I would like to apologize in advance if anyone hates this: I've never written Toy Story fanfiction before, and I've read so many amazing fics on here that just inspired me to try it.

I LOVE the Woody x Jessie pairing *_* I've shipped it sub-consciously since I was little, and I love both of the characters separately as well. Some of the things listed about Jessie in this fic are things that I kinda admire her for - come on, she's so badass for a female toy :p

Anyway, I hope that you enjoy!

Different

There was something about Jessie that Woody found endearing - in fact, there were several things when he thought about it.

For a start, Jessie was...different from the other female toys he had met: the example he used was Bo Peep (who he had found himself flirting quite happily with for some years beforehand) who was very, for a lack of a proper explanation, girly. She was clearly targeted more for girls, what with her pink dress, porcelain-perfect blonde hair and carefully painted features. She had been designed specifically to be beautiful, to fill a standard of some kind for little girls to enjoy and aspire to as they played and grew up...But Jessie wasn't somehow.

That wasn't to say that he didn't find Jessie attractive of course: it just wasn't the first thing that came to mind when he thought of her. Jessie was every bit a tom-boy cowgirl that Woody was a Sheriff and cowboy; she wore jeans instead of skirts with her blouse, brown boots that were similar to his own and the cow-pattern on the chaps of her jeans matched the one on his vest. Jessie wasn't painted carefully and meticulously to look stunning like Bo or most other girl toys - she was dressed as she was out of comfort and because it was practical - and her hair was made of bright red yarn that was tied in a braid, again because it was practical for a cowgirl toy.

And then there was the personality...oh, boy, did Jessie have a pretty strong one! It had literally terrified Woody the first time he'd met her in Al's apartment, but now that they'd known each other for quite some time it was just a characteristic he associated with her. Bo was very sweet and kind-tempered - she had a pretty good head on her shoulders, if Woody said so himself, and she was very soft-spoken too. Jessie wasn't exactly like that: Jessie was loud and over-excitable, but not in a bad way: she, too, was kind-hearted (especially towards her 'critters') and wanted the best for all of the other toys in the group - but she did have a fiery temper too that sometimes got the better of her. Plus, the fact that she was the champion-wrestler in the group (no matter who entered or left over the years) gave her an edge that just showed you not to mess with her.

If Bo had even attempted that kind of thing, she'd have risked becoming broken.

Woody sighed to himself as he watched the other toys from his perch on Bonnie's bed; thinking about Bo still made him feel rather down, even though he'd stopped feeling for her in a romantic way long ago, and he really did miss her. If only he could have done something...

No, Woody told himself sternly. A rescue mission would have been too risky - what if she'd broke? At least she went with a kid who'll play with her. He tried not to shudder as he imagined what might have happened to her already. I hope.

Instead of thinking on the past, the cowboy doll tried to focus on what the others were doing: Hamm, Mr Potato-Head, Buttercup and Slinky were playing a game of cards at the little tea table situated in Bonnie's room, Mr Pricklepants was currently trying to audition each of the three little green aliens for some kind of Shakespearean production he was undoubtedly planning on staging; Rex and Trixie were discussing something in a very excited way across the room. Woody smiled to himself when he saw Buzz and Dolly - who the cowboy had presumed to be the unoffical leader in Bonnie's room before he and his friends arrived - making their way around the room, also seeming to check up on how the other toys were doing.

That just left...

As if right on cue, he heard an unmistakable yodel and the sound of soft hooves on the floor: Bullseye came galloping into view with Jessie on his back, who was laughing loudly and stooping down against the toy horse's neck to get her hand closer to the floor. It became apparent seconds later that she was playing tag of some kind with the peas-in-a-pod, all three of whom were giggling and rolling around the floor giddily as they tried to escape.

"YEEE-HAAAWW! GOTCHA!" Jessie yelled in celebration when she managed to grab one: that was when she saw Woody and grinned. "Hey, Woody! CATCH!"

Woody had seconds to prepare before he found the pea being thrown at him; it hit him in the chest, bowling him backwards on the bed spread, and he was sure that if he had lungs then the breath would have been knocked out of them.

The pea giggled, and he quickly secured his grip on it so that it wouldn't roll away. "Not today, lil' critter," He teased, struggling to sit up again; when he was upright, he saw that Jessie was still playing tag with the two remaining peas and smiled to himself. At least someone was having fun...

The sight of her playing tag with the other toys brought back memories of when she'd done the same thing in Andy's room with the monkeys and three green aliens, and it warmed Woody inside to see that she was truly enjoying herself as much as she used to in their previous settings; it was yet another thing that Jessie did that hardly any other female toy seemed to do, playing rough-and-tumble games either on her own or with the others.

Without meaning to, Woody found himself staring at his friend as she rode around the room on Bullseye; in that moment, she looked simply amazing. Her tight red braid was bouncing up and down on her back as Bullseye galloped around the room, green eyes set and focused on getting what she wanted; her whole being was focused on catching the peas, painted mouth grinning and her tongue sticking out of the side of her mouth just a little...gosh, did her smile look radiant...

Woah now! Where did those thoughts come from?

Jessie was his friend, and that was it: partners-in-crime, like a brother and sister for the most part... Although, having said that, Woody did rather enjoy being around her - he'd certainly enjoyed it while they were in Al's apartment, that was for sure, and that hadn't changed. But he hadn't considered it to be in that way: after all, Bo had been his sweetheart - his girl - and Jessie and Buzz had always seemed to have something going on during those years.

But now things were different; Bo was gone, and then Buzz and Jessie had decided after a while of 'dating' (if it could be called that, considering they were all toys) that they simply wanted to remain good friends. There had been no big fight, no major heartbreak that made play-times awkward - the two were still very fond of each other and had just decided that a romantic relationship wasn't for them.

Woody felt guilty for even considering it though: they were his two best friends - Buzz and he had been through so much together that they were the closest of buddies that he could think of, and he would never do anything to hurt Jessie in any way either. Usually it was the female toys looking at him, wanting him - but Jessie made it the other way around.

It was the differences that just made Woody fall deeper for her.