MHA #2 | Tuesday Morning

[defenderofdesmoines]

For those of you playing at home: no, Annie had not yet found her engagement ring.

To be fair to her, she had found nine of the decoy boxes by now, which she thought was pretty damn impressive, thank you. She had them neatly lined up in the guest room, next to the previously well-organized white board that now boasted an increasingly untidy list of the found decoys' locations and of crossed-out rooms she'd searched. Organizing her thoughts had been a good idea, but as the search had worn on, Annie's patience with keeping things neat had frayed a bit.

That was also true in a more literal sense, as their apartment was a disaster by now. She'd pulled bookshelves out from walls, and books off of those shelves. Half of her and Diego's drawers were pulled out of their dressers and counters and sitting on the floor. She'd emptied the bathroom's medicine cabinet and left everything from her backup bottles of conditioner to the first aid kit sitting out, just so she didn't mistakenly retrace her steps.

It didn't help that she'd had pause her search to work yesterday for Memorial Day -- though on the bright side, she'd managed to confer with Maeve (read: whisper frantically at Maeve while they both made wistful faces next to various monuments in DC), and that had led to some untapped ground at her teammate's suggestion.

"Oh my God, I see a box!" Annie yelled from on top of a stepladder in their bedroom, shining an illuminated hand into an air vent. Nine decoys in, and you'd think the excitement would have worn off. And it had a little, in the sense that Annie didn't feel like she might faint every time she found one, at least. (The minute she found a box that made a noise when she shook it, though? Different story.)

[for the guy!]

Comments

[knife_bender]

"Well if that's what my fiancée wants..." he joked, kissing her neck.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"It's what your fiancée demands," Annie teased, arching her neck for his benefit. "I'm gonna be one of those super naggy wife stereotypes and it's starting now."

Oh no, nagging about...staying naked and having more sex with her all day long.

[knife_bender]

"I am more than happy to follow these kind of demands," Diego said, laughing. "And any other demands you might come up with."

He was kind of all in, just in case you didn't notice.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You can also issue demands," Annie decided, tilting her head to kiss him. "...but I'm totally taking 'obey' out of our vows, just to say it now."

Honestly, she figured he'd kind of be into that.

[knife_bender]

"Oh yeah, absolutely. Get rid of any of that arcane crap," he said before kissing her again. "You get to handle the looks from your mom about it, not me."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"We're already gonna be in trouble for not having a Mass," Annie replied with a dismissive little 'pff' before kissing him again. "Part of my fiancée duties will be to protect you from Vought and Catholic guilt-trips."

[knife_bender]

"I appreciate that," he said. "Meanwhile, I will try to make sure my siblings don't embarrass you too much."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'll need to get used to it, anyway," Annie replied with a soft smile. "As long as Klaus doesn't, like, tell the Times about my panties at my movie premiere or something, we're fine."

[knife_bender]

"I mean...that's exactly the kind of thing we need to worry about." And the blatant pointing when Klaus saw Annie's giant photoshopped boobs on the poster.

[defenderofdesmoines]

At least that was unlikely to make it into publication! (Unless, of course, someone took a picture.)

"Then we'll get out ahead of it," Annie decided, kissing him again. "I can deal. Worth being engaged to you."

And eventually married to him, for that matter.