Chapter Text
"Jack?" North peeked around the corner first one way then the other. "Where have you gone?"
No one else was in the hall. The immortal teen had gone upstairs an hour ago, but North couldn't locate him. There was neither hair nor frost of the missing kid.
North stepped further down the hall. "Jack? . . . Jack Frost?"
Still no response came. Everything was strangely quiet. Which made the next sound easier to hear.
North froze. He listened again and heard an almost child like giggle off in the distance.
The Santa figure crept down the hall. It wouldn't be the first time a child ended up in their domain. It was rare, but never zero.
Another giggle carried North around the corner and down the next hall. It was louder, but it still sounded like whoever was here was trying to be quiet. Which meant whoever it was was trying not to get noticed.
Carefully, North quietly crept down the hall to the door where the noise was coming from. The door was closed, and when North watched, he did see a shadow moving around under the door. This was where the child was.
The Santa Clause opened the door, quickly pushing it in.
Any noise and movement immediately disappeared.
North stepped further in. His head swiveled back and forth before landing on two familiar ice blue eyes. The Santa Clause froze as his brain connected what he was seeing. ". . . Jack?"
The immortal teen was frozen as well. His eyes were wide in shock as he stared up at North. A small white rabbit stuffie was laying on its side on the floor in front of him and his staff was next to him. And pressed between his lips was a solid light blue pacifier.
Neither side moved for several seconds. Then North took a step forward. "Jack---."
Suddenly, the immortal teen crawled backwards in between the bed and the night stand. He curled up into a ball, a few cries escaping around his pacifier.
North's heart immediately clenched. Whatever he was seeing, whatever this was, he could figure out. Right now, his friend was in a vulnerable spot and he needed help. So the Santa Clause knelt down on the floor. "You're okay друг. North won't hurt you."
Jack curled further in on himself.
North looked around for something to help him here when he saw the rabbit at his knee. He scooped it up. "Ah, who this?"
That got him a peek from between the immortal teen's fingers.
"He looks like a wonderful друг." North placed both hands on either side of the rabbit, tilting the stuffie back and forth to make his ears flop as he moved it across the floor. "Does he have name?"
Jack lowered his hands from his face. His eyes intently watching the rabbit.
North leaned forward to place the rabbit on the floor before shifting back. "Maybe he and I can both help our друг. Da?"
Jack's eyes went up to North then back down to his stuffie. His face lit up at the sight of his rabbit friend so he carefully crawled forward toward it. "Fwake."
North tilted his head, brows furrowing in confusion.
Jack sat on the floor then held up the stuffie with both hands. "Fwake."
It clicked. He had asked for the rabbit's name. "Ah, your друг's name is Snowflake."
Nodding shyly, Jack pulled the stuffie to his chest, hiding his face in the top of the rabbit's head.
North softened at the sight. "That name is good малютка."
Slowly, the immortal teen lifted his head back up. He shyly studied the Santa Clause figure, a mix of fear and stress on his face.
North held out one of his hands palm up toward the immortal teen. "You're safe друг. I will help you."
After turtling into his shoulders, Jack hesitantly scooted forward across the floor. He took the outstretched hand and let North pull him into one of his bone crushing hugs. The force made him squeak then giggle as he willingly snuggled into the older man.
This was a side of Jack the Santa Clause hadn't really seen. Most of the time Jack would pull away from physical affection. He didn't want to be hugged much less held, but this side of him seemed perfectly content to be cuddled into North's arms.
"What is going on in head малютка?" asked the Santa Clause while carefully wiping away the tear tracks lingering on the younger's face. "This is not normal for the Jack Frost I know."
"Yamie," Jack got around the pacifier.
"Ah, you miss your friend." North stood, the immortal teen still in his arms. "Well, I think we can fix."
Jack held on as he watched the older man scoop up his staff with one hand then head toward the bedroom door.
"Come. Let us go."
By snow globe portal, it didn't take long for the duo to arrive outside of the Bennett house. It was later in the day, meaning the street was quiet and less packed with kids or teens that might spot them.
North carried Jack around the back of the house then quietly slipped in. His goal was to get Jack to Jamie without alerting Sophie. The Santa Caluse may not understand much of what was going on, but he was sure Jack would not appreciate being seen this way by the younger Bennett.
Quietly, the duo made their way upstairs. The parents in the living room had no idea they had even passed by.
Finally, they stood outside Jamie's bedroom door. A few years had passed so the kid that they once knew had grown into a teen. He still believed in the guardians and had not lost that loving connection with Jack Frost that had grown into a very close friendship. If Jack was missing him, that may explain this odd behavior.
North carefully opened the bedroom door. "Jamie."
The brown haired teen was sitting as his desk, playing some sort of game on his computer. He pushed back one side of his headphones before turning to the door. As soon as he saw who it was, his entire face lit up. "Hi Jack."
"Yamie!" The immortal teen wriggled. "Down pease."
North carefully lowered him to his feet, but Jack sank to his knees to scurry across the floor. His poor bunny Snowflake bounced along as she was pulled by one of her long white ears.
Jamie grinned, setting his controller down and taking off his headphones so he could give the immortal teen his attention. "How are you baby flake?"
Jack laid his head in the brown haired teen's lap and wrapped his arms around his legs. "Miss youw."
"I missed you too." Jamie carefully smoothed down the stark white hair on Jack's head. His attention lifted to North. "And you brought a friend."
"Hello Jamie." North closed the door behind him. "I need your help with this one."
"He finally decided to tell you?"
"Tell me what?"
Jamie froze. His happy expression dropped into shocked realization. "You found him like this?"
"Yes. He said he miss you. I brought him to you."
"Ohh." The brown haired teen connected the dots. "I think I get what happened."
The entire time, North noted that Jack's head never left Jamie's knees nor did Jamie's hand leave Jack's head.
"Santa?"
North's attention snapped back up.
"Have you ever heard of something called age regression?" Jamie carefully worded.
"I didn't know this was thing. What do you mean by regressing of age?"
The brown haired teen chuckled. "Age regression is a coping mechanism."
"Eh . . . Coping mechanism?"
"When you're under a lot of stress or have a lot of worry, what do you do?"
The Santa Clause scoffed. "That is easy. I go work on new toys."
"And that helps you feel less anxious or overwhelmed, right?"
"Precisely. Is best way to handle worries."
"For you." Jamie motioned to Jack. "Not so much for others."
North's brows furrowed together. "Oh?"
"For some, they need to feel safe to get out or process those negative emotions. So their brain forces them into a safe space or they create a safe space."
"By making themselves act like . . .." North didn't finish. He just motioned to Jack.
"Act like what?" Jamie immediately defended. "Getting themselves to an age when they last felt secure and safe?"
North's eyes went wide. "That's what this is?"
"Yes Santa." Jamie lifted his hand so Jack could turn his head. "That's exactly what this is."
The Santa Clause watched two bright blue eyes looking up at him.
"Jack feels overwhelmed and stressed. About what, I'm not sure," Jamie continued. "It could be stuff with winter. It could be trauma from something that happened. It could even just be a rough week and he needed some time to feel happy."
"So if he feels less overwhelmed, this will stop?"
Jamie's eyes flitted to the side. "Not right away."
". . . He needs some time like this?"
"Just like you in your workshop."
North's attention went back to Jack. He looked so small and vulnerable curled up with his head in his friend's lap. It made the older man's heart ache.
"Physically, Jack is still in his body," Jamie explained. "Mentally, he's probably one to two years old. Maybe even a little lower."
That comment cracked North's heart even more. He knelt on the floor. "малютка, why you no ask for help?"
Jack looked away.
"Age regressors can feel . . . embarrassed." Jamie soothed down a few wayward strands of white hair. "It helps him, but he can struggle letting those who are close to him see him so----."
North finished, "Vulnerable."
"Exactly."
That made sense for the immortal teen. Jack hated feeling like he didn't belong. He had been ostracized for years before finally being brought into the guardians. Even then, that had been an up hill battle of trust.
Trust that they had sadly broken more than once.
"Hey," Jamie called, cutting through the cloud of guilt the older man was feeling. "The fact that he's still regressed and came with you willingly shows how much he trusts you already."
That comment made North perk up. "You think so?"
"I know so. It took a while after our talk for Jack to even trust me with what he was doing. Now he visits even when he's regressed."
"How can you tell when he is that?" The Santa Clause asked. If he was going to do his friend right by this, he wanted the answers.
"This usually helps." Jamie tapped the shield of the light blue pacifier. "If he's using it, he's either trying to regress or has regressed entirely."
North looked closely at the pacifier. He had noted it at first, but that was just in passing. Now he realized there were tiny frost like designs spiraling along to shield, handle, and outer barrier.
It made the older man grin. Jack had taken the time to make the pacifier his own with the designs.
"Another way to tell is his speech," continued Jamie. "His pronunciation of words starts to sound more child like. You know, more slurred or off by certain syllables. Things like that."
North nodded. "How long does he stay regressed?"
"Depends. Most I've ever seen is a entire day, but he's done as little as a few hours."
"And is he always this little?"
"Again, depends." Jamie rubbed Jack's back. "He's been as old as eight or nine some times and other times he's been as young as a three month old."
The Santa Clause's eyes went wide, his jaw dropping a bit.
"He can normally tell and prepare ahead of time," the brown haired teen assured. "I mean, there have been a few drops that were surprises, but most of the time he catches them."
North's face went even more wide.
"He's been figuring things out, responsibly."
"How can having baby mind all by himself be responsible?" demanded North.
Jamie turtled. "He wanted to figure it out on his own. I didn't want him to feel forced into being take care of."
"He need help. I give him help."
"He knows that, but you're asking him to be vulnerable when he doesn't fully trust you."
The comment stung, but North knew it was true. Like he mentioned, it was an uphill battle. They were working on it, but they wanted to let Jack come to them at his own pace.
Well, North, Tooth, and Sandy wanted that. As long as the kid wasn't hurt or injured, then Bunnymund could care less if the immortal teen liked him or not.
"I know Jack would want to tell you," Jamie assured with a sad smile. "He just hasn't gotten to that point yet."
"How can I show him I'm trustworthy?"
Jamie went to answer when he was distracted by a yawn coming from the immortal teen.
Jack rubbed one of his eyes with his fist. He was starting to get sleepy.
North softened, holding out both hands. "Come младенец."
Jack lowered his hand before crawling back over to North with his bunny trailing along beside him.
The Santa Clause scooped up the immortal teen. The white haired head came to rest on the older man's shoulder while North readjusted the bunny into a better hold in the teen's arm. Once he was situated, North moved his hand to pat Jack's back, helping to lull the drowsy young one fully to sleep.
"I think you've crossed a bridge today."
The Santa Clause immediately looked up at the brown haired teen.
Jamie gave him a small smile. "He's trusting you. He may not let you in all the way, but he is trusting you."
The older man went from shock to a beaming grin. He held the sleeping immortal teen close to him, pressing a whiskery kiss to his forehead. "Thank you малютка."
"Please don't spoil it," begged Jamie. "I told you, it took him weeks to even trust me."
"I will do best," North assured as he stood with Jack. "I want to do best."