#familiaranonymous

Luther takes a deep breath, then he knocks on the door. It takes a moment, but Diego opens it. He looks at Luther, frowns, and asks, “What’s with the flowers and chocolate?”

“Uh,” Luther looks down at them, then shoves them at Diego. “They’re for you.”

“You got me flowers and chocolate,” Diego says in a flat voice.

“Klaus told me to?”

“And you didn’t realize that’s normally what you get for a boyfriend or girlfriend?”

Luther feels his eyes widen in horror. “What?”

Diego snorts. “Klaus was messing with you, bro. But I’ll take the chocolate anyway.”

“Uh, okay,” Luther says, handing Diego the chocolate bar. “I, uh, I wanted to apologize.”

“Apologize?” Diego repeats, his voice suddenly cautious.

“For yesterday,” Luther says. “What I said. It was- I shouldn’t have said it.”

“We were fighting,” Diego says, still sounding wary. “We always say mean shit when we’re fighting. You’ve never apologized before.”

“I crossed a line yesterday,” Luther says. “When I talked about your stutter. I- I didn’t realize- Dad always said-”

“I know what Dad said.”

“And I thought he was right,” Luther says. “But he wasn’t. And I shouldn’t have said that.”

“You’re really apologizing,” Diego says, sounding a little amazed. “Have you ever done this before?”

“I’m sorry,” Luther says, ignoring the question. “I shouldn’t have said what I said about your stutter. I didn’t understand, and I was mean, and I’m sorry.”

Diego stares at Luther. “Wow.”

“What?” Luther demands immediately.

“That’s actually not a bad apology,” Diego says. “I’m surprised. Did you rehearse that in the mirror?”

Maybe he did, but Luther’s not about to admit it. “I mean,” he says, hoping this joke goes over well, “I am Number One. I’m pretty good at most things.”

Diego snorts, to Luther’s relief. “Yeah, sure you are.”

“I am!”

“Uh, huh.”

“But I am sorry,” Luther says again, because he’s not sure if Diego’s actually accepted his apology or not. “I-”

“Jeez, Luther, I g-g-g-”

Diego scowls at the stutter, but Luther can see the way he shrinks back a little too, like he expects Luther to make fun of him again. Luther needs to do something to prove that he never will.

“Uh,” he says, wracking his brain for the right words, “uh, imagine the word in your mind? Isn’t that what Mom always said? And, uh, take a deep breath?”

He may not be very good at this.

Diego stares at him, then he bursts out laughing. Luther watches him warily, wondering if this means he did the right thing. He doesn’t like feeling unsure, but if this is what it takes to make him a better brother than he was, he’s willing to do it.

“Thanks, bro,” Diego finally says, “but maybe leave that stuff to Mom.”

“Okay,” Luther says, trying in vain to hide his relief.

“And, uh, thanks for apologizing,” Diego says. “Just don’t do it again and we’ll be cool.”

“I won’t,” Luther promises.

“Yeah, just remember that next time we get in a fight.”

“Maybe we could stop fighting,” Luther offers tentatively.

Diego snorts. “Don’t think that’s gonna happen. It’s okay. Fighting is always how we communicated, right?”

“Talking probably works better,” Luther suggests.

“Fine, we can give talking a try,” Diego says. “But I think we’ve done enough talking for now, right?”

“Probably,” Luther agrees. He’s still not really used to talking about feelings, and this is a little much. Judging by the look on Diego’s face, he feels the same way.

“Cool,” Diego says. “Thanks for the chocolate.”

“No problem,” Luther says. “You sure you don’t want the flowers?”

“Nah,” Diego says, shaking his head. “Give ‘em to one of the girls. I bet Mom would love them.”

“I can give them to Mom,” Luther says immediately. “I’ll go do that right now.”

“Okay,” Diego says, nodding. “Uh. Bye, then.”

Luther nods, then he ducks out of the room and lets Diego close the door behind him. Once he’s back out in the hall, Luther lets out a deep sigh.