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One of the only good parts of traveling back in time into their childhood bodies, Diego thinks, is the fact that suddenly, he’s able to get more sleep.
Being a vigilante, while satisfying and rewarding, did rob him of many hours of sleep, having to stay awake until the early hours of the morning—only to have to wake up a few hours later to work his shift at the gym. It was a price he’d been willing to pay, of course, simply because his line of work was his passion, what got him out of bed in the morning, even if it wasn’t, well, legal. Still, Eudora had once suggested that maybe the reason Diego was so grumpy all the time was because of the lack of sleep, and though he’d resented that comment at the time, looking back, it does sort of make sense.
Now that he’s thirteen again, as all his siblings are, living under the roof of the Academy, things are different. There’s Reginald’s strict, no-nonsense schedule, with early bedtimes and even earlier wake-up times, and even though the children don’t truly respect him at all this time around—including Luther, surprisingly—Five did make it abundantly clear that the timeline needed to stay as unchanged as possible, which included sticking to their father’s intense training hours. So, with that, Diego has found that getting eight hours of sleep is rather... enjoyable, to say the least, and he doesn’t even mind the early bedtimes anymore.
Diego can sleep easy, knowing that each of his siblings are together and safe at last.
So, the fact that Diego wakes up in the middle of night to whispering coming from outside of his door is slightly irritating, to say the least.
With an annoyed huff, Diego flips onto his other side, so that his back is facing the door, squeezing his eyes shut and hoping he can go back to sleep soon. That hope is squashed, however, when there’s suddenly a knock at his door. A beat of time passes before the doorknob is turned and Diego can hear the creaking of his door opening slowly.
“Diego?” Klaus whispers from the doorway, and Diego would have demanded his brother get out if not for the shakiness in his voice.
With a sigh, Diego turns back around, propping himself up on his elbows so that he can face his brother. He’s immediately hit with the way Klaus is trembling with pure fear, a fear so genuine that Diego doesn’t think he’s seen for a long ass time. Diego realizes that Klaus isn’t alone, spotting a teary-eyed Ben, who’s standing right behind Klaus, peering into Diego’s room anxiously—he’s clutching his blanket in his hands.
Ever since getting back, Klaus and Ben had insisted on sleeping together in the same room. It was strange, at first, especially because as children, Klaus and Ben hadn’t been that close, but spending seventeen years with nobody but each other's company couldn’t have been easy on either of them and so they were reluctant to finally leave each other’s sights after so long. Five says it’s very codependent, and that eventually they’ll need to learn to separate from one another, but for now, everyone has turned a blind eye.
They’re all dealing with trauma in different ways.
“What’s up?” Diego asks, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes while looking back and forth between Klaus and Ben. The two share a glance before Ben opens his mouth.
“There’s a monster under our bed,” Ben tells him, his voice small and fearful. Klaus nods heavily in agreement.
“And there’s one in the wardrobe, too,” Klaus follows up helpfully, a frown etched into his young face. “I could hear it moving around in there.”
“Can you… can you check?” Ben requests, glancing back at their room with a hesitant look.
It’s such an odd request, coming from two boys who are already haunted by monsters—very real monsters, whether they’re ghosts or the tentacles living in Ben’s stomach. Diego sometimes thinks that out of all of them, Klaus and Ben are the most cursed, having to deal with powers that manifest monsters into reality, putting every Scooby-Doo monster to shame. Surely those monsters are more frightening than any alleged monsters living under their bed or in their wardrobe, but seeing his brothers trembling in his doorway, he concludes that with all the other monsters they have to deal with daily, they just cannot deal with the thought that there are others out there.
Diego once would have told his brothers to get lost, that there are no monsters, and to just go back to bed.
But things are different now.
“Monsters, huh?” Diego raises an eyebrow, sliding out of bed and onto his feet. “We’d better go look, then, yeah?”
Klaus and Ben back up to allow Diego to exit the room, and they follow closely behind as Diego approaches Klaus’ bedroom. The room is dark, given that Reginald has not yet allowed Klaus to buy fairy lights, insisting that he needed to conquer his fear of the shadows. Diego glances behind him to see Klaus and Ben peeking into the room from behind him, their eyes darting around as if searching for any movement at all.
Diego walks into the room, making a big show of looking under the bed—as he’d expected, nothing is there.
“Don’t forget the wardrobe,” Klaus reminds him hurriedly.
Diego checks the wardrobe, flipping through each item of clothing, just to show his brothers that he’s thoroughly looking.
“Listen up, monsters,” Diego announces suddenly, moving to the center of the room and glaring at every shadow or wall that he can find. “If you’re in here, you’d better get the hell out. No one but me terrorizes my little brothers, and I will beat the shit out of you if you don’t get lost!”
Silence.
None of the monsters move to leave, despite Diego’s very intense warning.
“Well,” Diego turns to Klaus and Ben, cracking his knuckles, a grin on his face. “I think they got the message loud and clear, yeah?”
“Hopefully,” Klaus nods, looking less fearful than he had when he’d first shown up at Diego’s door.
“Do you really think they’ll leave?” Ben asks, eyes wide, now looking more curious than anything, and Diego thinks he’s done his job right.
“If they have any sense at all,” Diego answers, walking towards them. “Do you think you can sleep in here now?”
Ben and Klaus both hesitate, clearly not ready to step back into the room.
“Do you guys want to sleep with me tonight?” Diego offers softly, and both of their faces light up with relief as they nod their heads. “Alright then, c’mon.”
Diego leads them back into his room, and he allows Klaus and Ben to crawl in first, sandwiching them between Diego and the wall.
“Thanks, Diego,” Ben whispers sleepily, his eyes fluttering shut. Klaus nods in agreement, his eyes already closed.
Diego settles in as his brothers slowly fall asleep.
As protective as he is over his siblings, he’s always struggled to protect both Klaus and Ben from the monsters that plague them. Ben because his tentacles are so dangerous that they would probably rip Diego in half, and Klaus because he can’t punch things that he can’t see. He’s working on it, they all are, trying to understand just how their powers work, and even though it’s hard, Diego hopes that one day he’ll be able to save his brothers from the monsters that have haunted them their whole lives.
In the meantime, Diego will simply scare away the monsters under the bed.
It’s the least he can do.