Chapter Text
Then the silence stretched again.
The fire crackled softly between them.
Bunny’s ears flicked once.
“Somethin’ else is eatin’ at yeh,” he said quietly.
Jack immediately groaned.
“Oh, come ON. Can’t you just accept one traumatic revelation per evening like a normal person?”
“Not when yeh’re still wound tighter than North’s workshop springs.”
Jack pulled the blanket up higher.
“I already told you.”
“Part of it.” Bunny’s gaze sharpened slightly. “Not all of it.”
Jack looked away.
And there it was again.
That awful feeling of being seen too clearly.
He hated it.
Especially because Bunny was usually right.
Jack swallowed hard.
“It’s not just the dark,” he admitted quietly.
Bunny stayed silent.
Waiting.
Jack rubbed tiredly at his face.
“When I sleep, I lose control.”
The words landed heavy in the room.
Bunny frowned slightly.
“Control of what?”
Jack laughed once under his breath.
“Take your pick.”
No response.
Right.
Not joking time.
Jack stared into the fire.
Orange light flickered across the ice creeping unconsciously along his fingertips.
“I was young when it happened,” he said finally. “Like…really young. Spirit-young.”
Bunny went very still.
Jack noticed immediately.
Of course he did.
There were only a handful of topics capable of making Bunnymund completely motionless.
Jack forced himself to keep talking before he lost his nerve.
“I didn’t understand my powers yet. Not really.” He shrugged weakly. “I mean, I barely understood people.”
The memory felt jagged.
Cold.
Shameful.
“The Blizzard of 1968.”
Bunny’s expression closed instantly.
Jack winced.
Yeah.
That.
Every Guardian knew the story.
Most spirits did.
It had become one of those legendary disasters retold over decades until the truth got buried underneath the jokes.
Jack Frost ruining Easter.
Classic.
Funny.
Chaotic.
Typical Jack.
Except it hadn’t been funny.
Jack’s voice dropped lower.
“Everyone says it was a prank.”
Bunny didn’t speak.
“They tell it like I thought it’d be hilarious to bury Easter under snow.” Jack’s mouth twisted bitterly. “Like I was just being reckless.”
Bunny’s ears flattened.
Jack stared hard at the blankets.
“I didn’t do it on purpose.”
The confession cracked straight down the middle.
Raw.
Ashamed.
“I lost control.”
The room felt colder suddenly.
Jack’s frost crawled farther across the bedframe.
“I fell asleep during a storm front.” His breathing tightened slightly. “I didn’t even realize I could affect weather that badly yet. I was exhausted and angry and everything just…”
He made a helpless motion with one hand.
“Exploded.”
Snow.
Ice.
Wind.
Panic.
Children crying.
Ruined gardens.
Collapsed celebrations.
And Bunny...
Trying desperately to save what he could.
Jack squeezed his eyes shut.
“When I woke up, it was already everywhere.”
Bunny looked away toward the fire.
Not angry.
Something worse.
Remembering.
Jack’s chest twisted painfully.
“I couldn’t stop it,” he whispered. “I tried, but I didn’t know how.”
The silence afterward felt enormous.
Jack laughed shakily.
“So, y’know. Turns out accidentally causing a historic supernatural weather disaster really does weird things to a person.”
Bunny didn’t smile.
Jack’s stomach dropped.
“Right. Sorry. Bad joke.”
Still nothing.
Then quietly:
“Why didn’t yeh ever tell anyone?”
Jack blinked.
“What?”
“That it wasn’t intentional.” Bunny’s voice stayed calm, but there was something tight underneath it now. “Why let everyone keep tellin’ it wrong?”
Jack stared at him like the answer was obvious.
“Because it happened.”
Bunny frowned.
“I still caused it. Accident or not, people got hurt. Easter got wrecked. Kids lost out because I couldn’t control myself.”
“That was half a century ago.”
“Doesn’t matter.”
Jack’s voice sharpened instantly.
The panic was creeping back in around the edges.
“If I lose control once, I can lose it again.”
There it was.
The real fear.
Not the dark.
Not sleep.
Himself.
Jack’s breathing quickened.
“If I’m asleep, I don’t know what’s happening. I don’t know what I’m doing. I don’t know if something’s going wrong and I can’t stop it and-”
“Jack.”
Firm.
Grounding.
Jack stopped.
Bunny leaned forward, elbows braced against his knees.
“That storm wasn’t your fault.”
Jack barked out a disbelieving laugh.
“It literally WAS.”
“No.” Bunny’s voice stayed steady. “It was the fault of a young spirit who had no clue how his powers worked and no one around to teach him.”
Jack opened his mouth.
Bunny cut him off immediately.
“Yeh were alone.”
The words hit harder than Jack expected.
“You were scared, overwhelmed, exhausted, and dealin’ with powers bigger than yeh understood.” Bunny’s ears lowered slightly. “That’s not malice, mate.”
Jack looked down at his hands.
Ice cracked softly beneath his fingers.
“I ruined your holiday.”
Bunny sighed through his nose.
“Yeah. Yeh did.”
Jack flinched.
“But yeh know what I remember most?” Bunny continued quietly. “Not the storm.”
Jack looked up slowly.
“I remember seein’ yeh afterward.”
Jack froze.
Bunny’s gaze softened.
“Terrified outta your mind. Tryin’ to fix that damned blizzard with your bare hands like yeh could undo the whole thing alone.”
Jack’s throat tightened.
“You kept apologizing.” Bunny shook his head slightly. “Over and over. Thought I was gonna hate yeh forever.”
Jack laughed weakly.
“Didn’t you?”
“Little bit.”
Jack snorted despite himself.
“Honesty. Nice.”
“But not because yeh were cruel.” Bunny nudged one of Jack’s frozen fingers lightly. “Because neither of us knew what to do with each other back then.”
The tension in Jack’s chest loosened.
Only slightly.
But enough to breathe.
Bunny leaned back again.
“Yeh are not that scared kid anymore, Jack.”
Jack stared into the fire.
Maybe not.
But some parts of him still felt frozen there.
Young.
Panicked.
Out of control.
Bunny’s voice softened.
“And yeh don’t gotta stay awake forever to prove yeh won’t become him again.”
Jack swallowed hard.
The exhaustion pulled at him again.
Heavy.
Warm.
Terrifying.
But Bunny stayed where he was.
Solid.
Present.
Keeping watch.
For once, Jack let himself believe maybe that was enough.
Then quieter:
“Thanks.”
Bunny waved one paw dismissively.
“Get some sleep, Frostbite.”
For once,
Jack actually tried.