Who: Diego and Haisley and Oliver When: Nighttime, Wednesday, January 24 Where: Seaview, Diego and Oliver’s Status: Complete
Haisley hitched a ride into town shortly before ten o’clock. The man driving the expensive looking truck asked if she had a place to say, and given the way he was eying her, Haisley quickly informed him that yes, she had a place to stay, since she had relatives in Point Pleasant. She was only hitching a ride because her visit was a surprise. He’d only grunted at that and then after eying her again, snorted. “Must be Seaview. That’s where most of the trailer trash lives.”
Haisley knew she had a lot to learn about a lot of shit, but she wasn’t so stupid to not recognize an insult when she heard one. But since she didn’t want to get kicked out onto a dark, abandoned road, Haisley bit her tongue hard and clutched her backpack more tightly to her chest.
She had no idea what Seaview was until the sign came into view. Given she had nowhere else to go, Haisley climbed out of the truck when it came to a stop. She muttered an ungrateful thanks to the guy behind the wheel and then began to walk down the road leading into the small neighborhood, slipping her backpack onto her shoulders. She began to look for any signs that one of the small trailer homes might be empty. A lot of them had lights on, but some of the darker houses had cars in the gravel lots. Haisley had walked down two streets before wind picked up, blowing her hair around her head. It was a strong storm that seemed to have come out of nowhere. The trees billowed above her and she heard some branches cracking in the distance. It was like the wind had placed a palm against her back and was shoving her down the street.
There was no way she could stay out there. Haisley squinted ahead at a tiny white home with a FOR SALE sign in the equally tiny yard. Given how far back the sign had bent, she was sure it would probably fly away any second. Haisley hurried to the wooden steps of the house and peered inside the curtainless windows. It looked empty inside so Haisley tried the door. Then she tried the windows, hoping one might have been left unlocked. Somewhere in the woods surrounding the lot Haisley could hear the loud, thunderous roar of a tree falling. The wind was whistling about her and sure enough, the for sale sign in the yard of the house she was trying to break into disappeared down the street, knocking into a parked car several houses down.
“Fuck,” Haisley said, her own voice lost in the gust of wind that nearly blew her off the porch. Was there going to be a tornado? Did Maine get tornadoes? She could break the window, she supposed but she didn’t have anything heavy enough in her bag to do it and Haisley had seen enough at the facility to know breaking a window with her hand would only fuck up her hand. And slicing her hand up meant blood without any medical help and just the thought of having to pull shards of glass from her hand made her queasy. So she wrapped her arms around herself, shivered, and turned away from the door to step back into the corner of the porch, suddenly wondering what possessed her to come to this place this late. She could have probably flirted with the desk guy at that dirty motel near the strip club to give her a free room for the night. Seaview her ass. There wasn’t even a view of the sea here. It was just dark skies and dark trees and so much wind.
Diego wasn’t generally superstitious -- without having been raised with those kinds of beliefs, he found them mostly funny as an adult -- but given the way things had felt in town for the past few days, the incoming storm seemed like a bad omen. If it would even turn into a storm at all; Diego had heard only wind so far, no rain. And what a wind it was, shit. Oliver wasn’t home, the hospital had been All Hands On Deck for a couple of days. Even though he wasn’t a doctor or even really a nurse, he was still needed. From the stories he’d told in the brief times he’d been home before passing out, Diego was worried about him. A lot of people seemed to have lost their minds or something. It wasn’t even a full moon.
He’d been hunkered down in the living room, his nose in a book, when the crazy sound of a tree being blown over made him jump a little. “Fuck,” he hissed to himself, rubbing at his eyes as he put his book down. He couldn’t concentrate on it much anyway. Diego didn’t really like storms. Even after years of being out of the Facility’s sheltered cell, all of the noise and theatrics made him nervous. They’d lived in a couple of places where there were tornadoes and hurricanes and he hated the thought that nature could fuck them up whenever she wanted. Diego stood up and went to their big front window, wondering if that huge crack had been a tree in the woods or one better positioned to fall onto their house.
A lighter blur than should’ve been there caught his attention at the trailer across the street. It had been for sale since they’d arrived, and he’d never seen anyone over there. He squinted and cupped his hands at the sides of his face to block out the inside lights, and the blur focused into a person. A girl, standing on the porch. Diego couldn’t guess how old she was from that vantage point, but he knew she shouldn’t be outside, and she wasn’t moving to go inside either. Before he could overthink it, he straightened up and walked swiftly to open the front door of their mobile home. The wind tried to snatch it out of his hand. Diego verified that the girl was still standing where she’d been, then shouted into the wind. “Hey! Get inside, chica!”
Haisley saw him before she heard him. There was no other movement around her other than the tree branches dancing and bits of trash blowing away on the street. Squinting across the street at him, it took her a moment to understand what he had said. Get inside. Well, that was easier said than done, wasn't it? For a second the urge to flip him off was great but she realized he was the only person she had seen in this town besides the truck driver. Maybe he could help her bust down the door. So she walked to the edge of the porch, her arms still crossed against her chest and her fingers digging into her forearms in an effort to fight the chill. "It's locked," she yelled back, her face suddenly covered by her hair as it whipped against her cheeks and nose. "I can't get in!"
Diego’s brow furrowed and he pursed his lips a bit. Had that place sold? He was pretty sure the realtor sign had still been in the yard earlier that day ... but now wasn’t the time to worry about it, he supposed. The wind was practically howling now, tossing the branches of trees around like powerful ocean waves. Being outside wasn’t a good idea, and if someone needed shelter, Diego couldn’t exactly shut the door on her, could he? It was hard to hear her, and he didn’t feel much like yelling over the noise, so Diego made an exaggerated gesture for the girl to come over. She might not want to, since he was a man and she was alone -- Diego had been horrified to learn about the dangers that lurked everywhere for women out in the world, and he tried to be cognizant of those things -- but he had to offer.
Haisley pushed her hair from her face in time to see him motioning her across the street. She did hesitate, but only briefly, before stepping down off the porch and hurrying over to the open door. Haisley had been sheltered by the facility for most of her life, but there was still that instinctive knowledge that anyone out in the world could hurt her. She had mace in her bag that she'd stolen from a gas station. And she knew to kick a guy in the balls if he got too close to her. But at the moment Haisley wasn't too paranoid about it to risk getting stuck in a wind storm in the middle of winter for an entire night. She would take her chances.
Without verbal invitation, Haisley stepped up into the small house, her hair finally settling over her face and shoulders. She was panting softly, but quickly pushed the oily strands back from her eyes and cheeks so she could see her surroundings, and the man. "Thanks," she breathed, almost instinctively stepping back to maintain some distance until she decided how she felt about this place. "They locked everything up pretty good over there."
Diego was a little relieved when she started across the street. He waited and backed up to make room for her to come in once she arrived. It didn’t occur to him that she might be the dangerous one -- Diego could protect himself well enough if need be. He hadn’t used his powers offensively in years, but if he had to, he would make sure she couldn’t move off of the floor. Diego shut the door and locked it, then ran one set of fingers through his tousled hair and looked the girl over. She looked even younger than he’d thought. “You’re welcome,” he said with a slight nod, giving her space. Their home was still a bit sparse, but it was coming together as more homey all the time, and he hoped it felt safe enough. “This weather is insane. What’s your name? I’m Diego.”
The paranoia that lingered from running away from the facility was what kept Haisley from responding right away. It was probably really silly to think they would have people way out here looking for her. She was in a tiny little town in Maine, in what was essentially a trailer park. This guy didn't look scary, or intimidating either. He had kind eyes, at least. Haisley shivered a bit as her body continued to warm up from being outside. The windows seemed to rattle a bit from the wind and Haisley glanced up at the ceiling, hoping it was strong enough to withstand a tree falling on top of it. She began to walk backwards until she got close enough to the couch to sit down, her gaze moving back to Diego. "My name's Haisley. Um... you're not going to try and murder me, are you? 'Cause, like, if you are, I'd rather you try now then wait until I try to leave or something."
He huffed a little laugh out through his nose and shook his head. “That’s a reasonable request, but I promise, no murderous intentions,” he said. “No harm of any kind. Nice to meet you, Haisley.” Diego noted her backpack and that her clothes didn’t exactly look fresh and clean, and he started to wonder if she was a street person. He and Oliver had seen more than their share of homeless folks on their travels -- though none in this town -- and while they weren’t always obvious, there was often a Look around them. Combined with the fact that he was pretty sure she’d been trying to break into the house across the street, Diego thought she might be a runaway. He decided not to ask her about it yet, he didn’t want to potentially scare her off back out into the storm. “Are you hungry? Thirsty?” He took a few slow steps toward the kitchen area, glad for the open floor plan in this place, so they could keep an eye on each other.
It was probably stupid of her to believe him after everything she had been through, but Haisley kept going back to his eyes. Someone could smile and talk nice, but if that warmth never reached their eyes, she knew they were bad news. Her gut told her that Diego was telling the truth and he didn't intend to harm her. Her spine straightened a touch when he asked if she was hungry because the only thing she'd eaten in the past twelve hours was a Snickers bar. Her stomach rumbled loudly at the thought of getting something substantial to eat, hopefully mistaken for the wind outside or something, and Haisley's lips twitched faintly. "Yeah, uh, both actually. I have... a few dollars I can give you. I didn't know if anything was open this late and the guy just dropped me off here."
That was another sign in favor of runaway, and Diego smirked slightly to himself as he rounded the small breakfast bar into the kitchen. He waved a hand in her direction and shot her a less smug sort of smile. “Keep your money,” he said. “We have more than enough.” Diego opened the fridge and started to root through it. “Let’s see ... leftovers, we have tamales and lasagna ... we have sandwiches supplies, cereal ... yogurt, fruit ... what sounds good?” He straightened up enough to look over at Haisley, cocking one eyebrow. She was pretty, and she didn’t look overly skinny, so he hoped she wasn’t on drugs or anything. Her eyes were clear. Point Pleasant didn’t seem to be a great place to run away to, especially this time of year. He wondered where she’d come from.
Arching a brow, Haisley glanced around the small house. More than enough money bought this? And he had said we, so now Haisley half expected someone else to appear. Probably a pretty woman who would take one look at Haisley and make her leave. The lady scientists at the facility hadn't liked her much, though she never really knew why. She didn't care either, and now it didn't matter. Fuck those people.
Because her shoulders were starting to hurt, Haisley slowly pulled her pack off of her back and left it on the couch behind her as she stood. Rubbing her arms, she approached the other side of the breakfast bar, but maintained a comfortable distance. "I don't know what tamales are. Do you have any cereal with the marshmallows?" Cereal, yogurt and fruit was given to her at the facility, though she never got as much as she wanted. Maybe she could talk him into giving her a big ass bowl of marshmallow cereal with a lot of milk. Or, if he didn't have any with marshmallows, just sugar cereal would do.
“No?” Diego asked about the tamales, looking a bit amazed. He’d had them as a child, and then not for a long time, obviously, but he’d remembered them. Biting into the first one that Oliver made him at home had been a divine experience. He clucked his tongue. “You’re missing out. But they won’t satisfy a sweet tooth, so ...” He pulled the milk out and nudged the fridge shut, moving to the cabinet where they kept the cereal. “No marshmallows, but ...” he said as he pulled down the cereal box that contained actual sugar. The other box was the flaky tasteless stuff that Oliver insisted was healthy. It was like eating sticks. Diego’s cereal wasn’t a total sugar bomb, but it was fruity and sweet and brightly colored. He showed the box to Haisley. “Good enough?”
Haisley shrugged softly at his disbelief that she had never had tamales. She didn't even know what tamales were. But there were a lot of things she hadn't had, or experienced. He wouldn't know that though, so she didn't hold it against him. The wind was still loud and a little scary, but it was easy to focus on the box of cereal he was holding. Food was a pretty decent distraction from the horrible weather. The picture on the front of the box didn't look like anything the facility had given her, but it looked good. Her lips twitched into a brief smile and Haisley nodded. "Yeah, that's good. I don't need a lot of milk though." It made her stomach hurt sometimes. But she would suffer through it for sugary cereal. "What's a tamale anyway?"
He took the fleeting smile as a good sign, and Diego dimpled at her. He started to reach up for a bowl, but paused to pat his stomach and give a little groan. “They’re little pockets of heaven, chica,” he said sagely. She was young and white, so maybe she’d just never tried them. Diego nabbed a bowl and started to shake some of the colorful corn blobs into it. They were supposed to look like fruit shapes, he was pretty sure, but they didn’t. They didn’t really taste like real fruit either, but Diego had learned that wasn’t the point of most fruit-flavored foods. “It’s like a corn bread that you stuff with meat and peppers and wrap up in a leaf and cook. And the spices make it --” Diego kissed his fingers like a chef and then laughed a bit. “Some are more like cake, but the ones in there are savory.” He splashed some milk over the cereal, careful not to put too much, then fetched a spoon and pushed the bowl over toward Haisley.
Haisley didn't know what he meant by chica either, but it didn't sound like an insult so she didn't latch onto it for very long. She might have been a bit stupid in the ways of the world and how things worked, but she knew he was Hispanic. She'd had a Hispanic doctor once who was from Brazil, or so he said. They had never talked about food though. But because she was genuinely curious, she listened to Diego describe tamales while her gaze stayed locked on the cereal he was pouring her. She was hungry, but she knew the cereal would only fill some of the ache. Haisley pulled the bowl towards her with a murmured 'thanks' and immediately began to shovel spoonfuls into her mouth, ignoring how some milk dripped down her chin. The gnawing in her gut was so severe now that manners simply eluded her. As soon as she began to chew, it was instinctual to tap into Diego's own hunger, pushing at it, building it in his gut. She wouldn't push it so far that he ate until he got sick, because he was being nice to her and he had kind eyes and let her inside his house. But maybe if Haisley could just feed a little bit then she could probably get through the next couple of days without starving to death.
Yeah, she definitely hadn’t had a meal in a while. Diego watched her start to wolf it down, leaning with his hands casually braced on the counter. She looked very young to him, but not like she’d just run away, and he was suddenly glad he’d looked out the window and not left her to fend for herself, for tonight at least. A moment after she started to eat, Diego’s stomach gave a rumble of hunger. He’d already had dinner, but it hadn’t been a ton of food and watching Haisley devour some cereal made him want some too. He straightened up to grab another bowl and filled it up for himself. He liked more milk in his, and to drink it afterward like a kid. Diego stayed on his side of the breakfast counter, leaning down on one elbow as he started to eat as well. “So,” he said after several bites, glancing up at the girl. “Have you lined up a place to stay tonight? That doesn’t involve breaking and entering?” Diego was going to guess that answer was a big No, but he figured he would give the respect of asking first.
As soon as she felt it - she had never been given an actual word for what it was - Haisley began to feel warmth spread through her limbs. The terrible, sharp ache that had plagued her all day started to dull little by little as she consumed his hunger. Haisley would stop soon. Maybe once he finished his own cereal. Then they would both be full and there would be no real harm done. Not like the tech who had brought her lunch one afternoon after they had starved her for three days. Haisley's brows lifted at his question and she wiped her chin with the back of her hand. "No, not really. I guess coming here was sort of impulsive. I liked the name of it. And I don't always break and enter. Sometimes the doors are unlocked, so it's more just entering. I never cause any property damage or anything. It's just to sleep. This is good." She motioned to her cereal with the spoon. "You should get the kind with the little marshmallows though."
So he’d been right about her being homeless. Whether it was a runaway situation or something else, he didn’t know yet, of course, but Diego felt a little smug that he’d pegged her right. After his rescue it had taken him so long to learn how to read people -- almost total social isolation would do that to a person -- he still felt proud when he could do it. The part about the name made him chuckle around his spoon, because that was part of the reason he and Oliver had picked it out too. “I’ll put it on the shopping list,” he told Haisley once he’d swallowed, giving a crooked grin. He already knew he was going to invite her to stay the night, because a young pretty girl like that shouldn’t be out on her own, much less in the middle of winter in Maine. Especially not with that kind of storm still raging outside. “So you just rolled into town today? Where from? If you don’t mind me being nosy in exchange for sugar.” He popped another heaping spoonful into his own mouth, a tiny bit surprised at how hungry he was. Diego was already thinking about another bowl.
Haisley took another bite of the cereal, mostly to delay answering his questions. She couldn't blame him for being nosy, but she didn't really know how much to tell him. He was still a stranger. But he wasn't them. He was just a guy who liked tamales, living in a trailer home in a tiny Maine town. But what if he called the cops? Cops she didn't trust. They were all connected, she was sure of it, and they would call them to come get her. But Haisley supposed if she told him enough to make him want to call the police, she could just run for it. This place was surrounded by woods. She could just disappear into them and then find someone to drive her far away. Finally swallowing her food, Haisley licked her lips and clutched her spoon until it was digging into her palm. "I got here like, twenty minutes before you saw me. And I'm from somewhere in Michigan? That's where I was born, anyway. Where are you from?"
Diego didn’t mind that she took her time answering, as he was half-occupied with eating as well, and he didn’t always have ready answers for people either. His eyebrow lifted again when she said it had only been twenty minutes, and recalled the way she’d said ‘the guy’ had just dropped her off. Hitchhiking then. She was probably lucky to be alive, especially if she’d come in from another state. “I was born in El Salvador, in Central America,” he told her. She hadn’t known what a tamale was, so he wasn’t going to assume she knew much about the Spanish-speaking world. “But I left when I was very small, and I have been traveling for many years now, so I’m not really from anywhere. Are you traveling as well?” Diego glanced up at her before he took another bite of his quickly disappearing cereal.
If Diego had placed a map of the world in front of her at that moment and asked her to point out El Salvador, she would have had no idea where it was. They had only taught her the bare bones of academics in the facility, something that she felt acutely once she had been able to run away. She wasn't entirely sure she would have been able to point out Michigan on a map either. All she knew was she kept moving and kept running and that made her feel safe enough. "Yeah, I guess I am," Haisley said finally, feeling slightly more comfortable with Diego now that she knew they had something in common. "I don't really know where I'm going though. I just have to keep moving, you know? How long have you lived here?"
Didn’t that sound familiar? It made Diego want to ask her more questions, namely what or whom was she running from, but it was probably too soon for that. He didn’t want to start grilling her, this should stay comfortable for now, his instincts said. She could still be dangerous somehow, but Diego wasn’t concerned. Oliver was probably going to freak out when he got home, but Diego could deal with that too. He nodded his understanding about having to keep moving, then squinted one eye thoughtfully. “A little over three weeks?” he said, then nodded a bit. That sounded about right. His sense of time was often skewed, but he was pretty sure. “We liked the name too.” He gave Haisley a little smile. “It’s not bad so far. Just cold as fuck, but what can you do.” With a soft chuckle, he straightened up and grabbed for the cereal box to add some more into the milk still in his bowl.
"I'm used to it being cold," Haisley said with a shrug. She had a heavy coat and layers on. It helped enough to keep her from getting sick. At least that's what she assumed. And she was feeling really good now. Full and warm all over, like someone had given her a shot of energy. Watching Diego pour himself more cereal, Haisley smiled. She decided she liked him. Maybe he was just being nice to her now because he planned on trying to assault her or something later, but again, her gut feeling was that he was just a nice person. If he traveled a lot, then he knew how important it was to find helpful people, right? Some were helpful. And some weren't. Some were assholes, or just flat out gross. But Diego didn't give off a gross vibe. He hadn't been trying to look at her boobs or anything, which was just another reason she liked him. "Who's we? Are you married?"
Diego had adjusted more to the radically changing temperatures in the world, but he still didn’t love the extremes. He liked to be comfortable. But that was just one of many bullshit real-world things he’d had to get used to. He was chewing through another bite when Haisley asked him if he was married, and Diego huffed some amusement out through his nose. “Might as well be, I guess,” he answered once he swallowed. He patted his pockets, but he’d left his phone on the coffee table, so he didn’t have any selfies with Oliver to show her. Oh well, words would do. “My boyfriend, Oliver. He’s working right now at the hospital, but he’ll be home in a couple of hours, I think.” Diego’s gaze lingered on Haisley’s face for a beat, hunting for any sign of homophobia, as he tended to do. It could be a dangerous world out there for them, he’d been sad to learn. But this girl was young, and the younger generation tended to be more accepting of such things.
It didn't faze or fluster her in the least to hear he had a boyfriend. Maybe that was one of the perks of essentially growing up in an isolated building with very few friends and people who were sometimes kind, but otherwise stoic and all business... she wasn't exposed to a lot of sexuality and what was "right or wrong" in the eyes of everyone else. No one talked to her about those things, except one of the female scientists when Haisley started her period and needed to know what the fuck it was all about. But sex? She knew what it was. She just never gave much thought to it unless she was boosting someone's lustful feelings so she could feed. Sex was food to her. Haisley was more focused on the fact that Diego's boyfriend worked at the hospital. She paled and set down her spoon, wondering now if she needed to panic and run. "What does he do at the hospital? Is he a doctor?"
He couldn’t miss her reaction, and Diego thought it was interesting. Haisley didn’t look like she wanted the answer to be yes. “No, he’s not,” he said and smiled about it, not wanting to draw attention to her comfort. “He’s professionally a psych tech. But it’s a small hospital, so he ends up doing a lot of support work for the nurses, really.” Diego shrugged a shoulder and took another bite of cereal. He was relieved and pleased that she hadn’t made a big deal out of the two of them being gay. That would make it much easier to invite her to stay the night. Diego could already imagine the look Oliver would give him for this, but that idea didn’t bother him any.
It was a relief to hear Oliver wasn’t a doctor. But she still winced at the mention of him being a “tech”. Haisley told herself that didn’t automatically mean the same as the techs at the facility. There were techs everywhere. All kinds of techs. Right? Feeling full now, Haisley took the spoon to set it inside the nearly empty bowl. There was no reason to freak out. Diego was a nice guy who let her come in out of a bad wind storm. He had even fed her. Oliver was probably a nice guy too. She was just about to ask to use the bathroom when the lights flickered and then went out completely, plunging them into darkness. Haisley breathed in sharply. It was probably because of the wind, but still. “Does that happen a lot?” She tried to sound calm but there was a quiver in her voice.
The sudden power outage gave Diego a little start and he cursed under his breath in Spanish. He set the spoon down in the bowl and started to feel his way toward the drawer where he vaguely remembered tucking a flashlight. It was closer than his phone and involved less furniture in the way. “Not so far, but like I said, we haven’t been here long,” he said. “It’s okay, I know there’s a flashlight somewhere in here ...” Diego rummaged around a bit more, then gave a triumphant “ha” and clicked the small light on. It was bright as hell, at least, and he swung it around the room for a second, avoiding shining it too close to Haisley’s face. “We’ve got a fireplace, I’ll get it going,” he told her, keeping his tone warm even though the dark was a bit unsettling to him too. Diego moved around the breakfast bar to do just that.
Haisley made sure to stay out of Diego’s way but she was close behind him when he moved to the fireplace. She had been in the dark plenty of times, in worse circumstances, and she liked to think she was desensitized to it now. But being in a new place, in the home of a sort of stranger, the outage made the nerves in her entire body throb with discomfort. She found the couch and clutched her back pack to her chest as Diego messed with getting a fire started. As cold as it was outside, she was sweating now, the anxiety building, licking along her spine, pooling uncomfortably in her stomach. “I can go whenever you need me to,” she blurted out. “It was nice of you to let me in out of the wind but it doesn’t sound like it’s gonna stop anytime soon.” Haisley could find a place to sleep. There was probably a church around and she had discovered during her hitchhiking journey that a lot of churches took in people off the street at night. If it had been summer she would have just slept outside. She just didn’t want to get comfortable here and then have to leave after all of her other options had gone.
Diego had been a little surprised that this mobile home had a fireplace, but it turned out that most homes in Maine had them, no matter what. Just for incidents like this one, where the power went out in the winter. Fireplaces or generators or both. Diego liked the former one better. He wasn’t quite a firebug, but he had found he loved to mess around with fire pretty early on after his escape. He’d started this particular one up several times just to enjoy it, so it wasn’t too hard to get it going in the mostly-dark. He looked around automatically when Haisley spoke again, though he could barely see her shadow. “Dios mío, are you kidding?” he said with some surprise. “I’m not gonna send you back out in all that, especially with no street lights.” He got the flame lit and clicked the flashlight off as the orange glow started to spread over the logs. Diego stayed where he was next to the fireplace, though he plopped down on his ass, still giving Haisley distance and light to see him by. He aimed a smile at her. “You’re welcome to stay, if you like. We have a spare room ... but no extra bed. The couch isn’t bad. I won’t stop you from leaving if you wish, of course, but ...” Diego tossed a wary glance toward the window. “I wouldn’t recommend it.”
Haisley supposed she ought to feel awkward or uneasy about sleeping in a stranger's house, but she had slept in weirder places. Just not usually within such close proximity to another person. Or persons, since Diego had a boyfriend. But she wasn't feeling awkward or uneasy. She was only feeling relieved, because she had a warm place to sleep in an unfamiliar town. She had no idea what she would do tomorrow, but Haisley always figured it out. She wouldn't have made it this far otherwise. Relieved, Haisley exhaled and smiled. "Thanks. I don't mind sleeping on the couch. And I promise I'll leave early tomorrow so I won't be in your way." Maybe later she would find a store and steal some cereal with marshmallows for him as a thank you.
Oliver had left his shift at the hospital only minutes before the power went out. There weren't a lot of people on the road tonight, which was probably for the best considering the traffic lights were blinking and the streets were otherwise dark. He thought briefly about driving back to the hospital to see if they needed him to stay, but the hospital had a generator and he was coming off of a twelve-hour shift. He was exhausted and just wanted to go home and curl up next to Diego. Besides, it wasn't the lack of lights that bothered Oliver as much as the wind did. It was dangerously strong and he was clutching the steering wheel for the entire drive home. He wasn't sure he even breathed until he reached Seaview and parked the car. Hurrying up the stairs to the porch, Oliver quickly unlocked the door to get inside and out of the biting cold. His gaze found Diego first, sitting in front of the fire and looking gorgeous and wonderfully cozy. "It's a nightmare out there," Oliver said as he shut the door to lock it behind him. "I wasn't sure I would get home without the wind blowing the car off of the road, and--" His train of thought was derailed by the presence of another. A girl sitting on their couch. Blinking in surprise, he stared at her before his gaze ticked back to Diego. "Who's this?"
Diego was just telling Haisley that she wouldn’t be in the way when he heard the car door slam outside. It was more muted than it usually was through these mobile home walls, a real testament to how much the wind was blowing. His heart gave a leap of mixed feelings -- the usual joy that came with Oliver’s return home, but some nerves this time too. Oliver had never come home to Diego taking in a stray girl before. He stood up as Oliver bustled in, giving him an-already sheepish smile as he stepped forward to give him a quick kiss hello. “Welcome home, mi amor,” he murmured, then turned to look over at the girl on the couch. “This is Haisley. She is new in town, we had some cereal, and ah ... it’s not good weather to be out without a roof, right? Nightmare, you said.” Shooting Oliver a hopeful glance, he started unwrapping the scarf from around his neck. Strangers were easier to take when one was comfortable, right? Diego knew Oliver wasn’t some heartless bastard or anything, he just tended to be more cautious than Diego was when it came to people.
Oliver was more cautious when it came to people. Especially people in his home. Especially people in his home alone with Diego. Rational thinking told him that she couldn't have been more than sixteen or seventeen, but he knew that age meant nothing if someone was potentially dangerous. Oliver wasn't going to jump to conclusions, however, but he was still wary. "Hello, Haisley," Oliver said pleasantly enough as Diego took his scarf. She responded with a small, cautious smile and he noted how she clung more tightly to the backpack in her lap. Oliver tugged his gloves off and began to unbutton his coat, turning his body towards Diego as he lowered his voice. "Where's her family?" he murmured to Diego, feeling more comfortable with Spanish at the moment because he was assuming the girl wouldn't be able to understand him. He didn't want to make her uncomfortable asking all of these questions in front of her. "Did she come to the door? How did you find her?"
Diego clucked his tongue in disapproval before he could even think about, tossing another quick glance at Haisley. It might’ve been uncomfortable to ask questions that she could understand, but it seemed far more rude to talk too much in Spanish in front of her. “I think she ran away from them,” he murmured back, speaking quickly so they wouldn’t be rude for long, at least. “She didn’t come to the door, I spotted her at the empty house across the street. A big branch fell somewhere, so I looked out and she was out there, said she was locked out, and I couldn’t leave her, Oliver. I invited her to stay already, so ... be nice?” Diego gave him a look that was half-apologetic and half-cheeky, then turned with a big smile aimed at Haisley. “I just realized ... no marshmallow cereal, but we do have real marshmallows. We should put them on sticks and ah ... what do you call? In the fire ...” Diego looked over at Oliver again, making a poking gesture with an imaginary stick. “How do you say?”
Ah, a homeless girl then. Oliver wasn't sure how he felt about that, but he wasn't going to toss her out either. If anything, Diego's compassion for someone else eased a lot of the tension Oliver was feeling about having a stranger in their home. Besides, she looked harmless enough, even nervous although that was probably because they were standing there speaking a language she clearly didn't understand. For all she knew, they were plotting her demise... something Oliver realized a bit belatedly. Even so, he very nearly asked what Diego meant by having asked the girl to stay - for how long, exactly? But... that could wait. They could talk privately when they went to bed. For now, Oliver could be nice, though he pouted a bit at the thought that he wouldn't have been friendly in the first place.
"Roasting marshmallows," Oliver told Diego as he hung up his coat. "Or, toasting? I guess it could be called either one of those things. If we had graham crackers we could have made s'mores." He turned back toward Haisley and smiled, wanting to set her at ease. "I'm Oliver, though you may have already known that. What do you think. Do you want to toast some marshmallows?"
Haisley didn't really mind that they were speaking Spanish though she was hoping Diego's boyfriend wasn't pissed that she was there. He was cute in any case and he didn't really look mad. Just uncertain. When it became clear that they weren't going to kick her out, Haisley relaxed again and managed a small smile. "Sure. I mean, I've never toasted marshmallows before but... I like marshmallows, so... um, can I use your bathroom though?" She'd had to pee for the last ten minutes or so but had felt sort of stuck to the couch with the lights off and everything. She wanted to pee and splash some cold water on her face, at least.
Roasting and toasting were two different things, weren’t they? English was so weird. Pleased that Oliver wasn’t as upset about this as he worried about, Diego stepped back toward the fireplace and picked up the flashlight. It wasn’t that he thought Oliver was some monster who would kick a homeless teenage girl out into the cold, Diego just knew that he sometimes impulsively did things that Oliver disapproved of, and he loved having Oliver’s approval. Plus he was coming off a long shift and probably tired as hell. His man was a caretaker at heart though, and they both knew how tough being on the road could be. “Of course,” Diego said to Haisley as he offered the flashlight out to her. “It’s down that hall, first door on your right.” Maybe it was foolish to let a strange girl wander around in their house, but they really didn’t have that much to steal.
Haisley stood and took the flashlight with a murmured “thanks”. She thought about taking her backpack with her, just because it carried all of her earthly belongings, but... maybe if she left it on the couch they would know she wasn’t planning on stealing. The two men didn’t seem like the type to go through her things, but if they felt like they needed to, then at least they wouldn’t find any drugs or anything. Cigarettes, but no drugs. She didn’t even smoke, but she’d found offering people cigarettes helped her get things she needed. So she left it on the couch and headed down the hall to the bathroom, thankful for the little bit of light that the flashlight gave her.
Oliver knelt down and began to untie his shoes, waiting until he heard the bathroom door shut before he spoke again. “She might have people looking for her,” he said, glancing up at Diego. “Like her parents. She looks young enough to still be in school. Did she tell you where she was from?” He kept his tone light because he wasn’t mad. Just a little worried. Concerned for the girl, and for themselves if this girl was on a Missing poster somewhere. They didn’t want to draw attention to themselves and this could prove to be a really bad idea, even for her staying one night. Oliver already planned on Googling her name later, just to see if she was in the news somewhere.
Diego was a little tempted to go through her bag, to check for drugs and because he was just curious about people by nature, but he knew that was wrong, so the impulse was easy to dismiss. He turned back to Oliver at the questions. “She said she was born in Michigan,” he told him. “But it sounded like she’s been traveling a while. I don’t know where she came from right before this, but she just arrived.” Diego bent over to kiss the top of Oliver’s head while he was crouched. “She’s only been here maybe thirty minutes? So I didn’t want to interrogate her too hard. She’s scared.” As she ought to be, being a teenage girl out on her own. Diego didn’t think he could’ve done it by himself, but he’d started with so many disadvantages that hopefully this girl didn’t have. “You are better at asking questions anyway.”
Oliver stood and toed his shoes off, thankful to be out of them now. He was ready to change into something comfortable and relax, even in a darkened house with a stranger. But first, he turned and slipped his arms around Diego's waist, nuzzling their noses together. "I guess we don't need to ask a lot of questions tonight, si? We can give her a place to sleep." Haisley would probably take off in the morning anyway. Some people were just wanderers by nature, never comfortable in one place for long. That could be applied to him and Diego, though they did it out of necessity than desire. "If you feel like she's okay, then she's okay. Maybe we can just toast some marshmallows tonight and talk to her, make her feel comfortable. Is that okay?"
“Mmm, si, perfecto,” Diego murmured with a bright smile, his body instinctively plastering to Oliver’s. Affection from his man always made him melt in ways that might’ve been embarrassing for someone who was more self-conscious. Diego still relished it. He appreciated Oliver’s faith in his judgement of character, even if it was probably lacking now and then. But Diego wasn’t afraid of a teenage girl. Sure, she might try to kill them in their sleep or something insane like that, but both of them were light sleepers by necessity, and Diego could defend them in an instant if they needed it. He wasn’t worried, just full of that warm glow of helping somebody else out. “Te amo,” he added, pressing a kiss to Oliver’s lips. Diego pulled back and patted his chest. “Are you hungry for something more? I can make you something.” The microwave didn’t work with the power out, of course, but the stove was gas, so he could heat up something if Oliver wanted.
Touching Diego always re-energized Oliver at the end of a long shift, no matter where he was working. If they hadn't had an unexpected visitor tonight, he probably would have already been tugging Diego to bed. The wind howled outside, making the trailer creak a little but Oliver felt safe enough inside, even with the lights out. His hands smoothed over Diego's back and he pressed tiny kisses along Diego's jaw, just to get a taste in before Haisley returned. "I'm not terribly hungry. And we promised her marshmallows. I think there might be one of those barbeque forks on the grill out back. I can bring it in and wash it unless you've got a better idea." The house had come with an old gas grill, but it had been too cold to use it, not to mention it needed a thorough cleaning.
Diego had meant to offer more than marshmallows, he just hadn’t gotten all the words out. It was hard to concentrate on anything with Oliver’s hands on him. He wasn’t hungry anyway, so it all worked out. Diego tilted his head a bit to give Oliver as much of his jawline as he wanted, though he was keeping an ear open for the bathroom door. Making Haisley comfortable would be difficult if they were making out when she came back into the room. “Eh that’s only two at a time with one handle ... ooh, I think I know!” Diego grinned and gave Oliver’s cheek several kisses before he pulled away and started toward their bedroom. There were a couple of wire hangers in their closet they weren’t using, and he thought they would make good unburnable sticks once he straightened them out and washed them. Diego walked lightly past the bathroom door, only slowing down a tiny bit to listen for distress.
Haisley wasn't in distress. She was just taking a moment to catch her breath and remind herself that Diego was nice, and his boyfriend seemed nice, and everything would be okay. She heard soft footsteps outside the door and Haisley flushed the toilet and washed her hands, the flashlight having been set on the sink to give her some light. After splashing the cold water onto her face, she felt a little better. She had a warm place to sleep. That was the important thing. Haisley had gotten this far in one piece. No one had found her, or hurt her. This place didn't give her bad vibes at all. Point Pleasant was a nice name and maybe she had been drawn here for a reason.
Having draped her coat over the side of the bathtub, Haisley picked it up and quietly slipped out of the bathroom. She found Oliver in the living room, crouching down in front of the fire using the poker to stoke the flames a bit. A bag of marshmallows on the coffee table. Her backpack didn't look like it had been touched. Haisley returned to the sofa and sat, dropping her coat on top of the back pack. Oliver looked over at her and smiled and Haisley couldn't help but feel herself smile back. "Do you have pajamas? I can get you one of our shirts and some pajama bottoms to wear if not. You'd probably fit better in mine than Diego's, but... I mean, if you feel comfortable with that."
"Um. Maybe, yeah," Haisley said, glancing at her covered backpack. She didn't own any real pajamas since she usually just slept in whatever she was wearing. "That would be nice, thanks."
It was a little hard to find the unused hangers in the dark, and Diego hadn’t brought any light with him, but he managed. By the time he came back to the living room, Haisley had emerged and Oliver was asking her about pajamas. That made Diego grin as he went to the kitchen. The light from the fireplace was dim in there, but it was enough to see by as he started untwisting the hangers and straightening them out. “I wish we had some graham crackers and chocolate,” he said to nobody in particular as he worked. “I had no idea what s’mores were until Oliver showed me, and it changed my whole life.” Diego chuckled lightly and took the metal rods over to the sink to wash them off. He and Haisley probably didn’t strictly need more sugar in their bellies, but that had never stopped him before. And a homeless runaway deserved a treat.
Haisley clutched her hands between her knees. She felt better without her coat on. Not as hot and sweaty, anyway though Haisley supposed a lot of that had to do with her anxiety fading away. The longer she was there, the more at ease she felt. She wasn't sure what Diego was going to do with hangers, but she supposed it was to use for the marshmallows. "I don't... I mean, what's a s'more?" They had mentioned it twice nice and Haisley felt kind of stupid for being clueless, despite knowing what chocolate and crackers were.
Oliver blinked in surprise and glanced between Diego and Haisley. It was like when he mentioned the treat to Diego years and years ago. He had gotten that same confused look from his boyfriend. "It's, you know, chocolate and melted marshmallows on a graham cracker? You can't really go camping without making s'mores."
"I've never been camping," Haisley admitted with a soft shrug. "I mean, I've slept outside before? But I don't know if that's the same thing. I just... didn't get a lot of sugar at the fa... where I was before. Where I grew up." She shifted a bit on the couch. "It sounds really good though. A s'more. I have a Snickers bar in my backpack? But I don't know if that's the right kind of chocolate."
A weird little chill ran down Diego’s back. Had he heard that correctly? He’d said ‘the facility’ so many times in the years since they’d left it, it was ingrained into his speech patterns, and he could’ve sworn Haisley had started to say it. That couldn’t be right though, right? And even if it had been, she couldn’t mean the facility. He shook his head a little and let it pass. It was just a misspeak, that was all. Diego wiped the metal sticks off and came back into the living room. “It works best with those kinds that are just squares,” he explained as he plopped down on the floor in front of the fireplace. Diego offered Oliver a stick, then Haisley, giving her a smile. This probably wasn’t what she’d expected when he’d called her over across the street, but sometimes that was a good thing. “And you definitely have to have the crackers, so ... just marshmallows for us tonight. Keep your Snickers.” He paused, then casually asked, “Where did you grow up?”
Haisley took the stick and hesitated before standing to join them on the floor. For the first time she didn't feel like she needed to be careful. She must really want a marshmallow. Oliver took the bag and offered her one before taking one out for Diego and himself. She had never done this before, and it obviously didn't take a brain surgeon to figure out what to do, but she still watched Diego and Oliver, just to make sure she didn't do something stupid like accidentally setting the whole damn house on fire. Oliver wrapped one arm around his raised knees and placed his own marshmallow close to the fire but not close enough for it to catch fire. He had always been a 'golden brown' kind of guy where it came to toasted marshmallows.
Haisley did the same, her hand feeling a little sweaty around the stick she held. But this was... weirdly fun. So much so that she didn't really think much about Diego's question. "I don't know. I think it was close to Michigan. I was in kind of a hospital for most of my life." There, that sounded legit, didn't it? Haisley could have lied but she didn't know enough geography to think on her feet that quick. And the facility had doctors, so it wasn't a super duper lie or anything. "How long do I cook the marshmallow for? Or, er, toast it?"
Diego had experimented with marshmallow toasting, and he’d found he liked them a bit burnt, slightly crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside. So he aimed his a bit further into the flames, his elbow braced against the brick that surrounded the fireplace. Haisley’s answer made his heart thump weirdly, and his eyes ticked to meet Oliver’s. She hadn’t even said it was definitively a hospital, just a ‘kind of’ hospital. There had to be other situations that description applied to, didn’t there? What kind of hospital didn’t even tell their residents what state they were in? Diego tried to tell himself he was reading too much into tiny things. “It’s a personal preference,” he answered her actual question, looking curiously over at Haisley again. “I like mine darker than Oliver ... just experiment, we have plenty.”
Haisley scooted in a bit closer to the fire, her eyes ticking to Diego's marshmallow to try and mimic what he was doing. She didn't want a totally burnt marshmallow, did she? Maybe. Maybe she would try one and then try it the way Oliver was making his.
Oliver's gaze had met Diego's when Haisley mentioned growing up in a hospital. Or something "kind of like" a hospital? It made his own pulse quicken and he studied her in the fire light while her attention was on Diego. If she had been sent by the facility, she would have been smarter to keep that to her chest. She would have a story to tell, definitive answers. And would they have really sent a teenage girl after them? Maybe, depending on how powerful she was. For a split second Oliver considered ordering her out, but the urge passed as quickly as it had risen. She was just a runaway, and even if she had a story similar to Diego's, that didn't mean she was out to harm them. "Why were you in a hospital?" He heard the question leave his lips before he gave a lot of thought to whether or not he should even ask. "Were you sick?"
Her hand tightened instinctively on the makeshift marshmallow stick and Haisley glanced at Diego, though she wasn't sure why, or what she was looking for there. Maybe permission that she didn't have to answer but that was silly because she didn't need permission. She was her own person. Maybe it was leftover habits from the facility. She had needed approval to do anything there, even go to the bathroom. "I'm not sick," she told Oliver simply. "Maybe they thought I was, but I wasn't. And I got away, so it doesn't even matter now."
She’d gotten away. Who said that about normal hospitals? Why hadn’t her family been visiting her? Why hadn’t she gone to them when she’d gotten away? Diego was having a few similar thoughts as Oliver was, that maybe she’d been sent by the Facility, but that didn’t feel right to his instincts. Haisley seemed alone and in need, and maybe that was a ploy to exploit their empathy, but he didn’t think so. He licked his teeth behind his lips and glanced at his marshmallow, trying to think of the best way to get information out of her that wasn’t just a constant stream of questions. “It’s funny ... I spent a lot of time in a hospital when I was a kid too,” Diego said, his eyes sliding back to Haisley. “I hated it. Did they mistreat you there? And that’s why you left?”
A tiny flame licked up the side of her marshmallow so Haisley brought it out of the fire and carefully blew on it. It smelled really good so she didn't hesitate in tugging the melty goodness from the stick to take a tentative bite. It was messy but the burnt flavor tasted really good. She was chewing when Diego spoke again and Haisley began to lick sticky pieces of marshmallow from her fingers. She already wanted another one. It felt kind of weird to hear Diego had been in a hospital as a kid too, though he was probably talking about a real one. Her stomach clenched uncomfortably because she didn't know what to say. She supposed she could tell Diego and Oliver the truth about everything, but what if they called the police? Or they would just think she was crazy and call... well, the police. She had a warm place to sleep and marshmallows to eat and it felt stupid to risk that by telling them something normal people would probably never believe.
Haisley settled comfortably on her heels again and found she wanted to tell them... at least something. Maybe they would feel bad for her and let her take the rest of the marshmallows in the morning. "They just... ran a lot of tests on me," she explained, reaching into the bag to stick another marshmallow on the hanger. "I had to listen or I'd get into trouble. I couldn't leave either. I was sent there when I was eight, I think? But when I saw a chance to escape, I did." Her eyes snapped to Diego. "I don't know where my parents are, and I don't think they care where I am. Just, please don't tell anyone. I know it sounds crazy. I just don't want to go back."
Diego’s eyes widened a bit as he listened, keeping Haisley’s gaze for a beat or two before he was compelled to look at Oliver. Maybe he wasn’t just imagining parallels. That sounded incredibly similar to what he’d been through. “Are you hearing this?” he asked his partner, switching back to Spanish so they could talk freely. Manners had to be set aside for the moment. He didn’t want to spook the girl, but at the same time he could hardly believe what she was saying. “She couldn’t have come from the same place, could she? What kind of coincidence is that? But running experiments on captive children ... ? Who else does that?” There was incredulity and excitement leaking into his voice, and he was sitting up straight, his marshmallow all but forgotten.
Oliver's heart had started to beat harder in his chest as Haisley spoke. He wasn't afraid of her anymore, because if the facility had sent her here, she was giving away her cover pretty willingly. But still. What were the odds of another AIR captive showing up in Point Pleasant? At their door, no less. Okay, technically she had been across the street, but still. His eyes met Diego's and while he didn't feel the same sort of excitement Diego clearly did, he was intrigued. And nervous. "I don't know, love. If it could happen in Washington, it could happen anywhere, couldn't it? She said she was from Michigan, maybe... maybe there are others in the country. Or maybe it was just a hospital that didn't know how to treat its patients." Oliver noticed Haisley was staring at him, clearly uneasy now with the Spanish. Her whole body seemed tense and he could just imagine her trying to stab one of them with the hanger slash marshmallow stick. "Your story sounds familiar," he told her gently, wanting to ease her obvious nerves. He glanced at Diego. "Diego had people running tests on him for years as a young boy before he escaped too. We don't want to frighten you. We just wonder if it was the same place."
Haisley shook her head and to her credit, she didn't scoot back or get to her feet. She was feeling prickles of apprehension all over her body. "I don't know. I don't know where I was except that it was near Michigan. I think. What kind of tests?" she asked Diego, having forgotten all about her own marshmallow that was now melting and about to fall off the hanger into the fireplace.
Diego felt a little guilty for the language lapse when he saw how worried Haisley suddenly looked, and he rubbed his free hand over his mouth and then remembered to pull his marshmallow out of the fire. It was a bit more burnt than he liked it, and he blew it out and let it cool, his attention much more focused on Haisley. For a second he was sorely tempted just to show her, then excitedly ask what she could do, why had they kept her so long, had she learned anything? But that definitely would scare her, especially if they were off base about all this. He thought for a second, glancing at his man again before he refocused on her. “Tests for ... things you can do with your mind,” he said, half of him sure Haisley would laugh and call them crazy. “Things most people can’t do. They were trying to force it out of me. Is that ... the same for you?”
Haisley did laugh. Or she tried to. Instead the sound sort of got lodged in her throat, sounding like something between a whine and a cough. She could feel her body starting to tremble a little and she wondered if the facility had people everywhere and maybe Diego was one of them and knew who she was. Maybe the truck driver was one of them too, and dropped her off here for Diego to find her and keep her captive until the more dangerous men arrived. Maybe, maybe, maybe. But he could have knocked her out as soon as she stepped into their house. And even in the fire light Haisley could see a shimmer of something in Diego's eyes. Something that looked like excitement and wonder that maybe he found someone who was like him. Were they alike? Had Diego been at the same facility she was? Were there more? That thought made her want to run again, except to where? Apparently no place was safe if those scientists were all over the place.
Licking her lips, she glanced between Diego and Oliver, both of whom were watching her intently. And she felt compelled to tell them the truth. Because maybe... if Diego was the same as her... maybe they would protect her. A small, stubborn part of her insisted she didn't need protecting, but Haisley knew enough to know she had to find something more to live off of than just hitchhiking and stealing. "It sounds the same," she said finally. "They would do tests that ended up hurting a lot. If I fought back they would put me in a dark room for days. If I cooperated I got rewards, but it was mostly getting to go outside for a few minutes or watching tv or something. Did they... were they able to get it out of you?" she asked Diego tentatively.
God, it was so strange to hear a thing that hurt to listen to and exhilarated him at the same time. It was Diego’s turn to let out a sound that was only partly a laugh, muffled by the hand he rubbed over his face. “Dios mío, asombroso,” he murmured. How was this possible? Diego didn’t know. Life in the world was often so boring and senseless at the same time, and he’d tried to stay grounded in reality over the years, the way Oliver seemed so good at doing. This was such a crazy coincidence that he knew he should be suspicious of it, but he couldn’t. Not with Haisley peering at him like that, so hesitant and hopeful. At the same time his heart broke for her and all he knew she’d endured, and he had to fight against the urge to grab her into a tight hug. Too soon, too soon. To answer her question, he nodded toward the marshmallow bag on the table, then drained the gravity from the area directly around it. The bag lifted lazily into the air, the white blobs inside of it weightless in the plastic. The coffee table also creaked and wobbled a little with the change. “I had it before them,” he told Haisley, looking at her with awe like she was the one doing the trick. “They couldn’t control it in me, so they kept me hostage for many years.”
Oliver's mind was running a mile a minute, trying to figure out how all of this had happened, where she had come from, what she could do. Had they been able to pull it out of her the way they had with Diego? Why had they kept her for so long? Maybe they were going to kill her the way they had planned with Diego. Oliver frowned but allowed Diego and Haisley to speak, aware that their understanding was more with each other than with him. And that was okay. He would do whatever he needed to do to keep Diego safe, but his gut feeling told him he wouldn't have to worry about this teenage girl. She seemed as lost as Diego had been. So Oliver picked at his toasted marshmallow, keeping an eye on the both of them as Diego showed Haisley his ability.
Her eyes were wide as the bag began to float. Haisley had seen a lot of weird shit over the years, but she had never seen anyone manipulate gravity. It wasn't scary though. It was awesome. And she couldn't believe that she was meeting someone outside of those walls that maybe went through what she did. Haisley supposed Diego had been somewhere different with different people who had different agendas. But he was special, like her. How had she ended up there, of all places? Maybe it was luck? "That is so cool," Haisley said, smiling at Diego. "Did you ever make them float like that? Like, if they were being total pricks to you?"
Her appreciation seemed so genuine, it delighted Diego. He never really got to show his powers off, they had to keep such a low profile, and it was difficult to trust people to that extent. People who weren’t showing signs of having been through the same ordeals he had, at least. Whatever was happening here was special, he was starting to feel it in his chest. Diego let the marshmallow bag drop and gave a bright laugh to her question. “I tossed a few of them around once or twice, yeah,” he said, though that was something of an understatement. Diego had defended himself many many times, and he knew all about those isolation rooms and having ‘privileges’ taken away. He glanced at Oliver, and wanted to tell her that not all of them had been bad, but he wasn’t too distracted to see how it might be a bad idea to tell her that part just yet. “Can you do anything?” he asked, his tone gentle again. It felt like such a personal thing to ask, but he’d never gotten to talk to someone else with abilities like his.