Subject 001

Extra Ordinary

Three years ago...

Em and Diego cuddled on the couch in her apartment.

"Hm," Em sighed. "Diego?"

"Yeah, princess?"

Em sat up a little. "I've, uh, been saving up for some time now, to buy a house and found one that I like quite a bit..."

"That's great princess, do you want help moving out?" Diego offered, pulling her back to him.

"About that, I've been thinking..." Em started with uncertainty in her voice. "Maybe we could move in together? We can look at the house together and see if you like it before I make an offer... If you want to, I mean, I understand if you think this is going too fast or if it's just something you don't wan-"

"I would love to move in with you," Diego said softly, cutting off her rambling.

"Really?" Em asked quietly.

"Of course. Why wouldn't I?" Diego asked rhetorically. "Getting to see the most beautiful person in the world every single day, going to sleep and waking up beside you every day... it's a privilege."

"So, we're moving in together?" Em asked excitedly.

"We're moving in together," Diego confirmed, nodding with a smirk on his face.

Em grinned happily at him, hugging and kissing him with the enthusiasm of a child who just found out they're going to DisneyWorld.

A few weeks went by, the house was bought, Em's apartment had been emptied out and they moved on to get Diego's things in the gym's boiler room.

"So, we're leaving just enough things so it's believable you still live here, right?" Em asked, filling up another box.

"Yep, the house is our sanctuary, no surprise visitors, no one coming after us..." Diego nodded, folding his clothes.

Em found a battered book under the bed, it looked like the poor thing had taken a beating.

"Why would you do this to a defenseless book?" she asked horrified, analyzing it. "Extra Ordinary." she read the title.

"Oh, no, that's not," Diego mumbled, harshly pulling the book out of her hands.

"What is it?" Em asked with concern, he looked frazzled.

"It's nothing," Diego said, throwing the book into a box in the back of the room.

"Vanya Hargreeves? Is she your sister?" Em pressed on.

"Yeah," Diego said with a sigh. "It's an autobiography, it talks about our childhood."

"Oh," Em said quietly, walking over to Diego and giving him a reassuring hug. "I get your reaction now. You know you can tell anything, right?"

"Yeah, I'd just rather you not know. Not yet," he confessed.

"Don't worry, I won't read it if you don't want me to," Em assured him. "But, if there are things in there that you do want me to know and just aren't ready to tell me yet, it might be a good way to communicate those things to me."

Diego looked at her for a second, she wasn't forcing him, she was just letting him know so he got up from his place in the bed and walked over to the box he'd thrown the book in.

"I want you to read it," he told Em, giving her the book.

"Are you sure?" she asked seriously.