Who We Were Born To Be (Niam) [ON HOLD]

Chapter 12: A day in the life of Niall

Chapter 12

James Matthews' point of view

“...and so they think I should get a beard.” Niall said, and continued explaining.

He'll wear a hole in the carpet if he keeps pacing like that, James thought. James was sitting on the bed, listening to his boyfriend recount the meeting with the Modest Management executives. James was getting increasing upset about the fact that Niall was upset. Niall's supposed to be the happy one. Even when nothing's funny he still finds reasons to laugh. It just seems wrong for him to be upset. It's like the sun going dark. One of the things James had found worst in the week immediately after Guantanamo, was how often Niall had been unhappy.

Once Niall was done with his explanation, James patted the bed beside him and Niall stopped his pacing and sat down. James wrapped his arms around his beautiful boyfriend and just held him for a time.

“Number one, Nialler,” James told him. “Don't worry too much about this. It's not that big a deal. Whatever happens, I'll still love you, the boys will all still love you, and you'll still be a massively successful band with a massive number of fans around the world. Even if a few fans leave, you'll still have highly successful careers. Remember when we talked to Simon Cowell about us a year ago and he said he didn't think you coming out would affect the band's popularity?”

Niall nodded.

“Well Simon generally knows what he's talking about, doesn't he?” James added. Not that I know what I'm talking about when it comes to this sort of thing, James thought. I was never much into music as a kid, and despite the year with Niall I can't really say I understand the music industry very well. But Simon Cowell's power is Intuition, so his guess about what might happen is probably a lot more reliable than the Modest Management guys.

“Secondly, Nialler,” James added. “I'm okay with you doing whatever you feel you need to do for your career. If that means getting a beard, then that's fine by me.” It's pretty cool actually that just by pretending to date someone, a person can convince the world that they're straight. James loved the concepts of strategy and deception, and he found the whole notion of tricking the media quite fascinating. “And you know I think that the best way to stop people getting upset about silly things is to keep them ignorant of things that would upset them. That definitely applies in this case. There are some people in the world who just can't cope with other people being happy. It's usually easier to let them be ignorant and happy than to try and upset them with the truth.” James had kept his relationship with Niall a secret from most of the people within his organisation. Too many of the old fogies are pretty backward in their views and don't understand the 'newfangled' idea of 'being gay'.

“Thirdly, you do realise that Modest has probably been behind all the claims in the media that you're dating girls, right?” James told him.

Niall looked up in surprise.

“You know how the media keeps linking you with girls?” James asked. “Like Demi Lovato, Amy Green, Zoe Wheelan, and um...” James trailed off and looked to Niall for assistance. Um, what were the rest of the girls?

Niall came to the rescue. “Louise Thompson, Ali McGinley, Brooke Vincent, Laura Whitmore, Amelia Lily,” Niall listed off, counting them on his fingers. “Yeah, I often seem to have to deny that I'm dating a girl. Though sometimes the girl does it for me.”

“Yeah, well,” James said. “I'd bet some serious money that Modest is behind most of those. They probably ring up the paps anonymously and tip them off that you're dating a particular girl. Then the media gets excited. And eventually you deny it. And to most people that comes across as if you really are dating some of these girls and just want to keep it on the down-low. So people assume you're straight.”