Chapter 15

It had been a few days since Jack last saw Pitch or any of the Guardians. When he woke, he found himself smiling; today was Halloween. The boy jumped into the air and flew towards Jamie's school. He arrived just as the school bell rang to let the kids out for recess, and he quickly sat down on a low tree branch in a planter box.

The children began pouring out of their classrooms; everyone was dressed in bright and strange costumes. When he saw Jamie, Jack scooped up some snow from the ground and threw it at him. Instantly seeing Jack in the corner of the playground, the child ran towards him. The frost elf got down from the tree and hugged the excited boy.

"Jack, I'm so happy to see you!" Jamie exclaimed. His friends soon caught up with him, and everyone showed Jack their costumes. Jamie was an explorer of the Amazon, Pippa was a black cat, Cupcake was a princess, Claude and Caleb were zombies, and Monty was a robot.

"Where's you costume?" Monty asked the young guardian.

"I don't have one."

"We could make you one," Caleb offered.

"Yeah you could be like a vampire or something!" Jamie said. "I have an old cape you could use."

Jack laughed. "It's alright, I'll just stick with being a Guardian." A sly smile crossed his voice. "Although, blood sounds pretty good right now." Jack made a hissing noise and the children screamed playfully. Jack chased them around the playground, while the kids tried to keep the 'vampire' away by throwing snowballs at him. Eventually the bell rang, and they went back to class as the boy flew away.

Jack thought about going to visit with some of the other Guardians, but realized they would lecture him to be on the look-out for Pitch. So instead he decided to visit the one they would specifically warn him to stay away from. He looked around for Pitch, but couldn't find him anywhere. "PITCH!" There was a groan in response.

Jack followed the groan into the bedroom. There, Pitch lay asleep, or at least trying to sleep with Jack's shouting. "Pitch!" The guardian exclaimed running towards the man. The Nightmare King groaned and rolled over so he was no longer facing Jack. Annoyed, Jack began poking Pitch. "Pitch. Pitch. Pitch. Pitch. Pitch. Wake up, Pitch. Pitch. Pitch. Pitc-"

"Not now Frost," the boogeyman complained. "It's the middle of the day."

"But Pitch-"

"Just five more minutes." Pitch murmured, pulling the covers up higher.

Jack grabbed Pitch's shoulder and began to shake him. "But Pitch it's really important!"

"Alright, Alright!" The man said, while sitting up slowly. "I'm up, what's so important that you need to tell me?"

The frost elf smiled. "Happy Halloween."

Pitch looked furious. He grabbed Jack's sweatshirt collar and pulled him close. "You're telling me you woke me just to say 'Happy Halloween'?!"

"Well, yeah." Jack beamed. "It's kinda like your holiday, and I thought we could celebrate together."

"When it's night Jack, not while the sun is still up!" Pitch let go of Jack's sweatshirt. "Now you can either crawl into bed with me and go to sleep, or get out."

"But I don't wanna leave!" The snow spirit complained.

"Then get in."

"I'm not tired either," Jack whispered as he got under the covers.

"I don't care." The Nightmare King confessed, while draping an arm around Jack and bringing him close. "Now, goodnight."

"It's actually good morning."

"Frost!" Pitch scolded, becoming extremely frustrated.

"Alright, alright. Goodnight." Pitch immediately fell back asleep, but Jack laid there, feeling as if he would burst if he stayed still for much longer. The boy tried to crawl out of Pitch's arms, but despite the fact he was asleep, his grip around Jack was fierce. Great, this is just perfect. Jack thought. He just had to hold on as tight as possible!

Annoyed, Jack tried to gently unhook Pitch's fingers from his side, but the boogeyman murmured something in his sleep. The guardian quickly stopped, not wanting to wake Pitch, who he was sure would give him hell if said happened. Thinking fast, Jack was suddenly hit with a brilliant idea. Jack reached an arm out to grab his staff, which was resting against the headboard, but his fingers were just barely able to touch it. Flicking the lower end of his staff with his index finger, he managed to get his staff to fall over and it fell into his outstretched hand. Using his staff, he created a slight breeze that made Pitch shiver. Pitch removed his arm from the frost elf, rolled over, and pulled up the covers.

Without hesitation, Jack flew into the air, a look of victory on his face. "Yes!" He shouted triumphantly. Jack immediately covered his mouth with his hand, but it was too late.

"FROST!" Pitch yelled. Screaming slightly, the boy tried to fly away, but was grabbed by a whip and was thrown back onto the bed. Pitch glared at him as he crept closer.

"Hey, wait a minute! I really was trying to be quiet!"

The Nightmare King grabbed him and brought him close. "You are the most troublesome pest I have ever met, Jack. You can't even keep quiet for five minutes." Pitch sighed. "I swear you have the mind of a ten year old." Bringing Jack's face close to his, the boogeyman pinched his cheek hard.

"Owowow! Hey, quit it! Ow that hurts!" The young guardian complained trying to desperately push Pitch's hand away. "Ow stop!"

Pitch smirked down at Jack. "Oh, does the poor little boy have a booboo?" He teased, as he finally let go.

The frost elf rubbed his aching cheek. "That was just mean."

"Don't act so innocent, Jack." Pitch replied, quickly kissing Jack on the lips. "It's mean to wake someone up when they're sleeping." Suddenly the man's expression changed, he looked as if he was staring at something utterly adorable and childish.

"What?"

"You still have bits of pastel colors in your hair." Jack blushed and looked down, but Pitch grabbed his chin, forcing the snow spirit to look him in the eyes. "I like it, it suits you." Pitch kissed Jack repeatedly, taking over his small mouth. Jack scooted as close as he could get, wanting to feel the Nightmare King's warmth despite the fact he was the bringer of winter. Pitch pulled away and said, "Happy Halloween, Jack." He moved the boy onto his lap, and ran his fingers through his white hair. "So tell me, what was it that you wanted to do to celebrate?"

"Well I wanted to go outside, but we can't since it's not dark out." Jack huffed, but he suddenly broke into a large grin. "Hold on, I'll be right back!" He flew away and came back a few minutes later, a pumpkin in each arm.

"Where did you get those?"

"They were in the back, and nobody wanted them. Probably because the ones in the front were huge." Pitch made a table of nightmaresand and the boy set them down.

"You really want to carve pumpkins?" Pitch asked, slightly mocking Jack, who frowned and pointed his staff at the man. "Alright, alright. We'll carve them." He handed a knife to Jack and the two began to cut open the pumpkins and tear out the guts.

"Ew," Jack remarked, covering his nose with his sweatshirt. "I forgot how bad this smells." The boogeyman laughed. They soon finished removing the insides and began carving. Jack made a smiling pumpkin with snowflakes for eyes, while Pitch's jack-o-lantern had sharp teeth and wild looking eyes. "That's just demented."

"Well excuse me, if I don't like starry eyed happy faces." Suddenly Pitch cocked his head to the side, as if sensing something in the shadows. He smiled and turned to Jack. "The sun's down."

"Yes! Come on!" The snow spirit cried, grabbing his jack-o-lantern and moving towards the exit.

"What are you doing with that?"

"I'm gonna put it outside your lair." Jack looked at Pitch's jack-o-lantern then back at him.

Rolling his eyes, Pitch picked it up. "You do realize no one's going to see them, don't you?"

"Yes, but we'll know they're there, and that's good enough for me." They set them outside and lit the candles; it gave the forest a more lived in feeling. "Now come on, let's go have some fun!" Jack grabbed Pitch's wrist, and was about to fly off when the man grabbed his arm.

"Oh no, I am not letting you drag me through the air again. We're traveling my way." A nightmare appeared and Pitch mounted it; he looked down at Jack expectantly.

"You know what, I'm not really a fan of riding those so-" Before he could finish, Pitch grabbed him by the hood and sat him in front. Pitch laughed as Jack pressed against him, and the nightmare took to the sky, blending in with the darkness.

To be continued.