knife_bender | Totally Fancy Restaurant | Annie's Baltimore | Sunday Night

Entry tags:

Totally Fancy Restaurant | Annie's Baltimore | Sunday Night | NFB

This had been the first time Diego had a girlfriend on Valentine's Day and he wasn't going to let any lingering awkwardness from last week prevent him from going all out for it. The restaurant had items on the menu Diego couldn't pronounce which is how he knew it was fancy. Luckily it was a place that just required you to look nice but not force a tie on you. That was just one thing he refused to do after being forced to wear one for seventeen years.

"You know, it wasn't as complicated as I thought it would be to get a reservation in a specific restaurant in a specific universe," Diego said as he tried to find something in English on the menu.

Honestly it was easy to check to make sure it was the correct one if you dropped a 'Hey, was the latest Homelander movie any good?' to the person you were talking to on the phone and if they responded in kind you knew you got it right.

[For the girl! And now NSFW]

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Of course, once the cops showed up, there would be a whole different issue to worry about, considering Annie really didn't want to deal with the press tonight.

Which was also why when one of those pissed-off, injured guys came charging at her while she was taking roughly two seconds to admire that stupidly hot knife-throwing action, Annie didn't just blast him right away. She grabbed him by the neck, threw him head-first into a light fixture, and then shoved her hand into his midsection to blast him into the wall. There was just the briefest flicker of the lights in response, and she'd take it. Not like, great for her secret identity, but not too obvious, either.

And with that taken care of, she could help one of these screaming couples a little bit. She offered a quiet, "It's all right, stay calm," as she distractedly pulled their table over as a barricade and looked over to Diego. "Good?"

"Yeah," Diego said with a nod. "I'm gonna be out of knives soon, but it's what--two more left?"

He could make do with a butter knife though, and it had the added benefit of just being humiliating to the person that got stabbed with it.

"Yeah," Annie agreed a little breathlessly, clearly considering something for a moment. She crossed back over towards Diego, swiftly picking up a chair in her path to throw it at her friend with the broken wrist, since he looked like he might try to get back up. "Here, hang on."

And like -- damn it, there had been a whole sexy plan here, and it was a little embarrassing out of context, now. But as soon as Annie was back by Diego's side, she planted her foot up on a chair and tugged her skirt up a little to reveal the surprisingly cute garter she had attached to her stocking.

Of course, it wasn't just a normal, surprisingly cute garter. It had three of his knives tucked into a holster attached to it. Annie had scoured the internet and special-ordered it weeks ago. "It was supposed to be a surprise," she told him, a little bit shy.

...it probably still was a surprise. Just not the way she'd intended.

Yeah, it was a surprise. A great surprise and it was almost like they weren't two seconds away from being shot at with the way Diego took a moment to just look. Like, it was hot, but thoughtful, and he really shouldn't be focusing on this right now while this whole thing was happening around them but oh well.

"Oh my god," he murmured, tearing his gaze away from Annie's leg to look up at her face. "I love you."

And now Annie was kind of forgetting for a second that all of this was going on around them and there were still two guys with guns who were probably really mad at them by now, because -- there it was.

"What?" She'd heard him, and it was clear from the way she was looking at him that she had, but just -- she needed a second to process it, because Annie had been on the brink of saying that for weeks, and the thing was that all her hesitation didn't seem to actually matter, now. Because it wasn't any less true whether it was said during a quiet, sappy moment, or after a disagreement or during sex or when she first woke up in the morning or any of the dozens of times she'd wanted to say it but talked herself out of it, and it was still true right now, with the chaos going on around them. "I mean." Annie shook her head, unable to stop herself from smiling at him. "I love you, too."

And that was when those guys decided to take the ample opportunity being afforded to them and actually open fire on these idiots, which led to Annie immediately throwing herself bodily at Diego before he could get shot. That might be the only thing that could actually ruin this right now.

Diego was more than happy with Annie tackling him right now, even if it was to avoid him getting hit by a bullet. They had been asking to be shot just then. Training totally went out the window and it was kind of Diego's fault.

"Okay we really need to be rid of these guys now." Because I love you's were said and Diego wanted to say it again when out of immediate danger. He slid his hand down to the garter Annie was wearing and wrapped his fingers around the hilt of one of the knives there. "Ready?"

"Super ready," Annie promised, a little out of breath. "I have more in my purse if you need, too." Which wasn't a sexy Valentine's Day surprise so much as just a thing she'd started doing a couple weeks ago, because Diego left knives all over her place and it had seemed like a better idea than just leaving them in the bed or under her couch.

She was also just going to do a little quick preemptive work here, since he seemed like he had enough knives to do some damage to these guys, and focus her attention on a black sphere on the ceiling that she'd noticed a moment ago. With a flicker of the lights and an accompanying shimmery sound, the camera cracked, which meant Annie felt a lot more okay sticking her palm out and firing a bright blast of light towards one of the shooters. Sorry for your eyes, Mister Evildoer.

Edited 2021-02-14 20:45 (UTC)

Diego knew better than to look anywhere near Annie while she was doing her thing without his domino mask on. Luckily Diego didn't necessarily need to look for long to see where the last guy was before ducking back down and throwing two knives at him in quick succession.

Which probably hurt like a bitch and all, and the one Annie had blasted was still waving his gun around even as he yelled about his eyes -- but the more pressing concern for Annie was the flashing blue-and-red lights she could see through the picture window at the front.

"Time to go," she murmured to Diego, her eyes fading quickly as she reached for his hand. "Or else we're gonna get really famous really fast."

"Yeah, no thanks," Diego said, taking her hand. "At least we took the car."

That way they didn't have to look like two people who had clearly been in a firefight in the streets trying to get an uber.

Yeah, Annie had at least not gotten shot -- hooray, her dress would survive! -- but so much for the amount of time she'd spent on her hair tonight, considering all the kicking and tackling. Oh well.

"Through the kitchen," Annie decided, leading the way through the back even as there was a cry of, "Baltimore PD! Get on the ground!" from the front.

"This is how I keep leaving restaurants in this city," Diego joked as he followed Annie. "I'm starting to get a complex."

"Maybe all Baltimores are cursed," Annie said, pushing her way through the back door and relaxing a little once they were in the alley. "Holy shit. Happy Valentine's Day."

This was what she got for wanting to do something fancy. They should've just, like, stayed in and ordered a heart-shaped pizza.

Edited 2021-02-14 21:42 (UTC)

"We're going to have to work to top that next year," Diego said, tugging Annie closer to him now that they were out of immediate danger. "I love you."

Get ready for him to say that at least a million more times.

"I kind of can't believe you beat me to saying it," Annie admitted softly, smiling up at him. "I've almost said it like a thousand times."

Also, you know, she could say it again now, too, and so she added, "And I love you," as she went up onto her toes to kiss him. Just a quick kiss, okay. And then they could keep running before the cops decided to check to see if any of those gunmen went out the back.

Diego smiled into that kiss but, yes, kept it brief. No matter how badly he wanted it to be more right about now. "Come on, car's this way."

You know where they could make out and repeat the same statement back and forth about fifty times more? The car. Genius plan, Diego.

"You know, they really should get someone in here," Annie observed, following along to the car. "It's really lucky we happened to be here." Even if, in hindsight, she suspected none of those people back there had ever been in danger of much more than losing their fur coats or diamonds or giant bags of money with dollar signs on the side, or whatever other things rich people typically carried around with them.

"They weren't exactly professionals. I bet the cops were called the second that guy shot his gun like an idiot."

The car wasn't too far away luckily, but it was far enough that he wasn't worried about cops trying to search for any lingering bad guys. Diego didn't even bother playing coy, just immediately unlocking the door to the backseat.

Between the I love you's and watching Annie fight there was just absolutely no way he was patient enough to make it back to the island.

Annie slanted a look at him as she got in into the backseat, sliding all the way over. "You're so cute," she sighed, peeking out the window to make sure the street was as abandoned as she'd thought. Not that it especially mattered to her, right now; she was also pretty impatient. And pretty sure they were going to fog the windows up, anyway. "Guess what."

It was probably fairly easy to guess as to what she had to tell him. She wasn't going to get sick of saying it for awhile. Probably ever.

Edited 2021-02-14 22:35 (UTC)

"What?" Diego asked as he crawled in after her. Turned out having sex with the windows open in January totally prepared them for this moment .

They had been training for this moment, yes.

"I love you." Annie got to say it first this time! Even as she was reaching for him, because, like, they really needed to be closer now that they weren't worried about gunfire.

"I love you too," he replied, vaguely aware he was probably grinning like an idiot. He was leaning in for a kiss a moment later so no need to comment on him being a dork.

Annie threaded her arms up around his neck, scooting close as she kissed him. "I kept waiting for the right time to say it," she murmured, pulling back just enough to bump her nose against his. "Was totally going to when the guys came in."

This way was kind of better.

"I like the way it happened," he admitted, sliding one of his hands up her leg to feel the garter there. "Good story to tell at least."

Annie smiled, leaning in to kiss his neck as she stretched her leg a little under his touch. "You like?" she asked, flirtatious and yet also too shy to look at him as she asked it. It wasn't as though she was especially used to the idea of treating her body like a present in and of itself, no matter how well she thought it'd go over.

Also it had turned out to be a surprisingly useful move, so she was kind of proud of herself for pulling it off.

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