Their laughter was like music, it was his favourite kind of song.
Floating silently above the children in the school yard, watching them toss the snow about – snow that he made. Occasionally, one or two of them would look up at him and smile, pointing excitedly into the air. Not all of them could see him of course, but the number of children that could seemed to be growing with each passing day. It was all thanks to Jamie, really – his first real believer. He knew that he shouldn't choose favourites, I mean, he was a guardian of all children, but he couldn't help it. Jamie was just Jaime and that's all there was to it.
Almost without thought, he found himself drifting towards the high school. It was lunch hour and he could see the older students mulling around in the yard, laughing and chatting with their friends. For fun, he sent a snowball sailing into the back of a student's head that had been hiding around a corner smoking a cigarette. The student growled before stomping out the butt and lobbing an icy ball back at his perceived attacker – a short kid wearing glasses who stood at the mouth of the gates to the school. Before Jack could think to stop it, the ball struck the child in the nose and loud pained howl fill the yard. The boy clutched his nose, which had obviously begun to bleed and ran back towards the school.
'Well, that wasn't supposed to happen.' With a terrible guilty feeling, Jack quickly followed after the boy, but not before asking a clump of sticky snow to slide off of a branch and on the smoker's head. He heard but didn't see the boy's grunt as he sped off towards the school.
By the time he reached the front doors, the boy had already disappeared inside. Jack slipped through the doors behind a pair of blond girls who were chatting animatedly about the coming winter formal, which Jack made a note of as it might be fun make an appearance that evening. After all, what was a winter formal, without a little winter?
Abandoning the excited teenagers, Jack made a tour of the cafeteria; when he didn't find the injured lad, he turned his attention to the closest hall containing room after room of empty classrooms. It wasn't until he reached the last room that he heard sniffing and the low rumble of two male voices.
"Ouch! Jamie it hurts!"
"I know, I know," His ears perked up at the gentle voice of his favourite human as he tried to console the younger boy. "It doesn't look that bad though."
Jack poked his head quietly through the open door to get a clear view of the room. There opposite from the door, with his back to him, was Jamie. He watched as Jamie tilted the other boy's head back and carefully dabbed at the blood under the skinny boy's nose. He picked up a fresh paper towel and gently lifted the boy's hand up to hold it in place himself, before he moved off to clean up their mess.
"You did give some thought to what I told you before, didn't you? I meant what I said you know… every word," Jamie looked suddenly uncomfortable and his hand fumbled with what he was holding. He moved to throw the papers in the garbage, so Jack couldn't see his face as he replied, "I know, Farley… It's just-"
"You like someone else, I know you told me, but you're a guy. Do you know what the chances are that he might like you back?" The boy, Farley, removed the paper towel from his face and reached out to touch Jamie's cheek with his free hand and Jack found himself suddenly gripping the door frame with more force than necessary. "You know that I like you."
Jamie seemed to hesitate and turned away from the hand, only to lock eyes with Jack. They stood stock still for a moment, both with eyes the size of dinner plates; Farley looked quizzically between Jamie and what he thought was an empty door way.
"Jamie, what are you looking at?" Farley asked, moving to take Jamie's hand and it was that movement that seemed to break the spell between them. Jack glanced down at the hand touching Jamie and ran. He didn't even know why he was running. He could hear Jamie call out his name from class room but he didn't stop. As fast as he could, he left the school and made his way towards his lake. He always felt safer, calmer, when he was there; he knew that it was ironic, seeing as this was also the place where he ended his mortal life.
What was wrong with him? Seriously… so what if the boy had touched Jamie's hand? So what if the boy, Farley (he didn't even like to say his name), had a crush on Jamie… his Jamie? 'Well,' Jack thought to himself, "I guess I can't really claim ownership on him… he likes someone else.'
"Jack!" Jack glanced down from his seat in a great oak. He could see Jamie wandering around in the woods, calling out his name. He's jigging. He should be back at school – back at school with Farley. "Jack, where are you?"
"I'm up here."
Jamie stopped and looked up at him, looking dishevelled and out of breath. Jack took note of the crease in his brow and downward tilt of his mouth, before jumping down from the tree and landing lightly in the snow. Jamie ran over to him and it looked as if he were going to reach out and touch his arm, but he hesitated and dropped his hands to his sides; it left a bitter taste in Jack's mouth.
"Jack, before I-"
"I don't like him. If-if you like someone, you shouldn't listen to others when they tell you to give up without trying." Jack said, cutting him off. He was surprised to find that each word he spoke hurt him. He couldn't explain why, but the idea that Jamie may start dating was painful; before today, the thought that one day it might happen had even never occurred to him, but there wasn't another soul on earth as precious to him as Jamie was. Jamie should get what and whomever he wanted. "What's the worst that could happen?"
When he was finished speaking, Jamie seemed at a loss for words; he simply stood there for a moment, thinking. With each passing second, he seemed to withdraw further into himself. Finally, after about a minute, he averted his eyes and in a quiet voice muttered, "They could say no… they could leave me forever."
"Well, then they'd be stupid," Jack replied, eyes growing soft. He stepped closer to his friend and reached out a hand to lift his chin up so that he could look him in the eyes. What he saw in them, made him realise why he disliked the situation so much. "Jamie, you're the reason that I can be seen now. You're the most amazing person I've ever met. Any person who would turn you down would have to be the stupidest person on the planet and not worth a second of your time."
Jamie remained frozen for a moment, processing Jack's words and gazing back into his eyes; there must have been something that he liked in them because he smiled softly and stood up a little straighter so that his face was more aligned with Jack's. Jack stood rooted to the spot. He could feel the boy's warm breath on his face as Jamie shifted to bring both hands up to cup his face. He could feel Jaime's words whispered against his lips before he kissed him and his world seemed to tilt. As if on autopilot, the winter spirit kissed him back, wrapping his arms around his waist and pulling him in as he did so.
He didn't know what would happen in the future. He didn't know a lot of things, but in this one moment, he was certain of one: he loved this human boy and woe unto the person that would take him from him now.
"Jack, I want you."
A/N: Wow, another one so soon? I really, really shouldn't be doing this so close to my exams... another big hunk of blue cheese. Hope you enjoy it.