Jack actually didn't do much Christmas day.

At ten he gave Jamie's house a nice sheet of fresh alabaster snow, and decorated his mailbox and trees with delicate frost patterns, but he didn't bother actually making his presence known to the ten-year-old.

It was Christmas, and no matter how much Jamie meant to him, he had a family of his own to spend the holiday with. Jack had to respect that.

But he added a rather large snow bunny to the front yard for good measure. When Jamie sees it, he'll know who stopped by.

He doesn't show this favoritism to just Jamie's house, though. He makes a unicorn in Cupcake's yard, double-frosts the twin's house, and generally makes sure that all five of their houses stand out from the rest.

He stands up a bit straighter and dusts his hands off once his work is done for him to admire. He turns the other way, knowing he has to give a white Christmas to at least six more states before he can even be considered done.

But he runs into a familiar Russian instead.

"Jack!" Father Christmas jostles him by the shoulders, "Are you okay?"

"Okay? Why wouldn't I be o—"

"Jack!" Tooth shouts, practically throwing him into the air with a tight, revolving hug.

Sandy floated by, a look of joyful relief on his face.

"Would, uh, would someone like to tell me what's going on?"

Tooth let go slowly, looking at him in confusion.

"We thought something might have happened to you when you didn't show up at the pole."

"What are you talking about?"

"You didn't show up for Christmas party, so we came looking. I suggested the sack, but Tooth and Sandy wouldn't hear of it."

"What about Bunny?"

"He's back at pole, worrying like sick mother."

"Pretty sure that's not how that expression works," he laughs, "But, um, why again? Because I didn't come to your Christmas party? I didn't even know you were having one."

"You — you didn't know? Tooth, you told Jack about party, yes?"

"Uh, no. I thought you were taking care of that. It's your party, North."

"But I was busy with toys, and you organize most of parties."

"Hey, um, I don't mean to interrupt a great argument, but Bunny gave me this, I don't know, a month ago?"

He unfolded a light green flier, the details and times written on it in black ink.

"So why weren't you there?" Tooth inquired, tilting her head. North took the paper from his hands, inspecting it curiously.

"Um, because I didn't know? I thought at least that was clear."

"But this paper has everything you needed to know."

"Well, then maybe he should've said something instead of just stuffing it into my face and running off. That guy has no manners."

"You didn't even look at it?"

"Well, uh," he scratched the back of his head, "yeah, I did."

"But, Jack —"

"I can't read his handwriting, okay! It's all scribbly and stuff."

"Bunny takes great pride in penmanship."

"Can we not talk about this here? You may or may not have forgotten, but not all of us are invisible."

The three of them shared looks of confusion and regrettable agreement.

Once the sleigh was docked and the reindeer had settled down, they made their way to the main gathering room, where chairs and tables full of refreshments waited. Jack, a half smile splayed across his features, decided to hang back a bit, hiding behind a wooden support beam.

"Where's Jack?" Bunnymund asked, jumping out of his chair. North remained silent at the way the pooka's fingers twitched for his boomerang.

"He…"

"Ya came back without him? What kind of guardians — no, friends — are ya? This could be the one time his stupidity gets him into mortal danger, and you decide it's okay to give up when the search gets a little hard? He could be in a bingle for all ya bludgers know! If he carks it, I hope you're able to live with yerselves."

Jack tried to keep a straight face, but his mouth betrayed him as it quirked upwards in a reluctant smile. Little snippets of laughter flew out, unwarranted, and his hands went to his mouth upon reflex. But it was too late, Bunny had heard him and his fingers began to twitch around his boomerang for another extreme.

"You little larrikin, ya were there the whole time and you didn't even —"

"Hey, hey, at least I'm not in," he snickered, "a, a bingle!"

"Ya shut yer trap. For your sake, I hope you were in a bingle because you've got to have to a pretty good reason for not showing up and scaring us all to death."

"All?"

"Mostly Tooth."

"Right."

"So." he folded his arms, "Out with it."

"I…" his eyebrows furrowed as an uncomfortably hot blush crept up his neck, "I didn't know."

"How on earth could you possibly not know?"

"I don't know, maybe you should tell me next time!"

"Tell ya? Mate, I made handwritten invitations, I thought ya got the message."

"Well, if you would've told me it was an invitation, maybe this would've worked out differently!"

"Ya threw it away?"

"…No."

"Then…Frostbite, why didn't you read it?"

"Because." He didn't want to elaborate. Manny, did he not want to elaborate. Bunnymund was not going to let him hear the end of it.

"I. I can't read."

Cliffhanger.