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[ That...stings. It's expected; he mentally prepares for pretty much that exact response, but it still stings because it's Diego. So he waits a moment before responding because he doesn't want that to come through in his voice. It feels like a million years ago even if it was only just shy of one. ]

You weren't the first one. You probably won't be the last, either. It is what it is. At least you're honest about it.

I mean, I'm... not really gonna lie about who I am. Doesn't matter how much I hated him, Dad drilled certain things down into us and no amount of time away from him or the Academy will stop those instincts from coming first.

I was surprised you answered what I was asking so easily, if I'm honest. I mean- all the gritty details of is there truth in the myths about bloodlust and ways you could be hurt or contained... it didn't ever dawn on you that wasn't just some curious dude asking questions to be friendly?

[Or had he told him all of those things in spite of curious suspicion? Had Derek really laid trust on the table that early? Because Diego isn't sure how to feel about that (except overwhelmed).]

In retrospect it did, but by then, I'd already said it. That's half my fucking problem, man, it always has been. I get comfortable with something and then I get immediately sloppy and make bad decisions. Sometimes, like with you, I get lucky. Other times, people end up dead and it's my fault.

[ He thinks that they should probably be having this conversation in person but makes no move to suggest it. This is more comfortable...if there can be any comfort to be had in this sort of conversation, anyway. ]

I think a small part of me figured if you were more than some curious dude asking questions, there wasn't anybody there that gave a shit about me or that I cared about, so the only person that could get hurt was me and if that happened, then it happened.

[ It's probably been a long time coming, anyway, but Derek doesn't say that because it sounds worse than it is and he worries Diego might mention it to Laura who will, almost definitely, take it as a huge red flag that he's depressed or something. He isn't, anymore. Not really. He was, but he isn't. So he keeps that bit to himself. ]

[Diego's not sure they'd have this conversation face-to-face. This is definitely more comfortable, if not actively anything like easier.]

Sometimes, we're so different, it's really fuckin' crazy, you know that?

[Because in so many other ways, they are so alike. But Diego can't imagine ever getting quite that sloppy. Especially if he had things like that to hide.]

How noble of you. [There's a smirk in his voice, that levity that doesn't belong in a conversation this heavy still there anyway. It's kind of The Hargreeves Way, after all.]

But honestly, man? I may have started talking to you, to seek out answers about a potential threat, but-- It doesn't matter anymore. I don't see you like that. [There's a pause and he presses his tongue to the inside of his cheek. It is so much more a Derek thing to be sentimental than a Diego one, but sometimes.... it hits, sometimes, things just need to be said, and he isn't sure he's ever said it quite so plainly, so...] You're my best friend.

Sometimes, we are.

[ A mirthless laugh escapes him and Derek sighs. ]

I wish it was about being noble and not just about the fact that patterns are patterns for a reason and it was nice to not have to worry about perpetuating that particularly fucking ugly one for a change.

[ There might have been a time when hearing those words coming out of Diego's mouth would've floored him, but by now...Diego never had to say them for Derek to know it. So, hearing them isn't a shock. ]

I know you don't. You're my best friend, too. [ And, in the interest of always being the more emotionally vulnerable one in the relationship because he knows that he has to be; it's just how it is with Diego, Derek adds another sentiment for good measure, framed as a joke just in case. ]

You're also the only friend I'd ever had up until really recently, so I don't know how high a compliment that is, but...

Shut up-- you're supposed to take the nobility and leave the rest out of it. God, you're bad at this game.

[Derek can probably practically hear the way Diego is shaking his head and rolling his eyes just through the faux-indignant sound in his voice.

Good thing the smile on his face at that reciprocated sentiment can't be seen-- that'd be embarrassing.]

Man, you got the awful end of that stick. You just think I'm a great friend cause you never had anything to compare it with.

In my defense, I'm bad at most things so this is hardly the worst thing to be bad at.

[ What's a little self-deprecating human between friends, right? In spite of himself, Derek laughs, shaking his head. ]

That's probably true, but it's also probably true that I'm your best friend because I'm the only one bad enough at people to feel like randomly inviting you to have a drink wasn't fucking weird. In retrospect, it was fucking weird and I can't believe you took me up on it.

[He snickers.] Idiot.

Yeah [He almost sounds like he's building to say something serious and then...] but-- everything about you's weird, so it tracks, right?

He said, somehow miraculously missing the heavy irony in the accusation.

[ He pauses and laughs, rolling his eyes before reciprocating the preceding insult. ]

Ass.

Edited 2020-07-25 17:51 (UTC)

Hey, I never said I wasn't.

[He never said he was, either, though, did he?]

I've got a nice one, ask your sister.

[Sometimes, every now and then, he just has to cross lines just to get the reaction out of Derek.]

[ Groaning, Derek frowns. ]

I hate you.

[ He is so lucky Vanya got ported away before Derek could finally tell her how he feels about her, so that he doesn't have to know what a fucking obnoxious nightmare this situation is. ]

That's noted, by the way, as a reason to find a way to make you temporarily miserable later on down the line. I hope you know that.

[He's laughing, the entire time, because he is an ass.]

Oohh, vindictive. I like it.

Yeah, you like it now. Just wait.

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