If you recognise it… I don't own it.

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Avengers & Rise of the Guardians – Startish

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"Hey kid." Steve called out softly, not wanting to startle the boy, "What are you doing here?"

The boy startled anyway, spinning to face Steve. He stared at Steve for a long moment.

"How'd you get up here?" Steve asked when it became clear that the boy wasn't going to speak, "You're not in trouble. I just would like to know."

Much to Steve's relief, the boy hopped off the wall and took one step towards him.

"You can see me?" The boy frowned.

"Of course. You're right there."

"You can hear me?" The boy seemed incredulous.

"I'm not deaf, son."

"But you're a grown-up."

"Not all grown-ups are deaf."

"But they don't hear me."

"What's your name?" Steve asked.

"Jack. You?"

"Steve. Steve Rodgers." Steve was trying to get a surname, when none was forthcoming he continued, "How'd you get up here?"

"Same way I always do." Jack shrugged.

He moved closer to Steve, slinging the staff over his shoulders. He looked like some sort of scarecrow, what with his hood up and his old trousers and his arms hanging over the staff.

"You're not wearing any shoes." The realization sunk into Steve, "You're going to catch a cold."

Moving quickly Steve ushered the boy into the Tower. Before the boy had really had time to protest he was wrapped up in a blanket on a sofa, while Steve made two mugs of hot chocolate.

When Steve moved over to the sofa, he found that the boy had pushed the blanked off of him, and was instead sitting on it. His toes and fingers curling up in the fabric, clearly enjoying the texture. One hand, though, kept the staff close to him.

"You'll catch your death of cold if you don't take better care of yourself." Steve stated, as he pushed the mug into Jack's hand, "What were you doing out there?"

"Watching the snow." Jack shrugged, "I like seeing how it settles over a city, a town, a village, a hamlet, a forest, a lake… Anywhere really. Particularly at night. The looks on children's faces when they wake up and see the snow that's come down overnight… It's like magic. But I like watching it fall. When everyone's asleep. It's beautiful. Pure. Magical. Changes everything. Just for a moment."

"You weren't out there to jump." Steve breathed in relief.

"Jump?" Jack frowned, "No… Not like that. Maybe once. But not now."

Jack leaned back on the sofa and sipped the hot chocolate.

"This is good." He remarked, "I can't make this sort of thing correctly. Phil keeps chasing me out the kitchen every time."

"He your family?"

"No. Phil's just a friend… Sorta. We weren't always. He's a good guy though. Even if I do make a lot of trouble for him."

"Do you mean to?"

"I used to. He was between me and something I wanted… Then I got it. But not because of my trying. It was… More of a side-effect of something else I did."

"A reward?"

"I wouldn't call it that… Not sure what to call it."

"Won't your parents be worrying about you?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"They're dead."

"Your guardians then?"

"They might be worrying. But they won't be worried."
"You aren't giving me a straight answer." Steve pointed out.

"Why should I? I don't know you." Jack retorted, "Even if you do make a good mug of hot chocolate."

Steve heard the door open, but he didn't worry about it. The only people who could get onto this level of Stark Tower at this time of night were the Avengers and Pepper…

And apparently Jack.

"You can trust me, kid." Steve sighed, "I just want to help."

"Steve," Bruce's voice called out softly, "Who are you talking to?"

"This is Jack." Steve motioned at the boy.

"There's no one there." Bruce countered.

"He can't see me." Jack spoke quickly, almost as if he had tried to get his sentence out before Bruce.

"He's right there." Steve pointed, "What do you mean he can't see you?"

"There's no one there." Bruce repeated, "Steve, we're the only people in the room. You and me."

"He's right here." Steve put one hand on Jack's shoulder, "Make him see you."

"If I could do that," Jack snorted, "I'd have done it long ago. It's not my choice not to be seen."

"There's no one else here." Bruce waved a gentle hand through the air below Steve's hand.

"How are you doing that?" Steve asked Bruce, before looking down at Jack, "How are you doing that?"

"It's not my choice." Jack retorted, "If someone can't see me. They can't touch me. Not like I choose this."

Jack slipped away from Steve, clearly not wanting Bruce's hand to go through his chest again. Steve watched the boy, now slightly nervous. Though whether because he wondered if the boy was a threat or because the boy might be harmed, he wasn't sure.

But Jack just stood there, the staff in one hand, the mug in the other.

"I made him hot chocolate." Steve protested.

"I can see the mug." Bruce pointed, "But that doesn't change anything. There's no one else here. It's all in your head."

"No." Steve shook his head, "That's my mug… Bruce, how many mugs of hot chocolate are in the room?"

"One."

"Jack put yours down, please." Steve addressed the boy.

Frowning, Jack put his mug down on the coffee table.

"Now how many mugs are there?" Steve asked.

"Two." Bruce frowned, "But that can't be… It wasn't there a moment ago."

Jack picked it back up.

"And it's gone again." Bruce breathed, "He just picked it up, didn't he?"

"Yes." Steve nodded, "I can see him. You can't. I can touch him. You go right through him. This isn't something he controls."

"I'll get Tony." Bruce stated, "There has to be a logical solution to this."

"There isn't." Jack muttered, "I wouldn't have been alone all this time if there was."

"Do you know why I can see you?" Steve asked.

"I know why people can see me." Jack shrugged, "But I don't know why you can. It's… Not something I've experienced before, okay? Everyone else who can see me is under ten."

"How long have you been like this?" Steve pressed.

"As long as I can remember." Jack said simply.

"All your life?" Steve breathed, "Only those under ten could see you?"

"No." Jack wrapped both hands around his mug.

"Good." Steve sighed in relief.

"Nobody could." Jack carried on, "Until this year, nobody saw me."

Steve stared in shock and horror at Jack. The boy wasn't looking at him, he was staring out the windows at the falling snow.

"How… How did you cope?" Steve asked after a long pause.

"You find ways." Jack replied, "Maybe not the best ways. Maybe not the right ways. But you find ways."

"Alright!" Tony burst into the room, "Where's this invisible man?"

"You can't see him either then." Bruce was in Tony's wake.

"Not yet." Tony was firm, "Jarvis, how many people are in the room?"

"Three, sir. Yourself, Captain Rodgers and Mister Banner." Jarvis answered.

"How many mugs of hot chocolate?" Tony asked.

"One, sir."

Both Tony and Bruce saw a mug appear on the coffee table.

"How many mugs of hot chocolate, now?" Tony repeated.

"One, sir." Jarvis stated.

"I see two mugs, Jarvis." Tony frowned.

"The second mug is empty, sir." Jarvis replied, "However it was not in the room when you last asked."

"Okay," Tony looked around the room, "Steve, where is he?"

"Perched on the back of the sofa." Steve nodded, "Watching the snow."

"They won't be able to." Jack remarked, "As far as they're concerned, I don't exist. They'll eventually rationalize the mug away. They always do. This isn't the first time, I've done this trick. It never works. Not once in all my years."

"Did he say something?" Bruce asked, noticing Steve's frown.

"Basically?" Steve breathed, "He doesn't believe you'll see him. That you'll… Forget."

"He's alive." Tony stated, "He's in this room. I'll find him. I'll see him. Jarvis, infrared."

"On screen, sir." Jarvis declared, as the windows flickered into life as a view screen.

The action surprised Jack so much that he fell backwards onto the sofa in surprise.

"Wow!" Jack blinked as he got back up, "High-tech."

"He's Tony Stark." Steve pointed at Tony.

"Short for Antony?" Jack cocked his head to one side.

"I believe so." Steve nodded.

"What do you know?" Jack snorted, "He never learned. And the other one?"

"Bruce Banner." Steve frowned, "What do you mean? He never learned?"

"How to play." Jack smirked.

With that he pulled his arm back and threw something. A second followed a moment later.

"Jack!" Steve yelled.

It was only when the projectiles impacted with their targets that Steve realized what they were and his heart stopped trying to leap out his chest.

They were snowballs. Simple, snowballs. The snow exploding around both scientists' heads.

"We do not throw snowballs at Bruce!" Steve declared automatically.

"But Tony's fair game?" Jack tilted his head in confusion.

"Where did he get the snowballs from?" Bruce asked as he brushed the snow from his shoulders.

"I don't know." Steve frowned, "He only has a staff. Like a shepherd's crook."

"I've always got snowballs." Jack laughed, "It's part of who I am. Of what I am."

"What you are?" Steve pressed, "You're human."

"I was." Jack shrugged, "Not now."

"Bruce," Tony was frowning at the screen, "You see what I see?"

"Not a heat signature." Bruce blinked in surprise, "Steve what colour is his skin?"

"Pale." Steve shrugged, "Almost white."

"Not blue?" Bruce pressed.

"No. Blue eyes though." Steve replied, "Why?"

"Because we don't have a heat signature for him," Tony declared, "We have a cold signature. He's so cold, he's black. I make him at least 32 Fahrenheit."

"He should be dead." Bruce added, "Or at least in a coma."

"Never looked at me on one of these things before." Jack remarked, as he moved to peer over Bruce's shoulder, kneeling on the sofa's arm, "Weird. Pretty though. I wonder what the others would look like."

"There's more like you?" Steve asked.

"No." Jack looked back, "Not quite. Not the same. I'm one of a kind… But there's others. Similar. Older."

"Any younger?" Steve queried.

"Not that I've met." Jack shrugged, "I doubt it… I hope not. It's…"

"Not been easy?" Steve raised an eyebrow.

"You could say that." Jack acknowledged, then shuddered as Tony waved a hand through him.

"There's a slight chill in the air." Tony frowned, "But it's not something I would normally register or even think about."

"Did that hurt?" Steve asked.

"Not physically." Jack replied, "Just… Just reminds me that they can't see me. Sometimes… Sometimes I can forget… Pretend. But reality always comes back."

"Stark," Steve caught Tony's hand, "Stop doing that. It doesn't physically hurt him, but… He's just a kid. And he doesn't like it."

"But you can touch him?" Tony pressed.

"Yes." Steve nodded.

"If you can see me, you can touch me." Jack shrugged, "If you can't do one, you can't do the other."

"How can they see you?" Steve asked.

"They need to believe." Jack answered after a long pause, "They need to believe in me."

"You have to believe in him." Steve told the other two.

"We have proved he exists!" Tony countered, "But I still can't see him."

"Belief and proof are two very different things." Jack shrugged, "You don't believe in a table."

"He says proof isn't belief." Steve retorted, "And he's right. Belief is knowing, even without proof."

"I can prove he exists!" Tony argued.

"Until he knows my name, my full name, and acknowledges what I am," Jack spoke simply, "He won't see me. Neither of them will."

"Your full name?" Steve frowned.

"Yes." Jack nodded, "My full name."

"And that is?" Steve pressed.

"When they believe, they'll know." Jack replied, "They know who I am. Or at least they know my name. Everyone does. Particularly this time of year."

"Who are you?" Steve asked once more.

"Jokul Frosti!" Thor snarled from the doorway.

Four sets of eyes turned to face the Norse God. It was clear that Odin's son was ready for battle, his hammer drawn.

"You will pay for your crimes against Asgard!" Thor growled.

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Look, I know I've not been posting much recently, but I have been writing. I just don't like leaving stories hanging. So I won't post until I've either got a decent lead or a whole story for you to enjoy.

And my muses have been all over the map recently.

So here's something totally new. Meanwhile I promise I'll try and get the muses to work on the stories I want them to work on.

Please Review.