Hello again dearies! I'm sorry for the short chapter but my mind refused to work today after I wrote a chapter of my new story. If you guys are interested in some Jack/Pitch romance (yes they're a pair in there!) and don't mind rated M contents, you can check it out on my page or just in RoTG page. The story is called 'Throat Full of Glass', and it's a human!AU. Noooow, back to this story! I'll bring some longer chapters soon, I promise~ thank you for all your sweet reviews and everything else. Btw, the melody in here is 'Once Upon a December'. Cliche, but adorably useful. Hope you guys don't mind it.

If you have any requests, let me know!

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians.

Summary: In which Pitch finds out why Jack is so distressed.

35. Embarrassed

No matter what Jack Frost said about himself, he'd be an eternal child. His manners, his temper tantrums were of a child. His endless curiosity, his never-ending energy and more than that, the way he tried to hide his emotions as if Pitch couldn't just read on every one of them perfectly like he'd read one of his book. And in that moment, the way the winter child hid under his blue hood and how he moved restilessly around the library was more than enough to give away that something had happened. The Boogeyman sighed, finally tired of trying to find out what was wrong about the child by himself.

A dark tendril moved silently through the shadows and wrapped itself around the magical staff, taking it from Jack's hands with a simple tug.

Away from his source of power, the child faceplanted on a cold, slicky bed created of nightmare sand and some of his own melted ice. He didn't move for a while, as if in hopes he could just disappear into the dark material.

That was pretty depressing, even for the Nightmare King.

"What's the matter with you, snowflake? You've been sulking around all day."

Jack's voice was no more than an embarrassed whisper as he moved to hide his face on the dark 'bed', muffling his words even more. When the child didn't make another attempt of speaking out loud, Pitch stood up and approached, leaning closer and closer until Jack finally noticed his presence hovering over his back.

"Last n-night... I h-heard you..."

Well that wasn't what he had been expecting to hear, and he needed to take a deep breath to calm himself down enough and not to yell.
It'd be impolite, as much as he'd love to knock some sense into Jack's iced head.

"You got me worried because you heard me playing the violin? Your ways of testing my patience are truly legendary."

The winter child made a soft noise that resembled a whimper and all the sudden anger raging on Pitch's body melted away. Not often Jack seemed so vulnerable, so young and it was almost heartbreaking. But what could he do to make his poor child feel better when he didn't even know what was wrong? He moved away a few steps, an idea invading his mind slowly. It wouldn't hurt him to try... Sand swirled around his fingers, taking form of a violin, and he positioned himself. When the first notes echoed through the quiet room, the same melody he had played the last night, Jack moved up, sitting straight on the 'bed', and watched quietly as Pitch hummed along the bittersweet notes.

And for the first time in a long time, it felt right to play for someone else than himself and his silent, mindless companions.
For the first time, the melody didn't sound as sad and wrong as before.

Jack's eyes were shining in astonishment and wonder, as if that was the most beautiful thing he had ever heard in his life.
A wave of selfish pride hit him, yet his fingers didn't falter and kept carrying the melody on until the last notes.

"Are you feeling better?" Pitch finally asked, a smile creeping up his lips when the winter child nodded, eager and looking way more excited than before. "Good. You know you just needed to ask me."

"I know... but I'm glad I didn't. Thanks, dad."

And before the Nightmare King had enough time to feel dumbstruck, Jack zipped away quickly, disappearing into the dark lair.
Well, maybe they could make a habit out of that. He wouldn't mind any of it at all.

Thank you for reading!
See ya~