Trooper Station | Saturday

[knife_bender]

Reunions weren't really Diego's thing (he hadn't even gone to high school here), but if one thing hadn't changed in the last twenty years it was he was willing to do whatever Annie asked. So here he was. He decided to stop by his old job to see what had changed since he had been gone...and weirdly enough nothing hadn't.

"You guys still suck," Diego said to Ralph and Calvin. "I want you to know that."

[Open]

Comments

[defenderofdesmoines]

"It all looks the same," Annie noted in mild wonder when she wandered in.

You know what had also been the same? The Perk, and the coffee she was now carrying over to Diego, the same way she had every Saturday she could make it when they were dating and first married. "You'd think someone might have redecorated or something."

[knife_bender]

"Yet another reason why they suck," Diego said, gesturing wildly to the troopers.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Are you even sure these are the same guys?" Annie pointed out in an undertone, because that seemed rude to say so that they could hear, before waving to the troopers in question.

They looked the same. But Annie legitimately could have been seeing a new set of troopers every week twenty years ago, and might have never known.

[knife_bender]

"Totally the same guys," Diego said. "I can tell by their posture."

Stupid posture, is what it was.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"The it's good to see you guys," Annie called to the troopers, maybe over-selling that a little bit because, you know, clearly Diego still thought they sucked. Whatever, she had other things to worry about. "Have you heard from the kids?"

Annie had not, and she had suspicions.

[knife_bender]

"Nope," Diego said. "Think they're dead or something worse?"

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I think," Annie told him gravely, "that they're throwing a party."

The twins were brand-new high school graduates who had sworn up and down, unprompted, that they would not be throwing any parties while their parents were out of town. So you know. They were almost definitely having people over.

[knife_bender]

"...yeah. That tracks," Diego said. "Is it weird I'm more disappointed they aren't being better about hiding it?"

Like, one of the twins should be texting about being bored or checking in or something just to keep up appearances. Totally cutting off communication was a rookie move.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You need to train them better," Annie teased, leaning up to press a light kiss to his cheek. Some things didn't change, and one of those things was that twenty-two years into this relationship, they were still gross. (But now they had an audience of two teenagers who also weren't shy about saying so.) "I'm sure if I called Maggie or Ben would pick up just to tell me how boring it is -- but I also bet if I called, it would take...." She frowned, before committing, "-- at least three rings for one of them to pick up."

Because there were definitely people over at their house right now, probably making all kinds of damning background noise.

[knife_bender]

"I could send someone over there," Diego said. "You know Klaus ain't doing shit."

Oh yeah, that'd make it better.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You want to send Klaus to break up our teenage children's party?" Annie said, good and slow because really.

Uncle Klaus would probably introduce them to flaming shots or something.

[knife_bender]

"I mean, he might take things so far that the twins will realize their mistake?" Probably sometime after Uncle Klaus fell off the roof and walked it off.

[defenderofdesmoines]

Hey, if nothing else, all the Hargreeves had modeled responsible drinking for the twins' entire life, so the twins themselves would likely be fine.

Even if, you know, the house wasn't standing after. That was really Annie's big concern. Last time Maggie had had friends over, she'd found gum in a soapdish. Gum. Who knew what travesties were next.

"Maybe," Annie decided, snorting. "But now I'm kinda worried for Uncle Klaus."

Uncle Klaus did not really spring back quite as easily as he once had. Like, even aside from being in his 50s now.

[apocalypsehow]

Call it nostalgia that brought Five to the trooper station, but call it the bitch ass hand of fate that caused it to once again hold one of his brothers.

"What happened to your hand?"

Gee, Five. No hello?

[knife_bender]

"What happened to your face?" Diego replied automatically before noticing that, wait, there was something different going on here. "What happened to your arm?"

[apocalypsehow]

Well, it was definitely Diego with that response. Which meant Five didn't have to be aggressively murderous here.

"The same thing that was supposed to happen to your fingers," he replied with an annoyed little frown. Alternate timelines were such a pain.

[knife_bender]

"Well as you can see, my fingers are in tact." And to prove that, Diego flipped Five off. For funsies. "Seriously, did you donate your arm to a mannequin in need or something?"

[apocalypsehow]

Five rolled his eyes like the mature... 80 something year old he was now.

"Well, they shouldn't be." Was he going to elaborate on why? No. Of course not. This was Five. "What else is wrong about you?"

[knife_bender]

Well he didn't have any tattoos for one thing. Or powers. But it had been so long since that happened Diego didn't really think there was anything wrong with that.

"Uh, nothing?" Debatable. "I seem to be in better shape than you. What are you even doing here anyway, you did nothing but bitch about this place."

[apocalypsehow]

That was all terrible, Diego!

"Once again, something is off here," Five replied. "So here I am."

He really should have sent Commission agents instead.

[knife_bender]

"You are highly paranoid." At least that hadn't changed. "If you wanted to prevent a disaster you should have gone to my house 'cause I'm pretty sure the twins are hosting a rager."

[apocalypsehow]

"I'm paranoid for a reason," he insisted. At least the twins were sort of an across the board the thing in normalcy.

[knife_bender]

"You are so dramatic," Diego said, rolling his eyes. "When was the last time we ended the world? Like decades ago."

Now that's how you knew Diego was from a different timeline.

"You just need something to bitch about."

[apocalypsehow]

Which was why Five was now giving him one of those Reginald looks of intense scrutiny.

"Decades, huh?"

[knife_bender]

Well now Diego was thrown off--maybe his math was wrong. "The hotel was...nineteen years ago? Close enough to decades, don't be pedantic."

Boom, a word he learned helping his kids with his homework back in the day.