knife_bender | A Pawn Shop in East Flatbush

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A Pawn Shop in East Flatbush | Friday evening

To say today had been rough was quite possibly the biggest understatement ever. It had started with watching porn at way too early in the morning, went into cutting off a guy's hand to get his girlfriend out of jail and somewhere between that Annie had absolutely gotten her ass handed to her by Black Noir.

Diego was worried. He knew why Annie was playing it cool. Her mother was there, and Billy Butcher wasn't exactly someone you wanted to look weak in front of. But she had been hurt, and neither of them had gotten the chance to process that and he just really needed to make sure she was okay.

When everyone seemed to be as settled as they were going to be, he found his way to Annie's side. "Can we talk?"

[Last post for the day, I promise. For the girl! NSFW!]

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"He did that to himself," Diego said. "He said something about wanting his dad to be proud of him and then just lit himself on fire in front of statue of The Seven."

He was not going to mention how upset he had been that he had been replaced on that statue by her.

"Oh, shit." Oh, that was -- unexpected and terrible in a way Annie hadn't been prepared for. A horrible, selfish part of her was immediately relieved because it meant that Homelander hadn't laser-eyed him, and Diego hadn't been in danger, too.

At least, not directly, at that time.

But that also kind of made a weird sort of sense, and helped Annie piece together something she'd been trying to figure out. "Well, he's the reason I got out, after all," she noted softly, finally pulling back so she could actually look at Diego. "The cell they had me in was lit by glow sticks. No power anywhere. I couldn't do anything until the fire alarms powered on."

Edited 2021-06-04 16:42 (UTC)

"That makes sense." He figured that Vought probably had a cell catered to everyone's powers except maybe Homelander's. "I was going door to door with his hand trying to find you, that's how I found your mom."

"With his hand," Annie repeated, looking kind of overwhelmed by that again. "I can't believe you did that."

And she was pretty much done telling him he shouldn't have, not just because it was over and done with, but because she was also slowly coming to the realization that this was just going to be something that she had to make peace with.

It wasn't exactly fair for her to admire his bravery and heroism, but then take it back if he dared endanger herself for her.

He shrugged his shoulder. "Could have been worse."

The fact that he was pretty crispy actually made it less gross and easier to hack through?

"I sent a picture of it to Five and told him I wasn't going to paintball today."

At least he could find humor in the whole thing.

And that actually got Annie to huff out a soft laugh. "If it were anyone but Five, I'd say that's going to freak them out, but since it is Five...."

He'd probably just have advice about technique or something. Five had probably taken off a hand or two in his weird, weird life.

"He might actually get jealous." The little weirdo probably thought that would be more fun than paintball.

Annie laughed again, actually letting it become the wince it wanted to when she felt her side pull a little. (And then she winced a little more, because the wince had pulled at her temples and she'd been hit in the face with a slab of concrete earlier.) "That reminds me -- did you and Five and Steve maybe take a trip to Ohio a couple weeks ago?"

Annie wasn't going to insult him by demanding he tell her the truth, but she was watching him closely to see how he answered.

Because yeah, she'd been pretty specific about Diego not hurting The Deep.

"I didn't touch the guy." See? Promise kept. "I'm not responsible for Five and Steve's actions."

Annie's smile was a little wobbly, but very genuine.

"You didn't have to do that, either," she said, very softly.

But she was clearly and obviously pretty moved that he had. And honestly kind of impressed that he'd found that loophole.

"Technically I didn't do anything," he reminded her. "But I wanted to do it. Was tired of feeling useless."

Annie's smile wavered just a little. She had to fight the urge to immediately blame herself for his feeling useless, even though she knew it wasn't really her fault, but that guilt was quickly replaced by heady, strong wave of emotion.

No one had ever done so much for her. No one had ever wanted to, before. 'Love' didn't feel like a big enough word for how Annie felt right now, because -- like, if you said, 'I love you,' to someone on the daily when you just wanted to remind them how you felt, what the hell did you say to someone who risked their life for you over and over? Who went and confronted your assailant (or, fine, apparently watched while other people confronted your assailant)? Who cut off a fucking human hand for you?

So, instead, she kissed him, her hands sliding up to cup Diego's face. Words were insufficient, right now. Action would have to do.

Diego relaxed into the kiss, careful not to lean too much into Annie right now. He had been worried she'd be pissed over the whole Ohio thing, so he was more than happy with this reaction.

It was also just reassuring to kiss her after they had such a close call today.

It was very reassuring to kiss him after what they'd been through, and while Annie kept one hand on his face, the other one was traveling down his shoulder, and along his arm, and up his back -- almost like she was trying to reassure herself that he was there.

And no, by all appearances, Annie was not at all pissed about the Ohio thing. She was also not being as careful as Diego was, and pressed herself a little closer, letting out a soft noise of pain into the kiss as her injuries protested the movement.

It wasn't going to stop her right now, anyway.

"Careful," he murmured. It wasn't a strict warning, seeing as he was kissing her again after he said it. Still, he could say he tried.

Annie hummed something like agreement before deepening the kiss and pressing herself a little closer, more insistently.

It wasn't like she was going to get more hurt, and while she was moving a little gingerly, she wasn't really in the mood to be careful at the moment. Not with that much adrenaline coursing through her, not to mention how intensely emotional she was feeling.

Diego wrapped his arms around Annie, wanting to keep her steady. He still remembered she had been limping earlier.

Still, he was getting distracted enough that he wasn't as careful with his touches. He had quite a bit of adrenaline running through him too and let's be real, they both needed to get it out of their system if they were expected to sleep here tonight.

Yeah, the limp wasn't going anywhere -- she'd gone through solid marble, after going through solid cement -- and Annie was overall a little more clumsy than usual, so she appreciated Diego's steadiness, there.

But yeah, she was also sliding her arms up around his neck and not really checking her own strength when she touched him, either.

Naturally this all happened the day after they had a bed. And something like actual privacy. Naturally.

At least they knew how to make do with what they had? But, yes, this timing was terrible and Diego did not really care right now.

He broke away for a moment, looking over at the sink. "Here, lean against this, get some weight off your leg."

Annie grimaced a little at the sink, just because it was kind of gross, but this whole room was kind of gross. She carefully positioned herself against the sink, clearly favoring her bruised side even as she reached for Diego to keep him close.

"Don't worry about hurting me," she murmured before kissing him again. "I just -- I need you."

"Okay," Diego said, keeping his voice low. Not worrying would be easier said than done, but he understood her need right now.

He kissed her again, keeping things soft even as he was sliding his hands under her shirt. He tried not to press on any of the bruises, but he really needed to feel her right now.

Annie shrugged out of her hoodie, feeling like it was very much in the way, and fumblingly reached for a couple of Diego's straps once her hands were free. Unlike the last time she'd had the opportunity to pull him close this way, she was in her normal clothes (including jeans, which would probably be frustrating sooner than later.) And unfortunately, Annie knew from experience that it was a bitch and a half to get Diego out of all of his gear -- which was fine, since this bathroom was not exactly romantic, and they probably didn't have a ton of time for this, anyway. But it did mean she was left smoothing her hand along his neck, just for somewhere to touch him.

His hands under her shirt were incredibly welcome -- yes, please touch her, Annie needed to be touched right now -- and she hummed softly into the kiss. Everything hurt still, but it had faded to a dull throb in the background of a lot of other feelings.

It was probably for the best they couldn't remove too much clothing right now. This bathroom was not only gross, but the only one in the joint so someone was going to try to get past Kimiko sooner or later.

"I love you so much," he murmured, brushing his hands along her hips. He was so grateful that he was able to do this right now, even if it also served as a reminder of how close the both of them had gotten to not getting out of that tower.

"I love you, too." Annie was a little out of breath already, and the way she couldn't seem to stop kissing Diego was definitely not going to help that cause. "More than I even know how to say."

She dropped a hand to work on his belt, her other hand staying where it was on his neck to gently brush her thumb along his jaw. She couldn't help but let out a soft hiss as her hip shifted a little against the sink, but she was totally willing and able to move right past the pain.

It had been such a close call. He couldn't be physically close enough to her now.

"Let me--" Diego pulled back slightly to help her with the whole pants thing. "You start on yours."

The adrenaline mixed with desperation and add in the fact they were pretty much in a public space ensured this was going to be over pretty quickly.

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