"What about…more towards the left? No! Not that way the other-"

"This is left, idiot-"

"I meant my left! And don't call me tha-"

"Why didn't you say 'your' left, then?"

"…am not an idiot thank you very much-"

"Oh, that does look better!"

Jamie uncrossed his arms to give Jack a thumb up in approval. The guardian was hovering neatly above the archway, holding the end of a large banner which had been personalised specifically for today's celebration. It read, in sparkling gold, 'Happy 10th birthday, Sophie!' and with an efficient twist of his wrist, Jack pinned it to the wall above the arch under a thin layer of frost. Jack beamed smugly down at Jamie at his inventiveness, and Jamie rolled his eyes.

"That's not going to hold it for very long, you know," he advised knowingly.

"Are you kidding? That's some A grade ice up there. In the right conditions, that could last centuries," Jack shot back, touching back down onto the floorboards. He shoved his hands into the pocket of his hoodie and twisted, mid step, to look up at his handiwork.

"These aren't exactly the right conditions though, are they?" Jamie retorted with a huff, "Mid-Autumn isn't the best time for ice on the walls, Jack."

The guardians smug smile was wiped away and he glared in mock indignation, "I'm hurt, J. I thought you appreciated the delicate, winter art of freezing everything in reach-"

"Including fences-"

"And the pavement under your feet-"

"The couches that I'm sitting on-"

"Flies in mid air-"

"Don't forget the dog food that I'm trying to pour-"

"Your homework-"

"That I was trying to do!"

"And elves-"

"And- wait, what?" Jamie was brought up short at Jack's last input and he looked incredulously at the guardian, "Elves?"

"Yeah, what about them? Not the brightest things but at least they're beginning to accept that I don't want their damn clothing which is-"

"Elves are real?" Jamie asked excitedly, his face lighting up like it did the very first time he'd seen the group of guardians standing in his bedroom. Of course, Jack can recall the moment of Jamie's realisation that no, his belief wasn't for nothing. Jamie himself didn't know that Jack had been there that night, though, and the winter spirit felt no inclination to fill him in. He decided that maybe some things just weren't that important…and some things were – like confirming the existence of elves, for example.

"Of course! Who do you think does all the baking up at Santoff Claussen?"

"Whoa! Hold on – the baking? Don't they make the presents for Sa-"

"I know! That's what I said!" Jack exclaimed, glad to know that he wasn't the only one in the world confused by the job of the tiny companions to North. How the traditional connection between the tiny creatures and the creativity of Christmas was original established was lost on Jack. If anyone had actually seen or met one of the things, he was sure that giving them credit for even a tied bow would be quite the stretch of the imagination, "But they're not very intelligent - pretty stupid, really."

"That's so cool. Are they short with pointy ears? And do they wear red and green with striped stockings?"

"Yes, and no. The height and ear malformation – yes. The clothing….not so much. North wanted a new-age style, I think."

"Whoa…" Jamie breathed out with a gleam in his eye that Jack only saw when he was talking about some kind of new legend he'd stumbled onto through books or computers.

"Maybe sometime North will let you see them," Jack teased, nudging Jamie on the shoulder with his elbow and Jamie whipped his head up to stare hopefully at the guardian.

"Really? You think he might do that!? You think he'd let me visit the North Pole?! For real?! You're not kidding, are you? If you are-"

"Hey, hey, hey," Jack raised his hands to chest height and backed away in the universal 'slow down' body language, "I said maybe, kiddo, North doesn't let just anyone into his workshop!"

When Jamie's face fell in slight disappointment, Jack couldn't help but add, "But being the kid who helped save the world, I think I might be able to swing that…my standing on the naughty list may have to suffer a little, though…"

Jamie's whoop of delight cut off Jack's mumble, and the guardian smiled as Jamie punched the air in celebration. Jack was content to just wait for the victory dance to start up which meant he was caught very off guard when Jamie took a step forward and hugged him so intensely, Jack knew one of his ribs had cracked under Jamie's pointy chin.

"Whoa, man-"

"Thank you thank you thank you!" Jamie chanted like a mantra. He squeezed Jack once more before his arms unwound from where they pinned Jack's elbows to his sides and he took a step back, "I mean, if you manage to convince Sa-North. No big deal, really," Jamie continued, scratching a point on his chin with incredibly forced nonchalance that would fool nobody.

Jack stood silently for a moment, still trying to get his chest to inflate back to normal size and Jamie had just managed to reign in his excitement. He was motioned for the two of them to head towards the kitchen and Jack fell into step beside him.

"I need to check on the cake and make sure Abby hasn't gotten her teeth into it."

"Seems like a big responsibility – running a ten year old's birthday party," Jack observed, lifting himself up to sit on the end of the kitchen bench. Jamie nodded as dug out the blue icing from the pile of cake decorating supplies on the other end of the bench, and touched up the 'O' in 'Sophie'.

"Mum doesn't think I can do it, but dad says that it's a good opportunity for me. I don't know what for, but it'd be better than sitting down with a bunch of Sophie's friends to play pin the tail on the donkey."

"Pin the what, where?" Jack asked.

"You know – everyone has a 'tail' and they have to stick it onto the big picture of a donkey missing a tail? When they're blindfolded…you haven't heard of it?"

Jack shook his head in amazement at Jamie's complete acceptance of this strange tradition being considered 'normal', "What's the point of it?"

"The winner is the one who gets closest to where the tail should be."

"…What do they win?"

Jamie paused, stopping his hand just shy of the surface of Sophie's cake, with a candle still clutched in his fingers, "I…don't know. Nothing, I guess?"

Jack just snorted and drummed his fingers against the counter, "Sounds weird to me," he commented.

"Now that I think about it, it kind of is," Jamie agreed.

There was a comfortable silence following that, and despite Jack's best efforts, his thoughts kept returning to Jamie's expression when he had been explaining his parent's thoughts on the matter of 'running a birthday party'. Sure, he was fourteen now – a whole five years older than when he helped to defeat Pitch, but in Jack's mind, Jamie should still be sitting with his friends, waiting for the picture of a donkey with no tail to be brought out and bubbling with just as much excitement as he showed when speaking of elves and the North Pole. He may have gotten a little taller – tall enough to fit his chin over Jack's shoulder when he had hugged him before (no, that hadn't gone unnoticed by any means) – but his cheeks were still puffy and his nose refused to remain clear for more than a week during winter.

All of these little things, while comforting to Jack by reminding him that time didn't pass as quickly as he feared, caused a strange disappointment that left the guardian stranded in a place that he'd really rather not be left in. He didn't know why but whenever he saw Jamie sitting by torchlight, struggling to solve for X when 13 + X = 62, Jack felt as though something was off. Nothing terribly wrong, but it felt like there was a tiny itch in the middle of his back and no matter how much he twisted, there was a still the nagging answer he couldn't reach.

When the hard set of Jamie's jaw as he purposefully smoothed over a patch of white icing with a butter knife grew too distracting, Jack decided that Jamie was much more fun when his eyes were wide with amazement and a constant slew of questions on his lips.

…And Jack had just thought of the perfect way to achieve that.

"You know….to get to Santoff Claussen you'd probably have to ride in his sleigh, since the terrain is-"

There was a clang as Jamie dropped the knife onto the counter but it was covered immediately by the shout of –

"Are you serious!?"

Jack smiled at the giggles and squeals of delight echoing from in front of him. There was a quite restless audience splayed out in front of his 'stage' (which doubled as a sand pit when he had no use for it). As the reigning birthday girl, Sophie was situated in the front row, dead centre. Her friends, to Jack's surprise, could not only see him, but found immense enjoyment in his enactment of Sophie's favourite movie of all time – Beauty and the Beast. The laughter whenever Jamie tried to imitate a monstrous beast (and fell quite short) was definitely worth the theatrics.

"…and this beast was sooooo ugly that when he looked into a mirror – it would crack!" Jack exclaimed. He widened his eyes meaningfully at Jamie and the boy glared back. His irritation was damped a little by the hedge clippings he wore like a mane, but Jack understood that he would rather be playing a different part in their little play. Jack motioned with his head towards the observing group of ten year olds and widened his eyes even further with the silent plea of 'come ooooonnnnnn'. Jamie relented with a sigh and turned to the audience to roar and stamp his feet like an angry bull. Of course, this spurred on even more shrieks and laugher since no one in their right mind – no matter the age – could be even a little bit scared of a fourteen year old with leaves for hair and gangly arms resembling nothing of claws.

"Raaaawwrrrr! I am a hideous beast!" Jamie growled as he approached the front row of Sophie's guests. The bravest of the group reached out to tug at one of the branches on Jamie's head but he managed to dodge the hand and he roared again, this time managing not to sound like a month old puppy…but only just.

"And this monster lived all by himself because everyone was scared of him," Jack narrated from the side of the pit. Jamie shuffled across the stage with slumped shoulders and exaggerated sadness, "But even though he was really ugly, all the beast really wanted…was a friend."

A chorus of 'aww's' and coos rose from the audience and Jamie wiped away a fake tear and sniffled quite dramatically.

"So one day the big ugly beast decided that he'd make a friend one way or another. So he went into the town and kidnapped the prettiest girl in the entire village!"

At this point, Jack decided that it was time to step into character. He stuck a hand on his hip, flipped his imaginary hair over his shoulder and strutted across the stage.

"I'm Belle," he started, pitching his voice higher than what could be considered comfortable in any way, "and I love to read, and take care of my dad because he's old and did I mention read?"

"You!" Jamie yelled, interrupting Jack with an attempt at a 'fearsome growl', "Come with me!"

"Oh no!" Jack exclaimed, fanning himself in a very dramatic manner, "I would never go with you! You're too ugly!"

Jamie glared at Jack again, but he received nothing more than a mischievous gleam in the other's eye for his trouble. If there was one non-supernatural talent Jack could boast of, it would be his ability to stay in character.

"I want you to come and live with me in my castle!" Jamie growled and Jack made a show of warding him off and raising the back of his hand to his forehead in the socially accepted sign for 'oh heavens no'.

"Nooooooo," he called and with a little help from the breeze, Jack boosted himself into the air in time for it to seem like Jamie had enough muscle to lift him cleanly off the ground. The audience gasped as they were so involved in the performance, they seemed to have forgotten about Jack's special powers. Jamie had too, it appeared as his mouth dropped and a surprised expression fixed itself to his face. Then Jack prodded him on the arm under his shoulders and Jamie snapped back into character. He growled, and snarled, and stomped around the sand pit, all the while, Jack barely restrained his laughter at the sight of the boy. His surprise over suddenly finding Jack sitting comfortably in the air in front of his chest still hadn't died down completely, so every time he tried to be threatening it came off as though Jamie was a very frustrated week-old kitten.

The performance of Beauty and the Beast, as performed by Jack and Jamie, seemed to be quite the hit with Sophie and her friends, since the normally rambunctious children managed to sit through the performance without so much as a toilet break. When Jack broke the 'monsters' curse with a quick peck on the forehead the squeals of 'cooties!' was deafening, but neither actors seemed to mind much, since it just meant that the group's attention was wholly on the 'play'. Jack managed to stay in character (with the exception of when Jamie caught his toe on a bump and ended up with a mouthful of sand) impeccably and Jamie grew to accept his fate as the 'beast' about halfway through the performance when he realised that he could 'accidentally' stomp across Jack's unshod toes without anything seeming amiss.

When Jamie and Jack clasped hands to bow in sync (Jack with a sweeping hand gesture across his torso and Jamie with a facial expression that suggested Jack ought to remove his head from specific places where light did not reach) the party members did not clap and cheer like a normal audience, but rather, squealed, jumped up and down and attempted to climb the two boys like jungle gyms. It wasn't the customary reaction but Jack found that he appreciated it more…at least, until one of Sophie's friends accidentally yanked a large portion of his hair and one stepped painfully on his foot without noticing. He winced when the kid's elbow in his shinbone twisted a little but he internalised the pain and struggled through it to sweep the birthday girl off her feet and twirl in a large circle with Sophie giggling all the while.

"Here's the real star," Jack announced, calling the attention of Jamie and most of the party goers, "wouldn't you say it's about time those presents got opened?"

"Yes! Yes! Present time!" Sophie cheered, clapping and running off towards the house when Jack set her down on the ground. The group of friends followed her enthusiastically and Jack silently apologised to the group of adults that were sitting at the dining room table with no inkling of the excitement contained in the group of rowdy children fast approaching. When the last kid had crossed into the house, Jack grinned and turned to Jamie.

"Well they seemed to enjoy that. Good thinking with the hedge-mane thing. Very scary."

Jamie laughed and gestured to the old sweatshirt that Jamie had tied around Jack's waist as a 'skirt', "that was some nice improvisation, I think."

Jack nodded as he unfastened the knot. He handed it back to Jamie with a very sincere, "You make a frightening villain, Jamie Bennett."

Jamie grinned back, "And you make a lovely maiden, Jack Frost."

Jack tried to scowl at him but he couldn't keep up the pretence for very long. Only minutes ago, he'd been speaking in a falsetto and popping his hip at every opportunity was still too vivid in his mind. Frankly, it was rather hilarious…in a very demeaning kind of way. Jamie's imitation of the terrible monster was awful, but Jack would hazard a guess that the kid had done a better job at that than Jack had at being a girl.

"The loveliest," Jack agreed with another hair flick and a high-pitched warble.

Jamie's guffaws were masked by the sound of his mother calling for him from inside the house. The boy grimaced up at Jack since they both knew that the group inside knew nothing of tact or subtlety when it came to hiding their fondness for the guardian. If Sophie and her friends began to enthuse about their new friend Jack when there was a glaring lack of snow on the ground…well it would be better for everyone if the kids didn't have to deal with secrecy.

"It's alright Jamie. You should get going. Parties don't run themselves, you know," Jack laughed and added, "And isn't there a donkey sorely missing his tail somewhere?"

Jamie smiled in response, "Thanks Jack. For helping out, I mean. I'm not the best story teller around…"

"You can say that again, kiddo," Jack laughed, remembering back to the time he'd intruded upon Sophie's bed time story while the Bennett adults had been out to dinner. Jamie's retelling had fallen quite short of what Jack deemed 'acceptable enthusiasm'.

"Hey! I'm not that bad-"

"I don't know Jamie, you're pretty rusty. Especially the voices-"

"Just because you can imitate any accent. Why is that, anyway?"

"It's all in the vocal chords-"

"It's not like I don't try…"

"You just lack natural talent."

"Yeah, yeah. Alright, I suppose I am pretty terrible," Jamie admitted with a sigh and a mock pout. There was a short silence as Jack came to an abrupt halt, his witty response failing on his tongue at the sudden 'victory'. Then he was struck with a slight uncertainty – not quite sure if he'd actually hurt Jamie's feelings or not.

"I, ah…I mean, it's all about practise, J. Just…read to Soph more, or something, yeah?"

Jamie's mournful expression disappeared in an instant and Jack knew he'd been duped. He didn't mind too much though. As soon as Jamie's mouth opened to say something more, his mother called out once again and her voice was accompanied by multiple agreements from what sounded like a small army of impatient, ten year old girls.

"I suppose that's your cue," Jack nodded towards the house and Jamie's expression soured.

"Alright. Time to head in," he muttered, "I'll see you around, Jack. Okay?"

"Sure thing," the guardian agreed. As Jamie turned to join the party, Jack couldn't help but call out, "Save me some cake, kiddo!"

Jamie paused where he was opening the door and he turned around to flash Jack a thumbs up in assent. When the screen door clicked into place after the boy, Jack finally turned away from the sounds of streamers and a chorus of 'happy birthday' sung by very out of tune and very shrill voices. He lifted off the ground to float seamlessly towards the roof and landed, footfalls muffled by the chatter within the house.

"Ja-mi-e!"

The boy shot upright in a combination of surprise at the sudden call and pain when a knee dug painfully into a place where knees ought not to be dug.

"Get u-u-up, slee-py he-eh-ead!"

Sophie punctuated each of her syllables with an incessant bounce in place on Jamie's stomach and unfortunate lower extremities. His eyes bulged when she managed to crush his dreams of ever having kids of his own, but at her excited squeal and the punctured ear drum he got for the trouble soon made him realise maybe that wasn't the smartest move for his health and hearing.

"Okay, okay," he wheezed, shoving her off onto the foot of his bed with one hand and shielding the most painful part of himself with the other. Sophie ignored his rude response by rolling completely off the side of the bed, clawing her way to her feet and slipping and sliding until she stood in the doorway to his room.

"Mum says you need food now then school!" She yelled again, obviously excited to be taking up what was considered her mother's job in waking up the sleeping Jamie and ensuring a decent breakfast. The Bennett's mother had, unfortunately, come down with a rather nasty cold recently which meant the early mornings she had insisted upon and full English breakfasts waiting for the two children were temporarily on hold until her nose stopped running and the headaches receded. Until then, though…

"Come ooooonnnnn, Jamie! I'm hu-ngry!"

Sophie continued whining all the way down the hall and into the dining area and right up until Jamie placed an only slightly burnt piece of toast in front of her. The butter was still melting in a giant glob in the centre Sophie looked at it distastefully.

"What about bacon?" She asked with a face filled with longing – longing Jamie related to only too well.

"Takes too long, Soph," he sighed, sitting down with his own breakfast, "we gotta start walking really soon. Are you dressed for school?"

He asked, only because Sophie had been known for turning up at school dressed in her pyjamas every once in a while. How she managed to sneak past their mother in fairy wings and fake tiaras, he would never know.

"Yes! Let's go! Let's go, let's go, let's g-"

"Eat first," Jamie insisted, pointing at her toast wearily and running a hand through his hair. While managing to bring enthusiasm and optimism to almost every aspect of his life, Jamie had never mastered the art of mustering more than the very basic energy levels in the morning. His sister seemed to be constantly on overdrive, and he reasoned that maybe she had stolen his share in the genetic pool.

"Eat, eat, eat," Sophie repeated absently, picking the crusts off her bread and folding the entire piece in half then half again, like a piece of paper.

It only took a few minutes for the two siblings to finish up and prepare for school and Jamie ducked his head into his parents room on the way out.

"Leaving now, mom. We'll see you this afternoon."

"Are you…ah choo! – waiting for Soph after school?"

"Yes, mom-"

"And make sure you avoid Pickles Street! The ice has gotten out of-"

"I know mo-"

"And you can stop for a hot chocolate or something, just be home before-"

"Before dark – I know, mom," by the time he managed to get a word in, Jamie had already left her room and was making his way down the hall, continuing the conversation at a yell.

"Bye mom!"

The sound of Jamie closing the door on her reply was muffled by the fresh snow that had fallen not two days previous. Jamie was still ecstatic over the early arrival of winter but unlike the theories held by the adults in his life, his joy was not over snowball fights and hot chocolate – thought they did make up a great part of it. No, he was much more partial to the individual he'd be involved with during those times.

Jack Frost had arrived early after disappearing during Sophie's birthday party and not returning until the previous week. He'd announced himself with a handful of snow down Jamie's jacket when the boy wasn't paying attention (and why would he be on the lookout, Jamie had argued, when at the time snow hadn't been seen for months!) and from then on, Jack had alternated between crowding Jamie's room, front yard and the gang's cubbies, and…well Jamie wasn't actually quite sure what it was that Jack did when he wasn't busy making snowmen and trouble. All those months ago, when the subject of Jack's guardianship had been brought up under blankets, Jamie hadn't gotten much more than an unintentionally cryptic reply of 'nothing more than what I did before' which of course, explained next to nothing since Jack's past had been a topic avoided like the plague. Again, Jamie hadn't the faintest idea why, but Jack's elation over finding someone who could see him spoke volumes in itself.

"Jamie! My man!"

Jamie looked up from the sidewalk at the sound of Caleb's yell and found the twins approaching from the direction of their street. Sophie was content to ignore them, chasing after a particularly large bug in bounds along the gutter.

"Did you manage to get down the English homework from yesterday, Jams?" Claude asked, obviously panicked.

"Uh, yeah, I think so. It's probably all wrong, but you can copy if you wan-"

"Oh dude, you just saved my life! Ms Dobbs would have skinned me if I forgot again."

"How come you keep forgetting? Don't you have time when you get home?" Jamie asked, falling into step with the two other boys while fishing out his English book from his bag. When he received a reply in the form of Caleb guffawing and Claude blushing to the roots of his hair, Jamie gave the two a questioning look.

"Lover boy is too busy making kissy faces nowadays," Caleb crooned, clasping his hands in front of him and batting his eye lashes like some cheesy, love struck girl.

"Am not!" Claude retorted, the redness of his face doing nothing for his argument.

Jamie choked in surprise, not expecting the answer he got, but Caleb went on, "You are too! Imagine my surprise, J, my man, when I pick up the phone to call Monty about his comics and I hear 'ooooh Claude, I loooooove you'" at this point, Caleb pitched his voice uncomfortably high and Jamie laughed at the comical genius that was a fifteen year old's sense of humour, "and then, what to my wondering ears did I hear but 'I know, baby, I looooooooove you too, honey bunny-kins'"

By this time, Claude had stalked ahead of the two, taken Sophie's hand and tried to appear as though the need assist Jamie's sister across the road was anything but convenient. Jamie was nearly crying with laughter, both over Caleb's impersonations and the thought of his friend acting so cheesy.

"Seriously though," Caleb whispered once Claude and Sophie were a safe distance ahead, "it's really all he talks about now. If he's not with Cupcake, he's telling me about how she found this really funny show on T.V and if he's not talking about her then he's eating something! There's only so much food in the house, Jams!"

Jamie snorted in laughter at Caleb's desperate expression.

"Surely he isn't that bad," Jamie commented, rolling his eyes.

"You don't have to live with it, man. I swear, he used to have, like, hobbies and stuff. Now that Romeo has started going steady with his Juliette, it's like nothing else has ever mattered."

Jamie laughed, since that's what best friends were entitled to do, but something about Caleb's irritated grumblings stuck with him, and, like an incredibly annoying mosquito buzzing in his ear, Jamie couldn't help but mull over the other boy's words all the way to school and through most of the day. How could someone spend so much time thinking about another person? The idea was just absurd. Jack often said the cure for a lovesick heart was a snowball through the window, but Jamie had never really understood what he meant. He always thought falling in love would be a good thing. Not something that needed the word 'sick' tacked on to the end. While Claude's attachment to Cupcake seemed comical at the moment, Jamie supposed that if he really was so infatuated with her, maybe the other boy was just lucky – not an idiot, like his twin had accused.

As he watched Cupcake impeccably fold another torn-out corner from her notebook with rather obvious hearts drawn in pink pen, Jamie couldn't help but wonder what it would be like on the receiving end of such care and attention. Not because of family ties or because it was his birthday. Genuine affection.

Some might have considered his ignorance a little sad, but Jamie didn't care. He often found himself wondering if he'd ever have the chance to unfold the tiny, secret note, read words bursting with adoration and then smile secretively behind his hand. Claude seemed to have mastered the art of landing a scrunched up love letter on Cupcake's desk from the back row with one throw that his baseball teacher would praise, had he been on the field but Cupcake preferred the method of 'pass this along' – to trapeze her words past every person between her and Claude with nothing but trust stopping them from becoming privy to private conversations. Jamie shook his head in exasperation, knowing that come next morning, Claude wasn't going to have the faintest idea about what they were studying now. His thoughts were filled to bursting point with scrawled hearts and Cupcake.

Jamie didn't see any of the other kids in his class acting like those two. He didn't even know if this was normal. Like almost every other inquiry he felt was better left to those without connections to his peers, Jamie toyed with the idea of asking Jack about their behaviour. The spirit was often a wellspring of knowledge that Jamie could only guess at the origin. The again, he considered, Jack often grew the tiniest bit withdrawn whenever the past was mentioned – not World War One from Jamie's assignment last term, or the evidence scientists recently discovered, like on the TV program Jamie found the other night. Rather – Jack would become hesitant when Jamie asked things about his personal life. When the topic of childhood friends came up, Jack barely even got a word out in contribution. He seemed to deflate and Jamie sensed that maybe he should leave well enough alone from events that hadn't made it into an encyclopaedia. Strictly text-book, or recent events – that had become Jamie's mental mantra during their latest conversations. If it happened before Jamie had been born, he assumed Jack didn't want to talk about it. Whatever 'it' was.

"Psst – J!"

Jamie's attention was grabbed by the prodding finger in his ribs. Monty was sitting next to him with an odd expression on his face.

"What?" Jamie whispered back, careful not to alert Ms Dobbs to the secret conversations taking place behind her back.

"I've been trying to get your attention for ages!"

"Sorry, I was thinking about, uh…other stuff," Jamie replied, for some reason, unwilling to admit his thoughts had strayed so far from the lesson, only to end up centring on Jack.

"Wow, you're as bad as Claude, man. Musta' been one hell of a train of thought," Monty whispered with a hushed laugh.

Jamie smiled thinly, realising belatedly that he was acting like 'lover boy', "I suppose it was…"