Hellooo there! Here's another chapter of the story! :D No new OCs in this one, but I gave you guys a long chapter including all the Guardians, and a promise for more time with the Sandman :D A lot of you wanted to see more of Sandy, so I thought it was a good time to bring him back into the story and set him up as a major character as well. And he's also lot of fun to write :3

Anyways, onto the chapter! I hope you guys enjoy it!

~Shevil


When Jack walked downstairs after his caffeine spree, he had already finished his assignments and was extremely hungry.

Up in his room, he had rocked out with some songs he had found on the website 'YouTube' (something that Tooth had showed him earlier), and danced around, trying to annoy Bunny as much as possible. But he slowly discovered that Bunny paid no attention to him and the high slowly wore off, so he settled down and did the majourity of his homework.

Admittedly, doing the schoolwork was strange for Jack. For almost 300 years, he spent every day flying around the world delivering snow and playing with children, bringing all people, young and old, the definition of fun. Never once had he thought that he would be sitting down at a desk scribbling numbers and letters onto a piece of paper.

Even when he was mortal, alive, he never had to sit down in a classroom and learn the complexities of mathematics or the secrets behind the great writers' works (even though they already existed). All he had to worry about was keeping his family happy, collecting firewood, and taking care of his sister.

But despite all of those facts, North was not going to let Jack fail high school. He would definitely be on the naughty list for the rest of his immortal life if he let his grades drop to that point.

Anyways, when Jack walked downstairs, he made a beeline towards the kitchen, ignoring the events in the living room. It was only after he had retrieved a few of North's cookies from the pantry when he heard a commotion in the depths of the living room.

"What happened?!" Tooth's shrill voice echoed through the first floor of the Guardians' house, followed by a crash. Figuring it was just Tooth's overreaction to something, Jack continued on his merry way up the stairs to his room. When Tooth let out a "Why?" in an even shriller and louder voice, Jack stopped midway up the stairs, debating whether or not he wanted to get involved in Tooth's situation.

Before he could make up his mind, Bunny strode down the stairs, skipping every other step to reach othe living room faster. From the hallway connecting the kitchen to the master bedroom emerged North, wearing a set of candy-cane pajamas, rubbing sleep out of his eyes.

"What is going on?" the holiday-happy man inquired, sleepiness evident in his voice.

Both North and Bunny walked disappeared into the living room, and Jack quickly followed, deciding it was the better option.

Jack was definitely not prepared for what he was seeing in the living room. Atop every surface, floor and furniture, there was a light coating of glitter. Sandy – Sammy, the ten year old – stood behind the coffee table, looking confused and holding a jar of glitter.

Tooth stood at the other entrace of the living room, facing the three Guardians, with her hands held up in confusion and mouthed "I didn't do this."

Jack looked over at North and Bunny with a snicker, of both of them had completely shocked expressions from seeing the room.

North was the first to speak, and probably in the most calm tone: "Sandy, can you explain what happened?"

The Sandman held up his jar of glitter, took out a pinch, and proceeded to sprinkle it on the carpeted floor. He then pointed to Tooth, causing her to begin her protest.

"What?! I asked you to clean up the living room after you were done playing with the puzzles, not make a giant glitter mess!" she exclaimed.

North and Bunny slowly turned to switch their attention to Tooth, knowing exactly what had happened. Jack still looked confused.

"And what did you say to Sandy when you asked him to clean up?" Bunny inquired cautiously.

Tooth thought for a moment. "I told him 'just clean up and make it sparkle by bedtime' ... and 'I'll come back to check...'" She trailed off, realising her critical error. "I shouldn't have said 'make it sparkle', shouldn't I?"

Bunny and North shook their heads, while Jack was trying hard to contain his laughter. Bunny nudged Jack in the ribs, and Jack yelped out in pain.

All Guardians turned their attention to Jack, who tried hard to come up with something appropriate to say. "Um... so it can't be Sandy's fault, right? Because nobody taught him to not take things literally?"

North, Bunny, and Tooth all shook their heads as Sandy shrugged.

Suddenly, Bunny's eyes lit up. "Since you came up with that idea, how about you take some time to teach Sandy what all these expressions mean, Jack? I'm sure Sandy would love it, and you can get to know each other better."

North and Tooth smiled in agreement. "Yes, good idea, Bunny," North said, "I was going to suggest the same thing. Bunny can spend more time with Tooth, and Jack can spend more time with Sandy. It will surely lessen the arguments between Tooth and Sandy as well as you and Bunny." North patted Bunny's back, congratulating him on his "great idea".

As North was doing this, Bunny exchanged a nervous glance, while Jack and Sandy caught each other's eyes. Jack smirked at Sandy and Sandy gave him a thumbs up.

Their moment of somewhat peaceful agreement was interrupted by the grandfather clock tolling ten times, each in ascending pitch.

North sighed. "Ah, it's past everyone's bedtime..." he said to himself, and then he spoke to the rest of the Guardians: "We better get this cleaned up then; usually I'd have my yetis take care of this since they make much bigger messes than this... but unfortunately we don't have that luxury here. So Bunny and Tooth, would you mind cleaning this up tonight? And Jack, can you bring Sandy to bed and tell him your schedule for teaching him about common human expressions?"

Not wanting to cause anymore trouble for the night, all the Guardians nodded to North. After seeing the fully agreeing group, he smiled cheerfully and said good night, heading back into the master bedroom. Now that North was gone, the bickering Guardians returned bickering, but silently.

Jack glared at Bunny as he smirked smugly. Tooth looked at Sandy with a look of disbelief and annoyance. Sandy only shrugged and held his hands up in defense.

They remained in that position for a few moments, before Sandy capped his jar of glitter, and walked towards Jack. The sandy-haired Guardian tugged at the hem of Jack hoodie, telling Jack to walk with him. Jack complied, waving quickly to Tooth and sticking his tongue out childishly at Bunny. Tooth waved back as Bunny made a face at the winter spirit.

Jack followed Sandy up to his room, and Jack realized that he hadn't been in Sandy's room before. He never had any reason to. But when he walked in, he was surprised once again. There was a sand table in the middle of the room, with yellow sand sculpted into incredibly detailed animals. There were also glow-in-the-dark stars stuck to the walls and ceiling.

"Nice room," Jack commented, "and nice sculptures. I see that you can still make your lovely sand creations... Can you bring them to life?"

Sandy smiled and picked up a sand horse, and threw it up into the air. It came to life, galloping in midair, running in circles a few times before dissipating into fine grains of sand that fell back into the sand table.

Jack smiled. "That should be fun."

Sandy continued to smile and sat down in his bed, pulling the covered over his legs. He then pointed to his head, gave a confused expression, and then pointed to his wrist, as if to ask for the time. It took Jack a second to realize what the Guardian of Dreams was asking. And another second passed for Jack to think of when there was going to be an opportune time for him to give up an hour or two to teach Sandy about human culture that he had missed out on.

"I don't know, Sandy," Jack answered. "I'll get back to you on that one." Sandy nodded and laid down. "Good night, Sandy. Sweet dreams."

Jack turned off the lights and closed the door as he walked out, processing the events that happened today. It was one of the more interesting days of his 317 year old life, if not one of the most. And for once, he wasn't the one who was getting in trouble.

Now he just needed to findsome time he could give Sandy to teach him the ways of the world.


So there ya go! :) A big chapter with the Guardians together as one big, happy, funny family. I really hope you like it!

Let me know what you think about it in a review or PM! A favourite and a follow are also really appreciated, but I would rather know your thoughts on the story – both good and bad – so that I can please all of you lovely readers! :)

Thank you so much for reading guys! I love you all 3

XOXOs,

Shevil Devil

PS - Also, I'm feeling like the title of the story – Being Human – is a little bit lacking... :/ and coming up with story titles are not my forte... So if you happen to read this, comment a title for this story that you think could be appropriate and fun! I may make this a competition and then have people vote on the new title, and write a oneshot for the winner whose title is chosen to be the new title of the story! :) If you do try to come up with a new title for me, thank you in a advance :) it is greatly appreciated

Remember to reveiwwwww :3