Hello, it is Wednesday and I am back with a new chapter! This is the most recent work of mine yet the first festive idea that I came up with! I knew that I wanted a Christmas story involving Jorginho, and that of course lead to one taking place during the Team Rocket days. It tackles a bit of a heavier subject - James' relationship with his parents - but mostly just explores the dynamic of not only James and Jorginho back in their younger years, as well as Jessie when she shows up :P I hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer: I own the story and the OCs mentioned.
James wasn't expecting to be met with the warm scent of nutmeg, butter, and sugar when he entered his dormitory but that is what hit him immediately. His senses should have already been used to the time of year tugging at them. The sight of blinking, multicolored lights trailing from roofs as he was made to be taxi driver. The sound of merry little tunes humming through the speakers of the many dining halls.
Now his nostrils were quivering. Such smells! But what was the cause? Surely it couldn't have been Meowth.
Tugging his gloves off and leaving them draped neatly over the radiator in the entryway as if they were a feline themselves, draping their tail over the metal and getting toasty, James moved forward towards the culprit.
He didn't hesitate to launch an amiable attack on them while their back was turned, crouching in front of the oven, and checking on their creation.
"Who said you could do that in here?" James' voice cut through the humming of the oven and the burble of the radio plonked in the center of the tiny table. It was certainly not chucking out an array of Christmas tunes despite the occasion.
In turn, Jorginho's shoulders lurched before the rest of him did. He was only just regaining his balance after falling backwards from crouching on his tiptoes and portraying his natural, full height when he saw James with two gloveless hands on his hips.
Hardly anything seemed to frighten him at the best of times and certainly not the male with hair the color of a fragrant lavender field. Certainly not when he saw no plaited brow expression and instead the corner of a mouth breaking the distance with an empty ear lobe.
You see, James had just returned from being on the field and didn't need an earring there to conduct my electricity. He had once learned the hard way!
Taking a composing breath all the same, Jorginho forwent enlightening James as to why he was using his, Jessie and Meowth's shared kitchen rather than his own shared one with his roommate, Oscar, as he was mostly known by. He placed hand over his mouth that was surprisingly delicate for his presence.
After swallowing the mouthful that he had been privately chewing, big brown eyes edged with infinite white latched onto James' own ones. He made an offering instead of an explanation.
"Cookie?" he said, that large hand of his falling away from his mouth and for some reason using both of them to hold out the fragmented piece of cookie out to James that he had snuck out of the oven many minutes before they all were due to be ready.
James with a mouth fully falling open rather than just quirking up towards his ear, shook his head and he denied Jorginho of his offering, even going as far as to reach a brief hand towards his shoulder so he knew he had only been joking.
Nothing was a problem for him. Not him eating rather undercooked cookie as impatience as well as hunger rumbled his stomach. Using their kitchen uninvited. Even using his radio to blare out rock 'n' roll sounds over something more suitable for the time of year.
He showed this more as time went on by the way that he followed Jorginho's lead when he had finished munching on his undercooked creation, crouching next to him in front of the oven and waiting for him to let him have a peek inside.
"What are you making?" James wondered, the way that his hand made a reach to tuck a strand of hair that had not actually become loose showing that he didn't know why he asked this when he had seen Jorginho tucking into what he had decided to bake!
However, Jorginho let things slide between them as much as James did. And he didn't think anything of it, reaching for his oven gloves and opening the door all over again, this time for a viewing rather than that child of him that was still inside himself darting a chubby hand in long before the timer went off.
Just for a brief second so as not to disturb the baking process, Jorginho flashed James with a tray of cookies that were the hue of a paling sun but had the potential to grow richer like a suntan once the cooking time was up.
"What do you think?" he asked as he let his friend's gaze linger for a second or two longer than he usually would've allowed for anyone else before tucking them back into the hot oven where they belonged.
James was perhaps the wrong person to ask! He lived his days eating whatever food he and the rest of the trio could stumble across and, just like the broader male, would most likely have no qualms about tucking into a sticky cookie that tasted more like flour than anything else for the sake of having a fraction of his belly filled.
But forgoing focusing on this and giving Jorginho unnecessary advice about leaving the oven door shut a little more than he was likely to do – and indeed, even forgoing complimented his work that was sure to be successful given his track record – James commented on their shape.
You would think for the time of year as well as the warm rich spice that tickled at his nostrils from the second that he walked into the dormitory that the silhouette of the cookies would be a little more festive. Apparently Jorginho had gone for his own approach in the same manner that the radio host was introducing the top one hundred rock n roll hits of the past decade rather than top festive ones!
James verbalized his observation once they were standing back up together again, Jorginho wiping his crumby hands on an apron that got his palms even messier than before and the lavender haired male picking a cookie cutter up off the side, holding it in between two of his own hands.
"Did you use your Halloween cutters?" he asked even though it didn't take a genius to piece the two bits of evidence together. While Jorginho started licking his fingers clean before fortunately moving over to the sink to wash them, nodding, James' shoulders twitched towards his ears once. "Don't you think that reindeers would've been more festive than felines?"
Despite what you may think, James doesn't actually often point out the obvious, instead leaving that to other people and remaining a quiet observer. And even on the rare occasion that he does, Jorginho doesn't hesitate to turn a blind eye.
On this day, however, Jorginho could not help but notice that he was doing it a lot and once he was asked this question, he turned over his solidly rounded shoulder in order to give James a look while in the middle of scrubbing his hands with orange scented soap.
He would've stuck his nose in the air if he hadn't decided to look back at James instead.
"Well until Santa decides to treat me to a whole new array of cutters just for one time of year then my cat cookies will have to do." He replied with curtness latching onto his vocal cords, the sunshine of his natural disposition disappearing momentarily behind a cloud. "I'm going to ice on little festive jumpers for them."
And if James hadn't known better and Jorginho hadn't faced his attention back down towards his hands once again in order to rinse them of the citrus soap, he could've sworn that he could hear his friend's bottom lip pouching around his words after the initial snapping.
He hesitated for a moment, leaning the narrowness of his spine against the row of countertops behind him and, still holding the cat cookie cutter in both hands, watched the way it reflected the winter light and caused almost a fairy to tinkle across the walls.
It flashed across his mind that Jorginho was being a tad hypocritical for not forking out for festive cookie cutters for one month of the year when he had been with him when he clasped his arm in the supermarket and had without hesitation bought those Halloween ones just for one day!
Jorginho may have been hypocritical but there and then, James felt like he had been a bit of a nuisance. He should've done the normal person thing and simply complimented what his friend had created, or even made a light situation even lighter, commenting that he had better get first pick since he was using his kitchen.
James put the metallic cookie cutter down. And once Jorginho turned around to face him once more, drying his hands with a tea towel while the radio continued to blare and the oven didn't falter its humming, he changed his approach.
"I think it sounds wonderful." he offered and then he felt like even more of a spoil sport from the way that Jorginho's earth toned orbs immediately were lit up by a sunshine from within again at this spec of approval. "You might need to ice mouths on them though otherwise they might still look faceless and spooky."
James didn't know why he had assumed the role of an agony aunt on that day! Since he had let go of one of Jorginho's Halloween cookie cutters being used for Christmas instead, he had picked up a stray bit of paper that no doubt was his doodle for the design that he was going to ice onto the cookies.
It was this that told him that he wasn't planning to give them faces. And it was also this that told him that his friend drew like a toddler as much as he behaved like a toddler at times, filling his mouth with undercooked cookie!
Jorginho mistook the smirk that was tugging back across his lips as judgement rather than what it was. Fondness that he did not quite know how to show in those early days.
He snatched the bit of paper off him, and it was lucky he didn't use his full force otherwise James' arm might have been ripped off with it like he was a piece of a gingerbread person that didn't need limbs anymore.
"Cats don't need mouths." Came his retort, placing his drawing back down where James had found it before he tilted his weight onto the one leg of his, his hand moving to hold his hip on the same side. "They never say anything useful."
His tone following James' sudden need to offer another batch of unsolicited advice made it seem like he was growing incredibly impatient. Perhaps he was. But when James caught his eye after he said these words, he didn't see sunshine taking back over murky brown eyes, but he saw a distant glint within them.
And following that, a similar smirk to which James was often known to portray began to tug up the corner of Jorginho's own mouth and a dimple like a ripe segment of fruit appeared.
Everything was water under the bridge it seemed. So much was spoken within that diamond shared between two men.
And for that, James decided to get himself comfortable in his own kitchen that Jorginho was cooking in, the heat of the oven causing him to remove the top layer of his Team Rocket uniform, lounging in his under shirt. He hitched himself up towards the small section of countertop that was not in disarray from flour and cooking utensils.
"Don't let Meowth hear you say that." James put forth and this was his final musing that could have been deemed unnecessary. But Jorginho didn't have a problem with this in the way that he had found issue with other things that he had said.
He merely continued his smirk while looking up at James from crouching back in front of the oven, not following advice that he hadn't even bothered to present itself and peeking into the fiery capsule once more. Then he shot a glance towards the oven timer. Fifteen minutes had never felt so long!
Jorginho decided to take his easy-going impatience out on James, playfully throwing the oven gloves halfway across the floor when he saw that his cookies were not done nearly as quickly as he would have liked in his ideal world.
"Are you going to help me knock up the second batch or are you going to just sit there looking pretty?" he asked James who was still sitting on the kitchen countertop. Both of his arms had begun reaching upwards to tie his hair into a ponytail and his stretching motion was causing his undershirt to become a crop top like the top layer of his uniform normally was.
When James heard these words and saw the wide mouthed, teasing look that was taking over Jorginho's face as well as the tilt that was sloping his neck, one of his arms faltered downwards. And then he decided that, instead of just revolving his meadow green orbs inside the whites of the sockets, he was going to prove a point.
James reached for something else on that day. He made a grab for Jorginho's bounty collectors' helmet lounging upside down on the draining board and lifted the Pokémon egg out of it, proceeding to wrap his bare arms around it, cradling it close to him.
"I am helping you." He insisted, Jorginho's neck sloping the opposite direction as he wondered if the unhatched Pokémon would make tapping noises from the inside, displeased by the change in cradle. "I'm going to help this little thing keep warm while it's daddy behaves like a mommy darting around the kitchen instead."
And with that, James lifted the Pokémon egg towards his face and pretended to nuzzle his cheek there, acting like the two of them were going to kick back and watch Jorginho crack on with his hobby. Well, they were going to do that. But something happened and not something on the outside although the male with a smear of flour wiped across his nose did mutter under his breath the kind of word that the baby Pokémon once it had hatched would be unable to hear!
James wasn't a stranger to the things rattling around inside of his head changing his attitude. Changing his mood. Whether it was a thought. A memory. An observation.
Something of the kind happened not long after he said these words and even though he caught onto Jorginho shooting him a stern look and a curse word to boot, this wasn't the reason for the cloud that sometimes greyed Jorginho's own mood taking over him.
For yet another time that day, he didn't know why he had said something like that. It had been a joke. He knew it was a joke. Regardless of his firm glance, this was entirely calculated by Jorginho, and he knew it had been a joke as well. He wasn't offended in the slightest. But it didn't take a genius to figure out that James was.
He had left a bad taste in his own mouth. He didn't know whose words had wormed itself into his head on that day, but it certainly wasn't anybody pleasant.
James lowered the Pokémon egg down towards his lap, cradling the oval thing in between two careful hands and beginning to trace over its brightly contrasting pattern. Jorginho intended to crack on with his second batch of cookies because James was doing so in his own way. And he still did that. But he also knew it was time to not only check in with his friend but to let his own words have free reign as well.
He was beginning to measure flour when he decided to broach the subject with James, taking a further look at the face with eyes that still hadn't looked back up and away from the egg.
"Is everything okay with you today, James?" Jorginho asked and even though James had tried to keep his gaze focusing downwards – this was the safe spot, you see – he couldn't help but flicker his eyes upwards at the sound of his name being spoken by his friend. Damn it. "You seem…" A flour dusted hand twirled in the air as Jorginho tried to pluck the right word from thin air. "Rattled."
Rattled. An unusual choice of word and one that James would label as spot on upon future reflection. It was interesting how Jorginho forwent saying tense. Tension was usually held within James' shoulders, and they didn't appear to be holding the world. He didn't say that he was out of sorts either. Because, well, when someone had as many sides as James did it was hard to figure out what was okay for him and what was not!
Rattled was a good word and I applaud him in hindsight too. It gives the impression of something under the surface. Something hidden. But something enough to give outside disturbance.
All the same, James was in denial at first.
"No, I'm fine." He replied, managing to meet his eye for a half second since his name had been spoken but then his gaze dropped down all over again, imagining a sullied spot on the egg, and using a scrunched-up bit of his own under shirt in his hand to polish it.
Jorginho's dimple appeared against the side of his mouth. This time it didn't come out to play to display merriment but instead told of his innermost feelings.
Fine was never a word that he would use synonymously with James. He was never simply fine. Such plainness would be next to impossible for him. He might have been in Team Rocket, and he might have been one of the most mellow people that he knew but he was a firecracker of his own. He was never just anything. He could never be boiled down to one bland thing.
Keeping his sigh to himself, Jorginho abandoned the flour in the kitchen scales and broke the distance with the other male. For half a second, James kid himself that he was reaching for the cookie cutters and his template many steps early. But when he noticed Jorginho's wide palm of a hand cradling over the point of the egg instead of reaching for any part of him, he knew better.
For another occasion, he tried not to meet a gaze but was lured in by something that too was plain on the surface but with much more underneath it. The smallest of ripples appeared against the side of James' own mouth as it pouched together, making a silent pact within himself to keep shtum.
Jorginho's hand didn't falter against the egg. And for another occasion, his words didn't either.
"James?" he repeated, using this simple method in the hopes of getting James to open up before he decided that a second method might have been needed. He was saying the fellow rocketeer from the side again. "Come on, your mouth is as invisible as the ones on my drawing."
Jorginho tried to encourage. But then inadvertently as his hand left the egg for a second or two and his pointer finger pretended to poke at James' thin mouth, he ended up amusing instead. Or rather, he ended up amusing as well.
James' gaze fell back down towards the egg but this time a smile streaked across his mouth and his shoulders moved towards his ears. Jorginho was right. No tension existed in his bones. His mouth still possessed the ability to smile. To laugh. So, whatever was bothering him was inside of him. If there was tension, then it was in his heart.
And James found himself spilling the small secret of his heart after Jorginho flashed a smile of his own in response before busying himself with the flour in order to give him space as well.
He watched him saunter away, saw the way that the breadth of his shoulders in comparison to his waist was held so high and wondered if he ever felt small. Wondered if he ever worried like he did.
Soon enough, he spilled his own ones regardless of if Jorginho could relate.
"I just… Feel like maybe I was too hasty, and I should have got my parents a Christmas present after all." James began. Unbeknownst to him, while Jorginho's back was turned and he was seemingly wholly focused on double checking the amount of his flour, his mind was ticking. Of course, that was the cause of his jitters. "I don't know why."
Jorginho's tongue brushed over his lower lip as he seemingly concentrated, his shoulders hunched as he curled his body in half to get a close look at the reading. He didn't know if James didn't know why he was second-guessing himself or if he didn't know why he had decided to skip treating them that particular year.
When Jorginho turned around to face him with fingers newly decorated in flour, he saw that James didn't exactly know either. In due course no longer was there just a streak of white powder smeared across the bridge of Jorginho's nose and one was streaking through the brown of his locks, causing him to resemble a truly villainous character of the stage.
"Well, tomorrow is Christmas Eve." Jorginho pointed out, his hand leaving his hair and both arms folded over his baked good, splattered apron instead. "It's probably a little late by now so there's no point stressing over it if there's no way to rectify it."
It seemed that those hands of his had a great many uses. As much as they could be cold-hearted on the battlefield and doting when it came to the Pokémon eggs in his care, they could go from smearing flour in his locks to folding over his chest to waving reassuringly.
His hand did the last part at this point before moving over to the butter to cut the right size piece without needing to consult the recipe.
But, needless to say, James felt about as reassured as if he had used that hand of his to smother.
"Maybe." He mumbled, looking down again and beginning to show a slight falter in the bones of his shoulders as Jorginho didn't seem to understand. He hadn't expected him to, not really. But he usually at least listened.
Apparently, it seemed that cookies were his number one priority on that day.
Right?
Wrong!
Jorginho heard James' mutter from the second that it escaped from doubtful lips, and he recognized his error immediately. He may not have stopped what he was doing but he didn't stop the other thing that he was doing either.
Being a friend to James.
He had an attentive head reclining to the one side as he reached for his jar of mixed spices.
"Is there a particular reason why you decided for this year to be the year that you didn't send them anything?" Jorginho asked. He might have begun using one hand to hold his jar of rust colored dust and the other to dip a teaspoon into the contents, but he was privy to the tip of the tongue that poked out in between the corner of James' taut lips. "Did they do something to change your heart?" he altered his words.
Change your heart. In hindsight I find this an endearing version of a well-known phrase. It gives one the image that it takes dedication and courage to alter thought patterns which lead to no longer straining a heart to long to go places where it perhaps does not belong. That in itself sums up things pretty well when it comes to James and his parents and Jorginho knew it.
You see, he was one of the few people outside the Team Rocket trio that knew the truth. Knew that James wasn't really an orphan even though he thought that was the easiest explanation for prying eyes and nosy noses.
James had once felt that Jorginho didn't understand. He was beginning to realize that, whether he did or he didn't, he was taking the time to understand. And it was this notion that caused him to, not see things on the bright side, but to have bravery pumping through his heart as well as doubt.
He had heard Jorginho's own words back to him and some of the thoughts behind them caused his mouth to quirk upwards all over again, letting a noise escape that on a spectrum between a sigh and laughter was surprisingly closer to laughter.
"Well… Nothing worse than usual." He confessed and he confessed with a laugh. Jorginho didn't laugh. He found James' upbringing as sickening as the rest of the trio and didn't think that the cushioning of growing up with wealth made the turbulence any less serious.
Jorginho didn't laugh. He didn't have the heart to laugh. He never would.
He was rarely the type to ask too many questions. As much as he was a conversationalist, he did like to keep quiet as well and he liked to do so in order to figure things out for himself. He was never going to rely on other people to figure out what he liked and what he thought.
Despite this being the case, on this day in the same way it was for James, something had wormed its way into his skull and was encouraging him to do things in an opposing manner. Jorginho had another question.
It became asked as all the ingredients for the second batch of cookies were poured into a mixing bowl and the batter for the buttery creations were whipped up.
"Why do you decide to treat them to anything at all?" he wondered, the lightest of frowns penciling in between his two eyebrows because he didn't want James to think that he was judging him. "If I were you…"
This thought of his trailed off. In the same way that a full-blown frown would cause James to think he was being judged, these words would certainly have that affect. And, after all, how could he say what he would do if he were in the same shoes? He had never walked James' life. Sure, sometimes there were similarities. But he wasn't James. And James wasn't him. He couldn't know. But he was keenly interested in what James felt.
Whether or not James could express what he felt was another matter! Fortunately, they both had the time. And minutes passed plentifully enough that Jorginho had taken the first batch of cookies out of the oven and was allowing them to cool before icing them while James decided what he wished to say.
Once he had discovered it for himself, he spoke it down towards the egg, but it was for Jorginho to hear too.
"That's something I ask myself a lot." He posed to which Jorginho nodded. Whether he was saying this to buy himself time or not, Jorginho figured that it was at least true. He knew what an overthinking mind he could possess! "I don't know." Now this was stalling, and they both knew it. "They gave me everything I could have wanted even if they gave me everything that I didn't need as well."
For some reason, Jorginho tried not to allow his head to tilt to the side as he heard these words because he thought that this would give too much away. He instead shifted all his weight onto his right leg all over again and folded his arms over his chest.
James met his gaze cautiously a second or two after he said these words and Jorginho took a chance in being bold. The constricting motion of his arms faltered, portraying the openness of his words.
"That's no excuse." He countered. He didn't intend for this to be a way to shut down anything, certainly not the conversation. But he was not blind to the way that James' gaze fell like a passing snowflake – towards a disinteresting point on his knee rather than the egg – and his shoulders weakened.
You would have thought that they would clench. They didn't exactly surrender. But they emptied. Not just of any sort of weight. Of everything. James still did not know what he made of his upbringing and wouldn't for decades from this point in his life.
Nevertheless, after Jorginho's arms hugged back around himself and he accidentally got speckles of flour and clumps combined with butter against the sleeves of his sweater, he found his speech again even if he didn't have the answers.
For some reason he wanted to get his reasons across. Upon future reflection, I suppose, he wanted to remind himself that he was capable of being a good son.
"They look after my Growlithe." James pointed out and in the seconds after these words escaped from him, he was able to flicker his gaze back and forth between the egg and its caregiver.
For some reason that wasn't just the words that James had managed to say, Jorginho was not only lured in by the indecisive gaze of James, but he was encouraged by it too. He was encouraged to do what he felt was right in the same way that he had done against all odds.
Jorginho didn't outrightly soothe James' worries of feeling like a bad son, but he wanted to instill in him that he was not this in his own way. He moved away from doing any sort of thing to his baking creations for half a moment. He might have lingered with his spine against the countertop in the way that James once had done, not looking at him with his back facing him instead, but he was right there.
Jorginho was right close there, the side of his arm having the capability of brushing against his kneecap if either of them needed it.
He countered him this time.
"I think your Growlithe looks after them." He reminded him. And in the following seconds, it was unclear whether it was the quick glance they shared of James across to him and him behind his shoulder or it was lingering together in a time that they both needed it that caused something to streak across Jorginho's eyeline that wasn't merely sunshine. "Hey." He began to fully turn back around to face James again, his gestures being led by his solid shoulder. "I think I have an idea."
It was James' head to tilt on the one side. Despite everything, he was eager to not think about what he had been thinking about – both privately beforehand and with Jorginho – and to hear what he had to say instead.
For equal comfort of them both, the egg was back in the embrace of James as he responded.
"Really? Because I'm all out of them." said James and this time, sunshine that wasn't outside in the sky and was within Jorginho instead streaked across his face and oozed confidence rather than just inspiration.
Holding up a finger, he soon didn't hesitate to keep his ideas to himself. But he did begin to keep his gestures to himself as he didn't wish to come across as arrogant, and as if his ideas were brilliant even if he thought they were pretty good!
At the end of the day, he just wanted James to feel a little bit better. And a lot less alone. Like he had always done for him without even trying.
"How about I decorate some of these cookies up especially for them?" he suggested, unable to decide what he wanted to do with his arms as halfway into folding them over his chest he decided to stuff his hands into his pockets instead. "They can have all of them if they want. I was only making them because I was hungry."
As James listened to Jorginho's suggestion, he went through an array of thoughts. Like he often did, but at least this time it was positive!
When he heard the last part of his words and paired it with the not-so-distant memory of cramming a cookie into his mouth before he entered the dorm room, he couldn't help but feel an inkling to quirk the corner of his mouth upwards even if he did not wholly portray it.
He found his mouth wanting to smile even more, his heart privately doing the same thing at the mere suggestion that Jorginho was offering. But then something dawned on him. And regardless of everything else, it was this that he touched upon.
And it was also this that caused his shoulders to shake, suppressing a peaking chuckle after he entirely misread Jorginho's smile that was one of hope.
"Oh, I cannot give my parents any of your cookies!" James declined, causing those big brown eyes of Jorginho's to show whiter than ever as they darted from side to side. "Are you kidding me?" these words in particular pushed through laughter while James pushed a strand of hair from blocking his vision. "Jesus, they might make them actually smile and that will be more horrifying than anything else they've put me through."
A beat. A single beat as the oven continued moaning, empty as it pre-heated for itself and waited for the next batch. The radio was then tinkling out a holiday jingle advert. For this single beat, Jorginho wondered why James was so against making his parents happy when he had only just showed such perverse loyalty despite it all.
Did he actually want to treat them but in order to prove a point to them? To spite them? To prank them?
It was Jorginho's turn to have his mind tick through a plethora of things. But eventually, his eyes stopped flicking from side to side as he pondered, and the truth dawned on him.
Usually, it was his laughter that was infectious but this time he had been overtaken by James. A hand clapped over his face, but it could not hide the wide spread of his mouth and it could not conceal the giggles that escaped.
Jorginho's neck and cheeks flushed as if he was in the oven himself at the mental images that were swarming his mind, surprisingly unoffended by James' suspicions involving him.
"No, no, I swear these are totally normal cookies and if they are going to your parents then I one hundred percent guarantee that they will stay that way." His hand fell away from his mouth and gestured alongside the left one, growing tired of his wide grin so an earnest smile took its place instead. "I promise." Eyes that could not be argued with investigated James'. "So, what do you say?"
James was often a man of words only expressed when they really needed to be. So, it should be no surprise that after he heard Jorginho's proposition, and he heard this need for confirmation that he thought about it. He really thought about.
That was certainly one way around it. That was one way to make up for both his guilt surrounding not getting his parents a present and for getting them one. If Jorginho made them something then even if it was addressed to them and from James then he had scarcely played a part in it at all, had he?
He may even be able to sleep at night with this loophole! He loved a loophole. Especially when they truly worked.
But when he dug deeper and really thought things through while Jorginho for those few minutes occupied himself with cooling the second batch in the fridge ahead of cooking and preparing the icing for the first batch, one thing kept sticking out in his mind and one thing alone.
And rather than sweeping it under the carpet, he addressed it. Jorginho was loading up a different kind of gun than usual – an icing one – as James asked him of this particular thing.
"Why would you do that for my parents?" he wondered, the egg settled back against his lap and far enough away from hatching and wriggling about that he could move his hands away from it and play with his hair instead while he added. "Why would you do that for me?"
As much as Jorginho too liked to think about what he said, it wasn't often that he was rendered speechless! For a second or two and unbeknownst to James, his mouth open and closed like an ocean dwelling creature for a second or two before he decided what he wanted to say.
His icing gun was put back away. He knew that he should probably make a new, fresh batch of cookies for James' parents so he truly could see that there were no secret ingredients packed into them that would make it a very merry Christmas!
And he knew that he should answer. So, he did. He at least tried to let the truth come out.
Jorginho's shoulders rolled.
"It's Christmas." He answered him. And that was that. Both James' head and his shoulders bobbed. They were back to being how they had been before. Jorginho didn't need to be a listener as James had stopped confessing. Jorginho only needed to crack on with his hobby.
Although this time, his hobby had a purpose. This time, he was helping somebody out. And that somebody was James. And not that he ever would have verbally expressed it, but the desire to get things right exactly for him caused the jitters that James had previously had while he had been bottling everything up had been transported to him and he could feel them tickling the pits of his belly.
But unlike James, it excited him! He knew why he felt them. He wanted to impress. And impress he was determined to do. But for the time being, something urged him to level out the playing field a little more. He was okay with nerves, but he did not wish to let them rule him. He was still himself.
And after the two of them had decided on the cookie shapes that were necessary – very traditional for Lord and Lady Morgan – Jorginho got the ball back more in his court again. He did so with a small motion tugging up his lips. And smears of flour now in three places!
"So, what did you decide to get Jessie for Christmas?" Jorginho suddenly posed. James was not naïve to the fact that he had finally come out and asked him this question directly after skirting around it in not so many words since the holiday season had begun.
He was a nosy bastard whether he liked to admit it or not! And this notion paired with the knowing that he himself was private caused him to narrow his eyes into the shape of letterboxes while Jorginho broke their gaze, crouching and ducking down into a lower cupboard for another mixing bowl since the one that had been used the first two times was in the fridge.
But then, James figured that Jorginho was doing him one of the biggest favors that he had been offered before so at least owed him something small. And besides, it was hardly a secret. Nothing was truly a secret between them.
"I just recorded on a CD some instrumentals of songs she likes using the guitar she gave me. You know the one." Came James' reply, both of his hands falling into his hair before they abandoned strands as quickly as they had joined them. "I don't know." That phrase appeared again. "I hope she likes it."
James didn't know. Again, he didn't know what he didn't know. Once he had been so sure that this was the right gesture for his teammate but over the days leading towards the big day, he had begun to doubt himself. As he often did when he was alone. As he always did when he was on the outskirts of the trio.
At least even if his confidence was waning, Jorginho's was beginning to pick up while he located a second mixing bowl and drew it into his arms. He remained crouching while cradling it and behaving very certainly regarding what his response was going to be.
Jorginho didn't hesitate to squint both of his eyes, looking up in a way he believed was speaking it all.
"Seriously?" was all he posed, his eyes remaining so close together it was almost as if some glue from crafting at Christmas time had made its way onto his eyelids and encouraged them to form a union.
Continually, James was none the wiser. This time, he was having a tough time figuring out why Jorginho responded in this particular way, so he tried to address it. Both hands that had previously felt the need to latch onto his locks moved down against the sides of it, cupping it.
As if it was a womanly frame, Jorginho noticed but kept to himself.
"Well, I know it's not a massive expenditure on my part, but Jess doesn't expect that kind of thing from me." His voice might have presented itself as levelly as a pavement covered with snow and his had his doubts, but he knew this much was true. "Besides-"
Funnily enough, out of everything that had been conversed on that day, Jorginho discovered this moment to be the perfect one to interject.
He was once again back on his feet, mixing bowl tucked against the crook of one of his arms and the other hand securing around his own hip. Jorginho's head twitched to the side only once.
"No." he told him, his eyes regaining their wideness and his mouth continually knowing exactly what he wanted to say. He was the last person who was going to give James more reason to overthink! "It sounds great it's just," He paused, giving James time to loosen his grip on the egg. "You do realize how much you're going to ruin other men for Jessie, don't you?"
Common sense is such a funny thing and I have learned over the years that often the most educated of people lack it more frequently! I wouldn't describe James as highly educated despite his start in life and he wouldn't either. That wasn't to say that he was unintelligent, though, because he had an array of unusual skills and had a book in his hand during his downtime as much as a guitar found itself doted on by digits.
Yet for all that James couldn't piece together other things, he suddenly knew what Jorginho was getting at! And he told Jorginho of such with his gestures as much as the words that he would go on to say.
His own eyes took their turn revolving in sockets and then his mouth pressed into their firm line again before opening back up again. While Jorginho busied himself in the kitchen some more, James latched quite the transparent stare across at him.
"I'm not going to ruin men for her any more than you." He retorted before his index finger fell into his mouth for just a second to resist the urge of lighting up a cigarette and placing it there.
Although Jorginho had begun busying himself with tipping the next batch of butter, flour, and spices into the bowl to endeavor to mix, he knew when James was looking at him and he didn't bother to stop his own eyes from wandering in the same direction.
"Touché." Jorginho's initial reaction was to present focused eyes that clouded over. But he caught sight of a smirk coming to fruition. And he understood that James had meant it as lightly as his own words had been.
His mouth spread back wide open again, his head shaking from side to side as he reminded himself that he really should get properly back down to business.
James' parents would be receiving a gift for New Year's by that rate!
But he couldn't stop himself from sneaking an extra glance over at his friend. James was back to being unaware. But he took his own turn in asking a question, his gaze possessing an interest behind it that couldn't be falsified.
"So, what was Christmas like when you were back at home?" he mused, his hands reaching back to fix his hair after his previous gestures and heat rising in the kitchen had caused his ponytail to unravel rather promptly. "Did you have any holiday traditions that absolutely had to be adhered to?"
A simple conversation for some, granted. But many people in Team Rocket didn't like to cast their minds backwards for some reason or another. James watched Jorginho's expression grow serious, and he knew why because, like himself, he preferred to look forward rather than possessing a mind dwelling towards the past.
He knew that Jorginho had grown up not living with his parents and while James felt like that would have been his own personal dream, that didn't mean it might not have been a nightmare for him.
All the same, the seriousness passed in not too much time and, like a master of his own mind, Jorginho drew out something positive to say. Or at the very least, it was neutral.
His words were joined by the sound of a fork mixing batter together as he painted a picture for the other male.
"No yearly traditions that I can especially remember. Well, apart from church of course, but that wasn't a seasonal affair in the slightest." He offered a single word when James' throat made a noise upon hearing this. He understood. And he agreed. "Quite." A differing hum sound of his own escaped before the clouds that had been concealing his eyes well and truly parted. "I just remember it being a really happy time, you know? Christmas is always happy with children around and certainly with my little… cousin."
Jorginho's throat let out a noise that wasn't a grunt nor was it a hum in agreement in between speaking the words little and cousin. For half a second as he possessed a head tilted on the side now that his ponytail had been spruced up, James wondered if an old cookie crumb had been dislodged and come back to metaphorically bite Jorginho on the backside.
But it had been a long time since he had been eating. Unless he had snuck another one in his chops and James hadn't noticed? That was likely!
But even so, James felt that that wasn't it. And perhaps selfishly, he hoped he could figure things out by the next question that he intended to ask. He didn't feel that it was out of place. After all, Jorginho had unraveled parts of him, hadn't he?
"Were you two-"
His question would never fully form. James wouldn't get his answers on that day. He would decades later and from going through life rather than asking it outright. But that's another story!
In this story, somebody burst into her own shared dorm with James and Meowth, and when Jessie saw both her teammate and Jorginho in the kitchen together, she didn't hesitate to speak to them both.
It was clear that it was the two of them that she had been looking for.
"Oh, are you baking again?" she asked even though it was obvious. Jorginho's expression spoke of this in a way that he hadn't dreamt of doing when it came to James. James meanwhile only had it in him to smile and nod! "Oh, great. Cassidy and the other one is having a Christmas thing in their place, and they will be perfect to take along."
James' expression altered to more than just a smile as he watched Jessie attempt to dip her finger into the batter that was being whipped up nicely and Jorginho in response twirl out of the way in a manner that was rather graceful for a man of his stature.
Jessie's countenance threatened to sully. But James was there to the rescue before one of their infamous spats could occur. Or maybe he didn't want to share the cookies after Jorginho had gone out of his way to do something for him.
"I thought they were having a Christmas get together later this evening?" he wondered, out of habit taking a glance at his wrist before its emptiness offered him nothing and he needed to look at the clock on the wall instead.
For half a second, he wondered if time had gotten away from him, and he needed to hurry along out of his Team Rocket uniform to something more casual for the party that Jessie and Meowth were dragging him along to.
It wasn't as if he was entirely unprepared. It dawned on him that he was still missing half his uniform and Jorginho noticed the way his hands sought refuge over his arms even in the middle of still avoiding Jessie and her hungry attacks towards his batter.
He dodged this more than often tried to escape her wrath!
Fortunately, that famous entity didn't present itself and she stopped trying to get her own way with Jorginho in order to enlighten James.
"They do have a Christmas thing later this evening, but they decided to have a pre-Christmas thing now as well." She explained. James' shoulders drooped underneath his shielding hands. One event was more than enough so he didn't know how he was going to manage two!
Jorginho, however, seemed keen to hurry along to both after glancing at the clock and although he was prepared to be social, he was not willing to give up his baked creations for other members of Team Rocket he knew only by face rather than name. Certainly not after his snack had turned into a gesture of good will.
He moved over to the counter near to James to begin rolling the cookie batter before preparing the shapes while he lay the law down to Jessie, telling her what was going down.
He was one of the few people who dared do this to her!
"Well, you can take some of them because I'm not going to deny people my talent. But the good ones are going to James' parents for a Christmas present." He began, already noticing Jessie's expression tightening at being told no, let alone hearing the rest of his words. Jorginho explained while James silently nodded, arms back around the egg and embracing it to his chest. "It was a compromise that we both reached."
His explanation didn't on paper explain a whole lot but between the three of them it did. Jessie may have not been able to stifle her natural expression upon hearing it, but she had least had the sense to dull it down before looking over at James questioningly.
The last thing he needed was to believe her anger was towards him rather than Lord and Lady Morgan.
Nevertheless, her arms constricted over her chest still in her own uniform and she interrogated James.
"A compromise? A compromise of what?" she asked. Jorginho would've opened his mouth promptly, but he glanced between Jessie and James before stepping in, not liking to undermine him. "They don't deserve anything after what they did to you last time."
Jorginho watched as James didn't exactly wince, but his shoulders showed a portrayal of their own, his head tilting from side to side as he knew that he couldn't disagree with Jessie. In the same way that he had managed to hold his tongue moments before, he held back from probing either of them if something had occurred that they hadn't told him about.
From Jorginho's point of view, James hadn't seen his parents in person since he had been a child. If only that had been true!
Jessie shouldn't have been surprised by the words that escaped from James' mouth, his hands letting go of nurturing the egg and placing it on his lap long enough to stretch outwards, somewhat helpless.
"They give Growlie anything he could need." He pointed out, reading Jessie's expression as clear as day and so needing to rub his hands up and down against the shell of Jorginho's egg, keeping it warm but giving some feeling to his own digits too.
But as much as Jessie couldn't conceal that expression, she couldn't hold back her true feelings either. She, however, suddenly directed them towards Jorginho as if she was some sort of instigator.
James knew that she was prone to being hangry, but this was taking the biscuit even for her!
"I would have thought you of all people would tell James when he is being far too nice!" she drilled into him, leaving him to possess quite the wide brown eyes and offended expression as she poked him in the middle of his chest. No amount of armor could protect him from that wound! "Why would you do something like this?!"
Although Jorginho's eyes had melted like chocolate discs at being interrogated, he showed that the other side to his personality wasn't too far off. He even flicked Jessie's probing finger away from him with a gesture of the hand before looking at her right in the eye.
It seemed that nothing was going to stop him from sharing his baking in this instance!
This time, he didn't hide his gesture under the guise of it simply being Christmas.
"Because even though his parents sound like people I wouldn't think twice about teaching a lesson to, they raised a really good son and it's him that I'm doing this for." He said, speaking his truth towards Jessie instead and his eyes flickering only towards James the once. "I would do anything he asked."
Jorginho added. And with that, he managed to look over at James for half a second longer than previously, before he resumed with creating the shapes that he wanted to see laid out in front of him.
It wasn't a rare occasion that James had words snatched from him, but it certainly was when Jessie was unable to find words. She even went that step further and felt her mouth slamming shut, for a good couple of seconds unable to recover from Jorginho's response, let alone speak how she felt about it.
James looked down at the egg in his lap. He didn't smile. But it dawned on him why he felt like he owed his parents at least something. Like Jorginho expressed himself in a different way, for all their faults, the life that they had given him lead him to seek the one that he now had. The one that he held dearer than he had held almost anything before.
Jessie only stopped allowing a whiskery creature to grab hold of her tongue once Jorginho had pressed out the shapes of the final batch of cookies. Unlike the broad-shouldered male, she didn't come out with her feelings quite so plainly.
"I never believed that James' over the top niceness would ever rub off on you of all people." She retorted back towards Jorginho to which she received a scoff. Those squinty eyes of his were back! James couldn't help but silently chuckle as he observed them together. "I suppose your baking should be enjoyed by anybody." Jorginho prepared himself for more nagging as to why she should let him bring most of them to the party. "If only I had parents of my own around that you could give some to."
Jorginho was so very sure that she was going to nag him. He hadn't prepared for these words to fall out of her. Maybe she hadn't expected it either. The way that her shoulders drew upwards towards her ears after quite an outburst and her arms crossed out in front of her spoke of this.
For all their previous conflict, Jorginho wasn't slow in expressing the wordless suggestion of a truce and he showed this by the way that he turned towards Jessie over his shoulder, his previously determined expression softening just for her.
It was James, however, who possessed unfaltering softness throughout every moment of every interaction and through it all, really. And it was his gesture that somehow spoke the loudest when he reached across towards a cookie that hadn't been iced carefully yet, but he figured it would be good enough to offer to Jessie as silent consolation.
Jorginho's pupils dropped down as James held it out to her. And he watched them move closer together after Jessie realized what he was doing for her and, unlike when it came to other people, she didn't bother to water her affection down.
"Thanks, James." She told him as she drew nearer to his side and embraced her gloved arms around his neck, pulling her as close to him as she could manage without yanking him off the counter, leaving a Pokémon egg being threatened with disaster!
Showing attentiveness for everything in spite of the warmth that he was receiving from one of his team mates, James moved the egg back towards the draining board and tucked it in the upside down helmet of Jorginho before, embracing Jessie in return, not needing to utter words that she was welcome because his gesture and his smile spoke exactly of this. His lips were pressed against the side of her head.
The Pokémon egg might have been no longer in his possession, but his touch was equally as tender as it loosely cupped the spine of Jessie's back pulling her as close as she needed. Jorginho watched their every move. A sun-filled cloud drifted through his vision.
And yet, his personality that he could not stifle shone through the most. Both hands were on his hips this time as he took his turn to grumble.
"Thank you, James?!" the flamboyance of another side of him being set free as he imitated the woman in front of him, not hesitating to elaborate when they both turned to look over at him, matching expressions washing over their features. "Where my hug? I made the bloody thing!"
Jorginho had a long way to go with regards to being a good wingman! Or maybe he didn't. Maybe it was absolutely necessary that he remained himself no matter the situation that he found himself in. And regardless of the stubbornness that both he and Jessie clung onto, it was her turn to be moved by the spirit of Christmas, so she didn't hesitate to move away from James, noticing the last few seconds of his bare fingers on the bare skin of her back, breaking the distance with Jorginho instead.
But perhaps it wasn't Christmas spirit at all. Perhaps she had been moved by the two of them. How they had been through hardship, but they had remained as kind as ever, never hesitating to be there for somebody else. How she wished that she could be like that.
But for the time being, she just had to be grateful that she was surrounded by it. And she was.
Jorginho would go on to be grateful for his own outburst. It landed him something sweeter than any cookie he could've concocted!
"Merry Christmas, Jorginho." She told him as she wrapped her arms around his neck in the same way as she had done to James with the addition of a kiss pressing against his cheek which made Jorginho's dimple like a segment of fruit revert to a flowering stage. She then looked across at James while Jorginho didn't hesitate to hold her in return as he got more than what he asked for. "I'm going to change in the bathroom. Walk with me into the party later?"
And in the same way that Jorginho's whole expression blooming like a flower rather than just his dimples, James' gestures spoke as much as the words that he would go on to say would. His legs were already pulling him down into a standing position for the first time in quite a long time!
"Sure." He agreed with a smile and with that, he watched Jessie disappear after snatching a dress from her clothes pile, intending to get the evening on the road and enjoy it. He would as well even if the plans weren't his ideal.
He would be with her. No doubt would he be alongside Meowth. And Jorginho would be there too.
Jorginho. He didn't know whether to speak of things in particular after the answer that he had given to Jessie, but he just didn't know how. It was so extremely fortunate that Jorginho didn't seem to mind either way. He wasn't expecting anything. All he wanted was the company. And that was something that James was more than happy to give.
About an hour later, all cookies had been made to their highest standard with some careful decoration and left on a tray to be taken to the Team Rocket party while another had been boxed up nicely for James' parents. He would write a note on the gift tag later in the day.
If he remembered, Jorginho joked.
But he was sure to. Some connections weren't easily severed, even if they were tumultuous. Blood was thicker than water. But James was learning that friends could be family if you let them be. And Jorginho was learning the whole spectrum of Jessie and James' dynamic.
The things they spoke of. The things of which they didn't speak. Jorginho himself didn't need to speak of certain things when they were all ready to head off about another hour later, and Jessie, happily dolled up in her sparkly red dress and ready for an evening of fun couldn't stop herself from giving Jorginho another hug and a kiss upon the cheek.
Needless say he was delighted! He was tickled pink even when James went without. But like other things he had picked up on, he figured that out too And he was quick to make light of a light situation when James spoke without needing to say anything either, the quizzical furrow of his brow and quirk of the head conveying all as Jorginho smirked while Jessie linked her arm through James' so it was reaffirmed that no matter what happened at the party, they would be going home together that night.
Jorginho gave his explanation after Jessie had stopped squeezing James' arm with her own one and he took her place instead, grabbing James by the hand.
"Oh, I'm just thinking about how we all might get granted our wishes this particular Christmas." He announced and then he raised his empty arm towards his hand and brushed his fingers against the lipstick mark that Jessie had left against his skin. "And I might have even already received your one for you."
And with that, James let out a torrent of wind from his lips and revolved his eyes in his sockets while Meowth cackled behind him before heading off to see if Jorginho's roommate, Oscar, was going to be joining them sooner rather than later.
Jorginho just grinned. He just grinned and grinned and accepted it when James even gave him a shove too! Nothing could hurt him. And nothing could dampen his mood. He might have only been teasing his friend but everything that had been shared between all of them that day made it clear that no matter what they had all been through, in some way, it was worth it.
Whatever their parents had done, hadn't done, or hadn't been able to do, they had ended up in a place surrounded with the people that they needed the most. The organization might have been questionable, but it provided a sense of family for many. And for many others, in the coming years, it would offer real family.
But for the time being, these Rocket eccentrics had each other. And all of them were on the right path in their own way. Jorginho certainly was. He was wise to overlook the past in order to see a brighter tomorrow. And he was right about Christmas wishes too.
Regardless of the ones he joked about, all of them got what they wanted when the entire season was said and done.
A place. A place in the world and surrounded by people they loved and who loved them in return.
In funny ways and in my own way, I went on to love them too. It's from telling their tales that I realized this connection between us the most.
Ah, the power of storytelling. And certainly, the power of storytelling at Christmas. It has that bit of extra magic, don't you think?
I certainly do.
The End.
There you go, thanks so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed :) I love the idea that during their down time away from stealing Pikachu from Ash, this is the kind of thing that James and the rest of the trio get up to! One of the early ideas for Jorginho was that he is a keen baker and I loved getting to show that here, as well as a broader range of his younger personality. The same for the other Team Rocket members, really. I love coming up with headcanons for that organisation and the people in it, building up what life was like for them all :3 Thanks again for reading and I will be back again next Wednesday for another festive fic so see you then!
Amy signing out :P