Hi Guys and welcome back to Blizzard! First off, I just wanted to say thank you for all the kind words about all my deadlines and that! Most of them are in now, The last one being my dissertation 😭, so I can relax a little bit now!
Also, some other news from my personal life that I really wanted to share is that next year, I'm going to the USA! I'm super excited about this as I'm going to so many places, but I just thought I'd share it with you! Don't worry, it's not until May 2020, so it's a little ways out but I'm just super hyped about it! Anyway, that's enough from me, so let's get on with this chapter! I've focused a lot on Kendall recently, so I thought it might be nice to have a chapter or two revolving around James!
Anyway, let's crack on!
"So, that's how it started huh? You wanted a sandwich" James stated, causing Kendall to let out a little chuckle as he swatted James on the chest.
"Is that all you got from that story? That I was hungry?" Kendall asked, causing James' eyes to widen slightly as it to suggest it was. "Unbelievable" Kendall replied, shaking his head as he swatted him again before he went to sit up. As he did that, James wrapped his arms around the blond, pulling him in close once again.
"You know for certain that it wasn't, and I think it's extremely brave that you wanted to help that guy out" James replied, causing Kendall to snuggle up into him once again. "I'm guessing after that, you just started to patrol at night?" James asked, causing Kendall to nod into his chest.
"Pretty much. I think I got myself a ski mask so that I could hide my face and I started to walk around the town looking for anything shady. To be perfectly honest with you, I probably looked like the shadiest thing in the town but at the time, it was the best I could do" Kendall said, causing James to let out a little chuckle. "As I got older, I realised that I needed something else to dress in, so I eventually came up with the Blizzard suit" Kendall finished, glancing up at James. "But that's enough about me. We've been talking about me all night, I want to hear about you" Kendall said, causing James to glance down at him slightly.
"Me? I've haven't got any stories that compare to that one, and the one I sort of had, I told you on our first date" James replied, referring to him telling Kendall about how he got into journalism.
"Still, I'm curious about you. Surely the son of Henry Diamond must have some stories. Trips to exotic locations around the world, or the fanciest parties" Kendall continued, causing James to shake his head.
"Not really. Up until my mum died, I'd spend most of my time with her while dad went off to the exotic locations and then after that, I was sort of by myself. Dad said that I was old enough to look after myself at 17, so when he'd go on trips, I was home alone" James replied, causing Kendall's expression to soften slightly.
"Can you tell me about her?" Kendall asked, causing James to raise his eyebrow at Kendall.
"What, my mum?" James questioned, causing Kendall to nod.
"Yeah. You haven't really spoken a lot about her, but from that, I could tell that she meant a lot to you"
"She meant the world to me" James stated, the brunet now refusing to make eye contact with Kendall, knowing that he always got emotional talking about his mum. "She was kind and caring, always looking after me. She was there when I woke up in the mornings, and always at home when I got back from school, with a drink ready and some snacks so I could tell her all about my day. It made Dad being around not as noticeable as she was always there, looking after me" James continued, already feeling the tears welling in his eyes. "When we found out that she had stage 4 throat cancer, we all didn't know what to do with ourselves. We tried to make the most of the time that we had left, but mum got worse quickly, especially after she started the chemo. It's why I tried to make sure that my dad was ok, as her illness felt like I came out of nowhere. She always had a little cough, but she constantly told us that she was ok and that it was nothing to worry about, so when we found out that it was stage 4 cancer" James choked on his words slightly, causing Kendall to begin rubbing soothing circles on his chest.
"You don't have to say anything else. I'm so sorry James" Kendall said, causing James to sniffle slightly as he wiped his eyes.
"It's just difficult to look back on you know. She was always so lively and full of energy, so to see her like that was really tough" James finished, sniffling once again. "I'm sorry, I just made this really depressing" James stated, causing Kendall to shake his head, still rubbing soothing circles.
"You didn't, and even if you did, it wouldn't matter. It's part of your life James, so it's important to me" Kendall replied, causing James to lean down and place another kiss onto his lips.
"I love you," James said, causing a warmth to grow in Kendall's chest.
"I love you too" the blond replied, settling onto James' chest once again.
It was safe to say that James was shocked when the next day, he'd gotten a message from his father asking him to come to the Diamond Apartment. The last time James had spoken to his dad, he'd been assigned a private security guard and then shouted at him, so James was curious to see how this was going to go. As James approached the apartment block, he couldn't help but let out a sigh. His childhood penthouse suite held so many memories, both good and bad, and after last night, James wasn't so sure that he was ready to try and face them.
James had loved his mum to pieces, so the news of her illness hit him really hard, as did her death. After that, his relationship with his father was never quite the same, especially considering his dad came cold and distant from him. James had always put it down to the fact that his father was grieving as much, if not more than he was, but this attitude had lasted for years by this point, so James eventually put it down to the fact that that was just how his father was, a cold, judgemental man.
Before James even realised, the elevator door dinged and opened in front of him, revealing his childhood home. As he walked in, he was greeted with the sight of Bitters, the housekeeper.
"Bitters, Nice to see you," James said as he walked in, causing the housekeeper to let out a small huff. James and Bitters had always had a bit of a strained relationship, especially when James was in his rebellious teenage phase and it seemed Bitters never forgave him for it.
"Your father is in his office" was all Bitters replied with, causing James to nod as he made his way towards the large wooden doors that led into his father's office. James always gained a small shudder down his smile as he walked towards them, remembering these doors as a looming presence in the household.
Even when he was younger, his mum always told him that he was never allowed to enter his father's office without permission, and the few times he did, he always remembered being reprimanded for it, something that stuck with him to this day.
Knocking on the doors, James heard a weak 'come in' causing him to push one of the doors open, revealing his dad sat at his desk, still working on some documents. His father looked as weak as ever, even weaker than after the Inferno attack, but as far as James knew, his father only had a cold, so he knew he couldn't mention it. Instead, James took a seat at his desk, opposite his dad.
"You wanted to see me?" James asked, causing his father to nod, not looking up from his documents as he did so.
It was about thirty seconds later after his dad had finished writing something up that he finally filed the documents away and turned to James.
"I didn't realise you were an idiot James" Henry began, causing James' eyes to widen in shock at the tone of his father's voice.
"I'm not quite sure what you mean by that" James replied, finally finding his voice.
"Quitting Dispatch Weekly was moronic, and I can't believe you'd do something like that. You were on track to be running the place, and despite the fact that I never approved of the job in the first place, that would still be better than what you currently are, which is unemployed" Henry continued, causing James to just roll his eyes.
"For a start, Griffin was a dick and really, I'm surprised I lasted as long as I did there. Secondly, it's wasn't a moronic decision as I say once again, Griffin was a dick. There was no point continuing to work for him when I wasn't doing what I loved, and thirdly, there's nothing wrong with being unemployed. Besides, I have a plan in place for what I'm doing to do next. A fellow colleague and I are going to start our own blog" James stated, causing Henry to let out a snort of derision.
"Really James, that's your plan?" Henry said, shaking his head as he did so. "You need to start living in the real world, where things don't come to you on a silver plate"
Now it was James' turn to let out a snort.
"I need to start living in the real world? I was the one who went out there and got my own job at Dispatch Weekly when all you wanted me to do was take over Diamond Inc. If I'd have taken your advice, I never would have found what I loved doing and I stuck writing up business reports and other stuff I didn't want to do"
"But at least you'd still have a job" Henry replied, causing James to just roll his eyes. "You're never going to get into a position of power if you continue to live the way you do. It's time you step up James, and finally, do something worthwhile with your life. And I say again, while I don't approve of this 'journalism career', at least there was a chance for you to be something. Now that you've quit it, I'm not holding out much hope"
"Have you ever thought that maybe I don't care about being 'in a position of greatness?'" James asked, rolling his eyes as he said it. "Unlike you, I don't want to be working 24/7 and I actually want to go out and do stuff, not be stuck in an office all day" James continued, as he pushed himself up from his chair.
"Where are you going? I haven't dismissed you" Henry said as James stood up, causing James to shake his head.
"I don't care whether you've dismissed me or not and I'm sick of you speaking to me this way. I'm not just some random person, I'm your son but you don't seem to even care about me. My apartment was attacked, my boyfriend was thrown out of a window and I nearly died but did you even care? No! This is the first time I've spoken to you since the whole 'Ricardo' situation and the only reason you called me here was so that you could berate me for making my own decisions. I'm sick of it" James continued, pushing the chair out of his way before he began to make his way towards the office door.
"James, wait!" He heard his father say before Henry broke down into an extreme coughing fit. Panic crossed James' face as he heard it, and he quickly turned around to go and help his father.
As he got close, however, his father just pushed him away as someone from outside the room rushed in to help him. "And I don't care what Doctor Burrens said, this isn't a cold" James continued, causing Henry to glare at him
"Oh for god sake James, don't bring this up again!" Henry snapped when he finally caught his breath. "I been telling you for ages that I'm fine, and that this incessant badgering isn't helpful" Henry continued, causing James to just roll his eyes. The concern he had for his father immediately vanish. "And this conversation isn't over James. I won't have my son speak to me the way you just did. You don't know half of the things that I've done for you"
"And you don't know half of the things about me either. Maybe when you learn those, then you can actually talk to me" James snapped back, before making his way out of his father's office.
He didn't even bother to say goodbye to Bitters as he strode up to the elevator and pushed the button. Thankfully, the lift was waiting for him, so he was able to step into it and basically slam the button for the ground floor.
As soon as the doors closed, James let out a massive sigh, leaning against the back of the lift as he rubbed his forehead. While he didn't feel guilty about what he'd said to his father, he still couldn't believe that he'd done it in the first place. Another sigh escaped James' mouth, the brunet realising how sick of his father's berating he actually was.
His father didn't understand what Griffin was like as a boss, and worse than that, his father didn't even understand what James was like. James didn't care about fame or fortune, he just wanted to do something that made him happy and journalism was that. Well, and Kendall, but James didn't want to think about that right now. If he wanted to start his own blog, and it made him happy, then fuck what his father said.
Still, as the lift doors opened on the bottom floor, James couldn't help but think back to the state that his father was in. Much like James had said upstairs, he didn't care what Doctor Burrens said, that certainly wasn't just a chest cold. If it were, then surely it would have gotten better by now. His father was definitely getting worse and despite everything that was said, James did still care for his dad and certainly didn't want him to die.
A thought crossed James' mind as he walked out of the building, one that he never thought he'd have. Thinking back to when his father showed him the diagnosis, James remembered that he hardly got to look at the piece of paper. His father was quick to reach over and grab it from him before James had a proper chance to review it.
Knowing where he needed to go, James hailed for a taxi on the side of the road, googling something as he did so. When a taxi finally stopped, James was quick to hop in and ask to go to a place he hadn't been for years.
So there we have it! We learnt a little bit about James' mum, but mostly this chapter was James' dad just being a dick as per usual! James did, however, manage to say what he needed to say, and now James is suspicious about his father's illness, which we all know isn't just a chest cold!
I want to say a massive thank you to Winterschild11, Guest, RainbowDiamonds and Epically Obsessed for reviewing the last chapter and I'm so glad you liked it! You all seemed to like the fact that Kendall felt good about helping out and you also seemed to enjoy the Kames in the last few chapters! I felt like it was finally about time they spent some proper time together!
Anyway, I hope you're all having a great week and that you have a great week, and I will see you all next Monday for the next chapter of this! I'm back at home now for my Christmas break, so hopefully, I should be able to take some time and get these written, so I'll see you then! But until then,
TTFN 😀❄