[✔️] 𝑇𝐻𝐼𝑁𝐾 𝑂𝐹 𝑀𝐸 | 𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆𝐑𝐄𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐒

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐑𝐄𝐄

𝐇𝐄𝐑𝐎 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐏𝐋𝐄𝐗
"𝐷𝑜𝑛'𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑖𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑦 ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑡𝑜 𝑠𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑦𝑜𝑢, 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑒 𝑜𝑛𝑒."
—𝑀𝑎𝑡𝑠ℎ𝑜𝑛𝑎 𝐷ℎ𝑙𝑖𝑤𝑎𝑦𝑜

𝐈
— 𝐷𝑖𝑒𝑔𝑜 —

𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐆𝐎 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐍 front of him, not bothering at all to listen to Alan's contribution to the group discussion as he played with his fingers.

He raised a hand and swiped back some of the wavy hair that was covering his eyes. It had grown to be a little below his chin by this point, and, honestly, it was a little frustrating to deal with.

He glanced over to the clock, his attention focused only on that as he saw that it was a little past eleven, and a small smile crept onto his face; Mara would be coming in a couple of hours.

Diego had been more than appreciative of all the visits she'd been making within the past few months; he knew how busy she was with the boutique she worked at, and that she made extra effort to check in on him every couple of days.

To tell the truth, he was surprised that she had been making visits. Hell, he was surprised that she was still speaking to him. His first thought when he had gotten arrested outside of Oswald's house (other than 'I need to murder this motherfucker') was 'Mara's gonna kill me.' And shockingly, she hadn't.

Diego was snapped out of his thoughts as Alan stopped talking, and he turned his gaze to the doctor that was flipping through his journal.

"Thank you, Alan, for bringing that to the group," said Dr. Moncton with a smile. "I think fear is something we can all relate to. Okay, who else would like to share? Anyone?" He raised his eyebrows but was only met with silence from the circle. "Come on, who's next? Diego," he called, causing Diego to shut his eyes in exasperation, "you've been awfully quiet this morning."

"Just taking it all in, Doc," Diego reassured him with a tilted head. "Letting all the healing shit wash over me."

Dr. Moncton gave an amused smile before looking down at his notebook, his eyebrows furrowing slightly before he continued, "Last week you mentioned your father, how your whole childhood felt like some kind of experiment."

"It was an experiment," Diego corrected as his forehead creased.

"Hmm." Dr. Moncton gave a small nod before he quirked an eyebrow. "Or did it just feel like an experiment?"

"No," Diego insisted, "it was literally an experiment."

Diego sighed as he watched Dr. Moncton click his pen and quickly jot something down, knowing that whatever it was, it wouldn't look good for his record.

"Let's dig deeper," Dr. Moncton murmured. "You say your father is a villain."

"Hell, yeah," he muttered, his eyes glancing between the stupid doctor's face and his even stupider pen.

Dr. Moncton looked up at him, humour evident in his eyes that peered through his glasses. "So you had to play hero to make Daddy mad."

Lila—a patient that Diego had become sort of acquaintances with—laughed from next to him, causing everyone, including Diego, to look at her with a look of distaste.

Diego rolled his eyes before he turned back to the man and told him, "I'm a grown-ass man, Dr. Moncton—"

"Who still defines himself in opposition to his father," Dr. Moncton cut in. "His dead father. That isn't really defining yourself, is it, Diego?"