MHA #2 | Friday Morning

[defenderofdesmoines]

So, what did you do when your boyfriend was almost-certainly off getting killed in the name of stopping the apocalypse in his world? You could cry, certainly (which, don't worry, Annie had covered.) You could cry with a friend, which was why last night had seen her shuffling across the hall to cry literally and figuratively on Summer for awhile. You could pray, if you were Annie, and she'd been doing that pretty much constantly (though with more formality once she'd left Summer, who had recently told her that a crucifix would probably just burn right off her.)

But one thing that seemed wholly out of the question was sleeping. Every time Annie had closed her eyes, she'd pictured the worst. Which, in turn, had sent her into a cycle of reminding herself that she believed in Diego all the rest of the time, but then she always came back to how Five had told Diego how this went from the start. And even if there were infinite universes with infinite possibilities, it wasn't reassuring at all that the known ending to this story was the one where they all died.

In spite of all this, Annie did eventually fall into a restless sleep sometime shortly before dawn, curled up on the couch and pretty cried, prayed and hoped-out. It had been hours since the call. If they'd done it, she would have heard by now, right?

[god, who could this be for?]

Comments

[knife_bender]

After having a totally civil and non-blaming conversation with Five over their current situation, Diego pretty much sprinted to the MHA to get to Annie.

There was no smooth entrance, just him basically throwing the door open, breathing hard from the run. "Annie."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh my God." It wasn't like Annie had been sleeping great or anything, so she'd woken with a start as soon as she'd heard movement at the door.

And then, yeah, there he was, alive and well and right there, and she was basically tripping over herself to get over there and throw her arms around Diego.

[knife_bender]

Diego met her halfway, putting his arms around her and burying his face against her neck. He still had a lot of problems going on right now, but the sheer relief at seeing her again was taking precedence right now. "I'm okay."

A little beat up, slightly bloody, and emotionally distraught. But mostly okay.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You're okay," Annie mumbled, and oh, look, not so cried out after all. It had been a long and emotional, like, twelve hours of vacillating between hoping she'd get to see him again and being absolutely certain she wouldn't. "Oh my God, you're okay."

She'd ask about the apocalypse -- and, you know, the rest of the world, not to mention his family -- in a moment. Right now, she was sort of weak in the knees with overwhelming relief.

[knife_bender]

"Yeah," he mumbled, holding on to her tightly. "I told you I'd do my best."

[defenderofdesmoines]

That actually got a soft, relieved laugh out of her, even as Annie gave him an affirming squeeze just to solidify further that he was here (though she caught herself; she didn't know what kind of injuries he might have, now was not the time to give an accidental super-strong hug.)

"I knew you would," she murmured, pulling back just enough to look at him (which meant that she was now going to be touching his face, because welcome to your new life of absolute constant touching for the foreseeable future, Diego.) But she also knew that even the absolute best wasn't always enough to keep you alive. "Did you -- you saved the world?"

[knife_bender]

He shook his head. "No, it's gone. Vanya blew up the moon."

Weird sentence to say in all seriousness.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Honestly, what was there to do but kind of stare in response to a sentence like that?

At least Annie now kind of felt like she'd gotten off pretty easy with Vanya, all things considered. Going through a cabin wall was nothing if she had that kind of power.

"...so how are you here?" she asked softly, confused. (Grateful, but confused all the same, because that certainly sounded like he should have...you know, been crushed by a moon.)

[knife_bender]

"Five time traveled with all of us--Vanya included." He still didn't think that was a great idea. "Only it was just me and him that ended up here."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"So where's everyone else?" Annie asked quietly, running her hands lightly down his shoulders and actually trying to take stock of how he looked, now that she'd gotten past the 'holy shit, alive' part.

[knife_bender]

He shook his head. "Five lost them."

What? He certainly didn't lose them!

[defenderofdesmoines]

"He lost them?" That's what the man said, Annie. "What, like, in...time?"

Oh, shit, they could be anywhere. Allison could be in the Renaissance. Luther would make an excellent caveman.

"But at least you're all okay," she added, though wow, that really was quite concerning. "Are you hurt?"

[knife_bender]

"Well I don't know if the rest of them are okay. I'm just going by what Five said." Which should be taken with suuuuuch a grain of salt.

He reached up to tentatively prod what was becoming a pretty impressive goose egg on his head. "Vanya threw me around a little, but I'll live."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Five's track record with, like, accuracy had not been great lately, so. But Annie wasn't going to say that

"Yeah, she doesn't really fuck around," Annie noted, reaching up to gently trace her fingers over that bump. "But it could be a lot worse. I mean, the moon."

The moon! The fucking moon!

Not to mention that Annie had clearly spent the night scared out of her mind for him anyway, but -- like, she had not realized that being crushed by the destroyed moon was on the table.

[knife_bender]

"It was pretty intense," he said, nuzzling his face against her hand. "I'm sorry I scared you."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'm glad you called," Annie assured him, though her smile turned a little wobbly. "Like, I'd rather be scared than...."

Than to have him die and not have that last phone call.

"But you don't have to be sorry," she continued, clearing her throat a little. "This is what we do."

But, you know, that being said -- she would have sawed off, like, a hundred dead Lamplighter hands to get to him, if she'd had the option.

[knife_bender]

"I know," he said. "It just came on so fast. I meant everything I said, though."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Me too," Annie said softly, sighing out a little breath and gently smoothing her hand over his hair. "I mean -- I feel like maybe we need to talk about some of it?"

You know, about how he'd kind of proposed and all.

"But we, like, also need to get you some ice," she added, wincing a little when she found that goose egg again.

[knife_bender]

"Good idea." Because, yeah, he might have earned himself another head injury. "I'll go to the couch, you get the ice?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"And I'll keep track of that ice," Annie promised with a small smile, feeling kind of giddy between relief and last night's lack of sleep.

But before she was going to head to the kitchen for ice or usher him towards the couch, she was going to lean up for a slow, gentle, yet very God-I'm-so-glad-you're-alive kiss.

[knife_bender]

That really was needed, yes. Diego tightened his arms around Annie again, kissing her deeply for a few long moments. That had been, quite possibly, the closest call either of them had so far.

[defenderofdesmoines]

It definitely had been. And at least the last time they'd had to face down an overpowered tiny brunette, they'd been together for it.

Plus this was so much harder and, in a way, much more terrifying than everything that had happened in the spring, and everything the island typically threw at them, because of how much Diego had lost in the process.

"I love you," Annie murmured, pulling back just a bit. "And now I get to fuss over you."

Which meant a return of the Overbearing Injury Police to make sure he didn't do anything too fun or strenuous for awhile, hooray!

[knife_bender]

"Anything but that," he said with a small smile. It was not only a relief to be around Annie again, but this kind of familiarity was just distracting enough to keep the thoughts about where the hell his siblings were at bay for awhile.

That panic will probably creep up on him in the night, but he could worry about that later.

"So turns out Vanya can shoot out these tentacle things out of her chest?" Diego said, going over to the couch. "And they, like, suck out life from you."

It would have been cool to see if it hadn't happened to him.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Diego, holy shit," Annie commented, having to stop to look over at him as she went to get the ice. "We've gone from Vanya having no powers to Vanya having, like, multiple abilities."

And now they got to worry about whether Vanya was off, like, crashing the moon into Earth, still, but doing it circa 1775 or something.

Hang on a second, she was going to catch up here, and so once she was done rummaging around for an ice pack she called, "Wait a second, did she do this to you?"

[knife_bender]

"All of us except for Allison," he said. "It sucked."

Understatement.