MHA #2 | Wednesday

[knife_bender]

Diego and Annie had gotten back pretty late last night and immediately flopped into bed. They were both covered in bruises, Diego had a concussion and Annie had emotionally been put through the wringer. They were due for some actual sleep. 

It was later than usual when Diego managed to get out of bed, and shuffle out to get coffee from the kitchen, still limping slightly from being thrown around by Stormfront. He had gotten a mug out of the cabinet and was half-turned towards the coffee machine when he noticed a bald lady mannequin sitting at his kitchen table.

"Oh, Jesus!" And now there was a broken mug on the floor. Thanks, Dolores.

[Creepy mannequin girlfriend modded with permission. Post is open for people wanting to check in on Diego and/or Annie]

Comments

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie sighed. Had her life not been weird enough the last few weeks? We needed to add this whole Dolores thing?

"Hi," she tried, and waved at Dolores before immediately rolling her eyes up to look at Diego skeptically. "Maybe we should offer her some coffee?"

Tim had been able to eat all that pizza, after all.

[knife_bender]

"She doesn't need coffee." She had already made him break a mug, he wasn't giving her free coffee. "How about we get our own coffee and go to the living room and pretend she's not there?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"She probably can't follow, right?" Annie guessed, still keeping an eye on Dolores as she got herself a mug. "She doesn't have legs."

Oh, sure, but if she had legs that would be a possibility, Annie?

[knife_bender]

"If she starts moving on her own I'm calling the cops." Cops who weren't him.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Poor Liam," Annie noted dryly, since the other cops were also concussed. "Let's hope Tim, like, took after his dad with the teleportation."

She was going to get her coffee and move the hell away from Dolores at a brisker pace than she might have without a creepy mannequin around, in any case. Even if Annie was also trying to make sure her expression was polite and friendly every time she looked over at her. Just in case.

[knife_bender]

Diego was not bothering to look friendly, even giving her a glare as he grabbed a new mug to get his coffee. He walk-limped towards the living room as quickly as possible.

"Five needs to come get that thing."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"He does," Annie agreed, giving Dolores another wary look as she eased herself onto the couch. "I feel like I was hit by a bus. God, being hurt sucks. How are you doing?"

[knife_bender]

"I feel like shit," he said honestly. "Headache is getting better though."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Maybe we get back into those painkillers after some coffee and food," Annie suggested, tucking herself a little closer with a slight wince. "At least we don't have to go anywhere."

Part of her negotiation with Vought had included a two-week sabbatical, which they had been all too happy to grant in light of needing to clean up Stormfront (both figuratively and literally.) Annie would be okay with spending the entire time camped out here on this couch with Diego, not moving.

[knife_bender]

"That sounds like an amazing idea," he said, putting his free arm around her shoulders. He was a huge fan of her sabbatical and really would have been more than happy not leaving the apartment the whole time, though he imagined she'd have to go to her place to grab more clothes eventually.

Which was something he had been thinking about ever since he joked about having their own crappy place to themselves when they were sleeping in the pawn shop.

"Is the plant gonna live?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I hope so," Annie said, a little worried. She carefully snuggled her head into Diego's shoulder a little, mindful of both of their injuries as she balanced her coffee on her leg. "It's all wilted and dry, so we'll see how it does now that someone's watering it again."

And with her new arrangement, she'd probably be able to get back often enough to be the primary plant caregiver again. Yet another way things had worked out well.

[knife_bender]

"I have faith in you, plant doctor," he said lightly. "It'll be nice if that was our biggest problem for awhile."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh my God, please," Annie said, half-groaning it into his shoulder. "No bigger problems than that until our bruises have healed, at least."

If nothing else, neither of them could move with any real speed, anyway.

"I think we've earned a little break from drama," she added, tilting her head to press a kiss to his jaw.

[knife_bender]

"Agreed," he said, gently bumping his nose against hers. "There's something I wanted to talk to you about. Not drama related, I promise."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Okay." Annie pulled back a little, her free hand moving to lightly brush along his arm affectionately. "What's up?"

She was a little worried it might be something about how crazy all of that had been. Or maybe her mother had said something awful to him during those few minutes before they'd all found each other in the tower?

[knife_bender]

"That whole pawn shop thing had me thinking--" Wait, no, that was a terrible way to start. "I mean, we're going to go back to the long distance thing in a couple weeks and I noticed the first time around you were spending more time here than at your apartment."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie scooted a little closer at the mention of returning to any kind of long distance -- she was trying to figure out a way to maybe be at the tower even less, but she was probably going to end up sleeping in New York at least a few nights a week -- and stamped down on a little flutter of nerves.

"I mean, your place is bigger," she noted, feeling herself blush a little. "And I figured I'm mostly here to see you, anyway?"

But maybe she'd been too clingy during those times? The long distance thing had been so hard.

[knife_bender]

"Yeah, exactly," he said. "I figure there's not much of a point of you keeping a place of your own here if you're just going to be at my place anyway."

"So maybe we could make it our place?" he asked, looking a little shy for once.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie felt her heart do a little flip-flop, though thankfully it was the good kind of nerves, now.

"Really?" she asked softly, breaking into a wide smile. "You want me to -- really?"

He was right -- it really did make sense. But it was also a really big step, commitment-wise.

But then, so was cutting off someone's hand, probably.

[knife_bender]

"Yeah," Diego said, smiling. "It makes sense. And I want you around, obviously."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"But like, you want my stuff around, too?" Annie checked, just in case she'd misunderstood. "All my candles and Almond Joys and cute little jars with nothing in them?"

She kind of couldn't stop smiling.

[knife_bender]

"Well we discovered that Almond Joys have their uses," he joked. "I want all of it."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Me too," Annie said softly, trying really hard to tell herself this wasn't a big deal.

(It was a huge deal.)

"I've never lived with a boyfriend before," she added a little shyly. "I hope you don't get sick of me."

Seriously, all that was going to change was that more of her stuff would be over here. They were already fairly inseparable.

[knife_bender]

It was a big step!

"That's never going to happen," he said. "So that's a yes then?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"It's a yes. I love you," Annie said with a soft smile, biting her lip a little before shifting so she could kiss him.

Carefully. They could celebrate this a little more vigorously when everyone was feeling better.