Summary: Hughie decides that maybe being the one to save Annie isn't as good as he imagined it to be. Maybe he's completely okay with being the less powerful one in their relationship. Day fourteen of Miya and Mia’s Tickletober: roleplay!
“I- Annie, this isn’t doing anything for me,” Hughie laughs, shaking his head and backing away.
“Really?” Annie asks, looking down at the hospital gown that she’s wearing. “Didn’t you want to be the one to save me for once?” Annie saunters over to him, lifting the edges of her gown in an attempt to conjure an image of Marilyn Monroe.
Hughie backs away, shaking his head with a nervous laugh, “yeah, I think I might’ve changed my mind.”
“Oh,” Annie says, tilting her head to the side, “did you want me to be the doctor?” She asks innocently, her lips downturned.
“No, no,” Hughie shakes his head, “I just want you to be you. I think that was like, a bajillion times hotter than whatever,” Hughie gestures to his doctor costume and then to Annie’s gown, “this is.”
“Oh,” Annie says, trailing off, “okay, uh, so what now?”
“Maybe we do something different tomorrow?” Hughie suggests, a tinge of guilt in his tone, “I just- this has given me grandma levels of no boner, I don’t think it’s going to cooperate tonight.” He makes a dramatic gesture towards his lower regions, pretending to scold them.
Annie laughs, pulling the gown over her head, “okay, is tomorrow going to be guard and prisoner?”
“No,” Hughie responds immediately with a startled laugh “absolutely not, I don’t have any desire to try this again.”
“If you say so, Dr. Hughie,” Annie responds, climbing onto the bed, Hughie flopping next to her, still in costume. “Does that mean you’re suddenly alright having a superhero girlfriend.”
“I was always alright with itt,” he responds with an easy smile, “I just thought a change might be interesting, but boy was I wrong.”
Annie laughs, flipping onto her stomach and giggling into Hughie’s neck.
“Hehey!” Hughie giggles, trying to push Annie away.
“Hay is for horses,” Annie jokes, breath hitting the side of Hughie’s neck. Hughie snorts, kicking a leg out and shaking his head.
“Stahap!”
“I thought you were okay with my powers,” Annie teases, her fingers coming up to tickle his sides.
“Nohoho!” Hughie chuckles, “thihihis is ahahan abuhuhuse ohohof thehehem!”
“No,” Annie responds, a cheeky smile on her lips, “I actually think this might be the perfect use for them.”
“Ahahanie!” Hughie squeals when she hits the spot between his belly button and waistband, bucking upwards, “stahahap! Ihihihit’s sohoho bahahad!”
Annie grins down at him before nestling her face back in his neck, blowing streams of air on his collarbones and ears, “really, Hughie? I think you can handle it.”
Her fingers spider their way up to his ribs and he loses it, thrashing and bucking while her fingers carefully take him apart.
“AHAHANNIE NOHOHOHO! NOHOHO!” He screeches, thrashing as much as he can against her, Annie’s strength holding steady. “PLEHEHEASE! IHIHIT TIHIHICKLES!”
Annie’s fingers slow to a stop as she coos over Hughie, his face red while giggles flow freely from his lips.
“You’re so cute,” Annie says, kissing all over Hughie’s face, making him giggle even more.
“Sahahays you.”
She nods, smiling down at him, “yeah, says me.” She leans in and kisses him, starting out soft but evolving into something more intense, more greedy. When she pulls away they’re both out of breath, staring at each other with a reignited lust.
“Remember what I said earlier about it,” Hughie’s eyes move down and back up in a quick movement before catching Annie’s eyes again, “not cooperating? Well, I think it’s ready now.”
“Oh? Oh,” Annie says, quickly realizing where Hughie is going, “well, my ‘it’ has been ready since the patient outfit.”
“Gross,” Hughie laughs, “well, tell it to behave while I take this costume off.”
“Hmm, I don’t know if it can,” Annie grins with a wink, and Hughie speeds up with taking off his clothes, tripping over himself as he tries to get out of his pants. She just laughs, watching his trip over in excitement, glad that he’s finally coming to terms with her having powers and him having none. It’s almost like it’s never even mattered. It’s almost like they can still protect each other, even if she’s the only superhero in their relationship.
Summary: Hughie is totally fine with Annie being more powerful than him, but sometimes, just sometimes, his pride gets in the way.
Annie is watching the news when she hears a crash, followed by the familiar shouts of her boyfriend from their shared bedroom. She jumps up, running towards the sound when it’s followed by more curses and a few pained groans.
“Hughie, are you-” She stops in her tracks after entering the room, a bucket of paint on her floor and a bookshelf on its side. Hughie stands crouched above the mess, seemingly trying to hold back tears, his frustration evident on his face. “Hughie?”
Hughie doesn’t look up from the ground, instead he aimlessly wipes a towel through the soft yellow tone that had spilt on the hardwood floor. She creeps slowly across the room until she can situate herself on the floor behind him. Once there, she gently leans him into her until his back is leaned up against her, his head on her chest. The gesture is meant to be calming, and while he relaxes into her embrace, his face still holds the same constipated look, though tears are now freely flowing down his cheeks. “Hughie, babe, what’s the matter?”
Hughie shakes his head, as if it’ll will away the tears, but they just keep coming. Annie takes one of his hands in hers and holds it to her chest so he can feel her heartbeat. Hughie goes int a fit of sobs until his breathing starts to match Annie’s somewhat, still laced with wet hiccups as he tries to self-soothe. Annie helps by running the fingers of her other hand through his hair.
“I-I c-can’t,” Hughie tries to get out, gasping. He takes in a breath, “I fuck it all up.”
“What happened?” Annie asks, slow and sweet, like she’s trying to lure a scared animal to safety.
“I just wanted to- to do something right f-for once,” Hughie says through deep breaths, “I j-just wanted to do it on m-my own”
Annie takes in the room and notices that one wall has been painted the same shade of pale yellow that is now covering the floor, her favourite colour. Hughie hadn’t got to the spot behind their bookshelf yet, and he had probably been trying to move it out of the way to get behind it. When she looks back down at him, his wet eyes are gazing up.
“You-you said you hated the gray,” he says with a sniffle, “I just wanted to do one thing by myself without fucking it up. But that’s what I am, a fuck-up.”
Annie shakes her head, leaning down to place a kiss on Hughie’s forehead. “Hughie, what have I been telling you? Just ‘cause you’re not a supe doesn’t mean you’re a fuck up. That’s why I didn’t want you taking that temporary V stuff, I think you’re fine without it.”
He shook his head, shutting his eye tight again like they had been when she first entered. “No, Annie, you don’t get it. I-I just want to be able to take care of you the way that you take care of me, I need you to know that I’m trying just as hard to make things work. I can’t protect you, I can’t open a jar, fuck, I can’t even paint a fucking room without screwing shit up.”
“Oh no, baby,” Annie whispers, “I wish there was something I could say that would make you realise how much I see you. I know that you’re trying, and I know that you want to be able to protect me the way that I protect you, but that’s just something that’s different for us than it is for other couples. You’re not screwing anything up, and you don’t know how much it grounds me just to have you here, knowing that you’re safe.”
Annie reaches down to wipe the residual tears from Hughie’s face, placing scattered kisses on his forehead and his head of curls. His breaths are becoming more even as they sit there, his heartbeat matching the feeling of Annie’s through his fingertips.
“Annie, I’m sorry,” he starts, but is quickly interrupted.
“Don’t apologize, Hughie. It’s fine.”
“No, I- well, I just get overwhelmed sometimes. I don’t ever want you to think that this relationship is all give for you. I mean,” he puts on his usual smug grin, “I knew you before you were Starlight.”
Annie laughs, gently flicking him in the temple, “correction: you didn’t know that I was Starlight, saying that you met me before I was Starlight is like saying you met me as a baby, and that’s kind of weird.”
“I guess you’re right,” Hughie laughs, nodding his head.
Annie grins down at him, pushing a curl from his face. “Alright, now come on my handsome, strong, funny boyfriend.” She reaches her hands under Hughie’s arms to lift him from his nearly horizontal position that he had managed to get to while they had been on the ground. Instead of being able to easily haul him up, Annie is met with resistance while Hughie flails out, letting out a surprised laugh as Annie’s fingers wiggle in an attempt to grab hold of him.
She’s quick to stop, confused as to why Hughie’s arms are suddenly everywhere until she looks down at the giant smile plastered across his face.
“Are you-”
“No, no, no, no, no, no.”
They both speak at the same time as Hughie recognizes the mischevious look in Annie’s eyes.
“Annie, no. Do not.” Hughie tries his hardest to sound stern, but even if he hadn’t been letting out nervous, anticipatory giggles, Annie is a supe, after all. She pulls him up like she had originally been trying to, placing one arm across his chest and folding her legs over his.
Hughie tries to reason, shaking his head, trying desperately to pull her arm away from him, but he knows he’s trapped, he’s at the mercy of a supe, which would be bad enough as is, but it’s his supe girlfriend, which makes it somehow worse.
“Annie, come on, I could make us dinner or something? We can hate-watch an old A-Train race? Maybe go to a pet store and send The Deep videos of the fish in those tiny plastic containers?”
“Nuh-uh, Hughie. I wanna see that cute little smile of yours.”
“Annie- Annie plehehehehease! Nohohohoho!” Before he can even manage to get to the begging stage of his bargaining, Annie has started to spider over his tummy, pinching and prodding at the soft spots. He laughs high-pitched and bubbly, shaking his head back and forth, “Ahahannie ihihit tihihickles!”
“Uh, yeah, Hughie, I’d hope so,” she teases, dropping her head down to give him a kiss on the neck while her hand continues its work. Hughie’s shoulder shoots up, and his laughter is speckled with snorts once Annie’s lips get to his collarbones. “Even here? I’ve kissed your neck before!”
“Ihihit’s eheheasy to hiihihide laughter with mohohoaning!” Hughie laughs harder, half because Annie’s hands have started to pinch at his sides, and half because he finds himself hilarious, and Annie totally doesn’t laugh at his comment too.
Annie decided to try a single raspberry on Hughie’s neck, and it does the job, he squeals and tries to buck, but Annie’s super-strength prevents him from going anywhere. Annie releases Hughie from the arm that had been across his chest, her legs still holding him against her, and she uses both hands to dig into his ribs while she continues to give him raspberries where his neck meets his shoulder. Hughie practically screams, his laughter only increasing in volume when a hand wanders down to his hip, the other drilling his top ribs.
“AHAHAHNNIE! IHIHIHI- PLEHEHEASE!” Hughie screams before descending into periods of wheezing, silent laughter. Tears poke from the corner of his eyes, but not the same, frustrated ones that had been there before.
Annie finally eases up and lets her boyfriend slink back against her chest as he takes heavy, panting breaths laced with high giggles. She goes to return her hand to his hair and accidentally grazes his ear with her pinky, getting another squeal out of him. “No fucking way, here too?”
Hughie squints his eyes open, face red and a smile still plastered over his cheeks, “sh-shuhut up.”
“Big words for someone with ticklish ears,” she teases, cooing when the red shade of his face deepens.
“Whahahatever,” he giggles, swatting at her hand when it strays too close to his ear again.
When Hughie’s breath has finally evened out, his chest rising and falling with Annie’s, she gets a wide smile on her face. “So, what did you say about the pet store?”
