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]

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."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I told you, I wasn't allowed because those were special clothes," Annie reminded him, smiling. "I clearly have an iron stomach because I love sugar and being pretty."

She actually did not still have that iron stomach! It was kind of a miracle she hadn't thrown up the night of the Christmas party. (It had happened in the morning, though.)

[knife_bender]

"Your mom had some pretty shitty rules in place," Diego said, running his fingers down her arm.

He had no place to accuse anybody else of bad parenting but still.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"It got worse when I got older," Annie murmured, and look, she wasn't going to just unload all her parental issues on Diego with his dad. But it was nice to have the sympathy, anyway, because this weekend had kind of dredged up a fair amount of them. "At least she wasn't weighing me every day when I was that little. She's just, like, always had a vision about how I should be."

There, that was a generous way to frame how things were with her mom.

[knife_bender]

"I get how that is," he said, kissing the top of her head. "Is she still like that?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Mmm-hmm." And Annie was just going to tuck herself a little closer in response, sighing softly. "But I'm a lot less worried about getting in trouble with her, at least."

Though she still felt guilty plenty often.

[knife_bender]

"Good," he said, holding her a little tighter. "At least there isn't any upcoming holidays where you have to go home?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Maybe Easter," Annie said thoughtfully. "But that's months off. And as much as I'd like to say it'll never happen, you'll probably meet her someday, and she's probably going to be shitty to you, and I'm sorry in advance for that."

Might as well warn him now, because there was exactly no chance at all that her mom would even vaguely like him, no matter how much Annie did.

[knife_bender]

"I expected nothing less." Really, he probably looked bad to anybody's parents, much less her mom. "Meanwhile I can promise you that you will never meet my dad."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"It's not your fault," Annie had to add. Because Annie's mother had hated every single one of her boyfriends except the one who had cheated on her, because Annie's mother was terrible. "And yeah, I had better not. For your dad's sake."

Though she wouldn't mind meeting his mom, even if she would feel really weird about it now, thanks, Five.

[knife_bender]

"Yeah, that probably wouldn't end great." Though Diego had the feeling that his father would not only be able to get out of whatever punishment Annie had in mind, but also figure out a way to make both her and Diego feel like shit in return. It was sort of his specialty.

"Would be kind of funny if you punched his monocle right off his face though."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"He has a monocle?" Annie had to shift to look at him, frowning. "Oh, man, I can't believe I wasn't picturing that this whole time, but like, who wears a monocle." He probably didn't even need it to see, God. He probably just liked how it looked, because he was a pretentious tool.

"But yeah, I would punch the monocle right off his face. And then I'd make him apologize to you," she decided, because that was really what was important here, when it came to Diego's dad: not her anger, but Diego's.

[knife_bender]

Diego laughed. "Good luck with the apology thing, but I appreciate that you would try. But, yeah, he looks exactly how you would picture a stuffy British guy to look."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Tweed?" Annie checked, wrinkling her nose. "My mom looks like, exactly what you're probably picturing. Lots of twin sets."

Also, seriously, she didn't say she'd ask for an apology, she said she'd make him. Annie was - modestly - more powerful than all six of the powered Hargreeves kids, so she was pretty sure she could scare the shit out of their dad.

She was wrong - about lots of things, there! - but she believed it anyway.

[knife_bender]

Yeah, well, nobody here took Sir Reginald being an alien into account.

"So much tweed," Diego confirmed. "...that is how I pictured your mom, actually."

He doubted Annie would be able to guess what his mom looked like.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Nope, but when she eventually met her, Annie would feel really weird about how his mom looked!

"So now you'll be able to avoid her if I drag you to Believe Expo with me this year, or something," Annie decided with a content little sigh, draping a leg over his because obviously she wasn't twined up enough with him, yet. "You see me talking to a lady in a twin set, you run in the other direction."

[knife_bender]

"Noted," Diego said with a little nod. "I'll hide in a bush or something."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, that's a little drastic, but I like your commitment." Annie tucked her head against his shoulder with a content little sigh. "I'm kinda sad I didn't get to meet little you this weekend, but I also appreciate you looking out for me."

It had really been sweet, even if she'd almost cried over the arrest thing.

[knife_bender]

"Believe me, Number Two Hargreeves is not much of a person to meet," Diego said. "That's when I bought into Dad's bullshit."