Author's Note:
This is mostly going to be one-, two-, or three-shot stories. Some might get four but it isn't likely. Most will be on Jack Frost.
Warning: Headcanons. That is a lot of what will be written about. If one of these stories has a headcanon, it will be written out in the author's note before the story begins.
Some of these stories will have OCs in them. The stories in this fanfiction, unless stated otherwise, will be in character, will not be an alternate universe, and there will be no slash... at least, not a lot. Maybe small hints at times.
This story is rated T for brief language and an occasional adult theme (the only time there will be language is in the headcanon quotes, as they will be verbatim). I will alert ahead of time what the story will be covering if it is not "innocent."
I do not own Rise of the Guardians. Enjoy.
Oh, one last thing: if you have a request/idea/headcanon of your own, PM me about it and I'll see what I can do. Credit for headcanons are at the end of each story.
These stories will all be post-movie unless stated otherwise.
Headcanon:
Jack might be an artist when it comes to snow and frost.
But he cannot wrap presents for shit.
"Jack Frost! Come, come quick!" shouted the Spirit of Wonder. He bursted through the double doors of his study and found Jack sitting on the window sill, staring out into the blizzard that raged outside.
Jack looked up, seemingly snapping out of this thoughts. "What's wrong?"
"It is yeti! He cannot work anymore!"
Jack's posture straightened. This sounded serious. "Well, did you overwork him?" he asked, raising a suspicious eyebrow at North.
North scoffed, "Of course not! Yetis need break, too. Would you mind taking place of yeti while he takes break?"
The Spirit of Fun's face brightened, making it a little paler than normal. The yetis were the toymakers here. That meant that he could design, create, and color a toy; his creation would be sent to a child in less than a week! It gave him a wonderful opportunity to pull some pranks on the other workers, too. "Alright, I'm in."
North beamed, "Good! Come, I will show you work station."
Jack arose and followed North through the Toy Factory. They passed several toy stations, where yeti after yeti was giving the finishing touches on the toys they had created. Each toy was then transported into a set of double doors behind their working tables.
Jack couldn't suppress his excitement when they reached an empty work table. He placed his staff across the table and stood opposite of North. "Okay, where do I begin?" he asked, eyes beaming.
North laughed a hardy laugh and walked around to where Jack was standing. "You cannot work right here!"
Confusion clouded Jack's face. "But I thought you said I would-"
"Yes, you work, but not here." North stated, gently placing a hand on Jack's back and guiding him through the double doors behind the work station. "You work here."
Jack was astounded by what he saw: toys. Everywhere. But these toys were not like the ones that flew by themselves or sat in neatly stacked rows on a work table. These toys were wrapped - with wrapping paper, a bow on top, and a "to/from" sticker neatly filled out.
Jack's stomach dropped. This was not good.
"You will be taking place of yeti for three hours."
Jack's stomach dropped lower than before.
"Each present will be wrapped, addressed, and placed in that stack over there."
Jack didn't turn to see the stack North was referring to, but he knew it must have been huge.
"And... My quota?"
"Five hundred."
Jack's stomach hit the floor. Five hundred!? How on earth was he supposed to wrap and address five hundred presents in three hours? He had to say something to North about this.
"Uh, North...?"
Jack turned to tell North that, as much as he wanted to help, he could not. But when he looked to his right, North was gone.
Jack huffed and stomped over to his work table. He absentmindedly picked up the box that was his "guide" on how to wrap a present.
See, the truth was, Jack could not wrap presents. He could make the most intricate designs of frost on windows, freeze lakes over, make no two snowflakes that looked the same, and even make it snow indoors... but he could not wrap a present. The best he could do when it came to presents was give children a white Christmas or make a present out of ice, or something.
He stared at the little doll that had been placed in front of him. It was already boxed, so that made his job a little easier. But still, this was going to be difficult.
Jack tugged up at his sleeves slightly, exposing his wrists. He handled the doll gently. The wrapping paper, a list of names attached to a clipboard and other supplies were to his left, the monster stack of unwrapped toys and the small wrapped present to his right. He stared at the small gift, trying to piece together how to wrap this toy without making it look like an elf did it.
He glanced around the room: yetis were working diligently, some of them wrapping and stacking six presents in one minute. As soon as one would finish its shift another would enter and continue right where the last one had left off. He watched the yetis and how they wrapped their presents. The yetis would take the wrapping paper from the roll, place the toy in the center, cut the paper and finish wrapping the gift. Then they were stacked into a neat pile. Jack couldn't see more than ten seconds worth of what was happening because these creatures were working so fast.
Jack sighed again. He took the roll of wrapping paper and tugged at the end. It unrolled smoothly and gracefully, almost as if it already knew what it was supposed to be doing. He placed the doll at the edge of the paper and, grabbing the scissors, cut the wrapping paper. Immediately he knew he had messed up. He was able wrap the front and back of the box, but the sides were entirely exposed. He pulled a long strip of tape and covered where the wrapping paper met at the ends. He turned the present on its side and repeated what he had done before.
Except things went wrong again. He had an inordinate amount of excess paper sticking out on the sides. After applying another long strip of tape, he glanced at the yeti at the next table. It was folding the extra paper over the present then taping it down. So Jack mimicked the yeti, but once again it looked wrong. The other presents looked so sharp and clean, while his looked as if a three-year-old had wrapped it.
He quietly slammed his fist on the table in frustration. He ripped the wrapping paper off the toy and tossed it to the floor. A yeti glanced at him but he didn't care. He wasn't going to move onto the next gift until this one was wrapped perfectly.
After thirty of minutes of wrapping, ripping off the wrapping paper, and rewrapping the toy, Jack threw his hands up in frustration. He ran a hand through his hair and tried again. Another fail. And another. And another.
Jack hadn't noticed that a yeti was standing beside him, watching as he worked. He turned and started. "I didn't see you there."
The yeti replied something in yetish that Jack didn't care to attempt to translate. Not that he ever would be able to, anyway.
"Well, now that you've seen me fail, you can go complain to North and have your station back," Jack said sourly. He became slightly more annoyed that the yeti hadn't moved. Jack turned back to the table and started working again, before yelling in aggravation at another failed attempt.
The yeti said something again and gently pushed Jack to the end of the work table.
"Hey! I was working!"
It shushed him and pointed at the wrapping paper, then the toy. The yeti pulled out more wrapping paper from the roll and placed the toy face down on top of it - except the toy was planted in the center, not at the edge like Jack had been doing. He realized the yeti was giving him a lesson and watched intently as the yeti slowly wrapped the present.
Soon the doll was wrapped beautifully, with a bow on top and a "to/from" sticker addressed to Allison from Santa.
Jack mentally thanked the yeti and watched as it walked back to its station. It was the same yeti that had been watching him since he had arrived.
He smiled and did what the yeti had just done on a new toy, this one being a helicopter. When he finished wrapping the present, he frowned. It was significantly better than they had been before, but it still did not look up to par with the toy that the yeti had just finished wrapping.
Jack laughed. Nothing about the situation was funny, but laughing made him feel a little better. He addressed the toy to James and moved on to the next one.
This one turned out just a tad bit better than the toy for James. Jack smiled and stared at his wrapped present. It wasn't near as good as the one for Allison, but he didn't mind.
He was finally getting better, and with each present he wrapped, it looked better than the last.
In his three hours, he only had twenty presents wrapped. He got a lecture from North about how he should have said something about not being able to wrap presents, about how he can talk to North about these kinds of things, about how he shouldn't be embarrassed, about how Bob (the yeti he took over for) would have to work extra hard to meet the quota, and other things Jack only half-listened to.
Regardless of how unsatisfactory Jack's job had been, he was still smiling. He was glad that he had learned something - even if he wasn't able to gift a child with a toy for Christmas, he could give them something he knew they would love: a beautiful and silent snow fall that they would be thrilled to play in. And that was satisfactory enough for Jack.
A/N: There you have it. Next one-shot should be out either tomorrow or the day after.
Credit for headcanon: ijackfrost . tumblr . com.
ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: I am open to writing about anything. And I mean anything. These short stories will range from angst, humor, adventure, comfort, to romance. Don't be afraid to ask! Also, nothing should be NSFW, but if it is, I'll let you know.