"𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑎𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑓𝑢𝑙 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑛𝑛𝑜𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑠𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑛 𝑡𝑜𝑢𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑑. 𝑇ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑚𝑢𝑠𝑡 𝑏𝑒 𝑓𝑒𝑙𝑡 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 ℎ𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑡."
—𝐻𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑛 𝐾𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑒𝑟

𝒩.

"𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐈 say? I'm the best of the best at fighting!"

"Klaus," Natalia laughed as she and the boy entered the training room, making sure to flick the lights on and shut the door behind them. "I don't think you've ever won a sparring match against me. Besides, we're not even doing that today."

Klaus squinted his eyes as he walked over to the middle of the room, clasping his hands behind his back and rocking back and forth on his toes. "Remind me again what we are doing?"

"We're just practicing our kicks and stuff," she informed him as she grabbed two hand-held targets from a table in the back of the room.

"Right." He nodded before a grin appeared on his face, and he corrected, "I'm the best of the best at that!"

Natalia laughed as she met him in the middle of the room. "You fall, like, fifty percent of the time."

"But what about that other fifty percent?" he rebutted, running a hand through his hair. "I'm beauty, I'm grace, my foot is in your face!"

"Oh, that's a good one," she quipped as she raised her eyebrows in amusement, "did you come up with it just now?"

Klaus shifted his weight from one foot to the other, a sheepish look now on his face. ". . . Yeah."

"Come on," she pressed with a small grin, "tell me, how long did it take?"

"Like . . ." He looked up, squinting his eyes as he stared at the ceiling. "Two hours."

She let out a scoff. "Wow."

"Hey, what else am I supposed to do during chemistry class?"

"I don't know . . ." Natalia trailed off for a couple of moments before raising her eyebrows. "Maybe listen?"

He waved a dismissive hand through the air. "Listening is for losers."

A look of feigned offence came onto her face as she placed a hand on her heart and dramatically gasped. "Are you calling me a loser?"

Klaus shrugged, and, with no hesitation, agreed, "Yeah."

"All right, let's start, dummy," she giggled, slapping him on the shoulder with the target. "You wanna kick first or do you want me to?"

"You're already holding the targets, so I'll start," he told her as he parted his legs into a ready stance and bounced on his toes, his fists now held up to block his face.

Natalia nodded, and she rolled her shoulders back before holding the targets out for Klaus to kick.

"So," he began as he started to roundhouse kick the targets, alternating his legs after every kick, "you and Diego, huh?"

"Why do you and Ben keep doing this?" she groaned, adjusting her grip on the targets. "Don't you have anything better to talk about?"

Klaus shrugged, almost falling when his leg swung a little faster than it meant to. "Not really."

"Great," she sighed. "Nothing is happening with me and Diego. We're just friends."

"But" —kick— "you wish you were more" —kick— "right?"

Natalia glared at him, keeping her grip on the handle firm, though Klaus' kicks were getting weaker and weaker with each one. "No."

Klaus shook his head, a grin on his face as he rebutted, "You're lying."

"I'm not," she scoffed as his foot flew over the target and almost hit her head. "Watch where you're kicking, dude."

"Maybe I just need to kick some sense into you," quipped Klaus as his foot missed the target once more and neared her head. "Then you'll admit you're in love with him."

She was. "I'm not."

"Yeah, and I'm the president of the United States." Klaus scoffed, pausing for a moment as he rolled his shoulders back and caught his breath. He then returned to his stance from before and continued kicking as he also continued chiding, "God, I'm dying. Anyway, you can't wait forever, Nutella. Tell him."

She kept an innocent expression on her face as she raised her eyebrows. "Tell him what?"

"Oh, don't play dumb," he scolded as he rolled his eyes. "I can do it for you if you want."

"That is the last thing I want. I don't need your help."

"Aha!" Klaus stopped kicking, pointing a triumphant finger in her direction as she groaned. "So you are in love with him."

Natalia only shook her head in response before tossing the targets to him as she mumbled, "My turn."

Klaus's goofy grin never left his face as he lifted the targets, nor did it disappear for the rest of the training session, all of which he used to tease her and demand what she was going to do. And, of course, she never gave him the answer he wanted.

Dripping with sweat and breathing heavily after a good hour's worth of kicking, punching, and a fuckton of teasing, Natalia and Klaus took a few sips from the water bottles in the corner before heading back over to the house side of the complex and going towards their rooms to change.

Before they parted paths and entered their rooms, Klaus made sure to send a heart her way, to which she flipped him off.

Natalia grabbed her uniform from the edge of her bed, which she had left folded, before glancing at the clock. She still had a good twenty minutes until dinner, meaning she had just enough time to shower.

She walked to the bathroom, letting out a small sigh of relief to see that no one was there, and she locked the door behind her.

After undressing and stepping into the shower, Natalia closed her eyes, letting the warm water soothe her aching muscles as it streamed down her sweaty body.

She didn't allow herself to get too caught up in the moment as she quickly lathered her hair in shampoo, and the action only caused her to realize that her hair was now far too long for her liking—a little past her mid-back—and she took note to ask Grace for a haircut sometime soon.

Ten minutes later, Natalia reluctantly said goodbye to the relaxing water that begged her to stay for one more minute before she shut it off, and she sighed as she patted her body dry with her towel.

As swiftly as she could, she changed into her uniform—though it was a little difficult with her damp skin—and dried her hair before checking the clock: she had a few minutes.

Grabbing her tracksuit, Natalia left the bathroom and headed back to her own room, and she quickly tossed the tracksuit in the laundry basket in her room.

She took the hairbrush that sat on her vanity, running the bristles through her hair to make sure that there were no tangles, and as she put it down, the high-pitched ring of a bell chimed through the air.

Perfect timing.

Natalia ran her fingers through her hair before giving a satisfied nod and flicking her lights off.

She joined the others in heading down the stairs, and she sent Grace a smile as she passed her on the way to the dining table.

As she stood in front of her chair, waiting for Reginald to arrive, she felt something nudge her foot—that something being someone else's foot.

She turned her head to Diego, who gave her a small grin, and she rolled her eyes in amusement before turning her gaze back toward the front.

Only a second later did the silhouette of a wiry man appear at the end of the hall, and the loud footsteps that echoed through the room only confirmed his presence.

Reginald strode to his chair, giving them all a curt nod before pulling his chair out and commanding, "Sit!"

The usual scraping of chairs and clattering of utensils filled the air as everyone sat down and began to eat the dinner that Grace had made them: roast beef, green beans and carrots, and mashed potatoes.

Natalia let out a sigh before forking some beans into her mouth, already hearing the sound of knife against wood as Diego carved into the arm of his chair.

Trying her best to ignore how much that infuriated her, she turned her gaze to Allison and Luther, and she suppressed a giggle as she watched them nervously glance up at each other every now and then between bites.

Natalia quickly brought her gaze back to her plate as Allison glanced her way, chewing a little faster than usual as she went to stab some more beans.

As she continued chewing and gazing down at the plate that was slowly becoming emptier, she thought back to Klaus and wondered how many people really could tell that she liked Diego. If Klaus could, didn't that mean that everyone could?

Surely not, because Natalia knew for a fact that if Reginald sensed anything, she would've already been scolded and firmly told that there is no room for relationships.

But as for the rest of the family . . . Grace was more oblivious to these sorts of things, and if Pogo knew anything, he was keeping quiet. She had already (unfortunately) confirmed it to Ben and Klaus, Luther definitely didn't know anything because he was too preoccupied with Allison, Allison has known for a long time (and the two spent half of their conversations teasing each other about certain boys), Vanya probably didn't know, and Diego . . . well, she prayed to God that he didn't know.

Her train of thought was interrupted about ten minutes later when their father stood and instructed them to begin their study period. They quickly heeded, some of them still furiously chewing to finish their food.

Natalia entered her room, and it wasn't long until a knock came on her door.

Allison stepped in once she had been given permission to enter, and she grinned as she shut the door behind her. "Wanna 'study' together for Latin?"

"We actually should study," laughed Natalia as the two girls sat on the edge of the bed. "We have a test at the end of the week."

"Which means there's still plenty of time to study," she rebutted with a raised finger, causing Natalia to shake her head in amusement. "But we should talk about something more interesting."

"Like?"

Allison grinned. "Boys."

"Oh?" Natalia queried as she raised her eyebrows. "What kind of boys? Dumb ones like Klaus? Nice ones like Ben? Ones that have a crush on a girl named Allison like Luther?"

"We could always talk about ones that have a crush on a girl named Natalia like Diego," Allison immediately countered, causing Natalia to groan and shake her head.

"I'm, like, a hundred and three percent sure that he doesn't," Natalia pointed out.

The other girl scoffed, "Then you're dumb."

Natalia let out a deep sigh as she laid back on the bed, folding her hands over her stomach as Allison did the same. She turned her head slightly to face the other girl, and she shrugged. "I really don't think so. I mean, you can really tell that Luther likes you."

"Yeah, and I'm pretty sure Diego is more obvious about liking you."

"What?" Natalia crinkled her nose as she shook her head. "No."

"Yeah," Allison countered. "Everyone can see. I was talking about it with Ben the other day."

Natalia's eyes widened, a look of incredulity prominent on her face. "You were what?"

"Hey," she chided, jabbing a finger in her direction. "I know you and Ben were talking about me and Luther before."

"Okay, fine," Natalia yielded with a small shrug and grin. "But still, if it were more obvious, I think I'd be able to see. I mean, I can see it with Luther, so . . ."

Allison shook her head, a light giggle escaping her lips. "No, you're just oblivious when it comes to someone liking you."

Natalia scoffed. "That's not true."

"It is true, Lia," she insisted with a nod of the head. "You're the dumbest of the bunch."

Natalia's jaw dropped as she lightly slapped the other girl's arm in protest. "Hey!"

Allison quirked an eyebrow, one corner of her lip turning upwards. "Am I wrong?"

"I'd say so!" she exclaimed as she threw her hands up into the air. "What about Klaus?"

"I mean" —Allison shrugged— "he can tell that Diego likes you."

"Okay, fine, but even if he does, what am I supposed to do with that information?" questioned Natalia with a sigh. She turned her gaze back to the ceiling as her fingers began to drum against her stomach. "It's not like I can tell him anything!"

Allison's eyebrows knit together tightly. "Why not?"

"Because Dad will kill me. Then Pogo will," she answered, then turning her head back towards Allison and raising her eyebrows. "I would die, Alli. Twice. Maybe a third if Mom gets in on it."

A sly smirk came onto Allison's face as she lightly said, "Not if no one finds out."

Natalia rolled her eyes and opened her mouth to respond when a sudden thought came to her. "Wait a second . . ." Her eyes widened as she sat up, an eyebrow quirking. "Are you suggesting that you and Luther . . . ?"

"No! Nothing has—nothing has happened," Allison quickly denied as she sat up, shaking her head. "But I'm just saying if you keep it a secret . . ."

Natalia frowned, her eyebrows furrowing as she looked at the hands that she had folded on her lap. "Diego's not the best at secrets."

"He's not," agreed Allison with a sigh.

"Whatever . . ." Natalia shrugged, her forehead creasing. "I'll just not do anything."

Allison's eyebrows knit together tightly. "But—"

"I'll figure that all out later," she quickly interjected, waving a dismissive hand through the air. A grin swiftly grew onto her face as she shifted in her spot to face the other girl. "Let's talk about you and Luther."

Allison's eyes widened, and she shook her head profusely as she stammered, "No, let's study for Lat—"

"Nuh-uh," Natalia countered, wagging a finger at her, "you don't get to blab about me and Diego all day without getting anything about Luther."

"But I—"

"So," Natalia began, ignoring Allison's protest as she flipped her hair over her shoulder, "it's more than obvious to everyone that you two like each other."

Allison sighed, giving in as she shrugged. "Yeah? How?"

"You guys keep making these . . . faces to each other during meals," she answered, scrunching her face up as she imagined what she had seen only a little while before. "It's a bit sickening. Klaus told me he almost threw up once."

"Oh, shut up," Allison tsked, rolling her eyes in amusement. "It's not that bad."

"There's just so much potential . . ." Natalia mused, turning her gaze in front of her as she plastered a wistful expression onto her face, "all hidden behind those pained, lustful—"

"Lustful?!"

"—affectionate, tender looks that you keep giving each other," Natalia finished, her grin broadening.

"Okay, I have no idea what you're talking about now, Lia."

"Listen, y'all need to do something, because I am sick and tired of seeing your guys' puppy dog eyes and little pouts when you're around each other," Natalia sighed. "It's funny, but . . . I wanna throw up."

She rolled her eyes. "Ugh."

"Mhm," Natalia hummed. A smirk played on her face as she leaned towards her and murmured, "You know what I can sense from the two of you?"

"What?" Allison questioned, her eyebrows furrowing as a nervous expression grew onto her face.

"Lust," she answered with a grin. "And I can—"

"No, you can't."

"—sense so much of it coming from the two of you whenever you look—"

"That is not what's happening here."

"—at each other. It's so strong, it's—"

"Shut up, Lia."

"—so intense, and I think that you guys should—"

"I hate you, you're so annoying."

"—really just go for it, let it all out, because these strong feelings of lust that I can tell you have—"

"You can't."

"—definitely do exist."

"You're the worst," Allison sighed.

"I love you too." Natalia grinned, blowing the other girl a kiss, to which she rolled her eyes.

Allison rubbed her eyes, shaking her head for a few moments before she looked back up at Natalia and firmly suggested, "Let's just talk about something other than boys."

"Hey," Natalia protested as she raised her hands in defence, "you're the one that brought it up."

"And I regret it," Allison deadpanned. She seemed to think of a new topic for a few moments before a look of distress came onto her face, and she groaned, "Oh my God, what about that stupid chemistry test we had today? That was almost impossible!"

Natalia shrugged. "It wasn't that bad."

"Yeah, maybe for you," Allison scoffed, her face scrunching up. "You're all good at science or whatever. But for me . . . it was the worst."

Natalia shrugged once again. "The last question was pretty hard though."

"Don't even get me started on that one . . ." Allison sighed. "I think I got, like, one mark on it."

"Alli . . ." Natalia's eyes widened. "it was out of ten marks."

"Yeah." She nodded, a frown settling on her lips. "I definitely got a ten percent on that question. And that's being generous."

"I thought you studied for, like, a week!" Natalia pointed out, her eyebrows furrowing.

"I did!" she insisted. "Except half of those days were with Klaus and Ben—and you know how that goes—and the other half was with Luther."

"Ah . . ." Natalia nodded slowly, her lips widening into a grin. "So you spent your studying time making out with Luther instead."

"No!" Allison protested, slapping the other girl's arm playfully.

"Mhm, sure," Natalia said dubiously, folding her arms as she grinned. "But why didn't you study with me? I had a few studying sessions with Vanya, and also a couple with just Ben, and those went pretty well."

"I feel like I take up all your time with studying," Allison complained, her frown only growing bigger. "I mean, we spent four nights straight studying for the English test a couple weeks ago!"

"I mean" —she shrugged— "the Macbeth test was a little hard."

"So was the chemistry one!" Allison exclaimed.

"Alli, you don't have to worry about bothering me," Natalia reassured her with a small smile, patting her shoulder. "I like studying with you, it's a good break away from the boys."

Allison shrugged. "Yeah."

"And I think that—"

Natalia suddenly paused, her eyebrows furrowing. She could hear faint shouts through her walls, though they were growing louder. 

"That what?" Allison questioned. 

Natalia slipped off the edge of her bed, and she quickly opened her door to hear the melodious voices that were screaming at each other in absolute fury.

"—didn't take shit from you!" came Diego's voice. 

"I know you did!" rebutted Luther's voice. "It's gone!"

Allison came to her side, and the two girls peeked out to see Diego standing in front of his door, his arms folded as he glared at Luther, whose hands were on his hips.

"It wasn't me!" Diego protested, shaking his head. "It was probably Klaus!"

"No," Luther refused, "I already looked through Klaus's room!"

"That doesn't give you the right to search mine!" Diego pointed out angrily, jabbing a finger into the other boy's chest. "You're not a fucking cop!"

Luther stepped towards Diego, limiting the space between them. "Let me in!"

"I don't have your shit!" Diego insisted, his voice growing louder with every word.

Luther's voice rose to match his volume, "You took it!"

"I didn't!"

"You did!"

Diego let out a loud scoff. "What proof do you have?!"

"I know you!" Luther answered, stomping one foot to help emphasize his fury. "And you steal my shit all the time!"

"No, I don't!" Diego yelled.

"Get out of the fucking way!" Luther demanded.

Upon Diego not getting out of the fucking way, Luther stepped forward and pushed Diego to the side rather roughly, but before Luther could get into the room, Diego pushed him right back.

"Don't touch me!" Diego exclaimed angrily as Luther made to shove him once again.

"Move then!"

Diego didn't respond, rather keeping his furious eyes on Luther as he drew one of his knives out of his leg holster, and pointed it in the other boy's direction.

"You use that," Luther warned, his eyes now set on the weapon, "I'm telling Dad!"

"I don't fucking care!" Diego scoffed, jabbing the knife towards him, close enough to make him take a wary step backwards. "Tell him! Just stay away from my room!"

"No!"

"Jesus, they're so dumb. They're gonna get us all in trouble," muttered Allison. "Come on, let's go stop them."

Natalia nodded, and she shut the door behind them as they walked up to the two boys. 

"Hey! Asshats!" Allison called as she put her hands on her hips. "What the fuck are you two screaming about?"

Both of them turned to the two girls as they approached, and Luther pointed an accusatory finger at the other boy. "Diego took my math notebook!"

"No, I didn't!" Diego rebutted as he sheathed his knife.

Natalia's face scrunched up in confusion. "Uh, Luther, why would he take your notebook?"

"To copy my homework answers!"

"I didn't take anything from you!" Diego yelled indignantly.

"Shut up!" Allison shouted, glancing back towards the staircase to check if anyone was coming. 

Diego turned towards her, letting out a scoff as he pointed a finger toward her. "Don't fucking tell me what to do!"

"Hey," Luther interjected angrily as he turned back to the other boy, his voice growing loud once again, "don't talk to Allison like that!"

Diego rolled his eyes. "Why don't you take that and shove it up—"

"What is the matter here?"

The four of them froze as the stern voice echoed down the hall, and they nervously turned to face Pogo, whose eyebrows were raised in an unimpressed fashion. 

"Pogo," Luther spoke up, pointing a finger towards Diego, "Diego stole my math notebook!"

Diego turned to Luther in outrage. "I didn't!"

"I see," Pogo replied, adjusting his spectacles. "And so that is the cause for the ludicrous shouting?"

Luther's tone became less confident as he glanced at Diego and mumbled, "Yeah."

"You are all nearly seventeen years old—that is hardly an age where you should be arguing over such inane matters. Master Luther, you are Number One, aren't you?"

Another mumbled "Yes."

"Are you or are you not?"

Luther's voice rose, "I am."

"Then act as such! I expect no more arguing about such . . . immature topics from now on. Understood?"

"Yes, Pogo," chorused both Diego and Luther.

Pogo turned his gaze to the two girls, who gave each other nervous glances. "And the two of you?"

"We were just trying to stop them," Allison quickly clarified, Natalia furiously nodding along. "We were studying for Latin, and we heard them yelling."

Pogo gave a curt nod. "Very well. Carry on."

"Sorry, Pogo," Luther called as Pogo turned to leave. 

"Yeah, sorry, Pogo," Diego muttered. 

Diego gave one last scowl towards Luther, who huffed, before turning and entering his room. His door shut rather quickly.

Allison sighed, leaning over to Natalia and muttering, "I'm gonna go with Luther—try and calm him down and find the notebook he probably misplaced."

Natalia gave a soft giggle before nodding. 

As Allison grabbed Luther's arm and pulled him towards his room, Natalia stepped over to Diego's door and knocked lightly. 

The door swung open. "Are you fucking kidd—oh. Hey, Nat."

"Hi," she replied, her eyebrows raised mildly. "Can I come in?"

"Yeah," Diego sighed, stepping towards the side as she walked in, and he closed the door. 

Natalia sat on the edge of his bed, her eyes wandering over his room as he strode over and sat next to her. 

She turned to him and raised her eyebrows. "So . . . did you take the notebook?"

"No," Diego immediately scoffed, shaking his head profusely. "Why would I want his stupid answers? I'd just take them from you or Ben."

"Wow," she remarked with an amused smile. "Because that's better."

His glower slowly morphed into a grin, and he shrugged. "It is."

Natalia gave a small chuckle as her shoulders relaxed, and she then let out a sigh. "Diego, you can't let Luther rile you up like this all the time. You're lucky only Pogo came."

"I know," he groaned. "But he's just so fucking annoying."

"You just have to deal with it the same way the rest of us do," she pointed out as she shifted closer to him. "It's hard . . . but manageable."

"Yeah, 'cause he's not on your ass all the time," Diego scoffed as he rolled his eyes. "He's always blaming me for something."

"So just ignore him!" she suggested. 

"I can't do that!" he immediately rebutted with a shake of the head. "Then he'll think he's right!"

Natalia shrugged.  "So what?"

"What do you mean, 'So what'?" He scoffed, his face scrunching up.

"I mean, what's the worst that can happen if he thinks he's right?" she clarified with another shrug. "At least you know he isn't."

He shook his head once more. "The worst that can and will happen is that his ego will grow three times bigger."

She waved a dismissive hand through the air. "It's already so big anyway."

"Yeah, Nat, that's why we can't afford for it to get bigger." He suddenly shuddered. "Could you imagine what it'd be like?"

"Diego, it's not that big a deal," she laughed as she placed a hand on his shoulder. "You got the rest of us, and we're not so bad."

He glanced down at the hand for a moment before meeting her gaze once again, and he quirked a dubious eyebrow. "You sure about that?"

She squinted her eyes, thinking for a moment before she corrected, "You got me, and I'm not so bad."

"You aren't," Diego agreed with a grin. "I'd even argue that you're pretty good."

"I think you mean pretty amazing."

He was quiet for a moment as he gave a small nod. His grin lessened into a soft smile, and he shifted closer to her as he murmured, "You're more than amazing."

Natalia felt her cheeks grow warm. "You think?" 

He shook his head. "I know."

"Well," she swallowed, now growing a little nervous as his eyes roamed over her face, and she sincerely continued, "you're more than amazing, too."

Diego only gave a small hum in response, though his eyes quickly latched onto hers. There was some sort of silent message that his gaze sent her—and, somehow, she knew exactly what he was thinking. 

Natalia shifted a little closer to him, her face warming as he slowly lifted a hand to her cheek and gently cupped it. His eyes never left hers, and his unsteady breathing matched hers.

Her heart rate tripled as his face grew near, and before she knew it, his lips pressed against hers.

It was only for a brief moment, and he quickly drew away to gauge her reaction.

Natalia's smile couldn't be bigger as she placed her hands on his cheeks and pulled him back in for a second, much longer kiss.

Her arms wrapped around his neck as they kissed, and she felt her blush strengthen as his hands moved to her waist and pulled her closer. She felt as though her insides were on fire as their lips moved in synchrony, and she could hardly believe what she was doing.

The two of them drew away after a few moments, though Diego kept his forehead resting against hers.

"Nat, I . . . I never thought I-I'd tell you this, but . . ." Diego swallowed, his nervous eyes flickering over her face. "I think I'm in love with you."

Natalia felt as though she could jump for joy (though she wasn't going to do that), and, with a smile, she murmured, "I think I'm in love with you too, Diego."

A grin spread onto Diego's face as the nervousness melted away, and he leaned forward and kissed her once more. 

Natalia smiled into the kiss as she placed a gentle hand on his cheek, and felt her heart race pick up as his grip on her waist tightened. 

He pulled away after a few moments, though their eyes remained latched onto each other as small smiles appeared on their faces. 

"I can't believe it," he murmured, his smile morphing into a grin as she shifted closer to him. "I mean, I always thought you liked Ben or something."

"Ben?" Natalia chuckled lightly as she shook her head. "No. It's always been you, Diego."

"I didn't get much of a choice," he quipped, causing her to roll her eyes in amusement. "But I'd pick you over any other girl in the world."

His smile broadened as her cheeks coloured.

"So . . ." Natalia began softly, giving a small shrug. "What now?"

"I guess, do you wanna be my . . . girlfriend?" he asked, a little tentative for her answer. "I mean, we can't tell anyone, and we can't really go anywhere, and we—"

"I'd love to be your girlfriend," she cut him off with a smile.

"Oh, thank God," he breathed out, his lips then widening into a grin.

"But you can't tell anyone," she pointed out, her voice growing a little stern as she wagged her finger. "Especially not Klaus. Maybe Ben."

"Are you gonna tell Allison?" he questioned.

Natalia sighed and shrugged. "She'll find out anyway; I can't lie to her. Vanya too"

"Okay." He kissed her once more, causing her to grin. "I'll just tell Ben. No one else."

"I guess it's only Luther and Klaus we're not telling," she giggled. "And Mom and Dad and Pogo too, but that's obvious."

Diego nodded and opened his mouth to say something else when he was cut off by Grace's voice coming from down the hall:

"Darlings! It's time to get ready for bed!"

"I'll come back after everyone's asleep," Natalia whispered to him, eliciting a grin. 

She quickly pecked his lips and slipped off his bed, receiving a wink that made her heart skip a beat before leaving the room.

Natalia let a dreamy sigh escape her lips as she entered her room. What a day.

𝒟.

Diego couldn't be happier.

As he woke up the next morning, a smile immediately grew on his face. 

He had kissed Natalia. He had confessed his love. And instead of gagging and telling him she hated him like he always thought would happen, she had told him she loved him too.

The first thing he had done after getting ready was go into Natalia's room and kiss her once again, to which she reciprocated, though with surprise at first.

And it took all of Diego's willpower to not kiss her or hold her hand or tell her he loved her throughout the day, no matter how strong the urge became.

He had ended up telling Ben all about it during their biology class, making sure to keep his voice low and forcing Ben to swear to not tell anyone (especially Klaus), which he heeded. And he seemed to share Diego's excitement, though his grin was more sly than anything else.

And, luckily, it seemed as though Ben, along with Allison and Vanya, had kept that promise as a few days went by with no questioning.

Those few days were spent with the same routine: wake up, get ready, pop into Natalia's room, kiss her, remind her that he loves her, go to breakfast, class, training, lunch, class, training, go on a mission if it came up, dinner, 'study' with Natalia and possibly a few others, get ready for bed, and then not go to bed while instead going into Natalia's room and staying up the whole night with her, doing various things (most of it being kissing, which neither of them was complaining about).

Though it was growing increasingly difficult for Diego to not do anything with her in front of people.

Like now, for example, as the seven of them trudged through the dead leaves and damp ground in their journey to Griddy's.

The September month they were in meant that it was chilly outside, and, with only their thin pyjamas to keep them warm, they all shivered and wrapped their arms around their waists to keep from freezing.

The fact that it was a little past midnight didn't help either, and they dearly missed the Sun that usually shone upon them whenever they were outside.

Diego kept his eyes on Natalia, who was trembling in the cold and huddling into Allison's side, and wished more than ever that he could wrap an arm around her to keep her warm. But he couldn't, because stupid Luther and (less) stupid Klaus were here.

The group of teens neared their destination, and collectively let out a small sigh of relief; they could finally get out of the cold.

Diego lifted his eyes off of Natalia and allowed them to roam over the place he preferred to call his second home: Griddy's Doughnuts.

There weren't any cars parked in the parking lot—it was midnight, after all—and the yellow glow of the large sign only emphasized that as it lit up the parking lot. A neon sign of a hand dipping a doughnut into a coffee cup attracted their attention as they came up to the front, and they exchanged grins.

The light chime of a bell rang through the air as they entered, and the seven of them squinted at the sudden brightness that hit their eyes.

They all took their spots on the yellow stools—Diego decided to sit between Natalia and Ben—around the counter, and their mouths watered as the scent of sweet doughnuts and bitter coffee wafted into their noses.

As Luther gave their order to the waitress who was working the night shift, Diego turned towards Natalia and murmured, "You okay?"

"Yeah." Her eyebrows furrowed. "Why wouldn't I be?"

Diego gave a small shrug as he answered, "You seemed really cold out there."

"Don't worry," she reassured him with a grin, "Alli kept me warm enough."

"Hell yeah I did," Allison chimed in from beside Natalia. "Watch out, Diego, I'm gonna steal her away from you."

Diego only rolled his eyes in amusement in response.

The doughnuts were soon passed around the group, and none of them waited for another moment to take a bite of the sweet dessert, all of them instantly letting out small sighs of pleasure.

Natalia lowered her chocolate doughnut onto her plate, a smile gracing her face as she looked around at the siblings that were laughing and joking around.

She turned to Diego, her smile still as prominent. "I love when you guys are all happy."

Diego grinned. "Me too."

As she gazed over each person, her smile suddenly turned into a frown once it had gone to the end of the counter.

Diego's eyebrows furrowed in concern, and he placed a hand on her knee as he asked, "What's wrong?"

She didn't answer, instead pushing her plate back and slipping off her stool.

Diego's eyes followed her as she went around the counter and sat next to Vanya, who had been gazing down at her plate.

Chewing on his glazed doughnut, he watched as Natalia grinned and nudged Vanya's side, saying something that caused the other girl to giggle.

Ten minutes passed, and she was still by Vanya's side, giggling away. 

Diego sighed; it seemed like she wasn't planning on coming back any time soon, so he instead turned to Ben.

Diego raised his eyebrows as the other boy looked towards him, and, in a hushed voice, he asked, "You haven't said anything to you-know-who, right?"

"Oh, him?" Ben nodded his head towards Klaus, who was wedged between him and Luther, and he quickly reassured him, "Nah. I don't think he's catching on, he keeps talking to me about how you two are oblivious."

Diego snorted. "He's the oblivious one."

Ben gave him a mischievous smile. "I've been making up things, too. 'Natalia told me that she thinks Diego hates her,' 'Diego told me he's too scared to say anything,' . . . just to keep him off the scent."

Diego grinned, slapping his brother on the shoulder. "You're the best."