That Would Be Enough~ Hamilza Oneshots

~Step Out of Your Comfort Zone (Hamilkids) {Modern AU}~

A/N: This is based on my headcanon that James suffers from auditory processing conditions, like misophonia and phonophobia.

  School has a way of draining all the life out of a person.

  Maybe it's the overloading amounts of homework, the obnoxious, pressure-pushing students, or the draconic teachers who seem to forget their job is to teach and inspire children. Despite the merits it claimed, school seems to make a person feel worse than they did before the first day of kindergarten. And James Hamilton was no exception.

  It wasn't that he disliked school itself. He enjoyed the work, he talked to very few of the other kids, and all the teachers loved him. But despite all this, he had been ending his school days recently with a pounding headache and every muscle in his body tensed up.

  "I can't believe you think you're not going," Angie said as they walked through the hallway.

  James kept his head down with his hands shoved into his pockets. This was the last conversation he wanted to have at the moment. "Angie, I'm not going!"

  "C'mon, have fun once in your life. You don't have to be such a party pooper all the time!" their brother AJ joked. "You're in high school now. Don't you want people to know you have a life?"

  He couldn't even bring himself to argue. The day had been so, so long, and all he wanted to do was get far, far away from this place. Leaving his siblings far behind, he stormed ahead for the door. The chilly fall air nipped his cheeks as he desperately scanned the many cars in the pick-up line for his escape home. Finally, Philip managed to show up, and he made a beeline for his car.

  "Hey, James," said Philip as James threw the door open. Philip was currently enrolled at King's College, but he still worked pick-up duty whenever he could. "How was school?"

  The silence of the car was a relief to James. He drank it in, not even daring to answer Philip's question. All was peaceful for a moment, but he felt his ears prickle when Angie and AJ reached the car.

  "Hey, Pip!" chirped Angie as she sat down in the passenger's seat.

  "Pippy Longstockings!" bellowed AJ, sliding into the seat next to James.

  Hot irritation sparked under James's skin. Would they ever shut up?

  After Philip said hello to his siblings, he eyed James and murmured to Angie, "Something wrong with James?"

  "Seems normal to me," AJ piped up teasingly, but Angie shrugged.

  "James says he doesn't wanna go to the Halloween dance."

  Philip furrowed his brow. "No?"

  "No! I swear, he's so antisocial," Angie lamented. "It's his first high school dance, and he's gonna miss it!"

  "Because dancing is stupid," James said curtly, trying to take interest in the book he fished out of his backpack.

   "Or it's just because you're scared," countered AJ with a smirk. "C'mon, James, there's more to life than books and studying, you know!"

  "Yeah, this is the only year I'll be able to go to these dances with you!" Angie added. "Don't you wanna go with me and AJ and Jake? "

  "I guarantee you and Jake won't be dating by the dance,"  James spat.

  In an attempt to regain peace, Philip tentatively stepped  in. "I understand why you wouldn't wanna go, James," he said gently. "but the school always does a great job with the Halloween dance. Theo and I had a blast every year. Who knows- you might like it."