sakon76

Tutelary 5
by K. Stonham
first released 30th January 2013

Hoodie

Jamie hates Jack's hoodie.

Well, it's not the hoodie per se that he hates. The hoodie's a nondescript faded navy, completely forgettable except for the way that Jack wearing it covers it with ice and frost patterns. Which are actually kind of pretty. So, as a garment, Jamie has nothing against it.

No, what Jamie hates is the way Jack sometimes pulls the hood up.

He doesn't know if anyone else notices. He doesn't know if anyone else even pays attention. But Jamie does, because of all the people on Earth except for his mom and Sophie, Jack is the person he loves best. And when Jack has his hood up, it's not for the same reasons Jamie might. Jack doesn't have it up because he gets cold. He doesn't have it up because the wind's bothering his neck.

Jack pulls his hood up because he's hurting.

And Jamie hates seeing anyone hurting the way Jack does.

It's not often. And it's hard to catch Jack in one of those moods, because when he's unhappy, Jack tends to hide like Jamie's neighbor's cat. But Jamie has a sixth sense for when Jack is in town, and has figured out where most of Jack's hiding places are. (He's working on changing that "most" to "all.")

There are a few rooftops that give Jack privacy, including, oddly, the elementary school roof. But Jack tends to skip out from there pretty quick, because the school has a playground, and when Jack is depressed he doesn't want to be near kids.

The woods behind Jamie's house hold Jack's pond, always a good candidate even in the summer months. More than once, Jamie has found Jack there, sat on the rocks in the middle of the pond, and threatened to swim over to him no matter how cold the water was. Once Jack figured out Jamie was serious, the threat alone had usually been enough to get him to fly to the shore.

The woods also have lots of tall trees whose branches might hide a miserable winter spirit. Jamie has consequently gotten very good at climbing.

Because the thing is, Jack is one of Jamie's favorite people ever. And Jamie is pretty sure he's high on Jack's list too. So even if Jack won't tell him what's wrong (the Easter Bunny's being an ass, Claude stopped believing, Monty stopped believing, Pippa stopped believing...), Jamie will sit with him until Jack feels better. It always works, sooner or later. Even if it takes staying with him until the moon is up, the sun is down, and Jamie has fallen asleep leaning on Jack's shoulder. That's actually happened once or twice, and when Jack realizes it, he'll fly Jamie to his room and end up sitting by the window.

Jamie worries about growing up and forgetting Jack. He worries that Jack realizing Jamie's forgotten about him will send the winter spirit into another, worse depression. He worries that if he stops believing, Jack will have no one to try and break him out of his depressions.

He wishes he could see the other Guardians the way he sees Jack, but they're purposely elusive. Jamie only ever met them that one night, years ago. If he could, Jamie would talk to them, make them see what he sees in the Guardian of Fun. Because he doesn't think they know that Jack has downs to match his ups. If they did, he'd like to think they'd take better care of Jack. Because as it is, he's not sure they do.

Still, Jamie can only do what he can do, and so he does that as best he can. Jack is a teenager trapped in eternity, with three hundred years of loneliness behind him that he's still coming to terms with. And maybe Jamie shouldn't let Jack be as fond of him as he is, because some day Jamie is going to grow up and get old and die, and then he'll just be another person Jack has lost. But Jamie can't find it in himself to be so immeasurably cruel as to shove Jack away. Jack's problems stem from his loneliness, and if Jamie was a college student studying psychology, he'd probably have a whole list of long words to describe Jack's issues.

But Jamie's not, and Jamie doesn't. He's only fourteen. The only thing he can do for his friend is be there for him.

And hope that someday, Jack won't need to hide under his hood anymore.

Hugs

During the seven long months between the magical night he first met Jack Frost, and the November day when he saw Jack again, Jamie Bennett had thought a lot. He thought about how shocked, how happy, Jack had been to be seen. He thought about how Jack had completely frozen for a moment when Jamie had hugged him. He thought about the other Guardians, and wondered if they ever hugged Jack.

When Jack had appeared again that November day, announcing his return via a snowball to Jamie's back, Jamie had spun around, shocked.

There had been a small part of him, he realized, that had truly thought he was never going to see Jack again. That he would have to go by the Guardian's words and have faith in his existence, like the way Jamie believed in the sun and the moon . But there the white-haired teenager stood, leaning on his staff and smiling, like he'd never left.

"Jack!" Jamie said, and dropped everything else to run to the winter spirit and hug him.

Jack froze again.

Realization hit like a cold slushball to Jamie's face. He only hugged Jack tighter.

No one else, Jamie knew for sure now, hugged Jack Frost.

Jamie couldn't imagine that. His mom hugged him all the time, and so did Sophie, and so did his grandparents when they visited. And he couldn't remember nearly as much about his dad as he wished he could, but he could remember that last long hug, weak and tearful, in the hospital room that had smelled of chemicals. Sophie hadn't even been born yet, so Jamie had promised his dad to hug her all the time for him, as soon as Sophie got big enough. He hadn't broken that promise yet, and wasn't going to.

Jamie couldn't imagine a life without someone's arms wrapping around him, letting him know without words that they loved him.

Jack's hand landed softly on Jamie's hair. "Hey, what's this for?" the winter spirit asked, head cocked to one side as blue eyes looked down into brown.

"I missed you," Jamie said honestly.

Jack smiled, something soft and sincere and just for Jamie. "I missed you, too."

Right then and there, Jamie made himself a promise. He was going to give Jack all the hugs he could, so that the Guardian would know that he was loved, that he wasn't ever going to be forgotten and invisible again. Jamie didn't care if it took ten years, he was going to get it through to Jack so that the older boy would stop flinching whenever he was touched. He hugged Jack tighter for just a second, affirming the silent promise to himself, then let go, looking up. "What do you want to do today?" Jamie asked.

Jack's smile shifted to something more mischievous. "Got any thoughts about you and me versus your friends in an all-out snowball war?"

"Yeah!" Jamie could just picture it. "We could build forts, and defend them!"

"We could toss in some Capture The Flag, too, while we're at it."

Jamie punched up into the air in excitement. "Let's do it! Come on, Jack!" He grabbed the spirit's hand and started dragging him toward the hill where he knew his friends were probably playing.

"Oh, you don't want to walk there, do you, Jamie?" Jack teased, and then his arm was around Jamie and they were flying.

"Awesome!" Jamie cried into the cold wind in his face, and if Jack's arm tightened just a little around his chest?

Well, that was a kind of hug too, wasn't it?

Author's Note: You know, when I started this story, I intended for it to be a place to put short little fluff things that didn't go anywhere else. When/how did it become an angstbucket fic?