His Only Fear - Five Hargreeves x |Fem| Reader

I Want To Hurt Him

After a few minutes of waiting for Grace, you stood up, looking around.

"Mom?" you called. "Mom, are you there?"

"She's dead," Diego announced, walking into the living room. "Those masked intruders got her. You know, the ones that kidnapped you." He spun a knife around his fingers casually.

You sat down, shaking your head slowly.

"No," you whispered. "But, you can, you know, fix her, right?"

Diego sighed, scratching his jaw and looking away.

"She's broken, Eight. We can't fix her. You think I didn't try everything?" His tone softened when he saw your face. "Look - I'm sorry about what they did to you. Couldn't have been easy."

You decided to let go of your grudge - after all, the world was ending in, what was it now? Six days? Five?

"You don't have to apologize," you promised, struggling to your feet. "It's not your fault. And Detective Patch, you, uh... knew her, didn't you? She... mentioned your name, when she saved us."

Diego's jaw tensed, confirming.

"I'm the one who should be sorry," you muttered, biting your lip. "I could have stayed and helped her, but I didn't. If I had known-" You broke off, sucking in a breath when you felt Diego's arms wrap around you. Your own hands hovered over his back for a moment, unsure, before you tentatively hugged him back. You memorized his scent - he smelled like outside and metal. You suddenly felt like crying, even though you couldn't put your finger on why.

"It's not your fault," he said, pulling away. "You were tortured. You probably wanted to get out of that place as soon as possible. Now go take a shower - you smell awful."

You scoffed, rolling your eyes.

"Gee, thanks, brother. Nice to know you're as bratty as ever." Still, you couldn't keep a smile from curling on your lips. Diego had hugged you for the first time - ever. And you didn't hate it.

You took a long shower after eating a full package of pretzels you found on the pantry, leaning against the wall, before getting out and changing into a different, less bloody uniform. After that, you scooped water from the bathroom sink and drank it straight from your hands, relishing in the coolness of it. The swelling on your eye had gone down, and now all you wanted to do was sleep - but when you emerged from the bathroom, you saw Klaus racing downstairs.

"Wait up!" he shouted.

"Klaus," you called. "Where are you going?"

"With Diego," he responded, turning around to glance at you. "I... need to go somewhere."

"Wait, let me come," you called, fully aware that either boy could do something reckless. And since you didn't know where anyone else was, you might as well do something useful, even if it meant babysitting your two brothers.

He shook his head.

"You should get some sleep."

"So should you," you retorted, following him down the steps. "I'm coming with."

He didn't protest, which was odd. He was eerily quiet when you got to the car, and Diego raised an eyebrow at you.

"Great. I've got the whole daycare here," he remarked dryly.

"Shush," you grumbled, muffling a yawn with your hand. You settled into the passenger's seat, leaning your head against the window. After only a few minutes, you felt your eyelids drooping, and then everything went silent.

*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:*✧･ﾟ: *✧･ﾟ:

You were awoken abruptly by Diego's voice.