MHA # 2 Friday Afternoon

[knife_bender]

It had been a long day in Baltimore, going to wedding venue after wedding venue and mostly standing there looking supportive while Annie asked questions he didn't really understand. It was fun going over hypothetical menus though. Most importantly, this also made them finally settle on a date for the wedding. So now it felt like An Actual Thing that was happening.

And they got to visit his siblings at their abode, which was exhausting for a whole different reason.

"Why is there so much paperwork involved?" Diego asked, dumping the armful of brochures and package options he had been given throughout the day onto the kitchen table.

[For the girl, but can also be open if you want]

Comments

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Probably because there's money involved," Annie pointed out reasonably, already moving to spread out the options a little neater on the table so they could sift through the ones they'd actually liked. "And, you know. It's our big day."

They had heard those words a whole lot over the last several hours.

[knife_bender]

Diego groaned. "I could go the rest of my life without hearing those words again."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You aren't gonna get that," Annie told him, going onto her toes to press a light kiss to his cheek. "Like, I'm sorry, it's probably gonna happen a lot between now and October."

They had a date. She could say things like that now.

[knife_bender]

"Well when people say it, can it be without the creepy smile?" he asked. "I felt like they were trying to lure me into a cult."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"The cult of wedding-planning," Annie agreed, widening her eyes playfully. "Which, for the record, I think we should resist joining as much as possible. It's a big day, but we have our whole lives ahead of us after we get married, you know?"

This was mostly an excuse to throw a big party and force their friends to watch them talk about loving each other.

[knife_bender]

"I mean, I don't think we should be joining any cults," Diego said. "Even if they're run by a family member."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I dunno. That was a pretty sweet cult compound," Annie pointed out, teasing as she started sifting through the brochures. "We could have gotten married there."

Missed opportunities for a novelty wedding in Dallas all over the place here.

[knife_bender]

"I'm willing to let Klaus officiate," Diego said. "I am not willing to have his cult members as guests. They seemed like a bunch of freaks."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh, they were," Annie confirmed, turning over a sheet of paper so she could read the back. "So, that arboretum was nice. I wonder if they'd notice if we put knives in the plants."

Probably.

[knife_bender]

"I mean with the amount of money we would be paying to have the wedding there I think we can hide as many knives as we want," Diego said. "But we might be asking for a fight, depending on the guest list, so maybe weapons aren't a great idea."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Well, you'll be armed, anyway," Annie pointed out. "Unless you changed your mind on that."

And Annie just was Annie, so she would also be armed, in a sense.

"So we're probably be fine." She moved the flyer for the arboretum to its own little pile, to isolate it as a possible contender. "We're nixing the place with the little food, right?"

[knife_bender]

"Oh yeah, for sure," Diego said. "I want actual portion sizes, not food meant for Smurfs."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"But you get that it would be, like, a lot of Smurf-sized food, right?" Annie checked. "I don't think they'd shortchange us on people getting to actually eat."

But hey, tiny food was tiny food.

[knife_bender]

"It's the principle of the thing." The principle of Diego just not liking tiny food for reasons unknown. "Luther's gonna be eating off everybody's plate as it is, you don't need to make things easier to carry to help him out."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Yeah, I didn't realize he did that," Annie noted, torn between finding it charming and also wanting to protect all future food from Luther. "So maybe sit-down food to try to get around that a little."

[knife_bender]

"And put him between two people who will smack him if he tries any shit," Diego said with a nod.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"He's gonna be buddied up with Maeve for a lot of stuff, probably seating included," Annie noted. "That should not be a problem."

And Maeve would also deliver the kinds of smacks that would actually catch Luther's attention.

[knife_bender]

"She might be the only person to keep him in line when it comes to food," he said, wandering over to the couch. "I'm glad we finally picked a date."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie sorted the brochure she was currently considering -- a very fancy hotel that appeared to have normal-sized catering -- into the 'contenders' stack, and took a moment to straighten it before moving over to join him. "It makes it really real, having a date," she admitted, which was both a great thing and -- the first part of this that had inspired any kind of nerves.

Not bad nerves, mind, just...'oh shit, this is going to happen' nerves.

[knife_bender]

"Yeah," he agreed, smiling a little. "We're going to be married October 15th. Deadline is there."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I can't wait, but I'm also glad we have a few months," Annie decided, immediately tucking herself into his side as soon as she took a seat. "It's like, just the right length of time to plan the little bit that we need to, and enjoy being engaged."

She really didn't think there was a ton they needed to figure out. Clothes, flowers, cake, DJ, honeymoon. They could handle that.

[knife_bender]

"You think people have gotten sick of us yet?" he joked.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, they can get over it if they have," Annie decided, leaning up to press a kiss to his cheek. "But I also don't think either of us has been annoying about it or anything."

Not more annoying than they had been before he'd put a ring on it, anyway.

[knife_bender]

That was true. They had always been pretty disgusting.

"If people think we're annoying now, wait until I start saying 'my wife' every other sentence."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh my God, that's already so cute," Annie sighed, her heart doing a little flip-flop even though she was almost getting used to hearing terminology like that. "You're gonna be such a good husband."

Already an A+ boyfriend and he had gracefully ascended to A+ fiancé, so she was pretty confident there.

[knife_bender]

"I'm going to try my best," he said, leaning in for a kiss. "I'm a pretty quick learner."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I have noticed that," Annie murmured into the kiss, humming happily. It was something she liked about him a whole lot, actually. "I think you might have natural talent in this particular area, though."

Just to be, like, really adorable about it.

[knife_bender]

Diego smiled. "Why thank you. I could say the same for you."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Then we seem pretty well-suited to each other," Annie decided, shifting so she could lean back against Diego, rather than into his side. "You were really patient today. I know that was, like, a lot of talk about centerpieces and stuff."

Though, to be fair: centerpieces would be a good spot for hiding knives, if he decided he did want them!

[knife_bender]

"Still don't understand the point of those, by the way," he said. "And they kept asking us about colors."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"They're to decorate the tables, and they help people know where to sit," Annie explained, reaching for one of his hands to play with it. "And we're gonna have to figure out colors eventually. Flowers and stuff come in colors. But it can be a subdued amount of color, at least."

[knife_bender]

"So black and dark gray are out, huh?" he asked, taking her hand.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Kinda intense for a wedding, babe." Though now she was trying to think if she'd ever seen black or dark gray flowers, come to think of it. "But we could do black with like, one or two accent colors, maybe. Something to think about."

[knife_bender]

"I'll support whatever you want," he said, kissing the top of her head. "Even if it's, like, hot pink."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I wouldn't do that to us," Annie assured him with a laugh, snuggling a little more comfortably against him. "And I'm still gonna run stuff by you, even if you say that."

Because that was part of the fun of this! Getting to do all this stuff together. Even, maybe, the tedious centerpiece parts.

[knife_bender]

"You can run whatever you want by me," he said. "Just don't be surprised if I don't have strong opinions on flowers and invitations."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I know who I'm marrying," Annie assured him, lifting his hand to give it a kiss. "To be fair, I also don't really have strong opinions about invitations. Other than that our names should be spelled right."

[knife_bender]

"I would have serious concerns if someone messed up your last name." Like, it was a wholeass month.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Well, now I feel like I'm gonna need to triple check them in case you jinxed it." Though he was right. It was on calendars for thirty-one days of the year.

Annie was quiet for a moment, idly twining her fingers through his. "I think I'm gonna take your name, once we're married."

Hyphenating had its appeal, but it was also...long.

[knife_bender]

It would be a ridiculously long last name.

"Yeah?" Diego said, breaking out into a grin. "I was hoping you'd say that."

He had thought about it, obviously, but didn't know how to bring it up since that was something that was 100% her choice.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, don't get me wrong -- Annie January is a great name," she said, shifting just enough to be able to look at him and offer out a soft little smile of her own. "But Annie Hargreeves has a really nice ring to it, too."

She had maybe practiced saying it aloud alone a few times, just to see. Maybe wrote it down a few places to test out what it looked like.

[knife_bender]

"Annie Hargreeves sounds amazing," Diego said. "And that's only me being slightly biased."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Maybe just slightly," Annie agreed, leaning up for another kiss. "But yeah. I'm glad you're in favor."

She had figured he would be, but she genuinely had struggled with the decision for a little while -- but in the end, the sense of belonging she already could feel and symbolic nature of sharing a surname made it an easy call.