North's spell worked just like he said it would. And apparently, he could take a hint as broad as 'no sacks' when it was said that seriously and directly to his face, sending an elf to remind Jack instead and to beamingly hand him the snow globe that would take him straight to the North Pole.
It was so proud of itself Jack had to bite back laughter, scooping the little creature up and giving it a ride through the portal back home.
Baby Tooth was at the meeting, hovering excitedly over the table, and she buried herself in Jack's hair as soon as he was clear of the portal, chirping and giggling in excitement. Jack understood maybe one word in five. Baby Tooth didn't seem to mind, just happy that he was willing to pay attention and try to understand her for now.
The meeting was...not what Jack had expected. Each of them spoke briefly about what they'd been doing in the week since they'd seen each other, the amount of work each of them had done to fix things after that eventful weekend. Which he'd expected, he'd just expected more...focus, less listening, less effort in paying attention to what each other said and did.
More importantly, they made an effort to include Jack in the conversations, so he wouldn't feel left out. And though it might have been at least partially a wasted effort as some things were in-jokes honed by knowing each other hundreds of years, he could still see and appreciate it, even if he would almost rather have been able to sit back and just observe.
And he just didn't know what to say. He tried to cover it up, but only speaking to a handful of other spirits randomly throughout the years – because while he was alone, and lonely, he wasn't completely alone, he had some friends – it was different.
But the other, odder part was...suddenly it seemed like they were constantly touching each other.
Not like they had before the fight on Easter, though there had been faint shades of it then. And there was nothing overt about it, really.
It was all just friendly touches, when Jack thought about it as he left the meeting, in high spirits if confused and conflicted (because how long could this last, he should be out of it before it went sour), nothing about them to even really think about or nag at him the way it did.
They'd been friends, teammates, for hundreds of years, of course they were comfortable with each other.
But he still hadn't been expecting, well...Sandy practically draping himself across Bunny when the Easter spirit stretched in front of the fire, finger-combing tangles out of fur.
Or Tooth reaching to touch North's shoulder, or stroke at his hair, or the hugs they all gave each other that seemed to last a few seconds longer than just friends...
But Jack shrugged, finally, dismissing it. They were friends, had been friends for ages, and he was out of practice with touch. He was probably just reading too much into their casual, platonic touching.
Especially since he kind of wanted that for himself. The few friends he had made were mostly tricksters, and you didn't accept a hug from a trickster unless you were willing to deal with the consequences. Most of them weren't big on casual touch anyway.
When they parted, with an agreement to meet again next month, Jack wasn't sure if he was glad or disappointed it was over. Because there were four other spirits here, along with elves and yeti, that saw him, heard him, wanted him here.
