CHAPTER FOUR.

Graham was laying down on the couch in Jericho's office when his phone rang. The number was unknown and he contemplated ignoring the call. Besides the ringing and some light keyboard clicks, the room was silent. Fern was at school and Jericho was hard at work doing his thing. Answering the call seemed to be the only thing to add any sort of spice into Graham's life. Nothing else was going on and he was falling bored at a quick rate.

He sat up and pulled the phone to his ear, "Hello?"

The voice on the other end laughed, "Hey, hey, Graham. My old pal."

Graham groaned, "What in the fuck do you want Diego?"

"A ride home from the police station?"

"Damn, you head home for your dad's ceremony and like a day later you're sitting in jail. Wild ceremony?"

Diego let out an annoyed sigh, "No, I was checking out a crime scene and Eudora arrested me. Don't have my car... So?"

"Dude, I'm at work."

"So bring Jericho with you!"

Graham looked over his shoulder to Jericho, "Wanna go pick Diego up from jail with me?"

Jericho looked up and nodded, "Sure."

Graham winced as he turned back around, "Damn, sorry. Jericho said no."

"I heard him say yes, Graham."

"Oh, this is so sad, Diego. Guess you have to walk," Graham fake whined as he hung up the phone. He gazed back over his shoulder, "Come on. Let's go get that fucking dipshit."

"Thought you said no?" Jericho stood from his desk.

"Was just to piss him off like always," Graham laughed as he made his way over to the coat rack in the office and grabbed his jacket. He grabbed the other jacket and tossed it to Jericho. The two made their way out of the office and down to Graham's car. The drive to the station was short and filled with Graham's loud music. They pulled up to Diego sitting outside.

He opened the car's backseat and got in, "Thought you weren't coming?"

"Eh, I was hoping you'd be beaten up or something so I could make fun of you," Graham stated. He was about to turn and say something else when Diego interrupted.

"I'm buckling up, don't fuckin' worry," Diego waved a hand at Graham as he buckled with the other. "Mind dropping me at home?"

Graham pulled back out of the station, "Ah, man. I was planning on just dropping you off in the middle of the road somewhere."

"Funny," Diego muttered. He looked out the window of the car as Graham left the station.

Jericho turned his head to look back at Diego, "So what did you get arrested for?"

Diego looked back to Jericho, "There were some murders at a diner. Went to check it out and Eudora caught me. Arrested me. Stupid stuff, really." Diego nodded with a light chuckle.

"Well, I guess that's what you get for trespassing on a crime scene and pretending to be an officer," Jericho let out an obnoxious laugh turning to face the front again. Graham chuckled quietly next to him.

Diego scoffed, an offended look on his face, "I never said I was pretending to be an officer."

Jericho scoffed back, mockingly, "I've known you long enough to know that you were absolutely pretending to be an officer. You've done it before, hero." Diego rolled his eyes at Jericho's 'hero' comment. Jericho did this all the time--calling him hero as a joke. He knew how important helping people was to Diego and always found it funny that somehow, he still stayed friends with him and Graham knowing good and well that the work they did was very much not legal.

Diego sighed, changing the subject, "What have you been hacking into lately?"

Jericho shrugged, "Same shit, really. Except, I will say that I got a hefty deal from some stay-at-home wife who wants the deets on her husband's whereabouts when he goes on business trips."

Diego laughed, "Shit, that seems like some P.I type stuff." Diego nodded his head towards Graham, "That's what you used to do, right?"

Graham kept his eyes trained on the road, 'Yeah. Used to. Hated it."

Diego leaned forward so that he was positioned between the two front seats, "So, why are you doing private investigator stuff now? What your crime lords not coming to you anymore or something?"

Jericho turned to Diego causing the two to be face-to-face, "You don't know how to listen or something?"

Graham chimed in before Diego got the chance, "Nah, he don't. He's a fuckin' idiot."

Diego reached a hand forward to smack the side of Graham's head, "Fuck off." Graham took a hand off the wheel to smack Diego back. Diego flipped Graham off before turning his attention to Jericho, "Continue." He kept his eyes on Jericho as he unbuckled his seatbelt to move to the middle seat.

Graham's eyes shot back to Diego, "I heard that."

Diego waved him off, "I'm moving to the middle. Chill out, I'm buckling back up now." He maintained eye contact with Graham as he buckled his seatbelt. He held his hands up afterward, "See? No reason to get your panties in a bunch. Now if you don't mind," he motioned towards Jericho, "I'm trying to have a conversation."

Jericho laughed at the two before speaking, "As I said, I was offered a hefty deal. Probably the husband's money since she's a stay-at-home, but moneys money. Said she had tried P.I's and they didn't work or something. Again, I don't really listen much to backstories. When I get back to the office that's what I gotta look into. And my crime lords are still very much coming to me. That's just the only different job I have right now."

Diego brought his arms up to the sides of the seats and nodded, "Makes sense, I guess." He tapped Jericho's shoulder, "And let me know how that wife stuff goes. Something tells me that a wife that's that suspect of her husband has a good reason to be and I'd like to know how that ends."

Graham drummed his hands on the steering wheel as they stopped at a red light, "She'll probably fuckin' kill him." The light changed not soon after and Graham continued driving. The three fell silent until Jericho's phone began chiming like crazy. Graham looked over to him, "Everything good?"

Jericho shrugged as he answered the call that began coming through. A woman's angry voice rang through the phone. Jericho seemed to be trying to calm the woman down. No sooner than the call started, it ended.

Jericho sighed, "Think you can make a pit stop and drop me off back at the office? The woman I was literally just telling you guys about wants the information now, apparently. Guess he called and said he forgot to call and let her know that he had a business trip he was meant to go on and that he had already left for it. Gotta look into it."

Graham looked through the rearview mirror to Diego, "That good with you?"

Diego nodded at Graham, "Yeah, I'm in no rush."

Graham pointed a finger to Jericho, his eyes on the road, "I'm still gonna have to take Diego home, so who's gonna watch you while you're working?" His eyes dropped down to the car's clock, "And I gotta go pick that stuff up I got for Fern in a little bit."

Jericho's face bore a playful scowl, "Who's gonna watch me while you're working? What like you're my fucking babysitter?"

"Glorified babysitter is my official title, I believe," Graham joked. Diego let out a snicker but stopped when Jericho glared at him.

Jericho shook his head, "I'll have the normal guys there. I should be fine, honestly. Is Fern gonna get herself to my office when she gets out of school or are you picking her up?"

"I got one of your other guys picking her up to bring her to your office today. Unless you want me to have 'em to take her back to my place?" Graham asked.

"No, it's cool. I like having her at the office. She makes conversation with me," he side-eyed Graham, "Unlike someone."

"Only so much to converse over when you do the same hack jobs over and over for basically the same people, Jericho."

Jericho crossed his arms, "Well, you could tell me about the other jobs you do or something. Your life is much more interesting than mine. I wouldn't mind to hear about the people you beat the shit out of." The car came to a halt as they pulled up outside of Jericho's office. Both Graham and Diego looked to Jericho, confused but amused looks on their faces.

"You sounded so much like an angry wife there, honestly, Jericho."

Jericho grimaced, "Oh, fuck off. I'm leaving. Have fun with Diego and getting whatever it is you're getting for Fern." Jericho flipped Graham off before getting out of the car and running inside the building. He didn't bother waiting on a goodbye from either of the boys in the car.

"I'm gonna hop upfront, so hold up before you pull off," Diego muttered as he unbuckled and scooted towards the door. He didn't give Graham a chance to argue as he jumped out of the car and made his way into the front. He shut the car door and pulled his seatbelt on. "Ready," Diego stated.

Graham put the car into drive and pulled out back into traffic, "So what was so important about that crime scene that you had to check out anyways?"

"Nothing really, I don't think. The whole scene was a mess and didn't make any sense, truthfully," Diego explained. He clasped his hands together, "Thanks for coming and getting me by the way. I appreciate it." Graham nodded before reaching to turn the radio up a little more.

"How're things with the whole murderous robo-mommy sitch?"

Diego sent Graham an annoyed look, "Seriously? What did I say about 'robo-mommy?'"

Graham shrugged, "Habit." There wasn't much said after that. Graham was curious about the dad situation but wasn't sure what to ask. So he just didn't ask anything. Aside from the music and occasional bickering over song choice, the two sat in a mostly awkward silence. But it wasn't long before they pulled into Diego's place. Graham looked through the passenger side window as the car stopped, "You know, not that I wanna live near you or something but my apartment building and I'm sure many others have apartments for rent or for sale. You could absolutely find a better place than a room in the back of this boxing thing. Hell, you could probably convince Jericho to buy you a fuckin' mansion or something."

Diego laughed, "I'm sure I could. But I don't mind it. I mean, I'm out a lot so it's not like I'm really ever 'home,'" he put air quotes around the word, "so I don't really need anything else."

"To each their own, I guess."

Diego nodded towards the building, "You wanna come in and hang out or something before you gotta go pick Fern's stuff up or something?" He unbuckled his seatbelt and put his hand on the door handle.

Graham's face scrunched up, "Hang out? We're not friends, Diego."

Diego opened the car door, "You coming in or not?"

Graham sighed, turning the car off, "Fuck it. I got time and don't have anything better to do." He unbuckled the seatbelt and got out of the car before following behind Diego. The two walked in and Graham watched as people said their hellos to Diego and he responded. Graham had been here with Jericho a time or two before to see Diego. However, this was the first time he was here willingly, and by himself, with Diego. The two made their way back to where Diego stayed.

Diego looked over his shoulder, making sure that Graham was still there. Graham flipped Diego off causing Diego to roll his eyes and look forward again. Graham watched as Diego slowed down in front of his door with the boiler room tag on it.

"Everything cool?"

Diego pulled one of his knives out and opened the door a crack. Graham watched, confused. He held the knife up and tossed it into the room.

From inside the room, Graham heard: "Ow! What the--" Diego pushed the door open and entered the room with Graham following. Graham shut the door behind him.

Diego walked into the room, "I could smell it was you." Graham stood by the closed door, unsure of who this was. Diego looked over his shoulder to Graham. Realizing Graham's confusion, he spoke, "Graham, meet my behemoth brother, Luther." He looked to Luther and held a hand out in Graham's direction, "Luther, meet the worst person to ever exist, Graham." The two nodded at one another before Luther turned his attention back to his brother.

His voice laced with annoyance, "What the hell?" He pulled the knife from the dresser it was lodged in, "You could have killed me." Graham leaned himself back against the wall, still not entering that far into the room.

Diego commented, "If I wanted you dead, you'd be dead." Graham mentally agreed with the statement. There wasn't a lot Graham would give Diego credit for, and even less he would verbally give him credit for, but Graham couldn't deny that Diego knew what he was doing. And if he wanted someone dead, they would be dead--like he said. Luther stood from the chair and Diego made his way further into the room and grabbed his knife back from Luther. Luther handed it back hesitantly.

"It's a nice place," Luther said. Graham could tell from his tone that it was sarcastic. Diego turned his back to his brother, taking his harness with knives off and hanging it up.

He spared a glance over his shoulder to Luther with a grin, "I like it." Graham finally took notice of the papers in Luther's hands.

Luther looked at his brother's back, "So why didn't you tell me?"

Diego turned after handing the harness up, "Tell you what?"

Luther held the papers in his hand up, "That you were fighting the night that dad died. I checked with the guys out there." Diego opened the small fridge in the corner of the room and pulled a water bottle out, offering it to Graham. Graham nodded and Diego tossed it to him. Diego grabbed an egg from the fridge for himself.

Diego looked back to Luther as he closed the mini-fridge in the room, "Yeah well, I shouldn't have to prove my innocence to you." He cracked the egg on the side of the sick, "Or anyone else in this family." He held the cracked egg above his mouth and ate it before tossing the shell in the sink.

Luther fiddled with the paper in his hands, "Yeah, you're right. But, I just thought that--"

"Yeah. I know what you thought," Diego spoke as he approached his brother. He stopped walking, "Now, you have a nice day, brother." Luther looked down at the paper before setting it down.

"Alright," he said before walking towards the exit. Graham pushed himself off the wall to move to give the rather large man room to leave. He watched as Diego watched his brother leave. The door shut and Graham finally made his way down into the room. He took a drink from the water bottle before setting it down on a table.

He let out a breath, "Shit, that was awkward." He let out a chuckle as Diego turned around slowly to face him. "So, that's one less suspect in your brother's suspect pool it seems, huh?"

Diego raised his eyebrows, "Seems so."

Graham grabbed the paper that Luther had been holding and looked over it, "So did you win the fight?" He waved the paper around in front of Diego, who pulled the paper away.

"Yeah," he nodded before folding it and putting it back on the desk.

Graham shrugged and made his way to the chair that Luther had sat in before sitting down, "Bedroom stuff. That's why I was busy last night. I was cleaning out the second bedroom in my apartment. Full of storage and shit. Figured that way she could have her own room and I could get mine back."

Diego sat down on his bed, "You know, I'll be honest that whole situation with Fern living with you and stuff makes absolutely no sense to me. I mean, I get her parents dying and stuff, but you just don't seem much like a kid person, I'm surprised you took her in. And I also know we're not close but I'm surprised you didn't mention anything about it before. Losing a sibling, becoming a parental figure kid. Seems like something that someone would talk about."

Graham sighed, "Doesn't make sense to me either." He looked down, his elbows resting on his eyes, "It's a complicated situation with a complicated past that I don't really wanna talk about." Graham still felt guilty for lying to Diego about losing a sibling and whatnot but he couldn't bring himself to tell the truth. He still couldn't even tell Jericho the truth, how could he possibly tell Diego?

"I know I said it before but if you wanna talk about your lost sibling, you can talk to me," Diego nodded, genuine care on his face.

Graham forced a smile, "Yeah, thanks." He shook his head and leaned back in the seat, "We, uh, weren't super close and hadn't spoken in years so you know, doesn't hurt too bad, I guess." He let out an awkward laugh before continuing, "Harder for Fern I'm sure since she lost her parents."

Diego made a face of understanding, "Yeah, I'm sure. So, if you don't mind me asking," he held his hands up in a defense-type way, "Was it your brother or sister?" Graham paused, fear passing on his face for a moment. He didn't want to have to further lie to Diego. He knew he could just say he didn't wanna talk about it, but it felt like a simple question. A silly question not to answer, really. But the thing was Graham had, technically, lost a sibling once before. If he based his answer on that, it wouldn't be lying then, would it? Well, that was what Graham was gonna say to convince himself that anything he said next would be fine and not lying. Definitely not lying.

"Sister."

"What was her name?"

Graham bit the inside of his cheek before speaking, "Melody. We were close when we were young but after some shit that happened," he paused, remembering everything that had happened between the two. He shook his head and looked up to Diego, "It- it was a fight. Real bad. Caused us to grow apart. Once we were old enough to get away from one another, I left. We didn't speak again after that."

There was a sad look on Diego's face, "You guys never made up?"

Graham shook his head, "Um, no. We never got the chance."

"That sucks. I'm sorry," Diego explained, "I'd say there was probably a lot you wanted to say to her that you never got to say." Graham laughed in his head. Melody was still alive and yet that statement rang true. Even to this day, there was so much Graham wanted to say to Melody that he couldn't bring himself to say. Because he knew that she still just wouldn't fully understand what that day did to him. How that day made him feel. Graham could feel his chest tightening and he knew if they kept talking about this, he would surely cry. And he would not cry in front of people especially not when that person is Diego Hargreeves.

He took a deep breath and shook his head out, "Anyway." He let out a laugh, "What are your plans with your brother and his mission on finding out who maybe killed your dad?"

"No clue. Hopefully, he'll just come to the conclusion that it was an accident. Because it was. And then just drop it," Diego voiced. "I don't really know what else to do."

Graham looked down at his watch, "I, uh, have to be at the store to pick up my order in like ten minutes, so I'm probably gonna head out. If you need anything else, I guess you can call me? Unless it's to pick you up from jail again, then all I can say is walk. I'm not a chauffeur to pick you up every time you get arrested." He stood from the chair.

"Wow, offering to let me call you? Graham, I'm starting to think we might actually be friends despite what you say," Diego teased.

Graham grabbed the water bottle he had sat down off the table and threw it at Diego, "You fucking wish."

word count. 3441
Hello, this is another short chapter!! It's been like a month n some since ai've updated and kinda just had to force myself to finally write something because I have been so unproductive recently and I absolutely fucking it. I will say I have been working on some planning for a season three Steve Harrington fic but there really isn't all that much there for that yet either. I've just been in a slump recently and have had no motivation to really do anything, honestly. But I am doing my best to get back into things!!

posted. february 24, 2021
hexgiris