-Across America- Diego Brando x reader

~41~

I hesitated, but followed behind him.

The ice was clear, I could see the bottom in the begging. It was rocky. As we went forward, it stared getting deeper and darker. "Diego, if it breaks, it'll be really bad-" I was worried. "It's fine, you can always teleport-" "Not you! You won't be near me so I won't have the chance to-" "Could you please shut the hell up? You'll just teleport out somewhere safe and come back for me. Use your head for once. For fuck's sake..." He snapped at me. "Goddamn- chill. What if I don't come back for you?" Him yelling at me made me upset. "...What are you implying here?" He turned to look at me. A chill went up my spine. I stayed silent. "You will come back. I trust you after all." He smiled and looked back forwards . "You're scary.. sometimes." I murmured. "Am I? Sorry. Just so you know, I'll never hurt you or do something bad to you. That is if you don't betray me. Although even if you do, I'll still love you.." He said. These words made me feel something. "You're adorable. I won't ever betray you, I don't even know why I would do that.." I smiled. "Oh and by the way, we found the path." He pointed towards a wooden plank underneath the ice. My eyes slowly traced it and I raised my head. It continued on and on, probably miles as long as I could see. "Woah, we hit the jackpot." I said out loud. It was such a relief we found it..

The sun started going down and we were nowhere near the end of the wooden path. "Fuck.. It will be night soon. So what do we do now?" I asked Diego. "Don't worry, it's simple. We just camp out here." He stated. "What? Are you insane?!" I thought he was joking or something. "Yeah, so what's your idea then?" He sighed. "Look, we'll probably die of hypothermia, we can't even lit a fire. And what if someone else comes by? They're gonna kill us in our sleep or something. I ain't risking." I just straight up disagreed with him. "..So are you suggesting we run 200 kilometers just for an hour or two? On ice?" He sounded kind of pissed off. "Hey, don't be mad, kay? I just don't think it's a good idea.. It's freezing cold at night. Without a fire, we'll probably fall asleep to never wake up again, get me?" I tried explaining to him. "Body heat is a thing.. It won't be that bad, believe me." He calmed down. I just decided to not say anything and just went on ahead, leaving him behind. "Hey, you can wait for me at least, don't leave me like that." He shouted behind me.

The sun was already gone, the ice was completely dark. The only source of light was the moon. As worse as it could get, the temperature was about -10 degrees celsius, I felt like I could freeze to death. Diego.. he seemed fine, as long as I could tell. His ability was something else. He could endure all types of atmosphere. See clearly in the dark, out stand the cold, hardly ever tired. I was quite jealous, in a good way though. It was about time that I tell- "Y/N, I think we should call it a day. You must be exhausted." He said. I sighed and nodded. "No shit, of course.." I murmured quietly so he couldn't hear me.
I still thought it's a bad idea camping our right on the open ice, but at that time we really couldn't do anything else. If I was honest, I was kind of upset at him.. He was just- not himself for some reason.
I got out my separate tent and started setting it up.
"What are you doing?" He noticed what I was about to do. "Can't you see? I'm trying to set up my tent." I continued doing what I had to. "No you're not." He said in a stern tone. "What do you mean, I'm clearly doing just that." I was getting irritated. "Stop it." He ordered. "Why?" I asked him. "Just stop what you're doing right now." His voice got more serious. "No, I won't. I'll be sleeping in another tent." I stated. "Why you-" He suddenly was right in front of me, holding me by my jacket. "Why would you not listen to what I say? I clearly said stop few times. Do you want to die out here?! You got no damn source of heat, you REALLY want to die?! TELL ME!" He yelled at me. I just tried closing my eyes. I knew he wouldn't hurt me, but I was still frightened. "I- You know what? Fuck you, yeah fuck you and your fucking anger issues. Fine, I won't set the tent HERE, I'll just go somewhere else on my OWN. And don't you dare follow me." I couldn't stand him anymore. I tried getting out of his grip. "Wait no-" "Don't try to stop me, I'm not interested in talki-" " Could you listen? Stay here, please. I was just stating facts, you'll really die all alone sleeping right here, without fire, without heat. Please, just understand what I'm trying yo say." His voice was calm once again. I sighed, not knowing what to say. "I'm sorry for today too, I acted too carelessly and may have hurt your feelings. So just accept my apology." He released his grip on me. "It's fine.. I must have overreacted too. And you were just worried about me.. I'm sorry too." I hugged him and burried my head into his warm chest. "I guess it won't be that bad being with him in that freezing cold night.." I reconsidered. He hugged me back, and whispered into my ear. "That's right, now let's have some rest." He picked me up and got me in his tent. I snuggled into him under the blanket. "See? Isn't it much better? I don't want you to be upset." He gave me a forehead kiss. I smiled. "I wont... Sorry for overreacting." I felt quite bad. "It's fine, I admit that I was wrong for acting too violent." He sighed.
We stayed in silence for some time, just trying to stay warm. "Y/N, thanks." He suddenly said. "What? What is that for?" I was confused. "I meant, thanks for staying with me throughout the race. Being with you is much easier, the days go by so quickly. It's like I would rather race for a whole eternity, not wanting it to end." He whispered. I was taken back by his words. "Hey.. I really appreciate that you want to be with me and enjoy being together. I really don't regret any decision I've made, I don't want it to end either. But.. isn't it a bit late? We really should sleep." I yawned. "Yeah, yeah. Just wanted to tell you." He tightened his grip. "Diego.. I love you." I said silently. He chuckled. "Never thought I'd hear this from someone else before I met you. I love you too." I closed my eyes and just enjoyed the silence...

In the morning

I suddenly awoke by a shake. "Y/N, wake up. It's time that we go. Today we're gonna get to the other side.." I heard Diego's voice. "Mm.. It's so cold.." I tried snuggling into the blankets, searching for warmth. "..Get up, Y/N." He told me with a serious tone. "Yeah, okay. Gimme a second." I yawned and opened my eyes. I saw him looking at me. His eyes were something else... "I- uhm, I'll get up.." I sweated. "My bad.. You looked too comfortable." He stood up and got out.
After a minute of trying to adjust to the cold, I was able to get to sit up and stretch...
I felt terrible. It was 7 in the morning and we were about to set off. I just wanted to go home, to some warm place at least. I just couldn't take it anymore.
The temperature- about -15 degrees celsius. I was constantly shivering, unable to focus on a single task. It was still dark outside, just about time that the sun rise. I was exhausted, couldn't think straight. I began getting confused. I lost track of time. I was dizzy. Slowly my hearing started disappearing and the edges of my vision corrupted by darkness. I forgot where I was at, I couldn't see anything. Only thing I could hear was someone's distant voice, but I didn't have the will to recognize nor understand what it said. "What.. who is this? Well, it doesn't matter now.." I simply just stopped thinking...

I suddenly woke up. I was sitting in a chair. I stood up and looked around. I was at some sort of modern looking basement? It looked way new.. There was that door. I was confused as to why I was there and how I even got there.. I couldn't remember much.
I stepped forward to the door.. It was made out of metal, not something they would make in 1890. "Was this all just a dream?" I stood there for about a minute when I finally made up the courage to open it...
"H-how?" I was shocked and even more confused. It was.. my house, back to 2038. "Why- why am I here?!" I looked around. All of the furniture and decorations were gone, it was just- plain. I was currently at the second floor, I tried going back into that basement, but when I turned around, it had gone to normal.. just my parents' room. "Huh-" I stepped back, kind of creeped out. "B2T!" I tried calling out my stand. "..." Nothing happened. "I need to get out of here.. This is the dream." I thought to myself, going down a corridor and towards the stair to the first floor.
I noticed that there were no people. It was all so silent. The only thing that I could hear were my footsteps. It was rather uncanny.
When I finally made my way to the stairs and went down, I just had to go to the main exit, just through the kitchen and living room.
I opened the door to the kitchen, I immediately sensed the smell of pancakes with blueberry jam- the last meal I ate in this house. "That's weird.." I looked around and saw no food whatsoever.. "Okay cool."
I opened the door to the living room. I was surprised.. This one room was fully decorated, as it was when I left.. "Why only this one.." I didn't know what to think. I just ignored it and went for the last door before the exit. As I push the handle down, the door just stayed like that. "It's locked?!" I tried opening it a few more times, but couldn't succeed. "Stop that, Y/N. You're wasting both your and my time." Suddenly someone from behind me spoke. I jumped and looked back. "It's time that we meet, Y/N L/N."

Gaaah, so excited to introduce this new character! I've been planning this since the beginning and it's finally time for me to put it into the story.. Have a great day!!