?Icy Shadows

Summary: After visiting Jamie, Jack finds some fearlings attacking someone. He rescues the person only to find out its...a injured teenage Pitch? How did that happen? Jack/Pitch

Hey guys sorry this took so long. Our internet company took ages in getting us connected again after we moved and I've been so busy with assignments and resubmission plus I kept getting writer's block on this chapter too. Again really sorry.

While we're here I really want to thank you guys for the reviews. I didn't expect so many for this fic! You guys are amazing! Cookies for all of you!

Oh yeah I've also drawn a cover for this fic. Hope you guys like. I know my style in drawing people is very weird but hey, I'm not good at drawing eyes. Or noses. Or hands and feet either. :3

Okay I won't keep you guys any longer. Here's chapter 5.

Chapter 5

When Jack returned to the living room after the meeting, Pitch had already return the ice statue and the book back to the places they had been and had moved over back to one of the small tables.

"Sorry, didn't realise how long the meeting would be," Jack apologised, "I probably should have gotten out some games for you to play to past the time."

Pitch smiled in response but inside his head, questions kept popping up. Why did you make an ice statue of me? Why is it hiding in the bookshelf and not in your room with the others? Why is it so important for me to need to know these answers?

He couldn't voice these questions however as the other guardians had appeared in the doorway. Pitch remembered Jack saying this was the room they hung out once official business was over and wondered about scurrying (or in his case; wheeling) back to the infirmary.

They were all smiling however. Tooth and Sandy were quietly discussing something. North and Bunny seemed to be arguing whether Easter or Christmas was better; but it seemed to be a friendly argument and, judging by the way Jack rolled his eyes, one they had many times. Through Bunny still did not spare Pitch a single glance; the atmosphere in the room was light hearted and the thought of hiding away in the infirmary quickly faded away.

"The meeting went well then, I assumed?" Pitch asked Jack.

Jack shrugged, smiling as he lay down in the air, looking at Pitch upside down, "Pretty much yeah. Children are still having pleasant dreams and still believing, Tooth hasn't had any problems doing rounds. There haven't been any problems in Bunny's warren and North thinks he might have all the Christmas presents finished a month early this year if things go according to plan. A lot of places have been going into summer months so there's only a few places I need to spread winter and I'm almost done with that; apart from when I have to check back to make sure the snow hasn't melted."

Pitch nodded and smiled, his smile widening even more as he realise that if Jack wasn't busy spreading winter he would have more time to spend with him. And then Pitch frowned again as he pondered that thought made him so happy.

Jack didn't notice the frown on Pitch for a frown had appeared on his face too as he continued speaking.

"The only problem really is that the fearlings are still out there; through they haven't been spotted since they were chased ot of the workshop."

Pitch froze, thoughts completely forgotten as soon as Jack had mentioned the fearlings. He had almost forgotten about them.

"We'll get them through," Jack hurried to reassure the grey teen, "Sandy's keeping an eye out and me and Bunny decided we'll do a couple rounds at night to see if we can spot any sign of them; him checking the warmer countries, me the colder ones. So don't worry about them too much."

Pitch did not respond to Jack's reassurances however, as the memories of the fearlings' attacks sprung into his mind. Unbeknownst to him his breathing was starting to quicken as he remembered. The fearlings charging at him, stripping him of his powers by ripping them from his soul before carrying him back to the dark place he once called his home. Their eyes once a gleaming gold that mirrored his own turning into blood red. He had no powers left, they had devoured them all. But they could still smell the fear radiating from their once master and they weren't going to stop until they had devoured every last inch of that fear even if they had to kill for it...

"Pitch!"

Pitch let out a loud cry and nearly tipped over his chair. In fact he would have done if Jack hadn't noticed and had grabbed the arms of the chair before the chair did topple over.

Pitch barely noticed that, nor that his breathing was coming out in ragged gasps as if he had run a marathon. Jack was mere inches from his face and all he could do was stare into those almost crystal clear eyes. They were full of worry and concern and slightly panicked; not expecting Pitch to react in the way he did.

But, despite that, they were also...calming. Their bright crystal blue was a heavy contrast to the blood-lusting red eyes of the fearlings; that was one reason. But they were also the eyes that had held compassion when he had began crying because he felt he wasn't worth his friendship. They were the eyes that were always filled with joy and laughing. They were the eyes that made him smile despite himself.

And somehow they made him feel not so afraid. His breathing was beginning to slow and he could feel the muscles that had immediately tensed upon hearing the word 'fearlings' loosen so he almost sagged in his chair with relief. The panicked look in Jack's eyes too faded as Pitch started to calm down, through the concern was still there.

"You okay?" Jack asked.

"Yeah..." Pitch said, finding his voice, despite having calm down, still a little shaky, "Yeah...I'm alright."

They were silent for a few seconds not knowing what to say. Pitch noticed that their faces were still a few inches apart.

"Sorry," Jack said, a small sad smile on his lips, "I probably shouldn't have mentioned them, huh?"

"No, it's fine," Pitch said his voice not so shaky anymore.

The sadness from Jack's smile faded and the smile widened a little. Pitch returned the smile. That butterfly feeling appeared in his stomach again.

Both of them had forgotten about the others in the room. A big booming voice suddenly echoed through the room.

"Who wants eggnog?"

Jack and Pitch sprang apart in surprise, Jack flying a few inches up in the air, Pitch's chair rolling backwards before he managed to find the breaks and stop it before he crashed. He felt his face heat up in embarrassment and he wondered why.

"No thanks," Jack reply to North who was holding up large mugs of eggnog.

Bunny and Tooth shook their heads and, once he had managed to stop flushing, Pitch also turned down the offer. Sandy however zipped straight over to North, grabbed a mug of eggnog from him, and started chugging it down in one go.

Pitch blinked in amazement. Jack and North laughed while Bunny and Tooth rolled their eyes.

"Sandy! You love eggnog more than I do!" North chuckled in his booming voice.

Sandy nodded up to the taller man and then glanced down at his cup which was now empty. He looked back up and pouted.

"Alright, will get you more! Patience, little man."

Sandy raised his eyebrow at that last comment but nevertheless waited patiently as North went over to a barrel that Pitch hadn't noticed in the corner, turning the small tap and filling the cup to the brim with more eggnog. The small golden man silently cheered in delight, a golden thumb up appearing above his head as he took the eggnog from North.

"Don't ever try to beat Sandy to an eggnog drinking contest," Jack said to Pitch, as he flew back down beside him, "He'll beat you hands down. Unlike the Kangaroo over there," He gestured his thumb to the rabbit who had hopped slightly nearer to them to watch Sandy down four more cups of eggnog and still merrily demand more.

"Oy, I heard that," Bunny snapped, glancing over at Jack. However he didn't seem to be in a bad mood. He still did not look at Pitch however.

Jack sent him a smirk, "Can't help it if it's true, Cottontail. I beat you in that race a few weeks ago remember? And I beat you in that eggnog contest Sandy held, even if I didn't manage to beat the Sandman himself."

"You won that race because you cheated with that staff of yours and I don't like the taste of eggnog," Bunny huffed.

"Sure," Jack said in a disbelieving tone, "I bet you couldn't even beat me in a game of arm wrestling."

Bunny met the winter spirit's glaze.

"You're on mate."

With that Bunny marched over to one of the small tables and sat down at it sticking out his furry paw. Jack joined him and mirrored his actions. They grasped each other's hand and after the rabbit counted to three, begun.

Pitch watched on. He had expected for Bunny to wins hands down. The rabbit's arms was large and muscular after all, seeming even larger compared to Jack's arms, which seemed to be a tiny matchstick compared to Bunny's.

Yet surprisingly Jack held out well, grinning slyly as Bunny tried and tried to push his arm down before trying to push the rabbit's arm down himself. Both arms wavered. An arm would start to falter and the person pushing would smirk, thinking he had the upper lead, before suddenly the other would push violently and the tables turn with the person who was winning now trying to stop his arm from being pushed onto the table and the other person smirking at them.

Pitch watched this for a few minutes as it continued on. Then he almost jumped as the Tooth fairy spoke from besides him. He had been watching so intently he hadn't even heard the faint buzz of her wings as she came over.

"Um..." She said, an uncertain look crossing her face, still unsure how to act around Pitch.

"Hey..." Pitch replied.

Pitch was still unsure how to act around her so he just glance at the rectangular box she held in her hands. The word 'chess' was neatly written on in a handwritten italic scribble. She held the box up when she saw Pitch looking.

"They're gonna take a while," She said, nodding at Jack and Bunny who was still trying to beat each at arm wrestling. "And...normally I would play chess with Sandy but when he had a few rounds of eggnog it becomes ridiculously easy to beat him at chess," She blew upwards at her feathers, "So, um, how about we play?"

Pitch stayed quiet for a moment. Honestly, he was still getting over the shock that she actually wanted to play chess with him. He was still a little uncertain though knowing that from the way she reacted around him the last week she still didn't seem comfortable around the nightmare king.

But after glancing over at Jack again and seeing the fierce competitive looks on both his and Bunny's faces, he realise it was going to take a while. And to be honest he was getting a little bored of watching.

He turned back to Tooth and nodded, "Sure,"

Tooth's face immediately perked up and Pitch leaned back, slightly unsure about the sudden mood change.

"Really? That's great. Hang on let me get the chess board set up so we can play. Have you played chess before? I'm a pretty good player but I still haven't beat Sandy yet, unless he's been drinking eggnog of course. I can beat North and Bunny though. Jack doesn't usually play though I don't know why, chess really fun to play, you know, once you get into it."

As she babbled on, she wheeled Pitch over to another table and started taking the chess board and chess pieces out of the box, setting it up on the table. She carried on chatting away until after they had started playing and she started to fully concentrate on the game, determined not to be beaten. Pitch couldn't hep but feel a little grateful when she stopped. She talked too fast to understand and he really didn't know how to respond – through then again he doubted he would have gotten in a word edgewise even if he did know what to say to the human sized fairy.

After sometime Bunny and Jack eventually decided to call it quits and say it was a draw, upon realising that they weren't going to beat each other. Well Jack said he was just about to beat Bunny before the Pooka had said 'time out' but Bunny, for once, decided to just ignore that.

They both came over to Tooth and Pitch's table, Pitch barely noticing, he was concentrating so hard. North and Sandy who had both been raining down eggnog also wandered over to see who was winning to chess game.

"Aha!" Tooth cried, moving one of her white chess pieces and taking one of Pitch's black chess pieces, "My queen takes your knight. How you're going to beat that?"

She was hopping down on her seat, thinking she was winning the game. Pitch stared down at the chess board, his eyes furrowed as he pondered what chess piece to move. After a few seconds he moved his bishop three spaces to the left, and hopped over Tooth's king.

"Checkmate," He said, a small smirk appearing on his lips.

Tooth stared down at the chess board, her eyes wide open as she took a few seconds to realise Pitch had beaten her.

"Ooh, I should have seen that one coming!" Tooth whined, letting her head fall onto the table. Sandy, while laughing silently, a little drunk on eggnog, gave her a comforting pat on the back.

"You won Pitch!" Jack cheered, giving him a slight nudge and another one of his grins.

Pitch felt his cheeks grow hot a little at the praise. Honestly it was simple chess game, one Pitch could have done blindfolded – no offence to Tooth, she was a pretty good chess player. It wasn't really something to get all excited about. However as soon as Jack had praised him Pitch actually felt slightly please he had won.

"How about best out of three?" Tooth asked, not wanting to meet defeat just yet. Besides him Jack laughed.

North watched as Tooth and Pitch had a rematch as Tooth tried to beat Pitch at chess. It was slightly more harder this time for they now had Jack watching. He kept interrupting their focus, asking them question after question about the rules of the game, his blank face clearly stating that he still didn't get it after both Tooth and Pitch explain them again and again. He also picked the chess pieces up at time, confused at why the chess pieces were plain and didn't have many features, suggesting that they should at least have faces or something. He stopped that after he was told off for moving the chess pieces and leaving frost over the chess board but he continued to ask his question.

North just laughed, not saying anything to Jack about distracting the two. Curiosity and wonder was his centre and he wasn't going to stop Jack expressing his curiosity about the game. Besides North didn't understand chess either.

There was another reason also why he didn't tell Jack off. While Bunny and Tooth may have not notice it yet, and Sandy had drunken a little too much eggnog too think straight at the precise moment and Pitch hadn't been around long enough to know, it hadn't taken long for North to realise.

Normally when the guardians met to have a drink and just chat, Jack had this habit of removing himself from the others. Not at first, no, at first Jack would happily sit among the others and play games, changeling Bunny to matches, letting the Baby Teeth chase him about allowing Tooth to have a little break, suggest ideas for toys North could mate, talk to Sandy, all sorts. But, after a while, when Jack didn't think they were paying attention, he would start drifting away.

North had notice he often go to the bookcase where he kept the unfinished ice statues he would make and fly to the windowsill, where after opening the window he would talk quietly to the wind, the wind not allowing his voice to carry over to them. Or he would fly to one of the beams that stuck out on the ceiling and perch on that, hidden from view from those below. He often be in these places, even when the guardians weren't together and North was busy working. North had noticed Jack flying to the living room that week when he wasn't creating winter or with Pitch or playing elf bowling with the yetis, building another small ice statue, of what North didn't go, nor did he want to intrude on Jack's privacy by taking a peak behind the books on the bookshelf.

Today however...today that didn't happen. While Jack clearly showed no interest in chess, he did not move away from the others. For the first time that he had been a guardian Jack did not drift from them for the whole time they were there. The small sad smile that would appear as he watched them all from afar did not appear on his face today as he circle around the chess players and teased Bunny about chickening out in their arm wrestling game.

Sandy had flown over while North was thinking silently, the eggnog wearing off a little. They both shared a look of understanding as they watched the white hair boy chat to Pitch, unintentionally side tracking him from the game, allowing Tooth to take some of his chess pieces.

-"He is starting to trust us," North whispered quietly so the others wouldn't hear; "Only start, but it is better than nothing."

Sandy nodded in agreement. Looking up at the bigger Russian man, he started forming sand above his hand, creating an image of a golden teenage Pitch.

North chuckled, "You might be right. Maybe Pitch being here is turning out better than we thought."

Soon the guardians had to return to their jobs and Jack and Pitch still had to finish the tour. After they said their goodbyes – Bunny had even slightly nodded at Pitch through he still didn't say anything – Jack hopped onto Pitch's wheelchair and they continued down the corridor towards the elevator.

"Now what?" Pitch asked, glancing up at Jack as he parked them inside and the elevator's doors shut behind them.

Jack titled his head as he tried to remember what they had been doing before the meeting, "Well we could continue the tour; we still got the second floor and the workshop to see. Or...we could go down to the stables and I can properly introduce you to Rudolph and the other reindeers before lunch."

Pitch titled his head as he considered this option. He would quite like to see the workshop and any other rooms that were interesting, but he wouldn't mind meeting the reindeers properly too, after finding that Rudolph was a shy thing he was now curious about what the others were like as well.

"The second option sounds good," He replied.

Jack lit up, "Great! Okay we'll head to the stables. We'll need to make a detour to the kitchens though – the reindeers get pretty hungry at this time and if you don't have a supply of carrots with you they'll try munching your pockets instead."

He showed Pitch his hoodie pocket, which on closer inspection had been stitched up as if something had ripped it off and either Tooth or Jack himself had to stitch it back together. Pitch didn't really want that to happen to his new outfit, especially seeing as Jack went out of his way just to get it for him.

So when they exited the elevator they headed into the kitchen. None of the yetis were there, having finished most of the cooking, apart from the few things still in the oven. There were silver trays placed neatly on the kitchen table, all covered with trays or tightly wrapped in tin foiled in order to try and prevent frosty fingers from stealing anything from them. Pitch noticed Jack looking at them, tempted but the boy then flew over to the cupboards instead, the wind opening the doors for him and levitating a large bag of carrots over to his hands.

"Thanks Wind," Jack thanked it before flying back over to Pitch. Pitch felt a cool sweep of air circle them, almost as if the wind was saying 'you're welcome'.

When they entered the stables the reindeers immediately rushed over to the wall of their pen. Their eyes filled with excitement when they saw Jack, some even hopping up and down.

Jack laughed and after the wind had shut all the doors, he opened the pen gate. Immediately they swarms him, some nudging him gently, asking for some carrots while others tried to nip at the bag and snatch the carrots away for themselves.

"Woah, woah, easy there, guys! Ouch, Prancer, you're stepping on my feet! Blitzen, you'll get your carrots in a minute, stop chewing the bag already! Oh, don't you start too, Vixen! Both of you off!"

Pitch laughed as Jack struggled with two reindeers who were trying to pull the bag away from Jack's grasp in a game of tug and war. A reindeer suddenly rammed into the two mischievous reindeers, allowing Jack to hold onto the bag.

"Thanks Dasher," Jack said to the reindeer.

The reindeer Dasher grunted in response. Jack gave him the first carrot, giving the next to the one name Prancer and the other four reindeers which Jack pointed as Dancer, Cupid, Comet and Donder that surrounded him and had waited patiently for their snack. After Blitzen and Vixen pouted and brushed against Jack in apology, Jack laughed and gave them some carrots as well.

Rudolph stood outside the group. The red nosed reindeer seemed too shy to barged in along with the others even through the reindeer Cupid seemed to move over a bit to give him room. Instead Rudolph waited patiently.

Jack smiled and he made his way through the other reindeers munching happily on their carrots. He held out his hand and the reindeer walked over to him and leaned into it, allowing the winter spirit to stroke him.

"Hey there boy," Jack spoke softly.

Glancing up, Jack gestured for Pitch to come over. Pitch, suddenly unsure about the whole situation, rolled over slowly, a little tricky with all the bits of hay scattered on the ground.

"Rudolph, this is Pitch," Jack said to the reindeer.

Pitch reached out to stroke the reindeer. Immediately Rudolph's eyes widened and with a shriek he darted into the pen, backing into a corner, quivering from head to toe.

The other reindeers glanced up at the commotion but then turned back to their eating.

"Ah...I forgot that might happen," Jack said, rubbing the back of his neck, "Hold on a sec,"

With that the white haired teen flew over to the pen and started trying to coax Rudolph to come back out.

Pitch sighed and looked away. Of course. He should have remembered. He was the nightmare king, the essence of fear. All animals could sense it, even more so than children could, and would always run as soon as they sensed him. They didn't even have to spot him before they were running for the fields. Before, Pitch had never really cared. In fact he enjoyed that they were so scared of him.

Until now that was.

"Don't bother Jack," He grumbled when he saw Jack still trying to coax the reindeer out of his hiding spot.

"No, no, Rudolph's just being shy. He just needs to get to know you." Jack said.

Jack continued to approach the reindeer slowly and calmly. He crouched down to the reindeer's level and slowly reached out to stroke the reindeer's head. Rudolph at first flinched back but after a while calmed down. It was only Jack after all, his friend.

"Come on Rudolph, there's nothing to be afraid of," Jack spoke softly, softer than he ever spoke before. After petting the reindeer for a couple more minutes he gently tried leading him over to Pitch.

The reindeer froze as soon as he met eyes with Pitch's golden ones. But Jack continued to talk in that reassuring voice. Pitch watched in amazement, not daring to believe that this work. But after a few moments the red nosed reindeer plucked up his courage and walked over to Pitch, pausing every so often but still walking over to Pitch.

"That's it," Jack said when they finally reached Pitch's wheelchair. He passed Pitch some of the carrots, "Hold them out to him. Slowly, don't make any sudden movements."

Pitch nodded and wordlessly did as Jack said, holding out the carrot to Rudolph as slowly as he could. Rudolph still flinched. But then he glanced at Jack and seem to regain his confidence. He still regarded Pitch warily as he came closer and started nibbling the carrot. After a while he started properly muching into the carrots, his hunger overcoming his fear.

Pitch looked over at Jack and Jack nodded. Again with the same slowness as before Pitch reached out and touched Rudolph forehead.

The reindeer didn't flinched, allowing Pitch to pet him while he continued to munch on the carrots that Pitch held out to him. Pitch looked up at Jack in amazement and Jack grinned back.

"See. Told you Rudolph just needs to get to know you," Jack said.

He left Pitch to continue feeding Rudolph and flew over to the other reindeers, figuring from the grunts and whines that were erupting from them that they were wanting seconds, "Alright, alright keep your fur on guys."

Pitch watched him, continuing to stroke Rudolph and feed him carrots. He was pretty certain that the fact Rudolph had gotten over his fear of the king of darkness wasn't due to the fact that 'he just needed to get to know him' but because of Jack himself.

A small smile graced his lips and Pitch felt that weird butterfly feeling again. It was hard to believe that a few months ago Pitch couldn't stand the sight of the winter spirit. Now he had discovered that Jack wasn't some pest that had foiled his evil schemes. Jack had shown him kindness and compassion when anyone else would have not. Even the other guardians were slowly started to accept him when if Jack wasn't there they would have not even tried. Jack was the first person who had made him smile. A real smile. Not one of those evil sneers that Pitch would pull to scare people or when things were going his way.

Pitch eyes widened in surprise and he dropped the carrot he was holding, causing Rudolph to flinched back. He apologised to the reindeer, offering him the carrot again through he was still shocked by the realisation that hit him that he barely noticed when Rudolph shyly reassumed his eating.

Am I falling for Jack Frost?

Yes! Finally Pitch realise his feelings. It took you a while.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. And yes Bunny will soon start to like Pitch evetually. I thought I would have Tooth and Pitch bond first seeing as she's the only other person that still had a slight problem with Pitch. I'm not a chess player, like Jack I feel the game's to complicated for me and probably will bore me. No offence to those who love chess. Anyway if you can guess where exactly the chess game's moves with Tooth and Pitch used actually comes from you get a cookie!

I've read on wiki Sandy loves eggnog and in some fics I read eggnog seems to be a little like alochol. The thought of Sandy getting drunk on eggnog was hilarous so I had to put it down. Quick question what is eggnog? I'm from Britain and I don't think we have eggnog here (as far as I'm aware anyway, correct me if I'm wrong I've only heard of eggnog in cartoons). Does it really have eggs in it?

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