12 + male!mc x diego please? ♡♡♡
set after book 2 chapter 4: island justice. for the purpose of this prompt, the group is on sharktooth isle for a while.
Hours have passed since Ximaedra banished them, the sky darkening to an inky black. After searching Sharktooth Isle and coming up empty, the group decided it was best to get a night’s rest and tackle whatever came next in the morning.
They had stayed up for a while, sitting around the campfire and tiptoeing around the hopeless situation they’re in. Now, the fire is doused, the last vestiges of smoke curling up into the air. Everyone has settled in for the night, off in their own small groups. Taylor sticks close to Diego, talking in low tones with his best friend.
It’s strange, looking at Diego now. His hair is long, falling to the nape of his neck, and his beard obscures the lower half of his face. For Taylor, it’s been hours since he lost him; for Diego, six months. Yet Diego’s the same as ever, grinning widely and spouting pop culture references left and right. It doesn’t take long for them to fall into the same pattern, cracking jokes and trading stories, as if nothing had happened. It puts Taylor at ease.
Eventually their lighthearted conversation dials down. Sleep weighs on Taylor’s eyelids, so he closes them and makes himself comfortable.
Minutes pass. He’s still awake. Taylor considers seeing if Diego’s up when he hears movement beside him. Diego sighs heavily.
To Taylor’s surprise, he talks. “I wasn’t sure I’d see you again,” Diego begins, his voice hushed. “It’s been months and you guys were just… gone. Who knows where that portal gun had taken you. Never thought it’d be a matter of when.” He pauses. “I would wonder if you made it off La Huerta. Though I… I hoped you were here somewhere. Is that bad? That I wanted you guys here, still on this dangerous island, instead of some place safe? I sure felt selfish for thinking it.”
Taylor lays still, taken aback. He should probably move, pretend to wake up, and yet he doesn’t move a muscle. He listens intently instead.
“I never thought you would rescue me,” Diego continues, unaware. “I mean, I did at first. For weeks, I figured you were making a plan; we’d fight off the Vaanti, or sneak off in the middle of the night, make a daring escape. Then a month passed. And another. Soon I just… gave up that line of thinking.” He exhales, the breath shuddering as it leaves his chest. “But then I saw you in that temple. I… You looked so… And you said you need me. It was everything I was hoping for—you know, except for a way off this damn island. I just…” Diego hesitates, then adds in a whisper, “I owe you so much. I don’t think I can ever make it up to you.”
You don’t have to do anything, Taylor wants to say. Of course I need you. I’ll always come back for you, no matter what happens or where I am. It takes effort to bite the words back. To swallow them down and let them settle in his belly, unsaid.
Diego shifts around, but doesn’t say anything else. Taylor thinks back to his reaction when he had revealed himself in the temple: shock, hope, denial… and something else. Something vulnerable. Naked.
Taylor listens as Diego falls asleep, his breaths evening out. Soon, he too succumbs to sleep, Diego’s confession seared into his mind.
SEND ME A SHIP + ONE OF THESE AND I’LL WRITE A MINI FIC.
