As it turned out, 'harder than they thought' was much, much harder than they'd ever imagined. As the months ticked by, they all had to question at one time or another if they were really doing the right thing...
It was usually that thought that made them work harder. If the way Jack was behaving was any hint, then this wasn't the first time someone had tried to get close and either used him or given up on him, and they weren't going to do that to him.
Not to mention, they were getting glimpses of the real Jack behind the mask he was trying so hard to keep in place, and they liked what they saw.
Trying to reconnect with each other was still a priority, and they wondered sometimes if Jack suspected something, with all the times he wandered in and found them together. They weren't doing anything friends wouldn't do...okay, well, really close friends who liked a lot of physical contact, but still.
Every so often they would catch Jack watching them, trying to pretend he wasn't, but he was still hesitant about accepting affection or contact. He would start to lean into a pat or a touch, only to freeze up and jerk away seconds later.
It was frustrating, even as they tried not to press for more. If Jack wasn't ready, then they needed to respect that.
As if in response to Bunny's little talk, Jack was upping the annoyance factor. If they'd thought the pranks were bad, they were almost nothing compared to his behavior now.
From hanging constantly in their space, to incessant chatter, to irritating little habits that they all knew Jack hadn't had before this, if Jack had been trying to irritate them into giving up on him before, he was doing a much better job of it now.
Only Sandy really had patience to spare, and even his was a little strained by the end of another month of Jack's deliberate irritations.
The other three were holding on to their tempers by threads at times, and only their weekly after meetings after Jack had left the proper meeting really helped as they talked things through, found the common thread in the irritations Jack was heaping upon them.
And more importantly, the threads in the things he didn't say, the moments he let his guard down and they saw the longing behind the irritations and annoying behavior, the Jack Frost they had gotten to see that weekend they'd all met him properly for the first time.
The problem with threads is, eventually, they snap. And sometimes, it's hard to tell just what the breaking point is going to be – or how harsh the backlash will be when it finally goes.
And the Guardians knew it, too. They didn't want to admit it, but they knew it, had had it happen before and paid the consequences for it then.
Sandy was dealing with it the best so far – but then again, he had a good reason to fly off when Jack really started getting annoying, since Jack still refused to interfere with the Guardians' duties. Make them more difficult, yes, confuse everyone with things like mixed-up coins very yes, but actually interfere, no.
It also helped that a good dash of dream sand to the face would put even a hyperactive spirit like Jack, who by his own admission only slept when he was exhausted, down for the count for awhile.
Things couldn't keep going this way, but none of them had a clue what to do to fix this anymore.
Bunny knew that, out of all of them, he had the shortest temper now that he had given in to emotions, and he was the worst of them when it came to understanding emotions and understanding the hints others gave in their body language and voices that most humans took for granted.
But even he could tell things were getting close to a breaking point. And Jack was probably going to be the first to snap, somehow.
He didn't think the others had noticed yet, but, well...Jack had taken to hanging out in the Warren quite a bit lately. If he had to guess...and if he was honest, that was all he could do at this point...then Bunny assumed Jack was hanging out there for a number of reasons.
It was summer in the Northern Hemisphere again, a little over a year after Jack had been sworn in. Jack had all but disappeared during the fall and winter, claiming work but being evasive about just what that work involved, and they hadn't felt secure enough to press the question despite burning curiosity.
He hadn't interfered with Christmas or Easter, though, and although the pranks had continued every time they saw the frost spirit, he still didn't mess with their jobs.
Now that Easter was over, and Jack wasn't needed in the Southern Hemisphere for their winter season, he was apparently at loose ends, and as Bunny's holiday prep didn't start in earnest until closer to the day of (though the Warren, being a garden, needed almost constant attention) he had apparently been selected as Jack's preferred company.
Bunny suspected Jack thought he would snap first. Really, he couldn't blame Jack for that – the two of them did have the most history between them, if a few encounters could really be called 'a history'. And Jack had managed to get on his nerves quickly before, and if it weren't so bloody annoying he would have given Frost points for strategy.
It seemed like Frost had a mind under all that 'good times' silliness. Too bad he was using it to drive them all bloody starkers.
As if the thought had inspired Jack to new mischief, a snowball hit the back of Bunny's head.
Bunny took a deep breath, biting back the nasty words that tried to rise. They would have felt good in the moment, but driving Jack away was the opposite of what he wanted to do.
Heck, he hadn't even considered trying to start courting Jack yet, none of them had. They couldn't, not when Jack was still acting like this and so obviously insecure, though they'd been blind to it at first.
There was a blast of cold wind, ruffling his fur and sneaking under it, straight to the skin, making Bunny yelp and jump...and snap.
He spun to find Jack as soon as he hit the ground, ears laid back and totally, utterly done. "Jack Frost!" he snapped. Jack froze, eyes wide, clearly torn between fear and resignation, as if he'd been expecting this but still wasn't happy it was happening. "Would ya knock it off already, ya bloody show pony? We're all stickin' this out an' you're makin' it hard on purpose! How're we supposed ta get to know ya if ya keep tryin' ta make us drive ya away, ya bloody show pony? Well, ya ain't gettin' rid of us that easy! Now make yerself useful an' come burn off some o' that energy on these weeds, if you're gonna be a deliberate nuisance."
Bunny was panting a little as he finished his rant, paws firmly planted on hips as he glared at the frost spirit.
Jack, for his part, was staring at Bunny as if he'd never seen the older spirit before. "I...that's it? You're...not kicking me out? You're not...you aren't even gonna try and hit me? What is it going to take, huh?" he demanded, flailing and getting louder and louder, more upset with each word. "I'm just supposed to wait around and, and get attached, and wait while everyone pretends to be my friend? How long is that gonna take, until I've outlived my usefulness and you kick me out?" He had to take a few deep breaths at that point, Bunny too shocked to do much more that gape. Jack scrubbed an arm across his eyes furiously, refusing to cry now. "I'm not...I can't..."
"Jack, I..." Bunny faltered, taking a step towards the suddenly distraught spirit. Jack didn't notice, too busy scrubbing at his eyes and fighting to breathe.
"No one wants Jack Frost," Jack whispered, so quiet that anyone other than Bunny might not have heard him. "He's just an expression. Only good for freezing water pipes and ruining everything. Not even the Moon wanted me, and he brought be back and gave me powers. Why? So I could be alone and unwanted for three hundred years? I'm so tired of all this, and I can't keep this up much longer but I can't get thrown away again, I just can't."
A furry hand fisted the front of Jack's sweatshirt, and he yelped. He tried to pull away but was yanked, hard, forward instead, faceplanting into Bunny's chest.
Then Bunny's arms were wrapped tight around Jack, warm and strong and all soft fur and firm muscle and so, so warm.
Jack struggled for a few seconds before he just sank into that fur, too tired to fight anymore.
"Jack, I meant it when ah said we weren't givin' up on ya. Don't ya remember tha?" Bunny asked softly.
Jack shrugged. "Wouldn't be the first time someone's lied to my face," he muttered into Bunny's fur. Bunny bit back a surge of anger and tried not to tighten his grip on Jack. He didn't quite succeed, but Jack didn't seem to mind. "I..." he sighed, heavily, as if he were searching for the words.
"Kinda quit trustin' folks to hold to their word," Bunny finished for him. "An' then there's me with the grudge, and us needin' ya, so ya figured we'd say anythin'."
"I'm Jack Frost," Jack said again. "I...No one wants Jack Frost," he repeated, sounding utterly lost, and the fur on Bunny's chest was slowly growing wet, to his absolute shock.
He'd seen Jack tear up, but Jack didn't cry. Ever. Jack held back the tears and kept himself looking strong on the outside, that much Bunny had learned.
At the moment, he doubted Jack would hear anything Bunny was saying, so he settled for stroking Jack's hair and murmuring soothing nonsense.
He wasn't good at this comforting thing, damn it, but none of them really were anymore. So he just kept holding on to Jack and stroking his hair, hoping and praying to El-ahairah it was helping.
Slowly the sobs began to stop. When they were down to sniffles Jack moved to pull away, leaning back to swab at his eyes. Bunny winced, seeing the frost and ice covered sleeve Jack was rubbing across his face, and reluctantly let go of Jack with one hand.
Jack seemed abashed at his display and ready to run, sure Bunny was about to reject him, yet paused to watch as Bunny rummaged through his bandoleer.
The Pooka produced a large bandana with a flourish when he finally found it, the pocket it had been in having managed to go stiff. A reminder of how little care he'd been taking of himself in recent years, that the leather would have started to go bad like that.
The little flourish made Jack give a watery chuckle, and he accepted the bandana to scrub his face with.
"Let's go inside and talk, yeah?" Bunny suggested, already guiding Jack toward the burrow. "We can have some tea and do a proper chin wag this time."
Jack squinted at him out of the corner of a red-rimmed eye. "Sometimes, I swear you're just making these words up..." he said.
Bunny smiled. "Ain't tellin'," he teased, testing the waters. "C'mon, that tea sounds good 'bout now, an' we got better things to talk about than my accent. Tea's always helpful after a good cry."