Chapter Text
Frostbite – Chapter 1
After Jack rescued Harry, the other guardians had taken him in as one of their own; even the man in the moon had spoken to him once, much to Jack's jealousy. They had loved having him around, and had all wanted to be the one Harry permanently lived with. Eventually, they decided that North was the best one to take care of him, since he was the most child-friendly one of them.
As much as all the guardians loved having little Harry around, he was a bit... much sometimes. North liked having someone to help approve toys with him, but didn't always plan for Harry to blow up the disapproved ones, scaring his poor elves. 'Bunny', as he was called by Harry, was glad for help taste testing the chocolate, but not decorating them - no 6-year-old was as good as his minions. The dreams Harry designed for Sandy always ended up featuring something scary, like a dragon or too much fire. Tooth and Harry had a tense relationship, though neither would say why. Nevertheless, they never spoke to each other and Harry almost always shifted away from her.
As for Jack... well.
Jack got the brunt of the other guardians' annoyance at Harry. He was more like a tiny friend to Jack rather than a son/nephew as he was to the others. Harry idolised Jack, looking up to him when he was around and following him everywhere.
For the most part, Jack loved this. It made him feel special and respected, which the other guardians didn't often let him feel. Nevertheless, there were times when Harry annoyed him too, and one of those times was now.
All the guardians were at North's workshop for their monthly meeting, and Harry was playing in a corner of the room. He was fiddling with a toy train which the elves had only half made. The poor elf was jumping around at his feet, jingling his bell to try to get the boy to give it back. Harry was oblivious, as he continued playing with the toy.
Harry ran his fingertips over the sides of the toy in awe, only to cut himself on the sharp, uneven edge. Watching the blood in fascination, Harry put the train down and wandered over to the guardians.
-
Jack was in a bad mood. It was the middle of summer, and he had nothing to do. If that wasn't enough, Harry had been bugging him all day, since he'd been at North's due to the meeting. And the meeting wasn't going well either; Sandy was too excited to make any sense, North was too busy organising the elves after their break, and Bunny was arguing with Tooth about something or another. His patience was slowly fading and, just as he was about to yell at the others, he felt something tugging at the bottom of his top.
Looking down, he saw Harry, and his mind just snapped.
"Go away! Don't you understand that I don't want you around?! That none of us were with you because we don't want to play right now?! Maybe some of us have more important things to do than amuse an annoying brat who won't leave us alone!"
After his first exclamation, Jack had jumped out of his feet and slowly marched towards Harry. Harry had stumbled backwards in fright, tears in his eyes, before sending Jack a betrayed look. After sending a hurt, teary gaze around the room at the rest of the silent guardians, he turned and fled. The heavy wooden doors slammed shut behind him and the guardians just barely heard a tearful sob before the sound of his pounding footsteps faded.
Silence reigned in the room, and Jack hung his head in regret. North approached him from behind and rested a heavy hand on his shoulder.
"That was cruel Jack, especially when he looks up to you so much."
With that said, the man steadily walked out of the room, closing the same door calmly, exaggerating the silence left behind in Harry's absence.
-
After half an hour of Bunny and Sandy glaring at him in silence, Jack was feeling awful and cruel. Even Tooth, who didn't get on with Harry, was silently reprimanding him with her eyes. The silence continued unbroken until North returned with a sigh and a heavy frown.
"I can't find him anywhere. He must have hidden."
Jack, who had turned to see the man entering through the door at his back, turned back around and slumped in his seat dejectedly. He was feeling bad enough already and was more than ready to apologise, but to hear that Harry, who was always worried about being abandoned, was avoiding them was worrying and upsetting.
Eventually, after a short period of self-pity, Jack jumped up and started to search for the little boy alongside the other guardians.
As he was flying around the rafters of the workshop, Jack came across a small smudge which he had never noticed before. As he grew closer to it, his heart started beating faster and his eyes widened in horror.
It was blood.