Family?
A/N: Short little RotG thing. No real dialogue. Just felt like I needed to share this with the world.
Jack Frost was a rather... individual individual. He had been the lone wolf of the loners, the outcast of the outcasts.
And he was used to it.
Sure, when Summer Heat and April Showers came around and beat him up, he defended himself. He was just a bit... bad at it, both of the other spirits being of warm weather, and as we all know, ice melted in the heat. Nowadays he just steered clear out of their way, but the bruises and scars remained under the blue hoodie.
Jack had never gotten any affection for three hundred years. Sure, sometimes the mini fairies swooned over his teeth when he flew by, but not real care or concern. He was used to being walked through, being looked past.
And now that he suddenly had four very close friends (well, he wasn't sure about Bunny but he hoped they were friends) and a schedule to keep, it would be an understatement to say he was overwhelmed.
But honestly, as much as he hoped oh god he really wished that they were friends, his instincts told him he was still somewhere on their level of "business associate" and "disposable individual". In fact, he was quite sure of it.
And that was why he was so, so surprised when the rest of the Guardians reacted to his scars and bruises. He had just been helping all of them bake cookies as a thank-you to the elves, and had took his hoodie off to reveal a white T-shirt when a dough fight had been initiated. He didn't know how far he expected them to go. Not that much, certainly... right? He had expected them to just say something like, "Geez, where did you get this from?" and carry on. But no... They had cared.
Bunny's reaction was to latch both paws onto his pale shoulders and demand to find where the memoirs of pain had come from. North had him immediately move to another room and lie down on a bed. Tooth flitted around him frantically and had violet eyes brimming with tears. Last but not least, Sandy's face had melted into concern and he had images flashing above his head, too fast for any of them to understand.
Jack didn't know what to do with the sudden attention, the looks of concern, the onslaught of questions–
The care.
And he did what a child would do in a suddenly uncomfortable situation, because really, he was a child in so many ways–
He cried.
Later, he would deny that he had sobbed into Bunny's shoulder. Vehemently. But he did. And he didn't notice Tooth patting his back comfortingly, didn't notice North pulling Bunny and him into a hug, didn't notice Sandy easing him into a dream, until he was fresh out of tears and sleeping.
When he had awoken, they were right there and Bunny had told them that Summer and April wouldn't mess with him for a while and they were still there they were actually still there–
He had a family.
A family.
Family?
And even though the concept of it was still foreign to him, still long-lost in the instinct of three hundred years of isolation, he faintly remembered it. Somewhere, in a life as Jackson Overland.
Family?
...
Family.
EDIT: Parts added and grammar edited.