Blossoming stars (Diego Brando X Reader)

Chapter 7: Something about himself

"The 5th stage has just started and the participants already seem ready to take on any obstacle they will face! We've had tons of dropouts: those who have remained absolutely want to taste victory, no matter what!"

That was very true for a woman who held a desire for justice in her soul.
Y/N wanted to win that stage with all her heart as she finished in third place in the fourth stage: that was a severe hit to both her self-esteem and her reputation among the spectators.
The woman wasn't in perfect shape as she had slept on a cold dirty floor the night before: besides, she also had to come to terms with the fact that her #1 rival got to know her true story by mistake.
While she was guiding Halley's Comet through the path, Y/N remembered that, when she departed, Diego Brando hadn't even woken up yet and she started asking herself if he was ever going to catch up to her. Not that she cared or anything...

"It seems like Y/N L/N, the mysterious talented racer from H/C, is on his way to gain back his outstanding success from the first two stages! He's leading this stage so far and his horse's steady pace says it all!"
These words were enough to make women all around Chicago scream of joy, while gamblers were ready to place some good bets again.
The estimated time to complete the stage was around 14-15 days, but the fans were already excited to see their favourite racer back in the first position.

During the first week, Y/N was able to maintain a practically perfect pace and polls made by gamblers and horse racing enthusiasts already projected the fan favourite racer as the victor of the 5th stage.

At the end of the 7th day, as the stars started twinkling and the moon brought its candid shine to the evening sky, the woman decided to step into an inn to get a good drink and spend some time with her fangirls, who she found kinda entertaining.
She sat on a stool near the counter and a horde of women launched all over her. Some of them probably had husbands, most of them probably weren't even allowed to step out of their houses at such a late hour, but they only cared about following their favourite racer's steps wherever (s)he went. 
"Y/N, Y/N! Could we take a photograph together?"
"Y/N, Y/N! Can you please sign my handkerchief?"
The women went from pretty simple requests...
"Y/N, Y/N! Do you already have a woman?"
"Y/N, Y/N! Have you ever spent some private time with a fan?"
...to pretty personal questions.
The woman shrug everything off with a laid-back and cool attitude that her fangirls appreciated a lot: it made her look like an impossible to reach man, a true mystery waiting to be discovered.
Y/N ordered her usual drink, but, while she was in the middle of sipping it, something caught her eye.

That gorgeous, enviable golden hair was unmistakable.
And the pair of mesmerizing cyan eyes that came with it was looking directly at the woman who was too busy dealing with her fans to even notice that it had been following her for a good while.
'How could I be so blind!? I didn't notice he had already reached me. He's caught up already?!' thought Y/N to herself while one of her fangirls massaged her shoulders.
"Mr. L/N... your shoulders are so tense... and your face seems so worried... are you okay?" asked the latter while continuing to work on her favourite racer's bones.
Y/N looked away from those eyes and returned to sipping her drink. She gently caressed one of the hands that were massaging her and delicately removed it to make her fan understand she didn't want to be touched anymore.
That fan was right. All her muscles were tense and she sure as hell was worried. 

On the other end of the counter, Diego Brando was slowly sipping some whisky while he stared at his rival getting showered in female attention. He did have his fair share of fangirls too, but Y/N was able to gather tons of girls in no time; yet, it was only him who knew the truth about that enigmatic participant, and he kind of thought that the person only he knew was far more interesting than the persona she had built around herself. 
He kept reminding himself that his only interest was winning the race, but he believed that maybe, that Y/N could've been something better than a nuisance and an obstacle. He attributed this belief to the whisky, that probably started kicking in, but he couldn't deny he did feel some sort of empathy and respect towards that woman.

As she finished her drink, Y/N rushed out of the inn, much to the displeasure of her fans.
She hastily got on Halley's Comet and guided it to a spot where she could camp that chilly night.
The woman started a fire and sat in front of it.
She looked up at the sky to get an idea of what time it was, and as it wasn't that late, she decided she could stay up a little bit more to enjoy the warmth of the crackling flames.
 Y/N slowly closed her eyes and started planning the next day: she was convinced she would still be first and she couldn't let anyone surpass her, no matter who.
As she encouraged herself, she heard the sound of hooves coming towards her. 

"Oi, L/N!"
A familiar voice reached her ears, and she couldn't hide the fact that she was pretty annoyed by his sudden appearance.
"I don't want to waste my time starting a fire, can I set up my tent here tonight?"
Y/N turned her face, ready to promptly respond with a 'no', but...
how could she say no to such hypnotic eyes, which were scanning her for a positive answer?
"Do whatever you want." she replied sassily and then turned her face back to the fire.
The owner of those eyes, her #1 rival, got closer to her and pat her head while stating: "No need to be rude.". He got no reaction at all from the woman, and was quite annoyed by that.
Diego set up his tent silently, then decided to sit in front of the fire on the opposite side of his rival, so that they were face to face.
The man looked at the womans E/C eyes as they focused on the fire. 
Y/N lifted her eyes a little to notice that her rival was staring at her, for some reason.
Their eyes locked and a rosy shade appeared on the woman's cheeks.

"Listen, L/N." announced Diego, breaking the silence between the two.
"Since you told me some stuff about yourself I think I should do the same." 
Y/N noticed her rival was slurring a little bit: he probably drank a little too much whisky... but she sure was curious about his past and that was her best chance to get to know him more, so she decided to let him talk.
"The way I was brought up wasn't really favorable. I never met my dad and all I know about him is that he wanted me to die. I grew up extremely poor and I had basically nothing: I couldn't even count on food, something that most people take for granted. Society looked down on me and my mother: they ostracized us and nobody would help us, leaving us in complete despair and ready to take extreme measures to preserve our dignity. Luckily, unlike those country fucks, I did grow up with some values, and that was all thanks to my mother, who taught me dignity and pride."
The man got up, barely standing on his feet, and walked closer to his rival; he got on his knees and put his hands on her shoulders, then continued his speech: "She was a respectable woman, just like you...".
Just as he finished talking, his head dropped on the woman's chest, who jumped, then gently wrapped her shaky arms around Diego's torso, in an attempt to comfort him.

Many thoughts crowded the woman's mind as her heart started racing. She was right: Diego's not-so-nice behaviour was a direct consequence to childhood trauma. She felt really bad for him, and she felt even worse as she thought about everything people said about him. She thought he was just a poor boy with an incredible talent who wanted to reach the top of society to hold his worthiness high and possibly revenge his defunct mother who helped him become the extremely ambitious person he was.
From Diego's words, she thought that she might've been able to get closer to him, somehow; he did not show it very well, but it was blatant that he respected her. 

The woman delicately put one of Diego's arms around her shoulders and stood up, helping him up, too.
She held his arm with her left hand, then she took his other hand with her right one and accompanied him to his tent, without letting a word escape her mouth.
Y/N kneeled to help him lie down, removed his helmet and then tucked him in in the blanket he brought with him. Diego was staring at the woman's face during the whole process, and he still had his tired cyan eyes focused on it while he was laying down.
The woman, whose heart was still racing, brought one of her delicate hands near the British jockey's face and sweetly moved away a strand of hair that was on his cheek.
"Thank you for opening up to me, Mr. Brando, I really appreciate that." she whispered.

Y/N got up and turned her back on Diego.
"Goodnight." she whispered, before getting out of his tent to get a good night sleep herself.