MHA #2 | Late Tuesday Evening

[defenderofdesmoines]

Given that it had been relatively clear out tonight, with no rain or wind in the forecast, Annie and Diego had finally made good on this idea of going back over to Baltimore for a little crimefighting date. And Annie, in turn, had made good on her long-told promise of getting leather pants -- they were tight, but she couldn't deny she looked really good. And like a total badass. Maeve would be proud. (And they were warm, which wasn't especially badass, but you spend most of your adult life fighting in a tulle skirt -- warmth becomes important.)

"I need to figure out how to fly without taking out an entire breaker panel," Annie was saying as she let herself back into the apartment and flipped on the lights. She wasn't still out of breath, exactly, but she was very pink-cheeked still from how fast they'd had to run away from their last set of criminals of the night -- she and Diego had spotted a couple of guys sort of...playing with a window, and while the fight hadn't taken especially long, they still hadn't wanted to be waiting there when the cops came. But this was one of those reasons why it was good to be in shape in their line of work! "How are your knuckles?"

Annie's kind of hurt -- lots of punching, since she hadn't wanted to attract a lot of attention with blasts -- but Annie also had super-skin. (And Annie was also clearly flying on a high of remembering she could do all of that. Even without the cape.)

[for that man she married!]

Comments

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, if we're still doing this in July, I might change it up," Annie suggested, sounding pretty hopeful that they'd still be doing this in July. "Do you think I'm good enough at vigilanting," which was totally a word, yes, "to keep doing it?"

Annie thought she was. (And more importantly: it had been so fun.)

[knife_bender]

"You're amazing at it," Diego said, leaning in for a kiss. "Even better than me."

It helped she could take punches better than him.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You're a good teacher," Annie replied, smiling into the kiss.

And she meant it! Annie did not really come naturally to the sneaking part of being a vigilante, and had maybe needed a little help there.

[knife_bender]

Wearing black did like 90% of the work!

"I really had a lot of fun," he murmured. "I missed it."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I'm sorry we haven't gone back to our roots like that sooner," Annie told him, deciding her hands were probably warm enough to play with his hair by now. Stupid job. Less-stupid wedding. "But I want to do that, like...weekly."

Nightly, maybe, as long as they stayed uninjured? And no one had work or sibling obligations or important episodes of American Ninja Warrior to catch up on, et cetera.

[knife_bender]

Diego laughed. "I think we could manage weekly, so long as we don't piss off the cops. That's when things get tricky, trust me."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Is that when we get arrested?" Annie asked with a playful lift of her brows, like someone who had never actually been arrested. Beaten up and captured by Vought, sure. Called a criminal on the news in the 60s -- you know, who hadn't? But never arrested-arrested. "We should designate someone to bail us out if we end up pissing off the cops together."

[knife_bender]

"Oh, my siblings are pros when it comes to bailing people out of jail." Namely Klaus. "It was tougher when we weren't speaking--then I had to figure out bail on my own."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That sounds harder," Annie noted, and really, she was aware she was starting the whole vigilante thing from an advantaged place in several ways. "You didn't have a friend to call and come lie to the cops for you?"

[knife_bender]

"Me? Have friends?" Come on, now.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Not even one friend?" Annie tried, going onto her toes to give him another kiss. "I find that hard to believe. I'd love to be your friend."

Friend with benefits who she had a big crush on, maybe. Again: these two had never really been friends, ever.

[knife_bender]

"Making friends isn't my forte," he murmured. "But I'd make an exception for you."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"It's just 'cause you like how I look in leather pants," Annie teased, stepping a little closer to press her leather-panted self against him a little more snugly.

[knife_bender]

"I mean, it helps," he said, sliding one of his hands over her ass. "But even without them I think you'd be able to sway me."

[defenderofdesmoines]

The incentives to continue wearing leather pants in the future just kept stacking up tonight.

"I think you're better at making friends these days, anyway," Annie told him affectionately. "I mean, I don't have a secret handshake with anyone."

Maybe Herb was a good candidate for being a backup bailout buddy, too.

[knife_bender]

"Technically Herb was a coworker," Diego said. "I don't think that counts."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh, we're ruling out coworkers?" Annie replied, lightly threading her fingers through his hair. Well, there went her other suggestion of a friend Diego had made, damn it. "I mean, that's bullshit, considering Tiny's one of my closest friends."

Tiny might disagree.

[knife_bender]

Diego snorted. "Babe, that guy hates you."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You just don't know how to read him like I do," Annie insisted, totally incorrectly.

[knife_bender]

"Oh yeah, I'm sure that's it," he said, tugging her along towards the bedroom. "You have a secret bond I'll never understand."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Now there's a guy I should try to start a secret handshake with," Annie decided, very happily allowing herself to be led to the bedroom. "Hey, remember when I threw that guy through that windshield?"

Maybe he had forgotten? Annie would just remind him, here on the way to the bedroom.

[knife_bender]

"Uh, that's going to be a moment I relive in my head forever," he assured her. "You know, I've seen Luther do that before, but you pull it off much better than he does."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Well, Luther also probably doesn't surprise people quite as much when he throws them." Considering Luther looked like he could throw most people pretty easily, and Annie...didn't. "And call me crazy, but I think you like spectating my fights more, anyway."

While fighting alongside her, yes, but please. She'd been doing some spectating of her own, too.

[knife_bender]

"Oh, one hundred percent," Diego said, reluctantly taking his hands off Annie when they got into the bedroom so he could take off his own shirt. He looked down at his torso. "I don't think anybody got me too bad."

There would always be some bruises after due to his enthusiastic rolling and flipping during fights.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I went into this mentally prepared for worse," Annie said, giving his torso an appraising look before leaning in to kiss one of those inevitable bruises. And the very fact that she wasn't freaking out in the slightest was just a whole lot of growth, really. "And hey, if someone busts out a gun next time, I don't even need to worry about you being shot."

She would still worry a little bit if someone shot at him, just in case he didn't see the bullet in time to deflect it, but still!