Jack slept for quite a while, almost the entire day. He would have slept longer if his internal schedule for the weather didn't bother him. It was time to spread some winter in a few places, and Burgess was one of them.
Jack woke with a silent groan. His head still ached and his body felt sluggish and a tad sore. He shivered slightly, which made him confused. He wasn't cold exactly, but his body felt weird.
He didn't question how his powers were telling him where to bring snow and how much he needed to spread, but he got up anyway. Upon picking up his staff, something on the nearby chair caught his eye.
The scarf Bunny had mentioned. Jack picked it up carefully inspecting it's texture between his fingers and palms. He smiled softly at it, he could tell it wasn't just randomly picked up like Bunny had made it seem, but it was picked out with someone particular in mind.
Jack wouldn't say anything about that to the Pooka just yet, but knowing that Bunny was thinking of him when acquiring such an item was heartwarming. As Jack's mind lingered on the thought of Bunny actually being kind and caring, opposed to his tough guy act he tried to maintain very often, the boy's head pounded a bit harder and his vision blurred.
The Guardians were in the sleigh and Jack was sitting on the back seat, smiling widely as the wind whipped around him. Bunny breathed heavilly and released anxious grunts and mumbles.
This caused Jack to smirk mischievously. "Hey Bunny! Check out this vi- WOAH-!!" he shouted while falling out of the sleigh. Bunny's eyes widened in horror as he shouted for North, pulling himself over the edge of the vehicle to look for his fallen friend.
As Bunny was about to make another shout to stop the sleigh, he spotted Jack resting nonchalantly on the leg of the sleigh, smirking devilishly. "Aw, you do care~" he sang at the clearly frightened Pooka. Bunny glared down at the spirit, "Oh rack off you bloody show pony!" And he sat back down in his respective seat.
As the memory faded out and Jack came back into the present he sat down for a moment. "You alright?" Came a familiar Australian accented voice from the doorway, making Jack jump slightly and whip around.
Bunny held his hands up in apology for starting the boy, but closed the door and hopped over to him. Jack sighed and nodded, letting himself relax a bit. "I came to check on you right when you put the scarf on," Bunny paused, taking note of the boy's knitted eyebrows and tired expression.
"I knocked but you just stood there, so I figured you were in a memory?" Bunny asked rather than stated, earning a nod of confirmation from Jack. "I brought some Tylenol to help with the headache." At this, Jack looked at him confused.
He had no idea who or what a Tylenol was but looked at the little pill bottle Bunny had set on the nightstand next to a glass of water. "Its modern pain medicine. Take 2 for now, they should help." He instructed, opening the bottle and putting 2 tablets in Jack's palm.
Once the medicine was swallowed Jack sighed. He had to go deliver winter. He looked at Bunny, not sure how to really convey that he had to go. "Something wrong?" The Pooka asked.
Jack pointed at himself, then to his staff and then to one of the snowflakes on his scarf, adding a thank you smile as well for the gift. Bunny didn't answer right away. He understood what Jack was saying, but Jack needed to take it easy.
He could tell the boy was still tired, too. "Mate," Bunny knew Jack's job was very important but he still didn't want him up and about. He was being a bit protective of the boy. Jack's brows furrowed as he gazed up at Bunny.
The elder sighed. "I understand your job is important and you need to go, but," he paused again. "So, when you fell asleep and I went to tell North what happened, he and I realized the circumstances of you falling ill were a bit odd. So we took you to see Tooth." At this Jack's brows furrowed even more.
Bunny continued, "each time you remember something, you're subconsciously trying to force more out and its taking a toll on you. If you were a normal human, we wouldn't be so worried. But you have over 300 years of memories trying to front all at once." The rabbit explained.
Jack looked at him curiously but also warily. "We just want you to take it easy, and Tooth emphasized that you relax. And from now on, we can't give you so many details on things. Does any of this make sense?" He earned a small nod in response.
Bunny nodded and sighed, "I understand you have a job to do and its very important, but you need to be extra careful. If you need to, hunker down at Jamie's to rest." He informed. He and North already told Jamie the situation and in turn, he told his friends so that they were prepared.
Jack nodded to Bunny's instructions and smiled slightly at his concern for Jack's wellbeing. Jack took this moment to close his eyes, concentrating very hard and made a boomerang out of never melting ice. There were intricate swirls, flowers and decorated easter eggs etched into it.
Bunny's eyes widened slightly as Jack created this for him. Jack smiled knowingly at the Pooka as he handed the gift over as if to say 'here's your real gift', referencing their conversation when Bunny made tea and Jack watched.
Bunny smiled and took it happily. "It's beautiful, thank you." He thanked with a soft tone. After a curt nod, Jack stood once again, picked up his staff, and waved to the Pooka. He opened the window and out he went, deciding to hit Burgess last.
Even though there weren't many places to bring snow, it still took a while since he was pretty tired. Halfway to Burgess he landed to take a breath in a heavily wooded area. He had noticed that when he left his headache had dulled significantly, but now it was returning.
'Just one more place to go. You've got this. Its only a little bit of snow anyway.' Jack thought to himself, taking flight once more and making his way back to his hometown. He landed in an empty park about half a mile from Jamie's house.
Holding his staff out in front of him, he closed his eyes. The staff glowed a bright blue and clouds began to gather steadily, his job being done. It may not have looked like much, but he had to mentally design individual snowflakes and calculate how much needed to fall and when.
Huffing out a sigh of relief, he plopped his rear onto a nearby bench. He sat and rubbed his temple with one hand and held his staff with the other. "Jack?" Came a familiar voice.
Lifting his head to see whoever was talking to him, Pippa was walking up to him. "What are you doing out here? Bunny said you were taking a break at the workshop." She asked while tilting her head.
The spirit pointed at the sky, at the dark grey clouds that formed overhead. "Oh, I see. Well, you look like you could use a comfy couch to sit on instead of a hard bench. I'm headed to Jamie's right now, wanna come?" She asked offering her friend a hand.
He shrugged and took it, allowing her to pull him up. They made their way to their friend's house together in comfortable silence. She knocked twice on the door and opened it, walking inside as Jack followed behind her, shutting the door behind him.
"Hey, I picked up a stray." She chuckled as the friend group smiled happily at Jack, "Hey!" They greeted. "Good to see you, Jack!" Jamie chimed happily as they just lounged around. Montey and one of the twins were playing a video game in front of the TV, the other twin sitting nearby while watching them.
Cupcake was playing on a handgeld console while Jamie had his nose in a mythical creatures book that had Bigfoot on the front. "Really, Jamie? Again with the Bigfoot stuff?" Pippa rolled her eyes at her friend, Jamie laughing at her.
"He's real!" He retorted. Jack was about to try and inquire about what a Bigfoot was, but his vision began to blur. He knew what was coming and sat down in the nearest chair quickly.
"Really? You're into all that stuff? Come on!" One of the twins shouted at Jamie who was rambling on about Bigfoot sightings. "Of course! He's real guys, he's out there somewhere!" Jamie replied back but earned a chuckle in return.
"Uh huh, and so is the Easter Bunny!" They replied sarcastically. "He's real!" Jamie argued. They were in the boy's backyard and Jack was walking along the top of the fence with his arms hung over his staff. "Oh he's real alright! Real annoying, real grumpy, and reeaalllyy full of himself!" Jack commented, though he was unheard.
After more arguing between the boys, Jamie's mother came out. "Better bundle up! You don't want Jack Frost nipping at your nose!"
The memory faded out at that. Jack blinked, his eyebrows knitting together as his headache pounded against his skull. "Are you okay?" Jamie asked in a hushed voice. Jack hadn't sat down discretely so he gained attention, but no one made it blatantly obvious.
They side eyed him out of worry, but that was it. Jack rubbed his temples with a small nod at the teen. Only him and Pippa were obviously looking at him. Jamie felt bad for his best friend, he wanted to help and make whatever pain he was in go away.
Jack held up 2 fingers and pointed at his head, telling Jamie that this was the second memory in the same day. "Two memories in one day?" He repeated, earning a nod. "Are you okay?" The teen asked a bit more worriedly.
Jack looked at him, slightly sarcastically. He sighed and shrugged. His head was hurting pretty badly now. He mouthed the words 'not really' while laying his head back, still rubbing his temples. He didn't have the willpower to lie.
"Why don't you go take a nap? Maybe that'll help?" Pippa suggested. Jack weighed the idea only for a moment before standing up and flopping onto the unoccupied sofa, facing the back of it. With a deep sigh, he allowed sleep to take him.
Jamie sighed solemnly at his dear friend, watching as his shoulders rose and fell with deep even breaths. "I almost don't want him to get his memories back, it hurts him." Cupcake spoke quietly.
All of them hummed in some form of agreement, but there was nothing they could do. At least they were there for him, so he wasn't alone.
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Hey Snowflakes,
I managed to push something out. There's not much for me to say but yeah. Bunny cares for Jack and luckily Jack didn't hear the part where Jamie asked who Jack Frost was. That would have stung a bit. Hope you enjoyed
*Jack Frost*