MHA # 2 | Thursday Evening

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie had actually enjoyed her half-a-week back at work. She'd done a little press (and like...things were going pretty well there, considering that she and Maeve were being lauded as heroes who had taken down a Nazi), she'd gone on an actual save last night, and today, she'd had a completely civil meeting about Citizen Starlight before she'd left to return to Fandom.

And because she thought she was funny -- and it was the first time she was coming home here, rather than visiting Diego -- she opened the door with a, "Honey, I'm home!"

The black cat on the couch gave her a bemused, slightly grumpy -- or was that just how cats looked? -- look.

And between how she was pretty sure Diego would never get a pet (especially without checking with her), the way the cat responded to his name, and -- let's be honest -- the expression on that cat's little kitty face...it didn't take long before she was sighing heavily. "I've heard this happens."

She pulled off her cape as she headed into the bedroom to change, texting Danny to let him know he could head over for wine at any time -- and, you know, while she was at it, probably best to let Rey know that their plans for a double-date this weekend looked like they'd changed.

And thus, she missed it when cat-Diego decided that her white cape was absolutely the spot to put his black, copiously-shedding self.

Naturally.

[expecting one but it can be open! Cat boyfriend modded with permission, of course. eta: contents of the Danny convo NFB, please!]

Comments

[hatesparadise]

Danny and a couple bottles of mid-tier wine arrived not too long after. Because he wasn't avoiding Steve, but he was definitely avoiding him right now.

Because his life was getting weirder than he liked it to be.

So he knocked on the door to Diego and now Annie's place.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Hey!" Annie greeted him when she got the door, having changed out of uniform and into her usual jeans-and-hoodie ensemble. "Come on in. Diego's a cat."

A cat who was now asleep on her cape, but like...whatever.

[hatesparadise]

Well, that certainly caused him to pause. "Diego's a what now?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That cat," Annie said, pointing to the one asleep on that swath of gold-star-dotted fabric, "is Diego. I'm pretty sure. I can't find him but I did find his phone, and when the cat was awake, he was responding to his name."

Detective Annie!

[hatesparadise]

"... I'm getting pictures," Danny said like the very great friend he was and would eventually get karma biting him in the ass.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Please do. I'm already planning to take video of him playing with a string," Annie assured him, moving into the kitchen to grab glasses. "I was thinking we could hang out on the balcony since it's nice?"

She'd found some cute chairs to put out there, along with the four new plants and a windchime.

[hatesparadise]

"Bugs shouldn't be bad," Danny agreed. Because cicadas were just life right now. Oh god help them. "You're handling the cat thing pretty well."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Like, what am I going to do, freak out about it?" Annie exhaled a little pff and waved the hand that didn't have wine glasses in it as she led the way out to the (cicada-free, so far) balcony. "He'll change back at some point. It happens, I guess. I was a bat for Halloween night, and all."

[hatesparadise]

"Well, get plenty of blackmail pictures in the meantime." He was going to end up the most affectionate tabby cat ever at some point and rue his words.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'm gonna make like, a picture album of all the weird shit that happens to us here," Annie shared. "Diego as a cat can go in there along with the pictures I'll figure out how to take next time we're all horses."

Annie was wise to realize there would be a next time.

[hatesparadise]

"Apparently unicorns had magic powers," Danny said dryly. "And could make stuff move that way."

HE HATED THAT HE KNEW THIS.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Yes!" Annie tapped her nose in recollection. "Steve told me that when I showed him how I could turn the blender on without using my hands."

Normal conversation.

[hatesparadise]

"Of course he did," he replied with an amused little eyeroll.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Seemed pretty proud of himself," Annie added. "Are you guys doing okay, after the last few weeks?"

'Cause, like, Annie sure had had a month, but Danny's had also not sounded like any kind of a vacation.

[hatesparadise]

Danny opened his mouth and then closed it again at that. "I think I'll need a few glasses of wine to unpack all that," he admitted.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That good, huh?" Annie asked, dryly sympathetic as she settled into one of those cute patio chairs and passed over a glass.

[hatesparadise]

"Thank you," Danny said with great appreciation, taking his own seat. It was no beachside chair, but it was still nice. "You do a lot of decorating since you moved in?"

Because none of this screamed 'Diego'.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That one plant is a gift from his brother," Annie said (generously), indicating a spider plant. "But yeah, the rest of this is me. I was in New York the last couple days, but if someone wasn't a cat I'd considered hanging curtains this weekend."

[hatesparadise]

"Was he aware of these plans?" Because Danny could see it being out of self-defense.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Are you suggesting Diego turned into a cat on purpose?" Annie wanted to find that less likely than she did. Like, probably not? But it was possible.

[hatesparadise]

"It's a possibility," Danny replied. Because it was. Here it was.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Okay, well, if he did," Annie said, shooting look back inside at the sleeping cat, "I'm going to totally turn into a cat or something next time I want to get out of, like, a race around the island."

Because Annie always lost.

(Also she would totally turn into a dog, anyway. A big, fluffy, blonde dog.)

[hatesparadise]

Yeah, her and Steve would be dogs. And dog Steve would still be an overachiever.

"Just mess up your knee like me and always have an excuse to avoid the stairs."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"How'd you mess it up?" Annie asked curiously. "'Cause I would need, like, a bus, but it's doable."

Those stairs were that compelling.

[hatesparadise]

"College baseball injury that was made worse trying to keep up with Steve when I got to Hawaii." Because SEALs were insane. "Tore my ACL. Had to walk with a cane for months."