A/N: Sorry for the delay! I've been hit with more fanart ideas than plot ideas lately, so been busy drawing instead. In fact, just finished a -ahem- not so innocent Jamie x Jack fanart...hehehe. You can find it on my deviantart account (url is on my profile page), entitled 'Jamie x Jack' in the ROTG section. Not going to provide the url here since it's proooobably nsfw...I figured those who will go through the trouble to find it are the ones who REALLY want to see it and won't flame me for ruining their eyes with perverted images. :)

Renewed

"Hey, Jamie! Going to Darien's birthday party tonight?"

Jamie waved to his friend and idly wondered how the other boy would react if he suddenly vomited on his brand new shoes. Because that was exactly what he felt like doing at the mention of yet another party.

Instead, figuring Sam wouldn't exactly appreciate having reprocessed food splattered all over him, Jamie answered cheerfully, "Actually, I'm gonna have to pass. I think I need to take a break from all that, to be honest."

Sam scoffed, slinging an arm around his friend's shoulder. "What do you mean, a break? If you ask me, you need to go to more of these, take your mind off certain things. Maybe find a certain someone to do that for you, if you know what I mean." He waggled his eyebrows in a comical manner, making his friend laugh.

"No thanks. Unlike some people here, I actually have to study tonight." Jamie quickly ducked out of Sam's embrace before the other boy could protest.

"Fiiiine." Sam sighed, finally relenting. "See you tomorrow, yeah?"

Jamie waved to his retreating friend, smiling slightly as the guy almost immediately began to hit on a group of passing girls. Honestly, he had no shame...

Nevertheless, Jamie knew Sam was a good guy. That had been evident in his attempts at cheering him up for the past few weeks, even if that had involved trying to hook him up with some random girls by dragging him to as many parties as he could find (which was a LOT). Honestly, he wasn't that kind of person, but he didn't really have the heart to say no.

Well, until now. Parties had never really been his thing, and while he'd humored Sam at his attempts to cheer him up, it was beginning to wear him out. Looking back, Jamie began to feel mildly embarrassed with himself at the way he'd been acting lately. Not that he had anything against most of his friends who enjoyed drinking themselves into a stupor, but they did that for fun. He'd done it to forget. In retrospect, somehow that felt like he'd only been cheating himself of something.

Even worse, it seemed to have affected Jack. He'd noticed the winter spirit had been more subdued around him lately, almost hesitant or unsure. Several times he had even caught the pale-haired Guardian opening his mouth to say something, only to abruptly shut it again with a strange look on his face.

Jamie sighed, snuggling his chin deeper into his scarf as a sudden, cold gust of wind swept past him. He probably shouldn't have let it bother him so much - after all, Jack had started visiting almost every day for the past week. The Guardian had evaded his questions when he tried to ask why, but regardless of the reason, he enjoyed the change all the same.

He'd missed Jack. Jamie was surprised but slightly amused at the realization, considering the winter spirit had actually increased the frequency of his visits. Maybe it was because every time the Guardian had come to visit, he'd done nothing but mope. He supposed it was because Jack had already seen him at his worst, so he didn't have to fake any smiles like he did with his other friends. Still, he couldn't help but feel a little guilty at how gloomy he'd been lately. Clearly, going to Sam's parties hadn't done anything for him, yet how many times had he declined Jack's invitations to a snowball fight just to get drunk?

Jamie glanced up as something cold suddenly fell on his nose and grinned as he spotted several tiny white flakes dancing in the wind. He resolved to himself that the next time Jack visited - hopefully tonight - he would greet his friend with nothing less than a snowball to the face.