A/N : Omgosh, over 200 reviews! Thank you so much! I'm really happy that you guys like this collection of oneshots, so I won't stop writing anytime soon. ^_^
At the beginning of December Jack decided to bless Burgess with a snow day. He had already started to make it snow a week prior but that had only been mild snowfall compared to what he pulled out of his sleeve now. After the incident with the autumn spirit he didn't want to cause further provocations and decided to start winter slowly. But by now everyone expected snow and blizzards so he saw no reason to hold himself back any longer. And he was sure Jamie would be excited about schools staying closed and playing outside instead. Without a doubt snowball fights and sleigh rides were a lot more fun than math or history lessons.
So by the time the citizens of the little town woke up the streets, houses and trees were covered with at least 6 inches of snow. Small and thin branches broke off under the weight of it, plowing-services were at a loss at where to push the masses of white because there was not enough space next to the streets. Yep, children would definitely be allowed to skip school today.
Jack was eager to be the first to tell Jamie so he urged the wind to fly him to the Bennett's house as fast as possible, all the while imagining the joyous look on the child's face when he heard the news.
It was still early in the morning but when he arrived at his first believer's window he was already up and sitting on his bed. Jack felt a little dissappointed since he was pretty sure that Jamie's mother had told him about the off school day already. As the Guardian of Fun noticed the grim expression on the young boy's face he immediately sensed that something wasn't right. Knocking at the glass he managed to attract Jamie's attention and for a brief moment the familiar happiness shot back into those large brown eyes. The boy jumped out of bed and hurried to the window, quickly opening it and throwing his arms around the frost teen's waist.
"Jack!"
"Woa, hey there buddy. Glad to see me?" he winked and ruffled the child's hair.
"Yeah."
The reply sounded honest but he didn't miss the sad hint in the voice as the boy let go of him and stared at the white winter wonderland outside with sad eyes.
"Hey, what's wrong? Oh I know, I bet no one has told you yet, in case that-" Jack pointed at the snow covered scenery, "isn't indication enough, but...snow day! Means no school today, we'll have some fun instead, what do you say?"
Expectant blue eyes were focused on the young Bennett, waiting for a whoop of joy, cheering, laughter, anything as long as it was positive. Unfortunately the reaction that followed was nothing of the sort. Instead of being happy about the prospect of spending quality time with his friends, including the Guardian of Fun himself, Jamie scuffed back to his bed and dropped there like a wet rag.
Jack felt a little awkward to say the least, standing there overly excited while his first believer was apparently going through a serious phase of depression. Sudden worry sparked in him, causing him to walk to the boy's bed and kneel down next to it so he was on eye level with him.
"What happened, Jamie?" he asked softly.
The brown-haired child looked away from him and stared at the blanket instead.
"I...I can't go play outside today."
"What? Why not?"
Jamie pressed his face against the bedcover, clearly ashamed, angry and frustrated at himself, muttering and making it hard for Jack to understand what he was saying but he leaned closer and concentrated on the muffled words.
"I'm grounded. Failed the last math test and Mom thinks I'm neglecting school in general but that's not true and now she punishes me by locking me in the house all day while everyone else is playing outside."
"Oh...that sucks." the winter spirit remarked, not quite comprehending how grounding was supposed to improve the kid's grades.
"Uhuu."
"So, what are we gonna do about it..."
It didn't sound like a question but more like Jack was thinking out loud. Jamie raised an eyebrow at him while he was pondering about achievable solutions to the problem at hand.
"It's not like I can simply sneak out, you know. Mom is stuck at home for most of the day as well and will check on me now and then. If I'm not in my room she'll freak out and I'll most likely be grounded for the rest of the year."
"Yeah, that's too risky. That only leaves us one option."
Brown eyes, still suspicious but curious about what kind of plan he had in mind, stared at him expectantly.
"If you can't go out and have fun we'll simply let the fun happen here!" the frost teen exclaimed and spread his arms, gesturing at the boy's four walls.
"Here?" Jamie repeated unsurely. "In my room?"
"Where else? Hey, come on, it'll be great, better than just sitting on your bed and boring yourself to death." the young guardian winked with a smile.
The child couldn't prevent himself from returning the smile when realization suddenly dawned on him and his eyes widened.
"Wait, does that mean you'll stay with me all day?"
"That's what I had in mind."
"Cool! But what about the other children? Don't you have to play with them as well?"
"Usually yes, but they'll be fine on their own this one time."
Jamie felt a little guilty for dragging the Guardian of Fun away from his duties. Of course did he enjoy spending time with him but he didn't want his best friend to get in trouble just because of him.
"But...isn't spreading fun for a big group of children more important than just a single one?"
Jack sighed softly before slightly shaking his head and bending down to the young Bennett again. A cold but reassuring hand was put on the small boy's shoulder and sapphire blue orbs met brown ones.
"Jamie, you're my first believer so you are the most important one of all. The other guardians and me owe so much to you so I doubt that anyone will blame me for spending a day with you. I give kids fun times all year so I'm pretty sure they'll survive when they have to play alone for one day." he explained calmly.
Finally the boy felt relieved and proud that he apparently meant so much to the guardians, Jack Frost above all. Just when he opened his mouth to say something the door to his room opened and revealed his mother standing in the hallway, a loving yet strict expression on her face. However she managed to successfully combine those two emotions was a mystery to both Jamie and Jack.
"Breakfast is ready, I made waffles, come down while they are still warm."
"Yes, Mom. Be right there."
Mrs. Bennett gave him a faint smile and closed the door again. The two boys could smell the alluring scent of freshly baked waffles all the way from the kitchen downstairs. Jamie blushed as his stomach growled loudly, causing the frost teen to chuckle at the sound
"Well, I should go before her bad mood comes back."
"How bad?" Jack asked concerned and got a grim expression as reaction.
"Very bad...she really was not happy about that failed test." Jamie shuddered as he recalled the lecture his mother gave him.
"Alright, then you better hurry, kiddo. I'll let your friends know what's going on so they won't wonder why we don't show up." the white-haired teen said and stood up, heading for the window.
"Okay, so I'll see you in a bit?" Jamie asked hopefully, still not completely grasping the prospect of Jack Frost staying inside a room all day and that just for him.
"Promise!" the winter spirit crossed his fingers and grinned widely before jumping out into the wind's embrace and flying off.
The young Bennett watched him until he was out of sight and left the window ajar so Jack would be able to enter the room in case he came back faster than the boy could finish breakfast. Being grounded during a snowday had to be the most cruel idea his mother could have come up with, but now he could have quality time alone with his best friend. For that matter he probably should thank her. Nah, that maybe went a little too far.
on the other hand had doubts if her means of discipline weren't too harsh. After all she knew how much her son loved snowdays and while she had been very upset about the bad grade he got she had calmed down by now. But she couldn't just take back what she had declared, otherwise that might ruin her credibility and her kids wouldn't take her serious anymore. She had told him he would be grounded so he had to deal with it. Though judging by the surprisingly cheerful lookn on her son's face as he munched away on his waffles he had already accepted his fate more than well.
It didn't take long and Jamie was done with breakfast, the fact that he had gulped down his food and didn't bother to chew more than absolutely necessary might have contributed to it. had reprimanded him for his current bad table manners and to the rhetorical question if he had something urgent to do he almost choked but quickly explained that he was simply hungry. Just as he wanted to go back to his room he was stopped by his mother who thought this was a perfect moment to discuss his "school problem" and his punishment. The young boy groaned inwardly as he had to sit there and listen to what she had to say, hoping that it would be over soon. However, the more she talked the slower time seemed to pass and he really hoped Jack wouldn't be upstairs already. He didn't want to let the guardian wait and honestly longed to escape from this monotone adult talk and just have some fun. Somewhere in the middle of the lecture his brain went into standby-mode as his mother emphasized how she didn't enjoy punishing him and didn't do it to annoy him but because she was worried and he should know that failing at school had immediate consequences, blah, blah, blah.
After she had finished saying what, in her opinion, had to be said, Jamie was dismissed and wasted no further second to run up the stairs like hell, leaving a very dumbfounded behind. Sometimes she really wondered what was going on in her first born's mind.
With a hopeful expression Jamie opened the door to his room, eagerly awaiting his best friend and smile widening even more as he saw the winter spirit sitting on his windowsill.
"Hey Jack! Hope you didn't have to wait too long, Mom wanted to have another talk with me so I couldn't come back sooner."
"No worries, only arrived a moment ago as well. Your friends were sad that we can't play together today but they understand. Soooo, you ready?" the frost teen grinned, stood up and twirled his staff, skillful enough to not knock anything over.
"Totally! What are we gonna do first?" the 10-year-old inquired as he approached the taller boy.
"Well, how about some target practice? No offense but your snowball fight technique could need a little bit work."
"Uh, sure but how are we gonna do that? We can't really have a snowball fight in my room, that would cause a huge mess...wouldn't it?" Jamie reasoned, unsure of where this was leading to.
"Indeed it would. That's why I thought of something else, something that doesn't involve you leaving your room." Jack grinned mischievously and led the brunette child to the window where he pointed his staff at the big tree right in front of the house.
Jamie had to look twice to detect the small figurines made of ice on the branches which blended in with the snow covering the bark so chances were low that a passerby noticed them. People rarely took the time to stare up at trees anyway. Squinting his eyes he caught sight of icy birds, leaves, acorns, blossoms and a squirrel on the highest spot. Even from the distance he could tell that the winter spirit was pretty good at creating those little masterpieces. Just as he wanted to ask why exactly he placed them there Jack answered the looming question by throwing a blueish glowing snowball up and down in his hand, famous crooked smile adorning his face.
"If you hit the birds you get 5 points, 2 for the rest and the squirrel is the toughest to reach, if you manage that you'll get 15. Might also help improving your knowledge about math."
"Cool! But what are you doing in the meantime?"
"What do you think? I'll join of course, some friendly competition will encourage you."
"Hey, but that's not fair! You're pro at his, I have no chance against you!" the young Bennett pouted.
"Calm down, thought about this as well. I'll close my eyes when throwing the snowballs, how does that sound?"
"Yep, that's a deal!"
"Great. Here you go." Jack smiled and placed the magic snowball in Jamie's hand.
The boy aimed at the ice squirrel, took a step backwards, bounced forward, threw the snowball at the highest branch with all his might and...totally missed it.
"Awww, come on!" he groaned frustrated.
The frost teen only chuckled quietly and ruffled the boy's brown hair.
"Don't be so serious, this is supposed to be fun! Anyway, try to hit the easy targets first, when you succeed at those you'll have a better chance at scoring the squirrel as well. Now it's my turn!"
"How can I be sure you don't cheat?" Jamie asked with a raised eyebrow and a playful tone in his voice.
Big blue eyes stared at him in fake shock as the winter spirit put his hand on his chest, trying to be as dramatic as possible.
"You really think I'd sink so low and cheat on a child? Ouch, Jamie, that one hurt..."
"Yeahhhh, but still, I'd feel better if you allowed me to blindfold you."
Of course he trusted his friend but he also knew that Jack Frost was a prankster and in situations like this you couldn't be cautious enough.
"Ghee, whatever, but I thought we had something special, pff." the Guardian of Fun muttered still in that exaggerated tone and bent down as the boy had taken a scarf out of his drawer and carefully wrapped it around his head, covering his eyes and making it impossible for him to see anything.
"Awesome, now please guide me to the window unless you want me to bump against something and knock myself out for the rest of the day."
"Nah, would be pretty boring to be locked here all day with you lying unconsciously on the floor." the brown-eyed child retorted and and grabbed his cold hand.
Two steps later.
"We're here."
By a swirl of his hand another bright blue snowball appeared in Jack's hand and with an energetic toss it was thrown out of the window, towards the tree and hit one of the crystal-like birds. Instead of broken ice and snow falling down onto the pavement both dissolved into thin air the moment they collided, leaving no trace whatsoever. The young guardian removed the scarf from his face in time to see the dumbfounded look on his first believer's face.
"H-how did you do that!?"
"Eh, natural talent I assume?" the immortal replied innocently.
Two hours later they had finished their first game of the day. Jack had shown Jamie how to aim and throw snowballs the most efficient way and after several tries the boy got the hang of it and improved with every try. The reason why Jack had no trouble hitting the targets even with bandaged eyes was that he had set them up and knew exactly where they were placed. He could have knocked down every single one of them but deliberately missed them several times so his best friend could have a sense of achievement as well. How insanely happy the boy was when he finally hit the icy squirrel and beat the winter spirit with the final score of 47 : 35.
"What now?" the small boy asked curiously.
"You like drawing, don't you?"
"Yes! But I do it all the time, so-"
"It will be different this time." the white-haired teen smiled and frosted the glass of the window with a mere touch of his fingers.
"Now, draw something, whatever you want."
When it dawned on Jamie what the taller boy was up to he eagerly approached the window once again. Soon later the basic shape of Abby, the family dog, was doodled onto the glass. Jack stepped forward and brought the image to life with his powers, letting the miniature version of the greyhound run through the room as hyperactive as its living counterpart. The 10-year-old laughed in wonder as the frost teen grabbed a rubber from the desk and threw it towards the ice dog which immediately fetched it and carried it to the brunette. Jamie took the small item and threw it into the air as well and again the half-transparent pet brought it back before it suddenly dissolved into a gust of snow. He shot a questioning look at his immortal friend.
"Sorry, kid, still gotta figure out how to keep them intact for extended periods of time." Jack explained sheepishly.
"Can we do that again?" Jamie begged excitedly and jumped up and down.
"Sure!" the Guardian of Fun exclaimed and gestured at the frosted window.
This time his first believer drew a T-rex which was soon stomping around roaring in a desperate attempt to look intimidating, though completely in vain due to its ridiculous size of about 12 inches. After the dinosaur had vanished as well Jamie got more and more inspired and had one idea after the other. Many different icy animals followed, among them were a gryphon, the monster of Loch Ness, a yeti, a dragon and many other mythical creatures. Both boys lay on the floor laughing as Jack couldn't hold himself back, scribbled something on the frosted glass as well and the next moment a small blue-transparent Bunnymund was dancing through the air, paintbrush in one paw and eagerly presenting an egg in the other one. As if this wasn't hilarious enough the winter spirit added a few tiny butterflies to fly around the rabbit as well.
"Please don't ever tell that to Bunny or he'll kill me." Jack requested as he wiped tears of laughter out of his eyes.
"I won't, I bet he wouldn't be happy to hear I thought this was awfully funny as well!" Jamie assured as he tried to calm down from the laugh attack.
Suddenly the door opened and stood there, a little taken aback why her son was staring at her like he had just seen a ghost.
"What was awfully funny?" she asked expectantly.
"Uhm...I...uh..."
"Tell her you saw someone slip on the ice outside." Jack whispered, even though it was quite unnecessary since the woman couldn't hear him anyway.
"Someone slipped on the street. It was hilarious." the boy replied lamely.
"That's not nice, young man, who knows if that person hurt themself!"
Brown orbs quickly glanced at the immortal teen reproachfully who just shrugged his lean shoulders innocently.
"Anyway, I made you sandwiches for lunch, the streets have been cleared enough so I can go to the supermarket. I need to buy some groceries and do other errands and I'll take Sophie with me. Just so you know, you'll be alone for a while but don't you even think about leaving the house, is that clear?" explained in a firm but calm voice.
Only now did Jamie notice the plate with the snack in her hand and upon darting a look at the clock on his wall realized that it was past midday already. Time had literally flown.
"Got it."
His mother set the plate down on his desk and went to her son, bending down and giving him a kiss on the cheek before she headed for the door again.
"Okay, see you later sweetie."
As she had left the room Jamie released a breath he didn't know he had been holding.
"Phew, your Mom hasn't gotten the concept of knocking at a door before entering either, huh?" Jack stated matter-of-factly.
"Either?"
"Yeah, North and pretty much all of the yetis do it, too. Just barging into my room, I doubt I'll ever get used to it instead of suffering a faint heart-attack each time."
"I bet." Jamie said as he tried to imagine what it would be like if Santa Clause or a huge yeti bursted into his room.
Stomach rumbling made the boy blush when it was the only thing to be heard after they had stopped talking. Jack chuckled and grabbed the plate with the sandwiches and brought it to the brown-haired child who had sat down on his bed.
"You better eat something, buddy. Your stomach sounds more awe-inspiring than the T-rex."
Jamie grabbed one of the two sandwiches and devoured it greedily. Only now had he noticed how hungry he had been. While he was busy eating his lunch Jack had sat down on the windowsill and stared at the outside world, lost in thought. Just as the Bennett boy wanted to bite into the second sandwich a sudden thought shot through his head and he lowered it again.
"Jack? Are you hungry? You can have this one." he offered and held the plate with the snack out to him.
The winter spirit glanced at his young friend first, then at the food and back.
"Nah, that's nice but I'm not hungry." he smiled and watched the boy eating it himself instead.
"Do you eat at all? I mean, I've never seen you actually eat something." Jamie asked with a half-full mouth as he munched away on the sandwich.
"I don't need food to survive but I do eat, mainly when I'm at the North Pole. The yetis are very good at cooking, you know. And if there's something elves can do then it's baking cookies." Jack explained, a dreamy look appearing on his face as he without a doubt pondered on the delicious goodies waiting for him at the workshop once he came back.
Soon later, just as Jamie had finished his lunch, the car of leaving the driveway caught the winter spirit's attention.
"Seems like we have the house for ourselves now." he grinned mischievously.
"Yeahhhh, and I assume you already have a plan?" the 10-year-old asked with a mirrored expression.
Indeed he had. Iced stairs and a small carpet as replacement for a sleigh turned out to be an excellent combination for some fun rides. Of course Jack managed to remove the ice lateron and left no trace of what had been going on in the Bennett's house. Jamie's mother most likely would have gotten suspicious if she came back and was faced with frozen stairs. No way the boy would have been able to think of a proper excuse for that.
When they had a sudden appetite for icecream and nothing of the like was to be found in the fridge they had the idea to try making it themselves. With the ingredients Jamie had chosen and put together and Jack's powers they soon created a bowl full of chocolate-peanut-butter-coconut icecream. And they saw that it was goooood. Delicious even.
They had just finished devouring their culinary masterpiece when they heard a car driving into the garage. Right on time. Within seconds Jamie dropped the bowl in the dishwasher and hurried back upstairs with the frost teen guiding the way.
had to prepare dinner so she asked her son to supervise his little sister for a while. Needless to say that Sophie was overjoyed when she spotted Jack Frost in her brother's room, immediately greeting him by embracing his leg in a stormy glomp hug. Since both males were convinced that she would like the coming-to-life frost drawings as well they repeated the game, but with new animals. More or less, because whenever they asked her what they should draw, since she wasn't old and skilled enough to scribble anything but abstract shapes yet, the little girl replied with "Easter Bunny! Hop Hop Hop!". Jack let a small version of the Australian rabbit jump through the room, though this time not as humiliating as during their previous drawing session. This inspired him to create one guardian after the other and judging by the excited squeals of both children they were highly entertained by this magical kind of entertainment. They laughed, talked, joked and in between Jack also made frost versions of elves, tooth fairies, walking eggs and even managed to mimic Sandy's dreamsand which swirled through the air in a bright glittering blue. When called them for dinner neither Jamie nor Sopie wanted to part from the winter spirit. But they had no choice unless they wanted their mother to come upstairs and drag them into the kitchen herself. The sun had already set and the brown-haired boy's increasing yawns made it obvious that he was pretty tired after a whole day of playing. School would be open the next day so Jack thought his first believer would need a good night's sleep and decided that it was time for him to leave.
"I better go. Hope you had some fun today." he smiled, trying to prevent the crestfallen looks the siblings shot at him.
Just as Jamie wanted to say something Sophie pushed him out of her way, or rather attempted to do so, and rushed towards the frost teen, once more grabbing his leg and staring at him with huge sad eyes.
"Stay!"
Jack really had trouble withstanding as he saw the child's distraught expression and the oimnous pouty lip. But he had to be strong he told himself. Even if Sophie knew damn well how to make this as hard as possible.
"Sorry, but I already took a day off from my winter-spirit-duties and other countries need snowfall as well, you don't want me to get in trouble, do you?" Jack explained calmly and was relieved when the little girl seemed to understand this logic and let go of him, although in a less than enthusiastic way.
Jamie didn't seem to be in a much more lighhearted mood either.
"Awww, come on guys. It's not like you'll never see me again." the white-haired teen tried to soothe them and added with a dramatic deep voice : "I'll be back."
Finally this caused the kids to laugh out loud and successfully brought back a positive athmosphere. Sophie stood on her toes and stretched out her tiny arms, signal enough for Jack to bend down and let the toddler hug him goodbye.
"Jack, I-" Jamie started once his sister was done with saying farewell but was interrupted by yelling from downstairs.
"I said dinner is ready!"
"Yeah, Mom, we're coming!" he shouted back, rolling his eyes before he focused his attention on his best friend again.
"Thanks for staying with me today, it was really great and-well, thanks." he smiled sheepishly.
"You're welcome, kiddo." Jack grinned and ruffled the boy's hair, earning a chuckle by doing so.
"See ya soon!" he waved as he jumped on the windowsill and then out into the chilly air.
"Bye, Jack!" the two Bennett siblings called out to him as he dissappeared in the dark winter night.
Soon he was out of sight and Sophie's face fell at the realization that the fun was over for today. Jamie noticed it right away and comforted his younger sister as they walked towards the door.
"Hey, don't worry, he'll return to play with us. Jack Frost never breaks a promise." the brunette boy stated confidently.
If there was someone he could always rely on then it was the Guardian of Fun.
