Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians, cuz, I jus' don't. An-and that's a bummer.

Enjoy!

I don't know why you met me

and cannot cry

But you won't turn around to see me fly

As you know

Is when I'm with you

I make you see

I'm nothing but another fish in the sea

— Cocteau Twins "Sea, Swallow Me"

Part 10

This particular song they were skating to was fast paced, and a little too out of place. But Pitch insisted it fit the pair quite well. But neither skater was feeling it. Nor were they feeling the routine. But Pitch as always, had his own ideas.

It was a Friday morning.

Thia felt rested, and better prepared than she had last week. So optimism was more prevalent in her system today, than usual.

Maybe it had to do with the fact that she and Jack actually connected last night, and talked about a lot of things.

It's almost like they could actually be...friends.

She looked over at him, and smiled a little. Unbeknownst to her, Pitch had seen her action. He smiled as the wheels in his head turned.

TOOTHandJACK

"Aaaaah!"

Thia dunked her head underwater and screamed. She wasn't getting any better at this. What the hell was she doing?

Her head was above the water now, leaning back against the wall that was attached to the tub.

She breathed heavy, letting the tears fall. They blended in with the water drops that were on her face from the tub's water.

It was official, she despised Kosmotis Pitchner.

He now had it out for her because he thought making her miserable was such joy. But Thia laughed a little, because she rubbed that thought off as being dramatic.

He was her skating coach, and a coach wanted what was best for their trainee. So, maybe she just needed to be a bit patient, and more focused. For instance, she needed to cut down on her food portions. Maybe he noticed she was gaining again, or he felt she didn't have a good strong will.

Whatever it was, it was what she needed to improve on.

TOOTHandJACK

"You're ly- lying!"

"Jack, sit down."

"No! I'm not going to sit here, and have you joke with me. Sh- she's fine! Right?! She made it...right?!"

Jack splashed some water onto his face, turned off the water faucet, and retreated back to his bedroom. He turned the monitor to his computer off, and looked out the window near him.

Outside it looked how he felt.

Right now, he would be getting high, or sneaking out the house to wreak more havoc somewhere. But he wasn't in Michigan anymore. He was in Canada, and that was where right now was.

"Why'd you quit skating?"

Jack blinked away a tear that was threatening to spill over. He abruptly got up from his bed, and got out his phone. Looking through his contacts, he stopped where the last names that started with the letter M began.

"I quit because I- I got away with manslaughter." That's what he should've told Tooth the moment she asked him, because she wouldn't want anything to do with him anymore, and he wouldn't have to skate. Because he didn't want to skate. It brought back something he thought he lost a long time ago.

And what was brought back was a memory.

Jack grabbed his blue bunny hugger, and tapped the 'send' icon on the screen of his phone.

As he rushed down the stairs, almost out the door. His mother questioned where he was running off too.

"Out," he replied quietly, coming to a halt. He wasn't looking at his mom, Helena, his back was turned to her.

She frowned, but he didn't see it. "Jack...please don't start this..."

Jack laughed a fake laugh. "I'm not...what makes you think that I'm going to go jack cars, or something?"

"What are you doing then?"

Jack shrugged, scratching the tip of his nose. As though he hadn't taken the time to think of what it was he was going to go do. But he knew.

"I'm going to hangout with Tooth."

Helena Overland's eyes widened slowly due to shock. So...her son and Toothiana Mamori were actually...friends? For some reason, her heart swelled, because she was positive now that she hadn't made a decision that would have him resent she and her husband entirely. If only, her youngest were here...

Jack walked out of the door, and closed it behind him.

Earlier.

"She isn't even your type, huh?"

Thia's eyebrows creased in confusion. Jack frowned slightly, the smirk falling off his lips. Where was Pitch going with this? It seemed as though their skating coach had something up his sleeve, and what was it exactly, that he had up his sleeve?

"That was a question Jackson,"Pitch said, circling the pair.

Thia blushed, and Jack coughed. "What the hell are you talking about?" Jack asked. He thought they were going over a skating routine, not practicing some lousy form of dianetics.

Pitch laughed, smiling that one smile that was only reserved for when he was wanting to scare...harm...humiliate...

"Oh, you've nagged me for the guy who prefers blondes..."

That was it. Jack officially despised his skating coach. He was trying to demean his skating partner. So, he replied with what immediately came to mind.

"No," Jack said without hesitancy, "Tooth is definitely a type I would consider. There just aren't much like her. She's...rare. Like her eyes."

And as he said this, his eyes never left Thia's. He wanted her to know he meant what he said, because he'd never seen a girl like her before. Even he got the notion that he was beneath a girl like Thia Mamori, for her to ever consider a guy—a failure—like him. He made stupid mistakes, he was still having to account for. So, why would she ever want to associate herself with such scum like him?

Thia's eyes widened out of surprise, and she swallowed almost audibly. This was becoming too much. Why wasn't Pitch having them skate? What's all this talk of 'types'? Breaking her gaze from Jack's, she looked at Pitch who's face was of indifference. Was the indifference there because he expected a different answer from her skating partner? Was that it?

Oh my, maybe this was some test that Jack failed. He was supposed to say something different, because Thia was a rare kind of unattractive...that was it. She was a rare type of unattractive.

Just the other day she'd stood on the scale, and she was no lighter—and when she looked at herself in the mirror, there was no change.

Thia Mamori had a picture being made in her mind at that point. It went something like this:

She was standing before a sea. The sea she stood before wasn't a typical sea. It was a sea of words with a motion blur. The sea of words consisted of the ones Pitch threw at her at every practice. The sky was stormy, and it looked like the sea would be at turbulence. And she could feel it being the most perfect opportunity to jump into that sea. Into those storm of words, and have it swallow her whole. Oh, how amazing it would be to have those sea of words consume her. Yes, to get caught in that riptide...and drown.

As she and Jack resumed to skate in sync, she smiled slightly.

TOOTHandJACK

"Where the heck is he?" She mumbled under her breath. Looking at the clock on her phone, her shoulders relaxed. She was early, and he was the one to reach out to her. So, why was she the one nervous, and indignant? Who called someone out of the blue to just hangout? What did they need to say to each other, other than something skating related?

Taking out her phone again, she looked at the feed on her social network page, and went through various sites on the browser of her phone. Then she opted to look at some videos that demonstrated teeth plaque removal. Really, it was fascinating seeing teeth covered in plaque sloughed off to reveal porcelain white.

Engrossed in the video she hardly felt a presence before her.

"Tooth?"

She looked up quickly, and saw that it was Jack.

Putting her phone away quickly, with a slight blush spreading across her face, she looked up at him.

"Hey."

"Hey." Jack took a seat next to Tooth. And for a minute they sat with no words exchanged between them. It wasn't awkward, rather thoughtful and ambiguous in nature.

Jack noticed a boy of tween age and little girl who looked to be no younger than five walking together. They were passing the bench Tooth and him sat at.

The young girl babbled on, jumping lightly on her feet, perhaps imagining she was a fairy—who knows? And the tween boy laughed a little, attempting to feign some type of annoyance.

Jack smiled slightly.

Tooth coughed awkwardly, and shifted her legs, where one leg was now crossing other one. Yeah, she was a bore to be with. She was sure of it.

Taking a glance at Jack, she raised an eyebrow inquiringly. Because it almost looked like he was smiling. Jackson Frost was smiling.

Feeling eyes on him, Jack looked at Tooth, who immediately diverted her eyes from him.

"Hey," He said, as though a thought just occurred to him. "Is that your real eye color?"

Her head snapped up at his question, and she frowned slightly.

"Uh, yeah."

He leaned in, squinting his eyes. "They're not contacts?"

Tooth leaned back. "No. Why would I get contacts if I don't need them?"

Jack shrugged. Leaning back, he said, "You know, people gets contacts all the time to look cool. And otherworldly."

"Oh." She looked down at her lap. "So, why did you really want to meet?"

"I was bored. And I dunno..." He trailed off, taking a look at her. "If you don't want to hang—"

Tooth immediately shook her head—cutting off his words. "No. No, it's fine. I'm just surprised."

"Surprised?" Jack almost laughed. "We're skating partners, we need to build chemistry."

Tooth wrinkled her nose. "Chemistry?"

Jack shrugged, scratching the tip of his nose. "Yeah. We need to skate together like we're friends." He licked his front teeth, and looked up at the ceiling. "Or am I inconveniencing you?"

Tooth heard an edge in the question he asked. It's almost as though he didn't sound secure. But why? He was "the guy from the States" who was automatically as cool as Spam. So, what did it matter that she hung out with him or not?

Reading Jack wasn't the easiest job, if all, it brought a sort of anxiety.

"You're not inconveniencing me," Tooth said with a scoff. "I'm just a little caught off guard. You gave me this loner persona."

Jack laughed dryly. "'Loner persona'?"

It was Tooth's turn to act nonchalant. "Yeah. You don't even have a girlfriend."

"So, apparently, I have to have a girlfriend to appear sociable?"

Tooth resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Why was she having this conversation with Jack out of all people?

Why did she even care what he did on his freetime? Maybe she should've been grateful for his company.

Because they both knew how harsh Pitch was.

"You have a boyfriend?" Jack asked, taking Tooth out of her thoughts. "Or is the ever disciplined Toothiana Mamori single and too busy putting all her time and effort into skating?"

She smirked, denying that whatever warmth her face now possessed was simply from the room temperature of the mall. She had been sneezing all night when she'd gone to bed. So, maybe it was her sinuses.

"Why do you care?" She asked.

A response from her skating partner wasn't expected. But he'd already had one in mind. "I don't care. I'm just curious. You seem independent."

Wow. Tooth thought. An independent young woman and an American teenage loner are skating partners—how fitting.

"Oh, you make that sound like a bad thing." Her face was now of indifference. In a way, Jack preferred her fake smile. Yet, her eyes didn't stand out as they did now.

"Whatever," Jack mumbled. "What do you Canadians do at the mall, anyway?"

Tooth raised an eyebrow. "Oh, I dunno. We sit around at the food court, skipping out on our minimum wage jobs."

Jack gave her a curious look. "Are you sixteen?"

She touched her chin thoughtfully. "What? Too young for the U. S.?"

TOOTHandJACK

For the next couple of hours Thia and Jack attempted to act as though they were best friends. They even opted to take a montage of photos in the photo booth. Yet, that more-or-less went as planned because Jack thought to let one loose at that moment, and Thia did everything in her power to not high tail it out of the booth.

"Who even goes to music stores anymore?" Jack asked, taking a sip of the soft drink he'd bought from the food court. "I'm sure whatever you're looking for you'll be able to buy online."

Thia rolled her eyes. "You know soft drinks are bad for you, right? Especially your teeth."

Jack smirked. "What? I can't enjoy a sweet sodiummy beverage once in a while?"

"Is sodiummy even a word?"

"For me it is."

Thia shook her head, focusing on the direction they were headed in. She and Jack were both making their way towards a music store that sold vintage and obscure music CDs and Vinyls. It also sold a lot of foreign music as well, considering she bought her mother a CD by Daljeet Kaur for her birthday a couple of months, and was more than surprised to have found such a rarity. Either way, there was something considerably nostalgic about the store.

When they entered the store, they both saw that it was only one clerk at the counter who was watching something on a small tv that was planted on the surface before him.

Thia made her way to the back of the store, and walked over to the area she normally frequented. Flipping through all the CDs, she paused at a CD she hadn't seen there last time. Jack on the other hand, was on the other far side of the store. He studied an old copy of one of those old Christmas Movies his mother liked watching during the festive season. He smirked slightly, and almost gave himself the five finger discount, when he stopped himself.

What the heck was he doing? Wasn't he past being the person he was back in Michigan? Yet, his parents didn't think so. Even though his mother seemed to believe that he was at this minute out with Tooth, she could be thinking now that he was lying.

Tooth meanwhile stuck the rare cd she found in the CD player booth, and put on the headphones. Humming, she even danced a little. Moving side to side. Laughing. Ah, she was definitely going to buy this CD. She couldn't wait to listen to all of it back at hom—

Opening her eyes, she was met with Jack's humored gaze.

"What?" She asked, avoiding his eyes.

"What song are you listening to?"

Tooth slid the headphones off her head, planting themselves around her neck.

Why did she feel as though she were caught doing the Macarena, or some strip tease act in a clown costume? She was only slightly dancing to one of her favorite songs in the whole world.

But instead of answering Jack's question, she instead placed the headphones that had been wrapped around her neck, over his ears and on top of his head.

The gesture caused her skating partner to jump slightly, but he smiled with his eyes at the gesture, really. It was such a friendly and comrade-like gesture...almost, like there was a reason for everything...and like he wasn't such a loser. That gesture alone made him think temporarily that Toothiana Mamori didn't see him as dirt.

"...Everytime I think of you, I feel shot right through with a bolt of blue..."

"But it's no problem of mine...but it's a problem I find..."

"Living a life that I can't leave behind."

TOOTHandJACK

"Everytime I see you falling...I get down on my knees and pray."

"I'm waiting for that final moment...You say the words that I can't say..."

He took her hand in his and they skated on the ice perfectly, in sync; almost quietly. The song played in the background as they skated eights and did a circle around the smooth ice.

Tooth wore a colorful dress with colorful designs and hints of plumage on the sleeve and in the waist area. And Jack wore brown trousers with a shirt that showcased a crafty design; the design had the shirt appear that it was made out of icicles. The long sleeved shirt was blue and sparkly.

As Tooth stopped to sway her hips to the music, and Jack circled around her, he then lifted her up.

The audience watched in awe as the pair skated to the classic New Order song.

Colorful sparkles came down on the pair, the confetti raining down...

"Everytime I see you falling...I get down on my knees and pray..."

The crowd from bleacher seats roared in awe.

The pair held on to each tightly, as they skated on the smooth glistening white ice. Brown eyes met pink ones.

Then came their axel jumps which they did in sync. It's almost as though they were programmed to skate together so perfectly—in sync.

Tooth wore a sparkly pink eye shadow that made her eyes pop. Not only was glitter sprinkled on her eyelids, they were sprinkled on her cheeks, and prominently pointy nose. Jack thought she looked beautiful.

But then something weird happened. A force unknown to them, as though it were invisible but very powerful, separated them. Their hands no longer in each other's grasp.

"I'm waiting for the final moment...you say the words that I can't say—"

(End of dream)

Jack awoke, and he rubbed at his eye furiously. What the hell was that? Why was he always having these weird dreams?

Back when he was in Michigan he would have dreams of his sister and him skating all the time. But now they consisted of him and his skating partner.

Breathing heavily, Jack still sitting up in his bed, looked out the window beside him. There was no snow, but you could tell by the way the glass of the window looked it was freezing.

"Ah, Jack Frost, had a busy night," The teen boy mumbled before going back to sleep.

TOOTHandJACK

Author's Note: Hope to update soon! Thank you for your kind reviews and for favoriting. This fic will be slow burn. But the pair are starting to bond, yay! And what did that dream mean? The one that Jack had?

Replies:

FlightFeathers: Thank you so much for your kind and thoughtful review. Hm, Wind will later be playing a significant role because he is one of the links to Jack's past back in Michigan when Sara was alive. Thanks again! And no problem. I'm glad you took your time to review! :D

AngelaLove072101: Thanks for taking your time to review. Not only will there be way more character development, there will be more character introductions, especially considering some characters haven't been introduced as of yet.

Guest 1: See, someone is thinking like I am. That is why Rise of the Guardians just came and then went, all because Frozen, urgh!!! But Rise of the Guardians still has a pretty solid fan base, surprisingly. But it could be bigger!!! I cross my fingers for a surprise sequel cuz I can totally see the whole cast plus DreamWorks springing that up on us fans!!! And my pleasure, I love updating this fic. I have everything planned out, I've just been busy. Jack and Tooth might be getting themselves immersed in a bizarre love triangle (if you know what I mean)...they both need help or some encouragement. Cuz Tooth has the potential of having massive breakdown. Ugh.

Guest 2 (YAAS): I loveddddd your review! You totally gave me some inspiration, especially with the Marie Antoinette syndrome-thingy. I am totally wanting to head towards the dramatics with this fic. So thank you, for your wonderful ideas which I'll credit you for when I incorporate them *wink wink* which is a possibility. Again, love your review and thank you for reviewing.

Conny14Sam: Thank you for reviewing! I really appreciate it :D Also, why wouldn't they heal each other? Cuz, that would be evil...and Jack and Tooth are destined to be together, right? Hehe.