MHA # 2 | Morning

[knife_bender]

It was weird waking up in his own bedroom after the last week and a half. Diego still felt like there was something he should be doing, but at this point it seemed like all he could do was wait for one of his siblings to call with news, and support Annie as best he could.

In this case it meant making a pot of decaf coffee in addition to a regular one. He loved you, Annie, but he wasn't ready to give up caffeine in solidarity yet. He was walking past the door to the spare bedroom with a cup of coffee in hand and stopped abruptly, listening. Was there someone snoring in there?

[For the brother and/or wife. Any mentions of pregnancy are NFB]

Comments

[apocalypsehow]

Was that what he was warning himself about happening? Too many permutations on the timeline could have it meaning anything.

"Congrats," he said, almost as an distracted afterthought once he went through the things he'd missed again.

[knife_bender]

At first Diego thought that was a sarcastic congrats on losing his powers, then it dawned on him that Five was...being nice?

"Thanks," he replied, slightly awkwardly. Because Five was being nice. "Dad was the one who told her first. So he's a blue-blooded, pregnancy-detecting alien."

It was a shame none of them were in therapy because, whew, this would have been quite a session.

[apocalypsehow]

Oh, they'd break a therapist. Straight up.

And don't think he'd keep being nice, but he could show a hint of caring from time to time. As a treat.

"Well, at least he's dead." He was dead, right? Right, Diego?

[knife_bender]

Half his head was chopped off, how would he able to survive that?

"Is that okay?" Diego asked, gesturing to the lack of arm. "Please tell me you saw a doctor."

[apocalypsehow]

"I was at the clinic," Five said like that was an answer as he looked at the lack of a limb, wincing slightly as he tried to flex a hand that wasn't there. "I just needed a quiet place to sleep."

[knife_bender]

"Makes sense." Diego had slept off missing fingers, after all. Maybe that was the real Hargreeves superpower: Being able to take dismemberment in stride.

"Down an arm, but I assume your powers still work," he said. "Feel like you won there?"

Diego was still struggling with how he felt about his own missing powers.

[apocalypsehow]

"I don't know," Five admitted after a moment. "My older self was also missing an arm."

[knife_bender]

"The one who told you not to save the world?" Diego checked. "I mean, Dad did try to kill us, but the whole reset thing seemed like the right idea. You should see Luther, he's all skinny and shit."

Still taller than the rest of them though.

[apocalypsehow]

Five hummed like he was paying attention, but he super wasn't. "I think what happened was a stable time loop."

Oh god, did he have to build the Temps Commission now?

[knife_bender]

"And that's good, right?" he asked. "We're all good to go and do...whatever."

Whatever it was normal, non-powered people nearing their mid-30's did. Growing mustaches and wearing ugly shirts and such.

[apocalypsehow]

"I don't know yet," Five replied, frustrated. "We should have been good before too, but unforeseen consequences have this nasty little habit if sneaking up on us all."

[knife_bender]

"Well good luck on getting anybody to hop on the apocalypse train again," Diego said. "Everybody went their separate ways pretty much immediately."

[apocalypsehow]

Five had to clumsily put the coffee down to hold up three fingers. "Three times we've caused it, Diego. Three."

[knife_bender]

Okay, three wasn't great, he knew that!

"Well, maybe we keep listening to your old self," Diego suggested. "Maybe we just try to be normal people without having a new universe to get to or an apocalypse to stop."

Sounded fake.

"Binge some TV shows, get a hobby, maybe you finally graduate high school."

[apocalypsehow]

Could he wear his retirement outfit?

"I tried that," Five reminded him with an annoyed sigh. "Look, just don't blame me if this turns out to be a other clusterfuck of a break."

[knife_bender]

Yes, you could wear your ugly retirement outfit, Five.

"Duly noted," Diego said. He gestured to Five's stump. "So are you gonna go with fake arm or a hook or what?"

[apocalypsehow]

Maybe he could get a sick robo-arm along the way!

"Let's let it heal before deciding," Five said, wiggling the stump at Diego. He was going to use it to mess with people, guaranteed.

[knife_bender]

Diego made a grossed out face. That was so disturbing. “Just don’t get blood on my sheets, dude.”

[apocalypsehow]

"I'll bleed on whatever I want." Five, don't antagonize your brother.