Life With You
When I was a younger man But since I met you I'm distraught I want to spend my life with you
When I was a silly boy
I didn't need a thing,
I was strong as anything,
I viewed solitude as a joy
You wandered in and now I'm caught
I never thought I would see
Someone so truly good
Some one who's so everything I'm not
Don't want to live all alone
I can't conceive of the years left in me
Without you in our home
- Celtic Thunder, Life With You,
The meeting had wrapped up quickly after Tooth's announcement, many of the spirits in attendance eagerly heading off to spread the juicy news they'd just received.
Whoever thought that the more powerful spirits weren't just as bad about gossiping as the dryads and naiads was delusional, to be quite frank.
They weren't 'just as bad' – they were worse.
The Guardians were the last to leave, quietly agreeing to meet again later that week to discuss everything that had happened after the last few months and the last few days in particular, but not quite willing to leave each others' sight just yet.
In the end, duty forced at least two of them to go, Sandy and Tooth having duties that never ended. Tooth was reluctant, but the call of duty was strong, and so was Jack's urging. He needed to rest, and her girls needed her. Still, it was a reluctant parting, hands lingering until the last possible second and with more than one backward glance.
Tooth hovered in her command central, giving the girls rapid-fire directions and cooing over the new teeth they brought in. They'd done well on their own, but it was still a relief for all of them when Tooth could take over again.
It had been nearly a week since...well, since everything, and if she were being honest, she both hated and was grateful that it had been so long. The girls were getting better at doing their duties on their own, but they still needed her, and going without instruction as long as they had...they'd needed a few days with her at the helm to feel confident again, to be sure they'd done everything right.
But still...Jack hadn't come by the entire time. Had she scared him off, going straight to marriage? But he'd seemed so eager before it was brought up in the meeting...or was he just giving her space to do her duties?
It would be like him, to try and give her space to do what was important...but it would also be like him to avoid her for a week out of some kind of misplaced fear over his own worth.
Shaking her head to clear it of those thoughts, she threw herself back into her duties. She'd find out the day after tomorrow at the latest, when they all met up.
She just had to trust Jack.
Jack frowned, concentrating. The feather in his hand whited at the tip where he touched it, frost curling down the delicate vanes, before nerves made the frost shoot down the feather across his hand. He groaned, letting the feather fall to shatter on the floor among the previous failures.
He wanted so badly to be able to return Tooth's gesture, but his frost, which he usually had such control over, was reacting to his nerves badly, worse than it had in years. He'd blame the influx of power from his rapidly multiplying believers, except Bunny and North had – with Sandy's prodding reminders – shown him how to deal with sudden power surges, for the most part. They hadn't had to deal with suddenly being believed in, after all – their rise to power had been much, much more gradual.
A freak out like that could hurt Tooth, and pretty badly if he was guessing right. She was tough, but that didn't mean she was resistant to cold like he was. He hadn't even been able to figure out yet if it would hold, he kept getting frost all over himself before that could happen!
Flopping back across his bed, he stared at the ceiling moodily. He wanted to marry Tooth, he just...wished it didn't have to be such a big deal. Yes, Tooth was a Queen, and they were both Guardians, just...it was for them, not everyone else.
He'd have to talk to Tooth about it, he decided. And about...well, everything they didn't talk about already, really. It's been almost a week, she should have everything under control. He just...didn't want to push, hanging around like a lovesick puppy. They both needed space, and he wanted to respect that, even if he'd been tempted to follow her right away and ask about the wedding and the marriage after that.
Maybe the flight would clear his head, anyway. It was almost autumn in the Northern hemisphere, and he'd have to get to work soon, frosting the leaves and crops to usher in winter, and he wouldn't have as much free time as he did now.
By the time he was halfway over the ocean, well on his way to Punjam Hy Loo, he'd come up with a new idea for Tooth's marriage token, one he could make ahead of time and hopefully not mess up unlike frosting one of her feathers, and was beginning to wonder if it would be possible to invite any of the Burgess Believers to the wedding.
They'd been the first to realize what was happening, and were older now, older than most were to still see spirits, but thankfully still believed...but the spirits that they might have to invite...caught in his thoughts, it took a few minutes to realize he was being hailed.
Cupid was panting by the time he caught up to Jack, who'd stopped and was hovering, waiting on him. "Oy, Jackie-boy, using the wind to fly isn't fair," he complained. Jack snickered and let the 'Jackie-boy' slide. Cupid was one of the few who could call him things like that to his face, and they both knew it.
Taking pity on his friend – who did use his wings to fly, for the most part, despite them looking far too small to take his weight – Jack darted up to a cloud, sitting down and patting the spot beside him. He didn't quite understand how it worked, but somehow, clouds were solid enough for some spirits to sit on when they wanted to, yet pass through when they needed to, and he and Cupid were two of those spirits.
He was going to blame belief and leave it at that. It was easier than wondering.
"So," Cupid began when he'd caught his breath, grinning at Jack in a way that immediately had him on edge, "I hear congratulations are in order."
Jack grinned, always ready to play. "Oh, you mean the whole 'escaping the fae queen and renegotiating the treaty' thing? You should've seen their faces when Puck and I got going!"
"Not thaaaaat!" Cupid near whined, eyes sparkling as he played along. He paused for a moment before adding, "Congrats on that, though, by the way. It was probably well worth the price of admission. But!" he said, with a raised finger in Jack's face for emphasis. "You! Do you even know! Just how long it's been! Since we had spirits wed?" he demanded.
Jack shrugged, and Cupid threw himself back onto the cloud with a dramatic groan. "A thousand years, Jackie. A thousand years. And never a Guardian! You do know the five of you are the highest ranked spirits around at the moment, don't you?" he asked seriously, dropping the dramatics for a moment. "It used to be the gods, and there are still some strong enough to get respect, but you five..."
Jack groaned himself, joining Cupid in sprawling across the cloud. "Don't remind me. The only thing that's meant so far is that apparently, Tooth and I can't have a small wedding, you know? That's all I wanted, was for it to be us and our family and close friends, something just for us. But now...it sounded like we're supposed to have this massive sideshow for other spirits to come and gawk at."
Cupid twisted to the side, looking over at Jack. "I want to marry Tooth, I really do," Jack continued, "I just...ugh."
"Have you spoken to her about it yet?" Cupid asked, and Jack blew a bit of cloud away from his face petulantly.
"Was on my way. She'd been away from her palace for awhile, needed to take over for the baby teeth again," he answered shortly. "It just...all happened so fast," he admitted. "One minute, we've just realized we've been courting, the next, we're getting married, and I don't know anything about getting married when it comes to spirits – or what being married means to spirits, either. I mean, she's got duties, really important ones."
"You say that as if bringing the autumn and winter and joy weren't important," Cupid interjected, voice dry as the Sahara. Jack waved it off, trying not to show how pleased he was that someone got just what it was he did.
"You know what I mean," he said, rather than arguing. "Tooth's duties are year round and never ending. Marriage is...big. And we haven't even tried dating yet! Just courting without even knowing we were both doing it!"
"Well, if you'll take an old spirit of love's advice," Cupid began, ignoring Jack's amused snort, "then you'll just tell Toothiana what you've told me." He gave Jack a shove, rolling off the cloud himself. "Well, go! Move that frosty butt! And I want an invitation to the party, so don't you forget!"
Jack laughed as he tumbled off the cloud, sticking his tongue out at Cupid before darting off towards Punjam Hy Loo, suddenly looking forward to this conversation...and utterly terrified of it all at the same time.
Swinging around the tallest spire of the Tooth Palace, Jack slipped and slid his way down between the tall towers that made up the palace, grinning at the baby teeth as he joined them in their stream towards the command central.
He grinned widely at them as they chirped greetings, arms full of the teeth they'd collected and too focused on their work to stop for a proper greeting. Still grinning, he split off from them as they began to dart to the different towers to deposit their teeth, shooting up vertically to the central command center.
Peeking over the edge and looking rather a lot like a mischievous cat, Jack watched Tooth shooting orders to her children, sun glinting off her feathers and all of them cheerful and busy. Carefully Jack pulled himself onto the deck around the central cage, army crawling closer.
He crawled all the way to the edge of the cagelike center of the platform, waiting until Tooth took a breath between directions to pop up and run a cold finger and the lightest of frosts down Tooth's back between her wings.
Tooth shrieked, jerking away from Jack's hand and whipping around, looking for an attack, even as Jack fell over laughing.
Hands on hips, Tooth fluttered over to hover above Jack, trying to keep her face stern even as a smile quirked the edges of her lips. "So, I don't see my fiancee for a week, and this is how he says hello?" she said, still trying to be stern even as Jack grinned up at her unrepentantly, eyes sparkling with glee.
"How could I resist?" Jack teased. Tooth eyed him for a moment before darting down, her hands slipping under his hoodie, and he exploded into giggles as she tickled him mercilessly, several off duty baby teeth joining in with excited squeals, darting under his hoodie to use their tiny feathers to devious use.
They ignored his laughing pleas for mercy, tickling until he was crying with laughter before giving in and stopping to settle onto the platform beside him, Tooth sinking to her knees while her daughters perched around them, the others still zipping in and out of the palace. A few feet away, Baby Tooth was taking over while trying not to be distracted by the playing going on so close yet so far away.
Finally calming down, Jack blew a bit of hair out of his face and turned on his side to look at Tooth. He took a deep breath, letting it out in a sigh that fanned quickly melting frost across the jewel toned mosaic of the platform before he spoke. "I...think we need to talk," he said quietly, "about the wedding. And the marriage. And...everything."
Tooth blinked at him for a moment, heart suddenly sinking. Had he...changed his mind? Were they... "I know we're going a bit fast," she said softly, "but..."
"Yeah, and winter's about to start up," Jack said. "We've both got duties to take care of, and we can't have a..." he blushed, cheeks frosting over lightly before continuing, "a honeymoon if it's my busy season and your girls need you right away."
"Oh," was all Tooth could find to say to that, a blush covering her own cheeks. She took a deep breath, forcing her blush down and looked back at Jack. "Well, yes, there is that. You'd rather wait until after Winter's over?"
"And Easter," Jack said, "so Bunny can come too. I mean, I'd like all of us there, yanno? But...does it really have to be a big thing? Can't we just...I dunno, have just our friends there for the actual wedding and throw a big party afterward?"
Tooth sprawled on her stomach beside Jack, enjoying the moment of just basking in the sun beside him, even if she did have a lot to think about. "I'm not sure. A lot of them are going to be into it..."
"Kinda like that Royal Wedding awhile back, huh?" Jack asked, with a twist to his lips that was half amusement, half resignation at Tooth's nod. "...did you want a big wedding?" he asked suddenly, twisting to look at Tooth better, suddenly worried he was ruining her wedding dreams. She shrugged, staring into the distance as she thought.
"Never thought I would have one at all, especially after..." she trailed off, raising a wing in silent explanation. Jack winced and nodded in understanding. He reached out, watching for her silent permission before running gentle fingers along the edge of her wing.
"They're beautiful," he whispered, "every inch of them, and your feathers. You glow."
Tooth felt a smile stretching across her face and looked down at the tiles, tracing them with a finger. She'd been complimented on her feathers before, of course, but each time it had felt like there was an ulterior motive to the compliment, and that it wasn't honestly meant, unlike the honest admiration in Jack's voice.
"You'd rather a small wedding, then?" she asked, and he let her change the subject, shrugging.
"I thought so, but I never thought I'd be married either," he said honestly. "It's mostly all the...fuss and bother with a big wedding, know what I mean?"
Tooth looked Jack over and thought she did. "All the ritual and formality and stiff tradition?"
Jack shrugged. "I guess. I know it's important and all, but..."
Tooth ran a hand down his arm, still enjoying a little thrill that she could do so freely, gaining his instant attention. "We have time. We can talk it all out until we're both happy."
Jack raised his hand to cover hers where it still rested on his arm. "Yeah. We've got a lot to talk out." He raised her hand to his lips, brushing a kiss across the back where feathers tapered off to skin, smiling even as her breath hitched at the innocent gesture. "I don't want to screw this up," he admitted quietly, pressing his cheek to the back of her hand. "I kind of...have a habit of messing things up."
Raising her free hand, Tooth cupped Jack's cheek, turning her other hand to cradle his face. "Not everything," she said quietly, leaning forward to touch her forehead to his. "Not nearly as much as you think."
A/N: Couldn't find the song on youtube, sorry. I'll be putting together a playlist on 8tracks and downloadable version once the story is over, though.