CHAPTER THREE.

Graham had called Jericho to send one of his overnight bodyguards to come to pick Fern up for the night because he "had business to attend to." Despite enjoying Jericho's presence, Fern was opposed to the idea. She believed she was old enough to be left home alone and didn't appreciate being treated like a child. Graham didn't care and sent her anyway.

Now, Graham was approaching a home that Diego was supposedly at. The home was being broken into and Diego had the intent to stop the robbery. Graham walked into the home to find Diego fighting three men. Not hesitating to try to steal Diego's thunder, Graham joined the fight.

One of the men had stood up after being knocked down by Diego. With Diego's back to him, he tried to attack him. But Graham stepped in and grabbed the back of the man's shirt. The man's hand flew up to his neck as he was being choked by his own shirt. Diego looked over his shoulder to see Graham throwing the guy down onto the ground. He rolled his eyes and let out a scoff before turning back to his own fight.

The fight ended quickly and Diego had turned to the family and spoke, "Your family is safe now." He picked his knife up from the ground as he spoke. He then wasted no time getting in Graham's face, "What the fuck do you think you're doing here?"

Their faces were inches apart as Graham let out a laugh, "Pissing you off." He raised his eyebrows jokingly, "Anyway, you have a habit of fucking things up. Wanted to make sure you didn't get this family killed."

Diego sneered, "I do not fuck things up. I was fine here on my own. I don't need you here getting in my way." Diego began walking out of the room and Graham followed. Diego paused for a moment, placing the back of his hand on Graham's chest as he looked back, "Don't you have a kid you're supposed to be taking care of now? Why not bother her instead of me?"

Graham reached up to pat Diego's hand resting on his chest, "And miss a chance to piss you off? Aw, come on, Diego. You know me better than that." Graham pushed Diego's hand off and pushed past him to keep walking. The two both stopped in the living room where the TV was playing. They watched as the TV mentioned a breaking story. Graham stood slightly in front of Diego but he could still see Diego's mouth sitting agape from the corner of his eyes.

It wasn't long before Graham's mouth fell open too, his eyes widening. His head turned to the side to get a better look at Diego. Reginald Hargreeves was dead. Diego's eyes stayed on the television and Graham couldn't bring himself to say anything. He wasn't sure what to say, truthfully. Graham, finally, went to reach a hand out to place on Diego's shoulder, but Diego pushed past him and made his way out the backdoor of the home.

Graham followed behind quickly, "Hey, hey." He grabbed Diego's shoulder and pulled him back. He jogged around to stand in front of Diego, who was avoiding eye contact. Graham sighed, "Are you--" Graham cut himself off, figuring that wasn't the right question to ask, "Do you wanna talk about it?" His grip on Diego's shoulder had tightened slightly to make sure Diego couldn't just walk off.

Diego's eyes stayed trained on a tree in the distance, "No." His jaw was clenched and though, he tried to hide it, Graham could tell he was trying not to cry.

Graham removed his hand from Diego's shoulder, "Wanna get some food? Fighting robbers and shit takes a lot of energy. And you fought them more than I did so I'd say you have less energy than I do right now." Graham paused before continuing, "Granted you only fought them more than I did because you got there first."

Diego let out a sound somewhere between a scoff and a laugh as he finally looked at Graham, "Please, even if we got there at the same time, I still would have kicked more ass than you."

Graham crossed his arms over his chest, "Bullshit." The sound of police sirens caught their attention and Graham smacked Diego's shoulder, "We better get out of here. Meet you at Waffle House?" Diego nodded his head. The two parted ways, running off in the direction of wherever they had parked their vehicles. Although Graham didn't specify which Waffle House they would meet at, Diego figured he probably would be heading to the one closest to his apartment.

࿏

Diego walked into the Waffle House and found Graham already at a booth ordering. He made his way to the table and sat across from him. Graham nodded to Diego as he finished his order.

The waitress looked to Diego, "You need a minute?"

"Yeah, please," he smiled at the woman, "Can I go ahead and get a coffee though?"

She smiled back, "Of course," she looked back at Graham, "You want me to wait until he orders to put the order in so you can get your food together?"

Graham scrunched his nose up, "Nah, go ahead and put mine in. I'm hungry as hell, honestly." The woman nodded and left. Diego grabbed Graham's menu away and began looking at it. Graham placed his hands on the table, "I know, you said you don't wanna talk about it, but if you change your mind, you can call."

Diego didn't look up from the menu as he teased Graham, "Thought my number was blocked?"

Graham followed along on the joke, "I'm willing to temporarily unblock it."

Diego sat the menu down and tapped his hands against the table, "Can I ask you something?"

"You can ask, but can't promise you'll get an answer."

Diego rolled his eyes, "A couple of days ago, you said you never sleep. What did you mean by that? Like how come you don't sleep?" Graham groaned. Of course, Diego would deflect talking about his father's death to mention something Graham didn't want to talk about.

Graham shrugged, "It's none of your business, man."

"Oh, come on. Don't be such a douche. It's just a question."

Graham leaned back in his seat, "A question that doesn't involve you."

Diego leaned forward, "Dude, come on."

"Fuck off."

"Just tell me."

"No."

Diego rolled his eyes, "It can't be that serious, man. You just don't wanna tell me because you know it's annoying me. Just tell me! Come on," Graham shook his head and Diego continued, "Tell me, tell me, tell me--" The waitress came over causing Diego to pause.

"One coffee for you," she placed the mug in front of Diego. She set the other down in front of Graham, "And one hot chocolate for you. Are you ready to order yet?" The question was directed towards Diego, who nodded. He quickly told the woman his order and thanked her before turning back to Graham.

Graham took a drink from his mug and smiled, "Good hot chocolate."

"Hot chocolate? Seriously?" Diego laughed, "What are you? Twelve?"

"Maybe I am," Graham shrugged before taking another drink. He held the cup close to his lips and looked down at the table, "I have nightmares."

Diego, who was about to take a drink of his coffee, set the cup down, "Like every night?"

Graham let out a bitter laugh, "No shit. That's where the whole 'I never sleep' thing comes from."

Diego tipped his head to the side in agreement, "Have you talked to like a doctor or something about it?"

Graham scowled in response, "Fuck no. Why would I do that?"

Diego pulled a face back and spoke mockingly, "I don't know. Maybe to try to get help to make them stop?" He grabbed his coffee once again and took a quick drink from it before sitting the cup back down.

Graham still held his mug to his lips and shook his head lightly, "There ain't shit a doctor can do to get rid of these nightmares." There was a quiet sigh that fell from Graham's lips that Diego didn't pick up on. He also didn't pick up on what Graham meant by his comment.

"How do you know if you've never talked to one about it?"

Graham took a long sip from his cup before responding, "Just fuckin' do."

The two paused once again as the waitress came back with Graham's food, "Alright. I've got four chocolate chip waffles here." She looked to Diego after sitting the plate down, "And your Cheeseburger will be out any minute. Can I get you two anything else?"

Graham was in the middle of spreading butter on his waffles when he spoke, "Can I get another hot chocolate?"

"Of course. And anything for you?"

Diego held his coffee cup up, "I'm good for now. Thank you." The woman smiled at the two before walking away. Diego laughed, shaking his head at Graham, "Hot chocolate and chocolate chip waffles? You really are a fucking child."

Graham grabbed the syrup, practically drowning the waffles with a grin on his face, "Seems so, I guess." He sat the syrup down and pointed a finger at Diego, "Guess you're like an old ass man or something because who the fuck goes to Waffle House and gets a fucking burger?"

Diego shrugged, "Was I supposed to order chocolate chip waffles also?"

"Better than a burger," he shrugged before shoving a piece of a waffle into his mouth.

Diego threw his hands up lightly, "You know, you didn't say anything when I actually ordered it."

Graham spoke, a mouth full of waffles, "Well, I was contemplating being nice and letting it slide. Then," he pointed his fork at Diego, "You decided to insult my waffles."

Diego laughed and clasped his hands together on the table, "How long have you been having nightmares for?"

Graham took another bite of his waffles and spoke, "Long as I can remember." But Graham knew exactly how long. They began right after Melody "died." Even after they had found out she was still alive, they continued. Every night. For eleven years.

Diego took a drink from his coffee and held it in his hands on the table, "What are they about?" Graham shrugged and looked down at his plate. He continued eating his waffles, avoiding the question. The waitress walked by and sat Graham's new hot chocolate down on the table and took the other mug. He smiled at the woman and muttered a thank you before locking his eyes back onto his waffles. Diego let go of the mug and leaned back in the booth, "Bull. Come on. You've had these nightmares for 'as long as you can remember'," he put air-quotes around the words, "and you're telling me you don't know what they're about."

"I'm forgetful," Graham muttered as he cut another piece of his waffle out. He held the fork up in Diego's direction again, still not looking up, "Let's talk about something else. For example, Fern's first day of school is tomorrow."

Diego pulled a face, "No offense, Graham, but I don't really care about high school."

Graham looked up with a mischievous look on his face, "Ah, but you care about my nightmares? Diego, are you trying to tell me you care about me?"

Diego laughed, "Yeah, in your dreams."

Graham finished chewing his waffle before stating, "Nightmares, actually."

"What are they about, Graham?"

Graham jested, "You caring about me, apparently."

"I'm being serious."

Graham paused to take a drink of his hot chocolate, "Hi, Serious. I'm Graham."

Diego made a disgusted face, "God, you have a kid in your house for like four days and you're already telling dad jokes." The waitress approached the table once again. This time with Diego's food.

"Alright, and here's your cheeseburger. If you guys need anything else, let me know."

Graham hummed and held a hand out to stop the waitress, "Can you go ahead and put me in another order of four chocolate chip waffles?"

"For here?"

Graham nodded, "Yes, ma'am."

"Sure thing," She wrote it down on her notepad as she walked away. Graham turned to see Diego looking at him, eyebrows scrunched.

"Four more waffles? The first four big ass chocolate chip waffles weren't enough for you?"

Graham held his cup up, "I'm a growing boy, Diego. What can I say?"

There was a silence between the two after that. Diego ate his burger in silence and Graham watched him with a teasingly disgusted face as he waited on his new order of waffles. Diego flipped Graham off whenever he noticed his stare--though, it didn't stop Graham from continuing the stare. After finishing his burger, he glanced at Graham who was throwing down his waffles as if his life depended on it.

Diego pulled his phone out, "I should probably head out. Guess we're all gonna meet up at dad's and have a ceremony or something."

Graham looked up from his waffles, "Good luck. And I know I didn't say it earlier, but I'm sorry for your loss, Diego." Diego pulled his wallet out and Graham stopped him, "Normally, I'd make you pay for your own food but I'll let it slide this time. I didn't do too much comfort for your loss so hopefully, me handling the bill can make up for that."

Diego put his wallet up, "Well, I'm definitely not passing up a free meal, but don't worry about it, Graham. I didn't wanna talk about it and you didn't force me. This meal and not talking about it was sort of comforting and I appreciate it."

Graham spoke with yet another mouth full of waffles, "Yeah, don't get used to it. I'll probably never be this nice again."

Diego chuckled as he stood up, "Trust me, I believe that."

࿏

It was the next day and Graham hadn't heard much from Diego. Not that he was complaining. He quite preferred it that way. Though there was a part of him that knew losing someone so close hurts and so, an even smaller part of him was hoping Diego was alright.

Graham was sitting outside of Jericho's office, waiting for his meeting to end. His phone began ringing loudly causing him to pull it from his pocket quickly. He expected Fern's name to be on the screen--it was the only reason he had begun keeping his ringer on. Instead, Diego's name was on the screen and he couldn't help but roll his eyes.

He ran a hand down his face before answering the phone, "You've reached Graham's voicemail. If this is Diego, fuck off to hell and back. Anyone else, also fuck off."

He heard Diego chuckle, "Hilarious."

Graham grinned, "Thanks. What do you want?"

"My brother thinks something happened to our father."

Graham shook his head, "Diego, I don't mean to sound insensitive but he died, so something did happen to him? Obviously?"

Diego let out an annoyed sigh, "I mean, he thinks someone was with him when he died. He thinks someone killed him."

"Oh," Graham nodded, "That makes more sense. Why does he think that? And what do you think?" He could Diego shuffling around on the other side of the phone.

"He was missing his monocle. He thinks someone took it," he paused for a moment and then continued, "I think he was just old."

Graham leaned back in his chair and placed his free hand over his chest, "I mean, the news said he had a heart attack, right? Maybe the monocle just fell under a table or some shit when he, uh, ya know? Have you guys looked for it?"

"I have absolutely no clue if Luther's looked for it but he sounds one hundred percent sure that someone stole it. I think he's just looking too far into it, honestly."

"That's the one that's been on the moon, right?"

Diego hummed, "Yeah."

Graham suggested, "Personally if I had been stranded on the moon by myself for years, I would become extremely paranoid. Maybe that's what happened? He's looking too far into it because of paranoia?"

"Or he's just an idiot."

Graham droned, "Maybe he gets it from his brother."

Diego scoffed, pulling a disgusted face, "Oh, fuck off. I am nothing like Luther."

"Well, I think you're an idiot and you think that Luther is an idiot. Seems pretty alike to me," Graham bantered. The two fell silent. Neither was sure how to continue the conversation. Graham bit the inside of his cheek before speaking, "So, how are you handling things?"

Before Diego could answer--though, he had no intent to--he heard his name being hollered. Diego pulled the phone away, covering the speaker. Graham could hear Diego having a muffled conversation with someone. It only lasted about a minute before the conversation ended and Diego placed the phone back to his ear.

"I gotta go. I'll call back later," he spoke in a rushed and somewhat annoyed tone.

"Please don't," Graham quipped back before Diego hung up. He heard a small playful scoff from the other side of the phone just before the call ended. He sat the phone down on his thigh and reached a hand up to run a hand through his hair. Behind him, Jericho's office door swung open. He turned his head and watched as some nameless man walked out. They made brief eye contact and nodded at one another as the man made his way towards the elevator.

Jericho stood at the door's entrance and waved Graham in, "You coming in?" Graham grabbed his phone and stood from his chair.

Graham nodded, "Where else would I go?" The two walked back into the office. Graham made his way to the couch and Jericho back to his desk. Jericho sat down in his chair with a loud sigh.

He spun around in the chair, "I don't really feel like doing anything." He stopped spinning and tapped his fingers on his desk, "When's Fern gonna be back from school? No offense, Graham but she's more fun than you are."

Graham laid his head back against the couch, "No clue." And just as soon as the words left Graham's mouth, the door swung open and there stood Fern.

With an obnoxious grin, she held her arm out, "Grabbed some burgers on my way back. Anyone hungry?" Both Graham and Jericho nodded. She opened the bag and tossed a burger to Graham and then made her way over to Jericho's desk. She pulled the chair in front of the desk out and sat down. She pulled two more burgers out and handed one over to Jericho. Three began eating in silence. Hearing Graham grimace, Jericho placed his burger down.

He held a hand over his mouth as he finished chewing, "Music?" Graham looked up from his burger and nodded but said nothing. Fern looked over her shoulder to Graham, placing her burger down.

"What's your issue with silence?"

Graham looked up from his burger once again, "What makes you think I have an issue with it?" The words were sarcastic. Everyone and their mother could tell that he had issues with silence. Fern raised an eyebrow and said nothing. Graham shrugged, "Foster home was adamant on silence. Grew to hate it very quickly." There was no way she had experienced the same level of Fauna's aggressive insistence on silence.

࿏

It wasn't until hours later that Graham heard from Diego again. Graham had taken Jericho home to his nightly bodyguards and Fern was sitting in Graham's bedroom doing homework. He could hear Fern on the phone with Jericho, getting help on her science homework. Graham had been in the spare room in his apartment. He was planning on cleaning it out and getting it fixed up for Fern so that he could have his room back. He wasn't sure how long Fern would be staying with him but he figured it'd be best if she were comfortable while she was there.

The feeling of his phone vibrating from his pocket pulled him away from the box he was looking through. Once again, there was Diego's name. He hesitated on answering. He wanted to get through as many of these boxes as he could as quickly as possible. Fern would be at school tomorrow and he wanted to have the room done by the time she got back.

Finally, right before the call finished, he answered, "Better be good. Kinda busy right now."

"I was gonna call sooner but Klaus got in my car and needed a ride," Diego explained. His voice was strained and he spoke slowly like he had something to say but didn't want to.

Graham pushed the box he was looking through off his lap, "And I was meant to be graced by your call sooner because?" Diego didn't answer. Graham groaned, "Diego, I can't read your mind. And I don't know if you heard me or not but I was busy."

"Busy," he repeated. Diego nodded to himself, "I'll let you go."

He was about to end the call before Graham stopped him, "Diego, if you hang up this phone without telling me why you called and overall, wasting my time with this call, I will kill you. I not only know where you live, but I know where your fathers house is."

Diego let out a sigh, "I found the monocle."

"Well, that's good, right? Means your brother was wrong, right?"

"Luther was accusing me and the others of killing dad," Diego explained. Graham wasn't sure how to respond to that but luckily, Diego wasn't finished talking. "I found the monocle on my mom."

"Shit, robo-mommy had it?"

Diego scrunched his nose up, "Please, never call my mom that again. Really makes me regret ever telling you she was a robot."

Graham continued to poke fun at Diego, "Oh, come on. I meant it nicely! Shit, having a robot mom sounds awesome. Would have been way better than the one I had."

"You know, I think that's the first time you've ever mentioned anything, besides your siblings, about your family to me," Diego commented. "Your mom wasn't nice or something?"

"The first and last time it'll ever be mentioned too. You called because rob- your mom had the monocle. Why is that a big deal? I mean, maybe she was cleaning and found it under a table. Then she just held onto it or something?"

"I don't know, really. But Luther is fully convinced that someone killed him," Diego stated, "I threw the monocle in a lake so he couldn't accuse mom if he found it on her."

"Do you think she killed him?"

"I don't think anyone killed him. I do just really hope she just found it, though."

"If you don't think that Reginald was killed, then that has to be it."

Diego exhaled, "Alright, that's it. I just needed to get that out. I gotta go. Got a case to work on."

"Well, don't you worry. I'll be there soon to save your ass."

"Not a 'hero'," Diego did air-quotes around the word, despite Graham not being able to see, "situation. Just going to a scene to ask questions."

"You're lucky I hate crime scenes or I'd come best you at asking questions."

"I don't think it's possible to be the best at asking questions."

"Wanna bet?"

Diego shook his head, chuckling, "Goodbye." The call ended before Graham could say anything else. He tossed the phone down next to him and pulled his abandoned box back into his lap and continued on with his work. Most of the stuff in the room was old junk he was too lazy to get rid of or his weapons and armor-type stuff for when he used to do far more dangerous jobs. There was a lot there that he hadn't used in awhile that he would more than likely get rid of.

word count. 3998!
This chapter is shorter compared to the others but there wasn't too much Diego content I could use from the first episode just because I didn't want Graham at their fathers house with him for the ceremony and whatnot because it wouldn't make sense for Graham to be there since they are not close like that ya know?? But I figured I'd add stuff like Diego called Graham to like talk about what Luther was talking about and suggesting and all that just so it's kinda like Diego just wanted someone to be able to verbalize things to if that makes sense?

posted. january 12, 2021
hexgiris