AN: [Pops out from behind a houseplant]
I know I promised to update 'Comfort in a Snowstrom' like forever ago, but this little ficlet won't leave my brain alone. I'm in love with Rise of the Guardians. It's an amazing film based on an incredible idea. There so much angst and fluff to be written! (Smiles evilly). So, here's the first chapter of my first one-shot collection (and first update in over a year). I would love to hear your thoughts, so please review! And if you have any suggestions or request just tell me ;).
Enjoy!
Chapter One: Hugged
"Jack!"
He turned around at Jamie's call, not expecting to see the boy running towards him. For a moment, time seemed to stand still and he couldn't tear his eyes from his first believer. Fear made his heart thump painfully loud, his pulse beating in his ears.
Jamie believed in him.
He could touch Jamie. Had touched him only moments before.
It was real. He was real. Yet he was so afraid, terrified, that it was all a fluke, a one-time thing, and he wasn't ready to face that possibility so soon after finally being seen.
He didn't want Jamie to run through him.
It would break him. He was just slowly getting used to attention, companionship and conversations with someone other than himself. To finally be seen and believed. He didn't want to be invisible any longer.
He wanted to jump back, sidestep, anything to prevent his first believer from passing through him. Before his muscle could as much as twitch, time returned to normal and Jamie had reached him. His body moved on its own, taking a small step back, but not out of reach for thin, pajama-clad arms to encircle his waist. A small, startled gasp left lightly blue-tinted lips as Jack stood frozen, arms away from his body and cerulean eyes wide with surprise. The hand holding his staff, clutched the shepherd's crook in a vice like grip, the other hovered awkwardly above the brown head, fingers erect. Azure orbs widened even more and he struggled to breathe, short, sharp breaths of air audibly left his mouth, chest visually rising and falling with each inhale and exhale.
His mind was racing, trying desperately to comprehend what'd happened.
Someone was hugging him.
Jamie was hugging him.
The same foreign, overwhelming feeling of sheer and utter incredulousness, amazement and exhilarating euphoria he only hours before had felt back in Jamie's room when the boy had admitted to both hear and see him, coursed through his body, setting every nerve on fire with pure happiness.
It took tremendous effort to rip himself from his thoughts and unfreeze his rigid body. His breath hitched again, but this time he exhaled loudly, shoulders visibly slumping. For a second, he struggled against tears, cerulean eyes wide and mist. His face was an open book of raw, undisguised emotions: vulnerable, disbelief, shock, joy, melancholy yet overjoyed, mournful, forlorn yet happy. 300 years was a long time without touch.
Oh, how he missed this feeling, and he wondered for a second how he could have missed something he'd never felt, received and given. He remembered another set of familiar brown eyes and chocolate-colored hair, a brown leather dress and thin arms encircling his neck and leaning into his chest. He remembered a mother gently stroking his hair as his arms wrapped around her torso, his face pressing into the softness of her bosom.
Then Jamie's arms had tightened around his middle, his face pressing into his chest and he felt a sudden need to touch him, to verify that it was real, confirm that Jamie was there, hugging him. His arms relaxed and he gazed down at the incredible boy embracing him, a tender smile grazed his lips, steadily growing wider, azure orbs radiating affection.
Jack wasn't used to showing affection or used to receive it, but the feeling swirling inside him, increasing with every heartbeat, every second growing stronger, could only be affection and all he suddenly wanted was to give it to Jamie.
A warm, familiar feeling filled him as he bent down and leaned his head against Jamie's, his free hand pressed gently against Jamie's shoulder-blades , cerulean eyes closing slowly to savor the moment, the feeling of another person's warmth, breath and smell. A little more pressure was put on his hand, and he was delighted when Jamie's arms tightened in return. A content smile lifted the corners of his mouth.
For the first time in over three centuries, Jack was finally genuinely content and happy.