Disclaimer: Victorious and it's characters don't belong to me, neither does the song. It's just a reference.

Oneshot: Jori
Song:
I want to be like you - The Jungle Book OST


He used to come in the mornings, darkness still covered the whole room. Yet he didn't need a light to find his way, he instinctively knew exactly where she was.

"Mommy," is all he needed to say to wake Jade up, she would turn towards him and help him up the mattress and into the bed, she would place her arm beneath his head and cover him up, while filling his head with kisses.

There were nights where he only came into our room to fall right back to sleep, others that he was feeling talky and asked for a story, he would play with Jade's face until she decided on one and started telling it.

Like the good actress that she always was, she would make voices, use her hands to make impressions, ask him to participate, she would go all out as a tale teller. Those were, probably, my favorite mornings.

Of course there would be the ones when he came in crying, he'd had a nightmare. It was always the same, he was lost somewhere, unable to find his way to Jade.

His tears would fall uncontrollably, he was agitated, scared, but still, he would look for her arms instead of mine.

I can't blame him…or her. The truth was that I abandoned them to go touring, a total of six months away from the loves of my life… for work.

On nights like that, his mommy would put his back to her chest and wrap him up with her own body. With one hand she held him close so he would feel safe, with the other one, she caressed his hair; always kissing him on his head, snoozing him back to sleep, telling him that he was okay and they were together, no one was going to break them apart.

Six months… I was gone for too long.

At his age, that's like years. He had bonded too deeply with her. They were the perfect duo.

An hour after he came into the room, at about 6:00 a.m., Jade's phone would start playing the song from The Jungle Book, I want to be like you. They would sing together, sometimes mumbling to it, others he would stand up in the middle of the bed and start jumping up and down; but there were the times when he would ask for two more minutes…

"Only two more, mommy!"

"Two more minutes, ¿huh?" She would ask, calling his bluff. It would actually be five, sometimes ten.

Then, she looked for weak spots under his arms and his belly, and tickled him to loud laughs, kid's laughs, you know? Almost screams of joy. When we calmed down, Jade would start again, and so on, until the time was up.

She would ask him for a good morning kiss that Luc gladly gave her, and both would disappear through the door to start the day.

My then wife, was strict. She didn't like a messy house, and right after he finished his shower, she asked him to get dressed and clean up his room while she made breakfast.

I have to say that the first time I heard that, I was outraged. I had just come back from tour and the thought that this tiny human should be doing all these things by himself, was too much for me. In my eyes, he still was the baby I left behind.

To my surprise he was very self sufficient. He dressed himself up perfectly, right after Jade dried him with the towel. He picked his cloths himself and didn't want anyone's help, not even mine.

After that, he always went to the bathroom and stepped into the small step stool to reach the comb. Walked back towards the hallway mirror and stared at it, playing with his wet hair. He arranged it to one side, then to the other; some days all the way back and others he would mess it up. He usually preferred the weekends for that hairstyle.

I once asked him why, he explained that mommy had told him he must be respectful of other people, and since his teacher didn't like a messy hair, he rather not do it.

After he was presentable he would go to his room to take out all the covers from his bed, one by one. He left them over the wooden table were he sometimes draw and played with legos, then, he carefully stretched the sheets from both sides and, when it was perfect, he brought back the covers and pillows and made his bed, all by himself.

I was so proud of my four year old, when in fact, I should have been more thankful to the one that shaped him into a responsible and independent young kid.

Not long after that, Jade would call him from the kitchen. Everything smelled amazing, scrambled eggs with toasts on Mondays and Fridays, a bowl of fruit everyday and juice or milk. That was left to his liking.

Jade never gave him one cookie for lunch, or a bag of chips, or soda. His lunchbox consisted on a fruit —an apple or a pear—, always a juice box or a milk carton; at times yogurt and a roast beef sandwich with lettuce and tomato on whole-grain bread or in it's absence a wrapped pita with chicken and vegetables. Nothing too processed, nothing too heavy or with too much sugar. She was very careful about that.

"Ten more minutes for the bus to be here. Come on, hurry up and go brush your teeth," she used to tell him as she cleaned the kitchen.

Soon enough he was down with his backpack, went straight for his lunchbox and headed for the door.

"Human cub, don't you forget my kiss!" She reminded him the days he forgot. Luc would come back running into her arms, pouted his lips into hers, and then, he would say:

"I want to be like you, mommy!"

"And I… want to be exactly-like-you, Mowgli," she responded every time, only to put him down on the floor.

The honk of the bus was usually heard by then, it was a few houses away, it would be by the front of the house in less than a minute. Jade would grab his hand and take him to the sidewalk to wait.

Moments after, she stepped back into the house, picked up any mess left from the night before and started to get ready for work.

That's how, pretty much, everyday started, with love and games, with tears and laughs, with music and kisses.

That was until I came back.


A/N:

This is a story that, first of all, is an extract of another story I've been working for months, and also an entry for the Challenge of #Songs&Memories&Fics organized by rustjacque12 and myself.

The challenge was to create a fic from a memory of one or more characters that revolved around a song. It could be a happy memory, a sad one, an angry one or a romantic one.

This is a mix between happy and sad, told from Tori's point of view.

I hope you like it and if you would like to participate, please do. The only requirement is to add a #Songs&Memories&Fics on the summary.

Thanks for reading and have a nice night.