"𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑠𝑛'𝑡 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑖𝑛 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒, 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝐼 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑎 𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑡𝑒𝑛𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑖𝑜𝑠𝑖𝑡𝑦."
—𝐹. 𝑆𝑐𝑜𝑡𝑡 𝐹𝑖𝑡𝑧𝑔𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑙𝑑, 𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝐺𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑡 𝐺𝑎𝑡𝑠𝑏𝑦

𝒩.

"𝐈 𝐓𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐆𝐇𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔 were going home."

Natalia slowly opened her eyes to watch as Diego, whose skin was still glistening from the shower he had just taken, came down to the landing of his room.

"Oh, I was gonna leave. . ." she mumbled drowsily as she rubbed her eyes, "but then I got really tired . . . and this bed is so comfy . . ."

"All right," Diego chuckled, taking off the towel he had slung onto his shoulder and ruffling his damp hair with it. "I'm not complainin'."

Natalia smiled softly, sitting herself up as she watched him wipe his shoulders with the towel. She most definitely didn't mind waking up to the sight of him with only a muscle tank on, especially fresh out of the shower. "How was training?"

"The usual." Diego shrugged, glancing back at her before grabbing the sweater he had left on his desk and pulling it on over his muscle tank. "Nigel yelled at me for two hours."

She sighed as she leaned back, the coolness of the wall against her bare shoulders sending a shiver down her spine. "God, I love Nigel."

Diego rolled his eyes in amusement as he exchanged his athletic shorts for jeans. "So you planning on stayin' the whole day?"

She quirked an eyebrow. "You want me to leave?"

"No, no," he reassured her quickly with a shake of the head, buttoning his jeans, "just asking, 'cause I'm having a few friends over at two."

"Who?"

Diego shrugged as he walked over towards her and sat on the edge of the bed. "Nigel and a couple more people you haven't met. I've only met one of them once—Mateo's girlfriend—and the other had moved away for a year, so I haven't seen her in some time."

Natalia pursed her lips in thought for a few moments. As much as she loved meeting Diego's friends (like Nigel), she only wanted to do it if he was comfortable with her meeting them. She knew how embarrassing it could be for your significant other to meet your friends—especially if they were the kind to make fun of you in front of your partner (Klaus, for example, was not someone she usually introduced to her past boyfriends).

"Do you want me to stay?"

"Well," he murmured as he leaned towards her and planted a kiss on her lips, "Mateo doesn't believe me when I say I've got the most beautiful girlfriend on the planet, so I'd like for him to admit he's wrong."

Her cheeks flooded with colour, though she raised her eyebrows in amusement. "I thought he had a girlfriend?"

"So?"

She let out a small laugh. "Why would he say that another woman is more beautiful?"

"Because . . . that's the truth?"

She rolled her eyes. "So if you saw someone more beautiful than me, would you say that?"

"No. Because that's impossible," Diego murmured, leaning forward and planting another kiss on her lips. "No one's more beautiful than you."

"Shut up," she giggled, though she found her cheeks growing even warmer. "Well, I'm not that busy today. . . . Two o'clock, you said?"

He nodded in confirmation.

"Okay," she sighed as she ran a hand through her hair. She glanced over to the clock to see that it was half past one. "Thirty minutes. I'll get ready now."

"Why?" he muttered as he crawled closer to her. "You look perfectly fine. More than fine—gorgeous."

"I just took a two-hour nap; my hair's a mess and my makeup probably got ruined," she pointed out with a scoff, though she made no move to counter as he leaned back against the wall and pulled her onto his lap.

Diego ran his fingers through her hair, chuckling softly as his fingers got caught in the knots before gently untangling them.

With a small smile, Natalia wrapped her arms around his neck and slowly straddled his lap. Her eyes flickered over his face as he continued, wincing every so often when his fingers pulled a little too hard. He caught those moments, however, and gave her a light kiss of apology before continuing.

Once he had untangled every knot, he ran his fingers through one last time before tucking the front strands behind her ears. He smiled as he cupped her cheek and leaned forward to place a light kiss on her lips.

"Looks perfectly fine now."

"You're blind, then," she mumbled.

"Oh, trust me, princess," he murmured, his hot breath tickling the tip of her nose, "I can see perfectly fine."

Diego didn't let her rebut as he pulled her into a kiss, and his hands lowered down to her waist. Her arms tightened around his neck as he slipped his tongue inside her mouth, and tingles soon strengthened throughout her entire body.

His hands quickly moved down to her hips, and he let out a small groan against her lips as she shifted forward in her spot on his lap. She giggled as he began to tug at the black, off-the-shoulder top she was wearing.

Natalia pressed her hands against his chest and pulled away before he could untuck her shirt from her jeans, and she shook her head in amusement as he muttered a complaint.

"I have to get ready, honey," she told him firmly while he frowned. "And we should clean your room a little."

"What?" he scoffed exaggeratedly as he looked around at the piles of dishes and clothing. "Looks clean to me."

"Like I said," she said lightly as she pecked his cheek and got up from the bed, "blind."

"Well, then," he scoffed again, "you better help me clean."

"Mhm," she hummed as she headed over to the full-body mirror next to the stairs and began adjusting her clothes. "I'll probably clean double the amount you do."

"Is that a challenge?" he questioned as he slid off the bed and began tugging the blanket over the mattress.

She grinned as she turned to him. "Maybe."

Natalia heard him only chuckle in response as she turned back to the mirror and began to smoothen her hair. Once it was satisfactory, she walked over to his desk and grabbed the small makeup bag that she kept there at all times, and touched up on her makeup.

About ten minutes had passed by the time she had finished, and Diego, who had spent about nine of those minutes watching her and making flirty comments, had managed to fold and put away a whole two shirts.

"Okay," she sighed as she zipped her makeup bag to a close. "Let's clean up."

"What?" scoffed Diego. "I've cleaned this entire place up."

Natalia stared at him for a moment, ignoring his grin as she rolled her eyes in amusement. "You clean up all your dishes, I'll take care of your clothes."

"Yes, ma'am," Diego mumbled, doing a small salute before he set off toward his sink.

Chuckling, Natalia walked up to the dresser and grabbed the couple of shirts and pants that were lying just next to it. She quickly folded them and neatly placed them inside the drawer.

About twenty minutes of cleaning later, Natalia scanned the room and smiled in satisfaction. The room was (mostly) clean. Ready for visitors, at least.

A knock on the door told them that the guests had arrived and Diego kissed her on the cheek before leading her up the stairs.

He opened the door to reveal Nigel, who seemed to still be in his gym clothes (a white tank and black athletic shorts). His usual goofy grin was on his face, and it only widened as he nodded at Natalia.

"Hey, sweetheart," he greeted, "how you been?"

Diego raised his eyebrows, and his smile seemed a little tighter than normal. "Don't call her that."

"Ah," Nigel scoffed playfully as he waved a dismissive hand and winked, "you know it don't mean anything, Diego."

"I've been good," Natalia chuckled while Diego snaked an arm around her waist. "How about you?"

"All right." Nigel shrugged. "Kickin' Diego's ass, as usual."

"Untrue," the mentioned man muttered, though his lips were tugging upward.

"Very true. Anyway, where are the—oh." He paused as three other people came up behind him, and he gave them a nod of greeting as he stepped in. "Hey."

Natalia squinted her eyes at the three faces, though, unsurprisingly, she didn't recognize any of them.

The other man was almost the same height as Nigel and had green eyes that nicely complimented his tan complexion. His dark hair was ruffled, and his forehead was a little beaded with sweat from the warm June weather, as was his thick upper lip.

The woman who he had an arm wrapped around (his girlfriend, Natalia assumed) had curled red hair that cascaded around her narrow shoulders, which wore a white shawl on top of her baby blue dress, and her brown eyes seemed warm as she smiled at Natalia.

The other woman, however, didn't seem to greet Natalia's presence as kindly as her blue eyes flickered over her figure and narrowed. She swept her light brown hair over her shoulder and instead focused her gaze on Diego.

Natalia couldn't help but notice that she hadn't taken to modest dressing like the girlfriend, her tight, black shirt's v-neckline deeper than usual and showing off more than half of her chest.

Her reddened lips spread into a wide smile. "Hey, Diego," she greeted, her unnaturally high-pitched voice immediately unsettling Natalia.

Diego's grip stiffened a little on Natalia's waist, and she glanced over to see his uncomfortable smile. "Hey, guys."

The other man—Mateo, Natalia suspected—flickered his eyes over her, and a small smirk came upon his face as he nodded toward her. "This your girl?"

"Mhm," Diego hummed, his lips stretching into a grin. "Nat, you already know Nigel, obviously" —he glared at Nigel, who winked once more— "but this is Mateo, his girlfriend, Reyna" —he gestured to the red-haired woman— "and this is Amber," he finished as he pointed towards the brown-haired woman.

Natalia smiled at them. "I'm Natalia. Pleasure to meet you guys."

"Come on," Diego said as he turned around and gestured for them to follow as he went towards the stairs.

Natalia felt a tap on her shoulder as she reached the top of the stairs, and she glanced behind her to see that Nigel was grinning at her.

He leaned down towards her as they began descending and whispered, "Whaddya say we skip and get out of here?"

"Maybe next time," she playfully whispered back with a wink, and his grin grew.

"You tease me too much, Talia."

Reaching the landing, Natalia followed Diego towards the sink and leaned against it as she folded her arms, watching the rest of the group settle around the room.

"Did y'all watch my match the other night?" Mateo asked with a grin as he sat on the edge of Diego's desk.

Everyone except for Reyna shook their heads and muttered their 'No', causing him to pout.

"Shame," he mumbled as he waved a dismissive hand. "I kicked ass."

"Yeah?" Amber teased. "Reyna here said that your ass got kicked."

Mateo turned his gaze to Reyna, who was next to him as she leaned against the desk, and he narrowed his eyes at her. "You betrayed me."

Reyna blew him a kiss. "Love you too, baby."

"You guys comin' to see Diego's match tomorrow night?" Nigel questioned, coming around to Diego's other side and slinging an arm around his shoulders.

"Hell yeah." Amber simpered, her eyes roaming Diego's face in a way that made Natalia shift closer to him. "Who wouldn't wanna see the Kraken in action?"

Ignoring the way Amber batted her eyelashes, Natalia turned her gaze to Diego and muttered, "Still don't know how you got that name."

Diego sent her a playful glare. "It's cool."

She gave a small snort. "Okay, Cracker."

"Kraken."

Grinning, Nigel leaned over and nudged Natalia. "You comin', Talia?"

"Wish I could," she sighed as she folded her arms. "I have a conference in Philadelphia in a couple days, so I'm leaving tomorrow afternoon."

Diego turned to her with a baffled expression. "You are?"

Her eyebrows furrowed as she turned to him and nodded. "Yeah."

"You never told me this."

"I did," she insisted with a small chuckle. "This morning. I think you might've been half-asleep, though."

"Yeah," Amber interjected with a giggle, drawing everyone's attention to her. "Diego isn't exactly a morning person."

Natalia forced a chuckle. "Oh, trust me. I know."

"Anyway, Diego's been training a long time for this fight," Nigel told them as he slapped Diego on the back. "He's got a winning streak."

Mateo scoffed. "Yeah, winning streak of, what? Three?"

"What's your streak again?" Diego questioned with raised eyebrows before snapping his fingers and nodding. "Oh, right—non-existent."

"I've just had some bad luck," Mateo mumbled, causing everyone to roll their eyes in amusement.

"Yeah," Reyna snorted, causing him to lightly elbow her, "okay."

Nigel turned back to Diego and began to talk to him about the match, and judging by the low volume of his voice and sudden deep concentration, the conversation was not meant for the rest of them.

Amber abandoned her spot next to the staircase and began to walk towards Natalia, and, seeming to notice the path, Reyna joined her.

"So, uh, how long have you and Diego been together?" Amber asked with a raised brow, hardly responding to the warm smile Natalia offered. "Few days?"

"Oh, no, uh, I think . . ." Natalia trailed off for a moment as she squinted her eyes. She hadn't really been counting. "Seven . . ."

"Seven days?" Amber asked, clearly failing to hide her amused smile. "A week?"

"Months," Natalia finished with a short smile, finding brief satisfaction in how fast Amber's smile had dropped. "Seven months."

"Wow. I've never seen Diego in a relationship longer than a month," interjected Mateo, who seemed to have been listening in. "You must be real special."

Natalia shrugged, though her eyes quickly latched onto the strange expression that had come over Amber's face.

Amber swiftly regained her composure, and her usual simper arrived on her face as she smoothened the back of her hair. "So, in those seven . . . months, did he . . . ever happen to mention me?"

Natalia squinted her eyes as she racked through her brain for the name Amber, though nothing came to mind. "I . . . don't think so. Why?"

"Oh, it's just that we've had some fun . . . adventures." Amber shrugged lightly, her eyes glancing over at Diego, who was just seeming to hear some of their conversation as he slowly turned towards them with furrowed eyebrows. "We've made some unforgettable memories together."

Natalia bit her lower lip, ignoring the strange feeling in her stomach as she tried to keep her normal smile on. "That's great."

Diego cleared his throat, wrapping an arm around Natalia's waist and pulling her closer to him as he asked, "What are you guys talkin' about?"

Amber's gaze fixated on the arm around Natalia before she looked back up at Diego and giggled. "Oh, just some of the fun times we've had together. Like, do you remember that motel in Jersey? The people in the room next to us told us to quiet down, like, three times."

Diego shifted in his spot, and he glanced over at Natalia, who gave him a small smile and shake of the head.

"That barely compares to summer of '17, you remember that?" Amber continued, clearly not seeing the uncomfortable look that had developed on everyone's face. "God, it was amazing."

"Right," Diego muttered, his grip tightening on Natalia's waist. "Let's talk about something—"

"Good times." She sighed dreamily before putting a hand on Diego's shoulder and caressing it slightly. "We should do it again, sometime, hm?"

"Amber," Reyna scoffed, "you realize his girlfriend is right there?"

"Yeah, and?" Amber raised her eyebrows before smiling in Natalia's direction and shrugging. "You don't mind, do you? I'm sure you've had some fun here and there with other guys in the past seven months. I mean, this" —she gestured to the couple— "is nothing serious."

"Really bold assumption for you to make," Natalia replied curtly. "And a wrong one, too."

Amber smirked. "Is it?"

Diego sighed, rubbing his forehead with his free hand as he glanced between the two women. "Amber, I don't know what you're trying to—"

"I'm not trying to do anything, Diego," Amber reassured him with a light laugh that could easily be confused with a flirtatious one. "I'm just reminding you of some of the best nights of your life. I mean" —she gave a coy shrug— "that's what you always told me they were."

"Wow. Look at that spider on the wall," Natalia said loudly as she pointed to the back wall, where there was definitely no spider. "I'll take care of it."

Natalia lifted her hand so that her palm faced the back wall. She kept her eyes on Amber, who was now staring at her with a strange look (as was most of the others), and she shot a blast of energy toward the wall.

"Great," Natalia said as she lowered her hand, finding herself fully satisfied in Amber's widened eyes and slightly agape mouth. "Taken care of."

Everyone except for Diego and Nigel gaped at the burnt hole that now decorated Diego's wall, and they slowly shifted their gaze between that and Natalia's hand.

Diego chuckled lowly, turning his head towards her so that only she could hear as he muttered, "God, I love you."

"Holy fucking shit," Mateo breathed out, his eyes fixed on the hole, where little wisps of magenta were fading. "Am I seeing things? Y'all saw that, too?"

Reyna turned her stare to Natalia. "Do you have . . . ?"

"Powers? Yeah, she does," Nigel confirmed with a grin as he lightly punched Natalia's shoulder. "Sick as hell."

Mateo gulped. "You ever do that to a person?"

"Many," Natalia answered with a shrug. Seeing his widened eyes, she quickly reassured him, "Only when they, like, murder people, though, so you're good."

"Good," Mateo sighed, nodding quickly, though he still eyed her hands warily. "Cool."

"Wait . . . you were one of the Umbrella Academy members, right?" Reyna realized, a grin slowly appearing on her face as she squinted her eyes at Natalia's left wrist, where the top of the tattoo was peeking out from under her sleeve. "You were my favourite; I loved the colour of your . . . power thing."

"Energy," Natalia clarified with a smile. "And, yeah, that's how I met Diego."

"That's so awesome." Mateo grinned. "Do it again."

She laughed, shaking her head. "I don't know if Diego wants me to ruin more of his wall."

"I'd prefer if you don't, thanks," Diego chuckled.

"Hit Diego with it," Nigel encouraged with a mischievous grin, earning a punch on the arm from the man.

"Oh, trust me," Natalia giggled as she turned her head towards him. "I have. Many times."

"She has," Diego confirmed with a sigh. "Hurts like hell when she's mad."

Amber, to Natalia's satisfaction, barely said a word to Diego for the rest of the afternoon and said goodbye to everyone except for Natalia when they left.

Natalia didn't mind.

As soon as the door shut behind the four, Diego sighed and wrapped his arms around Natalia's waist. "I'm sorry, Nat, I didn't think she would—"

"It's fine," Natalia reassured him before planting a kiss on his lips. "I know you're popular with the ladies."

"I wouldn't have invited her," he continued with the same distressed expression, "but she was there when I was inviting Mateo, and—"

"Diego, honey," she chuckled as she pulled him down the stairs, "it's fine."

Diego gazed at her for a moment as they reached the landing. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure!" she insisted.

Diego narrowed his eyes as he stepped closer to her and cupped her cheeks. "You're not jealous or anything?"

"Of course not."

"Well," he murmured, glancing up to the hole, "the smoking hole in my wall tells me otherwise."

"Sorry about that," she mumbled as she settled her hands on his hips. "I'll get it fixed."

"No, leave it." A small smile grew on his face. "Nice reminder that you love me."

"A hole in the wall?" she scoffed. "I could just get you something a lot nicer to remind you of that. A watch. Cologne. A handmade card. Literally anything else."

"No, I like it."

Natalia raised a dubious eyebrow. "You sure?"

Diego pressed his forehead against hers, and he kept his eyes latched on hers as he whispered, "Very sure."

"All right," she chuckled, shaking her head slightly before gently kissing his lips. "Next time you invite an ex-girlfriend over, though, tell me."

"She's not an ex-girlfriend," he muttered.

She raised an eyebrow. "Ex-friend-you'd-sleep-with-every-now-and-then?"

Diego scrunched his nose, tilting his head slightly as he shrugged. "I'd call it friends with benefits."

She chuckled. "Without the benefits part, now, I hope."

He gave a scoff. "After what she just tried to do, I'm gonna say without the friend part as well."

She furrowed her eyebrows, and her voice softened, "You can still be friends with her, you know. I don't mind."

"I don't wanna be," he replied with a shake of the head. "I don't think she wants to be."

Natalia's eyebrows furrowed even further. "Why not? You're still a great person without all the romance stuff."

A playful smile appeared on Diego's face, and he winked. "Oh, you think I'm a great person?"

"No, you're right," she scoffed in amusement, "I think that the person I'm in love with is a horrible monster."

He shrugged. "Well, I've been called worse."

"Yeah?" she questioned with a quirked eyebrow. "What?"

"You don't wanna know." He crinkled his nose as he shook his head. His eyebrows furrowed as she covered a yawn with her hand, and, amusedly, he questioned, "What, you tired?"

She let out a scoff. "No."

"I saw you yawn."

"I didn't," she insisted, raising her hand to cover yet another yawn. "You're blind, remember?"

"You yawned again."

"Okay," she admitted with a small sigh. "I'm a little tired."

He glanced back at the clock. "It's only, what, five?"

Natalia frowned as she rested her forehead on his shoulder, and she wrapped her arms around his waist. "Yeah, but I haven't gotten a lot of sleep lately because of work, and it's been a long day."

He chuckled, slowly rubbing her back for a few moments. "You wanna take another nap, then?"

She turned her head so that she could see him. "Will you nap with me?"

He smiled, pressing a kiss onto her head. "Always."