The Guardian's grin widened when Jamie spoke his name. The brunette remained frozen in place, awestruck as he tried to comprehend who was in front of him.
"Hi, Jamie." Jack spoke to the brunette. "How are—Woah!"
Jack dodged quickly as Jamie suddenly picked up the nearest rock and chucked it as hard as he could at the winter spirit.
"YOU FUCKING BASTARD!"Jamie screamed at the top of his lungs, grabbing for another rock to throw, which Jack fell off a branch to avoid.
"J-Jamie, wha— Ow!" One rock managed to collide with Jack's shoulder.
"SEVEN YEARS. SEVEN. FUCKING. YEARS." His voice was so coarse his words felt like sandpaper. "AND YOU SHOW UP. HIDING IN A FUCKING TREE, AND ALL YOU SAY IS 'HI, JAMIE'?"
"Jamie, woah, just—" Jack barely managed to get a word in between the stones Jamie was pelting. The spirit was in the air and attempting to get closer to Jamie without taking out an eye. "Just calm down, please—ow. I can explain—"
"CALM DOWN? YOU LEFT ME FOR SEVEN YEARS—"
"Yeah, got that. But if you keep screaming—"
"SO WHAT IF I'M SCREAMING?" Jamie threw his hands up in exasperation. "IF YOU DON'T PLAN ON EXPLAINING YOURSELF—"
Jack ran a hand over his face. He heard the sound of footsteps, possibly people coming to see what all the commotion was about. "You know what…" He took three swift steps forward. "Hold this." He commanded and pushed the long wooden staff into Jamie's chest. The brunette fumbled to grab the stick properly. He barely had a moment to be confused as Jack suddenly scooped Jamie up mid-sentence and shot into the sky.
The teenager let out a high pitched yelp in the form of the Guardian's name. "J-JACK!" On instinct, he clung to spirit, both arms tight around Jack's neck to ensure he wouldn't fall. He found this action difficult, seeing as he held a six-foot-long pole in one hand, but held on anyway for the sake of remaining in the air.
Although Jamie had grown since the last time Jack had seen him, he was still relatively lightweight and the Guardian's strong arms were enough to guarantee his safety as the wind carried them off into the sky.
"Wh-what are you doing?" Jamie had gotten over the initial shock of being propelled into the sky, which distracted him from the fact that he should be angry with Jack. But Jamie looked down at the town, and memories just came flooding back to him. He remembered soaring through the night, carried by Jack and his tamed wind.
"I had to do something to stop you from screaming so much in public. People might start to question your sanity." Jack swerved suddenly around a tall oak and Jamie's grip tightened. Jack noticed his nervousness and smirked. The winter spirit increased the speed of the wind and flew about a hundred feet off the ground. He took a sudden dive, and Jamie bit his lip to keep his outbursts of fear to a minimum. He buried his face in Jack's chest as his stomach dropped and they avoided impact at the last second. They zoomed a few feet above the ground, zigzagging to avoid various objects in their way.
"What's wrong, Jamie?" Jack laughed. "Isn't this nostalgic?"
"I'm seriously going to kill you." The brunette muttered into the Guardian's hoodie.
"Haha! Aw, c'mon you love this." Jack took some detours down an alleyway or two, zipping back up above the roofs and over the unsuspecting eyes of civilians. A few twists and turns, and Jack eventually arrived outside of Jamie's bedroom window.
When he felt the wind slowing down, Jamie finally took a glance at where they were.
He remembers where I live. Went through Jamie's head. It occurred to him that perhaps Jack had visited the brunette multiple times when he was a kid before he could see him. After all, when the spirit was finally visible to him, Jack acted as though he'd known Jamie his whole life. It was a strange feeling. Seeing someone for the first time when they'd watched over you for so long.
A final gust of wind opened the glass panes and Jack entered Jamie's room. It wasn't until Jack's bare feet were firmly on the ground did he let go of Jamie. The brunette stumbled as he found his balance again. He took two steps forward, his back to the Guardian. He dropped the staff and Jack picked it up, leaning it against the wall. Jamie let his head fall and took off his wet coat. He let out a big sigh, still not looking at the spirit.
"Alright." He said after a moment. "I'm going crazy. Pippa was right. You're not actually here. I did not just fly over the entire town with you. I'm going to turn around, and you won't be here anymore." Jack remained silent, but didn't move as Jamie spun around. When the brunette saw the winter spirit just standing there with his hands in his pockets and a guilty expression on his face, Jamie shook his head.
"Jack, oh my god—"
"Wait," Jack moved quickly to cover up Jamie's mouth before he could continue. He flinched at the sudden contact, but mostly at how cold the spirit's hand was. "Before you say anything, I just want to say I am so incredibly sorry. I know, I was a complete jerk to leave you, and I know nothing I can say will make it up to you, but I just want you to know that I really am so, so sorry."
Jamie looked directly into Jack's deep blue eyes. Jack wished he wouldn't stare at him with such disappointment. They remained like that for a while, and when Jack thought he wasn't going to earn any reaction from the brunette, he began lowering his hand. Jack broke their eye contact, weight falling on his heart as he felt Jamie's hurt stare dig into him. The spirit turned, removing the staff from its place against the wall and taking a step onto the windowsill. Before he could take off, leave behind his failed attempt at making up with the first child to believe in him, Jack felt a hand grip his. There was one swift tug, and Jamie pulled Jack back to him, enveloping the winter spirit in a hug. Jack dropped the stick when he felt Jamie's face burry into his shoulder and tight arms around his waist. He returned the embrace, moving one hand to grip the fabric of Jamie's shirt and the other to the back of his neck. The contact of the winter spirit's cold hand on his bare neck caused Jamie to shiver, but he only held Jack tighter.
"Jack, I was… so scared…" Jamie whispered as he began crying softly.
"I know, I know, I'm sorry, Jamie." Jack felt himself tearing up. What else could he say? He'd left this boy alone for so long. To an immortal, seven years can go by in the blink of an eye. But to a growing child, so much can change for the worst in such a long time.
"I… I kept looking for you, and you weren't there." Jamie never wanted to leave the arms of his Guardian. "Things have gotten so bad, Jack. I…I couldn't handle it on my own. I needed you here."
"Jamie…" Jack hid his face in the nape of the brunette's neck.
"Why weren't you here?"
Jack froze. He knew he'd have to give this explanation, but honestly he didn't agree with it himself. The winter spirit lifted his head and pulled away from Jamie slightly. "Jamie, I… I am so sorry, but you're really not going to like this."
The teenager lowered his hands and cautiously looked at Jack. "What?"
"Well, there, um…" Jack took a step back and ran a nervous hand through his snow-white hair. "After the night we defeated Pitch, and uh, after Sandy sent you all to sleep, the rest of the Guardians held a meeting."
Jamie took a seat on his bed and Jack joined him. He was ready to hear the full story. It must have been a good reason if it kept Jack and the others away for multiple years.
"Back at the North Pole, we celebrated. But then, The Man in the Moon started to speak to us."
"The Man in the Moon?" Jamie had definitely heard of the name, but always thought it was an expression. But then again, he once mistook Jack Frost for just another way to describe the cold weather, and yet here he was, sitting right in front of him.
"He's kind of the father of the Guardians, I guess." Jack explained. "Anyway, he said something… well, something none of us were happy with…"
"…" Jamie looked at the Guardian expectantly. "What was it?"
"… He told us that we had to stay away from you." Jack said cautiously, worrying what Jamie's reaction would be.
The brunette blinked. "Why? What did I do?" Jamie felt himself getting angry again. He'd never even met this Man-in-Moon guy, yet he was the one responsible for his loneliness these past years?
"I asked that." Jack continued. "He told us that there was something about you that… 'needed developing.' He said you were destined for something special, but the only way for you to prove just how special that part of you was, we had to stay away for a while. He wanted to see how you'd react to being alone."
The brunette scoffed. "Not that fucking well, if you hadn't noticed."
Jack glanced at Jamie. He hadn't realized how much the brunette really grew. Not only in size, but in attitude as well. Jack had been eighteen for over three hundred years. He'd lived for so long and gone through so much life experience that he didn't even consider himself a teenager anymore. He guessed that he'd forgotten what a horrifying transition adolescence was. Jamie, the innocent kid Jack thought he knew so well, had undergone so much change. And Jack wasn't there to witness it.
Jack continued. "He said we had to stay away from Burgess completely, otherwise we might run into you.
"But, there was still the issue of a whole town's worth of kids that we had to take care of. So we did our work from a distance. I could just form some clouds to bring snow to the town. Some of Tooth's fairies even painted their feathers black so they could sneak around easier. North and Bunny didn't need to change much, since most of their work is done in secret, anyway. But it took Sandy extra effort. We knew the dream sand wouldn't go unnoticed by you, since you'd probably be watching the skies like a hawk. So he developed a way to make the sand less iridescent. I helped out to create some fog and clouds to cover up most of it, so the sand could get to each child unnoticed, almost invisible. But we had to avoid you, so that's why you haven't been having dreams. Because I guessed you'd have been looking through every mythology book you had, just to pick up on some clues as to where we were, or how we were hiding. If any kind of sand came into your room, you'd definitely notice."
Jamie couldn't help but smile slightly; Jack knew Jamie better than he thought.
"But we had to keep away. It was unfair and none of us liked the idea, but the Moon insisted."
"...But why seven years?" Jamie asked. "Seems like a random number."
This brought a small smirk to Jack's face. "Well, we were supposed to wait until you were eighteen."
The brunette blinked. "But that... that's next week." Jamie hadn't thought about his birthday in a long time... But forgetting about his eighteenth birthday? Embarrassing. "So why didn't you guys wait?"
"Well, technically, I'm not supposed to be here. North'd kill me if he found out I went to get you a week early. A few months ago I asked if I could go visit you, but he said the date we came to get you had to be exact. Actually, I think they're still planning on sneaking into your room the midnight of your birthday. That is... if they haven't found out why I'm gone yet." Jack smiled. "But I thought seven years would be long enough, no sense in making you wait another whole week."
Jamie felt like hugging him again. Jack had waited for a long time to see Jamie, he made it with only a week to go and he couldn't take it anymore. He came to see him, despite all the trouble he would be in if anyone found out. He guessed that Jack missed Jamie as much as Jamie missed him.
"So, are you coming with me?" Jack stood.
"What?" Jamie blinked.
"Well, you didn't think I'd come all this way just to head off alone, did you?" He grinned down at his friend.
"But where?"
"My place." Jamie could tell Jack was keeping the exact information a secret, because he just smiled and waited for Jamie to ask more questions.
"For how long?"
"Well, how long do you want to stay?"
Jamie thought about this question. He thought about school in the morning, about having to deal with the people who thought he was a freak, he thought about his family and how much he worried them. Then he thought about Jack and his decision was made in an instant.
Jamie stood with resolve, grabbing Jack's wooden stick and handing it over to the spirit. He looked directly into the Guardian's grinning eyes.
"Forever."
eeeeeeep. i cant wait until you guys see what's next! *hugs* i love you all.