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

Sorry this took so long guys. I just started uni (well its been a month now but I still getting used to things) and haven't hand the time. Plus I kept getting stuck as per usual. I'm not sure how good this chapter is knowing just how many times I got stuck. Hope you enjoy anyway.

Chapter 12

Morning rose over the arctic snow, making the white snow gleam brightly in the dawn's sunlight. Inside the Santoff Clausen the yetis were already hard at work. Even a few of the elves were already up and about, running around the workshop, 'helping' the yetis and getting into trouble – leaving the yetis with more work to do. Which may explain why the yetis chose to get up extremely early to begin with.

Down in the kitchen, sat upon the countertop, was Jack. His knees were pulled into his chest as his chin rested on top of them, tiredly.

He hadn't slept much last night, tossing and turning, up until he had thrown the blue covers off his bed and flown off into the night. He had let the wind carry him where ever it wanted, for a change, as he tried to sort out his thoughts.

He had been out all night and he was still confused. He was tempted to stay out longer, sitting on the snowy mountain top the wind had brought him to after it was clear Jack wasn't paying attention to flying at all. But he figured the Guardians would worry if they found him missing and so Jack had told the wind to return him just before the sun came up.

He had gone into the kitchen to get some breakfast, but then decided he wasn't really hungry. As no one else was in the kitchen, either being asleep or have already eaten before Jack had arrived, Jack had stay in there, sitting up on the counter where he was now.

Once more Jack found himself tracing his lips, feeling the kiss still lingering there. He couldn't stop replaying the scene, one moment laughing as he covered Pitch's face with paint, the next suddenly feeling Pitch's soft warm lips against his cold ones...

Groaning loudly, Jack looked up to the ceiling, hoping it had answers. All the ceiling gave him was a crick in his neck from staring at it too long.

He let out a tired sigh and dropped his head, raking his hand through his hair. Again, Jack was reminded of Pitch and how many times he seen the once boogeyman running his hand through his hair when stressed.

He had never thought about Pitch in a romantic type of way. To be fair Jack hadn't really thought of anyone like that before. For the past three hundred years, he had been too busy trying to get people to see him. He hadn't really stopped to think about dating or love or anything like that. Even if he had stopped to think about it, how exactly would he even find someone when spirits ignored him and mortals didn't even know he existed anyway?

But Jack hadn't stopped to think about it. He was too busy creating snowballs fights or causing trouble, still a child at heart. Even in his humans years, he hadn't thought about it, as far as Jack could tell at least. He remembered lots about playing with his sisters and telling stories to the children of the village but there was nothing about crushes or liking anyone more than just friends, opposite gender or not. Love just never crossed his mind.

So why couldn't he stopped thinking about it now?

"Morning Jack,"

Jack's head snapped up to see North and Sandy entering the kitchen, most likely to get something to eat before they went either to work or to catch some sleep after being out all night.

Quickly, Jack jumped down off the counter, hovering in mid air.

"Morning. What's for breakfast?" Jack greeted, as he zipped straight over to the table.

"Thought you would've had breakfast already." North said. His voice was light and cheery, as usual. North hadn't noticed anything wrong with Jack.

"Oh I did," Jack lied easily, "But I thought I wanted something cooked as well."

North laughed. While Jack could easily prepared turkey sandwiches and anything else cold, anything that required heat and it usually ended in disaster.

Jack flashed him a cheeky grin. He still wasn't hungry really, but if North was cooking, he would be too distracted to noticed just how strained his grin really was.

"Alright, what is it that you fancy?"

For a split second Jack's grin faltered at the word 'fancy' but he hid it easily.

"How about eggs and bacon?" Jack asked.

"Sure thing." North replied. And then he opened the fridge.

Jack couldn't help but smirk. The fridge was completely packed with pre-cooked Christmas theme meals. All the uncooked items such as the egg box and the packet of bacon was presumably at the far back of the fridge. The only way you would be able to get to them was to painstackingly take everything out.

"How many times now...?" North groaned, shaking his head, "Be back in few mintues."

With that, North left, most likely to tell the yetis off and then, as punishment, get them to take everything out the fridge so he could finally make breakfast.

Which left Jack with just Sandy.

Jack spared Sandy a quick glance. The golden man was watching him, one eyebrow raised and foot tapping the floor. Clearly, he hadn't been fooled by Jack's facade one bit.

Jack attempted one more uneasy smile, and then promptly gave up, "Stop giving me that look!"

Sandy raised his eyebrow higher but then lowered them. Pulling himself up onto one of the chairs, he turned to face Jack, a question mark appearing above his golden hair as he titled his head in concern.

Jack hesitated. Should he tell him? But how would he react? Would he tell the others? How would they react?

An image of four very angry guardians tossing Pitch out into the artic snow and proceeding to yell at him suddenly flashed in Jack's mind. Jack could hardly repress the shudder at the thought of the Guardians forbidding him to ever see Pitch again, all the while Pitch being out there on his own, with blood eye fearlings out to get him...he couldn't let that happen. He couldn't.

Suddenly Jack felt a gentle hand rest on his arm. He looked up to see Sandy smiling softly, reassuringly. It was enough to calm down Jack's panicked thoughts. Sandy wouldn't judge him.

"I...yesterday Pitch kissed me."

For a second Sandy eyes widened in surprise. Only slightly though. He had schooled his expression before Jack could take a look, but Jack wondered if the sandman hadn't already suspected something before Jack had spoken.

"And...and I'm not sure how I supposed to react to it."

Two images popped up above Sandy's face. One was of Jack's face, the expression being anger. The other was another question mark.

"No, I'm not angry or anything." Jack said quickly.

Sandy change the expression on the sand Jack's face. This time the face sand Jack was pulling was one of disgust. Another image, this time being a cross, appeared.

"No, I...I didn't feel disgusted by the kiss." Jack said. His voice trailed off and he ducked his head, "I...I think I liked it."

Sandy wiped away Jack's face and the cross before putting more emphasis on the question mark. Jack groaned.

"But I don't know what that means!" Jack cried, "I've never thought about Pitch like that before. But I can't stop thinking about that kiss! I think that...I might like him back...but I don't know where it's come from. I'm just so confused."

A look of understanding crossed Sandy's face as he patted Jack's arm in comfort. When Jack looked at him again he made a picture of a clock above his head.

"A clock? How is that suppose to help?" Jack asked, confused.

Sandy faceplamed and decide to give up on the whole charades thing, for a moment anyway. Instead he lifted his hand and starting writing with his sand: Think back to the beginning.

"The beginning? Like when I rescued Pitch from the fearlings?"

Sandy nodded and shrugged at the same time, creating a picture of the adult Pitch to take place of the sentence.

"Think back to when Pitch was an adult too?" Jack guessed, "But what do you mean by that?"

This time Sandy didn't need to create images or write sentences in midair. Instead he reached forward and placed a small hand on Jack's chest, where his heart was.

"Think...about how I felt...from the beginning?"

Sandy smiled, lifting his hand away. Slowly Jack's own hand went to replace it, feeling his heart beat within his chest.

A small smile, a real one this time, appeared on Jack's face and he hugged the sandman.

"Thanks Sandy. You always know what to say."

Sandy felt his smiled widened and he returned the hug, before Jack pulled away, an excited look on his face. It was still surprising just how quickly Jack's mood could change.

"I'm going to go do that now. Catch you later."

With that the boy zoomed off, passing North and Phil at the door.

"Jack, where you going? Aren't you going to have bacon and eggs?" North called after him in surprise.

"Maybe later. Right now, I got some thinking to do." Jack shouted back, letting out a cheer as he disappeared around the corridor.

Unsure why thinking would have caused Jack such joy, North turned to Sandy, "Did I miss something?"

Sandy just shot him a mysterious smile before pointing to the fridge, giving North and Phil a look of impatience. Jack may not want eggs and bacon right now but Sandy most certainly did and he wasn't going to wait any longer.

Think back to the beginning, think back to the beginning, Jack chanted in his head.

He was sat on one of the beams in the library, sitting so he was out of sight to anyone that came in, unless they walked over to the corner he was in. It was where he usually went when he needed to think.

His excited smile had faded into a pensive look. Now he had finally found out, thanks to Sandy, how to figure out his confusing feelings, he just needed to do that and figure out his feelings for Pitch.

Start from when I first met Pitch as an adult, he told himself, remembering what Sandy wrote.

Well he had thought Pitch was evil, cruel and manipulative jerk. Not really a great first impression then.

There was also what he said when the two had first met, when Jack had admitted to not being on the Guardians side just then.

"Oh then, I'll ignore you then. But you're probably used to that already."

That...had hurt. Jack couldn't lie about that. Being alone for three hundred years would always be a sensitive subject with him, but especially back then, when the guardians had only really just brought him along because Manny had said something...yeah, it had hurt.

But Bunny had said worse and the two were as close as brothers now. And it wasn't as if Jack wasn't used to jibes from other spirits about him being a trouble maker not worth the hassle of talking to, back then. In fact, Jack would have been completely surprised if Pitch hadn't said anything of that nature.

Jack's mind wandered back to the confrontation in the Antarctic. When Pitch had, for several minutes anyway, dropped the evil smirk that had so far appeared dominant on his face. When he had told him that he understood what it was like to be alone...to long for a family.

Back then, Jack wasn't sure if Pitch was being honest. Even when he rescued him as a teen, he was still wasn't sure if Pitch had just been simply trying to get Jack on his side.

Even though he hadn't been sure if Pitch was being honest, Jack had still rescued him at the lake. Like Jack had told Pitch, he couldn't just let someone get killed, even if the guy had tried killing him before, and he understood what it was like to be alone.

But what he hadn't told Pitch was about him feeling guilty for letting the fearlings attack the nightmare king in the first place.

Especially now, knowing what they can do, Jack thought, touching the back of his head. It was still sore to touch, even though he was no longer concussed.

It wasn't just because of how dangerous the fearlings were. He didn't think Pitch deserved it. Despite everything Pitch had done, to him, his friends, Jamie and Sophie...Jack didn't think Pitch deserved what the fearlings did to them.

It was this guilt that had made Jack stay at Santoff Claussen that night, something he had never done before that point. Guilt and worry about the injuries that Pitch had obtained. He stayed in his room for only a couple of hours before returning to the corridor outside the hospital ward where he had paced (or to be more specific flew back and forth) until early morning. Only then, did he have enough courage to actually enter the room.

He had dithered helplessly in the room, watching Pitch sleep before opening the curtains and, when Pitch woke up, asking about his dream. Admittedly, not the best way to start a conservation with the injured teenaged version of the guy who you let be dragged underground by nightmare creatures, but he wasn't sure what else to say (besides, he had been curious).

When Jack had explained what had happened at the lake and why he had saved Pitch (leaving out the guilt part) he had been surprised both by the shock and the thank you that even Pitch didn't expect to come from his mouth. What really shocked Jack though was later, when Jack had brought some new clothes for Pitch, after noticing the tatters the fearling's had made of Pitch's cloak, and the nightmare king had broke down in tears.

Seeing Pitch angrily crying because he didn't think he deserve so much as some clothes, let alone Jack's kindness,

It was then that Jack decided he and Pitch were going to be friends no matter what.

So he visited Pitch in the ward every day, showing him around Santoff Claussen once he was well enough to sit in a wheelchair. As the days went on, they become close, quicker, Jack noted, than he had became close with the Guardians.

Okay, I might have made friends quicker than Pitch than I did with the Guardians. Jack shrugged, But I wasn't used to having friends back then.

Plus there was that inkling of fear that the Guardians might have gotten fed up with Jack back then. It was still there, if Jack was completely honest. With Pitch however, Jack didn't feel that same fear. They were in the same boat in a way, with Pitch not being sure of his welcome at the beginning either. But that still didn't mean anything...right?

The more and more Jack thought the more snippets of moments flashed in his mind. He remembered when he had calmed Pitch down from a panic attack, how those gold eyes had changed from wide eye and fearful to calm and completely trusting. Those same eyes then furrowed in concentration as Pitch tried to beat Tooth at chess, his expression and his tongue unconsciously sticking out at the corner when he was fully focused (and not getting distracted by Jack's question) being...rather cute, Jack had to admit. The astonished expression when Jack finally brought Rudolph around to letting Pitch pet him had also been cute, more cute in fact.

When Jack came around after being attacked by fearlings and noticed Pitch had been holding his hand, he had been touched by the gesture, so much so he hadn't let Pitch let go when the grey teen finally realised. And then there was when Jack had ended up sharing the same bed with Pitch.

A lot of his memories were still fuzzy and so Jack honestly didn't remember much. All he did remember was being too warm for one moment and then finding something cool for him to sleep on. It had turned out, according to a quick remark from Baby Tooth, that it had been Pitch, himself, that had been the cold object. Jack felt himself turn red as he remembered.

Most people were too warm for Jack, forcing him to eventually move away from them. Hugs from Tooth while were welcomed (sometimes) didn't last long because her body heat would make him start to overheat. He was so used to the idea that physical contact couldn't last long for him that actually the thought of being able to hold someone without fear of overheating was rather nice.

Finally Jack recalled the kiss. It had been short, with Pitch quickly pulling himself off and running away within just a few short seconds. Yet it had it set of a spark in Jack, making him finally understand all these jumbled up thoughts in his head.

"I like Pitch," Jack whispered out loud.

A big grin spread also his lips and he shot up into the air, doing a little flip of excitement, "I like Pitch!" He said, laughing in delight.

He needed to find Pitch immediately. After doing more flip of joy, he zipped out the room.

He checked the ward first and then the still unfinished painted room. Then he checked the lounge, the kitchens and the stables. By then he had bumped into North and Sandy, and, when they told him they hadn't seen the grey teenager since the other day, Jack started to worry. He began searching all over Santoff Claussen, with North and Sandy helping.

It was all to no avail. Pitch was gone.

The cliffie actually wasn't in my orginal plan for the story. But I kind came up with it when starting this chapter and it seemed to work better than my previous idea. At least, if I'm able to write the next chapter :3