[✔️] 𝑇𝐻𝐼𝑁𝐾 𝐹𝐴𝑆𝑇 | 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐄𝐋𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐍

𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐁𝐄𝐀𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐂𝐄
"𝐿𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑙𝑜𝑜𝑘𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑, 𝐴𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑖𝑠 𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑒𝑑 𝐶𝑢𝑝𝑖𝑑 𝑝𝑎𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑏𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑑."
—𝑊𝑖𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑎𝑚 𝑆ℎ𝑎𝑘𝑒𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑒, 𝐴 𝑀𝑖𝑑𝑠𝑢𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑟 𝑁𝑖𝑔ℎ𝑡'𝑠 𝐷𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑚

𝐈
— 𝑀𝑎𝑟𝑎 —

𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐘-𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐓𝐄 𝐖𝐀𝐋𝐊 and they had made it to the library.

Mara had never visited this library before, as it was far from the Academy and her own apartment, and, besides, it wasn't like there wasn't any book that she couldn't find in the extensive library that Reginald had allowed them to wander in, nor in the university's library.

This library was a circular building, and the inside reflected just as such with its spiralling staircase that went up a few stories and the half-oval front desks that were on each side of the room. There were only a couple of people there, exchanging and returning books at the desks and quietly checking their phones.

"Let's split up," Luther suggested as the trio reached the middle of the room.

"Wow. Good thinking." Diego rolled his eyes as Luther ignored his comment and headed toward the left. "You," he said as he pointed towards Mara before nodding towards the right, "come with me."

"Don't tell me what to do," Mara scoffed, folding her arms but beginning to trail behind Diego as he went towards the left nonetheless.

"Yeah, you're still followin' me, aren't you?" he pointed out with raised eyebrows as they headed up the staircase to reach the second floor, which commenced the actual library, with its rows of stuffed bookshelves and desks that a few people sat at, reading or studying.

"Because I want to, not because you told me to," she replied irritatedly as they began to peer into the rows of bookshelves, hoping to find the little twerp that they were looking for.

Diego paused, causing her to bump into him and mutter a curse. He ignored her glare while a smirk settled on his lips, and he quirked an eyebrow as he teased, "Oh, so you want to be with me?"

Mara wrinkled her nose as she stiffly stated, "That's not what I said."

His lifted eyebrow raised even higher as he leaned forward and murmured, "Isn't it?"

Mara slapped his arm as she told him, "Shut up and look for your dumb brother."

"You know," he started as they inspected the few lines of desks to make sure that Five wasn't sitting at any of them, "I think he'd be offended. He's your brother too."

"First of all, we both know he wouldn't give a rat's ass about what I call him." She rolled her eyes, grabbing his arm and pulling him in the direction of the staircase to head up to the third floor. "Second, he's not, he's my friend. Or, at least, he used to be," she added with squinted eyes. She hadn't even talked to him ever since he came back, and seeing that he was somehow even more bitter and sarcastic than he had been when they were thirteen, she didn't really want to.

"What about me?" Diego questioned nonchalantly, his hand lightly trailing the railing as they climbed up the stone stairs. "What am I to you?"

"A pain in the ass," she scoffed.

"Anything more" —he raised his eyebrows, an amused smile on his face— "profound?"

She thought for a moment before giving a curt nod and correcting herself, "An annoying pain in the ass."