Vought Tower | Wednesday Afternoon

[knife_bender]

After one night of not sleeping, Diego had headed to New York to see if maybe a change of scenery would help with the issue. Turns out, it did. He had no reason to go back to Fandom anytime soon, so he decided to make himself comfortable. Here he had sleep and, now that people knew who he was, had free reign to use the tower's amenities.

Which mostly meant the gym. Usually when Annie was working he'd spend most of his time in there, and leave abruptly when a non-Maeve shaped person from the Seven came in. Today it was A-Train that cut his workout short. He hated that guy.

"You back yet?" Diego called out as he opened the door to Annie's apartment.

[For one!]

Comments

[knife_bender]

"Like another sibling," he said, frowning. "Yeah, I thought about that too. More power of love and friendship needed."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Or maybe just someone else with powers," Annie suggested, turning to slip her top off while frowning in thought. "Ideally someone who's pretty close to Five so it's not like, weird or invasive to ask them to help, and so there's at least friendship to work off of, since that seems important."

...or someone close to both Five and Diego with powers, Annie. If only you all knew someone like that.

[knife_bender]

"Oh my god we are so stupid." Like, the dumbest. And they haven't even called Olga Feroga yet!

[defenderofdesmoines]

"What?" Annie asked, it still not clicking for her. All those times she insisted Diego was smart were about to pay off, because she was going to feel like an absolute idiot in a second. "Do you think that Belle girl has powers?"

Five seemed to have exactly one friend, so might as well start there.

[knife_bender]

"No--well, I don't know, I never talk to that kid," Diego said, waving his hand. "You. You have powers. And I like you!"

He loved her, even!

[defenderofdesmoines]

"...oh my God, Diego." Annie was the dumbest person on the planet. Her powers even literally used batteries, and this hadn't occurred to her in all these metaphorical-battery talks. "And I like yo -- no, I love you, but I do at least like Five!"

Don't tell him, but she maybe loved him, too. Like an annoying little brother, or a grandfather. Kind of both.

[knife_bender]

A brofather, if you will.

"It could work." Maybe. "I mean, we have no other ideas, why not give it a shot?"

Which is exactly what he would tell Five when he made a face about this.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"What's the worst that can happen?" Annie asked, wide-eyed and excited about this now. "Like, I end up tired and nauseous too? Pff."

If it would help, she'd willingly be tired and nauseous for weeks on end. (And would kind of get her wish there, actually.)

"You are so fucking smart," she added, leaning up to cup Diego's face and kiss him.

[knife_bender]

Well, he didn't know if he was that smart, but he was going to accept the kiss anyway. "Call me smart if it works."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'm gonna call you smart for thinking of it, and you can't stop me," Annie replied, giving him another kiss for emphasis. "I have a genius boyfriend."

No, seriously, she felt so dumb herself for not thinking of that, so she was going to just keep buffing him up on this count. Maybe forever.

[knife_bender]

Diego grinned. "We can celebrate my genius in the shower."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"It's a multitasking shower," Annie replied, returning that grin as she peeled off her bra and started wriggling her dress and various skirts off. "Man, maybe I can try and get out of work for the rest of the week now that we have a good reason beyond, like, rehearsals for this stupid show sucking."

Spoiler: she would not be able to get out of work this week, and that was probably a good thing considering she was about to go AWOL.

[knife_bender]

"I mean, I support you getting out of work any time," Diego said, kicking his own shorts off. "You don't even need a reason as far as I'm concerned."

But Vought would probably want one, Diego.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You can help me think of something to tell them, then," Annie suggested, leaning in to test the water as she kicked off her tights. "I'm not sure they trusted my last excuse."

Possibly because she'd been fried from a straight week of nonstop sex, and then their future teenage children showing up as a chaser.

[knife_bender]

"What was that excuse again?" he asked, crowding up behind her to put his arms around her waist.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I believe I used the words 'fire-explosion,'" Annie said helpfully, sliding her hand along one of his arms and giving his forearm an affectionate and appreciative squeeze. "It was incredibly convincing, so I'm not sure what their problem was."

At least Annie was probably too deep into this to get fired and recast thanks to another absence before they'd need American Hero to go live?

[knife_bender]

"That's a great excuse!" How could no one believe that? "God, what more does your work want?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Details about the fire, and the explosion, and who was hurt in it," Annie supplied, stepping into the shower and pulling Diego along with her. "Clearly you're all sexy and unscathed as usual, so I'm glad I didn't try to say you were injured."

[knife_bender]

"You could always make up some more siblings of mine to create injuries for," Diego said, stepping into the shower. He ducked his head under the spray briefly to get his hair wet. "It's not like they're able to do a sibling count."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie, meanwhile, was twisting her hair up on top of her head in an effort that would likely prove entirely useless, and reached for her loofah. "Oh, that's good. And it's not like they can get in touch with them -- I lie and say I'm visiting my mom, and there's always a chance they're gonna call her."

Donna had already proven she couldn't be trusted in this capacity last spring, anyway, though hopefully that was a lesson firmly learned.

[knife_bender]

"You know, if this works," Diego started, moving out of the spray. "You're gonna be, like...time traveling."

No shit, Diego.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'd rather go time-traveling with you than do something boring with most people," Annie pointed out fondly, starting to lather up her arms. "I hope it's not, like, a time where I have to wear a long dress with a bunch of stuff under it."

Cute though she'd make a hoop skirt look.

[knife_bender]

"I have enough trouble getting you out of your uniform now," Diego joked, reaching for the bodywash. The manly stuff he kept there, not the girly stuff no matter how good it smelled.

"I don't think I could deal with corsets and garters."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I dunno, you liked those garters I wore for our first Valentine's Day," Annie pointed out, raising her eyebrows with a slow smile. "But they weren't all that complicated."

Reminders like that were probably not helpful when Annie was rubbing soapy lather all over her own skin, like, right there in front of him. Total coincidence, though.

[knife_bender]

Diego was absolutely not hiding the fact that he was taking in the view. That was the point of showering together, right?

"I did like those. A lot," he said. "But those didn't necessarily need to be removed to engage in certain activities."