MHA #2 | Wednesday Evening

[knife_bender]

Diego had been sensitive to the fact that Annie had been pretty insular the last couple of weeks, and that throwing her a huge party for her birthday wouldn't have been a good idea. Even if the tub from the rager was still in the kitchen.

So he decided to keep it low-key this year, taking Annie to Baltimore for a fancy dinner that required him to wear a tie for once. There was little chance that could lead to anything upsetting unless a witchy looking redhead happened to be eating there that night.

Luckily for them, no such thing happened. Everyone made it home in one piece with no triggering of any trauma. Well, except for the tie thing. Diego hated wearing ties.

[For the birthday wife!]

Comments

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie. who both knew that he hated ties and thought he looked fantastic in it, appreciated the sacrifice. And the thought behind all of this, honestly, considering it had pretty well worn her out just being as social as she'd managed the last couple of days.

A witchy redhead in the restaurant would have absolutely ruined the precariously good mood she'd found herself in, though, that was absolutely correct.

"Twenty-five," Annie declared, reaching over to play with Diego's tie a little once she'd pulled off her coat and straightened the dress she'd worn out, "feels pretty much the same as twenty-four so far, just for the record."

[knife_bender]

"Speaking from the far off future of thirty-one, I can tell you birthdays after twenty-one are kind of bullshit," Diego shared, moving closer to her and settling his hands on her hips. "They all kind of meld together."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Well, that just tells me I have to make sure yours are still at least kind of special, even if they blend," Annie told him, sliding an arm around Diego's neck with a smile and leaning up for a kiss. "You nailed this one, babe, thank you."

Seriously -- not that Diego was much of a party-thrower (or goer, for that matter), but he'd absolutely struck the balance of how much Annie wanted to celebrate versus keep it low-key.

[knife_bender]

"You're easily impressed," Diego joked. "Restaurant did all the work."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"No, the restaurant did the easy part," Annie corrected, leaning up and punctuating her comments with kisses. "You had to call them, and talk to someone, and get all dressed up --"

The little tug on his tie might have been a great indication of how Annie appreciated this effort. (Also, it was entirely possible he'd made this reservation online, but Annie was giving him credit for talking to a human, anyway.)

"And I love you for it," she concluded softly.

[knife_bender]

Diego was a Millennial; he absolutely made the reservation online.

"It's your birthday," he said, smiling at the tie tugging. "Couldn't just do nothing. That'd be a jackass move."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Yeah, but with how I've been...." Annie started, trailing off and idly playing with his tie a little before trying again. "Like, thank you for not going bigger, I guess? You got it just right."

Like, even being surrounded by all his siblings right now might have been a bit much. She was gonna have to do a little psyching-herself-up for the holidays, probably.

And Annie was also pretty sensitive to this considering -- well, how badly she'd fucked up Diego's birthday a year ago by throwing him a party when she should have seen he didn't want or need one.

[knife_bender]

"I also know my limits as a party thrower," Diego said. "Just try to picture a Diego-thrown party."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie thought about it for a moment, actually tilting her head to the side, and offered, "I feel like there'd be a lot of dancing and almost no talking?"

Didn't sound like the worst party. Maybe kind of like a drug-free rave?

[knife_bender]

"Now I know what for my birthday next year," Diego said, leaning in for another kiss. "Singing would be allowed though."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Like karaoke?" Annie prompted, smiling into the kiss. "You know, that video from your bachelor party might be my most prized possession this side of my special action figures."

Partly because he was clearly having so much fun singing in it, too. It was kind of adorable.

[knife_bender]

"Are you making fun of me?" Diego joked, tightening his arms around her waist.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I would never," Annie told him, using his tie to pull him down for another kiss.

But it was a good thing they'd skipped Caritas tonight, considering she might have proposed some kind of birthday duet. (He still wasn't off the hook; if anything, the risk of such a thing would be higher when Annie was feeling a little better.)

[knife_bender]

"You're loving this tie thing," he murmured. No, it wasn't a question. Just a basic fact.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I know you hate wearing it," Annie noted softly, genuinely a little apologetic. "But it's really...fun."

Almost as fun as his straps and everything when he was all tactical'd-out, really.

"Is it bothering you?" And cue Annie sliding a hand to where she could gently trace her fingertips along Diego's neck above his collar, just light and soothing.

[knife_bender]

"Not right now it's not," Diego said. "I'm enjoying myself quite a bit right now, actually."

Funny how that worked, huh?

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie flushed just a little bit, giving Diego a very pleased smile before using a pull of his tie and an arch up on her toes to place a kiss on his neck where her fingers had just been. "Maybe we just need to give you some nice necktie associations," she decided softly, before making her way over to kiss his ear.

She was even getting ideas about what she could do it once it was off him, too.

[knife_bender]

"Ooh good idea," he said. "And I get to pull off your tights like it's the old days? It should be my birthday."

[defenderofdesmoines]

That prompted another little smile, though this one carried a little twinge of -- something. Annie wasn't going to dwell on it.

(She missed her uniform sometimes, that was all. The old days were the old days for good reason, but there was still a little sense that they'd lost something she might never get back.)

"I think we established last year that birthdays are for both of us in this relationship," Annie replied, gently sliding her hands down to push off Diego's jacket. "But don't think I'm not taking mental notes."

She pretty much always did, when it came to things Diego obviously enjoyed.

[knife_bender]

Diego shrugged off his jacket, tossing it aside with the carelessness of a person who had no plans to wear it again anytime soon. "Yeah, but your birthday is better than mine because we're not sharing it with six other people."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Still the absolute strangest thing about the Hargreeves siblings -- and Lila, for that matter -- if you asked Annie. That birthday thing was so weird.

"A party of two is kind of perfect. Not just this year," Annie agreed, already appreciatively eyeing Diego sans jacket. (But especially this year.) "And this year you're not...you know, freshly human again."

Annie's twenty-fourth birthday had certainly been memorable for the fact that she'd been convinced she'd be celebrating it with a cat up until the last minute.

[knife_bender]

"And you didn't spend the previous week cleaning up cat puke," Diego said. "Wow, I could have basically done anything and beat last year, huh?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I also got shot while you were a cat," Annie pointed out, her smile growing just a little more. "So yeah, the bar was pretty low. You still leapt over it, babe."

Similarly, it would have taken real work on Annie's end to do worse than last year's party, particularly in light of the Hargreeves being reunited for their birthday this year. (Even if, like, it was a little confusing to Annie how old everyone actually was, now.)

[knife_bender]

"I can make it even better," Diego said. "I could carry the birthday girl to the bedroom. Dealer's choice on how I do it--fireman carry, princess carry, your legs wrapped around my waist..."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You have to ask?"

That was as much warning as Diego was going to get, since Annie had a definite favorite. That, and how she reluctantly removed her hand from his tie to slide both arms around his neck before jumping up to wrap her legs around his waist.

Not that she wouldn't love it if he just threw her over his shoulder like a caveman one day, but this was both a position with deep roots in their relationship history and it allowed for Annie to do her best to distract him the whole -- you know, however many feet to the bedroom.