Jack managed to give a half-hearted smile back but then the smile faded.
"It wasn't just him, though. It's everything right now. I miss the others." He missed the people who gave him love and kindness instead of distrust and hostility. "I miss Jamie."
Jamie, who was pretty much Howard's polar opposite, but it wasn't safe to spend too much time with Jamie anymore. They were trying to avoid making him a target.
"And you almost... And if something happens to you, I'm going to be alone with all these people. Some of them are okay, but they're not -"
Well.
"Molly and Mami are sweet kids, and some of them aren't bad people, but they're not really people I'd want to spend an eternity with is all I'll say."
The implication there being that the Guardians were. But Bunny knew that.
Jack's lips trembled. "And if anything happens to you and to the others during all this, but I still make it and get to send them all home ... I'm going to be alone again. Even Jamie, eventually he'll..."
Jack went on, "And that attack - they were stronger but that means we're losing more kids and I can't - I can't really deal with it all. I can't just...be myself. I have to spend five minutes going over in my head how to talk to people before I fly into a room and that's on top of everything else we're doing, that's on top of the fighting. It's too much."
Jack shook his head. "I can be a Guardian - fighting in a war, and I can be Jack Frost, and I can babysit very, very damaged teenagers and strangers, but I am not really juggling all three at once very well right now."
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"It wasn't just him, though. It's everything right now. I miss the others." He missed the people who gave him love and kindness instead of distrust and hostility. "I miss Jamie."
Jamie, who was pretty much Howard's polar opposite, but it wasn't safe to spend too much time with Jamie anymore. They were trying to avoid making him a target.
"And you almost... And if something happens to you, I'm going to be alone with all these people. Some of them are okay, but they're not -"
Well.
"Molly and Mami are sweet kids, and some of them aren't bad people, but they're not really people I'd want to spend an eternity with is all I'll say."
The implication there being that the Guardians were. But Bunny knew that.
Jack's lips trembled. "And if anything happens to you and to the others during all this, but I still make it and get to send them all home ... I'm going to be alone again. Even Jamie, eventually he'll..."
Jack went on, "And that attack - they were stronger but that means we're losing more kids and I can't - I can't really deal with it all. I can't just...be myself. I have to spend five minutes going over in my head how to talk to people before I fly into a room and that's on top of everything else we're doing, that's on top of the fighting. It's too much."
Jack shook his head. "I can be a Guardian - fighting in a war, and I can be Jack Frost, and I can babysit very, very damaged teenagers and strangers, but I am not really juggling all three at once very well right now."