Dance With Me
Dance with me, I want to be your partner
Can't you see the music is just starting
Night is falling, and I am calling
Dance with me
Fantasy could never be so giving
I feel free, I hope that you are willing
Pick your feet up, and kick your feet up
Dance with me
Let it lift you off the ground
Starry eyes, and love is all around us
I can take you where you want to go
Dance with me, I want to be your partner
Can't you see the music is just starting
Night is falling, and I am falling
Dance with me
- Dance With Me, Orleans, watch?v=M6YpHDykn3A
Sandy hovered at the edge of the glen, watching as Pitch and Jack swirled and danced around the clearing, shaking his head fondly. Of all of them, of course it would be Jack that got Pitch to play for the first time in millennia.
When he'd felt the shadows moving and saw Jack and Pitch in the clearing, he'd feared the worst and sent a dreamsand message toward a little fairy he saw heading out with a tooth that she needed to fetch her mother, but it rather looked like he'd overreacted.
Jack spotted him and grinned, spinning to pull Sandy into the dance. Pitch hesitated, watching the two of them warily as he began to back toward his shadows and escape.
Before he could slip into the shadows a coil of dreamsand looped around his waist, pulling him away from them surprisingly gently. More dreamsand looped around Pitch's wrists and neck, pulling him up to look into Sandy's eyes.
Sandy smiled, a quick gamine grin of mischief worthy of Jack, at Pitch's wary eyes.
He tapped a gentle finger on Pitch's cheek, still grinning as he wagged his eyebrows exaggeratedly, grin turning to a predatory leer.
Pitch looked flustered. Jack, on the other hand, wasn't sure if he should be pointing out that that was Sandy's mortal enemy he was flirting with, throw up, or find some popcorn, because this had the potential to turn epic.
He heard a buzz and felt the breeze kicked up by Tooth's wings against his back as she dropped into the clearing and hovered by his side, both of them watching in impressed (and slightly mortified) silence as Sandy continued his silent seduction and flirtation uncaring of his audience.
"How long..." Tooth asked in an undertone, too quite to disturb the other two spirits, who had moved on to silent communication, Pitch's glares and head tilts more eloquent than even his usual words.
"A couple minutes," Jack replied just as quietly. "I think Pitch is just as confused as we are."
They watched in silence, Tooth poised to leap to Sandy's aid at any moment, while Jack bit his lip and watched with mixed amusement and concern.
Tooth had to bite back an instinctive blow with her wings and a very un-queenlike squeak when Jack's elbow nudged her ribs. She didn't take her eyes from the pair in the clearing, whose silent communication was getting more lewd by the moment, enough that she was vaguely surprised they hadn't scorched the grass around them yet, and elbowed Jack back.
"Betcha Sandy makes the first move," he hissed. "Is it just me, or is Pitch...blushing?" Tooth giggled and was about to reply when Sandy made his move, just as Jack had predicted.
One small, golden hand grabbed one of Pitch's, the other going to Pitch's shoulder as Sandy was too short to hold Pitch's hand up and rest a hand on his waist at the same time.
With a wink at a suddenly flustered Pitch, Sandy spun them around the clearing, dancing in the air as Pitch stumbled and flailed, cursing less than Tooth had expected.
She tensed, waiting for Pitch to retaliate.
Two sets of jaws dropped as Pitch stopped fighting Sandy, instead flowing with him around the clearing, dancing something that wasn't quite a waltz or tango or any other named dance but was perfectly them.
"Oh I wish I had a camera," Jack whispered, nearly inaudible, and mutely Tooth nodded.
None of the other Guardians were going to believe this happened.
Sandy gave Pitch a twirl, dipping him low with another lewdly exaggerated eyebrow wiggle, and for the second time in the last hour Pitch laughed.
Sandy gave the watching Guardians a wink before hauling a suddenly protesting Pitch onto his rapidly forming dreamsand cloud, whisking them off into the sky to a chorus of indignant protests.
They watched him fly off, Pitch's protests trailing off with distance as they disappeared.
"Sooo...that was a thing. That just happened," Jack said, scratching the back of his head while chuckling.
Tooth shook her head, not quite sure what to think of what just happened. "What was going on? Mary Ellen just said something about Pitch before flying off," she asked instead.
Jack had provided the lists of names, the baby teeth had simply chosen from them. It wasn't the same as when he Named Baby Tooth. Still, Tooth was grateful – it hadn't occurred to her, or anyone, that her baby teeth could be Named, but now they couldn't. And all because Jack wanted to do something nice for them.
"Oh, there were some freaky shadows hanging out here," Jack said, attention still focused in the direction Sandy had disappeared in. "Got the kids to head out without freaking them, started looking for the source and found Pitch. They weren't his but he was hangin' around to 'reap the benefits', as he put it, and we started...well, it wasn't fighting, more like play fighting. Then Sandy showed up and well..." he gestured vaguely in Sandy's direction, finally turning to face Tooth properly.
"What happened to the shadows?" she asked, hands suddenly wishing for her sabers.
Jack shrugged. "They backed off when I came after them and ran off when Sandy showed up. Don't think they liked his glow."
"And the kids?"
"At Cupcake's. I...kinda promised to help them practice for the school dance," he laughed, giving his hair another embarrassed scratch. "Wanna come?"
About to refuse and go gather more teeth, Tooth hesitated. Jack was asking her to come play with him, and really expected her to blow him off.
Grinning, she grabbed his hand instead. "Lead the way," she invited, pretending not to notice the frost coating his cheeks.
He recovered quickly, she gave him that much, taking to the skies and flying off to Cupcake's house, not letting go of her hand until they landed, just before slipping into the window Cupcake had left open for him.
Tooth hovered outside the window for a moment, catching her breath and sternly telling her heart to slow down. It was just a quick flight – holding hands, yes, but Jack iliked/i physical contact.
She heard Jack and the kids laughing inside and slipped in the window to join them.
There were cheers as she appeared and mentally she preened, just a little. She knew why they tried to keep some distance from the kids, but oh, it was hard to remember when seeing the kids was so much better, reminding her of why they did what they did.
"So, what dance was it you guys were having so much trouble with?" Jack asked, perching on the back of the couch. Jack never sat if he could help it, always perching on things.
"A waltz," Caleb said, flopping onto the couch in front of Jack, voice heavy with despair and disdain. "Who waltzes anymore?"
Jack smirked, giving Caleb a careful poke in the stomach with the end of his staff, controlling his frost so not a speck bloomed on the teen. "Excuse you, I happen to like the waltz."
"Seems like it'd have too many rules for you," Jamie commented, eyes sparkling as he teased Jack. Jack smirked back, shrugging.
Cupcake rolled her eyes, queuing up the cd player. "Want to demonstrate, then?" she asked.
"Tooth?" Jack asked instead of directly answering her, holding out a hand to Tooth. She took it, the two of them moving into position and waiting for Cupcake to start the music, both fighting back blushes.
Jack had thought that the dance they had shared at the party, and the magic around it, had been a fluke, brought on by Tooth's surprising cuddle. He'd been wrong.
Despite their audience, keeping their feet on the ground, and with no obvious moves like hesitantly wandering hands, it still was magic.
Tooth's feathers were so soft under his hands. He'd almost been too shocked during their first dance to properly realize just how soft they were, sliding under his hand like the finest of silks. He was almost afraid to touch her, afraid his hand would slip and bend a feather wrong and hurt her despite knowing that she was so incredibly strong.
The song they were dancing to drew to a close, and both fought back blushes as they drew back, trying to play it cool.
Jack coughed, rubbing at the hair at the back of his head and studiously not looking at Tooth.
"So...who wants a lesson?"
Tooth fluttered over to perch on the couch next to Cupcake, watching as Jack walked Jamie through the basic steps of the waltz. With her tail feathers, it was more comfortable than properly sitting.
"Looked a lot easier when you two were doing it," Cupcake commented as Jamie stumbled through the steps. Tooth laughed softly, wings fluttering in amusement.
"Jack has a lot of practice at this," she said simply. No use depressing the child by telling her that for years, ambush dancing had been Jack's main form of contact with other sentient life forms.
They were quiet for a few minutes, still watching Jack, before Cupcake spoke again. "Are you two dating?" she asked bluntly, and Tooth choked on air.
"Why..." she started, surprised into incoherence. First Cupid, and now Cupcake? What was it with people whose names started in 'Cup' figuring out how she felt?
"You like him, and he likes you," Cupcake said, too quietly for anyone to hear but the two of them. "So?"
Tooth looked Cupcake over and abruptly decided to be honest with her. "Because Jack's been alone for a very, very long time," she said gently. "And so I wanted him to get used to having friends first. Immortal courtship takes a long time, too."
"So you're going to."
"He'll never know what hit him," Tooth replied, and hid her insecurities about what could go wrong in exchanging devious grins with Cupcake.
It was the truth, after all. She did this right, and Jack really might not know what hit him.
A/N: Yes, Tooth is plotting something. Yes, I threw blacksand in there. Sandy is fun and I regret nothing.
Also, I love having Jack help the Baby Teeth find names. I've picked up some names for them here and there, and Mary Ellen really stuck.
Trying for longer chapters now that things are really happening.