Chapter Forty-Nine

Putting it on the Table

The concepts for the yeti language came easily enough Pitch found, and he had finished the assigned pages Alla had given him within an hour and a half. It was amusing to be doing homework so to speak. Some far off recognition rang from a forgotten life of a memory of doing just that. From the little he could remember from flash backs that still came to him even now since Toothiana had jostled loose those first impactful memories a month ago, he knew his former self was quite the academic coming up through the academy with top ranks. Of course moments of recognition in this way where he'd felt accomplished were rewarding memories even if so distant the relation felt foreign. Nonetheless, one didn't get to become a general without the ability to discern tactics and use intelligence over grunt brute force. He was always the studious type, even now, several life times removed from who he once had been as Kozmotis Pitchner.

Pitch had self-taught himself enough without ever meddling too much within actual human affairs when learning to get by. Being alone had taught him ingenuity to a degree and over a millennia apathy for everything else. The apathy he'd once had, a tightly closed lid, somehow had the seal broken. Now, that lid could never be fully closed again Pitch knew. He cared now, and having grown accustomed to his life with others in it made him never want to go back to such a melancholy existence. Restrictions aside, his life was pretty good now, Pitch couldn't deny. When it was just him, navigating through nightmares had been his greatest interactive teacher. Learning from others in this way, with Alla and North, was actually kind of novel Pitch found, if at times also frustrating.

The workbook did give him a distraction to help eat away time, and through the next couple days, Pitch, North, and Sandy enjoyed nightly meals where Pitch eagerly anticipated their company. He'd read another two books, painted a picture, and lounged about so much it pained him. All he wanted to do now was escape these four walls, but he didn't complain (as much as he REALLY wanted to!) He'd been so very good, Pitch thought, surely North would have noticed and would give him a break? He waited, specifically until the fifth night to see if North would consider five days a 'week' over seven inwardly crossing his fingers.

"So… uh, now that the week is up, I was wondering if …when I went back to my original chores at the stable, would we be meeting back here in the afternoon for lessons, or will we be moving the lessons somewhere else at a different time?" Pitch tested the waters as he twirled a forkful of spaghetti on his plate and looked to North studying his face closely.

North finished the bite he'd been chewing gulping down some milk before answering simply, "Pitch, is only been five days, week is not up. You are still grounded two more days."

Pitch was afraid that would be North's response, so he tactfully approached, "Well yes, technically that is a full week, but often times five days is also considered a week. I thought since everything was going so well, and I've not caused any trouble…"

North interrupted Pitch fixing him with a raised brow, "You thought because you have behaved in manner as is expected of you that you would worm way out of full punishment?"

"No! That's not… I'm not trying to worm my way out of my punishment… I just… I just figured maybe a little time off for good behavior might not be too much to ask for …is it?" Pitch pouted fully discouraged by North's statement.

North grunted as he dabbed his garlic bread in his marinara sauce and took a hearty bite. An awkward silence passed between them before he finally responded, "Okay Pitch, I will grant you this. You have been very well behaved even with such adversity, so as of tomorrow morning, you may leave room freely."

"I can!" Pitch stated overzealously; it took a modicum of control just to hold back jumping out of his seat to give the man a hug he was so happy. He couldn't believe it! North was actually bending to his request! Pitch had been sure North was going to shoot down his suggestion when he'd stated five days wasn't a full week, but to hear him grant him release as early as tomorrow had Pitch floating on cloud nine.

North smiled pleased to see Pitch this happy as he held out a hand, "Yes, yes, but I wish for you and Tooth to have your discussion first. Her and I… we have spoken quite a bit since you saw her last. I would like to see you two talk while I am present."

Pitch nodded vigorously, "Sure, sure! Of course!" He was more than happy to acquiesce to just about anything if it meant he was no longer bound to his room. He'd wanted the chance to clear the air with Toothiana as well, so this couldn't be much better Pitch thought.

"Good!" North seemed pleased, "I will let Tooth know to come by tomorrow; it will be nice to see you both on good terms again."

Pitch nodded, "Yes, I'd like that to." Such thoughts put Pitch in a contented mood for the remainder of the evening. They'd finished their dinner and enjoyed a bit of sculpture painting afterward. Pitch had painted the tooth for Toothiana the night before, and from another unsuccessful attempt at sculpting Pitch had deigned that particular hobby wasn't going to be for him. That was okay though, it was far too messy anyway he'd justified to himself.

North knew Pitch still enjoyed painting, so he'd brought a few figures for Pitch, Sandy, and himself to while away their time painting together. The activity seemed to draw all of them into concentrated silence (not that Sandy wasn't always silent anyway), but the Cossack could tell it eased Pitch's mind for them to spend time with him in this way. This was a good practice for Pitch to stay socialized and one that North planned to ensure they continued even after Pitch's grounding was considered officially over.

Sandy had also made plans to keep coming by to help Pitch get a good rest since the nightmare lord tended to not have such a short fuse with the guardians when he'd not been up for days at a time. It was true, they didn't need sleep, but that wasn't to say that it didn't help!

Pitch had grumbled and moaned about Sandy's ministrations at first, but after a steady good night's sleep several nights in a row, Pitch found he hadn't minded as much as he'd thought he would. It really did make a big difference Pitch found to the normally broken sleep he afforded himself whenever he did try to sleep without Sandy's aid. His dreams consisted of his last thoughts on the night of riding Donner once more. He'd really missed the deer, and Pitch found the thought of getting back to them sooner than later a rather pleasing thought to slip from consciousness with.

Sandy was pleased gliding over to North once more with a satisfied smile.

North chuckled giving the golden man a knowing grin of his own, "You are quite proud of self I see? You should be, my friend. Pitch is doing better than we ever could have hoped. This is more than I had expected from time we brought him back from beside hole."

Sandy nodded his agreement making a pictogram of Tooth over his head with a sand version of himself making a depiction of her talking to Pitch within the sandscape.

North observed and nodded as the two made their way out into the hallway and quietly closed Pitch's door, "Yes! That is good. You tell Tooth to come by in morning when you see her tonight, and once Pitch and Tooth clear air, I think we can all move on."

The dawn found Pitch nervously pacing about. He'd risen with a start barely before the sun had colored the sky and had quickly showered in an effort to waste time while waiting for Toothiana to arrive, although in hindsight he'd wished he'd decided to take a much longer drawn out shower or had stayed in bed a few more hours. Tooth likely would not arrive until well into the morning Pitch knew, but the anticipation alone was far too great for Pitch to remain lying in bed. He needed to expel the nervous energy coursing through him due to the impending meeting to come. He was a lot less anxious than he would have been if Pitch hadn't had that momentary chat with Toothiana a couple days ago, but even still, he found the formal manner in which it was arranged and the fact that North intended to sit in on the engagement had Pitch's nerves on end.

By the time North arrived with Toothiana, Pitch had made his bed, straightened all the picture frames, cleaned his table and dresser off, and completed the day's assigned homework by Alla. He'd been absently doodling on the inside cover of his workbook when they appeared in his doorway (Pitch had also opened his door as even though he hadn't been allowed outside of his room, he'd found that leaving the door open had allowed more of what was going on in the outside world to filter in making him feel a little less confined.)

Pitch brightened as he set his pencil down and stood to greet his company, "Toothiana! North! Welcome!" Pitch had already been sure to pull out Toothiana's chair prior to her arrival, and as she fluttered down into the specially made chair for her, Pitch had made an effort to push her chair in politely.

Tooth smiled graciously taking her seat, "Thank you, Pitch." She was quite impressed with the manners Pitch used now as he took his own seat once more and closed his workbook displaying the doodling he'd spent the past hour doing.

As Pitch had helped Tooth take a seat, North had similarly pulled out his own chair making himself comfortable. He found once he'd settled himself that both Pitch and Tooth were staring at him expectantly obviously waiting on him to start the parlay since he'd originally arranged it. He gestured to the two, "Go ahead; speak! I am just here as casual observer. Do not let me interfere."

"Okay," Tooth began turning back to Pitch. She wasn't wholly comfortable with the restricted arrangements for their meeting since it felt overly designated and far from the casual conversations the two were used to. Her eyes drew up to Pitch now, and she noted that he was nervously spinning his pencil around in small circles on the table. He was obviously also rather uncomfortable with the rendezvous. She took in a deep breath folding her hands on top of the table, "Well… where to begin? I know from our last chat that you apologized for your behavior, and I am pretty sure you were genuinely sorry."

This was promising Pitch thought as he nodded, "Yes, I… I was quite out of line I realize. I'm going to put forth more of an effort to ensure that I have better control in the future."

Tooth seemed to flush now in a clear sense of uncomfortableness as she shifted in her chair looking at North and then back to Pitch. She was having a hard time working up what she needed to say next. In fact, when North had suggested it, she felt like she could have dropped out of the sky from embarrassment with the mere thought of it.

North nodded at her as a show of support to go on.

Tooth tapped her nails on the table's surface taking in a deep breath before she continued, "We both did and said a lot of things we regretted that day," she gave Pitch a very sincere look now, "I shouldn't have slapped you like that; I'm sorry, Pitch."

Pitch was surprised by the admission, and the fact that she would apologize to him gave Pitch a warmness to his own cheeks pleased that she had regretted the action as much as he'd regretted bringing her to it. "Thank you, although, with the circumstances being what they were, I suppose I brought your anger down on my own head. It is still a kind gesture on your part to feel the need to apologize to me at all after everything that happened."

Tooth cleared her throat as her face turned another shade of red, "Uh… yeah. North and I have done a lot of talking about the incident, and we both agreed that I should have handled it better for both of our sakes. Pitch…" she was having a really hard time spitting it out especially now that Pitch seemed to be watching her very intently sensing she was trying to tell him something rather difficult to wrap her head around saying to him, "We've had quite a few altercations where you've treated me poorly, and I've come to realize after I did take an initiative to take you in hand that you seemed to have a little more respect with the way you spoke to me and around me."

Pitch's face had held a smile, but now it faltered under her words having a strong suspicion where this talk was going as his stomach churned to hear her confirm what he was silently dreading.

Tooth continued now a little more confident in her standing convictions the longer she spoke, "North brought up the valid point that if I have a beef to settle between us because you say something offensive or act in a given way that might merit… uh… uh merit a spanking around me then… I …I should probably step up to the plate and be the one to deliver it." She found it hard to keep eye contact with Pitch now who's jaw had dropped looking utterly mortified by the words that continued to pour from her, but she steadied herself to stay strong knowing to falter now would only be a disservice to Pitch. He needed her to be strong now more than ever. Tooth knew that to keep going in the cycle they had been was only delaying the inevitability of another falling out if Pitch lashed out at her in the future, "So… so from now on, if we have a disagreement to settle… I …I'm going to be the own to strap you for it… not North."

North chimed in resolutely, "Although, if you make sweet Tooth feel need to strap you, I will put you over knee myself to have made her feel need to do it in first place I will warn you now!"

This was almost too much to take in. Pitch sat still stunned by the things that she was telling him. Would she really use that strap on him? She'd had a mean right hook, and he knew from that experience that she could definitely swing it hard enough to do some real damage. Of course North's following statement that he could expect a follow up spanking if he'd angered Toothiana enough to feel the need to spank him in the first place wasn't lost on Pitch and only added to the awkwardness of the entire conversation. If he could melt through the floor in sheer embarrassment, Pitch imagined doing so now. "You… you'd…" he couldn't even bring himself to ask if she was serious, although he didn't have to as the truth of the matter he'd realized was clearly written on her face; she wouldn't be saying this now if she hadn't already decided and made up her mind that she in fact would spank him if she felt the need to.

Tooth swallowed hard, "I… I would need your word that you'd agree to accept punishment from me. I'm not sure if I could hold you down, but I also don't think I should have to. I think if it ever comes down to it, that we will come back here, and I'll have you lie across your bed to carry out the strapping," She was staring at Pitch now with shoulders squared back rigidly awaiting his acceptance although it was clear the notion of asking this of him was horribly embarrassing for her to ask as much as for Pitch to agree with it.

Pitch had yet to pick his jaw up off the floor as he stared back at her with an awestruck composure. He finally closed his mouth having digested her words. Still not quite believing them but comprehending them nonetheless. He fidgeted now having dropped his hands into his lap as he mulled over her words. The thought of Toothiana taking the strap to him had Pitch turning three shades of red; the fact that she was basically asking him to agree to prostrate himself before her if ever the event occurred that she felt he'd been found lacking was a lot to ask. He felt his pride ebb in a want to lash out even now, but something deeper inside him quelled it as quickly as it had cropped within him. As long as he didn't do anything that she found that offensive, there really was nothing to worry about, Pitch assured himself now. He'd been on a much better path, and Toothiana was always much more lenient in her attitude towards him to begin with. Was it that much to give her his word that he would comply if she did feel the need to punish him? The likelihood that she would in fact punish him was rather slim comparatively he bolstered himself. Yet, he couldn't find it in himself to respond remaining silent for long moments not really sure he could willingly agree to such terms.

Sensing his uneasiness and understanding that to ask as much from Pitch had to be something horribly difficult to wrestle with. Tooth offered, "Do you trust that I would never ask you to submit to me in such a way if I didn't really think you truly deserved it?"

Pitch brought his eyes up from his lap to really look at her in all seriousness. He did trust her, and unbelieving to his own ears Pitch responded, "Ya-yes, I trust you. I'll… I'll do it, if …if you find I've affronted you grievously… I …I'll defer to your judgement against me and allow you … allow you to punish me," Pitch ducked his head as he spoke these last words no longer able to keep eye contact with what he was agreeing to. A month ago, a week ago even, Pitch doubted this conversation would have gone over this same way, and he knew it was a testament that he really had changed for them and because of them. He'd never said it aloud, but he realized, when he'd been brought back to the Pole after having run away, that he actually loved Toothiana, Sandy, North, Bunnymund, and even Jack now. Deep down, Pitch knew that they also cared about him as well although he wasn't sure if to the same extent as he did them now, but he suspected and hoped that the feeling was mutual. He had bonded with them, and they were his family now. In that regard, Pitch knew that he could agree to Toothiana's request and know that she would never abuse the fact that he had agreed to her terms.

Tooth flew out of her seat now and over to Pitch wrapping her arms around his neck lightly as a gesture of comfort as she pulled his face up gently to plant a kiss on his forehead, "I'm sorry I had to address that. It wasn't easy for me to say, but I think now that we're both on the same page, we can leave the past behind us and start fresh."

Pitch found he couldn't help a small smile from creeping onto his face as he gave a small nod speaking very softly, "I'd like that."

Tooth beamed down at him, "Well, I am pretty caught up at the moment, and I've got a couple hours before I go head back to the palace to get some shut eye, would you like to hang out for a bit before I go?"

Pitch's face brightened, "Perhaps you'd like to accompany me to the kitchen to grab some sugar cubes and then down to the stables? I'm excited to visit with the reindeer and see if I can bribe myself back into their good graces."

Both Toothiana and North laughed.

North stood looking down proudly at Pitch, and the weight of his smile shone like a beacon as he spoke, "Pitch, you have shown yourself very mature today," he nodded as if affirming the fact to himself as well, "Yes, I think you are doing very well indeed." He lumbered away from his chair pushing it back in place as he continued, "I have work to attend to, but please, come and see me in my office when you and Tooth finish up for the morning."

Pitch's brow lifted in curiosity as he nodded standing up himself, "Uh? Oh… sure. I… I'll drop by whenever Toothiana heads out."

The Cossack gave Pitch one more nod of approval before turning to Tooth, "You did well too!" He couldn't help a jolly laugh from escaping his throat at seeing Tooth was still slightly red from his compliment. He grinned, "I will see you tonight then?"

Toothiana nodded with a big smile, "Wouldn't miss it," she stated knowingly.

Pitch looked back and forth between the two of them feeling a bit left out not exactly following their conversation but knowing they obviously had plans of their own to meet up later after Toothiana had left for the morning. Pitch didn't pry though, it wasn't like he had a claim to all of Toothiana's time, but if he had to admit it to himself, he did feel a small ounce of jealously brew that the two of them seemed to have something planned between them that he wasn't to be made privy to.

Pitch took in a deep breath as he clasped his hands behind his back standing up straight, "So… are you about ready to go then my dear Toothiana?"

Tooth shot a warm smile back in Pitch's direction as she nodded, "Let's do it!"

The three of them walked out together and down the hall where North gave them a wave as they parted ways with him heading towards his office, and Pitch and Toothiana continuing off towards the kitchens. Pitch was smiling from ear to ear finally having been given leave of his room; it was amazing how much bigger the Pole seemed after having endured five days cooped up in his very cramped living space. They made their way to the kitchens which had quite a few yetis cleaning up dishes from breakfast and several elves running about with leftovers and trying not to get stepped on by the working yetis. Pitch knew well where to go and filled his pockets with a couple handfuls of sugar cubes.

Tooth just hovered beside Pitch watching him and noting how he bounced about clearly quite happy to be about to see the reindeer. She enjoyed this side of him and hoped it lasted. She had been truly surprised that he'd agreed to what North had originally proposed that she bring to the table. In all honesty she'd expected Pitch to have thrown a hissy fit for her even suggesting that she discipline him herself let alone somberly agree to the prospect. Also, after the fact he wasn't carrying a dark cloud of negativity over the matter they'd discussed was refreshing. She'd almost expected that after North was out of ear shot and out of sight that his demeanor might have changed to reflect any true feelings he may not have wanted to bring out in front of North. She loved North, but the man could be a bit intimidating especially in regards to his role in Pitch's life. Tooth was relieved though that Pitch seemed just as happy now as he had when she'd offered to stay and spend some time with him. Maybe everything really was going to be just fine she thought finally letting the last remaining vestiges of doubt fall away as the two made their way towards the stables.