Somewhere in Australia, Apparently | Saturday Morning

[defenderofdesmoines]

So, yesterday had been kind of a disaster, and really, Annie was still kicking herself for not seeing that coming. It wasn't her fault, exactly -- she'd moved past that line of thought -- but she absolutely had gotten caught up in the idea of planning and throwing this birthday party without really considering what Diego (and Five, but Diego was her bigger concern right now) actually would want.

Which was why they were now waking up to 600 acres of privacy. Annie had called in every favor she had, thrown her name around way more than she liked to do, and spent more money than she wanted to think about in the wake of the cakes hitting the ground. And while her assistant had promised her that what she'd secured for them (even on such late notice) was awesome, and they'd obviously had to trek up here last night before collapsing into bed, Annie was still kind of amazed once she woke up enough to look out the windows.

"Wow," she breathed as she sat up to look at the view, trying not to wake Diego yet -- they needed to talk about yesterday, still, but she also wasn't gonna deny the guy his sleep. Not after last night.

And the view would be here. Along with what looked like miles and miles and miles of quiet.

[for the dude and NFB for distance]

Comments

[knife_bender]

"I'm happy with just two," he murmured before kissing her. He was feeling a bit better about this whole thing, now that they had talked it over a bit. Something they should have been doing all month, really.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Which was another area where Annie kind of felt like she'd fucked up -- she'd been trying to give him space and distract him, when in reality, he'd probably needed to talk about all of this more.

"I mean, you'd better be," Annie told him lightly, pulling back just a teeny bit and setting her coffee aside so she could snuggle up closer. "There's ATVs down below, too. And I think ziplining, if you want to be adventurous."

So he'd have some cool shit he could tell Steve about when they were back.

[knife_bender]

"I absolutely want to be adventurous." Diego set aside his own coffee so he could participate fully in the snuggling. Which consisted of him putting both arms around Annie and pulling her back down against the pillows so they could really snuggle.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"We can be adventurous in a little while," Annie decided, draping her arm around Diego and nuzzling her face into his neck with a soft, happy sigh. "We have time. The quiet's nice, right now. I could even get out of your hair for a little while later if you want even more quiet."

She was half-teasing, considering she was doing her best to wrap herself up in him at the moment, but she also meant it; she could go off on an ATV by herself for an hour or two if he needed some private brooding time. This was all about whatever Diego needed.

[knife_bender]

"You going away is like the opposite of what I want," he said, tightening his arms around her. "Someone has to protect me from the wildlife."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie giggled, sliding a foot along his leg to just tangle herself up with him a little bit more. "I feel pretty confident that you could take a koala or a kookaburra or whatever. But okay. I'll keep you safe."

Twist her arm more.

[knife_bender]

"My hero," he murmured, running his hand down her back. "Don't forget the spiders and snakes either."

[defenderofdesmoines]

If some kind of terrifying Australian spider the size of her hand made its way up here, Annie was going to get hit with a hell of a cleaning fee for scorch marks.

"I can take some dumb snake," she replied as she tilted her head to press a soft kiss to his neck. (She was, of course, completely wrong about that.) "I also have kind of a present for you. Like, not a real birthday present, but I got something this morning that I know you want to see."

She had kind of thoroughly covered 'real' birthday presents, anyway.

[knife_bender]

"Oh?" He was impressed that she had managed to get something in this area. He hadn't checked his phone for service yet (but he still wasn't as attached as most people). "What kind of present?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"They finished the video." Said directly into his neck, so maybe he would be either a) distracted or b) unable to hear her and then would totally improbably just drop the subject and never ask again.

Worth a shot?

[knife_bender]

"What video?" he murmured, only slightly distracted.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"The Never Truly Vanish video," Annie replied, concluding her statement in a light bite to his neck in one last bid to keep him distracted.

[knife_bender]

Nice try, but even biting wouldn't save her from this one. Diego started laughing. He had totally forgotten about the video. "Did you watch it yet?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Kind of." With the sound down really low, in horrified embarrassment. Annie sighed, pulling back to give him a little look. "It's bad, Diego. Worse than I thought it'd be."

Which meant he was going to love it, probably.

[knife_bender]

"I'm sorry," Diego said, meaning that even if he would enjoy how bad it was. "Do you want me to watch it when I'm alone?"

Not watching it at all was clearly not an option.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh, I love you," Annie told him, because that was such a sweet offer. (She had no delusions that he -- along with every one of her friends, eventually -- would not watch it at all.) "Here, I've got an idea -- I know it's, like, morning, but do you want to try out that tub? I can get it filling up while you watch this travesty."

And the water would cover up the sound enough that Annie wouldn't have to pitch herself off the balcony out of embarrassment.

[knife_bender]

"That is an amazing idea," he said before leaning in to kiss her again. "Thank you.

Both for drawing the bath, and for not making him wait to watch this travesty.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Mmm-hmm," Annie hummed into the kiss, lingering a little bit there (both because kissing was kissing, and also maybe she was stalling a teeny tiny bit.) She did eventually pull back to slip out of bed and go retrieve her phone from where she'd left it on the kitchen counter.

"Just remember I'm but an innocent, singing bystander," Annie told him when she returned, passing over the phone with the video already cued up on the screen. "I didn't direct this thing."

And now to go turn on that tap before she could hear her own voice too clearly.

[knife_bender]

"Not your fault, got it." Diego waited until the water started running before hitting play, and turned down the volume as much as he could while still being able to hear it.

There was no muffling the laughter once the CGI Translucents came in though.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I don't know why they couldn't give me real backup dancers!"

Annie could make an educated guess about what was making him laugh, yes. (He'd already seen her wig, after all.)

[knife_bender]

"This is insane!" Diego said. "People are supposed to be touched by this?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I guess?" Annie speculated, helplessly. Ooh, bubbles, though, totally adding some of those into this giant bath. "I mean, they told me to act like it was really sad and I think it comes through? But it's so fucking dumb."

Like, Annie kind of hated how she'd been costumed, but she thought her performance was okay, at least. And they hadn't autotuned her all that much, which she appreciated.

[knife_bender]

"You look great," he assured her. "Everything else...why the black and white? I guess that's sadder?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Part of the reason, I think. Wait until the end," Annie advised, because she knew why it was in black and white. It was both because it's sadder, and because after the bridge she would dramatically bring everything into color with her powers because Vought couldn't help themselves. "Do you like how I need backup dancers because I clearly can't move in those heels?"

There had maybe been an attempt at more complex choreography earlier in the shoot.

[knife_bender]

"Maybe nobody will notice it's because of the heels?" She didn't really need to wait for him to say anything specific when it got to the part where she made everything turn to color because there was a "What the--" followed by more laughing.