It was a perfect day for a birthday bash. That was, in Pippa's perspective. Jamie thought it was a terrible date; Jack Frost was attending a superhero convention at town hall for his two month check-in. The other Guardians were scattered across the country in Texas, California, Wisconsin, and Alaska. It was the second time Jack was due to appear in Pennsylvania, and the first time a Guardian would do a check-in at Burgess. It was a milestone for Burgess, however, Pippa had better plans than watching a superhero talk about his plans to protect the planet from mass destruction.
Monty had the same idea as Jamie, but it was no use fighting against Pippa's steady determination. She pulled a few tricks out of her sleeve and got Monty's longtime crush to attend and Jamie's old fire to pop in. Jamie still had a wick waiting for his ex to light, though it was very long and would take much time to reach the dynamite.
"It's going to rain," Jamie deadpanned, holding his hand out. "I think we should call this off."
"Nonsense. Half the party has already arrived. And it's not going to rain. The worst that will happen is a drizzle." Pippa scrolled through her never-ending list of texts. "Only eight people can't make it. Everyone else is coming." She locked her screen and smiled devilishly. "The other forty can. Including Mr. Hot Sauce."
"I don't even like him."
Pippa stared long at him.
"Okay maybe I like him a little, but we broke up over a legitimate concern. He's going to college next year. I'm not. And I'm probably going to go to college in Cali. He's sticking in New York, on the other side of the country, where there will be thousands of hotter guys to date. I'm better up with Jack Frost."
"First, you just don't think you're hot because you see your face every morning. It's common to you, but it's beautiful to everyone else. You've got some eyes on you right now as you mope over the picnic table like your dog just died. Second, Jack Frost is completely out of your league. If you want his attention, you'll have to get involved with huge crime or flash your balls online for him – neither of which I suggest."
"First, Jack Frost dated a few civilians before – none of which were involved in crimes. Second, I should've brought Abby. She could be our security dog and sniff out the booze and dope."
"This is a children's park. We can't bring that stuff here." Someone called Pippa to come over. She laughed and waved at them over Jamie's slouched figure. "That's Cupcake and her new gang. Figuratively speaking of course. You should chill out with some people. I don't get why you're pinning over an unattainable guy like Jack Frost, a freaking superhero who has the entire nation and some other countries head over heels for him. Your future boyfriend is most likely in this crowd."
She rubbed his head and he sourly ducked away. Pippa sighed and squeezed his shoulder before going her way, shouting something about an inside joke.
Jamie groaned and dropped his head on the table. He noticed a few people looking at him. Their attention on him probably had more to do with his acting emo than his "good" looks. He wished it would start pouring rain so he could bust his ass to the city hall and maybe catch a sight of Jack Frost in the flesh.
He also wished he didn't choose to wear a t-shirt. It was getting colder and his arms were starting to feel like popsicles.
"Dude!" Monty dropped into the seat across from Jamie. "Good news and bad news. Which first?"
"Good news." Jamie rolled his head so his chin was propped up on the table.
"You know that girl I like? She doesn't like me."
"If that's the good news, I don't think I want to know the bad news."
"I'm not done. She doesn't like me, because her friend Cupcake does. Can you believe that? I'm totally gonna ask her out."
"And the bad news?"
"Your ex has a boyfriend."
Jamie's heart went stone cold.
"Let's get this straight, I'm straight, but his boyfriend is hot. You have serious comp. I'm talking Macy's versus Abercrombie & Fitch."
"Where is he?" Jamie started searching the crowd of party goers. Dubstep started blasting from an unseen radio, coolers of pop started rolling in, and the kings of all parties – Claude and Caleb – walked in.
"Party don't start 'till I walk in!" Caleb strutted over, his brother at his side with a portable radio on his shoulder, jerking his head to the music.
"Who's ready to par-teyyy?"
As if someone had turned up the party knob, the music got louder and the buzzing thrive of the atmosphere showed in laughs and shouts of the partiers.
"He's somewhere. I don't know where. Everyone's moving now. Hey, I'm gonna go dance with Cupcake. She looks like a big fan of dubstep. Toodles!" Monty joined Cupcake who danced like she was having an epileptic seizure as she danced. Monty copied her style. Some people laughed and then joined in, creating a small group of teens dancing like they were trying to break their necks.
"Hey Jamie. Did Abby die or are you just down?" Claude put the radio in front of Jamie.
"She's doing fine. Thanks for asking." Jamie glowered. He gestured sharply at the radio. "What's this for?"
"Back up in case if Kenny's speakers stop working. I don't know if you know him, but Kenny got new speakers installed in his truck – hella expensive – and that's where the music's coming from. See over there?" He pointed at a truck that was being driven into the park. "I'll hook this baby up to my car and we'll be all good."
Jamie spotted his ex just then. Though a gap in a crowd he could see the midnight black hair and the freckled face of the man he thought he had once loved. The man next to him, probably older than Jamie by a few years, looked just like how Monty had described him: the Abercrombie & Fitch to Jamie's Macy's.
"Ooooh. That's why you're upset? Your guy found someone new?" Claude snickered. "He looks like an Abercrombie & Fitch model."
"He probably is." Jamie stepped over the bench. "I'm gonna take a walk in the woods. Tell Pippa."
"Sure. And by the way, you could do so much better than that guy. You look like a Bond type of guy. You know? Like the Bond girl to a superhero. Like Jack Frost!" Claude laughed and clapped his hands together. "You and Jack Frost!"
Jamie rolled his eyes. He didn't think Claude knew of Jamie's obsession with Jack Frost; it still felt like he was being made fun of. He laughed just to please Claude. "Me and Jack. For sure."
#
Jamie strolled down the hiking trail until he found a flat rock to sit on. He checked the time on his phone – 4:00 – and grunted; the convention was almost over. Just half an hour.
He should've screwed the party and gone to the convention instead of being a "good friend". What was great about sacrificing your wants for another person's when their want wasn't even worth it? Pippa wasn't even spending the party with him for crying out loud! And what was he thinking when he agreed to see his stupid ex? Obviously nothing would change between them.
Screw this. Jamie was going home.
A bright orb streaked across the sky. Jamie watched it until its yellow tail disappeared from sight. There was a BOOM and then crackling sounds.
Jamie sprinted back to the park – and tripped onto his knees.
The party was in its final moments of dispensing. People were sprinting to their cars, screaming and helping others along who appeared to be bleeding and covered in mud. Behind them, and in front of Jamie, were the ruins of the picnic tables –and an upturned mess of grass and dirt.
The ground sloped in to a clean imprint on the ground. A man covered in flames and his hair an upright streak of red and orange stood at its center.
"Oh shit." Jamie bit his tongue and scrambled back. He looked for something near he could crawl behind, but his search ended as quickly as it began.
"You're a bit late," the man said. He stepped out of the slight crater and smiled, his teeth like fangs of fire. "Your friends already ran off."
"Y-you're dead." Jack had finished him off in Antarctica. The news stations had been all over that. Flame had been buried alive in snow and frozen to death.
"Obviously not." Flame held his arms apart. "I'm here, aren't I?"
"Jack killed you."
"Contrary to popular belief, I just froze. I didn't die." He approached Jamie, the flames fading from his body and leaving him in his nationally known red and orange jumpsuit. He seized Jamie's wrist.
"Let me go!" Jamie tried to yank his wrist free, but Flame squeezed painfully tight. "What do you want?"
"Do you want to get burned?"
Jamie shook his head so hard and fast that it hurt.
"Then shut up. Stop fighting. And do what I say."
#
Jamie tried to match Flame's long strides, but the angle at which his wrist was held made it difficult to even walk in a straight line. He kept stumbling over upturned bits of dirt that had flown far from Flame's crater.
"This shouldn't take too long," Flame said when a siren shattered the silence.
As soon as the car rounded the park's corner and came in sight, the front exploded in flames. The car swerved and drove into a house's garage.
Jamie flinched into Flame's side. Flame chuckled. "Not long at all."
They stopped at the parking lot, more sirens coming into earshot. "That'll be the main party. We don't have a lot of time now. Which one's your car?"
"My car's not here." Jamie shrieked; Flame twisted his wrist. "M-my friend drove me!"
"Ugh… I always have to do all the busy work." Flame kicked in the window of a beat up Honda. He unlocked the door. "No alarm. Lucky us." He shoved Jamie in. "Hopefully this has a full tank."
Jamie tried to stave off the panic attack he felt coming as Flame hotwired the car.
The car revved two times and then started. The police cars rounded the corner –
"Down," Flame said.
Jamie ducked. Something hot brushed the back of his neck. There was an explosion, metal crunched, and tires skidded.
The car's tires squealed, and they were gone.
#
"Is that a helicopter?" Flame pointed through the windshield. "Yeah I think that is." He rolled down his window and stuck a hand out. He pointed.
Jamie slapped his hand down. A jet of fire hit the freeway divider, exploding a small part of it. Flame exploded the debris with fire bolts. "You're lucky," he said calmly. "If you didn't look like Christopher Robin I'd punch the daylights out your face."
Jamie gripped the center divider. "What do you want with me?" he demanded. He tried to keep his voice from shaking with the fear that gripped his heart.
"It's easier to do 'villainous' things when you have a hostage." Flame air quoted and the car drifted right. He straightened it with a jerk. "Right now I just need a friend released -"
A flash of blue hit the freeway in front of them. A line of frost short forward, and that was all the warning they got.
"Shit." Flame cut across the freeway as the car slid across the frost. He hung a hand out the window and defrosted the frost before it hit the tires.
Something thunked on the roof.
Jamie flattened himself against the door. A staff poked through the roof, right between Flame and Jamie.
It glowed neon blue.
"Shit!" Flame jerked the car left and right, but the staff remained embedded. He pulled into the shoulder lane and slammed on the brakes.
Jamie slammed against the dashboard, something cracked. He had no breath to scream.
Frost exploded from the staff. Jamie's eyes clouded over. It felt like a thick layer of frost covered his eyes, distorting his vision. His throat felt frozen too, and he wheezed to get air through.
"Get out!" Flame slapped Jamie.
Yellow, blue, and red circles exploded across his vision and Jamie leaned against the door, pulling the handle and falling out. He scraped his hands and knees on the concrete. Something sharp (a nail?) scratched his palm.
He scratched at his face. Frost was spreading across his skin and making it impossible for him to breathe. He slapped his cheeks and rubbed his eyes, pressing so hard that he saw black spots among the yellow, blue, and red.
"…civilian. There's a civilian…didn't you tell… A boy…" The voice wafted in his ears like a whisper carried on a broken wind.
Jamie sat against the freeway wall, his head now exploding with pain. He cradled his head between his hands, murmuring words in no logical order.
"Excuse me. Can you look at me? Hey. Kid. Can you look up?"
Jamie knew that voice. He had heard it many times on youtube videos and on the news. He tried to shake his head. "Can't."
"Shit. They didn't tell me about you." Jack's voice was lighter in person. He sounded younger, just like any teenager at Burgess High.
Something hot flared above Jamie's head. He flattened himself to the ground, pressing his face into the gritty ground. There was more heat. It surrounded him like a blanket. It grew hotter and hotter, and it became harder to breathe.
"Stay down," Jack demanded. He sounded far away, not part of the heat encompassing Jamie.
Jamie was more than willing to stay still. He opened his eyes. The heat burned his eyes so he closed them, but he saw enough to know that he was enclosed in a flame cage.
The oxygen was getting pulled from Jamie's breaths. Each breath felt empty of oxygen. Jamie's head became light and his vision started fading. He was unconscious before he recognized the voice of another Guardian.
#
When Jamie woke he was in a hospital. He was dressed in the awful hospital garbs that showed your ass off every time you stood up. He had bandages on his arms and his face felt numb and swollen, especially his cheek. Something heavy sat on his forehead (a thick bandage?).
And sitting next to his bed was Jack Frost.
"Holy shit." Jamie felt like he was talking through a mouth full of cotton balls.
"How are you feeling?"
"Shitty." Jamie wanted to smile, but he had the feeling that his lips were chapped and covered with scabs.
"That means you're healing." Jack smiled and Jamie's insides melted. If only Pippa was here. She wouldn't believe this. "I'm assuming you want to know what happened."
"Did I get locked in a flame cage?"
"Yep. And you passed away – excuse me, passed out from the smoke. You also got bruises from the road and Flame. He got away, btw, but don't worry. The Guardians are keeping an eye on him."
"Someone else came to help…"
"Bunny, but he didn't do much. I did the saving. Aka, giving you mouth to mouth." Jack waggled his eyebrows.
"Sorry." Drat. If only Jamie had been semi-conscious…
"It's okay. I didn't mind at all."
"A-are you flirting with me?"
"It's not every day I save a cute boy from danger."
If only Pippa was there.
A/N: This was a long one. :/ I'm pulling myself out of a long drought of story ideas, so please respect that. Don't message me about updates for "In Between". I'll write for it when I feel like it - otherwise you get a shitty update.