Happy feet!
I've got those happy feet!
Give them a lowdown beat
And they begin dancing!
I've got those
Ten little tapping toes,
And when I hear a tune
I can't control my dancing heels,
To save my soul!
Weary blues
Can't get into my shoes,
Because my shoes refuse
To ever grow weary!
I keep cheerful on an earful
Of music sweet;
'Cause I got those hap-hap-happy feet!
- Happy Feet

watch?v=kvYTYBT30bY

It had been two days since the party at the Pole, and Jack was still reeling. Tooth had practically ambushed him with a dance right before the party had ended, which had been awesome but...confusing.

He'd thought they were just friends, but...that dance. That dance.

Jack thought he knew dancing, since he'd danced with so many over the years, but...those were friendly dances, no matter what some of them may have thought, even if he hadn't known it at the time. That dance with Tooth...if this had been a movie it would have been that moment in a Disney princess movie with the big dance between prince and princess, where everything goes all soft and the music swells and the happy-ever-after is pretty much guaranteed.

Jack landed lightly in a tree, laughing lightly at himself. Princess movie, indeed. Tooth was a Queen, no forgetting that. He was probably just reading way too much into a simple dance.

He was so distracted by thoughts of that dance – and wondering if it meant anything besides just a dance – that it took longer than usual to realize something was subtly wrong with the woods he was perched in.

Shifting on his branch, he scanned the woods. Everything looked normal...there was Jamie and his friends doing something by Jack's lake, the leaves were turning bright colors (some of Jack's finest work, if he were being honest with himself), the birds...weren't singing.

Jack shot up from his lounging position in the tree so fast he almost fell out, looking around rapidly. Yeah, it could've just been the kids that made the birds go quiet, but...something felt wrong.

Abruptly deciding that the best place for him to be right now was by the kids, just in case he wasn't being paranoid, Jack slipped from his branch and breezed over to where they were playing, still feeling that thrill that came from being seen and acknowledged.

No matter how many times it happened, it wasn't growing old – especially when it was these kids still doing it, despite growing old enough they should have stopped believing by now.

"What'cha doin', kid?" he asked as he perched on top of his staff, looking down at them with amused interest as Jamie and Pippa flopped back into the leaves.

"The school dance is coming up," Claude complained, flopping into the leaves by his friends.

"And we're supposed to know how to dance by then," his twin finished the complaint.

"...and you can't just dance however you want why?" Jack asked, leaning forward until, by all rights, he should have fallen face first off the staff.

"Because our parents thought it'd be a good idea to make it all fancy," Cupcake said, managing to inject despair into her voice. Jack had a fairly good idea why – Cupcake loved all things pink and pretty, but despaired of ever being pretty herself, considering herself too big, too clumsy, and anytime she was dragged to formal events it just seemed to solidify that idea further.

"But the dances are too hard," Monty complained. "We're never gonna learn them in time."

...well, there was one thing Jack could help out with at least. He slipped down off his staff, holding out a hand to Cupcake.

"So, what one's giving you problems?" he asked, pulling her away from the tree she'd been leaning against.

"You're gonna help us learn how to dance?" Jamie asked from his sprawl on the ground, looking up at Jack skeptically.

"I'll have you know there's a whole club dedicated to tracking who got to dance with me," Jack said loftily. "Okay, so I just learned about it, but still."

A flicker caught the corner of his eye, and he glanced at the shadows under the tree – a shadow that was darker then it should have been. Making a snap decision, he gave his staff what looked to be a careless spin, actually getting it into a battle-ready stance.

"Why don't you kids head back to Jamie's house and get the music? There's a couple things I have to take care of, then I'll come help you out."

"We'll go to my house," Cupcake cut in. "I've got the music, Jamie doesn't." Jack gave her a little salute and launched into the air, watching to be sure the kids got out of the woods safely, the shadows reaching for them but not quite brave enough to touch the children with a Guardian hovering overhead.

In Jack's opinion, right now Cupcake's house, much further inside Burgess than Jamie's, was ideal. The further from the woods and these shadows the kids got, the better.

As soon as all the kids were clear of the woods Jack turned back, glaring at the shadows as he followed them back into the woods.

The shadows writhed under the bushes and trees, not willing to venture out of the natural shadows into the sunshine.

They didn't feel like Pitch's shadows, but he wasn't going to discount that. He didn't like the feel of these shadows, and he wanted them out of his woods.

There was a taller shadow in the glen ahead. Landing silently and holding his staff ahead of him, pointed toward the threat, Jack walked stiffly toward the glen, ice crackling under him with every step.

The shadow moved its head and silver-gold eyes flashed. With a flourish, Jack planted the end of his staff in the ground and leaned on it, flashing a grin at the Boogeyman.

"Good morning, Pitch," he said, knowing his offhand tone irritated the Nightmare King. Pitch had been subdued ever since his defeat on the Easter of '12, and Jack was enjoying pushing the envelope to see if there was anything savable in the other lonely spirit.

"Good morning, he says. To think that I've lived to be good morning-ed by Jack Frost as though I were selling buttons at the door," Pitch muttered.

Jack grinned wider, though it turned a touch feral around the edges. "Wanna tell me why you've got your shadows all through my woods?"

"They're hardly your woods, Frost," Pitch said dismissively, ignoring Jack's derisive snort, "nor are they my shadows. I am simply waiting to reap what they sow."

Rolling his eyes, Jack yoked his staff over his shoulders, taking to the air. "Yeah, 'cuz that's not creepy at all."

Spinning, he dipped down and tapped Pitch on the nose, leaving a quick bite of frost. "You, sirrah, need a hobby."

Pitch growled and swatted at Jack's hands, just barely missing. Jack laughed, landing on a tree branch and dancing along it, making dodging Pitch's sand into a dance and game all at once.

He laughed and twisted as Pitch snarled, striking out at him with his sand. Jack took a particular pleasure in freezing the sand into the most ridiculous shapes he could.

Each time he could, he darted in to give Pitch another nip of frost, trying to see if he could get Pitch dancing, nearly saturating the snowballs and frost he tossed at Pitch with happy flakes, hoping he could get Pitch to quit being a Looming Drama King for a few minutes.

"C'mon, dance with me shadow man!" he laughed, tossing another snowball. It took some fancy footwork to avoid the sand Pitch threw at him for that, nearly slipping off the branch, and Pitch laughed.

Pitch laughed.

It was a happy, joyful laugh, one that sounded rusty from years of disuse, and even Pitch looked surprised that it had come from him.

And as he continued to dodge nightmare sand, Jack suddenly realized that, without him even realizing it, Pitch had stopped fighting him and started playing with him.

Jack began to think that maybe, just maybe, he'd overdone it with the happy flakes.

The shadows didn't like Pitch laughing, though, and they were retreating, shrinking into themselves and huddling sullenly under the trees and bushes.

Then the first strands of dreamsand began to weave their way through the trees, shimmering in the sunlight, and the shadows fled even as Jack and Pitch continued their fight turned dance turned game.

A/N: I was asked last chapter what inspired Cupid – specifically, if he was inspired by a certain character or not. Honestly? He's developing on his own. At first I didn't think he'd show up again, so I just went with what seemed funny. Then...well, it sort of just went along the same path. A matter-of-fact, lighthearted bodybuilder Cupid.