A/N : Like I promised, this chapter is more light-hearted than the last few ones. Enjoy it while you can, I'll soon start uploading an arc which basically only consists of angst.
Em : Maybe, I'll think about it. ^^
SaiyanPrincess : Thanks a lot, glad you liked it!
10-year old Jamie Bennett was annoyed.
He was supposed to be out in the woods, having the best snowball fight ever with his favourite spirit of winter. But nooo, he was stuck inside the house and had to babysit his little sister. Of course he loved his sibling, but right now he wished she had been old enough to look after herself and didn't require constant observation.
"Hungryyyyy!" the blonde toddler whined as she huddled on the couch, completely ignoring the cartoon on TV which was meant to keep her busy at least for a while.
"Working on it, Soph." Jamie groaned from the open kitchen and continued getting the supplies for a sandwich out of the fridge.
It wasn't a nourishing meal but it would have to do for the time being. Originally he had planned to wait until his mother came home and cooked dinner but the small girl's querulousness was getting on his nerves so he eventually gave in.
Another whine alerted him of the obvious dissapproval directed at him.
"Just watch the show, I'll be done asap."
"But…hungry now!"
If he didn't have a knife and a loaf of bread in his hands he would have facepalmed. Luckily for him, his sister suddenly went quiet for a moment as if she had finally found something else to entertain her or realized she shouldn't annoy someone who was holding a knife. Before he could let out a sigh of relief a piercing shriek of joy filled the room, causing him to drip the items onto the kitchen counter and shield his hurting ears from the sound. From the corner of his eyes he saw her dashing towards the glassy balcony door and just as he wanted to ask her what this hysteria was about he noticed the figure standing outside and waving at him.
"Jack!" the boy shouted in equal excitement and hastily made his way towards the door, quickly opening it and allowing his best friend to come inside.
"Hey Ja-Woa!" the white-haired teen yelled in surprise as little Sophie had thrown herself at him, glomping his leg with a death grip.
"Nice to see you, too." he laughed and patted her head gently.
Though he tried to hide it behind his familiar mask of cheerfulness, his expression suddenly turned into an unusual frown.
"Why didn't you meet me in the woods, Jamie? I got kinda worried when you didn't show up." he said with a serious tone in his voice.
'Kinda worried' was an understatement. Jack had waited over an hour for his first believer to show up. Jamie had never been too late. With every passing minute the worst possible scenarios followed right after the other in his mind. From Pitch kidnapping him or the boy being involved in a terrible accident to suddenly losing believe or interest in the winter spirit.
So after he had finally gotten fed up with just standing there like an idiot and waiting for someone who would apparently not appear anymore his first destination was the Bennett's house to check if the kid was alright.
Jamie started to feel guilty as he couldn't miss the hurt look on the older boy's face.
"I'm sorry, Jack, I really wanted to hang out with you but then Mom called that she had to work overtime and told me I had to stay at home and keep an eye on Sophie."
He apologized and pointed at the little girl who was still clinging to the Guardian of Fun's leg.
"Oh."
Jack sighed in relief as the explanation took a load off his mind. This surely was a lot better than the other options like kidnapping, accidents or loss of belief his paranoid brain had come up with. He felt a little stupid for acting like a drama queen now.
With a smirk he looked down at the toddler.
"Sophie, not that I don't appreciate your display of affection but my leg is starting to fall asleep."
The blonde girl glanced up at the tall boy for a moment and then, with an amused giggle, tightened her grip on him.
"Mine! Mine! Mine!"
While Jack found this quite adorable and laughed about it, Jamie's patience was exhausted.
"Ghee, Soph, let go of him finally! He's the Spirit of Winter, not one of your toys!"
All he got as reaction was a tiny outstretched tongue in his direction. Jack however had an idea how to deal with stubborn kids like her.
"Hey, want me to create some snowflakes? Just for you?"
The girl's eyes widened and a huge happy grin appeared on her features.
"Just me?"
With a bright nod and a few skilled motions of his hands later the living room was soon graced with the presence of around two dozend fluffy snowflakes, all in different sizes and unique shapes.
In an instant Sophie had released her prey which had been Jack's leg and began to chase the snowflakes, shouting with glee.
"So, watcha doing?" Jack asked, that typical smirk adorning his face as he rested his staff on his shoulder.
"Preparing a snack for the little bugger of a sister." Jamie replied matter-of-factly.
The winter spirit chuckled and casually rested his hand in the front pocket of his blue hoodie.
"Oh come on, she isn't that bad."
"You're not living with her."
"Still, she's a nice kid."
"Yeah, but she can be annoying like hell."
"That's normal for younger siblings."
"How do you know, you don't even have one."
Jamie's question wasn't meant to hurt or attack, and while he had asked it in a more curious than anything tone, the slight flinching of his best friend was a clear indication that he had hit a sore spot. He immediately regretted his words as he saw the hurt in the winter teen's eyes.
"Jack, I'm sorry, I-"
"Nah, it's okay. You can't know…" the older boy interrupted and swallowed the lump in his throat.
"Before I became Jack Frost, I…did have a family…and a little sister. But that was long ago…"
Feeling his discomfort about the topic Jamie didn't further ask about it. For a 10-year old he really displayed an impressive amount of consideration. Jack was grateful for this, he didn't want to bother someone so young with the circumstances of his death in case should he have further asked about the events from his past life. Neither did he want to admit that he actually couldn't remember his family despite the few memories which were stored in his tooth box.
There was an awkward silence between the two, with Sophie running around them and still chasing the slowly dissolving snowflakes. Her happy laughter as she had caught one of them ripped the two boys out of their melancholic state.
With a triumphant grin she stood in front of Jack, arms outstretched and opening her hands to show him but the tiny piece of ice had already melted under the warmth of her skin.
A pouty lip and teary eyes took hold of her features and increased the moment she had looked around only to realize that the rest of the snowflakes had dissappeared as well.
"Awww, don't be sad, I got something for you."
Watery green eyes stared at him suspiciously, wondering if it would be again teeth with blood and gums on them like that strange bird-fairy had offered her some time ago.
Jack kneeled down to be closer on eye-level with the little girl and created one more snowflake in his hand, though this time it was bigger and more intricate than the previous ones. After approving his own work he softly blew an icy breath of magic over the fragile looking piece.
"There you go, this time it won't melt, but be careful, it's no toy." he explained gently.
Jamie snorted quietly, giving his sister three seconds at most to break it, but to his surprise she handled the gift with cautiousness he would have never thought her capable of. In slow motion she walked towards the couch, fearing that walking too fast might lead to stumbling over her own feet and destroying it. A tiny sigh of relief escaped her lungs as she had managed to climb on the cushions without an accident. Sitting there cross-legged the blonde toddler admired the beautiful piece of ice in her hands, an expression of wonder written all over her face.
"You know, you're really good with kids. If you want you can visit more often when I'm doomed to babysit." Jamie muttered, still in disbelief at his younger siblings sudden change of attitude.
"My pleasure." Jack said with a cheery voice and bowed down in a dramatically exaggerated way.
The brown-haired boy had to laugh until he suddenly remembered what he had been busy with before the winter spirit showed up.
"Gotta finish the sandwich for Sophie, you want something to eat as well?" he offered and made his way back to the kitchen counter.
"Uh, no thanks, I…wait, is that tuna you have there?"
"Yeah, tuna, salad, eggs and mayonnaise." Jamie shuddered at the combination of ingredients. "For some reason she's really crazy about it. You want one, too?"
As if the greedy look and the drool starting to appear in the corners of Jack's mouth wasn't indication enough, but he felt it was polite enough to ask.
"Well, if you're at it anyway…"
"No big deal." the boy replied nonchalantly and hid his amused grin by turning his back on the Guardian of Fun to prepare the snack.
Even though he was an Immortal, Jack could change from wise spirit to child at heart in a matter of seconds. And everybody who truly saw his worth loved him for exactly those reasons and wouldn't have him any other way.
Four tuna sandwiches later ( one for Sophie and three for Jack ) the frost teen had agreed to accompany Sophie to her room so she could put her new beloved snowflake somewhere safe, while Jamie was busy cleaning up downstairs.
His mother wasn't very fond of crumbs of bread covering floor and furniture and he didn't want her to complain the moment she set a foot in the house. For sure she would be tired after such a long day of work and extra hours.
When Jamie was done with tidying up and they hadn't returned yet he decided to go and see what was taking them so long.
As it turned out the winter spirit was still in the process of being introduced to the various plush toys and dolls littering the small girl's room. Every single one of them.
The brunette boy wondered where Jack had taken those incredible amounts of patience from
as he greeted every toy which was offered to him with phrases like "Nice to meet you." or "Hey, how're ya doing?" as if it had been the first and not the 15th one in a row.
After an additional hour of playing hide and seek and the two males almost freaking out because Sophie had thought the washing machine would be a good hiding place, they were all sitting together on the couch now and watching a random cartoon on TV.
Sophie was wrapped up in a cozy red blanket and cuddled against Jack while Jamie, wo was sitting next to him on the other side, tried to resist the urge to doze off. The events of the evening and the long day of school preceding it had worn him down.
Soon he had lost the battle and rested his head on Jack's shoulder, seemingly not bothered at all by the spirit's cold body temperature.
At first Jack had been a little taken aback by the children's open display of affection, but a heartbeat later he smiled gently at the two sleeping forms surrounding him and laid protective arms around them.
Those weren't just children who believed in him, no, they were part of his family now. For as much as he could say he considered them his siblings and it didn't matter if they were related through blood or not.
He would never allow anything to happen to them and would protect them for as long as they needed him.
Jack Frost wasn't only the Spirit of Winter and the Guardian of Fun anymore. Now he also was what he had been in his human life 300 years ago.
A big brother.
