▪︎All for you▪︎ - Diego x Reader || DISCONTINUED

▪︎ 17. Peripatetic ▪︎

Okay so I spent an hour just listening to a podcast on murders and just felt exhausted. But then I went to the bathroom and suddenly I just decided to write this in one sitting??? idk

Also, lately I've been feeling an immense amount of guilt, whatever I do. Sometimes I don't clean enough, sometimes I forget things, or don't put in enough effort. Sometimes I feel like I don't spend enough time with people, or that I'm making bad decisions that disappoint people.

anyways this is a little bit of a shorter chapter, but if I added the next thing then it would be too long <33

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Peripatetic
Someone who spends their time wandering or traveling from place to place, whether by choice or by requirement.

We had searched the entire area, but Lucy was nowhere to be found. Diego, on the other hand, insisted that we should rely on his 'Dino senses'. I very much disagreed with him.

"I'm telling you, my nose is that of a bloodhound!" He leaned against a low wall, and I slouched down next to him.

"Absolutely not, I'm not trusting your made-up abilities." I replied.

"Made-up?!" He scoffed, almost offended. "I may call you delusional but I assure you, Scary Monsters is very much real!"

"Sorry, did I offend your teeny tiny heart just now?" I smirked.

"I have a perfectly normal sized heart." He frowned.

"Say that to all the people you've killed."

"Oh, come on! It's not that many!"

"Sure..." Diego stared out at the water near the spot we sat by, and it felt oddly calm. It was as if for just a moment, everything felt okay. I wanted to talk more about us, and how we felt about each other, but I knew it wasn't time to do that yet. Though, would there be a better time if we were just about to go to war with the President himself? I made up my mind and turned to him, just as an arm reached out behind him. "DIEGO, WATCH OUT!"

Diego got thrown away across the gravel, with Hot Pants towering above him. She used her spray to cover both his mouth and nose, cutting of all oxygen from him. I stood up and ran over to them.

"Don't move an inch, Y/N, or the same thing happens to you!" Hot Pants shouted and I stopped in my tracks. While she glanced over at me, Diego's hands linked together around her as he pulled her in. Their faces collided, as if they shared a most intimate kiss. Due to the spray, Hot Pants chose to make her mouth appear on the side for her to talk and breathe, so that she could keep Diego in that position.

"What are you doing, Hot Pants?!" I exclaimed, feeling my stomach ache at the sight. Was this... Jealousy?

"I have a proposition." Her mouth spoke. "Thanks to this spray, I have Lucy's scent. I can track her, but I want the corpse. You can have everything but that, Dio. Everything of value can belong to you, but I get the corpse."

"What are you talk-"

"SHUT UP!" Hot Pants interrupted me. "I'll make sure you get whatever you'd like as well, Y/N, but I ask for your cooperation. Is that clear?"

Diego tapped her roughly on the shoulder, and she released her ability. He took a few deep breaths, before throwing himself over her. Their faces were nearly as close as before, and that sense of jealousy lingered inside me.

"Don't you ever attack me like that!" He growled. "But... We have a deal."

"Good." She replied. Diego got off of her, and walked over to me.

"Hey, she di-" I walked passed him, cutting him off entirely as I met with Hot Pants properly. I didn't want to ignore Diego, but I really didn't want to admit I was jealous either. After all, it was just... Hot Pants...

"Hey, I'm glad you're okay." I smiled at her.

"Likewise, forgive me for yelling earlier." She returned the smile. We embraced in a light hug before Diego stomped over and grabbed my shoulder, pulling me away from her.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey... What the hell do you think you're doing hugging this guy?!" Oh, right. Diego doesn't know that Hot Pants is a girl. I mean, not that it would necessarily matter...

"We're friends, so we hugged." She assured him.

"Well, you can be friends without clinging to my-" Diego stopped himself, almost looking a bit surprised by his own choice of words. "Err- Just knock it off!"

"Absolutely." Hot Pants said, a faint smirk hiding on her face. Diego walked back to his horse with angry steps, and I walked back to Hot Pants.

"Did you see that?" I asked, giggling like a little girl.

"Yeah, I have a feeling some things have happened between the two of you." She smiled.

"I guess you could say that."

"Y/N!" Diego shouted from our horses.

"I'm coming, take it easy..."

~~~

"So according to Lucy, the next thing we need to do is find Gyro and Johnny." I said as we crossed a bridge.

"No, the first thing I need to do is explain to you two how Valentine's stand works." Diego corrected.

"His stand? You've seen it?" I asked.

"Yeah, when you left me for dead, remember?" He grinned.

"Yeah, yeah..."

"He can travel to other dimensions. Basically, he can bring other versions of himself here and transfer the stand over to them. So if he dies, he just has to have a few seconds to bring a healthy Valentine here. The reason for that is because there's countless of dimensions out there, but ours is the base world. Other versions of us are experiencing the exact same thing, but instead of a corpse, they're searching for diamonds."

"Diamonds?" Hot Pants questioned.

"Yeah, but not only that. The President can also bring other versions of us here. But be careful, if we touch another one of ourselves, we die."

"Wait... Die, as in..." I began.

"Yeah, so we need to be careful. Also, to do this, he needs to get in between two things, whatever it might be." Diego continued explaining.

"This is serious, it's a very dangerous mission we're on..." Hot Pants said. "Look, I think the president and Lucy might be on a train, since there is one that's supposed to travel to New York from here, but I'm not sure. Y/N, if that's the case and we need to get on it, I'm worried. Your stand doesn't work indoors, and you'll be at a serious risk of getting hurt."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa... She's fine, okay?" Diego frowned, and his reptilian teeth began to show as if he was my own little guard-dog. "If she's in danger, I'm perfectly capable of saving her, okay?!"

"I didn't say you weren't, but like she said earlier, we're friends. I'm also going to be there for her." Hot Pants held her head high, as if she was trying to prove herself better than him.

"I appreciate the thought, but we're fine. She has me, and I can assure you I won't let her die." The look on his face resembled that of disgust, and I had a feeling he didn't actually appreciate it.

"Oh, yeah? And who's gonna protect her if you end up dead?" Hot Pants inquired.

"HEY!" I shouted. "That's enough. First of all, I don't want to talk about what we'd do if anyone dies. That's not gonna happen, got it? Secondly, I'm perfectly fine with taking care of myself!"

"But-" Diego began.

"No but's!"

"...I'll still be the one to save you though." Diego muttered.

"But I'll be there too." Hot Pants added.

And so it began, the few hours of travel where I'd listen to their endless bickering on who would be the one to save me.