AN: This is directly after the last chapter. Well, maybe like a week or two after, but still really soon. Ima be tying up some loose ends and cool stuff like that.
It's all coming together. Aw yeah…
So in all reality, this was hard to write. I wasn't really sure where I was going with it. I just had a bunch of vague ideas all crammed into my head, but it worked out in the end. So pat on the back for me.
ON TO THE STORY!
(i feel so much pressure to come up with funny disclaimers. You guys ruin me. I dont own them, okay? *muffled crying noises*)
Jack groaned. He was so bored. He had been trapped in North's workshop for what felt like forever. It hadn't been so bad when Danny had still been here, but Sandy and Tooth had started taking Danny on 'supervised outings' to build up his strength. Jack would give his right arm to be out there with them, but he was still confined to the Workshop.
Jack groaned again, making his displeasure very clear. It was so unfair. Normally, he and Danny healed at a pretty similar rate, but the damage his staff had taken had seriously set back his healing. He had managed to fix his staff in small portions, but it still hurt. His entire body ached, even though most of his visible injuries had healed. What was even worse was that he couldn't use his abilities. Any attempt to channel his power through his staff resulted in horrible pain spiking through him, and immediate unconsciousness. So until he could actually fly and create ice again, he was grounded at the North Pole.
Thus the boredom. He couldn't even freeze elves to pass the time. With nothing to do, he had taken to annoying North in the only way he could.
By groaning obnoxiously every three seconds.
"Jack!" Jack grinned to himself. It had taken 301 groans, but North had finally broken. "Could you please stop?"
"I'm bored!" Jack whined. He rolled off of North's desk where he had been sprawled. He expected to land lightly on his feet, but had forgotten his current physical state. As a result, he fell heavily to the ground.
The moan that he let out from the floor was one filled with genuine pain. North rushed over, frustration forgotten.
"Jack! Are you okay?"
Jack waved off North's concern, pulling himself up using the desk as a support. Once upright, he found himself incredibly lightheaded, and he leaned against the desk, breathing deeply.
"I'm alright, just… give me a sec."
North stayed back, watching Jack collect himself. He had learned the hard way that Jack didn't take too well to people trying to help him, unless it was Danny. Even then, Jack liked to help himself. He may have accepted the Guardians' offer of help, but most of the time he didn't think he needed it.
Once Jack's breathing evened out, North approached. "I would have helped you up."
Jack nodded. "I know. But it wasn't necessary. I can take care of myself."
"Like you did when the summer spirits attacked?" Jack winced, looking away. North sighed, regretting the comment. The problem with Jack was getting him to recognize when he needed help. Just because he could do something on his own, didn't mean that he should do it on his own.
This was a lesson that the Guardians had been trying to teach Jack ever since he joined their ranks, but nothing had ever worked. But now, North had an idea of how to do it.
"If it had been Danny instead of you, would you have wanted me to help?"
Jack looked shocked at the question. "Of course! How can you even ask that?"
"Well, you seem to think that you don't need help, so why would Danny? Are you saying that he wouldn't be able to get himself back on his feet?"
Jack's face was an interesting mix of anger and indignation. "What? No! Danny is the strongest person I know. He can do anything he puts his mind to!"
"And yet you still would want me to help him." Jack fell silent, looking conflicted. North let him think for a moment, before adding, "It's the same for you Jack."
"S'not." Jack denied, but he looked unsure.
"Why not? Because you are older?" North laughed, clapping Jack on the back. "Hate to break it to you, but to the rest of us, you're still a baby."
Jack scowled. "I am not a baby." he growled. North held up his in a placating manner.
"I know, I know. Just an expression." When the look on Jack's face didn't change, North dropped his hands.
"Jack. We know you can take care of yourself. You have proven it over and over again. We just wish that you didn't feel like you have to. You said you would let us help you."
"I'm still here, aren't I?" Jack asked defensively. At North's unimpressed look, he sighed.
"Right. I guess I've been a pretty bad patient."
North snorted at that. "Pretty bad? Everytime I came to change your bandages, I was afraid you were going to bite me!"
Jack had the good grace to look sheepish. "Yeah, sorry about that. It's just... "
Jack pulled his staff close, curling around it. He had not set it down once since he had reassembled it. Despite Jack's best efforts, it did not look good. It might be in one piece, but some parts still looked charred. No frost decorated the staff, and it seemed fragile. Breakable. North sometimes thought the whole thing looked like one big open sore. It was honestly no surprise that Jack was feeling defensive. He was the most vulnerable he had ever been since becoming a spirit, and for an independent soul like Jack, that had to hurt.
North gazed at Jack's staff. "It will get better Jack. Soon you'll be annoying Bunny by freezing his river."
Jack ran a hand over his staff gently, as if trying to will it into complete repair.
"It hurts." he said softly. "Not just physically, though that too. It just… it hurts that I can't move like I always have, that I couldn't protect Danny, that I can't do the one thing I'm supposed to be good at."
Jack wiped at his face angrily, not sure when the tears had started.
"I know I'm a troublemaker. Of course I know that. People couldn't stop shouting it at me for 300 years. I make a mess of everything. It's who I am. But at least I could always make the children laugh. All it took was one snowball, and a whole group of kids would be happy for hours. It was my one redeeming quality, and now I can't even do that."
"Jack," North chided gently. "The children do not love you because you can make it snow. They love you because you laugh at their jokes, because you comfort them when their scared, because they know you would do anything for them. They love you Jack, not your staff."
"Sure." North sighed. Jack clearly did not agree. He had had no idea that Jack thought so little of himself. He always seemed so happy and confident. Now that he thought about it, he remembered Bunny mentioning Jack and Danny and something about masks, but he hadn't been paying much attention at the time. North wished that Aster was here, but with Easter being a week away, he couldn't spare much time to aimlessly hang out at the North Pole.
That meant it was up to him. But how could he connect with Jack, convince him that he was more than an annoying trouble maker.
Suddenly, inspiration hit. It was perfect, a way to relate to Jack in a very real way. But it would mean admitting a very embarrassing fact, one he had hidden for centuries.
North winced internally. Once he got over his shock, Jack would never let him live this down. But if it helped him, than North was willing to make that sacrifice.
"Jack, can I tell you a secret?" Jack perked up noticeably at that. He nodded, curious to hear what North was going to say. North took a deep breath, readying himself, before blurting it out.
"I am on the naughty list."
Jack stared at North in complete shock. "Wh-what?" he spluttered. "How is that even possible?"
North looked embarrassed. "I ah- got into a fight with Cupid. It...didn't end well."
Jack could tell that there was more to that story, and he was definitely going to get it at some point, but that wasn't his main concern at the moment. "Why are you telling me this?"
"You are trouble maker, yes? That is why you are always on the naughty list. But naughty list is not ultimate guide to good and evil. Every single Guardian has been on the naughty list at some point, including me. It happens more often than you would think. You like pranks, but you are not mean. Your pranks are good natured, and you try to fix any mistakes you make. You are a good person Jack, no matter what anyone says. Besides, messes make things more interesting, no?
Jack snorted. "You sound like Danny," he muttered, but he was starting to smile, so North counted that as a victory.
North suddenly clapped his hands, startling Jack. "You are bored, yes? Come! We will make cookies."
North strode from the room, heading toward the kitchen. Jack trailed after him, looking a little bemused.
"You'd think that after last time you wouldn't want me within ten feet of your kitchen." Jack commented.
North waved a hand. "Nonsense. I will supervise this time. Everything will be fine."
Everything was not fine. In the space of one hour, Jack and North somehow managed to break three ovens, ruin twelve batches of cookies, and get flour on every conceivable surface in the kitchen, including the ceiling. Finally, the chef yetis chased them out, yelling garbled insults and threats.
Both spirits were laughing as they ran out of the kitchen. While North was covered in a variety of different ingredients, Jack had somehow remained spotless throughout the experience. As they walked back to North's office, Jack teased North both about his appearance and his lack of baking ability.
"Why did you put an entire bottle of peppermint into the third batch? I'm pretty sure that's what caused the first oven to explode."
North shrugged helplessly. "I like peppermint. I thought more was better."
Jack was having a hard time walking, he was laughing so hard. "Even I know you don't put an entire bottle of flavoring in a batch of cookies, especially not one that big! I would have thought that you would know how to make cookies, considering you like them so much."
North was about to respond indignantly, when he froze. Jack stopped laughing, startled by North's sudden change.
"What is it?" he asked nervously, twisting his staff in his hands.
"Jack," North breathed, pointing at Jack's staff. "Look."
Jack tilted his head, confused. He looked down at his staff only to suck in a surprised breath. Frost was crawling across the surface. The icey decorations weren't as widespread as they normally were, but they were there.
Jack looked up at North with big eyes. "Do you think…" he trailed off uncertainly.
"Give it a try." North urged. Jack nodded, before carefully trailing the tip of his staff along the floor. It left a thin trail of frost behind.
Jack only managed a small trail of frost before he flagged, sagging against North. His face was gray and he was shaking, but he was beaming as he looked up at North.
"It worked!" Jack was obviously relieved. Now that he had proof that his ability was coming back, he felt like a boulder had been removed from his shoulders.
North nodded and was about to speak when he suddenly realized something. Jack was leaning against him. For the past couple of weeks, Jack had refused any help from any of the Guardians when he felt dizzy or unsteady. He would lean against a wall or a chair, but he would fall flat on his face before using a fellow Guardian for support.
As North gazed down on Jack's smiling face, a new warmth began to fill him. He ruffled Jack's hair laughing as Jack squawked in protest. Despite the assault on his hair, Jack didn't move away, and the warmth inside North grew stronger.
Jack finished fixing his hair, before letting out a happy sigh, settling more fully against North.
"It's not much," he acknowledged. "But it's a good start."
"Yes." North agreed with a knowing smile as he began to guide Jack toward a bed. "It is."
AN: Ah I love it! I am so proud of that ending. This is my shortest chapter, but it may be one of my favorites.
I don't know if you could tell, but I have mostly given up on writing North and Bunny's accents. In fics I've read, having the accent written in is sometimes just confusing. I try to stick to their speech patterns, and you can fill in the rest with your iMagiNAtions. :D
I'm going to be driving a lot in the next couple of days, so that may delay me. If it takes me a bit longer to update, that is why. Love y'all!
