#numberfour

"We are all mad, here ♥"

Part one 

 Diego Hargreeves x reader Word count: 1923 Warnings: Language 

"Hold on," you held up a hand, the other firmly entertained with Diego's. "You're saying that dad assassinated Kennedy?" "Let's not jump to conclusions." Five reasoned. "What the hell else is he doing standing on a grassy knoll, holding an open black umbrella on a sunny day in Dallas the exact moment the president gets shot?" Diego fired back at him, his grip tightening. "You have to admit, it doesn't look good, Five." Five frowned. Diego got a strange look on his face- similar to Elliot's before he started spouting off about us being aliens. "No, he's the signalman for the whole goddamn thing." "Easy, Diego." You started, but he cut you off. "This is what Hazel was trying to tell you." Diego turned to Five who had an exasperated look on his face. "We have to stop Dad from killing the president." Five rolled his eyes. "Diego, calm down, all right? Dad was no boy scout, but presidential assassination? It's never been his thing." "How would you know?" Diego's voice lowered, you knew you had to put a swift end to this conversation. Five stepped closer to the two of you, a hard glint in his eyes. "You think I had it easy? I was alone for 45 years-" "We don't have the time for this right now!" You interrupted, dropping Diego's hand to stand between the two boys. "He's clearly in Dallas so let's go talk to him. Maybe he can help us fix the timeline." "Dallas is a big place. We need to find him first." Five rolled his eyes again. "Gee, if only we had some magical, old-timey way of finding people and their addresses." Diego opened his mouth to shoot something back at Five's bitter sarcasm, but you cut him off, "alright," you said. "Let's go."  _______________________________________________________________ Lila and Diego piled into the car first. As you went to follow, Five gripped your arm and pulled you aside. "Five?" "I need you to find the others," he said. "What? No, I'm helping you find Dad." "We've got it covered. Look, out of the three of us, the others like you the most. They'll listen to you. I need you to bring them back to Elliot's and wait for us there,." You wanted to argue, but upon seeing the desperation in his eyes, nodded in silent agreement. ________________________________________________________________ You knew tracking them down would be hard, but you didn't think it'd be this hard. You managed to find Luther, but he turned you away like he had Five: rather rudely. Vanya was completely M.I.A. and the only Allison in the address book was an "Allison Chestnut." That left Klaus. The only lead you had were some rumors surrounding a magical cult-leader living in a mansion here in Dallas. If anything screamed "Klaus," it was that. Deciding that it was too late to ask around for help without sounding crazy, you headed back to Elliot's. It was dark. The only light filtered down from the second floor, casting a faint orange glow around the space. You walked in to see Lila straddling a very naked Diego. You froze in the doorway. Five sauntered up from behind you. "Oh, he isn't dead." He said casually, as if remarking on the weather. Lila didn't look up, her gaze entirely focused on the man in front of her. Your man. "Disappointed?" She asked, "To see you? Always." Five gave her a tight smile. Why was she sitting on Diego? Was something wrong? Was there something... between them? "So much hostility in such a tiny package. Did you cut yourself shaving? I could teach you to shave like a big boy." No, that's impossible. Diego would never do that to you. Five looked away. "No, I just ran into an old family friend." His cryptic answer was enough to reanimate you. Tearing your gaze away from Diego you asked, "Who?" He remained silent. Lila rolled her eyes. "You still don't trust me?" "Am I supposed to?" Diego groaned. Lila pressed her hands to his lower abdomen gently, but firmly. Lila stared at you. "Are you just going to stand there?" "I-" "Y/n?" Diego's voice was characteristically soft. You hurried over to him and brushed the hair off his forehead. "Hey, you." His lips twitched into a small smile before his eyes slipped closed again. "What happened?" "His Dad," Lila replied bluntly; then climbing off him said, "He's all yours. I'm gonna get some sleep." You perched yourself on the edge of the sofa. You examined the bandages wrapped around his midsection. "Dad did this?" Five gave you a sharp nod.  "Pogo," he made a vague gesture at his face, "did this." "Pogo." He waved your surprise away. "Any luck with the others?" You sighed. "No sign of Allison or Vanya. And I might have a lead on Klaus." He considered this for a moment. "Luther?" You crossed your arms. "Luther is a dick." Five cocked his head. "That, we can agree on. You said you have a lead on Klaus?" A nod. "Follow up on it tomorrow." Another nod, and he was gone.

________________________________________________________________ Rays of sun streaming through a window woke you up the next morning. You were still of the sofa, head resting on Diego's chest, a hand carding lazily through your hair. "Diego?" You murmured sleepily. "Y/n?" Your head shot up. Diego. "You're awake! I need to redress your bandages." "Woah, Y/n, sow down." He caught your hand mid-reach to the table beside you. "I will not 'slow down,' you almost bled out!" His eyes softened. "I know, and I'm sorry. But-" "Diego, you're awake. Good." Five strolled into the room with a cup of what was probably his second cup of black coffee. "Five." Diego winced as he tried to sit up. "Did you find anything last night?" "Of course. Unlike you, I can do my job without getting stabbed." "Five," you warned. He waved your comment away. "Y/n, I'll take care of Diego from here. Go find Klaus." You glanced back at Diego who gave you a slight nod. "Fine." You stood and pressed a kiss to Diego's forehead before heading outside. ________________________________________________________________ You stood outside a large, stone building. Klaus lives here? You wondered. The lights were off so you snuck around back. A pale man with long hair and a strange tattoo was drinking on a pink floaty in the swimming pool. "Klaus?" He startled. "Y/n?" "Oh, my God!" You cried, yanking your shoes off to jump into the pool while he awkwardly paddled toward you. The two of you collided, throwing your arms around each other excitedly. "It's really you," you breathed. "I thought I was the only one left." You pulled back and gripped his arms. "We have so much to catch up on." Hopping onto the wall you asked, "So, how did you end up in a place like this?" He reclined on his floaty again. "Oh... you know, dicks, drugs, debuntes. My holy trinity." "Klaus, you started a cult." You kicked at the water, enjoying its coolness against your bare toes. "'Cult' is a very negative word, y/n. We prefer to call it 'an alternative spiritual community,'" Klaus explained. "Nope," you giggled, "You definitely started a cult." "Alright, alright, alright. Enough about me. What about you?" You sighed deeply. Where to begin?________________________________________________________________ "I'm telling you, Diego. I don't trust her. And neither does Five." "So you're siding with Five now?" "Really? That's your takeaway from this?" "I can't do anything right can I?" "Where was she last night?" "What?" "She disappeared, didn't she? Where did she go? We don't know anything about her." "I don't know." "Exactly." "Y/n, why can't you just trust me?" "Why can't you trust me?" Diego opened his mouth, but before he could answer, Five materialized. "I found Vanya."

________________________________________________________________ "Diego," you hissed. "I can't dance." He smirked, "Just follow my lead." He gripped your waist tightly, drawing you close to him. You swayed to the music, focusing only on the rhythm and the feeling of Diego pressed up against you. "Diego, about earlier..." "I'm sorry." "What?" "I was being stupid and defensive and I'm sorry." You smirked, "That sounded physically painful." "I-" You pulled him down by his collar and kissed him deeply. His brought a hand up to tangle in your hair. "I love you," he murmured against your lips. You brought your mouth to his ear, "I love you, too," you whispered softly. He suddenly tensed. "Diego?" "Mom?"

________________________________________________________________

"Five!" You cried as a white-haired man flipped him over his shoulder and slammed the 45 year old teenager into the floor. Diego gasped from behind you, a leather strap wrapped around his neck. "Shit, Diego!" You flipped your wrist and sent a wave of purple energy at the man. Diego dropped to the ground. He looked up at you and his face twisted in panic. "Wha- AH!" The third man had snuck up behind you and punched you in the back of the head with his metal knuckles. Diego struggled to his feet to help you, but the man you'd sent flying was back and began throwing punches. Despite staggering back from the blow, you stayed standing and whirled around to face him. Your fists were coated in purple as you fired shot after shot at him. He dodged every one. You raised an eyebrow. "Not bad." He remained impassive. "But not good enough." He cocked his head. Putting your hands together, you focused your energy on him and threw him through the wall. Lila came running up the stairs; she met your eyes then looked back at Five who was getting his ass kicked. You nodded and both sprinted in opposite directions- you to Diego, and her to Five. ________________________________________________________________ "One of us is dead." Diego said, staring down at his plate. Klaus started talking to something behind him, must be a ghost. "Regardless," Reginald said, what would possess me to adopt eight ill-mannered malcontents?" "We all have special abilities," explained Five. Diego slid the photograph of Reginald at the assassination across the table. "Explain that," he demanded. Reginald Hargreeves stared hard at it then looked up, almost disappointingly, at Diego. "Well. I suppose you've solved it. You'e single-handedly unearthed my nefarious plot. Is that what you want to hear? You fancy yourself a do-gooder? The last man who will save us from our descent into corruption and conspiracy? This is a fantastic delusion. You're a tragic man, desperately unaware of his own insignificance; desperately clinging to his own ineffectual reasoning." You were frozen. Diego was too, until he sunk back down into his seat beside you. Instead of responding, or firing back some rude remark, he stuttered out a weak, "You're wrong." You immediately grabbed his hand and said loudly, "how dare you. You have no right to speak to him like that, to any of us like that. You're a monster who bought children and turned them into soldiers." "Y/n, your hand." You stared down at the hand not holding Diego's and saw it sparking with violet light. Five, seizing the moment to change the subject, said, "Look, we have a catastrophic war coming in five days. We need to figure out how to stop it." A/n: I'm working on the third and final part. I'll have it up as soon as I can! As always, thanks for reading and lmk what you think :) Tag list: @jasminhargreeves​