The freezing air hits you hard when you step outside, and you shiver. You made the decision not to wear a scarf today, which was a sore mistake; Though it was warm when the sun was shining, the wind is unrelenting tonight. You shut the Bennet's door behind you and walk down to the sidewalk, boots crunching in the snow.
You make it about two houses down before you hear a familiar crackling sound above you.
You stop walking and look up at the telephone lines traversing the street. You smile: Just as you thought, Jack is walking along one of the wires like a tightrope. His familiar shock of white hair doesn't seem to be glowing in the moonlight though, which means he has his good up. Your heart sinks a little bit. It's never a good sign when Jack has his hood up.
"Hey, Frosty!" you shout up to him. "You trying to cut the whole neighborhood's power?"
You were expecting him to be in a bad mood but when he turns to look at you, it's with a bright smile. He continues to walk steadily along one of the lines while his staff coats the opposite one with ice. "Hey, (y/n)! How was babysitting?"
The corners of your mouth turn up and you start walking with Jack, him on the telephone poles, and you thirty feet below him on the sidewalk. "Good, as usual. Those kids are great." Jack nods in agreement, but doesn't say anything. "Jamie knocked his tooth out today," you prompt nonchalantly. "Know anything about that?"
Jack purses his lips as if in thought and shakes his head. "Nope."
You halt and point an accusing finger up at him, laughing incredulously. "You liar!"
He raises his hands in surrender and drops down smoothly so he's next to you. You cross your arms and raise your eyebrows playfully, daring him to lie to you. Jack grins. "Alright, alright, it may have sort of been my fault. Kind of."
"Uh-huh. 'Sort of.'" Jack chuckles and you continue walking, shoving your hands deeper into your pockets in an attempt to warm them. You can't really be mad at Jack for his escapade with the kids today—You know he would never let any of them get hurt. At least severely. You meet his gaze with a soft smile. "He loved it, you know."
Your friend's expression hardens and he looks away from you, face now obscured by his hood. "Yeah, enough to give the Tooth Fairy credit."
Your eyes widen and you grab his arm, forcing him to stop with you. So that's why he's upset. "No."
He nods and starts to walk again, but you place your hand on his arm again before he can. Gently, you turn his face to look at you, and your heart twinges at the absolute dejection written across his face. "I'm sorry, Jack. We'll keep trying."
His blue eyes are sad beneath his white fringe (he desperately needs a haircut). "Three hundred years, (y/n), and there's only been you." He smiles genuinely and takes your hand. "I don't know what I'd do without you."
You blush and pull him into a hug. "I don't know what I'd do without you either."
A flash of gold appears in the corner of your vision, and you turn your head to see a golden stream of light floating serenely over a rooftop across the street. Jack grins. "Right on time, Sandman."
And then, with a gust of wind, he's gone—back running across the telephone lines so he can stick his hand in a stream of Dreamsand flowing steadily toward one of the houses down the street. Hundreds of more arcs of sand descend from the sky, all of them going out to a sleeping child. You've been able to see the golden lights ever since you can remember. They've been a permanent fixture of light and hope in your life and, every night, they're waiting for you.
After watching a golden dolphin swim further down the street, Jack floats back down to walk next to you. "Sometimes I wish I had to sleep, just to see what I would dream about."
You roll your eyes. "Jack, I've seen you sleep before."
He shrugs and chuckles. "I can sleep, I just don't have to. I really only do when I'm at your place."
"So you're telling me you only sleep when you spend the night at my house."
"Yup."
"You haven't spent the night at my house in months."
"Yup."
You burst out laughing. "I've never even thought about you not needing to sleep. I mean, I knew you were immortal, but—" You cut yourself off when you look over and realize the both of you have reached your house.
The both of you stare at it for a moment Jack's concerned blue eyes turn back to you. "Do you want me to stay tonight?"
You shake your head, still not looking away from the house. "No, I'll be fine."
"Are you sure? I know you hate staying here alone, even when your parents are here—"
"I'm fine, Jack," you insist, finally turning your gaze to meet his. "I promise."
After a couple of seconds of silence, in which Jack searches your face for any sign of doubt or discomfort, Jack nods his head. "Alright. But you know if you need anything, I'll be here in a jiffy."
You raise your eyebrows. "Did you just say jiffy?"
Jack freezes for a moment before scratching the back of his neck with a sheepish smile. "Maybe?"
You laugh and take ahold of his arm. "You're such an old man."
"Older and wiser than you!"
"Yeah, yeah." You roll your eyes playfully before stepping back and away from him. "Good night, Jack."
You're just about to turn and walk up your driveway when you see Jack whip his head around. "What was that?" he mumbles.
You follow his gaze down the street. "What?" He doesn't respond, but instead takes off flying down the street after whatever he saw. "Jack!" you shout after him.
He doesn't turn around. You heave a big sigh—you can't just go inside and go to sleep after that exit. "Great. Chasing my crazy friend in below-freezing weather was exactly how I wanted to spend my Saturday night." But, you accept this chance to not go into your house and chase after your friend on his wild goose chase. The only way you can still see him is by the moonlight glinting off of his silvery-white hair. He rounds a sharp corner when he reaches downtown and you push yourself to run faster so as not to lose him.
By the time you reach the center of town, you're out of breath, and you've lost sight of Jack. You slow down to a jog and try to listen for something other than the blood rushing in your ears and your boots crunching on the icy sidewalk. You left and begin your trek down Main Street, checking every side intersection until you see him in the alley by the bakery.
You jog into the darkness after him, still breathing rather heavily. "Jack, what the—"
A loud clang sounds from behind you, and you whirl around with a gasp only to see a trash can teetering back and forth. You take a step back, unintentionally running into Jack, who steadies you silently with one hand while raising his staff with the other. He turns around and you do the same, grabbing a fistful of his sweatshirt nervously as the both of you look around the alley for the source of the noise.
"'Ello, mate." You yelp and whip around to face the voice.
A tall figure is leaning in the shadow of the next building, twirling what looks to be a boomerang in its hand. "It's been a long time," the figure continues in his heavily-accented voice. "Blizzard of '68, I believe? Easter Sunday, wasn't it?" He steps out of the shadows and your jaw drops when you comprehend that the man in front of you isn't a man: He's a giant, over six-foot tall rabbit. Rabbit.
Jack steps forward and leans on his staff, looking at the rabbit with a cocky smile. Despite his well-feigned ease, you can still see the tension in his shoulders. "Bunny! You're not still mad about that, are ya?"
The newcomer's eyes narrow and he points his boomerang threateningly at Jack. "Yes."
"You're the Easter Bunny," you whisper. Jack and the bunny look back at you.
The over-sized rabbit looks surprised to see you. Or, that you see him. But then his surprise transforms into suspicion. "Who are you?"
You're about to introduce yourself, but Jack cuts you off. "None of your business. Why are you giving little old me a visit so close to Easter, Cottontail? Don't you have eggs to glitter-fy?"
Bunny's attention shifts away from you and back to Jack. He glares. "It's not glitter, it's natural dye."
Jack holds up his hands. "Sorry, sorry, my mistake. But why are you here? I wasn't planning on frosting over your eggs. At least this year."
An impish smile spreads across Bunny's gray face and you frown, chest tightening at the look. This can't be good. "Oh, yeah! I almost forgot...Fellas."
A giant furry hand flies in out of the corner of your eye and grabs Jack's hood. A creature that closely resembles the posters of Bigfoot all over Jamie's walls is now holding a very angry Jack off of the ground by his hood. It fixes its eyes on you and you scream, backing away in terror. Jack is yelling something to you, but you can't tell what over all of the chaos around you. The Easter Bunny catches your shoulders before you can back into a wall and smiles down at you. "Better hold on, sheila."
Then the ground disappears from beneath your feet and you're falling.
The next thing you know, you're flying up through a hole in the ground but, when you land, the hole is gone. Bunny's hands—paws—keep you from teetering over in shock. "Easy there, mate. Tunnels aren't good for a first-timer." You scramble out of his grip, doing your best to put distance between the both of you despite your dizziness. He may be the Easter Bunny, but you've never met him. AND he just kidnapped you.
Within a couple of seconds, your back runs into something and you freeze. Slowly, you look over your shoulder to see an intimidating man looming over you. He's huge, at least a foot taller than you, with dark, spiky eyebrows furrowed over electric-blue eyes. He has white hair and a salt and pepper beard that extends down to his portly stomach. Two large, muscly, arms are crossed over his chest, and you gulp when you see each forearm is heavily-tattooed, though you can't tell what they say through your heavy-lidded eyes.
He smiles down at you, eyes twinkling kindly. "Hello."
Then your eyes roll back in your head and everything goes black.
