Unknown (Diego Hargreeves x Reader)

6

Diego smiled at his phone, laughing at Y/N's ridiculous jokes as he made his way to his room in the back of the gym. He stopped just before the door, which was ajar, and peered into the room. Realising who it was, he retrieved a knife from one of his many pockets and threw it, making it just skim his ear.

"Ow! What the-" Luther said as he faced his brother.
"I could smell it was you."
"What the hell? You could have killed me."
"If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead." Diego replied blankly.

Luther, rendered speechless, stood with the knife now in his hands just looking at his brother. Diego outstretched an arm, raising an eyebrow whilst Luther gave the blade back to him.

"It's a nice place." Luther tried to compliment his brother's living arrangements.
"I like it." Diego laughed as he removed the leather harness that held his knives.
"So why didn't you tell me?"
"Tell you what?" Diego feigned naivety.
"That you were fighting the night dad died. I checked with the guys out there." Luther said, holding up a poster to prove his point.
"Well, I shouldn't have to prove my innocence to you... or anyone else in this family." Diego said pointedly.
"Yeah, you're right. But, I just thought that-"
Diego cut Luther off, "Yeah. I know what you thought. Now... you have a nice day, brother."

Luther began to leave, but as he did, Diego's phone buzzed. He glanced at the screen and smiled.

"Who's that?"
"No-one."
"Ok. You don't want to tell me anything important that's fine." Luther sighed, egging his brother on.
"She's none of your fucking business." Diego argued, sighing as he realised what he'd revealed.
"She?" Luther asked with raised eyebrows.
"Yes. She. Now leave, Number One."

Luther grimaced and put the poster down, plodding out of the boiler room. Diego stood his ground, not facing his brother as he walked out, just looking back to see when he eventually left. The door closed and Diego fell back onto his makeshift bed, replying to his new acquaintance.

In the meantime, Y/N was frantically trying to collect her things in order to get to work. Sprinting from room to room, she grabbed her name badge and was fumbling with her phone, trying to do twenty things at once.

"Badge, keys, water bottle... what else?" she mumbled to herself.

Unable to come up with any other essentials, she left her apartment, ensuring that her door was securely locked this time.

Back out on the streets, the roads were quieter as rush hour was long gone. Y/N ambled down the sidewalk, thoughts running around her brain. Thoughts of anxiety, thoughts of work, thoughts of what she would tell her boss, thoughts of Diego. She shook those thoughts from her mind and opened the door to the store.

"Y/N you're late." Sarah said as soon as Y/N walked through the door.
"I was almost robbed at gunpoint Sarah. I think I'm allowed to be-" she stopped to look at her watch, "Five minutes late."
Sarah stood aghast at Y/N's blunt announcement, gaping like a fish out of water,"Wh-"
"Where's Xavier?" Y/N asked.
"He went out for lunch with Theo. He should be back any minute now."
"Ok, I guess I'll just start stacking the new books then." Y/N smiled briefly, walking straight to the back of the store.

Customers smiled lightly at Y/N as they passed her on their way to the cashier and her colleagues, specifically Sarah, all gave her sympathetic looks as she stacked the shelves. Everybody's pity was suffocating, all Y/N wanted to do was to spin around and slap the compassionate looks off of their faces.

The bell on the door rang and Xavier entered the shop. Sarah scurried to him instantly and whispered something incoherent in his ear. He glanced at Y/N with a worried expression and hurried over to her.

"Why are you here?" He asked as he dragged her into the break room.
"Because I had a shift."
"But Sarah just told me that someone tried to rob you? And that they had a gun?"
"Yes but the police came and arrested him and now I'm fine. So... there's a stack of books that are calling my name." Y/N joked.
"Y/N go home."
"No. I'm fine."
"Y/N."
"I'm fine Xavier. I'm here and I just want to do my job."
Xavier studied her face, knowing that the stubborn woman wouldn't cave, "Fine. You can work your shift. But as soon as that clock strikes 5, you're going home."
"Surely that should be the last place you'd want me to go?" Y/N pointed out.
"Ha ha. You know what I meant. You need to relax somehow." Xavier said.
"Well, I'm perfectly relaxed right here so, I'm good." Y/N said as a rebuttal.
"Y/N. I'm worried about you. You were almost robbed!"
"And I told you I was fine."
"I'm trying to be considerate here because I care about you"
"Yeah, well I need you to act like my boss and not my friend. So just tell me to do my job."
"Ok. Go stack the shelves." Xavier gave in.

Y/N made her way back out to the shelves and ordered the new books as needed. She tried her best to zone out and just focus on organising the books but her mind kept flashing back to that morning, the gun pointed straight between her eyes. Yet, every time she remembered that fear, she also remembered the not so strange stranger that came to her rescue.

A/N- Hi, hello! Sorry that this chapter is sort of filler-esque, but it will get better I promise! Also, thank you for over 800 reads in under a month that is freaking amazing, so yeah thank you! I think that's all I have to say so hopefully I'll publish again on Saturday (I'm spending time with Hill on Friday so who knows what I might end up coming up with 😂)
- Dani