Birthday

Jack Frost didn't remember his birthday. He had remembered seeing the children celebrate turning another year older with their families. A cake with candles, brightly wrapped gifts in the corner, and decorations. Jack had loved the idea of a birthday party, but for 300 years, he didn't have any friends, and when he tried to make some, things never ended well.

But Jack had friends now, but he had forgotten about the whole birthday thing. He was busy with his new role as a Guardian and spending time with his friends. Jack's birthday was never brought up until North found something while he was cleaning up in his office.

North was dusting a shelf when he accidentally knocked out a large folder. Papers flew out when it hit the ground. North shook his head. Now he had to pick up each and every one.

North bent down and began to pick up the papers when one that was sitting off to the side caught his eye. He picked up the worn sheet and read it over. His eyes widened in surprise when he saw that at the top of it said, "Jackson Overland."

North knew that that was Jack's name before he became Jack Frost. He skimmed through the page and realized that it was all information about the young boy. His family, friends, things he liked to do and things he hated. North read through it all, but a specific part made him shout.

Next to Jack's name was his birthdate, November 20th. And that date was tomorrow.

"Jack's birthday iz tomorrow?" whispered North to himself. He gasped. "Jack's birthday iz TOMORROW?!"

North shoved all of the papers except Jack's back into the folder and put the folder back on the shelf in an unfastidious manner and burst out of his office.

"JACK'S BIRTHDAY IZ TOMORROW!" North bellowed. Several yetis and elves looked at him in bemusement. Phil said something in yetish and North turned to him.

"Of course, I vant you to call the others!" said North. "Except Jack! Gather everyone but Jack!"

Phil nodded and called over two yetis and they left to get Tooth, Sandy, and Bunnymund. North stared at the piece of paper in his hand and wondered why he didn't find it sooner. Jack would have loved to know his actual birthday.

North walked to the Globe Room and when he arrived, he found Tooth, Sandy, and Bunny crawling out of sacks.

"North, ya didn't tell yer yetis here ta shove us in sacks, did ya?" asked Bunny.

"No, I did not," said North. He looked to Phil and the other two yetis.

"Ablagy uflwa yog!" said Phil, which translated to, "You told us to get them, but you didn't say how."

North shook his head and dismissed the matter. "Anyway! I just found something very important!"

Bunny crossed his arms. "It isn't a new cookie recipe, is it?"

Sandy put up an image of a present. "A new gift-wrapping design?"

"Did you find mint toothpaste?" asked Tooth. North, Sandy, and Bunny stared at her.

"What?" said Tooth. "I heard you ran out!"

"No, no, and no!" North said. He pulled out the paper. "This iz vhat I found!"

Bunny took the paper out of his hands and read through it. He blinked in surprise when he finished.

"Jack's birthday is tomorrow?" asked Bunny. Tooth and Sandy looked over his shoulders and they looked just as surprised as Bunny did.

"Yes! Vhich iz vhy ve need to surprise him vith party!" North said excitedly.

Tooth smiled enthusiastically. "That's a great idea, North!"

North nodded. "I already have plan. Ve trap Jack in sack and…"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, mate," said Bunny. "Another sack?"

North shrugged. "Why not?"

Bunny was about to say something, but Tooth said, "Maybe we should just have one of us bring him here instead of shoving him into a sack and tossing him through a magic portal."

Sandy nodded in agreement.

"Okay, fine," said North. "No sacks or magic portals."

It took the Guardians some time to agree on what to do, but they then settled on decorating the North Pole and bringing Jack there in the most creative way possible. North had gotten decorations from his very vast room of supplies that contained things that weren't even Christmas related.

"Stuff iz for keeping safe," said North when Bunny stared at the room in surprise.

"It's fer 'safe keepin'" corrected Bunny. "You and expressions, mate…"

North shrugged and the two got to work. The Guardians scoured the Pole for every single blue decoration that they could find. Tooth and Sandy hung up paper snowflakes and other wintery decorations while North and Bunny worked from the ground. Bunny painted on some decorations while North placed them around the Globe Room. North managed to find some fake snow and the Guardians scattered it around to make the room look like a winter wonderland. About two hours later, the Globe Room looked perfectly winter themed.

"Not bad," said Bunny.

"Not bad at all!" said Tooth. "Now we just need to get some gifts, bake a cake, and then we're done!"

And so, the Guardians got to work. Each of the Guardians got a present for Jack and they all pitched in on making a cake. They argued over what flavor they should do and Sandy accidentally left the first two in the oven to long and burned them ("They're not burnt, just crispy." he said with his dreamsand images.) but they managed to create a vanilla cake with light blue frosting with various frost like patterns all over.

Bunny added one last dollop of white frosting and wiped his brow. "There. Finally finished."

North, Tooth and Sandy were about to stick their fingers into the cake and Bunny batted their hands away. "Oi! Rack off! This took an hour ta frost!"

The three looked at each other sheepishly. "Sorry, Bunny," said Tooth. "It just looks really good!"

"Iz true," said North. "The cake looks delicious!"

Sandy put up an image of Jack stuffing his face with cake. "Jack will love it."

Bunny set down the frosting bag and admired his work. Tooth, North and Sandy took their chances while Bunny was distracted and almost stuck their fingers into the blue, gooey frosting when Bunny batted their hands away again.

"Ya can have the cake at the party," said Bunny. Tooth, North and Sandy sighed.

"Just one little taste?" asked North. Sandy and Tooth put on begging expressions and Bunny rolled his eyes at their childish behavior.

"Not on your nelly," said Bunny. "Now let's get on with the rest of the party plannin' before ya all eat the cake!"

The Guardians left the kitchen and spent the next few hours making finishing touches on the decorations and trying not to eat Jack's cake. Once the sun went down, the Guardians stayed at the North Pole so that they would be able to bring Jack there the next morning. Jack was going to be so surprised.

…

Jack yawned as he woke up to the sounds of the Wind whistling past his window. He rubbed sleep out of his eyes and sat up. Jack looked out his window and saw the trees had almost lost all of their leaves. Jack smiled. Soon it would be time to bring in winter, and Jack couldn't contain his excitement.

Jack leapt out of bed and picked up his staff and stepped outside and breathed in the fresh autumn air. He smiled at the beautiful sight of his lake and suddenly felt himself falling through a tunnel. He yelped as he made contact with hard ground and looked around.

"What?" mumbled Jack. He was in the North Pole, but it was completely dark. Jack felt around for his staff and picked it up and began to walk around cautiously. Did something happen?

Jack suddenly felt his staff being ripped away from him and something was placed on his head. Before he had a chance to shout, something was shoved into his hands and the lights suddenly turned on. The Guardians jumped out of nowhere and yelled, "Happy birthday!"

Jack was so surprised that he accidentally froze the cake he was holding. He blinked in both bemusement in great surprise.

"Looks like Frost frosted the cake," said Bunny. The Guardians rolled their eyes playful and Bunny said, "What? It was a good one!"

Jack was still in shock. "W-what...w-what…"

Tooth fluttered up to him. "Happy birthday, Jack!"

Jack blinked again. "What the heck is going on?"

"It's ya birthday ya gumby," said Bunny.

"M-my what?" asked Jack. His birthday? He didn't have a birthday. He always considered the day he rose from the lake his birthday, but he didn't exactly know when his real birthday was. Jack knew he was physically seventeen and he just added the 300 years of loneliness he went through to get 317 years old. But his actual birthday? The day he was actually born?

"I-I...what?" was all Jack could get out. The Guardians laughed.

"North found your birth date in some old papers," said Tooth. "We spent all day yesterday decorating and planning. We even made the cake!"

"And I iced it," said Bunny.

Jack looked around. The Globe Room looked like a winter wonderland and Jack saw a pile of gifts in the corner sitting next to a table of all of his favorite foods. He looked back at the Guardians.

"You...you did all this for me?" he asked.

Sandy nodded and North said, "Of course! It iz your birthday!"

"Yeah, what do ya think we are? Heartless?" asked Bunny.

"I...I…" Jack didn't know what to say. He felt so many different emotions in only a few seconds. He finally got a hold of himself and said, "You guys...I...thank you."

"You're welcome!" Tooth said happily. She turned to the others. "I think it's time to get this party started."

"How about we start with the cake?" said Jack. He looked it over. "I'm pretty sure we can still eat it."

Jack set the cake on the table and the Guardians each gave him some sort of friendly touch and Jack smiled. He was about to cut the cake when he noticed four holes on the side of it.

"Uh...any chance that someone got to the cake first?" asked Jack.

Bunny turned to Tooth, Sandy, and North who were whistling innocently and suddenly were very interested in the balloons.

"Are ya bloody kidding me?!" shouted Bunny.

"You have no proof that it was us!" said Tooth quickly.

"It vas only small taste!" cried North.

Sandy put up an image of a test and then the cake. "We had to test it to make sure it was perfect."

Bunny placed his head in his paw. "I can't believe ya…"

Jack laughed as he watched Bunny scold the three for eating his cake. After that was cleared up, they all spent the rest of the time watching Jack opening his presents and had a snowball fight inside of the North Pole. It was one of the biggest and most intense fights that Jack had ever had and even the yetis and elves joined in. At the end of the day, the Guardians told tales of their early adventures and Jack was all smiles. When he turned in for the night he was stuffed with food and content. Jack took off his party hat and flopped onto his bed and closed his eyes, a blissful sigh escaped his lips.

That birthday was the best and most memorable birthday Jack had ever had.

Author's Note: I used the date that the final Guardians of Childhood chapter book came out for Jack's birth date! =D I also do not know the exact year Jack was born, so I made my best guess. X)

Until the next story!

-BeyondTheMoon1203