Hey peoples!

Ah, JessexJames, the first pairing I ever really liked from Pokemon. Wow...childhood flashbacks ahoy.

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Title: Nice Piece of Art

Pairing: JessexJames

Rating: K

Side Genre(s): Friendship

Music Inspiration: "Nice Piece of Art" - FM Static

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Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon, or any songs used in here.

Edit: Bah, mistakes, mistakes. I'll try to fix them...

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Red…red matches well with blue, right?

James scrunched up his nose in disgust, cocking his head slightly as his malachite eyes examined the canvas in front of him – a splash of scarlet and cobalt mixed together upon its surface, drowning the colorless board in a mesh of red and blue. Brushing his face-long bluish-purple hair behind his ear, his expression contorted into that of a determined one as he sailed his paintbrush over the splotch of green paint on the table next to him, slowly painting stripes of the said color on the canvas, bringing the already-present hues upon it to metamorphose into a darker tone. He grunted to himself, not pleased entirely with the work, although he proved to be content with it as he placed his paintbrush down.

He then stepped back, the grass beneath his boots crunching in response as he admired the colored canvas upon the easel in front of him, which stood out among the surrounding trees behind it. With a sigh he stepped back once more, slowly turning his eyes up to examine the baby-blueness of the sky, smeared clouds of albino sailing across it ever so slowly, the sun hidden behind the barricading forest that encompassed the clearing.

He turned his malachite eyes back to the painting, his eyebrows furrowing, which such a determined, serious expression was abnormal when compared to his ‘slow’ personality. However, when he wasn’t chasing around Pikachus or stealing other Pokemon from random places like his occupation among the Team Rocket organization required him to, he liked to draw – or paint to be more exact. Such a thing was a challenge for him – a challenge his envy to accomplish he had carried secretly ever since he was a child. Of course, he never told anyone about it, as ‘bad guys’ don’t spend their time making sketches of the things around them.

Right?

He was convinced that it was true. His painting was more like a hobby than anything else – not a dream he would bother to fulfill (although he liked drawing much more than bottle cap collecting), seeing as how his loyalties lied within Team Rocket.

Lately, though, he hadn’t had any inspiration to make art. Even with the adventurous traits his job brought him, the sadness it also brought to others made him feel more disgusted with himself at times rather than influenced to put it on paper. But, if he wasn’t inspired, what was he possibly trying to paint among the canvas in front of him? It was only a mixture of green, red, and blue, outlined into a feminine shape in which he held no clue why he had drawn such a thing.

His expression softened, the wrinkles of disdain upon his pale facial skin dispersing as his eyes gazed upon his piece of art.

Most of the time when he drew, he would become absentminded, letting memories and feelings control the hand that held his paintbrush. Most of the time when the work was actually finished, he wouldn’t even know entirely what he had made, and would only ignore it and not even bother to discover the mystery behind its origin. His job of stealing Pokemon also took away his free time to even perform such a task…

“…James?”

James’s eyes widened slightly as the strong feminine tone of his partner in crime, Jessie, came up from behind him. Remaining silent, he shifted his head to the side, allowing his malachite orbs to meet the sapphire ones of his teammate, who contained an annoyed expression upon her face as she stepped into the open, her own eyes wandering around with implied impatience. The bluish-purple-haired man wasn’t surprised of such a rude behavior from his partner, as it would be abnormal if she wasn’t of the mocking type that tended to be bossy most of the time.

Suddenly remembering his painting, James snapped his eyes around towards the easel, his muscles tempted to lunge him forward and hide it. Like said before, his talent in art was a secret, and no doubt would the revealing of it to any of his ignorant ‘friends’ be disastrous and bad for whatever dignity he continuously told himself he didn’t have. However, he knew that it was too late when Jessie stopped in movement, her eyes turning to the easel behind him, seeming to twitch her eyelid slightly at it. With a sigh behind moistened lips, James prepared for scowls, as well as a bellow of anger from his predictable partner.

“Are you…painting?” she hissed, although it was calm enough to be considered as nothing but a lecturing mutter. James cringed slightly as if her words were vocalized venom, but quickly repositioned his slouching posture into a straight one, his common uneasy expression of both bewilderment and nervousness gracing his facial features.

“Kind of…” he replied in a whispering format, his voice fit for a loyal spokesperson, despite that his easygoing countenance seemed to beg to differ. He didn’t know why he was so afraid of his partner, usually blaming his wimpy attitude because of it, regardless that she was no taller or even older than him.

She was just so…intimidating.

And when he came to think about it: Stunning.

Determined.

Powerful.

…inspiring?

James blinked as if finally realizing something, and while Jessie began her long lecture on how James left her and their Pokemon mascot, Meowth, back at the camp not too far off to do such a ‘stupid’ hobby as painting, the said bluish-purple-haired Team Rocket member brought his eyes to his canvas once again. This time, however, instead of trying to figure what the picture his emotions and thoughts drew for him, the exact meaning behind it flashed across his mind as if he had known all along.

“It’s…you…” he muttered, his tone in awe as if he was stating his realization out loud, and Jessie seemed to cease her words instantly as her partner slowly brought his gloved hand up to point at the painting. With her mouth still open slightly since her lecture was practically paused, she shifted her sapphire eyes towards the canvas, examining from her far position the mesh of red and blue upon it, while green seemed to stroke its surface like an overlapping wave. She blinked herself, surprised, as she noticed the feminine shape the hybrid of colors formed.

Her.

James slowly brought his eyes to her, although she was too mesmerized in thinking of a reason why he would paint her of all people to notice his bewildered, yet soft gaze.

She was his inspiration? She had been his inspiration this whole time?

But…why?

He remembered the times they both got stuck in bundles of trouble because of their endless desire to catch Ash Ketchum’s Pikachu, and he remembered how many times she usually blamed him for it, or how many times she would treat him with disrespect, acting like he was nothing but a waste of her time.

However, he also remembered the nights after they were blown away by Ash Ketchum’s Pikachu where he would see her disheartened by their failure. Being the nice guy that he really was, he would try to cheer her up, and after spending hours making himself look like an idiot she would smile, thanking him shortly after for being there for her. Even if such moments didn’t come often because Jessie was usually bossy and rude, he still cherished them heavily as if they were the meaning of life to him. He liked it when she was caring; he liked it when she was supportive towards him, treating him like an actual partner she would sacrifice herself to save any day, as he would for her in a heartbeat.

Between all of the lectures and bossy commands, Jessie had always been there for him, smiling, holding out her hand for him to take, lending him her shoulder to cry on, giving him her arms to regain his balance on when he fell.

She always made him feel happy to be alive.

She always made him feel so wanted and liked.

She always made him feel better when he was down.

She always made him feel that his wretched job was actually worth it.

And he always felt that he stayed with his occupation just so he could be with her, because he wanted nothing else but to wake up in the morning and see her beautiful face.

She was his inspiration.

Jessie eventually closed her mouth, her eyebrow quirking as a look of bewilderment crossed her eyes, her gloved hand coming up to brush a strand of her long, scarlet-colored hair from her face. James, on the other hand, couldn’t help himself as he lunged forward right when she was about to face him…

…and brought her into a warming hug.

The female Rocket grunt widened her eyes as she felt James’s arms wrap around her, his head burying into her shoulder as his hair stroked against her cheek because of it. She could feel her face heat up, and for once she wasn’t pushing him away or scowling him for being irrelevantly affectionate.

Instead she slowly smiled, her arms coming up to wrap around her partner’s torso, nuzzling her face into his neck. Warmth fluttered throughout her, and she suddenly thought that the hobby of painting wasn’t so bad as James whispered a loving sentence into her ear.

“Thanks for making me feel like a nice piece of art, Jess.”

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That was fun...