AN: Thanks for the reviews! I really appreciate them! I know I'm seriously dropping the ball with the updating for this story and I feel terrible about it. Sometimes it's just hard getting in the mood to write AU's.

As quick background info before reading: Jack is eighteen, Toothiana is Twenty, and just encase you forgot Bunny and Alice's ages, he is twenty-four and she is nineteen.

Disclaimer: I don't own Rise of the Guardians or Alice: Madness Returns.

Something in the back of his mind told Jack that he really shouldn't have been as surprised as he was when he saw the activity buzzing around the usually vacant yard of old Lady Hawthorne's house.

Several days ago, he remembered seeing a woman standing just outside the front gates of the old, three-story Victorian home, fiddling with the padlock and chain that kept the gates shut and the property free of trespassers.

At the time, it did seem rather odd that the woman was there since Jack has seen very few people go beyond the front gates in many, many years, but after coming home from school that Friday to find a moving truck parked in the long, gravel driveway that led up to the front of the house, it became blatantly obvious that old Lady Hawthorne's "haunted" house, had finally been sold. After nearly ten years of being empty and abandoned.

It must've been a Realtor that Jack saw outside the gates early that Monday morning when he was walking his little sister to her bus stop. In hindsight, maybe he should've known that. The woman did have a bit of a realtor-y look to her. What with her classic, "I'm-an-important-business-woman-so-don't-bother-me" choice in fashion; a tight black skirt and heels, a snazzy red blazer, and a cellphone glued to the side of her face as she struggled with the daunting task of juggling her purse, the keys to the padlock and chain, and chewing out the poor soul on the other end of the belittling phone call.

Her presence and purpose at Lady Hawthorne's place should've been obvious if Jack had paid closer attention, but as it were, he hadn't. When he saw her at the gates, it was a Monday morning and he was late for school. So between trying to get his sister to her bus stop on time, and doing his last-minute science homework that was due first period, Jack didn't have much brain capacity to do more than give the woman a fleeting glance and briefly note how weird it was that she was there.

But now that it was Friday and Jack was done with school for the week, he took the time to observe the looming, Victorian house down the road for a few minutes before unlocking his front door. He tried to see if he could catch a glimpse of the new owners, but he was a little too far away to get a decent look. It didn't come as much of a disappointment though. Jack was sure this new development would be the talk of the town for the next couple of days, maybe even longer.

The suburban town of Burgess, Pennsylvania was one of those really small towns with nothing particularly fun to do and where nothing interesting ever happens. However, on the rare occasion that something actually does happen, it was all anybody could ever talk about.

It was also one of those small towns were everybody knew everybody's business because gossip was practically more valuable than paper money. People latched on to it like leeches sometimes, especially if it involved a bad crime, a juicy scandal, or a mysterious new resident.

Jack made a note to himself, as he leisurely made his way to his bedroom to put away his book-bag and change his clothes, to ask his father what he knew about the house.

His father, Thomas Overland, was a local architect and had mentioned a few times before that he had helped design several of the recently built homes in Burgess, which didn't include Lady Hawthorne's house (or even the Overland's old Colonial home), but he used to do repairs there all the time for the old woman who lived there, Margaret Hawthorne.

Jack didn't remember much about Lady Hawthorne since she died thirteen years ago, but he remembered when his mother used to take him over to the old woman's house during warm afternoons in the Spring and he would run around her beautiful, rose garden maze while she and his mother sat and drank tea together. Miss Hawthorne had the best rose garden in town. It won a whole assortment of gardening competitions and awards for its extravagance and beauty.

She had lived on her own for decades after becoming a widow in her early 40's, so her house and garden had been her pride and joy. Unfortunately, when their owner passed on, there was no one to inherit the property and its upkeep became nonexistent. The garden died along with Lady Hawthorne and the house was left to stand alone on the solitary hill that only housed two other homes.

It was sad to watch such a highly prized and deeply loved home wilt away like Lady Hawthorne's red roses, but it was just bad luck that the house never sold. Although, whether it didn't sell because of a bad housing market, or the property's ill reputation (what with it being labelled as haunted and all), Jack had no idea.

He didn't give it all that much thought though. He only stopped by his house long enough to change his clothes and leave a note for his mom who was out running errands. There would be plenty of time for him to catch up on the latest town gossip at dinner. His mother just so happened to be one of those big gossip bugs and she was probably at the supermarket right now, getting her fix from the other Burgess busybodies. Housewives gotta have hobbies too, he supposed.

He'd get the exclusive scoop from her later.

For now, Jack had somewhere he needed to be, and he was already running late.

Once a month, usually at the same time and place, Jack met up with a couple of his friends for lunch. They would sit around, have a little food, and just talk about what they've been up to since their last get-together -or as his friend Toothiana liked to call it, "Touching base".

The monthly meet-ups had been Tooth's idea. Ever since she graduated high school last year and started college - and also inadvertently leaving Jack all on his lonesome because he had been one grade level behind her - her work load had gotten considerably bigger and she feared losing touch with him and her other friends. Therefore, she decided routine luncheons would be the perfect solution.

They always met in this little café, right in the center of town square. It was a quiet and quaint little establishment with reasonably affordable prices, even for a college student. Although, it didn't really make much of a difference to Tooth, who happened to be the versatile queen of scholarships, but the food was good and the atmosphere was decent so Jack never felt the need to complain.

"You're late, Jackson," Tooth spoke in a low, sing-song tone. She didn't look up from her menu as he took the seat directly across from her.

Although she sometimes liked to pretend she was annoyed or angry, Toothiana Fae never truly was. Or at least, not when it came to her friends. Her bubbly and lovable personality would never allow it. She was just one of those positive types of people that you always found yourself subconsciously gravitating to. Her good nature was evident to anybody who looked her way. It shined along with her bright, friendly smile and showed itself constantly in her colorful, creative clothing.

"Yeah well, I'm obviously not the only one," Jack shot back in the same tone as he gestured to the other empty seats at the table. "So cut me some slack."

"I'm just saying, why bother scheduling a meeting time when nobody's going to follow it?" Tooth asked rhetorically before putting down her menu in favor of the fresh glass of ice tea the waiter just placed in front of her.

"Where are the others?" Jack asked after the nicely dressed waiter left with his drink order.

"Sandy and North both called me last night and told me they weren't going to make it, but Bunny should be here any minute now," Tooth reported while looking back down at her menu. "He said he's running late because he's helping a friend out with something important."

Jack grimaced when she mentioned the grumpy Aussie. "Ugh, Bunny's coming too?"

Tooth rolled her eyes at him. "Of course Bunny's coming, Jack. He's our friend, why wouldn't he?"

"Correction: he's your friend."

"Don't be like that. He's your friend too."

"The guy hates my guts!"

"Oh he does not!" Tooth laughed, brushing off his words as if they were too ludicrous to even consider. "Yes, you two are very different people and sometimes you don't get along so well, but he doesn't hate you, Jack. Now stop being so negative. You know I don't like that."

"He hates me, Tooth," Jack stressed slowly, leaning slightly over the table. "I can see it in his crotchety old eyes, clear as day."

"I'm not hearing this," The small woman said flippantly with a dismissive wave of her dark-skinned hand. Why did the men in her life always have to bicker with each other so much? Was it too much to ask that they all just get along?

"And do you know why he hates me so much?"

"Oh not this again," Tooth sighed as she pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Because you and me used to date," Jack replied with conviction.

"Can't we just have a nice lunch today?"

"You know it's true."

"And why would Bunny hate you for that?"

"Because he's freakin' in love with you, Tooth! How many times do I have to tell you?"

Tooth only rolled her eyes again and looked back down at her menu. "We're not discussing this right now. We don't talk like that about friends when they're not around. I won't have it."

Whether she wanted to admit it or not, that was her prerogative, but Jack wasn't nearly as selectively ignorant when it came to Bunny's bad attitude towards him. It was a discussion he and Tooth have had over and over again ever since he first met the guy. The cranky Aussie clearly had it bad for the small woman, that much was obvious, even to Jack, and he usually wasn't very good at picking up on vibes.

Jack really couldn't figure out Bunny's problem though. It had to go deeper than just Jack and Tooth being former high school sweethearts. Yes, they used to be an item, but they weren't anymore and he didn't care who Tooth decided to date, just as long as they treated her right and she was happy. Any opinion of Jack's beyond that was irrelevant.

He could somewhat understand that there might be some lingering jealousy from Bunny because he has been repeatedly friend-zoned by an oblivious Tooth, but seriously, it was nearly a year ago that Jack and Tooth stopped dating. Their break-up had been a mutual decision. It wasn't messy in any way and lacked all the typical drama that often followed a break-up between two teenagers in high school. It was a simple, straight-forward case of a relationship that had lost its endearing spark.

It wasn't stimulating enough in his opinion, if Jack really thought about it. Their relationship had been too easy. They were both high in energy (Tooth sometimes being a few notches higher than Jack) and similar in personalities, which grew a little boring for Jack after a few years. Compatibility was something a lot of people search their entire lives to find, but Jack found himself somewhat repugnant to the idea, oddly enough.

In all honesty though, he had never been much for romance in the first place. The only reason he had started dating Tooth his freshman year was because she was his only real friend and everybody thought they were dating anyways, so the two just sort of rolled with it. Nothing really changed between them except for the title they labelled themselves with, or rather, the title they let others label them with. They were never really lovey-dovey. Most of the relationship things they did were done either out of bored, or expectation. It was only after they had separated and Jack had a chance to really look back on things that he realized he and Tooth worked better just as friends.

Tooth, however, greatly favored the idea of starting anew in college. A "clean slate", being another term she used quite often. She was an overachiever with an idealistic drive for herself, for sure. While Jack was more of a "one-day-at-a-time" sort of guy. She had clear goals in mind and the only direction she was heading was forward. Their personalities were similar in the sense that they were both positive and outgoing, but maturity and determination is where they truly differ. Tooth was ready to be an adult, Jack wasn't.

Like he said though, that had been over a year ago and the two had long-since reinstated their status as close friends. There really shouldn't be any reason for Bunny to dislike him so much other than the fact that Jack always had too much fun pranking and teasing the older man, consistently, but was that really a good reason to hate someone?

In any case, the only person keeping Bunny from having a chance with Tooth was himself, not Jack. Of course, the Aussie was too thick-headed to realize it though, always wanting to blame others before blaming himself.

Jack let out a long sigh and ran a hand through his shaggy, chestnut brown hair before leaning back against his chair as their waiter came back with his requested drink. He picked up the straw the waiter left behind and idly twisted the white paper wrapping off. "All I'm saying, babe, is that the reason Bunny can't stand me isn't just because I'm annoying."

"True, you being annoying doesn't even break the surface of why I can't stand you, Frostbite."

At the sudden sound of an accented voice using one of Jack's most hated nicknames, the teenage boy choked on his soda and cringed as the carbonation burned his sinuses, making him cough violently. Tooth abruptly looked up from her menu and gasped loudly when she spotted Bunny standing behind Jack's chair with crossed arms and a smirk. The sound caused a few nearby café patrons to look up from their meals and conversations.

"Aster!" Tooth smiled brightly, immediately getting up from her chair and making her way over to her friend, almost bumping into a neighboring couple's table in her haste. "It's so good to see you! I was starting to think you weren't going to show up."

Bunny dropped his arms and tensed up out of reflex when the small woman stepped up to him and wrapped her arms around his middle, but relaxed seconds later when a pleasant warmth erupted deep within his chest from her touch.

"I just saw ya last week, Tooth," Bunny mumbled against her hair as he hesitantly returned her friendly embrace. Her head was tucked perfectly underneath his chin and his senses were pleasantly flooded with the smell of her jasmine shampoo. "Remember? I was helping your uncle unload that new dental equipment from the delivery truck."

She released him and let her arms drop to her sides. She looked up at him with brightness in her exotic, fuchsia eyes, having to crane her head back quite a bit to meet his. Even with the added height from her wedged sandals, Tooth barely came up to eye level with Bunny's shoulders.

"Oh, I know that!" Tooth waved her hand flippantly as she made her way back to her seat. "But between working as his receptionist, my linguistic classes, and all the homework in between, last week seemed like forever ago! Honestly, its been non-stop for me lately. I was surprised I even had the time to come to lunch today."

"I bet," Bunny remarked, taking the empty seat next to Jack who had been silently watching their exchange while tenderly rubbing his stinging throat. "So, I can only guess that you guys were just talkin' about me?"

"Yes, but in a good way," Tooth assured him. "Weren't we, Jack?"

"Singing praises," Jack replied dryly into his glass as he risked taking another sip of his drink.

Bunny snorted. "Sure you were."

"Scout's honor," Jack promised, giving the Aussie the trademark hand sign for the boy scouts, even though they both knew Jack was never even remotely in the scouts.

"You know, I'll never understand how a guy who doesn't even look like he's hit puberty yet can have such a big attitude."

"Oh har, har, Kangaroo," Jack laughed sarcastically. "That one just never gets old, does it?"

"Boys behave," Tooth demanded sternly. "I want to have a nice lunch today."

Both males turned away from each other begrudgingly as they looked down at their menus. Tooth rolled her eyes as they mumbled under their breaths.

When the waiter came around with his small notepad, asking if everybody had come to a decision, Tooth cheerfully ordered a blueberry muffin and a yogurt parfait, almost blinding the old waiter with her dazzling disposition. In a less enthusiastic tone, Jack ordered a simple burger and fries while Bunny went with a bowl of some sort of carrot and potato stew.

"So," Tooth quipped as the waiter darted away with their menus. "Why are you so late, Mr. Handyman?"

"Long story, darlin'," Bunny replied evasively, already feeling himself detach from the present as he pulled his gaze away from Tooth's to stare blankly out a nearby window.

Nobody knew about Alice, not even Tooth. The green-eyed girl had always been a piece of Bunny's private life that he kept close to the chest. She wasn't necessarily a deep, dark secret or anything, but he never felt comfortable enough talking about her with anyone. Alice was rooted deeply into his checkered past and to talk about her would mean talking about his past, which he was definitely not ready for.

At his suddenly distant behavior, he heard Tooth make a soft noise from across the table, but he refused to look her way again, knowing he wouldn't be able to resist her big, confused eyes if she asked him what was on his mind.

Next to him, Jack was uncharacteristically quiet, which told the Aussie that Tooth was probably silently conversing with him, giving her young friend a questioning frown and covertly nodding her head in Bunny's direction while he pretended he wasn't aware of anything. He didn't even need to look to know that Jack just shrugged his shoulders in response to the woman's wordless inquiries. After all, if Tooth didn't know what was now going through Bunny's head, nobody did, least of all Frostbite.

The silence between them went on like that for a while as the café patrons around them continued with their relaxed chatter. Jack let out a bored sigh and slumped further down into his seat while Tooth sipped idly at her ice tea, watching Bunny closely with a thoughtful look.

Bunny continued to stare listlessly at the pedestrians outside the café window until he felt Tooth gently place a hand on his forearm. He looked down at the small fingers that rested against his arm. His green eyes stared appreciatively at the way her soft, mocha-colored skin blended nicely with his own (which was tanned surprisingly well from all the work he did outside) and the dark hair that ran along his arm.

"Bunny?"

His eyes snapped up to meet her own fuchsia eyes, set inside her beautiful heart-shaped face. It was framed by dark brown hair, cut neatly into a layered bob with a thick streak of blonde on one side, and an expertly woven waterfall braid on the other. She must've just gotten her hair done, Bunny noted. It looked nice.

Bunny was never much of a romantic, but his life had been remarkably grey for a long time before meeting Tooth. The color had started to drain out when his parents died and it had only gotten worse during his time as an orphan. For a short while, the color came back when he was with Alice, but unsurprisingly, it drained right back out again when they were separated.

When he had first met Tooth, on a sunny, Spring afternoon a few months after drifting into Burgess earlier that Winter, he saw nothing but color. Literally. She was covered in it. She was like a crayola crayon box. She nearly blinded him, she looked so colorful.

Even now she was a bright splash of color within the sea of plainly dressed café patrons. She wore a pretty teal, ruffled blouse with a yellow shawl wrapped loosely around her neck. Her short legs adorned a pair of blue Capri pants that clung nicely to her wide hips (thank God she was sitting down, otherwise he would've been staring). She also had gold bangles around her small wrists and her favorite pair of yellow feather earrings hanging from her ears.

"You look pretty today," Bunny said. The compliment may have been given with a hint of false innocence in hopes of shifting her focus on to something else, but he really meant it.

She rolled her eyes at him, seeing straight through his half-assed diversion tactic, but it still worked in some small way. True compliments disguised as false compliments were the only way Bunny could say what he really thought of Tooth without getting all flustered and embarrassed.

"Don't even try and shake me off," She huffed, agitated by the attempted brush-off.

Of course she could never just take a compliment at face value, even when it was sincere. Much like a lot of women, Tooth liked to poke fun at her many "flaws", which Bunny always thought was ridiculous because he found her completely perfect. She described herself as a manic, hobbit-sized, flat-chested spazz with a big butt and a big mouth. Yes, Tooth could be a little hyperactive and overly talkative sometimes, and she was quite short, but she somehow made all that look so cute and endearing. And true, she wasn't particularly gifted in the bust department, but what did that matter? And as for the big butt part, well...he has never understood how women in general, least of all Tooth, could say that like it was a bad thing, because it wasn't. It really wasn't.

"You're always getting lost in thought," She said softly. "I just wanna know where you go."

Bunny felt a pang of guilt then, knowing he was going to feel real bad when he finally told Tooth about Alice. She would look at him with shocked eyes and she'd ask him why he didn't tell her sooner. Maybe she would be disappointed, and maybe she wouldn't, but the idea still made him feel bad. She always tried to encourage him to share more with her, to be more open with her because she wanted him to see that he could trust her with anything, which he did, but he didn't want to drag her into all the ugliness that he had been through. It was definitely going to sting when she found out he had gone so long without ever telling her about the most important person in his life.

"Nowhere exciting, Darlin'. So don't you worry about it."

Tooth stared hard at him for a few more seconds, trying to gauge whether his statement was made up of as much bullshit as she suspected it was, before eventually letting it go with a defeated sigh once she realized that was the most she was going to get out of him. She gave him a playful sneer that said, 'Fine! Be that way!', before replacing it with another smile. Bunny returned it with a small one of his own as he pleasantly noted that the small woman still hadn't removed her hand from his arm. He looked down at it and wished she would keep it there forever, but his wishful thinking was shattered to pieces barely a second later when Jack suddenly coughed loudly into his fist, ruining the moment.

"As much fun as it is to sit here and watch you two make goo goo eyes at each other, I surprisingly feel the overwhelming desire to talk about something else."

"Alright smart ass," Bunny said grouchily as Tooth finally pulled her hand back over to her side of the table. "What do ya want to talk about then?"

Jack pursed his lips in thought. "Has small town news gotten around the square yet about the new arrival?"

"New arrival?" Tooth echoed curiously.

"Yeah, someone's finally moving into ol' Lady Hawthorne's place. I saw a moving truck inside the gates when I came home from school today."

Tooth's brow knotted tightly as she let out a low hum, picking her brain. "Hawthorne...which one was that again?"

"The old, gloomy Victorian up the street from mine. You know, with the huge garden maze in the backyard."

"Oh yeah! I remember now," Tooth smiled brightly in recognition. "Wow really? Someone's moving in? That sounds exciting! Did you hear about this yet, Bunny?"

Bunny let out a noncommittal grunt and shrugged one of his shoulders before mumbling, "Might've heard some yammerings 'bout it around town."

"Well, I think it's fantastic," Tooth quipped. "Have you met the new owners yet?"

Jack shook his head. "No, not yet, but when Ma finds out, she'll probably bake them a pie or something and force me to deliver it. Make me report back like some soldier doing recon."

"That doesn't sound too bad. What's wrong with being friendly to new neighbors?"

"Nothing's wrong with it. I'm just saying, if she wants to meet them so badly - and she always does - than she should just buy a box of stale cookies from the store and walk over there like everybody else. I don't see why she has to make such an event out of things all the time."

"She's just trying to give her own warm welcoming a personal touch. I think it's nice."

"You think everything's nice, Tooth."

"It's called being positive, Jackie. You should try it sometime."

"Nah, I think I tried that once in the fourth grade, but I also got lice that year, so now I have a bad association with it."

"Don't be gross. We're in a restaurant."

As the two babbled away, Bunny remained silent while pretending to be more interested in receiving their food than the subject of Jack's new neighbor(s). He wasn't particularly worried about the Overland family storming the gates of Alice's new house in their friendly, welcoming ways, especially if they were going to send Jack over first. Best case scenario, Frostbite will say something cocky and stupid when he introduced himself to Alice, she would get annoyed at his obnoxious American attitude and slam the door in his face, he would then report back home with the news that their new neighbor was a reclusive shrew, and his parents would think it best if they just left her alone.

Worst case scenario, he'll get a displeasing call from Alice, informing him that there was a bunch of looky-loos loitering around her yard, and she would insist he come over and do something about it, but he doubted that would happen. From what he's heard, the Overland family was friendly, just like all the founding Burgess families, but they weren't overbearing towards strangers. Bunny never met Jack's mother or sister, but Tooth said they were both lovely so he had no cause to think ill of them. He knew Jack's father though. Not very well, but he knew him. Bunny sometimes did construction work on some of the new houses Jack's father helped design and occasionally he would see the man on some of the sites. The older man was aware of him too, but most likely just identified him as "that one Australian fellow".

Regardless, he perceived them as good people, which was quite an amazing discovery since their son was such an annoying little bugger.

He decided not to think further on it though. The rest of lunch went on as it normally did when their food finally arrived. Bunny barely suppressed a grateful moan as the arrival of their food interrupted Tooth's engaging talk about plaque build-up.

Tooth hummed in delight when the waiter placed a large sundae glass filled with layers of sweet yogurt, fresh fruit, and crunchy granola in front of her. She shook her head in disappointment though, when she caught sight of Jack's greasy, artery-clogging meal. She started scolding him on how unhealthy his food choices were, but Jack just childishly threw a french fry at her, which she immediately retaliated with a raspberry. A miniature food fight then broke out between the two giggly, young adults as they flicked pieces of their food back and forth at each other while Bunny picked half-heartedly at his soup. The fight only stopped when a stray pickle landed in his bowl and he gave the two friends a mean glare. There was a chorus of "Sorry Bunny" and "she started it" before they all went back to their meals and ate like adults.

Afterwards, they sat around the café for a little longer, shooting the breeze, until Bunny looked down at his watch and realized he had places he needed to be, namely, back with Alice.

"Well, great meetin' everyone," Bunny commented with a sigh as he fished his wallet out of his pants pocket. "It's been fun, but it's time for me to be shovin' off now."

"What's on the agenda?" Tooth asked while pulling out her own wallet from her peacock feathered purse.

"Not much. Might pop over to Sanderson's office for 'while, see how he's been doin'."

"Tell him I said hello, won't you?"

"Sure thing," Bunny nodded before bidding his friends goodbye and turning to leave the café.

Tooth looked at Jack. "What about you?"

He shrugged his shoulders as he leaned back into his chair, pushing it backwards until he was balancing on only the back two legs. "I don't know yet. I think I'll just bum around town square for a bit. I don't have to go to work until tomorrow so I got some free time. That blonde cutie that wears too much blue eye shadow from school got a job at that ice cream parlor across the street from the library. Might go chat it up with her."

"Madison McBride?" Tooth looked up from her pocket-book. "Oh Jack, don't get involved with her. She was in the geometry class I worked as a student aid in. She's two-faced."

"Maybe, but if I lay down a bit of charm, I bet she'll let me copy her answers for that Hamlet reading analysis packet we have due on Monday. It's like fifteen pages long and I haven't even started yet."

Tooth rolled her eyes as she pulled out a few dollar bills and tossed them on to the center of the table. "Unbelievable," She muttered while standing up from the table and smoothing out the front of her shirt.

"Hey, at least I'm not trying to fool around with her or anything," He defended himself. He tried to keep his expression innocent, but he knew the short woman could see the teasing glint in his azure eyes. "Is that what you thought I meant?"

"Goodbye Jack," Tooth called over her shoulder before disappearing out of the café.

Jack watched her go while chuckling softly to himself. He then reached into the back pocket of his worn, blue jeans and pulled out his own wallet. He placed what remained of their bill, plus a reasonable tip, before standing up from the table and making his way out of the café.

~O~

Incidentally, Jack didn't end up going to the ice cream parlor and badgering Madison into letting him cheat off her. He realized, when he was about halfway there, that even though he really needed to finish that packet for English, Tooth was right about the girl being shamelessly two-faced, and he really didn't feel like surrounding himself with that right now. He'd probably have better luck on his own anyways.

So instead, Jack walked around town square for a few hours, window shopping through the small outlet stores while occasionally striking up random conversations with anybody who'd have him. Some of the older townspeople he passed stopped long enough to ask him how his parents were doing, but for the most part, people just ignored him.

It was almost sunset before Jack decided to head back home for the evening. He hitched the nearest bus heading towards the outskirts of Burgess where the Overland household was located. It was always a bit of a hassle traveling back and forth between his house and town, but it never really bothered Jack. Living on the outskirts offered a little more space and freedom than living in town did. There were only three houses that made up his neighborhood; the Meldrum house, which was owned by a middle-aged couple who kept to themselves, the Overland's own cozy, Colonial home, and of course, Lady Hawthorne's Victorian home.

They were spread out a good enough distance from each other to where you could play music as loud as you wanted and nobody would complain, but still close enough to where if you were being murdered, someone would hear you screaming and call the cops...hopefully.

The sun had almost completely set by the time he reached his bus stop. He looked briefly towards the dwindling sunlight along the horizon and suppressed a wince, realizing he might've overestimated how much time he had before dark. He probably should've left town earlier, or flagged down a bus with fewer stops. His mother wasn't going to be very happy with him when he got home.

If he knew it would change his situation, Jack would've picked up the pace, but he already knew it wouldn't, so he didn't even bother. He just continued walking along the sidewalk at a cruising speed with one hand shoved inside his blue hoodie pocket, and the other holding his shoes. The temperature had been gradually decreasing over the past few weeks and Jack could tell that Autumn was just around the corner. He had removed his shoes (a ratty pair of black converse) almost as soon as he stepped off the public bus. The pavement was cool enough to walk on now that the sun wasn't constantly beating down on it.

If Tooth had been walking with him, she probably would've tsked loudly and made a disapproving comment about how Jack shouldn't walk around without any shoes on, just like she had many times before. She called it unhygienic and dangerous, but Jack called it relaxing.

He took his time walking the rest of the way home from the bus stop. He was already anticipating a lecture from his mother, who would no doubt jump him as soon as he entered the kitchen. He was already late for curfew, which was unacceptable in his mother's eyes, so it didn't matter how late he was. He had forgotten to leave a note before going out and he always got an earful from his mother whenever he did that. It was all now a matter of prolonging the inevitable.

With any luck, his dad would already be home. He would speak up in Jack's defense. His dad was incredibly more laid back, and less neurotic than his mom. He saw the total ridiculousness of giving an eighteen year old senior in high school a curfew and was cool enough to lessen the proverbial blow that came from his overbearing wife on those rare occasions when Jack lost track of time. However, despite his father's role as the voice of reason, mom's word was law in the Overland household and his curfew would remain standing until Jack moved out.

Although, it hadn't always been like that. He had much more freedom when he first entered high school. His mother had only become more grossly overprotective than usual in recent years.

A guy almost drowns in a pond once and he never hears the end of it.

When the teen's home finally came into view, he made a curious noise when he looked further up the street and saw the windows of Lady Hawthorne's house lit up brightly from the inside, truly confirming that someone had indeed moved in. Jack snorted softly to himself at how his mind was almost blown by such a silly thing, even though it really was an unusual sight to see the lights on inside the house again after nearly a decade of darkness.

His blue eyes quickly scanned the house as he stepped on to the soft, green grass of his yard and made his way to his front door. He noticed that the moving truck was now gone and there were no longer any boxes or furniture laying on the gravel driveway, waiting to be taken inside. He watched the empty windows for a moment as he fished around inside his hoodie pocket for his house key until his fingers curled the small piece of metal and he stepped up to his door.

However, just as Jack was about to turn the key, he saw something move in the corner of his eye. He turned his head back towards the neighboring home and squinted through the growing darkness until he realized there was someone standing on the porch, causing him to blink almost owlishly in surprise. He couldn't see much of the person because the house was too far away and it was already too dark outside to get a decent look, especially when the person had a lit window as a backdrop, but he could definitely make out someone standing on the front porch.

At a loss for anything else to do, and also feeling a little stupid because he wasn't sure the person was even looking in his direction, Jack tentatively raised a hand and waved.

Unsurprisingly, the figure gave no indication that they had seen him. They only lingered on the porch for a few more moments, seemingly staring off into the empty landscape that surrounded their pitiful neighborhood, before turning away and moving back inside.

Jack watched their front door open and close again before doing the same with his own, mumbling under his breath as he stepped into the warm atmosphere of his family home.

AN: No, Jack's not going to be a womanizer in this story, just in case you were wondering. I think it's totally within his character to be a dorky flirt, but not someone who actually follows through and sleeps around.

I gave a basic description of a humanized Tooth based on what I've noticed was popular in human!Tooth fanart, which is dark skin due to Indian descent, short hair (with maybe some colored streaks depending on artist's preferences), below average in height with wide hips, and a colorful wardrobe. Honestly though, you guys can imagine her as you want. Same goes with Alice and her wardrobe. I won't go too much into detail with appearances and outfits except when I'm introducing a new character with their starting outfit, or if it's part of the imagery of that certain scene.

And since I'm trying to make this story as realistic as possible - Jack has brown hair, not white. Sorry. I let him keep his blue eyes though.

~Scorpiofreak~