The Perk | Wednesday Afternoon

[defenderofdesmoines]

Annie was deep in the throes of party-planning. (Not so deep as Summer, but to be fair, Annie did not live in the party zone on quite as full-time a basis as Summer just naturally did.) And while pacing around her apartment and trying to decide if it was too early to start inflating things certainly had its appeal, she figured a change of venue couldn't hurt.

So Wednesday afternoon found her cozied up at a table at the Perk with a peppermint mocha (of course!), a notebook (for brainstorming before putting items on her actual to-do list), and...the Home Depot website up on her phone.

Not the outdoor decorations portion of the site, of course.

No, no. She was looking at free-standing bathtubs and figuring out which one would best suit being filled with punch -- a normal thing for one's way-too-effing-early holiday party.

[open!]

Comments

[grenadesandohana]

Steve gave Annie a grin and a wave as he made his order, then ambled over with his cup after he received it. "Welcome back."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Thanks!" Annie replied cheerfully, glancing up from her very important bathtub-purchasing. "...welcome back from what?"

Man, she did not see Steve enough if he meant the honeymoon. (Though, God, now she was wishing she had just gotten back from her honeymoon. Six weeks in Mexico? Please and thanks.)

[grenadesandohana]

Well, November had been kind of a blur--plus otter--and Steve wasn't quite sure how tomorrow was December, if that helped at all?

It didn't, did it?

"Honeymoon?" Steve said. "Unless you went someplace cool for Thanksgiving?"

Way to suck at small talk, Steve.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I burned gravy at my in-laws' place on the mainland for Thanksgiving," Annie replied, shaking her head. "But thanks! The honeymoon was awesome, even if we didn't find like, a sunken pirate ship."

But not for lack of trying, at least?

"You guys went to Hawaii for the holiday, I'm guessing?"

[grenadesandohana]

Steve nodded. "We had everyone over," he said, "including my sister and her daughter from the mainland and Danny's ex-wife."

He grinned. "And everyone's still talking to each other! Mostly!"

That was more of a win than he'd been expecting. "And look at you with the casual 'in-law' name dropping."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Hey, it's not a Thanksgiving if you don't run the risk of alienating a relative or three," Annie replied with a grin. "Though wow -- the Hargreeves can be kind of a volatile group," though they were leagues better than they'd been when Annie had first been introduced to the family, and restricted themselves to verbal bickering for the most part these days, "but no one brought an ex or anything. That's like, divorced-person goals, I feel like."

[grenadesandohana]

"She's getting divorced again," Steve said and there was just a little hint of a smirk in his eyes, "and so Danny wanted her to have a place to come for the holiday."

Danny was a much bigger person than Steve would be.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That's sad. Around the holidays, too," Annie noted, frowning. "Grace doing okay with it?"

That was a lot of upheaval for a kid her age.

[grenadesandohana]

"Let's say she's not all that surprised," Steve said, "but she was still pretty angry about it. I took her to laser tag to give her a productive outlet."

Because he was still Steve and not really great on figuring out what a young teenaged girl would want to do.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I took up kickboxing when my dad left," Annie offered. "So, like, productive outlets are a great idea, I fully endorse this. Though I would have thought you'd have graduated her up from laser guns by now."

Jokes! Mostly.

[grenadesandohana]

Steve laughed. "Oh, I'd take her to the range but Danno would have an aneurysm."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"He'd probably get over it," Annie replied flippantly, waving a hand. "Are you guys coming on Friday?"

Bonus points for this party not being in the same building as their apartment for a second year running!

[grenadesandohana]

But then drunk!Steve couldn't rappel off the balco--yeah, probably for the best, really.

"We'll be there," Steve said. "I need to get Danny a new sweater that he'll hate."

[defenderofdesmoines]

He still could! He'd probably even get Diego to join him! They'd just look very silly, as it was a first-floor apartment.

"Diego and I swapped choices again this year," Annie told him. "I'm praying for mercy. Last year I was threatened with one that featured Santa wearing a thong."

Weird how Annie had opted out of that selection. So weird.

[grenadesandohana]

Looking very silly had never stopped either one of them, let's be honest.

"Well, boxers would decrease how aerodynamic Santa is," Steve completely made up, nodding wisely.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"You know, I guess I missed that line in the poem," Annie noted, tilting her head. "'His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry, and also he wore a thong so he could travel quickly and avoid visible panty lines.'"

Flowed right off the tongue, yep.

[grenadesandohana]

"Well, that's how I learned it," Steve lied.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Poor chilly Santa," Annie remarked. "I think I'm letting Diego off a little easier than I did last year. I've got one picked out with a built-in beer pocket."

Which was probably an improvement over last year's super-tough Christmas biker jacket look.

[grenadesandohana]

"Nice," Steve said approvingly. "Less need to mingle as you refill your drink. Diego will appreciate that."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Keeps him out of my bathtub punch, too," Annie noted sagely.

Which was mostly a little insider tip re: the punch's ridiculous strength. She wasn't denying Diego punch by providing him with a beer pocket; she was looking out for him.

And, yes, this punch would be served out of a bathtub. For reasons.

[grenadesandohana]

"Bathtub punch?" Steve echoed, suddenly feeling like a Very Old Person.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I saw it on TikTok!" Annie told him, confirming that narrative. "At first I was kind of thinking a trough might be the way to go, but we're going with a free-standing tub. Don't worry -- brand new tub. No one's ever bathed in it."

How comforting!

[grenadesandohana]

Steve could feel his hair turning grayer as they talked.

"I'm not sure that's the biggest concern," he admitted.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"I mean, I thought it was pretty gross to have people drink punch out of the tub I actually use?" Annie admitted.

That was not the point, buddy.

[grenadesandohana]

"Why does it have to be a tub at all?" Steve asked.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"For efficiency, so I don't need like ten drink dispensers."

Making less punch? Not an option, Steve, obviously.

[grenadesandohana]

"Ten?! Are you also doing drinks for Hilton Waikiki?"

Gotta get that product placement in somehow, Annie.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"My shilling days are behind me, Steve!"

She should be so lucky as to get a Hilton sponsorship, honestly.

"But come on. We can't run out of drinks." Ten was a conservative estimate.

[grenadesandohana]

"You're not gonna run out of drinks," Steve said, grinning.

[doctorgingerspice]

“Annie!” Will said, swinging by her table once he had his order. “How’s it going?”

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Pretty good," Annie told him cheerfully. "Planning for the party on Friday -- you're coming, right?"

Hopefully sans morning-after nightmares, this time around?

[doctorgingerspice]

“Wouldn’t miss it,” Will promised.

Low chance of nightmares, given the trauma was much less fresh, this time around.

“I even have a new terrible sweater picked out and everything.”

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Then you get to avoid being aggressively glittered," Annie assured him with a solemn inclination of her head. "Wise of you. I'm buying a bathtub to put punch in."

Normal things!!!

[doctorgingerspice]

“… Should I be concerned?” Will asked. “I should be concerned, shouldn’t I?” There was probably, like, health code violation or two involved in that.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"Nah," Annie said, in a way that indicated that yes, he should probably be concerned. "Like, for awhile we were trying to decide if a trough was the answer? We're not having people, like, bob for stuff in it, don't worry."

Though now that that was out there in the universe....

[doctorgingerspice]

"Fairly certain I'd be morally obligated to put a stop to something like that," Will pointed out. "If only because I don't want to deal with a bunch of sick people while hungover."

[defenderofdesmoines]

"There's Stark and your, like, teenage intern, too," Annie pointed out, aware of Libby but not to the point where she was going to remember her name. "But fine. I promise to limit the germfest factor."

If only because she also thought it was pretty gross.

"But still -- Summer and I keep raising the bar every year. I don't know what we're going to do next year to one-up bathtub."

[doctorgingerspice]

"I wouldn't be so cruel as to inflict a bunch of sick, hungover adults on poor Libby," Will said. "And you've got a whole year, I'm sure you'll think of something or someone will shove a random TikTok video at you."

[defenderofdesmoines]

So much could change in a year! Who knew if Annie would even be hosting this party next year?? (Of course, if there was some reason she could not, Summer would absolutely step up and definitely, like, fill her own spaceship with booze or something in an effort to one-up her past self.)

"I mean, the drone and the filthy craft corner were new last year," Annie offered. And hopefully it would be a less-filthy craft corner this year!!!! "And hey, this year, my brother-in-law hasn't taken over the guest room with insane time math, so we'll have more room for...crafts and stuff."

Oh, no, Annie had just realized they had a whole other room to play with.

[doctorgingerspice]

"Annnnd now I'm back to 'should I be concerned'?" Will said with a teasing smile.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"That creepy vampire isn't here this year, so at least the crafts should be cleaner," Annie pointed out.

Eliot was still here though, not to mention Summer -- who had put last year's ornaments on her tree -- so that was probably wishful thinking.

"But," she decided, "at the very least, we're prepared. This is the third year we've run this thing and we've definitely worked out a lot of the kinks by now."

Not hosting it at a friend's apartment without asking her if they could first, for example.

[doctorgingerspice]

"A well-oiled extremely inebriated machine, huh?" Will asked.

[defenderofdesmoines]

"One that knows to have carbs on hand before we all go to bed for the night," Annie told him with the wisdom of someone who had done that the hard way the first year.