Hello :P It is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter. This is one of the first ones that I wrote this year and like the title suggests, it focuses on James' father, Charlie Morgan. There's a parallel comparing two little stories in this one but it mainly focuses on the past, when James is a little boy and looked after by Charlie better than he remembered. I hope you enjoy :3
Ages:
(Present)
James: 41
Justin: 20
(Past)
James: 7
Charlie: 35
Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned!
Continuing to watch the lavender haired male doodle something or other while he sat in his desk chair, as I listened to the scratching noises of his pencil and his melodic humming noises, I felt very relaxed indeed. And to tell you the truth, I half wanted to grab a crayon for myself and join in with his art work! I knew that I was very much welcome to, even if I hadn't really done that before.
However, as I smiled secretly to myself and pondered this notion, before I even had a proper chance to jolt my body and snatch one of the pencils for myself, the door of his private door swung and banged open. Immediately, both of our heads turned towards this disturbance and my brow quickly started to furrow, replacing my mischievous smirk.
But the lavender haired male didn't share my frowning gaze for very long if at all. As soon as it became obvious to him who had barged in – for they too were humming slightly as they shuffled in, albeit groggily – James stood up from his seat and gave his son a soft, concerned look as Justin clambered over to him. I had only a split second to observe how truly diabolical he looked.
"Aw… Aw Justin, man, you're about to drip everywhere." The lavender haired male shook his head lightly and took his glasses off as if they made him able to see his son clearer and with his other hand; he prepared to reach out to the deep purple haired male. At the same time that James' fingers made contact with his eldest son's shoulder, Justin let out a truly horrendous yet pitiful sniffling slurping noise. James quickly continued. "Sit down. Sit down. You don't sound good at all."
Without hesitation after that, the lavender haired male discarded his glasses with a clang on his brown wooden working desk and reached for a tissue instead and handed it to Justin. The deep purple haired male accepted it gratefully and sat down opposite his father in the spare chair but shook his head, trying to deny that he didn't feel too ill – that he was fine.
But getting a proper look at him in that moment, I knew that wasn't the case at all! I found myself feeling slightly guilty for describing him as diabolical-looking before but that really was the truth. The poor deep purple haired male had streaming eyes as he was full of cold and I imagined that his voice was certain to be husky. His usually sunken yet cheerful eyes looked puffier and redder than I had ever seen them. I continuously felt bad for thinking he looked so rough. But he really, really didn't look well at all.
Scooting nearer to the lavender haired male while I sat on his desk along with his paper and pencils, I glanced at James at the same moment that he continued talking to his eldest son. He waited until Justin had exhaled what sounded like an awful lot of gunk from his nostrils.
"Sit down. Sit down and rest." James repeated to the eldest Morgan son and added a few extra words too. And after he pushed his locks from his words and leaned back in his chair, observing Justin all the more, he added with a slight shake of his head. "You really shouldn't have gone today. You must have felt horrendous."
"I felt fine and I feel fine." Justin tried to insist in a bit of an unmoving way but almost as soon as he said these words, he peeped from behind his tissue as he wiped his nose with a glint in his watery eye. It was like there was a secret knowing between father and son that the deep purple haired male always insisted on feeling well. Then after Justin lowered his tissue from his nose and threw it in the bin, he shook his head himself, his own brow beginning to furrow. "I just got to sit in his chair and listen to him talk and talk and talk. He got me whatever I needed. It was fine. I was fine. He wasn't going to try and make me feel any worse, was he?"
At that moment in time I hadn't a clue as to where the deep purple male had been so I had to piece together what he was saying and make a guess with quite a puzzled look on my face. I kept it to myself though. In addition to not wanting to seem like I was prying, I was also giving Justin wary looks in case he sneezed on me!
But then I looked towards James. Then the lavender haired male had a frown on his face just like I had but his was vastly different. It was mixed with an eyebrow raise and the beginning of a neck that was starting to flush – only a little though. James leaned back in his chair and didn't say anything and Justin proved that even if his head was filled with fog and cold too, the cogs were still turning.
He took notice of his father and blinked his puffy eyelids. As he reached for another tissue, he questioned him outright, giving me a little more information that I hadn't had before. I listened to it while secretly feeling grateful that Justin hadn't reached across to pet me on the cheek.
"Grandad Charlie wasn't exactly going to make me feel any worse, was he?" Justin repeated and added his greying lavender haired grandfather's name and spoke these words in the same disbelieving and sarcastic tone with a continuous glint in his water eye. However, as the lavender haired male still didn't say anything, the deep purple haired male was forced to talk some more just a couple of moments later. He had quite the surprised and sceptical look on his face and he didn't want to accuse the older male of anything at all but he appeared rather perturbed. "'…C'mon, Dad… Is this the first time he's acted in that sort of way…?"
Justin's words were greeted by a prompt and prominent exhalation of breath from the lavender haired male but they were not the annoyed or irritated kind. As I looked over at him and the deep purple haired male did as well, James looked away and he glanced over to one of his vast paintings of the wall of his study.
At first, the lavender haired male didn't say or do anything to indicate that he was agreeing with Justin's words nor was he disagreeing with them. As he didn't move his body or his shoulders or his hands much at all, it became evident that he was thinking. It became evident that he was thinking and he was thinking so very hard.
And then as I craned my neck round to look at him and I glanced into his round and pondering meadow green orbs, I felt a familiar hitch in my throat as I often did when I was about to start seeing things.
I began to start seeing things other than the scene that was right in front of me. As James was taken back, I was as well. And soon enough, together we were thinking about moments from a very long time ago. And moments that had quite possibly truly been.
I saw a vast and luxurious bedroom and the orange glow of the morning light creeping in through the largely draped curtains made it appear all the more magical. It truly was decorated to the highest standard. Every little art piece and ornament and décor dotted around seemed to match each other.
The large and seashell shaped chaise long at the end of the bed was a deep aquamarine colour and it matched the throw at the end of the bed. The women and the men hanging in paintings on the walls were a pearly sort of colour and they perfectly blended in with the candelabras on the side. The floor was the fluffiest and whitest creature I had ever seen – it was almost like a snowfall covering a mysterious land. This heap of pure white matched the crispness of the bed sheets.
I felt the urge to sigh to myself as I saw all of this. I wondered if I managed to keep it all together. I didn't really know.
Before I could ponder it any further or stare any harder, the plush and freshly ironed sheets that I had been fixing my gaze on started to move. In fact, they started to be tugged. They started to be tugged by a little boy who had crept into his parent's room. The little boy had lavender hair and meadow green eyes. The little boy was James. And like the deep purple haired male in the moments I had previously been in, the little boy from the past was full of cold. And he seemed to be most disgruntled by it.
The lavender haired little boy managed to withhold a wearily frustrated whine as he continued tugging and pummelling his hand against his parents bed sheets, trying to get their attention. Trying to get them to wake up! It seemed as though he had been there and doing that for hours. He felt so ill. He felt so very ill so he didn't want to give up and leave.
Finally letting out a whimper that time, he tugged on the duvet of his parents one last time and felt his eyes pooling with tears and then leaking seeing as his nose was far too stuffy to even do that. He then had to let out a loud stuff as he tugged on his parents duvet and that was finally enough to wake not one of them but both.
Charlie and Johanna groaned in bed as they were tugged away from dreamland as their son tugged on their duvet and because it was such a bright and orange morning, it was a bit of a harsh awakening. They continued groaning. Little James finally let go of their duvet and took a step back; patiently waiting for one of them to actually realise that he was there.
Evidently they were not as clueless as they were often made out to be from the words that escaped their lips next, in between longing to bury their heads under their pillows and letting out more groaning sounds. It was a lady's voice that could be sounded against the morning of Kanto first.
"I'm almost completely sure that it's not the weekend today…" Johanna uttered and she rolled further away from Charlie as if he had been to wake her and she really did bury her head under her pillow, trying to shut out the breaking of morning as well as anymore words that she could have possibly heard. James just blinked his watery and meadow orbs and then heard his mother mumbling from far underneath her pillow. "Go and hassle Mrs…"
But either Johanna trailed off as she couldn't remember yet another of their staff members names or she fell asleep. Either way, a very poorly indeed young version of James rubbed underneath his red and raw nose with his finger and went on his tip-toes. He wondered if he needed to say any words in response or it was a good idea for him just to leave sharpish and pretend that he had never even been there at all.
However, after uncurling his body in bed, Charlie let out a breathy sort of groaning noise and following moving past the fact that his wife had moved away from him, he spoke to her, preparing to actually lift it off the pillow rather than bury himself under it like she had done.
"It's Sunday today, my dear, so it's just us in the house… And our little son, of course…" Charlie murmured and I wondered if even the little boy version of James was pondering how his father turned simple sentences into long ones even so early in the morning. But he didn't have time because his then purely dark lavender haired father at last lifted his head off his pillow and turned around, looking right at where his lavender haired son was peering. His face was screwed up with sleep and his eyes were narrowed in the same way as he directed him rather than his wife. "…Who just so happens to be standing right here and right now. What is it that is the matter?"
The lavender haired little boy lowered himself from being on tiptoes and he tried to gulp his watery eyes away when he heard Johanna rustling the covers all over again. But unlike her husband, she didn't turn to look directly at him. It was just the two boys who were looking at one and other. And then it was the two boy's engaging in conversation.
Little James took another step back and his knees buckled out of the sheepishness of it all, it crossing his mind for good that maybe he should have just sucked it up and felt ill all alone. But then he realised that his father was talking to him and addressing him so he should probably hurry up and respond to him. He did exactly that as his eyes puddled with more unwell tears.
"I'm… I'm feeling poorly, daddy." James uttered and I gathered that he thought it best to address his father than his mother who seemed far more interested in having a lie in on what appeared to be a Sunday morning. And with that, the lavender haired little boy let out a hiccup as his legs buckled some more though it was not intended to be a way to gather more sympathy. He had just been dealing with feeling under the weather for quite some time.
The purely dark lavender haired male let out a sigh when he heard these words and he pushed his unusually unruly yet washed and soft locks from his eyes. However, he soon spoke quickly once again and I wondered whether it was to cover up or make up for his wife's mutterings that I could have sworn were coming from underneath her pillow yet again. Charlie even began to sit up probably, attempting to swallow a yawn.
"Well, there's not really much I can do about it, is there? Remember, the old doctor told you that you've just got to wait for it to pass out of your little system." James' father told him with a great deal of apathy and then the lavender haired little boy just nodded his head quickly as he heard these words. But despite this, he couldn't stop his little chin from puckering and then his head drooped to the floor with a small amount of disappointment. Charlie let out another sigh, covering up his wife's snoring noises. But then he actually properly swung his legs over the bed, causing James to jolt and jump to attention. The dark lavender haired male's words were not a great sort of comfort at first. "I think you'd feel better tucked up in your own bed rather than standing on our floor, don't you agree?"
Charlie occupied himself with sliding his feet into the slippers that he left on the floor by his bed and reached for his dressing gown discarded on the end of his bed too, adding that onto his existing layers of silk blue pyjamas and sleep scarf also. The dark lavender haired male did this while the little boy continued standing there like a lemon and with uncertain, wide and watery eyes.
Little James still didn't know what his father was hinting at, nor what was going on when Charlie finally stood up off the bed, not giving Johanna another glance and pushing his undone locks from his eyes.
When the lavender haired little boy continued standing there fixed on the carpet, not looking at his father or moving or leaving or anything, Charlie lightly nudged his little son on the shin with his foot. A shudder threatened to go through James' spine. But then the moustache adorned male outstretched his arm.
"What are you waiting for? It really will be the weekday before you get your groove on!" Charlie tried to make James understand with words and it was no use at all until he outstretched his arm some more and held out his hand to his little son. He wriggled his fingers. Little James finally understood that he was to take it. Charlie was actually going to take him back to his bed himself. Another shudder went through James' body but a different kind. He wanted more than anything to follow his father's orders and oblige and take hold of his hand but there was something stopping him. I had a very wrong idea why until the dark lavender haired male took hold of little James' wrist in his other hand and took hold of his for him. After leading him out of the room a couple of steps, Charlie's expression screwed up and his moustache quivered with displeasure. "Oh… That's gross."
The young version of James felt his pale and poorly cheeks flushing very red and he tried to yank his clammy and sticky hand out of his father's hold before it caused him any kind of emotion but even I was left surprised when Charlie kept an extra firm hold of him. And it wasn't to steer or punish him. He didn't go as far as to pat his son's hand but he quickly stammered.
"It… It's not the worst in the world. We can both get cleaned up in a jiffy." Charlie concluded and with that, he lead his one and only son back along the vast halls of the Morgan Manor and back to where his loyal friend Growlie was waiting for him. Needless to say, he came right up to them both as soon as they entered and Charlie did quite a good job at not curling his nose up at the dog Pokémon and instead let go of little James' hand, telling him to hop back into bed while he washed his hands in the en-suite.
I wondered if the lavender haired little boy caught his father's expression before he left. His face became more animated when he felt as though no one was looking and he shuddered towards the Pokémon who often left muddy footprints on the carpet and shuddered all the more at the green mess that James had transferred onto his hand!
But the little version of James appeared to be too busy following his father's orders all over again and after he climbed into the bed that could have easily fit all four of James' youngest children when they were that age, he gave his loyal friend Growlie a bit of a weak smile and waited for Charlie to return. In turn, the predominately orange Pokémon curled back up on the rug next to his bed and put his head on his paws but kept one eye open, obviously listening out for anything.
At that moment, all that could be heard was the sound of water running as it could easily be assumed that Charlie was thoroughly washing his son's mess off of his hands. The sound ceased soon enough even so and then the dark lavender haired male came back into the room and he also returned carrying another box of tissues and a glass of water. James already had both of these things on his bedside table. But it was the thought that counted.
The lavender haired little boy looked up at his father with wordless, round and innocent eyes as he approached him and he seemed even smaller in that massive bed. Charlie didn't react when he saw James' other glass of water and box of tissues and he didn't make a huge song and dance of his kind gesture either. Instead he just hovered over his little boy. James continued looking up at him without saying anything. I imagined that Growlie's eye was still open too.
Charlie looked back at his only son and then broke the silence again.
"How poorly are you feeling then, James?" the moustache adorned male questioned and he finally twirled his decorative facial hair as if he was praising himself for caring but then after the lavender haired little boy uttered the word "very", Charlie leaned forward and used his freshly washed hand to check James' forehead. He muttered to himself as if he knew exactly what he was doing and scrunched his face up also. Then he had more words to his son as he came to a conclusion. "You don't feel any hotter than before. Are you sure you're not being dramatic?"
The lavender haired little boy was about to furrow his brown at his father's light accusation. I suspected that Growlie would have lifted his head off his paws. Nevertheless, Charlie then outstretched his arm all over again and while James inhaled to himself, the dark lavender haired male reached for something else that was on his night stand. He reached for the vapour rub.
James' father followed these actions by sitting his bottom down on the edge of his son's bed and after he looked at James expectantly with a tilted head, as if he should have been watching his every move and unbuttoned his pyjamas as soon as he reached for the little pot, Charlie finally noticed something that he hadn't before. He couldn't withhold a scoff.
"Really! No wonder you're feeling so very unwell, James, your pyjama top is on backwards!" Charlie exclaimed against the morning sun of Kanto that was ever brightening and exclaimed against James' sore and unwell ears also. Though of course even Growlithe knew that this minor dilemma wouldn't have made things any worse, James' cheeks reddened all over again and he hurriedly sat up to correct his mistakes. Then the words automatically slipped out of Charlie's lips. "Really? Can't you do anything right?"
These words were a sting to me as I imagined the past and I knew that they were a sting to Growlie also. But James didn't react much at all. Though his eyes started to water all over again, he hoped that he could have made out that it was due to him having a very bad cold and he merely just continued with reaching up and trying to swivel his pyjama shirt round.
But he wasn't having much success at all. I then wondered what it was – I wondered whether it was the silence or the lack of eye contact or James just carrying on like no hurtful words had been uttered at all – but Charlie then reached his hands out all over again. He didn't show outward remorse for what he had said but he uttered in a more careful voice.
"Let me just do it for you. You're not feeling well." Charlie told his only son and with that, as James complied and his arms slumped to his side, the dark lavender haired male managed to encourage his arms back upwards and then he lifted it up over his head. He didn't bother with unbuttoning it when it was discarded on his lap though I wondered if he'd have preferred to focus on that. Instead, he chose to open the green and blue decorated lid of vapour rub and he inhaled deeply as he squelched his fingers into the pot.
He didn't have time to let out an approving noise, his moustache quirking upwards all over again. James let out a displeasured noise, very similar to when he had got his father's fingers soiled with the contents of his nostrils.
"Yuck…" the lavender haired little boy screwed his face up and shuddered also and for good measure, his tongue stuck out. His eyes began to prick all over again. Despite the fact that he had a very blocked nose, he could still smell the eucalyptus scent and he travelled deep inside him. And he really didn't like it! "Yuck."
Little James repeated these words and Charlie finally looked at his son and paid attention to his reaction as he leaned forward and started to rub the – in the little boy's eyes – foul smelling concoction onto his skin. It didn't take the dark lavender haired male a moment's hesitation for him to retort.
"Everybody likes the smell of this." Charlie told James in a final sort of way and although the moustached male hadn't called his son weird or strange or anything of the sort, these unspoken words echoed in James' words all the same and he decided there and then was the time to straighten his expression out. He stopped showing any signs of disgust even though that usually pleasant scent was causing his head to spin. And once again, perhaps it was the silence or the seeming compliance – but the older male added gentler words a second time. "It's nice. I won't always be doing this for you so at least you'll remember the smell and remember this."
James just compliably nodded his head but I got the impression that Growlithe wondered if he was referring that little moment between the two of them as "nice" and it made him a little confused! The predominantly orange Pokémon sat upright and edged nearer to the Charlie's legs as he sat on the bed and though the moustache adorned male shivered, he uttered "nice doggy" very hurriedly. It was extremely apparent that he didn't think that this was the case at all. The younger version of James threatened to finally show off a bit of a smirk.
It was lucky that the older Morgan male didn't see when he was finally done with rubbing the vapour rub on his son and he started to wipe his own hands with one of James' spare tissues. The little boy leaned further back against his mountain of pillows and glanced over at his beloved friend as his father did this but then he was encouraged to sit up all over again. Charlie gestured with just one, single finger.
"Come on, you. You've got to be decent even when you're lazing around like this." The older of the two told his son and although the little boy's shoulders moved up and down, it took him a couple of moments to comply. It got exhausting and tedious during the best of times but especially when he was feeling so very under the weather.
Charlie caught hold of his heaving shoulders and encouraged him upwards, at last then occupying himself with undoing the buttons of James' pyjama shirt that had been discarded on his lap. It was uncertain whether it was the little boy being sat up against what he felt like doing or feeling his father's touch on yet another part of his body.
It was uncertain whether it was either of these two things or another thing entirely but the lavender haired little boy slowly started to go visibly green during the seconds afterwards. In fact, he almost started to match his watery, meadow eyes!
The young version of James tried to slump backwards all over again. The vapour rub eucalyptus smell was still pounding around in his nostrils and head and it was the little boy's automatic reaction to move his hand to his chest. He quickly turned greener when his palm collided with the stickiness of the ointment.
"I can't really breathe…" he whispered and then soon enough, he shook his head as he didn't know why that was what he was saying. His nose was very stuffy but he could smell clearly every inch of the ointment as well as his father's talcum powder from the night before. Charlie merely gave him a small glance before returning to unbuttoning the last button on his shirt. What James said next soon got his father's attention. "I think I'm going to be sick, daddy."
These words jolted through Charlie and he reacted as though he had been slapped! Yet at the same time, his body didn't panic much at all. It was just in his eyes. It was just in his hands. It was in his eyes that widened like golf balls and then flickered in all directions. It was just in his hands that dropped the little boy's pyjama shirt all over. It was just in his voice that croaked out at the same time that little James dizzyingly sat up and then flopped backwards all over again, beginning to clutch his head.
"Oh, heavens, really?" he asked in a voice that was filled with dread but it grew higher pitched towards the end as if a small part of him was praying that his little boy was for some reason joking. The lavender haired little boy didn't react at all, not even with words. And this time I was certain that it was this that caused Charlie to add all the more words. His hand shot out to James' shoulder and he held it gingerly. "You don't really need to be sick, do you? You can hold it in, can't you? I really don't think there's any sort of basin in here."
A split second passed. A split second passed where I barely had time to inhale. A split second passed where Growlie's ear flopped, as if he couldn't believe what was going on. And another split second passed where James very much couldn't believe what was going on. In between beginning to sweat and feel the sensation of sickness making its way down from his sticky chest covered in vapour rub and to the pit of his stomach, the little boy cried out.
"Daddy!" he just exclaimed in a voice that managed to conjure up exasperation that was rather amusing even in the middle of it all. And it was in this moment that despite the fact that Charlie jumped and his eyes widened all the more, he actually jumped into action.
The dark lavender haired male finally stopped his eyes from darting around the room for any sort of thing to catch any of the messes that the little boy may go on to have and briefly glanced down to the pyjama top in his lap all over again. He snatched it by the collar. Then he hurriedly uttered.
"Oh heavens, go on then, if you must!" Charlie responded sharply out of habit but then he scooped his little boy's pyjama top up in both of his hands and then cupped them underneath James' chin like a bucket, squeezing his face tightly shut and turning away but keeping his hands surprisingly composed and fixed right next to his son's face. He exhaled. "Go on. Aim there. But please try not to splash my face at least!"
For the first time that whole scene, I got the impression that the dark lavender haired male was actually joking with his latter bunch of words. Though he did keep his eyes shut and his head turned away and he let his own heaving noises as poor little James hiccupped and lurched down towards Charlie's outstretched hands, the more and more that it went on, the moustachioed male began to creep his eyes open and give his son concerned looks. And then his own heaving noises stopped. It was just James' left. And nothing came out. Thankfully for them both, nothing came out from the pit of James' stomach.
The dark lavender haired male was about to breathe a sigh of relief and withdraw his hands when his little boy clenched his jaw together and didn't make another heaving motion for a good couple of seconds – and it was good that he didn't retract his fingers or the pyjama t shirt covering – because a mess from James finally came.
But it wasn't one that either of them was expecting. It was obvious that as James had been shakily inhaling in between believing he was going to be sick, all of the scents that were filling his nostrils became too much to bare all over again. He squeezed his face up all over. Charlie prepared himself to end up covered. But he prepared himself to be covered by the wrong thing.
All of a sudden, little James just inhaled sharply for just one second and then he sneezed quite the loud and impressive sneeze for such a little boy! The lavender haired little boy's whole body jerked and convulsed as he sneezed and all of the contents that had been bothering in him his nostrils covered the pyjama top in Charlie's hold.
Both of their eyes went rather wide. Growlithe looked as though he was going to yap with surprise! Both father and son blinked towards one and other, not a clue what to say or what to do. And then suddenly and out of instinct, the lavender haired little boy's face went very red and he collapsed against his pillows with exhaustion and out of the horror of what his father was going to do.
It was during that time in the little boy's life that he didn't understand quite how many surprises that Charlie was full of. The dark lavender haired male looked down at the mess in his hands and his moustached quivered but then soon enough he just shrugged. He glanced to where little James had flopped with the reddest cheeks in the world and I definitely saw him soften.
"It's… It's not the worst in the world." He uttered all over again but James was still preparing for a lot worse of a reaction to come so he didn't dare look at his father. And because of this, Charlie sat up off the bed and with one hand he folded the pyjama shirt together to dispose of and with his clean hand, he reached to gingerly but purposely pat James lightly on the top of his head. The little boy's cheeks remained red but his eyes widened and he looked up as the dark lavender haired male added two more words before scarpering. "Good aim."
And with that, Charlie disappeared back into the en suite to discard the bundle of soiled pyjamas and wash his hands for good measure. Little James felt as though he didn't have time to breathe before his moustache adorned father returned to his vision all over again but for a rare occasion, he didn't mind at all. He had Growlie on his hind legs and carefully licking his face and making sure he was okay.
And then after his father had bustled to get him a fresh pyjama top from his vast wardrobe, he had him making sure that he was okay too – in his own way. He gave Growlie a disapproving look for jumping up and the dog Pokémon decided it would be wise to comply to his high standards. After all, he was being nurturing in his own way towards his only son.
Charlie sat back down on the bed and because the lavender haired little boy had come over rather weak and exhausted following his massive sneezing fit, the dark lavender haired male was to hold him up in one hand while he dressed him with the other. He didn't complain once. His face didn't look as though it was complaining either.
After he dressed his one and only son, he pressed him back firmly but carefully towards his pillow and he turned to look right at him. Just like his touch had been, his glance was firm but careful as well. He pushed his soft and floppy locks from his eyes that made him appear younger than when it was so rigidly slicked back.
"I think that you should get some rest now, James. So no talking. You really need to get well again." Charlie informed his little boy and despite the fact that his words were said with finality, he didn't make a point of getting off the edge of the bed nor moving out of the room.
And I wondered if it was because James suspected some rare leeway that he tried to sit up all over again despite his weary body and scratchy eyes and he went against his father's orders for the first time that I had been thinking about them. However after that, he soon flopped backwards all by himself. But he still tried to insist.
"There's no way that I'm going to be able to fall asleep now. Not after all of that…" James referred to the very large mess that he had made and his child-like self, covered the lower half of his face with his hands and tried not to giggle from behind them. I could have sworn that Charlie's moustache quivered as he tried to fight off a smirk also.
But he hid it well and he hid it by reaching and tucking James' duvet further under his chin. He gave him another look.
"Oh but you must. I'm going to make sure that it happens." The dark lavender haired male told his son and James' eyelashes threatened to flicker as he wondered what these words truly meant. And even though it wasn't obvious at first, Charlie began to show him what exactly he meant.
The moustache adorned male finally moved his bottom away from the edge of his son's bed and moved to probably sit up against the footboard of it, opposite his little boy. It was obvious that the lavender haired little boy's bed was big enough for him but it was apparently also big enough for them both.
James' eyes watered in a different way and they dazzled with silent enjoyment as Charlie continued to lean up against his bed on the opposite side and fold his arms over his chest and close his eyes too. Before the lavender haired little boy could tilt his head curiously on one side or question him either, James' dad started to mumble in a voice that he had never really used before.
"One grass Pokémon… Two grass Pokémon… Three grass Pokémon… Four grass Pokémon…" the dark lavender haired male started to recite and the lavender haired little boy really did giggle that time! And he didn't bother to cover his mouth and conceal his laughter. Despite the fact that Charlie did not join in nor did his moustache quiver or quirk, I sensed that the enjoyment was there.
Instead, the dark lavender haired male continued counting grass Pokémon aloud for his son so he could drift off to sleep. And because he continued this, James stopped giggling and listened instead. But he did not close his eyes. He did not drift off to sleep. He listened. Instead, he listened to his dad. He listened to his dad as he continued counting and his words started to get quieter and slur together.
"Seventeen grass Pokémon… Eighteen grass Pokémon… Nineteen grass Pokémon… Twenty grass Pokémon… Twenty one…" Charlie's words finally came incompressible at the same time that his lavender haired little boy closed his eyes and then opened them all over and after little James peered for just a second or two, it became obvious. It became so very obvious. It became extremely clear when Charlie let out a loud snore and then puffed his lips!
His father had fallen asleep himself in the middle of trying to get little James to drift off to dreamland but he didn't mind. In fact, he didn't mind at all. All he had to do was be certain. He just had to be certain that it was happening and that he wasn't actually already in dream land.
So the lavender haired little boy shut his eyes all over again. And then he started to creek them open. At first, he just properly opened one of his eyes. And then the second one did as well. James peeked. James peered. James peeked and he peered. With his arms folded over his chest and snoring lightly, Charlie was indeed there and he was enjoying being a father far more than he ever expressed that he felt.
And it was in this moment that little James felt sleepy enough and most importantly – content enough to go to sleep in the same bed as Charlie – that in the present moment as the adult version of James sat with his own son, the lavender haired male's eyes remained fixed open as he continued having a flashback.
But not only that, as his vision came to an end and so did my one as well, the lavender haired adult version of James let out a quiet breath and then a small and subtle but very real smile took over his lips. And though the deep purple haired male had been a little concerned as to why his own father had been staring for so long, Justin didn't hesitate to smile back when he saw the one that was on James' face.
They both pushed their hair from their eyes. They both smiled. It was a funny thing. I didn't do either of these things. I just went on to think about and suspect more thoughts that went through both of their minds as I looked at the painting on the wall of James' study.
The lavender haired male always thought that he had become the father that he wanted to be because of everything that his own father hadn't done. But it was obvious that you didn't stop learning even when you were far into adulthood. And you didn't stop learning when you had adult children of your own, either.
That day James realised that he had become the father that he wanted to be and was destined to be because of the things that his father had done for him when he didn't make a song and dance about it. For they were the truly important moments. And they were the moments that painted just one of the dimensions of the multidimensional person that was Charlie. And the multidimensional father that he was too. For he was actually quite a damn good one in the end.
The End.
There you go! Thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :3 This is one of those stories that is based off some things in real life! And as well as that, I wanted to show the more nurturing side to Charlie, even towards James. He really can't stand sickness or that kind of thing but after some comments that slip, he is there for his little son. And like the end mentions, Charlie can be a pretty damn good father when he stops making such a song and dance out of everything! I think the grandchildren help teach him that, even if he never thinks too heavily on it :P Thanks again for reading and I will be back next Wednesday with another chapter so see you then :)
AmyBieberKetchum signing out :P