A Pawn Shop in East Flatbush | Friday evening

[knife_bender]

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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[knife_bender]

"Fuck," Diego murmured, one of his hands scrambling to get purchase on the wall since he couldn't hold onto her as tightly as he wanted to. There was a noise as something was knocked off a shelf, though he couldn't be bothered to see what it was.

They could worry about that later. And would anyone even notice if this place looked shittier?

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Yes," Annie whimpered, her leg tightening around him. And -- okay, the gasp she couldn't quite muffle was mostly attributable to how close she was getting and how little control she was still holding onto, but it was also kind of impossible to do this without jostling anything that was injured. It wasn't enough to detract from anything else she was feeling -- just a quick reminder of the circumstances.

She pushed past the pain, her hand traveling from Diego's arm to grip his ass, trying to drive him in deeper (as though that were even physically possible, at this point.) "Close."

[knife_bender]

"Me too," he murmured. He wasn't surprised at how quickly he got there. It felt like he had been amped up for hours now, not completely unlike it had been when the pollen was around the island.

He managed to work a hand between them to circle his thumb around her clit, trying to help her find the same release he was quickly heading towards.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Fuck," Annie sighed, her already-clumsy movements turning a bit frantic at the addition of that touch. And between how desperate and on the edge she had already been feeling physically, and how overwhelmed she was emotionally, it was hardly a few seconds more before Annie was going tight around him and burying her face against Diego's shoulder to muffle a moan she couldn't suppress.

The light behind her flickered and buzzed -- though, thankfully, that was it. It was already going to be hard to explain why they'd knocked stuff over without also contending with a broken lightbulb.

[knife_bender]

That would have been very hard and embarrassing to explain.

Diego had already been close, but heeling her tighten up around him and hearing her pretty much tipped him over the edge immediately. He didn't do quite as good of a job muffling his own moan when he came, but at least he hadn't knocked down the mirror or anything.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie wasn't going to let go of him any time soon and was still hanging on pretty tightly, so hopefully Diego didn't have any ideas about immediately moving away or anything.

She did carefully lift her head to press a series of soft kisses along his neck and cheek, though. "I love you," she murmured. She really couldn't say it enough right now, even if it still didn't feel like enough to say.

[knife_bender]

"I love you too," he panted as he tried to catch his breath. "You okay?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Better than I was," she assured him. At least for the moment. Endorphins were helping.

She loosened her hold on him but didn't let go just yet. "Not going to pretend I didn't wish we had a bed, though."

Because this was, like, adventurous and fun and very necessary, but once again there wouldn't be any cuddling after. (Also, still kind of lacking in ambiance.)

[knife_bender]

"Me too," he said, pressing a kiss against her neck. "We're going to be roughing it for awhile."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Could be worse," Annie said, reaching a hand up to lightly brush over his hair. "At least we're roughing it together."

Even if she hadn't been afraid to sleep under the same roof as Homelander, Annie would have happily taken a spot on a dingy floor next to Diego than spent any more time alone in that big fancy bed.

[knife_bender]

He leaned in to kiss Annie again. "You're sweet."

Of course they'd be like this after having sex in a dingy bathroom.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You're sweeter." Go ahead, Diego, challenge her on that. Annie would be invoking the hand thing as the most romantic of all gestures, for the rest of their lives.

But, that being said, the adrenaline and endorphins were only going to go so far for so long, and she didn't hide her wince at all as she carefully unwound her leg from around him.

[knife_bender]

Sure, people would find that romantic when they told that story. Not weird at all. They could test the story on Danny and Steve later and see if they found it romantic.

Diego pulled away slowly, reaching out to help Annie get down from the sink. "We made a mess. Think anybody will notice?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

Look, Steve would probably think it was great.

"How could you possibly tell things are messier in here?" Annie replied, gratefully accepting his help getting down. Like, goddamn it, being injured sucked. "I can't believe they've actually been living here long-term."

It was fine for a couple nights, but honestly. This place was such a dump.

[knife_bender]

"I can't say it's the worst place I've slept in, but it's close." He tucked himself back into his pants and zipped up before leaning down to help Annie get dressed. He now was overly concerned with her being injured in order to make up for the last few minutes.

[defenderofdesmoines]

And normally, Annie would have made some kind of argument about her independence and how she had it, but between how her legs were a little wobbly (for some reason) and how stiffly she had to move to keep from yanking on something that hurt, she'd take all the help she could get.

"So, I always wondered what the threshold was for us actually getting hurt," she shared lightly, leaning a little on him for some steadiness as she stepped back into her pants, "because, like, Maeve really famously broke her arm and all, right? And now I know."

Apparently being thrown through marble and concrete would do it. Or being shot with a fifty-caliber rifle.

[knife_bender]

"Not exactly how I would have preferred you finding out," Diego said. "But I'm glad you're okay. Mostly okay."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Okay enough," Annie replied, tilting her head to kiss his cheek once she was sure she wouldn't trip over her her own jeans in the process. "I'll get through it. I'm just glad Maeve showed up when she did." She sobered a little, one hand lightly touching her neck. "Like, I lost consciousness with his hands on my neck, and came to with her pulling him off of me."

And apparently Annie had a whole new reason to appreciate Almond Joys, which she would also be invoking forever, now.

[knife_bender]

"That was really lucky," he said, frowning at the thought of Annie losing consciousness during all of that. "How did she keep him off of you?"

He didn't think Black Noir answered to Maeve so a stern look wouldn't do much.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"She's stronger than he is, I think," Annie answered with a little half-smile, buttoning her jeans. "She had him in a headlock. But the real trick is -- okay, seriously, get this: Black Noir's allergic to nuts. She shoved an Almond Joy in his mouth and took away his EpiPen."

Of all things. Annie was still kind of in disbelief that that had worked.

[knife_bender]

"What the fuck?" That was even weirder than the hand thing, Annie, really.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I know!" No, the hand thing was better, but this was pretty good, still. "She just had one in her belt! Like, does Maeve just keep emergency candy bars on her person?"

...Annie was going to start doing that, actually. Assuming she ever was allowed to have a uniform with pockets and pouches again, anyway.

"I asked her to come with me," she added with a slightly-sad smile. "Obviously she declined." But Annie had seen her hesitation, and that was...something.

[knife_bender]

"Maybe that's why she lasted so long in The Seven. She's always prepared like that," Diego said with a shrug. "Might also be why she's so hesitant to leave."

They were currently holing up in a dilapidated pawn shop in Brooklyn, it's not like running away with them was an appealing prospect at the moment.

[defenderofdesmoines]

What, Maeve didn't want to get her tracker taken out with industrial equipment and hide out with random hooligans for the rest of her life? Weird.

"That would make sense," she agreed. "I think she's like, the one person who kind of knows how to handle Homelander now that Ms. Stillwell's gone, too."

Well. Besides Stormfront, anyway, but Stormfront didn't handle Homelander so much as unleash him.

[knife_bender]

"That'd be a good reason to stay," he admitted. Homelander was bad even with Maeve around, he couldn't imagine how it could get worse.

"I owe her one, for coming to the rescue," he said. He looked over at the door. "We probably owe Kimiko one too."

There was just absolutely no way she hadn't heard them while guarding the door.