MCA #9 | Monday Morning

[defenderofdesmoines]

When Annie's alarm went off this morning, it was still dark outside, which was very normal considering how early she typically got up for training.

What was decidedly not normal was how she was in bed in her Starlight outfit, which was decidedly not comfortable, though thankfully her boots had been discarded in the middle of the floor at some point before she'd clambered into bed last night. It was also abnormal that Annie was alone in said bed, since she'd gotten kind of used to having Diego there.

That was explained pretty quickly, once she padded out to the living room and found him on the couch. "Good morning," she whispered, lightly perching on the arm of the couch and reaching out to touch his shoulder.

Hopefully he wasn't too mad about having to babysit all weekend.

[for he who took the couch]

Comments

[knife_bender]

Yeah Diego knew that wasn't going to last.

"Well instead of holding a donut like a normal person you kind of crushed them in your hand," Diego said. "That might have something to do with it."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"My motor control was not, like, great," Annie agreed, sighing. "Be glad I didn't decide to use my powers." A pause, as she wandered into the bedroom to find a shirt to throw on at least. "Or use them by accident. My little tantrums weren't cute, either."

So it was probably a good thing he'd walked that 'arrest' thing back as quickly as he had.

[knife_bender]

"I was pretty impressed you were able to knock out the power on your street," Diego teased, flopping down on the mostly sprinkle-free bed. "Our powers made for interesting tantrums as well."

And Diego didn't even know about all the nannies Vanya killed! Oatmeal was not that bad, Vanya, sheesh...

[defenderofdesmoines]

Little Annie would have had Little Vanya's back on that. Oatmeal was gross.

"We really did have to call the power company," Annie told him with a sheepish smile as she tugged on an oversized shirt and wandered over to join him. "And if you ask Mom, I blinded the doctor who delivered me. I can't even imagine what it'd be like with six little superpowered kids around."

Seriously. Plus a totally normal little kid, too!

[knife_bender]

"It was a lot of bickering behind Dad's back," he said. "Dad hated it when we complained about each other to him."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"But at least you had other kids to play with?" Annie offered, tucking herself against him on the bed. "Though, man, I bet you were an adorable little terror. Most kids throw things. Most of 'em can't aim for shit, though."

[knife_bender]

Ha, playing. That was funny.

"Depends on who I was throwing stuff at," he said, wrapping an arm around her. "It really would only work on Luther. It didn't hurt him but he'd get mad, which is the whole point. Klaus would just make a joke, Five could disappear, Ben and Vanya gave you no reason to bother them."

"And Allison...well you don't mess with Allison." Unless you wanted to be rumored into doing something truly embarrassing.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Like punching yourself in the face, maybe?

"Making Luther mad seems like a whole hobby you could get into," Annie decided thoughtfully, sighing happily and snuggling closer. "And yeah, I would not mess with Allison. I don't think there's anyone back home like her - my friend Countess is kind of similar, but her powers don't have the same kind of casual exploitation potential. I feel like I'd use that all the time."

Which, you know, Allison's siblings had probably not appreciated.

[knife_bender]

It was all fun and games exploiting your mind manipulation powers until your husband leaves you and takes custody of your daughter.

"I always wondered if that was how she got the career she has." He didn't remember her being all that talented acting growing up but, really, when did they get the chance to explore stuff like that?

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Oh, that's sad," Annie decided, frowning a little. "I mean, I could see that, though. It's basically like having the ability to wish for whatever you want, right? And lots of people would probably want to be famous."

She would just hope that it was a coincidence, though.

[knife_bender]

"Yeah." He didn't get it, personally, but he knew most people liked the aspect of fame. "Then again, she could have gotten it through being the daughter of someone famous, like everyone else does."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Or by being a literal superhero," Annie pointed out. "If I ever make it onto a team, that might be a whole thing for me."

She honestly wasn't sure how she'd feel about being really famous, when and if the time came. Saving people was awesome, helping was great - doing skincare ads was...a part of it she'd learn to deal with. It was weird enough having people ask for the occasional autograph at Believe Expo.

[knife_bender]

"By the time Allison got her career everyone had forgotten about us, thank god. Only my dad was famous for being an eccentric billionaire," Diego said. "It's nowhere near like where you're from. How are you going to deal with that?"

He pretty much thought it would be a 'when' not an 'if' for her. And he wasn't not just being a supportive boyfriend there. Look at her powers, they were awesome!

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Probably not great," Annie said with a little laugh, though it did make her feel all warm and sweet how he was just acting like it was a sure thing. "Maybe they'll just let me be a reclusive weirdo superhero."

Probably not.

"If it happened, would that be weird for you?" she wondered, running her fingers lightly down his arm. "Walking red carpets with me, and all that?"

Pff, like Annie's agent would allow Diego anywhere near a red carpet, please.

[knife_bender]

Diego hadn't even thought about that. "Yeah, that would be weird. I don't think I'd made you look good."

Her PR team would agree, Diego, don't worry.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I don't know about that. We're so cute together."

Truth. Until someone tried to get an interview with Starlight's boyfriend.

"But like, also maybe I could just have an intense private life, like Black Noir." Sure, that would totally be allowed.

[knife_bender]

"I somehow doubt that," Diego said, chuckling. "Even Black Noir has his own movies."

Though Diego was guessing he got to skip out on interviews on the red carpet.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I could do movies," Annie decided, thinking about it. "It's the, like, tabloid stuff that would be hard, I think. Like I don't know if everyone needs to know what's in my purse - which, like, I just read a 'What's in My Bag' feature about this hero chick out of Portland, so that's a possibility."

Granted, Stormfront had been light on the details of what was actually in her backpack, but Annie had read it, all the same.

"Think I might have to just get good at lying," she decided, making a face. Because really, she was so bad at it.

[knife_bender]

Diego laughed. "Oh man, good luck with that. You are a woman of many talents but lying is not one of them."

To be fair, Diego wasn't great at lying either. Mostly because he never felt the need to.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie shrugged a shoulder, because what was she going to do, lie about being a bad liar? "Tell me more about these many talents I have," she replied, curling closer and dipping her head low to kiss the underside of his jaw. "I spent the weekend being bad at almost everything."

Except for being adorable.

[knife_bender]

He grinned. "I don't know you were pretty good at getting sprinkles everywhere."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"It's too soon to joke about the sprinkles," Annie informed him. "And besides, whose fault is it that I even had access to that many sprinkles?"

To be fair, several different adults shared that blame.

[knife_bender]

"We're not talking about my failings as a caretaker," Diego joked. "We're talking about your talents."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Talent, singular," Annie corrected. "And that's new. I definitely didn't get sprinkles everywhere when I was actually four, because absolutely no one let me have them. Except, very occasionally, my dad."

And even then, they'd both gotten in trouble for it a few times.

[knife_bender]

"You were making up for lost time," Diego decided. "And you had more than one talent. I was very impressed you didn't throw up after all the spinning."