It appeared it was tradition for North to hold festivities before the beginning of every season (even winter, despite its being so perilously close to Christmas), and the beginning of the summer party was the second Jack had gone to. The first and only other party Jack had attended of North's had been right after the Guardians had defeated Pitch, only a few months prior. It had been nice but very strange and almost uncomfortable simply because Jack wasn't used to being paid attention to, nor was he used to being around people that could actually see and interact with him.

However, the second party was uncomfortable for a variety of different reasons. It was also rather… revealing about a certain iridescent fairy.

And it all started with the vodka.

"This is Russian specialty- very good flavor and perfect for celebration, yes?"

Jack inspected the bottles North had just set down on the table with curiosity. He had vague memories of drinking a bit in his previous human life, but that had been three hundred years ago, and he had long forgotten the sensation. Tooth looked uneasy, Sandy indifferent, and Bunnymund just raised his eyebrows in interest. They'd finished eating and had been engaged in random conversation until North had left and come back with alcohol.

"I don't know," Jack mused thoughtfully, picking up a vodka bottle and reading its label. "Not sure if I'm very inclined to drink." He'd seen a lot of drunken people in his years of watching; there was definitely an array of inebriated types, and somehow he felt if he drank now… well, the result wouldn't be pretty. There was a bit more to him that he kept hidden away under his mischief and fun, and he wasn't exactly eager at the idea of being completely vulnerable without really having control over it.

"Ah, but Jack, is party!" North protested loudly, clapping him hard on the back. Jack nearly dropped the bottle.

"Really, I think I'm good," Jack insisted, giving an apologetic half-smile. "But you guys go ahead."

North shrugged. "Suit yourself!" He headed back to the front of the table, pouring vodka and sliding shot glasses easily to the rest of the Guardians.

Tooth picked up her shot glass hesitantly. "Well… maybe just one," she said, as if to justify it to herself. Jack studied her face for a moment and wondered why she seemed so reluctant to drink.

Bunnymund picked his up as well. "I don't mind a good drink now and again," he said passively.

Sandy just gave a silent thumbs up.

"Let us celebrate, then!" North exclaimed jovially.

And celebrate they certainly did.

It had seemed such a fast climb, but really, the first couple shots of vodka hadn't been bad. The guardians of the world's children had simply resumed their conversations from before; North had been telling a rather enchanting story of his youth, with Jack cutting in to ask a question now and again. But as the story progressed, things started to get a little… weird.

For one thing, Bunnymund was getting increasingly affected by the emotional plights of North's tale, much as if he was experiencing it himself. Jack was almost a little concerned. Tooth was being oddly quiet at the corner of the table, her tiny hands clutching her shot glass; she looked closed in on herself, and when Jack glanced at her he could see her face was pinker than normal. Sandy was mainly the same, just perhaps a little more involved in North's story than he would have been if he hadn't had a couple shots.

About five shots later, North ended up singing a version of Auld Lang Syne with – to Jack's extreme surprise – Bunnymund in a very boisterous fashion.

North had reached the climax of his story with a flourish and the end had apparently been such a grand one that he felt the need to break out into song, with a very emotional Bunnymund joining in on a different key.

"Uh… guys?" Jack said tentatively, half amused and half plain freaked. Sandy just shook his head, as if to say, There's no stopping these two.

Sighing, Jack leaned back and looked to his left, doing a startled double take when he saw Tooth at his side. "Tooth! I didn't know you were, uh. Right next to me." She was sitting with her knees folded and her eyes intent. Babytooth was perched on her shoulder, looking worriedly from Tooth to Jack; vaguely, Jack wondered if Tooth had gotten drunk in Babytooth's presence before. Jack laughed a little and cleared his throat nervously because Tooth was doing that thing where she stared at his mouth without speaking with a glazed look in her eyes.

But then she did something she normally didn't do.

Her eyes left his mouth and started to rake down his chest and stomach and… well. Somewhere else a little lower than his stomach.

Jack swallowed heavily, feeling his heart begin to accelerate. This was not good. Not good at all. Tooth was intoxicated – her head wasn't where it should be – and she was looking at Jack like she wanted to take him right then and there. The worst part was that Jack knew he wouldn't mind it if she did- even though in reality he would never allow that to happen while she was drunk. It still made him feel like a terrible friend, anyway. Jack was friends with all the guardians, of course, but he and Tooth had become the closest over the past few months. And he had reached a point of denial because he felt something happen to his insides- in a terrifyingly good way- whenever she looked at him for too long, and he ignored it whenever it happened.

Tooth shook her head and brought her eyes back up to Jack's face, blinking slowly. She looked confused, like she thought all of this was a hazy dream.

"You know, Jack…" Tooth murmured with a hint of slur. "Did anyone ever tell you how beautiful you are?"

Jack opened his mouth and closed it.

"Because you are. It's not just your teeth…" Tooth put her hand on his leg and Jack jumped, his eyes moving quickly from the hand back to her face again. "It's your- it's your everything. And I'm not just talkin' about looks, mister. I am talking about..." Tooth appeared to be struggling with finding the right words, and settled for moving her hand from his knee to his chest and fisting up his sweatshirt by his heart. "All of this."

"I… Um- thank you…?" Jack faltered uncertainly, feeling his face heat up (which, in his case, meant climbing a bit higher to normal human temperature). While he always appreciated the attention she gave him, the situation was a little different this time. Babytooth was currently trying to get Tooth's hand off of Jack's now wrinkled sweatshirt, tugging at it relentlessly. Jack smiled a little and pried it gently off himself.

"You're very welcome," Tooth said, nodding, her voice completely serious. So serious- so adorably serious- that Jack had to hold back the sudden urge to laugh.

"Looks like we're running low!" The voice of Bunnymund suddenly rang out, and Jack turned to see the rabbit holding an almost empty bottle of vodka. North and Bunnymund just stared at it for a second before breaking into peals of laughter as if the empty bottle was the most hilarious thing in the world.

Finally sobering up (from the laughter, definitely not from the alcohol), Bunnymund sat back down and shook his head, looking, once again, quite emotional.

"It's nice to have gatherings like this, isn't it?" the rabbit remarked, looking around the table. "Acknowledging the fact that we got people we can count on. People we can trust. With our lives. Don't you get how meaningful that is?" His voice was actually starting to waver, and North and Sandy patted him on the back sympathetically.

Jack just stared.

"I swear," Jack commented quietly, "people get the weirdest when they're dru- woah-!" He'd begun to turn back to Tooth but she'd pulled herself much closer without him realizing it, about five inches away; Jack had immediately leaned back by reflex; in fact, her proximity had startled him so much he'd nearly toppled over, flailing.

Tooth looked bewildered but also amused. "You okay, Jack?" she asked, her voice innocent enough that Jack wondered if she had any idea of what she was doing to him. Then she placed her hand on his knee again and he thought she probably had an idea.

"I'm fine," Jack said, ignoring the fact that his voice was a notch higher than usual. He got up abruptly from his chair, the legs scraping the floor loudly. The noise was distracting enough to get North, Sandy, and Bunnymund's attention, and they all turned to him in surprise.

"Jack! Where are you going?" North exclaimed loudly, his voice filling the entire room.

"Yeah, c'mon, mate, the party's just gettin' started!" Bunnymund chimed in.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "You've been going at it for nearly three hours."

Bunnymund scoffed ."Technicalities!"

Jack just shook his head and began to make his way to the door to leave his room. "I just need some air for a while, guys. I'll be back in-" His voice cut off when he felt a furry paw on his shoulder. Bunnymund was holding him back, his thick eyebrows screwed up in a look of remorse.

"Look, Frosty, if this-" Bunnymund stopped and took a breath before continuing, "if this is because of me- because you know, I've been a right jerk to you at times and- well you're a bit of a prat yourself but that doesn't excuse my behavior-"

"I- what? No!" Jack protested in exasperation, his eyes wide. "For the love of the moon, it's not you. I just want to get out of here for a little bit!" And with that, he hurriedly exited the room. This had got to be the weirdest night he'd experienced in a long, long time.

Jack sighed, breathing in the cold night air like a welcomed gift. It was completely light out because the Arctic had reached the time of the Midnight sun at the Summer Solstice, and the sky was colored with yellows and blues, clouds shifting every so often and dimming the wintery light. He lingered on the railing of North's balcony, balancing himself on his toes, nimbly skipping every two feet, creating ice patterns with his staff.

"Jack?"

Swiveling in shock, Jack nearly fell of the railing in surprise- not that it would matter if he did, since he'd just ride the wind and fly back up. He landed on the patio, facing Tooth, who looked red-faced and positively wasted.

She was leaning against the doorway heavily, her wings drooped- but even in this state, Jack still managed to be taken back at how beautiful she was.

"Jack," she giggled, "you left -" Tooth stumbled when she let go of the doorway and on impulse Jack stepped forward, catching her. They were close again, way too close, and Jack looked up at Tooth's face nervously. Her eyes were downcast still, her elaborate purple tipped eyelashes casting shadows across her face. Then she looked up suddenly and Jack gulped.

He straightened up, righting her in the process, but he was still holding her, and her hands had his arms gripped tight. She blinked, blissfully unaware of his inner turmoil. Jack could feel his heart pounding so hard that he half-wondered if Tooth could hear it, too. He knew that if she wasn't completely drunk, there was no way she wouldn't be flustered in this closeness. But drinking seemed to make Tooth… well, bold was a nice way of putting it.

"Jack, I…" Tooth looked him straight on, her purple eyes wide.

Jack felt his stomach twinge with something. And he was pretty sure his heart had stopped for a second. He stood there, waiting, back straight but his hands still holding up Tooth's arms gently, his palms resting against her soft feathers.

"…I'm drunk," the fairy finally continued, her voice completely grave. So grave, in fact, that Jack just snorted before bursting out in laughter. He let go of Tooth's arms, wiping tears of mirth from his eyes.

"Tooth, you are something else," Jack breathed, still laughing.

"I know," Tooth sighed happily, leaning into him and resting her head on his shoulder, wrapping her arms around his neck. Jack's pulse once again quickened at the touch of her soft green feathers against his skin, her floral scent mixing with the cold Arctic air pleasantly. He took a shaky breath and then leaned slightly to scoop her up into his arms- she was very light, probably to do with the fact she had hummingbird attributes (perhaps she had hollow bones?). She nestled herself into his hold; for a second, Jack worried that she would be cold this close to him, but then she fisted her hand in his sweatshirt again and he figured she didn't seem to mind at the moment.

Thankfully, the floor North always hosted these parties on had a few spare bedrooms, and Jack went into the one nearest toward the end of the hall. He set Tooth gingerly down on the blue satin bed, knowing North wouldn't mind, as these rooms were always welcome to the Guardians.

Turning to leave, Jack stopped when he felt a small hand grasp his wrist. Tooth was leaning over on the bed, looking like she was ready to fall asleep at any moment.

Then something cleared in her eyes, as if she'd sobered a little, and she smiled. He'd been half expecting her to either apologize or thank him when she did a complete segue-way and said, "You really are beautiful, Jack." She paused a moment, letting her head sink down into the pillow. "Sometimes… it's a wonder. It really is."

Jack felt his heart skip a beat and he stared at the plush carpet, trying to think of something he could possibly say to this; he'd never had anyone think of him so highly before, but he couldn't imagine Tooth had him in higher regard than he had Tooth. In his opinion, she was the beautiful one, in every way, not him. Not him at all.

He looked back up and opened his mouth to say this, but just like that, the fairy was sound asleep, her wings fluttering ever so lightly as she took in slow, deep breaths. Jack made sure the curtains were closed before he closed the door lightly, wondering what would happen next time North decided to bring out the vodka at one of his parties, and if Tooth would remember any of this at all in the morning.

a/n: So basically this happened because my friend and I were talking about what it would be like if all the RotG characters were drunk, and it seemed plausible that Jack would be the only one sober. I decided that North would be a happy drunk, Bunnymund sentimental, Sandy mostly unaffected, Jack emotional/angry, and Tooth... well, I'd wanted horny but she came out simultaneously just silly and rather honest in this fic. xD I think we would have gotten more of the horny side if we were seeing Tooth's perspective.

There were definite ways this fic could've been about Jack and all of the guardians, but I wanted to write a Tooth/Jack, so.

Reviews would be lovely because I'm not even sure how I feel about this one!