Cup of Kindness

It had been a hard year. Jack had not thought that any year could trump the year that he had finally come to the conclusion that of the few people who could actually see him, the only ones interested in him were the ones who wanted to use him. It had been somewhere in his sixth decade out of the lake, probably. His first century ran together more than the other two.

This year though had been… worse was not the right word. It hadn't been worse, just harder, much, much harder. It was the hard things that were the most valuable though, his mother had told him, the things you had to work the most for that you valued the most.

Her voice was clear in his mind, echoed in his ears as if he had heard her speak only a day ago and not three centuries past.

Jack shuttered with equal parts pleasure and pain, pulling up his hood and drawing his knees to his chest. Sprawled below him, Time Square was a neon haze of lights and noise and people.

He had seen the first ball drop over a century ago, and had only missed it twice since then. He hadn't asked if the other Guardians had any plans for New Years. He got the impression that once upon a time, they had gathered quite regularly, simply for the sake of celebrating, catching up, spending time with one another, but they had fallen out of the practice decades, if not centuries, ago.

They seemed to want the practice back. Maybe. Bunnymund had hunted him down late Christmas Eve and dragged him to the Pole, announcing that North was going to have a party with or without them, so it might as well be with them. Jack hadn't really taken much persuading. He had avoided the workshop in the weeks leading up to Christmas, not wanting to be underfoot, and assumed North would want to do something crazy on Christmas day, like sleep, after circumventing the globe in a single night.

Apparently not. North and his yetis had already broken into the eggnog by the time he and Bunnymund had arrived. He had been elated to see them, and Jack's ribs still ached at the memory of the crushing hug he had received. Or was it from laughing so hard at the look on Bunnymund's face when the huge man did the same thing to him? He wasn't really sure.

Jack uncurled and rolled his shoulders, his feet dropping to hang over the edge of his rooftop perch.

He had wanted this for so long, wanted people who would look at him and not through him, who would answer when he spoke and could touch him when he reached. He had wanted it so badly it had hurt, hurt more than any physical pain ever could. He had wanted it so long, he had all but gone numb. But he would not pay any price to have it. Pitch had almost made him forget that. Almost, but never quite.

"Oh, it's so sparkly."

Jack jumped, but couldn't have fallen even if he had lost his balance. Toothiana had too firm a grip on his arm. She had come out of nowhere seemingly, to perch beside him on the ledge and tuck against his side. Bunnymund was right; she had no sense of personal space. Jack suspected it didn't bother the Pooka nearly as much as he pretended it did. Jack wasn't sure yet if it bothered him. For the moment, he was sure it wasn't.

"Are you out working tonight?" Jack asked.

"The girls can handle things for a while," she shrugged, then pointed at the ball glowing at the top of its spire. "What are they going to do with it?"

"You've never seen the ball drop?" Jack grinned at her, although he knew the answer.

"They're going to drop it?" she frowned, "but it's so pretty."

"Not that sort of drop," Jack laughed.

"Is countdown, yes?" North settled on the ledge on the other side of Jack, unsettlingly quiet for someone so big. "To the New Year."

"Yep," Jack nodded.

"I have never seen, but heard it is quite a show," North stroked his beard thoughtfully.

Suddenly, golden fireworks exploded in front of them, and as Sandy drifted down to float on a golden cloud just above Jack and Toothiana's heads, Jack began to suspect a conspiracy afoot.

"There are fireworks," Jack nodded, shifting to lean his back against North's side, bringing up one foot to wiggle his toes under Toothiana's knee, causing her to giggle.

"Fireworks are most excellent," North draped his arm casually around Jack's shoulders.

"Bloody loud though."

Jack felt his theory of conspiracy confirmed with the appearance of the Pooka, wrapped in his long winter coat. It felt… nice. He struggled still with knowing his boundaries. They were always busy, and more often than not, he was the one seeking them out, and not the other way around, and he couldn't quiet shake the fear that if he were too underfoot, if he made too much of a nuisance of himself, they would cast him out. It felt nice to have them search him out for a change. It felt like being wanted instead of only needed.

Bunnymund settled on North's other side, nearly mirroring Jack's own position. North reached up and flicked one of the Pooka's long ears with his free hand.

"Ears are like the rest of you," he grinned, "much too sensitive."

"Bugger off," Bunnymund rolled his eyes, but didn't shift away from North.

Sometimes, Jack felt like he would never really catch up with them. They had known each other for more centuries than he had been alive. They seemed to know the ins and outs of one another effortlessly. North had told him they had drifted apart over the last few centuries, and it had left them vulnerable to Pitch, but their 'drifted apart' looked a lot like closeness to Jack, and it left him feeling like he was on the outside looking in sometimes, just waiting for the glass to frost over again.

"Is like a giant Christmas ornament," North grinned, tightening his arm around Jack.

It didn't always feel that way though.

"It should be egg-shaped, especially for the new year," Bunnymund said mildly.

Jack did his best to muffle his giggle, amused that Sandy didn't even try, his silent laugh only emphasized by the kicking of his feet where they hung over the edge of his cloud.

"No fighting on the New Year," Toothiana chided.

"Who's fighting?" Bunnymund rolled his eyes.

"There is no fighting here," North grinned, flicking a finger gently at Bunnymund's ear again. "Is obviously a Christmas ornament."

"North," Toothiana warned.

Despite her best efforts, Toothiana was usually not very successful at stopping North and Bunnymund from fighting, although calling it fighting was a bit of a stretch. It was more like playing, most of the time. At least, it felt that way to Jack.

Bunnymund's ear twitched, but he didn't get the chance to retort.

The ball began it's descend, and the crowd below started to count. Jack mouthed the countdown silently until he heard the other Guardians counting as well and remembered there was someone there who could hear him.

It had been a hard year, but he would have done it all again in a heartbeat, without a moment's hesitation, even if it meant lingering regrets for mistakes he should have known better than to make, and things that hurt as much as they healed, sometimes more. As long as it brought him here, where someone heard his voice and held him close, he didn't care how hard it was.

"…3…2…1!"

Fireworks blossomed in the sky, marking the end of one year and the beginning of the next.

"Happy New Year!" Toothiana darted into the air, fluttering up to kiss Sandy on the cheek.

North pulled Jack against him tightly and kissed the back of his head, "С Новым Годом, с новым счастьем!"

"С Новым годом," Jack murmured, a pleasant warmth filling him.

North turned to kiss Bunnymund's head, ignoring his squirming and protest, and Toothiana dropped down to press a kiss to Jack's cheek before moving on to North. Sandy kissed his nose, leaving a sprinkling of dust across his cheeks, his sneeze sending them both into giggles.

While North reached up with both hands to try to pull Sandy down to him, Bunnymund caught Jack's sleeve, pulling him across North to press a kiss to his forehead.

"Happy New Year," Jack smiled up at him.

"Yeah, it is," Bunnymund nodded, returning his smile.

Below them, the crowd cheered and yelled, and even better, sang, "…we'll share a cup of kindness yet for auld lang syne..."

Jack didn't know the future, and his past was gone. At the moment though, the world was perfect, and that seemed like a good start to the year.

Authors Notes:

This was very much inspired by Auld Lang Syne. I always forget how much I like the song until New Years rolls around.

С Новым Годом, с новым счастьем! - "To the New Year, to the new happiness" As far as I can tell, this is a traditional Russian toast that is made at midnight on New Years. I realize there's actually no drinking involved in the story, but it seemed too fitting to pass up.

С Новым Годом – "Happy New Year" It snows a lot in Russian, and Jack is over 300 years old. I figure he's hung out in Russia enough times to pick the language up.