Chapter Text
Chapter 1: My Savior
“Have a good day, Hon!” You called with the almost fake sweetness in your voice as the guy who had just picked up his coffee order made his way out the door. You sighed to yourself and looked around, the shop was empty for now save for the tan skinned man who was sitting at a table with his coffee looking extremely tired. You had seen him in here almost every morning, you could pick up his voice when he spoke, and he was always nice when he made his orders and tipped well when he ambled out of the shop. You made another coffee for him and took it over, softly setting it down on the table in front of him. He looked up at you with a look of confusion on his face then quickly covered it with a smirk. “Lookin’ for an excuse to talk to me, huh?” He teased and you rolled your eyes. “I can always take the free coffee back…” You slowly reached for the cup, but he snatched it up and took a sip and sighed contently.
“Thanks, Penny.” He hummed in appreciation and took another sip of coffee, his eyes closing. Your heart thudded dangerously in your chest at the sound of your name rolling off his lips. You swallowed and made yourself tear your eyes from his lips, just a second too late. “You’re welcome uhh, it’s Diego, right?” You asked and he smirked at you and nodded. “Yup, Diego Hargreeves.” He confirmed and you chuckled. “Like those umbrella kids?” you asked, and he sighed heavily and reluctantly nodded. “Yep.” He replied shortly and his whole mood changed. “I gotta go, see ya around Penny.” He got up from his chair, leaving the almost full cup of coffee sitting there as the bell rang signaling that he was gone. You facepalmed and groaned to yourself. “Good going, Penny. You managed to piss off the most gorgeous guy you’ve seen in your life.” You muttered to yourself and picked up the coffee and poured it out then trashed the paper cup.
The rest of your shift dragged along, filled with the same creepy and gross guys coming in and out of the shop, trying to use shitty pick-up lines on you as if you were going to jump right into bed with them because you had no choice but to listen since they were customers. By the end of your shift you were sick to your stomach because of one particular customer, he skeeved you out so bad that you almost called the cops because he kept hanging around the inside of the shop, not drinking or eating anything, just leering at you like he was undressing you in his mind. You shuddered as you shut down the register and counted it down. You filled out all your paperwork and put the money from the register in the deposit bag and dropped it in the safe to be taken to the bank later on.
You left the shop and turned the keys in the lock, your manager took the day off, so you were left to lock up at the end of the day and had to pull a double shift. You were so tired, and you just wanted to go home. You leaned against the wall and let out a long breath rubbing your eyes tiredly. You suddenly felt a hand clasp down over your mouth and your eyes flung open. “Make any noise and you’re dead, got it bitch?” You silently nodded and felt your heart rate pick up and your breath hitched in your throat. There was a gun pressed up against your abdomen and you had no way out of the situation. This was the guy who was hanging around the shop today, you didn’t know his name, but you were trying to etch his face into your memory.
“Hey, asshole. Leave the lady alone.” You heard a tired voice drawl as a dark figure came from around the corner and suddenly the gun was being pointed at the dark figure that was walking towards you, but you were still being pinned to the wall. The figure quickly got the gun away from him and tossed it to the other side of the street after disarming it lazily before punching the guy square in the face. The man holding you dropped like a bag of bricks and you let out a panicked breath sliding down the wall your eyes wide. All of this happened in less than a minute, you took a closer look at the dark figure and recognized him as Diego from earlier. “D-Diego?” You stammered and he held out a hand to help you up and you took it. The leather gloves he was wearing were a little rough but that didn’t bother you. Once you were back on your feet, he turned his attention to the stranger and zip tied his hands behind his back without saying anything. He hefted the stranger over his shoulder in a fireman hold and smirked at you. “Stay safe, Penny.” And with that he turned his back on you and disappeared down the alley, carrying the stranger as if he was weightless.
You shakily hailed a cab after picking up your bag that you had dropped, you gave the cabbie your address and made sure to bolt lock your door when you got safely inside. You hung your bag up and slowly made your way to the kitchen for a glass of water. You really wanted a drink, but you knew that would lead you down the road you didn’t want to go down, not after working so hard to get clean. You gulped down the water and heavily set the glass down on the counter beside your sink. You went to every window and made sure they were securely locked, you blocked your bedroom window so that if anyone tried to come in there’d be a loud noise and you’d have time to react. You definitely wouldn’t be sleeping tonight either way. You kicked off your socks and shoes in your room and grabbed some pajamas before padding barefoot to your bathroom. Once you were showered you wrapped your hair in a towel and padded back to your bedroom and climbed into your bed.
You grabbed your remote and turned the T.V. on for sound not that you were paying attention to it. Your mind kept wandering to how close you were from getting possibly raped and murdered. You pulled your knees up to your chest and took a few deep breaths to calm yourself down and tried to focus on the show you were watching. You suddenly heard something outside your window and your heart rate picked up. You glanced to the window and noticed something moving outside behind your curtains. You peeked out the curtains that you had pulled closed to see what was moving and you saw something shiny first before taking in the muscular figure of a man checking your window. He looked up when the light shined and you saw his face, it was Diego. You felt a flash of annoyance that was mixed with gratefulness. You slid your window open and cleared your throat. “You’re stalking me now? Do I need to call the cops?” You asked, leaning your elbows on your windowsill.
“Wouldn’t do you any good, babe.” He smirked at you and you rolled your eyes. Just having him there had calmed your anxiety tremendously, you didn’t really understand why, maybe it was because he saved you? “Relax, I was just checking on you. I wouldn’t have been able to get in, your locks are good. It’s smart putting something in front of the window, by the way.” His voice was husky and he sounded tired like he hadn’t slept in days. You nodded as he talked, trying not to get lost in his voice and handsome face even if it was currently obscured by the domino mask across his eyes.
“Wanna come in?” You offered and stepped away from the window. He chuckled and slinked his way inside like a very large tom cat. “What if I’m secretly a murderer?” He teased and sat down on the edge of your bed and you raised an eyebrow at him after closing your window and locking it tightly. “Then I’d be dead by now? Murderers don’t usually do much talking.” Your tone dripped with sarcasm and you sat down next to him letting out a huge yawn. You glanced over at your clock and realized that you’d been zoned out in front of the T.V. a lot longer than you had thought. It was 3 A.M. and you had just let a stranger directly into your bedroom. Real smart, Penny, real smart.
“So, are you okay?” He asked, the playful tone dropping from his voice, being replaced with concern and seriousness. You chuckled and nodded. “Yeah, I’m okay, just a little shaken up.” You answered and flopped backwards on your bed, not caring he was still sitting next to you, you were tired as hell. “Thank you for that by the way.” You said through another yawn that you didn’t bother trying to stifle. He pulled his mask off and stashed it in his pocket and flopped back next to you resting his hands across his toned stomach. You had the urge to cuddle up against him, you could feel his warmth and his scent was almost intoxicating. “Good. I’m glad you’re okay. Couldn’t stand losing the only person in this god damn town that could make a good cup of coffee…” He mumbled trailing off and his eyes fluttered shut. After a few moments you realized that he had fallen asleep, you chuckled to yourself and shook your head.
You must’ve fallen asleep at some point because when you woke up, he was gone and had left a note. Thanks for the nap, I needed it. I’ll be by for coffee sometime soon. You scoffed as you read his note and noticed that one of your knickknacks was missing from your dresser and you rolled your eyes. He must’ve taken it with him, what a strange man. You rubbed your eyes tiredly and looked at the clock, it was 10 A.M. Luckily you didn’t have to work today so you flopped back into bed and curled up with a pillow, you realized it smelled like him and groaned and pushed the pillow away. Damn this man who you had only really just gotten to know the day before making you feel things. You needed to call Klaus.