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

Yay I've updated. And it didn't take as long as the last post...almost.

Urgh I'm really sorry about the slow updates. I'm just a slow writer. I'm trying to write an actual novel (not sure if it be good) and I've only finish the prologue now - and I started ages ago :S. Plus if it's not slow writing or writers block in the way I have assigments in the way so I don't have time to write up fanfics. And the more I wait the more ideas slip out my mind and the more I end up stuck and it's a never ending cycle. Plus, while this story chapter's aren't quite as long as my other ROTGs fics so far, it's still quite a bit to write. Meaning while I know what I want to write for one part but then I end up getting completely stuck on the next part of vice versa. I could update shorter chapters but honestly I think I've gotten into the mindset that short isn't good enough, long is better (it shows up in my assignments too, again why it takes so long to get around to a fanfic). With A Better Life, with the short chapter two (which was just slightly shorter than this chapter) I was considering redoing because I felt I hadn't written enough when I knew that I had finished chapter two and anything else would make much better sense in chapter 3. Luckily I didn't give into my urges otherwise that story would take ages to update as well.

Anyway, I will try to update more frequently. But if I don't I just want you guys to know it doesn't mean I've given up on the story. I'm just being slow HMemma again. Just be patient and it will get updated soon...even if it takes half a year (as some of my updates have done)

Chapter 9

Pitch had no idea how he fell back to sleep, with Jack lying there so close to him. It felt like he wouldn't drift off. After he had almost kissed the sleeping Jack, he kept staring at the winter spirit. All the while continuing to push down the urge to kiss him. With all of that, Pitch had been certain he would still wide awake by the time it was fully morning.

But somehow he must have shut his eyes at some point, because when he open him, there were three changes.

One: Jack had shifted up closer to him in his sleep, seeking the coolness of Pitch's body heat, and was currently half lying across him, hands knotted in Pitch's fleece jacket.

Two: While asleep, Pitch had wrapped his arms around Jack and had rested his cheek against Jack's forehead.

And three: A small tiny tooth fairy with a birth mark under her eye was staring at them.

"Baby Tooth?" Pitch doubled checked that he had said the correct name, he honestly didn't know what the mini-fairies had been called until Jack had introduced this one to him, "What are you doing here?"

Baby Tooth just giggled as she looked at Pitch and Jack. Her cheeks were a bright pink as she stared at the two of them, her hands clasped and head titled a little to the side, If she could speak the word 'aww' would be coming out her beak.

It was then that it finally registered to Pitch's tired mind that he and Jack had been basically snuggling together when they were asleep. And Baby Tooth had just seen it.

Quickly, Pitch pulled himself away from Jack, a panicked expression on his face, "It's not what it looks like!"

Jack snorted, jostled by Pitch's movements, and Pitch remembered that he was still asleep. Cringing, the two turned to glance at Jack as he stirred, praying he didn't wake up fully.

Thankfully, luck was on the two side, as Jack just rested his head on the pillow and went back to sleep. He was still hugging Pitch, which didn't help the grey blush on Pitch's cheeks as he turned back to Baby Tooth.

"Jack was just too, er, warm last night." Pitch stuttered as he tried to explained, "The window was shut and his staff was too far away and um…"

Baby Tooth just smirked slyly at him. She started chirping, her voice coming out in soft notes and melodic tweets.

Pitch stared at her for a seconds.

"Um…I didn't understand a single word of that."

Baby Tooth groaned and smacked her forehead. She had completely forgotten Pitch wouldn't understand her. Before she met Jack, she would only talk with her mother and her sisters, who already understand her clearly, and when she and Jack became friends, he seemed to pick up fairy speak (or at least her fairy speak) fairly quickly that she barely remembered the time when he could not understand her. She had never tried to speak with anyone else before, and so the fact that no one could understand her slipped her mind. For a moment she wondered if this was what the sandman felt like whenever he tried to talk to someone new.

Unfortunately for her, unlike Sandy, she did not have golden sand to play charades with Pitch so he could understand her. Baby Tooth sighed and flew over to a chest of drawers, finding a pencil and and chart paper from the stack that the yetis kept in there. She tore a piece off so she could carry it and flew back to Pitch, landing on the headboard. Taking the pencil in both her hands and using her legs to get a better grip, she scribbled something down, before handing the paper to Pitch.

"You like him don't you?"

If Pitch's cheek were dark before, they represented his full name now as he spluttered.

"How did you…?"

The little fairy simply pointed to the expression on his face. It was a dead give-away.

Pitch cursed under his breath, for blushing and not simply denying it. Because of is inability to keep his cheeks from flushing when Jack was mentioned one of Tooth miniature fairies had worked it out. Just great.

Is it really that bad?

'Shut up brain.' Pitch growled in his head.

Baby Tooth held her hand over her mouth to sniffle her laughter as she grabbed the pencil and the paper to write again.

"You two make a cute couple."

Now Pitch was sure his head had exploded.

"We're not a couple!" Pitch cried, only just remembering he needed to keep quiet.

Baby Tooth didn't look convinced.

"We're not!" Pitch hissed, "Jack wouldn't….Jack doesn't….I can't.…he doesn't know I like him, okay?"

Falling silent, Pitch looked down at his lap, placing a hand on his forehead. He felt like crying and he scoffed. He had been turned into a teenager not a girl. Why was he crying all the time?

His eyes travelled to Jack besides him and he let out a deep sigh. Probably when Jack brought out the softer side in him and made him fall for him.

Baby Tooth's chirp caught Pitch's attention and as Pitch looked up she settled on his shoulder a look of concern on her face. She held her paper out to him.

"Why don't you just tell him?"

Pitch groaned. He felt like he was repeating the same answer over and over.

"Because he won't feel the same way."

She started to write another note. Pitch groaned again and shot a glance longingly at his wheelchair from across the room. He really didn't want to talk about this.

She handed him the note and for a moment Pitch considered not reading it. He knew all she was going to tell him was that he couldn't know for definite. And okay, he didn't. But, really, what chance did someone like him have?

Baby Tooth looked at him, waiting expectantly. Despite him wanting to just toss the paper where he wouldn't be able to reached it, he eventually cracked under her glaze and looked down at her scrawl.

"You know, Jack never does what everyone expects him to."

Pitch couldn't help it. He let out a slight laugh.

"You got me there." He said to Baby Tooth.

She was right. Jack never did what Pitch expected him to do. Pitch expected him to hate him because of what he had done. He didn't. Pitch expected Jack to always be his enemy. He became his friend instead. Pitch expected him to be scared by the fact Pitch had got some of his powers back. He wasn't. Jack had done the complete opposite of everything Pitch had expected him to do. It was what had enlighten the spark in his once cold and dark heart in the first place.

Baby Tooth grinned. Forgoing the paper for a moment she mouthed the words instead.

"Tell him."

Pitch looked back at Jack, almost contemplating the idea. Wouldn't it be easier to know for sure that Jack didn't feel te same? Then Pitch could at least focus on being just friends with him, instead of having to fight his feelings for him every single second.

He felt his hands shake and he clenched them. The fear of rejection was just too long. What if Jack didn't feel the same way and he didn't want to be friends. Pitch just couldn't take that risk.

He looked back down at the paper, repeating the sentence above the last in his head. Jack never does what everyone expects him to do.

"Not yet."

Pitch exhaled softly and looked back at Baby Tooth, "Not yet," He repeated to her.

It wasn't a no. Nor was it a yes. It was a maybe. Maybe, someday, he would find the courage to admit to Jack how he felt. Right now though, all her felt was terror.

Baby Tooth huffed, not entirely happy with that answer. But she smiled, glad that Pitch was no longer against the idea. She figured he had been having this debate with himself for a while now.

"So what brings you here?" Pitch asked, purposely changing the topic.

Baby Tooth raised an eyebrow but, in response, fluttered over to Jack, landing on the pillow besides his white hair. She patted the bandage gently so the sleeping boy wouldn't feel it and looked back up at Pitch, a look of worry flashing across her face.

"You were worried about him?" Pitch asked.

The little fairy nodded. In actual truth when she heard the news for her mother after she had returned to the palace late last night, Baby Tooth had almost had a heart attack. Then she had tried to fly straight to the North Pole, not thinking or caring about the blizzard that would greet her when she would have crossed the oceans into the North Pole. Luckily Tooth had stopped the determined fairy, who would have never made it through the Arctic winds otherwise, and explained that Jack was alright. Eventually, after Tooth promised she would take her to North's workshop with her the next morning, the Baby Tooth had calmed down. But that hadn't quench the anxiety building up inside her as she waited impatiently for morning to see the winter spirit.

"He's okay. He was a bit out of it last night from the concussion and from the room being too warm for him, but he probably just needed some sleep." Pitch said. A shadow crossed his face as he thought how worse it might have been when Bunny had brought the unconscious Jack in last night.

Baby Tooth didn't notice as she flew closer to Jack's face. Reaching out, she stroke Jack's cheek softly, glad to see her friend breathing evenly as he was lost to golden dreamsand.

Pitch couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealously and he quickly looked away, scolding himself. Really, he was jealous of a little fairy now?

Baby Tooth chirped and when he glanced back, a knowing smirk was across her beak. Apparently, if he was not going to tell Jack yet, she was going to make up for it by teasing him.

"Oh shut up." Pitch said, earning another giggle from the humming bird like fairy.

The door suddenly burst open and in flew Tooth, "Morning Jack, morning Pitch…."

She stopped short and stared, voice trailing off. It was then that Pitch realised, even though the boys weren't hugging as they has been before, they were still in the same bed. Baby Tooth smirked widened at the shock on her mother's face and how Pitch's face completely went dark grey again as he blushed.

Pitch wondered if anyone would mind if he curled himself up in a corner and died of embarrassment.

Luckily Baby Tooth stopped snickering and came to Pitch's rescue. She chirped to her mother, pointing at the closed windows and t Jack's staff on the other side of the room.

Tooth huffed, "I thought I told Bunny last night to open the window if he wasn't going to let Jack have his staff. You know, for someone with such big ears, he can be a little deaf at times."

A loud shout, sounding as if it was on the floor above them and several rooms away, was suddenly heard, "Oy, I heard that, Shelia!"

"Then I suggest that, when I tell you do something, you do it next time!" Tooth called back to Bunny, hands on her hips as she stared up at the ceiling in the direction of the shout.

As Tooth and Bunny began to argue despite the fact that there was a ceiling and several rooms in between them, Jack suddenly sat up, jarring Pitch, who had been watching Tooth as she scolded Bunny with a complete and utterly stunned expression across his face.

"What did I miss?" Jack asked, yawning as he rubbed Sandy's sand away from his eyes.

"Um, Tooth is telling Bunny off for not leaving a window open last night. Bunny is upstairs somewhere, I think." Pitch replied.

Jack chuckled fondly, his unsurprised expression suggesting to Pitch that this was a regular occurrence between the human sized fairy and the Pooka.

"Right mister, I want you to march yourself down here, apologise to Jack for keeping him too warm last night and open that window." Tooth yelled, landing on the floor just so she could stomp her foot and emphasize her statement.

"Shelia, I am not ruddy five, for Man in the Moon sakes!"

"Now, Aster." Tooth shouted firmly in a dark tone, using Bunny's first name.

After there was no reply and assuming that Bunny was coming downstairs, Tooth lifted back into the air, a smile on her face as she returned back to the pleasant fairy everyone knew her as.

"Alright, now that's sorted, how are you feeling Jack?" Tooth asked, zipping over to Jack and checking his bandages.

"I'm okay, still a little hot but better than last night, and – Tofth! Wthy arth you cthecthtfing my mutth!" Jack cried as Tooth stuck her fingers in the corners of Jack's mouth and open it wide as he spoke.

"I didn't check last night to make sure you didn't lose any of your sparkly white teeth when the fearlings hit you." Tooth said simply as she peered into Jack's mouth, seemingly unaware of Jack's attempts to push her away.

"Ptcfth, htflp!" Jack begged.

Before Pitch could react, Tooth, satisfied with what she saw, removed her fingers, "All of them are fine and completely spotless." She grinned.

Pitch couldn't help it. Joining Baby Tooth, who was already spluttering, he roared with laughter.

"Not funny!" Jack huffed shooting Pitch and Baby Tooth a glare while sticking out his lip. It only made the two laugh harder.

"Sorry," Pitch apologised meekly, once he was control of his laughter.

Jack flashed him a grin, "Ah, no worries." He gestured his thumb at Baby Tooth who was still twittering, "At least you're not as bad as her."

Feigning mock insult, Baby Tooth whacked the uninjured part of Jack's head.

"Hey, I'm an invalid here!" Jack exclaimed, pretending to be hurt.

Baby Tooth just rolled her eyes. Jack smirked and the little fairy grinned and hopped onto his shoulder.

During the exchange, Tooth had flown to the wall and grabbed Jack's staff and Pitch's wheelchair. She brought them back over to the two teens, parking the wheelchair at the end of Pitch's bed.

"Here you go, Jack," Tooth said as she handed the staff over to him.

As soon as Jack's hand wrapped around the staff, the blue frost immediately returned and the window burst open, almost breaking as the glass slammed against the wall. In flew the wind carrying a ton of snow along with it.

Jack laughed, as the wind swirled around me, "Hey Wind. Did you miss me?"

The wind in response, gently picked him off Pitch's bed and placed him in his own, already having covered it with cold snow.

"I'll take that as a yes." Jack grinned and the wind whistled around him.

"Really? I came all the way down here and Frostbite's opened the window already?!"

The four turned to see Bunny standing at the door. Tooth immediately frowned.

"Hold up, mister. You have still not apologised to Jack." She said, wagging her finger at him.

"Yeah, I could have burnt up last night and combust." Jack said, enjoying watching Tooth scold Bunny.

"It wasn't even that hot in here!" Bunny exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air. To him the hospital ward had just barely warm last night and now the window was open and the Arctic wind was bringing in snow, it was freezing.

"For a winter spirit it is." Jack said and he stuck his tongue out at the rabbit.

Bunny glared at him.

"Bunny," Tooth warned him.

The Pooka sighed, knowing Tooth wouldn't relent until he apologise to Jack.

"Alright I'm sorry mate." He huffed, rubbing his forehead with his paw.

"Hrm…should I forgive you or should I not?" Jack teased.

"Jack," Now Tooth was using that warning tone on the winter spirit.

"Just kidding, Kangaroo." Jack said, ignoring Bunny's frustration about being called that nickname again.

The white haired teen caught eyes with the grey skinned teen and the two sniggered. Bunny rolled his eyes and walked into the room, perching on the edge of Jack's bed that wasn't covered with snow.

He looked over at Pitch, a slightly awkward look on his face. Pitch's look back was equally awkward. While last night after their argument Bunny no longer seemed mad by Pitch's mere presence, they both would need some time before they got used to each other.

"Um," Bunny coughed, "Oh yeah. North wanted to see you, mate."

"Huh?"

Pitch blinked for a few seconds before he got that Bunny was still addressing him. The he continued to blink for a few more seconds in shock. Him? What did North want to see him for?

"Er…okay." Pitch stuttered, suddenly nervous, "Do you know what about?" He asked.

Bunny just shrugged in reply.

"He called me when I was heading down the stairs from his office. Didn't really say the reason." The rabbit explained.

Pitch nodded. He shuffled to the end of the bed and got into his wheelchair, Tooth helping him a little. Jack got out of his bed too, floating in mid air.

"Just where are do you think you're going, mate?" Bunny asked.

Jack raised an eyebrow, "I'm tagging along with Pitch, of course."

Pitch shot Jack a grateful glance, once again doing his hardest to ignore the butterflies, which were now leaping into his throat along as fluttering around in his stomach. However before Jack could fly over to him, Bunny pulled him back down on the bed by his head.

"Oh no you don't. North wanted Phil to check on that head injury of yours. Until that check up is done, you're not allowed to leave the room, kid."

"Oh come on!" Jack cried, infuriated.

"Sorry, mate, North's orders. Phil will be here soon."

"Is he and the other yetis still trying to get those elves of the globe?" Tooth asked.

"Last time I checked, yeah." Bunny replied.

Jack huffed, crossing his arms. He shot Pitch an apologetic glance, knowing he wouldn't be able to convince the two Guardians to let him leave the ward.

"You'll be able to make it to North's office on your own?" Jack asked.

"Y-Yeah." Pitch said, "I've gotten better at controlling this chair over the week."

Jack nodded, an unreadable and perplexed expression crossing his features for a split second before he smiled, "Don't worry about it, I'm sure whatever North wants to see you about is nothing major."

Pitch chewed his lip, not entirely convinced, but smiled at Jack to reassure him that he was fine. Baby Tooth's squawk caught his attention and as he looked she left Jack's shoulder and perched onto his.

"You want to come with me?" Pitch asked, still not understanding Baby Tooth speak. She nodded with an firm chirp. It almost sounded like a yes.

"See you when you get back." Jack called as Pitch wheeled his chair over to the door. Tooth waved at him, she and Bunny wrapped in a conservation.

The door closed behind and Pitch and Baby Tooth shared a glance before Pitch headed down the corridor towards the elevator. What exactly did North want?

What indeed? We'll find out...whenever I manage to update ^^;