For now this is simply called "RotG Human AU" because I can't think of another title at the moment XD I also suck at the bio... eh.
~fantasyinfinity
(Shoot I forgot the disclaimer so I'll just go back and put this here. I DON'T OWN RISE OF THE GUARDIANS OR ANY OF THE CHARACTERS, DON'T SUE ME)
- Chapter 1 -
Jack remembered the day he'd personally met Bunny and the others.
E. Aster Bunnymund - that was the Aussie's whole name. Some called him Aster, but Jack had also heard people call him "Bunny" as a nickname, to which he laughed at. It was rather odd, having the nickname of a little animal that was a cute fluffy rabbit, when you weren't anything close to cute and cuddly and more like a cranky, intimidating, six-foot-one Australian dude. Plus with weird warrior-like tattoos on his arms. Yep, that was Bunny.
Bunny wasn't at all rude or snobby... to most people, not including Jack, that is. Actually, he hardly seemed to acknowledge the younger boy's existence most times - like the rest of the school. He was part of the "G" club (whatever that even meant) which was a group of students who usually helped around with the school activities type of stuff. Anyways, yeah, Bunny was nice mostly until it was winter and one day he happens to step outside when an enormous hunk of snow drops down from an overhead branch. The snow absolutely covered him, completely; when Bunny pulled himself out of the pile he was practically a shivering snowman. The sight was quite amusing. He'd just managed to swipe the snow off his face and hair when the branch itself fell from its tree.
The bad things about this? One, of course, the branch had perfectly bopped itself on the top of Bunny's head - and it was a heavy one too, so ouch. Even Bunny's fast reflexes didn't see that coming. Two, there was a bee hive attached to that branch, and Bunny's head was bonked again with that. That was even less fortunate; bees didn't like getting out of their hives in the winter and always huddled together inside their hive until the warmer months with flowers came again. The hive split open, an open crack now in the middle, and a swarm of confused, angry bees instantly buzzed right out, ready to attack whoever had disturbed their former peace. To them, it'd be whoever was nearest them and would most likely be the cause of their home's destruction, so yeah, that was Bunny.
The third bad thing about this? Jack happened to be nearby, leaning against the very tree the branch had dropped from, minding his own business, chewing on an apple, and - only because it all happened to happen - watching Bunny's predicament in shock, and (it was pretty funny, okay) lots of amusement.
Bunny was yelling several profanities consisting of "What the bloody hell?!" as he, in panic, ran around trying to get the bees away from him, still shivering and stumbling through the snow.
Soon the rest of the "G club" had come out - those were Nicholas North, Talia Fae, and Sanderson McSnoozie - and each of them, at seeing their other member run around the school's front yard, covered in snow, with a hoard of furious bees after him, stopped in baffled shock.
And so the rest happened like this:
Brave ol' North came to the rescue. He took Bunny, pushed him into a pit of snow, dumped a rather massive amount of snow on top of him so that the teen was practically buried now - the wide-eyed still-watching Jack had laughed - and ran inside with the rest of the bewildered team. The bees couldn't get to Bunny with him stuck in the snow like that, so the furious swarm had eventually left, finally gone.
Then the three had come back out of the building again and dug their poor friend out. Bunny was stiff as a rod, seeming too numb to move as the others dusted off the snow from him; he'd be soaking wet when they'd get back indoors again. He did manage to blurt out a few words, though they were quiet and sounded as if he was saying it through clenched and chattering teeth. "What the bloody hell?"
"Oh, my moon, that was... that was strange. Wh-what happened? Bunny? Are you alright?" Talia spoke in a concerned tone, eyes wide as she scanned the teen's poor state.
Sandy was shaking his head and covering his mouth with one hand, and North was coughing loudly. It took a few seconds for Jack to realize that they were trying to cover up laughter, which just made himself want to laugh even harder at the situation. Even Talia had a tiny grin on her face, though she looked like she was trying not to show it, for Bunny's sake. The brunette had tossed his half-finished apple aside and was now bent over himself, shoulders shaking in muffled laughter.
The Aussie remained silent for a few moments before speaking again, face at first expressionless and then breaking out in a baffled, horrified look.
"What h-happened? Ya wanna know what happened?" His tone started to raise. "I don't know what the bloody hell just happened! I stepped outta that buildin' and that blasted snow and that three branch and that cursed beehive landin' on me happened! And no I'm not alright! I hate winter! I was already gonna be freezin' my arse off over here and then that just happened! Winter is just a time full of deadness, the dumb cold, and bloody plain shi-"
Jack had quit even trying to muffle his laughter and broke out into full guffaws. Side-aching, knee-slapping, on-the-floor guffaws. Tears of mirth escaped from his eyes, pouring down his cheeks and down into the snow that he was now sprawled out and rolling on, some of the snow sticking onto his hoodie. The four other teens across the place had only then just noticed the boy there, turning at hearing his loud laughter under the bare tree. North himself seemed to be starting to laugh a bit, but quickly slapped a hand over his mouth, for poor Bunny's sake. Talia and Sanderson stood off to the side, awkwardly pretending to scratch their cheeks to cover the grins they couldn't stop from spreading across their faces.
Bunny stared at the other boy blankly. The Australian didn't know him much, but recognized him when he saw the slightly-spiky brown mop of hair and the blue hoodie Jack always seemed to wear. Then his green eyes narrowed in suspicion. He wasn't in any good mood for anything at the moment, and he wasn't going to let anyone, especially a culprit, get away with causing the horrifying experience that happened just mere minutes ago. "You," he spat.
North, Talia, and Sandy turned back to their friend in confusion, hands still clapped over their mouths. Jack finally managed to sit back up, still laughing, but it was like he was out of breath so they came out silently. Sandy raised his eyebrows, looking at Bunny, and then followed his gaze back to the tree. Looking back and forth again, though, he saw that his friend wasn't looking at the tree - Bunny was glaring slit-eyed at Jack.
"You," Bunny repeated, and this time he caught the brunette boy's full attention. The boy stared up at the other in an expression still part-amusement, a bit of confusion, and curiosity. "You! You sneaky little show-pony, you're the one who did it, weren't you? I know it! You did this!"
The three other G members stood off to the side, all of them looking back and forth between the two boys now. Talia was confused. "Bunny, what do you mean?"
North raised a bushy brow. "Are you saying Jackson may have-?"
"Oh hell right he did. That kid's known as the trickster of the school, why wouldn't he? And I mean he- he actually likes winter! I've seen 'im!"
Jack was mildly surprised. He didn't think anyone actually payed real attention to him, though it was obvious he did like winter. Whenever the season came, he was practically outdoors all the time in the snow, or other times he would be skating. It was true, that he loves winter. Trickster of the school? Well, that was true too, he could admit. But Bunny accusing him of the incident? No... that wasn't true. He didn't do anything.
Bunny ranted on. "He pulled that trick on me! You, you dropped that hunk o' snow on me, huh, mate? And then ya just dropped the whole bloody branch, along with that stinkin' beehive! Ya think you're clever, dontcha? Well now I know it was you! You're sittin' right there under that very tree, too!" He waved an accusing hand in his direction.
Jack blinked. Bunny actually thought he'd caused all of it - which, he admitted, would be pretty clever... Why didn't he think of that? But this time, though, he actually didn't do anything. He was just under that tree, and he didn't even know that Bunny or anyone would still be coming out of the school this later in the day; most had gone home already. Again, it was true Jack liked winter and that he was a trickster sometimes, but he swore, he wasn't the culprit! The only "culprit" was the tree, and perhaps Bunny's own bad luck!
He propped his wrists up on his knees, shaking his hands in a "no" motion, furrowing his eyebrows close. "Woah, woah, woah, you got this all wrong," Jack spoke. "I swear I didn't do anything."
The older teen let out a loud "Ha!" in mock humor, lowering his hand and brushing the snow off his shoulders; he didn't seem convinced.
"Seriously, I didn't! I didn't even know you, any of you, were coming out here! I just came out here to-"
"To what, mate? Drop a tree branch full o' snow and bees on my head and laugh about it? What proof do ya got against the fact that you were the one who did this? Oh ho, ho, you did so many other things, too, mate. Ya think I don't know how you were the cause of your own sister almost drowning?" Sandy and North gasped, staring at Bunny, appalled, but he continued. "How because of you she ended up having hypothermia and almost died? Ya couldn't even do anything about it! Ha, bet that wasn't such a great experience, huh? All because you're such a bloody tri-"
"BUNNY!" Talia stepped forward and harshly pushed him, interrupting him mid-sentence and causing him to partially lost balance. "That's enough! You just got covered in snow, hit with a big twig, and chased by some little bees! I know that isn't exactly pleasant for you, but you're going way too far!"
Jack was frozen. All traces of amusement or a smirk was gone. He couldn't move, didn't speak. He didn't even realize his jaw was now clenched, and he only stared blankly ahead at the crystal white snow in front of him. It wasn't new that he was blamed for an unfortunate event; again, he was practically known as the troublemaker of Burgess. The times that happened, the person usually just chased him around angrily and Jack just laughed as he ran away. But not once, no one actually brought up... that. It happened about a year or so ago, and the incident had hit the news after it happened. And well, lots of people watch and read the news, so... yeah. Jack didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to do anything right now. Anger flared up against Bunny for even mentioning it, but he didn't move. Didn't speak. He was, though, grateful for Talia.
The girl continued, pushing an agitated finger against Bunny's chest, violet eyes glaring dangerously into surprised spring green. "You can't just go around bringing up people's pasts because you're angry at them and you feel like it! Got some snow on your face? Wipe it off! Got hit with a tree branch? I don't see you limping in pain, so you should be fine. The bees are gone, so I really don't see why you should still be acting the way you are! Stop being so uptight; maybe laugh, Bunny! Just laugh it off! And you know what? So what if he pulled a little prank on you? Maybe he did it, maybe he didn't, but nothing gives you any right to say such things!" Talia pushed Bunny back again with her palm, and looked satisfied when he'd landed flat on his side against the snow.
There was a stunned silence as everyone was now staring at Talia. None of them had seen her so angry before. Maybe when there was Pitch around, yes, but she was never this angry. And she certainly never yelled at any of them about anything much.
Neither North nor Sanderson made a move to help Bunny up; they also knew she was right. Bunny eventually pushed himself up off the ground and they all stood in the tense silence. Finally, the Aussie teen left. The other three lingered behind for a while, but soon Sandy caught up behind him, and then Talia.
Jack glanced up at seeing North still there, who hadn't moved, and was giving the boy a look of regret and concern. The boy shook his head, pulling his hood up. "I'm fine," he said quietly. Before North could say anything, he added, "You don't need to say sorry, either. You didn't do anything."
North moved two steps to go, but stopped doubtfully.
"I'm fine," Jack repeated, trying to make his voice sound assuring. It had seemed to somewhat work, for North finally left. Finally Jack had been simply alone, as he usually was.
Fortunately for him, no one had ever brought up that day again.
And here I am writing another RotG fanfic, sheesh, what am I getting myself into? Welp, I just greatly felt the need to write this anyways, so here it is - a Rise of the Guardians human AU fic. Mostly it's all humor/friendship/family stuff, but I'm not sure if there may or might not be romance. We'll see.
Another random note: yes, Talia is Tooth. She'll still be called Tooth by the others as a nickname, but here her name is Talia.
Please tell me if I made any typos or grammatical errors in here - usually I go back and check, but if I missed somethin just feel free to let me know! And if you can, review and tell me what you think of the first chapter.
~fi