Unknown (Diego Hargreeves x Reader)

8

"Y/N! Can you take these for me? My babysitter keeps hounding me to get back because Jeremy won't stop crying." Sarah rambled.
"It's fine Sarah," Y/N sighed, taking the books from Sarah's arms, "Just go clock out."
"Thank you Y/N."
"You're welcome."

Sarah ran out of the store, pushing past three bodies that were walking into the store. Two women and a young teen watched the flustered woman race towards her car at the parking meter then move out of the door frame.

"Y/N!" the teen yelled as they ran up to hug the distracted worker.
"Hey Frankie. How are you?" Y/N greeted as she wrapped her arms around them.
"I'm good what about you?"
Y/N hesitated but smiled and replied, "I'm okay. Life has been eventful but I'm okay."
"What do you mean eventful?" Frankie asked.
"Uhh-"
"Frankie don't pry," the taller of the women said, sensing Y/N's nerves, "Hi Y/N."
"Hey Jem. How's work?"
"The usual. Majority of the regulars, just normal check-ups but there are always one or two weird cases a week." she smiled.
"Why don't you ever ask about my day Y/N?" the other woman asked as she caught up with her family.
"Because you work here Alex." Y/N chuckled.
"But I don't always work with you." Alex argued.
"Well you are now so help me clear up the kids section. There was a group of kids with their mums that all came-"
"Moms" Frankie cut her off smirking.
"With their MUMS," Y/N emphasised, "They all came in together and were all colouring with the markers and it's just a mess."
"Great..." Alex trailed off as she kissed Jem on the cheek.
"Have fun." Jem said in a sing-song voice.

They watched Alex trudge towards the table and begin collecting the crayons that were in pieces, scattered everywhere. Jem and Frankie laughed as Y/N put the final books onto the shelves.

"How's school?" Y/N asked.
"It's great. Apparently I'm doing amazingly in all my classes. Oh and all my friends are starting to get used to the pronouns thing." they grinned.
"That's good then."
"Some were a bit confused at first and would slip up a few times but it's slowly getting easier for them..." they trailed off.
"Hey. It doesn't have to be 'easy' for them. It's what you want and it's who you are. So if they can't 'get used to it', they can piss off." Y/N tried to comfort them.
Frankie laughed, "Thanks Y/N."
"Come on kiddo, I need to get to work." Jem interrupted.
"Ok mom, let's go." Frankie said as they quickly gave Y/N a short side hug.
"Bye guys." Y/N waved as they left.

Y/N watched them walk out of the door and then heard a disgruntled shout.

"Y/N! Come help me clear up this mess!"
"Okay, okay... I'm coming."

They sped through the clean up of the catastrophe that was the kids section. Time flies when you're having... Time flies when you're working. Book by book, they organised the entire store, with Y/N traipsing up the stairs, balancing a pyramid of novels in her arms. Tensing every muscle in her body, she succeeded in not fumbling with the entire stack and dropping it.

Alex scrubbed the partially melted crayon wax off of the small wooden tables within the section, polishing it so that it looked presentable for the next group of raucous children. Shuffling around the store, she collected the donations and shoved them onto a cart that Y/N would have to deal with later.

"It's really sweet what you do for Frankie ya know?" Alex broke the silence.
"It's nothing."
"It's not nothing Y/N. You have helped them through so much."
"You don't have to thank me. I do it for them." Y/N told her, trying to change the subject.
"I'm not letting you brush this off. You're allowed to be complimented Y/N."
"It's not usually on my...maternal nature," Y/N laughed, "Usually people complimenting my voice."
"Even then you can't take a compliment."
"Well yes, but that's- Never mind." Y/N caught herself.
"What? Your stubborn ass won't take a compliment."
"Sounds like it annoys you more than it does me." Y/N teased/
"Yes it does because all I'm trying to tell you is that you're a good person."
"You barely know me."
"I've known you long enough to know that you love my kid almost as much as I do." Alex said.
"I- I guess you're right..." Y/N trailed off.
"I just wanted to thank you Y/N." Alex smiled.
"Well, you're welcome. I guess..."

Customers began to fill the store and both women separated, dealing with each of the different queues. The shelves that they had meticulously cleaned were ruined and muddle up once again. Their eyes followed every person who picked up a book and put it down on a random table with unwavering fury. For every book that was taken out of place, Y/N started to press just slightly harder on the screen of the cashier.

"Have a great day." Y/N forced a smile while sending the last customer out of the shop.
As soon as they crossed the threshold of the shop Alex sighed, "And now we have to clean it all up again."
"Don't remind me." Y/N groaned.
Alex paused and surveyed the room quickly, "Oh god don't look at the tables it'll give you a heart attack."
"What?" Y/N asked as she whipped her head towards the tables, "Oh no..."
"Yep."
"God I hate working in retail sometimes." Y/N grumbled.
"Sometimes?"

"All the fucking time."

A/N- Hello! Sorry for not posting on Wednesday things were a bit crazy because I wasn't feeling great and I was stressing about going back to school... which has happened and was interesting so woooo! So yeah that's it for today's chapter, I may see you on Wednesday but I can't make any promises.
- Dani x