Am I going to regret posting this . . . ?
Jack had a problem.
It was winter, Jack's season, and the others had complained of being cold. Therefore, they decided to gather in front of the fireplace for their meeting instead of a normal room. Tooth and Bunnymund were happily sitting on the carpet, enjoying the welcoming heat, while North was sitting in his huge red chair. Sandy was also sitting in one of the huge couch seats, near the Christmas Guardian. Jack, however, was sitting as far away as he could get away with from that fire. He wanted nothing to do with that heat. But the fire was only half the problem.
He wanted to sit with them; he wanted to be part of the social closeness. He had three hundred years to himself; he literally craved that interaction. Of course, before he was a guardian, he wasn't as eager to befriend them. But now that he was one of them, he felt almost a connection with them, especially after was happened with Pitch. So he wanted to sit with them and joke with them in the heat of the fire. But he couldn't handle the heat.
So the problem was: how does he sit next to them without being near that fire? He was already too close but was afraid to scoot further. Occasionally Sandy would glanced at him, concern written all over his face, but Jack would give him a smile before looking away to look as if he was paying attention. Jack had a feeling that Sandy knew better but didn't asked; he was glad Sandy wasn't.
When they declared the meeting to be over, Jack sprang up from his seat and quickly marched out of the room. He needed to be outside in his element. He leaned against a pillar and closed his eyes, breathing in deeply. He could feel his body temperature lowing; he felt better now that he was away from that heat. He opened his eyes and watched as he brought his hand to the smooth pillar. Reaching into his powers, he cause a small pattern of frost to grow and spread on the stone. He ignored whoever just walked through the door, paying more attention to his little artwork.
"Jack? You okay?"
He glanced over his shoulder at Toothiana. She was hovering while staring at him, her eyebrows wrinkled with concern. Or, he thinks their eyebrows. They sure don't look like them, though. He nodded to her question before looking back at the scenery. "Yeah, just a bit warm for my taste."
Toothiana hummed, wondering what he meant. "Do you mean inside? How come? You've never had any problems with it before."
Jack removed his hand from the frost and slid it into his pocket, the other hand holding his staff. He chewed the inside of his cheek, debating if he should say. Who knew the over-confident Jack Frost would be afraid to admit this, he thought dryly to himself. He decided to just let it out.
"It's the fire. I can't stand the heat. I can't be near that fire and because you guys insist of having a fire, I have to suffer for you guys to be comfortable," he explained quickly, only using two breathes. He thought back on what he said and cringed. Maybe 'suffered' was a bit too dramatic?
"Oh. I'm sorry, Jack! We didn't know . . ." Toothiana trailed off, unsure what to say next.
Jack sighed. "No, you guys didn't. It's okay." He smiled at her before allowing the wind to carry him back to his 'home'.
The next year, when it was time for their meeting, Jack walked into the room expecting to get hit with a blast of heat from the fire. He was surprised to see not only the fire out, but everyone gathered there, waiting for him. They also had jackets bundled on them.