Title-Long Summer Talks

Summary-The one where all of the Guardians talk about why the world views them the way they do and why Jack is okay without believers.

Characters-Jack Frost, Tooth, North, Bunnymund, Sandman

Rating-K+

Request by- Nicki K, Jokermask18

"Guys, you will never guess what I did today!" said Jack, soaring through the open window at the Pole to find North and Tooth sitting on the couch together, discussing whatever it was they discussed when they were together.

"Not now, Jack," said Tooth kindly. "North and I are busy."

Jack pouted for a minute before figuring out a different way to go about getting to tell his story; he was far more brilliant than most gave him credit for, he was just too busy having fun to utilize it.

"Hey Tooth," said Jack, touching down lightly, his staff carelessly thrown over his shoulder. "How do you factor in wisdom teeth?"

"What?" said Tooth, looking up from her conversation at the mention of teeth.

"Wisdom teeth, how do those factor in to your memory boxes?" said Jack.

"Oh, that's rather simple," said Tooth happily. "See, not everyone has wisdom teeth and those that do don't often lose them until they are too old to believe. They go into a different case and hold the negative memories in them."

"Why the negative?" asked Jack, his head dropping to the side in confusion.

"That's why they are called wisdom teeth, Jack. Wisdom is most often born from misfortune, so the negative memories go into the wisdom teeth and put away separately. Why the sudden interest in wisdom teeth?"

"Oh, that's where I was today," laughed Jack. "Jamie got his wisdom teeth out and was so loopy! It was a blast. You wouldn't believe the things that kid said."

Then Jack was off, flying through the air, gifting the pair with snow before hurtling to tell Sandy all about his day with Jamie.

-break-

"So if there aren't any other orders of business-" said North, concluding the Guardian meeting.

"Actually, I have something," said Jack, putting his hand in the air. Everyone turned to stare at him in shock; Jack never tried to prolong the meetings.

"What is that?" said Tooth slowly, as if she could not quite comprehend why Jack was speaking about business.

"Why are media interpretations so different than what you guys really look like?" asked Jack. "Especially you, North, and Bunny."

There was silence around the table for several long minutes, Jack looking expectantly at the others, waiting for the answer as if it were the most interesting thing. Once they got of the shock of his question, the Big Four began to seriously consider the question.

"Well, I'm not really a public image," said Tooth at last. "All it really says is that I'm the Tooth Fairy and the stories about me actually vary from culture to culture, so I don't really think my image is much different than what most children think of. And Sandy may be a bit smaller in person, but that's about it."

"Yeah, I get that," said Jack, waving his hand dismissively. "I'm more curious about why North has tattoos and is a beast on the battlefield and why Bunny is actually not a bunny at all and is Australian and really moody."

"Oi!" snapped Bunny as Jack laughed. "What about you, Jack Frost? Aren't you supposed to be some crotchety old man holed up in a cave in the north?"

"Only in one variation," said Jack smugly. "In another I am the handsome young boy who a girl falls madly in love with and I save an impoverished town from a greedy tyrant."

"Media is wrong," said North dismissively. "They think I am big and fluffy."

"But why?" asked Tooth. They had never discussed their media status before.

"Probably because it is way less creepy if the man sneaking into your house once a year is fat and harmless than an ex-bandit," said Jack lightly, laughing. "It's always creeped me out, to be honest, that whole 'he sees you when you're sleeping, he knows when you're awake, he knows if you've been bad or good' thing. It made me feel better when I could picture you as fat and slow."

"Shut up," grumbled North. "What about Bunny?"

"What about me?" snapped Bunny, not enjoying the conversation moving on to him.

"Well, you're not exactly a fluffy little rabbit," said Jack. "Why is that what everyone thinks you are?"

"Because people are idiots. They get one little view of me my first year as the Easter Bunny and they think I'm that size all the time. It's stupid."

"Aw, is Cotton Tail a bit upset about the view the world has of him? Never pegged you as vain."

Jack's eyes twinkled as Bunny glared at him.

"You know, Jack, I have a question for you," said Tooth, trying to diffuse the tension. "You're a Guardian now. When all of use became Guardians, we had a bit of a reputation but we all lost some powers for a time until we gained more, once we took our oath of course. You took your oath, you have a handful of believers, but at the same time you lost no powers and are probably more powerful than all of us put together. Why is that?"

"Oh, the joys of being the Spirit of Winter. See, I'm not actually grounded to the same rules as you. I'm not just a spirit of winter, I'm the Spirit of Winter, you can't kill a season. The only reason the ones before me aren't around anymore is because they quit…or died, you know, whichever came first. Normally death, but I think the guy right before me quit."

"Died?" said Tooth, alarmed. "What do you mean, they died?"

"You guys really do live under rocks, don't you?" said Jack, pushing back and sitting on top of the table instead of his chair. "The Spirit of Winter is kind of one of two seasonal spirits that run a risk of self destruction. Summer spirits tend to burn themselves out, literally. Winter spirits freeze over when they spend too much time alone. They eventually turn their backs on everything, they grow colder and colder to the world, and eventually freeze and die. It happens."

Jack shrugged, missing the looks the others shared.

Had they really come that close to losing Jack forever? Before they had even known him, had they been part of the reason he could have died? How long would it have taken Jack to freeze? He had 300 years, how did that measure up to the other Spirits of Winter?

"So, who's up for a game of elf hockey?" said Jack, clearly done with his questions for the night and ready to go back to what he did best-having fun.

"I'll play," said Bunny, surprising North and the others until they saw the grief in his eyes.

They all knew that Bunny saw Jack as a younger brother but it surprised them how personally he seemed to be taking the news that Jack could die.

"Me too," said North, a sad smile on his face, because he saw the boy as a long lost son, one he should have spent more time looking for and less time ignoring.

"I'll watch," said Tooth, upset that the young boy in front of her had to face the world alone and knew the entire time that he could die because no one wanted him. "But I won't hit any of them. Watch out for their teeth."

Sandy smiled and signed that he would be goalie. Unlike the others, he admired the strength Jack had to hold on for so long. Strength like that meant the kid was going to be alright, even if the media would portray him as a crotchety old man.

*Okay, first off, I would like to apologize for not updating in forever. I had a lot of stuff come up, lots of work, lots of stress, and then I got...well, I guess it's not really important, the point is that if you have ever watched a crime show then you can picture how one of my nights went. It was a huge setback for me.

Secondly, I wanted to say the I will continue "One of these Days" but I wanted to get out a few requests first. And yes, I know that I skipped a few by adding in the one from Jokermask18, but it worked with the first request on the list, so I had to skip a few. Also, my list got deleted and I had to go back and rewrite it, which took a while, but it is almost updated and it is still in order, so I don't think I have lost any of the requests.

Now, I think that covers it. I hope you guys can forgive me. Always- Ari