PRINCES † JAMES POTTER II

o. to be, king james

JAMES WASN'T INSECURE. He knew he was attractive and athletic; one could even call him confident. Maybe he had a stutter sometimes but that only really happened when he was nervous, not because he hated his voice. He wasn't really the most talkative person generally and apparently neither was Nala.

They sat awkwardly at a table in the library with their own potions textbooks and several from around the room scattered onto their table. He took a deep breath and thought about how he would act around Mikey. James didn't stutter or falter with him.

"Thank you for you, for agreeing to help me." He eventually said, opening his textbook. "I don't get, well, I don't get any of it."

Nala nodded, looking through the contents page of her own book trying to choose a starting point. "I just thought I'd warn you, my homework will be brutal." She joked, and James found himself relaxing a little more.

"I wouldn't be surprised." He quipped, flipping to the page she was on. "Though, I did think asking you for help would be harder."

"I didn't think I was that scary."

James grinned, running a hand through his hair. "You're tall and terrifying."

Conversation ran easily after that as she tried to explain the parts of potions he didn't understand. He found himself really enjoying the study session, even if he was a bit of an idiot in the beginning. James thought that maybe he was actually learning something. Potions wasn't so hard to understand when people were willing to teach him at his speed. Every class seemed to go by so fast that James couldn't keep up but studying with Mikey or, in this case, Nala meant that James could be just as smart as everyone else.

Perhaps he would be able to pass his NEWTs at a high level rather than barely passing (and even failing) some of his OWLs. In time, he reckoned he wouldn't even need his friend's help. This was only temporary.

Nala closed her book and put it in her bag. "I've got to admit, it's been fun hanging out and studying with you James."

She started collecting the library books and James skittishly stood up and grabbed a few himself. "Well, we could, y'know, we could always hang out more? Maybe, if you wanted to that is."

"I'd love to but I think we should stick to Sunday evenings. I wouldn't want to make your boyfriend anymore jealous. He can be brutal on the Quidditch field." Nala replied honestly.

"What?" James stopped, almost dropping his books. "I-what? Mikey? No he's not, we're not- my boyfriend?"

She tucked her hair behind her ear, and whispered. "You don't have to lie James. I won't tell anyone."

"No seriously, we're not." He spluttered. "I'm not gay."

____________

"So how did the study session with Nala go, JJ?" Mikey asked when James entered their dorm room. "Did you ditch the books and go snog in a corner like I suggested?"

James frowned and shook his head. He could barely look his friend in the eye. How many people thought they were dating? How was he supposed to convince Nala that it wasn't true? She was keeping at a distance because she was scared of Mikey. James couldn't help but wonder if she liked him back but didn't do anything because of his best friend.

Mikey sat up on his bed, throwing the book he was reading. "I thought you'd be more talkative after you came back. Is something wrong?"

James sat on his own bed, twiddling his thumbs and slowly looked his friend in the eyes. "Did you know people think we're gay? And dating each other?"

As the words came out of his mouth, he noticed Mikey's facial expression change. His eyes widened and cheeks flushed bright pink.

"They think what?" Mikey seemed astounded, like he couldn't believe it.

"I know!" James gripped his hair in frustration. "Nala doesn't want to hang out with me too much because she's scared that my 'brutal beater boyfriend' will get jealous. She wanted to hang out more but she thought you would maim her!"

Mikey leant over and put a hand on his shoulder. "That's crazy, but hey, she does want to hang out with you."

"She won't because of you."

"Then convince everyone we're not dating. How hard could that possibly be?"

_____________

It was very hard, James found out.

"I thought you were gay." His cousin Priscilla said when he asked her.

"Why does everyone think that?" James exclaimed exasperatedly.

She shrugged, smirking. "Because you totally flirt with Mikey. Don't think for a second I don't notice that you two sneak off at my parties."

"Merlin's sake, we just get tired of everyone. It's nothing strange."

James was officially going to to bald at sixteen from pulling all of his hair out. All he wanted was to be Nala's boyfriend but he was being borderline cock-blocked by a rumour. It wasn't as though he could convince the entire school they weren't dating or that they were straight. People wouldn't believe him, if his own family didn't then he had no chance.

He wanted the rumours to stop. It was almost a miracle that the press hadn't gotten a hold of it yet or else James would be the new poster boy for gay representation. He would never get a girlfriend and his café dream would be a distant memory. He would live the rest of his days known as Harry Potter's gay son. Constantly harassed by reporters on when he'd get married to his apparent boyfriend Mikey, who was unfortunately roped into the media. James would never be able to live a semi-normal life ever again. He would have to become a professional quidditch player because his personal life would be too important to own a small café.

Why did this rumour have to be the one that spread? James would have much preferred a rumour that he had an STD; at least he could easily prove that it was false without illegal or unethical activity taking place. Him being gay on the otherhand, nobody seemed to believe him no matter what he said. James knew he wasn't gay. He really liked Nala, a lot, but she couldn't be convinced that the two weren't dating.

It made James really, really frustrated.