Warning: some sort of spoilers ahead from the movie.
The winter spirit had kept his promise to Prim. They had gotten closer than ever to each other over the past month, with Jack visiting her more often and spending more time with her than his buddy. He had grown fond of her, with her smile and her laughter that resembled the soft chiming of bells. There was something spreading inside his body like wildfire, but he did not care – he let it get deeper into himself even more.
However, despite his increasing affection for Prim, he did not notice the detachment from Jamie growing wider and wider with each passing day. He had stopped bringing Jamie to school because he had diverted his attention to Prim at home, leaving the young boy to walk home by himself and without his buddy. Jamie even tried to invite him to play outside with the other children in the neighborhood one time. He told him he'd come down soon after talking to Prim, but he had completely forgotten until he found Jamie sulking when he came inside the house. He promised himself he'd make up for Jamie the next day.
When he went to him in the morning, he walked up to the young kid, patted his brown hair and said, "Hey there bud, how does sledding seem to you today?" He twirled his staff around his arm, but Jamie didn't even look at it, which was quite bizarre since he had always anticipated Jack's tricks under his sleeve.
"Why don't you go to her, Jack? You seem to have more fun whenever you're with her."
"Her? Who-" Prim's angelic face flashed in Jack's mind and his face turned crimson immediately. "How did you-? You're not jealous of me going to Prim more often, are you? Jamie, hey, hey, wait up!" Jamie turned his back to him and stormed to his bedroom. "Jamie!"
He had reached the bed and saw Jamie looking rather sad. He then sat beside him, their eyes both downcast, Jack both in embarrassment and in apology. "I'm sorry, Jamie. I should have known you needed my attention too."
"You like her, Jack." Jamie said this as a statement, not as a question. The child of winter felt his heart stop. He looked at the little boy beside him with his mouth wide open. He did not know what to tell Jamie of his feelings, or if he knew, he did not know how to start it. Moreover, he did not want to appear lovesick to Jamie, because he might look like a fool to him. He was reasoning with himself whether a ten-year old would understand what he's feeling, but he trusted this kid who believed in him for the very first time in 300 years, and for some reason, he knew that Jamie would appreciate it that he can be truthfully honest with him.
"Well, maybe, I guess I do."
There was a look of curiosity in Jamie's face. "How does it feel? To be in love?"
"I don't know. I've never felt it before. I guess it's like… making snow angels." He heard a snicker from the little boy. Jack wanted to punch himself for such a stupid and childish analogy and yet he decided to go on. "Yeah. Snow angels. You don't really understand what you're doing, but you do it anyway, because you want to do it and you just feel happy. And when you look back at what you've done, you'd feel glad you did it after all."
"Ohhh. So it's like, ice cream then?" Jack raised an eyebrow at him but he let Jamie continue. "They say it's the perfect replacement for happiness because money can't buy it, but you can buy ice cream." Jamie was cradling himself in his bed, his hands over his crossed legs.
"Hmmm, I guess. And when you share your ice cream to someone else, then the two of you will become absolutely happy!" Jack was completely sure he was reaching no point at all, but that's how it was, since he didn't know how to put up with his feelings anyway.
"Wow. So that's love." Jamie didn't know what to say anymore and an awkward silence surrounded him and Jack. Maybe topics like these shouldn't reach the ears of ten-year old children. They'd be better with fairy tales and legends. Jack needed to break the tension of nothingness.
"Yeah, maybe it is. But enough of that. Come here you!" He grabbed a pillow and slammed it to the kid's face. A pillow fight erupted in Jamie's bed, with Jamie laughing and laughing until his stomach hurt. They ended up cuddling together as if they were brothers in real life.
"You're still my best friend, Jamie. You know that." This was very promising, Jack knew, as it lit up a smile in Jamie. The little boy still wanted to hear more stories (anything he said, from Jack's love life to bedtime stories), but Jack had already exhausted his mind in making that weird analogy about love.
He then ended up telling Jamie about his past, almost the same way as he had told Prim, but in order to compensate for his sudden rift from his best friend, he added something else.
"Hey, do you know my real name before I became what I am now?"
Jamie giggled then shook his head. He was amazed to know that Jack had a different name before, 300 years to be exact. "What?"
"Jackson Thomas Burgess."
Jamie repeated it, slowly, trying to catch every syllable of it. He liked the sound of Jack's human name, but then something else clicked in his brain. "Burgess… Burgess…" He gasped when he finally understood what Jack wanted him to know. "You're related to Thaddeus Burgess? He's the founder of our town! I read that in the statue near the park!"
"Well, yeah. He's my father after all."
Jamie's eyes widened, like the very first time Jack filled his room with snow.
"Then that means, the statues there… they are your family! And that little boy there, that was you!" Jamie pieced all the little parts of the puzzle together. He loved the idea of Jack's rich historical relationship with their town.
"Bingo. You're getting too smart for your age." Jack crossed his legs together as well, while Jamie started bouncing up and down the bed, wanting to commence another pillow fight, but then his mother came and told him to go to sleep.
Jack nudged the ten-year old when he wouldn't budge. "Get some rest, Jamie." He fixed his bed and brought out the blanket with stars designed on it. Jamie climbed into his bed after putting on his pajamas and wished Jack a goodnight before yawning one last time.
He smiled lovingly at the little boy who closed his eyes as he drifted off to the world of dreams. "Sleep tight, little buddy."
