☂︎ 𝔱𝔰𝔲 | ❛ ʙᴀᴅ-ᴀꜱꜱ ❜

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𝐈𝐓 𝐖𝐀𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐀𝐆𝐀𝐈𝐍. The muscles in your cheeks were twitching without your consent before they pulled your lips back in a smile. It felt so strange to smile-it felt so strange to be happy, and giddy. You hardly ever had a reason to be. Anything you thought was happiness in your life with G.R.E.G.O.R.Y and the little glimpses of the world he showed you on his screen were instantly proven wrong the moment Diego first showed you the sky. The moment you felt the winds and the sun.

This was bubbly and new. It left a fuzzy feeling in your chest that tickled your lungs until you chuckled, and the muscles in your cheeks hurt. So many foreign feelings were swirling together in coexistence in your chest, but you welcomed the change. Your hands fiddled happily with one another in your lap as Diego matched his grin with yours.

Like you, it was the first time you had truly seen him at ease since meeting him.

"I'm serious," you can hear the grin in his voice. "I think it's pretty cool, actually,"

Your head fell to the side in curiosity. "It makes you cold?"

He chuckled again, beaming out at the skyline as he licked nervously at his lips. When he looked back at you, you resisted the urge to squirm under his gaze.

"No," he corrected. "Sorry, no. It's just a saying. Like, uh," you listen intently, though slightly relaxed as he tries to think of a word. Your attention on him tempts the stutter in his brain. "To be in awe of something would be, so to speak, awe-some. If something's cool, you think it's great, excellent, whatever... I find it admirable," he finished, losing all confidence and quickly clearing his throat in attempt at recovery.

The grin on your face was nearing blinding, still, you shook your head in disbelief at it all. Two nights ago you were sure you were sooner to rot with those walls than escape them. Now here you are, sitting on the roof, admiring the stars as the son of your captor-Diego, the first person you ever brought yourself to trust-praised your power. Your special.

"'Cool'," you repeated, getting a feel for the word on your tongue. Diego hummed in delight.

On a whim, Diego flipped your insides like a pancake when he gave you a nod and shot you a wink. "Bad-ass,"

His response was shocking enough to elicit an authentic laugh from deep within your belly. You hardly made an effort to hide your grin behind your hand as you gawked at him with aching cheeks. "'Bad ass'!?" You chortled. Surely, that had to be an insult.

Diego's dark brown eyes lit up in amusement at your reaction, no more than the flare of satisfaction in his chest as he laughed with you; he had done it. He had made you laugh again. "Oh yeah, definitely bad-ass,"