Jack stepped out of the sack, and the crimson fabric pooled around his feet. He almost tripped on its folds, but his staff kept him balanced.

The heater was disabled, which Jack thanked the moon for, but the room still had unavoidable insulation, being made out of wood and all.

He opened the door a crack and peeped through the small opening. Two yetis guarded the way out. Jack smirked.

There was a game to be played.

He pressed his hands to its hinges and frost spread to the other side of the hallway, blossoming out of control, forming ice on the floor. The yetis ran off toward the diversion and Jack snuck gracefully out of the guest room. They would be on him any second, he knew whatever they lacked in speed, they attempted to make up for in almost-intelligence. He turned sharply around every corner, running down the long corridors and leaving icicles in his wake. He slicked the floor so that the yetis who came barreling after him slipped down the wrong hallway. He gave a laugh as he turned to look back at them, but then he slipped too, right into the last person he wanted to see.

Phil growled at him, and grabbed his wrist.

"Hey, what are you —"

The rotund beast swung him over his shoulder and began walking toward North's workshop. Jack tried to curl up so he could freeze the yeti's fingers and maybe get away, but Phil jostled him as if he was North's sack. It was impossible to make a get away when his back kept slamming into Phil's.

He opened the door and tossed the winter spirit inside, storming off in a huff.

"Oh, Jack, good, you are up. Did you sleep well?" he looked up from the tablet in his hand, reading glasses sitting far down his nose.

"It's a little stuffy up in the guest rooms…"

"I know, I know. I am working on that."

"Right. Whatcha readin'?"

"Reading?" he snorted, "This is nice list. I'm making sure elves did not edit it."

"You're checking it twice…?"

"Mhmm."

"Gonna find out who's naughty or nice~"

"Yes, I —"

"Santa Clause is coming to town~"

North gave a laugh.

"It's been awhile since I hear Christmas song."

"Wait, you mean there aren't Christmas show tunes playing in the workshop all the time?"

"Sometimes I have Beethoven, but the yetis have their own band."

"W…wha…seriously?"

He nodded.

"They play pretty good electric guitar. The only problem is that they can only play it on sample mode."

Jack snickered.

"Have you readied?" North asked suddenly.

"Readied…?"

"Sorry, are you ready?"

"Um, I guess? For what?"

"Well, thanks to you I'm actually three days ahead of schedule. That hasn't happened in…" he scratched his beard, "That's never happened. I've checked list five times."

"Did you find any elf edits?"

"They get more and more unoriginal as the years go by." He answered exasperatedly.

"But, um, where's the long yellowing scroll and the royal ink?"

North raised an eyebrow.

"I put it on kindle. Is easier."

"I see."

"But yes, I am very ahead on work, so…" he patted the empty seat beside him, "We have time for reading lesson."

Jack took the designated seat with a grin. Reading lessons were actually pretty fun, because North was a wonderful teacher.

But he was afraid of his own restless nature, he probably couldn't last as long as North was willing to go for.

Father Christmas detected this fear and nudged his shoulder.

"If you can get through today's lesson without getting too distracted, I'll show you surprise."

"Really? And it's a good surprise right, it's not like, surprise, Jack, you get to help Phil make some toys."

"No, I think you'll like it. I swear to Manny."

"Alright then." He laughed.

They spent the entirety of four hours together, learning and teaching, because any more than that probably would've broke Jack.

But those four hours weren't too terrible. North had made up a couple games and tricks to getting the spelling of things like cat and bat, and any time Jack got that unbearable sensation of his own brain trying to escape his skull, the Russian would let him freeze a couple elves to alleviate the pressure building up there. No one protested, not even the other elves.

North even added some curriculum-enriched lyrics to a couple of Beethoven classics, and Jack loved to sing along with St. Nick's deep, rumbling voice, weaving in his own silky baritone around the higher and lower notes.

It was a lot more social interaction than he was used to, and most times when he visited the guardians it was a bit overwhelming. He was a lot more comfortable talking to people who couldn't hear him, because there was no fear of messing up or saying something dumb. Sometimes he would come up with excuses as to why he couldn't come to a gathering, sometimes it got so bad they had to kidnap him in order for him to show up, which is what he thought their initial confrontation was when he was first dragged to Santoff Claussen. It was strenuous sometimes, trying to uphold their image of him, but here with North… It didn't hurt to talk.

North made it easier with his casual banter, that was never taken as anything unfriendly, the familiarity in his tone, even though Jack was still fairly new. He would make little jabs at Bunny here and there that always got a smile out of the younger legend. It didn't feel like he had to try too hard, he felt at home somehow when he heard North's thick accent, and he can't remember ever talking to someone this freely who could actually reply. The amiable jest as they studied left a great buzz in his head, a wonderful high that made him forget all about the restlessness in his limbs.

North, of course, didn't forget. It was hard to when the kid's knees kept bobbing up and down, and especially hard when it shook the table. Sometimes Jack had to be given reminders to freeze an elf. He just liked reading, and writing, and he liked being here in this semblance of a home. And he was really excited to see what surprise was in store for him, even if he did play it off as nonchalance. When the time finally came for its revelation, North had noticed the bounce to his limbs had gotten worse, his restraint was crumbling just a bit, but other than that, he had hidden his excitement well. Hiding his emotions was a skill he had never needed before, but for the better half of his first year spent as a guardian he perfected and practiced keeping his wall up. Before his thoughts came out his mouth, with no barrier between the two. There wasn't a consequence. But now there was one, a huge one. So he had to seal the terrible, pathetic, weak side of him off, and make sure it was never seen.

North was wary of this as Jack trailed after him for hallways on end, anxious for the surprise promised to him early that same morning.

Jack didn't realize how big Santoff Claussen was until they came upon the fifteenth corridor and was told they were only a quarter of the way there.

"Are you serious? You know, I think you're leading me into some trap like…uh, that one short story you mentioned…"

"Cask of Amontillado?"

"Yeah, that. I don't want to be the wet blanket here, but this is plenty suspicious."

"You think I would trick you?"

"You stuffed me in a sack the first time we met." He skipped over the drunken form of a dazed elf, "In fact you did it again last night."

"Ai." He gave a dismissive wave, "Could not have been avoided."

Jack couldn't say well, you could've just carried me because the more he thought about the situation, the more awkward it got and he decided to just stay quiet, and stopped with his accusations.

The blush on his face did not go unnoticed by the Russian, who laughed heartily at his companion's expense.

But his famously romanticized laugh ended two ho's in, as he stopped abruptly in his tracks. He turned around and dusted some holly from the aging wood, revealing the imprint of a curved threshold.

He pushed open a small door, so small North probably couldn't fit through it if he tried, and his laugh at least got to finish it's swan song.

"Here." He smiled, "I show you surprise."

I've got to stop doing this to you guys.