Work Text:
SOMETIME DURING THE SPRING SEMESTER…
The first thing Diego noticed as soon as he stepped inside was the noise. It was very loud for him; the music sounded horrible to him. The speakers were blasting music so loud that it hurt his ears.
The second thing he couldn’t help but notice was the smell; people stank of alcohol, weed, sweat, and cheap cologne. Just the smell alone made him regret being dragged here. But the people, god, the people were the worst; there were too many bodies packed in the room, making the place unbearably stuffy. The crowds that formed around him flooded the room with loud conversations and laughter that made him feel overstimulated.
He scans the room. “Three exits...” Diego thinks, “Front door, kitchen, and balcony.”
He shakes his head. “Dammit Diego, stop it.” He mumbles to himself. No Batman tonight, just be Diego, boring old Diego that could have been doing better things right now than being at a party surrounded by idiots.
He looks around once more, hoping that there might be something that could make this party bearable. Instead, he could only find people drinking and acting like drunken idiots. He can see one girl dancing on the coffee table while another guy is passed out on the couch after drinking too much.
He scrunches his nose before turning to look at a nearby wall to see a couple making out.
Fucking perverts, Diego couldn’t help but think, looking away from the couple. He hates this; He doesn’t know why he even agreed to come to this stupid party in the first place. Kai wanted him to come, but the longer he stayed here, the more likely he was to hurl himself off the window than deal with these people for a second longer.
“Why did I agree to come to this place?” Diego asks himself.
“Because you need to go outside and talk to people.” Kai says, appearing right beside him, “You know, like a normal person.”
Diego crosses his arms. “I have better things to do than to be surrounded by a bunch of drunks and perverts.”
“Oh, don’t be like that.” Kai waves Diego’s complaints off. “I’m sure you’ll find someone nice to talk to.”
“We’ve been here for barely 5 minutes, and I already hate every single person here,” Diego says flatly.
Kai throws his arm across Diego's shoulders. “Come on bro. You’ve been spending way too much time studying, working out, and doing whatever mysterious crap you do when you disappear for hours.”
Diego looks away, grumbling to himself as he takes off his glasses to clean them.
“You need to socialize.”
Diego frowns slightly, putting his glasses back on. “I do socialize.”
“You only talk to me.”
“See? I socialize."
“I don’t count.”
“I’m pretty sure it counts.”
“Diego, we've known each other for half a year now. Granted, you were busy doing god knows what during the fall semester, but you need other friends.”
“I do have other friends.”
“Oh yeah?” Kai raises an eyebrow, “Who?”
“There’s Elena…” Diego begins, “and then there’s…” He trails off, realizing he only knows very few people. Not like he could add Detective Alvarez and Dr. Rodriguez. They are more like nagging adults who always scold him when he does something stupid when he’s out on patrol.
“Exactly.” Kai pats Diego's shoulder, “So tonight you have one mission: stay at least for 30 minutes, talk to someone, preferably a girl if you can.”
Before Diego could respond to that, several people surrounded them.
“Kai.”
“You made it!”
“We thought you weren’t going to come!”
“Come on, we have to show you something!”
Kai laughs, “Okay, okay.” As he begins to be dragged off by them. He turns around to look at Diego, “Good luck!”
Diego stands there, watching Kai be dragged off to god knows where.
“...asshole.”
He walks to the edge of the room, finding a quiet spot near the hallway that gives him a view of the whole room. He pulls out his phone and sets a timer for 30 minutes.
“Just 30 minutes…” he mumbles to himself, “...then I can go back to the dorms and pass out. God, I can’t wait.”
“Can’t wait for what?”
“GAH!” Diego jumps slightly, startled by the voice next to him.
He turns around to see a girl standing beside him. She wore thick glasses that framed her dark brown eyes. Her dark brown hair was tied into twin tails that fell over her shoulders. She wore a long dark blue skirt, a white blouse with blue polka dots, and a white cardigan, covering most of her tan skin.
She looked completely out of place. He was more likely to find her in the library than a place like this. But then again, he doesn’t look the part either, and yet here they are.
She’s pretty. Is the first thing that comes to Diego’s mind from the moment his eyes land on her.
She raises her eyebrow, “Hello?”
Diego snaps out of his thoughts, his face slightly red. “Uhm, sorry, I wasn’t listening.”
She smiles softly, “I can tell.” She says, turning to see the other people around them. “You look uncomfortable.”
Diego exhales sharply. “Is it obvious?”
“It is.” She says, her head titling slightly, as if she were analyzing him. “Let me guess; you were also dragged here?”
“Yeah,” Diego says, with resignation. “You?”
“Unfortunately,” she sighs, clearly annoyed, “one of my friends wanted to come to the party, but she tends to drink a little too much, so she ends up being my responsibility.”
Diego glances at the crowd before facing her. “Sounds exhausting.”
She sighs, “It is.” A small smile forms on her lips. “And yet I love her for it.”
Both stood in silence for a moment, staring at the party in front of them, yet uninterested in the crowd around them.
“So…” Diego takes a sip of his drink, “What do you have there?”
“What? This?” She raises her cup, “Just soda.”
Diego nods, approvingly. “Good choice.”
“Not much of a drinker?” She asks, her dark brown eyes staring at him curiously.
Diego snorts, “More like I’m not old enough to drink.”
“Really?” She says, furrowing her eyebrows. “Wait, how old are you?”
Diego scratches his head as he sheepishly responds. “I’m 18…”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “You're a freshman?”
“Do I look old?”
“No, no, it's not that,” She says, shaking her head. “You just have this…” she gestures at him, “...this air around you. I just assumed you were my age.”
Diego shrugs. “Ehh, I get it; my parents always said I was sometimes too mature for my age.”
“Oh really?” The girl with glasses raises an eyebrow. “What’s your name? Or do I have to call you glasses?”
Diego chuckles slightly, pointing at her glasses. “That makes no sense; we’re both wearing glasses?”
She laughs, “I guess you’re right.”
She extends her hand. “Selena, nice to meet you.”
Diego shakes her hand. “Diego, nice to meet you, Selena.”
Neither let go of each other immediately; they both seemed to stare at each other in silence for a few seconds before they noticed. Both pulled their hands back as they fumbled with their glasses, trying to avoid eye contact.
“So/So…” both say at the same time.
“You go first/You go first,” both say at the same time again.
“No you/No you.”
Both couldn’t help but laugh at the situation. As they both calmed down, they stared at each other in silence once more. Neither one of them is willing to talk over the other.
“So…” Selena asks, leaning on the hallway entrance.
Diego leans back, waiting for her question.
“What’s your major?”
“Criminal Justice.”
“What are you hoping to get out of it?”
Diego shrugs, “Not sure yet. I’m thinking about law school, but I still have time to decide. What about you?”
“Social work.”
Diego raised an eyebrow. “Social work? I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone studying that.”
She smiled softly. “Well, it’s not as glamorous as other majors and probably not as interesting as Criminal Justice.”
“I don’t think it’s boring.”
His statement caught her off guard, making her blink in surprise as she stared at his face for any trace of deception but found nothing but complete honesty.
Diego’s face turned slightly red from her intense stare. He pulled his collar slightly. “I mean, it's important to you, right? So it must be something you genuinely love and are interested in.”
A smile forms on her lips. “Yeah, it is.” She glances at the crowd. “It's something I’ve been deeply passionate about since I first started volunteering at one of the women’s shelters.”
Diego says nothing, wanting to hear her story.
“When I saw how many women needed help. How they didn’t have anywhere safe to go. I realized that I wanted to help them. They suffered a lot; they deserve someone willing to help them find safety and happiness.”
She tenses up slightly, looking away from Diego, realizing she may have talked a little bit too much about it.
Diego nods approvingly, “I think that’s a good reason to help.”
She slowly looks back at him, his eyes looking at her earnestly.
“You really think so?”
“I know so.” He says, taking a sip from his soda, “You’ll do great at it; I just know it.”
She smiles at him, “Thanks.”
As they continued talking, they felt more comfortable with each other. They began talking about their favorite classes, their least favorite professors, where the best food is near campus, why group projects were a pain in the butt, and the amount of homework they were given.
Selena complained about one professor of hers that assigns so much reading that it’s making her eyes hurt just by looking at any random sentence.
Diego couldn’t help but laugh. “God, that sucks; you should see my professor.”
She smirks, “Oh, he’s worse?”
“The worst.” Diego says, shaking his head, “I swear that guy just wants to make us miserable. I can’t wait for the semester to be over so that I don’t have to deal with him ever again.”
She smiles, “That bad?”
“That bad.” He smiles.
She stares at his face intently, enjoying the smile on his face. Meanwhile, Diego was too busy enjoying himself talking with her, and before he knew it, his mandatory 30 minutes had expired, but he had no reason to rush out the door. He just wanted to enjoy his time with Selena.
Unnoticed by both, Kai, who is talking to someone, glances at the corner where Diego and Selena are and smiles a little. I knew you had it in you, bro. Kai thinks before going back to his conversation
Noticing she was staring at him, Diego looks at her, “What? Do I have something on my face?”
She smirks, “No, I’m just wondering if you’re going to leave now.” She points at his pocket, ”Even with the loud music, I can hear it buzzing.”
Diego takes out his phone to see that his 30-minute timer had ended about an hour ago. He stares at the screen, surprised he stayed here for so long. He puts his phone back in his pocket.
“No.” Diego begins, “I don’t think I will.”
He gives her a small smirk, “Unless you want me to go.”
She shakes her head, “No, I don’t want you to go.”
Diego opens his mouth to say something, only for a voice to shout from across the room.
“SELENA!”
Selena closes her eyes, “Oh no…”
A blond-haired girl comes from behind Selena, wrapping her arms around Selena and resting her chin on her shoulder with her eyes closed, leaning her head against Selena’s. Locks of blond hair spill over Selena's shoulder.
“Where did you go? One minute you were next to me; the next I saw you talking with this guy.” She gasps, opening her eyes to show her forest green eyes. ”Are you cheating on me?”
Selena rolls her eyes. “Last I remember, you left me.”
“Ohh, don't be like that~” the girl whines. She glances at Diego. “Oooo, who is this?”
“Helena, meet Diego.”
A mischievous grin grows on Helena, and she tries to say something, but she is interrupted by Selena.
“Don’t you dare say anything. We’re just talking.”
Helena pouts. “Fine…”
The blond-haired woman smirks slightly. “Although…you two seemed to be talking for a long time. Does my Elena have a thing for him?”
Selena sighs, her face slightly red from her comment, before turning to Diego. “Listen, it's been fun, but I've got to get her back home before she drinks more.”
“No…” Helena whines, rubbing her cheek on Selena’s. “Selenaaa, don’t be like that, I can still dance.”
“You can barely stand,” Selena responds dryly.
“Yes, I can see.” Helena immediately tries to prove herself to Selena, only for her to lose her balance.
Diego instinctively steps forward to grab her, but Selena is faster as she wraps one of Helena’s arms around her shoulder.
Diego looks at the drunk girl. “Do you need help carrying her? She looks like she might pass out at any moment.”
Noticing Selena is quiet. He looks down, scratching his head sheepishly, “Forget I said anything.” He steps back, “I’m just gonna leave…”
He starts walking away.
“Wait.”
He turns back.
“You’re right,” She says, adjusting her grip on Helena's arm, “She might fall asleep on me on the way back, and it's getting late as well. It would be nice to have an extra pair of eyes and hands.”
Diego nods, “Okay, let me call an Uber.”
As the car arrives, both of them grab Helena’s arms and guide her to the car.
“Come on,” Selena says, struggling to contain Helena, who is trying to squirm her way out of their grips.
“Nooooo…” Helena whines, “I don’t want to go home. I want to stay!”
“You can barely stand.”
“I can,” Helena says, squirming out of their grip and stumbling forward.
Diego managed to catch her before she could fall. He could feel her warm breath close to his cheek. She looks at him, eyes widened by his fast actions.
“You're very nice.” She states, looking at him intently.
“Thanks…” Diego says, slightly flustered by the close distance.
She giggles, “Such a nice boy, you sure know how to pick them, Lena.”
Selena’s face turns bright red, “Just get in the damn car already.”
Helena jumps in Diego’s arms, making him stumble back.
“Carry me.” She says, snuggling in his arms.
“Helena!”
The ride back was silent and awkward. It turns more awkward for Diego as Helena falls asleep instantly, using his shoulder as a pillow. She clings to his arm, rubbing her face on his bicep as if it were a pillow. Drool begins to trail down his arm.
Selena looks at the scene, mortified.
“I’m so sorry!”
Diego’s face turns red from the contact; he gives Selena an awkward smile, “It’s fine…”
“I swear she’s not normally like this…”
“Hey.” Diego interjects, “It’s fine, really. She just had too much to drink. I’m sure she’s not like this every time.”
“Yeah…” she says, looking away from Diego.
The ride becomes silent once more.
“Thanks…”
Diego turns to look at her. “For what?”
“For doing this, for helping me carry her.”
Diego waves her off. “It's nothing; you don’t need to thank me.”
“Still.” Selena gives him a small smile, “Thanks.”
She looks at her sleeping friend, still grasping onto Diego, “She likes you.”
“I can see that.”
“That’s not what I meant.” She begins, “Even when drunk, she rarely lets guys get this close to her. She must’ve sensed something in you to let herself go like this.”
“And honestly, I can see why she likes you.”
Diego’s ears turn slightly red. “Well…I like you too.”
Selena blinks.
Diego’s face turns bright red, realizing what he just said.
“I uh…I mean…” he stumbles over his words, trying to find a way to save the situation. “You’re nice.”
Selena’s smile grows wider, “I know.”
Thankfully, the ride doesn’t take too long. As the car stops at its destination, Diego picks Helena up and carries her on his back. The girl in question groans as she wraps her arms around his shoulders instinctively, nuzzling her face on his hair.
Diego gulps, “You good, Helena?”
Helena mumbles something unintelligible, wrapping her arms tighter.
The trio begins walking to Helena’s apartment. Selena couldn’t help but look at her friend's sleeping figure.
“Are you sure you can carry her?”
“Relax.” Diego says confidently, “I got this.”
“Are you sure?” Selena frowns, “I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”
“Don’t worry, I may not look like it, but I work out; your friend is lightweight.”
As they reach Helena’s apartment. Selena looks through her friend’s bag for the key. Once inside, Diego gently places Helena on the bed, who immediately rolls onto her side, clutching a pillow on her chest.
“Goodnight,” Selena says quietly, kissing her on the forehead and covering her with the bed sheets.
Helena mumbles something inaudible. Helena leans closer to hear her.
“What is it?”
“Selena…”
“Yeah.”
“...nice boy.”
Selena’s face burns red. “Just sleep already.”
Helena mumbles something before snoring loudly.
Diego walks to the door, opening it to let Selena out first before following after, closing the door behind him.
“Thank you,” Selena says quietly.
Diego turns around from the door. Tilting his head slightly in confusion. “For what?”
“For carrying her. I’m not sure what I would’ve done if you weren’t here.”
Diego waves her off, “No need to thank me, just happy to help. Plus it gave me a reason to leave the party, so it's a win-win for all of us.”
Selena laughs softly, her laughter filling the air between them. Both of them stare at each other for a good while, neither unwilling to leave.
“So…” Diego says, scratching the back of his head.
“So…” Selena says, smiling softly, tilting her head slightly, making her glasses fall onto the edge of her nose.
“So you’re going home as well?” Diego asks.
She nods, pushing her glasses back up in their place. “Yeah, it's 10 minutes away.”
“Want me to escort you?”
She shakes her head. “It’s fine; my home is not too far.”
Diego fidgets slightly at her answer, not wanting the conversation to end. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, don’t worry, I can handle myself.”
Diego nods, not convinced, but he didn’t want to push it. “Okay, take care of yourself. Maybe I’ll see you around campus.”
“Don’t worry, I will, but first.” She pulls out her phone. “We didn’t exchange numbers.”
“Oh…” Diego says, completely forgetting that, he fumbles around in his pocket, taking out his phone and offering it to her. “H-here…”
She smiles at his clumsiness as they exchange contact info. He glances at her phone to see the name she gave him.
“Glasses?” Diego says, “You do know we both wear them, right?”
She smirks, “I think it fits.” She takes Diego's glasses off his face. “Those glasses of yours…” she cleans them a little before putting them back on him. “Make your eyes far softer, like an owl. Maybe I should call you that?”
Diego stands there, eyes wide in surprise at her boldness, unable to utter a single word.
She couldn’t help but chuckle. “What?” She says, her eyes glinting in mischief, “Cat got your tongue?”
She steps back, her hands behind her back, as she continues to stare at Diego. “Good night, Diego.”
“Good night, Selena…”
As Diego sees her walk away, he turns around to head back to his dorm. As he walks down, he sees 3 men walk past him, going in the same direction as Selena. He glances back to see them following Selena.
That’s not good…
Diego’s eyes darken as he sees them following after her. He quickly follows behind them, keeping his distance as he silently follows them.
Selena continues walking down the sidewalk, one of her hands in the pockets of her cardigan as she continues on her way back home. Sensing that someone was watching her, she glances over her shoulder to see three men following behind her.
She frowns. They are definitely following me. Better lose them quickly.
She quickens her pace, trying to create enough distance from them. She quickly turns down another street. She glances back again, still seeing the men following behind her.
Great. She thinks, scowling to herself as she walks faster. But the men follow behind her still. She continued walking, turning onto different streets, hoping that this time she might lose them, only for her hopes to vanish instantly. As they got closer, one of them dared to call out to her.
“Hello, beautiful!”
She ignores him, continuing to walk faster.
“Don’t be like that!”
She grits her teeth.
“What’s a pretty girl like you doing at this hour?”
She says nothing, continuing to walk.
“Do you need an escort? We’d be happy to help. For a price, of course.”
She turns into an alley, walking faster, only to come to a dead end. She could feel her heart dropping as she looked at the dead end.
She turns around to see the three men blocking her path.
Damn it…
“Nowhere to run, beautiful.”
Selena scowls, “I said leave me alone.”
One of them laughs at her outburst. “Come on, why are you acting so scared of us? We just want to help. Maybe give you some company.”
“I don’t need your company,” she spits out.
The thug’s smile stiffens. “Maybe you just need some convincing, ain't that right, boys?”
Selena curls her fists, ready for whatever they might throw at her. The one in the center takes a step forward, but before he could do anything, a voice comes from behind.
“Wow.”
All three men stop; they turn around to see a man in the alley entrance, his arms crossed. Selena looks at the familiar figure with hope and fear in her chest.
Diego…
Diego looks at the three men, disgust and anger coursing through his chest, ready to burst.
“You guys this bad at taking hints?”
Thug 1 looks at Diego, annoyed at the boy for interrupting their fun. “What?”
Diego shrugs, a grin growing on his face. “I’m just saying, she clearly isn’t interested. Just look at you guys, dumb, ugly, smelly, ugly. Oh wait, I said that already.”
Thug 2 clenches his jaw. “Who the fuck are you? Her boyfriend?”
“Nah.” He shakes his head, ”She’s way above my league, something you three idiots don’t seem to get.”
“Watch your mouth boy!” Thug 3 shouts.
“Why?” Diego tilts his head before mockingly saying. “Ohhh, did I hurt your feelings?”
“You think you're funny?!” Thug 1 shouts.
“Nah.” Diego pauses, giving them a shit-eating grin, “I’m hilarious.”
“That's it!”
Thug 1 rushes at Diego, only for him to sidestep and trip him.
“Missed me!”
Thug 2 rushes towards Diego and lands a lucky hit on his face, knocking his glasses out of his face, falling to the ground, with one of the lenses cracking from the impact.
Diego froze for half a second, looking at the glasses.
“Scared now punk?” Thug 2 says, going for another hit, only for Diego to block it and hold the thug in place.
“You just broke my glasses…” Diego says before delivering a fist to the thug's chin, knocking him out. “Do you know how expensive they are!?”
As soon as Thug 2 went down, the third thug flanked Diego and landed a hit on his face, splitting his lip. As Thug 1 recovers from the fall, he grabs Diego from behind. Thug 3 continues his attack, landing a punch on Diego’s stomach.
“Diego!” Selena shouts in fear.
Diego grunts in pain, kicking the third thug away, creating distance, before swinging his head back, breaking the first thug's nose. The thug cries out in pain as he steps back and clutches his broken nose.
Diego goes for another attack, but the third thug knees Diego in the stomach. Diego kneels to the floor holding his stomach as he is hit in the face again, a black eye forming instantly.
“Still feeling though!” Thug 3 growls, kicking Diego in the stomach once more.
Diego gets on all fours, clutching his stomach in pain. Looking up, he grins at the thug. “You hit like a bit–”
Thug 3 interrupts him by punching Diego again in the face, making him fall back down to the floor. Diego coughs, spitting some blood from his mouth.
“Is that the best you can do?” Diego taunts the thug.
Having seen enough, Selena steps in, grabbing the thug by the shoulder. The thug turns only to get hit in the face, breaking his nose.
“You fucking bitch!” The thug roars, swinging at Selena only for her to catch his wrist. His expression changes from anger to one of surprise as she hip throws him, slamming him to the ground.
Before he could get back up, she plants her foot against his face, grinding her foot against him.
“You're going to leave us alone.” Selena warns, “Or else…”
She applies more pressure to her foot, making the thug panic.
“Okay, okay!” the thug says, pleading for his life.
Satisfied, she lets him go. The thug stands up and runs away. Selena watches as he turns around the corner before putting her attention to Diego. Only to see him staring at her, silently.
“What?”
Diego looks at Selena with shock and awe. “That was amazing…” he says.
She says nothing as she picks up his glasses and helps him up. “You’re hurt.”
Diego brushes his hand to his lips, wiping some of the blood coming from his split lip and bloody mouth. “I’m fine; I’m more worried about you.”
Selena frowns, “I could have handled that; you didn’t have to get hurt for me.”
Diego shrugs, “It’s fine; I’m used to getting punched in the face.”
“That doesn’t help.”
“It’s the truth.”
She touches his black eye, making him flinch a little.
“You could’ve gotten seriously hurt.”
Diego scratches his head. “Maybe…”
“No, not maybe; you would have.” She insists, “Why do it?”
Diego looks into her eyes. “Do I need a reason to help someone out?”
Selena’s expression softens at his words, stunned at his honesty. She looks at him for a moment before putting his glasses on his face.
“They’re a little cracked.”
Diego groans slightly, “My parents are going to kill me if they find out.”
Selena laughs at his predicament. “Come.” She says, grabbing his hand.
Diego stumbles slightly from the sudden grab. “Where are we going?”
“My place; we need to put some ice on that eye and clean that split lip of yours.”
“I’m fine; I can just get this treated back at my dorm.”
“No.” She states, continuing to drag him, ”You got hurt because of me; the least I can do is make sure it doesn’t look worse tomorrow.”
They arrive at her place. She takes out her key and opens the door, dragging Diego in. She turns to look at Diego the moment she closes the door.
“Come…” she says quietly. “Try to keep your voice down.”
Diego nods. “Roommates?”
“Worse, my family.”
She guides him into the living room. Diego looks around the room; he can see the place is warm and cozy. Nothing too fancy, but he could tell that the people who lived there were happy based on the amount of family photographs covering the walls and the little decorations filling the shelves.
“Nice place.”
“Thanks.”
She guides him to the couch. “Wait here, I’m going to get some ice.”
As soon as she steps towards the kitchen, a soft meow echoes in the room. Selena instantly freezes. “Dammit, not now.”
Diego looks behind him to see a black cat standing on top of the couch, close to Diego. The cat looks at Diego, while he looks at the cat. Neither makes a sudden move.
“...hi.”
The cat tilts its head slightly as it drops onto the couch and immediately rubs against his thigh. Diego couldn’t help but smile. “Good cat,” he says, scratching the feline behind the ears.
The cat purrs, letting him rub its ears. Selena watches the scene in amusement.
“She doesn’t usually do that.”
Diego looks up, “Really?”
“No, she’s not usually a fan of men.”
The cat raises her head, trying to get Diego to scratch her again.
“She really likes you; consider yourself lucky.”
Diego continues rubbing the cat's ears. “What’s her name?”
“Midnight.”
Diego looks at the black cat. “It suits her.”
“Yeah, it does,” she says, smiling. “I found her outside a few years ago.”
“You rescued her?”
She nods, “Yeah, you should've seen her. She was tiny, soaked, and hiding underneath a car. If I didn’t rescue her that night, she would’ve died.”
Diego looks at Midnight, “She’s lucky to have an owner like you.”
She smiles at his compliment, “Yeah, I guess I have a thing for strays like her.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah,” she shrugs, ”mostly.”
Diego raised an eyebrow. “Mostly?”
“Maybe I have a weakness for people like that too.”
Diego stares at her. Her cheeks turn red, realizing what she just said.
She coughs, “I mean…stay here, I’m going to go get some ice.”
She steps towards the kitchen, leaving Diego alone in the living room with Midnight. He looks around; it's a cozy area. He can see pictures hanging on the wall. He goes to get a closer look to see a little girl, probably Selena, when she was a kid, with 3 women all holding her with such care.
“Here.”
Diego turns to see Selena holding a bag of frozen peas.
“It's the only thing we have,” Selena says quietly.
Diego grabs it as he takes his glasses off and puts the frozen peas on his eye as he sits down. “Thanks.”
She smiles at him before sitting down next to him. She opens her first aid kit as she begins to take care of his split lip. She soaks a cotton pad with antiseptic before dabbing it on his lip. Diego flinches slightly.
“...sorry.”
“It’s fine.”
They both sit in silence. Selena carefully cleans his injury before putting ointment on it.
“And…done.” She says, putting the last bit of ointment.
Diego leans back, carefully touching his lip. “Thank you.”
She smiles, “No need to thank me.”
Diego shakes his head. “No, really, I should. That last guy had me by the ropes. If it weren’t for you, I would have probably suffered from a few more injuries.”
“I’m sure you would’ve won, regardless of whether I was there.”
“Still, thanks.”
Both sit there in silence as Midnight curls on Diego’s lap. Diego smiles, scratching Midnight's head.
“She sure does like me.”
Selena smiles, “Maybe she can tell you're kinda like her.”
“Like what?”
“A stray.”
“Huh?” Diego says, ”I’m no stray.”
Selena raises an eyebrow, "you're sitting on my couch, you're injured, and I’m patching you up after you got injured fighting three men, oh and I did save you from the last guy.” She couldn’t help but grin slightly. “Sounds like a stray to me.”
Diego rolls his eyes, a smile growing on his face. “Then I guess I should thank you for saving a stray like me.”
“You're welcome.” She smiles at him, but it vanishes instantly as the color drains from her face.
Diego frowns, “Selena?”
But she doesn't answer, continuing to stare at what's behind Diego. He slowly turns around to see 3 women standing perfectly still in the hallway.
Each of them is completely different from one another, and all are sporting different looks.
The one on the left was a slightly chubby Latina with long brown hair tied in a simple ponytail, clasping her hands together beneath her chin and looking at the scene before her with an enormous smile.
The one in the middle was a tall, red-haired Caucasian woman with her arms crossed, her eyes narrowing suspiciously at Diego.
The one on the right was a petite Asian female with black shoulder-length hair, looking at the scene before her with concern as she spotted the black eye and split lip on Diego’s face.
“What happened?” the Asian woman asks, concerned coloring her face.
“Tia Maria…” She hesitates, glancing back at Diego.
“Who is he?” the red-haired woman asks.
Selena takes a deep breath, “Tia Carmen, this is Diego.”
Carmen raises an eyebrow, “Why is this boy in our living room?”
“Carmen.” The brown-haired woman scolds her, “Be nice; the boy doesn’t look good. I’m sure Selena will tell us.” She turns to look at Selena. “Isn’t that right, dear?”
Selena nods, “Yes, Tia Rosa. He saved me.”
All three women’s eyes widened at her statement.
“Saved you?” Rosa says, concerned.
Selena nods, “On the way back, three guys were following me.”
All three women’s expressions turn grim. Rosa looked panicked at the thought of her being followed. Carmen’s face turned cold, her eyes clouded with anger. Maria looked far more concerned now. As Selena and Diego finish telling the story. All 3 women look at Diego before huddling together, talking to each other.
“Ladies, what do you think?”
“I like him. He saved our little Selena.”
“I don’t trust him.”
“You don’t trust any guys.”
“He did take a hit for her. Just look at his poor face.”
“Sorry, Carmen, it's 2 out of 3 in his favor.”
“...fine, but if he tries anything funny, I’m throwing him out.”
They all turn to look at Diego. The short, chubby Latina steps forward and gives the boy a heartwarming smile.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Rosa.” She points at the red-haired woman, “She’s Carmen.”
Carmen says nothing, continuing to stare down at Diego.
Rosa points to the Asian woman next to Carmen, “And this is Maria.” Maria waves and gives Diego a small smile.
Carmen gets closer to them, staring down at Diego, and begins to ask a barrage of questions.
“What's your last name?”
“Martinez.”
“How did you meet our Selena?”
“Tia…” Selena frowns, but Carmen ignores her, continuing to stare at Diego.
“We met at a party.”
All three women look at Selena, whose face is turning red.
“I-It's not what you think!” She says nervously, “I only bumped into him, and we just talked.”
Carmen narrows her eyes but says nothing, turning back to look at Diego.
“Do you go to school?”
“Yes.”
“Where?”
“Cal State LA.”
“So, you go to the same school as Selena?”
“Yes.”
“What do you study?”
“Criminal Justice.”
“How old are you?”
“Eighteen.”
“What are your intentions with our Selena?”
Diego’s face turns red, nearly choking on his own spit.
“Tia!” Selena shouts, embarrassed.
“Carmen, that's enough,” Rosa says.
Maria nods, “Look at them, they're turning red.”
Diego could feel his face turn even warmer.
“Alright, alright.” Carmen sighs, pointing at Diego, “But I’m watching you, boy.”
Diego nods quickly.
“Have you eaten?” Rosa asks.
GROWL!!!
Diego looks down at his stomach, giving away his hunger before he could even answer.
“Come,” Rosa says, dragging Diego to the kitchen. “You must be starving, after defending our little Selena; you need to eat.”
Diego looks helplessly back at Selena.
She shakes her head, giving him an apologetic smile. “Just go with her; once Tia Rosa says you’re going to eat, you have no choice.”
“Come, Dieguito,” Rosa says, making Diego sit down at the dining table. Diego tries to say something, but he is stuffed with a lot of food, courtesy of Tia Rosa. He takes a bite of the food in front of him.
“This is really good!”
Rosa beams, “Gracias.” (Thank You.) She begins dumping more food on his plate. “Have more!”
Diego’s eyes widen at the amount of food in front of him. As he sits with them, they all begin to tell embarrassing tales about Selena when she was younger, much to her dismay.
“¡Tías, por favor!” (Aunties, please!) She pleads to her tias to stop, but they don’t listen.
“Ohh!” Rosa says excitedly, “We have to show him the baby pictures. Maria, get the album.”
“Tia Rosa!” Selena shouts, embarrassed.
“Okay, okay.” Tia Rosa says, through fits of laughter, “We’ll stop.” She pauses, “For now.”
Selena covers her face, embarrassed by what just happened; she gives Diego a look that says, ‘Don’t say a word.’
The evening continued far longer than Diego expected. He got hounded by all three women, who asked about his life. Rosa asked him about his family, Maria asked him about college, and Carmen continued interrogating him for any signs of delinquency. All while Selena repeatedly apologized to him for her family's behavior. But Diego didn’t mind their badgering; in a way, it reminded him of back home.
But eventually he knew he had to leave. He glances to look at a nearby clock, realizing it's getting late.
“Oh dang.”
Selena who was playing with Midnight, looks up at Diego. “What?”
“It’s getting late. I should be heading back.”
Rosa frowns, “So soon?”
Diego offers an apologetic smile, “I’ve stayed longer than I planned.” He begins to stand up. “Thank you for the food. It was delicious. It’s been a while since I’ve eaten something home cooked.”
Tia Rosa’s face brightens at his compliment, “Gracias,” before turning to Selena, “Debes traerlo mas seguido, me encanta.” (You should bring him more often, I like him.)
“Tia!” Selena shouts again.
“¿Qué?” (What?) Rosa shrugs innocently. “¿Me gusta?” (I like him.)
Selena immediately stands up and grabs Diego by his wrist, guiding him out the door.
“Are you sure you don’t need a ride back?” Maria asks, following behind with a hint of concern, “It’s already late; we wouldn’t want you to get hurt or worse.”
“No, no, it's fine, I don’t want to impose.” Diego says before flashing a small smile, “Besides, I can handle myself in a fight.”
Maria frowns but doesn’t push it. “Okay, goodnight.”
Rosa waves at Diego, “Goodnight, Dieguito, come back soon!”
Carmen simply raised her hand, “Don’t go looking for another fight; Selena already patched you up.”
Selena rolls her eyes before shutting the door behind her. They both stand on the balcony, silently looking at each other before both start laughing.
Diego wipes a tear from his eye, “Your family is…”
“Insane?” She says, finally being able to compose herself.
“I was going to say memorable.”
She rolls her eyes, “You don’t have to lie.”
Diego shakes his head. “They’re good people.”
“They were embarrassing me.”
Diego waves her off. “Family does that.”
She rolls her eyes; both continue to stare at each other silently, neither willing to say goodbye.
She fidgets with her cardigan's sleeves, looking away, the moonlight reflecting off her glasses, masking her eyes.
“Thank you…” she says quietly.
Diego tilts his head. “For what?”
“For standing up for me and taking the beating. You didn’t have to do that.”
Diego tries to say something, but she cuts him off.
“You could’ve walked away,” she begins, wrapping herself in a hug, not meeting Diego’s eyes, “you didn’t have to follow me, just a girl you met. What would’ve happened if things didn’t go right in that alley? I couldn’t live with myself if the worst happened to you, all because you wanted to help me.”
Diego shakes his head. “I couldn’t walk away.”
She looks up. “Why?”
He stays silent. For him, it was simple; he was Batman. He took up the mantle as a promise he made a long time ago to become a hero for the person he failed to save. He refused to walk away knowing he could’ve done something to help. But he couldn’t tell her that.
“Because…” He says, “...because it was the right thing to do.”
She shakes her head. “You're an idiot, you know that, right?”
Diego pouts slightly. “That hurts you know.”
She scoffs, “Well, next time don’t play hero and fight 3 people at once.”
Diego shakes his head. “Can’t promise that.”
“Why not?”
“Because you’re my friend.”
The word catches her off guard.
Seeing her reaction, he scratches the back of his head. “Unless you don’t want to be?”
“Friends…I’d like that,” she says, stepping closer to Diego. She looks up to see his injured face and broken, crooked glasses.
“Something wrong?” Diego says, his heart skipping a beat as she closes the distance.
“No.”
She reaches out and fixes his glasses, but she doesn’t move her hand away from his face, cupping his cheek. Diego's heart starts beating faster from her actions. Her brown eyes lock onto his.
“Thank you…”
Diego smiles awkwardly, “You’re welcome…”
She hesitates slightly before leaning forward, her hand still on his face as she pulls him closer and kisses him on the cheek. Diego freezes completely, his brain overloading from the kiss.
“Good night, Diego.” She says, whispering into his ear before running back inside and slamming the door in front of him.
Selena leans back on the door, covering her mouth. “What did I just do?”
Cough
Cough
She looks up to see her three tias standing there, each wearing different expressions. Rosa was grinning from ear to ear, Maria was desperately trying not to laugh, and Carmen just raised an eyebrow. Meanwhile, Midnight was looking up at her with a curious look on her face.
“Not. One. Word,” she growls.
Outside, Diego stands completely still, his face crimson red. He brings a hand up to his cheek to feel where he got kissed. A stupid, dopey smile slowly grows on his face. He looks at the door one more time before walking down the steps, heading back to his dorm. For once, Diego didn’t think of these kinds of nights, where he is dragged by Kai to a party as a waste of his time, time that he could’ve used for Batman. Instead, Selena consumed his thoughts, and the kiss she gave him would be burned in his memory forever.
CSULA DORMS
Diego enters the dorms quietly, hoping that Kai was either away or asleep. But the moment he enters, he spots Kai on his desk with his laptop open. Kai, hearing the door open, turns around and freezes at the sight of Diego. There Diego stood with a split lip, black eye, rumpled clothes, scratched glasses, and the biggest dopey smile Kai has ever seen on the guy's face.
Kai closes the laptop. “Well, well, well.” He grins, “Who was the lucky girl?”
Diego snaps out of it, his smile turning into a frown. “What girl?”
“Oh, you can’t fool me, Martinez; you got that stupid grin on your face,” Kai says
“I don’t,” Diego says, his frown deepening.
“Oh, you absolutely do,” he says, giving Diego a shit-eating grin. “You look like you got your ass kicked and yet you're smiling.”
He stands up to get a closer look at Diego; he narrows his eyes slightly, spotting something on Diego’s cheek. “Wait a minute…” he murmurs, leaning closer before pointing at his cheek, grinning widely. “You got a little something on your cheek.”
Diego immediately goes to check the mirror, his eyes widening at what he sees. A faint lipstick mark was visible on his cheek. His face burns crimson red as he looks at the mark. He turns around to see Kai giving him a shit-eating grin.
“Not. One. Word.”