Without you I'll implode
When James was there, he was like a magnet. He'd walk into a room and people would immediately gravitate towards him like he was the centre of their universe, and in a way he was. James was always present, always moving, always alive.
His eyes were always bright, full with an energy that seemed impossible to reach for everyone else but it was just a part of James. They held an emotion so pure, so captivating, so raw, they were extraordinarily beautiful. And they drew people in, drew them in to the boy with the too bright eyes.
His energy was magnetic. He radiated such intensity that drew people in until they're in a place so inviting, so intoxicating, so overwhelmingly James. So they kept going back, each time becoming more dependent on the boy who shone too brightly.
After a while his presence affected everybody, not just his best friends who'd become worryingly withdrawn when he wasn't there, but the 6th year would retreat to her books, or Benjy who'd sit fiddling with his robes or McGonagall who'd forget what she was teaching. Everyone needed James, James needed no one.
People depended on James, perhaps more than they should have but James was easy smiles and bright eyes and so comfortable that they let themselves be drawn back in. James was easy, and constant yet bright and captivating and he dazzled everyone until they wondered how could they live without him? They got lost in James, lost in his essence, his beauty, his life, they needed him, thrived on him, lived for him but they were never worried because James was always there.
James was a force so wild, so intense, so catastrophically beautiful, it really wasn't a surprise when he burned out early. And it really wasn't a surprise that he still burned bigger and brighter than anyone. And it was inevitable that energy so intense couldn't last forever. It was devastating, the way everyone fell apart without him around, without his energy, without his presence. He was always there and they came dependent on the boy with the too wide smile and too bright eyes, so when he died they crashed and burned in spectacular ways, but even still, they were never as bright as James.
No one was as bright as James.
A/N: I'm really proud of this one shot, I tried a different writing style and while it didn't work completely there's some elements of this that I'm really proud of. I'm really into playing with dynamics between characters and energy and that's really where this piece came from. Dependence was a huge theme in this piece and I tried to pull it to the extremes. I definitely think James was extremely charming and that charm really drew people in. I see him as one of those larger than life characters in the way that 'people liked James, the tolerated Sirius' (spoiler of upcoming Fanfic). So long ramble AN over and thank you so much for reading. I really hope you liked it, I spent three weeks on this one so...