"How many years has it been since we got a new guardian? Or had any real trouble for that matter?" Bunny asks at the Guardians annual meeting. They've held it every year since Pitch came and went, North leading as always with the wise cracks from Bunny and Jack. Sandy normally just dozes off while ToothFairy is flitting around chatting with her helpers about molars. There is never a problem to discuss.
"Four hundred years and twenty seven days." Jack answers, face falling holding back a sigh and a sob.
327 years since Jamie died. Jack thinks to himself. The whole room feels his snap of emotions and they turn with sad eyes to him. They didn't truly know Jamie. They don't know how we felt. They think I got attached after the Pitch incident. They don't know how attached we both became. Finally the sigh leaves Jack, and a heavy paw lands on his shoulder thanks to Bunny. Jack doesn't know it, but Bunny always knew. Bunny knew how much love Jack had for the boy, and watching him grow old and loose his snowball throwing ability crushed Jack. Then when Jamie died Jack had a hard time getting it back together. For the next three years snow was scarce and cold wasn't around much. Neither was fun, really. It seemed as if the world had lost it all, when suddenly Jack came back with the blizzard of a lifetime, course it was on Easter. The mountains of snow he created were a sight to see. When asked about it Jacks response is to glance up at the sky, nodding to Manny with a smile. No one ever inquires further. Mannys ways are mysterious.
At Bunnys pat Jack looks up, gives a weak smile and speaks.
"Approximately, I mean."
"Well I like the peace." Tooth says, only sparing a millisecond away from BabyTooth to glance over at the rest of the group.
"Yeah well I'm bored. I wanna…" Bunny shouts while jumping up in the air and kicking an imaginary foe, "kick some butt!"
"We could wrestle." North suggests earning a quick 'no' from a frightened Bunny.
"Awh Bunny afraid of a whittle fwight?" Jack asks poking fun at Bunny.
"No!" Bunny says as if shocked than anyone could conceive the idea of him being afraid.
"He just might squish me." Bunny whispers. The group all laughs which wakes up Sandy.
"Sandy, my man! What are the kids dreaming about these days?" North asks. A plethora of sand images fly around Sandy as he speaks, no one really catching at all what he is saying. Exasperated with their blank stares he stops and just fumes.
"How's Groundhog?" North asks Bunny, a sneaky smile crossing his rosey face.
"I wouldn't know. He's six feet under!" Bunny laughs at his own joke, only getting a small giggle from Jack. "He's just in his mole holes. I don't know. The guys awful. Never right on the weather."
"How's Mother Nature, North?" ToothFairy asks, her head slightly turned to North but still giving a string of commands to her Fairys.
"Fully recovered from Jacks with drawl." North says without thinking. His tasteless comments sends Jack back into his vat of sadness, and Bunny shoots North a look that could kill.
"Jack, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to say that. I wasn't thinking." North says trying to fix it.
"No, you really weren't thinking." Jack says. Immedatly the room drops 10 degrees and Jack flies out of the window on a artic breeze. He lets a couple tear drops fall before he shoots himself off to his favorite place. Jamie's old treehouse. Its nothing more than a single plank of wood on a dying tree but its what Jack has left and he clings to it for dear life.
"I miss you." He calls out from the tree. No one walks by but it wouldn't matter anyways. Not many believe in him.
Jamie always did. Jack thinks, pulling a long blue sleeve to wipe at his eyes.
"It's been a long time Jamie." Jack says as he wraps his arms around his legs, cuddling his leg between. His staff has fallen to the ground but he doesn't care. He sits like that for a while, thinking and reminiscing about the great times he and Jamie shared. Like the time they went ice fishing and Jamie caught a huge one, but lost it when it almost pulled him in the water. Jack grabbed him in the nick of time and in the fuss had landed on top of the younger man, straddling him. Jack had leaned down but it was Jamie who pushed his lips to Jacks. It was their first kiss. Not that they hadn't wanted to till then, because that was definitely not the case. Jack had just wanted to wait till Jamie was a least a little older.
The next memory was Jamie's 16th birthday, the best day of Jacks life. In the beginning he regretted letting it get that far but once Jamie gave that monologue, he knew that he loved Jamie and only Jamie and the boy returned the feelings. It was a perfect enough time for them, and in the end neither of them regretted a thing.
"I wonder if your mom died thinking you were a dateless virgin." Jack thinks out loud to Jamie's tree. Jamie's mom never believed the brown eyed boy when he said he was dating the great Jack Frost. For a while she would chuckle and say "sure honey" but after a while she turned mean and sarcastic about it, growing tired of the 'joke'. It hurt Jamie but he always had Jack to lean on.
Jack remembers one particularly hurtful night for Jamie.
Jamie had been talking about Jack since he met him when he was eight, and had been referring to him as his boyfriend since he turned 14. It was a month before Jamie's high school graduation. His mom had gone through a long day of work and just finished dinner for the three of them, Jack, his mom and his little sister. They were just small talking about the weather and how excited they were for Jamie to go off to college when a cold gust of wind blew in from the open window. It being 92 degrees outside it was welcome but strange.
"What was that?" His mother asked, stabbing another greenbean onto her fork.
"Jack." Jamie answered nonchalantly, not even glancing up from his food as he felt the gust tickle the back of his neck.
His mom gave him a confused look which quickly turned to fury when he clarified Jack to be his 'fiancé'.
"This is enough of your Jack Frost talk. You've talked about him like he is real since you were young, so much that you've gotten Sophie to believe he is real! He is just something from a rhyme folk have used to make sure kids stay safe and warm in the snow. He is not real, and not your boyfriend. He is certainly not your fiancé." His mother shouted her voice raising several octaves.
"You've never had a girlfriend, nor a boyfriend! You haven't even had your first kiss for God's sake! You are not in love with someone that doesn't exist! You don't know what love is!" She had stood up by that point and flung her hands and head multiple times making her look a mess. Jamie is almost in tears at her words. Not that she had been all that harsh, a lot of parents have been worse with their kids, but it still stung him. How did he know he was in love with Jack when he hadn't experience anyone else?
Jamie left the table right then, ran to his room and layed on his bed. Jack was already there but standing in the shadows behind his door until a tear ran down Jamies cheek.
"no no no no…" Jack said over and over as he rushed over to wipe away the wetness.
"but…but…how do I know?" Jamie asks, more tears pouring over his cheeks. His already labored breathing, from crying, is stopped by a kiss from Jack. A powerful kiss that reminds them both of the very first zing kiss they shared.
"That's how." Jack says stopping his lovers sobbing. His heart was breaking from seeing the pain in Jamie.
"You know deep inside you that we were meant to be. I show you every day how much I love you, and you do the same. From our snowball fights to our sweet nights, every second is nothing but adoration." Jack says smoothing Jamie's hair and kissing his forehead.
"You're my everything, Jack." Jamie says leaning his head on Jacks shoulder.
"As you are mine baby boy." Jack replies. They cuddle in multiple positions for the rest of the night, disturbed once by a knocking on the bedroom door which both ignored.
"God I miss you." Jack says brought back from his memory. Gingerly rubbing the bark of the tree he talks, out loud, about particular things he misses the most and more memories. After a while the sad smile on his face gets blown off by a warm breeze, clearly not of his own making. It's a natural one, one that makes him feel less alone.
"Jack…" it seems to whisper to him in a sweet voice he knows. The breeze flows over his cheek, almost cupping it.
"I miss you too." It seems to say in its own way. It brings a genuine smile to Jacks face, a smile that no one has seen for 327 years.