Chapter 12
Less Stubborn Than You
North rounded the doorway into his office, nearly bowling over the dozes of elves who were setting up an ambush of wrapping paper, ribbons and medical bandages near his desk, which happened to be exactly where Doctor Bunnymund was in the habit of standing whenever he came to help North after he broke a finger or got hit too hard during a hockey game; which happened more often than the large man liked to admit.
The rainbow elf looked up at him enthusiastically as he pointed to the tangle of supplies and jumped up and down, ringing his bell with ear-aching enthusiasm. He had his hands raised up on his head, making them look like small rabbit ears.
North made a quick guess as to who the ambush was for, and pulled on his best smile. He nodded his head, giving them a thumbs-up with one hand as the other stumbled to put his chair into reverse.
Once the elf was satisfied with Santa´s praise, he went back to work, ordering his voluntary subordinates around with soundless pointing and bossy expressions as North slowly backed away.
Once he was out of sight, he shook his head and widened his eyes.
"I admit, new obsession with bandages I did not predict." He said to no one in particular.
A nearby yeti grumbled some gobbledygook in response, making his boss nod.
"All of them from supply cabinet? Well, let us hope no one needs them anytime soon," replied North. He gave wide-eyed shudder and added "At least bandages do not start fires like last obsession. . . We will leave them to it, no? Maybe it will bring peace for more than five minutes at a time," he mused.
The yeti shrugged in response as North slid a thick roll of wrapping paper through the door handles, locking them shut from the outside.
"That should hold them off. If Bunny comes this way first, tell him to meet me in meeting room instead of my office as usual, da?" he said as he turned his chair and made his way to the elevator.
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"Those are all the exercises I want you to do for now. Any questions?"
North stopped drumming his fingers and smiled.
"Yes! Can I stop sitting in chair all day?"
Bunny raised his eyebrows and the corner of his lips curled slightly.
"After you put in so much effort into altering it? It would be a shame to lock it away in a closet so soon."
North gave the doctor an annoyed look.
"It was fun to begin with, but now I hate it."
Bunny smiled a little more.
"I´m fine with you using crutches, as long as your foot never touches the ground. Understood?"
"Yes, yes!" answered North, smiling gleefully, troubles forgotten as he called a yeti over, speaking to her in urgent excitement.
Bunny stood up from his rabbit-crouch, rolled his sleeves down and stretched slowly before looking through the various medical supplies he had brought in a black and tan satchel that was larger than the one he usually carried. He glanced over at his patient and spoke when the yeti left.
"I want to meet with you again in a week, so if you skip out on the exercises or you put any weight on that foot at all, I´ll know."
North was too excited to give a care about the threat.
Bunnymund stopped sifting through his supplies and took a pocket watch out of the purple vest he was sporting and checked the time.
"1:41. Did Jack mention where he would be before coming here?" asked Bunny, his nose twitching ever so slightly.
North drove to the window, looking out quickly before answering.
"I´m sure he will be here soon. He said he was going out to collect teeth with Tooth before the meeting."
Bunny´s ear twitched a few times as he pulled out the same leather notebook Charlie had brought to him a week earlier, leafing through it slowly.
North´s eyebrows raised slightly as he saw an angry mob of elves trudging their way toward him, brandishing bandage rolls and ribbons above their furious faces. North checked the clock.
Well, that trick lasted nearly half an hour! He thought to himself before forgetting about them again.
"You seemed very busy last time I saw you," probed North as he drove back over to his friend.
"Yes, I am very busy; which is why I am opposed to wasting an extra 78 hours on unnecessary meetings this year. Did he say when he would be back?"
"No, but he still has time. It is important for us to be patient with him. He needs our support and friendship as he adjusts to his new life," said North, indicating to the glowing globe behind him.
Bunny retrieved his stone from the satchel and made his way back to North´s leg, bringing the notebook and a pen. Before he reached his destination, however, the elves got to him; crowding around his feet and wrapping a slew of ribbons and bandages around his ankles.
North´s brow furrowed and his face reddened.
"What are you all doing?! He is my guest, leave him alone and go be trouble somewhere else!" he rebuked, driving closer and waving them away.
The elves froze and looked at him, but then almost simultaneously narrowed their eyes to glare at him as they grudgingly obeyed.
Bunny, for his part, didn´t appear to be upset. In fact, he looked almost amused as he watched them.
"It´s alright North, they mean no harm," he said bluntly.
Taken aback by the harsh Dr. Bunnymund´s gentle reply, North blinked a few times and shrugged.
"I am sorry. They have been obsessed with these things since last week when they saw you work."
Bunny let out a huffy chuckle and made his way out of the hastily disappearing bandage trap.
"Strange little things, aren´t they?" he mused aloud.
North grimaced.
"Too strange, I think."
By now the elves were making up for lost opportunities by wrapping each other up with gusto instead of their furry victim. What made the scene more adorably odd was that they would decorate their mummy-like elf friends with bright curls of ribbon on top of the bandages, taking turns until all but the rainbow one were "medically tended to" with holiday style.
The odd man out just glared at the two guardians with his arms crossed and an impatient tapping foot.
Bunny shook his head briefly as he watched their antics, but then suddenly blinked and reached into a pocket.
"Frost is going to be late." He said flatly as he checked his watch again.
North´s attention went back to his friend, and he took a deep breath.
"Like I say, is important for us to be patient with Jack. He has much to learn and many new responsibilities now.
Bunny sighed and turned to North.
"Yes, he has. But, he knew what he was getting into." He said as he crouched down and looked through his rock at North´s leg for the fourth time that day.
"It´s not like he was forced or threatened into it like some of us." He murmured clearly.
North snorted.
"Is true, he is less stubborn than you!" He said with a smile.
Bunny kept his face to the rock, but let out a humorless scoff.
North´s smile faded as he watched the doctor work. "Do not be surprised if he takes a little time to adjust," he said after a thoughtful moment.
Bunny began drawing something in the notebook with his right hand as he kept the rock in place against his eye with his left.
"If he goes back to behaving himself like a careless prankster, I won´t be surprised; only disappointed," he said as he rapidly made a few strokes on the page without looking away from the injury.
North´s eyes widened. "You are forgetting something very important, my friend. Jack saved all of us from Pitch, and he made the children believe in you again! He never betray us, and is working very hard these last days to get to know all of us. . .except you."
Bunny scoffed again, but kept sketching.
"I think you scared him off last week, though I doubt he would ever admit it," said North.
Bunny continued his drawing, but let out a short hum. Whether he was humming to agree with North, express regret or amusement, or show North that he was listening, wasn´t clear.
The large man pursed his lips for a second before narrowing his eyes and speaking again.
"Maybe you should follow his example, instead of trying to prove you were right about him."
Bunny was silent as he pulled his face away from the cast and looked at his right hand´s work. He added a few dozen lines of shading here and there before standing, waving the book back and forth to presumably dry the ink, then moving to set down both the book and the stone on the coffee table. Then he turned back to his patient.
"You´re mistaken. I don´t want him to fail. In fact, I hope he proves me wrong again and again. I´m just not ready to bet all of my money on him, so to speak."
This time, North scoffed. "If you are so worried, maybe you should focus on helping him instead of doubting him!" he said seriously.
Bunny raised a brow. "Why do you think I´m here twiddling my thumbs instead of working in my warren?" he said coolly as he reached for his pocket again. "And. . . he´s now late," he added, looking at his pocket watch.
"Well, he was not the one who was late for the last appointment, remember?" retorted North.
Bunny rolled his eyes and a yeti came in, holding an old-fashioned pair of crutches and scattering the mummy elves as they ran to the corners of the room. North´s eyes lit up and he pulled himself out of the tank-chair while beckoning the yeti to move faster. Once he was secure with the crutches, he began pacing in front of the fireplace with intermittent chuckles, his mood clearly improved.
"Speaking of being nice, you should know that Jack and Tooth have been spending much time together this week," he said off-handedly a minute or two later. "She seems happier than I´ve ever seen her before, and so does he. If you´re in need of conversation piece, you may consider encouraging him in his pursuit of our Tooth Fairy."
Bunny´s left eye twitched, but he said nothing. Instead, he watched his patient pace back and forth with his new crutches as he silently tugged at the strings that tied his vest closed.
North was about to say something more when another yeti rushed in with a message for him. The large man nodded and began hobbling after her, but he looked back at his friend before leaving.
"I must go check something. You are alright waiting here, yes?"
Bunny hummed back and walked over to an armchair, picking up his book on the way, and settling himself in to wait.
North turned his attention to the elves.
"You all, do not touch him or do anything to him, understand?" he ordered as he gave them the stink eye just before turning the corner.
By now they were all too busy playing in the pile of pillows to hear him.
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To my fabulous reviewers (you guys are the best!):
Leon: Thanks for leaving a review! I'm not going to give any spoilers, but I will say that your idea makes a lot of sense. We shall see. . . Thanks again for leaving a comment, and I hope to hear your thoughts and guesses again soon!
Guest!: Hi! I loved reading your thoughts on Bunny and North´s relationship. I think you´re right, they tend to push each other, though sometimes I wonder if they realize it. It´s fun to see. X-men, yeah, that made me laugh! I love the name Charlie, which is why I used it for the main Chaek, but I didn´t even think of Charles Xavier or Hugh Jackman. Whoops! Hey, thanks for leaving a review, I really really do love reading yours! The answers that you give are extremely helpful to me.
Selkiesong22: Hello! I´m thrilled that you´re enjoying the story. About Jack being undead. . . I´m sorry to say that in this story, most spirits had to die to become who they are now. But, I hope that doesn´t dissuade you from reading further! Jack is in the next several chapters, and I get the feeling that he´s your favorite so I look forward to hearing your thoughts.
Shellycat: Hey thanks for leaving another review! Long time no see! I´m so glad that you´re still reading. Once again, your inference is very well thought out and creative. . . I´m glad you shared it with me. I won´t spoil anything, but I promise that we´ll see more of Charlie. . . Please leave another review with your thoughts coming up!
What do you think?
What are Bunny´s feelings toward Jack compared to North´s?
This is the first time we´ve seen a one on one with North and Bunny (though to be honest, they´re going to be the two guardians that we see the most of-but don´t worry, the others are far from forgotten). Are there any interactions that you´re hoping to see with the two of them? Which direction do you see their friendship going from where they are now?
North did a lot of side-stepping in Chapter 9 What Meeting, and makes some big assumptions in Chapter 10 Your Current Priority. Do you think he´s improved his communication with Bunny in this chapter as compared to those?
Have you ever had a neice/nephew/younger sibling/cousin who was always underfoot, helping (hindering?) you at every chance they got?