A/N : Thanks for all the reviews, new favourites and followers! I'm ao glad you liked the "Night Terrorrs" arc! But now like I promised, something more fun again. ;)
Jack climbed through the window, which was always left ajar just in case the winter spirit decided to pay his first believer a spontaneous visit, into the child's room. There was no sign of Jamie anywhere, but he had watched Mrs. Bennett drive away only a few minutes ago and was sure she had been alone in her car.
Now that Jamie was 12 years old his mother let him babysit his little sister more often, usually not to the teenager's joy. But everyone knew that he loved his younger sibling with all his heart, even though having to stay at home to keep an eye on her wasn't in the Top Ten of his favourite leisure time activities.
After he heard voices coming from the room right next to Jamie's the Guardian of Fun stepped into the hallway and sneaked to a door which was decorated with countless stickers of princesses, fairies and unicorns. He had to chuckle, this was without a doubt Sophie's room. With a swift move of his hand and without making a sound he opened it, peeking in curiously. All his willpower was needed to not burst out laughing when he saw what was going on there.
A far too small pink plastic table was placed in the middle of the room, a very kitschy plastic teaset on it and four matching chairs surrounding it. A teddy bear and plush rabbit were seated on two of them, while Sophie and Jamie sat on the other two. It didn't seem to be a very comfortable position for the boy who was obviously too tall for the tiny chair. The fake pearl necklace and the party hat on his head didn't do much for his dignity either. Sophie wore a lavender princess dress, most likely her Halloween costume, over her normal clothes and topped it all with a golden plastic crown. Smiling brightly the 5-year old held up the toy teapot and asked her brother if he wanted one more cup of tea. His expression showed that he tried to play along but was pretty much fed up with it, surely this teaparty must have started quite a while ago already. Just when he opened his mouth to reply a sudden bout of laughter directed both children's attention to the door, where a certain white-haired immortal simply couldn't take it anymore.
"Neat look, Jamie. Is that your new style?" he giggled good-naturedly and knelt down to embrace the little girl who was running towards him and squealing with excitement.
"Haha, very funny. If you're really my friend then help me out of this!" the young Bennett remarked in an almost desperate voice.
"Jaaaack, do you wanna join our teaparty? Please, please, pleeeaaase?" Sophie begged and stared at him with those big green eyes.
"No, not the puppy look! Jack, don't fall for it!" Jamie warned him but it was too late.
"Sure, it would be my pleasure." the guardian grinned.
With a whoop of joy the blonde girl grabbed his cold hand and lead him to the pink table, just in case he didn't know where to go. Her features fell when she realized they had a logistical problem.
"Awww, I don't have a chair for you..." she stated embarrassed.
"No worries, Your Majesty, I rather sit on the floor anyway." Jack soothed her, swept a curtsey and lowered himself on the carpet between Jamie and the plush rabbit.
Relieved she smiled and grabbed the plastic chair together with the plush toy and put it next to the teddy on the other side of the table, so Jack would have more space.
"Oh, I almost forgot something!" the toddler shouted all of a sudden and dashed towards her toy box where she rummaged through various kinds of items.
Eventually she found what she had been searching for, hurried back to Jack and put a colourful Hawaiian necklace made of fake flowers around his neck. Taking a step back she scrutinized his appearance and deemed it appropriate.
"Now you're perfect."
Jamie had to chuckle as he glanced at his best friend. Of all the toys his little sister possessed she chose a flower necklace. A flower necklace. For the Spirit of Winter. According to her content expression she had completely missed the irony. Jack however didn't seem to mind and smiled, obviously amused about the situation. After she took her own seat again the 5-year old gazed at the cups on the table and pushed one of them closer to the frost teen.
"You can have Sir Bunny's cup, he doesn't like tea anyway because he likes carrot juice much more."
Once again Jack had to chuckle as he imagined Bunnymund sitting on one of those pink and ridiculously tiny chairs. Sophie raised the plastic teapot and beamed at him.
"Do you want some tea?"
"That would be splendid, my dear." he said politely and held his cup in her direction.
The little girl giggled and poured the invisible liquid into it while Jamie just sat there staring at his best friend with a decent portion of disbelief. How could he play along without feeling the slightest bit awkward about it? He even seemed to enjoy the teaparty, which made the Bennett boy shudder. Apparently the over 300-year old spirit was more of a child at heart than his 12-year old believer. Either that or he was a very skilled actor.
"Ohhh, wow, the tea is delicious!" Jack exclaimed and emptied the invisible drink in one go.
Sophie shone with happiness and offered to refill his cup, what the frost teen gladly accepted. For some odd reason, Jamie felt a little left out.
"Hey, can I have some more tea as well?" he asked lamely.
His younger sibling shot him a questioning look and then shook her head.
"No, silly, there's still tea in your cup."
"No, there isn't."
"It is! Can't you see it?"
"As a matter of fact, no, I can't because there isn't any tea in my cup, or in any of yours and also none in that teapot!"
"Not true, there's plenty of it!" Sophie shouted and got more upset by the second.
"Then why can't I see it? Because it doesn't exist!"
"Only because you don't see it doesn't mean it doesn't exist." Jack interjected calmly.
Jamie stared at him dumbfoundedly, he knew exactly what the older boy was talking about but still refused to give in.
"Gheez, whose side are you on anyway?"
"Currently? Hers." the guardian said level-headedly, causing his friend to throw his arms into the air and almost collapse together with the chair when he leaned back dramatically.
"Traitor." Jamie muttered grumpily as he crossed his arms.
Out of the blue Sophie screamed at the top of her lungs and jumped up from her seat so rashly that her knee got caught on the table and knocked it over in the process, together with all the toy dishes which were sent flying through the air before landing on the floor as well. Before any of the males could comprehend what the heck was going on the young girl had fled to her bed and was now standing on it, her green eyes wide and full of fear.
"Soph, what was that all about?" Jamie asked more annoyed than worried as he saw the mess of scattered toys in front of him.
Since it didn't matter now anymore he pulled the fake pearls and the party hat off and threw them on the floor as well. His sister merely scanned the room with a panicked expression and that was enough to switch Jack's 'overprotective brother' mode on. Gracefully he stood up and walked to the small child, speaking in a soft voice :
"Hey, what's wrong? What did you see?"
Finally the blonde toddler's attention was drawn off from the mysterious threat and now concentrated on the winter spirit.
"S-spider! There was a-a spider on the table!" she stuttered with quivering lips.
"I didn't see anything." Jamie stated matter-of-factly.
"But it was there! It ran over the table and it was huge!"
"Well, then where is it now?"
"Hiding! It could be anywhere!" the girl shrieked and continued to look around in panic.
"Well, if it's still here I'm gonna find it and get rid of it." Jack promised determinedly.
"Can't allow this beast to scare you, Your Majesty." he added with a wink and succeeded to make the youngest Bennett smile again.
"Alright, but where do we start, like she said, it could be anywhere." Jamie sighed.
Suddenly Jack felt something tickling his toes. Blue orbs glanced down and saw a dark brown spider, almost two inches in size, crawling over his bare feet. He would never admit it later, but he gave a shout and jumped so high that he almost hit his head on the ceiling. Sophie joined him and yelled hysterically while watching the spider dissappear under a pile of plush toys at the far end of the room.
"You're afraid of spiders?" Jamie broke the silence and stared at his friend with a raised eyebrow and amusement written all over his face.
The Guardian of Fun regained his composure and tried to save his remaining dignity.
"Nah, I was just taken aback. There's a difference between being taken aback and being afraid, you know?"
"Yeah, and you were both." the brunette boy smirked.
"I wasn't!"
"You were!"
"No-oo!"
"Ye-es!"
"Naa-ahhh!"
"Uhuu-uuu!"
"Stop arguing, that spider is still here!" Sophie interrupted them in an upset voice and on the brink of crying.
Jack went back to the little girl and laid a reassuring hand on her head.
"Awww, don't worry, I'll catch it."
"THERE!" the blonde toddler suddenly screamed and pointed at a plush pony over which the spider was crawling.
Both children stared wide-eyed at the blast of ice being shot at the toy, but the spider had already fled, leaving a frozen pony behind. The winter spirit looked a little embarassed and gave Sophie an apologetic smile.
"Sorry."
If he wanted to hit the spider without freezing everything he had to use his powers more carefully. Just to make sure no accident would happen he asked the two siblings to leave the room until he had successfully gotten rid of the eight-legged intruder.
"B-but I don't wanna go down! It'll come to me!" Sophie whined, reluctant to step off her bed in fear of being attacked right away.
"Uh, Soph, you know that spiders can also climb on beds, right?"
Before Jack was able to send a reproachful glare at Jamie the young girl shrieked in panic once more and jumped into her brother's arms, who nearly fell backwards but managed to regain balance in the last moment.
"Hey, it'll be alright, Jack will get rid of it." he tried to calm her down and rubbed her back soothingly.
After a confirming nod from the frost teen Jamie opened the door, still carrying his little sister who stubbornly refused to let go, and walked out of the room. As soon as they were out of sight Jack cracked his knuckles. He was determined to turn that creepy arthropod into an icecube.
The living room was filled with the smell of hot chocolate. It always helped to lift Sophie's spirits, so Jamie decided it would be best to give her a mug of the sweet drink. She had always been scared of spiders, but now that she was in safe distance her fear quickly faded away. They were both pretty sure that it would only be a matter of time until Jack caught it. Although the loud rumbling and the occasional swearing coming from upstairs hinted at the mission taking longer than expected.
And then, all of a sudden, it was deathly silent. Since Sophie had finished her drink and he was curious about what was going on, Jamie grabbed his little sister's hand and sneaked back to her room. Questioning looks were exchanged between the siblings when they reached the door and no sound was to be heard. Cautiously the 12-year old opened it and both children stared at the winter spirit who was crouching on the bed frame and not moving a single muscle, his cerulean eyes fixed on a spot at the other side of the room.
"Uh, Jack?"
"Psst!"
"What are you...doing?"
"Lurking for the bastard to make its next step." the guardian whispered in a disturbingly serious tone.
Jamie glanced around and only now noticed the various splotches of ice covering the floor, furniture and walls. They were small and would most likely melt in a short time, but they clearly showed that this enemy had proven to be quite a challenge.
"Uhm, oka-"
He couldn't even finish his sentence when a blast of light blue magic was shot across the room without any prior warning and a whoop of victory filled the air.
"Hahahaha, I got it!" Jack cheered and dashed towards the small chunk of ice.
Inside it was the spider, frozen solid. He held it up with a wide grin on his face before walking to the window and throwing it out as far away as he could. In the distance a faint yell of an adult could be heard.
The Guardian of Fun winced and rubbed his back sheepishly, though amusement was still apparent on his face.
"Whoops."
A/N : I don't like spiders...at all. :P
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