a/n: for NRC (Nanii), happy (belated) birthday! my veryfirst weasleycest, be nice. ;)

immoral
i hear the words but all i can think is
we should be together
/jump then fall, taylor swift/

Because he and her just don't work, they don't they don't they don't.

(Well, at least, that's why he tries to convince himself of.)

He is James Sirius Potter; prank extraordinaire, womanizing player, the king of kings.

And she is Rose Weasley; brainy one, off-limits one, the one who always fixes the problems.

(And they don't match, no, not at all.)

Hot summer days always seem to be the start of these things, these relationships, romances, flings, whatever you want to call it. They're over at his house and she's wearing a pair of shorts that makes her father shout in indignation and boys fall at her feet. And her legs seem to run on forever and maybe that's what makes him notice her.

Just her legs, of course.

(The fact that he's her cousin keeps invading his thoughts, followed by a thought of aren't cousin relationships common in pureblooded families?)

Then he just stops thinking.

They make a lovely couple, you know. A Potter falling for a redhead (the wrong redhead; that girl, what's-her-name is right there, y'know) but oh, he's never been good at noticing things, has he?

He develops a fierce protectiveness that was meant to be for Lily and Lily only, but Lily is Slytherin and doesn't need taking care of, so Rose would be the next choice, wouldn't she? And maybe it's a little ridiculous 'cause she's only one year younger, god damn it, but he can't help it.

(He loves her.)

(In that cousin-cousin way, of course.)

He kisses her once and it's on the cheek. On the cheek! James Sirius Potter doesn't do cheeks, you see. He is the boy with the mop of black hair and the prettypretty eyes, and the one who has a different girl in his bed every single night, and he's going for kisses on the cheek?

(It's pathetic, really.)

She invades his dreams, his thoughts, affects his judgment, actions, every single fucking thing is about her, isn't it? Isn't it?

(Yes.)

And god, he wishes so bad he could stop loving her in that selfish way of his, because beating up Scorpius Malfoy isn't going to help and the only thing that accomplishes is making her mad at him, and he can't stand when she's mad at him.

Yes, he may be a selfish boy with a sicksick mind and a heart that's been broken too many times to count, but he loves her and she (doesn't) love him, and that's all that matters, right?

"Rose—" He groans her name and their bare skin rub against each other in that deliciously tainted way, and for an hour or so they're able to forget that they're cousins and this is—this is incest (he chokes out the word)—and just pretend this is one of those typical love stories.

But then he goes back to her, that girl, and she goes back to him, that boy, and that guilt is pushed to the back of their minds until their next 'meeting'.

Lily knows, naturally. James is her brother and Rose is her absolute favourite cousin, and she thinks what they're doing is so wrong, so wrong, but she makes no comment on it, not once.

(Though she is caught giving them looks once in a while, like stop it, stop it now before you get hurt.)

The thing is, they already are. (They're hurt beyond repair, and this is the last way they'll try and fix themselves [but really, what they're doing is breaking them even more])

[they all figure it out, eventually.]