MHA #2 | Wednesday Morning

[knife_bender]

The weekend had been weird, but the kind of weird where the good outweighed the bad, so Diego couldn't really complain. The Five thing had been weird. Same with the lack of powers and tattoos. But, he was happily married, and apparently had some awesome kids that could throw a rager. So, really no reason to mope.

Just a lot of not asking questions was happening over here. Instead he was just...very, very focused on the Food Network the last couple days. Maybe one day he'd actually cook something he learned on TV.

[For the fiancée, and open to anyone who wants to stop by for some reason]

Comments

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie hadn't even thought about what Vought would do with pregnant Starlight. She already had a line of diapers; they'd probably want to monetize the shit out of it. But as resolute as she'd been about trying to maintain Diego's privacy as much as she could -- she'd quit on the spot the second Seth or Evan from Marketing suggested using their babies to sell something. Absolutely not.

Something to think about, for when the time came.

"I think," she said slowly, "that it's sooner than what I'd pictured, but I can't wait to see how good a dad you're going to be."

She was pretty sure she was going to be a good mom, but not as certain as she was about him.

"Maybe I can wait a little," she amended, half-joking in spite of how soft her smile had gotten. "At least until after the wedding."

[knife_bender]

"Oh definitely after the wedding, god," he said, face turning a little red at being called a good dad. "But after--I mean, you're the one on birth control. So whenever you're ready. I'm ready."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Maybe...." Annie started, a little hesitant just because this was -- you know. Enormous, even if it was still hypothetical. "Maybe I make an appointment for, like, the end of the year to get the thing taken out, and we can see what happens?"

Annie was pretty sure most people didn't get pregnant the first time they had sex without birth control, regardless of the particular flavor of abstinence-first education she'd had. And giving herself a good few months here provided the time she'd want to maybe research that kind of thing a little.

[knife_bender]

An alternate Lila would like to have a word with you about Diego's swimmers, Annie!

"I like that idea," he said, giving her hand a squeeze. "I think you'd be a good mom too, for the record."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Hey, maybe that alternate Lila and Annie would be able to commiserate on that point. Who could say.

"Maybe." She didn't have a very good example to follow as far as her own mom, and her dad had left early enough that she mostly just had rosy, sweet memories of the good times. At least Diego'd had Grace to model some form of good parenting. (Though it also seemed to be a fairly indulgent, cookie-baking form of parenting, and Annie did not know how to make cookies. Yet. Maybe she'd learn in anticipation of needing them for small people.) "I hope so. But our kids are always so cool when we meet them. It seems like we did a good job?"

This was also kind of the part of time stuff that she didn't understand. Were the twins born next year because Annie and Diego had flashed forward in time and seen that that was when they had kids? Or would it have always been that way?

[knife_bender]

That was one of those time things you probably shouldn't think too hard about otherwise you'd end up going nuts.

"I mean, we're pretty much the most awesome people ever," he joked. "So it only makes sense our kids would be cool, right?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, our awesomeness is going to have to take kind of a backseat, if we do this," Annie pointed out. "Probably less fighting. Definitely less sex in the living room."

Nine months without jello shots. Probably longer if she breastfed.

[knife_bender]

"Maybe consider getting a bigger place when they start moving around on their own," Diego said, looking around at the size of their living room. "Sacrifices are gonna have to be made, yeah, but worth it in the end, right?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"They'll eventually need their own rooms," Annie agreed, following his gaze. But the phrasing there also gave her a little pause as she reached over and ran her thumb alongside his tattoo. "What if it's somehow related?"

She actually kind of figured her future self's absence from The Seven probably had a lot to do with the twins, now that she was thinking about it. There was no way to sustain her current schedule with kids involved, and moreover -- she already knew she wouldn't want to do that.

[knife_bender]

"What, like the kids are little parasites that take away my powers?" Diego asked. "Good thing they're cute."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, maybe?" Annie tried, grasping at straws. "You'd think they'd take mine, if that's the case. Or maybe it's totally unrelated. I'm just trying to think of other things that made future us different from current us."

But, frustratingly, they had not spent all weekend recapping the past twenty years of adventures, so she was kind of working with very limited information, here.

[knife_bender]

"Allison had Claire," Diego pointed out. "And she still has her powers. So I'm guessing it's unrelated. Or Allison got really lucky."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh, that's a good point," Annie noted, turning a little sad at the mention of Claire. God, that must be so difficult for Allison. "Okay, good. Or, well, not really good, 'cause it'd be nice to know what causes it, but at least it's probably not like some kind of awful trade."

At least, not a trade for the kids. Maybe it was for something else.

[knife_bender]

"Yeah, that would suck," he agreed. "But if that was the trade off, I'd still do it."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"And that," Annie told him softly, "is how I know you're going to be a good dad."

She leaned up to kiss him. "I love you." With powers, without powers. On the team, off the team. With kids, and just theorizing about them.

[knife_bender]

"I love you too," he murmured. "We're gonna be awesome parents. Sooner or later, whichever."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Whenever it happens." Annie liked this plan of taking out her implant and letting fate (or God or the universe or biology if you wanted to be real boring about it) decide. It was just the right balance of intent (and, per usual, surprising maturity) from the two of them, and not overthinking to the point of making herself anxious. "But after the wedding. And this stupid movie premiere, which is hopefully both the first and last of those."

God, she so did not want to go to that on Friday, now. Between the emotions the weekend had stirred up and wedding-planning, she kind of just wanted to hang out with Diego and just have a little quiet time. Maybe pick out some centerpieces.

[knife_bender]

Diego wrinkled up his nose. "Almost forgot about the premiere."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Wanna come down with a bad cold over the next two days?" Annie teased, going in for another kiss. "Maybe break your leg?"

Just pretend to break his leg, of course. It would be absurd to actually break a bone to get out of something.

[knife_bender]

Diego sighed. "I already bought the suit and everything."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"And you're going to make such good arm candy in it," Annie teased, moving to kiss along his jaw. "I wish I could tell you the movie's at least gonna be good."

But it wasn't. They'd cut a lot of her lines with the Stormfront reshoots, too. (Which wasn't the worst thing; Annie wasn't the strongest actress.)

[knife_bender]

"I know what I'm getting into there," he said. "I've seen the other Seven movies."

They were pretty awful.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"This is the worst one," Annie told him confidently. "By a mile. And then press afterwards is probably gonna be...a thing."

She didn't want to actually characterize it with an adjective, but Annie already knew that the press that followed was going to be an even bigger deal than the movie, since this was Diego's red carpet premiere. (In her universe, anyway.)

[knife_bender]

"I'll behave myself," he promised. "They're gonna be looking at you, anyway. And you're, like, a professional."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You don't have to answer anything a reporter asks," Annie promised in return. "Honestly, with any luck, they'll mostly be busy with Maeve and Homelander. I'm not exactly the star of this thing."

More like a glorified extra who was mostly there to showcase her body to an uncomfortable degree.