Part three of this verse, the companion to 'Of Heart(h) and Home,' and 'Look After You.'

If Heart(h) was 'Five times Jack gatecrashed Aster's burrow and made himself useful, and One time he didn't have to leave,' and LAY was 'Five conversations Jack had about Bunny, and One he had with him,' then this is 'Five times someone knew Jack and Aster were in love, and One time Jack had something different to say.'

I had completely intended for this to take place chronologically after both Heart(h) and LAY, but the more I ponder the more I realize that it's not going to happen that way. The timeline will be shifting chapter by chapter, so again I've managed a companion fic as opposed to a sequel, by definition. Blame the muses, it's all their fault.

That being said, not quite sure how this chapter turned out, please let me know what you think.

Also, there may be triggery stuff in this chapter for mention of date-rape. If this is an issue please don't read any further.

"I would like to be the air that inhabits you for a moment only. I would like to be that unnoticed and that necessary."
- Margaret Atwood

The first inkling Jamie has that anything has changed is the bruise on Jack's neck. High up, nestled just behind Jack's left ear, it's nothing but a small, purple little blemish. Jamie get's bruises like that sometimes on his legs; he's a bit of a klutz, forever knocking his shins into anything hard he can find. This is Jack's neck though, and Jamie can't quite believe that Jack's that clumsy with his neck, of all things. No, it's probably more like the bruises he used to see on the neck of that one babysitter they'd used to have back when Sophie was just a baby. He'd liked Sammie a lot, she'd always played really fun games and had let him have double the dessert she was supposed to, but the bruises had always made his mom frown a lot whenever she came over. She never said anything in front of Jamie about it, but he knew that she was kind of glad when Sammie had left for college and she could start looking for a new babysitter. (Sammie's younger sister Meg turned out to be far stricter on the dessert thing, but she'd sit with Sophie for hours playing tea party or dress up or whatever, and as long as his sister was happy, Jamie would be too.)

So Jamie puzzles about the bruise until it fades, and then again ever once in a while when a new one crops up, but he never asks because asking about things is rude, and Jamie's dad was from Georgia and has taught him loads about being a 'polite southern gentleman.' Jamie always figured that his good manners would sound so much cooler in his dad's musical accent, but Jamie's not even good at faking it so he doesn't even try, unless it's to make Sophie laugh. So Jamie never asks Jack, and he never puts two and two together, even after he turns ten and his mom takes Sophie out for a 'Girl's day' and his dad sits him down on the aging couch and proceeds to educate him on the 'facts of life.' The discussion beings with "Son, when a man and a woman meet, sometimes they have feelings for each other..." and ends with Jamie flushing bright red, utterly mortified and suddenly, some of those comments on the TV shows he's not supposed to be watching start to make sense. Jamie absorbs the information, ponders it, manages to come up with dozens of questions, some he's even brave enough to ask his father, others he asks his friends, and still others he sits on because, really, who'd even want to hear some of this stuff, like, much less be willing to answer?

It doesn't occur to Jamie to talk to Jack, because while Jack still comes around, is still the same as he's always been, Jamie has never forgotten that Jack isn't human, for all he looks like one. Not that it makes a difference in how Jamie treats him, cause seriously, it's Jack and Jamie loves him, but awkward things like sex and Jack just don't seem to overlap in Jamie's head. Until, one day, Jack's bent over Jamie's desk, helping him with his intro Algebra and Jamie's bored, bored, bored. So bored in fact, that his eyes have strayed from Jack's face to the small round bruise just under Jack's left ear, placed in almost the same spot as the first one Jack had ever shown up with. In fact, the more Jamie stares, the more he can almost see the line of red under the purple, where teeth met and pinched the flesh during its formation. It's then, out of nowhere that Jamie's distraction addled brain finally makes the connection between what he's seeing and the jokes he's heard the older kids make on the bus.

"You have a hickey!" Jack stops dead mid-sentence, his explanation dying on his tongue as he stares wide-eyed at the boy next to him. For Jamie's part he stares right back, just as shocked by his own outburst. He hadn't actually meant to announce it like that, but he'd been so startled the words had apparently bypassed his brain on the way to his mouth. "You...! You've had, like, dozens of them, oh my GOD Jack! It this like, a, a, sex thing?" And the words just kept on coming, Jamie feeling his face heat up in embarrassment as he spoke. Well done nonexistent verbal filter. Jack for his part was still staring at Jamie, one hand having crept up to press two fingers to the purple mark, mouth agape in shock. The pair of them just sat there, goggling at each other in silence, until Jack seemed to shake it off and sighed, lowering his hand to close the math books. Rising from his chair he moved to take the window seat, drawing one leg up to his chest and gesturing for Jamie to follow. Jamie comes almost reluctantly, settling himself onto his mattress facing Jack, pillow in his lap if only to have something to fidget with. Jack gives him a level look, before cracking and almost-smile.

"This is going to turn into a super-awkward conversation now, isn't it?" Miserably, Jamie nods, wishing he'd never asked but still dying to know, because this was Jack. Jack who was obviously doing very grown-up things with someone, probably regularly; and man that was somehow even more disquieting then realizing his parents still had cause to lock the door at night to keep out prying eyes. This was Jack, who brought the snow and helped him with his math and never laughed at him when he asked what other people always thought were silly questions. Kind of like he wasn't laughing now, and despite his own frosty 'blush' at the thought of the subject matter, was still more than willing to talk to a confused, curious twelve year old. At once the boy found himself just a little bit overwhelmed by the hot rush of affection for the winter spirit that rose in his chest.

"You... don't have to, y'know, if you don't want to." But Jack just smiles and encourages Jamie, so Jamie asks, and ok wow, married to the Easter Bunny, totally didn't see that coming, but whatever, Jack smiles in a way Jamie's never seen before when he talks about his husband, so it's cool. Bunny is almost as frequent a guest as Jack, although he usually spends him time with Sophie, but he'll stick his head in and say hey to Jamie too when he's there. He often brings little treats, has taken to helping Sophie with her art they way Jack helps Jamie with his math, and never ever says no when Sophie wants him to play dolls with her. Bottom line, he's always been good to the Bennett kids and appears to treat Jack even better, so Jamie has no objections there. Anything that makes Jack happy is automatically awesome in Jamie's book, even if the logistics of it kind of break his brain a bit, at least based on what little he knows about the mechanics of sex, what with having no firsthand knowledge of the act.

Over the next half an hour Jack answers a few other questions, the kind Jamie had been too ashamed to ask his father or friends, and the winter spirit's replies are all very frank and honest, the atmosphere growing a little less tense as they both start to relax. But the whole time, the 'Giant-Rabbit/tiny human, also both very, very male' issue keeps bouncing around Jamie's head, begging for an answer. When he finally gets the guts to ask, beet-red and stammering, Jack frosts so dark he goes almost blue and kinda sparkly, reminding Jamie of some book series Pippa was always going on about. The older boy stutters a few times, starting a sentence then stopping, before very haltingly giving the briefest description absolutely possible and Jamie's blushing so hard his ears feel like they're on fire and the part of him that had wanted to stay innocent and unknowing is wailing in the back of his mind, but the larger part of him is grateful to Jack, for both his willingness and honesty, even if the mutual mortification is so severe it has probably altered both of them on a genetic level.

Jack seems to take pity on his poor virgin brain after that because he forces a bit of a laugh, abandoning his perch on the window seat to settle next to Jamie on his bed, tossing a casual arm about his shoulders. Jamie's still too embarrassed to raise his eyes from the frayed hem of the pillowcase he's been picking at, but the weight of Jack's arm is a comfort and he leans in a bit.

"Jamie," Jack says, saying his name with all fondness, as he always does, "it's not so much about the kinds of things you like, or that you do with your partner. You see, the what and the how are not as important as the why. Whether it's with a long term partner or a more, ah, temporary arrangement, the important thing is that sex is supposed to be fun, for both of you. To do that, you need to listen to them, trust them, and most of all, respect them. If you can do that, you're doing it right." Jamie looks up into Jack's earnest face, quirking a small smile of his own.

"That easy, huh?" Jamie says with a grin, and Jack laughs.

"That easy. Too many people worry too much about what's going on in someone else's bedroom between consenting adults when really it's none of their business. But Jamie remember;" and here, Jack was suddenly all serious, "Not everyone is going to play by those rules. If someone, anyone, does anything that makes you feel uncomfortable, or you're not having fun, you always, always have the right to tell them no. If they don't stop, then you have the right to do anything you can to make them stop, ok?" Jamie nods, solemnly, determined not to forget, cause Jack only ever used that tone of voice for the most important of things. Jack grins at him then, ruffling his hair before pressing one uncharacteristic kiss to Jamie's forehead. Jamie squirms then shoves him off playfully, initiating a pillow fight that only ends when they hear Jamie's dad come home with Sophie in tow and Jack has to bail.

Years later, Jamie will always remember that day, humiliating as it was, as the day he'd realized he wasn't just the older brother, but that he had an older brother, too. Jack's words stayed with him into his later teens, when he sneaks out one night to a party thrown by babysitter Meg of all people, returned for the summer from college. There is a smattering of high school students there from his school, but none he really knows. There's also one girl he sees, who seems far too drunk for the party having just started, barely able to stay on her feet, and the guy helping her seems a little too eager, and everything in the back of his brain is howling that something isn't right, so he follows. He follows to an upstairs bedroom, and the girl is dead weight on the bed, conked right out but the guy doesn't seem to mind at all, yanking his shirt off, and Jamie sees red. There isn't anything right about this, there isn't anything fun about this, and it takes Meg and two other men to pull him off of the piece of shit, and the cops get called and his parents are furious that he snuck out, but the girl is ok.

The girl is ok, and his parents forgive him eventually, even admitting that they're proud of him for helping a stranger, but if he ever does it again he'll be grounded until the end of the century. One day, about a week after, the girl shows up on his doorstep, offering him delicious homemade cookies as thanks. They eat the cookies together, sitting in the shade of the big tree with the old tire swing in his backyard while Sophie watches from the kitchen window and giggles, the girl's auburn hair turning to fire in the bright sunshine. She and Jamie spend most of the summer together after that, walking around town holding hands shyly. She's as clever and curious as Jamie himself, and when he finally tells her about the Guardians, she believes every word, citing something about statistical anomalies in the distribution of snow days in Burgess versus the three nearest towns. Jamie just smiles and laughs, thrilled by the tiny freckles on her nose, her hazel eyes, the way she squeezes his hand every minute or so as they walk, like she can't believe he's still there.

When Jamie introduces her to his brother, no one realizes that Jack is meeting the woman that will one day be Jamie's wife. In fact, Jamie's only real thought as he watches the two interact with very mutual happiness and fascination, is that he can't wait to introduce her to his brother in law, too.

Cause if she thought Jack was cool, then the whole Man-sized Alien Rabbit thing? She was just going to love.