone. We only have each other, right?"

Well, that just made her cuddle a little closer to him. "You guys lost so much and you haven't even been able to process it together," she agreed softly. "But -- I guess I feel like it would also be really easy for you guys to go your separate ways for good, if that was what you wanted."

Without the house, or Pogo, or Grace to bind them -- or even Reginald -- it really did just come down to the siblings admitting they liked being around each other, from where Annie was sitting.

"It easy enough to go our separate ways the first time," Diego agreed, running his hand down her arm back and forth. "I hope it doesn't turn out that way."

"It won't if you don't want it to," Annie told him, tilting her head to press a soft, comforting kiss to his jaw. And she meant that -- in a way, it kind of hinged on Diego, since. Well. She hadn't noticed anyone else really picking fights with the others. (Aside from the whole thing where Vanya had tried to kill her and Allison specifically and then had brought down the house and killed Pogo and Grace in the process, but that seemed like a...one-off. Different from Diego's attitude towards his siblings.) "And you know I'll do whatever I can to get them back for you, too. I could try poking around the tower and see if we have any time travel stuff in the works, maybe?"

Oh, good, maybe she could blackmail another childhood friend.

"God, that would be scary if Vought was working on it." Knowing them they'd go back and make WWII end a little differently.

Just imagine Vought in cahoots with Five's former employers. A recipe for disaster.

"Yeah, but it also wouldn't shock me," Annie admitted, shrugging a shoulder lightly. "Maybe there's a hero who can do it, too, and I can make friends with them."

Maybe they'd even be friendlier than their current time-travel hope, but Annie knew too many heroes to get that optimistic.

"I appreciate you just thinking about how to help," Diego said with a smile. "More than I'm doing right now."

All he was doing was...being near Five? And hoping that his powers somehow changed to help the situation?

He could try hugging Five, you know. Hugs were right there as an option.

"All of this just kind of makes me want to try to, like, take care of you," Annie admitted, coloring slightly because that sounded so lame. "Like, I know I can't really help, so I just...keep trying to think of ways to support you. And Five, I guess."

But no, that was a pretty telling slip: she mostly was worried about making sure Diego got through all of this okay. Five wasn't going to talk to her about his feelings or what he needed, anyway.

"You always take care of me." Ugh. They were just...the most disgusting. "You're doing it right now."

"I guess I just wish there was more I could do," Annie replied, though his reassurance did make her smile softly as she nuzzled lightly against his neck. "More concrete ways I could help. I just worry about you."

In general, when she was gone, when she was here. She'd just been sort of low-key worried about him since last August, when all of this had been a capital-E Emergency and having it fade into this frustrating waiting game really hadn't...helped.

"I know," he said. If the tables were turned, he'd probably be a mess about it. Annie was at least being calm under pressure. "Being here helps a lot."

"Maybe I can be here more," Annie replied, snugging herself against him a little more firmly for emphasis. "Seriously. They're programming out my summer, like, tomorrow. Maybe I can cut back on some stuff."

She knew it was a fairly dumb suggestion, but it was worth trying. How many more pictures of her could they need to take, anyway?

"Or I can bring you to stuff with me." Maybe it was time to introduce Diego to the world. She'd have an easier time dragging him around to shoots and stuff with her, at least.

"I don't want you cutting back on stuff. Your job is important." Both on a personal level to her, and the fact she was a superhero (even if a lot of the job was photoshoots).

"Would you even want me around for that sort of stuff?" he asked. "It won't throw you off your groove?"

God knows he felt like a super huge dork when he had to do shoots way back when.

"Are you kidding?" Annie asked, shaking her head slightly even before he was done talking. "It takes so much to throw me off my groove. I took first place in a pageant where we lost power halfway through, once. I can, like, smile and wave and look pretty in the middle of a hurricane. You won't be a distraction. Might be kind of boring for you, though."

And if it was one of the rare non-boring events -- well, actually, that would probably be kind of frustrating for Diego, actually, since Annie would insist on not letting him help lest he get drafted as a new team member.

"I do recall it being slightly boring." Well, a lot boring. "But that's what my phone is for, right?"

Look at him, all spoiled on smartphones now.

"Worst case scenario, there's your phone," Annie agreed. "But like you're also not confined to my side while I'm working. You could go run around the city, or like, ride all the Voughtland coasters while I'm promoting my stupid carousel, or whatever. But I miss you when I'm not here," which was probably obvious given how she'd launched herself at the couch and was celebrating the thrill of having a Tuesday night off, "and if being around is the best way I can help...then, like, I want to be around as much as I can."

Plus, you know. Touching. Kissing. Sex. Physical contact was a huge way they showed affection, and Annie also was willing to privately admit that it was a major way they dealt with things, too.

"If you're sure it won't mess anything up then, yeah, I'd like to be around more," he said. "It's only fair I do my share of the portal hopping in this relationship."

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