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

[knife_bender]

He laughed. "Yeah, that is a good point. I'm going to have to work really hard to get weirder than that."

Spoiler alert: He wouldn't actually have to work that hard.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"And I would still be all in on this, even if you somehow managed to top all of that," Annie replied affectionately.

Annie, with talk like that, you are just asking to be accidentally time-traveled against your will or something.

[knife_bender]

"Wow, you're really in love with me," he teased.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Yeah," Annie agreed, fond and not really teasing, herself. "Yeah, I really am. Maybe I'll get to cut off someone's hand for you, someday."

Because nothing quite said, 'I love you' like a hand did, you know?

[knife_bender]

"You don't need to go that far," he assured her. "Moving in with me is more than enough."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Do you mind if your vibe isn't going to be all cave-like anymore?" Annie asked with a small smile, leaning her head against his shoulder again. "I know you were pretty excited about getting it back to normal after the party. And like, I'm not going to bring a bunch of sparkles...but, like, there might be some."

She just had a lot of sparkly things in general. Also a lot of pastel-colored things. Lots of generally cheerful objects, overall.

[knife_bender]

"As long as the cross stitch Mom made me stays where it is you can do whatever you want to the place," Diego assured her. "Go nuts."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh, no, I think the cross stitch is darling. That's staying no matter what," Annie assured him. "But you might regret saying I can go nuts."

This was how you were going to end up owning a really cute kiddie pool and a lot of little plants in macramé holders, Diego.

[knife_bender]

"Oh, I'm fully aware of that," Diego said. "I think it's worth it."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Where are we gonna put your Teen Beat poster?" Annie asked, setting her coffee down so she could square up her fingers like she was trying to decide. "Somewhere prominent, right?"

Annie was, of course, totally kidding. There would be no Kraken -- nor Starlight -- memorabilia in this apartment, save for those two precious action figures.

[knife_bender]

"You say that like you're really confident you'll get the poster," he joked. "They could all be lost to time."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I bet I could eBay one," she noted. "Or whatever you guys have in your universe. There's got to be some kind of Umbrella Academy collector who's got one. It's not like I don't have the money."

Seriously, Annie needed to find an investment opportunity or something or she was just going to keep blowing all her money on her friends' brothers ransoms and hypothetical bidding wars.

[knife_bender]

"I feel bad for the person who is still an Umbrella Academy collector," Diego said. "You're the exception."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Really just, like, your number one fan," she pointed out, angling her head to kiss his cheek. "But I'm sure weirdo collectors totally exist. Like, I know I have them. I think Steve's retirement plan right now is to sell signed Starlight stuff on my universe's eBay."

This was one of those things Annie tried not to think about too hard, because there were definitely weird neckbeards with shrines to Starlight out there.

[knife_bender]

It could be worse, the Umbrella Academy weirdo collector was out to kill them.

"That's wise of him," Diego said. "I don't think Danny would approve however."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Danny can get over it. I just gave him three million dollars," Annie pointed out. "It's not, like, unethical. People are going to buy it anyway, and I'd rather Steve get the money than some d-bag who catcalls me at an event before paying me to sign something."

[knife_bender]

"Good point," he said, frowning slightly at the idea of people catcalling her. He knew it was the reality of the thing but it was still gross. "So is there anything you're dying to change in here once you move in?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

At least the catcalling situation would probably improve now that she was back in the cape most of the time?

"Hmm." Annie pretended to think about it (mostly to buy herself a little time to just sort of lose it internally at the idea that she was actually moving in with Diego, like, that was going to actually happen.) "Dying to change? No. But like...I don't know, it'd be cool if you wanted to decorate stuff together. I'd want your input on everything, even if you say you don't care."

Because as much as she was like, determined to fill one of the balconies with plants and was already thinking they needed to go curtain-shopping, she also didn't want to just steamroll him. It was their space.

[knife_bender]

"I guess I'm capable of saying if I don't like something," he said with a nod. "But I'm not sure if I'll be coming up with any ideas of my own."

His place right now looked exactly how you would expect a man's apartment to look like. Only with no video games and more knives.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Or like, if I show you something and give you a choice between two versions of it, I'd get the one you liked," Annie suggested. "But like my first impulse is that we need more stuff up on the walls. Pictures of us or whatever." Her own apartment -- the Starlight one now more than her MCA one -- was pretty well covered with photos, so he should have probably seen that one coming. "Oh, and I want to make the guest room nice."

Mostly for Five, who would never appreciate it, but also -- you know. There were at least four other people who could potentially show up and visit.

[knife_bender]

"I can deal with that," he said. "I don't know who would be visiting, but maybe Dolores will appreciate it."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You didn't know Klaus was coming last year, right? I'd rather be prepared than to just let the room languish," Annie pointed out. "And I wouldn't be surprised if Five overdoes it and has to crash with us again at some point, anyway."

Aww. Crash with us.

[knife_bender]

"You're right. His tiny body can't really handle the amount of margaritas he wants to drink," Diego said with a nod.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, I understand that -- me too, dude. But the bars are so much closer," Annie noted. Which was good, because guess who totally had a bar shift she didn't know about on Monday? "And he can drink at Caritas, at least."

And also Annie herself was not, like, immune to Summer's jello shots. (Oh, boy, Summer was going to be her neighbor!!!!)

[knife_bender]

"I think he would have taken out everybody in this town if both bars didn't serve him." He was only slightly exaggerating.