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It’s just a nightmare. At least, that’s what Tooth thinks it is. It’s in the shape of Pitch’s corrupted version of horses, but the pale blue ice plates that cover it like armor aren’t normal. Pitch’s powers are from shadow/darkness aspects, focused on fear but clearly able to branch out in those aspects. Ice is a winter aspect though, completely outside of Pitch’s abilities. Which means Pitch couldn’t have done this...
“Jack,” she gasps. He’s the only winter spirit besides North that actively works with the humans anymore, and North would never help Pitch. But how?! She thought Jack liked kids, so why would he—
“What about the oversized sprite?” Bunny growls. He’s been steadily growing smaller since the destruction of the eggs, to the point that he’s now the size of a regular bunny. To see her once proud friend look so weak... Tooth realizes just how much belief has powered and shaped them, after all these years.
“That nightmare over there,” she points to it, standing seemingly alone in the street, “it’s covered in ice. Jack’s ice.”
“Great, Pitch killed ’im too,” Bunny gruffly states. Tooth frowns at him. She could have sworn those two had been bonding when they helped paint eggs, even with the, uh, disagreement between them.
“It doesn’t look like an attack Jack’s done though,” Tooth says instead. “It looks too, intentional.”
“It looks like armor,” North chimes in, frowning. “Good craftsmanship. But Jack would not do that, he is Guardian!”
“He refused to be a Guardian mate, and he was pretty chummy with Pitch what with that whole teeth business.” Bunny sniffs, staying hunched down in the broken sleigh. Not that it really matters, but old habits die hard.
“Who’re you talking about?” Jamie asks from between Tooth and North. He’s still in his pajamas, their last light. They’d managed to get to him before he lost hope, but with almost all their power gone they couldn’t bring him anywhere safer than the crashed sleigh.
“Jack Frost,” North answers him with a grin. “Prankster winter spirit, but Guardian. He would not join Pitch.”
“Jack Frost’s real?” Jamie’s wide eyes send a pang through Tooth’s heart. He looks so hopeful, so full of joy, the strength of his belief a beacon in the hauntingly empty void of the world. “Is he here?!”
“Jack’s real,” she says. “But I don’t know if he’s here. The nightmare over there seems to be covered in his ice though.” He carefully peeks over the lip of the sleigh to see the nightmare she’s pointing at.
“Huh. I thought nightmares were supposed to be... scary?” Jamie frowns. “I mean it’s not not scary, but I’ve seen worse.”
Three heads whip around to stare at the seven—eight?—year old.
“Wor- WORSE?! Mate these things are built from corruption and the darkest of fears, they’re the living embodiment of terror!” Bunny’s eyes are huge for his small size, but Tooth almost feels like they aren’t big enough for that comment.
Jamie shrugs. “It’s like, one horse covered in pretty ice armor. Have you guys never seen some of the illustrations they put in mythology books? Sure the nicer things look, the more likely they’re going to be terrifying later on or powerful beings, but like, it could be worse. I’ve seen more terrifying eldritch horrors on the internet.”
Tooth fights down the hysterical laugh trying to burst out of her throat. Of course the last light isn’t scared of the creatures formed from fear and darkness, that’s the only way he could have kept his hope for so long. But to not be scared because it doesn’t “look scary”?! Pitch’s nightmares are the greatest threat to children and their world, and they aren’t scary?!
“Not afraid of me, is he?” Pitch’s chuckle echoes all over, hiding where he actually is. Tooth glances all over anyway, hoping despite it all that she might be able to catch a glimpse of Pitch. “Interesting. A good choice for your last light, of course, wouldn’t want your precious savior to be afraid of the Boogeyman like the rest of you.”
“We’re not afraid of you Pitch!” Tooth yells, clutching one of North’s swords in her hand.
“No?” Pitch forms in the middle of the street, grinning. “Then why are they here?”
Nightmares. All around them, emerging from the shadows of the street. Fiery eyes and sleek coats, corrupted sand rippling out as manes and tails.
A shiver runs through her body as Tooth realizes they aren’t just corrupted sand anymore. One has snow dusted in its mane, another has a helmet-like ice sheet over its head. Ice-plated armor, frost swirls over corrupted sand, spikes of ice jutting out of sides and coating hooves. Every single one, as far as she can see, with winter-type additions.
“Aren’t they gorgeous?” Pitch asks, gesturing at the nightmares with a maniac gleam in his eyes. “I was proud of them before of course, my dear ladies looked so beautiful as is but this!” He pets one’s ice-covered neck, shaking his head. “This is breathtaking!”
“More like creepy,” Bunny mutters. Tooth glances down to see him cautiously peeking out at Pitch from Jamie’s arms. “What?” he grumbles, shifting around and not meeting Tooth’s eyes.
“Nothing,” she whispers, heart dropping in her chest. Bunny has always been proud of his strength, of the amount of belief that made him so... well, so unlike his nickname. For him to be reduced to this...
“I thought you said Pitch didn’t have winter-themed powers,” Jamie says to them, though he doesn’t quite match their hushed tones.
“Oh, I don’t,” Pitch confirms, grin splitting wider. “But I know someone who does. Say hello Jack!”
Jack, pale hoodie-wearing, staff-wielding Jack, flies down from a rooftop and lands next to Pitch. He leans against his staff, a cocky grin on his face. “Sup guys?”
Tooth can’t breathe. Jack looks just like he did when she last saw him. Same hoodie, same staff, same shock of white hair, same blue eyes. Same carefree look on his face, as if everything is a game and he’s a player.
“Jack,” North gasps. Tooth looks up at the Russian spirit who looks like the rug’s been pulled out from under him.
“That’s Jack Frost!?” Jamie yells, eyes bright. “He looks so cool!”
“Aww, thanks buddy,” Jack says, beaming. “I got the hoodie off of a dead guy!”
It takes a moment for Jack’s response to sink in.
“WHAT?!”
“Ёлки зелёные!”
“JACK WHY?!”
“BLOODY HELL JACK!”
The apparently-insane winter spirit shrugs, completely casual. “What? He wasn’t using it.” He doesn’t even sound remorseful, Tooth realizes half-hysterically.
“Your hoodie,” North says slowly, as if ensuring he’s understanding everything correctly, “was owned by human.”
“Yep.”
“And he died. In hoodie.” Tooth numbly notes the little hand motions North makes to imply the inside of the hoodie.
“Heart attack in the middle of the woods, it was pretty sad.” Jack shrugs as if to say ‘what can you do’. Jamie’s eyes are so wide he may pass out soon.
“And you stole hoodie. Off dead body?” North looks at Jack, clearly hoping that he misunderstood this point. Tooth almost wishes she had a language barrier so she could chalk this up to some mistranslation.
“Yeah I needed an upgrade anyway, the whole vest and half-cape/poncho wasn’t doing it for me,” Jack says, scrunching his nose. “It’s way more comfy and isn’t getting caught on tree branches.”
No one says anything after that, not knowing what to say. Tooth had known Jack had been alone, mostly, for three hundred years but she never realized what that meant. He... he just said he stole something off of a dead human.
A. Dead. Human.
Pitch snorts, breaking the silence. “And you claim I’m the problem.” He glances to his side. “Honestly Jack, you and I should have met sooner.”
Jack laughs. Head-thrown-back, clutching his staff, laughs. When he finally calms down, sliding a hand through his hair, he tilts his head up to smirk at Pitch, bright and sharp like ice. “Guess we better make up for lost time, yeah?”
“My thoughts exactly, Jack,” Pitch purrs, grinning down at the winter spirit.
“Are they in love?” Jamie whispers to Tooth. Or. He tries to whisper. Tooth pointedly does not look at Bunny, not wanting to touch the very idea of that with a ten-foot spear of moonlight.
“I— um... that is—”
Jamie’s eyes, if possible, go wider. “Can spirits fall in love? Or is it forbidden? Miss Toothfairy that’s unfair! They should be able to love whoever they want! My mom always says love is love and you shouldn’t discriminate against love!”
“We spirits are allowed to love,” North finally says. “But I do not know if they,” he nods towards the frantically whispering—actual whispering unfortunately, not Jamie’s version—pair, “are couple.”
Frowning, Tooth observes at the pair. They are standing, or in Jack’s case, hovering, rather close to each other. And while Pitch always sounds like he’s a step away from flirting—if he isn’t already—, Jack... doesn’t. The way he looked at Pitch though... She could see how Jamie might think they’re in love.
Whether it’s actually love or lust or a complete misunderstanding, Tooth has no idea. But there’s definitely something there, between the two who keep getting closer and closer and Pitch’s gesturing with his hands and Jack’s got his crook behind Pitch they’re so close and they’re staring at each other and Jack is—
Oh.
They’re kissing.
Well then.
Tooth coughs, glancing away and meeting North’s eyes. “Was not expecting that,” he says, also pointedly not looking at the... couple? Are they a couple now?!
“Are they in love?” Jamie loudly whispers to Tooth.
If Jack’s thoughts were a train, they just slammed into a wall, did like twenty flips, and are now in a fifty-car pile up. On fire.
Point is, Jamie’s comment threw him.
Not because he isn’t interested in Pitch. Pitch is gorgeous, Halloween personified, sharp edges and a sinfully smooth voice and so sweet around his nightmares it’s like sugar pumped directly into his veins. He’s beautiful and layered and Jack wants to know him inside and out, know his past, his mind, his powers, everything!
But, he’s never had a talking friend before. He’s mature enough to know he has very little basis for what “I love my friend” feels like, much less what a crush feels like.
“Jack.”
He tips his head up to look at Pitch, tall and graceful Pitch who’s got a guarded yet almost fragile look in his eyes.
“I don’t know what a crush feels like,” Jack blurts out.
Pitch blinks at him. “Alright,” he says slowly, fingers finding each other in a steeple. “It’s different for everyone I suppose, but common symptoms include a warm and/or tight feeling in the chest when they’re near, a desire to listen to them talk for hours without needing to understand what they’re discussing, or a desire to kiss them, among other things.”
“What do you feel?” Jack asks.
A pause, as if Pitch is trying to remember.
“It’s been a very long time ago,” he warns, “but... it was like they were the sun. I was content to sit next to them for hours, fight through a thousand armies alongside them, do anything as long as I was able to be with them. My heart beat in time with theirs every time we were near, and I couldn’t imagine a world without them in my life. I wanted to know everything about them, stand by their side and collect bits and pieces of them over the years, and grow old together.” He frowns. “That was before I became... this.”
Right.
“So,” Jack says, shifting in the air, “hypothetically, if I were to say I have a similar feeling about getting to know you...”
“Well Jack, then I’d have to say it could simply be platonic,” Pitch answers.
“Hypothetically, of course.”
“Of course.”
“And,” Jack hedges, leaning closer to Pitch like a car racing down a highway, “if I were, hypothetically, interested in seeing if it were romantic, how would you, hypothetically, suggest I do that?”
Pitch’s smile is carefully neutral, though his eyes glitter gold. “Then I would, hypothetically, recommend you gather more data points before deciding.”
“And if I were to ask how to do that?” Jack asks. “Hypothetically.”
“Then,” Pitch says, another car slipping out of their lane as he pulls closer to Jack, “I’d recommend you do a trial kiss.”
“Hypothetically.”
“Hypothetically.”
All Jack can see is Pitch’s lips and eyes of gold and his lips and his perfectly formed eyebrows and his lips .
“And,” he whispers, “if I asked you to kiss me?”
“Hypothetically?”
Pitch’s breath is strangely warm against his face.
“Hypothetically.”
Headlights blinding each other.
“Well then, Jack,” Pitch whispers, so close he could touch him if they just moved . “Hypothetically, I would.” A pause, a breath caressing his skin. “But you aren’t being hypothetical, are you, Jack?”
No time for the brakes, no time for thought.
Jack hooks his crook around Pitch’s neck and pulls, crashing together, mutual destruction that tastes of fire and ice and death and rightness rightness rightness.
Twiner has had a pretty weird day. Night. Whatever.
Jack being betrayed by the Guardians for something that wasn’t his fault? Shitty. Awful. Not the people he once knew.
Jack getting his memories back? Great! Awesome! Much needed!
Jack joining Pitch? On the fence. Great because Jack needs more friends, not great because it’s Pitch. He’s willing to see how it goes. Not like he really has a choice anyway.
Having a kid loudly—seriously, do kids not know how to be quiet nowadays?—question if Jack and Pitch are in love? Arguably the best thing that’s ever happened to him, and he figured out a way to be around people without having to talk to them.
Listening to Jack and Pitch stumble through their ‘I may like you but I’m not sure’ conversation? The most awkward thing he’s ever witnessed, and he’s known Jack for three hundred years.
(Also arguably some of the funniest shit he’s seen but that’s besides the point)
Jack using him to drag Pitch down and kiss him? Abso-fucking-lutely not!
“Pitch? More like bitch,” he mutters.
Big bad shadow man himself detaches from Jack’s lips. “Jack,” he says in a controlled-calm voice just begging to shatter and reveal whatever real emotion is under it, “did your staff just call me a bitch?”
Shit.
Shit shit shit shit shit shit!
Did he say that out loud?!?!?! Who’s he kidding, of course he did! How else would Pitch hear him if he hadn’t said it out loud?!
Jack, who to his credit hasn’t kissed anyone ever before now, stares at Pitch blankly.
He looks like an idiot though. An idiot Twiner cares about and the only one he can stand, obviously, but still. An idiot.
“Jack,” Pitch repeats calmly—which like, kudos to him for having patience, he’s going to need it if he’s sticking with Jack. “I distinctly heard a voice near my ear call me a bitch. As your staff is currently hanging around my neck, I’m inclined to believe that it, in fact, spoke.”
Fortunately, Jack snaps out of it. Unfortunately, that’s almost worse.
“What?” Jack nervously laughs. “Twiner? Talk? Please, he can’t talk, that’s ridiculous!”
If Twiner had hands right now, he’d facepalm. As it is, unlike these idiots, he hasn’t forgotten that the Guardians are right there behind them. Also, transforming around anyone that isn’t Jack is ew. Also also, transforming only to wrapped around Pitch’s neck is soooooo not happening. Not today, not ever. Thanks, very much no thanks.
A sigh. “You called your staff Twiner, Jack.”
“Oh.”
No. Shit.
“Would you buy it if I said I’ve gone crazy and named him?” Jack tries.
“No.” Then, “Good try though.”
Jack sighs and unhooks Twiner from Pitch’s neck.
Twiner almost forgives him because of that. Almost.
“Okay um, Pitch, meet Twiner. Full name Twinetender, but he said to call him Twiner and I’ve literally never introduced him to anyone before so yeah. He’s a shapeshifting stick who doesn’t really like people so he probably won’t talk to you or around you for a while.”
Accurate.
“Well then.” Pitch looks at him. “Horrible to meet you too, Twinetender.”
Bitch.
But... he is the perfect kind of bitch for Jack.
“Okay, besides Twiner calling you a bitch—which by the way is really similar to your name and I think that’s funny—”
“Not the point Jack.”
“Right, right. Um,” he tosses Twiner from hand to hand, “the kiss. Our kiss.”
“Yes.” Pitch doesn’t follow up with anything, just watches Jack.
Great, he has to make the first move. Again. Well, may as well stick with what’s always worked.
“I liked it.”
“Oh good, my skills haven’t suffered.”
At that, Jack snorts. “You’re a bitch you know that?”
“I imagine that’s why your darling twig called me so,” Pitch replies with a grin. “I also enjoyed the kiss,” he adds, softening.
“Soooooooooooo, what’d you think? Yes date or no date?”
Pitch, the biggest bitch there is—and thank you Twiner for fueling all the puns he can make now that he can rhyme bitch and Pitch—, has the audacity to tap his lip in consideration. “Well,” he draws out, “you are intriguing, and you’re inexperienced but not bad so...” He dramatically sighs. “I suppose we can attempt to court.”
Jack grins and kisses Pitch again.
“ ‘You’re a hitch’,” North relays, staring intently at Pitch and Jack. “Or maybe he say ‘Pitch’?”
“That doesn’t sound right. At all,” Bunny says, frowning at North.
Tooth squints at the pair. “Something about a fig? And an itch, but he could’ve meant hiss? Why would they be talking about a fig though?”
“That doesn’t sound right either,” Jamie points out, nose scrunched up.
“Oh oh,” Bunny says excitedly, peering over the side of the sleigh, “Jack’s saying something about hate! Maybe he’s betraying Pitch!” Tooth spares a second to smile at her friend. Maybe he and Jack can still reconcile, or at least not be at each other’s throats.
“Now Pitch say Jack is ‘believing’ and ‘mad’! That is good!” North cheers.
“Annnnnnnd now they’re kissing. Probably not betraying him Bunny,” Tooth sighs.
Bunny grumbles next to her, probably some curses under his breath but if she can’t make them out then Jamie probably can’t either. She’ll let him have it this time, considering everything.
Tooth turns back to the couple, where Jack’s completely dropped his staff in favor of wrapping his arms around Pitch’s neck. They’re not not a bad couple, she has to admit. Cold and dark, it makes some sense. Not enough to explain what’s going on, but some.
“What happened between those two?” she whispers to herself. At her palace they acted as if they’ve never met each other, when Pitch killed Sandy Jack unleashed some sort of magic blast attack at him, but when Jack went to drop Sophie back at home he was gone for hours and came back with his teeth, teeth only Pitch could have. Then he disappears again, only to reappear alongside Pitch, and now kissing him.
“Why don’t we just ask?” Jamie suggests. And before any of them can tell him no, he leans over the side of the sleigh and yells, “HEY ARE YOU GUYS A COUPLE?”
Jack jumps a foot away from Pitch, who just turns to glare at the Guardians. “We are,” Jack calls across the street as he slowly comes back down to stand next to Pitch. “He’s my boyfriend!”
“Since when?!” Bunny yells back.
“Since now!” Jack’s grin is huge and only gets bigger as Tooth stares, dumbfounded.
North starts cursing in Russian again. She almost joins him.