Uia gave the request for this story
It's not like it was hard to figure out. The dark circles under his eyes weren't concealed. His slouched posture wasn't straightened. His yawns weren't hidden.
Sandy knew Jack hadn't been sleeping well.
Sandy knew Jack had been having nightmares.
But Sandy also knew that if he were to confront Jack about it, Jack would deny it and race off faster than Sandy could sign "wait".
When he first found out, Sandy figured that if it was a true problem, Jack would come to him. Then he remembered that Jack was a stupid, reckless teenager and held his pride almost higher than Bunny's.
It was when he caught Jack almost face-planting for the second time that day that Sandy decided he needed to take action.
His first instinct was to just ambush Jack with a ball of sand to the face and let the spirit sleep, but his brain stopped him.
Making Jack sleep wouldn't help with any long-term sleeping problems. It would just fix Jack's tiredness right then and there.
Jack needed to learn that when he needed help, he needed to go to the Guardians.
He needed to learn how to trust them.
Ambushing him and making him do something he didn't want to do was not a good way to earn that trust.
So Sandy contemplated going to the rest of the Guardians.
If he could have backup then it would be easier to convince Jack he needed help.
But once again, Sandy scrapped the idea.
He knew for a fact that Jack hated feeling like a burden.
And involving the rest of the Guardians would just put the spotlight on Jack.
He needed to keep this between him and Jack.
Obviously he couldn't just leave it alone and expect Jack to come to him.
The boy would run himself into the ground before that happened.
He needed to be sneaky.
And with that, Sandy had his plan.
Three days later found Jack slumped on a window sill with Tooth sitting under him, Bunny next to the fire and North sitting with Sandy in the two armchairs.
Sandy was doing his best to sneak subtle glances at the winter spirit, but he knew Tooth was getting curious as to why he kept glancing her way.
He also knew that Jack had caught on to what he had been doing.
Surprisingly, Jack didn't resist.
Sandy knew his plan was working when he found that the pouch of sand he left on a random window sill was gone.
Leaving random pockets of his sand around the workshop seemed to be doing the trick.
It was a subtle way to let Jack know that Sandy knew about his trouble sleeping without sounding too threatening.
It let Jack take his problem into his own hands while also letting him know that Sandy, and by extension the other Guardians, were there for him.
Sandy smiled as he watched Jacks eyes slip close with the remainder of the last batch of sand that had been found.
Sandy knew he would never be able to force Jack to come to him when a problem presented itself, but he would try his hardest to make sure Jack knew there was no danger in asking for a little help.