Sparklepool101- thank you so much for reviewing! I love Jack and Bunny fluff too, so here's some more- hope you enjoy!

ARTISAN

It was common knowledge that North and Bunny had an ever-running argument. Anyone who knew them at all would roll their eyes if asked what it was, and dismiss it as foolish rivalry. Tooth always said that she didn't see why one holiday had to be better than the other, since they were both important, but the two arguing Guardians always ignored her, and she had long since learned to do the same to them and just went back to working whenever they started up again. Sandy tended to either sleep through the disputes or sip his eggnog and spectate, unbothered, and the Yetis had long learned to avoid notice when the Christmas versus Easter arguments were in progress.

Jack had found the altercations amusing for a while, but even for a spirit of fun, listening to the same thing over and over again can get pretty old after a while. So when Bunny was in a tirade yelling at North for calling him away from his work over nothing less than three months before Easter, and North was brushing him off, Jack was spectating lazily, only half paying attention as the group walked through the workshop.

Bunny, on the other hand, was getting more and more irritated- why couldn't the stupid Russian see that he had work to do! He couldn't just come running in every time North thought of something he wanted to tell him!

He said that, had said that before, but the taller man just waved it off.

"You make tunnels, are here in ten minutes. Is no big deal," the Russian said dismissively.

"Yes! Yes it is a big deal!" Bunny exploded, throwing his paws up and nearly flinging the egg and paintbrush he held. A yeti ducked over his table in reflex, but Bunny barely noticed in his tirade. "This is the first Easter since we beat back Pitch, and I have an arseload of work to do to get ready for it!" Fuming, Bunny swiped a rag from the worktable of the yeti whose head was down and used it to wipe off the paint on his fingers from where he'd smeared his painting. Well, now he'd have to redo this one, thanks to the biggest arse in the world of legends. "Why can't you just make a list whenever you think of something and tell me the next time I come in for a guardian meeting! Making lists is your whole thing, isn't it!?"

"Please, Bunny, my thing is much more than making lists," North scoffed. "Besides, would take too much time, and I do not need more lists to keep track of," North said, dismissing the idea before yelling at a yeti who had dropped and broken a toy as they passed. "Argh, Paul, please, be more careful! Now will have to recycle!"

The Yeti garbled something that Bunny couldn't understand besides the word sorry and North sighed. "Put it in pile."

The yeti picked up the toy and tossed it into a crate, which was half full of other damaged toys, glancing up when the angry Easter Bunny erupted into indignant invective over making a list being too much to ask North for, but the Russian thinking it perfectly fine to call Bunnymund away from his work on every whim he had. Paul heaved a longsuffering sigh through his nose and nodded to Jack, who was leaning boredly on his staff as the other Guardians argued.

Jack waved lazily. "Hey Paul.

The yeti said something that overlapped North's patronizing "Now Bunny, we both know Easter takes less work than Christmas. Is not too bad to spare just few minutes."

"LESS WORK!"

"Yeah, they're at it again, Jack responded to Paul through Bunny's thundering, his voice flat. Paul said something else, and Jack shrugged. "Nothing new. Hey, what's this box, anyway?"

Paul garbled a word and slapped the side of the crate.

"Castoffs?" Jack repeated, curious now. "Huh, mind if I take a look?"

Bunny, who- with his superior hearing- was absently following the conversation without pausing his diatribe, saw Paul shrug and shake his head in permission, and Jack dug into the crate with the smile of a child on Easter. (You thought it was gonna say Christmas, didn't you? Well, NOPE!) Bunny almost smiled at the excitement on Jack's face, but it became a glare instead when he looked back at North and his irritation overwhelmed the urge. "Look here, mate. Preparing Easter is a full-time job! I have to come up with new egg designs throughout the entire year, keep the Warren running smoothly, check in with my golems, and paint and deliver millions of eggs across the world! And I don't just get to drop in through a chimney and leave them under the tree, no, I hide each and every one of them for the little ankle biters to find! So losing a few minutes this close to Easter? Yeah! It's actually a bit of a big deal!"

"Easter is still few months away," North pointed out, and Bunny could practically feel steam coming out of his ears at the bloody wombat's enraging ability to totally miss the point!

Paul wisely busied himself rapidly after taking a look at the Guardian of Hope's face, and Jack was ignoring them all in favor of rummaging through the pile of castoff toys. He had found some black sheet of something and a little stick, and was doing something with it that Bunny couldn't see. It didn't really help that he was still rather distracted.

"Yes, Easter is still a few months away! But I still have work to do, North! Look, how would you like it if I had you portal into the Warren every few days a few months before Christmas for little things, like, like my egg golems needing a bath? You'd be spittin' mad, that's what! And Easter is important! It brings hope to children, celebrates new life! That's a little more important than presents kids play with for a couple hours before getting bored!*"

"Bunny," North started dampeningly.

"No, no, you remember last year? You said it! You said, 'Easter is more important than Christmas!' Jack was there! He remembers, dontcha Frostbite?" Bunny said, pointing a paw at the youngest Guardian.

"Was one time thing," North objected. "Not all Easter, only that one! Jack, I say that too, did I not?"

"No, no, you still said it! Come on, back me up, mate," Bunny said, directing his second sentence toward Jack.

He and North both turned to the winter spirit, who was perched nimbly on the edge of the crate with his staff leaning next to him, still hunched over his little black sheet thing. His eyes flicked up to a studiously working Paul every few seconds, before going back down to whatever he was working on.

He clearly wasn't paying any attention to North and Bunny. At all.

"Jack," North said again, this time louder to catch the youngest Guardians's attention.

"Hmm?" Jack looked up questioningly. "Oh, are you two done?" he asked, clearly not having heard a word they had said.

Bunny opened his mouth, but North spoke over him. "Yes, yes, we are done. Bunny has work to go back to."
"Oh, oh now you acknowledge that, ya giant piece of work! Crikey, sometimes you really are the biggest pain in my-"

Jack snorted quietly, and Bunny whirled on the little traitor, green eyes glaring into him for siding with North when the Russian was so clearly in the wrong! But the white haired teen wasn't looking at either of them anymore; he had bent back over the little black board he was so diligently working on. "What are you doing?" Bunny asked, momentarily distracted.

Jack looked up again. "Hmm? Oh, this? It's one of those little scratchboards that gets made into drawing books for kids," he said, waving his black board a little. "I found some of these kinds of things dumpster diving a while back and thought they were pretty fun. They have color underneath the black coating, so you scratch off the black to make your picture. This one already had a scratch on it and was in the recycle bin, so I didn't figure a few more marks would hurt," he said, before looking down and chuckling sheepishly. "Well, okay, maybe I made a little more than a few."

Jack could draw? Well, the kid had a definite artistic flair in his frost patterns, so Bunny supposed he wasn't really surprised. "Well, let's see it then," he prompted, his artist curiosity overpowering his desire to keep yelling at North.

Jack looked a little embarrassed. "Ah, well, it's a little rough, since it was just going to get recycled," he warned, turning the board around.

Bunny's eyebrows shot up, and North said something delighted in Russian.

Jack's board was a swirly gray brown color under the black (something that Bunny now vaguely remembered North not liking). Jack had completely hidden whatever scratch had landed the board in the bin, well enough that even Bunny's sharp eyes could not find it, in a detailed rendition of Paul bent over his worktable. The drawing was remarkably lifelike- Jack had added depth by making more strokes (which removed the black) for the highlights, and sparser lines (leaving more black behind) to replicate shadows. The tiny yeti had directional strokes of differing thicknesses creating fur, and Jack had even managed to capture the effect of shine on the worktable, which held rough impressionistic tools.

"I'm impressed, Frostbite," Bunny said genuinely, his whiskers twitching into a smile when the compliment sent Jack's eyebrows up. "S'that the level of realism you get in all your 'rough' drawings?"

Jack's look of surprise melted into an almost shyly pleased smile. "Well, the style changes depending on my mood," he brushed off nonchalantly, and Bunny felt a deep smirk crawl across his face. Well, if Jack Frost didn't look almost flustered.

He was about to razz the younger spirit, but North let out a shout of laughter and slapped Jack on the back so firmly he nearly knocked the slender teen into the crate. "Jack, is incredible! You are very skilled artist!"

To Bunny's great amusement, Jack flushed the tiniest bit, although his smile covered it enough that anyone with average vision would have missed it. "Thanks, North."

Bunny could not deny the warm sensation he got from seeing Jack's surprised pleasure at having his talents recognized, so he (very magnanimously) did nothing more than wiggle his eyebrows at the younger spirit's hint of a blush when Jack glanced his way. Jack gave him a small withering glare, and Bunny laughed quietly before North glanced at him.

He cleared his throat under the Russian's confused look and moved on. "He's right though, mate; that's some skill there. Where did you learn to draw like that?"

Jack smiled again and shrugged. "Well, I have had plenty of time to practice. I've tried a lot of mediums that are easy to find- charcoal, pencil stubs, crayons- stuff like that. And I've drawn a lot in my frost coatings on windows over the years- it was fun to watch the kids' excited smiles when they woke up and saw the pictures. Besides, I wanted to try something new once in a while, so adding drawings kept things interesting. I also left some pretty elaborate murals on the backs of dusty cars when I went through some of the spring and summer areas and there was a lot of dust. Those were pretty fun, too," he said, a reminiscing smile on his face.

Bunny felt a twinge of guilty sadness (one that had become long familiar over that last year since Jack had become a Guardian) at the bittersweet thought of an invisible Jack leaving little drawings for people, just to make them smile. But Jack didn't seem to consider his skill as another reminder of his time alone, and Bunny wasn't inclined to ruin it for him by being morose, so he quirked a smile instead. "Well, you definitely have a gift, kid," he said, looking back at Jack's tiny yeti, captured so diligently working in the little picture.

Jack looked a little caught off guard by the compliment -he and Bunny had grown their friendship a lot over the past year, but they were both still getting used to actually being more genuine with each other beyond their rivalry- but then smiled again, "Thanks, Bunny."

Bunny smiled back, but it was almost absent as an idea niggled at him, his ears going up as he thought about it more. He was behind schedule a bit from wasting so much time arguing with North, and he had a lot of painting designs to catch up on this week. And the kid obviously had skill, so... Why not?

"Jack, what would you think about helping me out with some of my egg designs?" he asked on a whim. Jack's eyebrows shot up again, and North looked excited, he and Paul (who had been mostly invisibly quiet throughout the conversation) turning to look at Jack expectantly
Jack looked at the Guardian of Hope, his blue eyes seeming to search Bunny's face for some hint of a prank. "Really?" he asked almost cautiously.

Bunny grinned fondly, letting Jack realize it wasn't a joke. "Yeah, really," he said, waiting for Jack's face to break into his familiar excited expression.

It didn't come, though- Jack still looked a bit hesitant. "Are you sure?" he prodded. "I don't have a lot of practice with painting- it wasn't as easy to find supplies for as drawing and etching. I don't want to mess up your eggs."
"Eh, you'll pick up on it quick enough," Bunny said. He kept his tone casual, like it wasn't a big deal for him to ask for help with his art; wanting to avoid igniting the subtle spark of insecurity in Jack's eyes. Despite being very good at hiding it behind nonchalant and slightly cocky confidence, the winter spirit had rather a lot of insecurities that Bunny was getting pretty good at seeing the signs of. Despite his uncaring tone, he smiled gently at the younger spirit willing him to hear the unspoken words beneath. I want your help, Jack. I want your company. Will you give it?

North obliviously interrupted the gravity of the moment. "Yes, Jack is fast learner," he announced proudly, clapping Jack on the shoulder again

Jack smiled absently, but continued to study Bunny for another moment. Slowly, finally, an eager smile spread across the youngest Guardians pale face, brightening his blue eyes. That was the look Bunny was waiting for. "Okay then!" he said, laughing a little.

Bunny chuckled as North boomed a laugh and clapped his hand. "All right."

Jack hopped into the air, his eyes sparkling with badly concealed excitement. "When do we start?"

Bunny scoffed derisively, the smile tugging on his lips nearly ruining the effect. "When do we start? What are you gabbin about? Easter's only three months away, mate; we don't have time to waste! So let's get cracking, ya gumby!"

Jack's answering grin could blind a tooth fairy for a week. "All right, then! Oh, and, uh, North?" he added, catching the smiling Russian's attention. "Maybe try out making that list," he suggested. "It's pretty frustrating to get called away from your work constantly, and you and Bunny would both save a lot of time if you weren't arguing about it all the time."

North looked at Jack in surprise, then smiled sheepishly at both him and Bunny. "Ahh, you are right, of course, Jack. Sorry, my friend," he said to Bunny, sending the Pooka's eyebrows shooting up in surprise. "I was being insensitive, and took argument too far. Of course Easter is important. Is nearly as important as Christmas!"

Bunny shook his head in exasperation, a smile creeping across his face. "Apology accepted," he said, maturely ignoring the Russian's last sentence. In all honesty, he had never expected North to finally understand at all, much less apologize. (Even if the older spirit was still a stubborn bugger, and always would be. It was still an apology.)

Jack really was changing them; making them better. More of a team. More of a family. It was funny, really, how it had taken an independent loner of a spirit, one who had never been a part of a team or a family before, to teach them how to be both. But Bunny couldn't be more thankful for it. And as his green eyes connected with North's smiling blue ones, he knew the older Guardian was thinking the same thing too.

North nodded once, then turned on Paul, who was silently spectating. "What, what do you look at! Go, get on with your work! Christmas work does not stop just because Easter is important too!"

Bunny chuckled again, Jack's laugh ringing out from above him, and tapped his foot to create a tunnel beneath him, ignoring North's protests of not it Pole, Bunny! and fairly writing it off as even trade. Hey, just because the Guardian of Wonder had apologized didn't mean he hadn't still put Bunny behind schedule. It was only sensible to take the quickest way back to try and make up for lost time.

(Okay. So maybe he was being a little petty. Not everything could change all at once, right?)

He hopped into the shadows of cool green, smiling at the excited whooping from behind him as Jack dove after him in the embrace of his wind. He had improved enough to admit to himself that the kid's enthusiasm over being included brought on that increasingly common warm feeling in his chest, the one that made all of the guilt and worry that seemed to be a package deal when it came to Jack, absolutely worth it.

But still, he hoped Jack knew what he was getting into. The Pooka was looking forward to seeing Jack's face when the kid saw how many design googies they needed to paint.

He wondered how long that excitement would last in the face of mountains of unpainted eggs.

***0***

It lasted a lot longer than Bunny expected.

Swept along on the adrenaline from Jack's contagious enthusiasm, both Guardians rather lost track of time. They painted a massive range of designs, ranging from elegantly simple to stunningly intricate. Despite Jack's self-professed lack of painting skill, his first few designs had only been moderately wobbly, and he had picked up the flow far faster than Bunny would have guessed, branching out from his beginning frost-like patterns to more complicated designs while increasing his speed as he went.

Together, the two Guardians more than made up for the time Bunny had lost at the Pole, even managing to bring the preparations a few days ahead of schedule. (Probably because they were working through nights as well, too absorbed to remember that they should probably sleep sometime.)

Which, of course, always catches up to one eventually.

Baby Tooth was flying through the Warren, on her way to check on the Easter Bunny and her Jack at Tooth's behest. Usually the tiny fairies were sent on such reconnaissance errands nearer to the holiday, but no one had seen either Guardian since North talked to them at the Pole nearly five days ago. Which wasn't an uncommon amount of time for Bunny to disappear for near Easter, but this was a bit early in the year, and since Jack was with him as well, Baby Tooth had readily agreed to her mother's request to peek in on the two Guardians.

She chirped Jack's name as she flitted through several tunnels, not entirely sure where to look, when a cool wind curled gently around her and tugged her down a different direction. Recognizing the familiar crisp scent of snow, Baby Tooth followed Jack's companion unhesitatingly, and covered her mouth to silence her coo when she saw the scene before her.

Jack and Bunny were both asleep, surrounded by piles of happily and beautifully painted googies. Bunny had a pile of eggs in his lap, his paw resting on a finished one set beside him and inches away from dipping arm in his palette of paint. Jack had smears of paint everywhere, from his hands and face to his hair, and several on his sweatshirt. (Baby Tooth hoped they came out all right.) He had one paintbrush behind his ear and another loosely clasped in one hand, his other hand cradling a half-painted egg. From the still-wet paint drying on the brush's bristles, Baby Tooth could tell that the two Guardians must have only succumbed to sleep a little while ago.

She gently tugged the paintbrush and egg from her friend's color-smeared hand, squeaking quiet sounds of reassurance when he shifted in his sleep, then moved the paint that was about to decorate Bunny's arm before flying off to report to Tooth, leaving the two spirits undisturbed to their sleep.

It was well earned.

*I had to force myself to add this part, because I'm like not the point, you idiot, but couldn't have Bunny being a blameless little flower and North being the whole problem. They're both dunderheads in the movie, and I wanna stick to canon, right? ;)

A/N: Another sleeping ending! Does anyone else feel like the Guardians probably have terrible sleep habits when it comes to work? I also can totally see Jack running himself to the ground in his excitement and pulling the others along with him. And my story is, spirits need a lot less sleep than humans, and can go for at least several days without it. (Why did North and Jack both conk out in under one in Linguaphile? Because they had both been working for several already! There, a viable explanation!) I originally intended to end the chapter before the break, but the last part wanted me to add it, so I did. Also, chronologically this comes after a lot of the other oneshots I'll have in here, since it's nearly a year after the movie, but it let me write it now, so now is when I'll post it!

Thank you to everyone who favorited and followed- I hope my sporadic updates make you smile! See you again (hopefully) (relatively) soon!

(Reviews are adored!)