Ice Cubes

Summary: Five times Jack says 'I hate you' to the guardians and the one time he said 'I love you'.

Prompt: 5 times jack says "i hate you" to the guardians and the 1 time he says "i love you"

Lovingly Hate

Five times Jack said 'I hate you'

I. "I hate you…" Jack said with a pout as North laughed at the youngest guardian's distress. Jack was once again trapped into the infamous sack the yetis used when he was first summoned as a guardian. Although this time, instead of being completely submerged by the red cloth, Jack's head was out of the sack this time to allow him to speak his annoyance at the trick.

"Ah, but Jack, I remember you say to me you like being shoved in sack and tossed into magic portal!" North said with a wink as Jack guffawed.

"Sarcasm! Jeez, North! It was freaking sarcasm!" Jack said as he struggled in the sack only to end up falling to the side. The elves jingled and laughed at the winter sprite as Jack glared at them. "When I get out of here, you're all going to be elfsicles."

The elves stopped laughing at that declaration.

"Now Jack, do not be mean to elves. You can throw them into the oven later-"

The elves jingled in shock as they stare at Jack wide-eyed. Jack shook his head in confusion. "I never said-"

"What? Can Santa not make a suggestion?" North said innocently and the elves all jumped before they began screaming their heads off, running away. Jack gave the guardian of wonder a look.

"Haha, funny North. Your elves are going to end up in a strike." Jack warned and North just laughed, holding his belly.

"Nah, they will only cause massive panic for few days. No biggie."

"Wait. Massive what-?"

"Anyway, enough about my revenge plans for a few yetis! We have to focus on getting you gift-wrapped Jack!" North said with a wide smile and Jack gaped at him.

"Gift wrapped- Why the hell are you gift wrapping me- WAIT! NORTH! This isn't funny! I could suffocate-! Phil get that tape away from my- mmmmppphhhh!" Jack struggled against the bonds as North chuckled in a somewhat evil manner.

"Ah no Phil, do not put tape on his mouth. Tooth would like to see his teeth when we deliver her birthday present-" North said as the yeti grunted and removed the tape with a painful sound.

"OUCH! What the heck? Phil if I did that to you-" Jack started to say and North laughed again.

"What are you saying Jack? You have no facial hair! That would not hurt!"

"Oh sure! Step on my manly pride too why don't you- WHAT THE HECK ARE YOU PUTTING IN MY MOUTH?"

"Toothpaste! Now Jack, be ready to be 'dolled up', as they say, for Tooth and mini fairies tea party!" North said with a scarily high pitched giggle that made passing yetis shiver.

"I HATE YOU NORTH! I HATE- MMPPPPHHH!"

"What are you doing? Lipstick must be red! Do it again!"

"NORTH!"

II. "Sandy!" A sudden shout through the halls of Santa's workshop made the old Santa look up just in time to catch sight of the guardian of Dreams giggling as he hid behind North's large form. There was a sudden cold breeze and North bit back a laugh as their youngest guardian came in, huffed and covered from head to toe in what seemed to be gold paint.

"Haha, very funny Sandy!" Jack said with a roll of his eyes when he saw the floating man peeking from behind North and giggling silently. "Seriously? Gold? So unoriginal!"

Sandy stopped laughing and gave Jack an irritated expression as he made fast sand signs while the other scoffed.

"Just because I painted you pink that one time-" There was a golden exclamation point from Sandy and Jack continued on. "-doesn't mean you can paint me in temporary gold paint- Wait, why are you laughing?" Jack ask horrified, blue eyes going wide. "This is temporary right?"

Sandy shrugged with an innocent expression as Jack took a shaky step back, eyes in wide comical horror. Suddenly the guardian of Fun was off towards the paint section of the workshop. "PHIL!"

Sandy continued to chuckle as North shook his head. "He'll get you back for that, you know." The guardian of dreams shrugged nonchalantly but then he was laughing again when he heard Jack scream.

"What do you mean three months- SANDY I HATE YOU!" Jack screeched as the Sandy rolled on the floor, laughing.

III. "You make a mess wherever you go! You're no good and irresponsible! A selfish, little brat-" Bunny began his rant as he poked Jack with his paint brush with every single insult that came out of his mouth.

Jack tried his very best not to look hurt, his expression adapting its familiar mask of haughtiness as he floated to see eye-to-eye with the six-foot-one rabbit. "Oh, Bunny! Now you're making me blush with all those compliments-!"

"It's. Not. A. Compliment!" Bunny said as he shoved Jack at the last word. "Don't you get it? No one wants ya'! No one cares about ya'!"

"Bunny!" North said in warning as Tooth looked at the two with wide amethyst eyes.

"You're not needed or wanted!" Bunny continued, on a roll, totally unknowing of the horror filled mask that was Jack's expression. "I don't know what Manny was thinking when he made you guardian-"

"Bunny stop it!" Tooth yelled as she placed a hand on the guardian of hope's arm.

"Maybe he thought yer family had enough of yah causing trouble all the time!" The Pooka let out and Jack's expression began to crumble at that, his face going hard, his fists white knuckled. "It must've been a blessing for them when they finally got rid of yeh-"

It was Sandy who finally shut the old warrior up, throwing an innocent passer-by elf on the other's face causing him to yelp in shock.

"Bunny." North said in a grave tone.

"Wha-?" The warrior started but then he paused when he saw Jack's expression. Suddenly all the things he said to the other came back to him and the guardian's fur bristled as he felt the intense emotion in the air.

There were tears in Jack's eyes.

The pooka's ears folded against his skull as he reached out, green eyes wide. "Frost, I'm so-"

"Don't touch me." Jack hissed and Bunny almost jumped back and yelped as the temperature dropped down rapidly. Jack was growling, blue eyes dark with anger and power pulsing through his thin frame. "Don't come near me."

"Frostbite!" Bunny accidentally yelled. "Look, I wasn't thinking straight. Don't take it to-"

"Shut. Up." Jack glared as he rose higher in the air, the anger in his eyes overtaken only by deep hurt that made everyone flinch. "I hate you." He hissed and the dark tone behind those words made Bunny's jaw drop.

"I hate you." He said one last time before he flew off into the air.

IV. "Oh, come on Jack! You have to wear this dress!" Tooth squealed excitedly as she fluttered about. Said frostbite was hanging on one of the nests upside down, face set into a blank look. The tooth fairy threw the dress onto the others face as the youngest guardian scowled.

"I hate thee…" Jack said in a drawling voice. "…so much."

"Oh, come on Jack! Be a good sport! We are doing Romeo and Juliet!" North said as he tried on his Lady Motanguecostume. "It's an old classic! You pick Juliet fair and square! And Bunny rewrote script himself!"

"Don't worry Frostbite, I made sure to include a lot of girly statements." Bunny said as he threw the script at the winter sprite's face.

"I won't participate in this!" Jack announced loudly as he dropped the dress.

"Wilt thou let Bunny labor for naught? I trow not!" Tooth said haughtily as she shoved three more dresses into Jack's arms. "And besides, the mini fairies have been looking forward to this for days. Surely, you won't disappoint them right?" She said giving the other her best puppy dog look.

"Still hate you guys for this…" Jack mumbled as he finally caved in and Tooth gave him a wide smile as she pinched his cheeks.

"Aw, we love you too!"

V. Maybe they should've thought this through. Talked to Jack about it or something along those lines at least before they went through with their curiosity.

They were crossing an invisible line, they knew, but Jack was just so secretive and they wanted to know more about him-

-they just wanted to understand him.

"So you thought of looking at my memories?" Jack said in a stunned tone as he stepped back, his blue eyes wide and looking at each guilty expression. "Without telling me?"

"Jack, I'm sorry. It was-" Tooth began to explain but Jack waved her off, he wasn't even looking at them anymore, instead he turned around.

"Look, don't- just don't say anything." Jack said with a long sigh. "I mean, you're the guardians I get it. You do whatever you want, whenever you want 'cause you're big shots and all that!"

"Hey, that's-" Bunny started, a little hurt by the words coming out of Jack's mouth.

"But you know, there is this little thing called privacy, right?" Jack said as he faced them with a frown. "I mean, I may be a little winter spirit and all that, but I deserved some privacy in this place right? I mean I should!"

"Jack, we do not-" North started but Jack interrupted him.
"I mean, you'd think that after three hundred years of being left alone, not cared for, asked about, and everything, that you at least owe me some privacy or- hey! How about the fact that those are my memories! I mean, that should've at least made you think of asking me right?" Jack asked and Sandy shifted guiltily, looking at the ground.

The youngest guardian had been dreaming about drowning lately- not that Sandy should've peeked into the other's dreams but he was really worried- and the guardian of dreams just wanted to make sure that the other was alright.

"But that's too much to ask, isn't it?" Jack sighed as he ran a hand through his hair. "Of course it's too much to ask. What was I thinking?" He muttered as he let the win carry him and the guardians all reached out, wanting to stop him to say something, to apologize-

But they were at fault weren't they? Would Jack even hear them out?

"Jack." It was Tooth who spoke and Jack paused a second before looking back at the others, face unreadable. It would've been better if he was mad, they could handle anger. But indifference and a blank face, they didn't know what the other was thinking, how big the damage was.

Tooth took a deep breath, "Do you hate us?"

There was a pause as the guardians held their breaths while Jack surveyed them with hooded blue eyes. "Right now? Yeah, you could say I hate you."

There was a sound of something breaking, but that was most probably their hearts and souls.

"But I don't hate you guys. Just what you did." Jack pursed his lips, his hands twisting around his staff. "I hate the fact that you just went and looked into my memories without telling me. I mean, I'm just learning to trust you know? It would've been great if you'd given me a heads up or something-"

"We're sorry. We won't do it again! We swear!" Tooth said immediately as Sandy nodded enthusiastically while North and Bunny gave firm nods.

Jack pursed his lips and exhaled through his nose. "I still can't forgive you., Not yet anyway. I still hate what you did." The guardians flinched at the words and Jack took a deep breath. "Look, I have to go and think this through okay? I don't want to say things I don't mean and hurt you- So I guess I'll see you again, though I'm not sure when." As he said that, Jack was being flown by the wind towards the door-sized windows of the tooth palace, ready to throw his frustration, disappointment, and hurt into the air but another guardian's words stopped him-

"Hey Jack." And Jack paused, nearly falling because Bunny calling him by his first name was the last thing he ever expected.

"Saving your sister, that was a real brave thing you did there mate." Bunny said and Jack turned, blue eyes wide as he met the admiring looks of the guardians who all nodded in awe at what Bunny said.

Jack couldn't help the smile that lifted his face as he soared through the windows and to the sky.

At least he didn't hate being praised by Bunny and the others.

And the one time Jack said 'I love you'

I. There were only a handful of moments Jack felt like he wanted to say 'I love you' in his three hundred years of existence. Most of those times involved kids who could not see him but still made him happy because they whined and complained when the winter season passed and the remaining other few times was because of food that filled his somewhat flat tummy.

Jack has never said "I love you" to another person before. Never said it to people that could hear him at least. He wasn't an "I love you" hogger nor did he not understand what those words imply. He just never found the right people to say those words to. A family would be a wise and obvious choice to say "I love you" to but Jack didn't exactly have a family at that time, so that was out of the question.

He could say it to the wind though, and not risk being scorned… But the wind didn't exactly reply him with the same words, the wind would only take him to do happy loop-the-loops which Jack enjoyed either way, because that was the way she said "I love you".

But now, things were different though. Jack had people to say I love you to now. Four of them, and they had helped and cared for Jack in more ways than one.

There were often good instances when the guardians would do something that made Jack wanted to shout out his familial love to them, like that instance when they all made a room for him in their places, or that time when they gave him chocolates for Valentines (although in Tooth's case it was more reluctant)-

But Jack just couldn't find it in himself to say it.

He didn't know what would happen when he said those words, didn't know if the guardians would even say it back. And that uncertainty alone killed Jack and instead of being happy and showing how much they mean to him, Jack withdrew even more and tried to avoid them.

But that only made the guardians redouble their efforts. And it just made it harder for Jack to hold back the words he wanted to say.

"Hey Jack! That's the aurora isn't it?" Jamie suddenly called, pointing at the sky as he paused at the task of building as snowman with the winter spirit. "I think the other's are calling you."

"Oh yeah! Cool, my first summons as a guardian!" Jack said as he hopped to the air, the wind catching him easily. "Looks like I gotta go. Sorry kid, maybe next time?"

"Yeah!" Jamie waved as he smiled happily. "Tell me what happened when you get back! Oh and say 'hi' to the others for me!"

Jack did a two finger salute as he laughed. "Will do!" He said before he took off whooping, Jamie becoming a distant dot in his peripheral vision. "Now let's see what the guardians want." The guardian of fun muttered as the wind took him to the North Pole as fast as she could.

"Guys?" Jack called out when he finally perched onto the window that led to the globe room. No one answered his calls as Jack peered inside in wonder. "Guys, c'mon this isn't funny! I blew off Jamie just to come here!"

When there was still no answer, the young spirit entered the globe room warily, "Guys-"

"SURPRISE!"

Jack let out a surprised curse as he jumped three feet in the air as though he was electrocuted. Loud horns blared and something colorful dusted in front of his face as elves piled into the room, doing the loud orchestra thing they did for Jack when he became a guardian, "What the-?"

But Jack wasn't able to finish his sentence when an excited fairy was suddenly in his face, squealing in excitement, "Happy birthday Jack!"

Jack fell back onto the ground in shock, but thankfully Bunny caught the stunned winter sprite as he looked around confused. "What the heck is happening?" He finally yelled in shock as he tried to sit up straight in Bunny's arms. The pooka rolled his eyes.

"Didn't Tooth just tell you? It's yer birthday ya drongo." Bunny yelled as he walked and deposited Jack calmly into a pile of something that was not so soft, making the youngest guardian yelp.

"What is this?" Jack said in panic as he drowned in paper wrappers, ribbons, and more confetti which seemed to be Sandy's doing after all.

"Presents of course!" North boomed as he showered more gifts on Jack while the other struggled to breath. "It is mandatory for every birthday party!"

"Birthday-? Are you guys telling me you organized a birthday party… for me?" Jack asked, surprised.

"We're not heartless you know. Of course we'd organize a birthday party for ya, ya gumby." Bunny stated with crossed arms and Jack blinked.

"But- but I-" Jack started uncertainly as he took a box present and laid it on his lap. Sandy had his head tilted in confusion. "I don't have a birthday." Jack said and suddenly there was a silence.

Jack pursed his lips. Maybe he shouldn't have said anything. The guardians went through all the trouble for this party. And now they were going to end it and think he was nuisance and take away these gifts-

"No birthday, huh?" Bunny said and Jack looked up just in time to see him ran a hand through his long ears. "Well, that's about ta change. You have one now." He said, effectively making Jack's jaw drop.

"W-What?"

"Ah! First real birthday of Jack's! This is bigger deal than I thought!" North said with a jolly laugh. "Dingle! Go tell Phil to go wild with food!" Four elves saluted at the name.

"B-But- Are you saying today's my birthday now?" Jack asked, mouth agape as Tooth and her fairies swooned at his teeth.

"Well of course! No use putting this all to waste! And you don't have a birthday, so why not today right?" Tooth said as she took a box and smiled, "And look, we got you a present and everything!" Sandy nodded as he picked up a box and shoved into Jack's arms.

"Guys…" Jack's face twisted up strangely, as though he was trying not to cry as his arms were piled up with gifts, the elves and yetis joining in, in burying him in a pile.

"And look, a cake!" North's voice boomed as Phil along with Ed entered with a gigantic between them. It was blue and decorated with snowflakes, an ice figure of Jack on top of it, no doubt done by North. Blue eyes widened as Jack took to the air and observed the blue, white, and silver icing perfection before him.

"This is- for me?" Jack whispered, his voice in awe and trembling.

"See another troublemaker guardian with a staff?" Bunny said with a snort, but there was only underlying affection in his tone. "Yes, it's fer you, Frostbite. Happy birthday."

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" The yetis grunted as the elves jingled while the guardians shouted and more confetti were thrown in the air. Jack leaned against the wind, his lips trembling as he smiled widely, his grip on his staff tight with tension form what he was about to say.

"Thanks guys." Jack said trying to sound casual and calm but coming off as breathless instead. "I love you for doing this."

Jack's statement was met with silence as the guardians all exchanged looks at the surprising words. Jack stiffened and he was already half thinking of taking it back when suddenly Tooth tackled him into the air, knocking the breath out of him.

"Oh, we love you too Jack!" She said in a tone that was strong with affection and truth. Jack relaxed as he allowed the wind to bring him to the ground so that North may crush him into a big bear hug as Sandy patted him on the shoulder. Bunny satisfied himself with smiling a few feet away, green eyes proud and affectionate like the rest of the guardians.

Jack let out a breath in relief and before he knew it he was laughing out uncontrollably, the tension uncoiling in his gut as Sandy and Tooth began a contest to see whose present Jack would open first. The guardian of fun didn't mind the attention and went about to show his gratitude by appreciating every present, ever confetti, wholeheartedly.

Today was the first time Jack celebrated his birthday as a spirit. And today was the first time Jack ever said 'I love you' to the first family he'd ever had in his three hundred years.

Things were going better than he expected.

Notes: This is based on a prompt in ROTG KINK Round 3. So I messed up, because the bonus was: Jack was supposed to be a kid and Pitch had to be involved somehow but when I saw the bonus I was nearly done writing anyway- so yeah. Epic fail on my part. I'll just make a second fill that fulfills the bonus, no biggie.

Also, the first part was my first and probably last attempt at humor. Oh my gosh, I suck XD

So my long absence, I've been sick and I had exams too! How did I get sick? Well, my dad took me out to sit on the bench and talk about random things. Got sick for four days afterwards because I was exposed to the cold night air and I was this close to being dragged to the doctors XD But I'm sorta okay now I guess. I'm taking a short break but I'll get to updating my others stories soon, hopefully :D

Thanks to those who went and check my tumblr by the way. I go on there and reblog ROTG when I need inspiration and stuff when writing :D

You guys rock, frosted perfection 2 will be coming out next and then the request of the last two requestors :

Thanks again guys for supporting me and my fics, I'll get to review replies on the next chapter, I have to go to bed or risk the wrath of my parents! THANKS and have a good day :D

Reviews are appreciated as always!