Diego had anger issues, this everyone knew. But to Diego, it wasn't an issue. It was a priority. It's what you needed to be number one.

To be tough. It's an idea his mind formed because Reginald Hargreeves made him feel weak because of his stutter.

His stupid stupid stutter.

That man made him feel relentlessly weak. Especially when mom tried to make him feel better about himself. They weren't allowed to have any kind of problems like, body issues and the fear of hurting the people you love (allison), depression and fear of being alone (Vanya), the fear of never being good enough (Luther), the fear of being weak and useless (Diego), the fear of the dead (Klaus), The fear of never knowing what comes next (Five). No.

Reginald Hargreeves made sure each of them threw those silly fears away from their minds. They were only distractions. So Diego got tough. Threw away his stutter like Reginald lectured. It took time, but now he felt as though he was a better leader than LUTHER.

Reginald may have been the biggest asshole Diego had ever met, but he did owe him for making him strong.

He knew he was better for this role than Luther. Luther kept making EVERY wrong decision and still everyone followed him like he was the messiah. He never listened. Neither did Allison. Both of them so blind in their own little worlds.

He threw the sharp knife at the center of the target as usual. He would never miss, there was really no need for practice, but it was fun when he was bored. Usually when he was bored he would go pick on Euphoria. But that's gone now. He had no one. Yes, he had his family. But as of right now they didn't connect at all.

He missed her so much. Her smile. Her natural urge to help people when they needed it. He loved her more than anything, but his pride wouldn't let him admit it until it was too late.

"Diego?" A small voice asked behind him. He turned Klaus who was sweating profusely.

He didn't answer and let Klaus start when he was ready.

"Will you tie me up again?" It was more a desperate plea this time instead of a demand as usual.

He was probably getting tired of hurting so much.

"Where? In the attic?" He asked. Klaus shrugged. "I don't care, I just. I can't. I need it." He began shaking immensely.

"Alright, alright. Calm down." He said as he put his hands up. "Sit down." He said. Diego reached for the rope he had on his desk and began tying the tweaking boy up.

"If you need anything, call us." He said. Klaus scrunched up his eyes in pain and winced. He nodded and laid his head back to absorb the pain like he always did. Diego did feel bad for him. He really did. Addiction. Diego had been through many things in his life, but addiction. Now that was a whole nother thing. Even what Five, even though he tries to act as though it's nothing, went through. It was horrible. They were so messed up. They act as though everything they go through is normal. But it's not. It hurts them, no matter how abnormal they are. They were human too, with human feelings!

Diego rushed down the stairs, feelings overwhelming his durable brain. His eyebrows were permanently furrowed, something he had in common with his father, but he didn't like to admit he had any kind of relationship with him.

He took a knife he had hidden on his body and tossed it in the air, catching it. He repeated the process many times out of boredom. He felt more calm with this whole "family" thing. Kept his mind off of the bad stuff that kept following them around. Everyone was happy. Sure, Klaus, five, Allison, and even himself, had some stuff to work on, but it was the best they have ever been.

Diego walked past his father's office door, a huge figure catching the corner of his eye. He backed up and entered the door as he saw Luther standing above his father's desk, looking over each object as if it were never before seen.

"What are ya doing there tough guy?" Diego walked in all fumbly.

Luther stared at the objects intensely, shaking from the pain.

"You alright?" Diego tried to act more sympathetic. He was trying to change the anger approach like he usually tried.

"I-I'm fine. I just.." he trailed off and let his large hairy fingers trace one of the objects on his desk.

"I miss him." Luther said. Diego scoffed. "Why?"

"You guys didn't stay with him as long as I did. He made me feel like I was needed." Luther said.

Diego crossed his arms. "Dad was an asshole. The only reason he made you feel like that was because you were the only one left. He didn't love you, me, Allison, Klaus, and definetely not poor Vanya!" He exclaimed.

Luther huffed loudly and closed his eyes. "I know. But he was our dad. I can't help but miss him." Luther said. Diego rolled his eyes.

"You have some serious daddy issues, Big Guy." Diego patted his shoulder. "Look. You can mourn over this asshole's death, but I'm praising the Lord for taking him."

"What did he do to you to make you hate him so much?" Luther asked in a serious tone. Diego stopped moving, even felt his breath stop in his throat.

He swallowed and blinked a few times. "Nothing." Luther saw his reaction to the question. He knew Diego was lying. "Diego-"

"Stop. Nothing happened." Diego finalized. He walked out of the office feeling Luther's eyes staring into his back.

Diego felt anger bubble up in his chest. Why the hell does Luther think he can just analyze his actions and assume how he feels?

Their father was an asshole, that was enough said.

Luther gripped his fists and walked out of the office with a determined look in his eyes.

"Diego, wait!" He called. His shoulders swayed back and forth with each step in an almost cocky manner. "Diego, stop. Now." He ordered.

Diego's eye twitched. An order? Right now?

"What'd you say?" He turned around and began to get in Luther's face angrily.

"I said stop walking." Luther said in a more soft tone.

"You're ordering me around again, huh?"

"There's a reason I did it in the first place." Luther retorted.

"I don't have to tell you shit! I didn't listen to you then, and I won't now. Dad is dead. Gone. Those rules don't apply anymore." He pointed at Luther's large chest.

He turned back around.

Luther roughly and hardly grabbed his shoulder, yanking him back. "No, they don't. But this family thing does apply now." Luther said.

"Oh, oh. This family thing? You mean this shit that we're constantly trying to convince ourselves? That we're a normal family? Because we aren't! We never will be! Just because you and princess Allison want it to be." He yelled. Allison and Klaus curiously walked down stairs listening closely to the conversation. Allison had untied him. He looked like he needed some water. His face was sweaty and pale, his lips dry.

Luther sighed and clenched his jaw irritatedly. "Stop talking!" Luther snapped back. He could feel his own anger slowly bubble up.

"Okay," Diego put his hands up in defense. "Alright. Want to be normal? So just forget that dad fucked us up in the head, that Klaus was in the war and has a drug problem, Five is completely fucked up, you were left on the moon and changed into some monkey, Allison lost her kid, Ben is still gone, VANYA IS DEAD!" He shouted the last sentence in pure anger, his voice quivering, breath stuttering, and tears lining his eyelids, but he refused to let them fall. He had too much pride.

Every Hargreeves kid, even Five, who just walked in the kitchen for some coffee, stared at him in awe. This was as much pure emotion as they had ever seen him have.

It was almost beautiful.

Diego's nostrils flared as his shaky breath came out like an angry ox.

"I understand. You're right." Luther said.

Diego paused. He was right?

His eyebrows corrugated in confusion. "I'm what?" He asked to make sure he heard right.

"I said," he paused and leaned into Diego's face. "You're right." He gave a soft smile.

Diego stepped back, still eyeing him as if he were a stranger in the house. "I'm right?" He laughed and threw his hands in the air.

"I never thought I'd hear the day when Luther himself said I was right about something." He scoffed.

"Well, you are. Enjoy it while it lasts. We all have our own issues we have to deal with. It sucks. But as a family, we need to deal with it. We always say this to Five and Klaus, looks like you need to take your own advice." Luther said. He put his hand on Diego's shoulder in reasurrance.

Diego looked at it in astonishment.

"I know." Said Diego. He did indeed know. He knew he was being a brat. He had been a hypocrite this whole time. He was nothing BUT a hypocrite. Always telling Klaus and Five the same old things that Luther was telling him. All the time. And here he was acting like them when he knows better. The memories made him a different man when he remembered them.

"Let's just talk about this." Luther said as he eyed every Hargreeves member so they knew he meant all of them join. The walls were thin and the halls were only filled massive amounts of echos. So no privacy was allowed.

Diego sighed. Great. His turn to be analyzed and given therapy sessions. They would finally know why he personally hated dad so much.

Diego slammed down on the couch looking quite irritated.

"Five, you too!" Luther's voice boomed from the living room to the kitchen. He saw Five trying to escape or be forgotten. He sighed and sipped on his coffee again.

He didn't care in the slightest about why Diego was angry or his stupid daddy issues.

"Come on then. Explain." Luther said. They were all sitting around him like how they usually interrogated Five and Klaus. He felt bad for them now. He knew how they felt now. Being the center of unwanted attention and being expected to talk about such a serious topic, it's just horrible. Scary really.

"There's nothing to talk about really. I just don't like him. We all know he was an asshole." Diego said. Klaus laughed and gave a slight nod.

"We all have our specific reasons and we aren't acting like this about it." Luther said.

Diego sighed and furrowed his eyebrows. He put his hand on his face and rubbed it soothingly.

"He didn't like me. I mean yeah, he didn't like Klaus. But he really didn't like me. He believed Klaus had potential and he pushed him.

Dad didn't like my stutter, he didn't like my ability. He debated giving me a name or not. It was like a reward I didn't deserve. I always screwed up saving people because of my stutter. He would always get mad when mom would help me through it because I needed to do it myself and grow up on my own. He would punish me everytime I messed up with my stutter. Mom was the only thing keeping me sane during those times. Then he started making her leave me alone to make me more self dependant. I begged him not to, but you know dad. I hated myself because I was just a screw up. He would tie me down in a chair in front of a mirror and make me speak sentences over and over again until I either stopped stuttering or began to stutter so bad I would panic and hyperventilate." He almost cried in remembrance.

"I hated him so much." Diego finished. "How did we not know about each other's punishments before this?" Allison asked in awe. She didn't have any bad punishments. Only once when her and Luther were found together at night. But not because she messed up or anything.

"Shit. What'd he do to you?" Allison asked Five.

Five shrugged. "I wasn't here as long as you guys so it doesn't matter much. I don't really care what he did to me."

Allison blinked a few times in surprise. "But that doesn't mean it doesn't matter!" She yelled.

"If I messed up he'd push me harder. If I was drained of my powers, he'd force me to keep doing it until I puked or passed out. He hurt us all. But he had his reasons. We shouldn't let it affect us. He's not worth it." Five sipped on his coffee again.

"And you shouldn't let your issues get to you constantly. If you keep going down THIS road, you'll end up killing yourself." Allison said, eyeing the empty liquor bottle beside him. He had put it in his coffee.

"Touche." He said.

Diego sighed and stood up.

"Screw this." He said.

"Diego, wai-" Luther tried.

"NO!" Diego yelled.

"I'm tired of waiting. I wanted to be the one who killed dad, you know that? I wanted to slit his throat in his sleep. I mean. The way he treated us, and MOM. He treated her like garbage. If she hadn't been there, I would have ended up like Ben. If I hadn't left, I would have ended up like YOU!" He poked Luther's chest harshly.

"Dad messed up my life. He made me feel important, and when he ended up making a mistake, he couldn't stand to see it anymore. You don't think I was mad? You dont think I AM mad? But I can't show it. Because I'm trying to move on. To lead you guys." Luther said.

Diego scoffed. "Oh, excuse me, SPACEBOY! I didn't ask for your help or guidance! You might be number one, but you are not MY number one." He spat.

"Guys!" Allison shouted and stepped in between them. She could feel the tension surrounding her and began to second guess her choice of getting in between them.

"Not everything has to be a fight." she said.

"Children?" A delicate voice said.

Diego instantly shot his head to the direction of the sound.

"Mom?" He smiled. He walked over to her and opened his arms, welcoming her into a hug. She accepted it and grabbed him tightly. "Diego, dear. What's the matter? I heard shouting." She expressed.

"Nothing mom. It's fine." He let go of her and held her hand, gently tapping it with his palm.

"We're fine." He reasurred.

She smiled. "Okay." She said, and she walked back into the kitchen.

Diego felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned around and faced Luther who kept his hand there.

"We're all here. Doesn't matter what dad did. None of it matters anymore. We're leaving it behind. You're your own person." Luther said.

Diego scoffed, once again feeling a tear arise on his eyeline. This time, Luther saw.

He decided to be risky. Luther gripped his shoulder and yanked him forward into a hug.

He wouldn't get away even if he wanted. Luther was much too strong.

But Diego didn't. In fact, he melted into the hug, which caught them all off guard. It was like he needed this. He felt Deigo shake a little, his shoulders bobbing up and down. He could've sworn it was laughter at first, but he knew that wasn't it. It was Diego crying. They never would've expected it.

Luther patted his back gently.

"I'm sorry." Diego said. Allison walked over to them and laughed a little. "Never thought I'd see this." She smirked. Klaus came over as well and opened his arms widely. "Group hug!" He shouted, and wrapped his lanky arms around Luther's big build.

Five looked at them wide eyed. He didn't want to get stuck in this. Fuck that. He grabbed his coffee and Delores.

"Five, wait!" Luther shouted. Five smirked. He might be trying to get better, but he was not good enough to be giving group hugs. He would die before that. They're lucky he even stayed at all for the meetings when he could just zap out. But what good would that be? They would just keep bothering him anyways.

He did, as he'd been wanting, zap out. They looked fine without him anyways. Besides, they were fine without him for 45 years, or rather

17 years for them. It only seemed natural that he leave them to their thang. He had Delores right now. It was enough.