Chapter 8: Unexpected Hobby

Jack had learned a lot from his time alone, that was undoubtedly true. But what the Guardians didn't expect was for one of his favourite hobbies to be reading. Bunny was surprised most of all ("I didn't think he could read" to which he got a harsh slap from Tooth) as he couldn't imagine the fidgety Winter Spirit, who couldn't usually sit still for more than thirty seconds without having to wander off and cause mischief, enjoying sitting in silence for hours on end and reading pretty sophisticated novels. No one was aware of this fact until late one evening, during the monthly Guardian meeting.

"The bloody drongo is late again! I say we start without him." Bunny was fed up with Jack's tardiness. Despite how hard he tried to be on time, he was always at least five minutes late (due to time differences in different parts of the World and on the rare occasion: his forgetfulness). This time though, it had been over half an hour.

"Nonsense, we do not start Guardian meeting without all Guardians." North's booming voice echoed around the workshop, shocking a few elves. Not that they were doing much, just trying to electrocute each other. The Guardians didn't pay any attention to the little helpers anymore, they were always up to no good.

"Besides, he was at Pole very soon."

"You mean he was here before the meeting?"

Unlike Bunny, Tooth's first instinct was to worry. What if something had happened to him? Was he hurt? North had managed to calm her down but after another ten minutes of waiting, she was desperate to know where the Guardian of Fun was.

"I say we look round Pole, da? Boy has probably lost track of time playing with elves." They all nodded in unison, heading out the large wooden doors in search of the lost spirit."

It had been another twenty minutes and yet they had still not found him (the Pole was ginormous, but they had expected to have encountered him by now). He was not in the Kitchen, the Globe room, the Workshop nor was he taking a nap in the spare room (which he often did now as had didn't have a bed of his own, only a tree in Burgess which got uncomfortably hot in Spring and Summer).

"I don't get where else he could be. It was definitely him that you saw, wasn't it North?" Tooth was frantic - overthinking and fearing the worst were her bad habits, and she seemed to be doing much more of just that now that Jack was a part of their group.

"I say we split up and keep looking, Jackie has to be around here somewhere." North had quickly begun to see Jack as the son he never had and, despite the younger Spirit's protest, had adopted unto him the nickname. After a short discussion of who was looking where, that was exactly what they did. They came to a mutual agreement that if they didn't find him within the next fifteen minutes, they would postpone the meeting without him and search for him later on a wider scale.

Sandy had been looking down the right-wing of the Pole, searching every room he passed but with no luck this far. There was only one room left in his assigned searching section: the library. Due to Jack's... playfulness (he decided that was less offensive than 'his inability to sit still or concentrate on anything that didn't involve snowball fights') he doubted the said Winter Spirit would be in that particular room, but he figured he should look anyway.

It was a truly magnificent library; hundreds of shelves stacked to the brim with various books and novels. Assorted shapes, sizes as colours of books adorned the room, making it seem like someone had painted each individual book a different colour to make the room into one ginormous rainbow. A large, spiral staircase stood proudly in the centre of the room, leading up to the lounge area. Sandy quickly inspected the first floor to see if he could spot Jack (with no success) before silently floating up to the top of the staircase.

Enormous armchairs and a massive plush sofa garnished the elegant red and gold carpet, piled high with a wide assortment of expensive-looking cushions (not that North paid for them, his design yetis made them for him). They were the sort of seats that you'd sink into as soon as you sat down and it would be hard to get up again because of how comfortable they were. Sandy quickly scanned the room and was about to leave when he noticed a small tuft of familiar white hair.

Huh, the Sandman thought. Of all the places. Silently, so as not to disturb him, he floated up behind the chair Jack was on - it wasn't really any surprise that he'd nearly missed the younger spirit, he had practically become one with the chair: curled up into a tiny ball with nearly his whole body hidden by fluffy cushions. His feet were wrapped in a large blanket that hung loosely off the edge of the chair and a thick book was propped up against his knees. A slim, pale hand held the it open while another gently gripped the spine, as if afraid it may break.

A tall pile of books sat on the stool next to him and Sandy noticed that some had been decorated with little frost patterns, the same ones as on Jack's hoodie and staff. He guessed they were the ones he had already read and found himself surprised not just by how many had been read but the sophisticated level of the books, and the fact that most of them weren't even in English. He would never have guessed that Jack had been bothered to learn other languages, never mind read books like Finnegans Wake in German.

The Guardian of dreams was about to place his golden hand on Jack's shoulder from above and lead him back to the Globe Room for the meeting when, suddenly, he heard a small, soft snore come from the Winter Spirit. Sandy realised he hadn't even looked at Jack's face. Floating around to the front of the chair, he was pleasantly surprised to see his eyes closed, out cold. His lips were slightly parted and again another snore escaped.

Sandy chuckled at the sight - one he never thought he would see - and carefully eased the book out of Jack's grip, setting it to the side on the right page for later. He then proceeded to pull the blanket up to Jack's stomach, not so much to keep him warm but for a bit more comfort. With a satisfied smile, Sandy retreated down the steps and headed for the door. Closing it with a gentle click, he decided he'd leave Jack for a while and alert the other Guardians that he had found him and there was no need for alarm.

0000

Nearly two hours later, the Winter Spirit stumbled into the lounge room, where the other Guardians were chatting and drinking hot chocolate. Looking dishevelled as ever, he plopped himself down next to Sandy, who was drinking eggnog unlike the rest of his friends (it was by far his favourite beverage).

"So, Jack, you missed the meetin because you were reading? Honestly, I didn't think ya had the patience." Teased Bunny with a smug smile on his face, earning yet another harsh slap from the Tooth Fairy. It was worth it though to see Jack flush a dark purple from embarrassment. Oh, how he loved to taunt him.

Noticing the younger spirit's colour change, North spoke up. "Relax, is no problem. I think we were all bit surprised when Sandy found you in there, " at that, Jack turned an even darker shade of purple, if that was possible. "But seeing as you like it in Library so much (I presume that's where you have been going when you disappear for hours at times), it is now yours. You may go in whenever you please, no need to ask yetis anymore!"

This was surely the greatest gift Jack had ever received. Not that he'd been given many, but he was sure that nothing could ever top this. He couldn't even put his gratitude into words: all he could manage was a small nod. North could see the gratitude in his eyes though and he was delighted that something he did had made the boy so happy.

After a while, Jack finally spoke. "Thank you North, really." He would definitely be taking up that offer soon. For now though, he was content sitting with his friends, talking about nothing in particular and sipping on cold-hot chocolate until he eventually fell back to sleep once more.

Gotta love the fluff. This was longer than expected but sleeping Jack is so cute that I can't not write about it xD

Hope everyone is safe and well!