Sorry about the delay, guys.
I had a really fun time writing this one, and I hope you have just as much fun reading it!
Disclaimed
Party Games
...
To his credit, Jack did try not to laugh when he pulled off the blindfold to find he'd pinned the tail to Bunny's eye. It was more than he could say for Lleu, who'd had to walk over to the other side of the room so he wouldn't suffocate. Jack could still hear him trying (and failing spectacularly) to rein it in.
"Sorry, Bunny," Jack grinned, not sounding sorry at all.
Bunny, who had been wincing at the drawing in sympathy, glared at him and snatched the blindfold. "Let's hope you're better than he is," he said to Sophie, who was demanding that it be her turn next. If it hadn't been for the little girl's enthusiasm, Jack was sure Bunny would have torn down the drawing ages ago.
Sophie spun on the spot several times before staggering over in the general direction of the wall. She shoved the pin of the tail proudly into paper Bunny's foot. The real Bunny's eye twitched.
...
...
"Tooth, I saw you move!" Jamie grinned, pointing at the fairy in question.
Tooth sighed in resignation and, picking herself up off the floor, flew over to join the ever-increasing mob beside Jamie. "It was only a matter of time," she smiled at Jack – one of the first who had gotten out. Moon knew that boy had too much energy for his own good.
"To be honest, I'm impressed you lasted as long as you did," Jack laughed. "You're not normally still for very long."
The two of them glanced back over to where there were now only three figures lying on the rug, pretending to sleep: Monty, Sandy, and Mother Nature. Tooth hadn't known Sleeping Lions was actually a thing, but she found it was a good between-games game to help people unwind, even if she wasn't much good at it. Although, sparing a brief look at the swarm of party-goers on the sidelines, she wasn't the only one. She was surprised she hadn't been the first out, but, then, Bunny could hardly be blamed for his natural twitchiness.
"Monty, your hand moved!" Jamie called out.
Monty climbed to his feet with a sheepish smile and joined them, where he was promptly congratulated for staying in for so long.
"Who do you think will win?" Pippa asked, watching with rapt attention.
"Do you even need to ask?" Cupcake replied, just as Jamie said, "Sorry, Mother Nature, I saw that!"
At least no one could accuse Seraphina of being a sore-loser. She picked herself up and dusted herself off with a smug sort of smile. "Nature can only be reigned in for so long, I suppose," she said. "Looks like you win this round, Sandman."
Sandy didn't so much as twitch.
"Sandy?"
Nothing.
"Sandy! Wake up!"
...
...
"Left foot blue," May announced once the spinner had come to a stop. She watched with no small amount of amusement as those players still in groaned and awkwardly reached over each other.
Lleu draped himself over Mother Nature like a blanket in an effort to snag the last blue circle before Caleb could (and, really, it was amazing how well he was doing given how padded the suit was). The expression on Seraphina's face – mere centimetres away from Lleu's – was unreadable.
Lleu grinned at her. "Fancy seeing you here."
The returned smirk was slightly worrying.
May spun the arrow again. "Right hand yellow."
Seraphina twisted, expertly demonstrating her freakish flexibility in a single fluid movement that not only dislodged Lleu and sent him sprawling on his back (and rolling a little), but also won her the game when Caleb, dodging Lleu, slipped and slammed into Jack.
Standing tall over them all she asked, "How's the view from down there, boys?"
...
...
North shoved yet another marshmallow into his mouth and proudly declared, "I am chubby bubby." The words were only partially muffled, even though he was on number twelve.
"What even is the aim of this game?" Ceres sneered, watching Jack one-up North. The kid could barely close his mouth anymore, and Tooth, who had refused to play, looked like she was about to have an aneurism.
"To make a fool of yourself," Jamie informed her sagely, handing another marshmallow to Sophie. The girl had only managed about five or so, but was now instead happily eating them.
They all cracked up laughing when Lleu tried for number 13 and said, "I'mma bummy bummy." He surveyed them all with an air of indignity. "Mah mar moo warfm ma?" He turned to his left, where Bunny was seated, only to half spit, half choke at the sight that greeted him. It took several long minutes of coughing and Tooth petting his back before he could breathe again.
Bunny, cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk from all the marshmallows, crossed his arms and scowled.
...
...
Jack restrained a laugh as he watched the others running around below. Really, they obviously didn't know him very well if the first place they looked wasn't up in the rafters.
As if inspired by that very thought, Jamie paused and tilted his head upwards. His smile was a touch exasperated as he gestured silently in a way that clearly said 'how the hell am I going to get up there?' Jack, deciding to spare him, lowered his staff crook-down, the range extended by a vine courtesy of May, who had found him within the first five minutes. Jamie quickly grabbed hold and allowed himself to be pulled up before any of the others still searching could notice.
Jamie sat himself on a free patch between Jack and May as everyone else scooted down a bit. Jack wasn't sure how much weight the rafter beam would hold, but so far it was managing alright, even with himself, May, Lleu, Pippa, Bunny, Sandy, Cupcake, and now Jamie perched on it like a flock of particularly large birds. An odd simile, given the game was called Sardines.
...
...
Jack tried not to squirm as his team tied off yet another roll of toilet paper before starting on the next. This was their last roll. If they could finish it before the other team (whose centrepiece was Claude), they would win.
"How're you feeling, Jack?" Cupcake asked him as his arms were pulled just that little bit tighter against his sides.
"A little tied up," Jack replied lightly.
"Hilarious," she rolled her eyes.
"I thought so."
The toilet roll passed from hand to hand as it worked its way around. They were almost there. They could do this! (Even if 'this' was the most ridiculous game Jack had ever participated in, he couldn't help the competitive air about it. That and he really didn't want to lose to Bunny.)
"YEAH!" his team shouted, throwing down their empty toilet roll and throwing their hands in the air in victory. Jack would have joined them, but, well, he really was a little tied up.
But even as the amusement at both his team's reaction and the other team's disappointment washed over him, he couldn't help but think this was an incredible waste of toilet paper.
"Now we race them!" Lleu declared with a remarkably sinister grin for someone who was usually so cheerful.
Jack looked at Claude, whose legs had been wrapped separately, and then down at his own legs. His very-well-wrapped-together legs. Damn.
...
...
"I am king," Lleu declared, holding up the marked stick that proved his statement true, "and as your king I decree that numbers two and eleven have to pretend they're married for the next five rounds."
Those with numbers that weren't two or eleven snickered.
Jack and Bunny looked horrified.
...
...
"Okay, what's next?" Jamie perused the list of party games they had made, Tooth and Pippa reading over his shoulders.
"Murder in the dark sounds good," Pippa suggested, pointing to where it was scrawled on the paper.
Jack's head shot up, attention pulled away from where May was helping him remove the last of the toilet paper. "Did you say murder?"
"Yep!" Jamie grinned, putting the list down on the snack table. "You ever played it before?"
But Jack wasn't paying attention anymore. The second he was free of his 'mummy wrappings' he snatched up his staff and shot off out the window, a hasty "I'll be right back!" as his only words of parting. The others watched him go with a great deal of confusion.
It wasn't long before he returned, but no one had expected him to emerge from the shadows in the corner of the Globe Room. And they definitely hadn't expected to see Pitch accompanying him.
The Boogieman stared at the scene he'd stumbled upon with obvious surprise for a moment before rounding on Jack, glaring. "I thought you said it was a matter of life or death!"
"It is," Jack protested. "It's murder. In the dark. I thought you'd want to join in."
"It is not dark in here and there are no corpses."
"Yet."
"Hey, gramps!" Lleu was the first to recover from the shock. "You come to join the party?"
"Do not call me that!" Pitch snapped. "And no. I was just leaving."
"You're not even going to stay for some cake?" Jack asked.
Pitch glared at him.
"Let him leave," Bunny growled, muscles tense. "He'll only ruin everythin'."
"Funny," Jack 'hmm'd. "I recall you saying something like that about me once upon a time. Besides, it's my party, right? If I want him here, he can stay."
Bunny's jaw clamped shut.
"You came all the way here, you might as well stay for at least one game," Jack turned to Pitch.
Pitch's face contorted in a way that clearly showed how he was restraining himself from attacking either verbally or physically. Or both. (At least he was smart enough not to pick a fight in a room full of enemies – especially with Mother Nature present). "Fine," Pitch spat at length. "But only one. And then I'm leaving."
"Great!" Jack beamed. "So how do we play?"
Pitch seethed.
Jamie picked up a deck of cards, removing at least half of them before shuffling and passing them out. "Everybody gets a card – don't show anyone what it is – and the one who has the ace is the murderer and the one with the king is the police officer/detective." He gave them all a moment to see what their cards were before moving over to the light switch. "When I turn out the lights, the murderer has to go around and tap people on the shoulder. If you get tapped, you have to pretend to die. If you come across a 'dead' person, you shout 'murder in the dark' and the lights come back on. Then the police officer has to try and figure out who the murderer is. Okay, everybody ready?" At the collective affirmation, Jamie flicked the switch and the room plunged into darkness (Sandy had had to put on several layers of clothing to hide his natural glow).
There was the sound of shuffling feet (and the occasional grunt as someone walked into something) for several long moments before the murderer made their first move – notable from the rather dramatic sounds of asphyxiation on the other side of the room.
Jack's head whipped around towards the sound, but the darkness made him blind. If he had to take a guess, he would suspect the first victim to have been one of the twins.
"No, please, spare me! I'm too young and adorable to die-" the voice broke off into a terrible hacking noise, quickly followed by the loud thump of a body hitting the floor.
And there goes Lleu, Jack rolled his eyes. He wondered what would happen if he got murdered, seeing as he was technically dead already...
This went on for at least five minutes, with a few more 'deaths', before there was the sound of someone tripping and Tooth cried, "Murder in the dark!"
Jack wined as the lights flared overhead, blinking the after-image away as he surveyed the room. There were a total of five 'bodies' littered around the place: Caleb, Lleu, Pippa, North, and Mother Nature. He let his attention trail over to Pitch, who was leaning against the wall looking bored (though if Jack wasn't mistaken, he was at least slightly amused at the sight of the sprawled bodies on the floor).
"Alrigh', everyone gather round," Bunny called, holding up his king card. "As of right now you're all suspects."
Jack smiled at the brief mental image of Bunny in a deer-hunter hat and a Milford coat as he regrouped with the rest of the survivors. Bunny assessed them all critically, and if he maybe glared a little longer at Pitch (who had refused to budge) no one called him out on it. Then, abruptly, turning his back, he went to examine the 'bodies'.
Jack watched him in bemusement, sharing a look with Baby Tooth on his shoulder. He wasn't sure what Bunny expected to find. Fingerprints maybe?
Bunny stood to his full height and marched back over to them, a frown of concentration on his face. "Soph, Cupcake, Claude, Ceres, Monty," he said, pointing, "go stand over there. The rest of ya line up."
Everyone shuffled to do his bidding, except Pitch, who merely rolled his eyes. Jack grinned down at Jamie as they positioned themselves side-by-side.
"Who do you reckon it was?" he whispered.
Jamie shrugged. "Could be anyone."
"May, walk to the other side of the room," Bunny said, reclaiming their attention.
Brow raised in bewilderment, May did so. She hadn't even made it halfway before Bunny told her to go join the group off to the side.
"You gonna let us in on your thought process, Cottontail?" Jack asked. "I mean, I know not a lot goes on in that fluffy head of yours, but still."
"Ya might have forgotten, Frostbite, but these ears aren't just for decoration. I might not be able to see in the dark, but I can hear. May's footsteps are too even; the murderer was clumsier when they walked."
"And what about those guys?" Jack nodded to the group across from them.
"They were near me when the murders took place; too far away for it to have been them. Pitch Black," Bunny suddenly spun to face the Nightmare King. Pitch looked inquisitive in a bored sort of way. "It wasn't you."
Pitch looked as surprised as Jack felt. He'd thought for sure prejudice would cloud Bunny's judgment.
"How do you know?" Tooth enquired with a matching expression.
"Simple," Bunny started pacing along the line. "Like I said, the murderer walks clumsily. And if anythin' can be said about this ratbag," he gestured over at Pitch, "it's that his movements are as sure and fluid as the best dancer."
Jamie and Jack snickered at the memory of the video they'd made ages ago, the sound drowned out by a poorly contained snort coming from Lleu's corpse.
Ignoring them, Bunny continued, "And Pitch takes long strides, whereas the murderer's are relatively short and quick. Which means the person we're lookin' for is short." He stopped in front of Sandy, who stared up at him with wide eyes. Not taking his eyes off the short Guardian (who was still wrapped up in clothes), Bunny snapped, "Tooth."
Tooth flinched. "Yes?"
"You're under arrest," he smirked, turning to look at her.
Tooth somehow managed to express sheepishness and deviousness in a single smile. She held up her ace for them all to see.
"Wait, what?" Monty gaped. "But she was the one who cried murder!"
"A clever ploy," Bunny acknowledged, clearly amused, "designed to draw suspicion away from herself. Unfortunately for her, she gave herself away. The clumsiness comes from not being used to walkin', which means an alternate method of movement. It couldn't have been Frostbite, seeing as he's as sure footed as a mountain goat – not to mention too tall – and Jamie can't fly, which left Tooth or Sandy. But Sandy's as silent in movement as he is in everythin' else, and I could clearly hear the footsteps. It certainly helps that I could smell feathers on all of the bodies, especially when I recalled that Tooth hasn't come into physical contact with all of 'em since the party started. Until now, that is."
"Guilty as charged," Tooth grinned.
"Wow, Tooth," Jack chuckled. "I didn't know you had it in you!"
The dead resurrected themselves, coming over to join them, just as Pitch pushed himself off the wall. "Are we done here?" he asked.
"Nope," Lleu replied, popping the 'p'.
...
...
Seraphina worked the stereo as she watched those still 'in' traipse around a small circle of chairs. The ones who had been too slow in earlier rounds watched from the sidelines, cheering on the others. It never ceased to amaze her how such a seemingly mundane party game could get so... competitive.
She pressed pause on the music.
Immediately they scrambled to the four remaining chairs. Well, everyone except Pitch, who sneered at them. With the barest wave of his hand, one of the chairs sunk into the shadows and reappeared at his side, where he gracefully sank into it. Unfortunately for North, who had been about to claim that chair himself, this meant the poor man crashed heavily to the floor.
There were several bouts of laughter between the obvious concern, but North waved them off with a bellow of his own.
"Well played," North waved his finger at Pitch as he stretched and went to join the crowd on the sidelines. "Very cunning."
Pitch watched him go without the barest hint of an expression.
"Okay, no using your powers to cheat," Seraphina declared, starting the music again.
The next time she paused it, the scramble was much the same as before, this time with Pippa being the unlucky one, just a few seconds too late to claim the last chair. There were only two chairs left now, and three players – Pitch, Jack (and Baby Tooth, but seeing as how Jack was her chair, it didn't really count), and Sophie (no one had had the heart to not let her win).
Seraphina let the music play for far longer this time, watching in no small amount of amusement as Sophie giggled happily and Jack and Pitch got increasingly tenser. It was obvious to everyone (expect maybe Sophie) that it would be either the winter spirit or the Boogieman who would go out this round, and neither of them were going to go down without a fight.
The music stopped.
Sophie took her time to clamber up into one of the chairs.
Pitch claimed the other with smug satisfaction.
Jack hesitated for less than a second before sitting on Pitch, and Seraphina could only laugh at the expression on her father's face. She declared Jack out before Pitch had the chance to kill the poor boy.
...
...
"Everyone pair up for three-legged race!" North announced, then promptly. "We need someone to be judge."
"I'll do it," Seraphina volunteered.
"You were on music in the last game, though," Tooth protested.
"It's alright, I don't feel much like running, anyway," she smiled.
It didn't take long for pairs to be made: Claude and Caleb (to absolutely no one's surprise) were quick to grab a cloth to tie their legs together with, closely followed by May and Ceres, and Sophie with Tooth (the little girl was still besotted). Pippa and Monty were next, with Cupcake and Sandy right after them. North and Bunny had temporarily called a truce and teamed up, and both looked determined to win.
"Snow Cone," Lleu threw an arm around Jack's shoulders, "would you like to be my extra leg?"
Jack chuckled. "Normally I'd say yes, but I don't think it would be very Guardian-like of me to leave Jamie with Pitch," he nodded at the two of them. Jamie looked mildly uncomfortable and Pitch wasn't paying any attention to the events unfolding around him. He looked like he was trying to find an opportune moment to sneak off.
"Ah," Lleu nodded. With a murmur of 'good luck', he trotted over to Jamie. "Looks like you're with me, Golden Child." Jamie's relieved smile was definitely worth tying himself to Pitch for, Jack mused.
"So I guess it's you and me, huh?" he said, moving to stand beside the Boogieman, cloth in hand.
"If you honestly think I would lower myself so much as to participate in–"
"Blah blah blah," Jack cut him off. "I don't think it has anything to do with the race. I think you're just scared you'll lose."
"Excuse me?!" Pitch glared down at him.
"I can't say I blame you," Jack continued, keeping his expression neutral. "I mean, it was humiliating enough to lose to the Guardians and a bunch of kids that one Easter, right? Imagine losing again but in something as childish as a race."
Pitch growled, snatching the cloth from him and stooping to tie their legs together. Jack glanced over at Mother Nature, who had a proud, yet smug smile on her face as she watched them. He gave her a wink before schooling his features as Pitch stood up straight. With the Boogieman's murderous determination to earn bragging rights, there was no way they could lose.
And they didn't, much to Bunny and North's chagrin.
Yes, that was a shout-out to the Bunnymund Holmes series on AO3. If you haven't read it, I highly recommend that you do
Party games in order of appearance: Pin the Tail, Sleeping Lions, Twister, Chubby Bubby, Sardines, Mummy Wrap, King's Game, Murder in the Dark, Musical Chairs, and the Three-Legged Race
Guest Review Responses:
Noellesmells1: Thank you! :D
Guest: I'm sorry, requests are still on hold at this time. But definitely feel free to spring it on me again when I reopen them! :3
Painapple: There there, my childe. More is here now xx
xIcyRacoonx: Just thought I'd check :3 If you ever feel like turning it on and want some help figuring it out, I'd be happy to try and explain it ^w^ Thank you!
Guest: Here you go! And thanks!
ImDatFrootloop: Naw thank you! I'm so glad you're enjoying it :3
dalilah: I hope this meets your expectations XD
Guest: hahaha he is but sssh we can't have him figuring it out XD
Guest of Honor: That would be cool. Definitely remind me when I reopen requests :P
Fandomcrazy: Thank you! I'm glad that you're still finding it enjoyable X3 I know I definitely still enjoy writing these one shots
A Person As Well: Well, birthdays and anniversaries are kinda the same thing, so both? XD Wew cookie! Now that you mention it, yeah, I can see the similarity :P (I have read HoO, and while I didn't enjoy it quite as much as the original series, I did still love it, and I love the new characters :P)