I Won't Say (I'm in Love)

You keep on denying
Who you are and how you're feeling
Baby, we're not buying
Hon, we saw ya hit the ceiling
Face it like a grown-up
When ya gonna own up
That ya got, got, got it bad

Whoa: No chance, no way
I won't say it, no, no

Give up, give in
Check the grin you're in love

This scene won't play,
I won't say I'm in love

I Won't Say (I'm In Love), Hercules

watch?v=1o9Kra8o1G8

Jack flipped through the CDs in front of him, making a face at the selection. Usually his believers had better taste than this, he swore. Though they were still fairly dependent on their parents for things...didn't excuse some of this music or the lack of the classics, though.

It was still amazing to him that he had believers at all, even as the numbers grew steadily. Turned out, the Guardians shared belief between them, so each of his believers was technically one more to the whole – but they were children that saw him, believed in him. He may not have had the numbers the others had, but it was growing every day, and he had a feeling he had the children behind him to thank.

Still...he glanced back over his shoulder to where the Burgess Seven were sitting, talking among themselves. No matter how many could see him, these kids would always be special to him, especially Jamie and his little sister. They'd been the first to see him, so how could they not?

Really, he shouldn't visit as often as he did, but he couldn't resist that either, especially as the group continued to stubbornly believe in him as they aged. Jamie was twelve, as of today, the age they usually started to lose the kids, but an invitation to the party had been thumb tacked to a tree by Jack's lake anyway.

No matter how much Jack was supposed to stay away, there was no way he was turning down a personal invitation.

Grinning so wide it threatened to split his face, Jack went back to flipping through the CDs. Jamie's mom was bringing the cake soon, and Jack didn't want to admit it, but he was looking forward to that.

He'd thought the kids were going to faint when he'd admitted he'd never had either cake or ice cream before. For Jamie, it seemed that sharing his favorite birthday treat had suddenly turned into the best part of the whole day, and he was nearly vibrating with excitement.

The CDs were abandoned as Jamie's mom came in with the promised cake, Jack retreating to the top of the entertainment center to keep from being walked through. He joined in the singing with a will, glowing brighter than the candles at being included.

Jamie's mom had been about to protest wasting Jamie's cake for Sophie's 'imaginary friend', but since Jamie silently asked her to play along she cut a piece for Jack and scooped out some ice cream for him, rolling her eyes tolerantly.

Jack was diplomatic enough about it to wait until she left the room before he pounced.

"Hey Jack," Jamie asked as they all munched, "you sure Tooth is okay with you eating all that sugar?"

Jack glanced up, cheeks bulging with ice cream. He swallowed, licking lips tinted blue from frosting with an equally tinged tongue. "...wha?" was his intelligent response, and the kids giggled.

"You know, Tooth? The Tooth Fairy? She's totally gonna know you had cake."

"...no she won't," Jack said, scooping up another bite. "I'll brush before she sees me, she made sure I got a toothbrush. Why?"

"'Cuz Tooth likes you," Cupcake stated matter-of-factly. Jack froze, fork halfway to his mouth, as his brain shut down. "Like, like-likes you."

"I...what?" Jack managed, wishing he dared thump the side of his head and get his brain rebooted. Tooth had a crush on his teeth, not him, and he said as much.

Solemn as a judge, Jamie peered at Jack over his cake to say, "Nope, Sophie asked her when she lost her last tooth. Left her a note in case she couldn't stay up. And she refused the say if she did or didn't, which means she does." He tilted his head, looking at the frost slowly coating Jack's cheeks. "Jack, are you blushing?"

Unable to hold back anymore, Sophie giggled, clapping her hands and chanting. "Tooth and Jackie, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

To his mortification, Jack could feel the frost starting to travel down his neck. He wasn't that obvious, was he?

...wait a minute, he wasn't even sure he had anything more than a crush on Tooth, and he was letting a bunch of twelve year olds (and one eight year old) embarrass him over it?

"Okay, moving on. These CDs are weird. It's time you kids got introduced to the classics."

A/N: This chapter did not want to cooperate. At all. So very frustrating.