—chapter seventeen.

  ❛ no one ever gives a shit about me. ❜  

ELODIE WOKE UP TO THE SMELL OF EGGS.

Burning eggs, to be exact. Which just so happened to be the whole reason of her waking up.

She pushed herself up and looked around, realising that she had somehow gotten to her bed. From what little she remembered - and from what little she was allowing herself to remember - she had fallen asleep on the other side of the room, with Diego. She had expected him to leave, sure, but not for her to be carefully tucked into bed, even changed from the blazer and skirt she had worn before. Vaguely, she remembered the struggle of getting her out of the mess, but it was still a surprise to see PJ pants and not the mess of the day before.

And she certainly had not expected to smell cooking (if she could call it that?) in the other room, at the very least.

Elodie groaned and flipped the covers off her, shivering even while sliding out of the bed. Still groggy, she managed to find a pair of socks thrown under the bed and then a scrunchie resting on her bed table. Her curls ran rampant and stuck up in every which direction, but the woman hardly acknowledged this. It all got shoved back into a low do and left so she could stumble to her bedroom door and discover the source of the odd smell.

She twisted around the corner and stopped, frowning at the sight before her. Diego had not seen her yet with his back turned, but she could see the mess of her counter made and smell the absolutely insane scent of the burnt pan, or eggs, or...was everything burning? He was cursing under his breath rather violently, so definitely a lot was going on -- and a lot of nothing good. She wished she could find the sight merely endearing, and to be fair, he was adorable, but...

"Yo."

He jumped at the sound of her voice and whirled around, pan in one hand and spatula in the other. In the back of Elodie's head, she stored the image of him right then; hair a mess and dressed the most casual she had ever seen her in his place. He wore boxers and a loose t-shirt, black because the man never broke tradition, and splatters of something coated the front of his shirt -- she wasn't sure she wanted to know just what.

His brows furrowed. "You're supposed to be sleeping."

"Whoops, don't think I got the memo."

He tried to smile, but it came off as more a grimace than anything. Half-heartedly, Diego slid the pan and spatula behind him and moved forward. His hand hovered for a second, half between his side and her arm, but it dropped down again.

"So, ho...how are you?"

"Um. Fine, I guess?"

"Oh. I just - well, I know -"

"-it's okay," she interrupted, that time the one to offer an insincere smile to the awkwardness. "I am good, right now. Thanks."

"Okay. Good."

Elodie folded her arms and looked past his shoulder to the mess behind him. "Can I ask what's going on here?"

"Um...I...maybe best, not to."

"Uh...huh."

"I'm sorry," he said wryly, pushing over a bowl and beginning to tidy up. "I didn't want you to see, all this. Or for any of this to happen. I, um...s'been a while since I've cooked."

"Well, it's alright.

"No, it was s'posed to be nice, but--"

"I rarely even eat in the--"

"--I did know--"

"--you don't even have to cook for me, I-"

"--but I wanted to..." he hung his head, groaning even with his next words like they physically pained him. "I wanted to surprise you."

Elodie cocked her head. Light hit his face and painted a softer portrait that she had seen of him; gentle, domestic, wrapped in the morning sun of her tiny kitchen, splattered with food he was cooking for her. How long had it been since someone had done something like that for her?

And Diego just stood there. He looked back at her with that little half-smile and waited for her to speak just as she did him -- or maybe just for the spell to break and for things to return to their original, broken state.

But it didn't. And no matter how hard she pinched at her arm, she didn't wake up.

Her gaze flitted from his to her counter top when the stare got too intense. Elodie frowned at the small pile of envelopes; bills made up most of them, as well as a letter from her landlord, reminding her of changes to the plan and that she still had to submit her next lease plan. She pushed those all aside and lifted out the last envelope, a creamy yellow stained with messy handwriting.

Shakily, she ripped it open and pulled out the contents, drinking it all in with furrowed brows and her heart beating heavily in her throat.

"You okay?"

Elodie tore her eyes from the letter to give Diego a soft smile. She twisted her arm around to show the contents; a picture had been taped to the last page, with a boy smiling up at the both of them. "It's uh, from my brother. Ellis. I guess his class did this thing, some fancy experiment, but he got second place, and -- gotta be honest, I don't know much about it...but it looks neat."

Diego's lips pulled up as he stared at the picture. "Kid's talented?"

"Oh, he's more than that - I mean, you should see the things he's made at that school of his," she gushed. "I mean, he makes it worth all the money it costs to send him there -- he's like a regular kid genius, those ones you'd see on television?"

"Yeah?"

"He knows more than me about most things, I swear," she smiled. Absent-mindedly, her thumb traced down the portrait's frozen face. "The things he draws up, thinks up...that boy is gonna be the new Skywalker or somethin' that day, you know?"

When he frowned, clearly not understanding the reference, she gasped. "You for real? You don't know Star Wars?"

"That a band?"

"It's -- Luke Skywalker? Princess Leia?"

"Nope."

"The like, world-famous movies?!"

Diego grinned sheepishly. "Sorry...?"

"I can't believe you don't know those movies!"

He ducked his head, turning back to his cluttering about. "There's not a lot of time to watch movies when you're try'na play the hero."

"Sure, play the hero excuse...I am so going to make you watch them with me."

"Oh, is that right?"

Elodie nodded and pushed herself forward to him again. She jutted her chin out for emphasis. "Yep. And - and all of them, not just the first one. I mean -- there's lightsaber fights, and the Force, and like -- well, that won't make sense to you yet, but it's badass as shit. There's princess and ruffians and little teddy bear thing-ies? It's like, the greatest thing ever made."

He raised a brow. "Didn't know you were such a nerd."

"A nerd?! Okay, if you mean a fan of fantastic movies and hot ass ruffians n' princesses with guns, than for sure, I'm that!"

"Well--"

"--you are so going to agree with me, once you watch them. Trust me."

He grinned, dropping a hand to her waist. His fingers traced steady circles into the revealed skin, "I really didn't think you'd be into that sort of thing."

"I -- Diego, are you kidding me!?"

"What do you mean?"

"-Diego, very clearly, I have a type. I mean, you're basically a mix of Luke Skywalker and Han anyways, with your hero complex and cute ass vigilante thing." She took a step closer, standing just a bit closer, him much taller above her short stature. "It'd be kinda cute if you had a glowing sword thing, but...ooh, or a cape!"

"I'm not getting a cape."

She shrugged, dancing forward to press a kiss to his cheek. "We'll work on it. "Now, um - just leave this mess. I wanna go out."

"Out?"

Elodie did not stop, whirling around the corner as though the butterflies in her stomach were carrying her, themselves. "Uh-huh. I gotta show you this place around the corner, you can get a great cup a'joe and pancakes for only four bucks. And I can explain to you my love for brunettes with spunky attitudes, and - unless you wanna keep, uh, cooking?"

She only turned then, clutching a pair of worn sneakers and her jacket - she was in sweatpants and a worn shirt saying something about milk, pretty sure she got that for free one time a long time ago, but she hardly cared. She was in a good mood and floating on a sense of false confidence, and something about Diego was too cute to not appreciate. Not sweep under the rug and tell him to get out, oh no - she had to take advantage of her day off, somehow.

"You're nuts."

"Good, or bad nuts?"

He moved too, pulling the clothes he had left in a pile outside her room and holding them up. In the morning light, he looked so young and carefree, little bits of stubble just growing in, but his large dark eyes reflecting bits of gold in a way that was ever enchanting. How had she not seen his eyes before?

"The best kind'a nuts, baby." The 'baby' was a breathless afterthought, but still something that made her shiver and question everything. He slipped a hand to her waist and pulled her in, hovering just before her lips before settling on a kiss of his own to her cheek, as though sealing the deal was too much commitment for them just then. "Gimme five."

"Sure," she slipped out, a little startled by his openness, breathless and gasping. Sure, she had been forward, but Diego - well, it was just odd.

But, she supposed that really, it was all odd.

"SO...."

"...So..."

Elodie twisted in her steps, dancing forward a couple steps so she could face Diego. The corners of her lips ached, but she dared not drop her smile -- not when it felt right to wear one, for once. "What'd you think?"

"I already told you I liked it."

"Sure, but I want to make sure-"

"-I really liked it," he sighed, though there was nothing but a smile on his face saying that. "I mean, even when you tried to explain those 'Space War' movies-"

"--Diego Hargreeves--"

"-I'm kidding, I'm kidding!"

Elodie dipped her head down, directing her laughter to the pavement below. She stepped back into step with Diego and slowed her steps. As her laughter died and her smile dipped into something more soft, she realised how long it had been since she had done something like it. It had been years since she had been up so early and not hating every second of it, and moreover cracking jokes with good company by her side, and actual food in her stomach. Her connections were always brief and done in the shadows of night, not giggled over on city sidewalks with a guy who stayed through her breakdowns.

She bit her lip, wondering if she should voice such thoughts or not.

Luckily, Diego took advantage of her silence, and spoke instead. "You know," he started, shoulders brushing as a stranger passed, "my mom, she used to try an' teach me how to cook."

"Oh, yeah?"

He nodded. "It was important to her, and I liked being with her rather than...I liked it, even if I wasn't so good." His head hung a little. "My, uh, brother Ben was better. But she -- it's been a while since I've cooked like that."

It was clear that he was only half talking about what happened that morning, and his focus had been drawn to the life he had lived before. Elodie had not heard much about his mother, it had seemed a hushed topic and she wasn't even sure if she was alive still, but it was obvious regardless, the woman had meant a lot to him.

So instead of trying to sate her own curiosity, she nudged his arm with her own. "She sounds like she was important to you."

"Yeah. She wa-is the only parent I really had. She was the g-greatest." Diego's head was down and she could tell from how he concentrated, how his words spat out, that he was trying to control his emotion and not stutter. "When I was younger, I used to think she was the prettiest woman in all the world."

"Wow."

"Uh-huh."

"She sounds wonderful, Diego."

"She was. Is," he corrected, and heaved a gentle sigh. His hesitance to use present tense was confusing, but not unknown to her -- hell if she was going to judge.

His head lifted, and their eyes finally met again. "You know, I think she would'a liked you."

"I -- you really think so?"

Her mind had not gone to the ever drawn out trope of stress linked to 'meeting a romantic partner's parent(s)', but rather an odd happiness that bloomed when he smiled softly at her. No one had ever thought highly of her like that, and sure, it was all hypothetical and words were just words, but Elodie gripped as tight as she could to those ones.

Diego nodded. "I wish I could introduce her to you. I'm sure she would have liked to meet you."

"Well, I would have liked to meet her, too."

He smiled, at that.

They walked a little more with the only sounds being their trudging footsteps in the snow and their breaths in and out. It was quiet, being so early in the morning and considering the cold, there were few interested in going out. But Elodie hardly felt the cold. Her entire body was on fire, alight under her parka and sweatpants. But it didn't hurt like it always had before -- she was hot because of him, and what he had said, and the prospect that maybe someone did care about her.

"I'm really happy we ran into each other."

Diego cocked a scarred brow, "me too."

"No. I mean it. Like, I'm glad we met, and all this happened." Elodie stopped, and that made him do the same, twisting about so he stood in front of her that time. Her hands shook, uneasy flames twinning by her side. "I -- I really, really like what we've got going on. I'm happy, Diego."

His smile softened as he squinted down at her. "Me too."

Her heart fluttered, a bird yearning to escape from its cage to his arms. "Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Her cheeks were heating then, to match the rising heat the rest of her body roiled in. And for once, Elodie really did not know what to say to such a soft, barely spoken admission.

Diego did, though - at least he seemed to. He stepped forward, grabbing her flaming hands close. She feared they would burn right through him, but oddly, he didn't even react -- and maybe, she wasn't going to turn this good thing to ash, too.

"I..."

Elodie bit her lip, hesitant in his own struggle to speak. "It's...it's okay, we don't -- you don't hav'ta say anything."

"No, I-...I do," he forced out, sucking in a breath before attempting the rest of his speech. She watched as he rolled his neck, muttering something before turning back down to her. Their eyes didn't quite meet. "I- I'm not good at this stuff."

"That's fine, Robin Hood," she teased, squeezing his hands once. "C'mon. You think I am?"

He didn't laugh, which worried her.

"Are we, are you okay?"

Diego sucked in another long breath, still avoiding her concerned eyes. "I l-like what we've got here. A lot."

Her heart thudded loud in her chest, rattling in its cage so violently she feared he might hear it. Fear ran cold and polluted the once so glorious heat, and Elodie realised far too fast, that maybe she had over thought just about everything that had happened between them.

Fragments of past relationships flitted fast and sour around her aching mind -- reminders of those who couldn't really love her like she wanted, people who told her with sad expressions they did not mean that she was a nice person, really, but --

"--it's fine, if you don't want this," she mumbled, half without thinking. Her hands pulled from his own, "believe me, I get it. It's chill."

"What? I -- no, I--"

"--I'm kind of bad at this whole, um, not getting ahead of myself thing," she smiled, even as her vision swum. She cursed the unshed tears back into their dungeons, "so I am really sorry if I saw this going a different way you, uh, did."

"That's not what I m-m-meant at all!"

Elodie froze in her stumble away from him. "Huh?"

"I-I wasn't tryna stop th...this."

"I mean, we can have--"

"--stop for a mo-mo-moment," he pleaded, reaching out to her again. A stranger shifted past them, grumbling; neither paid them any mind. "I ca-can't get my--"

"--sorry, shit I didn't--"

"--stop," he said again, softer and lower. He pulled at her hands and she let him, that time, gently joining together once more. "Let me speak."

Elodie nodded numbly.

"I don't want to," he hesitated with the words clumping on his tongue, "stop b-being with you. Okay? I like you. A lot."

In her muddled state of cold and burning heat, she realised that he hadn't stuttered a word of that last part.

"You m-m-ma-make me happy. Happier n'I've been in a while. But..." he sighed, his head falling down and into their hands. "I-I'm not good, y-you--"

"--don't you dare say something like that, Robin Hood, because I will not hesitate to slap you."

He chuckled, but it was hoarse and cracked; she winced at his barely veiled emotion. 

"I don't have a lot."

"Well that's fine. Neither do I." She clutched his hands tighter in her own, no longer scared she would burn him, and tried to grin. Her heart physically ached. "You think I actually care about tics and tacs and numbers?"

"No, I just mean..." he stopped, pondering his next words. When he spoke again, it was slow but concentrated, so he did not stutter so much anymore. "I work as a janitor. And I do a lot of stupid shit."

"That doesn't matter to me!"

"It should. I - I got nothin' to offer you."

Elodie huffed. She pulled a hand from his grip, only to place it on his chin. She lifted his face to meet her frown, "I'm not expecting you to give me anything, or do anything. Okay? I - I like being around you, dumbass, and that's all. I mean, me saying that I really like you doesn't have anything to do with what you have in your bank account, because sometimes I can't even pay the lights bill! Why would I judge you?"

"It's not that, baby--"

"--then please, try to give me a valid excuse to leave you here." Her hand shifted to his cheek, pressing close to the chilled skin. She didn't miss how he flinched. "Because I haven't heard one yet."

"I'm fucked up."

"So m'I! We know this."

"God, Elodie, but -" he threw his hands up in the air as though exasperated, though turning back she could just see a great emotional upset raging from within. Tears glimmered in his eyes, "you shouldn't -- I'm screwed up. And m'trouble."

She rolled her eyes, hands slapping down to her sides. "You sound like the worst romance novel ever to be written. Honestly, Diego? You know we're both screwed up, and stupid kids with really tragic backstories that would make like, the greatest comic book if I could draw at all -- that's beside the point. I know that we're not the greatest people in this world, but I don't care! I want to make this work because I am hopelessly, totally interested in you and all your weird knife kinks. I don't even know--" she stopped short, watching him push forward and towards her, "what? I--"

--he was kissing her. Hands in her hair and on her face, cold pressing into her burning skin as his lips smashed against hers, pushing her into the building. Their teeth collided as they adjusted and laughing, she apologised and he only held her tighter. It felt like their movie moment, when the camera would swoop in and frame their faces pressed so close on the freezing morning, hands gripping tight to any available piece of fabric and begging for the other to be closer. If it was anyone else and maybe any other time, Elodie would have cringed and said it was tacky. But at the ass-crack of morning and with her heart overheating in its cage of bones, she could only describe it as the most beautiful moment in all her life.

And, maybe it was.

He was gentle with his movements then, as though realising that they were in fact still in public, drawing her in for a final peck before parting, breathing heavily. Her hands slipped from his head to the ends of his hair, tugging gently on the outgrown locks.

Elodie chuckled, out of breath. "Alright, then."

"Uh-huh," he sighed back, still shamelessly staring down at her lips. "That was..."

"...that was fun."

"Definitely fun," he laughed. His hand crept up a little higher, tickling cold into the sliver of skin bare on her waist. "Yeah."

"You, uh-" she gestured back to where her apartment would be, a smile growing even before she could speak. "You wanna go back to my place? Watch Space Wars and make out like teenagers on my couch?"

Diego grinned. "I would love that."

She twisted out of his arms to stand beside him. Just before they moved, though, in a moment of confidence Elodie clutched his hand and intertwined their fingers. The look he gave her said it all, but after a moment, he melted into the touch and even raised her hand to kiss her knuckles.

"Cheesy."

"Hard not to be, in the presence of a beautiful lady," he winked.

And Elodie just laughed.

EDITED NOTE -- changed the reference in this from Iron Man to Star Wars...and yes, it was mainly because of the Luke Skywalker reference in season two. Duh.

But anyways...that's as official of an official get-together moment as you're gonna get with them two. Hope you liked. I had a lot of fun writing this, and imagining 2012 Diego - I consider him the sort to still shave and not want the heavy stubble he has in the show, and also he's got really pretty eyes and Elodie fucking loves it. Like, she's obsessed with his eyes.

Also, there's going to be a lot of points towards little moments of affection - like hand-holding - that Diego sort of adjusts to, because he never really has done that before and it's so weird to him that people actually do that. Aside from Patch, he's not been in any actual relationships - and they were different, as I'll explain later on. For now, though...we got this. A mishmash of romance as that is all the book is, now...(no regrets).

Thank you for reading, let me know what you thought!