A/N: First of all, I would like to apologize on my lack of writing this summer. I've been really busy at camp and I just haven't gotten around to it. But, without further ado, here's the next installment of Powderpuff! I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 4: A Phone Call from Awkward Hell

"Aren't you going to get that?"

"No."

Jack's cell phone had rung eight times in the last six minutes. And the both of the young women sitting on the rather worn out couch beside him were starting to get annoyed. No. That was an understatement. By this point, they were both rather irritated. The significantly older of the two looked like she was ready to grab the phone in question and break it in half.

"If you don't get the phone," said the older woman, her cropped brown hair shaking slightly out of anger as she spoke, " I'll sneak into you room in the middle of the night and yank out one of your teeth."

Jack swallowed. "Won't you get your license taken away if you do that, Toothiana?"

"It's Tatiana, Jack." she paused for only a moment, composing her words. "And it'll be worth it."

Both Tatiana and Jack knew that older woman was bluffing.

But the girl sitting between them did not.

"No! Jack's teeth are really nice! Don't pull them out! He has better teeth then you do, Tati!" Tatiana's biological younger sister, who went by the name Baby, despite how much she despised it, looked shocked and frightened at her sister's words. Her short, cropped brown hair shook and mimicked her sister's perfectly.

"He has better teeth than I do?" Tatiana looked menacing. Baby shrunk backwards, pressing up against Jack to better get away from her sister.

"You've started a war, Baby!" The white haired football player grabbed Baby and flung her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Baby squealed with delight.

Jack jumped to his feet upon the couch and proceeded to hop out of Tatiana's reach. This didn't give Tatiana very long to react but, soon she was up, a slightly menacing look on her petite face. Although Jack had had a head start, she wasn't far behind, leaping over furniture with a surprising amount of grace and elegance, considering the fact that she was literally jumping over furniture. Her fingers kept brushing the back of Jack's shirt, only not able to grasp anything by a mere millisecond.

"Get back here you white haired jerk!" Tatiana called, jumping over the coffee table. "Your long legs are giving you too much of an advantage!"

Jack, who was standing at the other end of the room, balancing on the armrest of one of the many chairs that filled their living room, grinned mischievously at her. "I'm sorry! I can't hear you over the incredibly long distance that separates us!"

Baby giggled from over Jack's shoulder.

The sisters were basically identical. Or they would have been if they were the same age. Tatiana, who was nearly twenty-five now, had dark, seemingly perfect skin, which contrasted the splash of bright green that her nearly eyebrow length bangs sported. She had a feather that had been attached somehow to a couple strands of her hair. (When Jack was younger, she convinced him that she had once been part bird, and he believed her.) She was almost an official dentist. By next year, when she graduated, she would be. (It was something that she never let the inhabitants of their makeshift home forget.)

Baby, whose name wasn't actually 'Baby' and who had just turned eleven, looked like a mini version of her sister. With the same chocolatey skin, and the same vibrant green splash across her bangs, perfectly in place feather, and the same deep, puppy dog eyes. Their only difference was in both age and the fact that she hated teeth. Baby had never been convinced by the chain of baby teeth that her sister wore diligently around her neck.

In fact, she would even go as far as to say that it creeped her out. But she would never tell Tatiana that. She didn't want to be a dentist. If anything, she wanted to be a veterinarian. Or something like that. She loved animals.

The sisters were practically inseparable. And they had been ever since their parents died several years back. Tatiana had taken care of her sister ever since she was thirteen and had grown up a lot quicker than most kids had at that age.

Their story had made Jack's heart sink when he had first heard it. It was just too horrible, in his mind, for a woman as wonderful as Tatiana to take on that much responsibility so early in life. He believed that a person's childhood helped mold them into the type of person they were later on in life. And if one had no childhood, what type of person did that make them?

Jack Frost did not know.

All he knew was that he was determined to not let Baby deal with the same conditions as her sister did. If he was going to be around, he was going to be helpful. He was going to give Baby the childhood that she deserved, and in turn, she could help her sister relive a slice in time that she had never experienced.

Tatiana tackled Jack and Baby back onto the couch.

So far, his plan was working quite well.

He grinned brightly at Tatiana, who was laughing loudly, out of breath on the couch beside him. Quietly, he pulled his arm up onto the back of the couch and let her lean into his shoulder. It was a common motion. Her head on his shoulder, the familiar feeling that he had come to know as happiness warming him. Baby was squished between them, interest lost in their miniature war, and focused back on the horror movie that she had originally been so afraid of.

One of the young women on the television screen screamed, and Baby hid her eyes. Just in time too, as blood spurted from her body, coming from places that blood shouldn't have been coming from.

He didn't flinch. And neither did Tatiana's head on his shoulder. Nothing shook that feeling of family from his heart. Not even some blonde lady getting her intestines ripped out of her torso.

Jack and Tatiana had always been trying to gross each other out with the scariest, goriest movies they could find. The first to flinch, lost. And neither had flinched so far. Baby had been flinching enough for the both of them.

"Are you two seriously watching that stuff again? You're gonna give Baby more nightmares than she actually needs."

The front door slammed shut with a bang. Both Jack and Tatiana's faces swiveled around to look at the man who had just walked into their home. Although he was the tallest out of their messed up family, he was certainly not the oldest.

Twenty year old Aster Bunnymund towered over the rest of the family. His muscular shoulders and thin hips gave him an strange greaser look. His pulled back dyed grey near-mullet made him look even more terrifying, if that was even possible. Like an extra in a gang movie. And his bushy grey eyebrows and thick Aussie accent really did not help much. Nor did the fact that their whole household had no idea what Aster did during the day. (The strange stains he got in his clothing was really not comforting in the slightest but, nobody had the courage to ask him what he did during the day.)

"Bunny!" Baby gasped and wiggled out of the grasp of both her sister and Jack alike.

It was amazing how quickly Aster's features melted. His eyebrows were angrily pushed together, and then suddenly they were high up on his forehead. The darkness in his eyes disappeared entirely. And his hardened jaw line became giddy with excitement. There was nobody that he loved more than Baby. And nobody wanted to question it.

No.

It was more like, everyone was too afraid to question it.

Aster hugged Baby tightly, lifting her clean off her feet, and spinning her around. Baby giggled. "I missed you, Baby!"

"I missed you too, Bunny!"

"I wish I had a camera." Tatiana mumbled quietly.

"He'd kill you if you took a picture." Jack mumbled back.

Tatiana glanced over at her white haired friend. "I could die in peace knowing that this moment was preserved, Jack." Her eyes narrowed ever so slightly. "Don't test me."

Jack's cell phone rang again.

He didn't answer it. The four of stared at the quietly vibrating object.

"Who was that?" Aster had let Baby climb onto his shoulders as he rummaged around, putting his bag and jacket away.

"Nobody important." Jack shrugged, turning back to the movie.

"Not important, he says, so not important that they've been calling me all night." Toothiana snorted, crossing her arms.

Aster collapsed onto the couch beside Toothiana, letting Baby climb off his shoulders and claim her seat between Jack and her sister again. "What does Nick say to that?"

The older woman sighed. "Nicholas isn't home yet. You know how busy he is."

"Right."

The four sat in silence, staring at the television screen as an unseen monster attacked another victim. The music grew more intense, hitting a climax. Blood splattered the camera. Baby jumped, hiding her eyes behind her hands. Both Toothiana and Jack didn't move. Aster grimaced.

Jack's phone rang again.

"I've had enough."

In a series of well put together movements Tatiana paused the film, leaned over Jack, swiped his phone from the armrest beside him, and answered the call. Jack did not have a second to react before the phone was pressed onto Tatiana's ear.

"This is Jack Frost's cell phone. What is so important that you've been calling all night?"

The redhead was at a loss for words.

There were several different things going through her head at that moment. They weren't in a particular order but essentially, they went a bit like this:

Jack Frost had a woman at his house-someone Merida automatically presumed to be his secret girlfriend. Somebody had been calling him earlier, consistently. Perhaps another secret girlfriend. Jack Frost had a secret girlfriend that nobody knew he had. She could use that against him.

Merida DunBroch grinned.

Oh, this was going to be so much more fun than she had originally thought.

"I haven't been calling all night. That must've been somebody else." She paused for a moment, finding her words. "I'm looking for Jack Frost? He gave me this number and told me to call him."

That wasn't exactly the truth. He had chucked his phone number at her head and given her a black eye.

"What's your name?" The woman on the other end of the phone sounded strangely defensive about the whole thing. She just had to be his secret girlfriend.

"DunBroch. Merida DunBroch."

She heard something clink against the phone, probably the woman's earrings or something. There were mumbled words. She heard her name. The phone was handed over, and she heard the soft exhale that she was sure had to be Jack Frost.

"I didn't expect to hear from you so soon. You're just that eager to-" He was cut off by what sounded like a whack from some unseen object on his end of the phone. "OW! Tooth! No she's… She's… No she's not my girlfriend!" Another whack and some more mumbled words. "Stop attacking me! Fine, fine! I'm going to my room, calm down!" Another bunch of mumbled words. "Aster can take my place. I'm counting on you, Bunnymund, don't let us lose!"

The sounds from the room slowly faded into the distance as she presumed Jack left the first room and went into another. A door closed. He was alone.

"So." He stated.

"So?" She replied. "Is that all you have to say?"

"Yep."

"No apology?"

"Nope." He paused, and she felt he could sense that she was at a loss for words. "Obviously, you must've overlooked the fact that I hit you in the face with a football if you're calling me now. And so soon, too. I at least thought you'd call me tomorrow at the very earliest."

She opened her mouth and closed it.

Opened it again.

And then closed it.

He had a point. But at the same time, she didn't care. She was too angry to care. Too determined to care.

"Apologize."

"I'm sorry to tell you this but, you need more from me than I need from you right now. You're in no place to demand anything."

"I could tell people that you're a horrible person."

"Nobody would believe you and besides, that's not true. I'm not being horrible to you."

"You hit me in the face with a football!"

"How was I supposed to know you wouldn't catch it in time?!"

"Did Hiccup seriously tell you nothing?" She sighed, leaning her elbow against the windowsill. Who knew the school's prince would be such an irritating person to deal with. "And he calls himself the smart one…"

"Does he really?" Jack sounded surprised.

"Sometimes. He's got the grades for it." She stopped, her hand clenching slightly on her phone. "But that's not why I called. As I was saying, you have an older woman, or at least what sounds like a secret girlfriend at your house. I'm sure the school would love to hear about that."

He paused for an extended amount of time. "You wouldn't dare."

"So it's the truth?"

"No. No! Of course not." She could practically hear him biting his lip. "Besides, nobody would believe you. In fact, nobody would ever believe the fact that you would come within a fifty foot radius of me. It just doesn't make sense."

"Rapunzel's really good at Photoshop. You'd be surprised how believable her work is."

He took a moment to respond again, trying to find the words. Merida grinned out the window and into the night. She had him. She totally had him. "Rapunzel?"

"My blonde friend. You met her this afternoon."

"The pretty one?"

"...I guess."

Rapunzel Corona was pretty, there was no doubt about it. But Merida never quite saw her like how Jack saw women. She preferred not to sexualize her friends to no end. If anything, she would protect Rapunzel from men like Jack Frost until the day she died. The blonde did not deserve what gruesome deed Jack Frost had to offer.

"Yeah, if I met her this afternoon with the two of you, that would be her. There was Henry, The Angry Lioness-that's you-and The Pretty One." He took a deep breath into the receiver. "I bet I could convince her not to. She seemed pretty interested this afternoon."

"That was before you hit me in the face with a football."

"Well… Everyone can be persuaded."

"You sound like you're trying to convince yourself, Frost." Merida leaned her chin on the palm of her hand. "But I didn't call you to listen to you swoon over my friend."

"Oh? I thought that was your single reason for calling. That's why most people call me."

"Ha ha." Merida rolled her eyes. "You're going to teach me to play football. Really well."

"And if I say no?"

"I'll kick your ass."

"I seriously doubt that someone as tiny as you could be able to-"

"Try me, Frost." She paused, making sure her tone was menacing. "Go ahead and try me."

Jack didn't respond.

There was an incredibly long pause as Merida could only guess at what the white haired football player was thinking. Perhaps, it was something to do with his mystery girlfriend. Or perhaps it had something to do with his strange attraction to Rapunzel. Or even because he didn't want his reputation damaged by any information that she did or did not know.

Merida could only guess.

"I'll help you." He took another deep breath. "On one condition."

"What condition is that?"

"Don't tell Rapunzel and Hiccup about anything you think you know." Jack's voice was almost scared sounding. She couldn't tell if that was just the phone making him sound weird, or if it was something else entirely. She decided to not question it.

"Mister Frost," said Merida, determination filling her body, "you've got yourself a deal."

A/N: That's all for now! I hope you all liked it! (If you're still reading it, that is.) I'd like to apologize again for my poor updating skills. I was at camp in a completely different city than the one I live in for three weeks where I made a nearly ten minute film. It was fun, exciting, yes! But, I did not sleep very much through the whole process and did not find time to actually write this story. If you like it, don't worry, I do too, and I'm going to try my best to write as much as I can. Please send your reviews and favourites my way! I'd love to hear what you have to say!