defenderofdesmoines | Vought Tower

Had Annie spent today doing something important? Maybe helping disadvantaged youths, or stopping a train full of people from hurtling off a broken bridge?

No, of course not. She had spent her morning shooting a commercial for her new oil-free facewash brand, WISH.

But, whatever. At least she was helping...teenagers fight acne? Right?

And more importantly, she was actually expecting a visitor today, now that she was done with her shoot and didn't have anything else lined up for the day. So, once she'd returned to her apartment, she'd wrangled herself out of her uniform and into a hoodie and some leggings -- like normal, because everything here was normal and this would go fine -- and sent Diego a text.

check in w/security when you get here, and then take the elevator up to the 99th floor. take a right, and my door has my name on it.

Or, well. It said Starlight, anyway.

can't wait to see you!!!!!!!! xoxoxoxoxo

Her effusiveness was a little put on, yes, but Annie was trying to get herself there. She really, really had missed him, even if she was already feeling a little uneasy about her decision to -- at least for this first visit -- try to keep things positive, and to just...move on from the stuff that had happened last week.

They didn't have that much time. Why ruin the few hours they had together right now by bringing up...you know, awfulness?

[for he who is visiting, of course! ETA: NWS]

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"I love you, too," Annie murmured, trying to match his pace and managing it a bit better this time.

She gasped softly, starting to feel the very beginning sparks of something, there. But it seemed -- far away. Like it would take work to achieve something that had come (so to speak) pretty naturally to Annie ever since she'd...well, since she'd learned she could do that.

She pushed her uncertainty aside, arching up to kiss Diego a little bit harder and more insistently. She'd get there. She might just not be concentrating hard enough?

Diego, meanwhile, was having trouble maintaining rhythm now just because he was so close. It had been awhile, and even if everything was not as it usually was, he wasn't going to last much longer.

He did move one of his hands between them so he could get her to where he was.

...that wasn't going to work this time.

Like.

It felt great, still? All of this felt great. Annie was showing that much, for sure, given how she was writhing against him and the sharp, gasping little noises she was making. It felt amazing, and she kind of didn't want to stop?

But the harder she tried to focus, the more elusive it seemed, and Annie already knew that even if they were at this for another hour, she wasn't going to come.

As though her life wasn't unfair enough, these days.

So...she was just going to concentrate on Diego. She could freak out (honestly, she was more inclined to be angry) in private, later; right now, since this wasn't going to be about them together, it was obviously going to have to be about him.

She closed her eyes, leaning up to kiss along his neck before biting lightly at his earlobe. "You're so fucking good," she whispered, her nails digging in against his back as she tried to give him everything he needed right now.

Don't worry about her.

"Fuck," he murmured, squeezing his eyes shut. He tried to hold out a little longer, but Annie whispering things like that in his ear, and the nails on his back had him losing it pretty quickly.

Which was probably her intention, Diego would realize later on.

Right now, at least, he was entirely focused on how good everything felt, at least for a few long moments as he was coming.

Annie stayed wrapped up around him, burying her face against his shoulder. She briefly considered trying to...fake it? Light up her eyes, cry out, do the whole thing just so he wouldn't wonder?

But almost as soon as that thought occurred, she dismissed it. She already felt horrible for not telling him everything that had been going on; lying about this, too, would be a betrayal she couldn't actually stomach. Plus, it wasn't like it'd help anything. Hiding how she really felt was how she'd ended up here, unable to relax enough to actually let go no matter how badly she wanted to.

Still, though, it was kind of amazing to watch (and feel) Diego come apart, and Annie was absolutely genuine in how tight she held onto him.

Diego stayed there for a few moments, catching his breath and enjoying the feel of Annie wrapped around him. That hadn't changed, and he was positive that her affection for him was there, even if the sex wasn't what it usually was.

Eventually he did move off of her, rolling over so he was on his back looking up at the ceiling. Obviously they both knew what happened (or didn't happen, rather). He was almost thirty years old, he knew from experience that sex wasn't perfect every time but...it kind of had been the last six months?

He didn't know if this was something they should talk about, or just ignore. The stupid male ego part of him would prefer to ignore it.

Annie kind of wanted to cry. She wasn't going to, but there was a weird, chest-tightening vulnerability here that she'd never experienced before, especially after sex.

Like, it was weird -- she didn't know whether it would be better or worse to say something? This might be the opening she'd been waiting for? 'Oh, hey, did you notice how I didn't come? It's because my dream come true is a nightmare and a guy assaulted me on my first night here, and I can't stop thinking long enough to enjoy anything.'

...no. Worse. It would be worse to say something, that was for sure.

Or at least, to say that something.

She shifted onto her side, hesitantly reaching over to run a hand along Diego's arm. "Hey."

That was it. Just 'Hey.' She kind of wanted to say more, but she didn't really trust herself to get it...right. It was all too delicate now, between her feelings and his. (Oh, God, his feelings, fuck. Now she really wanted to cry, thinking about how confused and bruised he must feel, now.)

Diego looked over at her and gave her a smile that didn't quite reach his eyes. "Hey."

So they both knew how to say hello to each other, that was great.

He tried to shake himself out of it, not wanting to upset her. It hadn't been her fault, after all. He reached over for her hand, lifting it up so he could press a kiss against her palm.

"It's not -- "

Annie didn't know, exactly, what she wanted to say here? Like, part of her wanted to apologize, but she also knew it wasn't really her fault. (Except that it was, since she was the one keeping things to herself, and Annie knew perfectly damn well that there was a correlation, there.)

"It's not you," she said after a moment, unable to keep from looking just profoundly sad for a second as she brushed her fingertips along his cheek. "It's me."

"It's fine," Diego said automatically before wincing at the implications of that. "I mean--it's not fine, obviously, but it happens. It's not anybody's fault."

Now if it happened a couple times consecutively then, yeah...he might think it's his fault a little bit.

Edited 2021-04-27 21:38 (UTC)

It had never happened to her before.

Annie's heart just kind of broke a little -- things were so weird between them, but she'd thought maybe they'd be on solid ground with this, at least. Like, she'd broken a lightbulb in recent memory. They were great at this, normally.

"Okay," she said, clearly unhappy but not really wanting to argue about whose fault it was mostly because now that she was thinking about it, all roads were leading back to The Deep and Vought, as though enough things hadn't already been taken from Annie.

She carefully shifted a little closer, hesitantly nestling her head against Diego's shoulder. "I love you."

She really needed to hear it back, right now.

"I love you too," he said, wrapping his arms around her. "Always."

That, at least, would always be genuine.

Vought Tower | Monday Afternoon

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