A Niceish Hotel | Night

[knife_bender]

Chalk this up as one of the most emotionally exhausting days of Diego's life, and it had to have been so much worse for Annie. He was more than happy to get her out of the Believe Expo and hole up with her in a hotel on Vought's dime (not that they knew that). It was a little surreal having to be incognito by paying everything in cash while Annie was off to the side in a makeshift disguise, but he could already see it was needed. It was all over the news whenever they passed a TV.

At least they managed to not get recognized on the way up to the room. Though, really, who would imagine Starlight hanging out with a guy that looked like Diego?

"Oh thank god there's a minibar," Diego said as soon as he opened the door to their room.

[For Annie and NFB due to distance! ETA warning for description of sexual assault in the comments]

Comments

[knife_bender]

"That's...not actually a bad idea." Though he really couldn't imagine Annie doing it unless she was really pissed off.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean." Annie actually considered this. "Like, we have an obligation to not abuse our powers, but like, it is kind of one of those things where I wonder why we're letting some normal human lady boss us around like this."

Maybe Annie was kind of done being bossed around by anyone, least of all people who fundamentally did not seem to understand what her life was like.

[knife_bender]

"Maybe they think it'll prevent you from getting an ego," he said with a shrug. "Or they really think it's fun to annoy you."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I think it might also be that this is like, a pretty coveted position, you know?" Annie said thoughtfully. "Like, when they gave me the new uniform I tried to tell them it was my body and I didn't want to show that much of it, and Ms. Stillwell said that was fine, but that I would be not-showing it somewhere other than on the team."

And maybe once she was as established and well-loved as Queen Maeve, she could start talking back, too.

[knife_bender]

"Jesus, I am amazed at just how many ways your job sucks." Like every time he thought he heard it all something else comes up.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I've been holding onto a lot," Annie admitted, shrugging a shoulder. "Like, I figured that -- you know, it's hard because it's an amazing opportunity, and if it was easy, everyone would do it, right? But maybe it's hard in ways it doesn't need to be."

Because the people were all willfully terrible.

[knife_bender]

"But you still think you can do some good with this?" he asked.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Maybe?" She had to think so. "I'm not willing to give up on it all yet, anyway. Like, if nothing else, I wouldn't have been able to help with Danny's brother without this job. And I donated my appearance fee today to Covenant House."

Which, yes, helped homeless kids and young adults, and it was entirely possible that this choice had been informed by her knowledge that teenage Diego had not always been able to find somewhere to stay when he'd struck out on his own. She wasn't going to explicitly say so, though.

"I can do too much good to let the bad stuff drive me off, yet."

[knife_bender]

“Okay,” he said, leaning in for a kiss. “I just want to check in and make sure it’s worth it.”

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie lingered with the kiss for a moment, drawing her hand up to cup Diego's cheek. Right now, she just kind of needed to be close to him, and she was already kind of dreading having to send him back to Fandom without her.

But she was doing good. This was bigger than just her.

"I promise I'll tell you if it stops being worth it," she said softly, pulling back. "Or just, like -- all of it. I'll tell you all of it."

And if she couldn't, for some reason, she'd at least be more forthcoming about that than she had recently, too.

[knife_bender]

“Good,” he murmured. “I’ll tell you everything too.”

Not that his life was as dramatic as hers at the moment. But still!

[defenderofdesmoines]

Hey, it still meant a lot. Especially given that Diego wasn't exactly the sharing type.

"I love you so much." Seemed important to say right now. This whole thing had felt kind of like a test of their relationship, and while Annie knew she herself probably still had some work to do on her own,they seemed to be on really solid ground.