I'm looking for somebody with whom to dance
With whom to dance? With whom to dance?
I'm looking for somebody with whom to dance.

- The Magnetic Fields, "With Whom To Dance"

watch?v=9n1AXekCOQ4

Jack lounged in the back of the sleigh as they rode back to the Pole, as exhausted from the physical exertions of the last few days as from emotional exhaustion. The last few days had been one wild ride, and all he wanted to do now was sleep.

There had been moments he'd been ready to break into a booty-shaking victory dance, and others he'd been so devastated he couldn't even move, let alone dance. Little wonder all he wanted to do was fall over.

If he wasn't so exhausted, he might have tried pulling one of the others, probably Tooth since Sandy and Bunny were both exhausted (and if he was honest with himself, he really wanted to dance with Tooth), into a victory dance, but he wasn't quite sure how that would go over with the fairy queen. After all, he'd never stuck around after a dance before, and he didn't want the other Guardians to stop associating with him just because of a dance.

Maybe later he decided, slouching against the side of the sleigh and pulling his hood over his eyes. After he'd found out if Tooth liked that kind of thing, and didn't think dancing was embarrassing or something. It was different to swoop on someone and dance when he could run afterward, he was rather hoping he might be able to talk to the Guardians for awhile, so he'd better wait.

For now, he was going to see if it was possible to sleep for a month.

It had been a little over year now since that eventful Easter, and Jack was sitting on the rafters in the Pole watching the moving mass of spirits down below. North had opened a wing that had been closed for centuries, roughly along the same time the Guardians had begun to drift apart. Throwing parties took away time from preparing for the holiday, after all, and there was no real use for the ballroom or drawing rooms when one wasn't giving parties.

Now, though, North felt that a year was long enough for Jack to get used to the idea of being a Guardian – it wasn't, really, but Jack wasn't about to tell him that – and he was ready to celebrate the newest Guardian's choosing. He'd wanted to hold it sooner, but it was hard to pin Jack down when it came to large gatherings.

...cut him some slack, he'd been almost totally alone for three hundred years save for chance encounters! They were all lucky he still had the social skills he had and hadn't gone raving mad years ago.

At least he'd finally gotten North to listen to him on one front – there weren't many, but there were a few spirits out there that made Bunny's grudge-holding skills look mild. There was a reason most winter spirits were solitary and that the name for a gathering of winter spirits was called a 'war', after all. Some spirits never got past him being of winter, and others, well...any reason would do.

At least he and the Pooka had been able to start talking over the past year, and start building a friendship on the tenuous trust they had started over that hectic weekend.

As it was, he'd played along with his introduction as a Guardian to show willing – one he'd argued North down to from an outrageous spectacle, almost as bad as that first attempt at a swearing-in ceremony – before retreating to the rafters for a breather. He'd fly down soon, really, he just needed a few minutes. This much attention was hard to handle after all this time, but North had promised a band, and Jack had downplayed how interested he was in that. A live band, one playing for him to dance to!

He actually had the impression North thought he didn't like music or dancing. Well, he'd like to see the person who liked being surprised with a full brass band, flaming torches, and choreography out of nowhere, for goodness' sake.

Honestly, airborne flaming torches around a winter spirit? Who thought that was a good idea?

Tooth flitted through the crowd, exchanging pleasantries and greetings with various spirits. It had taken months, and hadn't been easy, and it had been tempting now and again to go back to how things had been before Jack, but she'd finally managed to work with her girls so she could take a night off now and again.

Baby Tooth flitted above her mother's head, looking around with unconcealed excitement. Usually she would have been left in charge in her mother's absence, but not tonight, not on her best friend's night.

Stopping by one of the many refreshment tables, Tooth scooped up a drink, passing a smaller one to Baby Tooth.

"Are they serious? Jack Frost?" she overheard, the voice low and female. Stiffening, she glanced around, finding the speaker – a dryad – and moving toward the group as stealthily as possible.

"I know, right?" It wasn't the first time she'd had to defend their youngest, newest Guardian against judgmental spirits, and Tooth edged her way closer, ready to demonstrate that, pretty feathers or not, she was still a iwarrior /i queen.

So braced was she for the poison she was sure would follow her wings nearly stalled when naiad who had spoken sighed instead. "He's so…so…the Spirit of Winter shouldn't be that hot."

The group, nearly all female spirits, sighed. "He was so passionate with me," a Snow Maiden said in a confidential tone, "I thought I was going to melt."

"Just thinking about being with him still gives me chills," Summer admitted, blushing.

"He was such a gentleman with me, so sweet and slow. My head still spins when I think about it," Spring added. "What about you girls?" she asked, turning to the three Muses who'd managed to attend the party. Thalia laughed as Melpomene and Erato blushed and looked down to the ground.

"Snowflakes upon the wind

have no less grace than he

and their touch is no less gentle

than the kiss he gave to me," Erato murmured. The rest of the group sighed.

Thalia laughed again as they revived from Erato's surprise poetry. "Terpsichore is annoyed she hasn't had a chance at him yet," she said confidentially. "We're the only three to get a taste so far, and the others want a turn, but Terpsi thinks she should have been first out of us and she's annoyed we got him before she did."

"It felt so good to have his arms around me," Melpomene said softly. "I would give much for the chance to feel it again."

"Do you think any of us have a chance tonight?" the dryad who'd first spoken asked anxiously.

"It's one of North's parties, surely it'll go on until dawn. We might all get a chance," a selkie pointed out. Her sister nodded.

"He had so much energy when he was with me, I'm sure he can go all night," she said. "Oh, I can hardly wait! He's so much stronger than he looks, it's so exciting when he has his hands on you."

"Strong but gentle," a shy little river spirit piped up. "He's the spirit of winter, but he didn't even frost me, he was so careful." The others sighed, the selkie patting the river spirit's shoulder as he blushed and looked down, shuffling his feet nervously.

"Have you seen his eyes when he really gets into it?" another asked. "They're just so…so…" they all sighed again, giggling, as Tooth continued to watch in stunned silence, glancing up at Baby Tooth, who was completely at sea. Were they…their Jack…what she thought?

"Did he kiss your hand when it was all over?" she heard one ask as she began to back away, hearing the confirmations from the rest of the group, the sighs of "So romantic" and "How a spirit of cold and ice be so…hot-blooded?" and giggles as Tooth retreated.

She drifted over toward the wall, mind whirling and grip dangerously close to crushing her cup, nearly running into Bunny, who was staring at the group with open mouth and twitching eyelid. They exchanged looks and Bunny shook his head, storming off toward the refreshments, muttering about needing a drink.

Slowly she drifted over to where Sandy and North were talking with Cupid, waiting until the large man excused himself to get their attention. She summarized the conversation she'd overheard, wrapping up with "…and so now Bunny's off to drink away the memory. Had you two heard anything about this? Are they…really…?"

Sandy started eying Jack while North shrugged pensively, looking far too amused for Tooth's taste. "Hard to tell, we have shut ourselves off for so long. It has been a long time since we have heard the latest gossip."

Their conversation drifted off and they watched in silence as Jack finally drifted down from the rafters, hesitantly starting to mingle. He stopped by the group Tooth had been eavesdropping on, talking animatedly with the group of steadily reddening spirits, and there was a sudden rush of excitement as he kissed Spring's hand and she dropped like one of Tooth's more excitable fairies.

Sandy rolled in midair with silent laughter as North's laugh boomed across the ballroom and Tooth gaped.

A/N: I had entirely too much fun writing the innuendos. I never get to try those. I have got to do it again, I ran dry before I was ready to stop.

Terpsichore is the Muse of Dance, Melpomene is Tragedy, Thalia is Comedy, and Erato is Love Poetry. The poem she quotes is mine, one I whipped up for this fic.

I promised eventual Rainbow Snowcone, didn't I? Slow, slow burn.