Accidentally in love

Chapter 10

Jack raised an amused eyebrow while he pushed away his finished plate. "And I always thought your idea of heaven would be a cold, damp cave filled with torture devices or something."

Pitch laughed, giving him a smirk. "I don't need a device to torture someone."

Jack also laughed, shaking his head and rolling his eyes. "I meant you're so different from... what I thought... I thought you only like cold and dark. I thought..."

"Well... I do... But not always..." Pitch mumbled, feeling a little embarrassed. The truth was that he only liked the dark when he was feeling weak and needed to hide from the light. Under normal circumstances, when alone and not in need of his powers, he preferred to be on his tropical island, surrounded by warm, bright sunlight that chased away the darkness in his heart.

Suddenly Jack looked confused and dazed, as if uncertain of what was happening. "Yeah... Of course... I know that... I know you. Right?" he muttered.

"Jack, are you alright?" Pitch asked with an uncertain edge. What was going on with him?

Jack laughed again, all uncertainty gone. "I'm great! I want to go outside. We should go swimming!" He jumped up from the table, nearly knocking his chair over and dashed towards the door, disappearing through it before Pitch even managed to make sense of the situation.

Why was the potion affecting Frost so differently? Sometimes he seemed to have moments of clarity during which he seemed normal, but then it was as if his spellbound mind was unable to make sense of what was truly happening. Why was it so different for Pitch? He was perfectly aware of what was happening, he simply couldn't do anything about it - or want to, for that matter... But Jack, he seemed to be unaware of the fact that he was poisoned.
Did that mean he would forget everything once the potion wore off, but Pitch would have to live with the memory forever?

"Pitch! Where are you? Let's go!" Jack's voice could be heard yelling from outside.

With a heavy sigh, Pitch made his way outside the hut. What if he truly would be able to remember it all? Would his feelings simply disappear so easily?
He couldn't imagine it. He couldn't imagine simply going back to the way he had been before. He couldn't imagine not being in love with Jack anymore.
His feelings were so much stronger than anything he had ever felt before; how could all that simply disappear as if it had never been there? Was magic truly so strong?

Very slowly, Pitch made his way towards the beach where he saw Jack's clothes carelessly tossed around randomly, and his staff stuck in the sand close to the water.
With a loud splashing sound, Jack surfaced from under the water, shaking snowflakes and ice crystals from his hair.

"It's so warm! Come on in!" He laughed happily, splashing around the large lagoon.

Though Pitch loved to swim and often bathed in the lagoons around the island, he had never done so with someone else around, and the thought made him a bit nervous. Especially when Frost suddenly came towards the beach, stalking out of the water completely naked.
It wasn't as if Pitch had never seen a naked human before, obviously, but he had never paid attention to it because... well, why would he - once upon a time, all humans ran around naked. But somehow this was different, even though he couldn't say why, and he averted his gaze, overcome by an unusual feeling he couldn't name.

"I love this place!" Jack said happily once he stood right in front of him, forcing Pitch to look at him again. "Come on, let's go swim!" He grabbed Pitch's hand and dragged him into the water.

"Ah! It's freezing!" Pitch said shocked as the cold water splashed against his ankles.

"No, it's really warm!" Jack laughed happily, pushing Pitch into water with such force that they both tumbled into the semi shallow waters.