Chapter Text
Sterling’s smile lit up his whole face like he was Diego’s own personal sun, radiating warmth, and Diego knew he had made the right choice. Sterling was ever patient with him, but it was clear he had been wanting this.
Just because it was the right choice, didn’t mean Diego’s anxieties were erased, though. “On one condition,” he started, placing his open palm against Sterling’s chest, so he could feel the steady rhythm of his heartbeat. It was silly, he knew, but it made him feel better. “No matter what they say in there, you’re not allowed to break up with me until I can explain.”
Sterling glanced down at Diego’s hand, a soft smile tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Darlin’, I don’t think there’s anything they could say that would make me break up with you.” His smile twitched, and he snickered. “Unless you’re a mass murderer or somethin’, I think you’re safe.”
Diego’s stomach dropped, and he thought about all those missions they went on as kids, and when Klaus started to pull away from him.
“Too many ghosts follow you,” his brother had whimpered between sobs, pushing him out the door, “you’re fucking haunted, Diego!”
He wondered what Sterling considered mass murder.
Sterling’s brows shot up and his hand slid back to cup the back of Diego’s neck. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. We don’t have to do this, D. It’ll be okay. Breathe for me, okay?”
Sterling was pretty well used to Diego’s anxiety attacks, and while his boyfriend’s usual level of caring made his heart swell with affection, Diego shook his head. “It’s fine,” he mumbled, forcing a smile. “Let’s go meet my crazy family.”
Diego stepped back, gently untangling Sterling’s limbs from him. He took his boyfriend’s hand and tugged lightly, sighing when he took in the obstinate expression on Sterling’s face. “It’s fine , Plateado,” he promised, surprising himself by meaning it. Sterling would have to know about his past someday, would have to meet his family someday, and the longer Diego tried to stall, the more it would hurt if it ended badly. He flashed a small smile. “You’ve already kind of met Klaus and Five anyway.”
Sterling reluctantly allowed himself to be pulled off the hood of the car. He pressed a quick kiss to Diego’s lips, rubbing the back of his neck comfortingly. “I might have to commandeer your flowers, baby,” he mumbled, a shy grin tugging at the corners of his mouth. “Can’t meet your mama and sisters and not bring flowers.”
“God, you’re such a cowboy ,” Diego groaned, grinning widely. His boyfriend was a typical southern gentleman. “Fine , you can give my flowers to them, but only if I get rose petals later.”
Sterling smirked. “You’re awful demandin’,” he drawled. “But I think I like you anyway.”
Diego rolled his eyes. “You love me,” he corrected with a tiny grin. “Now come on, before they try to come outside. I’d rather keep this freak show contained.”
“That I do,” Sterling murmured, squeezing Diego’s hand as he followed him up to the entrance.
Diego pushed open the front door, sighing deeply at what he knew would be waiting for them. His siblings didn’t surprise him; they were all waiting, forming a semicircle around the door. It might have been formidable if not for the giddy expression on Allison, Vanya, and Klaus’ faces. Luther just looked bemused, and Five like he would rather be anywhere else.
“Guys,” Diego began slowly, stepping back to give Sterling room to come inside. “This is my boyfriend, Jesse Sterling.”
Sterling’s shy grin lit up the room, as far as Diego was concerned, and he produced the bouquet of flowers from behind his back. “Just Sterling, please,” he said pleasantly, his accent thick.
Allison’s gaze was drawn to the flowers immediately, and she made a noise that Diego could only classify as a squeal . “Are those for us?”
Sterling’s grin was wide and happy. “Yes, ma’am. I can’t tell ya how happy I am to be meetin’ Diego’s family, finally.”
“Technically we met before!” Klaus was practically glowing with unreserved glee. It was a typically dangerous expression for Klaus to have, in Diego’s opinion. “I caught you in flagrante delicto.”
The siblings groaned at the picture that painted, and Sterling flushed bright pink. “I’m pretty sure you just saw us sleepin’,” he corrected. “Klaus, right? It’s nice to actually meet you.” He held out his hand earnestly, and Klaus shook it vigorously, grinning like an idiot.
“You got yourself a little gentleman,” Klaus cooed, shooting Diego a smirk. “I like.”
Diego scowled, reaching forward and pulling Sterling’s hand out of Klaus’ grasp. “Shut up , Klaus,” he muttered, rubbing his boyfriend’s forearm. He wasn’t jealous, he just didn’t want Klaus to touch him when he was looking at him all…. appreciatively. Klaus didn’t need to appreciate Sterling, Diego had that covered.
Allison rolled her eyes at the mini showdown and pushed herself forward, extending her own hand. “I’m Allison, Diego’s older,” Diego sputtered, and Allison shot him a glare, “sister.”
Diego scowled, grumbling pointedly, “Three is after Two,” but Allison cheerfully ignored him.
She smiled, but it wasn’t an open, friendly smile Diego knew his sister was capable of. It was like she was trying to show Sterling she was dangerous. It was her mama bear smile, laced with a protectiveness that rankled. Diego could protect himself, thank you very much.
Sterling, thankfully, wasn’t easily intimidated. He returned the smile with a grin of his own, easy and free and unconcerned. “Lovely to meet you, Miss Allison,” he said sincerely. “Diego’s said wonderful things.”
Diego snorted, and immediately his boyfriend elbowed him.
“Wonderful. Things,” Sterling repeated, flashing Diego a warning look.
Diego smirked. “Yeah, I definitely talk all the time about my sisters and their good qualities. Totally things I bore my boyfriend with.”
Sterling sighed and rubbed his forehead wearily. His small, apologetic smile was directed at Vanya, who looked almost dwarfed standing next to Allison. “Which means you must be Miss Vanya.” Vanya’s eyes widened and she blushed. Sterling’s smile widened and he jerked his thumb at Diego. “Sorry about him, he’s not usually so impolite.”
“And you’re lying through your teeth,” Diego said cheerfully, rather enjoying himself. Why had he been nervous about this again? Teasing Sterling about his impeccable manners was one of his favorite pastimes.
“We know Diego’s always an utter asshole,” Klaus said with a grin. “Don’t have to spare our feelings.”
“Yessir,” Sterling said automatically, his eyes widening when he realized what he had said. He flushed bright pink. “I mean, okay.”
Diego scowled. “No,” he said sharply, pointing a finger at Klaus, who was grinning in a way that was not at all well-meaning. “No teasing him.”
Klaus stuck out his tongue and leaned up to whisper to Luther. Diego glared, but his more immediate concern was Vanya and Sterling. He loved Vanya, he did, but even now after a good seven months of training with her powers, she still had a habit of… accidents, when she felt any rush of strong emotions.
Vanya was smiling, though, which was good. And Sterling was still smiling, which was even better. He wasn’t worried about his boyfriend’s ability to charm his siblings; his big worry was his siblings’ habit of being too much .
Luther’s loud voice put him immediately on edge again, and for good reason, it seemed. “You better treat Diego right.” It was an odd thing to randomly blurt out, especially from Luther , but one look at Klaus’ maniacal expression cleared his confusion. So that was how he was going to play it.
Sterling straightened, his hands clasping behind his back without thinking. “Yessir,” he said automatically, eyes wide.
Diego scowled, placing a hand on Sterling’s lower back. “Klaus…” he warned.
Klaus ignored him in favor of smirking at Sterling. “Say, Boyfriend,” Klaus said sweetly, his eyes flashing with mischief, “do you call Diego ‘sir’, too, or is it just us?”
One thing Klaus was not, was subtle. Sterling sputtered, looking to Diego for help.
Diego slapped Klaus on the back of his head, while Allison pinched Luther’s arm for going along with it. “This is why I don’t let you meet people,” Diego hissed.
Sterling cleared his throat, tugging at his shirt collar. All eyes went to him, and his still-pink cheeks flushed even darker. Diego wondered how he could get caught naked in bed, or making out against a building, without minding, but a few innuendos from Diego’s family got him bright pink. “It’s a southern thing, actually,” he said firmly, shrugging. “After so long of having it drilled into you, the sir’s and ma'am’s just come naturally to people older than me.”
Diego groaned, while Klaus snickered. “Bet that’s not the only thing that’s been drilled into you while you come naturally .”
Diego slapped his hand over Klaus’ mouth and inhaled sharply. “This is getting to be a real thing with us,” he mumbled, scowling at his brother. “I know you think you’re funny, but I will end you.”
Diego could feel Klaus’ grin against his hand, and his brother said something, the words unintelligible from behind his palm.
Sterling cleared his throat, and all of Diego’s attention was back on his boyfriend. Klaus managed to wriggle away from his grip, but Diego didn’t react except to punch blindly, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips as his fist connected with something. “Yeah?”
Sterling rolled his eyes, his formal demeanor letting up if only for a brief moment, swaggering over to put his hands on Diego’s hips. “Fightin’ with your brother already, darlin’?”
Diego shrugged, unable to keep the grin off of his face. “He started it.”
Sterling quirked a brow. “Uh-huh.” He sounded distinctly unimpressed, but anyone who knew him well enough could see he was at least a little amused by his boyfriend’s antics.
Diego was ready to respond with some witty remark, but Klaus’ cackle cut him off. “So I was wrong!” Klaus sounded far too cheerful. “Diego’s the one who calls you Sir.”
Diego closed his eyes for a moment, before giving Sterling a look. His boyfriend’s ears were bright red, and Diego just shrugged. “You’re the one who wanted to meet them.”
---
Sterling wasn’t scared of shovel talks. Hell, he was from the south, where the shovel talk had practically been invented. In his hometown, just looking at someone the wrong way had a horde of their relatives and friends ready to threaten your life if you hurt them in any way.
So when Luther and Five both cornered him, separately, for their own versions of the tried and true big sibling talk, Sterling couldn’t say he actually felt threatened. Luther might have been more convincing if he wasn’t fumbling and awkward with his words, and Five would have been terrifying if the words weren’t coming from the mouth of a thirteen year old. Sterling appreciated the sentiment, though, and did his best to promise them both he wouldn’t be hurting their brother if he could help it.
The talk he never expected, though, was from sweet and unassuming Vanya. She drew him away from Diego with a request for help in the kitchen, and he thought it would be a nice break away from Diego’s more… rambunctious siblings. He liked them, he did, but privately, he thought meeting all of Diego’s family was a little bit like running two separate marathons, back to back. Fun, under the right circumstances, but daunting.
The thing was, Sterling wasn’t sure if Vanya even meant to give him the talk. Strange things happened around Vanya, Diego had told him once, and Sterling hadn’t quite believed him until the moment the silverware started to rattle in the drawer, even though neither of them was near them.
“Vanya?” Sterling questioned, his eyes wide. Vanya had her back to him, reaching up to grab a bag of chips from the middle shelf. She didn’t respond to him, continuing to struggle, and Sterling stepped in, early plucking the bag and offering it to her. “Vanya?” He repeated, his brows pulling together. What was going on?
Vanya hesitantly took the bag, looking up at him with narrowed eyes. “Thank you,” she said quietly, because Vanya was polite, Sterling knew, but she didn’t seem entirely grateful. She looked… suspicious.
“Are you okay?” Sterling frowned, rubbing the back of his neck. Diego had warned him that Vanya was a little strange, but this was… something else.
Vanya’s nose wrinkled and she turned away from him, opening the bag of chips and slowly dumping them out into a large bowl. “Diego’s had it rough.” Which was not what Sterling expected to hear.
“I… know that, Vanya,” he said gently, sidestepping to try to get back into her line of vision. He offered a hesitant smile, that she did not return.
“He’s been through a lot,” Vanya said stubbornly, not even bothering to pretend to fuss with the chips any longer. She just stared at him with a tiny frown, and he could hear the contents of the drawers shaking. “So I don’t want him to get hurt.”
That was when Sterling realized what was happening. He hadn’t expected to get this talk from Diego’s tiniest sibling, little Vanya, who, according to Diego, was the nicest of them all. His brows pulled together. “I don’t plan on hurtin’ him, Vanya,” he said softly, reaching forward to place his hand over hers. Her hand was so small, he could close one of his over it and cover it completely. “I love him.”
Vanya nibbled on her bottom lip. “His detective loved him, too. That didn’t stop her from dying.” She looked away, and her voice broke. “I loved him. Love him. But I still hurt him with the book.” She glanced back at Sterling, through a curtain of hair. She looked miserable. “Sometimes we don’t mean to, but we still hurt the people we love. So, don't do that, okay?”
Sterling wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to that, so he just pulled her hand into both of his, giving it a small squeeze. He could hear the contents of the cabinets beginning to shake as his silence went on, and he allowed himself the smallest of smiles, albeit a rather sad one. “I can’t promise I won’t ever hurt him, Miss Vanya, because that would be a promise I’m sure to break. But I can promise you I’ll do my best.”
Vanya’s gaze never left his, her forehead wrinkling and her brows pulling together as she seemed to have an internal struggle with herself. Sterling just continued to hold her hand, silently, giving her all the time she needed. Diego couldn’t be rushed into a decision, and Sterling had a gut feeling that his sister was the same way.
Finally, something seemed to click. The rattling in the cupboards and drawers all ceased the minute Vanya’s lips curled into a smile. Her small hand squeezed Sterling’s. “Okay,” she said simply, as if the previous events hadn’t just happened, as if they had just been having a friendly chat. She pulled her hands back, glancing away before holding out the bowl of chips. “Come on, soldier. We’ve got at least a few hours of interrogation left for you, if I know Allison and Klaus.”
Sterling blinked. He took the bowl dumbly, eyeing Vanya’s sudden mischievous smile with something akin to suspicion, but he followed her back into the war zone without question. Diego’s family was insane, he decided, but they were Diego’s, and for that, he liked them. Strange as they were.
---
Diego’s body thrummed with nervous energy. His foot tapped incessantly while he buckled his seatbelt, all the while stealing glances at his boyfriend. The same boyfriend who hadn’t spoken a word since they said goodbye to his siblings. “So?” Diego prompted, cringing as he heard the desperate tinge to his voice. “How was it?”
Sterling’s brow wrinkled as he started the truck, his lips parting without saying anything. He paused, before giving Diego an unreadable look. “I think,” Sterling said carefully, “that all of your siblings save for Klaus threatened my life tonight.”
Diego’s heart plummeted, but he kept his face carefully neutral. “Even Vanya?”
Sterling hummed in agreement, the ghost of a smile playing on his lips. “Even her,” he said, and Diego’s lips thinned.
Sterling noticed, because of course he did, and he smiled as he cupped Diego’s cheek. “Hey,” he breathed, tilting Diego’s chin up. “I’ve endured worse than shovel talks. Actually, I think it might make me like them more.”
At Diego’s disbelieving look, Sterling snorted. “What? I’m a good ol’ boy. Siblings who protect their own is somethin’ I can respect.”
Diego relaxed a little, shaking his head. His fucking cowboy of a boyfriend never ceased to surprise him.
“I can even respect Klaus, despite him being the only person not to threaten me if I hurt you,” Sterling continued with a grin.
“And Ben,” Diego said almost instinctively, immediately cursing himself for it. Sterling didn’t know about their powers yet.
That got a surprised snort out of his boyfriend. “Well, yeah,” Sterling said with a grin. “Would have been pretty weird if a dead guy showed up out of nowhere to threaten me.”
Diego hesitated, almost ready to spill the truth, but something held him back. He had just been through the ringer with his living relatives, Diego reasoned, there was no need to burden him with the dead just yet.
Diego smiled, leaning over to press a quick kiss to Sterling’s lips. “You’re right. Let’s go home, yeah?”
Sterling grinned. “Whatever you say… Sir. ”