A/N: I'm always afraid that this story might get a little boring for you all, but before I can give up on I come up with a new idea for later on.
Edit: I've added an Omake to the end of the story! I couldn't help it, a certain review gave me the idea. Enjoy!
Gloria was surprised by the sudden presence of the Easter Bunny, and she had to guess that her not being able to sense him before was partly due to his manner of travel, and the fact that she was more than a little distracted by Jack's flustered response to what north had called her. Still, this didn't stop the grin that spread across her face at seeing another old friend, "Bunnymund!"
It had been quite some time since she had seen the rabbit, but from where she stood she could more than recognize the scent of paint, flowers, and rabbit fur. Bunnymund smiled at her in turn, walking up to the small group with a sly smirk and greeting her warmly, "Nice ta see you again, Little Red."
Of course this confused Jack Frost all the more, and as he looked between the two he made it obvious, "Wait, you know Mr. Kangaroo, too? What about Sandy and Tooth? Next thing you'll be telling me is that you personally know the boogeyman as well!"
Gloria rolled her eyes at the winter spirit and ignored what he last said, but his bewilderment was to be expected since she had never bothered explaining herself before.
Still ticked from the "kangaroo" bit, Bunnymund spoke up again, explaining, "Red and I met a while back. The missues and I were having a disagreement, and I happened to be staying out late one Easter Sunday when I stumbled upon her home."
"Bunnymund stayed the night and left the next morning, but I told him about whom I was." Gloria finished for him.
Jack smiled, chuckling to himself, "Little Red, eh?" But then he stopped, as if realizing something. "Wait, stayed the night? Does that mean I slept in the same bed as that rabbit?" A look of feigned disgust came upon his face and he gagged, wiping any invisible hairs from his clothing desperately. Gloria would have rolled her eyes again at his behavior, something that was quickly becoming a serious habit the longer she knew the boy, but her amusement won out and she smiled at Bunnymund, looking away soon after and hiding her grin when she saw how irritated he was.
"I suppose this dating thing has some merit after all if you happened to spend the night with her, frosty." Jack's smile was long gone, and he began to open his mouth to give a retort to the Easter bunny when North stepped between the two. Acting as a regular mediator between their spats, he held up his hands and tried to calm them.
"Now, none of this! Dinner is nearly done and Manny and Toothiana should be on way." He spoke, moving away from them and walking to the entryway of the sitting room. Bunnymund and Jack backed off, but not before sending each other sour looks. The three followed after North, Jack hanging back a bit to fall next to Gloria's side.
"Little Red Riding Hood? It fits," he said, picking at her red cloak. He was smiling gently now, easily forgetting about the grief he was getting from Bunnymund. "Although, I would never have expected the little girl in the story and the big, bad wolf to be the same person."
Gloria, on the other hand, could still feel the warmth under her skin, and was back to feeling the same way she had around Jack when they had first met. "It's just a name he gave me when I explained myself. There was never any grandmother or wood cutter. It's just a coincidence," she said meekly, not looking at him. "I'm not a Guardian of any sort, but they still see me as the half girl with the power to turn into some sort of fearsome beast."
North was like a grandfather to Gloria, and Bunnymund was a sort of friend that sometimes left her colored eggs around her house on Easter, but she rarely ever saw them. They were always busy, and although their holidays only came about once a year, they had a lot of children to provide for in the meantime. This meant that dropping by for a visit wasn't something she could ever just do, or, at least, that's how she felt. They were friends to her, but they didn't know her as much as she wished they could.
Jack hesitated, seeing the frown on her face and not liking it, so he stopped in his tracks and looked at her. "So who do you want to be seen as?"
She smiled softly, finally meeting his eyes, "Just…me." And she walked past him, hurrying to catch up with the others. Jack watched her go, thinking quickly. He wanted to see her smile more often, and whether it was because he was the Guardian of Fun or it was because he simply liked her, he wanted to see her eyes light up with excitement and joy, just like the eyes of the children he so furiously protected.
Gloria didn't know what to make of the beautiful Guardian of Memories after she had flitted into the main hall of the workshop.
The small group of immortals was standing before the globe that displayed all of the believers of the world, children that still possessed the will to believe in the Guardians of Childhood. Gloria recognized the gigantic globe from her first visit to the North Pole, but she was amazed by how many more lights could be found scattered across its surface. After the fated battle with the boogeyman, Pitch, many more believers had cropped up like wild fire across the world, and the result was that the Guardians were more powerful than ever, and the boogeyman had far less believers of his own.
The thought of the shadow of a man darkened her thoughts, and Gloria had to force herself to ignore the memories bubbling up within her mind. Luckily she was soon distracted with the flitting of wings, and soon a very colorful and feathered woman flew up to the group, a tiny version of herself flying close behind.
"Toothiana, so glad that you could make it!" North called out, and the Guardians greeted their feathered friend. Gloria stood back as they spoke to one another, raising an eye brow as the tiny little fairy that had come in after the Tooth Fairy, "Baby Tooth" she was called, flew up to Jack and began to dart about him excitedly. Jack Frost laughed, but then noticed Gloria standing awkwardly off to the side and walked over to her with staff in hand and fairy in tow.
"Hey, Glo, have you met Baby Tooth?" He nodded his head to the tiny fairy, who then shyly hid herself behind his shoulder. Gloria raised a hand awkwardly, smiling shyly herself as the fairy peeked over his shoulder.
"Hello," she said, but the fairy only peeped in response, hiding herself again behind Jack at the sight of Gloria's sharp canines. Jack looked at the fairy oddly, entirely ignorant to why she was so afraid, but when he looked back to Gloria she could only shrug. In the meantime North was gesturing over towards her, and she walked over to stand next to the man, his arm draping across her shoulders as he looked up at the Tooth Fairy.
"Toothiana, this is little wolf pup I was telling you about," he said, smiling at the both of them. "Gloria, Toothiana is Tooth Fairy, Guardian of Memories and caretaker of the teeth of all the world's children." Gloria looked up at the dazzling queen fairy, a woman that had to be near her age in body structure, but sprouted feathers of brilliant blues and greens all over her body. Her wings were keeping her aloft in the air, as quick as the wings of a humming bird, and her dainty feathered feet never touched the ground. Gloria mustered up a smile, feeling awkward and plain in front of her. Surprisingly, a look of absolute curiosity and joy crossed the Tooth Fairy's face, and Gloria stumbled back out of North's reach as she suddenly drew close to her face. Without warning the fairy opened Gloria's mouth wide and began to examine what was inside, her eyes holding an intelligent gleam as she looked over her gums and every tooth inside.
"It's just as I imagined! A steady and healthy diet of natural foods has resulted in a pristine smile, and, oh look! these canines are so sharp and magnificent!" Gloria felt the fairy run a finger over her right canine, and her eyes darted over to where Jack stood, obviously saying that she needed help of some kind, but Jack was too busy stifling his laughter to bother doing anything. Luckily the fairy soon drew back, and Gloria was able to closer her mouth and run a quick tongue over her teeth to make sure that every one of them remained.
"Gloria, it's so nice to meet finally," the tooth fairy spoke, moving back and giving her some much needed personal space. "North has told me so much about you." This prompted Gloria to send the old man a look of surprise, and as she ran a hand over her jaw she looked up at the fairy oddly.
"He has?"
North stepped in, speaking, "But of course! How could I not tell friends of wolf pup with appetite of bear?"
The wolf girl felt embarrassed at this, and she could not draw on any words in order to respond to what he had said. But friends? Who other than Toothiana had he told of her existence? After all, Bunnymund had already met her long ago. Gloria looked over to Jack for answers, but he merely shrugged and smiled, nodding towards Bunnymund. Standing near the globe with her furry friend was a new face, the face of a rather small man with hair the color of golden dust and an open, warm expression. He waved towards her, entirely silent, and she waved back, "Who is-?"
"Sandy, the Sandman himself!" North replied, moving up to the Sandman and giving him a heavy pat on the shoulder, causing the much smaller immortal to stagger a bit and send him a soft grin. Jack Frost walked up to Gloria and stood beside her, noticing the smile that was slowly making its way onto her face. As North began to speak to the Sandman, urging him on to speak up more often and more clearly, she looked to her friend and graced him with her warm smile.
"Thank you, Jack."
"For what," he asked, swinging his staff a bit and looking abashed. "All I did was invite you to meet my friends."
She sighed in amusement, "Exactly. I had no idea that they knew about me, and it's been so long since I've seen North and Bunny..." Gloria trialed off, letting her silence speak for itself, and looked down.
Jack caught her implication and sought out her face, causing her took look up slowly as she met his icy blue eyes, "After finding you in that forest, there was no way that I was going to leave you there by yourself," he said, and a boyish smirk worked its way onto his face, making her fear what was about to come next. "Anyways, with the way you greeted me for the first time, I thought you were bound to leave a good first impression on the others," he finished, and winked.
Heat fled into her face as she caught on to what he was talking about, and she flinched back a few inches," Jack Frost!" Without thinking she reached up and punched him on the shoulder, looking indignant and flustered and not really giving a damn as to if she had hurt him or not. His resulting outburst of laughter confirmed that he was alright, but as he kept on chuckling to himself she felt again the urge to hit him rise up in her again.
North and Bunnymund looked on at their little spat, North smiling to himself as Bunnymund tried to come up with a way of working it to his advantage.
"Ah, young love," North sighed, watching the two. Gloria visibly tensed up and shot a look at the old man from across the room, her superior hearing causing her to pick up every word he had said, and those same words make her blush scarlet all the more. Jack looked at her, still laughing, and asking what was the matter, but she ignored him, deciding it would be best if she put some distance between herself and the winter spirit. Thankfully, a yeti came up to the group and announced that dinner was ready and waiting, and she ran up to follow North to the dining hall without so much of second glance at the boy.
Omake:
Gloria was surprised by the sudden presence of the Easter Bunny, and she had to guess that her not being able to sense him before was partly due to his manner of travel, and the fact that she was more than a little distracted by Jack's flustered response to what north had called her. Still, this didn't stop the grin that spread across her face at seeing another old friend, "Bunnymund!"
It had been quite some time since she had seen the rabbit, but from where she stood she could more than recognize the scent of paint, flowers, and rabbit fur. Bunnymund smiled at her in turn, walking up to the small group with a sly smirk and greeting her warmly, "Nice ta see you again, Little Red."
Of course this confused Jack Frost all the more, and as he looked between the two he made it obvious, "Wait, you know Mr. Kangaroo, too? What about Sandy and Tooth? Next thing you'll be telling me is that you personally know the boogeyman as well!"
Gloria's eyes widened considerably, and she looked immediately away, whistling a tuneless melody and suddenly finding an incredible interest in a nearby wall hanging, "Hey, North, that painting over there looks pretty nifty-!"
"Glo."
"-where'd ya get it? Prague-?"
"Gloooo."
"-Holland, maybe? I dunno, it feels like Prague to me-."
"GLORIA!" Jack outright shouted at the girl. Gloria spun around, her eyes looking wild.
"What?! So, we've had tea together, we've seen a few movies, maybe! If you gave the guy a chance maybe you would see that he's not all bad. Hell, didja know he likes to knit? Yeah, big bad Pitch made me a scarf for Christmas last year and maybe if you gave him a chance, you would be cozy and warm during the winter season, too, Mister Popsicle Stand!" Gloria finished in a rush, her arms wide and looking accusing.
Jack looked back and forth between her and the other two, looking slightly scared, while Santa and the Easter Bunny just stared, their jaws unhinged in obvious shock.
From then on Jack made sure to never bring up the boogeyman ever again.
A/N: Sometimes I put in a bit of fluff when I don't even mean to, but the trying to be funny part was on purpose...I'll see you all next time!