MHA #2 | Late, Late Wednesday Night (or Thursday Morning?)

[defenderofdesmoines]

So, the thing about being a very in-demand person back home was that you tended to be kind of...well, in-demand. So while Annie could usually count on being able to skate out of work on Wednesdays in time to change her clothes and grab a jello shot or three, tonight had kept her late at the tower.

It was...sort of nice? Because it wasn't just a lollipop meeting they'd kept her for. She, A-Train and Maeve had actually talked about strategy, the saves they'd each done that week -- Noir had been there too but, you know, not a lot of talking going on there -- and how they were supposed to move forward as a team of five for the moment. Especially when their auxiliary member, if he even counted still, hadn't shown his face in New York since last year (because he was probably scared of it being burned off, or so Annie liked to tell herself), and their supposed leader could probably lose his position to a glass of water in a cape if it was left up to public opinion at the moment.

Which was why he hadn't been there, Annie assumed. She hadn't asked. She'd actually just enjoyed kind of...feeling like a team, for once. Only took the better part of a year.

In any case, it was very late when she'd managed to fire a text off to Diego to let him know she'd be later still, and thus she was trying to be very quiet when she let her still-uniformed self into the apartment awhile later, in case he was asleep. Equal parts courtesy and imperviousness to paranoid, half-asleep knife-throwing at work here, though Annie certainly wasn't really thinking about the latter.

[for the dude!]

Comments

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie pulled back just enough to look at him. "Did you guys try to jump up on the chandelier as kids?" she asked, somewhere between fond and mildly alarmed for his tiny, breakable self. "You could definitely get up on the one in my apartment."

Whether it would support anyone's weight was a better question, but pff. Details.

[knife_bender]

"Maybe once or twice." More than that, let's be real. Way more than that.

He shifted closer to nuzzle against her neck. "Do you want me to visit you more?"

She really did most of the commuting in the relationship, which didn't seem fair.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Well, if you asked Annie, it was her fault for being the one with a job in another dimension.

But there were neck nuzzlings and that was a very sweet question, anyway. "If you wanted to. I could start meeting you in the lobby so you don't get stuck in the elevator alone with a weirdo."

Why did that keep happening?

[knife_bender]

"There are a lot of weirdos in your building," Diego said. "But as long as I avoid any cameras, I can handle the weirdos."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"We might have to put you in front of a camera someday," Annie warned, idly tracing her hand along his side and snuggling a bit closer. "But not any time soon. And not without me there doing all the talking."

And, honestly, not without a ring on her finger. That would be when Vought would really put the screws to her -- Starlight could have a private boyfriend, but probably not a private fiancé.

[knife_bender]

"I think Vought might insist you do all of the talking." Even when he was doing press he hadn't talked much. "I'll just stand there and look pretty."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You're so good at that, anyway," Annie teased, tilting her head to give his neck an accompanying playful bite. "Everyone likes a mysterious, silent hot guy."

[knife_bender]

Diego smiled at the bite, lightly scratching his nails down her back in response. "Does being silent automatically mean I'm mysterious? People could just think I was an asshole."

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie gave a pleased hum against his neck, curling herself closer against him in response. "I mean, with no evidence either way, I think if you're good-looking, people tend to believe the best. So since you're cute, you get to be mysterious instead of, like, silent and awkward or whatever."

She'd known plenty of people like that. Believe you her, at this stage in the game, Annie could sort out 'quiet cute dude' from 'awkward, silent weirdo' pretty well.

[knife_bender]

"Guess we'll find out when I make my grand appearance." Diego followed that up with a light bite to Annie's shoulder.

As much as he made it very clear he hated the idea of the press, he would probably try to be a decent human being when the time came. For her sake.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"And until then," Annie decided softly, slipping a hand under his shirt to lightly skim up his chest, "I get to keep you all to myself. Another perk of coming home rather than having you come to me -- privacy."

What did it say about Annie's other life that a place where this entire interaction would be reported on the radio via squirrels was the more private of the two?

[knife_bender]

Better squirrels than Seven on 7, it was true.

"No worries about super hearing." Well. He was fairly sure they didn't have to worry about that. He didn't know much about his neighbors. "I think our bed here is comfier too."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"And no one, like, needs us for anything," Annie added softly, tilting her head to nip lightly at his earlobe. "For hours and hours and hours."

Whereas at the tower there was always the chance that she'd be summoned for a very important perfume shoot or something.

[knife_bender]

"That's a lot of hours," he said, leaning in to kiss her. "Think we can occupy ourselves that long?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Maybe," Annie murmured into the kiss. It probably would have been a more convincing 'maybe,' rather than the 'yes, absolutely' it actually was, if she hadn't been trying to pull Diego on top of her as she kissed him.

Never mind that they were all wrapped up in each other already -- she needed more, please.

[knife_bender]

They had probably proven several times over by now that they could take up quite a lot of each other's time when they put their minds to it.

Diego moved to settle himself over Annie, gently nudging one leg between hers. "Not worried being late for work tomorrow?"

Now he was just presuming a lot.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Taking up Diego's time was, in fact, Annie's favorite indoor activity. (Though, like, if someone asked her that question in an interview, the answer would probably be 'Puzzles!' or something equally wholesome.)

"If you keep me so busy that I'm late for work tomorrow night," Annie replied, smiling up at him, "then I don't think I'm going to be all that, like, worried about it."

She might have other feelings, though.

[knife_bender]

"...that's a good point," Diego admitted. "And I'm pretty sure no one will come searching for us."

Unless Annie had some really dedicated regulars.

[defenderofdesmoines]

She had one, but honestly, she'd sort of inherited Gladio as a regular more than curated him herself (because, like, she certainly wasn't doing any work to keep Shirtless Thursdays going.) So, probably safe.

"If they do," Annie decided, now just going ahead and pushing up on his shirt, "we get to ignore the door."

Really, the bigger issue was their sometimes-houseguest who didn't actually use the door, but nothing was quite as mood-killing as bringing up someone's sibling while also trying to take their clothes off.

[knife_bender]

Yeah, any mentioning of any sibling would kill the mood fast.

"Agreed," Diego said, sounding a little muffled as he got his shirt off. He tossed it aside, clearly having no worries about being cold later on. "Should have taken the shirt off as soon as you got in."

No, they should have thought ahead about pants before climbing all over each other. One day they'd learn. One day.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie, at least, had not even put on pants! You could call it foresight, but mostly it was just laziness and knowing she'd be warm enough in bed in just a shirt with Diego wrapped all around her.

But speaking of shirts -- "And I shouldn't have even bothered putting this on, right?"

At least she was wriggling out of it now, though. Silly of her to have even put it on in the first place, though, as he'd noted.

[knife_bender]

"I don't want to say I told you so..." He at least was helping her with shirt removal while he was being a jerk. "We are pretty predictable in some things."

Namely in being unable to keep their hands off each other.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"'Predictable' is an unkind word," Annie decided, shaking her hair out once she was able to toss her shirt aside and reaching for him again. "Maybe this'll just teach you to sleep naked on Wednesday nights when I'm running late."

Just skip right to the good stuff that way. She was smart.

[knife_bender]

"What if there's an emergency?" he asked, leaning down to press a kiss against her chest. "Like a fire."

Well, Buck and Travis would be ecstatic, for one thing.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Then lucky everyone else, I guess," Annie murmured, sliding her hands up appreciatively along his shoulders with a sigh. "Maybe wrap up in, like, a blanket in that case."

Like a blanket would be better than actual pants in the case of fleeing a fire? Whatever, just go with her on this. She was picturing it and it was a nice image. Almost as nice as the actual flesh-and-blood, partially-undressed Diego here in bed with her now.