"Elsa."
I sat up, frigid, as the familiar baritone echoed through my mind and sent shivers down my spine. I didn't even notice the curve of my lips, stretching like taffy into a full blown smile. The delight the voice brought overrid my mortification at being caught outside in the snow, making snow angels in the middle of the night.
I looked around repeatedly, trying to find the speaker. I faced forward again, instinctively covering my mouth when I saw him, hanging upside down in front of me suspended by nothing.
"Jack," I said.
He swung from his ever-present staff, lips mirroring my own grin. I flushed, covering my nose and mouth with intertwined fingers, hiding my ridiculously wide smile. He settled down to sit next to me, and I felt the warmth of the body he didn't believe existed anymore. That was new. I'd never felt warmth from Jack before, beyond the special feeling that welled up in my heart when he was near.
"How've you been, Snowflake? Wow, look at you. How old are you now? Forty?"
I had a rather immature urge to burst out laughing, but instead I continued to smile. Conceal, don't feel. At least. Don't look like a total imbecile. "I'm fine, thank you, Jack. And I'm fourteen this Winter."
He lowered an eyebrow and my eyes trailed from his bright blue eyes to the corner of his smirking lips. "You don't act like a fourteen-year-old. You've been thirty since you were twelve."
"That doesn't make sense," I replied good-naturedly.
"Well, let's take your hair for example."
I reached up self-consciously, pressing my fingers into the braids. "What's wrong with my hair?"
He obviously saw that he upset me because he placed his hands up in a 'woah' gesture. "It's pretty, Elsa, it is- it's just… Maybe if you let it down sometimes…" he reached up to take my braid away from the pins, running his hand through my unruly bangs until they stuck out at weird angles. I didn't care. I was enthralled by the feeling of his fingers running through my hair, and my skin sparking where his trace still lingered. He was warm.
"Jack, you-"
Jack's eyes trailed from my eyes to his hand in my hair and I watched as they widened like glowing moons. "I-Oh my god. I'm touching you!" I felt his excitement, energy thrumming as he gripped my wrists. "I'm not phasing through you anymore. I-"
I didn't realise what had happened until I was holding Jack's frozen wrists in my hands. He had pressed his lips to mine, gentle but sudden, I still panicked and bit his lip.
Jack let out a yelp, pulling back because my wrist was fused to his. He looked down at it, thawing it quickly with his superior powers. My mind was a whirl of several different streams, all surrounding the sensation of warm lips on mine, as much ironic as it was wondrous. My lips were tingling, and my face was on fire- something I definitely didn't feel often.
"I-" he said.
I got up, running my hands through my mussed hair. Hair mused by Jack's fingers. "I think I should return home now."
"Elsa," he said, sounding sad and guilty at the same time.
"I'll…" I know I shouldn't assume others should bend to my will, even if I'm a princess, I felt like Jack needed the guidance right now, possibly more than I did. "I'll see you tomorrow?"
He sighed in relief. When I looked back he had one hand on the back of his head, looking back at me over cheeks reddening with long-dead blood.
"Y-yes. Good night."
a/n: Thanks so much for the follows and favourites guys! I definitely wasn't expecting that kind of response.
Cheers.
