Okay, so. I recently saw this movie and couldn't help but love every single freaking minute of it. It's so awesome I requested it for a birthday present next year. A few days after I saw it, I decided to search fanfic for stories and I stumbled upon this fandom. I have to say, I've fallen in love with the JamiexJack fandom. Seriously, if you haven't checked it out yet, you should. Jamie grows up, the two fall in love... it's so sweet it's giving me cavities. Honestly.
Wynter: *cough*liar*cough*
Oh, hush, you.
Wynter: That's not the stories you've been reading. That's the leftover candy from Halloween.
Go... eat a brick. Okay, I've got a couple of things to say. First: I just finished National Novel Writing Month, which is why I've written an unusually long chapter. I'm still in the "write as much as you can" mode.
Second: I do NOT own Rise of the Guardians. I really wish I did. It's AWESOME!
Third: Rated M for later scenes.
Fourth: Flames will be used to barbeque food with.
Fifth: Enjoy and don't forget to leave a review! See you at the bottom!
Frozen Love
The old lady sat in her rocking chair, a set of knitting needles in her hands that softly clicked against each other as she rocked back and forth. Her brittle hair was gray with red streaks, a reminder of what it used to look like. Wizened brown eyes stared out merrily from behind wrinkled skin, observing the small crowd of children at her feet. Spider web like cracks lay spiraling along her frame, scars given to her by growing old and an exciting life. Laugh lines and crow's feet lined her face. Combined with her ever happy eyes, and large smile, she always looked like she was laughing. Serena Xavia had lived a long, rewarding life. The violet material in her lap slowly turned from yarn to a beautiful blanket the longer she sat there rocking and clicking her needles. Around her were about 15 seated children and 6 adults. The children grew restless as they waited, fidgeting and whispering to each other, while the adults murmured quietly to themselves. It was story night, and Grandma Serena always had a new and exciting story to tell them. Every week on Wednesday nights, the old woman told a story to the local children at her home. Sometimes the adults stayed and listened to her stories, remembering a time from when she used to tell them stories as children.
The children loved her stories, eager to hear the adventures of new boy or girl who found the strength inside themselves to fight off the bad guy. Each story held a message, a lesson for the children to learn. She always made sure they understood the lesson too. After all, what good was a story if the children didn't learn the lesson it taught? The adults that stayed often walked away remembering a lesson that they forgot long ago. It amused her greatly to see them walk away looking like they discovered something new and unique. Not all of the adults stayed, of course, choosing to go out on a date while their children stayed to listen to stories. Eventually they came back to stay, though. Lured in by the retelling of a story she told by a child or some other reason. Regardless of why, she accepted them all, young and old, and told her stories. Tonight's story was no exception, but Serena's story was a bit different this time. With the approaching of the winter holidays, she chose a story that she knew like the back of her hand. It was one that had a close connection to her heart. She let the children whisper for a few moments longer, amused by the looks of excitement on their faces.
"Grandma! Can we please hear the story now?" a small boy with bright red hair and freckles asked impatiently, his hand thrust up into the air like he was at school. His eyes were wide with eagerness and curiosity. It was so cute that a couple of the adults laughed quietly in the background.
The skin around Serena's lips cracked slightly as she smiled widely down at the young boy and replied, "Patience is a virtue, young Sammy. But yes, I do believe it's time for the story. Get comfy, children. This story will be a little different than normal."
The children immediately stopped their fidgeting and whispering. They all scrambled around, getting comfortable. Some of them sat Indian style, while others lay on top of each other, heads in laps or on backs, their legs swinging in the air as they all watched her intently. The adults mimicked their positions, a few lying on their stomachs while a particular set of pregnant women rested against each other with happy smiles. She set her needles down and took a small sip of the tea that rest on the old wooden table nearby. It seemed to groan and move closer to her, something that was a regular occurrence at Grandma Serena's. One could never be sure if the furniture was really moving, or if it was just a trick of their minds. Whenever they looked at it closer, the furniture appeared to be nothing more than ordinary furniture. Only Serena knew the truth. She picked up her needles and proceeded to knit once more as her voice, raspy with old age, began to weave a tale of mystery, love, life, death, and hope for the children, "It happened quite a long time ago. Longer than anyone around here could tell you. A tale of a winter spirit named Jack Frost and the boy who believed in him…"
Jamie Bennett sat in his history class with his chin in his hand and staring absently out the window. He only listened with half an ear to what the teacher was saying, something about The Great Depression and how it affected the world. He wasn't really interested in it, and was more interested in how the wind was blowing through the trees. To say he was bored was an understatement. If it wasn't for the fact that he was in class, he might've taken a nap. As it was, his eyes kept drooping downwards of their own accord. He would have loved to be anywhere but in class at that moment. The weather outside, while not warm and sunny like most wanted, was Jamie's favorite type of weather. It was cold and cloudy, the type of weather one would expect to find as winter drew closer. When the weather turned that way, the boy knew that it was nature's way of preparing for Jack Frost. Now many would scoff and laugh at the thought of nature preparing for a fictional character, but not Jamie. You see, Jamie knew something that almost everyone else didn't know. Jamie believed deep in his heart that Jack was real, along with the Easter Bunny, Santa, the Tooth Fairy, and the Sandman. What normal 18 year old boy believed in those kinds of things still, you may ask? The answer is simple. One who's met them.
When Jamie was 8, a very special and magical thing happened to him. He met the Guardians. They were immortal beings that really did exist and watched over the world around them. There was Santa Clause, or North as he preferred to be called, who was the Guardian of Wonder. He resided in the North Pole and created all sorts of toys for boys and girls to receive on Christmas morning. North was a big man, with a graying beard, sparkling eyes, and a heavy Russian accent. He was almost exactly like what the stories portrayed him as. Almost. A big difference was in his workshop. Tiny elves were not the creatures that made the toys for children, although, shhh… don't tell the elves that. No, the real workers were yetis. That's right, yetis. Long ago, North had moved to the North Pole and created a pact with the yetis, and together they created his workshop where they made toys of all kinds. The major difference, however, was in the two very noticeable tattoos on North's arms. On his right arm, the word "Naughty" was tattooed in big letters. On the left, "Nice" was spelled out in the same manner. Anyone who met North would not believe that he was the Father of Christmas, but he was. And he was very proud of that fact, almost as proud as Bunnymund was of his Easter eggs.
E. Aster Bunnymund, or the Easter Bunny as he was known to most, was the Guardian of Hope. When Jamie first met Bunnymund, he was the exact image one would expect for the Easter Bunny: small and cute. That, however, was the result of children loosing hope in him, or so Jamie was told. His true form was a 6 foot tall Pooka that wielded twin boomerangs, egg bombs and an Australian accent. Back then, Jamie thought Bunnymund looked especially cool once he gained his true form back, something that has stuck with the 18 year old to this day. Jamie never saw Bunnymund's warren, but his sister Sophie went there once when she was a child. It was one of her favorite places in the world. They weren't the only Guardians the boy had met when he was 8.
The Guardian of Memories, or Tooth as she liked to be called, visited him often. She was the Tooth Fairy, collecting teeth and guarding the precious memories that resided within them. She was a half hummingbird, half human fairy who commanded an army of little tiny hummingbirds. Now, they weren't really an army, but there were a lot of them, and they were fiercely protective over the teeth they guarded. Over the years, Jamie and Tooth became fast friends. More often than not, Tooth would come and visit him once a night while her hummingbirds were making their rounds. She would fill him in on what North and Bunnymund were doing, while he told her about almost everything that happened in his life. Almost everything. There was something he kept close to his heart that he hadn't revealed to anyone, mostly out of fear that the person it involved would find out and would never speak to him again. He didn't want to risk that person's friendship, or his friendship with Tooth in case she didn't approve. So he kept it quiet and never said a word to her. There was only one person he told, and that was because he knew that person wouldn't tell anyone.
Sandy had listened quietly when he told of his secret. The Guardian of Dreams was patient and kind, waiting until he was done to ask his questions. Of course, by ask Jamie meant form pictures above his head using dream sand. Sandy, short for Sandman, never spoke a word out loud, probably because he never wanted to wake anyone up. He was understanding and sympathetic to Jamie's plight, showing the wisdom he had gained through the long years of being the first Guardian to exist. They talked for hours, floating high above Burgess on Sandy's dream cloud while the Guardian conducted each person's dream around the world. It always amazed him how Sandy was able to do his duty while talk to him at the same time. Unlike a certain winter spirit who couldn't seem to keep his mind on his duty.
A glimmer of white pulled Jamie out of his thoughts and he looked towards it, wondering what it was. A single snowflake fluttered harmlessly down onto the window sill next to his desk and a wide grin spread excitedly over his face. It wasn't much, but he knew that meant he was in town. He being Jack Frost, the Guardian of Fun and controller of ice and cold. He was also Jamie's best friend. The 18 year old sat up a little straighter and gazed out the window determinedly. Glimmers of white kept appearing in the corners of his eyes, but would disappear the moment he looked for them. The boy knew Jack was teasing him, and it was all he could do to not stick his tongue out at the winter spirit. He was still in school, though, and knew that it would be a bad idea to randomly stick his tongue out at nothing. That didn't stop him from glaring out the window though, a light laugh echoing in his mind as he did so.
Just as he was about to look away and ignore his best friend, a shock of white appeared in front of him and shocked him. It was reflexive, and earned him a few weird looks, but he couldn't help it when he jumped slightly in surprise. The winter spirit soundlessly laughed on the other side of the glass as his eyes sparkled with laughter and joy. With a light blush, Jamie looked around to see if anyone was watching him before flipping Jack off. The white haired boy's icy blue eyes widened in surprise as he place a hand over his heart dramatically. The actions resulted in Jamie rolling his eyes and the spirit grinning widely at him. The boy gave a small shake of his head and gazed at Jack with an expression of fond annoyance. That was why Jack was his best friend. The Guardian of Fun always managed to make him laugh like no other did.
Jack hovered outside of the window, the wind keeping him in one place as he waved his hand over the glass in front of him. Only a few people in Jamie's class could still see him. Most had grown out of that phase and no longer thought of him as a real being. It hurt him, that much was true, but for every one that stopped believing in him, another started. Once word got out about his existence, belief in him grew greatly and there wasn't a moment when he wasn't being recognized by some younger boy or girl. After 300 years of being invisible, it made him very happy to be seen again by someone other than his fellow Guardians. All thanks to the boy on the other side of the glass he just frosted over. With a small grin, he quickly wrote out a message to him, not wanting to get Jamie in trouble too much while he was in school.
Jamie watched as Jack wrote out the words, unseen by those who didn't believe in the winter spirit. His grin, which was still very large, grew impossibly wide when he read the words. He nodded his head quickly, a reply to Jack asking him to meet him at the park near the 18 year old's house. Jack shot him a thumbs up as he flew upwards away from the school, snow and ice appearing gracefully from his staff as he moved. For the rest of the class, Jamie could barely sit still. Time seemed to drag on and he was close to counting the seconds as they passed before the class let out. It was his last class of the day, so all he'd have to do would be to grab his backpack and coat before leaving to head to the park. When the bell rang, he was the first one out of the door, despite being the furthest from it. His excitement got the better of him as he tried hard to walk calmly to his locker and out the door. He almost made it, a mere handful of steps from the door, when his excitement got to be too much and he darted through them at a full run. One of the teachers yelled at him for it and he merely laughed. He couldn't help it if he was excited to see Jack again.
It had been 5 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 7 hours, and 54 minutes since he last saw the white haired immortal and he could barely contain his happiness. He was out of breath when he reached the park 10 minutes later, having run the entire way there from the school. It took him only a moment to spot the Guardian leaning up against his staff in the middle of a clearing not far from him, a large smile on his face. With a burst of speed, he ran straight at Jack, tackling him to the ground in a large hug. The two landed on a soft pile of snow that, conveniently, appeared before they could hit the ground. His arms wound around Jack's waist as he buried his face into the older male's neck and hugged him tightly. A soft shiver went through him as the coldness from Jack's body seeped into his own.
A deep baritone laugh wove its way around him like a warm blanket, making him sigh in contentment. It was a sharp counter to the cold arms that wrapped themselves firmly around his back and hugged him back. Jack wasn't as surprised by the tackle as most people would have been. For as long as he had known Jamie, this was always how he was greeted each year when he came back to Burgess after summer. He didn't mind in the least, happy to have someone that was willing to hug him. It wasn't like the other Guardians were touchy feely, not unless you included Tooth's obsession with looking at his teeth. After going 300 years without any contact with people, he was more than happy to have Jamie hug him each year. Jamie was the only one who dared to touch him, despite more people seeing him. It must have been the icy cold temperature of his body, because not a lot of people actually liked touching him. Not that he complained too much about it. Some days, he just didn't want to be touched. Unless, of course, it was Jamie. The boy would always have a special place in Jack's heart for the rest of his life. Jamie was, after all, the first person to see him in all the years he could remember being a winter spirit.
The two simply stayed there like that, holding onto each other, for several minutes before Jamie finally pulled away and looked down into laughing blue eyes. A sheepish smile crossed his face as he rolled away from Jack and sat next to him as he said, "Hi Jack."
"Hi Jamie," Jack said as he sat up and held out his hand for his staff. It zoomed into his hand and he thrust it hard into the snow beneath him, a patch of ice securing its base as he leaned back against it. Folding his hands behind his head, he gazed over at his best friend and nodded his head toward Jamie's jacket as he said, "You've learned too quickly. I can no longer catch you off guard with a blast of cold air."
"That's because I know you too well, Jack," Jamie replied with a slight roll of his eyes. Back when they were still new friends, Jack would often blast cold air at him when he arrived back from bringing snow around the world to people. It used to frustrate Jamie to no end, until he learned to recognize the signs of Jack's arrival. It wasn't too hard to spot, but to anyone who didn't know Jack very well, they would miss the signs totally. The clouds would darken and the air would grow still, almost as if it were waiting for something or someone. Years of watching had gotten it so that Jamie roughly knew of when Jack was going to be in town, and he started to keep a thick winter coat on him when he started to see the signs. It turned into a game between them. Jack trying to catch him off guard without a jacket, and him making sure that didn't happen.
Jack nodded his head as he grew slightly serious. Jamie was the only one who knew him completely. Sometimes the older boy even thought that the 18 year old knew him better than he knew himself, which was entirely plausible since he didn't know very much about himself to begin with. He was still gaining his memories from his previous life. Every once in a while, he would stop and stare off at nothing as a memory came over him and brought back images of when he was alive. North and Tooth always tried to pry his memories out of him, to learn more about Guardian of Fun, but he never gave in. It wasn't that he didn't want to tell them. His memories were personal and his own. There was only two people he was willing to share them with, and he knew neither Jamie nor Sandy would ever tell anyone what he told them. They were his biggest confidants, Jamie knowing almost everything he remembered. There were a few things he kept to himself, but they were things he didn't want to share with anyone else, even Jamie. Personal things that he thought would either be viewed as silly or trivial. Such as when his sister hit him upside the head with a dead chicken. Such memories were a little bit embarrassing, but he treasured them. They were precious to him and he would remember them when he was feeling particularly down or nostalgic. Of course, he did want to tell Jamie eventually, but perhaps it was the result of being too shy, because he didn't think it would be a good idea to tell Jamie right then. At least… not yet, anyway. Eventually, he would tell him. After all, if you couldn't tell your best friend about your memories, which you've slowly been regaining, then who could you tell? Still, it had been ten years since they met, and a lot had been revealed to each other over the years. Jack tilted his head back and looked up at the sky as he said, "It has been ten years. A lot to tell each other."
"10 years, 6 months, 3 weeks, 2 days, 8 hours, and 26 minutes," Jamie replied without really thinking about it. He was so used to keeping track of the minutes and hours that he didn't even realize he had spoken it out loud. It was so natural to him to count the time since they had first met, or since he had last seen Jack. He had been doing it for so long, something he had since the very first day he met the Guardian. It was only when he noticed Jack's expression did he realize what he just said and blushed heavily. Ducking his head, he mumbled in embarrassment, "Not that I've been keeping track or anything."
The surprised look on Jack's face melted into one of pure amusement. A part of him felt secretly happy that Jamie was keeping track of how much time they had known each other, but he couldn't figure out why he felt that way. There was no reason to feel happy over such a thing… was there? Hopping up, he let the wind pick him up until he was balancing on his staff on one foot, grinning down at Jamie as he replied, "Sure you weren't."
Jamie raised his head to reply when a snowball smacked him right in the face. He sputtered in indignation as he wiped the snow away. Jack hovered on his staff as he laughed loudly, seeing the look of shock on the 18 year old's face. In the hand that was behind his back, he slowly formed another snowball, getting ready to throw it at Jamie. A wicked grin crossed his face as he tossed it upwards slightly before reaching back and chucking it at the brown haired boy. Jamie scrambled up long enough to avoid being hit in the face by it, the snowball striking his shoulder instead. His hands quickly made a snowball and whipped it at the older male, who was still laughing very hard from where he was hovering. It hit him square in the forehead and it was Jamie's turn to laugh as Jack toppled backwards off of his staff and into a pile of snow that appeared out of nowhere.
Sitting up, Jack wiped the snow off of his face as he smirked dangerously. The look had Jamie freezing mid laugh as he looked at the Guardian warily. His eyes widened in shock when several dozen snowballs seemed to levitate into the air on their own accord. Jack's eyes danced mischievously as he tiled his head and grinned. A little shiver of fear coursed through Jamie and he swallowed hard as he said quickly and took a few steps backwards, "Hey, wait, Jack, that's unfair. I don't have magic."
"You didn't stipulate that in the beginning," Jack said as he stood up. Brushing the snow away from his clothes, he walked forward and wrapped his hand around his staff. He knew he was scaring Jamie, but he just couldn't help himself. It was so much fun to tease the younger boy. With a flick of his head, the snowballs launched themselves at Jamie, whom took off running as hard as he could.
He weaved himself through the trees, dodging the snowballs as they flew towards him. He wasn't afraid of Jack. He knew the Guardian would never really hurt him. But if all of those snowballs hit him, he'd end up soaked when the snow melted. That was what he feared, since it would mean the end of the fun and games between him and Jack. He skidded to a stop behind a large tree, panting as he fought to catch his breath. He heard the winter spirit call his name from somewhere above him and he pressed himself back even more against the tree, hoping he wouldn't be seen. Just as he caught sight of Jack, who hovered not far away from him to his right, a snowball appeared in front of his face. With a startled yelp, he ducked as it hit the tree and took off in another run. Jack's laughter followed him as he burst out of the trees into a small clearing. He wasn't really paying attention to where he was going, merely wishing to escape the snowballs when his foot slipped on something icy and he fell on his butt hard. A soft groan passed through his lips as he lay there, staring up at the sky.
Jack hovered nearby, a small smile on his lips as he watched his best friend catch his breath. In his hand, another snowball was forming. The rest of the hovering ones had all smacked into trees as they tried to attack the younger boy. They both knew that if Jack really wanted to pummel him with snowballs, Jamie wouldn't have even gotten 5 steps before they would've hit him. But Jack saved that kind of thing for bullies who picked on others. Jamie was just beginning to debate getting up when Jack pounced on top of him and shoved a handful of snow into his face.
Another yelp escaped him as he furiously brushed the snow out of his eyes, Jack's laughter once again filling his ears. With a small pout, he glared up at the Guardian. Jack was straddling his hips, his eyes reflecting pure happiness as his laughter slowly calmed down. In that moment, Jack was struck by the fact that Jamie looked very beautiful laying there with snow in his hair. It occurred to him vaguely that it was weird calling another male beautiful, but he couldn't help but think it was true. Jamie was gazing up at him with a soft smile, his eyes full of joy. Snow coated his hair, making it seem much like Jack's own white hair, and a soft blush covered his face. Whether from the cold or the run, Jack wasn't exactly sure. He just knew it looked beautiful. His eyes unconsciously dropped to Jamie's lips and he noticed how red they appeared to be. A strange urge welled up inside him and he couldn't help but wonder if they were really as soft as they appeared to be.
Without either male realizing it, they had somehow moved closer to each other, lost in each other's gaze. Jack rested his arms by Jamie's head as he gazed down at him, their faces mere inches from each other. Jack could smell the cinnamon gum that Jamie had been chewing earlier in class before the teacher caught him. It was a pleasant smell, and Jack's eyes darkened to a dark blue the longer he stared down into Jamie's eyes. Subconsciously, Jamie licked his lips as he stared into the winter spirit's eyes, his own darkening to resemble melted chocolate. The movement drew Jack's eyes downward and he gazed at the younger male's lips as the urge to see how soft they were overcame him again. He tilted his head down at the same moment that Jamie tilted his head up and their lips met in a soft kiss. Their eyes fluttered shut as they shared a first, tentative kiss. It was soft and gentle, just a bare pressing of lips together. Slowly Jack tilted his head more and the kiss deepened slightly, their lips beginning to slide back and forth against each other's. A soft, relaxed sigh escaped Jamie as he pressed up into the kiss, all thoughts flying completely out of his head. The kiss was everything he thought it would be like to kiss Jack. Part of his mind was screaming at him, because it was Jack that he was kissing, but he threw that part into the wind. He was much too focused on the set of lips attached to his to worry about that tiny detail.
Jack was completely lost in the sensation. It was his first kiss as well, despite being 318 years old. He hadn't thought about such things in years, but this was exactly what he imagined his first kiss being like. Though, the part of it being a male instead of a female threw a part of him for a loop, but he didn't care. It felt too good to care about that. The kiss was sweet, gentle, and hesitant. Everything that a kiss between two people who had never kissed before was like. Jamie's lips really were as soft as they appeared to be, he finally decided after several heartbeats. His mind decided that that moment was a good time to kick in, and shock coursed through him when he finally remembered who exactly it was that he was kissing.
Before Jamie knew what was happening, Jack had broken the kiss and was scrambling backwards off of him, shock and fear etched on his face. His mind struggled to catch up with what was going on after that kiss and he sat up, a confused frown on his face. When he finally figured out what it was that was causing the Guardian to freak out, his own eyes widened and he said weakly, "Jack?"
The sound of his voice snapped Jack out of his fear and he gazed at Jamie in shock. The boy's lips were even redder than before and he swallowed hard as the urge to kiss the younger male came over him again. Instead, he reached out for his staff, calling it to him as he scrambled to stand up. Looking everywhere but at Jamie, he said quickly, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have done that. I… I've got to go…"
Jamie stood up quickly, reaching out for the winter spirit in an attempt to stop him from going. He wanted to reassure Jack that everything was going to be alright, that he didn't have to go anywhere. They would talk it out, and everything would be fine. Panic filled him as he stepped forward. He didn't ever thing this would happen, but now that they had kissed, this was exactly what he was fearing would happen. Jack would leave him and their friendship would be broken. He didn't want that. He had to stop Jack from leaving before their friendship ended, "Jack, wait!"
He only made it two steps when a flurry of snowflakes surrounded the both of them, concealing Jack from view. Instinctively he raised his hands to cover his eyes against the flurry, only opening them when he felt the snowflakes fall away. Dropping his hands, he looked around frantically for Jack, but the Guardian of Fun was gone, leaving a confused and heartbroken Jamie alone in the park.
Jack! Don't go!
Wynter: And here I thought he was brave.
Didn't you have a brick to eat? I hope you all liked it and will review for me. This is NOT beta'd, so if there's any mistakes, don't hesitate to tell me.
I'm hoping to have chapters of my other stories up soon, so if you're reading them, keep an eye out!
Jaa!