"Hey, Jack. Sandy found someone's phone at the beginning of lunch. It was just left on one of the tables."
"Really?" He swallowed a few ibuprofen pills in hopes it would lower his fever and stomach ache enough for him to finish the rest of the day. "Do you still have it?"
"Yeah. It was left unlocked and everything. You should see some of this guy's messages. He calls someone 'my prince'!"
Blue eyes widened in shock. "C-can I see it? Maybe I can figure out whose it is and return it."
"We've been trying all lunch. No one so far." Bunny handed the phone over to him.
Jack scrolled through some of the texts. He'd never been happier he'd mastered his poker face over the years. In his hand was the phone of what could only be his pen pal. "It's not our business. We shouldn't be looking through someone else's phone like this!" He quickly locked the screen of the phone and handed it back to Bunny, who then had it taken from him by Sandy. "You should take it to the office and turn it in." Jack put a hand to his throbbing head and leaned heavily against Tooth. "Would you mind walking me to the Nurse's Office?"
"Sure, honey." Tooth grabbed Jack and began walking him towards the Nurse's office. "Is that his phone?"
"My stomach's hurting like crazy." He ignored her question, not too sure how he felt about it himself.
"Hey, fucking asshole! Give me my fucking phone!" Tooth and Jack spun around to see Pitch shoving Bunny. "I know you have it! Give. Me. My. Phone!"
Bunny put his hands up in defense. "Whoa, there! Calm down, dude."
"We just found it at lunch." Sandy stepped up with a smile and handed him the phone. "We were trying to figure out whose it was."
"Did you open it?!"
"Only for a moment. I was just going to take it to the office to turn it in."
Pitch's eyes widened. "What did you see?"
"Just a text or two."
"You read my texts?"
"Only to see if we could find who it belonged to."
"Who else read them?"
"Just us. And Jack," Sandy pointed over his shoulder at his friend who had settled miserably on a bench nearby. ''Jack told us to take it to the office to Lost & Found."
Pitch growled at them and stalked over to Jack. "You looked at my texts? What the hell, Frost?"
"It wasn't on purpose," he tried to snap at him like all of his conversations with Pitch had been like. He found he lacked the energy to put any real bite behind it. "We were trying to be helpful." Jack quickly looked away when he found his eyes lingering on amber eyes, his fuzzy mind desperately trying to connect the dots.
"You're a little snoop!" Pitch typed a quick message on his phone as he stormed away. He froze mid step when Jack's phone went off on his backpack pocket, turning slowly in suspicion. He shook his head and sent another one. Jack's phone dinged again. "Look at your phone, Frost."
Jack's eyes narrowed a little, knowing he'd been caught. "I don't need to. My mom's been texting me all day."
Pitch reached down and pulled Jack's phone from his pocket. He looked at the notifications on the lock screen and looked at the two phones side by side. "You? You're GuardianOfFun?"
"You must have the wrong person. Sorry." Jack took his phone back and stood with a grimace.
"How do you have his texts? Unless this was a prank, you can't have his texts!"
"I don't know what you're talking about." He resisted clutching at his stomach when the pain made itself known again. "My texts are from my Mom. They're none of your business."
Pitch grabbed Jack's shoulders and spun him around to make him look at him. He slid one hand down and took Jack's, the fingers caressing each one of Jack's carefully. "It's been you all this time?"
Jack averted his eyes. He tried to pull his hand away but found it firmly in Pitch's grasp. "Please…"
"Look me in the eye and tell me you're not him. I'll let you go if you can do that."
"I can't do it," he whispered.
"M-my prince?"
"My king."
"My God," he gasped. Pitch cupped Jack's cheek and brushed his thumb across his bottom lip. "You?"
"I'm sorry…" He swayed on his feet dizzily. "I know you hate me." Jack felt tears welling up in his eyes before he could stop them.
"How can I hate you when I love you? I don't...I don't know anymore." Pitch gently brushed those tears away. "I don't know what I feel anymore."
"Because you hated Jack Frost before you knew I was Guardian."
"Are you really him?"
"The one and only." Jack tried to smile and failed miserably. The knot in his stomach built up, and this time he wasn't sure if it was him being sick or the dread of what this would mean for their future together.
"And I'm...ShadowKing."
"I know," he snorted softly. "I figured as much out." When his stomach flared up again, Jack turned to talk to Tooth again. He was surprised to find that his friends had all cleared out of the area and left them alone.
"Are you okay?"
Jack reluctantly shook his head, gasping when it felt like the wind had been knocked from his lungs. "Not feeling well."
"How about I take you to the nurse?"
"I wouldn't want to be a bother."
"It's not. You're kinda freaking me out a little."
"I'm sorry," Jack groaned softly.
"It's no problem." Pitch took Jack to the nurse. After handing him over to her care, he stood there awkwardly for a moment. "I'll, uh...see you later?"
"Y-yeah." Jack was actually thankful his face was already flushed with fever so he didn't look absolutely ridiculous blushing from embarrassment. "See you." He tore his eyes away from the tall form that left the office and laid down on the bed while the nurse called his parents.
Pitch: So…
Pitch: I don't know how we continue this.
Pitch: Do you still want to meet at the dance?
Jack: We already know who we are now. That takes away the whole "reveal" part of the plan.
Pitch: And what's gonna happen?
Jack: Between us?
Jack: I don't know.
Jack: I tried to prepare myself for if we didn't like who we really are.
Jack: I wasn't expecting you to actually be someone who hates me so much.
Pitch: I don't hate you, damn it.
Pitch: Well, I do, but
Pitch: Should we just cancel?
Jack: I really don't know.
Jack: Maybe we should keep thinking. Try to decide if this is something we still want to continue now that we know who we are.
Pitch: Okay. Good idea.
Jack: If we make up our mind by then, we could still meet at the dance?
Pitch: Yeah. Totally.
Pitch: I guess we wait then.
Jack: Yeah.
Pitch: I'll...maybe see you there.
Jack: See you.
"Jack, come take a picture with us!"
"Alright." He pasted a smile on his face and joined the group for a photo. He'd done a lot of soul-searching in the couple weeks leading until that night and was still torn about what to do about his relationship with Pitch.
"Everyone say 'cheese'!"
"Cheese!" Everyone posed for the photo and a few more after that. A glance at the door had his heart skipping a beat in time to the blaring music. "Pitch," he muttered under his breath, unheard by anyone else over the loud thrumming of the song. They'd run into each other once or twice at school, but he hadn't let himself really look at him. Seeing him now, dressed up in his slacks and shirt with a blue flower in his lapel, warmed his face.
Pitch stayed towards the edge of the crowd, slowly making his way towards the door to the balcony. He slipped through it and leaned on the railing, not able to make himself look at the door. "I'll wait here ten minutes. If he doesn't come, then that's his answer," he whispered to himself, fiddling with his nails.
A few minutes later Jack stood in the doorway, watching him while his heart threatened to beat out of his chest. Slumped shoulders told him everything he needed to know about how Pitch was feeling right then. After taking a deep breath, he crossed the distance between them in three quick steps. Jack took him by the shoulder and turned him around so he could press his lips to Pitch's. He tore himself away after a moment and looked down at his feet with bright red cheeks. "You might still hate me, a-and I'll honor your wishes if you do. B-but I had to know what that felt like at least once after all this time. I'm sorry if I've upset you."
Cool hands cupped Jack's cheeks and, before he could process what was happening, warm lips were quickly pressed to his. "I hate you." The lips pressed more firmly. "I love you." They caressed his upper lip. "You annoy me." They suckled on his lower lip. "I need you."
"I'm sorry," Jack whispered against those warm lips. "I love you too." His arms snaked around Pitch's waist, clenching at the back of his shirt.
Long fingers tangled in Jack's hair and tugged his head back. "I hate you," Pitch growled quietly.
"I'm sorry…I can't express how sorry I am." He looked up into amber eyes, unable to tear his gaze away.
"Shut up. Shut the fuck up," Pitch whispered before crashing his lips down on Jack's, his height making it easy for him to overwhelm him. Jack's eyes clenched shut as his emotions ran rampant. His wildest imaginings couldn't compare to the real feeling of their kisses; and he'd spent plenty of time over the months imagining what it would feel like.
Pitch backed Jack up against the wall to shield them from any curious eyes as he kissed him again with a mixture of rage and passion. "I've waited months for you."
"I'm sorry if I'm...a disappointment," Jack choked out.
"Does it feel like I think you're a disappointment?"
"You keep saying you hate me." He leaned his forehead against Pitch's chest with a sigh. "And it feels like you're angry with me."
"I have only one question, and everything we may ever have depends on your answer."
"I'll answer any question."
"Was anything we had these last months a lie?"
"No!" Jack pulled away with an offended gasp. "Of course not! I haven't lied about anything. I thought you knew me better than that!"
Pitch covered Jack's lips with his fingertips, silencing him. "Nothing I gave you was a lie. You know things about me that no one else in this whole world knows. Now that you see the face that goes along with that, can you bear this?"
Jack gently took hold of the hand covering his mouth and carefully kissed each fingertip. "I have no problem with the face. I only thought you wouldn't like me once you knew my own."
"You really are fucking annoying," Pitch whispered, pressing his forehead to Jack's. "But I still love you. I love you, my prince."
"I love you too." He gave a small smile and added, "My King."
"Now, I believe I made you a promise."
"And that was?"
"Once I started kissing you, I wasn't going to stop."
"So what's stopping you now?"
"Nothing. Absolutely nothing," Pitch whispered and claimed Jack's mouth again.
So? What'd you guys think? The truth is finally out there!
Reviews for updates. I think you guys know how this works now. I promise it's not just because we want to be praised. It's honestly about us not wanting to spend all this time writing and being excited and me putting in all the effort to go through it all again to edit if no one actually is interested.
