Because you guys like the last chapter (and probably had a cliffhanger), I made this chapter today! :D I hope you guys like it :3

I do NOT own Tangled and Rise of the Guardians AND any of the mentioned brands and companies in my fic.

Chapter 4: Certified Problem

Jack and Rapunzel walked to the park. It was three to four blocks away from Rapunzel's house. It was 10 am so some people might probably be in the park already. Jack glanced from side to side. He sees the town every single day and he doesn't even blink at the sight of the store but today was different. Everything seemed so new and so interesting to him. The store wasn't anything special, just a toy store. He saw the toys displayed. There were teddy bears, dolls, trains, robots, and a few remote-controlled toys. He realized that Rapunzel was a bit far from him already so he caught up with her. He saw an ice cream parlor. He smiled at the sight of his favorite flavor—cookies and cream. They continued to walk down the sidewalk and passed by a few stores and houses. Some kids were running to the ice cream parlor they passed by. A bit more walk and they were already in the park. The pond and fountain was frozen and the whole place was just covered in a lush white blanket of snow. People were already there—Families, couples and friends.

They stopped by a nearby bench. Rapunzel was smiling at the sight of her neighbors having fun while Jack was gaping at the whole place. He always thought he did a good job about making it snow and all but he never thought that his work was just amazing. He was still taking his time to gape at everything when suddenly, Rapunzel threw a snow ball on his shoulder that made a few bits of snow hit his cheek. He looked at her direction.

"Got you!" she laughed at him.

His surprised expression turned into an evil smirk. He scooped a handful of snow. She saw this and her eyes widened and screamed happily as she ran away from him. Oh, she's not going to escape this. He ran after her and threw the snow ball, directed on her back.

Rapunzel tried to run as fast as she could but all the laughing and snow slowed her down. Moments later, she was hit with snow and she fell down, face first. Her messy bun of a hair was released and it scattered in the snow like gold-colored tentacles. He laughed at her. Revenge.

She got to her knees and removed the snow from her face. She looked at him and saw that he had another snowball in hand. Christ. She screamed with joy again and started to run. And as she was running, she grabbed snow from benches and the fountain she just passed by. She made it into a snowball and threw it back at him, hitting his face. Despite this, he continued to run and rubbed the snow away from his eyes. It was so damn cold. He threw the snowball at her and hit her head. Rapunzel screamed on impact and laughed more.

Jack stopped running and went around the fountain. Rapunzel felt that there was no one following her so she stopped. Jack was nowhere in sight. "Jack?" she called. She turned around.

"Think fast!"

And then splat! Jack threw a snowball on her face. He saw that her eyes were closed shut and her lips were shut tight together when the snow fell from her face. He laughed. He laughed so hard that his stomach hurt and that he almost fell back on the snow.

Splat!

Jack fell down with snow on his face. This time, Rapunzel laughed. He sat up and removed the snow from his face. He looked up at her. She was holding her stomach and her face was red while she laughed. He stood up and dusted away the snow from his clothes and placed his thumb, instead of his whole hand, inside his pocket and rubbed the back of his head. He had his trademark smirk as he looked, with his bowed down, at her with his eyes.

"Alright, you got me." He said in defeat.

Rapunzel smiled at him. She grabbed his hand, "Come on!" she said and pulled him to an empty spot. They lied down on a pile of snow and made snow angels. After that, they made snow men. Jack's snow man looked like the usual snow man. He was happy with his work. The face was almost exactly like what he saw in story books and paintings. He smiled and glanced at Rapunzel. His eyes widened. She just made a snow sculpture of Santa. He looked back at his snow man. Man, he was really embarrassed but he didn't take it against her. She was so damn talented. He just smiled at her work. She was working on Santa's beard, trying to etch in details of how his beard waved and straightened.

She noticed that he was staring at her so she smiled at him. She grabbed his hand and pulled him to her, "You can help me with the beard." He blinked then nodded. Since he visits North a couple of times for some stuff, he kind of memorized his features. He remembered that North's beard had grey strands still. He smiled. He was going to visit the whole world soon. Maybe he'd try surprising him.

Rapunzel dusted off the snow from her gloves, "There!"

They looked up at the sculpture. It was glorious!

Jack looked at her. She was smiling up at her work of art. He could see that she was happy with what she does. He looked around them. People were enjoying the snow. He smiled at himself. He didn't enjoy his work as much as he does that time. He knew he has fun with his job but he never really thought that people were having fun with it too, despite that he ruins some of the folks' things with his job. A snow suddenly hit the side of his head. He turned his glance to the side and saw a few kids staring at him, looking apologetic and scared at the same time. He realized he was frowning as he rubbed the side of his head so he just smiled it off.

"Who threw that?" he asked, sounding a bit terrifying.

All the kids pointed at one little boy with dark brown hair who was quivering with fear. Jack looked at the kid. The little boy's blue eyes were almost teary when he went near him. Jack squatted and placed his hand on his head. He was grinning at the boy, "You got a good aim, kid." He said and gave him a snowball he scooped with his other hand. The little boy's eyes widened with excitement and smiled.

Jack stood up. The little boy gave him a grin and ran off with his friends. Rapunzel went to him.

"I thought you were going to rage back there." She said.

He shook his head, "Nah."

They walked to a nearby bench and sat. Jack rested his back on the back rest and placed his right ankle on his left knee and crossed his arms. Rapunzel also leaned back and placed her hands on her lap. They watched the kids play in the snow. There was silence between them.

"Jack," Rapunzel called. He didn't glance at her, "Hm?"

"What's it like being a winter spirit?" she asked.

He shifted his position to leaning on his thighs with his lower arm, "Fun. But for me, it's sometimes…" he trailed off. Lonely, he thought. She stared at him, waiting for him to continue. "…It's sometimes, I don't know, tiring?" he looked down at the snow. When she didn't talk, he continued, "Not like the other guardians, y'know?"

"Guardians?" She was confused. What are guardians?

"I forgot, I haven't told you yet." He gave himself a small slap on the forehead. "You see, Goldilocks, we call ourselves Guardians."

"Ourselves?" Rapunzel repeated.

"Me; North or Santa as you know it; Tooth or, for you, Tooth Fairy; E. Aster Bunnymund a.k.a Easter Bunny; and Sandy or, for longer terms, Sandman." He said.

All the while Jack was explaining, Rapunzel was in shock and awe. Her mouth was open a little and her eyes were a wee bit big and round. They knew each other!?, she thought.

"Jack… you mean to tell me that… you guys, the mythical legends, know each other!?"

He nodded with a smirk on his face. Rapunzel bolted herself to face him, "What were they like?" she asked, her eyes glistening and her cheeks turning pink.

He leaned away from her a bit. Their faces were so close.

"Well, North has a thick Russian accent." He smirked again, "He also has tattoos on his arms with the words Naughty and Nice." Rapunzel placed her chin on her palm and looked at him with eyes sparkling. She was eager to know what the others were like. "Tooth's kinda quirky. She has this addiction to teeth. She also has little humming-bird-look-alikes that collect the teeth for her." He said, averting his gaze from her. It felt awkward to him. She was just so excited.

"Did you know that she doesn't only have those hummingbirds with her, which are called baby tooth, by the way, but she also has other small animals that help her get teeth from all parts of the world? The animals differ by continent too!" he smiled at her then averted his gaze again.

Aster, he thought. "Bunnymund has an Australian accent. He has boomerangs with him and egg bombs, too. We're not always in the good terms, but, meh…" he shrugged his shoulders. "He hates me a lot for creating a blizzard on Easter Day, year 1968." Jack laughed heartily. "And then, there's Sandy. He's really quiet. Really, really quiet. He uses pictures that appear above his head to communicate with us. And you know what?" He glanced at her. She still has that same look—eagerness. "He's, like, made of golden sand. And he also kicks ass!" he said with right fist clenched. He remembered the time when they fought Pitch. He didn't know if whether he should tell her about him or no. He decided not to.

"That is so cool!" Rapunzel exclaimed. She looked up at the winter sky. "I want to meet them, too!" she added.

Jack shook his head as he chuckled, "Ah, you might be able to meet North this Christmas."

This made Rapunzel even more excited than she is already. "Oh my gosh! Really?" she squealed, "That's like, a week from now!" she jumped happily and did a happy dance and chanted, "I'm gonna meet Santa Claus!" The sight of her doing that made Jack laugh a bit. Then she turned to him. He was still laughing. "Will you help me meet him, Jack?" she stared at him with big, round eyes, "Will you?"

He stared into her green orbs. Her eyes were beautiful, so full of life and warmth—opposite his'. He shrugged, "Alright, alright. But we have to stay up really late for us to see him."

"Yes, yes! I promise I'll stay up late!" She squealed again and grabbed his hands, "Let's go to the mall!"

In the mall were many people. Some were buying gifts, some were eating out, and some were hanging out— all those stuff Jack didn't really experience almost never. They walked around, looking for a nice restaurant to eat in. The fastfood chains were already full so they chose to eat in a not-so-fast-food restaurant. Jack felt awkward. One, he wasn't used to getting inside huge buildings like malls; two, girls were staring at him; three, there were people bumping in to him.

They chose Shakey's. They sat near the wall-sized window so they could see outside the restaurant. Jack didn't like it as much as Rapunzel did. She was enjoying the view because she saw people taking pictures and things while he saw a group of girls whispering to each other while looking at his direction. He hoped it was just someone behind him but deep inside he knew they were talking about him. He saw the girls nod in unison. They looked like they planned something.

"Hey Jack," Rapunzel called. He glanced up at her. "I'll just go to the restroom okay?" she said and walked to the far side of the restaurant where the restroom was.

He glanced back outside the window. The girls are gone. Jack sighed in relief and leaned back on the soft back rest. He looked at his almost transparent reflection on the window. He looked so different. His skin wasn't pale and there are no frosts on his clothes. He was also feeling really cold when he touched the snow, which he usually doesn't feel. His hair was brown and his eyes were too. He wasn't used to seeing himself with brown hair and eyes. He felt awkward but there was something more awkward. It felt like someone was watching him. He faced in front and saw the group of girls earlier.

Oh, man…

If he was alone and if it wasn't Rapunzel he was with, he'd already be gone by the sight of them. He just ignored them and glanced outside, trying to occupy himself, trying to hide that he was disturbed. The group walked towards him and sat on the vacant seats opposite theirs. He looked at them with his eyes. Snap, they're looking at me, he panicked in his mind. What's taking Rapunzel so long?, he worried for his dear self. He hoped that it wouldn't be like back in 1554 at Wales. He hoped that girls changed throughout the course of time. He frowned and placed his chin on his palm and looked outside. Transforming into a human was a bad idea.

"I'm back!" Rapunzel's voice rang inside his ears. He turned to see her. She sat in front of him. She gave him a menu. "What would you like to have?" she asked him.

He flipped the pages of the menu. He wasn't sure what to get. All of it looked scrumptious. "I'll try the Carbonara." He said and closed the menu book.

"No desserts?" she asked. Desserts?

"Desserts? But it's already freezing!" he said, looking horrified that she still wanted to eat something cold.

Rapunzel laughed, "Okay, okay. No desserts." She looked at him and called a waiter, "Sir!" she called loudly. A waiter came to their side, prepared with pen and paper. Rapunzel ordered themselves Carbonara, fried chicken, Hawaiian pizza.

"What drinks would you like, Miss? Sir?" the waiter glanced at them.

"I'd like to have red tea." Rapunzel smiled at the waiter then at Jack, "What about you?"

Jack held his breath and looked at the waiter. He was looking back at him. "Uh… red tea."

The waiter wrote on his paper and repeated their order. When it was confirmed, he took the menu books and went away. Rapunzel looked at him. He was looking outside as if he was trying to avoid looking at someone.

"Anything wrong, Jack?"

He shook his head, not bothering to look at him, "No."

"Are you sure? You seem kinda shake-y" she said.

Jack smirked, "Probably because we're in Shakey's" he said. It was his first intended pun and he thought it was lame but Rapunzel was laughing her heart out.

"That's a good one!" she said, stopping her laughter. "But seriously, what's the matter?"

"Nothing. Just wanted to look outside…"

Rapunzel looked down at her hands then glanced to the opposite side of them. Her eyes brightened up, "Hey guys!" she greeted. Jack glanced to where she looked and saw the girls.

She's friends with them?

"'Sup, Punz!" a girl with brown hair with red tips greeted her back. She had slightly wavy hair.

"Hey, Rapunzel!" A sassy blond hair with pink highlights waved at her. Her hair was curly at the end.

"What'cha doin'?" A pure black haired girl asked. Her hair was straight.

Rapunzel smiled, "Oh, uh, just eating out with my friend, Jack." She said. She honestly didn't know what to say if they asked her about him. She carefully looked at Jack, "Um, Jack, these are my friends—" she said, pointing at them one by one, she introduced the girls."—The brown haired girl over there is Antoinette—"

"Call me Toni." The girl grinned at him.

Rapunzel pointed at the blond, "—The blond one is Duchess—"

The blond haired girl winked at him. He shivered.

Rapunzel pointed at the black hair girl, "—And she's Moira."

The gothic Lolita girl waved at him, "Nice to meet you!"

The Rapunzel introduced him, "Girls, this is Jack."

Jack forced himself to smile but thank heavens, it wasn't obvious it was forced, "Hello."

At least they're Rapunzel's friends…

"So, Punz…" Toni smiled slyly at Rapunzel, "Are you two dating?"

Before Rapunzel could even react, Duchess squealed, "I wouldn't blame you if you two are dating, Punz!" she said then moved close to her, "He's really hot!" her voice was loud enough for all of them to hear.

"I'm what?" Jack blinked a few times with a slight frown as if he heard wrong.

Moira poked his arm, "She thinks you're very handsome."

He didn't know how to react. Not much people really told him that. Sure, Tooth tells him he is but he doesn't really believe he is.

"S-she does?" his eyes wide.

Moira was going to say 'yes' but Duchess neared her faced to his so quickly that he leaned back a bit from surprise. She was grinning at him, "I do! Look at you! Your awesome brown hair and your oh-so mesmerizing eyes are just perfect! Punz!" she looked at Rapunzel.

Rapunzel leaned back a bit from surprise also. Sometimes Duchess shocks her.

"Y-yeah?"

"Where does he go to?" the quirky Duchess asked excitedly.

Rapunzel glanced at Jack, "I…I-I… I… uhh.. He… err…"

Jack stared at her. Both of them were rummaging in the brains on what to tell Duchess. Idea!

"I'll be transferring to the school… umm... down the block." He said.

"Corona University!?" Duchess said loudly. It sounded almost like a shout.

He looked at Rapunzel. She had a really horrified expression. Why? He looked back at Duchess and forced another smile, "Yeah…"

"That's wonderful!" Moira clapped. What?

"That's the school where we go to! Right, Punz?" Toni looked at Rapunzel who was gaping at Jack.

Oh, so that's why, he thought. You're in a lot of crap now, Jack, his mind told him.

"This is going to be really messy." He mumbled to himself.

End of Chapter

Okay I'm stopping here. D'aww I'm sorry. I'll try updating soon but I can't promise, 'kay? Finals start today and I have a load of work to do. I just made this today and fast so you'll be able to enjoy something today :D

Questions, reviews or anything are welcome!