Chapter 1:

The room was nice and neatly kempt; The color scheme was mostly blues and grays, for a very calming effect. A small blue loveseat was against one of the demure gray walls. There wasn't much to describe. The room was small, but more than enough for a person who spent most of his time in the one corner.
James' favorite corner was the one with the 3 by 3 cubicle bookshelf and the big cool-gray beanbag with a blue pillow. It was where he spent most of his time, anyway, when not on a mission or with his friends.
At the moment, he was not in that corner. He was in the bed with navy blue sheets and a dark gray (the default color) comforter. He woke up the way he normally did: To the sound of Jessie getting ready.
Her room was not nearly as neat as his was. The room was clean, sure, but definitely not 'neat'. Meowth's room wasn't neat either, but his room was a converted closet with a tall cat tower, yellow pet bed and small 1 by 2 bookshelf. His room wasn't neat because it was too small to be considered a bedroom; At least not one for a human.

Jessie's room was for a human on the other hand, and was a mess of every red-violet color one could imagine. Jessie had the exact same amount of space he did, but instead of keeping it mostly empty, Jessie's room was busy and vibrant: The dark warm gray paint on her walls could only be noticed on one of them, as the other three walls were covered in pictures, posters, random drawings or sketches, and vinyl decorations of almost any sort one could think of. Instead of a small corner with a bookshelf, Jessie had a desk where she'd read, file mission reports or doodle (if she was bored enough). Really, the only thing her room had in common with James' was the loveseat against the wall, though hers' was a dark purple.
Jessie's routine was less organized, too. James woke up within five minutes of the same time each morning, but mostly because, without fail, Jessie would already be up and start playing music, also unorganized. The woman had no sense of the word 'genre' and played anything she happened to like; there would be peppy pop music one morning and the next would be a musical and then the next would be alternative rock. The walls were thin and even though the volume was low, James woke up to her routine every morning.
Though he was accustomed to it, waking up at 5 am was still a chore. He had no idea how Jessie operated on the even lower amount she got. Maybe it was because she drank coffee. The thought of the pungent liquid made James cringe. Sure, she sweetened it, but James still thought it tasted like bitter vomit. Waking early or not, he preferred tea of some kind.
Today, he opened his eyes to the backing track of some random musical Jessie must have decided was cool enough to download illegally. Sighing, he got out of bed and grabbed the orderly pile of clothes he'd set up the night before off of the gray beanbag.
There was no mission planned today, so there was no need to wear anything specific. Of course, having a casual "green flannel, gray tee-shirt and jeans" day only meant a mission was coming soon. Still, today was going to be a good day. Today was going to be a reading-with-tea and a stream-movie-with-partner day.
He stepped out his door and saw the same thing he did every morning: Jessie, already dressed, leaning on the counter and waiting for her coffee to brew. Today, her hair was in the messy bun she tended to favor on casual days. She was wearing a black top with bell sleeves and indigo jeggings. For her, that was about as 'casual' as it got.
"Cute top." James smiled, walking in.
Jessie glanced at him, then at the top, and yawned, "Thanks." she smiled a little.
He leaned on the island, "So, movie or sitcom?"
Jessie frowned, "Unfortunately, neither. Once Meowth finishes it," she yawned again, and held up a form, "I have to run a report up to that prissy little secretary."
James' grin faltered. The casual days had been getting scarcer and scarcer and he was convinced that today would be the first time in nearly a month that he and his partners could relax. "Does it have to be today?" He asked, even though he knew Jessie wouldn't miss part of a day off unless she had to.
She nodded sleepily as the coffee maker beeped that it was done, "Deadline for the last mission report is tomorrow."
James frowned, "Then do it tomor..." he trailed off, "Really? Tomorrow?" There was only one thing it meant.
"Sorry." Jessie said, sipping coffee, "I don't control it..."
"He needs to ive us less missions..." James groaned.
Jessie shrugged, "It's two days."
"Two days of you not being here." James fired back, a bit irate. "I can't believe you're going on another scout mission."
Jessie sighed, going to the cupboard and pulling out a teabag, "Peace offering?" she asked wryly, tossing it to him.
That had become their recent way of solving an argument or disagreement: Offer the other one a food or beverage. It was their way of saying one of two things: "I'm sorry for earlier, please accept my apology" or "Shut up, this argument is stupid".
Based on Jessie's face, it was the latter.
James sighed deeply, "Accepted." And she smiled and started the coffee machine on hot water.
Even though the argument was over, James was more than a little put out when his best friend walked out the door and headed for the main building on the premises of the mall-sized base they called home.
He thought of every time they'd watched a horror movie on a day off, and how every time he'd picked one (even though he didn't even like horror films), Jessie would always wrap her arms around him during the scary parts. He thought about the guilty pleasure of her immediately hugging him whenever something even remotely spooky happened. He thought about every time he'd wanted to tell her he thought it was cute, and how he liked holding her. 'Maybe when she gets back from that scout mission, I'll talk to her'. He smiled to himself.