Chapter Text
More than any of the other Guardians combined, Jack Frost was aware that keeping the belief alive was more than just leaving coins under pillows, hiding eggs in the bushes and appearing presents under trees. More than dreaming of fairies, plains of snow and towers of ice and of miracles that could happen at any moment.
Keeping the belief alive - the belief that he was real, that they were all there, and that everything they ever saw was worth believing in - was a job. It was part of their job, and it was an art. And as the years turned and Jack watched as the world changed, he became somewhat an artist himself.
The trouble he seemed to keep having, though, was the price that came with his dedication to that job. Which Tooth and North were currently in the process of reminding him. Predictably, Tooth was pleading with him, while North was more struck with the non-negotiable approach.
"Jack -" Tooth had her hands pressed together as if in prayer, wings beating in a frantic fluttering pattern very unlike her usual. It was hard for her to stay in one spot as she moved because she would constantly lift herself up, then overcompensate for the extra work and flit back down. "- Please, for your sake, see some sense."
The temperature of the room couldn't get much colder, and if North didn't already live in one of the coldest places on Earth, he would complain. When Jack's anger fell, it fell all around him. They could see their breath crystallizing in the air as they talked, and wherever he stepped, jagged spikes of frost stabbed into North's mahogany floors. He swung his staff around and jabbed it in Toothiana's direction with an angry glare.
"You know, just because you two've been in the club longer than I have doesn't mean you know what's best for me."
"Don't be confrontational." North grumbled, crossing his burly, tattooed arms and fixing Jack with a look that could send all the yetis in the place scattering. "Is not with small weight in mind that we tell you these things. This lesson is very important, Jack. Disappointing that you must have same lesson twice."
A blast of frigid air whipped up around him in a frenzy when he shouted back. "A lesson? You call that a lesson?!"
Tooth shot her long-bearded companion a scolding look. North sighed heavily and nursed a developing headache tensing at his temples. "Not to take away impact of it. What I meant -"
"Shut up! Save it!" Jack slammed his staff down, the ice that formed from it obliterating pieces of the wood under his feet. "I know exactly what you meant! And you know what I think of that? Screw you!"
"Jack!" Toothiana put herself right in his path as he lifted himself airborne, obviously planning to leave. "Jack, if you keep doing this, you're just going to keep hurting yourself in the long run. Please take our advice. It's terrible when you suffer. We all have to make sacrifices for our roles - that's just the way that it is. You have to think of the bigger picture."
Jack leaned forward, fixing Tooth with a withering glare that left her feeling frozen on the spot from the inside-out.
"Your 'bigger picture'," he growled out, "sucks."
When he dodged around her and rushed out, Toothiana made to follow. North stopped her. "Let him go." He hid his face behind his hand, eyes closed, like shutting out his senses would block him from having to handle the hot mess that had just exploded in front of them. "He needs to learn hard way. Best to do is be there for him when the disaster falls."