TW:MENTIONS OF ABUSE AND DEATH
"I'm back." James announced, walking inside Elliot's place the next day. After quite literally almost killing Jimmy the night before he couldn't look at himself in the mirror yet alone face Diego, who thought he was some innocent saint who could never do no wrong, yet alone join a gang. However James didn't make an effort to change his clothes or take a shower, so he walked in the same white tee and jeans which was stained with crimson blood. Jimmys blood. James wanted to feel regret for what he did. In fact, he stood up for hours and thought about why he didn't feel any regret for anything. But Jimmy pissed him off so fucking much, that's the only thing that felt right to James at that moment.
"Shit, is that blood?" Gracie questioned, sitting up in her seat to observe James who was just blankly staring ahead. Diego sat up as well, his eyes widening at the sight. James looked like complete death.
"No Gracie, this is fucking grape juice." James spat as a reply. Gracie would've bit back with a comment faster than the speed of light but based on the way James was acting, something was clearly wrong. So she decided not to push him anymore.
"Are you alright, James?" Vanya had now jumped into the conversation, her eyes filled with concern and confusion at the same time. James finally managed to get a good look at everyone in the room, and they all looked at him as if he was insane. All except Diego, who ran a hand through his hair and stood up.
"Alright, let's go. Out the door." He demanded. James just stared at Diego, not knowing what he wanted him to do at the moment. Diego rolled his eyes and pulled James out of the house, starting to walk down the street. They were silent, and James wanted to talk to him. Ask why the hell they were outside if they weren't even gonna say anything. When a group of guys walked down the block, Diego out of instinct grabbed James' wrist and pulled him closer.
"Why are we here, Diego?" James sighed, finally stopping and placing his hands in his jacket pocket.
"Because you look like shit. I love you, but you look like shit. And I wanna know why." He replied.
"I almost killed someone. There, that solve the mystery?"
"Hell no it doesn't. Who did you almost kill? Not that I'm shocked, since I always knew you had it in you."
"Wait, you're not shocked? Really?" James was taken back by Diegos words, seeing as he was the most shocked of them all when he found out James joined a gang.
"You thought I was? You had abusive parents, you watched your dad fucking murder your mom right in front of you, you made friends, lost them, lost me, then when you come back you find out the world is ending, so in order for the world not to end you get transported here alone for two years. I think you got a lot of pent up anger in you, hot stuff. So no, I'm not shocked." Diego ranted.
James tried to hide the smile on his face, but that was almost impossible. "Way to recap my life."
"I did a pretty good job, didn't I? I should write a book. About us." Diego shrugged.
"Oh really, and what exactly what you write?"
"Oh, I would go into detail about how sexy you are. Readers are gonna be all like "who the hell is this fine ass man?" Then I'm gonna be like, he's someone you can't get around."
James giggled and slapped a hand over his mouth, trying to avoid laughing louder then needed. Diego laughed as well and punched James' shoulder in an affectionate way of course. James finally stopped laughing and removed his jacket, placing it over Diego's shoulders. Diego raised a brow and James only crossed his arms over his chest.
"Don't even lie. You know you've been wanting to wear it."
"Well now that you caught on, yeah. It seems badass."
"It does. And this is our first date together. So enjoy it, because once we get back to 2019 shit is not gonna play in our favor." James commented. Diego nodded and wrapped an arm out his shoulders, James blushing at the sudden contact. They walked and walked for what seemed like forever.
Until James froze in his tracks.
Everything around the world seemed like it stopped, and the only thing he could keep his eyes on was the couple in front of him, waving at the people walking by them.
"James. James! Come back to me!" Diego was shaking his shoulders and snapping his fingers in front of his face, but nothing seemed to be working. James didn't wanna cry, especially not now of all times.
Mary and Eric Evans were making their way towards the two. They both looked so happy, so full of life. James didn't remember them like that. No. He only remembered them as pale, no sign of life in their eyes, and wrinkly.
"Shit man. Are those—-"
"My parents." James whispered out, his voice breaking slightly. Diego stared at the two, immediately seeing the resemblance. James had Mary's eyes and hair, while from his father he had his nose and smile. Holy shit, is this what his parents used to be like? James turned his head away, not even bothering to meet their gaze anymore.
"Come on, we should get out of here." Diego suggested, grabbing James' hand to pull him away. But before they could however Diego made the huge mistake of bumping into Eric, who in the process also bumped into James.
"Oh! Sorry about that, we must've not watched where we were going." Eric apologized, taking a deep breath and brushing off his clothes. James nervously laughed, clutching Diegos hand tighter. He knew there was nothing his parents could do to him, since they didn't even know who he was. But the memories came flooding back faster and faster to the point where he needed to leave as soon as possible.
"My, you look awfully familiar. What's your name?" Mary questioned with a warm smile on her face. James almost broke down crying at the sight. The same woman who used to call him a mistake whenever he breathed the wrong way. The same woman who watched as Eric snapped James' fingers in half after he failed a math test. The same woman who died in his arms that night. Here she was, alive and happy. Diego wanted to say something, he really did. But based on the look in James' eye he knew to back off for this one.
"James." The Evans man finally replied, biting on the inside of his cheek.
"James. James! Man, when he have a boy of our own, we wanna name him James. What a coincidence?"
"Oh so now you want kids?" James snarked, a small scoff escaping his lips soon afterwards. Diego hit James' ribs, telling him to cool it. If his parents found out that James was their son from the future, then that'll mess the timeline up more then it already is. James ignored Diego however, clenching his jaw.
"E—Excuse me?" Mary stammered, the smile fading from her face.
"Nothing. Forget I said anything. Have a nice day." James grabbed Diegos arm and pulled him away, making his way down the street. Anger was evident in his eyes and based on the way he was squeezing Diegos arm to the point where it was about to bruise, he really wasn't in the mood for talking. Diego pushed himself away from James, rolling his eyes. What in the hell just happened?
*******
"When exactly were you gonna tell me we had a fucking dinner party?" James exclaimed after Diego explained how he was invited to a dinner Reginald was hosting.
"You were on level i don't even know what this morning. Figured you needed your space." Diego exclaimed right back. James rolled his eyes at this and crossed his arms over his chest. He didn't mean to be so hostile with Diego, it's just that he really wasn't in the mood for anyone at the moment. Diego held open the elevator which allowed James to step through with a huff escaping his lips. Allison, Klaus, and Gracie weren't too far behind, Luther and Vanya being the last ones to enter the elevator.
"Good. We're all here." Five stated. The elevator door closed, and everyone stood in awkward silence.
That was until Luther farted.
"Oh my god." James mumbled, placing his arm over his nose in a quick manor.
"Sorry. I'm nervous."
Once the elevator door opened everyone was in a rush to get out, James being the first. Gracie coughed loudly, running a hand through her hair in the process.
"All right, when dad gets here, I'll do the talking, okay?" Five asked. It wasn't exactly a question, more like a statement.
"I got a few questions for him myself." Diego argued.
"Hey, we don't wanna scare him off."
"I've always wanted to meet Reggie. Seems like a sweet old man who totally didn't try to murder us the other day." Gracie sarcastically commented causing James to snicker.
"No, we need to figure out why he's killing the president!"
"Darling, no President tonight. Please, I already got a migraine." James pleaded, shaking Diegos arm slightly. Diego yanked his arm away, sending his boyfriend a weird look.
"This is a matter of life or death, you imbecile." Five said.
"Okay, yeah, maybe we should take turns talking. Yeah?" Allison suggested.
"Here, whoever has got this conch shell gets to talk." Vanya added.
"Yeah, because Reginald definitely won't think we're fucking psychos if we only talk when we're holding a shell in our hand." Gracie scoffed.
"Maybe I should lead. We all know I'm a better public speaking than the rest." Allison had stepped forward to grab the conch causing James to raise a brow and snatch it from her hands.
"I'm in a gang. I've done initiations, gave speeches when my leader was away. I'm the best fit for talking."
"Yeah, in your dreams Number Zero."
"Hey. No more numbers. No more bullshit. We're team zero. We're all team zero." Diego spoke. Luther mentioned how Diego didn't have the conch which didn't allow him to speak, so he just threw it across the room causing it to shatter everywhere.
"Classic."
At that moment Reginald had walked inside the room, looking ready for business. James' jaw dropped at this and Gracie just raised a brow, not expecting any of that at all. However they all sat down like little kids about to be lectured by their parents.
"Not only have you burglarized my lab, set my chimp loose, conned your way into the Mexican consulate, repeatedly stalked and attacked me, but you have, on numerous occasions called me.....dad. My reconnaissance tells me you're not CIA, not KGB, certainly not MI5, so who are you?" Reginald rambled. James let out a breath once he was finally done talking. God, he forgot how fucking annoying his voice was.
"We're your children. Not them," Five pointed his finger to Gracie and James who just gave an awkward wave. "But we are all from the future. In 1989, you adopted all of us and trained us to fight against the end of the world. Called us the Umbrella Academy."
"Why on earth would I adopt six—"
"Seven. One of us isn't here." Allison cut him off with a shake of her head. James felt a pang in his heart, suddenly missing Ben a lot more.
"Regardless, what would possess me to adopt seven will mannered malcontents?" Reginald questioned.
"I'm sorry, I flunked English. Someone tell me what that means." Gracie spoke up. James kicked her leg, practically telling her to shut the hell up.
"We all have special abilities. Not them." Once again James and Gracie rolled their eyes and waved.
"Special? In what sense?"
"In the superpower sense."
"Call me old fashioned, but I'm a stickler for a pesky little thing called evidence. Show me."
"Everyone wants to see powers all of a sudden." Allison snarked under her breath.
"We're not circus animals, alright? We're not gonna bounce balls on your noses and clap our hands like seals for your amusement."
Of course Diego the show off just had to throw his knife into the wall, James just sighing afterwards.
"That's my man."
Reginald was now writing in his notebook, James immediately leaning forward to see.
"What are you writing?"
"You are zero for two, young man." Diego stood up to try and lunge at Reginald, but Five spatial jumped in front of him to keep him back.
"Now that is interesting."
"What's interesting is the fact you're so fucking old and you have absolutely no one whatsoever. Are you blackmailing those people when they come to your parties?" James asked, leaning forward.
"James." Five warned. Reginald was now writing in his notebook again, James almost pulling out his switchblade and ending his life. His anger was over the roof and he wasn't even making an effort to control it. Five explained everyone's powers which also turned out to be a complete disaster.
"And you two? What can you two do?" Reginald asked Gracie and James who were sipping on their drinks.
"Oh we're just the brains of the operation." Gracie shrugged.
"Look, we know that you're involved in a plot to assassinate the President." Diego mentioned. James groaned and threw his head back, pissed off his boyfriend had to be so goddamn stubborn.
"You were recently hospitalized, is that correct? You still appear to be suffering from delusions of grandeur and acute paranoia?"
"Shut it." James snapped, glaring at Reginald. He already knew where this was going, he just wanted to prevent it so it wouldn't happen.
But Diego didn't. "Am I? Explain this. That's you. That's two days from now on the grassy knoll at the exact spot the presidents gonna get shot."
"Well.....I've supposed you've solved it. You've single-handedly unearthed my nefarious plot. Is that what you want to hear? You fancy yourself a do—gooder? The last good man who will save us from our descent into corruption and conspiracy? This is a fantastic delusion. The sad reality is that you're a desperate man, tragically unaware of his own insignificance, desperately clinging on to his own ineffectual reasoning. More succinctly, a man over his head."
"Oh shit." Gracie mumbled, the usually snarky and happy tone in her voice gone and instead replaced with one of sympathy. James didn't even know how to react. Diego looked humiliated, on the verge of crying.
"You're wr......wrong." Diego was now stuttering, and that was James' last straw. He hated to see Diego stutter, especially in situations like this.
"Wow Reggie, congratulations. You really are father of the year? Did that feel good? Did it make you smile? Are you jumping for joy in your head right now? Is that what's happening?" James was being sarcastic, and even an idiot can tell.
"James stop." Five gritted, though he wasn't stopping anytime soon.
"No! No no no no, I'm understanding something here. Reggie and I, we're......bonding. Because this man, this man is the reason we're all the way we are. Why we're so fucked up in our own ways. Hell, why I'm so fucked up. This is past Reggie. So I'm gonna give you an insight on future Reggie. He dies a sad, sad fucking pathetic old man, who leaves his own children who just wanted to be kids to save the fucking world? But did we do that? No! We didn't. Because hey, we were all just chess pieces on his fucking game. So it's fuck your paper," James grabbed Reginald's notebook and threw it across the room. "Fuck this dinner. And fuck you. Because if you ever talk to Diego like that again, I'll make you beg for mercy old man. You got that? No! Don't even answer. Because I'm probably gonna hear something I'm not gonna like and I'm gonna kill you where you sit."
"We're so doomed." Gracie whispered out, taking a sip of her drink.
Word count:2,730