This Collection will start with Frostbite week, but I will continue to update it periodically after the week is over. Each story is a oneshot and does not relate to any of the others. I came up with the prompts.

-Frostbite Week Day 1-

Procrastination

They had a spark. They were both well aware of that. Though it had never been discussed or even mentioned, they knew it. And they knew that they knew it. What they didn't know was what to do about it. If they were mortals, a courtship would consist of outings and movies and dinners, which may or may not lead to an in-depth relationship, followed by an engagement, a marriage, a few children and then growing old by one another's side reflecting on the life they had spent together. But mortality was something they had both lost centuries ago, and with it went nearly every aspect of a normal human life. Guardians don't work in offices or sit down for an evening meal. They work for the good of children and socialize with one another and only one another in their free time. As much as they both separately pondered it, a regular romance just didn't seem to fit snugly into that lifestyle anywhere.

After the defeat of Pitch, they spent the majority of their time in the company of one another. This brought a strange mixture of relief and stress to the pair- they wanted to be together physically, but when they were they just wanted to be together. For a period of time, they ignored it. All of it. The emotions, the challenges, the attention they were drawing from their fellow Guardians, everything. But the strange tension between the two was ever-obvious and never-ending. Every word they spoke seemed to be a simplification of what was really on their minds.

Underneath his casual "Do you mind if I hang out around here this evening?" there was a glimmer of "I want to spend time with you."

And behind her lazy "Of course not. You won't be in my way." Was a hint of "Thank God you do."

They suppressed their longing to express themselves with compromised grins and glances at one another more frequently than a pair of simple friends would, and often were in closer proximity than they would pretend to intend.

Every day, they put up this front. Never a wall or an emotional barrier, just a front. An act. They subconsciously only planned to carry on this way until their shared confusion was resolved, but they found themselves doing nothing to solve it rather than spending nearly every waking hour together. It was an exhausting, maddening cycle.

They were very good at this performance and nearly had it down to a science. But every once in a while it would falter. Something affectionate would slip. Maybe it was the way she had been hovering so closely that night, frequently brushing her plumage against the material of his hoodie, that induced what would follow soon after. Or maybe it was the tone of voice he was speaking in- low and wispy and so quiet as if he intended for her to be the only one in the world to hear him. They were in her Palace, standing partially hunched over an ornate tabletop that had the blueprints to her tooth-storing rooms unrolled on it's surface. She wasn't quite sure if she had asked him to help her find a way to make the storage more secure because she honestly was stumped, or to give him a reason to stay longer into the early evening.

"See, maybe if they were only accessible by the fairies, through small tunnels or whatever, they'd be more protected." He said, his right elbow propped on the table and supported his weight while his left hung at his side, where Tooth hovered a few inches from the ground.
"Yeah, that could work. But then I wouldn't be able to get to them without the help of a fairy." She replied, keeping her eyes on the paper. She spoke softly and contently, and it was odd for Jack to see her so laid-back. Nine times out of ten, she was always buzzing about- either chattering to her workers or babbling happily to anyone that would listen about whatever was on her mind. But he had begun to take notice that when they were in private she slowed down and relaxed. Her movements weren't as quick and her voice was more melodic. More often than not he found himself growing somewhat addicted to this side of her, subconsciously craving to unlock it whenever he could.

"Well if you expanded the storage rooms, you could fit more intricate teeth-cubbies in them." He kindly suggested.

"Ohh, I like it. Although, that may knock out some living space." She thought aloud, staring holes into the paper and perhaps drifting slightly closer to his form. He casually crossed one leg over the other.

"Maybe you could sacrifice some of the empty space between structures instead."

As he spoke his cool fingertips found her petite hand dangling near his. He didn't break in conversation as he slowly and delicately wound his fingers into hers, as if he was doing it absentmindedly or out of boredom. They both still directing their gazes at nothing but the paper like nothing was out of the ordinary.

She nodded. "Yea, I like that idea." She said with no quiver in her voice, to her own shock.

Though she couldn't see it, his smile was obvious in his voice. "Good, me too." They stood in silence for a few moments, thinking of nothing but the tranquility of the moment while he slowly rubbed cold patterns onto the skin of her hand with the pad of his thumb.

So maybe they could evade the topic of what comes next for a bit longer, as long as they were able to keep up what they had going now.

Stay tuned for another oneshot for tomorrow! Drop review, and I do take requests/appreciate suggestions!

~Bonnie Dawn Marion