Thanks so much for all your support! :D pumped up for this chapter!

FrozenLanterns: I was planning to make Jonathan the 'bad dude' but I thought it was always the plot so I thought I should make a twist in the story. Someone/something else would be the problem. :D

Angelofimagination4: D'aww 3 thank you! I feel loved xD Yes, I'll try to update almost every day as best as I can but I can't promise that there will be new chapters every single day. Two to three days of delay might happen. Thank you for the favorite and the follow :D

Oh, by the way guys, I was thinking of making a new long-shot Jackunzel and Mericup story. XD it involves college again (yes, again, because that's what I'm good at since I'm in college for two years already). I was also thinking about Jack and Rapunzel as close (not best) friends. Tell me what you think about that idea. xD I might spoil the rest if you guys think it's fine because I might put it up even while I'm doing this long-shot That's all!

I do NOT own Tangled, ROTG, brands/companies and any of the like mentioned in this fic.

Chapter 11: The Christmas Eve Dinner

Rapunzel looked up at him. She was a bit nervous after saying she had a boyfriend because of the expression he has. Not that it was serious or bad, his brows kind of furrowed and it made her worry. He might think she's different. She dismissed the bad thoughts and tried to smile and thought of changing the topic but Jack asked her the question she wanted to avoid hearing.

"Why did you guys break up?"

Her lips tightened. She wanted not to answer but it's Jack. She couldn't keep a secret from him—except for having a huge crush on him of course. She exhaled through her nostrils, "It's a dumb reason actually…" She tried keeping eye contact with him but she couldn't. He stared at her still, "It's still a reason nonetheless. So, what was it?" He said. Her heart skipped a beat and she held her breath, "We broke up because I had to move here. We both thought that we'll be able to move on and live separate lives." She smiled sadly.

For Jack, it was painful to hear those words. He could feel her pain and sorrow—not to mention that lingering sound of her regret to their break up. He averted his gaze from her and frowned slightly, "You guys could have just had a long distance relationship…" he murmured, loud enough for Rapunzel to hear.

"He wanted to at first but then he thought about it. He told me that I might find someone else here and that he might be able to move on and see someone." She swallowed the pain threatening to make her tears fall down but then, she smiled but her smile was of a mourning wife, "You know what? He was right. I got new from my friends back in Germany that he had a new girlfriend last year."

He gave her a look that summarizes his hatred for this man. It made her laugh a bit, "I'm over it! I moved on but I never really liked a guy after him…" she murmured and looked down at their feet. Until I met you, she smiled at herself. Jack released a small sigh. He felt his chest tighten and a 'falling' feeling from his heart. He didn't know what to think, what to express, what to show, what to say and what to do. He was confused with everything. He wished he hadn't met her but at the same time he was glad he did. But the feeling in his chest, it felt undeniably heavy and painful that he wanted to be alone and yet he wanted to stay with her. He wished that that moment could last forever. It was just him and her, dancing in the middle of the dance floor, holding each other closely.

"But you know what? I'm happy we broke up." she said that made him look at her with a bit of surprise. He gave her a puzzled look that made her grin at him, "I feel free and happy. And come on! There are still a lot of guys out there, right?" she said but in her mind, she was only referring to him. Is this still a crush?... It can't be love, can it?, she asked herself. Jack could only sigh again and nod, faking a small smile. It really hurts.

The two of them decided to stay fifteen more minutes and went home. They were both so tired that they almost didn't care where they left their shoes and clothes but Jack had to keep her parents' room clean so he took the suit and went to her room and placed it in the laundry basket. Rapunzel was done with washing her face and brushing her teeth so she and Jack switched places—he went in the bathroom to clean up while she dressed in her pajamas. She sat on her bed and looked at the calendar on the wall. It was already the 24th of December. She bit her lower lip and frowned, I still haven't bought my gift for him, she thought. When Jack came out, she decided she should buy her gift later that morning while he was still sleeping. Because it was Christmas Eve, the malls were open earlier than usual.

When Rapunzel woke up, she quietly moved around the house as to not wake him up. She went to the mall and bought him a dozen tops and a dozen bottoms because it was Christmas Eve sale. She was so happy that she even bought him two pairs of shoes and went to the gift wrapping counter and asked to wrap them all up. She carried two plastic bags with a total of six wrapped gifts. She sat on the stairs of the mall and, with the use of a marker, she wrote his name on the wrapper. When she got home, Jack was still asleep or was still taking a shower. She placed the gifts under the tree and toasted a few slices of bread. She grabbed the butter and placed it on the table just when she heard his footsteps. She greeted him by the sight of his figure.

"Good morning!" she said happily.

He smiled and raked his hair with his fingers, "Good morning, Goldilocks."

The two of them sat down by the table and ate their breakfast. Jack noticed there were no glasses on the table so he, with his teeth clenching on the corner of the toast, got them and grabbed the pitcher of juice in the fridge. He sat back down and munched on the toast, "What do you plan on doing today?" he asked.

"I was planning on buying food for dinner tonight. You know," she looked at him, "Special dinner for tonight."

"Aren't you parents coming home?"

She looked at her toast, "No…" she said. She was used to it but she was still sad. The only time she experienced having Christmas with them was when she was still in elementary school up until she turned fifteen. After that, she spent Christmas and New Year alone, watching DVD's or painting in her room. "They're busy with work." She smiled at him but he saw loneliness in her eyes.

Jack stared at the butter knife and saw his reflection. He ranted in his mind, trying to find ways of making her happy during Christmas day. After a moment of rummaging, he had an idea. He smiled at her, "Do you want to spend Christmas with me and my friends?"

Rapunzel's eyes shimmered, "You mean, with the other mythical beings?" she asked, surprised. He nodded. Her mouth opened and she let out a happy squeal, "Yes, Jack!" she said, almost standing up from her seat. She looked at the table and her expression change from happy to serious-thinking-business, "I should make dinner really special. Should I make macaroni salad or fruit salad? I need to buy more chocolates and candies. Oh, what am I going to cook?" she looked up at him.

He laughed, "Calm down, Goldilocks. I'm sure you're going to whip up a badass dinner."

"I still have to buy the raw ingredients!" she panicked, pulling on her hair. "I'm gonna go to the grocery store." She decided and grabbed her bag again and headed outside but Jack stopped her.

"Hey, hey! Hold on! I'm coming with you!" he stood up and ran after her.

Who knew that what he called a 'badass dinner' would take a while to shop for. He leaned down on the pushcart, waiting for her to decide whether she should buy the turkey or the chicken. After a while, she decided on the turkey and placed it on the cart. They went around and around the grocery store and almost filled the cart with food and drinks. She was obviously excited and nervous at the same time. After all, it was going to be her first time meeting his guardian friends. They had a total of twenty plastic bags. Jack expected more but he was happy it was only twenty. They carried five plastics in each hand and took a cab home. Rapunzel insisted to stay home and he told her he'd go meet his friends and tell them.

First, he went to North Pole. Like what North always was, he was jolly and happily accepted the invitation. Although, they agreed that he should come after giving presents. Next, he went to the Tooth Palace. Tooth was so excited and she fluttered around, wondering what gift she should give them both but Jack shook his head and said that he doesn't really need the gift. Knowing tooth will give something connected to teeth, Jack told Tooth that Rapunzel likes painting. Tooth nodded and knew what she was going to give so Jack went to Warren next. He and Bunnymund exchanged insults before even getting to the topic. When he invited him, Bunny snickered at him again and teased him. Again, they threw insults at each other. Before Jack left the Warren, he threw a snowball on Bunny's head that made the Pooka curse him. Jack being himself, he only laughed at it and went to Sandy's place—The Island of the Sleepy Sands.

He only came to the place once. Sandman's home was a shooting star that fell on Earth that instead of creating a hole, it became an island made of golden sand. It was no ordinary island though. This island had long tendrils of land that spiral from the center. It had several dunes and in the center of the dunes is where Sandy can be seen. Like Sandy, the island was sparkling but no human has ever seen the island before. Jack landed, he saw Sandy's ship and went in. He saw Sandy making statues out of sand. He told Sandy of Rapunzel's Christmas dinner and the little guy nodded but he conjured an image above his head that says he still had to make dreams for the children in the other parts of the world.

"Alright. We'll just wait for you in Corona. You know where Rapunzel's house is right?" Jack asked.

Sandy was going to nod but then he shook his head.

"Do you have a map of Corona?"

He nodded and made a map out of sand. Jack pointed where Rapunzel's house was. Sandy gave him a thumbs up, meaning he got it and waved at him when he motioned to fly. Jack waved before fully flying back to Corona. But the sight of his previous home made him stop. He landed on the frozen lake before flying again to Jamie's house. Jack decided to play with them for a little while before going back to Corona.

"Jack, why didn't you come here?" Jamie asked him.

He frowned at himself then looked at Jamie, "I'm sorry about that. I really am.. It's just that… I'm staying in this girl's house in Corona." He said, trying not to make it sound like there was something between them. There really isn't anything, he thought.

Instead of Jamie frowning, his expression brightened, "You have a girlfriend!?"

Jack scratched the back of his head and looked at the ground, "N-no… She's not my girlfriend."

"But you do like her, right?" the boy asked him.

It made him tighten his lips. He wanted to laugh at what was happening to him. Everyone assumes Rapunzel was his girlfriend. A part of him wanted to make a victory laugh and the other part just wanted to keep quiet and then blush about the accusation. Okay, maybe a part of him wanted it to be true but, again, his pride got in the way… until his tongue slipped.

"Yeah, kind of." He said and it made the both of them surprised. "Anyway, I have to go. She's waiting for me… And don't tell anyone, okay?"

Jamie grinned and nodded, "I won't!"

He grinned back and waved goodbye then went back to Rapunzel's house. He helped her prepare the house. While she cooked, he decorated the entire house with Christmas lights, Christmas balls and of course, garland. To add design, he made snow on the window sill and made small snowmen on it. By 7 p.m., Rapunzel finished placing all the food on the table and dressed herself with a pink long-sleeved dress and braided a portion of her hair.

"Jack, get dressed up!" she called him as she placed clothes on her bed. Not too long, she heard Jack's footsteps banging on the stairs. She went out the room and checked the food and every place in her house. She went back to the dining room and smiled at her work. There was turkey in the middle, macaroni and fruit salad beside it and some other dishes spread across the table. The doorbell rang and it made Rapunzel jump in excitement. She wondered who it was as she hurried to the door. She turned the knob and open and it.

"Hello! Is this Rapunzel's residence? I'm kind of lost and thought I followed the wrong map so…" Tooth chirped excitedly.

Rapunzel flustered and grinned, "Yes and I'm Rapunzel! You must be Tooth Fairy."

Tooth leaned down to her and nodded, "That's me!" she said and saw Rapunzel's teeth. It wasn't perfect but it was white, close to the whiteness of Jack's teeth. "Nice teeth!" she said.

Rapunzel was startled but smiled, "Thank you! Please, come in!" she stepped aside and let her in. Tooth flew in further to her house. She led her to the living room and sat on the couch.

"Where's Jack?" Tooth asked.

"Oh, he's changing. He'll be down soon." She smiled at the fairy. They had a conversation for a bit until Jack came rushing down.

"I heard the doorbell ring. Who was it?" Jack said and went to the living room. He saw the two girls looking at his direction. He grinned, "Hey Tooth!"

"Hello Jack!" Tooth waved at him and scanned his outfit. He was wearing a red sweater and jeans. "You look charming." She grinned at him.

"Well it's all thanks to Goldilocks here." He said and sat down beside Rapunzel. The three of them talked for a while. The next doorbell rang not until fifteen minutes later. Rapunzel got up and opened the door. She was surprised when she saw a big furry 'rabbit', standing on its two hind legs and it was almost as tall as her door.

"Um, hello. You must be Bunnymund." She squeaked. The Pooka looked terrifying, looking down at her like that but hearing the sound of his name said by a sweet voice made him smile.

"Yeah, that's me. Ye' must be Rapunzel." He said, Australian accent clear. She nodded and smiled at him, "Please come in! Jack and Tooth are in the living room." She said and led Bunny to them. Tooth and Bunny placed their gifts under the Christmas tree.

"Nice place ye have here, Sheila." Bunnymund scanned the room. It was well decorated.

Rapunzel placed the tray of juice on the glass table in the middle of the couches and smiled at him, "Thank you but Jack decorated the house."

Bunny and Tooth looked at Jack who was already drinking his glass of juice.

"This punk here made this?" Bunny looked at Rapunzel, raised a brow and pointed his thumb at Jack.

Jack glared at him while Tooth laughed. Rapunzel looked at Jack then at Bunny. She nodded, "Yes, he did." She blinked. Jack was still glaring at the Pooka but Bunny turned his head to look at him and smirked at him, "Nice, nice…"

Tooth knew there was war going to happen so she cleared her throat, "Do you have karaoke, Rapunzel?"

The blond nodded, smiling and turned on the television, the speakers and the karaoke. Tooth was squealing excitedly. The two boys looked at her with a is-she-serious look and looked at Rapunzel who was handing the fairy one of the microphones and the song book. Tooth flipped through the pages and saw a song she liked.

"How do I do this?" she asked. Rapunzel went to her taught her what to do, "Press the numbers then press 'play'." She smiled at her. As soon as Tooth, pressed enter, the introduction of the song Your Love is My Drug was played. She squealed excitedly and started to sing the lyrics. Rapunzel clapped to the beat. The boys just stared at them. She looked at them and made a movement that seemed like she was telling them to clap along. Because they didn't want to argue, they just joined. They exchanged turns, getting happier and more exciting every time someone sang. Rapunzel's dishes got cold so she stored them in a heater to keep the food fresh and warm. They were all having a great time and were singing loud and happy songs and they were almost screaming the lyrics. An hour and a half later, the doorbell rang again. Rapunzel went and opened the door, revealing Sandy and North.

"Is this Rapunzel Sonne's residence?" North asked with his usual Russian accent, which surprised her a bit. Sandy frowned and nudged him. "We should be sure, Sandy" North shrugged.

Rapunzel smiled, "Yes and I'm Rapunzel! Welcome! Please come in! The others are in the living room, having fun with karaoke." She said and led them to the living room. Tooth was holding one mic and Bunny was holding the other. They were singing 'Especially for You' by Kylie Minogue and Jason Donovan. Jack was sitting on the couch while drinking Sprite.

"Ah, there you are!" North said with open arms.

"North! Sandy!" Jack called, "You guys are early." He smirked.

"We didn't want to keep Rapunzel waiting so we hurried." North smiled and Sandy nodded, smiling at him.

Jack seemed like he was forgetting something or rather someone. He turned to Tooth who was already done singing, "Where's Baby Tooth?" he asked.

Tooth giggled, "Oh, she's on her way. She said she wanted to give you something."

Jack chuckled. Baby Tooth was almost like his shoulder pet, almost never leaving him. They heard a knock on the window. Tooth laughed, "Speaking of the fairy, she's here." She said and opened the window to let Baby Tooth in. The small fairy flew her way in, carrying a small present with her hands. It was as big as her head. She landed on the table and hugged Jack's cheek and rubbed her cheek on it. Rapunzel and Tooth made an "aww."

"Hello, Baby Tooth!" Jack greeted. Baby Tooth squeaked, saying she missed him. He smiled, "I missed you too."

She got her present and placed it under the Christmas tree and the action reminded North of something. "Oh! I forgot!" he said loudly and went to his sleigh, which was just on the roof. They were confused by his actions. When North came back, he was carrying a sack of presents and placed all of it under the Christmas tree. "Everyone has a gift!" he said happily.

"Even the one person who holds the record of the naughty list?" Jack smirked at him.

They stared at him. North laughed, "We overlook again."

Rapunzel smiled at all of them, "I have prepared the food!" she said.

They all went to the dining room and saw the food she cooked. Their expressions brightened. The smell and the look was just so delicious that they wasted no time on sitting down. Rapunzel sat at the middle, Jack on her right and Tooth on her left. Beside Tooth was Bunny and opposite him was Sandy and at the other end was North. Baby Tooth sat on Jack's shoulder.

"Dig in!" Rapunzel grinned at them.

They all passed on the food and conversed while having a conversation. Like in the Christmas Party, they talked about some unforgettable life incidents and laughed at the funniest ones. When it was Bunnymund's story, Jack would make a joke out of it and vice versa. Once or twice, their jokes threatened a food fight but luckily, Tooth and Sandy calmed them down. The clock strikes midnight and everyone greeted each other Merry Christmas. As soon as they all finished eating, they went to the living room again and got their presents.

North hosted the gift giving. He grabbed a gift, "Rapunzel, this is for you." He smiled and gave a rectangular gift to her. She opened it and her eyes widened when she saw it was a set of six 20 inch canvas. "Oh my…" she murmured and grabbed the wrapper and saw it was from North himself.

"Thank you so much!" she exclaimed.

North grinned, "Ah, but it doesn't end there." He said and gave the rest their gifts.

Jack got another blue hoodie, only this time, it was a lighter shade of blue. Tooth got her desired set of beautiful sparkling teeth that he asked her fairies to get for him. Bunnymund got new boomerangs and holsters while Sandy got a small figurine he said he wanted for his collection.

"Rapunzel," North called, "This is for you. From…"

"Me!" Tooth squealed.

Rapunzel took it and opened it. Her eyes sparkled, "Colored pencils! I love it! Thank you!" she said happily. It was a whole set of different variants of colors. Tooth grinned at her, "It's made from the material my palace was also made of. When you apply the color, it will sparkle!" The information made her more excited and wanted to try it out as soon as she could.

North got another present and it came from Bunnymund, "This from Bunny." He said and passed the present to her. She opened it and saw a lot of jars of paint. "Thank you so much!" she said, staring at the paints.

"Those are no ordinary paints, Sheila. Those are paints that can glimmer too. I use those to paint the eggs." Bunny smirked.

Sandy gave his present to her personally and smiled. It was a small container with golden sand it in. There was a note tied around it. "Use it when you can't sleep." Rapunzel read and looked at him, "Aw, that's so sweet. Thank you, Sandman!" Sandy smiled and bowed to her.

North grabbed another present, "These—" he grinned, "—are from Jack."

Everyone but Rapunzel grinned at Jack. She looked at him, with her mouth slightly open. The rest were from him?, she thought. She smiled, "Thank you Jack."

Jack arched a brow, "But you haven't even opened one."

She chuckled, got one and opened it. Her eyes widened and she looked at him. It was the skirt she wanted—even better! "Jack… I… I…" she stammered. She didn't know what to tell him. She picked up the skirt and saw another color of the skirt. She found out that there were four more skirts with different colors. She looked at him again, "Thank you so much!" and hugged him then grabbed her present for him.

Jack looked at her then at the present. He opened it and his eyes widened but softened.

"It's not much but I hope you like it." she said shyly.

He looked at her, "You shouldn't have, Goldilocks. You already gave me a lot." He glanced at the gift then back at her, "Thank you." He wore the blue converse with the same shade as his hoodie. It had a customization to it. 'Jack Frost' was written on the sides with snowflake designs around it. He was going to wear it on his first day.

"Well, that settles it then!" North said but Baby Tooth squeaked madly. "Oh, right. You still have gift for Jack."

Baby Tooth nodded and gave her present to him. Jack opened the tiny gift and saw a hand-made keychain plushie of him. He grinned, "Thank you, Baby Tooth. I'm sorry I don't have a present for you." He said. She squeaked, telling him it was okay.

"Thank you for the wonderful evening." Tooth smiled and gave Rapunzel and Jack hugs. The others thanked them also and left with their own separate ways.

Now it was just the two of them…

End of Chapter

This is the longest chapter I have done, more than 4000 words! :o gaassp. Thank you for the support again and please do not forget to tell me about your thoughts on my plans on making another long-shot Jackunzel and Mericup fic!

Questions, reviews and the like are welcome!