Work Text:
Alvarez Residence - Morning
God, I’m bored…
Diego couldn’t help but think as he lay sprawled on the couch. Staring at the ceiling with boredom. His mind replayed last night's events. It was a very bad night for him; no one died, but he did take quite the beating. Thankfully, Alvarez was nearby and took him to Dr. Rodriguez to get checked up.
LAST NIGHT…
“Ow!”
Diego yelps in pain as Dr. Rodriguez presses his side. She stares at Diego, unimpressed and disappointed.
“Congratulations.” She says dryly,
Diego blinks. “For what?”
“You managed to bruise three ribs, sprain your shoulder, reopen two stitches…” she taps on his left knee, “and your left knee is swollen up. What exactly happened?”
Diego flashes an awkward smile, “...bad luck?”
“He got his ass handed to him,” Alvarez replies. Leaning on the wall as he watches the Doctor treat the boy.
Dr. Rodriguez looks at Alvarez before slowly turning to look Diego in the eyes with a scary look, “...oh really?”
Diego flinches, lowering his head, not daring to look the doctor in the eye.
Dr. Rodriguez exhales sharply, getting rid of her gloves. She points her finger at Diego, “Now you listen to me and listen well. You need rest.”
“...”
“That means no running.”
“...”
“No lifting.”
“...”
“No fighting.”
“...”
“And no Batman.”
Diego opens his mouth to say something, but the doctor's glare makes him shut it.
Dr. Rodriguez turns to look at Alvarez. “I would say he needs a couple of weeks to recover, but knowing him, he would just ignore my orders. At minimum, he should rest for at least a week.”
“A week!?” Diego shouts, but both adults ignore him.
“I entrust him to you, Alexander; make sure he doesn’t leave the house.”
Alvarez nods, “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure he doesn’t do anything stupid.”
“Hey!” Diego shouts, sulking a little.
Dr. Rodriguez stares at Diego. “Hush, you, you’ve given us enough grief these past weeks. Now rest, or I’m calling your parents.”
Diego’s face goes pale. Meanwhile, Alvarez was having the time of his life, seeing Diego being scolded by the Doc.
PRESENT DAY…
Diego sighs, “This sucks…”
He stares blankly at the TV. Flipping through different channels, trying to get his mind off his injuries. Cooking shows, documentaries, cartoons, news, movies, a random telenovela. But nothing seems to hold his attention.
Bzz!
His focus is cut as his phone buzzes. He opens it to see Detective Alvarez texting him.
Alvarez: Don’t leave the Apartment.
Alvarez: Sofia will kill us both if you do. There is food in the fridge; Elena made it. It’s your favorite.
Diego frowns, typing back.
Diego: I’m no prisoner; this is cruel. It goes against my rights.
Alvarez: According to Dr. Rodriguez, your rights are revoked until you’re healed.
Diego groans, dropping his phone right next to him.
He looks around the apartment. He’s been living here for a month now, and he hadn’t realized until now how disorganized everything was around him. It wasn’t a pigsty, but he could see that it hadn’t been fully cleaned for some time now. He could see shoes cluttering the entrance, mail scattered out on the counter, dirty dishes cluttered the sink from last night's dinner, and dust beginning to collect on the shelves.
That was just what he could see from a glance; the more he focused on the room around him. The more he saw things that needed cleaning. Which made him become more and more annoyed.
His eyes twitched a little.
“Tsk.” He stands up. “Can’t put up with this crap.”
The moment he stood up, his left knee protested, causing him to stumble slightly from the pain. He recovered fast, grabbing the couch for support, but the sudden jolt caused his ribs to flare up as well. He stayed there for a while, waiting as the pain from his knee and his ribs slowly faded away.
He takes a deep breath, the pain finally simmering down. “Okay…” he mutters to himself, limping to the closet, taking out cleaning materials.
“I can’t patrol. That's fine, I’ll just clean this place so good, Mr. Clean will be proud.”
He put on music his mother always played every time she cleaned in the morning. As Vicente Fernández's voice filled the apartment, he began his chores:
He carefully swept the kitchen floor before mopping it. Pausing a few times due to his injuries flaring up.
Cleaned the bathroom. Remembering how his mother taught him as he cleaned the mirrors, sink, faucet, bathtub, and toilet. Most of it was easy, with only the toilet and bathtub being the more difficult tasks as he put pressure on his knees in order to reach hard-to-reach places, making his ribs and shoulders ache more.
Cleaned all the windows. Removing the smudges and grease with extreme prejudice. His shoulder tensed in pain each time he put more force than necessary.
Wiped the blinds, ensuring all the dust and dirt was removed. His bruised ribs and shoulders flared up each time he wiped the blinds.
Dusted the TV from front to back, making it look good as new.
Cleaned the bookshelves of all the dust before putting all the books in alphabetical order.
Cleaned and organized the pantry. Threw out food that had already expired and organized the snacks and canned food much more neatly.
Cleaned the fridge, throwing out foods that no longer worked, and wiping the inside.
Cleaned all the bedsheets.
Finally, he did everyone's laundry.
By the time lunch came, he finished everything. He looked around the place with pride. “Much better.”
GROWL!!!
He placed his hand on his stomach. Damn, it seems I forgot to eat breakfast today.
He limped over to the kitchen and opened the fridge to find the food Elena left for him. He grabbed the plate wrapped in tin foil. He looks to see a note placed on top.
Hey Diego!
Hope you get better. Made your favorite. Enjoy!
~Elena
Diego smiles, unwrapping the foil to reveal a burrito. He places it in the microwave to heat up. As it's heating up, he grabs a soda and places it on the table. As the microwave finishes heating his food, he goes to grab it and begins to eat as he watches some YouTube videos.
As he takes his final bites, he looks at the note Elena left; his expression softens as he reads it once more. He’s been staying for a month now. If it weren't for Alvarez, he’d have to go back home and not be able to patrol as Batman, leaving Los Angeles defenceless. If it weren't for Elena, who dragged him out to go do something, he’d just be focusing on being Batman almost every single night. They’ve done a lot for him, and here he was sitting in their kitchen, eating their food.
“Maybe I should do something…” his eyes slowly drift towards the kitchen.
SOMETIME LATER…
The apartment door opens as both Father and Daughter return after a long day. Elena steps inside first, only to freeze in place at the sight in front of her.
“...Dad?”
“What?” asks the detective, still trying to get rid of his shoes.
“Did we walk into the wrong apartment?”
Confused, the detective turns around as he sees the apartment clean for the first time in months. From here he can see that the shoes that always cluttered the entrance were organized. The mail on the shelf near the door was neatly sorted. The books were organized on the shelf. The TV looked brand new. But the most impressive thing for Alvarez was the floor; it was so shiny that it made his eyes hurt just by looking at it.
“I…” Alvarez looks around, shocked, “...I think we’re home?”
Just then, the smell of fresh tortillas and carne asada hit their noses.
Elena sniffs the air, “...is that Carne asada?”
They step into the kitchen to find Diego in an apron, preparing Carne Asada. He turns to look at them. “You guys took your time; I was expecting you guys an hour ago. Go wash up; dinner will be ready soon.”
Elena blinks, “You cook?”
Diego stares at her as if she said something so obvious, “Yeah, what of it?”
Alvarez crosses his arms, “You were supposed to be resting.”
“I did.”
Alvarez raises an eyebrow but says nothing.
“Now go.” Diego shoos them, “I don’t want your dirty hands touching my food.”
Both go and wash their hands as Diego begins setting the food on the table: Tortillas, Rice, Beans, fresh salsa, guacamole, grilled onions, agua fresca, and a salad bowl.
As Elena and Alvarez sit down, Diego places the plate of Carne Asada in front of them.
“You made all this?” Elena asks, amazed to see so much food on the table.
Diego nods, “Yeah, we had the ingredients, so I decided to make something.”
He pauses slightly, laughing awkwardly, “Just had to make a quick trip to the supermarket to get the meat.”
Alvarez narrows his eyes, “Diego…”
Diego raises his hands, “I know, I know, I wasn’t supposed to go out, but I needed some ingredients, and the supermarket was just around the corner.”
Alvarez sighs, ”Fine, I’ll let it slide, but don’t let it become a thing. You need to rest.”
They begin serving themselves and eat in silence. Not awkward silence but rather the kind of silence where everyone was too busy eating delicious food to even talk.
“This…” Elena says, taking another bite of her food, “...this is heaven.”
Alvarez hums in approval, continuing to eat his food. “This rice…how did you make it taste so good?”
“It’s my mom's recipe.” Diego smiles slightly. “I had to text her for the ingredients. Thankfully you guys had everything here.”
Elena drinks the agua fresca. “This agua fresca is amazing; I don’t remember us getting watermelon.”
“Oh yeah, I got some watermelon when I was at the store. I was lucky that the watermelon I chose was sweet. I didn’t need to add any sugar to it.”
Elena gulps the whole agua fresca down before slamming the cup on the table, startling both men. “This isn’t fair.” She points at Diego, “I’ve been cooking for years and never come close to this. You’ve ruined food for me now.”
Diego blinks, “Uhhh...sorry?”
“You’re not wrong, sweetie.” Alvarez says, continuing to eat, “This stuff is leagues ahead of your food.”
“Dad!”
“What?” Alvarez puts his hands up in defense, “You’re the one who said it; I’m just agreeing with you.”
Elena gives her father a mock glare as Diego continues eating in silence, a small smile forming on his face from their praise.
Later...
After dinner, Diego gathers all the dirty dishes, placing them in the sink.
“You didn’t have to do all of this, you know?”
Diego turns around to see Alvarez leaning on the entrance to the kitchen. Diego turns back to the sink.
“I know.” He says, beginning to wash the dishes, “But you and Elnea have done a lot for me. You offered me a place to stay when you didn’t have to. I figured this was the least I could do.”
Alvarez walks up to him. “I can take care of the rest.”
“It’s fine, I can finish–”
“I insist.” Alvarez says, “You’re still injured.” He narrows his eyes at Diego. “Not to mention you went out by yourself when the doc explicitly told you to stay put, so go and rest. I’d rather not have Sofia kill us both.”
Alvarez shoos Diego off. “So off you go.”
Diego sighs before rolling his eyes. “Okay, okay.” He says, drying his hands and heading out of the kitchen.
He stops at the entrance, looking back at Alvarez. “Thanks.” He says quietly, “For everything.”
Alvarez hums in acknowledgment as Diego leaves the kitchen. A few seconds later, he could hear shouting coming from Elena’s room.
“Give it back, you jerk!”
“Nuh uh, you’re not getting it back!”
“Diego!”
“Ha, you can’t catch me–whoa!”
A heavy thud is heard before a loud yelp is heard.
“Uncle! Uncle!”
Alvarez chuckles slightly, shaking his head. “Damn kids…”
LATER…
Later that evening, Alvarez stands by the kitchen window. He looks around the cleaned apartment as his mind drifts to Diego. It was strange; before the boy arrived, the place was quiet with only him and Elena occupying the apartment. By the time she entered high school, she had her own life. She was always in her room studying or was out with friends. But it was also during those days that he was out most of the time, so the place was mostly quiet.
But now there’s always something happening. Both the kids now fill the room with noise and chaos. Complaining, fighting, and shouting at each other for something the other one did. He should be annoyed by their constant fighting, but he couldn’t help but smile; after so many years, the apartment felt more alive than ever.
He looks down at the hallway where Diego and Elena could still be arguing. It seems it was a good idea to take the boy in after all. He hadn’t just become a guest in their home but a part of their family. He hopes moments like these continue happening for as long as they can.
Because for the first time in a while, this place now felt like home.