That had gone surprisingly well, Jack decided as he glided out of the Warren's many tunnels. Aster hadn't seemed angry with his presumption, so that was a good sign. He also hadn't been kicked out, and Jack would forever count that as a win.

Jack was flying on pure adrenaline, his head in the clouds - both literally and figuratively - letting the wind take him where it would. As long as it was away from prying eyes he didn't care where he wound up in the end.

His destination turned out to be the North Pole, which wasn't at all surprising since it was Wind's favorite place to blow off steam. The cold air was soothing on Jack's bare flushed flesh and quickly cooled his burning embarrassment.

Before he made it too far into Santa's territory, Jack pulled the ears off his head and threw them to the ground, quickly followed by the little fluffy cotton tail. Hopefully they would disappear under a mountain of snow before too long.

Jack didn't look back as he headed off into the sky. He had no interest in seeing North again so soon, and definitely not in his current state. That in no way changed his feeling of comfort that came from being so near to the old man, so he slipped quietly into the stables. He could hide there for a few days and pretend none of this had ever happened. Then he'd see if he could liberate his clothes from Sophie.

That didn't sound very likely though, the girl was evil.

The stable was warmer than the icy tundra outside, but still cool enough not to make Jack uncomfortable.

He ignored the deer as he collapsed on the nearest pile of hay, groaning in pain. The dance had finally started to catch up to him, he hurt everywhere. "I'm dying!" He moaned to Dasher, who had sauntered over to attempt to eat Jack's makeshift bed.

He felt like his legs were on fire and his abs and arms ached unpleasantly.

Dasher nosed roughly at his side, ignoring his grunt of pain, and growled in irritation.

Jack batted the reindeer's muzzle away, "Uh uh. No way. I'm not moving, so go find yourself something else to chew on. This hay's mine." He grumbled.

Dasher snorted at that, musty warm breath spraying across Jack's face and fluffing his hair, then he tried rolling the boy out of the way with one of his massive hairy hooves.

"Eh! None of that now." Jack exclaimed indignantly, curling around the beast's leg and freezing the hay Dasher had been munching on.

The reindeer quickly spit out the mouthful of hay flavored ice, all over Jack's prone form.

"Ah, gross." Jack whined, leaping to his feet and ducking around the smug creature. "Real mature, Dasher. Real mature."

Dasher just laughed at him, big huffing grunts that stirred the hay into the air, then he ducked his head down to enjoy his hard earned meal.

"Yeah, yeah. Laugh it up." Jack grumbled, shaking off the slobber and bits of hay-ice out of his hair and hoodie. "I'm going to sit over here with Cupid. At least he appreciates me." He pouted.

As if to prove that point Cupid reached forward out of his stall to nuzzle the side of Jack's head.

Jack cuddled back into the beast's side, studiously ignoring Cupid's nibbling on his hair.

***Frostbunny***

After approximately three days of sulking and hiding out in the North Pole Jack finally headed back to the Bennett's house intent on stealing his clothes back.

It was high noon when he crawled in through Jamie's window, feeling incredibly smug with himself. He was a genius.

Jamie and Sophie would both be in school at this time and he would be long gone before they ever got home.

Sure he was a bit sad he wouldn't be able to spend any time with Jamie, but if it meant keeping the boy's little sisters grubby mitts off him then he would just have to live with it.

His valiant sacrifice was for the greater good.

Jamie would understand.

Jack snuck through Jamie's room and peeked around the door. Ice blue eyes scanned down the hall before he slipped from the room and darting for Sophie's door.

He slowly pulled the door open and crept inside. The boy's clothes were easy to spot, sitting proudly on the Sophie's dresser.

Smiling triumphantly he leapt across the room and picked up his well earned prize, only to stare at it in shock.

His hoodie was so…blue. He didn't remember it being such a bright color before. Was it even really his? He'd just assumed, but this was Sophie's room so it would make sense if she had a few similar items in her own closet.

Yet holding it up it was very obvious that this particular hoodie would in no way fit the tiny little teen. Besides he'd recognize those pants anywhere.

But that left one blaring question, had Sophie…washed them?

The thought was so absurd he almost laughed, but caught himself at the last moment. Sure Mrs. Bennett couldn't see or hear him, but there were some things that were just ingrained into him…sneaking around for his pranks was one of them.

Clutching his precious cargo to his chest Jack turned around, intent on heading back to Jamie's room before he changed clothes. He never even made it one step before he froze like a puddle in a snowstorm.

Standing in the threshold, completely blocking Jack's preferred means of escape was the last person Jack wanted to see at that moment.

"S-Sophie!" He yelped, his voice sounding strangled to his own ears. The little girl just smiled creepily at him, "What are you doing here?" He gasped before realizing what a stupid question that was…this was her room after all, and asked a more relevant question, "Why aren't you at school?"

A low laugh rang out behind him and startled the teen into spinning around. Jamie was leaning against the wall opposite him, the shadows in the room providing just enough camouflage that Jack -distracted as he had been - hadn't even noticed the younger man was in the room.

"Jack." Jamie's voice was deeply amused and his eyes glittered sinisterly in the darkness of his corner. "There's no school on Saturday.

Jack stared at the boy in incomprehension. Saturday? Really?

If that was true he was missing a few days, considering he could have sworn it was Thursday.

A soft hand took hold of his wrist and Jack jumped again glancing down into Sophie's cherubic face. "I'm so glad you're here. Now we can start on part two of plan Honeybunny."

"Plan what now?" Jack asked incredulously, unable to do anything as Sophie calmly retrieved his clothes from Jack's reluctant grasp. Jack watched forlornly as his clothing was tucked into the bottom of an old cedar chest before Sophie pulled out what looked like a long white bed sheet.

Jack took one look at the female's face and knew instinctively that he did not want to find out what she had planned for him next.

The winter spirit made a break for the door only to have Jamie grab him about the waist and carry the struggling frostling back to his clutches.

"Traitor!" Jack screeched, squirming and thrashing against Jamie's surprisingly strong hold. When did that skinny little kid get muscles anyway?

Jamie just laughed at his friend's futile struggles. "Come on Jack, it'll be fun."

"No Jamie." Jack protested, "this is not fun. This is the exact opposite of fun. This is, in fact, the least fun thing I have ever done."

Jamie snickered at him, unrepentant, "Don't be such a stick in the mud, Jack." Jamie said as he dropped the frost spirit onto his feet in front of Sophie. "Just think of it as part of a prank. You do your part right and you'll have Bunny's heart. Or at the very least you'll have his-"

Horrified at the words spilling freely from Jamie's mouth Jack twisted around and slapped his hand over the boy's face. "Jamie!" He hissed scandalized, he could feel heat creeping up his cheeks quickly followed by frost. "There are ladies present." Sophie puffed up proudly behind him at his words and Jamie scoffed underneath his hand.

"Sophie is anything but a lady." Jamie said as he peeled Jack's hand off his face, earning a glare from the girl. "And I was going to say 'friendship'." The teen paused to grin slyly at Jack, "What did you think I was going to say?" He teased, which only seemed to fan the flames of Jack's embarrassment.

He glared at the boy, but didn't dare open his mouth in case something incriminating slipped out.

The winter teen was brought out of his staring contest with the bigger boy when he felt a tug on his single article of clothing.

Jack yelped, hands flashing down to grab the hem of his loincloth but it was too late. In a whirl of white fabric and determined little girl, Jack found himself standing in what could only be described as a tent, Sophie beamed up at him as she started messing with the details (like the bunny ears he thought he'd seen the last of -seriously how many of those monstrosities did the girl own?- and trying to tame his mess of white curls)

Jack sighed heavily, staring pitifully at Jamie, who just shrugged back., unsympathetic.

This was going to be a long night.

***frost bunny***

Aster sat surrounded by the energetic chatter-hum of hundreds of enthusiastic tooth fairies, wondering for the hundredth time why he put himself through this.

Aster had been minding his own business when Baby Tooth had burst into the Warren declaring Toothiana's wish for a tea party.

Yeah…that's right. A tea party. Not that Aster minded, he rather enjoyed the tooth fairies spontaneous little get-togethers. They were just a bit …well…uncomfortable is all.

For Tooth and her fairies the tables and chairs were the perfect size, but for a 7 foot tall Pooka it most certainly was not.

Aster sat almost bent double over the teacup that was tinier than even his smallest of googies, feeling utterly ridiculous.

But Tooth was an old friend and though he'd never admit it, the Warren could become dreadfully lonesome and he often found himself yearning for a bit of intelligent company.

Tooth was clearly in her element, flitting about cheerfully as she served her guest and chattered nonsensically about her beloved teeth.

Aster had long since learned the art of the attentive nod and often tuned out of her speeches, simply basking in his fellow Guardian's presence.

One minute everything had been fine, everyone enjoying the rare moment of peace and…well, not quiet, but definitely peace…when the whole place went crazy.

A strange, painfully high-pitched, alarm rang through the Toothpalace. Aster flinched, ears flattening against his skull to dampen the harsh sound. The fairies all around him bristled with proud anger and Tooth jerked to attention. "Positions girls! We've got ourselves an uninvited guest."

At that announcement Aster was on his feet in seconds flat, boomerangs sliding into his hands as he scanned the room.

If Pitch thought he would get away with attacking Tooth again than he had another thing coming to him. Aster wasn't about to let anything happen to his friend, not while on his watch.

The air was tense in eager anticipation, everyone itching for a fight.

A swirl of magic drew everyone's attention and Aster readied himself to attack, a battle cry on his lips, only to pull up short as a very familiar portal formed a few feet above the ground and a white clad figure tumbled out.

Definitely not Pitch.

But it wasn't North either.

The figure righted itself quickly, ignoring the closing portal while muttering to himself under his breath. If Aster hadn't been a Pooka he never would have been able to make out the boy's annoyed words. "Stupid Sophie and her stupid ideas. And Jamie! He's no longer on my favorites list, the little traitor. See if I bring them any snow days next year. That'll teach them."

Jack was not a happy frost spirit and he was not afraid to show it. The surrounding air grew crisp and chill with the boy's ire, ice sickles growing on every available edge within 20 feet of his person.

Aster was too busy staring at the boy in mounting dread as he took in the boy's appearance, to even notice the temperature change.

Jack was wearing…well…a toga. Yep. A toga. Sure it was a little better than last time since he wasn't showing nearly as much skin, but on the other hand Jack looked like he was wearing a dress.

He didn't like it.

At all.

"Ah, Crikey." Aster gasped, drawing Jack's attention. The pooka watched as the long floppy ears on the boy's head bounced when he snapped his head up.

Fire rushed to Jack's cheeks as he spotted Bunny, and surprisingly Tooth, who was gaping at him with wide eyes and fluffed up feathers.

Before he could offer up an awkward greeting he was surrounded by a swarm of swooning tooth fairies. He smiled at them fondly before squaring his shoulders and scrounging up his courage.

Jack was at the tooth palace. That much was obvious, and he had to wonder how that tricky little she-devil got a hold of two of North's globes. Exactly how many had the girl secreted away and how come she wasn't on the Naughty List?

Seriously, it wasn't fair.

It was a mystery right up there with: how on earth had she known Aster was at Tooth's place? Jack should have ended up at the Warren with no Bunny in sight.

Jack would likely never know the answers to those baffling questions. He wasn't sure he really wanted to know anyway.

Jack sauntered over to where Aster was standing, one slender white hand disappearing inside his toga.

Aster watched the boy approach like one would watch a train wreck, with a mixture of horror and intrigue. The boy dropped to his knees in front of the pooka once more and pulled out a small bundle of pastel flowers and presented them to Aster with a flourish.

Behind him Tooth squealed and one of the fairies fainted.

Aster was unsure what to do. Why on all that's green would Jack be giving him bloody flowers?

The warren was full of the things and he already had a nice collection already. But no matter how much of a trouble maker the boy was he was also extremely sensitive to anything even remotely resembling rejection.

Aster already felt bad for how he had treated the boy, so he slowly reached out to take the proffered bouquet.

Asters.

Jack had given him a bouquet of bloody Asters. Now he knew Jack had a few roo's loose.

"Uh…thanks mate." He began awkwardly, gingerly holding the delicate blossoms in his giant paws.

Jack felt a rush of warmth course through his body when Aster accepted his second gift, the sensation was strange for the usually cold teen and caused goose flesh to creep over his arms and a shiver to course up his spine.

This was a good sign, right? Aster wouldn't accept his offering if he didn't return Jack's feelings.

With this new self confidence he stood to begin his circling, a twist of his magic and a beautiful crystalline rose materialized in his hand, glinting like a jewel in the colorful light of Tooth's palace.

He grinned cheekily at Aster, catching the rose between his teeth and twirling into his dance.

Aster gaped at the boy, green eyes impossibly wide. There was definitely something wrong with Jack, Bunny decided as he watched the younger male spin around Aster in a tight little dance, his hips doing this strangely feminine roll and his feet moving in an odd, but familiar pattern.

When had Jack learned to salsa? Aster was actually impressed, he hadn't known the boy had the patience for it.

Jack was also surprisingly good at it, moving with a grace Aster was surprised at. The boy's hair swayed in a light wind and his movements allowed the ice rose in his mouth to catch the light and glitter like a handful of diamonds.

Tooth and her fairies were cheering and clapping, giving the boy a quick rhythm to move to.

Jack came to a stop in front of Aster, taking the glittering rose out of his mouth as he bowed deeply, holding out the shimmering bloom to Aster, once again glancing up at the pooka through a veil of star-lit hair, bright blue eyes glinting hopefully.

Aster plucked the rose from the boys slender fingers, a shiver rolling down his spine when his paw brushed up against the boy's icy flesh.

Jack beamed as Aster tucked the snowy flower into the middle of the bouquet he'd gifted the pooka earlier.

He spared a quick smile for Tooth, winked at the fairies, and dived off the nearest ledge.

Aster's heart leapt into his throat and he had to remind himself that Jack could fly. The boy hadn't just plummeted to his death.

No matter how long he spent with the winter spirit he never got used to the boy's penchant for dangerous stunts and dramatic entrances and exits.

"Well, that was…unexpected." Tooth announced. Bunny's ears twitched and he turned to look at her. She was still looking at where Jack had just vanished, but seemed to pull herself from her wandering thoughts to turn a warm smile on the Easter Bunny. "Tea?"