Jackson Overland Frost, also known as 'Jack Frost' amongst his friends, was your average kid. He had a happy-go-lucky smile with a bonus sense of enthusiastic fun that no one seemed to be able to snuff out of him. The worst of news couldn't bring him down, scraps and bumps were just minor nicks.

He was a hero amongst the younger kids in town, where-ever he went there just seemed to be joy following him. Jack would use whatever money he could find around the house and buy the other kids gifts and candy from the local store. He'd go out of his way to make the other kids in town happy for no real reward. Every parent in the small town of Burgess knew Jack, usually by the children telling them about what good deed he did today.

'He started a snowball fight, it was awesome!' was the usual tale, as snow was Jack's 'element'.

At thirteen, during winter break, with a smile on his face, he pointed out to a group of younger children. "You see my hair? It's white. It gives me the advantage in the snow." He chuckled. "No one can ever beat me come winter."

And it was true, every snowball fight with Jack would end one of two ways - you'd have to leave or you'd have to give up.

But even with such public misbehavior, not a single woman, man or child in the town of Burgess could find wrong with him.

His smiles were bright, joyous and whiter than snow, they brought a glow into the room. His plucky, happy attitude neigh indestructible. Even when someone could not help to but to cry or get mad, Jack could still make them smile.

There was no one that could hold a grudge against him either; him and his family were the talk of the town. They were 'well put together' some parents said, motioning to their own rebellious children. Jack seemed like the dream child of every parent's life and so, in turn, did their family.

The Frosts, despite all their town-wide popularity, never held any events at their own home. For good reason; The house itself was like a mask, perfect, clean and hiding all the darkness underneath. The public persona was that the Frost family was perfect in every way, inside the home was where the truth became clear.

The home was unstable and less than peaceful. That only grew worse when Jack's little sister, Mary, was born

Jack's parents, Katherine and Will, held their title of 'picturesque' but when the outside eyes looked away they morphed into something awful.

Since around Jack's ninth year of age, Will had a crippling addiction to alcohol that spanned for years. At first, it hadn't seemed so bad. A shot here for relaxation, a drink with some friends at the workplace at the bar. Then, a little more. Then some more. Than he drank more then the average person.

And it was okay because he was a 'happy' drunk, so it didn't seem like a problem to ten year old Jack. Then Will spiraled out of control when Jack was twelve.

He would have unpredictable, sudden mood swings that would seem to only be stable at one extreme or the other. He would be either too lazy to do anything or too busy screaming at his wife and children to do anything else.

Katherine would cry, grab the often crying children and lock both herself and them into a room in the back of the house. Will would come then, after his inebriation lifted, crawling to the door with tears running down his reddened face. He'd beg, sometimes for over an hour, for Katherine to forgive him.

"I'll be a better man.","I'll quit.", "No, never again I promise.".

He'd swear to never let another drop of alcohol pass through his lips.

And then he'd follow through...for a time. He would go back to being so great, so perfect as he was before Jack reached twelve. In jest, he even made up a nickname for Mary, 'little snowflake'.

It was nice...for a time.

At first, all seemed well. Jack calmed down, as did Mary and Katherine warmed back up to Will. They all hoped they could go back to what life was like before the drinking started.

Then Will relapsed for the first time, after three weeks off the bottle. Worst still, coming home from school Jack walked in to find Will. He was drunk off his ass, nude and throwing glass bottles at Katherine, screaming and calling her a whore.

The cycle repeated itself. Katherine ran to the back room, crying with both her children and kissing them on the head, telling them it would be fine. Will would come groveling after.

"I'm so sorry- I'm so sorry..","Forgive me...".

And he was forgiven.

He said he'd never do it again and it was fine...until he did it again.

And again.

And again.

And it became a repeating cycle and motion. He would make the same promise every other week. Terrify Katherine and the kids, they would hide in the back room until he was sober enough to apologize.

Jack thought it was weird when it got to the point when he couldn't cry anymore, after he reached thirteen. It had become a part of life he had to deal with now, he figured.

Sometimes, Katherine tried to hold her ground against him. They would argue and Jack would carry Mary to the back room - the 'Safety Room', as he'd come to call it. When he wasn't overwhelmed by his increasing school work, he would sit next to Mary and read her stories and books. He would become her distraction from the unpredictable and volatile emotions of their parents.

Soon it became a comforting level of normal to sit in the room and read to his younger sister. It became normal to hide from the fighting again. This time, though, they were hiding from both Katherine and William.

Jack knew that someday soon though, Katherine would do something serious about it.

He was right; she started drinking along with William in the second half of Jack's thirteenth year. He didn't know why she started drinking but, after seeing what it did he couldn't blame her.

One day he'd found them drunk on the couch as they watched dumb and uninspired comedies on television. They laughed loud and obnoxious as he passed, both making fun of his 'gay hair'. He had to make dinner for Mary that night and couldn't finish his homework or go out and make other kids happy like he loved to.

But, at the end of the day, they didn't fight. Jack found a sad solace in knowing that being drunk with William meant you didn't need to be sober and against him.

The Frost house calmed down. Katherine lying around in a mountain of beer bottles, cuddling her impaired husband was the new normal. Jack delegated himself to being Mary's guardian and he didn't mind it.

But it also meant he didn't have time for most relationships anymore; he found that as he got older he needed more time for himself. He joined a school program in hopes for a scholarship. With required Honor's classes came extra responsibilities.

The younger kids that had grown up with Jack Frost were now watching their warm friend grow ice cold to them. No time to joke around or play like they did before high school; no time for candy or ice cream or pizza. No smiles, just work.

Jack traded his friendliness and extra time for partial peace of mind at home.

It didn't last long.

His father became belligerent again. He began banging the walls with his fists and leaving holes in them for the smallest of reasons. Even his drunk mother who had worked wonders in taming and reeling his anger back in, could not soothe Will's ire.

The fights started to become more and more explosive. Will would work himself up into a frenzy over nothing, he'd pick up and throw furniture, yelling and screaming. Sometimes for hours.

Jack, too well versed in Will's brutish anger for surprise, adapted before it occurred the fifth time. With a straight face, empty of any shocked emotion, he would pick his sister up and comfort her. He took her into the back room, book-bag in the other hand, and work on his work there while soothing her and protecting her. Sometimes, at the cost of his safety, he would even bring toys for her to play with so she didn't have to focus on the fighting.

It became second nature to walk around the minefield that was his parent's presence. He would keep her favorite toys and dolls in either the safety room or his own, bring some snacks along with. With a school provided laptop in his book-bag, he would also study when the fights were longer than expected. This was almost always, since the fights were getting longer, little by little everyday.

Another normal for Jack that he did nothing about, too used to being walked on to care...until he was sixteen. Mary was seven now and it was a Thursday when Jack swore he could smell another fight break out. He rose from the momentary rest he allowed himself, gathering his things and then leaving his safe room upstairs to get Mary. But Mary was already there with a blank look on her face, walking past him to the room to go play with her dolls.

She had become used to it.

The entire world had turned upside down to him, when he realized he pitied her, for her situation. Then he noticed; he saw himself in Mary. He pitied himself for being stuck in the broken household.

He grabbed the younger child up into his arms and held her tight, trying to make sure she didn't see tears coming from his eyes. He made her something delicious for dinner after their parents passed out. Made her laugh and smile until she begged him to stop. Then when she fell asleep he made a promise to himself. To get Mary out of this house, even if he gets hurt doing it.

'No one should have to live like this,' he decided, 'not this young, not Mary. She shouldn't have the whole 'abusive parents' thing down pat yet.' Jack whimpered, covering his eyes and mouth as he sneaked through the hall. He put Mary in her bed and grabbed his own things, rushing back upstairs.

He buckled down on Mary and their lives, after that night he tried to keep a balance between everything. His school life, his parents and protection Mary - and himself. Sleeping right, eating right, not overworking himself to death. It was easier said then done but if there was anything Jack knew he was capable of, it was adapting.

There came a day when he thought of running away and leaving Mary behind, escaping somehow. Maybe calling the cops during one of the fights but then he thought of what could happen. He wasn't legally old enough to get custody of Mary.

After that, he decided to better budget his time. He shortened his studying time and dedicated more to 'De-stressing' his life. Grades slipped as a consequence, from straight A's to mixed A's and B's. Then it came down to solid B-minuses that he kept under careful control. He also shortened his sleeping time, set his clock to wake him earlier. From eight hours of sleep to six, so he could get Mary to school on time.

Jack started to lose weight; and not just a little but enough to make some of his clothing loose. Most of it, pants. He was also more tired, more often.

He ignored it, suffered though it, to make things better for Mary.

Even when he felt like he just couldn't do anymore and began sleeping at lunch breaks at school to get more rest, he kept on taking care of Mary.

While stretched to his limit, his parents continued to zig-zag emotionally. Some days they were angry, drunk and lazy, not even having the strength to throw bottles at him. Other days they cleaned up their act and showed the world the 'perfection' that the Frosts were known for. No one of any standing even suspected that they were drunks. Rumors happened, they always did, but nothing ever came of them.

When they would appear, masks and facades handled as always, Jack would try to rebuild friendships he'd broken off. Yet, as he absorbed himself in Mary he'd retracted from his friends. Pippa, Caleb, Monty, every one of his friends had grown up while he had stayed behind.

It upset him, knowing that the world had aged around him while he was, for all intents and purposes, stuck raising a child that wasn't his. He pulled a face, but kept up appearances. If anyone asked him what was wrong he would turn up his charisma to escape from giving full, truthful explanations.

'I was just thinking about something else...' 'Just a little tired is all, are you alright?'. He was always changing the subject even though a part of him wanted someone to know: 'No. No. I'm not alright. I need help. My father needs help. My entire family needs help.'

Something needed to happen to change his at home life, something that wasn't the police or child service.

The former would ruin his family's reputation. He wasn't completely separated from media - things like this were the type of things the media loved. He didn't want Mary to have to go through that and he didn't have the physical energy to deal with it.

The latter would tear he and Mary apart. He couldn't keep legal custody, with no job of his own and no other living relatives that he both trusted and knew for certain were close by.

But he couldn't force anything to happen, not with how old he was now and his lack of funds, time and energy. So he did what he could, which was protect Mary and keep her happy and safe.

Luckily, as he found out at a barbeque held by one of his father's friends at work, not everything went bad. All other friends through the past years had out grown his personality type or he didn't enjoy their company. All except Jamie Bennett who, Jack expected, hadn't grown up much himself.

At first sight, Jamie was just a local kid with nothing much going on besides his youth and baby-face. But Jack had known him since they were both in grade school and, like most people, Jamie had much more going on under the surface.

Jamie was the cute friend who could white-knuckle people through problems without realizing it. He was supportive, almost to a fault. Also reasonable, especially compared to many of the other children in the neighborhood. He only spoke when he had a solid grasp of the subject matter and he was often polite in large gatherings.

This was except when someone got under his skin, in which case he was witty and ruthless in his jabs. Jack knew not to challenge Jamie to a game of 'The Dozens' after a passing teen girl called him 'stupid' and, fifteen minutes later, was running down the block crying. Jack thanked himself for being friends with Jamie, being an enemy was not the best position to be in.

The best trait he had, Jack knew, was how vicious and equal Jamie was in regards to his loyalties. There were people Jamie had decried in public and sometimes to their faces, for their wrong doings. Then he would turn around and defend them at his own personal expense because he respected them.

Jack knew Jamie for seven years, they shared the same toys, schools and now distant friends. The two shared a profound amount of personal space with the other and Jack felt a level of attraction that he was 'unsure' of.

Seeing Jamie in this light, seeing how attracted he was to him, made him re-check his relationships. First with girls. It didn't take too long before he realized that his sexuality doesn't align with the usual. Or whatever the 'usual' around him was.

He didn't get the same floaty, high feeling spending time around girls that he got when joking around or play fighting with Jamie. Other guys his age were all about girls, breasts, short dates and even shorter 'relationships'. He was busy raising a kid or wondering, about what might happen if he tried to have a little bit more of a social life.

With Jamie as the main focus of the more 'romantic' thoughts.

He caught himself wondering about Jamie, wondering about what it might be like to have sex with him. Jamie, he thinks, might've caught him too considering that it wasn't long after that Jamie began pushing women on him.

Most of them wanted something, not necessarily something from Jack but just something. It didn't matter though. Jack's own natural charisma pulled in girls that were more then happy to fuck his brains out, if he would let them. But he never did, he didn't like girls, even if he tried he couldn't find the 'sexy' in them. One girl went as far to rub her hand against his crouch in the school hallway, he still couldn't.

Jack left them at an 'Okay, nice to meet you, see you later maybe?'.

It didn't last long. He and Jamie were alone one day, in that quick shuffle between classes when Jamie actually was the first one to initiate things between them, pulling Jack aside and near interrogating him about things rather straight forwardly.

Luckily, when Jack thought he'd had enough of girls touching on him like he didn't have any level of embarrassment or shame...

He and Jamie were alone one day, in that quick shuffle between classes. Jamie was the first one to initiate things between them, pulling Jack aside and interrogating him about the past few weeks.

"Jack," Jamie had a way of holding someone's attention when he was serious and a different way if he was joking. Now, he was using the previous way; stern voice, back straight, formal and impersonal. "You've been giving me weird looks.'

"Well, Jamie..." Jack poked his tongue out in jest. A nudging in his heart told him he was caught yet he tried his best to keep going, he didn't want to risk being left alone. "You are weird looking."

"That's not what I mean Jack. You know that-"

"No I honestly don't." Denial.

"You've been staring at me."

"Well," Jack shrugged, running out of defenses to come up with on such a short notice. "You are weird looking, don't get me wrong." Jamie grunted in impatience and pushed him up against the door of the classroom, Jack tried to push him off but to no avail. Jamie was the strong teen in town and Jack was one of the thinnest.

Jack hated how much Jamie wore thin clothing, because he could feel Jamie's chest through his shirt. The other man was getting muscles and developing along...if Jack's hands were right.

Jamie's eyes held a focused seriousness that Jack wasn't sure he felt comfortable with, since it was toward him. "Jack. You can't hide this anymore. If you want it, you have to ask for it." Jamie's hand cupped the side of Jack's face. "Now, do you want it?"

Having months of private fantasies and wishes, only to have the possibility that they could all come true thrust into his face, Jack could only say, "Yes."

He wasn't given a moment to recant before Jamie was working him over. His warmer mouth pressed again him and moving slower then Jack thought anyone could. Jamie's tongue poked at his own and everything around him just felt like him.

Jamie's scent, Jamie's taste and of his warmth and love and protectiveness. He felt like he was just basking in it.

He would think he'd fell hard for Jamie but, with this kiss he just dive bombed. It was too soon when Jamie pulled away with a face Jack couldn't see any emotion on and left. Just left, not even bothering to say 'See you later'.

Jamie abandoned Jack, left him love-struck and alone in the center of the empty classroom. Jamie never said a word to him all that day but he got the vibe that Jamie wasn't impressed with him. Whatever Jack's kiss could reveal about, whatever he had up for offer wasn't enough and he was unworthy of anything else.

As awkward as awkward could hope to be, Jack did his best to keep his friend type relationship with Jamie alive. During their time together, that grew shorter with every passing day, Jack felt as if he was wasting his time. The empty minutes he spent with Jamie could be better spent improving his grades or caring for Mary.

After weeks of waiting for a miracle to come along and fix anything, Jack gave up. Nothing more could be gained from their relationship, nothing of value anyway. He came to see that he'd lost his best friend for want of romance. So he ceased all interaction with Jamie that wasn't their walking to class together, most of which was spent silently.

The only person he spent time with, for a majority of his waking hours, was Mary.

He reasoned that it was his fault that Jamie pushed him away and that there was a reason he had no real friends anymore. He had to take care of Mary. That was his only goal until he hit eighteen. Mary's comfort, Mary's happiness, just Mary.

But having no social life, and not wanting one, gave him less patience with people. Without meaning to, Jack ended up releasing stress onto his friends. His speech became crass and brazen and people's feelings were less a thing and more a problem. Soon, he found that even people he hadn't considered his friends were avoiding him.

But, the more crass and outspoken he became the more people began to somewhat distance themselves – as if sensing the change and not wanting to be part of it. None of them felt any differently about Jack, he was still the awesome neighbor kid with the 'cool' nickname but they couldn't help but pull away, almost fearfully wondering what changed him.

In the middle of the year, when he was seventeen, he had at last gone back to 'normal'. Life wasn't about wanting for the next bout of abuse any more, abuse was more like Monday. It came around and no matter how much you hated it you still had to accept it.

Now, life was about Mary and protecting her from the abuse and protecting his mother from his father's temper tantrums. He looked on the good side of things instead, trying to reduce his stress. His father's poor health habits were at last catching up to him, limiting his behavior.

Occasionally, he would have to intervene in a fight between his mother and father, sometimes take a few hits both sides. It was fine. He could endure this much.

He didn't want any friends or girlfriends or boyfriends, everything that wasn't his little sister was moot and took backseat to everything else. Every now and again he'd leave the house, after putting Mary in a safe place, and clear his head.

And a majority of clearing his head was assuring himself that he was doing the right thing...for Mary.

He was technically her father now.

He was fine with that.

He kept on.