A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update. Things have been, well, they've been, let's put it that way. It's been hard, but my family and I are pushing through. Thank you for all of the support guys; you're the best in the world (kudos to those of you who understand that reference =P)! R&R. Enjoy!

Chapter Ten

In Which Jack Gets a Boyfriend (Officially)

Time stopped.

So did Jack's heart.

His blue eyes widened and were practically bulging out of his head as he pushed Pitch away as hard as he could, forcing him to collide with the bathroom wall. Oh God. Oh God oh God oh God oh God! Pitch just kissed him and Aster saw it! He didn't even want to be kissed by the guy and now Aster was probably going to think that Jack was two timing him and cheating on him, which was so not true at all! The kiss wasn't even that great; it was nothing compared to the few kisses he's shared with Aster. And now, Aster was probably going to tell Jack that he never wanted to see him again and he'd lose Jamie and Sandy and Tooth because Aster would for sure tell them what he saw and then he'd go back to being the freaky loser with white hair and too pale skin.

But Aster's glaring green eyes weren't focused on him. They didn't hold betrayal within them. Instead, they were focused entirely on Pitch and full of anger. Aster's entire body was rigid and tense and his knuckles were white from gripping the door so hard. Pitch's laughter drew Jack's attention back to him and he saw those yellow eyes reflecting the mocking laughter tumbling from the taller teenager. He didn't look at Jack; all of his attention was on Aster.

"Oh, now this, this is fun," Pitch said, his laughter dying down. "I bet you didn't think you'd walk in on us kissing."

"I wouldn't call forcin' yourself on someone else kissin', mate. And from the way Jack was struggling, he sure as hell looked like he didn't want it," Aster said, stepping into the bathroom. He never took his eyes off of Pitch and his glare never wavered.

"I can assure you, Bunnymund, that he did want it," Pitch retorted, his yellow eyes glaring at Aster. He was still smirking though and pretty much laughing in Aster's face.

"Don't give me that bullshit, so shut up, Pitchiner. I heard you two talkin' as I was tryin' to get in here. He wasn't cuddlin' up to ya or anythin' like that, so don't even bother," Aster growled, getting up in Pitch's face. Jack looked between the two of them, unsure of what to do. Pitch was a little taller than Aster, but the blue-grey haired teen had more muscles whereas Pitch was a stick.

"Why don't you make me shut up?" Pitch looked cocky, like he didn't expect Aster to do anything about it.

"You asked for it, mate," Aster side, a small smirk spreading across his face before he clenched his fists and gave Pitch a strong right hook.

The force of it caused Pitch to fall backwards and land on his ass. He cried out in pain and clutched his nose. Blood, hot and red, poured from his nose and down his face and onto the hand that was trying to keep it from bleeding. It stained his shirt and when Pitch looked back up at Aster, he was seriously pissed. Wide eyed, Jack watched as Pitch roared and rushed at Aster, punching him in the eye.

"Fuck!" Aster hissed and tried to fight Pitch off, but he was faster, which amazed Jack.

They wrestled with each other on the bathroom floor, exchanging punches and kicks and making blood fly. Jack wanted them to stop because, honestly, as awesome as it was that Aster was kinda fighting for him, he didn't want him to get suspended. Pitch he didn't care about, but he didn't want Aster to deal with the mess that Pitch started. Making up his mind, and feeling like an idiot for just standing there to begin with, Jack made his way towards them and tried to pull Pitch off of Aster, who had managed to get the upper hand after a very low blow to his almost boyfriend's package. He didn't need to hear or see Aster's reaction; Jack was hurting for him.

Pitch struggled and tried to shake Jack off, but the smaller teen wasn't going to have any of that. With a surge of adrenaline, Jack managed to hoist the black haired teen off of Aster and flung him into a bathroom stall hard enough to rattled him around. A lot. His back hit the frame of the stall while his head said a merry 'hello' to the door, causing it to fly backwards and then forwards into his head again. It would've made Jack laugh if he had been watching and wasn't dealing with a seriously messed up Aster and the group of kids that had heard the commotion and came to see what was going on.

"What is going on here? Excuse me! Excuse me!" A teacher that Jack didn't know or recognize pushed through the crowd. He stumbled into the bathroom and looked from Jack and Aster to Pitch, who was moaning and groaning on the floor, and then back at Jack and Aster.

"What in the world is going on here?" He demanded.

Jack turned to Aster, who had a swollen eye that was being to bruise, a busted lip, and a cut on his left check. He had no idea how that cut had gotten there, but Jack figured he got it when he had been wrestling on the floor with Pitch. Regardless of how he looked, and Jack wasn't going to deny that he did look pretty sexy when he was mad and panting and roughed up a bit like a bad boy, he was still sitting on the floor and fully conscious, unlike Pitch who was pretty much knocked out.

"Um…" Jack said, not sure what to say exactly.

And really, what could he say that a teacher who was balding and had a gut on him would understand and relate to? 'Hey, my kinda, sorta boyfriend overheard me arguing about him to that dickwad over there and started throwing punches when he was goaded by the asshat'? Yeah, right. Because that would work so well. He turned to meet Aster's green eyes and saw the apology in them, but before Aster could actually say it, the teacher butted in.

"Fine. If you won't tell me the story, maybe you'll be more than happy to explain it to Principal Manny," the teacher said.

"Back to class, everyone! Back to class," came Mrs. McFair's voice from somewhere in the hallway beyond the crowd of students. With disappointed remarks and curious glances, the students reluctantly shuffled away from the boys' bathroom and back to class.

"Mr. Smith, call the nurse and get her to bring a wheel chair down to help Mr. Pitchiner to her office," the teacher told a younger teacher, one Jack had only saw a handful of times in the hallway.

"Yes, Mr. Zinn," Mr. Smith replied and hurried back to his classroom. Mr. Zinn then turned to Jack and Aster.

"You two follow me to the Principal's office." Without another word, Mr. Zinn turned and left the bathroom. Jack helped Aster get up off the floor and, picking up their book bags, they followed behind the teacher.

"I'm sorry," Aster mumbled quietly. Jack looked up at him with a puzzled expression on his face.

"For what?" he asked.

"For lettin' myself get angry and punchin' Pitch. Now you'll get in trouble."

"No, don't apologize for that. It was a long time coming for him," Jack said.

"Yeah, it kinda was," Aster said, chuckling softly. They continued after Mr. Zinn, not talking for a few minutes. And then, Jack let a giggle loose and Aster looked down at him, arching a blue-grey eyebrow.

"Wha's so funny, Frostbite?" he asked. Jack looked up at him with laughter in his eyes.

"Bunnymund?" Aster sniffed and stood up tall and proud.

"It's my last name. What's so funny about that?" Jack shrugged and stopped laughing, although he kept smiling.

"Nothing. I've just never heard of a last name like that," he said.

"Yeah, well, I've never actually met and dated a kid whose real name was Jack Frost," Aster retorted. Jack tried to pout up at him, but his smile made him fail miserably.

"Hey, I never said that I didn't like your last name. It's just one that you don't hear a lot," Jack told him.

"And I never said that I didn't like my boyfriend havin' a name like Jack Frost. It suits ya. It really does," Aster said, smiling himself. Jack perked up and his bright, blue eyes met Aster's green ones.

"Boyfriend?" he asked in a hopeful voice, his heart pounding like a thunderstorm in his ears. Aster nodded and gave him a sweet, soft smile.

"Yeah. Boyfriend," he confirmed. That made Jack's toes curl and he wanted to pull Aster down and kiss him. But unfortunately, they had arrived at the office and Mr. Zinn opened up the door.

"Sit down and wait until I come and get you," Mr. Zinn instructed them. "I'm going to inform Principal Manny about the situation." They sat down and watched as he strode back into the hallway and towards the Principal's office.

Mrs. Cutter came into the office with papers in her hands. She caught sight of Jack and Aster and stopped to greet them. Before she could, she drank in the sight of Aster's less than nice and clean face and gasped.

"Oh my goodness! Boys, what happened?" she asked, concern and worry etched all over her face.

"That is exactly what they will be explaining to Principal Manny," Mr. Zinn told her as he appeared around the corner of the hallway. He motioned to Jack and Aster. "Come with me."

…

Principal Manny turned out to be a pale man of average height with hair that reminded Jack of the moon for some weird reason. He was old, but he didn't give off the energy of being old. Jack figured that he could probably run a mile, play with very rambunctious and energetic little kids and would still have enough energy to bake a dozen or so cookies. That was the kind of air he gave off.

But he could be serious when he needed to be, like when he asked Jack and Aster what happened in the bathroom and why they got into that fight as soon as they entered his office and sat down. Jack was the one who started to explain. He told Principal Manny who Pitch had grabbed him and pushed him into the bathroom, demanding to know why Jack didn't like him. That was when Aster injected himself into the conversation. He explained how he had seen Pitch force Jack into the bathroom and how the door had been blocked.

Jack watched and listened as Aster – his boyfriend! Ah, he would squeal were it not for the fact that they were in the Principal's office and that that would be very, very girly gay for him to do – spoke about how he had heard Pitch say that he always got what he wanted and that he had seen the black haired teen forcibly kiss Jack when he busted into the bathroom. When Pitch started taunting him, Aster lost his cool and punched him.

"That was how the fight started, sir," Aster said. "Jack didn't do anythin'; it was all me. I started it. I'll take whatever punishment ya give me. Just don't punish Jack 'cause, if anythin', he was trying to stop it."

"By pulling Mr. Pitchiner off hard enough that he hit his head and was knocked out?" Principal Manny asked Jack, quirking a brow. Jack shifted.

"I didn't mean for him to hit his head. I just wanted to get him off Aster. He was kind of giving it to Aster pretty badly," Jack answered him. Principal Manny looked Aster over and nodded to himself, as though he had answered his own question.

"You do look like you took quite a beating, Mr. Bunnymund."

"Pitch isn't as strong as me, but he's quick and he's smart, sir," Aster said.

"All right, then," Principal Manny said. "Here's what I'm going to do. Mr. Bunnymund, I'm going to give you two days in-school suspension since you did start the fight."

Aster released a breath and looked kind of relieved. Jack figured that he should have been. After all, two days in-school suspension wasn't nearly as bad as out of school suspension, which would've sucked because he wouldn't be allowed to go to any Art Club meetings or anything. And it was just two days. It could've been way worse than two measly days.

"I'll be sure to talk to Mr. Pitchiner once he's able to hold a decent conversation. And as for you, Mr. Frost," Principal Manny said, "after school detention today since you did knock him out, although it was unintentional."

"Yes, sir," Jack said, feeling very relieved himself.

"I'm assuming that I don't need to remind you boys that this school has a very low tolerance for fighting," the Principal continued. "If either of you get into another fight again, I will be forced to take extreme measures. For now, however, you're free to go. But no more fighting. I can tell that you're both too smart for any of that foul nonsense."

With that, Jack and Aster grabbed their book bags and felt the office. The bell rang as they entered the main lobby and students began heading towards the seventh and final period of the day.

"Well, I better get to Art before Mrs. Hershey begins to worry," Jack said almost shyly. Part of him still couldn't believe that Aster was his boyfriend officially!

"I betta get to class myself. I'll text you after the Art Club meeting today, okay?" Aster asked, a small smile on his face and his green eyes twinkling.

"Sounds good to me," Jack replied, grinning up at him. Aster bent and pressed a soft, gentle kiss to his lips.

"See ya later, Frostbite."

"Mr. Bunnymund. Mr. Frost. I suggest you get to class before the bell rings," Mr. Zinn's voice interrupted them. Jack rolled his eyes but still smiled up at him.

"See you later, Aster." Before they could get yelled at again, Jack turned and began his trek to Art 101, a blush on his cheeks and a smile on his face.