big man on campus

[bigmandiego]

{ JAN LUIS CASTELLANOS, 22, CIS MALE, HE/HIM } Is that DIEGO FUENTES? A SENIOR originally from MANHATTAN, NY, they decided to come to Ogden College to study ASTROPHYSICS & ASTRONOMY. They’re THE BIG MAN ON CAMPUS on campus, but even they could get blamed for Greer’s disappearance.

THE BASICS

FULL NAME:  Diego Luis Fuentes NICKNAMES:  D/Dee/Di however you want to spell it and Fuentes is common AGE:  22 BIRTHDAY:  May 18th HOMETOWN:  Manhattan, New York ETHNICITY:  Dominican SPOKEN LANGUAGES:  English, Spanish, French, and Italian GENDER & PRONOUNS:  Cis Male, He/Him SEXUAL ORIENTATION:  Bisexual

DIGGING IN DEEPER

MBTI TYPE: ESFJ-T ALIGNMENT:  Neutral Good POSTIIVE TRAITS:  Practical, Hard Working, Enthusiastic NEGATIVE TRAITS:  Stubborn, Insecure, Idealistic SMOKES/DRINKS/DRUGS:  No, Yes, Sometimes EXTRACURRICULARS:  Football Captain, Cross Country Member, Senior Student Governance Member, Triathlon Club, Sigma Alpha Epsilon president CHARACTER INSPIRATIONS: Nick Young (Crazy Rich Asians), Ted Mullens (Schitt's Creek), Nate Archibald (Gossip Girl), Dr. James Wilson (House), Ann Perkins (Parks & Rec)

HOW HE EMBODIES HIS TROPE

Diego is perfect, that’s what everyone thinks anyway. Not only is he athletic, not only is he smart, not only is he charming and well liked— it’s all deserved. He works hard to not let his teammates on the football team down. He works harder to keep his grades up. He is kind hearted, and sincerely as friendly as he comes across. He has everything he could possibly want. He even had the future anybody could have wanted. A secure spot as partner in his father’s law firm after graduating law school, and the perfect future wife, in Greer Morrison. Except Diego didn’t want any of that. He never wanted to study law. Parts of his relationship with Greer… were complicated at best. So, when he came back junior year with a brand new major (he always felt nerdy about his love of space and physics, but it is something he had been passionate about since he was a child), and no girlfriend it was surprising to everybody. He doesn’t think much really has changed. He’s still athletic, he’s still smart, he’s still loved by everyone. He is just doing something he actually loves, so Diego still feels bigger than ever.

HIS RELATIONSHIP WITH GREER

He grew up with Greer. He knew her since they were little kids, and their parents knew each other before that. They went to all of the best schools together, they went to all of the best parties together, they went on vacations together. They were inseparable, though it was not necessarily through any decision of their own. A lot of his life was decided for him without any real decision of his own for a lot of his life, and he always felt like that was something he and Greer really related to each other on. It’s just how people like them are raised. He still thinks about a moment when they were young, about ten at most, the two of them sitting on some ornate staircase in the middle of a Christmas party commiserating about how awkward their parents make them feel around each other because they never stopped talking about how cute they were together. Greer said, ‘I wish they wouldn’t’, and Diego feels like maybe that single moment summed up their entire relationship.

Not to say he didn’t love Greer, not to say they didn’t want to date when they suddenly were wracked with hormones. Diego definitely wanted to date her, and he still loves her. He always will, but they did not have a great relationship. He was a terrible boyfriend, and she was a terrible girlfriend. They pretended like they were perfect, they had the act down. Smile, hold hands, kiss, laugh good naturedly when their relatives brought up their future together. They were put into a tiny box together, and over the years it ruined any chance they really had with each other. It made them miserable, and in turn they made each other miserable— but only behind closed doors, which can be even more damning than publicly airing your dirty laundry. They broke up in their Sophomore year, and he thinks they were both happier and better for it. At least he hopes that is the case.

WHAT'S HAPPENED RECENTLY

After the situation the previous year started going down Diego has been very stressed out. Not only is he looked at suspiciously as Greer's former boyfriend (and not even the most recent one!), but as someone who did openly argue with Greer quite a lot while they were dating. His roommate was also arrested and sent to jail. His best friend was fucking his girlfriend behind his back. Someone is out blackmailing everybody, and someone who he was extremely close with since they were children had disappeared. It was perhaps a bit of a selfish thing to do, but Diego left Ogden at the end of last year, a few days before the fire at the Commons happened.

During the year he had applied for internships, and study abroad programs and ended up in Paris France from the start of the Summer, until the start of this current term. He has been working as an intern at the European Space Agency, and attending Paris Sciences et Lettres -- PSL Research Paris, a school ranked number 1 in France, and in the top 50 in the world. So, yes, he left Ogden on a study abroad program for half a year, but it was for his career, and for his experiance -- it wasn't to get away from all of this. That's what he says.

HEADCANONS

Diego's family is a link between New Money, and Old Money. His father is new money, having made a name for himself as an extremely aggressive defense attorney for a lot of New York's Elite (think Saul Goodman for wealthy people). That is how he met Diego's mother, a woman part of the oldest families in New York City. Her parents weren't a fan of the match, but what was her father going to say? No to the man who got him out of spending years in prison for embezzlement and fraud? So, the two of them got married and had their only child, Diego who bears the weight of old money expectations, and new money ambitions.

Up until this year Diego was planning to study law and become a partner at his father's law firm, but that was only because his father wanted him to. Surprisingly he came back this year to study two completely different things (Astrophysics, and Astronomy). It's caused a bit of tension back home, but he's always wanted to work for NASA, he's never in his entire life wanted to be a lawyer.

Diego prides himself on making sure he’s not handed anything, despite who his family may be. It’s one of the reasons he’s happier in a field of study that his parents have nothing to do with. He works really hard to maintain good grades. He works really hard to maintain his spot as Captain of the Football Team, and on Cross Country. He works really hard organizing things for SAE. He works really fucking hard, stressing himself out on the amount of work constantly on his plate and worrying if he’s good enough. He just wants to earn what he has on his merit. Not because of who he is.

He grew up with Greer. He knew her since they were kids, they were dating since they entered high school. He loves her, he'd be the first one to say that. He loves her as a friend, and as someone who has been in his life for as long as he can remember. But their relationship was fucked. Their breakup wasn't amicable, nor were they that amicable after they broke up, but it was mutual, and it didn't stop how he feels about her.

MORE COMING SOON .... 

[montyrichler]

"The dude fuckin' sucks," Monty muttered about Link with a snort, collapsing back onto the porch swing easily enough. Their shared seat rocked gently as he debated how forthcoming to be, squinty gaze soon turning in Diego's direction. He should only cough up the CliffsNotes version of what happened and gloss over the details to get the dirt, but there was a tiny part of Monty that was desperate for a confessional. That needed someone other than Ollie to talk about all this with, and when he looked at Diego, he didn't necessarily feel the dread of judgement. He was just high enough to not really care.

"Okay, so, well… you'll probably remember when everyone found out that Milo was fucking Greer," he said, far less delicately than he probably should have, considering that Greer was Diego's girlfriend at the time. "Sorry," Monty tagged on with a regretful cringe, inhaling sharply and shaking his head. "Link also got exposed for blackmailing his rich dad then, too… I did that. Well, I mean -- G did, obviously, but I was the one that, y'know… gave the go ahead, or whatever you wanna call it. And I didn't know what G was gonna say about either of them, but yeah… Yada-yada, G hates me and told Milo it was my fault, and ever since he's been threatening to tell Link."

[bigmandiego]

Diego wondered what Monty had against Link. He would have thought maybe they would get along, despite the Ollie of it all. They just seemed like they had similar enough tastes to have things in common. He could be wrong about that, though. He might not have the greatest opinion on Monty, but he was, in general, pretty harmless. Link on the other hand, well, if what he'd found out about him was maybe not as harmless. Which wasn't really all that surprising to be completely honest.

He listened as Monty described what happened. Maybe getting the whole backstory of how all of that had been exposed didn't matter all that much. It didn't change anything. But he was happy to know how everything actually went down. "You gave the go ahead?" Diego asked, knowing it probably wasn't as simple as that. "What did they text you and say 'hey monty I have dirt on Link and Milo you want me to tell everyone?'" He doubted it. Kind of funny, in a shitty way, that G told Milo what happened. Really not surprising to know everything they did with G was not confidential.

"It's almost been a year, I don't think he's going to tell anyone," Diego said, shaking his head. "I think he probably is just having fun fucking with you at this point." But maybe Monty had already figured that out.

[montyrichler]

An immediate headshake slowly morphed into a shrug, clunky and reluctant to reassess his plan to cut and run as soon as he could. "I dunno." It would look good on future applications, and it wasn't like he hated tennis or anything… Maybe Milo, in all of his anti-fun-ness, had actually helped him out in the long run. Funny how that worked. That particular train of thought ran out of steam pretty quickly, though, Monty instead rolling his eyes and shaking his head once more. "It's a whole big, dumb thing," he sighed, gaze resettling on Diego. Should he really get into it? No. Was he going to anyway? Well… He hesitated, probably already giving away too much when asking, "You're not really friends with Link, right?"

[bigmandiego]

Diego fixed a very interested look on Monty as he spoke. He would have actually believed that it was a 'whole big, dumb thing' if he had stopped there. Because this was Milo they were talking about, and he could make a mountain out of a mole hill if he didn't like somebody, and Diego was very aware of Milo's feelings towards Monty. But then he was asking about Link, and that was when Diego really got interesting. He laughed a little, and shook his head. "No," he said, "we're not really each other's biggest fans." Diego hesitated, chewing on his bottom lip a moment before he started to move them towards the porch swing, instead of continuing to gently nudge Monty off of the SAE property. He took a seat and motioned for him to sit as well. "You tell me what you're talking about, and I'll tell you something I found out recently about Link." That would really only be fair.

[ollieinoue]

He wondered what sort of jobs would be possible with an Astrology degree, if that were a real thing. Birth Chart reader? He glanced back over at Diego as they sat down, frowning a little bit at the question. "Yes," he said, "aren't you? I mean if last year was any indication ..." He had to remind himself that Charlie had gotten out, at least. As far as any of them knew, but the two of them hadn't really left it on the best of terms so he hadn't followed up. There was that. So G wasn't trying to keep them here indefinitely. He was quiet for a moment, biting down on his bottom lip. "It's scary. Graduating," he added, so he was clear what he was talking about. Then he laughed a bit, and shook his head. "I'm kind of scared."

[bigmandiego]

"Do you think G is going to try to kill us?" Diego asked, raising his eyebrows. That wasn't what was going on was it? He didn't know if he'd just missed a lot of everything, or if their motivations were really that unclear. Had they really had anything to do with Ida? And even Sam? Or were they just saying that? He didn't know. "You seem so confident," Diego said, smiling a little bit at Ollie. "You seem like you know exactly what you are doing, and that the moment you get out of here everything will fall into place for you." Maybe that was the trick. Fake it.

[milonavarroo]

"I feel like this is the sort of thing you need to get over your bullshit for," Milo countered. "It seems like someone you claimed to love is missing, maybe worse, and you're getting caught up in something as petty as this. Like it's even going to matter in a fucking year. But Greer being missing will, Diego. I think that'll fucking matter for as long as it's a thing, and if you have some missing fucking piece you won't share because you're so self righteous and have never done anything wrong in your life so you can judge others, then that's on you." He held his hands up like he was surrendering any responsibility. "Don't act like this was all me, and not a mutual issue."

[bigmandiego]

Maybe Milo had a point. That there were things going on that were bigger than them, right now. If he remained angry at him was he not letting G get away with whatever the fuck it was they were trying to get away with? Were they trying to divide them? Did they want them to find Greer? He really didn't know what they wanted as an outcome here, and Milo had a point. Eventually the betrayal of what Milo and Greer had done would fade, but Greer may still be gone. He was even ready to give that to him, to agree, but then he continued to talk. "I'm sorry?" Diego said, shaking his head like he was confused. "What is the mutual issue here? You're the one that fucked my girlfriend! What did I do? My god. Just admit you fucked up. Get over yourself for five minutes. Is that really so hard to ask?"

[ollieinoue]

Ollie chuckled a little bit, and shook his head with a click of his tongue. "Maybe you should have just taken that." There probably wasn't an Astrology major, unfortunately. Seems like it'd probably have some fun classes. He didn't know much about Astrology, just what being an Aquarius meant and what Jacqui told him about things. And he'd once looked up the compatibility between Aquarius and Libra, which turned out to be not too bad! But it was fun. "I don't think so! I've got lots of physics majors, but no astrophysics. Just you, because you're so special," Ollie teased reaching out and pinching his cheek. Diego didn't need too much help, but he'd had a lot to catch up on last year. "I can't wait to get out of here…" He added after a moment, teeth pinching down around his tongue. "Hopefully we'll all be able to."

[bigmandiego]

Diego laughed, tilting his head back. "I don't think my parents would have been willing to let me change to Astrology as a major, if it was even possible." He motioned to a nearby table for him and Ollie to take a seat at, his smile fading a little bit. "Are you worried that you won't be able to? Or anyone…" He imagined what happened to Sam would still probably be plaguing him. And Diego didn't even want to think about what happened to Ida. "I hope… whatever happens it will all work out. It's only a couple months and we'll be safely out of here. And at least we'll have finished school even if G continues to haunt us like someone without a life."

[montyrichler]

Diego had a sincerity about him that made it impossible for Monty to decipher if he was kidding or not in most scenarios. He almost thought that he was actually serious about getting him into SAE next year, but the mention of Milo had him rolling his eyes in an instant. "Yeah, ha-ha," he drawled, scoffing lightly, "very funny. He'd never let me besmirch the golden name of SAE." Truthfully, Milo hadn't ever been all that righteous about being in a fraternity. If anything, he seemed annoyed by his brothers. Or maybe that was just a product of Monty being Monty whenever they crossed paths at frat parties. "He blackmailed me into being the equipment manager, you know," he told Diego matter-of-factly, less embarrassed by the whole ordeal now that graduation was rapidly approaching. What was Milo gonna do if the truth got around now? Make him do more laundry? "He's kinda a control freak, huh?" Monty suggested with very little basis, tongue clucking.

[bigmandiego]

"Are you going to stay once he's gone? Being part of the team, even if it's the equipment manager probably looks good. Especially the 'manager' part." It sounded like you were in charge of something, a collegiate level sports team was impressive. Diego laughed a little bit, and shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know if control freak is the term I'd use, but he can be very … anti-fun," he said, grinning a little bit. Milo liked to get things done and out of the way in a way that was respectable, but if there was anyone here who should be allowed to insult respectable traits he had Diego felt like it should be him. Still he gave Monty a curious look, instead of just shutting the front door in his face. "What was he blackmailing you over?"

[milonavarroo]

He raised his eyebrows, wondering what Diego could have possibly been sent to find, and what his question had been in the first place. Something to do with Link? What had they done? He opened his mouth to ask more questions when Diego was already shutting everything down. "No," Milo said, his expression turning sour. "I don't understand why. I don't see what anything I did has to do with anything going on right now. What does me having sex with Greer have to do with any of this? Sure, I lied to you but so the fuck what? What does that even matter right now? I want to find out what happened to Greer just like everyone else. Just like you do. I cared about her to!"

[bigmandiego]

He believed that Milo wanted to know what happened to Greer, find implied he cared enough to get involved which he didn't, but know what happened felt like the case. That wasn't why he was hesitant to tell him anything though. "Because I don't like you, Milo," Diego said, shrugging his shoulders. It really was as simple as that, wasn't it? He didn't want to tell him anything because he was mad at him, and because he didn't like him anymore. "You can't just be an asshole, fuck me over, lie to me for years, and expect me to be down with talking to you at all, much less about this. Maybe this will end up being a great learning opportunity for you. You can't expect a bridge to still be there after you've burned it down."

[ollieinoue]

juice bar, sometime in the afternoon [ @bigmandiego ]

"Hey," Ollie said, heading over to Diego at the juice bar, a bright smile crossing his face. "Can I tell you a secret if you promise you don't get mad?" He'd never really ever seen Diego mad before, and was under the assumption that this wouldn't really make him that mad either. But it was something he had to get off his chest. It was almost the end of the year, so now was a great time to do it. "So, remember when you decided to change majors last year, and you had a ton of stuff to catch up on so you asked me for help with some of it? Almost everything that had to do with astronomy I accidentally labeled astrology, and I think you may have been marked down a few times for it. So, like if you ever had a professor that didn't seem really impressed with you I think that it's because they were under the impression that you didn't know the difference between astronomy and astrology. Not that I was writing about star signs or anything, but it was just a force of habit..."

[bigmandiego]

Diego slowly placed the paper cup down as he looked at Ollie ready for whatever confession he might offer him. He had a incling that whatever would accompany the smile he had on his face wasn't going to be terribly serious, but you never knew. Not with what was going on with Ogden these days, and not with Ollie. He'd never underestimate any bombs he might be carrying. And this one? Diego raised his eyebrows, trying to remember if he'd ever got docked points because his professors thought he didn't know the difference between astronomy and astrology. "Can I tell you a secret?" He asked. "Sometimes I mistakenly call it astrology as well. But luckily not on my papers. You don't have any other astronomy students? Because I feel like you should give them a discount just in case you keep doing it."

[montyrichler]

It didn't register for Monty that he was being herded anywhere in particular, simply following where Diego guided, nose wrinkling at the thought of having to memorize trivia about a bunch of random guys just to earn the title of Alpha Male or whatever. Booooring! He snorted and asked with considerable doubt, "You think I'd make the cut? Or, hey -- !" The back of his hand smacked limply against the other's chest as his feet quit working again, perking up with a grin. "Why not put in a good word and nominate me for the next prezzie? That's what you are, right?" It sounded like a shit gig to him, honestly, all work and not near enough reward.

[bigmandiego]

"Hm. Maybe…" Diego said, genuinely thoughtful at the question whether Monty meant for him to be or not. Monty wasn't really the type to join SAE, but a lot of guys already liked him, and knew him. Obviously a lot of that came from drugs, but did it really matter that much? "I don't know if you would really be able to hack it as president," he finally said. Not to be mean, not that he thought Monty would really be that offended, just that Monty wasn't really the type. Certainly not as president. "But you've been able to tough it out on the tennis team all year, so maybe I'm underestimating you. Why don't you ask Milo to put in a good word for you. He's much more discerning than I am."

[milonavarroo]

Milo looked over at Diego with a scoff. Not exactly saying what he found so amusing in that moment, just the fact that he'd had this exact conversation with Ollie about Diego a little while ago. Maybe they were right, maybe they were both right. But could he admit that? Not at the moment. Luckily Diego distracted him with something else,a nd Milo raised his eyebrows. "What do you mean?" He asked. "How do you know that?" Is that what Diego had sent in to G? Had he been right? "But… What?" He prompted, head tilting and a small smirk crossing his face. "You can't just leave me hanging there."

[bigmandiego]

Diego was quiet for a while. First to check that they were alone, which they were. Milo was always good at getting away from other people. Second because he didn't know if he should be sharing this with Milo. Not that Milo had ever told people things he'd told him, but he hadn't exactly proven himself to be trustworthy other ways either. "Yeah, the thing G sent me, I sent in Link's name and they said I got it right, and sent me on some task to find something. It's a lot to get into…" He said, a little warily. "And I don't know if I want to get into it with you, right now. I'm sure you'll understand why."

[milonavarroo]

Maybe with anyone else he would be annoyed that they found what happened amusing, but Milo couldn't help but his mouth quirk up along with Diego's laugh. It had been a long time since he'd really heard him laugh at anything. Still Milo rolled his eyes, and scoff. "It wasn't my fault. It was when he started accusing me of being G, not something I ever even fucking did." Maybe Milo hadn't said the nicest things to Ollie, and maybe he'd jumped to being defensive, but clearly he hadn't been in the wrong this time. "You're probably right," he agreed, that Ollie had just been after getting under his skin. "Maybe it doesn't even matter, I just thought it was weird that Ollie refused to get it back, unless it was something to do with him or Link."

[bigmandiego]

"Yeah, but when he confronted you with that did you immediately jump to being an asshole, or what?" Diego found Ollie to be a pretty forgiving person, he couldn't see him going into that situation with the idea that he would cast all the blame on Milo if Milo hadn't been a dick. He didn't know whatever this paper had said, but he did pause at the idea that maybe it had something to do with Link or Ollie. He could see them protecting each other… "Actually," Diego said quietly, after a moment of hesitation. "The thing G recently sent me … I think it was about Link. Obviously G didn't send like details, or what even they were talking about. But..." He shrugged his shoulders.

[montyrichler]

"Ha! 'Your' house," he parroted back, hands raising to form sloppy air quotes as he spoke, "good one. Ownership's kinda an outdated concept, don't you think?" Real ironic coming from Monty, but mostly he was just fucking around with Diego, eyes narrowing and lips pursing, head tilting like it was food for thought. Diego had way more reason to be lurking around SAE, and… talking to the staff? Did they have house staff? Monty swayed to the side, body fully tipping with the craning of his neck to watch the person he'd dismissed, wondering what other Greek row perks he was missing out on. "Huh?" he blinked back to Diego, the fog never fully clearing from his gaze. "Oh, I dunno…" Shrugging, he shook his head at the same time, not giving a complete answer before asking, "Hey, d'you guys actually haze pledges? Like, all that '80s kinda bullshit with the paddles and stuff?"

[bigmandiego]

"In this economy, I suppose it is," Diego said. Not that he paid for this house-- Well, he did, sort of. They all paid their dues, but that would be more like renting. Also not that Diego couldn't afford to buy a house anywhere he wanted. But that was not the point. Either way clearly Monty did not get, or care, about Diego's subtle suggestion he should leave and instead he was still asking questions. "Hazing isn't allowed anymore," he said (the PR answer), putting a hand on Monty's shoulder and carefully moving in the direction of the door. "It's more yelling, making them do things for us, and quizzing on the history of the fraternity. Why are you so interested? Thinking of joining next year? It's never too late."

[milonavarroo]

"I guess that it just doesn't matter if someone cares or not," Milo said, shrugging his shoulders. "G is going to do whatever the fuck they want. Are they going to tell us what happened to Greer? They haven't yet, no matter what people have done. I'm not going to repeatedly bang my head against a wall and get nothing out of it." That was how he saw it. Was G barring them from having information? He didn't know. Maybe? But had it mattered? Who knew. Maybe it was something they'd never find out. He sighed, sending Diego a flat look. "Ollie took it from me. I gave it to him to look at, we had a fight, and he walked out of the room with it and never gave it back." Milo didn't think Ollie had stolen it on purpose, but he had definitely kept it on purpose. "Link has it now."

[bigmandiego]

Diego squnted a little as he digested what Milo was saying. Maybe it was true, but it felt a little too cynical for himself to really be able to get behind. Maybe Milo was right though, it really didn't matter what they did in the end, they'd never get what they wanted until G decided they should. He was an inhrently more proactive person than that though, so he couldn't really accept it. He laughed as Milo explained what happened to whatever it was he'd gotten before. "That seems like something that would happen," he said, nodding. "So, you can't say it wasn't a least a little bit your fault, whatever you two were fighting about." And Milo and Ollie fought about a lot in those days. Link having it Diego could see being more of a problem. "I'm guessing he gave it to Link to piss you off. Which… almost at graduation and clearly he was successful." Kind of funny, you had to admit.

[ollieinoue]

Ollie listened, nodding his head as Diego explained why he'd come here, or at least one of the reasons he'd come, and how he felt about it. It was hard to really say that coming to Ogden was fully a bad choice for anyone. It was a good school, it would look good to say you had gone to Ogden for other people. But… He was pretty sure most of them may have picked somewhere else if they could have. "Do you feel like you're ready to be your own person now? You're studying what you want, you spent months away in studying abroad. Seems like you're ready to fly from the nest now." Even if it was a very nice nest. Ollie didn't think he could ever come from a wealthy family. They all seemed so over bearing, or completely absent. Having money would be nice, but everything else, he'd pass.

[bigmandiego]

"Maybe," he said, smiling a little bit, "I guess I don't know until I actually get somewhere to try." It was scary though, a little bit. For someone who had depended on his family so much, and had based quite a bit of a life around them. To decide you wanted to do what you wanted to do, rather than take the easy way out. Not that law was easy, or anything. He heaved a great sigh, and stood up, reaching down for Ollie's hands to pull him up as well. "Come on. Let's go get something to eat and you can tell me your plans to stay out of a Japanese prison cell."

[montyrichler]

with: @bigmandiego location: sae house when: the week following spring fling, late morning

Monty being stoned was not unusual. Monty being stoned while at SAE house, no keg party in progress? That was a little more out of the ordinary for him. It wasn't quite noon yet, either, but one thing had led to another -- yada yada -- and he was now fifty bucks up, minus one dime bag and plus one friend. The math mathed in Monty's head, at least, and that was all that mattered to him as he clattered down the stairs, lids low and eyes most definitely bloodshot as he grinned at -- "Diegoooo," he bellowed, hand cupping around his mouth before he made it down the last few steps. Monty went in to dap him up like they'd been bros forever, cluelessly asking, "What're you doing here?"

[bigmandiego]

Diego turned from where he was speaking to the in house chef when he heard his name, furrowing his eyebrows when he realized it was Monty. He stood there, still, while Monty approached grabbing his hand and dapping him up, mouth slightly open in confusion. Funny, he was about to ask Monty the same exact thing. "It's my house…" He said, slowly. Well, technically it wasn't 'his house' but as far as Monty should be concerned it definitely was. He glanced towards the chef, "I'll talk to you later," he said, and turned back towards Monty. "I can assume why you are here," he said, it didn't take a genius to figure that out. "And you're on your way out, now?" He also assumed that.

[ollieinoue]

Ollie was sure he was just being overly optimistic, but he would figure it out eventually. He figured out how to get and not get in trouble for drugs here, didn't he? And if he didn't manage it then he'd just have to turn to something he could manage. Sex, and toxic relationships, probably. Maybe alcohol or cough syrup. He smiled a little, almost sadly as he watched Diego closely. "Do you regret coming here? Like… If you could pick would you have gone to California, or any other school if you could? Get away from all the people you know, and your family and stuff?" And then he paused a moment, chewing on a question he'd always been sort of curious about. "Did you come to Ogden because Greer did?"

[bigmandiego]

He tried to consider the question in a way that wasn't blinded by what was currently going on. Tried to see Ogden for what it had to offer, and the education it had given him. For the people he had met, and the opportunities he had. "Yeah, sort of," Diego admitted, shrugging his shoulders. "But I didn't really want to come here in the first place. It was far enough away from my parents, but close enough that they … still could tell me what to do. I feel like I wasted time my first couple of years studying pre-law when I knew that was never what I wanted. I wish I had gone somewhere I could have focused on astrophysics from the beginning." Diego shrugged his shoulders, and gave a sigh. "It is what it is though, and barring all this current mess, it hasn't been too bad." He smiled a little bit at Ollie's last question, giving a small laugh. "Yes, partially. But not only Greer. It felt … comfortable coming to a place where a lot of people I already knew where going to be." He shook his head, maybe still a little disappointed. "I wasn't ready to be my own person at the time, I guess."